WINNERS AND LOSERS (Book of Numbers)
By Frank Eiklor and Cecilia Contreras
LESSON 22 Part 1
INTRODUCTION
What makes a person a winner—or a loser? What causes one to please God and another to grieve Him? Jesus told His followers that they would know people by their actions. And the Apostle Paul told us that all of the examples in the Old Testament were to be studied by us in order to know why some people succeeded and others failed.
We’re going through the first five books of Moses ( the Torah) as we learn from the examples of others. Eventually, I hope to cover all of the Old Testament books and examples. There will be, however, times I will leave this study in order to teach you other subjects and materials that I believe to be important for the times in which we live.
NUMBERS
1:2,3,46;2:3,10,18,25—Example of how when God orders the battle, He leaves no room for pride or jealousy. Note His placement of commanders, regiments (twelve tribes) and divisions (four groupings of three tribes each).
4:19,20—Example—Disobedience, even for an instant, was a deadly sin that cost Aaron’s sons their lives.
6:23-27—Another example in how we are called to bless the children of Israel.
8:9,10—Old Testament example of the laying on of hands for anointed service (note what we might call the Levites serving first as “deacons” for 25 years, then as “elders” from age 50).
WAIT ON THE LORD
9:8,22,23—Example of waiting on the Lord for orders, and acting in obedience.
10:29-32—Example—A Midianite is called to bless Israel—and be blessed in the process.
11:1,4-6,10-23,31-34—Example of a congregation’s ingratitude and arrogance that left a man of God weary and brought judgment of the Lord.
11:25-29—Example of God’s man free of ego and any need or esteem and power—delighted to see God using others in leadership.
PREJUDICE HAS A PAYMENT
12:1-10,13-15—An example—Miriam and Aaron are judged by God for racial prejudice—perhaps based on the color of Moses’ wife.
13:1,2,30-33 Example of two men with their eyes on self—the difference between courage and cowardice.
14: (all)—Example—Not to hear and obey Gad’s voice proved fatal to the Israelites. (Jude 5-7); (Hebrews 3:17-19); (Hebrews 6:4-11). Note execution of ten evil leaders and vindication of two men of faith. Note also the death of an entire people—except their children whom they tried to use as excuses for their own unbelief.
15:30-36—Example of how presumptuous sin—doing evil deliberately with full knowledge—is a despising of the Lord and His Word.
REBELLION’S CONSEQUENCES
16:1-3,13,14,27-35—Example of a rebellion against God and His appointed minister—and the deadly consequences.
16:41-50—Example of the utter depravity of the heart—no sooner does God execute rebels than the congregation murmurs against Him all over again. (Note that Moses again pleads for God not to kill them all.)
18:20—Example of the greatest inheritance of all—God Himself.
20:2,3,7-12—Mighty Moses is a sad example of disobeying the Lord’s specific orders. Told to speak to the rock (“and that Rock was Christ” I Corinthians 10:4), he struck the rock. It cost him—and Aaron—the Promised Land. (Note again the murmuring of the people for a return to Egypt.)
(TO BE CONTINUED)
