The mighty men of Israel were finding their places and taking a stand as the people whom they really were.

Now they had a cause; a cause that had been forming in the mind of God since He first gave men the gift of time.

These men were no longer slaves. As free men; they needed to lean into their destiny and become exactly what God had created them to be. God was leading Moses in the process of helping them to process this transition. Lots of changes were going on. Order was coming from chaos and a new way of life was being established among the new nation called Israel.

When God commanded that the census be taken by Moses there was to be one man who represented each family unit in God’s army of people.  That man would assist Moses in taking the census for his own division of the army.

All of the descendants of each of Israel’s sons made up all of the twelve tribes. There were twelve tribes altogether, each with a different leader. The first leader over the Tribe of Reuben was named Elizur and he was  the son of Shedeur.

We will find our later how very significant the names and the personalities of the descendants of Israel who are named here in Numbers Chapter One were to the formation of God’s nation of Israel

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for joining us in our every-Thursday bible study called COME AS A CHILD.

Today we are pondering the words of Numbers, Chapter One.

Last week we studied that a census was taken and all of the men of Israel who were of the age to be in the army were counted. Today we will look at how they were divided into sections after this counting.

If you wish to review last week’s lesson; you can find it here:https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/stand-and-be-counted/

As the twelve divisions were formed after the twelve tribes of the Sons of Israel; leaders were chosen by God to be over their tribes and to report to Moses and Aaron for commanding the army.  This would start out by taking a census and numbering each head of every family in Israel.

LEADERS WERE APPOINTED

I think it might be wise to have a review of the story behind each of the heads of each of the tribes of Israel who were chosen by God just after the census was taken. These were the leaders who were officially put in charge of all of Israel under Moses and Aaron at that time.

ELIZUR SON OF SHEDEUR OF THE TRIBE OF REUBEN

The first leader chosen as the Captain/Prince over the tribe of Reuben was Elizur The Son of Shedeur from the tribe of Rueben.

Just who was Elizur The Son of Shedeur anyway?

Should that matter to us?

I think it does.

If you want to know something about a Hebrew leader; you are wise to start out by breaking down the Hebrew name of the man you are searching for information about.

NAMES WERE IMPORTANT AND PROPHETIC

If we break down the name Elizur by the Hebrew words it translates out to mean; we can see that the name is made up of two Hebrew parts; specifically “El” and “Tsur.”

Usually the Hebraic translation of the leader’s names represented their purpose in life.

How could the parents have possibly known these things though?

It was probably because they spent a lot of time in prayer pouring over the right names and seeking out God’s will for their coming child.

In this case we first hear the word “El” which was a pretty common name given to many in the Old Testament. It simply means “God.” The “i” coming after the El indicates the use of a personal pronoun such as we would commonly say the word “my” in English. You would turn them around in Hebrew to read “My God.” The second part of the name is “tsur” which is the Hebrew word for “rock.” You could say it meant “my God is a rock.”

DISCERNING THE ROCK OF AGES

What significance would this have in their wilderness journey; especially for the tribe of Reuben’s descendants?

We could recite many experiences in the wilderness where God appeared to the people in the form of a rock.

They came to think of the rock as being something with great power to save them and later in a different time (in the new testament) we hear God say to Peter “Upon this Rock I will found my Church.”

Of course the “Rock” referred to in that scripture was indicative of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

So the very first leader chosen for leading the tribe of Reuben was being led by a man whose name indicated that Israel had a God who was as solid and as strong as a Rock and that God was the way that Elizur would receive any power that he possessed in leading his tribe through the desert.

As long as Elizur obeyed and worshiped God; God would make Him as strong as a rock in leading his people.  If he followed God; he would live up to his name and his purpose.

A SON WITH DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES

Elizur was the Son of Shedeur.

Shedeur had died back in Egypt when the descendants of Abraham had suffered in bondage and slavery.

Shedeur had a name derived from two Hebrew words called “sadeh” and “ur.”

Sadeh translated from Hebrew to English with the meaning “a spread out field” or “an open country.”

Shedeur had worked the fields in bondage to the Egyptians and had led a life much like an animal living out in a field would have lived instead of a human being.

The word “Ur.” was the name of the city from which Abraham first came, thus the city of Abraham’s ancestors. They came out of Ur, formed a great family, endured a time of slavery and bondage to the Egyptians, then were set free by God and now they were on their way to The Land of Canaan.

THE MESSAGE IN THE NAME

Elizur’s name mixed with his Father’s name seemed to carry a message for the tribe of Reuben; that from the foreign fields to the promised land God would show Himself as a Rock.

Thus Elizur, Son of Shedeur became the leader of the army of men counted for The Tribe of Reuben in Israel as they traveled through the wilderness.