PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Numbers 25-27
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“So the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” (Numbers 27:17)
In a dangerous situation, good leadership is needed to lead and manage the people.
Sometimes hard decisions need to be made, for the benefit of the people.
Israel was a newborn nation, weak and vulnerable and in need to God’s leadership.
Without good leadership, they would be like sheep without a good shepherd.
There are some brutal events in these stories, like the deaths of Zimri and Kozbi (ch.25).
Yet we need to remember the brutal and dangerous context of these stories.
(Was this an ancient form of ‘social distancing’, but in a war zone?)
The lambs were playing with the bears (Baal of Peor), and were dooming themselves.
We no longer live in that ancient culture, but we face our own risks.
God has raised up a new Joshua (the Hebrew version of the Greek name ‘Jesus’).
We are like sheep too, vulnerable and weak in a morally, spiritually corrupt world.
He prompts and helps us to put to death the sinful impulses within our own hearts.
We are called to follow Jesus in His spiritual battle against pride, lust, greed, abuse, etc.
Our world is just as dangerous, and we need Jesus to lead us through this valley of death.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to see the moral and spiritual dangers within and around me. Humble me like a sheep, help me like a shepherd, and lead me through this wild world to the “table” of goodness and mercy prepared for us.
…. The Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd (Num 7:17)
Thank you Lord Jesus you are our Good Shepherd! And you will never leave us. In this Coronavirus pandemic lead us Jesus to be your light and salt in our community who are in panic mode. Lead us to what to do in exercising our faith with good works so that you will shine through us — the followers of Jesus.
Preparations for the move into the promised land – some cleansing needed first – to root out any ‘idolatry’, administration for distribution of the land according to clan size, and the transfer of leadership from Moses to Joshua. God was very much overseeing all this – his ‘sheep’ all they had to do was follow and obey the instructions – and keep themselves from being contaminated by the worship practices of the nations around them – including the intermarrying! How God wanted a nation that would be faithful – to be a nation of priests by whom all other nations would be blessed. Only through Jesus did the blessing fully come. Thank you Jesus.