Bibledoorajar: On the Plains of Moab

     This morning my congregation sang the song Stand up, stand up for Jesus. The song was written in 1858 by George Duffield Jr. He was prompted to write the words following the death of a fellow minister who supposedly told those by his deathbed to continue to stand up for Jesus. We sang the stanza below which alludes to enduring the strife and to seeking the crown of life (inheritance).

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
The strife will not be long;
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victor's song.
To those who vanquish evil
A crown of life shall be;
They with the King of Glory
Shall reign eternally".

But there is a stanza that Duffield wrote that is usually omitted in hymnals. It speaks of "each soldier to his post and closing up the broken column; to make good the loss so heavy in those that still remain". He wrote this stanza thinking of his dead fellow minister and how the deceased wanted the work to go on by those that could close ranks and continue to stand up.

     After the plague, God had Moses and Eleazer the priest number the fighting men of Israel. It was time to close the broken columns. Many had died since leaving Egypt and more recently in the plains of Moab following the plague. They were numbered according to their clans and the number reached would not only make clear how many could bear the noise of battle but it would also determine their land inheritance in the Promised Land. The larger the clan the greater apportionment of land.  601730 was the total number reached. It was not that different from where they were 38 years before as they left Egypt.