Numbers 25-27

February 19

Numbers 25-27

In chapters 22-24 we saw how God protected Israel from the curses of Balak. In fact, Balaam blessed Israel each time Balak attempted to have him curse them. God protected Israel as they traveled through the desert, but He did not take away their free will. The Israelites,  though they were a people chosen by God, continued to stray from God.

Balaam may not have been able to curse the Israelites, but they cursed themselves. Actually Numbers 31:16 implies that though Balaam could not curse Israel, he gave the Moabites the strategy for bringing a curse upon themselves. The Israelite men began to have relations with Moabite women. They not only got involved with the women in relationships that were not pleasing to God, they began to attend the sacrifices to the gods of the Moabites. This angered God enough that he sent a plague that killed 24,000 until Phinehas, the priest, killed an Israelite who marched through the encampment with a Midianite woman and took her to his tent.

God is a God of grace as is revealed in chapter 24. God makes Balaam bless Israel in spite of Israel’s rebellion and sin. But God does not wink at sin. There are consequences for sin. Sin leads to death. Sin has a ripple effect and the consequences of sin effects others. The entire community was being affected by the sin of the men that were engaging in sexual relations with the Moabite and Midianite women. This sin led to their worship of the false gods of the Moabites as well.

Sin is a slippery slope. Sin always takes us farther than we want to go and cost more than we want to pay. I imagine the Israelite men began by talking to the ladies of Moab, but before they knew it they were getting pretty close to them. Then they got involved sexually, before they knew it they were going to the sacrifices. It always begins with a first step. We know what God wants, but we want something different. Instead of submitting to God, we do our own thing. We never imagine it will explode into full fledged sin.

God is a God of grace, but He is also a God of judgment. When we turn to God and seek forgiveness and walk in obedience to Him empowered by the Holy Spirit, God will protect us from our enemies. When we turn our backs on God and declare our independence from Him, we will face judgment. Sin leads to death, grace leads to eternal life.