The willingness of the men of Gad and Simeon to do their duty, and the blessing of the women being able to take on the responsibility of homesteading while their husbands and fathers are off fighting in the war for their countrymen’s freedom is a tale as old as time. Yet, it’s a perfect representation of the way things ought to be. Notice the trust, the love, the relationship, all unspoken, all without fanfare or displays of notoriety. The simple mercy of knowing that what needs to be done is being done.
Be nice to finally get some dry days around here. I always thought it was April showers bring May flowers, not May showers bring June rot. Been biblical around these parts. For our prayer and worship time today we are not only going to be asking for some sunshine, but that we might see something bright and lovely about the story of Gad and Simeon in Numbers 32. What’s that you may ask? (no pun intended). On Wednesday nights we have been of course going through this fourth book of Moses throughout the year. There are a lot of moments in that book that really cause the work to live up to its name. Census after census, detail after detail, it almost seems like at times you are walking through a Scriptural phone book. We confess and believe that every verse in the Bible is important. There is no portion of God’s Holy word that is less vital to our faith than any other, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with noting that some parts are more scintillating than others. Which gets me to the point of this Tuesday’s post.
The leaders of the tribes of Gad and Simeon approach Moses and Eleazar the High Priest about building their homes on the east side of the Jordan. At first Moses is not too keen on this idea because he thinks these tribes want to slink out on their responsibility to help the whole of Israel gain the victory over the pagans in the Promised Land. The elders of Gad and Simeon assure Moses and Eleazar that this is not the case, all they ask is that they be allowed to leave their cattle and their livestock, along with their women and children, on the eastside and the fighting men will follow with blood and toil with their brothers-in-arms. There is something so poetic, so masculine and lovely about the promise of Numbers 32:16-18. Let’s take a look at it:
Then they came near to him and said: “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, but we ourselves will be armed, ready to go before the children of Israel until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until every one of the children of Israel has received his inheritance.
The totality of what is being said here is more than just a mundane covenantal promise. It is the kind of thing you would hear Charlton Heston or Jeff Bridges say as the law man came to his ranch to ask his help to go and capture a wanted fugitive or marked man.