Numbers 26-27:19 | The Holy Spirit Bible Teaching

Okay before we get to our focus for this week, let’s cover some passages I overlooked last week that Danny brough forth in the comments portion last week.

The first was said in what is called, Balaam’s parable where he said,

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

And where Danny pointed our how the passage clearly states that God is not a man, which Bible reading believers all admit, and which stands in opposition to the LDS teachings that God was once a man, Balaam was contextually ties this to the idea of how men lie, meaning, that is how he is not like a man.

Wise LDS apologist’s would say, we agree that God is not a man, but this does not mean that God wasn’t “once a man” and that now He does not lie.”

The passage is good, but in my estimation it isn’t as failproof as we might believe when using it in apologetics to the LDS.

The other thing Balaam says which is problematic in a couple ways is when he adds, “Neither (is God) the son of Man” (which ironically is a title Yeshua gave Himself – making that a “problem” for those of us who say that the Son of Man was God with us) but then he ties that line to the statement which causes even more problems, adding, “that He should repent,” adding, as proof of this, “hath he said, and shall he not do it, or hath he spoken and shall He not make Good?”

The problem with this singular declaration is that while the scripture does repeat this line, like in 1st Samuel 15:29 where we read,

“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.”

And

Ezekiel 24:14 where it reads,

“I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.”

We do have passages that contradict this view, like

Genesis 6:7 “And YAHAVAH said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

And also

1st Samuel 15:11 where God says

It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.

The Hebrew word for repent or repenteth me is the same in these passages so there is not much of an insight there but one thing we might include in our study of this is the word, repent/repenteth in Hebrew is that it can be defined as “sighed,” which gives a different meaning to the reaction given, but doesn’t change the fact that God gets frustrated and that human free will is a reality.

That said, does God repent, meaning, in the sense of what repent means in scripture, which is, “does He change His mind?”

Contrary to standard Evangelical idea that says never, I would say, “all the time,” as evidenced by the scripture we have even just seen in the parts of the Tanakh we’ve studied.

So, while Balaam uses the same word for repent in Hebrew here, he must mean something different in the use by saying that He does not, or he was wrong.

The problem is, Balaam is actually saying in this passage what YAHAVAH told him to say, and therefore the conundrum is not answerable in my estimation.

The second thing that Danny pointed out was when we read in Numbers 24:2

“And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him.”

We will get to this point in a moment but lets first progress forward through chapter 26 quickly to keep us on track and bring us to another passage that contributes to the notion of the Spirit of God coming upon Balaam.

Chapter 26 opens with

Numbers 26:1 And it came to pass after the plague, that YAHAVAH spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying,
2 Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers’ house, all that are able to go to war in Israel.

Then from verse 5 to 62 we get a tally of the sum from each tribe – which we are not going to cover.

Then at verse 63, the chapter closes out with

63 These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
64 But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
65 For YAHAVAH had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Chapter 27 opens with a situation which would cause Moses to add a clarification to the civil law of the Nation which is confirmed in chapter 36 to come.

In verse 1 we read

Numbers 27:1 Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

And this is what they said at verse 3

Numbers 27:3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against YAHAVAH in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.
4 Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
5 And Moses brought their cause before YAHAVAH.
6 And YAHAVAH spake unto Moses, saying,
7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
9 And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren.
10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father’s brethren.
11 And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as YAHAVAH commanded Moses.

And these instructions were added to the Civil Law of the Nation.

Then we read at verse 12

12 And YAHAVAH said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.
13 And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered.
14 For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
15 And Moses spake unto YAHAVAH,
saying,
16 Let YAHAVAH, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
17 Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of YAHAVAH be not as sheep which have no shepherd.
18 And YAHAVAH said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;
19 And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
20 And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.
21 And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before YAHAVAH: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.
22 And Moses did as YAHAVAH commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation:
23 And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as YAHAVAH commanded by the hand of Moses.

We will stop here in our progress through Numbers to address a topic that has confused me, that I have wrongly been taught and repeated, and that I want to change today with my current understanding – admitting that this too may be short sighted.

So, jump back with me to verse 18 and let’s re-read it.

18 And YAHAVAH said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;

Now, just to work backward, I was taught a view of this that seemed very reasonable at the time and was in line with the standard views of Evangelicalism.

What is it. We’ll, I recently said, I think it was to Margo, the following:

After the fall, God was alienated from Man and Man was alienated from God because of the spiritual death introduced by Adam.

I’ve often likened God’s inability to relate to Man inwardly by His Spirit as akin to being impossible on the basis that He is holy, a consuming fire, and because Man is unholy human beings could not receive His Spirit in their hearts UNTIL the victorious works of Jesus Christ occurred.

And with this view I maintained that God’s spirit before either surrounded men and women, or rested upon them, and then after His work, God – as evidenced at Pentecost was able to move into people of faith.

I was wrong. I am sorry.

And I was guilty of passing off passages like this one in Numbers 27:18 with un-substantiated truths.

So, we have to ask, “what has come forth to change this standard established traditional view?” The text itself and the Spirit refusing to let me by pass a passage like this again without investigating further.

Admittedly, I’ve always wondered about passages like this and others – especially with respect to John the Baptist where we read in Luke 1:15

For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

And it wasn’t just the babe John as we read 26 verses later

Luke 1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

I mean, these are just irrefutable unless you do what I once did and tried to work around them.

But even moving backward into the Tanakh, there are passages that we cannot get around like,

Ezekeil 2:1-2 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.

Commentators have somehow decided that this was “the spirit of prophecy” alone, and not the Holy Spirit of God on the basis that the spirit could not enter into people prior to Christ cleansing the human heart.

Interestingly, the Septuagint capitalizes Spirit in that passage. Then also in Ezekiel 3:24 he writes,

“Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.”

We recall reading in Exodus 31:3

“And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,”

And then, again,

Exodus 35:31 And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;

But again, in the King James, spirit is not capitalized to sway interpretation while the Septuagint makes the Spirit capital.

Micah wrote, in Micah 3:8

“But as for me, I am filled with power, by the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”

Lending also to the idea that Micah was filled with the Holy Spirit.

In addition to these, we also read in the Apostolic Record the following about the Apostles themselves, as Yeshua said to them, in Matthew 10:16-20, before Pentecost,

16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

This does not necessarily refer only to the time after Pentecost but but appears to support the notion that the apostles, too, had the Holy Spirit in them as the line, “but the spirit of your father which speaks IN you” appears to mean, “from within you.”

What are we to say? How as the Holy Spirit in men in Exodus, in Joshua the Son of Nun, in Ezekiel, in John the Baptist and in the Apostles?

The standard arguments do not work.

Here in Numbers 27:18 we, again, read

18 And YAHAVAH said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;

Then we read in Luke 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

And in this case alone, we can see that as a type for Christ, Joshua of old possessed the Spirit of God within Him no different that that Man Yeshua of Nazareth.

And where most Christian scholars, studying John 17 and Yeshua’s words to His apostles, placing a lot of emphasis on the Greek words “en” and “pand concluding that even the apostles were not filled with the Holy Spirit before Pentecost, I plainly suggest another view – radical but entirely fitting with scripture.

When it all came together in my head I consulted our brother Grady with my conclusions and he agreed completely, and had come the conclusions well before me.

You decide what you think – search it out – because what I am about to say bears some serious alterations to the standard fare and weighs in heavily against a number of huge Christian dogmas.
And it all goes like this:

God and His Spirit have always been able to fall upon and/or be around human beings, as it is frequently described in the scripture but additionally the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost has never been restricted from being IN human beings, before the Fall, after the Fall and or before Pentecost.

This thinking is a fabrication of Men. And we can prove the latter based on the passages given.

The Fall created an impasse in Man having access to God – which is why the Nation, prior to the victorious work of Christ, could not come to Him directly – hence the Law, ablusions, rites, rituals, veils and the blood of sacrificed animals.

It seems a bit confusing and as if I am saying the same thing, but God was never ever unable to relate directly with Man – and this explains how and why His Spirit is described as being in some people BEFORE Pentecost.

But man, walking in sin, did not have the mind and heart to access God on their own – either because of their own carnality, mindset, nor ability. The human heart prohibited Man from receiving and approaching God who was with them, around them and even in them without material mediations.

All of this changed when? When God reconciled the world to Himself by and through the finished work of His Son.

That line, reconciled the world to Himself does not mean He was then able to enter and relate to Man, it means the world of Man was forevermore able to directly come to God as our sin was wiped away, and all of us on the globe forevermore were taken back to our spiritual standing in the Garden – freely choosing how to live without any need for ablutions, rites, rituals, or the shed blood of animals.

God reconciled the world to HIMSELF.
He was always able to be with, around and in Man, but Man, shall we say, was incapable of relating rightly to Him in (LISTEN) in a wholly relatable, consistent and continual way.

Remember these words – “relatable, consistent and continual way.”

We might try to explain or understand this as the Holy Spirit of God within Man pre-Pentecost was so otherworldly, so incomprehensible, so spiritual that fallen, carnal Man could only relate to it partially and on a very limited basis.

I don’t know about you, but when the Holy Spirit is flowing in us today, even post-Pentecost, it is hard to abide in it directly in these bodies of flesh and with all the diversions around us.

We literally become overwhelmed and again, this is post the life, death, resurrection, ascension and return of His Son!

So, imagine living in a post Fallen, pre-victory time when God’s spirit would enter a person. Again, God was able to abide, and God did abide in people, but there were only a few examples of it.

So, Man was not able to fully relate to the presence of God’s Spirit in him pre-victory.

This meant, it seems, that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was inconsistent in Man who had yet to be reconciled. Another way to say this, is the Holy Spirit within Man was not continual – but rested upon, was around, and even in individuals at different times, but appears to have left them based on Man’s inability to relate with it.

So, we come to the incarnation, an event that would ultimately serve to reconcile the world (human beings) to God, enabling us to relate to Him and His presence within us.

Speaking to the Jewish converts to the faith of His day, the writer of Hebrews
Speaking of the unbelief of the Nation in the wilderness, wrote of Christ and what He accomplished, and added,

Hebrews 4:11 Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God (this is Yeshua, folks, and His words) is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Because of Christ’s work over the Law, sin and death, man is able to abide such scrutiny from the presence of God within, AGAIN, because of the incarnation of Christ – and the writer continues, saying,

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Yeshua the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

This indirect description of our being reconciled to God through Christ illustrates something crucial to our ability to relate, continually and consistently with God – it is all because of Christ our mediator, who, becoming incarnate, overcame the former high priest of old, who could not be touched, “but, was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin!!

Therefore, the writer concludes,

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

So where humanity, prior to the incarnation, had no ability in themselves, to approach, relate, or be continually responsible to the presence of God in or around them, by and through Christ and His mediation (which in principle is ongoing by virtue of Him having accomplished it for us all before turning everything all over to God making Him all in all) after His life, death and resurrection all of us, the world, was equipped to be able to relate, respond and continually host the Spirit of God which before was impossible.

It is at this point, however, where things begin to get wild. So, here we go, another heretical feather in the cap.

I suggest that the Holy Spirit of God, prior to the incarnation, victory and Pentecost, related to human beings in one fashion or way, but that after the life death and victory of Yeshua, becoming flesh, and

Being tempted in all points but not sinning, (Hebrews 4:15)
For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18)
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:45)
That, “Being made to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2nd Corinthians 5:21)

That the Holy Spirit of God changed. That is right, the Holy Spirit of God CHANGED.

The implications of this are really far reaching and are impossible in the face of the Trinity (with the Holy Spirit being the third person, co-equal, co-eternal, unchanging, and the same yesterday, today and forever) but instead, the Holy Spirit of God, in one form before the incarnation, became something different thereafter.

How can I say this?

Because only AFTER the victorious incarnation, where Christ accomplished everything no other human being could ever accomplish, the Holy Spirit became synonymously known as the Spirit of Christ.

In the famous chapter of John 14 Yeshua said to His apostles,

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; (he is the way, the Truth and the Life) whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Then at verse 27 Yeshua adds,

Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

In the Great Commission Yeshua also said,

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. Amen.

Of course, we recall Yeshua saying in
John 7:37

37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Yeshua was not yet glorified.)

The Holy Spirit was not yet given BECAUSE why – because Yeshua was NOT YET glorified!

Contextually speaking, and in the face of all we have considered, what fell at Pentecost was (and I mean this honorably though it sounds sarcastic), the New, updated version of the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit 2.0, which was the Holy Spirit of God that from that day forward included the Spirit of His Son.

Listen carefully now to Paul in Romans 8 where he writes, beginning at verse 1

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

OR

Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Or back to Romans 8 verse 10 where Paul adds,

Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Showing that the words, Spirit of Christ are not a one-off, but something new and given to those who have faith in Him, Paul writes in Philippians 1:19:

Philippians 1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

And Peter also uses the term, saying in
1st Peter 1:11

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,

This ALLLLLLLL makes sense now when we read Yeshua also say in John 16:7

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

With all of this in mind, I presently maintain the following, and am convinced that there is at least partial truth here when I say:

God has always been able to dwell in human beings and the scripture proves He did.
The Holy Spirit was able to indwell people prior to Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit prior to Pentecost was not the same force as the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost as the Holy Spirit that fell at Pentecost included the very Spirit of the victorious Christ which the Spirit was not prior.
That the Holy Spirit that fell at Pentecost was substantively different version, now able to permanently abide in Man, now able to better guide humankind, and all of this was by virtue of Christ’s victory as man over his flesh.
These insights mitigate the traditional view of the Holy Spirit as a co-equal, co-eternal, unchanging person, but instead tend to describe the Holy Spirit, pre-Incarnation and pre-Pentecost as the power and Spirit of Holy YAHAVAH, while the Holy Spirit post the incarnational victory and AT Pentecost, then representing a reformatted power of God, this time with the inclusion of Christ.