ABIDAN

One of the Captains of Israel was named Abidan.  He became captain of the tribe of Benjamin. We’ve been looking closely at all the men who became the captains of Israel’s army in the wilderness.

As we come to the last man whom God designated to be a prince/captain in the Army of Israel in the wilderness census, you might be wondering why we have gone into so much detail about all of these men?

Could they even be relevant to our study?

We don’t really hear very much about these guys later on. So, why dwell on the subjects and search out every little morsel of truth concerning each one of them?

A FAMILIAR PATTERN

Good question.

I’ve noticed a familiar pattern.

The Bible is basically all about how God took the descendants of Abraham and made a mighty nation out of them. That nation eventually brought each of us the joy and security of knowing Messiah.

The descendants from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom God renamed and called Israel, all played a very intricate part in our own salvation story.

Whether the parts they played were good or bad, they all played a part.  Therefore, we must recognize them in order to understand the whole story.

THE FORMATION OF TWELVE TRIBES

At this point it is very important to realize Israel had twelve sons.  Each one of them formed what we now call the twelve tribes of Israel.

During this time in history, it is critical to realize that each of these sons founded their own family and tribe.  Each son and his descendants were given a special blessing by Israel.

Things didn’t just happen randomly.  Everything happened in a precise order.

NOTHING IS RANDOM

History proclaims how God gave Israel true and deliberate discernment in the blessing of each of his children. Every blessing was specifically given with its own set of details. Each blessing played out in the later lives of the descendants.

Because of these facts, we need to pay close attention.  Moreover, we need to keep noticing how the blessings of the tribes progressed from the original receivers all the way through the scriptures.  To clarify further, we must pay attention especially to those tribes traveling through the wilderness with Moses.

After all, these were the very people who became known as The Great Family of God.

THE GREAT FAMILY OF GOD

These are the people God originally instructed.  That is to say, they were the ones who gave us the foundations and formations of our worship today.  All that we have has been passed down from generation to generation.

By noticing what each tribe’s captain did in leading the army, we can better understand why things transpired as they did.

As we study how the people begin to progress and move forward, we are going to see some sad things.  We are also going to see some happy things.

THOSE WHO WERE NOT A PEOPLE ARE NOW A PEOPLE

All things we see now from the descendants of each tribe and division, have officially been given the face of a specific nation.  We begin to see a specific people who worship a specific God.   They were not a people and now they ARE a people.

Certainly, this is a critical and crucial transitional time.

These people are now marked specifically by God as different from all of the other nations.  They have separated unto themselves.  Moreover, they have become more personal in their unity before God.  Therefore, each new leader has a chance to make the new nation shine and conform to God’s best ways of living.  Either that, or they can make the nation fall down in brokenness.

GOD IS LEADING HIS PEOPLE

By studying every generation so far, we get a small glimpse into the many ways God was looking at the tribes.  We can know the details He was seeing.  It helps us to understand what He was showing His people, even way back then in the very beginning times of the nation.

Yes, sadly, we will come to see how almost all of these men died in the wilderness.  Unfortunately, they were never allowed to see the promised land they were supposed to be leading the people to discover.

Through these leaders some of the deepest flaws of humankind comes into play.  We will see men who are trusting their own intelligence rather than trusting a God who can do impossible things.

There are good reasons for understanding and studying the wrong patterns humans sometimes allow in ourselves.  We will cover all of these things as we go further and further into the Book of Numbers.

Understanding how each of these tribal leaders reacted to God while living and moving in the wilderness will help us to understand how we are to react to God as we live in the world.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY which is held at this blog every Thrusday.

We feel blessed to have you join in with us.

If you want to go back and explore the lessons of the past, it would be good to start with last weeks lesson.  You can find at this link: HOW THE TRIBES OF EPHRAIM AND MANESSEH WERE DIFFERENT – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 249.   Just work your way backwards through each link for the lessons until you feel you have caught up with us.

In the future we hope to have a compilation offered for each book of the bible we study together.  Our original goal was to put these lessons into booklet form so you can review all of our lessons from Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus.  Progress is slow, but these summaries are partially available on Amazon.com.

Our book on the Genesis study is contained in two volumns.  The titles are THE GOSPEL HIDDEN IN GENESIS, BOOKS ONE AND TWO.  Our book on the Exodus study is called EXODUS TO FREEDOM.  We are still in the process of publishing the book on Leviticus.  Pray that it will be done soon.  That would free us to compile our lesson notes on Numbers, which we are presently studying.

For today’s lesson, we are winding toward the end of Numbers, Chapter Two.

It is our hope that you are following along in your bible and reading the scriptures before reviewing our commentary of each lesson.

ABIDAN OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN

The last tribal captain we will mention was camped around the wilderness tabernacle on the west side of the tabernacle.  He was from the tribe of Benjamin.

God told Moses to appoint Abidan to be the Prince/Captain of this tribe of Israel’s army.  He was commissioned to help in the counting of the census of the army.

When Abidan counted his men they numbered 35,400.

THE SON OF GIDEONI

We simply know that Abidan was the son of Gideoni of the tribe of Benjamin.

You can search the scriptures for information on both of these two men (father and son) and not come up with very much information.

This probably means they were men of good reputation leading quiet and godly lives.  No news would tell us they were busy tending to their own business and getting along well with everyone else in their tribe.

How can I say this without knowing?

THE BLESSINGS OF MAINTAINING A GOOD REPUTATION

I can say such a thing because I live in a world full of humans.

Typically, it is human nature to always point out the flaws of other people.  This is especially true if the person or people in question has been given a post of honor or a high office in the community.

When anything is wrong, it is usually loudly reported in no uncertain terms by many.

If you can find a man of whom nothing negative can be said or recorded from the members of his home community, and the official recorders of history, you have stumbled upon an instance of very rare character indeed.

So, the reputation of this family unit of father and son and these two men, as far as we can tell, was stellar.

Sometimes there is a lot to be said for men who live quietly, obey the rules, and mind their own business.

Their reputation proceeds them.  It speaks highly of them, if only for those three seldom found character traits.

THE BLESSINGS OF A GOOD NAME

The name Abidan in Hebrew means “My God has judged.”

You could also translate it to be “The Father has judged.”

One of the few facts we could find about Abidan’s family was the fact that his father was a judge in good standing among the people.

Abidan followed in his father’s foot-steps.  He also become a well-loved judge in Israel.

THE BLESSING OF BENJAMIN PASSED ON

Of course, as we remember the tribe of Benjamin, we must remember that Benjamin was the youngest son of Rachel. Rachel labored in pain and brought Benjamin forth into the world as she died in childbirth.

Benjamin was beloved of Jacob.  He was probably a bit spoiled as the youngest and last of all the sons of Israel. His only and older brother (from Rachel) was Joseph.

Joseph was very protective of his little brother. They were close, unlike Joseph and all of his older brothers (who were not born of Rachel.)

When Israel blessed Benjamin he proclaimed: “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf.  In the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil.”

This blessing described how vicious and brutal Benjamin would become in order to survive. It also gives a hint as to the violence Benjamin will experience in the future when Israel’s leaders are weak and uncommitted to God.

The contrasts of morning to evening in the blessing speak of how the history of Benjamin’s people would start off good.  However, they would go on to a time of suffering (captivity in Assyria and Babylon.)

The bible often speaks of Rachael’s weeping.  This picture proclaims prophetically how Rachel/Israel cries for her children who go into captivity.  The scriptures also speak of how these same people return to God. They tell of how God rewards their repentance in the end.

Abidan would have been one of the descendants responsible for passing on the knowledge of the blessing which held the key to the future of Benjamin’s people.  They were one of the few tribes who actually grew in number instead of decreasing during the times of the wilderness journey.