These are those who were listed, whom Moses and Aaron listed with the help of the chiefs of Israel, twelve men, each representing his fathers' house. So all those listed of the people of Israel, by their fathers' houses, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war in Israel— all those listed were 603,550.
God loves people. God created man to have fellowship with Him. God choose Abraham so that He would have a nation to have fellowship with. They would be His people. In the above passage we read that twelve men (the son’s of Jacob/Israel) would become over one-half million men. This number does not include the tribe of Levi, or women and children. This is a lot of people for God to fellowship with. God loves people. Of course, these people would rebel against Him. But, that is what brought the need for Messiah (Christ) and Christ built the church ... out of people. Notice what the writer of Hebrews writes to us about God and people:
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
Notice that it reads, “... I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This is God’s purpose, plan and passion. God loves people and wants to fellowship with them. He wants us to love people, as well. We are to love His people. We are to have that fellowship and desire to walk with Him and His people. God intended us to live in community and in fellowship with Him in that community. God promised Abraham he would have children like the sands of the sea and the stars of the heavens. That is the church and the body of believers living in community and fellowship with each other and with God and through Christ and by the power of the Spirit.
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