SRC: The Pentateuch – Day 28

This chapter bring the story of Balaam to a conclusion.  Balak is upset that Balaam will not curse Israel but instead continues to bless them.  I love how Balaam reminds Balak that the gift he has is from God and he cannot go against what the Lord says.  Instead he tells Balak what will happen to his people in the future.  It’s kind of like being really hungry and ordering a pizza but what you get instead is a stinking, rotting, old fish to chew on.  It was in no way what he expected to hear from Balaam and there was nothing he could do about it.

It is amazing to view the history of Israel from an outsiders perspctive through the lens of history.  It seems like they were so short-sighted in their view of God and life that they could not even follow God for a few days.  It is easy to look down on them as group of idiots who cannot do anything right.  But then I am reminded of my own self.  How I am so much like these Israelites.  Time and time again, I fall into sin and forget the mercies of God.  In fact, when faced with my true self, I realize that I am even worse than the Israelites – I can’t even follow God faithfully for one day without falling on my face, let alone a journey through the wilderness.  We see in this passage the children of Israel forgetting God and sacrificing to the gods of the Midianites.  Yet in this chapter we see Phinehas stepping up and defending the honor of God by taking bold steps to end the idolatry.  Because of his actions, his family received a specific blessing from God.

Here the people are counted again.  This was an important counting for two reasons: 1. Everyone would receive their inheritance in the Promised Land based upon the number of people in each tribe – those with larger tribes would receive more land to be broken up amoungst them, those with smaller numbers would need less. 2. This counting showed, as verse 65 tells us, that everyone who was counted in this census was not counted in the first census – everyone from the previous generation was dead, except for three men (Moses, Caleb, and Joshua).  God was true to His word, as always.  When He declared that everyone would die in the wilderness except for Joshua and Caleb (Moses will die before then enter the Promised Land), He meant it.  The people could take Him at His word just as we can still take Him at His word today.

This chapter covers two important sections:

1. How inheritance is passed through the family.  The issue came up from a group of women who’s father died and he had no sons.  Since the census in the previous chapter alotted land to the sons, these women were left out.  When the went to Moses about this, he inquired of the Lord and was told the proper way for inheritance to be passed.  If there was no son, it would go next to the daughter.  Many people think that the Bible puts women down and does not allow them to be equals with men.  This section disproves that idea.  If the Bible taught that women were second class citizens, the inheritance would never be allowed to pass to them instead it would be passed to the next male relative.  God created men and women to be equals, though sharing different strengths and weaknesses.  Together they become stronger than the sum of their parts.

2. God told Moses that he was about to die.  When Moses hears this, his concern is for his people.  He doesn’t want them to wander through the land without a leader.  God tells him to choose Joshua to lead the people and to pass his authority to him.  He does this before Eleazar the priest to ensure that everyone knew what was taking place as well as to show that God was involved in this decision making of the next leader.

This chapter covers the offerings that the people of Israel we to give.  Look at the progression – daily offerings, weekly (Sabbath) offerings, monthly offerings, yearly (Passover and the Feast of Weeks) offerings.  These were to remind the children of Israel of all God had done for them and to help them be grateful and worship the Lord.