Numbers 33

Today’s reading opens with a retelling of Israel’s journey out of Egypt and to the cusp of the Jordan River. As you read this summary of their travels, keep the following in mind:

·       The total distance for the trip was about 400-500 miles. However, it took forty years to make the trek because of the people’s disobedience, which led to a considerable time wandering in the wilderness. Friends, when we stray from God’s path, we are also delayed in receiving the abundant blessings He desires to give to His people.

·       Over thirty places are named in the first section of chapter 33, indicating that Israel had little time to set down roots in one specific spot. They truly were pilgrims on their way to the Promised Land. Let it be said of the body of Christ that we are not so entrenched in this world that we hesitate to respond to Jesus’s call to inhabit our true home with Him.

·       We have discussed before that it was God who intentionally led the Israelites on this journey, and with Him at the helm, His people were safe. (It was only when Israel went to battle on their own accord, as documented in Numbers 14, that they suffered defeat.) Brothers and sisters, there is assured victory when we lean on God to light our path, but when we live according to the wisdom of our flesh or this fallen world, we shouldn’t be surprised when losses start mounting up. 

·       At each of these locations identified in Numbers 33, God faithfully sustains His people. No matter where our Lord takes us, we can trust that He will provide for our needs every step of the way.  

After this synopsis of Israel’s excursion out of Egypt to the edge of Canaan is offered, God speaks to Moses, commanding him to “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places…But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them” (vv. 51-52, 55-56). 

God knew that the Canaanites were a corrupt people who participated in demonic worship, and He planned to use the Israelites to judge this evil society. Unfortunately, Israel did not heed God’s command, and “though they possessed the land, the corruption of the Canaanites continued among Israel until eventually God allowed Israel to be driven out of the land in exile…[For the Church,] it is of no use…to succeed in the eyes of man — as Israel had succeeded when they occupied the land and became a legitimate nation, instead of an enslaved people — if it merely allows the corrupt practices and attitudes of the world to take root. If this happens, the church should expect to be eventually driven from its place of success.”[i]

So how do we ensure this doesn’t happen to the body of Christ in the present? It doesn’t start by condemning those who live contrary to God’s design every chance we get, but rather by praying first that the Holy Spirit reveal any area of our lives where these worldly practices have seeped into our hearts, confessing that sin to God, and turning from those wicked ways. Then, we should pray that the Spirit will open the eyes of those who do not know Jesus to see a better, more fulfilling way to live, and as God leads us, lovingly share and show the truths of the Gospel with people who are clamoring for lasting, meaningful hope and significance. Christ’s ambassadors, entrusted with a message of reconciliation, imploring all to turn to God for salvation!    

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Journal responses to the following prompts:

·       Have you ever experienced a delay in receiving God’s blessings because you strayed from His path? 

·       Are there any areas of your life that you need to unhitch from so that you are eagerly anticipating Jesus’s call to inhabit your true home with Him? 

[i] Study Guide for Numbers 33. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved May 26, 2026, from 

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/numbers/numbers-33.cfm