Numbers 33:1-49 - The Holy Land

I. THAT THE ONE GREAT DUTY OF ISRAEL IN TAKING POSSESSION OF HIS OWN LAND WAS WHOLLY TO DISPOSSESS THE NATIVES , AS BEING ENEMIES OF GOD AND OF HIS WORSHIP . Even so the one condition on which we inherit that kingdom which (in its present aspect) is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, is that we put to death the deeds of the flesh, and crucify the old man, and wage a war of extermination against all the sinful affections which have made their home in our human life.

II. THAT ISRAEL WAS FURTHER REQUIRED TO ABOLISH ALL THEIR MONUMENTS OF IDOLATRY , HOWEVER PLEASING AND INTERESTING . Even so all the devices and imaginations of the natural man, however attractive, which are contrary to the sole worship and service of the living God must be wholly, and without exception, destroyed.

III. THAT THE COMMAND TO EXTERMINATE SEEMED HARD , AND WAS UNGRATEFUL ( NO DOUBT ) TO MOST IN ISRAEL . Why be so extreme? Why not enough to conquer, without extirpating? Why not enough to possess the best of the land, without labouring to clear all the corners? What harm could feeble remnants of heathen do? could they not even make them useful? Even so it seems hard that Christian people may make no compromise with, and show no toleration for, what is sinful and selfish in human life. Why need we be perfect? Shall nothing be allowed to the old Adam? May we never be content? If leading on the whole a Christian life, why weary ourselves about small points of moral excellence? Many things not exactly right may be very useful; may they not be turned to account?

IV. THAT AS A FACT THE COMMAND TO EXTIRPATE WAS NOT OBEYED . Many were left unmolested out of indolence and cowardice when the first rush of conquest was passed; many were spared out of unwillingness to go to extremes with them. Even so most Christian people leave considerable portions of their own lives (which God hath given them for a prey, Jeremiah 45:5 ) under the dominion of passions, emotions, motives which are not Christian. They overcome the tyrannies of sin, but leave the remnants of sin unsubdued; in other words, they subdue their evil passions and desires, but shrink from destroying them. E.g; how few have their temper entirely under control! Thus the kingdom of heaven is never truly theirs, because of the sins which they have been too indolent or too self-confident to dislodge.

V. THAT AS A FACT THE OTHER COMMAND WAS NOT OBEYED WHOLLY ; SOMETIMES GRAVEN IMAGES WERE SERVED , SOMETIMES HIGH PLACES TURNED TO THE WORSHIP OF THE LORD , TO THE GREAT DETRIMENT AND DANGER OF THE TRUE FAITH . Even so the vain devices and perverted imaginations of the natural man have not been discarded by the servants of Christ in many cases; too often they have been either adopted in their blank disloyalty to Christ (as, e.g; that "covetousness which is idolatry"), or else adapted to religious ends (as many forms of will-worship, material and mental) to the detriment of that singleness of eye and heart which God requires.

VI. THAT THE REMNANTS OF THE HEATHEN , IF SPARED , WERE TO BECOME PRICKS AND THORNS ( i.e; CONSTANT AND DANGEROUS ANNOYANCES ) TO THEM , AND WOULD VEX THEM . Even so if we leave the remnants of sin in the new life which God has given us to lead, these will surely become a continual source of unhappiness and danger. This is why most Christians are more or less restless, dissatisfied, uneven in temper, uncertain in behaviour, having little "peace" and less "joy in the Holy Ghost." It is simply that they have not obeyed the call to make a clearance of old bad habits and evil tempers; do not recognize the sinfulness of little sins; think it does not matter; will not take the trouble necessary to hunt them down; have learnt by experience to tolerate them. No more than this, but no less. They can never be made happy save through patient, prayerful toil to root the remnants of sin out of their hearts and lives.

VII. THAT THE END OF SUCH UNFAITHFULNESS , IF NOT AMENDED , WAS TO BE EXPATRIATION . Both races could not dwell in the land; if Israel would not drive out the heathen, he must be driven out himself. Even so if Christian people will not labour by grace to take complete possession in God's name of their own lives, the end will be that they will lose them altogether. Either grace must make a full end of our sins, or our sins will make an end of grace, because God will withdraw it. There may not be any willful toleration of moral evil in ourselves, nor urging of excuses for its continuance.

Consider again, with respect to Canaan—

I. THAT ISRAEL WAS TO POSSESS IT , BECAUSE GOD HAD GIVEN IT TO THEM ; IT WAS HIS , AND HE CHOSE TO DO SO ; NO SUCH TITLE WAS EVER GRANTED TO ANY PEOPLE . Even so we are to take possession (by patient well-doing) of the kingdom of heaven, not because it can be earned, but because God hath freely given it to us, whom he hath chosen. This kingdom, therefore, whether as within us or as above us, is ours by a most absolute and indefeasible title.

II. THAT THE GRANT OF CANAAN TO ISRAEL IMPLIED ALL NECESSARY SUCCOUR IN CONQUERING AND OCCUPYING IT , else had the name of God been disgraced. Even so the fact that God hath given to us the kingdom of heaven is pledge positive that we shall receive strength to overcome every hindrance and obstacle, if we be faithful.

III. THAT THE DIVISION OF THE LAND WAS SO ORDERED THAT EQUALITY SHOULD AS FAR AS POSSIBLE BE PRESERVED , AND FAVOURITISM MADE IMPOSSIBLE . Even so God hath so ordered his kingdom that none has cause to envy other, and none can complain of partiality; since all shall inherit heaven alike, and yet heaven itself shall be diverse according to the growth of each in grace (cf. Matthew 20:13-15 and Matthew 20:23 with Luke 19:15-19 and Matthew 25:21-23 ).

IV. THAT THE HOLY LAND WAS DELIMITED BEFORE THEY ENTERED , BUT THE BOUNDARIES ARE TO A CONSIDERABLE EXTENT UNKNOWN . Even so the kingdom of heaven is defined and described in manifold ways in the word of God, and yet it is hard to know how far it extends, and where the boundary runs between that which is of nature and that which is of grace. And as those frontiers could only be traced by such as were locally familiar with the places named, so the extent of the kingdom can only be known by such as are familiar by experience with every part of it.

V. THAT THE LIMITS MARKED DOWN WERE APPARENTLY THE NATURAL LIMITS OF CANAAN , WITHOUT ANY RESERVATIONS (such as Philistia, Phoenicia, &c.;). Even so God hath given to us to possess the whole life of man which may be lived in holiness, according to the utmost possible expansion of our human nature in all its fullness.

VI. THAT THE LAND ACTUALLY OCCUPIED BY ISRAEL WAS BOTH LARGER AND SMALLER THAN THAT DELIMITED ; not reaching so far from south to north, yet not so strait from west to east. Even so it is certain that Christian life, as lived, does not agree with the ideal in the New Testament. It does not reach so far, not attain its full measure, in one way, while it occupies additional space in another way. And as the additional breadth gained by the trans-Jordanic settlement, while not commanded, was yet (it seems) allowed of God, so the unexpected developments of Christianity (as in the way of civilization, with its varied gifts), although quite outside anything to be gathered from the New Testament, must yet be held allowed of God.

VII. THAT KADESH , OF FAMOUS MEMORY , WAS SPECIALLY INCLUDED IN THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER . Even so the experiences of our pilgrimage—the "sanctuaries' of our trial time—will be part of our eternal inheritance; nothing "holy" will be lost to us.

VIII. THAT THE LAND WAS ALLOTTED TO THE PEOPLE BY ELEAZAR THEIR PRIEST AND JOSHUA THEIR CAPTAIN . Even so our inheritance is in all particulars assigned to us by him who is at once the High Priest of our profession and the Captain of our salvation.

IX. THAT TOGETHER WITH THEM THERE ACTED PRINCES FROM EACH TRIBE , THAT JUSTICE MIGHT BE MANIFESTLY DONE TO ALL . Even so it would appear that in the judgment of the last day respect will be had even to human ideas of justice; and, moreover, that in some way not yet explained men will themselves act as assessors in that judgment (see 1 Peter 4:6 , where κατὰ ἄνθρωπον seems to mean "in accordance with human ideas [of justice];" and 1 Corinthians 6:2 , 1 Corinthians 6:3 , which seems clearly to refer to the final judgment).

And note that the order of the tribes as here given is very different from any previous list; for two are absent, and the precedence of the rest is determined after a peculiar law by their subsequent position in the Holy Land. So the Divine order in which Churches or individuals stand is different front any founded on earthly or visible considerations, being in accordance with God's foreknowledge of their heavenly place.