Numbers 32

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Numbers 32:1

Moses Asks for a Successor

There is no bitterness or jealousy at all with Moses. He does not fall into self-pity. He is not concerned with his end. His heart continues to go out to God’s people. In their favor, he asks for a successor. He adds a ‘profile’: it must be a shepherd who cares about the sheep. With this we see with Moses the same as with the Lord Jesus. When we see the need among God’s people, we will pray that the Lord will provide for that need by giving workers. The Lord Jesus urges us to do so (Matthew 9:36-38).

Moses does not ask for someone who knows everything well, but for someone who leads the people visibly and trustworthily. He addresses his request to the “LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh”, an expression which he has used before (Numbers 16:22). He Who is the God of the covenant with His people is also the One Who knows what goes on in the spirit of every man (cf. Acts 1:24a). With this expression Moses indicates the sovereignty of God. He wishes God to use His sovereignty to give His people the shepherd they need.

Numbers 32:2

Moses Asks for a Successor

Numbers 32:3

Moses Asks for a Successor

Numbers 32:4

Joshua Succeeds Moses

Moses receives an immediate response to his request. The answer shows that what he has asked is according to God’s thoughts. Joshua will be the successor of Moses. Moses must lay his hand on him in the presence of Eleazar and all the people. Everyone must witness that Joshua will have the same position as Moses and, as a result, the same authority.

During the thirty-eight years of the wilderness journey we hear nothing of Joshua. But God knows him and has shaped him. He knows what spirit is present in him: in Joshua the Spirit of God is present. Moses has led the people through the wilderness. Joshua will bring the people into the land. Moses is a picture of the Lord Jesus as the One Who shows His people, the church, the way through the wilderness. Joshua is a picture of the Lord Jesus Who introduces His heavenly people in the Spirit into the heavenly blessings.

Moses and Joshua form a unity. That makes the laying on of hands clear. In them we see the Lord Jesus as “the author [Moses] and perfecter [Joshua] of faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Moses has redeemed God’s people from Egypt. The Lord Jesus redeemed His people from the power of sin. By His death, resurrection, and ascension He made way for the Spirit (John 16:7).

Joshua brings the people into the land. The Lord Jesus does this now through His Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit He makes the church familiar with everything of Himself and the blessings of the heavenly places: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose [it] to you” (John 16:13-15).

Aaron is succeeded by Eleazar. They too are both a picture of the Lord Jesus. Aaron is the picture of the Lord Jesus as the One Who carries His people through the wilderness on His shoulders (a picture of strength) and on His chest (a picture of love). Eleazar presents the Lord Jesus as the High Priest who represents His people in heaven.

Moses and Aaron are connected to each other for the deliverance out of Egypt. Joshua and Eleazar are connected for the entry into the land. Joshua stands before Eleazar, as if he is subordinate to him. It expresses that leadership is always subject to priesthood. A person can never be a good leader if he is not a good priest.

The fact that Joshua stands before Eleazar also expresses the fact that taking possession of the land under the guidance of Joshua depends on the high priest. We see in it the picture that everything we can enjoy of the heavenly blessings through the Spirit is based on the intercession of the Lord Jesus as High Priest. Joshua is dependent on the priesthood for his advancement. Thus the presence and working of the Holy Spirit depends on the presence of Christ in the holy place.

Through Eleazar the will of God can be known. The urim is with him, which means ‘lights’. Divine light about the manner of taking possession of the land is obtained from the Lord Jesus as the High Priest. What He makes clear can then be done in the power of the Spirit.

Numbers 32:5

Joshua Succeeds Moses

Numbers 32:6

Joshua Succeeds Moses

Numbers 32:7

Joshua Succeeds Moses

Numbers 32:8

Joshua Succeeds Moses

Numbers 32:9

Joshua Succeeds Moses

Numbers 32:11

Introduction

Numbers 28-29 are only easy to understand when we see that we are dealing with a people who have come to the end of the wilderness journey. The feasts we find in these chapters and in connection with which the sacrifices are made are also found in Exodus 23, Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16.

In each bible book they are viewed from a different angle: 1. In Exodus 23 the feasts are connected with the law, the rights of God. 2. In Leviticus 23 the emphasis is on the feasts themselves and the significance they have for the Israelites; they prophetically represent the history of God’s people. 3. In Deuteronomy 16 it is about the time that the people are in the land and the feasts are in a special connection with “the place where the LORD chooses to establish His name” (Deuteronomy 16:2). 4. In Numbers 28-29 the accent is on the offerings brought during the feasts. These are offerings of which God says: “My offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me” (Numbers 28:2).

These two chapters are full of sacrifices. Each sacrifice is a picture of Christ in His Person and His work. Christ and His offering are all for God’s heart. He wishes it to be the same with us. Therefore, He commands us to come up with these offerings, that is, to tell Him about the different aspects of His Son’s offering that emerge in the various offerings.

In the wilderness the people are not ready for these offerings. Now that they are at the end of the wilderness journey and are just in front of the land, they are spiritually ripe for it. In view of the land, God is going to tell His people what He wants them to do there: He wants them to bring offerings to Him there. The old generation died in the wilderness. He addresses Himself to a new people and speaks to them about the wishes of His heart toward the Lord Jesus, for all offerings speak of Him.

The book of Numbers is about the wilderness journey. The meaning of this is the life of God’s people on earth as a place of trial. But the earth will not always remain a place of trial. For there will come a time when the earth will be the resting-place for God’s people. The offerings God speaks about with His people here refer to that time.

Command to Bring Offerings to the LORD

After the change of leadership that has passed from Moses to Joshua, God makes it clear that the transfer of leadership does not change the bringing of offerings to Him. God makes clear to the people to what He is entitled. In Numbers 15, He also spoke of offerings. There it is about offerings of a voluntary nature and there they are in contrast with an apostate people. However, the apostasy of the people does not diminish the possibility for the few faithful to bring the LORD offerings when they will have arrived in the land. But even then, He connects His conditions to the way He wants the offerings to be brought.

Here God speaks of a multitude of offerings in connection with the various feasts that the people will celebrate in the land. These are regulations for the people as a whole. God presents the feasts in their full extent and glory. Everything is about Him. This can be seen in the recurring words “My” and “Me”. The people must know what belongs to Him. Are we aware of this?

This is not about knowing the truth about the feasts. We find the truth about the feasts in Leviticus 23. There we find what the feasts mean. What still needs to be learned is what is due to God in each of those steps, with each of those feasts. And what is due to God? These chapters describe a large number of burnt offerings. No peace offerings, only a few sin offerings, but especially burnt offerings. This represents the work of the Lord Jesus in what God has enjoyed of it, what the Lord Jesus has given to God in it. What we have here is therefore the ‘material’ for eternal worship. We give Him in worship what He has given us in His Son.

The multitude of offerings put for our attention in these two chapters bear an overwhelming testimony to the work of the Lord Jesus. All the actions of God are based on it. And He wants us to be ever more impressed and talk about it with Him. Hence His precept to take care to bring Him “My offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me” (Numbers 28:2).

As said, God speaks to us about the all surpassing offering of His Son in His great richness as we come to the end of our wilderness experiences. The fact is, that the more experience we have gained in the wilderness about who we are and Who He is, the more we will long to honor and worship Him.

Numbers 32:12

Introduction

Command to Bring Offerings to the LORD

Numbers 32:13

The Daily Burnt Offering

The first sacrifice God speaks of is the daily burnt offering. It consists of a sheep or a lamb. Every day a lamb is brought in the morning and a lamb in the evening, that is, “continuously” (Numbers 28:4; 10; Exodus 29:38). It is the constant presentation of the value of Christ. God would like to be reminded of Christ daily, that is to say, without any break. Doing so also assures us that we will not forget Him. We may also see in it that God looks at us, His children, in His Son as the burnt offering.

The burnt offering must also be accompanied by a grain offering. That speaks of the life of the Lord Jesus. We may tell God that that Man accomplished that wonderful work. It is due to God. We may thank Him for all the good things in creation, but above all He wants to hear from us Who the Lord Jesus is for Him.

Numbers 32:14

The Daily Burnt Offering

Numbers 32:15

The Daily Burnt Offering

Numbers 32:16

The Daily Burnt Offering

Numbers 32:17

The Daily Burnt Offering

Numbers 32:18

The Daily Burnt Offering

Numbers 32:19

The Burnt Offering on the Sabbath Day

Additional offerings must be brought on the sabbath day. It is twice as much as is brought daily. The daily preciousness of Christ remains the same forever. The kingdom of peace and eternity confirm what has been seen by us of Christ every day in recent times and what has always stood before God’s attention. One application may be that on certain occasions when we are particularly impressed by God’s work in Christ, we honor Him all the more powerfully.

When the true sabbath, that is to say, the rest which will be part of creation during the millennial kingdom of peace, has come, the soothing aroma of the burnt offering will rise in double measure. The appreciation of the sacrifice will be present much fuller and more widely spread, in all creation.

The sabbath in a spiritual sense speaks of the rest that God has found in the work of the Lord Jesus and which the believer has also found in that work. In a song we say it this way: ‘He in Whom God Himself can rest, is the resting point for me too’.

Numbers 32:20

The Burnt Offering on the Sabbath Day

Numbers 32:21

Offerings on the Feast of New Moon

Before looking at the offerings we find in these verses on the occasion of the Feast of New Moon, it is good, as an introduction to the offerings, to first summarize the rest of the chapter and the whole following chapter (Numbers 28:11-29:40). In that section it is about the monthly and annual feasts and the sacrifices that are made.

They are divided into two series of three feasts. The first series can be applied to the church. Those feasts have their fulfillment in the present time. The second series can be applied to Israel. They will find their fulfillment in the restoration of Israel as God’s people on earth.

The first three feasts belong together. This can be seen from the fact that the same offerings are brought at these feasts. One feast is held every first day of a new month. The next two feasts are held in the first half of the year, one in the first month and one in the third month. On

the Feast of New Moon (Numbers 28:11-15), 2. the Feast of Unleavened Bread, immediately following the Passover (Numbers 28:16-25) and 3. the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Numbers 28:26-31)

are brought as offerings:

two bulls for a burnt offering; for each bull the following is added a. a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of half a hin of wine 2. one ram for a burnt offering; and a. a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of a third of a hin of wine 3. seven male lambs one year old for a burnt offering and per lamb a. a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and b. a drink offering of a fourth of a hin of wine 4. a goat for a sin offering

Here we see larger burnt offerings than with the daily burnt offering and the burnt offering on the sabbath. On the occasion of the feasts, no lambs or sheep are brought as burnt offerings, as happens with the daily and weekly burnt offering, but bulls. They are also greater offerings than those brought in the second series. There it is one bull, while two bulls are brought here. At these three feasts a ram is also brought as a burnt offering. And every time there is talk of seven sheep or lambs.

All these sacrifices speak of the Lord Jesus. 1. The bull represents how He went His way to the cross in irresistible force and completely offered himself up to God there. 2. The ram suggests that He did so in perfect dedication to God. 3. The sheep or the lamb depicts that He completed the whole work without any complaint, without any restraint, completely willing. The number seven underlines that He has worked a complete salvation through His work on the cross. He is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

God wants us to bring those offerings to Him as proof of our recognition and agreement with His appreciation of His Son’s offering. For Israel there are daily, weekly, monthly, and annual special occasions to honor Him through a wide variety of offerings that all speak of the great work His Son has done and to tell Him about the special Person His Son is.

It calls upon us, children of God, to make every circumstance in which we find ourselves an opportunity to thank God (1 Thessalonians 5:18). If He is everything for us, it will not be difficult for us. We will then elaborate in telling the Father Who the Lord Jesus is for us. To do so, we will want to explore Scripture in order to learn more and more about the glory of the Son.

Now let’s look at Numbers 28:11-15. The expression “at the beginning of each of your months” appears only here in the five books of Moses. This may have to do with the fact that it is about the experiences and changes to which a people in the wilderness are subject. Again and again God makes a new beginning possible.

The Feast of the New Moon speaks of the new light that God lets shine on earth on His testimony, while it is still night. This testimony is now given by the church on earth while in the world it is night.

This testimony can only be given on the basis of the work of the Lord Jesus as the burnt offering, which is His glorification of God. The ram speaks of the dedication of the Lord Jesus. He is our example of dedication. We testify on earth, where sin is still present. This is why there is also a sin offering, which indicates that the Lord Jesus destroyed the power of sin.

Numbers 32:22

Offerings on the Feast of New Moon

the Feast of New Moon (Numbers 28:11-15), 2. the Feast of Unleavened Bread, immediately following the Passover (Numbers 28:16-25) and 3. the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Numbers 28:26-31)

are brought as offerings:

two bulls for a burnt offering; for each bull the following is added a. a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of half a hin of wine 2. one ram for a burnt offering; and a. a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of a third of a hin of wine 3. seven male lambs one year old for a burnt offering and per lamb a. a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and b. a drink offering of a fourth of a hin of wine 4. a goat for a sin offering

Numbers 32:23

Offerings on the Feast of New Moon

the Feast of New Moon (Numbers 28:11-15), 2. the Feast of Unleavened Bread, immediately following the Passover (Numbers 28:16-25) and 3. the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Numbers 28:26-31)

are brought as offerings:

two bulls for a burnt offering; for each bull the following is added a. a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of half a hin of wine 2. one ram for a burnt offering; and a. a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of a third of a hin of wine 3. seven male lambs one year old for a burnt offering and per lamb a. a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and b. a drink offering of a fourth of a hin of wine 4. a goat for a sin offering

Numbers 32:24

Offerings on the Feast of New Moon

the Feast of New Moon (Numbers 28:11-15), 2. the Feast of Unleavened Bread, immediately following the Passover (Numbers 28:16-25) and 3. the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Numbers 28:26-31)

are brought as offerings:

two bulls for a burnt offering; for each bull the following is added a. a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of half a hin of wine 2. one ram for a burnt offering; and a. a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of a third of a hin of wine 3. seven male lambs one year old for a burnt offering and per lamb a. a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and b. a drink offering of a fourth of a hin of wine 4. a goat for a sin offering

Numbers 32:25

Offerings on the Feast of New Moon

the Feast of New Moon (Numbers 28:11-15), 2. the Feast of Unleavened Bread, immediately following the Passover (Numbers 28:16-25) and 3. the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Numbers 28:26-31)

are brought as offerings:

two bulls for a burnt offering; for each bull the following is added a. a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of half a hin of wine 2. one ram for a burnt offering; and a. a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and b. a drink offering of a third of a hin of wine 3. seven male lambs one year old for a burnt offering and per lamb a. a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and b. a drink offering of a fourth of a hin of wine 4. a goat for a sin offering

Numbers 32:26

Offers on the Passover

The Passover is the remembrance of the deliverance out of Egypt. The Passover lamb recalls the death of the Lord Jesus as necessary for our redemption from the power and slavery of satan, sin and the world, represented in Pharaoh and Egypt. The Passover lamb is not mentioned here. The Passover flows, as it were, into the Feast of Unleavened Bread, indicating the close connection between the two.

In Luke 22 it is said in this way: “Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover” (Luke 22:1). The emphasis is on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but its exit point cannot be ignored. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread form a unity and cannot be separated from each other, although they are distinguished from each other.

The connection between the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread has an important meaning for us. The Passover speaks to us of Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7b). For us, for whom Christ “was sacrificed”, the Feast of Unleavened Bread means that there may be no place in our lives for sin, of which leaven is invariably a picture in Scripture. On the contrary, our life may be a feast in which sincerity and truth determine the brilliance of this feast (1 Corinthians 5:8).

The offerings brought at this feast determine that we can only celebrate this feast because He has been what is represented in these offerings. If we bring these offerings – and God asks this from us! – we ourselves are also constantly reminded of what the Lord Jesus has been and has done for God and that it is only because of this that we can celebrate this feast.

Numbers 32:27

Offers on the Passover

Numbers 32:28

Offers on the Passover

Numbers 32:29

Offers on the Passover

Numbers 32:30

Offers on the Passover

Numbers 32:31

Offers on the Passover

Numbers 32:32

Offers on the Passover

Numbers 32:33

Offers on the Passover

Numbers 32:34

Offers on the Passover