Organized
After the wilderness death of all that had sided with the ten faithless spies, a new generation of Hebrews resumed the march toward Canaan. They were instructed to turn toward Edom and pass through their land. Edom was a well-watered and fertile country. So when the mirac-ulous flow of water from the smitten rock ceased, it should have been seen as a token that their wilderness wandering had ended. “The water ceased before they had reached Edom. Here was an opportunity for them, for a little time, to walk in faith instead of sight.”1
But this new generation also failed the test. “Had the people, when brought into trial, trusted in God, the Captain of the Lord’s host would have led them through Edom, and the fear of them would have been upon the inhabitants of the land, so that, instead of manifesting hostility, they would have shown them favor.”2 Now the king of Edom refused them passage. They had to go around through desert and sterile wastes.3
On the way they suffered defeat in an engagement with Arad, one of the Canaanite kings. When they sought the Lord earnestly, divine aid was granted and their enemies were routed. Rather than causing them to feel gratitude and acknowledge their dependance upon God, this victory made them boastful and self-confident. They began to murmur about their long wilderness sojourn. “They flattered themselves that if God and Moses had not interfered [forty years before], they might now have been in possession of the Promised Land.”4
For many years they had been shielded by divine power so they did not realize the countless dangers that surrounded them. The stings of the wilderness serpents were poison, causing inflam-mation and a speedy death. “As the protecting hand of God was removed from Israel, great numbers of the people where attacked by these venomous creatures.”5
The people humbled themselves before God; and He instructed Moses to fashion a brazen serpent and put it upon a pole—even as the Son of man would be “lifted up: that whosoever believe on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”6 The people well knew that there was no power in the serpent of brass. Healing virtue is from God alone.
With the lesson of faith learned, the Israelites moved forward as the Captain of the Lord’s host vanquished the enemies of His people. Victory was gained over the nations on the borders of Canaan—the Amorites at Heshbon, and the giants at Bashan and Edrei. And then the people returned to the Jordan to prepare for the immediate invasion of Canaan. They camped beside the river, just opposite of Jericho. They were on the borders of Moab and the Moabites were terrified.7
Balaam was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel. Perched up in the “high places of Baal,” Balaam could survey the entire camp of the Hebrew host. “He beheld with astonishment the evidence of their prosperity. They had been represented to him as a rude, disorganized multitude, infesting the country in roving bands that were a pest and terror to the surrounding nations; but their appearance was the reverse of this. He saw the vast extent and perfect arrangement of their camp, everything bearing the marks of thorough discipline and order. He was shown the favor with which God regarded Israel, and their distinctive character as His chosen people. They were not to stand upon a level with the other nations, but to be exalted above them all. ‘The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.’”8
This is the sixth and final directive: the Galilee Protocol must be well organized. “God is a God of order. Everything connected with heaven is in perfect order; subjection and thorough discipline mark the movement of the angelic host. Success can only attend order and harmonious action. God requires order and system in His work now no less than in the days of Israel. All who are work-ing for Him are to labor intelligently, not in a careless, haphazard manner. He would have His work done in faith and exactness, that He may place the seal of His approval upon it.9
“As we near the final crisis, instead of feeling that there is less need of order and harmony of action, we should be more system-atic then heretofore.”10 “Diligent work is now called for. In this crisis, no halfhearted efforts will prove successful. In all our city work, we are to hunt for souls. Wise plans are to be laid, in order that such a work may be done to the best possible advantage.”11
“In every large city there should be corps of organized, well disciplined workers; not merely one or two, but scores should be set to work... Each company of workers should be under the direction of a competent leader, and it should ever be kept before them that they are to be missionaries in the highest sense of the term. Such systematic labor, wisely conducted, would produce blessed results.”12
“It is essential to labor with order, following well organized plans and a definite object. No one can properly instruct another unless he sees to it that the work to be done shall be taken hold of systematically and in order... Well-defined plans should be freely presented to all whom they may concern, and it should be ascertained that they are understood. Then require of all those who are at the head of the various departments to operate in the execution of these plans. If this sure and radical method is properly adopted and followed up with interest and good will, it will avoid much work being done without any definite object, much useless friction.”13
1Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 414. 2Ibid, p. 422-223. 3Ibid, p. 423-424. 4Ibid, p. 428. 5Ibid, p. 429. 6John 3:15. 7White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 438. 8Ibid, p. 447. 9Ibid, p. 376. 10White, Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 26. 11White, Evangelism, p. 59. 12White, Medical Ministry, p. 300-301. 13White, Evangelism, p. 94.