Posted on

This chilling command (Numbers 31)

“So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man.”

This was the Lord’s command given through Moses to the army of Israel who returned from the slaughter of the Midianites. They had killed all the men in battle, but had taken the women and children as plunder. The Lord was not pleased that they had spared the lives of the very women who had earlier seduced the men of Israel; thus this chilling command was given.

It is so difficult to get one’s mind around this. A different time, a different culture, extreme circumstances, yet the same God.

Posted on

So many sacrifices (Numbers 29)

The Israelites were commanded by the Lord to sacrifice many, many animals as part of their annual festivals. This was in addition to the regular, daily sacrifices which were also commanded by the Lord.

It is indeed difficult to grasp the necessity of so many sacrifices.

Posted on

Passed to Joshua (Numbers 27)

“Moses laid his hands on him and commissioned him to lead the people, just as the Lord had commanded.”

Now the torch was being passed to Joshua, not because he was a brilliant military leader, but because he had been a faithful servant to the Lord and to Moses.

Our only ability in spiritual matters is avail-ability.

Posted on

Each one of them (Numbers 26)

“Not one of them survived except Caleb… and Joshua.”

A new generation now camped across the Jordan river opposite Jericho. The Lord commanded that a new census be taken of the men in each tribe who were at least twenty years old.

The census totaled into the hundreds of thousands; the Lord knew the names and intimate details of each one of them.

He especially knew Caleb and Joshua, who alone had been faithful out of a whole generation.

Posted on

In broad daylight (Numbers 25)

“Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach.”

Zimri, a leader from the tribe of Simeon, took Cozbi, a Midianite woman, into his tent to have sex with her. He did this in broad daylight, even as a large crowd gathered in front of the tabernacle stood weeping upon hearing the Lord’s judgment pronounced against them for their participation in a pagan orgy at the altar of Baal only a few nights before.

The Lord’s righteous anger blazed against His people, and 24,000 of them were killed that day.

Phinehas the priest thrust a spear through Zimri and Cozbi, killing them both, even as they were in the very act of sexual intercourse.

Posted on

He fulfilled his role (Numbers 24)

“…who bows down with eyes wide open.”

Baalam delivered the Lord’s message, not the message King Balak wanted to hear.

Baalam, as God’s servant, was only a mouthpiece. Yet he fulfilled his role as a prophet of God before a wicked enemy.