Numbers 24
Balaam did not resort to divination. What is divination? To me, divination is deliberately looking for patterns in experiences; you have to decode them for meaning. What I’ve learned personally is that God doesn’t give us puzzles, yet He wants to walk along with us and relate with us about issues in our lives. For Balaam, when he actually looked out at the wilderness and took in what he saw, the Israelites camped out tribe by tribe, which is when he got the third message from God. The message was another blessing which angered King Balak and he refused to reward Balaam.
Balaam then gives another message where he foreshadows Jesus as a star rising from Jacob. This is the first time in my personal reading of the Bible that I have seen a non-Israelite prophet foreshadowing Jesus Christ. This shows how God extends grace to all.
Numbers 25
This chapter tells the account of God being angered by the actions of the Israelites. While camped out, some of the men defiled themselves by having sex with Moab women and worshipping their idols. This is not just sin; it is covenant betrayal by turning to other gods. God was so angered that He commanded Moses to execute the men to turn His anger away from the rest of the Israelites. Moses was working on doing as God commanded when an Israelite and a Midianite woman came into the tent with Moses. Phinehas was there and became zealous and killed the man and woman. Then, the Lord said to Moses in verse 10 that Phinehas had turned His anger away from all of Israel by being zealous. God makes a special covenant of peace with Phinehas.
This is a tough chapter because it appears that God was angry and had Moses order the Israelites killed. However, this reminds me of the Fall in the Garden of Eden. If God had not ordered Adam and Eve out of the garden, there could have been more damage done. With that, the Israelite men could have caused God to destroy the entire nation as it says in verse 11 if Phinehas hadn’t acted in zeal: “Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest has turned my anger away from the Israelites by being as zealous among them as I was. So I stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended to do in my zealous anger” (Numbers 25:11).
Numbers 25 powerfully shows God’s sovereignty, and it does so in two connected ways: by initiating a covenant of peace with Phinehas, and by restraining judgment so Israel is not destroyed.
Numbers 26
This chapters reminds me of how important we all are to God. Our safety and protection are His concerns. After the plague in chapter 25, God resets things. What happens in this chapter brings to mind Psalm 91:4: “He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”
God told Moses and Eleazar to count all the men over the age of 20 who can go to war. The chapter lists 12 tribes of Israel (dividing the tribe of Joseph in two for Manasseh and Ephraim) by clan and gives an account of the number of men over 20 who are warriors for each tribe. Then, it also counts the Levites who will not inherit any land, but to show how holiness, worship, and service to God are essential to Israel’s survival.
As a result of the registration, the land of their destination, the Promised Land, was divided. It was granted by proportion to the population of each tribe, where the Levites did not receive an allotment. I think the Israelites needed this reassurance and preparation from God because of how they were enticed by the Moabs earlier. Whatever it was about the Moabs led them to disobey God, but this gives hope because God is still in covenant with them and wants them to reach the Promised Land. No one in this registration was in the previous registration taken by Moses in the wilderness of Sinai except Caleb and Joshua.
Numbers 27
One main theme of this chapter is leadership. It is really interesting because it is about how leadership is transferred. It starts with the daughters of Zelophehad and their petition to own the land that their father, who has died, would have acquired. This is more than just a rational request because the daughters are saying that they are going to be their best and live in a way that honors God, their family, and who they are. They went to Moses, who went to the Lord, who said that their claim was legitimate and granted them the land. The Lord also gave Moses laws on who to assign an inheritance to in case a man dies and has no sons, as was the case with Zelophehad. This act also characterizes God as good and sovereign where leaders, as in here where we see the leader of a family, are entrusted by God and given the best resources to be successful. What leaders are entrusted with is so important and must be managed correctly.
Then Moses says to the Lord to appoint a new leader for the community so that they will not be like sheep without a shepherd. I think that Moses was inspired by God with the transfer of the inheritance. He knew how important the inheritance was to them all and decided that since he would not be with the community forever, he must apply effort to appoint new leadership. The Lord instructed him to take Joshua and lay his hands on him and present him in front of Eleazar the priest and the entire community. He did, and he transferred some of his commission to Joshua. It is important to note that Joshua would get instruction from the Lord by standing in before Eleazar the priest who will cast lots on the Urim.
Numbers 28 & Numbers 29
Numbers 28 starts with the Lord instructing Moses about offerings. The Bible says that the offerings please God because of the aroma! This is fascinating! God thinks that our offerings to Him are pleasing.
Reading this chapter actually reminded me of reading a menu at a fine dining establishment. I love food and dining. This gave me great joy to see how God enjoys the offerings. It’s like He is dining with us.
God wanted the Israelites to get more out of their offerings than just the experience at a restaurant. He wanted to ensure that their sins were forgiven. He wanted them to worship Him at certain times and in celebration of specific events.
These chapters have details about the offers that the Israelites must make. In addition to the daily, monthly, Sabbath, Passover, and Harvest offerings mentioned in Numbers 28, they also had to offer the animals, grain, and, as noted, liquid, to God for the Festival of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Shelters mentioned in Numbers 29 as well.
They were to make offerings to the Lord and come together in holy assembly and celebrate on certain days at the times mentioned. There were times when no ordinary work was to be done. This reminds me of the story in Genesis of how God created the earth and all things in it (Genesis 2:2-3: “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation”). God wants the Israelites to live in a way that is healthy and includes rest and worship and praise to God - God wants to bless them.
