Blogging Bible Study: Desert Digging - Journey to Kadesh

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Numbers 10: 11- 12 records the departure from Sinai...

On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony.  Then the Israelites set out from the  Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran.

This was the first time that the Israelites traveled as an ordered march;  part of their instructions during their sojourn at Sinai included how to order the camp, both while they were stopped and while they were on the move, following the cloud.  Before Sinai, they were a group of refugees; now they were a nation moving with purpose.  We have one more mention of 'desert' in chapter 10; Moses asks his father-in-law to accompany them to their destination.  At first, Jethro (aka Hobab) refused,

But Moses said, "Please do not leave us.  You know where we should camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes.  If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the LORD gives us."  (10:31-32).  There's no other reference to the conversation, so apparently Jethro/Hobab went with them.  He knew the desert, and he would know where there was water...springs and cisterns.

I'm going to mention the little side quest here; the trip to the Desert of Paran was a struggle.  In actuality, the word 'desert' only appears in three verses in the account of the journey.  But something happens here that sets up a pattern that will influence a decision that will change the character of the desert sojourn.  In chapter 11, the Israelites resort to grumbling again.  They had been happy enough at Sinai, but once they were on the move again, well,

Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused.  Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.  (11:1). 

They'd gone nearly a whole year without complaining or grumbling...but now it starts again (grumble count: 3)  With the camp ordered as instructed, the 'outskirts' of the camp would be the folks who were not actual Israelites but who were tagging along with them; some had come with them from Egypt, and they caused some problems as we'll see in pretty short order.  But verse 2 tells us that the people cried to Moses while the fire was burning; he prayed for them and the fire died down.  But that didn't stop the grumbling.

The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat!  We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost -- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.  But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" (11:4-6).

Grumble count: 4.

Even Moses picked up a lament; he was overwhelmed by the complaining of the people. The rest of chapter 11 describes God's provision for them...he gave Moses some help in governing the people, and he gave the people quail to eat...and a plague of judgment that killed enough that the place became known as 'Graves of Craving' -- Kibroth Hattaavah.

And it wasn't enough that the people were grumbling; chapter 12 relates that Miriam and Aaron picked up the complaining spirit and THEY began to talk behind Moses' back.

But, as has already been demonstrated, the LORD hears the complaints.  There was a meeting with Moses, and the presence of God came down and scolded Aaron and Miriam...and when it was over, Miriam had been stricken with leprosy.  Moses, of course, interceded and after Miriam had been excluded from the camp for 7 days; she was healed and allowed to return.

After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.  (12:16).

This should have been a relatively easy journey for the company, from Sinai to Paran.  But they made it difficult by complaining.  And I can't help but wonder if that complaining attitude didn't set the stage for what would happen at Kadesh Barnea, there in the desert of Paran.   They were on the brink of their promise...and they had come through a struggle with folks dying in the desert as a result of their complaints.  No enemies had attacked them, they had not had issues looking for water, all their problems on that trip were a direct result of their own complaining.

They were on very dangerous ground, but they didn't see it.

Blogging Bible Study: Desert Digging - Sojourn at Sinai

posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Chronologically speaking, Israel is encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai for almost a year; the record of that stay begins in Exodus 19: 2  and concludes in Numbers 10:11, when the cloud lifted from the tabernacle.

It was a critical, formative time for Israel and there are certainly many lessons from this chunk of scripture.  But I am focusing on 'desert'...so let's see what we find about the desert during that period.

There really are not a lot of references containing 'desert'...the focus was elsewhere during this period.  But there are a few.

Exodus 23:31 references the desert as a territorial border -- "I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River; I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you."


Leviticus 7:38 references the offerings the Israelites were commanded to bring while in the Desert of Sinai; 11:18 mentions the desert owl.  So the next real 'desert' statement is in Leviticus 16

But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat....When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forth the live goat.  He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites -- all their sins-- and put them on the goat's head.  He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task.  The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert."  (Lev. 16:10,20-22)


I have always thought this a little odd.  But the truth is...we don't know the fate of the goat that symbolically carried the sins away into the desert.  Was it a domesticated goat, who would have no clue how to survive, and so slowly die of starvation/thirst...or not so slowly die as prey?   Or was it a desert goat, who was released into his own environment, where he could live happily as a wild goat?  We don't know. But...we do know that this complicated process of sacrifice and release both shows the atonement and the removing of sin from the people.  Once the goat was released at the remote location...whether he lived or died he would not be returning.  He, and the sins he bore, were gone for good.  And, here's another thought that occurs to me...you see that the people could do nothing in and of themselves to atone for or rid themselves of their sin.  No prostration, humiliation, acts of charity, or any other action save the sacrifice for atonement and the banishment of the scapegoat for removal.  If you read through Leviticus, you will find varying sacrifices and/or offerings to be made by an individual who sins in some fashion, and in some cases restitution is required where there is injury or loss to another party, but there is no form of ritualistic...anything...that an individual might be required to do to rid himself of sin or atone for his own sin or obtain forgiveness for his sin.  That is a concept that just isn't there.  There is a sacrifice...there is removal...and it is all ultimately down to the grace of God, who forgives the one who seeks forgiveness.  There are rituals associated with cleanliness, but those things often aren't associated with sin so much as the natural course of life...an illness, dealing with a dead body,  burning garbage, etc.   There is no ritual a human can do by which she/he removes or atones for their own sin.  But under the Law, the scapegoat, by God's grace and design, carried the sins outside the camp into the desert...gone for good..

In Numbers, chapter 1, we see that God commanded a census of the people before they left

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, "Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.'.... and they called the whole community together on the first day of the second month.  The people indicated their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men twenty years old or more were listed by name, one by one, as the LORD commanded Moses.  And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai."  (Num 1: 1-2, 18b-19)  This is the first of two such census takings recorded in Numbers; that's why the book was given the name 'Numbers', to be exact.  Topically, this census is also continued in chapter 3:14, when Moses is commanded to count the males of the tribe of Levi - The LORD said to Moses in the Desert of Sinai, "Count the Levites by their families and clans.  Count every male a month old or more."

But there were two missing from the count; we see in 3:4 what happened to Aaron's two sons Nadab and Abihu -

Nadab and Abihu, however, fell dead before the LORD when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai.  They had no sons; so only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of  their father Aaron. 

That account is recorded in Lev. 10, if you want to go back and read it; I have written a blog post about it before so I'll let you click through if you want to read that.  It is enough, here, to say that the Israelites had to learn to differentiate between what was holy and what was ordinary.

Finally, the last mention of the Desert of Sinai is in chapter 9, just before the Israelites depart

The LORD spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt.  He said, "Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time."...and they did so in the Desert of Sinai at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.  The Israelites did everything just as the LORD commanded Moses. - (Num. 9:1-2,5)

It had been a year since they left Egypt; nine months since they camped at Sinai.  In those nine months, the ragtag band of refugees became a nation with laws, a central place of worship, a chain of command...a national identity beyond just family relationship.  They were going to need it.  In Egypt, they had been sequestered away...living in a separate community, comprising a separate class.  But where they were going, there would be  a battle to maintain their boundaries and identity as the people of God.  They got all of the necessary tools at Sinai.  All they had to do was live according to the instructions God gave them through Moses...and God himself promised to defend them.

Blogging Bible Study: Desert Digging - On the Road to Horeb

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Then Moses led the people from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur.  For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.  Ex. 15:32

And, because I thought it might be interesting to throw a little side quest into it, I'm going to add the next two verses:

When they came to Mara, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah).  So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"

This is three whole days after they stood on the shore of the sea, freed by astonishing events from their captors.  Seventy-two hours after the praise dance rejoicing over their deliverance.  Now they are complaining.  And, here's the side quest...I'm going to count as we go through this desert journey.  This is the second time since leaving Egypt that the Israelites complained.  

Of course, Moses  prayed and God had him throw in a piece of wood to make the water sweet. 

Hey, I'm not explaining this.  I don't know why it worked.  God did it, the people had water, and they made it to an oasis where they camped for a bit before heading into the Desert of Sin ('Zin' in some translations).

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.  The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt!  There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out to this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."  Ex. 16:2-3 (Grumble count: 3)

Then Moses told Aaron, "Say to the entire Israelite community, 'Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.' "  While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in a cloud.   Ex. 16:10

That night, quail fell on the ground and they ate meat, and the next morning, When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.  (Ex. 16:25).  The Israelites called the flakes 'manna.'  They were given instructions ..only gather enough for one day, except for the sixth day, when they were to gather enough for the seventh day as well.  There were some problems in the beginning, but the people soon caught on and fell into the routine. The final instruction regarding manna had to do with a memorial:

Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.' "  (Ex. 16:32).

This is the first memorial they were instructed to make.

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded.  They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.  So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink."  Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me?  Why do you put the LORD to the test?"  Ex. 17:1 - 2  (Grumble count: 4)

They had some more words with Moses about dying from thirst, Moses cried out to God and was given instructions to strike the rock with his staff...and they had water.  They were also attacked by the Amalekites while they were at Rephidim;  a deed that earned the Amalekites a heavy penalty.  Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hands so that he could intercede for the battle  and Joshua led the army to their first military victory. 

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, together with Moses' sons and wife, came to him in the desert, where he was camped near the mountain of God. Ex. 18:5

In addition to bringing Moses' family to him, Jethro gave Moses some excellent advice about dealing with the day-to-day administration of the people, and Moses followed that advice, designating leaders to judge disputes and answer questions.

Then, In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt - on the very day -- they came to the Desert of Sinai.  After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of  Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.  - Ex. 19: 1 - 2

So, Moses brought the people to the place where he first met God.  Three months it took them to get there...and in those three months they had seen many marvelous and incredible things.

They would camp there at the foot of the mountain for almost a whole year.

But the Israelites learned much in those three months.  They learned that God would protect them...first from the Egyptians, and then from the Amalekites; they learned that God would lead them and they learned that God would provide for them.  And, if they paid attention, they would also have learned that God heard them when they grumbled.

That should have been a comfort...and a warning.  God hears the grumbling and...God HEARS the grumbling.  Ain't nobody gonna hide a bad attitude.  God hears.