God did not create the ritual of the red heifer, described in Numbers 19, to prevent the spread of disease but to make sure we don’t treat the death of a fellow human being casually. That’s regardless of whether their death was recent or many years ago. Death is our enemy. Death is not natural. Death is not our friend. The symbol of the red heifer points to the Messiah, and we can learn how much Yeshua did for us through that symbol.
The Eleven closest students of Yeshua (Jesus) were a little confused and didn’t understand or want to understand His proverb “You won’t see Me, then you will.” Yeshua would be leaving the Eleven, but they were not going to be left behind, powerless and alone. Neither are we.
When we are not satisfied with the position God placed us and we covet someone else’s job or position, we are in grave spiritual danger. We may experience physical consequences for our rebellion, maybe not in the extreme manner recorded in Numbers 16–17, but God does not like complainers. Any insight we have about our condition comes from God.
There is a difference between sins done in ignorance vs. those done willfully. But there is no substantial difference between how the native Israelite and the sojourner are judged under God’s instructions and called to repent.
Yeshua said three times that He would “take what is Mine” referring to His Spirit and give it to the Eleven and their spiritual heirs, which is us. One of the Spirit’s main duties is to help us recall what we have studied so we can recall it when it is time to give a testimony of what we know to be true. But this learning is not just for our comfort. It’s so we can bring truth and comfort to the world.
The “bad report” brought by the spies about the land God promised to give Israel was a dishonest report. Yet because the majority of the spies were willing to spread lies, the honest report of the two faithful spies was drowned out. The leaders of Israel believed the false report so completely that they were planning an insurrection to have Moses and Aaron stoned and then appoint a “leader” who would return them to Mitsraim (Egypt).
Numbers 14 is an example of democracy gone wrong. It also shows us God’s great patience with us in our lack of trust. We would not have tolerated the 10 times of grumbling that God tolerated from ancient Israel during the journey from Mitsraim. Yet He had to enact discipline too.
Instead of facing their fears about the “giants” in the Land, the spies ancient Israel sent into Canaan after the long journey from captivity in Mitsraim (Egypt) cowered and backed away and encouraged most of the people to do likewise. They lost their prize when they refused to walk forward where God told them to walk. The same is true today: We will lose out on many blessings if we don’t move forward when God tells us to.
When the Israelites doubted God’s word and refused to enter the Land, He took the blessing away from the majority of that generation of forever. They never entered into the promise. But for Caleb and Joshua, the promise was delayed to them for 40 years. Joshua and Caleb paid a price for the cowardice and unbelief of their peers.