Daily Thoughts from Numbers: Your Bigger Purpose (26:1-65)

After the plague, the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.” And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Take a census of the people, from twenty years old and upward,” as the LORD commanded Moses. The people of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt were:…

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

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list. But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.”

This was the list of the Levites according to their clans:…

And those listed were 23,000, every male from a month old and upward. For they were not listed among the people of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them among the people of Israel.

These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the LORD had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.  (Numbers 26:1-65 ESV)

After 40 years in the wilderness all the previous generation who rebelled and refused to go in and fight against the Canaanites have died.  But when God tells Moses to number the current generation, it numbers nearly the same as that previous generation.  The numerical strength of Israel’s army has not decreased.

The numbering also determines who will get the bigger portions of land in Canaan.  That will be dependent on tribe size.  The Levites, of course, will not get land allotments but will live off of the tithe of the other tribes.

Two men from the previous generation remain a part of this army, Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who wanted to obey Yahweh and take the land.  They will get their chance this go round.  God will use those who trust and obey Him.

Are you a Joshua and Caleb or more like one of those who perished in the wilderness?  Will you trust God when He directs you in your life?  Will you even look to Him for what He wants your life to be about?  He wants to use you for His greater purposes.