A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 32 (Part 2)

Numbers 32:16-24—16 Then they came near to him and said: "We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, 17 but we ourselves will be armed, ready to go before the children of Israel until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until every one of the children of Israel has received his inheritance. 19 For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this eastern side of the Jordan." 20 Then Moses said to them: "If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the LORD for the war, 21 and all your armed men cross over the Jordan before the LORD until He has driven out His enemies from before Him, 22 and the land is subdued before the LORD, then afterward you may return and be blameless before the LORD and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. 23 But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out. 24 Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what has proceeded out of your mouth." 

It was simple: if the tribes of Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh wanted to remain in Gilead, they had to cross the Jordan River and fight alongside their brethren. It was only fair. Why should they live in ease while Dan and Issachar and Judah and the rest are fighting for the land that was promised them? But such is the thought of many today: “I will believe in Christ, and take my rest in leisure. I will argue with no one, I will debate no one lest they ask a question I do not know the answer to. That is too hard for me! I will rather stay in my home and never bring up the name of Christ.” Such is the design of the monks, who squirrel themselves away in the cloisters, some even taking a vow of silence. But that is not the pattern for the Christian to follow. We are to stand up for the gospel, and proclaim it to all, whether they will hear us or not, even if they kill us. Matthew 11:12—“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” [literally, “the kingdom of the heavens is being forced and forceful ones are snatching her”]. There is a sister verse to this, Luke 16:16 (Revised Version)—“The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man entereth violently into it.” The Kingdom of God is not a place we enter into in a laissez-faire manner. The Christian life is not easy. We are beset daily by sin, and must fight against it daily. Will we stumble and fall? Yes, of course we will. We are human and as such we were born with a nature that wants what it wants, and sometimes that flesh will win some battles. So when it comes to facing those sins that seek to ensnare us, we must become violent against them and enter the Kingdom of God with a red hot hatred of sin, and be the violent men and women we should be. Jude said as much, Jude 1:3 (God’s Word Version)—Dear friends, I had intended to write to you about the salvation we share. But something has come up. It demands that I write to you and encourage you to continue your fight for the Christian faith that was entrusted to God's holy people once for all time. Other translations say “contend earnestly for the faith”. Peter tells us to always be ready to give a defense for the hope we have (1st Peter 3:15). Fight for the faith! Don’t be content to live your days in ease in Gilead. Your Father has promised you a better home, and you do not want to fall short of entering it! The old hymn does not say “Onward Christian Daffodils”. Another old hymn is not entitled “A Mighty Beach Chair Is Our God”. No! We are soldiers, and our God is a fortress! And if our adversary, who prowls about like a roaring lion, wants to ensnare us, we must fight against him, and take our position in the Kingdom of God by force if necessary, always fighting for the faith and letting our enemy know that it is by the Word of God that we have our faith, for it tells us of the mighty love and assurance we have in our risen Savior of our eternal life with God! We have been given the victory in Jesus. If we have a victory, there must have been a battle.

 

Am I a soldier of the cross/a foll'wer of the Lamb,

And shall I fear to own His cause/or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies/on flow'ry beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize/and sailed thro' bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?/Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace/to help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign/increase my courage, Lord!

I'll bear the toil, endure the pain/supported by Thy word.

The saints in all this glorious war/shall conquer, though they die;

They see the triumph from afar/by faith's discerning eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise/and all Thine armies shine

In robes of vict'ry thro' the skies/the glory shall be Thine.

(“Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” by Isaac Watts)    

Numbers 32:25-33—25 And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying: "Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26 Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead; 27 but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, before the LORD to battle, just as my lord says." 28 So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel. 29 And Moses said to them: "If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben cross over the Jordan with you, every man armed for battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession. 30 But if they do not cross over armed with you, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan." 31 Then the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying: "As the LORD has said to your servants, so we will do. 32 We will cross over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, but the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us on this side of the Jordan." 33 So Moses gave to the children of Gad, to the children of Reuben, and to half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land with its cities within the borders, the cities of the surrounding country. 

The attitude of these two-and-a-half tribes could also be described as worry. They worried that there would not be in the land of Canaan any land to graze their flocks and herds. They were worried that God’s promises would not be enough to fulfill their perceived needs. They worried and, in a way, complained against God once again. But do we ever need to worry when it comes to God? If your answer is anything other than “no”, then you do not know God. He provides for all His children. He even cares for the birds and the flowers (Matthew 6:25-30; Luke 12:22-28). David knew this as well. Psalm 37:22-26—22 For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off. 23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand. 25 I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. 26 He is ever merciful, and lends; and his descendants are blessed. When he was in the city of Nob, and he and his men were hungry, did they not receive the Showbread from the hand of Ahimelech the High Priest? In the Magnificat, how does Mary describe God? Luke 1:50-55—50 “And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, 55 as He spoke to our fathers, ‘To Abraham and to his seed forever.’” There is no need to fear when it comes to the things God has promised. His promises are “Yes” and “Amen” (2nd Corinthians 1:20). He may not give us the biggest and shiniest of everything. But He will provide what we need. May not be what we want, but it will be what we need. 

Now, if these tribes wanted to live in the lush land of Gilead, they had to fight for it. And if they didn’t fight? “But if they do not cross over armed with you, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” Again, the choice is simple: Fight alongside your brethren and return to Gilead. Or don’t fight and you will be removed from Gilead and join your brethren in Canaan. If they wanted their life of leisure, they had to earn it. If they did not put forth the effort to earn it, they would go to Canaan. But, to their credit, they did go forth with their brethren. They crossed the Jordan River, they fought to capture the land of Canaan, and upholding the word that Moses spoke to them, Joshua released the Reubenite and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh to go to the land of Gilead in Joshua 22:1-6—1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them: "You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. 3 You have not left your brethren these many days, up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God. 4 And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brethren, as He promised them; now therefore, return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul." 6 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. God gave them what they wanted, even though it was not what God intended them to have. 

But He will often do that: when we want something so bad, and we don’t want to trust in the goodness of God, He will sometimes let us have our wants, just to show us that what He had in store for us was much better. This principle is summed up in the Ten Commandments. “You shall have no other gods before Me.” What can statues do for you? “You shall not steal…you shall no covet”. What God has given is sufficient; you do not need to swindle from your neighbor his possessions. “You shall not commit adultery.” Is not the wife God has given you good enough? “You shall not murder.” The life of someone who was made in the similitude of God should not be ended by someone for any mundane reason. And how do we sum up the Ten Commandments? Matthew 22:37-40—37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." The Ten Commandments—even all the Law and all the Prophets—are summed up in the phrases “You shall love the Lord your God” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Did the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh love the LORD with all their heart, soul, mind and strength? That is questionable. At the very least, they seem to have not trusted Him as well as they should have. They wanted to do things their own way; they wanted to have what was right in front of them instead of waiting on Him to fulfill His promise. But let us never do as they did. May we always remember that what God has promised, He will bring to pass. May we cry out “Onward Christian Soldiers”, and shout “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”! May we not be content to rest in Gilead, but fight in Canaan, for we have been given the victory already by our glorious Lord! I leave you with these words of the inimitable Mr. Spurgeon:

 

An idler is a great waster and makes others, wasters, too—his example is likely to make all around him as indolent as himself. I notice in our Churches that a few earnest men and women lead the way and others are sweetly drawn to follow them. How precious are the earnest few in a Christian community! David knew the value of the first three in his band. But if the leading spirits are dead, cold, indifferent—what happens? Why, lethargy spreads over the whole! I am sorry to say that I hear of instances in which a minister laments, "I labor with all my might, but I am persuaded that nothing will ever be done while Mr. So-and-So is here." He is often a cold-blooded deacon, or a purse-proud member. When you come to know him, you feel, "While there is such a great big iceberg floating close to the shore, the garden by the sea must be frostbitten—nothing can grow." 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 27 & 36 (Part 2)

So what happens to those who are teachers and preachers and pastors who deliberately teach wrongly, or who sully their name with some sin? They are removed from their office. In March of 2004, Carlton Pearson, a popular Pentecostal preacher, began preaching a “gospel” of universalism—that Hell is not real and that everyone will go to Heaven. He was removed from the pulpit. In the early 2000s Ted Haggard was one of the most popular preachers in America. In 2006 it was revealed that he had paid a male prostitute for sex and was using meth. He was removed from the pulpit. Also in the early 2000s, Mark Driscoll was an influential pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. In 2014 he was found to have committed abusive behavior in his church . He was removed from the pulpit. Time would fail us to speak of Perry Noble, Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, Bill Hybels and Steve Lawson. Suffice it to say that these are examples of what Jesus meant when He said “2 For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:2-3). 

Numbers 27:15-23—15 Then Moses spoke to the LORD, saying: 16 "Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, 17 who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd." 18 And the LORD said to Moses: "Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; 19 set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. 20 And you shall give some of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. 21 He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the LORD for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him—all the congregation." 22 So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. 23 And he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him, just as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses. Moses shows his tender love for the people in desiring for them to have a strong leader as they go into Canaan. And that leader is Joshua, the man whose book bears his name. If you read the book of Joshua, you will see the man as the one who led Israel into battle against all the land of Canaan and subdued it (by the hand of God) and gave the people rest. And under his leadership, the land had rest from war (Joshua 14:15). 

Does God like war? What is war, after all? Is it not conflict between people who are made after the similitude of God? Does it not cause death and destruction and disease? What is there to like about war? We read in 2^nd Samuel about how Abner had killed Joab’s brother Asahel, when he told Asahel to stop running after him. It does not appear that Abner wanted to kill him, but in the heat of battle it is either “kill or be killed”, and since Abner did not want to be killed, Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back; and he fell down there and died on the spot (2nd Samuel 2:23). Asahel would not cease pursuing Abner, so Abner stuck out his spear and Asahel ran into the blunt end of it, and he was so fleet of foot that it went through his abdomen and out through his back. Abner, the son of Ner (which is what the name Abner means, literally), King Saul’s Secretary of Defense (if you will) called out to Joab, who held the same position under David, and asked him how long the bloodshed would continue between the two houses. 2nd Samuel 2:26—Then Abner called to Joab and said, "Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?" Abner did not want war, especially between fellow Israelites. 

Sometimes, however, war is necessary. There arose a fellow in Germany in the 1930’s who wanted to spread war all across the globe in order to bring about his vision of a perfect people. Should we have not engaged in that war? Should we have let his war machine devour the planet and kill everybody who did not fit into his small vision? Does that mean God liked that the world waged war? No. But it was necessary. On the other hand, does God want us to be passive in the face of growing threats to men’s freedom? Also no. CS Lewis, in his book “Mere Christianity”, says that while he sees war as an evil, it is a necessary evil:

 

Does loving your enemy mean not punishing him? No, for loving myself does not mean that I ought not to subject myself to punishment—even to death. If one had committed a murder, the right Christian thing to do would be to give yourself up to the police and be hanged. It is, therefore, in my opinion, perfectly right for a Christian judge to sentence a man to death or a Christian soldier to kill an enemy. I always have thought so, ever since I became a Christian, and long before the war, and I still think so now that we are at peace. It is no good quoting “Thou shalt not kill.” There are two Greek words: the ordinary word to kill and the word to murder. And when Christ quotes that commandment He uses the murder one in all three accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And I am told there is the same distinction in Hebrew. All killing is not murder any more than all sexual intercourse is adultery. When soldiers came to St. John the Baptist asking what to do, he never remotely suggested that they ought to leave the army: nor did Christ when He met a Roman sergeant-major—what they called a centurion. [. . .] We may kill if necessary, but we must not hate and enjoy it.

And if our conscience says that if a man wishes to impose his own brand of evil on the world, that man must be stopped by any means necessary. Joshua’s conscience told him that if anyone opposed God and was occupying a land that God has promised to his people, those opposed to God must be destroyed. He was commissioned to lead the people into Canaan and wipe out the peoples who inhabited it. And that is just what he did. He led the people in battle against the idolatrous people of Canaan and the people of Israel conquered the Canaanites. And Joshua gave the people rest from the pagans. 

Now while Joshua gave the people rest, this was only a temporal rest, for the idolatry of the people still surrounded them. He was a type of the coming Christ, who would give the people of God eternal rest—not from the world surrounding them, for that world will always be with us. Jesus told His apostles in John 19:15—“Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” As long as we live in this world, the world will hate us who believe in Christ. That is to be expected. The world is beholden as slaves to Satan. He has blinded the world to the truth in Christ, and they serve him and want nothing to do with God. They are as the Canaanites and Moabites and Ammonites who hated the people of Israel, and seek to destroy us out of this world. So long as we are in this world, the world will hate us as it hated Christ. But we have peace within us, because this Christ has promised us rest from our adversaries—not man’s peace, while we are in the world, but peace with God, which is the only peace that really matters in the end. JC Ryle says:

 

For one thing, persecution is the cup of which Christ Himself drank. Faultless as He was in everything, in temper, word, and deed,—unwearied as He was in works of kindness, always going about doing good,—never was any one so hated as Jesus was to the last day of His earthly ministry. Scribes and High Priests, Pharisees and Sadducees, Jews and Gentiles, united in pouring contempt on Him, and opposing Him, and never rested till He was put to death. Surely this simple fact alone should sustain our spirits and prevent our being cast down by the hatred of man. Let us consider that we are only walking in our Master's footsteps, and sharing our Master's portion. Do we deserve to be better treated? Are we better than He? Let us fight against these murmuring thoughts. Let us drink quietly the cup which our Father gives us. Above all, let us often call to mind the saying, "Remember the word that I spake unto you, The servant is not greater than his Master." For another thing, persecution helps to prove that we are children of God, and have treasure in heaven. It supplies evidence that we are really born again, that we have grace in our hearts, and are heirs of glory: "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." Persecution, in short, is like the goldsmith's Hall mark on real silver and gold: it is one of the marks of a converted man. 

The writer of Hebrews says, in Hebrews 4:8—For if Joshua (KJV—Jesus) had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. In Hebrews 3-4 the subject is the rest for the people of God, and how the people who rebelled in the Wilderness never saw rest because of their rebellion and their hardened hearts. For forty years they wandered, all those who complained against God, and they died in that wilderness, and their children entered the land promised to them. Then when they entered that land, they had to fight against those pagans who lived in that land. But that was not an eternal rest, for they had to contend with the neighboring nations who worshipped idols and which always polluted the true worship of the True God. And as you read through the Old Testament, you see this crop up time and time and time again. There was never any rest for the people of God under their kings. Until their true King came along, who came to give them eternal rest. And if we are in Christ, we will have that rest. Hebrews 4:9-11—9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Let us be ever diligent of the rest that Jesus has promised us—not as the temporal rest that Joshua gave them, which they soon abandoned after his death (Judges 2:10-12)—but the rest offered by our Sovereign Lord, who told us in truth that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).   

John 16:33—“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” What words of comfort are these! That we need not attempt to overthrow the works of the wicked one ourselves, for Christ has already done so! Should we be slothful in this world, and simply lay back and let those who slander and blaspheme the name of God have their way? Should we not rather seek to tell the world of the greatness of God and show forth the goodness within us? Peter tells us in 1st Peter 3:14-16—14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. We do not seek to defend God. We seek to defend the reason of the hope that is within us. Charles Spurgeon once said, “The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.” God is more than capable of defending Himself. He can (and will) bring about sore retribution to those who oppose Him. Will that dissuade them from accursing Him? No, they will still rail against the Sovereign. Revelation 16:8-11—8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. 10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. These men who assailed the name of God, even after being struck with heat and pain, will not give glory to God, but will oppose Him even more because of His wrath that is poured out upon them. 

“So why do we need to tell people about God if they’re only going to continue to blaspheme Him?” First, we warn them because some of God’s elect may be with them, and have not yet heard the truth of God, and if they are elect, when they hear the truth they will obey the truth. “But what will happen to those who do not obey?” What do you think will happen to them? They will face the wrath of God, and be sent to their eternal destruction. Which is why we need to let the truth of God be known, that they may rest in the eternal rest that Jesus gives us, and not the temporal rest that Joshua delivered. While Joshua did indeed work mighty works of God, he did not give them the rest that only Jesus can give. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” If we are in Christ, and He has overcome the world, then guess what? We too will overcome the world through Him. Like the people Joshua led into Canaan, we will be beset by those who hate and despise us for believing in God. We will be surrounded by the spiritual descendants of Canaan and Moab and the Amorites. We  will not have rest in this world, but we will have eternal rest in the world to come, where we will bask in the glory of God the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. 

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
lay down, thou weary one, lay down
thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
so weary, worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting place,
and He has made me glad.

(“I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” by Horatio Bonar) 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers (Introduction, Part 2)

Several major events take place in Numbers 20. First we see the people complain—again—because there is no water at Meribah Kadesh. So God tells Moses to speak to the rock so that water might come out. But Moses, in his anger, instead strikes the rock with his rod, incurring the anger of God so that God would not allow him to see Canaan. Numbers 20:12—Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." And we will see when we get to Deuteronomy that Moses does indeed die before the people get to the Promised Land. In Numbers 20:14-21 we see messengers being sent to the king of Edom to ask that he allow the people to simply pass through the land, that they would not turn to the left or to the right, and that they would not graze their flocks or their herds there (Numbers 20:17). They told him they would pass along the King’s Highway, an established trade route through the land. However the king of Edom would not allow it, which angered God as we will see later. In Numbers 20:22 God speaks to Moses, telling him to take the garments off Aaron and put them on Aaron’s son Eleazar, as Aaron was getting ready to pass away. They had traveled to Mount Hor, which is about halfway between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. And we see in Numbers 20:28 that Aaron did indeed die at Mount Hor, and when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days. (Numbers 20:29).

As Numbers 21 opens, the people are complaining (I told you they do this a lot), so God sends fiery serpents to destroy the people. But we see a foreshadowing of the Cross here, as Moses sets up a serpent on a pole, that whoever looks upon that serpent would be healed and not die. We see recorded the words of our Savior in John 3:14—“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Just as that serpent was lifted up, that whoever looked to it might not die, so our Lord Jesus was lifted up, that all who look to Him might be given eternal life! We then read of Sihon the king of the Amorites and Og of Bashan, how they opposed the people and also incurred the anger of God. We will briefly touch on some of the places in the Scriptures that speak of these two men, as we will see them again in Deuteronomy.

In Numbers 22-24 we read of Balaam, who was sent by Balak (king of Moab) to curse Israel, and the troubles that Balaam encountered in doing so. In a way, Balaam gets a bad rap, as he did not want to, at first, curse Israel, as God told him He would not curse the people, as He had blessed them (Numbers 22:11). And the more Balaam tried to curse the people, the more he realized he could not. And if you know Scripture, you know of Balaam riding a donkey and how an Angel of God stood in that donkey’s way, and that the donkey spoke to Balaam—and Balaam answered it! This gave rise to the hymn “I Saw An Angel In The Road” by Daniel Charles Damon:

I saw an angel in the road and quickly turned aside,

But Balaam had not seen it yet. My master tanned my hide.

Returning to the narrow way, the angel loomed so tall,

My master struck me when I scraped his foot against the wall.

But, fearful of the way ahead, I lay down on the ground.

My master struck again in rage until he heard this sound:

"What have I ever done to you that you abuse me so?"

A donkey speaks, an angel stands, and Balaam's tears now flow.

"Forgive me for the blows I gave in arrogance and fear.

Direct me, God, and help me speak the loving word I hear."                

Numbers 25 shows us that the people do not learn from their mistakes. The people, who have seen the mighty works of God, decided to commit harlotry with the women of Moab (Numbers 25:1) and began to worship the pagan god Ba'al (Numbers 25:3). What was God’s command in response to this rebellion? Numbers 25:5—"Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor." (Baalpeor, KJV) God does not tolerate insolence, and He let the people know that here, in no uncertain terms. In this instance, the penalty was death, as it was when the people enticed Aaron to form the Golden Calf at the foot of Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32:1-6). In the midst of all this, a man brings a Midianite woman to the people, and while he is in his tent having sex with her, Phinehas (son of Eleazar) puts a javelin through both of them (Numbers 25:8). And because of this action, God made a covenant with him that his descendants would be priests to Him (Numbers 25:12-13).

Numbers 26 shows us the second census of the people. The timing of this census is off, since we see in Numbers 26:63-64 that all those who were at Sinai had died off, as God promised in Numbers 14. This census probably came closer to the end of Deuteronomy.

Then in Numbers 27, we see some women come to Moses who had a question about inheritance. Their father died, leaving no sons, only daughters (Numbers 27:3-4). And since an inheritance of land went to sons, they would be left with no place to call home. So Moses asks God, “What shall we do for these?” The answer is that they were to be given a portion of the land given to their uncles, and these daughters were to get the land that their father would have gotten (Numbers 27:7). Then we see that God gave other commands about the people inheriting land (Numbers 27:8-11). At the end of the chapter, we see God telling Moses that his time to die is drawing near (Numbers 27:13), but that Moses will die without entering the Promised Land as punishment for striking the rock at Meribah Kadesh (Numbers 20:12). Moses pleads to have a man set over the people who will faithfully lead the people into the Promised Land (Numbers 27:16-17). So God chooses Joshua to lead the people when Moses passes away, and for Eleazar to be the High Priest, as these two men have been faithful in all the ways of God. We will probably look at Numbers 36 along with this chapter, as it extends the commands contained in this chapter.

Numbers 30 talks about how when a person takes an oath it is binding upon that person, and in Numbers 31 God commands the people to smite the Midianites for the evil that they had perpetrated against the people of Israel in Numbers 25. It should be noted that Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law (the father of his first wife Zipporah) and Hobab, whom Moses pleaded with to be the eyes and ears of the people while they were traversing the wilderness, were Midianites. This will show us that even in the midst of a wicked people, there may be some that do believe in God, like Rahab in Jericho in the Book of Joshua.

In Numbers 32 we read about the Tribe of Gad and the Tribe of Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh not desiring to cross the Jordan after they saw that the land of Gilead was good for grazing cattle, which these tribes had in abundance (Numbers 32:1-5). However, Moses confronts them, saying that it is not right that their brethren should cross the Jordan and fight while these two tribes stay behind. So a deal is made that they will go over Jordan with the other tribes and fight, and when the land is settled they will return to Gilead (Numbers 32:16-27). And they fulfilled their promise, which can be seen in Joshua 22:1-34.

Numbers 33 lists the itinerary of the people for most of the chapter, but ends with a stern warning from Moses, that if the people do not utterly drive out the inhabitants of the land God is giving them, it will cause them to stumble before God (Numbers 33:55-56), and that God will do to the people of Israel what He thought of doing to the inhabitants of the land. And if you read ahead in the Scriptures, you will see this come to fruition in the wavering of the people of Israel between worshipping God and worshipping the pagan gods. For a good example of this, you need not read further than Judges 2. The people all cry out, with one voice, Joshua 24:16—“Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods.” Yet two chapters later, we see the death of Joshua in Judges 2:8, and his body isn’t hardly even cold yet when we read Judges 2:11—Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals. Which is why we need to always be careful to walk circumspectly (Ephesians 5:15), and never let our Adversary gain even a foothold, knowing the sway he can hold over us. We also see in Israel’s history, after the death of King David, how the people of Israel vacillated between the true worship of God and the false worship of the Baals and Ashtoreths.

In Numbers 34 Moses lays out the borders of the Promised Land, and in Numbers 35 he tells about the cities of refuge that are to be given to the Levites for the man guilty of involuntary manslaughter to flee to until he can lay his case out. We know that the Decalogue contains the commandment “Thou shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). But what if a man kills another man unintentionally? What if his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies (Deuteronomy 19:5)? If that were to happen, the one who swung the axe would flee to one of these cities of refuge where he could escape the “avenger of blood” (a family member of the victim who was seeking revenge) until he could remain safely until his case could be heard and he could—if it was found that he did not intend to kill the victim—be vindicated.

As you can see, there is a lot of complaining in this book. Many times the people are not happy with the way Moses does things, even though he is faithful to God in performing his duty. Things haven’t changed a whole lot in the millennia since these things occurred. Many times, no matter how faithful we are to God, things don’t go the way we want them to and we complain. Or we see that one of our neighbors has something we don’t have, and we complain because we don’t have that thing. We need to be on our guard against those feelings, as they can lead us to do something rash and harm our neighbor and in doing so, disobey God and do things He has commanded us to not do. And if we desire that thing too much it can cause us to take our eyes off God and focus them on ourselves.

Lord, help us to always remember that our first duty is not to ourselves, but to You. For You are above all things, You hold the world and all creation in your hand, and at any moment You may require our life from us. Let us never complain about anything You have given us, knowing that everything we have comes from You, and whatever You decree us to have, we should accept with all joyfulness. Let us always purge out from our lives those things which stand against you, and all those things which associate themselves with the unfruitful works of darkness. Let us always be thankful in all things.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.