Numbers 27 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Numbers 27:12-23

12 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honour me as holy before their eyes.’ (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)

15 Moses said to the Lord, 16 ‘May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community 17 to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.’

18 So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him. 19 Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so that the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21 He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by enquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.’

22 Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23 Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.

A. Find out:

1. What did the Lord tell Moses to do for what to happen? v.12-14
2. What did Moses ask the Lord to do? v.15-17
3. Who did the Lord say to choose? v.18
4. How was he to go about that? v.19,20
5. What was Joshua’s relationship to the priest to be? v.21
6. So what happened? v.22,23

B. Think:

1. What time has now arrived?
2. How does Moses show his leadership nature?
3. Why do you think Joshua was chosen?

C. Comment:

      We now come to the end of Moses’ life. He is a hundred and twenty, a remarkable age for that (or this) time. It’s time for him to go to join the Lord and even in his going he will be a signpost to Israel, reminding them that the Lord is holy and always to be honored.

     The Lord shares with him that it is time to go. Perhaps we almost take for granted now the constant interchanges between the Lord and Moses. He communicated with the Lord more than any other man in the Old Testament. It is quite remarkable. But then Moses shows his pastoral leadership heart. Even then he was concerned for Israel ‘s future. They needed a shepherd to go on leading them, a man to represent the Lord before them.

      So the Lord tells him to appoint Joshua because he is a man of the Spirit. In other words, he is a man who has been blessed by God and responds to the Lord. Over the years Joshua was Moses’ young helper. He had already been a warrior leader (see Ex 17:9-13), he had gone part way up the mountain with Moses (Ex 24:13) and had also spent much time at the Tabernacle (Ex 33:11). He had been one of spies who had gone into the land (Num 13:16) and with Caleb had been one of the only two who gave a good report and lived (Num 14:38 & 26:65). He is, therefore, well qualified to take over leadership as Israel enter the land.

D. Application:

1. God’s leaders are those who gain experience.
2. God’s leaders are those who are faithful.