Come With Us: An Invitation Into Covenant Goodness Text: Numbers 10:29-32
Introduction: The Gospel is an Invitation
We live in an age that prizes autonomy above all else. The modern man wants to be a self-made man, indebted to no one, a king on an island of his own making. He views any invitation that requires commitment as a threat, any call to join as a potential trap, and any talk of shared destiny as an infringement on his personal liberty. This radical individualism is not just a cultural mood; it is a rival religion. It is the worship of the imperial self. And it is a profound lie.
The Christian faith, from beginning to end, is an invitation. It is a summons out of the barren land of self-worship and into a commonwealth, a people, a family. It is God's call to come and join Him. And by extension, it is the call of God's people to outsiders, bidding them to come and join us. The gospel is not a private spiritual experience to be cultivated in isolation. It is a public declaration that God is building a city, and the gates are open. "Come," says the Spirit and the Bride. "And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without price" (Rev. 22:17).
This is not a new development. This pattern of gracious invitation into the covenant community is woven into the fabric of the Old Testament. While Israel was a nation set apart, they were never meant to be a hermetically sealed container. The door was always open to the foreigner who would forsake his own people and his father's house to cast his lot with the people of Yahweh. Think of Rahab the Canaanite or Ruth the Moabitess. They were grafted in. They became part of the story, part of the people, part of the lineage of the Messiah Himself.
Our text today in Numbers gives us a striking example of this. Israel is on the move. After a year at Sinai, receiving the law and building the tabernacle, the cloud has lifted and the silver trumpets have sounded. They are finally marching toward the land of promise. And at this pivotal moment, Moses extends a heartfelt, urgent invitation to his brother-in-law, a Midianite named Hobab. This is not just a friendly gesture. This is a paradigm for all true evangelism. It is a call to leave the familiar behind, to join the people of God on their pilgrimage, and to share in the good that God has promised them.
The Text
Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us and we will do you good, for Yahweh has promised good concerning Israel.”
But he said to him, “I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and kin.”
Then he said, “Please do not leave us, inasmuch as you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will be as eyes for us.
So it will be, if you go with us, that whatever good Yahweh does for us, we will do for you.”
(Numbers 10:29-32 LSB)
The Covenantal Invitation (v. 29)
We begin with the invitation itself, which is grounded in the promise of God.
"Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us and we will do you good, for Yahweh has promised good concerning Israel.”" (Numbers 10:29)
Moses begins by stating the mission. "We are setting out." The people of God are a people on the move. We are pilgrims, not settlers in this world. Our destination is a place defined by God's promise: "the place of which Yahweh said, 'I will give it to you.'" This is the foundation of all Christian hope. We are not marching toward a vague, self-generated utopia. We are heading toward a specific, blood-bought inheritance promised to us by the God who cannot lie.
On the basis of this promised destiny, Moses extends the call: "come with us." This is the essence of evangelism. It is not, first and foremost, an invitation to a set of doctrines, though doctrines are essential. It is an invitation to a people. Come with us. You cannot have Christ without His body. You cannot join the General without joining His army. To be a Christian is to be incorporated into the visible, tangible, covenant community of God's people.
And what is the substance of this invitation? "We will do you good." This is not a promise of an easy life. The wilderness journey ahead is filled with hardship, snakes, and enemies. But it is a promise of covenantal blessing. To be with the people of God is to be in the place of blessing, even in the midst of trial. Why? Because "Yahweh has promised good concerning Israel." Moses is not making this up. His confidence is not in Israel's hospitality or their own inherent goodness. His confidence is in God's covenant promise. The goodness we offer to others is not our own; it is the overflow of the goodness God has lavished upon us. We invite people into a shared inheritance, a commonwealth of grace.
The Pull of the Old World (v. 30)
Hobab's initial response is what we should expect. It is the natural response of a man tied to the old ways of blood and soil.
"But he said to him, “I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and kin.”" (Numbers 10:30 LSB)
Notice the conflict here. It is a conflict of loyalties. Moses offers an invitation into a new community, defined by the promise of Yahweh. Hobab feels the pull of the old community, defined by natural ties: "my own land and kin." This is the great stumbling block for many. The call of Christ is a call to subordinate all other loyalties to Him. Jesus said, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). This is not a command to be cruel, but a demand for ultimate allegiance. Your defining identity can no longer be your family, your ethnicity, or your nation. Your defining identity must be Christ and His people.
Hobab's refusal is not malicious. It is natural. He wants to go home. He wants the familiar. The pull of our old life, our old identities, and our old comforts is immensely powerful. The gospel always confronts us with a choice between the familiar attachments of the flesh and the promised blessings of the covenant. To say yes to Christ's people is to say no to the world's definition of who you are.
The Urgent, Humble Plea (v. 31)
Moses does not take no for an answer. He presses the invitation, but notice how he does it. He appeals to Hobab's usefulness.
"Then he said, “Please do not leave us, inasmuch as you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will be as eyes for us.”" (Numbers 10:31 LSB)
This is a remarkable display of humility and practical wisdom. Moses is the great prophet of God, the man who speaks with Yahweh face to face. Israel is guided by a supernatural pillar of cloud and fire. And yet, Moses says to this Midianite desert-dweller, "We need you. You can help us." He doesn't say, "We have the cloud, so your desert skills are obsolete." He recognizes that God's supernatural guidance does not negate the value of natural, created abilities. God guides His people through means, and often those means are the gifts and skills of others.
Hobab knew the wilderness. He knew where to find water. He knew the safe places to camp. He could be "as eyes" for them. This is a crucial principle for the church. When we invite people in, we are not just offering them a handout. We are inviting them to contribute. Every person, saved by grace, is given gifts by the Spirit for the common good. The church is not a collection of spectators watching a professional performance. It is a body, where every member has a function. True evangelism says not only, "Come and be blessed," but also, "Come and be a blessing. We have a place for you. We need what God has given you." This gives dignity to the convert and builds up the body in love.
The Shared Inheritance (v. 32)
Finally, Moses concludes by reiterating the promise, making it a binding, mutual pact.
"So it will be, if you go with us, that whatever good Yahweh does for us, we will do for you.”" (Numbers 10:32 LSB)
This seals the deal. This is the covenant promise in miniature. "If you go with us..." there is a condition. You must cast your lot with us. You must join the pilgrimage. And if you do, the result is this: "whatever good Yahweh does for us, we will do for you." This is the heart of covenant life. The blessings are corporate. The inheritance is shared. There are no lone-ranger Christians in the Bible. We rise and fall together. When God blesses the church, that blessing flows down to every member. When one member rejoices, all rejoice with him.
We are not told in this immediate text whether Hobab accepted. But later Scripture strongly suggests he did. In Judges 1:16, we find that the descendants of "the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law" went up with Judah into the promised land and settled there. This Gentile family was grafted in. They left their own land and their own kin, and they received a share in the inheritance of Israel. They threw in their lot with God's people, and they received God's blessing.
Conclusion: Come Share the Good
This exchange between Moses and Hobab is a master class in biblical evangelism. It shows us our task as the church. We are a people on the march to a promised land, the new heavens and the new earth. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the good that God has promised concerning His people in Christ.
Our call to the world is "come with us." It is an invitation into a tangible community, a visible body. We are to say to our neighbors, our colleagues, and our family members who are still in the land of their natural kin, "Leave that behind and join us. We will do you good." The good we offer is the forgiveness of sins, the fellowship of the saints, the joy of worship, and a share in an eternal inheritance. The good we offer is Christ Himself.
And we should make the appeal with humility and urgency. We should say, "We need you." The church is not complete. God is still building His temple, and He uses living stones from every tribe, tongue, and nation. We should see the gifts, talents, and abilities in unbelievers not as worldly trinkets, but as raw material that God can sanctify and use for His glory. We need their "eyes," their strength, their creativity, all brought under the Lordship of Christ.
And our promise must be a covenant promise. "Whatever good the Lord does for us, we will share it with you." This is the antithesis of the world's selfish individualism. In the church, we share everything. We share our burdens, we share our joys, and we share the boundless goodness of our God. This is the invitation. It is an invitation out of the wilderness of self and into the commonwealth of Israel, to march together under the banner of the King toward the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.