Back to preaching through Numbers this week.

When you arrive at Numbers 32 you’ll encounter a tricky narrative (at least I found it especially challenging).

Best to allow the storyline to carry the theology along. [I hope you are seeing through this series that you can trust the storyline.]

In this case God teaches us through a combination of storyline and the concepts of inheritance and unity. The storyline is the starting point for theological interpretation of narrative. The concepts of inheritance begins with reference to “the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead…” (v. 1) and is specified in vv. 18-19, “our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan…”

I divided the narrative like this:

1. an example of self-interest for good reason (vv. 1-5)
2. which created unintended spiritual dangers (vv. 6-15)
3. but led to cooperation in the fight for faith (vv. 16-42)

Long before the Book of Acts God provides the church with a look at how the Body of Christ operates.

Our congregants need to be reminded what’s at stake if our harmony is destroyed. Verse 15 summarizes what happened to the earlier generation: “For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.” Pretty severe.

Ancient interpreters censure the actions of the two tribes, but as you can see in vv. 16ff. they adjust to Moses’s plea, stick to their idea of settling this side of the Jordan, but, most importantly, agreeing to “take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place” (v. 17).

Everything is aimed at every one of God’s people enjoying their inheritance. The chapter ends with resounding victory.

Great story of how God’s people are in the fight for faith together. That’s why we talk about “faith-family.”

And, if you were wondering how a Christ-centered reading might sound in this narrative, I selected moving from the humility of the two tribes to Paul’s description of our Savior in Philippians 2:1-8. Anyone who receives Christ’s sacrifice shares His mindset and lives with others in view.

I hope you can see how God can receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) through a journey through the Book of Numbers.

Randal