Numbers Count(s)
After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:3
Ah, Easter Monday. The quiet introspection of Good Friday service, the celebration of sunrise Sunday never fail to rouse my sense of joy: “He is risen; He is risen indeed!” I can only imagine the amazement of the women, the apostles, those close to Jesus.
Easter seemed late this year, but it was right on time according to the formula I learned as a kid: the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox—established by the Council of Nicea in 325AD. We cannot live without numbers.
Numbers were important to the lessons throughout Scripture. Everyone knows that the first thing Jesus did after His baptism (Luke 3:21-22) was to spend forty days in the desert (Luke 4:1-13). And after His resurrection He had forty days to spread the word about the kingdom—in essence, to commission His followers.
So when my girlfriends and I came upon a small group study of the book of Numbers, it was not surprising to find some pretty impressive numbers:
· Consider two censuses, each of over 600,000 men twenty years of age or older—each census, men of a different generation.
· Count the number of daily and festival sacrifices requiring animals without defect.
· Think about the forty years it actually took from start to finish to enter the Promised Land, wandering, circling.
As actual numbers count, the book of Numbers counts too. God knew His people well. In Eden He’d given them one rule to follow: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). And they’d chosen to go their own way instead. Pity—think what it would be like to live in Eden!
And so God had to carefully, precisely define how to do things to keep His people out of trouble. If they did everything His way they’d enjoy the peace of the land He’d promised them, plus His favor.
Nancy P
All Scripture quotations are from the NIV Translation 1973, 1978, 1984, unless otherwise noted.
