Settling for Less – Numbers 32-33

Numbers 32 (NKJV)
1 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock, 2 the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the country which the Lord defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 Therefore they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.”

A. IOW, Gad & Reuben were ranchers/cattlemen…and the land of Gilead was good ranching land. They figured, “Hey, we’ve been here a while & it’s working out great for our herds – why not just stay?”

B. At first glance, this doesn’t sound too bad. But keep in mind that Gilead wasn’t what God originally had in mind for them. The WHOLE nation of Israel had been commanded to cross the Jordan River & possess the land; now 2 tribes are stopping short…

a. Keep in mind that the Land is a picture of the rest and inheritance we have in Christ (Heb 4). To go to the edge of the land & stop short of actually entering is to stop short of everything that God has for us. It’s to put ourselves at the whims of legalism (as we try to figure out for ourselves what is/isn’t pleasing to God) & to endanger ourselves for all sorts of worldly influences. [Mark 5: Legion-possessed man was in Gadarenes…land of pig farmers, etc.]

6 And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: “Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? 7 Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? 8 Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 9 For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them.

A. Is Moses overreacting? Not at all! He saw the 1^st rebellion of Israel up front & personally. He knows exactly what happened when Israel said “no” to the Lord.

B. There’s another reason to be upset: a lack of faith can be contagious. Moses rightly fears that Reuben & Gad are going to discourage the rest of the nation from going over…after all, Israel doesn’t have the best of track records in trusting God.

a. How is a lack of faith contagious? Because it causes people to be apathetic. “I don’t know if I can really trust God for growth and His promises, so I’m just not going to do anything at all.” “Really? Me too, I guess.” Apathy is the opposite of what Christ Jesus calls us to in the gospel! It’s flat-out impossible to deny oneself, pick up one’s cross & follow Christ while being apathetic. The very act in picking up a cross requires a passion to follow Christ; who would do it otherwise?

10 So the Lord’s anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying, 11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, 12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ 13 So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.

A. The results of Israel’s rebellion: 40 years of a death march.

B. Did Moses really have to remind them of this? After all, the generation who died were their fathers & mothers. Yes! We need to be reminded of the consequences of sin! We don’t want to be like the fool who returns to sin over & over like a dog to its vomit (Prov 26:11)…thus we need to be consistently reminded that sin is truly sinful & an infinite offense against an infinite God.

a. Too often we think that the gospel is only for the unbeliever; but it’s not…it’s for the church too! As we’re reminded of the sinfulness of sin, we’re also reminded of the grace of God given to us through Christ Jesus & that gives us all the more reason to worship Him!

14 And look! You have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel. 15 For if you turn away from following Him, He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

A. Here’s the danger: all of Israel will follow suit, rebel, and be destroyed by God in His righteous judgment.

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.”

A. Their solution? We’ll settle here, but still fight with the others…

B. Is this a good solution? Not really. It satisfies the immediate need, but still stops short of fully following the Lord into what He had planned for them. [] What God has in mind for us is good! Through Christ, He’s our Abba Father – why would we think it would be anything less than good? Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. [] Whatever this temporary world holds for us, we have a future with God Almighty! You can’t get any better than that!

a. Why stop short of anything the Lord has for us? God calls us to be continually transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:2) and to grow in our faith. If we’re not growing, something’s wrong!

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,

A. Notice Who it is that is actually driving out the enemies: God. The conquest we’ll look at in Joshua isn’t a triumph of Israel; it’s a triumph of God that He allowed Israel to take part in. [] Important distinction; God’s glory is God’s alone…He doesn’t share it. (Nor should He.)

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.

A. Moses agrees…

B. But Moses leaves them with a warning if they go back on their promise:

a. They will have sinned against the Lord. It’s not merely that they will have disappointed their brothers in the other tribes; they will have sinned against God Almighty. [Vertical sin vs. Horizontal sin] Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. []

b. Their sin will find them out. They won’t be able to sneak anything by. What they sow; that will they also reap (Gal 6:7-8). [] Sin is never truly hidden…it always has consequences. The question is: will we confess our sin & allow God to deal with the consequences in His mercy? Or will God have to use those consequences to get us to deal with the sin we should have confessed to begin with?

24 Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what has proceeded out of your mouth.” 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.” [They agree] 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.

A. Underscores the fact that Moses isn’t going over there with the rest of Israel…so he’s preparing the next generation of leadership for what needs to be done.

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.”

A. Isn’t this interesting? Moses tells the leadership that if Reuben & Gad go over to fight, it’s ok if they stay in Gilead. But if not, they had to forfeit Gilead & come over the Jordan. Why do they get to partake in a promised land that they didn’t help in procuring? Well…it’s not really that simple. They would come over the Jordan, but they wouldn’t get their own land. They’d be forfeiting Gilead PLUS any inheritance of their own. Instead, they’d have to ask their brothers for land from them. Thus, they’ve got a good motivation to keep their word!

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.”

A. Affirm for the 3^rd time their willingness to keep their promise. They now have 2-3 witnesses to what they’ve said.

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.

A. Describes the extent of the land they received. Vs. 34-42 describe the different cities built by Gad & Reuben.

B. We’re not told why the ½ tribe of Manasseh also stayed behind…it’s possible they were allotted the land because they actually fought & dispossessed the people of it. – Numbers 32:39-40 (39) And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. (40) So Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it.

Numbers 33 (NKJV)
1 These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. 2 Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. And these are their journeys according to their starting points:

A. We’re not going to read every location name (couldn’t pronounce some of them if I tried! J) – but Moses had apparently kept a log of the various locations that Israel had camped & Ch 33 is basically that record.

B. Interesting to me that God decided to keep all these very specific names in the Scripture. Of course most of these locations mean little to us today; but they meant a lot to the people who 1^st read of them! We need to put ourselves in their shoes – imagine reading a history of our people traveling through Houston to Centerville to Dallas to Terrell to Tyler…we’d certainly identify with it – that would be OUR history. Likewise for Israel, it was their history…

a. Also underscores the fact that our God is a God of details. There’s nothing that escapes His watchful eye…

3 They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. 4 For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them. Also on their gods the Lord had executed judgments.

A. The exodus obviously begins with Passover… [review]

B. Were there other ‘gods’ for the Lord to judge? No – but God showed Himself to be the One True God by utterly upturning every so-called ‘god’ that the Egyptians worshipped…

5 Then the children of Israel moved from Rameses and camped at Succoth.

A. Verses 6-10 describe their journey out of Egypt. [MAP]

11 They moved from the Red Sea and camped in the Wilderness of Sin.

A. That’s probably the most nonchalant reference of the Red Sea crossing in all the Scripture! J

B. BTW – liberal scholarship likes to point out that “Red Sea” in Hebrew could be translated “Reed Sea”…thus perhaps Israel crossed a marsh land rather than (at minimum) the Gulf of Aqaba (extension of Red Sea along Sinai peninsula). BUT…to make this claim ignores the inspiration of the entire Scripture, including the NT. Hebrews 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. [] Greek is a specific reference to the Red Sea!

a. Our God is a supernatural God! (By definition…) We need not be surprised when He does supernatural things. He created the heavens & the earth, so how hard could it be for Him to part the waters of the Red Sea? With God, nothing is impossible!

12 They journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. 13 They departed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. 14 They moved from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

A. Context? Exo 17 where Moses struck the Rock & God brought forth water.

15 They departed from Rephidim and camped in the Wilderness of Sinai.

A. Where they spent a year receiving the 10 Commandments, the rest of the ordinances, & constructed the tabernacle…

B. Vs. 16-36 document their journey from Sinai to Kadesh…but the question is: which journey to Kadesh? They went there twice: once almost straight from Sinai, but they rebelled – spent almost 40 years wandering while the oldest generations died off; then went back in preparation to enter a 2^nd time. There’s no real definitive consensus on which occasion it is…

a. Personal opinion? I believe this is the 1^st journey. Thus far in Numbers, the overwhelming opinion on the wilderness wandering is that it was a complete waste of time; thus Moses records no history of it whatsoever in the narrative of the book. So it would make sense that he didn’t record any stops along the way either. At the very least (if this is the wilderness wandering), this is all that’s said of the time…simply markers of time along the way until their national “time-out” is over.

37 They moved from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the boundary of the land of Edom. 38 Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. 39 Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

A. Moses & Aaron both misrepresented the Lord when Moses struck the rock the 2^nd time – thus both were disciplined by not entering the Land…Aaron obviously died 1^st.

B. Vs. 40-49 the final journeys until they’re ready to enter the Promised Land…

50 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, 51 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; 53 you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess.

A. What to do when crossing into the land:

a. Drive out the people: speaks of conquest… Israel wasn’t going there to make peace. God was judging the people for their wickedness (which had been building up since at least Gen 15:16). [] Keep in mind that God’s judgment on the Canaanites was both just & merciful. Not only was His judgment poured out on sin, but He prevented further generations from being raised up in a wicked culture (which included infant sacrifices to Molech, etc.).

b. Destroy the idolatry: Israel was to rid the land of anything that remotely had to do with the false gods of the Canaanites. Unfortunately they failed at this – proven by their many falls into idolatry & blasphemy during their history.

i. We’re never to compromise with sin & let it occupy a corner in our lives; we’re to declare war on it & do away with it! The minute we let it alone is the minute it’ll start drawing us away from God.

c. Dispossess the inhabitants: speaks of permanence… This was not a temporary stay for Israel; this was to be their permanent home where they would rest and enjoy the blessings of God. [] Likewise our rest is in Christ & we should be diligent to enter that rest (Heb 4:11) & remain in His grace.

54 And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers.

A. How to divide the land: fairly & proportionally to each tribe. There was a place for everyone. [] Likewise, Jesus told us in His Father’s house are many rooms…we don’t need to be worried about God running out of space. If He called you, He’s preparing to receive you for all eternity!

55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.

A. What happens if they fail? The people are going to be harassing irritants…a pain in their side that would never go away.

i. Again, sin cannot be ignored. It’ll always be nagging & pulling at us in temptation. If we’re not entrusting our whole lives to the Lord Jesus, we’re really not trusting Him at all. Let Him deal with those areas that we want to ignore – and let Him continue to conform you into His image.

B. BTW, why would they fail? Only if they didn’t do what God told them to do; He was the one Who had given them the land for a possession. The victory was already there, awaiting them…they merely needed to take it.

i. Praise God our victory is already won in Christ Jesus!

56 Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”

A. Sobering thought to end on. If Israel didn’t drive out/dispossess the people & destroy the idolatry, then the same judgments that fell on the Canaanites would fall on the Israelites. …

a. Why? Because they would be guilty of the same crimes! (Matthew Henry) “It was intended that the Canaanites should be put out of the land; but if the Israelites learned their wicked ways, they also would be put out. Let us hear this and fear. If we do not drive out sin, sin will drive us out. If we are not the death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our souls.”

Conclusion:

God’s got them ready! He’s preparing them to enter the Land & will do so shortly for them after giving them a few more instructions & a review of the law in Deuteronomy. This should be a joyful momentous occasion for the Israelites as they prepare for God to be glorified through His victory…but already they are falling short of what God has intended for them. Not only did Gad & Reuben neglect to possess the land – the entire nation will fail at destroying the Canaanites among them & God will indeed fulfill His promise in vs. 56 in the various captivities. How sad. They’re right on the cusp – and will indeed experience some of what God has for them…but ultimately fall woefully short.

How about us? Are we toying around with sin waiting for it to create unnecessary obstacles to God’s will for us? Time is so short – why waste any of it living outside what we know God has for us? Don’t settle for less! If there’s sin in your life, confess it, repent & be done with it. Then rest completely in Christ & live empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Keep Your Word – Numbers 30-31

Ever make a “pie crust promise” – one that’s easily made & easily broken? Israel had apparently gotten pretty good at it – both with each other & the Lord. Barely 40 years after swearing themselves to live in covenant relationship with God Almighty (at the giving of the 10 Commandments), the nation had broken their promise time & time again. Even after one entire generation of Israelites had died off in the wilderness, the new army (sabotaged by the advice of Balaam) started worshipping false gods as the Lord Himself was preparing to move them to the Promised Land. Not good, to say the least!

Thus God underscores the importance of keeping one’s word. In Ch 30, with regard to vows made to God and agreements made with man; in Ch 31 with regard to preventing them from being broken in the 1^st place.

Numbers 30 (NKJV)
1 Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: 2 If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

A. Cuts straight to the chase here. Don’t know what necessarily brought on the commandment from God; perhaps it was another instance that popped up (re: the daughters of Zelophehad)… The idea is simple enough: if you said it; stick to it. …

a. Jesus basically said the same thing. We don’t need to be making vows left & right, but we DO need to be true to what we say… Matthew 5:34-37 (34) But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; (35) nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. (36) Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. (37) But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. []

b. Over & over again the Scripture puts forth the idea of personal responsibility – which is something that our own culture has lost…

B. BTW, why is it so important that we not break our word? Because God doesn’t! He’s faithful…even when we are not (Lam 3:23)! He IS the Truth (John 14:6)! [] God’s rules are always based upon His character & nature…

a. When we’re true to our word, then that’s a reflection back on God…and when we’re not, that ALSO reflects on Him as well. Part of us being witnesses (Acts 1:8) is that we’re always witnesses: for good or bad. …

- Slightly different rules for women…

3 “Or if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by some agreement while in her father’s house in her youth, 4 and her father hears her vow and the agreement by which she has bound herself, and her father holds his peace, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement with which she has bound herself shall stand. 5 But if her father overrules her on the day that he hears, then none of her vows nor her agreements by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will release her, because her father overruled her. [father can overrule…]

6 “If indeed she takes a husband, while bound by her vows or by a rash utterance from her lips by which she bound herself, 7 and her husband hears it, and makes no response to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her agreements by which she bound herself shall stand. 8 But if her husband overrules her on the day that he hears it, he shall make void her vow which she took and what she uttered with her lips, by which she bound herself, and the Lord will release her. [husband can overrule…]

9 “Also any vow of a widow or a divorced woman, by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her. 10 “If she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound herself by an agreement with an oath, 11 and her husband heard it, and made no response to her and did not overrule her, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement by which she bound herself shall stand. [widows/divorcees accountable for their own vows] 12 But if her husband truly made them void on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeded from her lips concerning her vows or concerning the agreement binding her, it shall not stand; her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her. [not accountable if their husband overruled…]

13 Every vow and every binding oath to afflict her soul, her husband may confirm it, or her husband may make it void.

A. Summary to the previous verses…

B. Why does God take the time to spell this out in the Scripture? Is He saying that a women’s word is not as valuable as a man’s? No! Both Adam & Eve fell in the garden (and Eve was the only one who was honest about it)… Acknowledgement of the prevailing cultural attitude, but more than that, this affirms that the order of the household is that a wife would submit to her own husband (Eph 5…)

a. Ultimately this is a picture of Christ & the church. We are all His bride; and He is the head of all the church. We had bound ourselves to sin, but through the work and word of our Bridegroom, we have been released! We are not bound to that which Christ has freed us!

b. Goes back to the idea that as Christians we don’t HAVE to give into sin. So often we buy into the lie that we have no choice when tempted… But you’ve been freed from the power of sin & death; you’ve been given liberty in Christ to serve Him!

14 Now if her husband makes no response whatever to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all the agreements that bind her; he confirms them, because he made no response to her on the day that he heard them. 15 But if he does make them void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her guilt.”

A. The husband can’t weasel out of it after the fact. If he’s going to act, he needs to act promptly… Of course in Christ, we never have to worry about this.

16 These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter in her youth in her father’s house.

A. Summary…

Numbers 31 (NKJV)
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”

A. [Review context] From Ch 22-24, Balaam tried & failed to curse the Hebrews… In Ch 25, he got them to curse themselves by falling into idolatry because of the women of Midian… Got so bad that one of the leaders was brazenly fornicating in front of the door of the Tabernacle…Phinehas ran him (and the woman) through with a javelin, causing God to stop the plague that was running through the camp.

B. Because of this, God tells Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites. Take vengeance for the Lord? Can we do that? (Vengeance is the Lord’s – Rom 12:19) Because it’s the Lord’s, He can exact it through whatever means He so pleases. Uses the pagan Babylonians to discipline His children in the captivity…chooses to use Israel for this purpose. [] Technically speaking, God Himself will still be the one to take vengeance as He goes before the army of Israel & gives them a miraculous victory.

a. Keep in mind vengeance isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s bad in the hands of man because it’ll never truly be just. But in the hands of our righteous God, we know it’s ALWAYS just. The very fact that God would take vengeance shows just how righteous He is because sin is punished everywhere it is found. (Which gives us even more reason to praise God that Jesus took our wrath upon Himself!)

C. Moses is going to die after this event…God doesn’t give an exact timeframe. We know that after this point, Moses dictates (or transcribes) the Book of Deuteronomy. But the point is clear; this will be the last major battle that Moses will give leadership to. The next battles to be fought are to take Israel into the Promised Land – and that must happen through Joshua.

a. Keeps the picture intact: the law (Moses) doesn’t save; it prepares us to be saved through Joshua/Yeshua/Jesus! (John 1:17)

3 So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of yourselves for war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the Lord on Midian. 4 A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.” 5 So there were recruited from the divisions of Israel one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

A. Relatively speaking, this is a fairly small number for the Israelite army. Joshua will cross the Jordan with 40K+ for battle. As with Gideon’s 300 men, the point isn’t the numeric strength of Israel, but that the Lord will be fighting for them. God is providing a witness to every one of the 12 tribes of Israel by choosing to use a small representative of them.

6 Then Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from each tribe; he sent them to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the holy articles and the signal trumpets in his hand.

A. Note that the army was not led by Joshua; but by Phinehas. This was a holy war… What did the “holy articles” include? Possibly the Ark, even though not mentioned by name [not everyone agrees here]. The idea is that GOD Himself was leading the way.

B. When we fight our battles against sin, the flesh, and temptation, the worst thing we could do is attempt to fight it in our own power! On our own, we have no strength – as Peter found out when he boldly proclaimed he would “never” deny Jesus (Mark 14:31). On his own he failed; but things were dramatically different after he was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2-4)!

i. There’s a reason God calls us to “stand” in battle (Eph 6:13)…so that we would get out of the way & rely on God to fight for us! We don’t go in our power; we go forth in His!

ii. When was the last time you asked God to fill you anew with the Holy Spirit? We need that power every day!

7 And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. 8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed— Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.

A. Every male killed & every king killed… The sad thing is that this wasn’t even necessary. ‘Midian’ could have been a grouping of different tribes & this branch was associated with Moab; or it was a region of people to the south. Either way, this wasn’t going to be part of the initial conquest…but they forced the issue when they tried to undermine God & His people.

B. Note who else? Balaam! [] How sad that Balaam died in his sin & rebellion! Here’s a man who was blessed and privileged to prophesy for the Lord despite his motives and background…yet he still fought against the Lord & the Lord’s people till the end. []

a. Underscores the importance of repentance… If we simply come to God as a ‘miracle worker’ or for ‘blessing’ we don’t really have a clue that what we most need is salvation. Our pride/ego/self has to die in order that we might be born again…

9 And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captive, with their little ones, and took as spoil all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods.

A. This is going to get them into trouble! We don’t have the wording in Scripture, but God’s implication from “vengeance” was that all of the nation would be destroyed in righteous judgment.

10 They also burned with fire all the cities where they dwelt, and all their forts. 11 And they took all the spoil and all the booty—of man and beast. [complete victory]

12 Then they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. 13 And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went to meet them outside the camp. 14 But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.

A. [RECAP] Probably not the reception they expected!

15 And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive? 16 Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. 17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately.

A. Before we pass 21^st century judgment, we need to try to understand this from Moses’ point of view. These women were the very SAME women who had caused Israel to sin against the Lord, resulting in the death of at least 24K Hebrews. And yet somehow the Hebrew army thought it’d be ok to bring them into the camp… [] They were setting themselves up for another failure!

a. FLEE sexual immorality! Do whatever it takes to stay away from it. It will take you down…

b. Whatever the temptation, beware! We don’t want to get cocky & think that we’ve forever conquered its hold in our life. (WE didn’t conquer anything; Jesus did!) 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (12) Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (13) No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. [] There’s always a way of escape…even if it’s running out the door naked like Joseph! (Gen 39)

18 But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately.

A. Cruelty? Chauvinism? Or mercy? Mercy! Any woman who had not been with a man was provably innocent of the crime of Balaam. Since they didn’t participate, Moses is sparing their lives.

19 And as for you, remain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. 20 Purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything woven of goats’ hair, and everything made of wood.”

A. The war may have been commanded, but that doesn’t mean purification wasn’t needed. Remember death is a picture of the result of sin & that must be dealt with before coming to God in worship…

a. It’s no different with us. If there’s sin between us & a brother, we need to leave our gift at the altar (so to speak) & be reconciled 1^st (Matt 5:24). If there’s unconfessed sin between you & God; that’s the 1^st thing that needs to be addressed before worshipping Him (Ps 32:3-5).

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses: 22 “Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water. 24 And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.”

A. Practical aspect: sanitary issues. Israelites had very specific cleanliness guidelines – but the pagan Midianites did not. Thus whatever could be sanitized or washed needed to be.

B. Spiritual aspect! Israel’s guidelines for cleanliness weren’t merely for their health; it was a demonstration of being set apart by God for His purpose. Purified by:

a. Fire: Our God is a consuming fire & the sheer power of His righteousness burns away impurities in our life.

b. Water: We’re washed by the water of His word…the Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures to continually cleanse us and transform us by the renewing of our minds…

25 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 26 “Count up the plunder that was taken—of man and beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation; 27 and divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. 28 And levy a tribute for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep; 29 take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord. 30 And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take one of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

A. Note the spoil was split into two equal parts; but with a far different distribution. ½ the spoil to the soldiers; ½ the spoil to everyone in the camp. Yet only 12K went to war & 2M+ stayed behind…

a. Everyone takes part in the benefit! When we send missionaries to the field, every single soul that is saved is someone WE were blessed to take part in sharing the gospel with…

b. The ones who go are always the ones most blessed. We don’t share the gospel to be blessed, but it’s impossible NOT to be blessed as we do it… Every teacher learns more of the Scripture as he prepares; every missionary is blessed (even in persecution) as they rely on the Holy Spirit on the field…

c. We don’t do it for a reward; but there IS a reward to consider. (The Bema Seat) 2 Corinthians 5:9-11 (9) Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. (10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (11) Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. []

B. Out of each half, part of the spoil was given to the Lord as an offering…which is only logical since He’s the one Who fought the battle for them.

a. In everything we do, we can give God the “sacrifice of praise” (Heb 13:15) because every thing we have is due to Him! (From the breath we breathed this morning to the gift of everlasting life!)

31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. 32 The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, 33 seventy-two thousand cattle, 34 sixty-one thousand donkeys, 35 and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately. [total figures]

36 And the half, the portion for those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep; 37 and the Lord’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. 38 The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. 39 The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. 40 The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. 41 So Moses gave the tribute which was the Lord’s heave offering to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.

A. The portion for the soldiers & for the Lord….

B. What would the Lord do with the people (the young women)? Probably use them as servants along with the Levites…

a. Did you catch the outpouring of grace here? It’d be easy to look at these women as unwilling slaves to the Levites; but understand what just happened – the descendents of Gentiles who had tried to destroy the Hebrew nation have now been brought into the service of the worship of the Lord!

42 And from the children of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from the men who fought— 43 now the half belonging to the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 44 thirty-six thousand cattle, 45 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, 46 and sixteen thousand persons— 47 and from the children of Israel’s half Moses took one of every fifty, drawn from man and beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

A. The portion from the nation & for the Lord…

48 Then the officers who were over thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses; 49 and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are under our command, and not a man of us is missing. 50 Therefore we have brought an offering for the Lord, what every man found of ornaments of gold: armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”

A. Note this was not an offering commanded by the Lord; this was a freewill offering from the army officers. They recognized God’s miraculous hand on them as not 1 man’s life was lost in battle – thus they gave even more of the spoil (over and above what was required) to the Lord…

B. It seems they recognized their sin in taking the women back with them & they wanted to atone for it. Obviously God cannot be bought off; He had already made provision for them through Moses…but at this point, the army is just grateful to God.

51 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all the fashioned ornaments. 52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. 53 (The men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) 54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of meeting as a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.

A. Big offering! Price of gold today is $886.19/oz. 16,750 shekels ~ $28.4M!

B. Remember where this came from: armlets, bracelets, etc…much of which was probably used in pagan worship. Now this was redeemed for the Lord’s work…

Conclusion:

Christian, the victory we have in Christ is FAR greater than what the Hebrews experienced against Midian. Jesus didn’t simply pay the wages of sin at the cross; He utterly defeated death the grave through the Resurrection! He completely frees us from the power of sin in our life & we are never backed into a corner and forced to break our word (either to man or God). There’s always a way of escape – either from the trial or through the trial by enduring it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Are you making vows to the Lord you can’t keep? “Lord, I’ll never fail in this again!” Don’t set yourself up for sin or live in failure; live in the freedom that Christ offers through the Cross, Resurrection, and Spirit of God!

Preparation Through Worship – Numbers 27-29

Numbers 27 (NKJV)
1 Then came the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 And they stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the congregation, by the doorway of the tabernacle of meeting, saying: 3 “Our father died in the wilderness; but he was not in the company of those who gathered together against the Lord, in company with Korah, but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be removed from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.”

A. Understandable difficulty. The law made provision for sons, but what about daughters with no brothers? … This is a matter of financial provision…the daughter’s inheritance was generally their dowry – but without a father, brothers, or husbands, there is no dowry to receive.

B. BTW – note the women’s faith! They haven’t entered the Promised Land yet & already they are concerned about the inheritance their family has not yet received. They simply take the Lord at His word that they had something to inherit…

5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord.

A. Amen! Exactly what he should have done. Moses didn’t assume anything – he didn’t ignore anything – simply took it to the Lord in prayer.

6 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 7 “The daughters of Zelophehad speak what is right; you shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father’s brothers, and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them.

A. Who says the Bible is misogynistic? God provides for the widow & orphan – and He provides for these daughters who have no earthly recourse…

B. God is just! There are many who want to pin ‘evil’ onto the Lord saying, “If God were truly good, He wouldn’t allow evil to exist.” News flash: Evil is OUR fault (Adam’s, technically)… [] But God is good (all the time) – even in the midst of an evil world…and He is truly just & righteousness. Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. []

8 And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. 9 If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. 10 If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. 11 And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the relative closest to him in his family, and he shall possess it.’ ” And it shall be to the children of Israel a statute of judgment, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

A. Sets up a precedent for future situations… Comes up again in Ch 36 when Manasseh is worried about losing their overall tribal lands if these daughters marry into other tribes. God solves this by requiring women in this situation to marry within their own tribe.

a. Isn’t it interesting how we panic over issues that are nothing for God to handle & solve? How much stress would we save ourselves if we’d only take things to the Lord in prayer? J

12 Now the Lord said to Moses: “Go up into this Mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. 13 And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered. 14 For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah, at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.)

A. Question: is this God’s judgment or God’s grace? Both! God had to judge Moses for his rebellion… But God didn’t have to show Moses the land…

B. Could Moses have taken Israel into the Promised Land? No. Moses is a type of the Law & the Law never saves; it just shows us our need for salvation & deliverance. Only Joshua (Jesus – Yeshua) can bring us victory over sin & death. John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. []

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.”

A. Moses prays for a successor…I love this! Moses is not bitter or spiteful at the fact he’s not allowed to bring Israel into the land; his heart is simply for the people to be cared for.

a. Anyone called to ministry should hold the ministry “lightly” – ultimately the people don’t belong to you; they belong to the Lord…

B. God is “God of the spirits of all flesh”…despite whether or not “all flesh” believe in God; He is still God! And because He is God, He knows what dwells in the heart of every man – He alone is able to determine the best leader for Israel’s needs. Moses doesn’t presume to dictate to God who that should be – he simply leaves the choice up to the Lord…

C. We need a shepherd – and have the best one in Christ Jesus! (John 10:11,14)

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.”

How to transition leaders Biblically? We can mess this up if we’re not careful!

A. Look for someone filled with the Spirit: This is what the early church did in looking for the 1^st deacons (Acts 6:3). [] Absolutely necessary! Without the leading & empowerment of the Spirit of God, anything else that the leader would do would be worthless. (Not by power, nor by might, but by My Spirit – Zech 4:6)

B. Publicly ordain him: In this age of internet ordination, this becomes especially necessary. People need to see that elders within the church have affirmed the call of God upon someone’s life before entrusting their spiritual instruction to them…

a. Keep in mind what ordination is: the church’s recognition of God’s previous call. The church doesn’t call anyone to ministry; God does. But the church does affirm that call through the prayers of Spirit-filled leadership.

C. Empower them for ministry: Moses didn’t just give Joshua lip-service in front of the people; God had him empower Joshua for the work by granting him “authority.” Whatever ministry God may have put you in, you need to be free to fail as well as succeed…

D. Put him to work: Joshua was now going to be the one to stand before Eleazar & inquire of the Lord…thus the true transition taking place.

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.

A. Moses did it.

Numbers 28 (NKJV)
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time.’

A. Introducing regulations on offerings… ‘Why go through these now? Didn’t God teach on the offerings in Leviticus?’ Yes – but since the nation was about to occupy the land, this is a necessary reminder. They will live in the land, but the land won’t belong to them…it belongs to God! Thus they need to be reminded of how to worship God their provider & sustainer…

B. Note they needed to “be careful” to offer them at the right time…this is definitely worship, but God cares about the details of our worship. We’re not to “go through the motions” – nor are we to worship in disorderly chaos. We’re to worship Him in spirit & truth! (John 4:23)

3 “And you shall say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening, 5 and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 7 And its drink offering shall be one-fourth of a hin for each lamb; in a holy place you shall pour out the drink to the Lord as an offering. 8 The other lamb you shall offer in the evening; as the morning grain offering and its drink offering, you shall offer it as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

A. Burnt offering was offering of consecration… Drink offering was offering of dedication…

B. How regular is regular? Daily.

i. Do we give ourselves daily to the Lord? Heaven forbid we make “worship” into merely 20 minutes every Sunday & Wednesday! Psalm 55:17 Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice. [] This isn’t a legalistic “have-to”; this is a liberating “get-to!” We GET to worship the Lord any time of day all day…we GET the privilege of boldly coming before the throne of grace. What possible reason would we have for NOT doing this at every opportunity?

C. Offerings done right were “sweet aromas”. Sometimes we forget the fact that God enjoys worship. It’s pleasing to Him. When we worship our God & King, we get the opportunity to please our Creator, Master, & Savior…it brings glory to His name. (And if we don’t do it, the rocks will!)

9 ‘And on the Sabbath day two lambs in their first year, without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, with its drink offering— 10 this is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering.

A. Every Sabbath had additional offerings beside the daily ones…showed that the day was special & set apart for the Lord’s purposes.

B. Today? Our Sabbath rest is found in Christ…but we still have a day that we set apart specifically for worshipping the Lord. What makes it special is not the day of the week, but the fact that Jesus is the sacrifice that’s been made!

11 ‘At the beginnings of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish; 12 three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering of sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 14 Their drink offering shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb; this is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year. 15 Also one kid of the goats as a sin offering to the Lord shall be offered, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

A. Month beginnings had extra offerings…would have been in addition to the daily offerings. (Levites stayed pretty busy!)

B. Also had a sin offering – monthly reminder to the nation of their sin…

16 ‘On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. 17 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast; unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. 18 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. 19 And you shall present an offering made by fire as a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish. 20 Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah you shall offer for a bull, and two-tenths for a ram; 21 you shall offer one-tenth of an ephah for each of the seven lambs; 22 also one goat as a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. 24 In this manner you shall offer the food of the offering made by fire daily for seven days, as a sweet aroma to the Lord; it shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.

A. Offerings for Passover… (Crucifixion)

26 ‘Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. 27 You shall present a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, 28 with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for the one ram,
29 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 30 also one kid of the goats, to make atonement for you. 31 Be sure they are without blemish. You shall present them with their drink offerings, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering.

A. Offerings for 1^st fruits & Pentecost… (Resurrection & Holy Spirit)

Numbers 29 (NKJV)
1 ‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets. 2 You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish. 3 Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 5 also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, as a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

A. Offerings for Feast of Trumpets – Rosh Hoshanna… (Rapture)

7 ‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls; you shall not do any work. 8 You shall present a burnt offering to the Lord as a sweet aroma: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish. 9 Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 10 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 11 also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

A. Offerings for Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur… (Tribulation)

12 ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work, and you shall keep a feast to the Lord seven days. 13 You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year. They shall be without blemish. 14 Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams, 15 and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs; 16 also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

A. Offerings for Feast of Tabernacles… (Millennium)

B. 7 days. Note the change in offerings by the day. Vs. 17-32 show a decrease in one bull each day; everything else stays the same…

a. That’s a LOT of offerings! Some estimate the total giving in Ch 28-29 at 1 ton of flour, 1K gallons of wine & oil, 13K oxen, 60K sheep given annually (Courson). (Guzik) “Significantly, none of it was enough! Not one of these hundreds of thousands of sacrifices over the centuries could every take away a person’s sin; that had to wait until a perfect sacrifice was offered – the sacrifice of Jesus.”

35 ‘On the eighth day you shall have a sacred assembly. You shall do no customary work. 36 You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven lambs in their first year without blemish, 37 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; 38 also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

A. Still the Feast of Tabernacles; just a new day (8^th day); new week – new offering. One bull, one ram, 7 lambs this time. Possibly significant as a new beginning (traditional interpretation of “8”). Prophetically, at the end of the Millennial Age starts the rest of eternity w/ the new heaven, new earth, & new Jerusalem…

39 ‘These you shall present to the Lord at your appointed feasts (besides your vowed offerings and your freewill offerings) as your burnt offerings and your grain offerings, as your drink offerings and your peace offerings.’ ” 40 So Moses told the children of Israel everything, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

A. How were all the sacrifices & offerings in the last 2 chapters given? In addition to all the other freewill offerings & vows that the people bring individually to God. Seems to speak of:

a. The priority God places on worship in time & expense. Aside from Scripture & prayer, there is no better way to interact with the Lord God than through worship. It ONLY happens through the expense of His Son’s; but in the eyes of God, it’s completely worth it.

b. The importance of BOTH individual AND corporate worship… [] We tend to place all the value on individual worship – and although this is crucial for our relationship with Christ, we are no longer simply individuals. In Christ, we’ve been placed into a body – and that body needs to worship together. Thus we don’t forsake the assembling together of ourselves (Heb 10:25).

Conclusion:

If that’s the value God puts on worship, what’s the value we put on it? Over & over again, the Bible exhorts us to sing – shout – praise the Lord – worship Him. With everything that we have, we worship Him. With everything we are, we worship Him. WHY? Because He’s WORTHY to be praised!

Psalm 150:1-2 (1) Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! (2) Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! [] His acts ARE mighty & His person IS excellent! He loved us when we were unlovable – He adopted us when we abhorred Him – He gave us life when we were dead & happy to remain that way.

Christian, if there’s anything that holds you back from worshipping the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – confront it & deal with it…take it to the Cross & crucify it with Christ. Because God is WORTHY to be praised!

Sin & Consequences – Numbers 25-26

Introduction:

Quick review: After Moses misrepresented God at Kadesh-Barnea & the people suffered snakebites due to their complaining, they started their move into the promised land & fought King Sihon of the Amorites & King Og of Bashan…news of the conquests spread throughout the land & attract the attention of Balak, king of the Moabites. At this point, the narrative leaves the Israelites & turns to Balak & the prophet/seer he hired by the name of Balaam…

Balaam was hired to curse Israel, but God prevented him from doing it every time & in doing so revealed much about His faithfulness to Balaam & Balak. (When God blesses someone, they are blessed & God does not lie…) Balak gets so upset with Balaam that he pays him not to speak & ends up firing him saying that “the Lord had kept Balaam from honor”…and that was true! This is the last we hear from Balaam for a while – but it’s not the last of his effect.

Balaam actually told Balak one more thing that’s not recorded here for us – how to go about defeating the Hebrews. Balaam may not have been able to pronounce curses upon God’s blessed people; but he knew how God’s people would invite God’s judgment upon themselves…

Moses is going to allude to it after going to war with Midian (Num 31:16) – but if there were any doubt, Jesus spells it out in the letter to the church at Pergamos – Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. [] Jesus goes on to say how much He hates this & the other sins at Pergamos… The point? Balaam tripped up the Hebrews something severe! Balaam couldn’t curse them, but he could get Balak to tempt them away from God by appealing to their basic lusts.

As horrible as the event we’re about to read is, it’s by no means uncommon. (Unger) “God’s blessing is frequently the prelude to satanic temptation. Satan’s snare is not only set for the young and immature, but for the seasoned and mature.” Too many times we want to let our guard down after a big spiritual victory…but that’s exactly the time we need to be most aware! We are not just in a spiritual battle; we are in a spiritual war!

Numbers 25 (NKJV)
1 Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. 2 They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

A. Committed “harlotry’…KJV “whoredom.” The implication here is that the Hebrews weren’t merely committing fornication (which would be bad enough!) – but that they were taking part in pagan Baal fertility practices. Ritual prostitution was a common form of pagan worship & it seems that the Moabite women had enticed Israel to engage in it.

a. Basically we’re talking about spiritual adultery! “Israel was joined to Baal of Peor…” They were yoked together in such a way where Israel had turned from her 1^st love after a harlot…more in a minute.

B. Committed idolatry: Beyond the harlotry, Israel went so far as to start sacrificing to the Moabite gods & eating of those sacrifices. [] Keep in mind that Israel was STILL eating the manna every single day… This is abhorrent behavior!

a. Before we get on our soapbox, we should note we do the same thing. We wake up & thank Jesus for the Cross & then often forget about Him the rest of the day…we don’t even realize the spiritual idolatry we might participate in through various TV programs/movies, hobbies, or whatever… Praise God for forgiveness!

C. No wonder the anger of God was aroused! Over & over again the Scripture declares that God is a jealous God – He’d even warned them against idolatry using this very language. (2^nd Commandment) Exodus 20:4-6 (4) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; (5) you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, (6) but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. []

a. Does this mean God is petty? Of course not! He’s not jealous of other gods (they don’t exist)…He’s jealous FOR us. He desires for us to worship Him because it’s what is best…

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

A. Punish the leaders: The buck has to stop somewhere & obviously the Moabite women didn’t sneak into the Hebrew camp unnoticed. The leaders should have known better & protected their people from the idolatry that was sure to follow. (Teachers have a stricter judgment – James 3:1)

B. Punish them publicly: We don’t do much of this any more, but it served a distinct purpose. Public punishment (in this case, execution) would serve as a reminder & lesson to the rest of the congregation the seriousness of sinning against Almighty God.

a. Same thing is supposed to happen in the NT when elders are caught in sin. 1 Timothy 5:19-20 (19) Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. (20) Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear. [] Discipline isn’t merely for those in the congregation; it applies to leadership as well & is beneficial for ALL w/in the Body…

C. The result? God’s “fierce anger” would be turned away…the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) – this was to be grusomely illustrated before the entire congregation. But once the death had come, God’s justice would be satisfied.

a. ‘Is this too harsh?’ No. Sin has a price – but here’s the good news: once that price is paid in full, it doesn’t have to be paid over & over. Jesus paid the price for sin for every believer in Christ! …

5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

A. Moses follows through & people had to personally carry out this sentence.

B. How bad was this sin in the sight of God? It couldn’t get any worse – Hosea 9:10 (10) “I found Israel Like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers As the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, And separated themselves to that shame; They became an abomination like the thing they loved. [] Remember Hosea is the prophet whom God told to marry a prostitute as a reflection of God’s relationship with Israel…

a. Again, the picture spiritual adultery. What Israel did was an abomination in the sight of the Lord – yet God was using them to bring judgment on other people who had been an abomination in His sight.

6 And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 7 Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel.

A. Summary…

B. What exactly made this offense so bad? It was directly in front of the tabernacle! This wasn’t an innocent mistake; this was an intentional rebellious act in the face of the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob…

C. The singular act of Phinehas stopped the plague…

a. Why did the plague start? Because of the national sin or because of this individual sin? Probably the national sin. But because Phinehas acted with such zeal on behalf of the Lord, the entire nation was spared further death.

9 And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

A. Don’t let anyone ever claim to you that sin is victimless…sin is NEVER victimless! At the very least, sin claims the sinner as a victim…

B. Contradiction with 1 Cor? 1 Corinthians 10:8 (8) Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; [] No. Paul qualifies by “one day”… (Possibly left out 1000 leaders killed by Moses & the elders)

10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.

A. What does it mean to be zealous with God’s zeal? To be zealous for the things God Himself is zealous for. God is zealous for His holiness & jealous for His people & so was Phinehas.

1. Bottom line – we need to care about the things God cares about. God cares about sin & sinners hearing the gospel…so should we. We get a great example of this in Jesus, when the zeal for His Father’s house consumed Him (John 2:17).

B. So is God still looking for people to make flagrant sinners in the camp into human shisk-ka-bobs? No. Can intercession/service turn back the wrath of God? Yes! … God is looking for people who will stand in the gap (Eze 22:30) & He uses our intercession to do just that!

12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

A. The reward? God’s “covenant of peace” – played out in an “everlasting priesthood”. God was giving the high-priesthood to Phinehas’ line (narrowing it down from Levi, Aaron, Eleazar…) – this peace is exactly what we have through our High Priest Jesus Christ. He IS our peace (Eph 2:14) & through Him we have a covenant of peace with God the Father.

a. ‘Was it truly everlasting? Phinehas’ priesthood passed after the captivity & Jesus’ priesthood is not of Phinehas’ lineage.’ True – but the priesthood that remained after Phinehas was still a priesthood that makes atonement for those who have sinned. Jesus is of the tribe of Judah & of the priestly order of Melchizedek, but His function is still that of Phinehas in making atonement.

b. We NEED atonement…

B. Zeal can be good… Zeal can be bad… We want to be zealous in a good thing! (Gal 4:18)

14 Now the name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a father’s house in Midian. 16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 17 “Harass the Midianites, and attack them; 18 for they harassed you with their schemes by which they seduced you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Peor.”

A. One other reason this was so offensive is that the harlotry took place among the leadership…the fact he performed this in front of the tabernacle seems to indicate he was actively trying to promote this among the people.

B. What’s the relationship between Moab & Midian? Apparently Midian had made an alliance with Balak of Moab before he ever hired Balaam (Num 22:4), thus the Midianite woman partipated along with the Moabite women in harlotry. Thus the Midianites were to be “harassed.” IOW, God was telling them to go to war at their 1^st opportunity…takes place in Numb 31.

Numbers 26 (NKJV)
1 And it came to pass, after the plague, that the Lord spoke to Moses and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying: 2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel from twenty years old and above, by their fathers’ houses, all who are able to go to war in Israel.”

A. Interesting that the 2^nd census came after the plague. Their numbers would have been dramatically different (by 24,000 ppl!) if they hadn’t given into harlotry…

B. Why the census? Military preparation – “all who are able to go to war…” Just like the census in Ch 1-2, God was preparing the Hebrews to go to war in the land. The difference? In Ch 1-2, God knew all the army would die off; this army will actually go in to possess the land!

a. Speaks of the mercy of God that He still had the 1^st group counted!

3 So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying: 4 “Take a census of the people from twenty years old and above, just as the Lord commanded Moses and the children of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt.”

A. From vs. 5 – 51, we get a detailed listing of the census of the tribes; the individual numbers changed quite a bit from the 1^st census taken before the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea.

a. Reuben: 43,730… -6%

b. Simeon: 22,200… -63% (Possible Simeon was one of the chief offenders in Baal Peor…)

c. Gad: 40,500… -11%

d. Judah: 76,500… +3%

e. Issachar: 64,300… +18%

f. Zebulun: 60,500… +5%

g. Manasseh: 52,700… +64%

h. Ephraim: 32,500… -20%

i. Benjamin: 45,600… +29%

j. Dan: 64,400… +3%

k. Asher: 53,400… +29%

l. Naphtali: 45,400… -15%

m. Total: 601,730… -0.3% – Miraculous maintaining of size! ‘Wouldn’t the greater miracle have been growing the army?’ That wasn’t the lesson God was teaching Israel. Due to their sin, Israel had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years…wasted time, just counting the days. Likewise they neither grew nor shrank significantly (in total)…simply nothing happened except a lot of death & a lot of heartache.

i. How many of us have been in the same boat? There have been times in my own life when I veered off into sin & those times were a complete waste – there’s nothing to show for it. (Praise God it’ll all be burned away at the Bema Seat! J)

[excerpt from Reuben]
9 The sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram, representatives of the congregation, who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the Lord; 10 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah when that company died, when the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men; and they became a sign. 11 Nevertheless the children of Korah did not die.

A. Review Korah (Num 16)…

B. Korah, & those of his family & friends who stood by him were definitely punished…but his children did not die.

a. Does this tell us anything about the “age of accountability?” Though there seems to be support for this (potentially) in other Scripture, this would not seem to be a prooftext. There were children who died in the rebellion (Num 16:27)…just not these particular children.

b. Does this tell us anything about the character of God? Yes! It shows us the immense mercy of God. God did not blame Korah’s children for their father’s guilt…they appeared not to stand with him in his sin & God honored that.

c. What was the result of Korah’s children? They accepted the role that God had given their family in worship! Originally, God had commissioned them to carry the furnishings of the tabernacle – later transitioned into worship leaders & the authors of 11 psalms.

1. ‘God could never use me…you just don’t know my history or what my family is like.’ Tell that to the sons of Korah! God is in the creation business…if He has made you into a new creation, then He can do anything with you that He wants. J

52 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 53 “To these the land shall be divided as an inheritance, according to the number of names. 54 To a large tribe you shall give a larger inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a smaller inheritance. Each shall be given its inheritance according to those who were numbered of them. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot; they shall inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. 56 According to the lot their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller.”

A. Divide the land sufficiently: Larger tribes get more land.

B. Divide the land fairly: Larger tribes don’t get to push their way into the best land. God makes that decision via casting lot (may be reference to Urim & Thummim).

C. When we look at the Promised Land as a type of the blessing that God gives to every believer in Christ, we see the same thing. God’s grace is sufficient for whatever it is we go through (2 Cor 12:9); and God gives gifts to His children as He pleases…we simply rejoice & are responsible to use what He has given us…

57 And these are those who were numbered of the Levites according to their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites. 58 These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, and the family of the Korathites. And Kohath begot Amram. 59 The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.

A. Levi not numbered with the rest for military service; but they were numbered for priestly service…

B. Moses’ family tree…

60 To Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61 And Nadab and Abihu died when they offered profane fire before the Lord.

A. Quick review…

B. It’s interesting to me that Scripture brings up this history on 4 different occasions – God’s telling us something very important here: don’t bring profane fire!

62 Now those who were numbered of them were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and above; for they were not numbered among the other children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them among the children of Israel.

A. Review: Why wasn’t Levi numbered with the others? Their inheritance IS the Lord… Given to them probably for the same reason Phinehas received the high priesthood – Levi was zealous for the Lord in the golden calf incident (Ex 32:26)

63 These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. 64 But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they numbered the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the Lord had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” So there was not left a man of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

A. Everyone died out…

B. God’s word is true! For both blessing AND judgment. We tend to just remember the promises for blessing – but God is faithful to His word, no matter what. Sometimes that’s blessing & sometimes that’s discipline. God promised they would die & they did.

Conclusion:

Probably the most amazing aspect of this section of Scripture is the contrast. In Ch 25, Israel is committing spiritual adultery against the Lord & 24,000 people die in a plague. Yet in Ch 26, God is again preparing Israel to enter the Promised Land. What GRACE!

Praise God that our relationship with Him isn’t based on our ability to keep a promise – we’d fail every time…just like the Hebrews. Our relationship with God is based on HIS ability to keep a promise – and He does so through Christ Jesus. In our struggle with sin, we fall constantly – there’s probably not a day that goes by that we don’t have to ask forgiveness & repent of something in our lives. Yet God is faithful each & every time to forgive us. WHY? Because it’s the just thing to do (1 John 1:9) based on the cross & resurrection of Jesus Christ! Jesus has already paid the death sentence for you & me & He has lavished His forgiveness & grace upon us.

May we never forget that the reason it’s called “grace” is because we DON’T deserve it. Sin indeed has its consequences…but Jesus has borne those consequences upon Himself. We may be disciplined from time to time, but we never get what we truly deserve only because Jesus took on what He never deserved.

Using Pagans for Prophecy – Numbers 23-24

Numbers 23

1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height.

A. Question: had God commanded Balaam to build an altar? No. Did he do it according to God’s revealed law to Moses? No. Likely these were pagan sacrifices performed to Baal done in the high places. Several commentaries argue that these sacrifices were given to the One True God, but Balak was the one offering them & he obviously didn’t care about the One True God…he was just looking to talk to “any” god that would curse Israel.

B. Balaam is committed to only speak the word the Lord gives him…undoubtedly his encounter with the Angel of the Lord made an impression! [] Which makes his lack of conversion all the more amazing!

a. Some people have truly seen the work of the Lord in their lives; yet they refuse to repent & surrender their lives to Him. Underscores the fact that (1) God shows mercy to the just and unjust, and (2) God’s provision isn’t an indication of salvation; new life is…

4 And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 Then the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

A. Interesting that God actually met Balaam and spoke to him at a PAGAN altar… Not only that, God treats Balaam no different than any other prophet by “putting a word in his mouth”…

B. Our God is merciful! He doesn’t cast judgment on us when He has the right to… Our God is gracious! He actually blesses us in spite of us… [] Please don’t ever take that for granted…

6 So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. [pretty public event!] 7 And he took up his oracle and said: “Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east. ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!’ 8 “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

A. How indeed? If God has not cursed Israel, what possible good would mere words do? Even if Balaam had decided to depart from the oracle of God, Balaam’s words have no power in & of themselves. The only One who has power when He speaks is God Almighty! If someone is to be blessed, it’s b/c GOD has blessed them…(and vice-versa).

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him; There! A people dwelling alone, Not reckoning itself among the nations. 10 “Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my end be like his!”

A. The innumerable size indicates blessing…part of the covenant God made with Abraham. Genesis 15:5-6 (5) Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” (6) And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. [] (David got in trouble for not trusting God on this point – 2 Sam 24)

B. What’s the difference between Balaam & Abraham? Balaam wanted to die the death of the righteous, but wasn’t willing to believe God to obtain it. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness…

a. There’s a ton of self-centered “Christians” out there who have nothing to do with Christ. It just doesn’t work that way…

C. Interestingly enough, when Balaam was looking down upon the camp, what shape did he see? The cross…(Numbers 2)

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!” 12 So he answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?”

A. Balak ain’t happy. J Understandably so – he just paid a lot of money to get a curse out of Balaam.

B. Balaam’s still speaking the word of the Lord. And notice he actually recognizes that this is coming from the LORD…

a. This has got to be one of the most tragic aspects of Balaam. He KNEW this was all coming from the Lord Almighty – he completely recognized this fact. Yet in the end, he ignored God entirely.

13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.”

A. Funny! Since Balaam prophesied regarding their number, Balak says, “Now that you can’t see all of them, surely NOW you can curse them.” … Thinks a different location is going to make things better – perhaps Balak thinks Balaam is going to contact a different god. (Too bad there aren’t any! J )

14 So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15 And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet the Lord over there.” 16 Then the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

A. Take 2…this is the exact same procedure: another 7 altars, another 7 sacrifices. God met Balaam & gave the word…

17 So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

A. Note even Balak acknowledges it’s the LORD this time…like Balaam, he leaves virtually unchanged by this.

18 Then he took up his oracle and said: “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! 19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

A. Foundational truth about God’s character! God doesn’t lie. It’s not merely that He refrains from it; it’s that lying profoundly violates His very character and person. He CANNOT lie. Lying is something men do in our sin…God is perfectly holy & never sins – thus He never lies.

B. ‘What about the times the Bible says God repented?’ KJV sometimes uses the word “repent” to describe God’s change of course/action, or His regret. NKJV often translates is “relent”…better thought. God cannot turn from sin to righteousness (our version of repenting); He does not change His will (He knows everything); but He can/does change His action according to His will. Thus when we intercede in prayer, God does change His actions – but it’s always His will to have done so. (Abraham/Sodom – Gen 18)

C. The takeaway? God is FAITHFUL…God granted blessing to the Hebrews & thus God’s blessing was going to stay on the Hebrews.

a. God will ALWAYS be faithful to His word. Romans 3:4 (4) Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.” []

20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

A. What was Balak asking God to lie about? His blessing upon Israel… Again, b/c God blessed, Balaam had no power to do anything about it.

21 “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them. 22 God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox.

A. Incredible to think that God “has not observed iniquity in Jacob”…Israel had messed up lots of times! …. Speaks of His grace…[] As far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12)…

B. God is with Israel. God guards/protects Israel – the very fact God is among them speaks of His protection over them. He brought them out of Egypt in a famously miraculous way… []

a. What’s the “wild ox”? KJV = “unicorn” – possibly a reference to a rhinoceros, possibly to a now-extinct cow called the Aurochs. The point is God’s strength…rhino fits pretty well!

23 “For there is no sorcery against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob And of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’ 24 Look, a people rises like a lioness, And lifts itself up like a lion; It shall not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.”

A. Basically says, “Stop trying to curse them…it’s useless”

B. Not only will God not curse them, He’s going to give them the victory over their enemies…like a lion, Israel is going to conquer the land God gives them, simply because God is the one giving it to them. They do it in HIS strength…

25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!” 26 So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”

A. “I’m going to pay you just to be quiet!” J Gotta love that!

27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. 29 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.

A. So Balak’s still not learning…he’s going to try it again. Walks through the same routine in yet one more location. Peor was known as a location for Baal worship – still trying to perform pagan rituals.

B. Ever try to outrun God? Balak thought each mountain would be a better place with a different result – he never wanted to accept what God was plainly telling him…

Numbers 24 (NKJV)
1 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times, to seek to use sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

A. What’s the difference here? Balaam finally realized his pagan sorcery was no good at manipulating the word of God. He simply prepared himself to receive the word as it was given to him.

2 And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him. 3 Then he took up his oracle and said: “The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened, 4 The utterance of him who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Who falls down, with eyes wide open:

A. He’s a pagan, but his eyes are wide open now…he’s received the word of the Lord; spoken the word of the Lord; had his eyes opened to the will of God – and his response? Still to try to curse God’s people.

B. Prophecy/experience doesn’t save anyone! Matthew 7:21-23 (21) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ (23) And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ [] In the end, Balaam sought lawlessness…

5 “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel! 6 Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens by the riverside, Like aloes planted by the Lord, Like cedars beside the waters. 7 He shall pour water from his buckets, And his seed shall be in many waters. “His king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted.

A. The blessing of Israel…tended & cared for by the Lord like a garden.

B. It’s a beautiful thing simply to be a child of God! Everything else about our life might be helter-skelter, but we’re STILL saved… []

8 “God brings him out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox; He shall consume the nations, his enemies; He shall break their bones And pierce them with his arrows. 9 ‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’ “Blessed is he who blesses you, And cursed is he who curses you.”

A. Reiterates how God brought them out of Egypt…and the strength & power God would use to protect His chosen people.

B. Quotes the Abrahamic covenant… Genesis 12:3 (3) I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” []

a. Why is the earth blessed? Because of the coming Messiah!

10 Then Balak’s anger was aroused against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times! 11 Now therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor.”

A. WHO kept Balaam from honor? The Lord! Spoken in sarcasm from a pagan, but undoubtedly true. God used Balaam for His word, but God wasn’t endorsing what Balaam had tried (and failed) to accomplish.

B. Consider what God did through all this: (1) protected His people, (2) blessed His people, (3) spoke His word, (4) used a pagan to do it, and (5) did it in such holiness where the wicked didn’t prosper from it… J

a. God doesn’t merely accomplish His will; He takes care of every detail along the way, too!

12 So Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, 13 ‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak’?

A. Balaam’s trying to justify himself in the eyes of his employer, but again – what he says is true: The word of God cannot be sold! []

B. Don’t be unaware…there are still false teachers trying to do the same thing! 2 Peter 2:14-15 (14) having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. (15) They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; []

14 And now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come, I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days.” 15 So he took up his oracle and said: “The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened; 16 The utterance of him who hears the words of God, And has the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Who falls down, with eyes wide open:

A. 2^nd to last oracle… Gives a few freebies before he leaves…this one being of the latter days. Before, Balaam had blessed the work of God in Israel’s past; this is going to specifically deal with the future – messianic promises…

17 “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult. 18 “And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, While Israel does valiantly. 19 Out of Jacob One shall have dominion, And destroy the remains of the city.”

A. Jesus is the bright morning star (Rev 22:16). He is the scepter (has it) as the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10). Seems that Balaam not only sees Jesus, but he sees the Lord Jesus at His 2^nd coming!

B. Note all the nations that are included here. Moab (Balaam’s own nation) & Edom included. Keep in mind that Israel was not permitted to attack these lands in the conquest b/c they were distant relatives. Yet Balaam pronounces them defeated – when does this take place? History shows some temporary conquests during the Kingdom years…probably a ref to the millennium…

20 Then he looked on Amalek, and he took up his oracle and said: “Amalek was first among the nations, But shall be last until he perishes.” 21 Then he looked on the Kenites, and he took up his oracle and said: “Firm is your dwelling place, And your nest is set in the rock; 22 Nevertheless Kain shall be burned. How long until Asshur carries you away captive?” 23 Then he took up his oracle and said: “Alas! Who shall live when God does this? 24 But ships shall come from the coasts of Cyprus, And they shall afflict Asshur and afflict Eber, And so shall Amalek, until he perishes.” 25 So Balaam rose and departed and returned to his place; Balak also went his way.

A. Last prophecy he gives isn’t about Israel, but about the lands/people Israel will be invading.

a. Amalek virtually destroyed by Hezekiah (1 Chr 4:41-43) Haman possibly an Amalekite – his family executed in Esther 9…

b. Kenites lived in relative peace with the Hebrews (firm dwelling place) until they were to be captured by Assyrians/Asshur along with the conquest of the Northern Kingdom. (2 King 15)

c. Assyrians/Asshur overthrown by Greeks & Romans (ref: Cyprus)

B. The grand end to all the prophecy? God’s enemies go home disappointed. J

Conclusion:

Don’t be a Balaam! Here’s a guy that spoke more words of God than some of the minor prophets & yet he departed from God unchanged. What tragedy!

Ultimately our eyes aren’t on Balaam, but on the One Balaam spoke of – we worship the God who put the words in Balaam’s mouth! We worship the Bright Morning Star whom Balaam saw – we worship the God who never lies or repents. Praise God!

Doing things the hard way

Numbers 21

1. When the king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. 2. So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” 3. And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called Hormah.

A. Where’s Arad? [MAP – approx.]

B. Arad’s problem was twofold:

a. They came out against the people of God. From what we know of the text, Israel hadn’t gone seeking them out or was attempting to enter the Promised Land through Arad. The king himself went looking for trouble…and he found it!

b. They got cocky. Instead of simply warning the people not to come in that way (per Edom), they took prisoners.

c. When people purposefully put themselves against God, He WILL act. Maybe not immediately, but definitely in eternity…we reap what we sow.

C. Israel’s response? For once, it was perfect!

a. They sought the Lord in prayer – even acknowledging that the victory would have to come through God alone.

b. Vowed to give Him the glory. “destroy” carries the idea of devoting something to the Lord. Like they were later (supposed) to do at Jericho, they weren’t going to take any spoil from the city…

c. Followed through in the power of God. They didn’t simply pray; they acted – and the Lord empowered them for the battle. “the Lord listened…and delivered…”

d. Impossible to do the work of God without the power of God! He MUST empower us, or what we attempt will either fail or fall away…

D. Note: this is the 1^st conquered piece of the promised land…just a taste of what is to come when they do things God’s way.

4. Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. 5. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

A. Worthless bread?! This is the MANNA they’re talking about! Keep in mind that the manna was a picture of Christ (John 6:32-35), so when they rejected God’s provision through the bread, they were really rejecting God’s provision through the Bread of Life.

B. Ever take God’s miracles for granted?

6. So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

A. Righteous discipline of the Lord! “fiery” probably not a reference to the color, but to the pain of the bite. Their rejection of Christ produced only a taste of what awaits those who eternally reject Him. …

a. We (obviously) don’t like talking about it, but Hell is a terrible place… But it’s the righteous response to rebellious sin against an infinite perfect God.

7. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

A. What to do? Confess & repent! The Hebrews agreed with God that what they did was indeed sin… And they turned from that sin & turned to God for forgiveness…

a. Note they actually went to Moses this time instead of Moses having to fall down on his face for the people. Perhaps they’re learning the lessons their parents did not?

B. Moses interceded for the people…as he often did.

8. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

A. Model of Christ! [Talking with Nicodemus] John 3:14-16 (14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, (15) that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. []

B. Much significance!

a. Pole = cross

b. Look to it for healing…

c. Available to all; effective for those who look

d. Even the serpent is significant. Not only in the “bronze” judgment – but in the fact that the serpent is a symbol of sin (re: Garden of Eden & Revelation dragon). How does that relate to Christ Jesus? Jesus BECAME sin on the Cross… 2 Corinthians 5:21 (21) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. []

C. Don’t leave tonight without knowing Christ crucified…

10. Now the children of Israel moved on and camped in Oboth. 11. And they journeyed from Oboth and camped at Ije Abarim, in the wilderness which is east of Moab, toward the sunrise. 12. From there they moved and camped in the Valley of Zered. 13. From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14. Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord: “Waheb in Suphah, the brooks of the Arnon, 15. and the slope of the brooks that reaches to the dwelling of Ar, and lies on the border of Moab.”

A. [MAP]

B. “Book of the Wars of the Lord”: book lost to antiquity. All we know of it is what’s found here. ‘Does that make it an inspired lost book of the Bible?’ No. Simply means that the only inspired text God desired for us to read is what is listed here…

16. And from there they went to Beer [“well”], which is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” 17. Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! all of you sing to it 18. the well the leaders sank, dug by the nation’s nobles, by the lawgiver, with their staves.” And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah, 19. from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20. and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the wasteland.

A. God gives a foretaste of the promised land with the well…

B. God quenched their thirst by a well here…reminiscent of Jesus talking about thrist-quenching drink with the Samaritan woman (John 4). (Wiersbe) “In the Bible, water for drinking is a picture of the Spirit of God, while water for washing is a type of the Word of God. But before Jesus could send the Spirit, He had to die on the cross, which leads us to the uplifted serpent in Numbers 21… The manna emphasizes His incarnation, the serpent His crucifixion, and the water His ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit.”

21. Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22. “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or vineyards; we will not drink water from wells; but we will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” 23. But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24. Then Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the people of Ammon; for the border of the people of Ammon was fortified. 25. So Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its villages.

A. Similar request to what they gave Edom… Sihon went a step further than Edom & actually went to war against Israel…

B. What was the difference between the Amorites & the Edomites? Only the mercy of God. God had declared that the Edomites not be destroyed (), whereas the Amorites had been judged since the time of Abraham (Gen 15:16).

26. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon. 27. Therefore those who speak in proverbs say: “Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be repaired. 28. “For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon. 29. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. 30. “But we have shot at them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. Then we laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”

A. Loosely paraphrased: “Nyah nyah” J In the Amorite’s view, their god(s) helped them defeat their enemies – yet the True God proved Himself mightier than the best the Amorites could throw at Him.

31. Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32. Then Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there. 33. And they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. So Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 34. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, with all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.” 35. So they defeated him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left him; and they took possession of his land.

A. Same thing happened with Og of Bashan. Only instead of asking permission to travel through the land, they bypassed the pleasantries & simply went to war. Israel beat them so soundly that the news of these battles went all the way to Jericho, where they were basically trembling with fear once Israel was ready to possess the city. (Joshua 2:10)

B. Question: War is always a dreadful thing & something that people are legitimately afraid of. Why is it then that God tells Moses not to fear? Because God was the One fighting the battle! [] If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)

Numbers 22

1. Then the children of Israel moved, and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho. 2. Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3. And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel. 4. So Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this company will lick up all that is around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.

A. News about Israel had spread… Like the king of Arad, Balak of Moab went looking for trouble without any cause & found himself on the wrong side of the Lord & His people.

B. Moab actually didn’t have a reason to fear…like Edom, they were family to the Israelites & God had granted them protection & had given their land to Lot. (Deut 2:9).

a. Isn’t that how we are so many times? We look at circumstances we don’t really understand, start to panic & make poor decisions as a result… Fortunately, we don’t have to be like Moab. J We may walk through fearful circumstances, but fear is never from the Lord as a Christian (2 Tim 1:7)…we can rest in Christ as we follow Him!

5. Then he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying: “Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me! 6. “Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

A. Who’s Balaam? Prophet of God or pagan? When considering this, there a few things we need to keep in mind.

a. Balaam was not part of the nation of promise. Pethor was a city up by the Euphrates River. Apparently Balaam had quite the reputation as a diviner/soothsayer, and these chapters are the only time we see him speaking for the Lord.

b. Apparently Balaam was still an enemy of Israel all the way through Joshua 13, when Israel killed him in battle. (Josh 13:22)

c. The NT repeatedly refers to Balaam as a sinner.

d. From this, we have to conclude that Balaam was a pagan. Begs the question: “Why on God’s green earth would He choose to use THIS guy to speak His word & some of the greatest truths about the character of God?” J Great question…let’s ask Jesus when we get to heaven. J We DO know that God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isa 55:9) & that He’s chosen to use the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (1 Cor 1:27)…perhaps God was simply using another donkey to accomplish His will. J

i. The lesson? God can use all sorts of people to do His will. He used pagan kings to both discipline & restore His people – and He can use those people we think are completely unreachable to proclaim His gospel if He so chooses.

ii. ‘So how do we know if it’s really of God?’ Be a Berean. If someone claims to speak the ‘Word of the Lord’, then it WILL reflect Scripture. Claims of “holy hand grenades” or “angelic encounters” mean NOTHING without the weight of Scripture behind them.

B. Note how Balak got it backwards. He thought whoever BALAAM blessed was blessed; instead it’s whoever GOD blesses that will be blessed! That’s not simply a nice promise given to Abraham (Gen 12:3) – that’s a FACT. That God would proclaim blessing on someone means that that ARE blessed – because God is the one who did it…and we can’t get any higher than Him.

a. Christian, you have been blessed! Psalm 32:1-2 (1) Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. (2) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. [] Because of Jesus, you’ve been blessed!!

7. So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner’s fee in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak. 8. And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

A. Prophecy for hire…still see it today & I believe it’s still an abomination.

9. Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”

A. Question: Did God ask this because He didn’t know? J Of course not! God asks questions to for US to learn something; not for Him…

10. And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, 11. `Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out.’ ” 12. And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

A. Interesting that Balaam is actually conversing with God on this. Instead of simply humbling himself to the response of Almighty God, it seems Balaam is trying to talk God into doing this for Balak. [Sheer arrogance!]

B. God’s response? DON’T go. They are already blessed.

13. So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you.” 14. And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” 15. Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable than they. 16. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: `Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; 17. `for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’ ” 18. Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. 19. “Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.”

A. At 1^st glance it looks like Balaam’s doing the right thing. However, at a closer look, he’s actually just engaging in the haggling process…

B. The word of God cannot be sold! Without intending to do so, Balaam got this part right. Simon Magus learned the same thing regarding the Holy Spirit… (Acts 8:20)

20. And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you that you shall do.” 21. So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. 22. Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

A. Why is God upset? “because he went” – Some commentators have an issue with this because they say in vs. 20 God told Balaam to go. They propose that God was merely testing the prophet. I suggest to you the text says otherwise. God had told Balaam to go only “IF the men come to call you” – yet Balaam got up the next morning & went out to meet them…

B. Who’s the “Angel of the Lord”? Probably a Christophany!

23. Now the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. 24. Then the Angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. 25. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again. 26. Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 27. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

A. Ever been ‘pushed against the wall’ & hurt only to find out that hurt saved your life? Balaam had no idea what was going on, yet God in His provident mercy was allowing the donkey to steer him away from utter destruction…

B. Quite a bit of irony here. It’s thought that one of the ways Balaam performed divination was through sacrificing animals & using their livers & other organs to “see” the future. Here, the donkey has more spiritual sense than the oh-so-famous Balaam. J

28. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29. And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!” 30. So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?” And he said, “No.”

A. The donkey talks… The punchlines write themselves after this incident. Personally, I’m not sure what’s the most astounding thing: God giving speech to a donkey – or Balaam not even noticing the miracle!? J

B. What the donkey says (or doesn’t say) is interesting. One would think that this sort of miracle would have the donkey utter an oracle of God or some other prophecy…instead, the donkey says something surprisingly normal (under the circumstances)…

a. Why? I suggest that although God wanted to get Balaam’s attention through the donkey, He didn’t want Balaam looking to the donkey for answers. God’s word only comes from God Himself!

31. Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. 32. And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. 33. “The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.”

A. Opening Balaam’s eyes… [spiritual reality]

B. If there’s one place we don’t want to be, it’s when God is standing against us… [] Why was God standing against Balaam? His way was “perverse”…lit “headlong”. Balaam was doing what God had NOT commanded him to do; the opposite of a prophet. (Rushing headlong into covetousness…)

C. Note that the Angel of the Lord was prepared to kill Balaam with the sword…this is JESUS we’re talking about! Many people try to draw a distinction between the “OT God” & the “NT Jesus”…but they’re the same Triune God. God the Son is JUST as capable of pouring out judgment as God the Father is. And in fact, God the Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22) – implying that although Jesus did not condemn on earth (John 3:17), He will condemn at the Great White Throne.

34. And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.” 35. Then the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

A. Balaam’s been humbled…does he stay that way? No. It’s one thing to admit sin; it’s another to be so grieved by it that we repent from it. Godly sorrow leads to repentance (2 Cor 7:10); Balaam seems to have just been sorry that he was almost killed with no understanding of Who he was dealing with.

B. Only speak the word God says…still applicable to teachers of the Word today!

36. Now when Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the border at the Arnon, the boundary of the territory. 37. Then Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send to you, calling for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” 38. And Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you! Now, have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak.”

A. Balaam is actually going to stay true to this promise…to the point where Balak’s going to basically offer to pay Balaam to be quiet!

39. So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kirjath Huzoth. 40. Then Balak offered oxen and sheep, and he sent some to Balaam and to the princes who were with him. 41. So it was the next day, that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal, that from there he might observe the extent of the people.

A. Balaam got paid & got ready to prophesy. Stay tuned for what happens next…

Conclusion:

Arad, Sihon, Og, Balak, Balaam, and even Israel found themselves on the wrong side of the Lord through presumption and pride. Yet all but Israel continued to sin against the Lord – only Israel truly repented and confessed their sin to God. The result? God took them to the Cross of Christ & those who had faith in God looked up & were saved!

THAT is God’s plan for our life. He desires for us to lay our lives down & follow Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in the NEW life He gives. Yet so many times we struggle against Him – we presume against Him – perhaps we even lose all fear and perspective of it is Who we’re supposed to be serving. And then somehow we’re confused when God disciplines us out of His love.

If God’s convicted you of something to repent of – don’t put it off! Don’t grow cold to His call.

Moses Messes Up

Since Ch 12, the Israelites had been rebelling. 1^st Aaron & Miriam came against Moses – then the nation refused to enter the Promised Land – God reminded them of His promise, but no sooner than He did, Korah led a rebellion against Moses & Aaron – finally God made a very public proclamation of Aaron as His choice for priest & what the nation’s responsibilities were Aaron & Aaron’s responsibility back to God.

Tonight’s chapters likely span a huge timeframe – bringing us to the end of the 40 year wandering. We don’t know when Ch 19 was written…may have been written right after the budding of Aaron’s rod or it could have been sometime throughout the wandering dealing with a specific situation when the nation needed to be purified from some uncleanness. Ch 20 is far more famous as it shows the incident where Moses loses his cool & then loses his opportunity to enter the Promised Land. BOTH serve as a reminder to us that God is HOLY & calls His people to be holy as a result!

Numbers 19

1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2. “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: `Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.

A. The red heifer…what’s a heifer? (For non-cattle folks J) Young cow that’s never borne offspring. (Veal!) Pretty unusual…

a. Female rather than male. The exact reason? We don’t know – but it definitely shows that God identifies with women just as well as He does with men. There is no male or female in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28).

b. God specified the color – red would have been fairly rare. Obvious tie to blood/sacrifice…

c. This needs to be unusual b/c God’s giving them an object lesson in purity; the solution is rare b/c it has to be given to them by God. (Typifies the rarity of purity outside of Christ)

B. Why now? Don’t know exactly. All the sacrifices pointed to Jesus in some way – but the red heifer especially does. By giving the instruction here & instead alongside the other sacrifices in the Book of Leviticus, God ensured that this one stands apart in what it symbolizes & teaches.

3. `You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; 4. `and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. 5. `Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.

A. Priest didn’t kill it; someone else did. (Courson) “Why? Because although Caiaphas, the high priest, ordered that Jesus be put to death, it was actually the Romans who carried out the sentence.”

B. Not sacrificed on the altar; burned outside the camp…

a. Possibly pointing towards the day when Jesus would be taken outside the city to be crucified.

C. Not sprinkled on the Ark of the Testimony; sprinkled in front of the Tabernacle…emphasizing the fact this was done outside the camp.

a. Calls to mind Jesus crying out from the Cross, “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?” Because God made Him sin who knew no sin, Jesus had to completely bear the wrath and judgment of God upon Himself & God had to turn His face away in the midst of it.

D. Completely burned – even the blood! Every bit of it, except what was sprinkled was consumed unto God.

6. `And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer.

A. Along with the burning of the whole animal, symbolic items thrown in. All 3 referenced in Lev 14:4-6 regarding lepers. (Impurity is impurity, no matter how it came about. Likewise with sin…sin is sin.)

a. Cedar wood: Possibly symbolic of the Cross itself.

b. Hyssop: Used with the 1^st Passover & to give Jesus drink on the Cross.

c. Scarlet: Another obvious reference to sacrifice…

d. Question: With these materials in mind, what makes the ashes able to purify? The Cross!

i. Jesus could have walked among us & taught us with little to no effect regarding our sin. In order for us to be forgiven/made pure, He HAD to go to the Cross!

7. `Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8. `And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. 9. `Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin. 10. `And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who sojourns among them.

A. Anyone who touches needs to wash with water mixed with the ashes for purity/cleanliness… Typology is profound here: Heifer = Christ; Water = Spirit (John 7) & the Word (Eph 5) … the combination of all of it is what continually purifies the believer from the ongoing effects of sin in the world. We’re transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom 12) – a work performed by the Spirit on the foundation of Christ through the Word of God…

11. `He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. 12. `He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. 13. `Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.

A. Touching dead bodies leave people unclean… [] Sin is contagious! (A little leaven leavens the whole lump – 1 Cor 5:6)

B. Purified on the 3^rd day…again on the 7^th day…possible references to the Resurrection & Rest in the Sabbath of Christ? At the most basic level, this is how God determined it was to be done & we do things on His terms.

C. Refusal to be purified “defiles the tabernacle of the Lord”. IOW, it’s not just harmful to you; it’s an affront against a Holy God.

i. People wonder why God cares about their sin… It’s because God is HOLY! If He cannot allow sin to even enter His presence (Isa 6) – it defiles everything. Thus God MUST deal with sin either through the Cross or Judgment.

14. `This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; 15. `and every open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. 16. `Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

A. Sanitary protection in addition to symbolism. As we saw in Leviticus, even it the people didn’t know about microbiology, God did. Declaring these items unclean helped stop disease from spreading.

17. `And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel. 18. `A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. 19. `The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.

A. How to be purified – the red heifer ashes mixed with running (living) water…

B. Are the ashes what actually purify the person? No! Jesus is… Hebrews 9:13-14 (13) For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, (14) how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? [] The heifer typified physically that which was to come: Christ Jesus! …

20. `But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

A. Time does not erase impurity. Without the purification, the person is FOREVER unclean…

21. `It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. 22. `Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”

A. Summary of regulation…

Numbers 20

1. Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there.

A. 1^st month of what? A new year…after years of wandering. The 38^th year of wandering/40^th year since leaving Egypt. Back in Kadesh [MAP]

a. We get almost no info about the 38 years, but whole books of the Bible dedicated to the 1^st 2…why? Underscores the notion that the wandering was a waste of time for everyone. When we disobey the Lord, we waste vast portions of our lives away…

B. Death of Miriam: momentous event in the life of Israel. Not only was she a great prophetess & servant of the Lord (we only know of one recorded fall in her whole life of protecting Moses), this was also one more reminder that the whole nation shared in the sin of rebellion. Even Moses’ family was dying off in the wilderness.

a. Reminds us somewhat of original sin. We tend to think of sin as things we individually do (and it is, in part), but it’s also part of who we are as humans. Adam fell & all of humanity fell with him. Even if you could claim to have lived a perfect life (in which case we’d be lying and/or guilty of pride), we STILL would need a Savior because our very nature is sinful! ALL of us – no matter what we’ve done – need salvation through Christ…

2. Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3. And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4. “Why have you brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5. “And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.”

A. Sound familiar? Children have the same lack of faith as their parents – Exodus 17:3 (3) And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” []

B. How bad is our self-despair when we prefer death to the provision of God?

C. Note that they attributed evil motives to Moses & Aaron. It wasn’t merely that they were upset about the lack of water; they accused Moses of bringing them to this point specifically to kill them…

6. So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

A. Sought God in prayer…

7. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8. “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.”

A. Take the rod, but don’t use it. Keep this in mind for later!

B. Interesting that God doesn’t seem mad with the people. They’ve rebelled against Him before & He’s responded in righteous anger. Why not now? Speculation – but God is omniscient…He knows exactly what Moses is about to do.

9. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him. 10. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11. Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. 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 congregation into the land which I have given them.”

A. D’oh! Moses messed up big time…

a. Demonstrated anger when God wasn’t angry. Moses represented God to the people, so this was a flat out misrepresentation.

b. Struck; didn’t speak…disobeying God’s direct command. Went so far as to strike it twice! (If ANYONE knew the importance of doing God’s work God’s way, it was Moses! He saw what happened to Nadab, Abihu, Korah, & more.)

c. Assumed power came from him; not God. “Must WE” – God’s glory ALWAYS belongs to God.

i. (Be wary of those who try to share the spotlight with God!)

B. God’s response to Moses? Neither Moses or Aaron could bring Israel into the promised land – they die in the wilderness with the rest of the previous generation. … Too harsh? No.

a. God showed mercy in that He didn’t strike Moses dead on the spot!

b. Moses had destroyed the picture God was painting of Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (1) Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, (2) all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, (3) all ate the same spiritual food, (4) and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. [] Remember that at this point, the rod (most likely Aaron’s rod in the ark) had budded…symbolizing the Resurrection. After Jesus had been stricken on the Cross & Resurrected from the grave, He never needed to be struck again!

c. Could God still use this? Yes! This became the opportunity to demonstrate that the law doesn’t save. (Moses = law; Promised Land = salvation; Joshua = Jesus)

d. BTW – Did Moses ever enter the Promised Land? Not in the OT…but he was there at Jesus’ Transfiguration! J God is gracious & merciful!

C. God’s response to the people? They still drank water abundantly. (Think of 2M+ people + livestock drinking…that’s a LOT of water!) The Hebrews’ leader may have been flawed, but God still blessed the people.

a. It never fails to amaze me how heretical and egotistical some preachers are on TV, but yet some people still get saved. … I guarantee it had nothing to do with the preacher & everything to do with the mercy of God!

13. This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

A. Meribah = “Contention” Same name given to this place as in Ex 17.

14. Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. “Thus says your brother Israel: `You know all the hardship that has befallen us, 15. `how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers. 16. `When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. 17. `Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

A. Trying diplomacy to navigate through the land. Going through Edom would save a LOT of time. [MAP] Calling upon their family history…

B. The problem? Taking 2M+ people through Edom isn’t exactly a quiet affair…

18. Then Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.” 19. So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” 20. Then he said, “You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. 21. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.

A. Edom didn’t let them do it. Some think they were holding a grudge from Esau – perhaps simply being stubborn.

B. God’s response? Nothing…for the moment. God commands Israel to keep treating Edom as a brother (), but in His mercy allows Edom to continue. Eventually, they force God to act & He answers them in Obadiah.

a. What’s our response to people who would do us wrong? Contention & lawsuits…or prayer? Jesus specifically told us to pray for those who persecute us – we place ourselves in God’s hands & leave vengeance to Him.

C. Note that Moses was willing to pay. No matter what the world does around us, we always want to do what is right & take responsibility for ourselves. Ultimately we represent the King of Kings & we want to represent Him correctly…

22. Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. 23. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: 24. “Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah.

A. Aaron was punished 1^st for the incident with the Rock…

B. Why is Aaron punished? Didn’t Moses do all the bad stuff? Yes, but Aaron apparently stood by & did nothing. He heard the Lord’s instruction to Moses & had a responsibility as the high priest to say something…

25. “Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; 26. “and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.”

A. Why stripped of his garments? Because the priesthood needed to go on…

27. So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28. Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29. Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.

A. Death of Aaron…30 days of mourning!

B. Transfer of priesthood… Today, our High Priest never changes! Hebrews 7:23-25 (23) Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. (24) But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. (25) Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. []

Conclusion:

So we end off with Moses messing up big time & Aaron dying on Mt. Hor. Are things hopeless? No…look back to Ch 19 with the Red Heifer! We WILL screw up from time to time…we’ll defile ourselves with the things of the world & acting out in our flesh. But God has already provided the sacrifice for us! Forgiveness is already available through Christ.