Crystal Writes A Blog

Here Come the Sons

This post is one of those difficult ones because it’s almost pure genealogies. I tried looking for images of sons of sons, and almost used one of Lego Star Wars(tm) stormtroopers training their little ones, but I just couldn’t figure out how to make it work for a post. The image is cute, though, so I’ll share it at the end. So, finally, I found an ApologetiX video about Israel called Here Come the Sons with lyrics, and it’s almost perfect. It’s back to the original sons, so it doesn’t include Ephraim and Manasseh, but the others in the family tree are included.

In today’s reading from Numbers 26:5 through Numbers 26:51, we see the results of the census that was mentioned in the last paragraph of yesterday’s portion. This census is once again for preparing the community of Israel for the battles they will need to fight as they enter The Promised Land. The numbers of descendants of the various tribes of Israel are given by tribe, and I believe these numbers are only those twenty and over who are suitable for soldier material. They total 601,730, so if that is just the battle-ready of the community, there’s still a pretty large group of people considering this is now the second generation.

As I read through and found a few where there were no sons, and the census listed the daughters, I thought about a song written and performed by some friends of mine, Zeb and Joy Son. It’s called She’s Somebody’s Daughter, He’s Somebody’s Son, and it’s about soldiers being more than just bodies in a uniform. You can get it from them on CD, but I don’t think it’s available anywhere online. If you want to contact them, check out the website for Christian Country Cowboy Church of LaGrange, Kentucky, where Zeb & Joy are the parsons. They have a few videos on the YouTube channel for “christiancbchurch,” so you might be able to find the song on one of them.

As with the song mentioned above, the men (and maybe women) mentioned in the census here are more than just bodies being prepared for war and/or redemption. Each one of the names, clans, tribes, etc., has a place in the heart of Our Creator, Yahveh Almighty. He has hopes and plans for them that include an eternity with Him, and He has those same hopes and plans for us and our children.

Sometimes it feels like we’re in this life alone, whether we feel alone with our trials or alone with our victories, but God has every hair counted as He watches and cares for each of us. I cannot stress strongly enough how much God loves us and wants only the best for us. Just because we have to fight for something doesn’t mean He doesn’t desire for us to have it. It’s no different than having to shop for, prepare, and consume our food in order to be filled. Those things that matter to us are worth working and fighting to obtain.

The sons of the sons of Israel have a long legacy of work behind them that has led to their approach to the land which God has promised to them. They still have a lot of work to do, but they will find it worth it. Those of us who are serving God in this day and age have a long legacy of sacrifices that brought us the freedom to seek and find God–especially in the USA, and we also still have a lot of work to do because there are still so many left to reach with His gospel. But, as each new soul steps into a walk of faith on this earth that will lead to an eternity of blessing, we know that our walk, and the walks of the forefathers of faith, is worth the journey.

Oh, and here’s that cute image I spoke of above…

Training Future Soldiers by Flickr User Kristina Alexanderson, CC License = Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike
Click image to open a new tab/window to view the original image and to access the user’s full photo stream at Flickr.

June 29, 2014 - Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Bible Commentary, Bible study, census, Complete Jewish Bible, genealogy, Numbers, Scripture, sons of sons, Torah Portions