Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“The Lord said to Moses, "Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people." So Moses said to the people, "Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the Lord's vengeance on them. Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel." So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling. They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
"Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
"All of you who have killed anyone or touched anyone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives. Purify every garment as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood."
Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, "This is the requirement of the law that the Lord gave Moses: Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water. On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp." Numbers 31:1-24
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Just as God had commanded, Moses, as his brother Aaron had prior, was about to die before Israel entered the Promised Land. In Chapter 31, the Lord has Moses oversee one more important act before he is “gathered to (his) people”.
This act involved vengeance upon the Midianites who had corrupted the Israelites into sexual immorality and idol worshipping through their women. You’ll recall that Israel’s failing in this resulted in God’s judgment as He sent a plague which killed 24,000 (Numbers 25:9) before Phinehas, Eleazar’s son, took action and killed an Israelite man and Midianite woman who had brought their illicit relationship into the “entrance to the Tent of Meeting” (Numbers 25:6). Israel had paid a steep price. Now it was Midian’s turn which would fulfill God’s command to Moses at the end of Chapter 25 to “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them”.
Of interest is Phinehas being given a position of holy responsibility in the Lord’s vengeance of Midian…a reward for his prior faithful acts. God indeed rewards those who are faithful to Him.
So Moses formed an army which consisted of a “thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel” to “go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the Lord's vengeance on them”. And the army went into battle and “fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses”, killing every man. Scriptures tells of several men who are killed (the five kings of Midian), none better known than Balaam, the diviner who Balak tried to use against Israel to no avail as Balaam would always end up blessing Israel when he went before God for guidance. It’s obvious that Balaam did not stay loyal to the Lord as he was in company with Midian and was most probably with their army to try and supernaturally aid the Midianites in victory over Israel. His affiliation with Midian cost him his life.
Israel also “captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder”. They “burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps” and “took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho”. At face value, the army had been successful and victorious. But there was a problem in the midst of their conquest for they had not fully carried out God’s command and this mistake would cost them later on.
For scripture tells us that “Moses was angry with the officers of the army” and asked them, "Have you allowed all the women to live?" He reminds the officers that the women “were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord's people”. Moses had commanded that the Lord’s vengeance be carried out on the Midianites…all the Midianites, not just the men. So now the rest of the Lord’s will would be done as Moses orders the officers to “kill all the boys” and “every woman who has slept with a man”…in other words, all who had corrupted Israel. Those who had “never slept with a man” were spared. So the orders of Moses were carried out and the spoils of battle that remained, whether people or material items were purified before becoming the property of Israel, the sinfulness of Midian wiped clean so not to infect Israel again.
From this first part of Chapter 31, we can glean away some important principles for living the righteous and holy life that God desires.
First, God can and will bring judgment on anyone who decides to willingly disobey Him or deliberately corrupt His people in any way. Midian integrated with Israel with the purpose of turning them from God’s ways to their own sinfulness. The Israelites became willing partners, committing sexual immorality and worshipping false gods with the Midianites. Both, in turn, were punished by the Lord…Israel by plague…Midian in war.
Today, many believers willingly choose to disobey the Lord’s word and will for their lives. Many non-believers also pro-actively attack the church or believers, attempting to corrupt them…often successfully. Both should take note of what transpired in Numbers because God can and will act again in judgment.
Secondly, we should be very careful with who we decide to associate ourselves with. In the case of Balaam, he had associated himself with spiritual mysticism and divinery before he encountered the one and only true God…a God who changed him and his outlook on life, at least in the short term. Balaam could have decided at that point to never associate with anyone else but Israel and their God…exchanging false worship practices for divine, righteous ones. But Balaam chose to associate with the sinful Midianites and that decision led to his demise.
Today, many people have the same decision to make…to partner with God and those faithful and obedient to Him or partner with those who choose to willingly disobey Him and sin freely with no concern for consequence. And many, like Balaam, are meeting they demise as an expense for their poor choices. The message from God rings loud and clear: Partner with anyone outside of me and stand by for my judgment.
Finally, we see that there is danger in not carrying out the Lord’s commands properly. The Israelite army was expected to wipe out Midian so they would never rival Israel again. Unfortunately, this expectation wasn’t met and Midian would return to challenge Israel (Note: We’ll see this as we get to the account of Gideon in Judges 6).
Today, when we don’t fully carry out God’s command then we pay the price…just as Israel did with Midian. Take sinful behavior for example. We read the scriptures, pray over our lives and receive guidance from the Lord as to what He expects. He convicts us through the Holy Spirit on anything within us that needs corrected and then expects us to take action to correct them. Often times, our actions aren’t really sincere when it comes to fixing our shortcomings. For often these involve our sinful desires and we just are unwilling to fully separate from them. So we decide to just address a part of our errors and reserve a small part so we can continue to satisfy ourselves. What we find is that when we don’t completely eradicate the sin that afflicts us, it comes back in full force to take us over again. A physical, bodily infection doesn’t get cured until the entire infection is gone. So too is it with sin. It’s all or nothing.
Questions:
Do you feel that you can go through your life living as you want to, opposing God with no fear of consequence? Our scripture today shows us this is a dangerous proposition.
Do you feel that you can partner with anyone you like, even when the people you are associating yourself with are engaging in obvious immorality and sinful behavior? And I’m not talking about partnering with the intent to minister. Jesus clearly interacted with the sinners because He came for the sick not the healthy. I’m talking about you hanging out with people who care nothing about being obedient to the Lord. Our scripture today shows us this is a dangerous proposition.
And do you carry out the Lord’s commands and expectations fully in your life? Or do you do just enough to try and make it appear like you’re onboard with the Lord when you really are not willing to give up sin that you delight in? Again, our scripture shows us this is a dangerous proposition.
Friends, God’s word is powerful and true, no matter where we study it and thus we should heed these messages He is sending us. It’s far easier and enjoyable to rejoice in the Lord’s favor than suffer in His judgment. One way or another, the choice is really ours.
In Christ,
Mark
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