Wilderness: Family Worship in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

Joel Beeke and Nick Thompson

Reviewed by: Ben Stahl

Wilderness: Family Worship in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, by Joel Beeke and Nick Thompson. Reformation Heritage, 2023. Paperback, 200 pages, $14.00. Reviewed by OP elder Ben Stahl.

I once witnessed someone asking an elderly OPC minister what he saw as a pressing concern for the church. His answer as I remember it: “We are losing our children to the world.” A recent Pew Research Study found that among Christian parents with children under age eighteen, fewer than 33 percent of parents read the Bible at least once per week. There is a famine of the Word of God. Daily family worship is essential. But how does one do it?

Joel Beeke and Nick Thompson have provided a helpful resource for parents facing just this question. Following their first book, Beginning, on Genesis, Wilderness takes parents from Exodus through Deuteronomy. Eighty-eight two-page lessons are broken into four parts: Wilderness Liberation (Ex. 1–18); Wilderness Worship (Ex. 19–Lev. 27); Wilderness Wandering (Num. 1–36); and Wilderness Renewal (Deut. 1–34).

The authors seek to drive home the high points of the text both by applying the Scripture immediately to the reader and showing the ways in which the Old Testament and New Testament and the law and gospel sweetly comply. Throughout the book, the authors teach many fundamental doctrines of Scripture, such as repentance (33), the regulative principle of worship (49, 117), the names of God (56, 155), and the covenant of grace (6–93, 180–181).

The lessons are appropriate to be read during family worship, but the book is designed to give parents a memorable format so that they can have a structure for family worship when Wilderness is not at hand. Each lesson has four sections beginning with the letter R. Review: The lesson begins with simple questions concerning the Scripture reading the prior day. (For example, “How did God show His glory to Moses?”) Read: The lesson then provides a portion of Scripture to read. (For example, “Lesson 71: Numbers 16:1–5, 8–11, 32–35.”) Reflect: This is the bulk of the lesson. A summary of the text is provided along with thought-provoking questions for children and adults. (For example, “Why is God the only one worthy of worship? Is it ever right to be angry? Why is the fourth book of our Bible titled Numbers?”) Request: This section, the shortest, is a highlight of the book. Nearly every lesson drives children and parents to pray for conversion, sanctification, and growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ. (For example, “Pray that every member of your family would unite under the Lord’s banner and be a humble soldier in the cause of Christ; pray that your children would seek and know the eternal life and light that is found in Jesus Christ alone.”)

Whether parents use this book during or in preparation for family worship, the chief end of the book series will be obtained, “to equip many parents to lead their children to relish the unsearchable riches of God’s glory in Jesus Christ” (xiii).