Bible Study With Jairus - Numbers 26

Bible Study with Jairus – Numbers 26
Numbers 26 tells the story of the second generation of Israelites being counted. After the counting, God divided the Promised Land by lot. Why had the land already been divided when they hadn’t entered the Promised Land yet? God’s planned time had come and the Israelites had already been wandering in the wilderness for forty years. The first generation of Israelites had already been judged, so the second generation was tired and discouraged. God's grace and mercy were manifested at this time. He led them into the land He had promised. Although they had not yet entered the Promised Land, there is no concept of time to God. Thus, God divided the land by lot before they entered the Promised Land. Also, this time was a great encouragement to their faith, helping them have more faith in fighting against the evil spirits that occupied the Promised Land. Today, we will discuss God's perfect timing and sovereignty in the lives of both generations of Israel and in our own lives today.
God’s Promises vs. Our Experiences
This chapter starts with the Lord asking Moses to count the people of Israel a second time. The first count was in Numbers 1. At that time, the number of the people of Israel was 603,550. This time, the number of people was 601,730. These were two generations of Israelites. Both generations had a chance to enter the land the Lord promised them. But after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the first generation fell in the wilderness because of unbelief. The second generation also had God’s promise that they would enter the Promised Land.
We must look at the problem from the perspective of the second generation. Like the first generation of Israelites, the second generation also experienced all kinds of unbelief, weakness, and failure. They might have thought, “The first generation also had the promise of God, but because of their unbelief, they were not able to enter the Promised Land. We have God's promise, but we also have failures, weaknesses, and unbelief. Will we also be disciplined by God and not be allowed to enter the Promised Land like the first generation?” It’s very normal to have this kind of thinking. For example, after God sent the flood to wipe out all humanity except Noah's family, He made a covenant with Noah with the sign of the rainbow, saying that He would never send a flood again to wipe out the earth. From here we see that God knows that people understood His warning. He made this covenant so that people would not fear His judgment by flood every time it rains. Similarly, the failure of the first generation of Israelites had a negative impact on the hearts of the second generation of Israelites.
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