Yesterday we read about the attempt by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel. He recruited the prophet Balaam and offered to pay him well, but Balaam was directed by God to bless Israel instead. In the end, both Balaam and Balak gave up and went their own ways.

Or did they?

Moab Seduces Israel

Israel was still camping on the plain in Moab when sin broke into the community. Israelite men indulged in sexual immorality with Moabite women who invited them to pagan festivals where they feasted on sacrifices offered to foreign gods. Soon they were bowing down to the god Baal of Peor and God’s anger burned against them. Israel had yoked themselves to a false god and broken the first of the Ten Commandments.

God’s judgment was swift. He ordered Moses to find, put to death and put on display the bodies of the people who led this betrayal. Moses deployed Israel’s judges to carry out God’s command.

Those who were appalled at Israel’s sins gathered at the Tent of Meeting and wept before God. Then, right in front of them, an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman to his tent to commit the very sin they were asking God to forgive. Phineas, Aaron’s grandson, took a spear in his hand, went into the tent and drove it through the body of the Israelite man and into the woman. Phineas’s righteous act stopped the plague God had sent as punishment, but 24,000 people died.

God rewarded Phineas for his defense of God’s honor and the atonement he made for Israel. He gave Phineas a covenant of peace and lasting priesthood for him and his descendants.

The Moabites and Midianites

The Moabite and Midianite people were distant cousins of Israel.

The Moabites (and the Ammonites who occupied the territory adjacent to Moab) were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot. In Genesis 19:30-38 we read about Lot’s daughters who seduced him and had children by him after they fled from Sodom.

The daughters named their sons Moab and Ammon and they became the founders of the Moabites and Ammonites. They worshiped Baal, the pagan god of fertility and rain.

After Sarah died, Abraham married again and had six sons by his wife Keturah (Genesis 25:1-4). One of them was Midian and he founded the Midianite tribe. The Bible doesn’t say which gods they worshiped, but in Numbers 25:6-17 they joined the Moabites in seducing Israel so they worshiped Baal at that time. God told Israel to treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them because they had treated Israel as enemies when they deceived them in this incident in Moab.

The Way of Balaam

Balaam disappeared from our view yesterday after he failed in his attempt to curse Israel, but he shows up again in the New Testament. He’s cited as an example of wickedness in three passages.

In 2 Peter 2:15-16 the Apostle Peter compares greedy, self-serving people in the church to the way of Balaam.

^“They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.”

In Jude 1:11, the early Christian writer Jude mentions the error of Balaam.

“Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.”

Balaam’s error was trying to curse the people God had protected with blessing. He was willing to be paid to do it, but he was in error because it wasn’t God’s will.

In Revelation 2:14 the Apostle John quoted Jesus in a letter to the church at Pergamum, and in this passage Jesus said that Balaam gave Balak a plan to undermine Israel.

“Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.” 

When Balaam was unable  to attack Israel from the outside with curses, he taught Balak and the Moabites to attack Israel from inside by seducing men in the camp with sexual sin and idol worship.

A Second Census of Israel

God  asked Moses and Eleazar to take a new census of the men over twenty years of age. God didn’t need to know the number; he knew everyone in Israel by name. But taking a census helped Israel know how many men were qualified to serve in the army.

It was a sobering exercise because forty-two years after they left Egypt there were actually 1,820 fewer men in Israel than when they began their journey. Israel had grown exponentially while they were slaves for four hundred years in Egypt, but population growth had slowed and declined in the wilderness. They still had 601,730 men, however, and that was more than enough to take Canaan when the time came.

Another reason for the census was that each tribe was going to be allotted land in Canaan according to their numbers. God wanted to make sure they had enough room for each tribe to thrive. The tribes that were similar in size would receive their inheritance by the casting of lots.

The tribe of Levi was counted separately from the other twelve tribes because they were not going to inherit land in Canaan. Their members would be distributed among the cities throughout the nation.

When the census was over, apart from Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, there was not a single person left who had been counted in the first census forty years earlier. All of the older people had died and been buried in the wilderness just as God had predicted.

Lessons From Today’s Reading  

Israel had lots of enemies as they moved toward Canaan, but God was able to defend his people against them. He gave them victories in battles and he even defended them against unseen enemies like Balaam and Balak who stood on faraway cliffs and tried to curse them. God defended Israel day and night.

Whenever Israel was defeated it was because their hearts turned away from God. They entertained temptation and succumbed to sin and God himself became their enemy. He killed thousands of sinners in the camp and terrified those he spared. He taught them the fear of the Lord.

Most people hate to see the wrathful side of God and that’s why many avoid reading the Old Testament. The numbers of people who lose their lives troubles us; it seems unreasonable to wipe out so many at once.

On the other hand, people often criticize God for letting sinners get away with too much. When we hear of someone who molests a child or kills an innocent person, the first question is why didn’t God stop him?

While we can’t always understand God’s actions, we can remember that he is perfectly just, right and good in all he does. When 24,000 people died of the plague after Israel’s sin of idolatry in Moab, God knew all of their names. He knew all of their histories and he knew their eternal destinies. He knew what he was doing.

When God didn’t punish the Moabites for seducing the Israelites and tempting them into idolatry, he acted according to his perfect plan. When he told Israel to regard the Midianites as their enemies and kill them, he expressed his holy righteousness.

This probably won’t be the last time we’re disturbed by God’s commands to Israel. There are many battles and many deaths still ahead in our reading, but we must keep in mind that God never sins. He always knows what he is doing and he is perfectly just in all he does. God is holy and his ways are so far above ours that we can only watch in humility and wonder and praise him for his righteousness.