Thursday 10th August
Read Numbers 10:29-32
“Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for the place about which the Lord said, “I will give it to you.” Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.’
30 He answered, ‘No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.’
31 But Moses said, ‘Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. 32 If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us.’” (NIVUK)
Often we can read narratives and let them wash over us without thinking too hard. Particularly if we have just read a rather detailed description containing obscure names and tribes and how they pack up and move campsites in the wilderness. Yet sometimes we do need to pause and ask the simple question, ‘Why are we told this’?
The context is rather surprising. We have just had a comprehensive description of perfect obedience to God’s guidance as His people pack up camp as instructed and follow where Yahweh leads. Why then is Moses begging a non-Israelite to come with them because he knows ‘where we should camp in the wilderness’ and ‘can be our eyes.’ (v31)? Why would they need Hobab when they have Yahweh?
It may just be an awful contradiction. The narrator has forgotten what has just happened and reported on the real reason they were able to survive in the wilderness. Local human knowledge and ingenuity. Or maybe not. Maybe the narrator is making a very important point. Perhaps the idea that all we need to do to survive and live a godly life is wait for the specific guidance and instructions of God and obey them perfectly to get by is not the whole truth. Maybe we need friends too.
