leaders building leaders

And Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the LORD directed through Moses.

Numbers 27:22-23

 

Every good leader finds other people to continue leadership. In the case of Moses, God provided Joshua. But Moses had a strong desire for assurance that the leadership of Israel would pass into capable hands (Numbers 27:15-17). I think Moses knew God’s choice would be Joshua. But he waited to hear from God, and then followed God’s desires completely in the choice and manner of appointment.

 

I am looking at this account with a little more humility these days. I have had 21 years of ministry, and I might get to enjoy another fifteen or twenty more. Best case: I am at the halfway point of my ministry service. Mill Creek has been blessed recently with a fine crop of motivated and gifted people in their 20’s and 30’s. It is time to spend a big chunk of my ministry investing myself in these new leaders so that the next godly generation will follow Jesus.

 

As I look at Moses’ life from this point in Numbers until the end of Deuteronomy, I will look for principles from him that will assist me in developing these leaders. God… give me a Joshua! It is what God has called me to do at this stage of my life. I am excited about it.

 

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Administration as God’s desire

This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730.

Numbers 26:51

 

The second large census taken of Israel recorded in the book of Numbers was for determining the fighting force of Israel’s army. At this point they have already taken some parts of the land through defense against their aggressors. It is important to realize that the 600,000 number represents men only who were twenty years of age and fit for war (Numbers 26:2-4). Following levitical guidelines, this number probably consisted of men from age 20 to 50 who were physically fit for warfare.

 

The actual number of Israelites was much higher when older men, those not physically capable of warfare, and women and children were factored into the tally. Easily this was a number of over one million people in the encampment. Israel was a large, mobile, city on the move. They needed places to settle. God was preparing them for the next step.

 

Although this census is to me one of the sleepier moments in the Penteteuch, I draw a lesson from it.  It is all about advance planning. God wanted Moses fully aware of the “boots on the ground” at his disposal. It was vital for Joshua’s future success. If God sees it as important and commands it, then I should not shrink from administrative duties for the greater cause of the Kingdom.

 

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The reward of repentance.

Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.'"

Numbers 25:12-13

 

God confirmed the Aaronic priesthood without reservation due to the actions of Aaron’s son Phineas in the matter of ending Israel’s flirtation with Moab’s Baal worship at Peor. This is not an easy account to read. Moab quietly seduced Israel into idolatry. It began as sort of a “cultural exchange” where Israel was invited to participate in feasts. It quickly progressed into idolatry with Baal worship that included prostitution. It got dirty and nasty really fast and Israel was caught in the trap. It ended with 24,000 dead in the camp by judgment of God with a plague. As Israel wept over her sin, a man flagrantly brought a Moabite temple whore into his tent. Phineas made the bold move to strike down these last two sinful idolaters to stave off a relapse.

 

It was this bold faith and action of the priest that led to God’s recognition and reward. God saw Phineas as possessing His feelings on the matter. And that is what made the difference. It saved the day for the entire nation because it prevented a second episode of idolatry and unfaithfulness. Sometimes having God’s heart means we are serious about sin in ourselves and in His people. And we will not sit around and watch God’s worship being defiled.

 

Two quick final observations: 1) Sin can be a slippery slope experience. Once you take a small step a really big fall can happen. What starts as a small choice can quickly become out of control until you are consumed by a driving passion. That is exactly what happened with Israel in this episode. They “met their neighbors” only to quickly be caught up in the exhilaration of a sexually driven false religion that made them forget their God and all He had done for their deliverance. 2) God will reward obedience when we are filled with His heart on the matter. It wasn’t that Phineas got mad that made the difference. It was that His outrage was God’s hurt heart on this matter and it led him to complete obedience for Israel. That was what God chose to reward with this covenant for the Aaronic priesthood.

 

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Prophet for hire, part 3

And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, 'I will certainly honor you,' but the LORD has held you back from honor."

Numbers 24:10-11

 

This is the end of the matter between Balak and Balaam. God used the pagan seer to shut down and frustrate an enemy of Israel. And in the process Balaam learns some things. His prophecies in Numbers 24 sort of “seal the deal” for Israel’s success in the eyes of her enemies. And he is convinced that God will ultimately destroy Moab and all those who oppose Israel’s move into the Promised Land.

 

Balaam is an interesting study because of who he is. He is used by God, even inspired by God, to deliver these messages. Yet, we cannot be convinced he ultimately comes to know God. He seems more interested in divination than devotion. And his final verdict in scripture is that he was a deceiver (Revelation 2:14).

 

Still, it is more than amusing that God would use Balaam to get his truth out. And obviously what happened made it back to Israel because of these scriptures providing record of the events. Balaam would eventually die in the conquest of Canaan. But God’s truth and His plan for His people would continue… forever.

 

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Prophet for hire: part 2

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

Numbers 23:19-20

 

Poor Balak! He has paid good money to hire Balaam to place a curse on Israel. He has tried three different times, really four if you count the initial encounter with Balaam, and each time Balaam comes back with a blessing for the people that Balak hates. And it comes at the cost of building 21 altars and sacrificing 21 oxen and 21 sheep. This was a serious investment on his part in the hopes he could secure Israel’s demise.

 

But this much was true about Balaam… whatever message he “channeled” he stayed faithful to the content. He may have sold out to the highest bidder in terms of religious services, but he had enough sense to realize that he was dealing with the “real deal” when the God of Israel spoke to him. He may have been easy, but he was not quite sleazy.

 

The humor in these episodes is obvious. A pagan king and a flim-flam celebrity psychic “to the stars” would be used by God to confirm Israel’s purposes in His plan. And no one was going to stand in the way of what God was doing. Even the gods and religious practices of the people of Canaan would fall before the power and will of Yahweh. Israel’s God would be shown as having sovereignty over all people. They might get frustrated at the collapse of their pagan worldview. But they clearly and repeatedly saw the truth.

 

God gave grace to Balak through Balaam’s oracles. It enraged the pagan king, but he could not deny the truth of it. God managed to irrefutably establish His sovereignty, literally at Balak’s expense! It is funny, powerful, and tragic all at the same time!

 

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Prophet for hire: part 1

But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more.”

Numbers 22:18

 

The story of Balaam is an interesting one, and not just because of the part of the story where his donkey speaks to him. It is a crucial story because it is clear that regardless of his past practices, Balaam 1) knows he has heard from the true God on this matter, and 2) claims some level of commitment to being faithful to God’s Word. This is seen in his statement that he cannot say “less or more” than what God has given to him. It is seen in his claim that to “the LORD my God.”

 

But Balaam is a study in decline. His firm resolve that no amount of money could persuade him to curse Israel if this was not God’s command begins to wilt in the repeated offers from Balak. Eventually he caves in, at least to meet with this rich patron who believes Balaam has the power to curse an entire nation. But even then, God has a bigger plan at work. The reluctant “prophet for hire” will still be used to get Balak’s attention and to witness to the greatness of what God is doing with His people Israel.

 

Balaam, however, would eventually be undone by these slow accommodations to greed.  He is known in future generations as a false prophet who loved to gain from wrongdoing (2 Peter 2:15). He would eventually die under the later conquest of Canaan because his advice to Balak resulted in Israel falling to prostitution and idolatry.

 

The lesson of Balaam is that little choices can lead to major slides from truth and from commitment to God. Balaam was a pagan oracle who had a brief dramatic encounter with the true God, only to fall away into materialistic greed and be judged by God. He serves forever as a warning to be true to God’s message, no matter what tempts us away.

 

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Victory for spiritual losers.

So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.

Numbers 21:35

 

This chapter actually recounts the very initial conquests Israel experienced in battle as they began moving into Canaan.  They began by settling the western banks of the Jordan River. The territories they seized were a result of defensive warfare in which aggressive nations came to attack them. God eventually brought them the complete victory which resulted in Israel taking some of the land promised to them by God so long ago.

 

These initial victories came at the hand of God’s grace, because Israel still was not the nation they should have been in terms of spiritual commitment. What interests me is that after the first victory, there is an immediate failure (the infamous bronze serpent episode: Numbers 21:4-9). But God graciously responds to Moses’ plea for the people and once again they are back on track conquering their aggressors again. Moses is getting a taste of what the next generation of leadership will know.  And God is continuing to develop a faithful generation that will want to obey His leading in the conquest of Canaan.

 

Israel is advancing spiritually as a nation throughout the book of Numbers. But they are falling forward in stutter steps. They aren’t quite the noble heroes we would hope for. They struggle with unbelief and selfish complaining even after God has saved them from threatened destruction from a larger and established nation. They just can’t seem to stay spiritually consistent. But God is faithful. And that is the insight worth considering for today.

 

We may fail. We may struggle with consistency. Our faith may be small at times. And our sins may overwhelm us when we fail. But God is faithful. He will lead us beyond our failures so that He gets the glory. We experience profound grace when He does this.

 

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