Scripture Daily

Context No. 3037 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 1:1-5: in context

1The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, every male, one by one, 3from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their divisions. 4With you there shall be a man of every tribe, each one head of his fathers’ house. 5These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur.

The book of Numbers opens with God speaking to Moses in the tent of meeting, in the wilderness of Sinai, commanding a census: take a count of all the congregation, by their families, every man of fighting age, one by one. And Moses is not to do it alone; a leader from each tribe, the head of his father's house, is named to stand with him.

Two small things are worth noticing. God orders the count; it is not Moses's own initiative but God organizing his people for the journey and the tasks ahead. And it is a shared work, a representative from every tribe standing beside Moses to help. God moves his people forward in order rather than chaos, and he does it through many hands, leaders drawn from every tribe, not through one man carrying everything alone. Even the ordinary work of organizing the people was done at God's word and through shared responsibility.

Do I trust that God brings order to his people's life and shares the work among many, and am I willing to be one of the named who stands and helps?

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