My Journey with Numbers 31: God Knows Why
Today’s Passage – Numbers 30 – 31 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Romans 13 – 16; Proverbs 26; Psalms 131 – 135)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Isaiah 51:11
Read the “0226 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Have you ever read a Bible passage that made you uncomfortable or even angry? I have—especially when it involves God’s judgment on entire groups of people.
“And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 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. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.” (Numbers 31:15-17)
Numbers 31 is a very somber passage of Scripture. Moses is commanded by the Lord to perform one last task before he dies, which was to “avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites.” You will recall from Numbers 25, the Midianites, after being advised by Balaam, send their women into the camp of Israel to seduce the men into immorality and idolatry. This resulted in a plague sent by God that killed 24,000 Israelites. God desired to “avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites,” but did He have to be so harsh in the way that He went about it?
Twelve thousand men from Israel went out and attacked a much greater number of Midianites and were able to conquer them completely without losing one of their own men. Of course, the Midianites were not so fortunate; they ended up losing everything with all the adult males being immediately slain. At first, the women and small male children were all spared. However, when the victors returned to camp with the spoils and the captives, Moses commanded that all the small male children, as well as all the adult women would also have to be slaughtered. Only the small girls were spared.
I must confess that Bible passages such as this are not the ones I look forward to reading. Later, in 1 Samuel 15, God would once again order the annihilation of an entire nation of people (the Amalekites), including all the women, children, and even the livestock. I have often wondered why God would command such a thing. I have examined these Scriptures carefully in the past and have even preached messages from them. I have explained to people some of the reasons why God would need to be so severe, but I was always left with more questions in my own mind. Wasn’t there any other way? Couldn’t God have spared even just the children? How do we reconcile this Old Testament God of vengeance with the New Testament God of love and mercy? My human reasoning cannot fully comprehend the answers to all these questions regarding what God was thinking when He chose such drastic courses of action.
I still don’t have all the individual answers to these and many other questions, but I have come to a place in my faith that has helped me tremendously. I no longer question God. There are a lot of things about God that make absolutely no sense to my finite brain, but I trust that He knows what He is doing, and He does not have to offer me any explanation.
Why did God kill all the Midianites? Why did He destroy the entire world with a flood? Why did He kill the Amalekites? Why did God allow the Towers to come down on 9/11? Why does He permit the pain and suffering of millions of people today? I know why, and yet I don’t know why. I mean, I may understand partially, but I can’t comprehend fully; but I do know God, and I trust Him that He knows why, and that’s good enough for me. I know God loves me, and I know He loves the world and all the people in it, and I know that God does everything right, even when I can’t see any right in it.
“8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa 55:8–9)
“33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Rom 11:33–36)
“He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” (Deut 32:4)
What hard passage or life circumstance are you struggling to trust God with today?
Posted in Devotions, Thoughts from Numbers and tagged Amalekites, Balaam, Deuteronomy 32:4, Difficult Bible Passages, Faith in Hard Times, Faith Journey, God's Justice, Isaiah 55:8-9, Midianites, Numbers, Numbers 31, Romans 11:33-36, trusting God, Trusting God in Suffering by Phil Erickson with 8 comments.
I agree with you on the why and it’s hard sometimes to try and understand. We may know someday, yet we may never know. We just have to trust (and I think we know) that God has our best interest at hand and he knows exactly what is best for all of us. Good post!
Yes – most often we know with our minds, but when our hearts are hurting, it is easy to doubt.
I agree pastor, these can be hard things to grasp and reconcile. I then ask myself, what is the picture God is trying to paint for me? The entire book of Numbers pictures a person wandering in the wilderness not fully set apart to God. They have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb but they are still looking back to Egypt, or the world. The nations that they come across picture the battles that we have to fight to become fully set apart to God, or enter the promised land. The Midianites picture the fleshly lusts of the world that creep in and change the heart to follow other gods, this leads only to death, those 24,000 Israelites that died in the plague. The only way to reach the promised land is to “mortify” those deeds of the flesh. You can’t spare any. You have to get rid of all the sin to become set apart to God. When I read passages like this, it brings conviction to me, challenging me to ask, what have I allowed in my life that is keeping me from a closer relationship with God? Whatever it is needs to be destroyed fully, because if I leave any of it, I run the risk of going back. While we are challenged to love the sinner, we must hate the sin.
“12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Rom 8:12–14)
“5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.” (Col 3:5–7)
I had never considered the specific typology represented by the Midianites before. Brilliant!
A Great message! Thank you.
Amen Pastor.As Christians let us not forget
Isaiah 55:8-9 8.For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord.
9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Let me ask this question what happened with Israel? when they mingle with the other nations they started to lust after there men and women and sacrificed their children to their gods!
And i will end my thought with this,if you have
a tiny infection you must stop it before it starts spreading because it can become deadly. like the post.
We live in a world that is very untrustworthy. There are some who cannot even trust their own closest family members. That’s why so many including Christians, have a hard time trusting the Lord. But you are absolutely right. God would never allow anything that wasn’t for our own good. He loves us that much, and We must trust him fully. Great thought for the day, amen.
Amen! Couldn’t agree more!