Adult Lesson Plan: Numbers 11–14;20–24;27

OPENING (2–3 minutes)

Forty years is a long time to walk from Sinai to Canaan. Even on foot, it should not have taken that long. Come, Follow Me frames the delay with a phrase worth sitting with: it was “not to cover the geographical distance but to cover the spiritual distance: the distance between who they were and who they could become as God’s covenant people” (“May 4–10. ‘Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear,’” Come, Follow Me, For Home and Church: Old Testament 2026).

Put that idea to the class as a question that refuses easy answers: If the Lord can part seas and send manna, why does He so often let growth take time? Where does your own “spiritual distance” show up, not as rebellion, but as slow learning, recurring fears, or old habits that keep reappearing like sand in your shoes?

Then open Numbers with a second question: When Israel struggles, is their main problem information, motivation, or trust?

SCRIPTURE EXPLORATION (15–20 minutes)

Begin with Moses’s leadership burden and the Lord’s solution in Numbers 11. The manual points us to “the problem Moses faced and the solution God proposed” (see Numbers 11:11–17, 24–29). Read Moses’s yearning in Numbers 11:29.

“And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29)

Let the class linger on Moses’s wish. He does not sound threatened by shared spiritual gifts. He sounds relieved at the thought of a whole covenant community learning to hear God.

Now read the caution that follows in Numbers 12, where Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses and the Lord answers with clarity about prophetic stewardship. Read Numbers 12:6–8.

“And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” (Numbers 12:6) “My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.” (Numbers 12:7) “With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:8)

A good class will feel the tension: Numbers 11 celebrates widespread spiritual outpouring, and Numbers 12 draws a firm line around prophetic authority. Hold the tension without rushing to resolve it. Ask: How do these chapters protect both personal revelation and unity? Where have you seen either one distorted, personal revelation used to override the Lord’s appointed servants, or prophetic leadership treated as a substitute for our own seeking?

Move next to Numbers 13–14, the spy report and the crisis of fear. Come, Follow Me asks, “Why do you think they wanted to ‘return into Egypt’?” (Numbers 14:3) (“May 4–10. ‘Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear,’”). Read Numbers 14:3 aloud and let the room hear how fear talks.

“And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3)

Then read the Lord’s description of Caleb in Numbers 14:24, because it names the inner difference that makes faith possible.

“But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.” (Numbers 14:24)

Ask what “another spirit” might look like in adult discipleship. Not naïveté, not denial, but a different way of interpreting the same facts. Ten spies and two spies saw the same land. Israel’s future turned on interpretation.

If time permits, connect this fear-to-faith struggle to the manual’s framing line again: the long delay measured spiritual distance, not miles.

DOCTRINAL DISCUSSION (10–15 minutes)

The first doctrine rising from these chapters is that revelation is both widely available and carefully ordered. Come, Follow Me states it plainly: “Revelation is available to everyone, but God guides His Church through His prophet” (“May 4–10. ‘Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear,’”). Numbers 11:29 sounds like the Lord wants a people who can receive His Spirit, not a people who outsource holiness to a single leader. At the same time, Numbers 12:8 shows the Lord defending the prophetic office, and He does it with more than a reminder about manners. He anchors Moses’s authority in a relationship the Lord Himself initiated: “With him will I speak mouth to mouth” (Numbers 12:8).

A class discussion can go somewhere honest here. When have you felt the Spirit confirm something for your family, your repentance, your calling, or your discipleship, and how did that personal revelation strengthen your loyalty to the prophet rather than compete with it? Where do you see the difference between “the Lord’s people” becoming prophetic in their own lives (Numbers 11:29) and someone claiming a mandate to “lead God’s people the way Moses did” (as the manual cautions) (“May 4–10. ‘Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear,’”)?

A second doctrine is that meekness belongs to spiritual strength, not weakness. Come, Follow Me highlights a line that surprises many readers: “Moses was very meek” (Numbers 12:3) (“May 4–10. ‘Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear,’”). The same Moses who confronted Pharaoh and carried the weight of a nation is described with a word we sometimes misread as passive. Yet Numbers 11–12 shows a man who can absorb criticism, seek help, and rejoice when others receive the Spirit (Numbers 11:29). Meekness here looks like secure trust in God’s calling, with no need to grasp for status.

Ask the class: In your experience, what does meekness look like in a workplace disagreement, a marriage conversation, or a ward council? How does meekness change the way a person responds to being misunderstood?

A third doctrine is that fear distorts memory and shrinks hope. Numbers 14:3 is not only fear of the future, it is a tragic reinterpretation of the past. Egypt becomes attractive again. Bondage starts to look like safety. That is one of sin’s more sophisticated tricks: it edits our story. Caleb’s “another spirit” (Numbers 14:24) suggests a disciple can live in the same uncertainty and still “follow [the Lord] fully” (Numbers 14:24).

Let the class wrestle with questions that do not have one tidy answer. What “Egypt” do grown disciples sometimes romanticize when Canaan feels hard? When you feel anxious about the future, what helps you remember the Lord’s past mercies without turning that memory into nostalgia for what God already delivered you from? Where do you see the Lord patiently teaching a people to become what they are covenanted to be, even when their progress feels slow?

PRACTICAL APPLICATION (5–7 minutes)

Invite adults to identify one “spiritual distance” they recognize right now. Keep it concrete. Some members will name a pattern of complaining that shows up under stress, like Israel in Numbers 11. Some will name fear about children, health, employment, or loneliness, and they will hear their own voice echoed in, “were it not better for us to return into Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3). Some will name the quieter challenge of staying loyal to prophetic counsel while also learning to receive personal revelation with confidence.

Offer a simple practice for the week that fits the text: when fear speaks in the language of Numbers 14:3, pause and ask, “What story am I telling about God right now?” Then ask, “What would it mean to ‘follow [Him] fully’ in this decision?” (Numbers 14:24). That can look like praying before reacting, keeping covenants when mood dips, or choosing to speak about the Lord’s servants with reverence, especially when questions arise (Numbers 12:8).

Also, encourage teachers to let class members name the cost of growth without embarrassment. Israel’s wilderness is not only a cautionary tale. It is a mirror.

CLOSING TESTIMONY & INVITATION (2–3 minutes)

Read again Moses’s generous hope:

“Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29)

Then pair it with the Lord’s defense of His chosen prophet:

“With him will I speak mouth to mouth… wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:8)

Bear testimony, briefly and plainly, that the Lord pours out His Spirit on His people and also guides His Church through His prophet (“May 4–10. ‘Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear,’”). Invite the class to carry one question into the week: Where do I need “another spirit” (Numbers 14:24), so that my next step looks like following the Lord fully rather than retreating into an old Egypt?