Day 26: Numbers 1-4
Well, I made it through Leviticus (yay!), and now I'm on to Numbers, which is more of a narrative with stories than it is about how humans are to behave as children of God.
The book of Numbers opens with God speaking to Moses in the Desert of Sinai. The Israelites have been gone from Egypt for 13 months and now God wants Moses to take a census of the people (to "number" the people). So, Moses asks men from each tribe to help count, and they count the people by the 12 tribes, except for Levi's tribe, which wasn't counted in the census because they were in charge of the tabernacle. God also sets the Levites apart as his people. God then explains how they are to be arranged as they camp in the wilderness--from who will pitch there tent where to which tribe will be first in line as they wander.
The numbering of the Israelites goes on for the first four chapters. The whole reading is strategic and technical. But I think God is doing something here. In the book of Leviticus, God establishes a covenant with His people. He gives them laws, and they agree to abide by them. In Numbers, he now counts the people--His people--and gives them an identity. Not only does he give them identities within their own individual tribes and within the whole nation as Israelites, but he also passes on to them another identity--one as a member of the family of God.
The notion of identity is an important one. As I was growing up, I was the second-born daughter, younger than my sister by eleven months. I was #2 out of 4. I was the daughter of a judge and a teacher. I was good at sports. I was a part of a church. I was a member of swim team, soccer clubs, and team sports. I went to a public elementary school and a private middle school and high school. I was a member of the Poe family. I am part German, part Scottish. I am an American. And on and on and on.
All these characteristics make up who I am. Of course these things don't make up my entire identity (in fact, I didn't even go past high school in that list), but they formed me. They shaped how I saw myself and how I viewed the world. They showed me how I fit in. How I belonged. Where I belonged. To whom I belonged.
And that's what God was doing with the Israelites. He was saying, "You're mine." "You belong to me." "You fit in here." "You can identify with me." "Find your identity in me."
The Israelites can find their identity in God. They can view themselves as God's chosen people. They can remember how God saved them from slavery and redeemed them. How He established a covenant through them. Israel can become "God's covenant people." What an amazing identity to have. The identity comes with responsibility, yes, but God also promises them that they can always look to him when their identity is shaken, challenged, or unclear. God has given them an identity.
He's also given all humans today this same identity. He has invited us into this same covenant relationship with him. He has given us an identity. It comes with responsibility, but it should also provide a wonderful foundation--even when our lives are shaken from what life throws at us. We have an identity in God. We can find our identity in Jesus. We can see how the Holy Spirit has named us and called us. What an amazing identity to have.
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