The Dilemma of the Devout: Text: Numbers 9:1-8
Introduction: Lawful Worship and Life's Messiness
We live in an age that is allergic to authority, and particularly allergic to God's authority over our worship. The modern evangelical impulse is to treat worship like a potluck dinner. You bring what you like, I'll bring what I like, and we assume God is just pleased with the variety. The governing principle is sincerity, not obedience. But when we come to the Scriptures, we find a very different picture. God is meticulously concerned with how He is to be approached. He gives statutes, judgments, and appointed times. This is not the fussiness of a celestial bureaucrat; it is the wisdom of a loving Father who knows that true freedom is found within the boundaries of His good law, not outside of them.
The book of Numbers is a record of a people on the move, a nation in the wilderness, learning what it means to be the covenant people of God. And right here, in the midst of their journey, God reiterates the central ordinance of their national and spiritual identity: the Passover. This was not just a quaint historical pageant. It was the memorial of their redemption. It was the gospel in lamb's blood and bitter herbs. It was the annual reminder that they were a people saved by grace through a substitutionary sacrifice.
But life, even life under God's clear commands, is not always neat and tidy. Life is full of interruptions. Life is full of messiness. And in our text today, we encounter a group of men who find themselves caught between the messiness of life and the clear command of God. They have been rendered ceremonially unclean through contact with a dead body, a duty of piety and love. And because of this, they are barred from the central act of covenant renewal. Their dilemma presents us with a profound lesson on the nature of God's law, the heart of true worship, and the wisdom of godly leadership. It teaches us that God's law is not a straitjacket designed to trip us up, but a framework for wise living that, when rightly applied, makes room for the hard providences of a fallen world.
The Text
Thus Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Now, let the sons of Israel observe the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time; you shall observe it according to all its statutes and according to all its judgments.” So Moses told the sons of Israel to celebrate the Passover. And they celebrated the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did. But there were some men who were unclean because of a dead person, so that they could not celebrate Passover on that day; so they came near before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, “We are unclean because of a dead person. But why are we restrained from bringing near the offering of Yahweh at its appointed time among the sons of Israel?” Moses therefore said to them, “Wait, and I will listen to what Yahweh will command concerning you.”
(Numbers 9:1-8 LSB)
The Unchanging Command (vv. 1-3)
We begin with the foundation, which is the direct command of God.
"Thus Yahweh spoke to Moses... 'Now, let the sons of Israel observe the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time; you shall observe it according to all its statutes and according to all its judgments.'" (Numbers 9:1-3)
Notice the setting. This is the second year after the Exodus. They are in the wilderness. They are not in a settled land with permanent structures. They are a pilgrim people. But the commands of God are not suspended for inconvenience. God's appointed times are to be kept, even in the wilderness. Worship is not a luxury for when life is settled; it is the essential fuel for the journey.
The command is emphatic. The phrase "at its appointed time" is repeated. God is a God of order, not chaos. He establishes the calendar of redemption. The Passover was not to be a spontaneous affair, scheduled whenever the mood struck. It was fixed. This teaches us that worship is not about our feelings or our convenience; it is about God's revealed will. He sets the terms of His own worship. This is a direct assault on the man-centered, "have it your way" approach to worship that plagues the modern church.
Furthermore, they are to observe it "according to all its statutes and according to all its judgments." This is comprehensive. God cares about the details. The statutes (the what) and the judgments (the how) are both from Him. This is because the Passover was a type, a foreshadowing. Every detail pointed to the coming substance, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb without blemish. His blood is our protection. Not a bone of His was to be broken. The details mattered because the reality they pointed to mattered infinitely. To be careless with the type was to be careless with the Christ it represented.
Faithful Obedience and a Hard Providence (vv. 4-6)
Moses receives the command and faithfully relays it, and the people faithfully obey. But then a problem arises.
"So Moses told the sons of Israel... And they celebrated the Passover... according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did. But there were some men who were unclean because of a dead person, so that they could not celebrate Passover on that day..." (Numbers 9:4-6)
First, we see the beautiful simplicity of covenant faithfulness. God commanded, Moses spoke, and the people did. This is the ideal. This is how God's kingdom is to function on earth as it is in heaven. There is no committee meeting to debate the relevance of the Passover. There is no survey to see if it meets the felt needs of the congregation. There is simple, straightforward obedience.
But then we hit the snag. Some men were unclean. Now, we must understand what this means. Ceremonial uncleanness was not, in itself, sinful. It was a state of being ritually unfit to approach the holy things of God. And contact with a dead body was one of the most serious forms of this uncleanness. Death is the wages of sin, and to touch death was to be symbolically contaminated by sin's result. This law was a constant, tangible reminder of the chasm between a holy God and a fallen world. It was a picture of our spiritual reality apart from Christ. We have all touched death because we are all born in Adam, and are therefore unclean and unfit to approach God.
These men were not unclean because they were rebels or criminals. They were unclean because they had likely performed the necessary and pious duty of burying a loved one. They were caught in a clash of duties. The law said, "Keep the Passover." The law also said, "If you touch a corpse, you are unclean." This was not a failure on their part; it was a consequence of living in a world where people die.
The Question of the Excluded (v. 7)
What these men do next is remarkable. They don't just shrug and say, "Well, I guess we're off the hook this year." They are distressed by their exclusion.
"And those men said to him, 'We are unclean because of a dead person. But why are we restrained from bringing near the offering of Yahweh at its appointed time among the sons of Israel?'" (Numbers 9:7)
This is the heart of the matter. This is the question of the devout. Their question is not, "Why do we have to do this?" but rather, "Why can't we?" They see their exclusion from worship not as a relief, but as a loss. They have a holy desire to participate in the covenant meal, to identify with God's redeemed people, to bring their offering to Yahweh. Their heart is in the right place, even though their ceremonial state is not.
Their question reveals a profound understanding of what was at stake. To miss the Passover was to be cut off, in a sense, from the central expression of their identity as Israelites. It was like missing the family reunion where the story of the family's founding is retold and celebrated. They longed to be included. This is the heart of a true worshiper. A true worshiper is grieved when he is hindered from worshiping.
This stands in stark contrast to the attitude of so many today who look for any excuse to avoid gathering with the saints. A headache, a rainy day, a football game, a slight inconvenience, and they are quick to abandon the assembly. These unclean men, with a legitimate, God-given reason for their exclusion, were nevertheless desperate to find a way in. Their zeal was a rebuke to all lukewarmness.
The Wisdom of Humble Inquiry (v. 8)
Moses's response to this conundrum is a model of pastoral wisdom and godly leadership.
"Moses therefore said to them, 'Wait, and I will listen to what Yahweh will command concerning you.'" (Numbers 9:8)
Moses does several crucial things here. First, he takes their question seriously. He doesn't dismiss them with a curt, "Rules are rules." He recognizes the piety in their desire. Second, he does not invent a solution on the spot. He doesn't presume to know the mind of God beyond what has been revealed. The Old Testament law was a case-law system. God provided the foundational statutes, and leaders were to apply the principles with wisdom. But here was a new case, a situation not explicitly covered. Moses knew the limits of his own authority.
Third, and most importantly, he takes the problem to God. He says, in effect, "Stand still. Let me go inquire of the King." This is the essence of godly leadership. It is not having all the answers, but knowing where to go for them. Moses models complete dependence on divine revelation. He is not a legislator, but a mediator. He listens to the people's problem, and then he listens for God's solution.
This is a profound lesson for us. When we encounter difficult situations in the church, thorny pastoral problems, or complex ethical questions where duties seem to conflict, our first impulse should not be to innovate or to pontificate. It should be to "wait, and listen to what Yahweh will command." We must take it to the Word. We must take it to God in prayer. The wisdom we need is not found in ourselves, but in Him. Moses' humility here is the pathway to a just and gracious resolution, which God provides in the subsequent verses.
The Second Passover and the Greater Lamb
As we know, God provides a gracious accommodation. He establishes a second Passover in the second month for those who were legitimately hindered from celebrating in the first. God made a way for the devout to be included. He did not lower the standard of holiness, but He did provide a gracious exception for those whose hearts were rightly oriented toward Him.
And this entire episode is a glorious pointer to the gospel. We, like those men, are unclean. But our uncleanness is not from touching a physical corpse; it is because we are born dead in our trespasses and sins. We are utterly unfit to come into the presence of a holy God. The law, in its strictness, rightly excludes us. We have no right to the covenant meal. We have no right to the family of God.
But God, in His infinite mercy, has provided a second Passover. His name is Jesus Christ. He is our Passover Lamb, sacrificed for us (1 Cor. 5:7). By His death, He has dealt with the ultimate source of all uncleanness, which is sin and death itself. And by His blood, He has made a way for the unclean to be made clean. He does not set aside the law; He fulfills it. He does not ignore our uncleanness; He cleanses it.
The question of the unclean men, "Why are we restrained?" is the cry of every heart awakened by the Spirit of God. It is the recognition that we are outside, and a deep longing to be brought inside. And the answer to that cry is not a new rule, but a person. The answer is Christ. Through faith in Him, we are no longer restrained. The way into the holiest of all has been thrown open. God has made a provision, not for the second month, but for all time, for any and all who are defiled by sin and who long to draw near to Him. He says, "Come. Eat. You are welcome here, not because of your cleanness, but because My Son is your Passover."