Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

no longer disbelieve 2 .’ The song mentioned here is the song of Moses and Miriam; “then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord: ‘I will sing unto the Lord, for he has triumphed glori- ously…’” (Ex. 15:1)

III THEY WOULDN’T BELIEVE HIS PROMISE - 13-33 Israel in the Wilderness

• They tested God- “Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his counsel! In the wilderness, their desires ran wild, testing God’s patience in that dry land. So he gave them what they asked for, but he sent a plague along with it.” (13-15) This passage is referring to the story in Numbers where the people of Israel complained about eating manna every day: “Then the foreign rab- ble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt, and the people of Is- rael also began to complain. ‘Oh, for some meat!’” (Num. 11:4) Their bad associations with foreigners who had different values caused them to forget to seek God for his counsel. They got what they asked for but they lost the spiritual favor of their Lord. They ate quail every meal for 30 days. • They were jealous and envious- “The people in the camp were jealous of Moses and envious of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest. Because of this, the earth opened up; it swallowed Dathan and buried Abiram and the other rebels. Fire fell upon their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.”(16-18) These verses recount the story of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram although Korah is not mentioned here. They accused Moses and Aaron: “You have gone too far! Everyone in Israel has been set apart by the Lord, and he is with all of us. What right do you have to act as though you are greater than any- one else among all these people of the Lord?” (Num. 16:3) Only Dathan and Abiram were swallowed by the earth, Korah was burnt in the fire of judgment showing us the seriousness of attacking God’s ap- pointed leaders. • They traded their glorious God- “The people made a calf at Mount Sinai (Mt. Horeb); they bowed before an image made of gold. They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating ox! They forgot God, their savior, who had done such great things in Egypt–such wonderful things in that land, such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.” (19-22) The image was most likely the Egyptian bull god ‘Apis’ that was worshiped by sexual orgies. “After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and indulged themselves in pagan revelry.” (Ex. 32:6) Again, their sin was a result of ‘forgetting’ God who had done such great things for them. The tribe of Levi stood with Moses against the revelry that day and so be- came the official worship tribe of the nation: “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him…” (Ex. 32:29) Our faithfulness in worship has great consequences. “So he declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them.” (22, 23) Moses foreshadows Christ, the great intercessor for the human race who gave his life as a substi- tute sacrifice for our sins. Moses offered his life for the sin of the people: “But now, please forgive their sin–and if not, then blot me out of the record you are keeping. (book you have written. NIV)” (Ex. 32:32) • They refused to obey- “The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them. Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord. There- fore, he swore that he would kill them in the wilderness, that he would scatter their descendants among the nations, exiling them to distant lands.” (24-27) This passage refers to the incident in Numbers 13 where the 10 spies gave a bad report and discouraged the people from entering the promise land. “Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaint against Moses…’ We wish we had died in Egypt…” (Num. 14:2) As in this psalm, the New Testament tells us the underlying problem that resulted in their disobe- dience was ‘unbelief’: “So we see that they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief.” (Heb. 3:19) Believing and obeying through the power of grace will lead to the rest God has for us. • They worshiped Baal- “Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor; they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead! They angered the Lord with all these things, so a plague broke out among them. But Phinehas had the courage to step in, and the plague was stopped. So he has been regarded as a righteous man ever since that time.” (28-31) This is the story found in Numbers 25 where Israel was seduced into the prostitution worship of the Moabite god, Baal-Peor. An Israelite man “brought a Midi- anite woman into the camp, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people,… Then he (Phinehas) took a spear and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach.”(Num. 25:6- 8) In this New Testament era of grace, we are to be as eager to put to death our sinful desires as Phinehas was to eliminate sin from the camp: “But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you put it to death (the sinful nature) and its evil deeds, you will live.” (Rom. 8:13)

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