The book of Numbers begins with the mustering of an army and ends with one as well. The new recruits are the sons of the cowardly who died in the wilderness, refusing to follow Joshua into the Promised Land.
Once again the army numbered over 600,000 fighting men (Numbers 26:51), their families and clans named, with this footnote:
“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.”
Here is one of the more sobering scenes in the entire Bible. Imagine the impact upon the nation. Just burying the dead would have been a huge task. It amounts to over 15,000 deaths each year for the 38 years of wandering. That’s about 43 funerals each and every day, not including their wives and others, with most of the number dying prematurely.
The new generation learned their lesson well, and followed Joshua, conquering much of the Promised Land. But what can we learn from all of this?
First, God’s plan will go on with or without us, for the Lord can raise up the forces when He chooses. After Judas defected, a twelfth apostle, Matthias, was quicky chosen. Likewise, Timothy became Paul’s young associate when Mark went back home. See Acts 1, 13, and 16.
Second, we have an opportunity to believe God for each of our own challenges and daily play an active role in what He is doing in our world. See Romans 12:1-8.
Third, even though those around us may fail and fall, we, like Joshua and Caleb, need not follow the crowd into defeat. God always works with a faithful remnant, as Elijah discovered (1 Kings 19:18).
Let’s always remember these principles, so well applied by Mordecai in his admonition to Esther:
“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.
And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom
for such a time as this?”
Esther 4:14