Smoky Mountain Bible Institute
Lesson #56
Break out your
maps and histories as we travel again in our time machine to examine history
& geography through a biblical worldview. Let's go on a little trek through
the wilderness shall we?
We find ourselves at the base of Mount Sinai a couple of
months after leaving Egypt in the spring of 1446 BC. Before we continue this
chronological walk through the wilderness, let’s fast forward a little bit to
1445 BC. Sometime during that year, Moses sent 12 spies to check out the land
flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13). The spies were sent only to gather
information not to provide commentary and opinion, but 10 of them, upon their
return, told everyone how big and scary the people who lived in the land were,
and the Israelites picked up on that fear. They forgot that God had delivered
them from Egypt, sustained them in this wilderness for over a year, and guided
them with his presence in the form of a miraculous pillar of cloud and fire.
This led to God's pardon in Numbers 14, after Moses pleads on their behalf that
God does not wipe them off the face of the earth and start over. God however
does judge them for their infidelity to him by putting the nation on parole if
you will. They are to live as nomads in the wilderness for 40 years, and as
this seems to have taken place from 1446 BC to 1406 BC, God must have given
them credit for time already served when he issued the sentence in 1445 BC.
There are very few datable events during this nomadic 40-year
period because very little of the narrative gives dates or mentions datable information.
Miracles abound during this period; miraculous bread (manna), miraculous meat (quail),
miraculous clothing that does not wear out for 40 years, miraculous leadership
in the form of a pillar of cloud and fire in which God dwells among his people,
miraculous water pouring out of rocks, miraculous judgment in the form of the
earth swallowing up rebels, miraculous judgment in the form of fiery snakes, and
miraculous salvation in the form of a bronze serpent raised on a pole. These
are some amazing events, but the best we can get from the narrative is that
they took place during that 40-year period.
Let's go back to the base of Mount Sinai on 1 Sivan (May)
of 1446 BC and look at the dates we do have for this period. A few days later
on 3 Sivan, God speaks to Israel from Sinai, but they grow impatient during
Moses’ stay on the mountain sometime in mid Av (July or August), and they cast
and worship a golden calf. The next datable event is the erection of the tabernacle
on 1 Nisan (March or April) of 1445 BC. For the next 12 days, offerings were
made for the dedication of the altar, then on the 14th of Nisan the
second Passover or first anniversary of Passover was celebrated. Then on 1 Ziv
(April) of 1445, the census was taken. We then fast-forward some 39 years and
they arrive at Kadesh in Nisan of 1407 BC, and Aaron dies on 1 Av (July or
August) of the same year. In the beginning of the following year on 1 Shebat
(January) 1446 BC, Moses gives his final address to the people of Israel and
shortly after, dies atop Mount Nebo overlooking Jericho early in 1406 BC.
God let two people of that generation go into the
promised land: Joshua and Caleb, because they were the two spies who trusted in
God and supported entering and claiming the land God was giving to them. That
is where we will pick up next month: the beginning of the 330 year period known
as The Era of Joshua and the Judges.
Have a blessed summer,
Pastor Portier
