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Numbers: Life as a Pilgrimage
Israel and Moab
Chapters 22 - 36
| BALAK AND BALAAM CHAPTERS 22-24 |
With Israel camped on his border, Balak, king of Moab, asked Balaam, prophet and diviner, for help. Balak wanted Balaam to come and curse Israel. At that time, it was a routine business arrangement for a king to hire a prophet to try to influence events by pronouncing blessings and curses.
Balaam responded to Balak’s offer of a reward. However, God turned the tables on Balak and used Balaam initially to bless Israel. Balaam was a mercenary prophet who exploited others. The Bible calls such unscrupulous greed "the way of Balaam" (2 Peter 2:15) and "Balaam’s error" (Jude 11).
| THE DOCTRINE OF
BALAAM CHAPTER 25 |
It was on Balaam’s advice that the Moabite women seduced the men of Israel at Peor. Balaam supposed that a righteous God would curse the people for sinning. Eventually, God took Balaam’s life for this sedition (verses 1-18; 31:8, 16; Joshua 13:22).
The local deity at Peor, "Baal" (meaning "master"), gradually became a proper name for the great fertility god of the Canaanites. The events described in this chapter illustrate the intoxicating, but ultimately deadly, blend of sexual and religious practices that characterized the Canaanite forms of worship. When the Israelites entered Canaan, they succumbed to these ungodly rituals and broke their covenant with God.
| THE SECOND CENSUS CHAPTER 26 |
As Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, God took another census. This new revision of the military lists provided figures for a more equitable division of the land by the drawing of lots.
| WOMEN'S INHERITANCE CHAPTER 27:1-11 |
In other ancient Near Eastern countries, women could not normally inherit property and land. But in Israel God permitted brotherless daughters to do so if they married within their own tribe (Numbers 36:8).
| JOSHUA ANOINTED CHAPTER 27:12-23 |
Moses showed humility and selflessness in thinking of the interests of God’s people (verses 15-17), even though details about his own death and the reason for it had been explained by God (verses 12-14).
God then invested authority in Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land (verses 18-20). Joshua had been Moses’ right-hand man for many years (Exodus 17:9; 24:13; 33:11; Numbers 11:28; 14:6-9). Moses transferred the mantle of leadership to his faithful attendant and friend (Deuteronomy 34:9).
 "The Lord said to
Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay
your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire
assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of your
authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him’ "
(Numbers 27:18-20). Click on image for larger view. |
| VOWS AND PUBLIC
WORSHIP CHAPTERS 28-30 |
Chapters 28 and 29 discuss how Israel was to worship God after they had entered the Promised Land. In chapter 29, prominence is given to the Feast of Tabernacles and its offerings. Compare the 23 verses here with the 11 verses devoted to this Feast in Leviticus 23:33-43.
Chapter 30 explains that men in Israel were bound by vows of any kind (verses 1-2). The terms under which vows made by women were binding are given in verses 3-15. [Compare this chapter with Leviticus 27.]
| VENGEANCE ON MIDIAN CHAPTER 31 |
The Midianites were responsible for enticing Israel into Baal worship (Numbers 25:1-3). God’s vengeance on Midian, "reiterates that it is important for God’s people to know how to deal with sin. The seducing Midianites...show sin’s vicious and virulent nature. God deals with sin ruthlessly and calls His people to deal with it similarly in their own personal lives" (The Spirit-Filled Life Bible, NKJV, p. 251).
| THE TRANSJORDAN
TRIBES CHAPTER 32 |
Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh requested that their inheritance be east of the Jordan River (verses 1-5), just outside the eastern boundary of Canaan (Numbers 34:12). It is possible that by asking for territory outside of Canaan, these tribes showed a lack of faith and a desire to avoid responsibility in the upcoming war effort.
Moses’ rebuke reminded the tribes of the terrible consequences of similar unbelief that had been shown at Kadesh, when the scouts were sent out. He eventually accepted their compromise: They would fight alongside their brothers in Canaan before settling down (Numbers 32:16-24).
| TRAVELOGUE OF
ISRAEL CHAPTER 33 |
This retrospective chapter summarizes Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan. God then gave directions to exterminate the Canaanites. Idolatry was to be rooted out. God warned, "If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides" (verse 55). As you can read in the books of Joshua and Judges, this is exactly what happened. The Israelites did not drive out the Canaanites, and soon they began to pick up their pagan religious beliefs and practices.
Israel’s failure has important implications for Christians today. "Just as the Israelites were hesitant to clear out all the wicked people, we are sometimes hesitant to clear out all the sin in our lives.... But Hebrews 12:1, 2 tells us to throw off ‘the sin that so easily entangles’ us. We all have ‘idols’ we don’t want to let go of (a bad habit, an unhealthy relationship, a certain life-style). If we allow these idols to dominate us, they will cause serious problems later" (Life Application Bible, NIV, commentary on Numbers 33:55).
| TRIBAL BOUNDARIES CHAPTER 34 |
The Kudurru Stone: Kudurru is an early Mesopotamian term that refers to an oval, or pillar-shaped, boundary marker, set up to show that certain property was a royal grant. Each stone was usually engraved with three items: the images of deities to protect the property, curses against those who would remove the stone and blessings on those who honored it. |
The tribal boundaries of the Promised Land were determined by sacred lot. No tribe had absolute claim to its own land. Every inheritance was a gift from God.
| LEVITICAL CITIES
AND CITIES OF REFUGE CHAPTER 35 |
Forty-eight Levitical cities are listed (verses 1-8). These were set apart because the Levites were not entitled to the usual tribal inheritance (Leviticus 25:32-34; Joshua 21; 1 Chronicles 6:54-81).
The six cities of refuge, or asylum, are also described (Numbers 35:6-34; Deuteronomy 4:41-43; 19:1-13). If a person was responsible for another’s death, a relative of the victim ("avenger of blood") could hunt down and execute the murderer ("the law of blood revenge"). (There was no police force.)
The cities of refuge put a control on this practice by protecting the alleged murderer from the avenger of blood. By creating these cities of refuge, God was making allowance for involuntary manslaughter (Numbers 35:22-28). The city assembly judged whether the killing was accidental (manslaughter) or intentional (murder).
| LAWS PROTECTING
FEMALE INHERITANCE CHAPTER 36 |
We return again to the question of inheritance. The tribe of Manasseh requested that a tribal inheritance, involving five women, be kept within their tribe. Moses approved this request.
Resolving the question of marred inheritance is a fitting way to end the book of Numbers. One generation of Israelites had indeed marred its inheritance. But God justified their children, even without their knowledge. He was determined to fulfill his plan by establishing the next generation of the children of Israel in the land he had promised their father Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21).
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