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Numbers Chapter 31

Numbers 31:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.
3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian.
4 Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.
5 So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.
7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.
8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.
10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.
11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.
12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.
13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.
14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.
15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

I realize that most of us that read these passages do not quite understand the severity of these judgments. Many of us who live in free civilized countries do not understand why God would order the children of Israel to kill even women and children.

First of all we must remember that these people were not the ones that were the part of Canaan that was to be destroyed. They were not the people targeted that had passed the point of no returned and sinned beyond hope or repentance. These were descendants of Lot and were to dwell along side of Israel in peace.

Their defeat here is because of Balak who desired to defeat Israel and hired Balaam to curse Israel so that Balak could defeat them. Balaam could not curse Israel so he thought of a plan and compelled the women of Moab to entice the men of Israel into fornication and then later into idolatry. It worked. The men of Israel fell hook, line and sinker in so-called love with the women of Moab even to the point of being willing to worship their idols in order to keep the women with them.

This was deliberately planned by Balaam, Balak and the willing people of Moab. They wanted God to turn His back on Israel so they could defeat them in battle. The men of Israel who sinned in this manner were severely judged by God and slain. Numbers 25 tells of this incident.

This is why judgment has come to them in this manner. They enticed Israel to sin and many of Israel died as a result. Vengeance is returned to them for this evil.

Whether we understand all that took place or not we must remember even today that God is full of mercy and has sent Jesus to save as many as will believe and receive Him. God though is still a God that judges sin. Jesus stands in the gap and will reconcile us back to God but if we refuse and choose rather to stay in our sins and keep rebelling against God, sooner or later the judgment has to come. The bible says, the soul that sins shall die in that sin. The soul is lost forever if it dies in the state of sin and does not receive Jesus Christ.

Jesus provided us with the only way to save our souls and have eternal life. He came to die or make the final sacrifice for sins. To trust in Him to take away our sins, cleanse us from sin and give us His Holy Spirit is to receive eternal life. To refuse this is to prefer to stay in our sins, and is to refuse eternal life. We can't have it both ways. Sooner or later judgment comes upon those who reject His Son, Jesus Christ. Unfortunately the choices we make will affect our children unless somehow they hear the gospel and receive God's perfect way to be saved.

Balak could have had a different reaction to Israel. Instead of fear he could have gotten to know the God of Israel and found salvation. Later I believe in the book of Joshua we will read about a harlot named Rahab who heard about the conquests of Israel and instead of fighting against Israel, she wanted to check into this thing. She chose to fear the Lord instead of fearing Israel and she was saved when Jericho was destroyed.

No nation that Israel destroyed had to end up that way. All they had to do was repent. That is all it takes to be saved even today. Repent and believe the gospel. They did not yet have the gospel preached to the Gentiles but they could have found God by looking to Israel to introduce the real God to them. They would have had to turn away from idols, repent of sin and abide by the law of God that Moses gave the people. We saw the heart of God in the book of Jonah. With the preaching of Jonah to the nation of Nineveh, they repented of their evil, showing us that God would rather save than destroy. The Moabites showed no willingness to repent but sought to destroy Israel.

The whole world lies in wickedness once again but there is a way to be free from sin and save our own souls and that is by repenting of sin and believing upon the Lord Jesus to save us from sin and its condemnation. Judgment and the wrath of God is returning to the earth again. We can read this in the book of Revelation. Wickedness has to be done away with and judged. We are not going to get away with sin.

I know this chapter in numbers sounds very drastic but these people should never have tried to entice Israel into idolatry. It is one thing to worship idols oneself but to entice people who already know the real God and be used of Satan to destroy their souls is a serious offense against God. They had to be judged for this sin. It was deliberate and they were not innocent or God would not have allowed them to be killed.

Numbers 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18 But all the women and children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood.
21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;
22 Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.
24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.

Even though they were commanded of God to bring forth the serious judgment against the people of the Midianites, it caused them to become unclean. They had to be cleansed and purified once again. This shows me that God doesn't really want to bring judgment. He wants to save. God makes provision for salvation but reluctantly has to judge those that try to prevent the salvation of others.

"God help us never to be a stumbling block to someone's salvation. Help us to be a light and not a stumbling block to bring people to the saving knowledge of your Son, Jesus Christ."

Its bad enough to desire to sin oneself but to entice others into sin and destroy their souls also is a serious offense.

Numbers 31:25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:
27 And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:
28 And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:
29 Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD.
30 And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.
31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.
32 And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,
33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,
34 And threescore and one thousand asses,
35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.
36 And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep:
37 And the LORD'S tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen.
38 And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the LORD'S tribute was threescore and twelve.
39 And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD'S tribute was threescore and one.
40 And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORD'S tribute was thirty and two persons.
41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD'S heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.
42 And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided from the men that warred,
43 (Now the half that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep,
44 And thirty and six thousand beeves,
45 And thirty thousand asses and five hundred,
46 And sixteen thousand persons;)
47 Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.
48 And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses:
49 And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.
50 We have therefore brought an oblation for the LORD, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD.
51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels.
52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.
53 (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)
54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.

The children of Israel were allowed in this case to take the spoils of war for themselves and to pay tithes to the priests and give them a portion. In other cases it was forbidden to take anything. In this case Israel did not plunder these people in order to take their goods. There was no covetousness or greed here. This was judgment by God and they were directed by God in all these things.

In the case of King Saul, he was commanded in 1 Samuel to destroy all the Amalekites and not take their goods. Saul disobeyed part of that commandment. He was removed from being King and God chose David to take his place. This commandment to destroy them was in Deuteronomy 25:19.

Deuteronomy 25:19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.

The main point was that they were to obey God's commands and not make any exceptions.

In another case a man named Achan coveted a Babylonish garment that was to be burnt and destroyed, not kept.

Sometimes they could keep things and sometimes they could not. Obedience was the key and also something else. Covetousness is a sin. To take things because of greed or covetousness was evil. Spoils of war could be kept in some cases but not others.

Sometimes the things desired had to do with idolatry and represented the evil of idol worship and Israel was to have no part in idolatry for any reason. In the case of Saul it was the covetousness of some of the people and disobedience. In the case of Achan it was covetousness. In the case of the Midianite spoils it was probably things that were there and not necessarily polluted with idolatry. In any case they had to cleanse it by fire in the case of gold, silver and such.

We see in the whole bible a God of mercy but also a God of judgment. Our job is to fear God and seek His salvation and deliverance from sin, not try to find fault with Him and blame Him for bringing judgment. There is a way to escape judgment. He made the way. We still may have to suffer the wrath of men who rebel against God but we need never fear the judgment and wrath of God if we repent of sin and believe in His Son that provided salvation for all who believe.

There is a time coming and it may be even here already where people will know to do right but still refuse to repent.

Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

This is the type of people that suffer the wrath of God. Those that know to do good but refuse. Those that are given the gospel yet reject and prefer to hold onto their sins. Not only do they refuse the gospel but they kill and murder those that preach the gospel.

This is why God had to destroy the first world with a flood, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, Amalek and in this chapter of Numbers, many of the Midianites. Sin that goes on and on without repentance after God sends warning will be judged. God has to judge sin or His law would be for nothing.

Its like we have laws in the United States to keep people safe and law breakers from having free reign. The laws have to be obeyed or we can't have peace. God has laws. If we break them we can't live in peace and safety but also breaking His laws destroy the eternal soul if we do not repent. He has to allow judgment to come if we do not accept His way of escape.

Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

This is serious stuff here. We must not take these warnings lightly and laugh it off. It is the difference between eternal life or eternal punishment that no one ever escapes.

Hebrews 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.

I say these things in warning and in love. God prefers to save, not destroy. Destruction is the last resort but it is coming. There is a way of escape and that is through Jesus Christ. No one has to be lost and die in sin. No one has to suffer the judgment of God but we will if we refuse His way of escape.

I do not say anything in my bible studies for gain. I do not make any profit in these studies. I do not seek followers after me. Notice that I don't even sign my name at the bottom most of the time. I'm not trying to get anyone's money or even get them to go to my church. I am trying to get people to Christ and eternal salvation. I don't care about anything else. Nothing else even matters.

In Revelation we see the last warning given and the way of peace offered to those that will accept Jesus Christ and repent of sin. He is the only way. He bought and paid for with His life the way of salvation and forgiveness of sin to all who will believe. DC

Revelations 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.