By now we are all accustomed to this line, “the LORD spoke to Moses.” It is good to know that our God speaks. And today, He is still speaking to us His people. But more critical than the truth that God speaks to His people is the question, “Are we listening, obeying, and doing what He tells us?” It is comforting to learn from another common line that “Moses did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.” This is something for us to emulate. God will speak to us and He expects us to listen, obey, and do all that He has instructed us to do. The difference between a maturing Christian and an immature one rests in their response to God’s instruction. The former would obey and be one, who like the wise man, build his life on the Rock. Sadly, the latter is one who would not obey, and become like the foolish man who builds his life on sand. Which of the two would we rather emulate? The choice is obvious. We must all seek to emulate the Moses type of believers.
Here in Numbers 9:1-8, Moses was
instructed to celebrate the Passover with the people of Israel. What is the
Passover? It was a commemorative feast. It was an event to commemorate
what God did to liberate His people from slavery in ancient Egypt. It was
on the night of the eve of the first Passover in Egypt, the angel of death passed
over every Jewish home whose door was smeared with the blood of a Passover
lamb. In His mercy, God spared the people of Israel that night when He
took the lives of all the firstborn of Egypt from man to animal. So now Moses
was instructed to have the people commemorate the Passover. This
instruction, verse 1 said, took place in the wilderness of Sinai in the
first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. The
Passover was to be celebrated “on the fourteenth day of this month (i.e. the
first month in the Jewish year), at twilight.” It was to be celebrated “at
its appointed time… in accordance with all its statutes and all its ordinances.” Exodus
12 has more details on how the Passover was to be celebrated.
Suffice to say, Moses and the people obeyed and did all that they were told. So we read in verse 5 that “…they celebrated the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did.” To God, obedience is better than sacrifice. Verses 6-9 tell us that among the People of Israel that day, there were some who could not partake of the Passover because they had come in contact with a dead person. They came seeking the reason why they were excluded from the celebration. Moses astutely told them to wait as he would seek an answer from the LORD for them. This tells us that Moses was unassuming when it concerned the things of God. He would not presume on God and act outside of His instruction. This is a good attitude to emulate too. When we are unsure of spiritual matters, we must not be presumptuous or assuming. Spiritual things must be rightly discerned. This tells us how important it is to know God and His Word so that we will be able to rightly discern the truth.
One key lesson to take away is this: we must learn to listen to God and obey Him precisely. Although God is gracious, we should not presume on His grace. When we are unsure, we must seek out the right answers from His word or through the leaders He had appointed over us. We must not act like a horse or a mule without understanding that needs to be curbed with bits and bridle. So don’t assume and act presumptuously. Remember obedience is better than sacrifice. God wants us to be exactly right and not just nearly right. This is so important!
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