I live in the Baltimore, MD area of the United States. Baltimore proper is less than one million people. By the time we get to Numbers 34 in our reading of today there are most likely a people that are two to three times larger than Baltimore and that may be a conservative estimate.
In Numbers 34:1-5 we read: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel, and say to them, When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan as defined by its borders), 3 your south side shall be from the wilderness of Zin alongside Edom, and your southern border shall run from the end of the Salt Sea on the east. 4 And your border shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon. 5 And the border shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and its limit shall be at the sea.
This is just the beginning of Moses laying out how the promised land was to be divided. God told Moses the people were as numerous as the sands on the sea. We can read through these kinds of passages in the Bible and not put some perspect to them. It took a lot of organization to move these people. They were a HUGE group. And yet the God of the universe had it all planned out and layed out in that new land. We believe He has the big things planned out but not the small ones. We believe He is in charge of the larger than life issues, but not our small ones.
Well the very ending chapter of Numbers we read 36:1-4 The heads of the fathers’ houses of the clan of the people of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the people of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the chiefs, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel. 2 They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the people of Israel, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. 3 But if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when the jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
There was a promise of land to some sisters who hadn’t married. And this was being sorted out in this chapter. Of all the peoples and all the dividing and collecting of people Moses includes this story. Something very small in the whole scheme of things. God cares for you in the same way. The biggness of any situation doesn’t have something small enough that God cares. The next time you feel your issue is too small remember He is already working out a conclusion to your story that will bring glory to Him.
Sixty-six books in a year 