MONDAY 10 January 2022 “Logistics” Numbers 2:1-16

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Good Monday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

No matter where you live in the world, I have a simple question for you. Does your neighborhood feel like a large, extended family? If we roll the calendar back two generations or so, that’s what most neighborhoods were like. Adults kept a watchful eye on all the neighborhood kids playing anywhere near their house and if any child needed a drink or the bathroom, well of course, come right in. Or if a bully was frightening the kids, an adult would put themself in the middle of the kids and bring calm and protection for those who might be frightened. How very, very different today, right?

But what if everyone who lived in your neighborhood really WAS your extended family? ALL of your extended family! Recently, in our “Walking with Jesus” journey we’ve been traveling with Moses and more than 1 million people who escaped out of slavery in Egypt. They’ve been camped at Mount Sinai for nearly one year, and have just completed the construction of the God designed “Tent of Meeting”. Yesterday, we saw they completed a census, by age, family and name, of ALL the Hebrew men who had come out of Egypt! Now today I invite us to watch something amazing, remarkable really! God takes on the role of “City Planner” and tells these more than 1 million people that He has a very specific arrangement for how this city is to be laid out… where every family should live! Furthermore, since very soon this huge city would pack up their belongings and resume their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, God had a specific plan for HOW 1 million people could move in orderly fashion from one place to another!! Can you imagine if God gave you the assignment to figure out such a plan for 1 million people?

Moses gives us a detailed record of this amazing feat in Numbers 2, did you know that? Here it is in one summary statement: “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘The Israelites are to camp AROUND the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each man under his standard with the banners of his family.” (Numbers 2:1) I wonder if God paused right there and let Moses and Aaron begin to consider the profound implications of this statement. God wanted the “Tent of Meeting” to be in the very CENTER of this city. Maybe a better way to say this is: God wanted the “Tent of Meeting” to BE THE CENTER of life for His people!

May I invite us to ponder the implications of this plan of God for living? This “Tent of Meeting” with the cloud hovering above it represented the PRESENCE of God among the people. What a great way to live! Anytime, day or night, no matter where you might find yourself in this great city of more than 1 million people, just look toward the center of the city and there you’ll see the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night… God is here, among His people, available to His people!! Can you imagine how that should affect words spoken, choices made, behavior and attitudes? But there was more for Moses and Aaron to contemplate: how in the world would they spread the word to 1 million people to all move their tents into an orderly arrangement AROUND the “Tent of Meeting”? How would the people know WHERE to pitch their tent?

So God continued His explanation. It’s amazing really, and as you read it I wonder if a picture, a city plan begins to take shape in your mind’s eye? Look at Numbers 2 “On the east, toward the sunrise, the divisions of the camp of Judah are to encamp, under their standard…His division numbers 74,600. The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them…His division numbers 54,400. The tribe of Zebulun will be next… His division numbers 57,400.” (Numbers 2:3-9) Can you see Moses and Aaron taking hold of a tablet and saying, ‘Wait God, slow down, let us make a drawing of this…”?

Now friends, I have a question for all of us: Do you think WHERE we live is important to God? Does it really make any difference in the grand scheme of things? YES my friends YES it does! Do you know why? Because we human beings are designed by God to live IN COMMUNITY! In mutually beneficial relationships with other people. We are NOT designed to live alone, in isolation from others. But one of the schemes of the dark kingdom is to try and get us to live in one extreme or the other… either co-dependent, suffocating each other, or isolated from each other. Either of these types of living is dangerous and can be emotionally harmful, am I right? Do you know anyone living in either extreme?

Did you notice as God was giving instructions to Moses and Aaron about the arrangement of this tent city, that God knew exactly how many people were in each ‘tribe’? How did God know that? Well He’s God and of course He knows everything, but beyond that, do you remember they had just completed the census, so it would now be quite easy for people to arrange themselves according to their families, clans and tribes. Do you see how strategic God is in the instructions HE gives to Moses for His people? In this ‘city planning’ arrangement everyone would be living very near their immediate and extended family. Can you see all the great benefits which could flow from that? Mutual accountability / mutual support and encouragement / building family memories and traditions and so much more! What a great idea for living in community!

But there was more, much more. God continued His explanation to Moses: “All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, numbers 186,400. They will set out first.“ (Numbers 2:9) Do you see it my friends? God knew that very soon He would raise that cloud up from the “Tent of Meeting” and that would mean it was time to pack up and move from Mount Sinai, and the people would follow the cloud to their next camping place and eventually all the way to the Promised Land. But how do 1 million people move without mayhem and chaos? The little phrase “They will set out first” meant this huge city of more than 1 million people would move from place to place like a huge parade, in very orderly fashion, with each tribe knowing exactly where their thousands of people would fit in the parade!

So the tribe of Judah would go first, followed by the tribe of Issachar followed by the tribe of Zebulun! If the men of these three tribes counted in the military age census, that would be age 20 to about age 60, numbered 186,400, then I would assume when you add those over age 60 and under age 20 and all the women, these three tribes would be well over 1/2 million people!! What do you think about that my friends?

Can you see Moses and Aaron’s eyes getting wide as they begin to envision this huge, well organized, mass of humanity, moving from one place to another, as a large parade, with ALL their belongings? God continued with His instructions: “On the south will be the divisions of the camp of Reuben… and the tribe of Simeon will camp next to them… and the tribe of Gad will be next… All the men assigned to the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, number 151,450. They will set out second.” (Numbers 2:10-16) So once again if we add all the males younger than 20 and older than 60 and all the females, how many people do you calculate might be in these three tribes? Perhaps 400,000?? I wonder if you are a bit overwhelmed my friends as you contemplate the logistics of all this and God’s plan for His people? Now consider this question: Do you believe that God is looking at you and your family, and where each of you lives and what is going on in each of your lives, with just as much interest and attention to every detail, as He was looking at these, His people in the desert at Mount Sinai? YES my friends YES!!

So let’s pause right here. Oh there is yet much more that God will say to Moses and Aaron about the arrangement of this city and how it should move from one place to another, but I wonder if God paused there giving them time to absorb the logistical genius plan God was laying out for them? Let’s join Moses and Aaron in our amazement as we consider God’s attention to even the details of where you and I live, and how we relate to the people who live around us, and how we relate to our families, even if they are 1/2 way around the world?

And please don’t lose the significance of living with the strong awareness that God’s Presence is with you, right where you live, and He wants to be the very CENTER of your life, your neighborhood and your city! So look with fresh eyes at our communities, our neighborhoods. How do they compare to this picture in Numbers 2? What is God saying to you and me today about where we live, and HOW we live there for HIS glory, with a strong sense that God Himself has placed us where we live. WHY? How do we represent God in the places where we live, my friends?

Today’s Scripture is Numbers 2:1-16.

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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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