Feb 15: Numbers 13:17 – 15:21
Did you
notice that Moses gave Joshua a new name? He’s been referred to as ’Joshua’ in
every instance except Num 13:8, so we
don’t know when Moses might have renamed him or why. In essence the words mean
the same thing – ‘salvation’ and ‘the Lord saves’. (Salvation in this case
definitely refers to salvation by the Lord, not other means). I’d love to know
where Nun (Joshua’s father) and his wife came up with that name, especially
given the role Joshua will play later in the Bible. Was it a family name, or
was the name given to them divinely?
Most of
today’s text is familiar to me; it’s a lesson frequently taught to children in
Sunday school. The land is explored, all but Caleb and Joshua report that it’s
too dangerous to move forward and they convince the Israelites to argue against
it. God is frustrated with the people and tells them they will not get to see
the Promised Land because of their disbelief. For the first time I noticed that
it doesn’t say ALL of those over 20 won’t be allowed in – go back and look at
verse 14:29.
It was hard for
me to look at our current culture and not see similar situations. Many times in
the past few years we’ve dealt with conflicting reports about situations where
the majority feels one way and a few disagree. When faced with such
dichotomies, how do you decide which is the right choice? Do you jump on
whichever bandwagon feels right to you, or do you first seek God’s will in the
situation? It’s so easy to agree with those who, in general, believe the way
you do. But is that always the right choice?
TOMORROW’S
TEXT: Numbers 15:22 – 16:50
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