God’s Word for You
Numbers 27:12-17 The God of the spirits of all flesh
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Joshua Will Succeed Moses
12 The LORD said to Moses, “Go up onto this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land which I have given to the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you yourself will also be gathered to your people just as Aaron your brother was gathered. 14 For when the community quarreled in the Wilderness of Zin, you both rebelled against my command to honor me as holy in their sight at the waters.” (This refers to the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.)
On account of sin, mankind perishes. “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). God tells Moses that his time will come soon, although months still remained. Moses will preach the sermons of the book of Deuteronomy before his death and secret burial (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). The punishment imposed on Moses was that he would not enter into the Promised Land because of his sin at Kadesh. Aaron received a similar punishment for the same incident.
In his 1981 commentary on Numbers, Gordan Wenham carefully says: “In the gospels our Lord’s predictions about his death form a sombre background to the growing success of his mission. In Numbers there is a similar interplay between the promise of the land and a warning that Moses will never enter it. The closer Israel comes to Canaan, the nearer draws the death of their founding father” (p. 194). Dr. Wenham is careful not to call this a parallelism. Moses did not die in order to bring his people into the land, but Christ died in order to free us from sin and bring us into our eternal rest. “He was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live” (2 Corinthians 13:4).
15 Moses spoke to the LORD, 16 “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the community, 17 who will go out before them and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the community of the LORD will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
Moses, now 120 years old, does not pray for God to spare his life a little longer, but to take care of the people after he is gone. “Appoint a man,” he prays. His fear, that the people would be like sheep without a shepherd, was taken up with his same language by the prophets Micaiah (1 Kings 22:18; 2 Chronicles 18:16), Isaiah (Isaiah 13:14), and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34:5), and also Jesus. These words came to the Lord’s mind as he was teaching in the synagogues (Matthew 9:36) and again when he was about to feed the five thousand (Mark 6:34). Sheep without a shepherd have no guidance and no protection. They wander into places that are dangerous, and they are easy prey to predators (and, as I learned in my days as a shepherd, to bad weather). Christians look to their pastors and teachers for guidance, and are pointed to Christ. We all can help one other in times of trouble. In this way, as Isaiah says, “Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm” (Isaiah 32:2).
“The LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh” is a title that Moses only uses in one other place. In Numbers 16:22, Moses and Aaron were praying on behalf of the nation that they would not suffer Korah’s judgment. But similar words are also used by Job: “In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10). These passages have an application as mankind travels further and further into space. As water continues to be discovered on various planets and moons, there is an increasing possibility, perhaps probability, that we will encounter vegetable life such as lichen, moss, or weeds. The Lord may even have permitted animal life to thrive on some distant world. But God is the God of all life, “the life of every creature.” As the ancient pastor, the blessed Clement of Rome preached, “The oceans… and the worlds (kosmoi, κόσμοι) beyond are ruled by the same ordinances of the Master” (1 Clement 20:8). Mankind’s responsibility to care for, rule over, and use materials from other worlds are still things to be done to the glory of God. Use does not mean the negative sense of exploitation, and an animal that is not of our world is nevertheless one of God’s sacred creatures and should not be abused or mistreated. “The righteous man cares for the needs of his animal” (Proverbs 12:10).
Moses, the righteous leader of God’s people, cared for the needs of the nation beyond his own death. It is a brave and truly heroic Christian spirit who reaches out from a deathbed to address the needs of his or her family. Their concern is for this life and for the life of the world to come; closing their eyes in death, they long to see the same loving eyes when they awaken once again in the resurrection. “In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality” (Proverbs 12:28). When Ignatius of Antioch was being taken to his death in the fall of 107 AD, he was especially concerned about the dangers of poisonous heresy in his churches. “I appeal to you (yet not I, but the love of Jesus Christ), make use only of Christian (spiritual) food and abstain from every strange plant, which is heresy. For they mingle Jesus Christ with themselves in mock faith, as if mixing deadly poison with honeyed wine, which the unwitting gladly takes with pleasure—to death” (Ignatius to the Trallians 6:1-2). When Jesus left the world, ascending into heaven, he was also concerned about correct doctrine. “Make disciples… by teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you,” he said, “and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). What is “everything I have commanded you” except the whole doctrine of the Christian Church? It is briefly summarized by the creeds, expounded by the New Testament Epistles, exemplified in the book of Acts and the historical parts of the Apostles’ letters (such as 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; 2 Corinthians 8:16-24; Galatians 2:11-14 and 4:13-16; Jude 1:14-15, and others) and explained, based on the Scriptures alone, in our Lutheran Confessions, preaching and teaching. Do not despise godly preaching or God’s word and sacraments. Be faithful, even to the point of death. Jesus our Lord will give you the crown of life.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.