Numbers 30

Num 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

Number 26-27

Numbers 26

Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron took a census of Israel.

Numbers 27

Num 27:12 The LORD said to Moses, "One day you will go up into the Abarim Mountains, and from there you will see the land I am giving the Israelites.
Num 27:13 After you have seen it, you will die, just like your brother Aaron,
Num 27:14 because both of you disobeyed me at Meribah near the town of Kadesh in the Zin Desert. When the Israelites insulted me there, you didn't believe in my holy power."
Num 27:15 Moses replied,
Num 27:16 "You are the LORD God, and you know what is in everyone's heart. So I ask you to appoint a leader for Israel.
Num 27:17 Your people need someone to lead them into battle, or else they will be like sheep wandering around without a shepherd."
Num 27:18 The LORD answered, "Joshua son of Nun can do the job. Place your hands on him to show that he is the one to take your place.
Num 27:19 Then go with him and have him stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the Israelites. Appoint Joshua as their new leader
Num 27:20 and tell them they must now obey him, just as they obey you.
Num 27:21 But Joshua must depend on Eleazar to find out from me what I want him to do as he leads Israel into battle."
Num 27:22 Moses followed the LORD's instructions and took Joshua to Eleazar and the people,
Num 27:23 then he placed his hands on Joshua and appointed him Israel's leader.


Moses was still alive but he was already praying for the rightful successor. God gave Joshua as his successor so that when Moses dies Israel will not scatter like a sheep without a shepherd.

Numbers 25

Num 25:6 Later, Moses and the people were at the sacred tent, crying, when one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman to meet his family.
Num 25:7 Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, saw the couple and left the crowd. He found a spear
Num 25:8 and followed the man into his tent, where he ran the spear through the man and into the woman's stomach. The LORD immediately stopped punishing Israel with a deadly disease,
Num 25:9 but twenty-four thousand Israelites had already died.


The Israelite man blatantly disobeyed the order against idolatry and sexual immorality when he brought a Midianite woman into his tent. He brought not only punishment to himself nut to the whole of Israelite, so Phinehas did what the Lord had commanded.

Numbers 24

Num 24:12 Balaam answered, "I told the messengers you sent to me that
Num 24:13 even if you gave me all the silver and gold in your palace, I could not disobey the command of the LORD by doing anything of myself. I will say only what the LORD tells me to say."

Numbers 23

23Num 23:8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?


When Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel, this was Balak’s reply. God is all powerful that no magic or anything can harm those that God has blessed unless God permits it.

Numbers 22

Num 22:28 Then the LORD gave the donkey the power of speech, and it said to Balaam, "What have I done to you? Why have you beaten me these three times?"
Num 22:29 Balaam answered, "Because you have made a fool of me! If I had a sword, I would kill you."
Num 22:30 The donkey replied, "Am I not the same donkey on which you have ridden all your life? Have I ever treated you like this before?" "No," he answered.
Num 22:31 Then the LORD let Balaam see the angel standing there with his sword; and Balaam threw himself face downward on the ground.
Num 22:32 The angel demanded, "Why have you beaten your donkey three times like this? I have come to bar your way, because you should not be making this journey.
Num 22:33 But your donkey saw me and turned aside three times. If it hadn't, I would have killed you and spared the donkey."

If God can use a donkey to convey his message, how much more for a saved sinner like me.

Numbers 8

Num 21:8 Then the LORD told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed.
Num 21:9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.

It was by looking and believing in God that the Israelite who had been bitten by the snakes lived.


John 3:14 As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up,
John 3:15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Numbers 20

Num 20:24 "Aaron is not going to enter the land which I promised to give to Israel; he is going to die, because the two of you rebelled against my command at Meribah.
Num 20:25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar up Mount Hor,
Num 20:26 and there remove Aaron's priestly robes and put them on Eleazar. Aaron is going to die there."
Num 20:27 Moses did what the LORD had commanded. They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community,
Num 20:28 and Moses removed Aaron's priestly robes and put them on Eleazar. There on the top of the mountain Aaron died, and Moses and Eleazar came back down.
Num 20:29 The whole community learned that Aaron had died, and they all mourned for him for thirty days.


After many years of wandering, the Israelites arrived at the desert of Zin. The Israelites, again, quarreled with Lord about water. The Israelites, again, reminded Moses of their former life in Egypt and their fear of dying in the desert.

The Lord heard the quarreling and told Moses to strike a rock with his staff and when Moses did, water came out from it. But the Lord told Moses that they wilkl not see the promise land.

Aaron died and his son Eleazar replaced him.

Numbers 19

Num 19:11 Those who touch a corpse are ritually unclean for seven days.
Num 19:12 They must purify themselves with the water for purification on the third day and on the seventh day, and then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on both the third and the seventh day, they will not be clean.
Num 19:13 Those who touch a corpse and do not purify themselves remain unclean, because the water for purification has not been thrown over them. They defile the LORD's Tent, and they will no longer be considered God's people.


The Jews have a sophisticated hygienic practices.

Numbers 18

Num 18:1 The LORD said to Aaron, "You, your sons, and the Levites must suffer the consequences of any guilt connected with serving in the Tent of my presence; but only you and your sons will suffer the consequences of service in the priesthood.
Num 18:2 Bring in your relatives, the tribe of Levi, to work with you and help you while you and your sons are serving at the Tent.
Num 18:3 They are to fulfill their duties to you and their responsibilities for the Tent, but they must not have any contact with sacred objects in the Holy Place or with the altar. If they do, both they and you will be put to death.
Num 18:4 They are to work with you and fulfill their responsibilities for all the service in the Tent, but no unqualified person may work with you.

Aaron’s staff blossomed and so his authority is affirmed. It is now the Lord’s turn to remind Aaron of his responsibilities and accountabilities.

Numbers 17

Num 17:7 Moses then put all the sticks in the Tent in front of the LORD's Covenant Box.
Num 17:8 The next day, when Moses went into the Tent, he saw that Aaron's stick, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted. It had budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!
Num 17:9 Moses took all the sticks and showed them to the Israelites. They saw what had happened, and each leader took his own stick back.
Num 17:10 The LORD said to Moses, "Put Aaron's stick back in front of the Covenant Box. It is to be kept as a warning to the rebel Israelites that they will die unless their complaining stops."
Num 17:11 Moses did as the LORD commanded.
Num 17:12 The people of Israel said to Moses, "Then that's the end of us!
Num 17:13 If anyone who even comes near the Tent must die, then we are all as good as dead!"


Rebellion and mutiny were one of Moses’ problems. Some of the Israelites yearned for the priesthood and the leadership of the tribes. They have forgotten that leadership and priesthood is through the Lord’s anointment (appointment). To prevent further bloodshed the Lord asked for the twelve staffs representing each tribe. And through this staff the Lord will make his will known to the people thus the sprouting of Aaron’s staff convinced the Israelites of the legitimacy of Aaron’s priesthood.

I don’t know if this is allegorical, but even in the secular world the legitimacy of leadership is usually measured in the blossoming and sprouting of the leadership. This story is a good illustration on identifying the anointment of leaders in the church—blossoming.

Put today, this story a simple reminder that leadership is tending or doing what God one’s expect him/her to be in the role that he/she plays in the body of Christ. Aaron did not get the authority from God because he was Aaron. The Lord gave Aaron the authority because he was anointed from the start of the exodus and he also deserved the authority because God recognized the effort Aaron gave in His service. This is similar to what Paul has said in Corinthians:

1Co 3:6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow.
1Co 3:7 The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow.
1Co 3:8 There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done.

Aaron planted, worked, strived to deserve his leadership (servanthood) and priesthood and God made his staff blossom thus legitimizing his leadership. The relationship is there: anointment for leadership or servanthood in the body of God is through appointment and is earned through faithful work before God can make their staff blossom and thus earning the anointment of God.

Sadly this relationship of anointment and effort is sometimes taken for granted because of “titles.” Sometimes the “titles” are taken for the anointment of God and not the blossoming of God’s anointment.

Numbers 16

Num 16:1 Korah son of Izhar, from the Levite clan of Kohath, rebelled against the leadership of Moses. He was joined by three members of the tribe of Reuben---Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth---and by 250 other Israelites, well-known leaders chosen by the community.


Moses’ leadership was challenged.


Num 16:12 Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they said, "We will not come!
Num 16:13 Isn't it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us?
Num 16:14 You certainly have not brought us into a fertile land or given us fields and vineyards as our possession, and now you are trying to deceive us. We will not come!"

Not satisfied with challenging Moses, these Israelites also despised the Lord by telling Moses that they were freed from Egypt only to die in the wilderness. The mutineers were punished by God. They were swallowed by the earth.

Num 16:41 The next day the whole community complained against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have killed some of the LORD's people."

The Israelites protested to Moses about what happened. They even called the mutineers “God’s people.” God was angered and He sent plague to the people. Moses and Aaron stopped the plague by performing the ritual for purification.

God’s showed his justice by destroying the mutineers and their supporters but he also showed mercy by heeding Moses and Aaron’s ritual for purification. God did not destroy the whole of Israel.

Numbers 15

Num 15:22 And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses,
Num 15:23 Even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations;
Num 15:24 Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.

All the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering…

The community has accountability for the actions of the individual members. The fault of one, even unintentional can tarnish the community before the eyes of God. To appease God, the community must do their part in offering sacrifices to the Lord.

This is a good insight for the local church: communal accountability.

Heb 10:24 Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.