Faithful to God's Promises

Well, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We're at numbers chapter 31 Versus yep all the way there verses 25 through 54 So we're going to talk about the division of the plunder after they take vengeance on the Midianites So let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Yeah coffee Let's go ahead and pray. Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. We pray, God, that as we read your word, that you would please help us to understand it. We thank you for time together, and we thank you for the blessing that we have to come to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right. OK, that's it. That's it. Just a little drink. Oh, you guys drink like I have my coffee. OK, Nathan, you want to read. How about you read verses 25 through 41 and I'll read 42 through the end. Oh, you want to grab your microphone, but. That's going to be loud for people, that's OK. So we're in Numbers chapter 31. We'll let Bubba go ahead and start reading whenever you're ready, buddy.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Count up the plunder that was taken of man and beast. You and Eliezer the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation, and divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. and levy a tribute for the Lord.
On the band of war who went out to battle, one every 500 of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, take it from their half and give it to Eliezer the priest as a half. Heave. Heave, offering to the Lord. And from the children of Israel's half, you shall take one of every 50 drawn from the person, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, And give them to the Levites, who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. So Moses and Eleazar, the priest, did as the Lord commanded Moses, the booty remaining from the plunder. You want me to read?
The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was about 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately. And the half the portion for those who had gone out to war was in number 337,500 sheep.
And the Lord's tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was seventy-two. The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord's tribute was sixty-one. The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was thirty-two persons.
So Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord's heave offering to Eliezer, the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses. OK. And from the children of Israel's half, which Moses separated from the men who fought. Now the half belonging to the congregation was 300. 37,500 sheep, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000 possums. And from the children of Israel's half was struck one-fifth of it.
One of every 50 50 drawn from man and beast and gave them to deliverance who kept charge of the Tabernacle of the Lord as the Lord commanded Moses Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army Thousands of the army, the captains of the thousands, and captains of hundreds came near to Moses, and they said to Moses, Your servants have taken account of the men of war who are under our command, and not a man of you, us, is missing. Therefore we have brought an offering for the Lord that every man found of ornaments of gold, amulets and bracelets, and signet rings and earrings and necklaces to make atonement for ourselves and for the Lord. So Moses and Elias the priest received the gold from the man, all fashioned, All the fashioned ornaments and all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord from the captains of the thousands and captains of hundreds was 16,750 shekels. The man of war had taken spoil every man for himself. And Moses and Eliezer, the priests, received the gold from the captains of the thousands and of the hundreds and bought it into the tabernacle of meeting as a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.
OK, so they had gone to war against who? The Midianites. The Midianites. Right. So they go to war against the Midianites. And what do they bring back from war? Foodie. All right. What's that? Yeah, stuff, spoils of war, right? Gold and cattle and captives, right? So they bring all this stuff back from war. And what is the Lord say that they're supposed to do with this stuff? Divide it up. Okay. One, they're supposed to divide it up. Good. So, oh, first we should say, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse of sunrises? And C, what are we called to do? So we're talking about, A, what's this about?
So they go to war with the Midianites. They bring back the plunder or the booty. They need to divide it up. And what else are they going to do with it? You remember Daniel, what else are they supposed to do with it? Oh, they have to give it up. Good. So there's a portion that needs to go to the Levites and another portion that needs to go. And there's another portion that goes to the priests. Good. So they have. Yeah, so there's a certain amount that's going to be slaughtered and sacrificed, a certain amount that they're allowed to keep. Right.
And so does does it seem like the Lord takes a disproportionate amount like, you know, he gets like four fifths or 90 percent of it or something like that? No, he gets like one out of 50, so like two percent out of 100. Yeah. So he gets two percent, right. So one out of 50 for the Levites tax and then a priestly tax is one out of every 500. Right. So it's a tiny percentage, right? So the Lord takes a tiny percentage of it for himself. Yeah. Good. But then the second half of this is interesting, right? Beginning in verse 48, the officers come and what did they say to Moses? Um, we've got stuff for the Lord. Yeah. We've got stuff to the Lord. Right.
And they said to Moses, your servants have taken account of the men of war who were under our command and not a man of us is missing. Yeah, they didn't lose any men There's no missing men. And so what do they do and as a thank offering to God they give him Every one post every like 15 Well, they have brought an offering for the Lord. Every man who had found an ornament of gold, armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.
Right. They bring all this stuff to God. Were they required to do this? They had a necklace that had real gems in it. Yeah. And boxcar children, they had that. Yeah. Well, here they got these as spoils of war and they bring it to the Lord and they give it to him as an atonement. Right. But it's also a thanks offering. Right. They weren't required to do this, but they're thankful for it. And what would you underline as the best verse to summarize all this stuff? Yeah, you shut your Bible. That's an inopportune thing, right?
So, well, I think I would say verse 26, count up the plunder that was taken of man and beast, you and Eliezer, the priests and the chief fathers of the congregation, verse 26, and divide the plunder into two parts between those who took part in the war, who went out to the battle and those and all the congregation. There's actually another part we didn't talk about, right? Was it just the men of war who got the plunder? No, when they brought all the stuff back who else got part of it Yeah, the people right the women the children the old guys who couldn't go to war right all the family's got some good Yep So let's lastly talk about see calling. What do you guys think this calls us to do? How do you think this shows us Christ or the Covenant or something like that?
Oh, Daniel thinks that it would be a good application for us to be thankful, right? So like those men of war who came back, God had been faithful. They gave to the Lord to show their thanks. Good, good. What about you, Bubba? Um, maybe that, um, that we should give to people who can't. Okay, so be generous even with the things that the Lord may have given you, right? Good to provide for others. Both of those are good moral type things, right?
I think it's also showing us, right, that God is still faithful to his promises. Did he promise them that one person would chase away a thousand? Yeah, and here had God done it? Yep. God was faithful to his promise. God was faithful to his word. And so God was going to look out for his people and keep his promises. Does that give us hope today? Yep. Oh, yeah. Are you guys ready to pray? It's been a long one. No, you can't have more coffee. Let's pray.
God, we pray that you would please help us to be thankful. Lord, we pray that you would please help us to be generous. Lord, we pray also that you would please help us live our lives knowing that you keep your promises and that you are faithful to your covenant. You're so faithful to your covenant that you have even sent your own son, Jesus. Lord, we pray that you would please help us to love you and follow you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. May God bless you as you have your heart filled with thanks, as you're generous towards others with everything the Lord's given you. And may you take comfort knowing that God keeps his promises. We'll see you next time. Bye.