[Numbers 34] When God Backed the Word of an Angry Drunk. In this chapter God instructs Moses to appoint men to divide the land they are about to take from the Canaanites. Where did this appointment come from? The prophecy that the Israelites moved forward on originally came from Noah when he was drunk, angry and hung over in Genesis 9. We are too cavalier with our prophetic words. In this chapter we will see how 2.2 Million people hazarded their lives in expectation that the word of God through a man with a drinking problem would come to pass.

[Num 34:1-29 KJV] 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this [is] the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, [even] the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:) 3 Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: 4 And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon: 5 And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea. 6 And [as for] the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border. 7 And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor: 8 From mount Hor ye shall point out [your border] unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad: 9 And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazarenan: this shall be your north border. 10 And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham: 11 And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward: 12 And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about. 13 And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This [is] the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe: 14 For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received [their inheritance]; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance: 15 The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan [near] Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising. 16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 17 These [are] the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. 18 And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance. 19 And the names of the men [are] these: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 20 And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 21 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. 22 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli. 23 The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod. 24 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 25 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 26 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 27 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. 28 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. 29 These [are they] whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

Where do we get the idea that Canaan was the promised land? Promised to who and whom was it promised by? Where did the promise originate? You may be surprised that the promise of Canaan originated not as direct revelation of God to Abraham but originally as a PERSONAL PROPHECY from Noah (when he was drunk) to Abraham’s ancestor Shem. Shem was the oldest of Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons. When they debarked the Ark Ham’s son Canaan was cursed by Noah because Ham his father shamed Noah by committing a homosexual act upon him while he was inebriated. When Noah revived he knew what Ham had done and he spoke this word over his eldest son Shem that has consequences from Shem to Abraham right down to our day:

[Gen 9:26 KJV] And he said, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

God reiterated the promise of land to Abraham:

[Gen 13:14-15 KJV] 14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

400 years later God takes the children of Abraham across the desert to the ancient lands of Canaan to inherit and fulfill the personal prophecy given by Noah almost a thousand years before. This should give you pause in reference to 1 Tim. 1:18 that says “war with the prophetic words that have gone out over you …” It would have been easy at the end of Shem’s life to forget what Noah prophesied (after all he was angry, drunk and hung over at the time). It would have been easy at the end of Abraham’s life to disregard the prophetic word as not coming to pass. These people held on to the bloodline prophecy of God until the day it was delivered into their hand. It didn’t just happen. They had to hold on to the promise and curate the promise and nurture the promise. Further they had to go to war to bring the promise about. They didn’t sit back and say if it’s God’s will it will happen. They armed themselves and laid their lives down to see the word come to pass.

What are you doing to bring your words to pass? Are you waiting and watching? If Abraham and his descendants had done the same you and I would not know who they were and they would never have influenced history or have received what God’s promise was. Don’t despise prophesying (even when these words originate from angry drunks). Don’t scorn what God has said even past the point where it seems it won’t happen. God doesn’t not lie even when He speaks through drunks like Noah was the day he prophesied the destiny of God’s people.

Eleazar the priest was appointed along with Joshua to be in charge of the committee of men (leaders of every tribe) to divide the land. Remember that the people know that Moses has been rejected by God and won’t be entering Canaan. Why should they listen to him? He has been exposed and shamed has he not? Yet they still honored the word of the Lord through him. The people in the wilderness for all their short-comings were in some ways more excellent in their faith and fidelity toward God than we are. We take a leader who falters ONE TIME and we reject them, ignore them and walk away from them forever. This is the contamination of the cult of celebrity. We have to get past the attitude that says “you are my pastor as long as you tell me what you want to hear…” or as long as you don’t make a single mistake or show your humanity in any way? Is there any surprise that spiritual leaders under such intense pressure manifest in the way Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker and many others have?

There are 55 bible references to the children of Israel inheriting the land of promise. The boundaries were roughly from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea to the Euphrates river. It would not be till Solomon’s time that Israel as a nation would occupy most of this territory. In fact they have yet to have occupied this territory but the promise of God is that it will in fact come to pass. In prophesying the ultimate promise of occupying these territories Joel 3:1-2 says that God will one day contend and war against those nations (whether it be the nation or Jordan, or Iraq, or Egypt or any other nation on the Arabian Peninsula) God will bring this territory literally into the possession of the ancient people of Israel.

What are you doing with your promises? We see Israel today making all manner of concessions about God’s promises to them. We continually see the failed strategy of “land of peace”. Why doesn’t this work? God has made a promise. You can try to settle for less than God promises in your life by the prophets and the result will be no better for you than it is for the Israelis today. Do not give up on God’s promise. It may not make sense, no one may stand with you but if you honor God the end result will be highest heart’s desire and greatest dream fulfilled.