Numbers 9
McGeeCHAPTER 9THEME: Passover observed on wilderness march; pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by night.
Numbers 9:1
PASSOVER OBSERVED ON WILDERNESS MARCHIsrael was to celebrate the Passover while they were in the wilderness. So they kept the Passover on this, the second year after they left Egypt. During the celebration a problem arose. There were certain men who were defiled by a dead body so that they could not keep the Passover. They came and reported it to Moses and Aaron and asked what they should do.
Numbers 9:8
Moses didn’t appeal to a book of church order; he didn’t appeal to Robert’s Rules of Order. He appealed to God. I repeat again what I have said so often. We are to appeal to the Word of God today. That is the authority for the child of God. Now I realize there will be different ideas on the interpretation of the Word of God. That is why we should study it and be sensible in our interpretation of it.
Numbers 9:9
Those who were unable to keep the Passover at the appointed time were to have a delayed Passover and celebrate it a month later.
Numbers 9:15
PILLAR OF CLOUD BY DAY, PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHTThe children of Israel had a covering cloud, which was the Skekinah glory. This was one of many things that made them different from any other nation. When Paul was writing to the Romans and wanted to give some of the identifying marks of the Israelites, he wrote this, “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (Rom_9:4-5). You see, he mentions the glory. These were the only people who ever had the visible presence of God with them.
Numbers 9:18
Moses was not the only one who decided whether they would march today or tomorrow, or whether they would stay in camp for several days. God decided that. We need to recognize today that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church. He is the One who should lead. The problem is that the church is so busy going its own way that oftentimes He isn’t even consulted. But Christ is still the Head of His church, and those who are His will follow Him. You will notice that sometimes they stayed in camp for several days, even months, and they were about a year at Mount Sinai. They were out there in that wilderness for forty years.
Numbers 9:22
When the pillar of cloud lifted in the morning, they knew it was a day for them to journey. The Levites would go immediately to take down the tabernacle, and I believe they could do this in thirty minutes or so, and would put it up just as quickly in the evening when they came to rest. Then the pillar of cloud that had led them would settle down over the tabernacle. This pillar of cloud and pillar of fire was the Skekinah glory that was the visible presence of God. After their wilderness journey was over, and they were settled in the land, Solomon erected a temple to replace the mobile tabernacle. “And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD” (1Ki_8:10-11). God, you see, hallowed the temple with His presence.
However, later in their history when Israel turned from her God, the Shekinah glory left the temple. Ezekiel tells of its hesitant departure, as though reluctant to leave, then of its lifting up and disappearance into the heavens. Of the Lord Jesus, John wrote, “And we beheld his glory,” but not many saw it at His first coming. It was His glory that He laid aside when He came to this earthnot His deity, but His glory. When He comes again, there will be “the sign of the Son of man in heaven,” and I believe that sign will be the Shekinah glory. Christ will return to earth in all His glory. That sign is not for the church. We are never given a visible presence of God. Rather, we are given the inward presence of God, the Holy Spirit indwelling us. The Spirit of God is in the believer today. What wonderful truths there are here for us.