People on the Move (Numbers 1-3)

TEXT: Hosea 2:14-15

Therefore I am now going to allure her;

I will lead her into the desert

and speak tenderly to her.

There I will give her back her vineyards,

and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

There she will sing as in the days of her youth,

as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

1. Speaking through Hosea, God appears nostalgic for his honeymoon with Israel in the wilderness. If we read the whole Book of Numbers will we come to the same conclusion?
2. Is it fair to say that Numbers is a book of grumblings and rebellions?
3. Several of the great leaders from the Bible spent an extended period of time in the wilderness. Should we follow their example?

TEXT: Numbers 1:1-3

The LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: 2 “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. 3 You and Aaron are to number by their divisions all the men in Israel twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army.

1. 1. How were God’s promises to Abraham fulfilled at this stage of Israel’s history?
   2. Discussing the numbers in the Bible tends to be a divisive issue. Were they intended to be so?
   3. The Israelite camp provided a place for everyone. What are some things that impress you regarding its arrangement?

Lesson: In spite of appearances, God’s ways are trustworthy and orderly.