Balaam

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 22:1–14, “And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me: Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak. And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam. And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee? And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out. And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land: for the LORD refuseth to give me leave to go with you. And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.”

The first interesting issue about this passage is the fact that cattle eat grass by using their tongues to grasp a clump of grass and then they bite the clump (see http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/AnimalHealthLiteracy/ucm255500.htm ). When Israel reached Moab the king of Moab, Balak the son of Zippor, was afraid and he knew that he would never be able to defeat the Israeli armies by himself. He knew that Israel came in the Lord’s power (compare Joshua 2:9–11, “And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”) so he had to look to other means to defeat Israel. There was a man called Balaam who was know as a holy man in that region. Balak sent messengers to Balaam to ask him to curse Israel in the hope that Israel would be unable to defeat Moab in a battle. Balaam knew the Lord and the Lord told him not to go.

We will not turn into the fields

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 21:21–35, “And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king’s high way, until we be past thy borders. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared: For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba. Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.”

At that stage, Moses knew that the Lord had promised the Land to Israel but, as far as Moses knew, He had not promised them any other land. Even though the promise the Lord made to Abraham talked about the iniquity of the Amorites (see Gen 15:16, “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”) they didn’t believe that this country was part of the Lord’s promise. Moses was diplomatic with Sihon, their king, and asked permission to travel through their land without taking anything from the people. However, the Lord had determined that this was also part of the Land that He had promised to Israel (compare Gen 13:10–15, “And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”) Sihon and his armies attacked Israel and they were defeated and they took possession of land on the eastern of the Jordan. This was appropriate as, in those days, soldiers were not paid by their leaders and they were allowed to take their pay from the people they defeated. This was so that the soldiers would have a comfortable retirement. After the battle with Sihon, another king called Og attacked Israel and they defeated him and took possession of the area now known as the Golan heights. Og was a giant so the Lord gave Israel the opportunity to fight and conquer a giant that that their father’s were afraid to attack (compare Num 13:33–14:4, “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.” with Deut 3:1, “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.”)

The children of Israel set forth

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 21:10–20, “And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth. And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ijeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared. From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab. And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon.”

Many of these places have changed names since the time that this account was written. After Israel took possession of the Promised Land they changed some of the place names. Much later the Assyrians, then the Babylonians took possession of many of these place and exiled the original inhabitants. The Greeks came after them and then the Romans. The Romans forced the Jews to leave Israel after Hadrian attacked and defeated Jerusalem and then the Arab armies conquered the Lands as well. There was some fighting between the Arab armies and Christian armies from Europe and the Arabs finally drove them out. The Land under discussion was part of the Turkish Empire until the middle of the last century when it was divided into a number of sovereign states. However, when Moses wrote this record of Israel’s travels the people knew exactly what he was talking about. We can believe that this is a true record of actual historical events. People trying to reconstruct them many thousands of years later might easily associate the wrong place with the wrong name.

Fiery serpents

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Sinking Sand

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Numbers 21:4–9, “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”

Israel chose not to fight against Edom but were forced to travel around through a long desert excursion. As they went out into the hot place again they began to complain. They seemed to follow a constant refrain, accusing Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to kill them in the wilderness. Not only that, the complained about the manna that the Lord gave them to eat ever day. This wasn’t the first time they complained about the manna or the fact that they didn’t think the Lord would give them any water. They were getting close to the end of their forty years of wandering and the Lord sent snakes among them. These snakes killed people with a very painful bite. After they were bitten the people died in agony. The Lord brought Israel to their knees again in repentance and they confessed to Moses that they had sinned against the Lord. The Lord offered them a solution by telling Moses to cast a bronze snake, just like the snakes that were biting them and to set the bronze snake on a large pole so that anyone, anywhere in the camp, could see the snake. If a person looked at the snake then they would be healed of their snake bite and saved from the painful death they were experiencing. This wasn’t just a matter of a quick glance at the bronze snake, they had to make and effort to look at it and see it properly. This snake, later became a snare to Israel and they worshipped the bronze snake (2 Kings 18:4, “He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.”) If we are not careful even things that are good can lead us astray. The important issue is for us to focus on our God and not the things that He does from day to day or on how good we think our life might be.

Arad

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Sinking Sand

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Numbers 21:1–3, “And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.”

While the Lord had promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the Promised Land, the people living there actually wanted to keep the Land for themselves. They were not just going to lie down and let Israel take the Land away from them (Gen 15:13–16, “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”). In spite of this, the people in the Land were afraid (Josh 2:9–11, “And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”). Arad, the Canaanite king, decided that the best thing for him to do was to fight against Israel for they would be better to die fighting for their land than to give it up without any struggle. It seems as though they set and ambush and took Israel by surprises and were able to capture some prisoners. These people were not related as the Edomites and, obviously, the iniquity of the Amorites was now full so Moses prayed to the Lord, on Israel’s behalf, and asked for success in battle. The Amorites had started the battle but Israel finished it. They soundly defeated their enemies and called the place “cursed for destruction”, that is, Hormah.

Aaron and Eleazar

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Sinking Sand

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Numbers 20:22–29, “And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.”

The Lord chose Aaron to be Moses’ prophet (Ex 7:1, “And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”) Aaron was no different to Miriam, his sister, in that he had to die as well. He was older than Moses so he could be expected to die before Moses. Aaron needed to die so that his son Eleazar, would be free to take over the role as high priest without interference from his father. Often, when one person takes over a role from the previous incumbent, the old leader will interfere and not let the new person do the job in their own way. Everyone is different and everyone needs to grow into their leadership gifts without having to be a different person. Aaron was also involved in the rebellion at Meribah (see Num 20:9–13, “And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.”) and, like Moses, was prohibited from entering the Promised Land. The Lord always works for good (see Deut 8:16, “Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;” and Rom 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”). This was part of the Lord’s good plan but the people respected Aaron and they mourned his death for thirty days before they moved on.

Edom

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Sinking Sand

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Numbers 20:14–21, “And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us: How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers: And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border: Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders. And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet. And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.”

Jacob, who later became Israel and the father of the nation, had a brother called Esau. Esau had a second name, Edom, meaning red because he was willing to sell his birthright for a plate of red lentils (Gen 25:29–34, “And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.”). In the passage of time both these brother were the fathers of two different nations, Israel and Edom. In spite of this both the nations were, ultimately descended from Abraham. For this reason, Israel was not to take any land from Edom and they were not to instigate a war against their close relatives. In order to avoid a war but move from the wilderness to the Promised Land, Moses asked the Edomites if Israel could pass through their land without any conflict and without taking any of Edom’s resources. The Edomites, however, decided that they would prefer to fight a war against Israel, their relatives and refused to let them pass through their territory. Perhaps they had heard about the Lord’s dealings with Egypt and were afraid to allow Israel to enter their land and take it away from them. Even though Israel was justified in fighting a war, Moses chose to follow the Lord’s command and took Israel the long way around rather than taking a few days to take the most direct route towards the Promised Land.