The Book of Numbers

Hebrew Study

Explanation

It is the first month of the second year, one year since the exodus, and God calls Israel to "keep the passover at his appointed season," on "the fourteenth day of this month, at even," "according to all the rites of it." This was the first anniversary of their redemption, kept now in the wilderness at Sinai. And "they kept the passover... according to all that the LORD commanded Moses." Before they set out on the long journey to Canaan, they paused to remember where they had come from: a night of blood and deliverance, a people passed over and brought out of bondage. The road ahead would be hard, but it began with remembrance. Israel was not to forget the redemption that had made them a people.

Gospel Focus

The Passover points straight to Jesus, "for even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). The blood on the doorposts that spared Israel foreshadowed the blood of the Lamb of God that saves us, and just as Israel kept the feast to remember, so the Lord has given us a table of remembrance. "This do in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24), He said, giving us the bread and the cup to keep the memory of His body broken and His blood shed. As Israel paused at the outset of the wilderness to remember redemption, so we, on our own journey home, return again and again to the cross, to remember the price of our freedom. It is good for the soul to remember. We are prone to forget, to let the wonder of our deliverance grow dim, and so God calls us back to the table, back to the blood, back to the night we were passed over and set free. Keep the feast; remember the Lamb.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

A real problem arose. Certain men were "defiled by the dead body of a man" and so could not keep the Passover on the day. Rather than simply accept their exclusion, they came to Moses with a hungry heart: "wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD?" They did not want to miss it. Moses said, "stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command," and God gave a gracious answer. Anyone "unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off" could keep the Passover one month later, on the fourteenth day of the second month. God made a way for the hindered. Yet the grace was not license: the one "that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover" would be "cut off," for he despised the feast without cause. And a stranger who wished to keep it was welcomed under "one ordinance," the same as the native born.

Gospel Focus

This second Passover is a beautiful window into the grace of God. He does not delight to shut people out; where there is a genuine hindrance and a willing heart, He makes a way. The men's earnest cry, "wherefore are we kept back?" was a holy hunger to worship, and God honored it. This is the heart of a God who says, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). No one who truly desires to come to God will finally be turned away; He provides the way. And notice that the door opened to the stranger as well, "one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land," a foreshadow of the gospel that welcomes every nation on equal terms. Yet the warning stands alongside the grace: the one who could keep the feast and simply would not was cut off. God's provision for the hindered is not an excuse for the negligent. The lesson is twofold and precious: if you long to draw near but feel kept back, God will make a way for you; but do not treat the grace of God with careless neglect.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

From the day the tabernacle was reared, "the cloud covered" it by day and "the appearance of fire" rested on it by night. This visible presence of God was Israel's guide. "When the cloud was taken up," they journeyed; "where the cloud abode," they pitched their tents. Whether the cloud "tarried long... many days," or lifted after only "a few days," or stayed "two days, or a month, or a year," Israel watched and obeyed: "at the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed." They could not know in advance how long they would stay or when they would move; they simply kept their eyes on the cloud and followed. Their whole journey was governed not by their own timetable but by the leading of God.

Gospel Focus

The guiding cloud is a picture of the Spirit-led life. As Israel moved only when the cloud moved and rested when it rested, so the believer is called to be led by God: "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). This teaches two hard and holy disciplines. First, the discipline of promptness: when the cloud lifted, even "by day or by night," they went. When God says move, we must not linger. Second, and often harder, the discipline of waiting: when the cloud tarried "a month, or a year," they stayed. When God says stay, we must not run ahead. Much of our trouble comes from moving when God says wait, or waiting when God says move. The Christian life is not governed by our own convenience or timetable but "by the mouth of the LORD." We keep our eyes on His leading and follow, whether that means a long, patient season in one place or a sudden call to go. To be led by God is both our safety and our rest: He knows the way home, and He will not lead us wrong. Follow the cloud.