Numbers Chapters 31-33

31:8 - Yes, that Balaam! He is back after six chapters and we see a pretty anticlimactic ending to his life. He has every opportunity to live for God. God spoke to him...God made a donkey speak truth to him...God used Balaam to prophesy blessing over the people of Israel. But after all of that, Balaam returned to his sinful ways. He returned to the Midianites and help lead the Israelites astray in the worshipping of Baal. He chose to reject God and paid for it with his life. I hope that when you and I see God at work in our lives, we allow that to draw us closer to Him instead of running back to things that only bring destruction in our lives.

31:15-17 - Here we are...the ultimate question that comes from reading through Old Testament accounts of God and His people, "How can a God of love order the execution of women and children?" Isn't this genocide that God is ordering? How is this the same God of love and mercy we are introduced to by Jesus Christ and the New Testament? How do we deal with this as Christians? Well, the first thing you have to have is faith. If you believe that God is just and righteous...then you can understand that God is using the Israelites as an instrument of His judgement. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness (And there were women and children in those towns) using fire...in this passage He uses the Israelites as His instrument of judgement. To accept this, you have to believe that God is just...in chapter 25 God promises that the Midianites will pay for leading the Israelites astray and in chapter 31 they do. You have to understand that the women of Midian were the main cause of what happened at Peor. They were like Trojan horses...they were sent in as beautiful women who tempted the Isrealites and led them into Baal worship. They could not be allowed to remain within the people of Israel. If the fighting men were left alive, they would remain a thorn in the side of Israel forever, jeopardizing God's plan to bring salvation to the whole world through Israel. This judgement is not about ethnic genocide, it is about the judgement of wickedness. When the Israelites stray from God and turn to wickedness...they are judged throughout the OT. God saw that the people of Midian were wicked beyond redemption and He judged them. He is just and His justice must be met out.

32:6ff - One of the pitfalls of leadership is people getting what they wanted before the job is finished. I don't give my kids a chance to play Wii before they have cleaned up their game room, because if I did, the room would never get cleaned. Moses knows that if the Reubenites and Gadites settle before they get to the Promised Land, that they won't fight with the rest of the army. And when they drop out, the other Israelites will be disheartened. So Moses does what a good leader has to do and calls them on it.

32:16-17 - Because Moses has the guts to bring up a tough subject and confront the tribes of Reuben and Gad, they are able to find a sensible compromise. This just goes to show you how important it is to speak up when things are not right. Moses confronted them early and they found a solution...if he had let it go and tried to talk them into fighting later, they probably would have never come.

Here is a map of the journey of the Israelites after leaving Egypt...

33:52 - When i comes to the inhabitants of the Promised Land, the Israelites have to utterly clean house. They have to drive the people out...they have to destroy every idol and every image that could lead the people away from God. For us, the "Promised Land" is more like a promised life. God promises us a life connected to Him...a life that offers joy and peace and purpose and fulfillment. If we want to grab hold of this life we also have to clean house. If we believe in Jesus and the promises of God, then we are going to go into our lives and clean out any of the things that have drawn us away from God in the past.