Don't Get Hung Up On Sheer Numbers

# 83 – Today's Du-votional comes from 1Sa 6:19a, “Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, (1 Sam 6:19a) This is a problematic verse because of the sheer number of people that were slaughtered. Many commentators have struggled with ways to justify the figure and common sense would tell us that a much smaller figure than 50,000 would be in order. I mean, where will you find 50,000 men in a village the size of Beth Shemesh? Transcribing numbers from original texts is a dicey job. One little error from a copyist and a number can be blown way out of proportion, and there are other problems and nuances to deal with in translation of numbers that quite frankly are way out of my league and I'll let the experts work it out. Maybe, a quick lesson for us all here is let's not be so concerned about sheer numbers! Be much more concerned about the “effects.” When people ask about the success of a church, the answer given is most often a numerical one. It's usually a body count of average attendance, or the number listed on the membership rolls. These are useful figures, but should never be used to gauge the spiritual strength of a congregation. On that first day of Pentecost, the Book of Acts tells us that “about 3000 souls were baptized.” But the Holy Spirit doesn't dwell on the number, He went right to the effects to measure the true strength of the church. In Ac 2:42-47 the effects were clearly evident as we read of the new converts meeting together, praying together, participating in the Lord's Supper, and acting upon the biblical teaching of the apostles. They shared of their material goods seeking to meet the needs of others in the church. The result: Ac 2:47b And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Maybe, we should seek to follow the example of the early church and let God take care of the numbers.