Divine Appointment

Passage: Numbers 12; 16-17

In the middle of the Book of Numbers there are three different stories that deal with the same theme: rebellion against God’s appointed leader.

The first story, in Numbers 12, recounts a conflict that arises between Moses and two members of his family. Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ brother and sister, have enjoyed a place of importance as the leader’s closest relatives. As it turns out, they assume that their proximity to Moses entitles them to some of his authority. In response to a disagreement with Moses, Aaron and Miriam ask, “Has God spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” They challenge Moses’ leadership. At this point the narrator interjects,

Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth – a point that is essential to understanding this series of stories.

Immediately God calls a meeting. From the cloud God says to Aaron and Miriam, “Normally I talk to my prophets through dreams and visions. Moses is in his own category. I talk to him face-to-face. How dare you challenge him?” The cloud lifts, and Miriam is covered in leprosy – the physical symbol of the spiritual pariah she has become. Both Miriam and Aaron understand the lesson enough to ask Moses to intercede for them. He is, after all, the one who speaks to God face-to-face.

In the second story (Numbers 16), a group of Levites – the tribe whom God has appointed to be temple workers – confront Moses in a manner similar to that of Aaron and Miriam. Korah, Dathan and Abiram have also let their position of privilege go to their heads. They come to Moses and say, “We’re all God’s people. We’re all holy. Who are you to set yourselves above us?” Moses responds, “Hasn’t God given you enough? You’ve been set apart, and given the most important job. Now you want more? Aaron and I didn’t appoint ourselves. God did. But if you really want to push this, come to the Tent of Meeting tomorrow, and we’ll let God decide.”

They do; and God does. When Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their followers gather the next day, the ground falls away under their feet. The insurgents and their families are swallowed up in the sight of God’s people; fire falls from heaven and consumes those who aren’t consumed by the earth.

Ironically, this event fails to establish in the people’s minds that Moses and Aaron have been appointed to their positions by God himself. They continue to contest Aaron’s role as High Priest. So once again the LORD calls an assembly. He says to Moses, “Take a staff from every tribe. Write Aaron’s name on the staff from the tribe of Levi. Tell the people that the staff of the man I’ve chosen as high priest will bud.” Moses gathers the staffs and places them before the LORD. The next morning not only has Aaron’s staff budded, but it has bloomed and born fruit. God has inarguably demonstrated that Moses and Aaron are his appointed leaders. As Miriam and Aaron did in the first story, the people respond with appropriate awe and fear. They recognize the error they’ve made and the retribution they deserve.

Two things distinguish Moses from Israel’s leadership hopefuls. The first is his humility. Moses hasn’t sought out the role to which he’s been appointed. He’d just as soon let someone else do the job. He exhibits none of the ambition and pride we see in Miriam; Aaron; Korah, Dathan and Abiram. His ego doesn’t need the boost of being called “God’s chosen one.” This is precisely why God chooses him.

The second quality is Moses’ compassion for his people. Moses repeatedly appeals to God’s mercy when God is angry. Because of Moses’ intercession, God repeatedly spares even Moses’ opponents the worst of his judgment. What God establishes in each of these three stories is that he is the one appointing the leaders; and that he chooses according to unique criteria.

God has always chosen unexpected leaders for his people. Often the leadership qualities God is most interested in are the ones that go largely unnoticed. We’re drawn to leaders who are attractive, squeaky-clean, fast-talking and big-smiling. These are the kinds of people we appoint to public office; these are the people we see commandeering our fastest-growing churches. These also tend to be the people who are most attracted to the titles of “politician” or “church leader”. Those of us who find ourselves in these professions must take the above stories as cautionary tales. There is great danger in pursuing leadership on any stage, but particularly in religious organizations, in response to personal ambition or the need for validation. One cannot appoint oneself “God’s chosen leader.” That being said, God’s people must also be vigilant about the criteria according to which they choose their leaders. Look past the convincing speech and the flashing smile. Look for humility. Compassion. Perhaps even reticence. Look for the qualities and gifts God values most in his servants.

...No, We Won't Go

Passage: Numbers 14:1-20

I’ve begun reading a novel about a woman incarcerated for having killed two people while driving drunk. In the first months of her prison term she is invited to an AA meeting. She’s well aware of her addiction. But she has always reveled in it. And she doesn’t want to give it up. Prison has forced her to dry out. But she has every intention of going back to the very “party hard” lifestyle that landed her in trouble in the first place.

In Numbers 14 the Israelites are about to enter the land that God has promised to give them. The only thing they’re waiting for is the report of twelve men – spies that have been sent ahead to scout out the land. A basic formality before they take possession.

Trouble arises when the spies give their report. “The land is exactly the way God described it,” they say, “It’s lush and fertile. Almost perfect, except for one detail. It’s inhabited by giants.” Ten of the spies go on to say, “If we try to take this land, we’ll be obliterated.” The Israelites’ response is immediate. They weep and wail and say, “Has God brought us all the way here just to finish us off? If only he’d left us in Egypt!”

Now this isn’t the first time God’s people have said this, and it won’t be the last: If only God had left us in Egypt. Life was good there. Life was comfortable. We had food. We had shelter. No giants. What they fail to factor in is that they were slaves there. But apparently they’d prefer a life of predictable slavery than the uncertainty of being led into uncharted territory by an unseen God.

God is in the business of settling people free. He does it for the Israelites. He does it for his people today. But like the Israelites, we are often resistant to being led to freedom. Like injured dogs who refuse to go into the pet carrier to be taken to the vet, we kick and fight to stay enslaved – enslaved to buying clothes and furniture on credit; enslaved to bad television; enslaved to taking out our anger on the people closest to us; enslaved to immersing our worries in booze or pornography or chocolate. We want to go back to the stuff that comforts us when we’re down, knowing full well that stuff has taken ownership of us. God reaches in and pulls us out, but we dig in our nails and hold on as long as we can.

At the threshold of the Promised Land the Israelites say, “No, we won’t go. It’s too scary. It’s unchartered territory. We don’t know what will happen. Bring us back to that other place. The place we know.” And God says, “Fine, have it your way. You won’t experience the freedom that I promised you.” This is, of course, the worst punishment God could give – to give the people what they’re asking for.

God still does this for people – gives them what they’re asking for. If people say, enough times, “God, leave me alone,” God obliges. If you say, “God, I don’t want to be free of my favorite vice or beloved habit” God says, “Have it your way.” God offers freedom, but he won’t force it on you if you don’t want it.

God offers freedom. Don’t make the mistake the Israelites did. Say yes to God’s offer. Take the chance. The territory ahead is uncharted. But I guarantee that God goes ahead of you. When God promises to lead you out of your slavery, he will be with you every step of the way.

Prophesying Without a License

Passage: Numbers 11:24-30

This story acts as a kind of bizarre intermission between two installments of another story. The bigger story recounts God’s response to the Israelites’ complaints about their menu options. They’ve been eating manna for three squares a day, and they’re sick of it. They complain, and God says, “Fine, you want meat? I’ll give you meat. You’ll eat so much meat it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it!” (God’s words, not mine).

Before God makes good his promise, Moses asks for a break from the constant headache his people have become. God responds by calling a conference of Moses and seventy of the elders of Israel. They gather at the Tabernacle, and God’s cloud envelopes them. They are overcome by God’s Spirit and, we’re told, begin prophesying. We don’t know exactly what this looked like, but it must have been remarkable. Because as the seventy elders are prophesying at the Tent, two elders who missed the memo (their names are named Eldad and Medad) start doing the very same thing back in the camp. Well, Moses’ trusted aid, Joshua, sees these two guys prophesying. He doesn’t know exactly what it is, but it looks unauthorized, so he runs to tell Moses about it. And he urges Moses to put a stop to it. Moses says, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all God’s people were prophets and God’s Spirit would rest on all of them.”

Remarkably, a very similar interaction occurs between Jesus and his disciples in Mark 9:

"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."

"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension we see Moses’ wish come true. The Holy Spirit is given to all of God’s people. The Spirit is at work in lives and communities around the world. There are times when we are suspicious or jealous of those with whom the Spirit is visibly present. Moses’ words to Joshua, and Jesus’ words to his disciples caution us to check this response. We’re all part of the same family. And we’ve all been caught up in the same great work. Don't disparage the Spirit's work, no matter how you feel about those in whom the work is being done. Celebrate it. It's simply another expression of the greatest gift you and I have ever received.

Tenants

Passage: Mark 12:1-12

According to Mark, Jesus uses the Parable of the Tenants as an illustration of the breakdown between God and the religious leaders of his people. In the story, the tenants are allowed to occupy and tend the vineyard of a landowner. When the landowner sends servants to collect according to the terms of the lease, the tenants revolt. The landowner is far away; as far as the tenants are concerned, they now possess the vineyard and all its produce. The implication is that God, who owns all, has entrusted some property – his people – to a group of tenants. The religious leaders of 1^st century Israel are charged with the task of tending this piece of property. But as God has sent messengers to correct and guide his tenants, they’ve resisted with increasingly degrees of severity. At the climax of the story the landowner sends his son, whom the tenants kill in order to secure their hold on the borrowed plot of land. The plan of course backfires as the landowner shows up in person, violently evicting the tenants. Jesus tells the story to caution those who have been delinquent in their duties as stewards of God’s vineyard. In the telling, Jesus also foreshadows his inevitable death.

The Parable of the Tenants is directed at Jesus’ contemporaries – 1^st century Jews called to account for their religious life. But it contains a message for God’s people, and all humanity, today. The reminder is this: we are all tenants. We’ve been allowed residency and privileges that seem unbounded. But none of this is ours. One day we will be held to account for how we’ve treated the possessions and the people in our lives. We have a chance, now, to consider what it means to be tenants – stewards. We are called to consider how we would manage our relationships with property and people if each was the treasured possession of someone else – someone who’d entrusted all this to our care.

Job Security

Passage: Numbers 1:47-53

When I worked in a union setting, I learned quickly not to do anything that wasn’t in my job description. It was my job to drive the truck and deliver the product. If I was caught loading or unloading anything on to the truck, I’d risk a verbal beating, if not an outright disciplinary write-up. Why? Because I was infringing on someone else’s job. Within that workplace, everyone’s job was protected by the union. Job security rested in part on the dictum that you were the only one allowed to do your job.

At the beginning of Numbers God gives this kind of dictum about the job description of the Levites. It’s part of the Levites’ God-given job to take down, move, and set up the Tabernacle. No one else is allowed to help them with this job. For some reason this rule is so important to God that he enforces it with the threat of death: If you’re not a Levite and you touch the Tabernacle, you will die.

Why is it so important that nobody else participate in the mundane labor of moving the Tabernacle? After all, this is a very regular event in the nomadic life of the Israelites. It’s hard work. Why not spread it around? Who cares if a non-Levite picks up the occasional tent-peg?

The answer is that the work of the Levites is not mundane. Much of their work is routine, even mechanical: setting up and taking down the Tabernacle and its contents; performing rites of purification; preparing animal sacrifices. But their role is acting as intermediaries between an impure people and their holy God. What’s important is not the work itself, but who’s doing it. The Levites are a class of people who are set apart; a class of people whose only job it is to serve as go-betweens – to stand in the gap between God and his people. God reminds his people regularly that there is a divide between him and them that only he can cross. Moreover, God will cross the gap when his people to adopt a condition of purity – purity of body, mind, and soul. In the course of everyday life, the people are defiled by their own sin and their exposure to a world flawed by sin. It takes time and effort to process that defilement – almost like a detoxification process. God’s purity laws for the Levites demand that they live in a constant state of semi-detoxification. Their everyday existence is one of living apart. They are to remain always ready to be in the presence of their holy God. As such, the Levites are the only ones who can handle the worship space and worship articles. The Levites act as a visible, human buffer between God and the rest of the people. They are a reminder that they live in the presence of a holy God.

As God’s people now, it’s all our job to act as intermediaries between God and the rest of humanity. There’s no special class of Christian. We all have the same job. God’s holiness still necessitates our holiness. Although there is no death penalty for approaching God, we still need to detoxify from the effects of sin to do our job properly. We are called to be holy because we represent a holy God. We are set apart as a visible reminder of the God who lives among us.