Sunday, April 10, 2022

Israel in the Wilderness (Numbers 11-14, 21) QUESTIONS

The Wilderness of Wrath

We've talked over the past few posts about the Lord's ultimate objective in rescuing Israel from Egypt - to create a "peculiar nation" or Zion, where at Mount Sinai all would enter into the presence of The Lord.  But Israel refused to meet God face to face and He honored their desires and removed the High Priesthood from their grasp.  We talked about the journey from the world of Egypt to God's presence at Sinai, as symbolized in the Tabernacle - which required baptism and sanctification via the Lord's Wilderness School.

After their rejection of the Lord at Sinai, how did the wilderness they traveled through change?

What happens when you spurn the opportunities God offers and choose instead to follow “other gods” in the form of other priorities?

What aspects does the Lord’s Wilderness include?

 

READ Numbers 11:4-6

Which of these aspects are Israel still struggling with?

 

 

Would God That All Were Prophets

But while a people may be struggling, that does not have to stop individuals from rising up personally - as that is really all that counts anyway.

 

READ Numbers 11:24-29

Is this prophesying pleasing to The Lord?

Can a man stop the Lord from revealing truth to another person?

What can we learn from Moses' response to these spiritual manifestations by others?

 

READ Numbers 12:1-2, 5-8

How does this incident with Miriam and Aaron differ from the one in the preceding chapter?

What is the cautionary tale we should learn from the story of Aaron and Miriam?

 

READ Alma 26:22, D&C 76:5-10, D&C 76:114-118, Hebrews 8:10-11, 1 Cor 2:9-10, and 3 Nephi 11:14-17

What kind of revelation does the Lord want each of us to receive?

Why do these things have to come directly from God and not via a man?

 

"Do you believe Joseph Smith, Jun., to be a prophet? Yes, and every other man who has the testimony of Jesus. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (TPJS 137:9-10)

“God hath not revealed anything to Joseph but what He will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least Saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them.” (TPJS 170:6)

 

 

The Spies’ Report on Canaan

So, they walk through the wilderness and get to the borders of the land of Canaan (Palestine) and Moses sends 12 spies into the land to check it out.  They come back with the following report:

 

READ Numbers 13:26-33

What was their report regarding the Promised Land?

 

READ Numbers 14:1-4

And how would you expect the Children of Israel to react to this report?

 

Two of the twelve spies had faith and spoke to the people very much like Nephi spoke to his brothers with regards to obtaining the Plates of Brass:

READ Numbers 14:7-9

Given the account of the other spies, why does Caleb say “they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them”?

 

READ Numbers 14:10-12, 22-23

What is the Lord’s response?

Why is the Lord so hard on Israel?

 

 

The Brazen Serpent

READ Numbers 21:4-9, Hel 8:14-15, 1 Nephi 17:41, and Alma 33:18-20

What was required to be saved from the poisonous snakes?

If all they had to do was look, why did many not look?

Why is something so easy as “looking” called a “labor”?

 

READ Matt 11:28-30

How can a "yoke" be light? What is the yoke?

Where is the requirement for obedience to the Law of Moses to be saved from the serpents?

Why was the symbol of a serpent used?

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