January 6, 2025
Passage Read: Numbers 24-27
Meditation Verses: 27:16-17
Thought
Here Moses is concerned for the Israelites, that there be an orderly transfer of authority, rather than an apparently random transition. Before he departs, Moses asks the Lord to publicly appoint the next leader, and God agrees. But after Joshua, there would be no king and no leader appointed to take his place. Instead, a judge would arise from here or from there, as needed. The people were in effect to govern themselves, to know and pass on the Lord's teachings so that each family would walk in the Lord's ways, and there be no need of a public ruler.
Application
What a concept, that men know God well enough to govern themselves, and organize themselves when needed to fight a common enemy. In effect the priests would rule, but more as teachers to ensure that everyone knew the Lord, rather than formally as king. The elders of each community would bear responsibility for each town and village and city, exercising justice and enforcing God's laws. The experiment lasted four hundred years, then the people asked for a king, so there would be a clear ruler and line of succession. Men chose to give up their autonomy for the security of national government. Like at Mount Sinai, the people asked for someone to represent them before God and bring God's commands and instructions back to them. The priests were not sufficient. They wanted someone appointed full time to deal with other nations and the realm of men. Though there was an element of rejecting God as King, the Lord agreed. In fact, He had spoken of a king long before the people asked for one. If all men everywhere had one law and one rule, leaving off formal government would be more possible, but when other nations organize and band together to bully other peoples, there is a desire to likewise organize for defense. God wanted the nations and Israel to see that He could and would defend them, but they would need to hold to His ways. A human king, on the other hand, would have to fight and defend them, whether they did all God asked or not. That's where the rejection of God came in when they asked for a king; they wouldn't be so obligated to walk in God's ways in order to feel protected. We will apparently not see this form of self-government return during the reign of Christ, but after the kingdom period, when God Himself comes down out of heaven, there will be no need of enforcers and law-givers, because we will all know God as He originally intended, and there will be no more people who rebel! We will be free to live out eternal days in peace, without any kind of fear. That's something worth looking forward to.