Numbers 28

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Numbers 28:1-31

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season. 3 And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering. 4 The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even; 5 And a tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat [grain] offering, mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil. 6 It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD. 7 And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the LORD for a drink offering. 8 And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as the meat offering of the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt offer it, a sacrifice unto the LORD. 9 And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: 10 this is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering. 11 And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot; 12 and three tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one bullock; and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one ram; 13 and a several tenth deal of flour mingled with oil for a meat offering unto one lamb; for a burnt offering of a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD. 14 And their drink offerings shall be half an hin of wine unto a bullock, and a third part of an hin unto a ram, and a fourth part of an hin unto a lamb: this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year. 15 And one kid of the goats for a sin offering unto the LORD shall be offered, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering. 16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD. 17 And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 In the first day shall be an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein: 19 but ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year: they shall be unto you without blemish: 20 and their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil: three tenth deals shall ye offer for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram; 21 a several tenth deal shalt thou offer for every lamb, throughout the seven lambs: 22 and one goat for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you. 23 Ye shall offer these beside the burnt offering in the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering. 24 After this manner ye shall offer daily, throughout the seven days, the meat [grain] of the sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: it shall be offered beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work. 26 Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat [grain] offering unto the LORD, after your weeks be out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: 27 but ye shall offer the burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; two young bullocks, one ram, seven lambs of the first year; 28 and their meat offering of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto one bullock, two tenth deals unto one ram, 29 a several tenth deal unto one lamb, throughout the seven lambs; 30 and one kid of the goats, to make an atonement for you. 31 Ye shall offer them beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, (they shall be unto you without blemish) and their drink offerings.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED591]

“Numbers chapter 28, we are on the border of the Promised Land, the LORD is looking at another generation, and he will reiterate his sacrifices, his offerings, relative to the daily sacrifices, relative to monthly offerings [New Moons], relative to the Feasts of the year, and it’s almost as though he is reiterating for this new generation now ‘This is something for you to understand, a generation has passed away that had been given the Law, now you’re coming into the land,’ it’s almost as if he’s saying ‘daily, you need to understand the flowing of blood every morning in the burnt offering, every afternoon [evening], you need to understand this week in, week out, month in and month out, relative to all of our Feasts and everything, it’s by grace, it’s by substitutionary atonement, there’s something central in our Nation, at the center of the Nation, the Tabernacle and ultimately the Temple. And the whole camp laid out north of the Tabernacle, south of the Tabernacle, east of the Tabernacle, west of the Tabernacle, all relative directions to the Tabernacle, and at the Tabernacle the place of worship, the place where the individual comes before a Holy God, and his approach through the blood of an innocent substitute.’ Central in the nation, central in a place. And God would establish, even as they came into the land, a place where he wanted the worship to take place, even when the Temple was built, at the Temple, because he doesn’t want it watered down, he doesn’t want it contaminated in other places. It was to be under the auspices of the priests and under the direction of the Levites, all governed by the Word of God. And now this new generation, it’s so important for him to say to them ‘This is the center of everything, I brought your parents out of the land of Egypt, their carcasses fell in the wilderness, but all of the promises I’ve made to the Nation are yours now, you need to understand that it’s all of grace, it’s all of mercy, it’s all of substitutionary atonement.’ It was the blood of the lamb which brought them out of Egypt on the night of the Passover, and it will always be that, at the center of your lives and the center of your worship, and as you come and you stand before me, there will always be the blood of an innocent substitute that opens the way for you to come and for us to have open-faced fellowship. So the LORD reiterates that now for another generation. And I think, what a responsibility it is for you and I, with our children, with our grandchildren, to communicate to the next generation those central truths of what we believe. Because so much of that is being set aside today, so much of that is being pushed aside, where people are teaching ‘We don’t want to hear about sin, we don’t want to hear about blood, we don’t want to hear about those things anymore,’ you know, calling orthodox Christianity a slaughterhouse religion, we hear those kinds of expressions. And yet the center of everything is still the precious blood of Jesus Christ. And when we come to heaven [which will come to earth, cf. Revelation 21:1-23], the center of all of the worship, the elders and the cherubim and the masses of angels and saints, is a Lamb with the marks of slaughter upon him, it’s at the center of everything. So, here being reiterated for a new generation, and again, I love when I see that, the next generation being brought face to face with the deepest truths of God.

The Evening And The Morning Sacrifices

And here the LORD says to Moses, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering,” notice how he’s personally involved with this, “and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season.” (verses 1-2) and we’ll have that phrase “sweet savour” seven times in chapter 28 and 29, and it’s ‘a savour of rest,’ literally, to God, as he smells that sacrifice, the complete sacrifice, the blood of the lamb arising, a savour of rest, it’s a place of rest for him. “a sweet savour unto me shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season.” He wants them all to understand [i.e. these sacrifices have specific seasons when they’re supposed to be offered, daily, on New Moons, and upon the Holy Days as they occur throughout God’s sacred calendar]. “And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering.” (verse 3) Continually, first thing in the morning, first thing in the evening, the morning and the evening sacrifice, the blood of the lamb, the smoke rising from the Tabernacle or the Temple every day, what a great way for you and I to start every day when we drag these bones out of bed to face another day, to realize it’s by the blood of the lamb, that we have a day in front of us. That anything good that could come to us, that he daily loads us with benefits, and that those things come freely because of the sacrifice of his Son, bestowed upon us upon whom nothing could come if it was by what we were worthy of, or what we deserve. What we deserve would be so terrible. But daily reminded, first thing in the morning, the blood of the lamb. And at the end of every day, the blood of the lamb, the evening sacrifice, what a great reminder as we lay our heads down on our pillows that Jesus Christ has given us another day, that the grace and glory of God shed upon us, another complete day of our lives. That we lay down our heads, and if the Lord takes us while we’re asleep we’re going into his presence because of the substitutionary atonement of his Son, what a great way to begin and end every day. And they will be reminded daily. “The one lamb, verse” 4, “shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even; And a tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat [grain] offering, mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil.” (verses 4-5) goes into the parts of that daily sacrifice. “It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.” (verse 6) “in mount Sinai,” that’s when the Law was given to the first generation. Now verse 7 brings us to the drink offering, it mentions that, it’s a daily offering, the first 10 verses speak to us of the daily offerings. Where there’s a change, something new is added, is in verse 9, where it says that on the Sabbath day two lambs were to be offered in the morning, and two lambs in the evening. So this is a new Statute added to the Law that they weren’t given in Sinai, when they come into the land, on the Sabbath day, two lambs in the morning, two lambs in the evening. “And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: this is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.” (verse 9-10)

The New Moon Monthly Offerings

Beginning in verse 11 down to verse 15 is monthly offerings, that are offered on a monthly basis. Israel had a lunar calendar, according to the full moon [actually, every new month began at the New Moon]. “And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot;” (verse 11) If you go to verse 14 it says, “And their drink offerings shall be half an hin of wine unto a bullock, and a third part of an hin unto a ram, and a fourth part of an hin unto a lamb: this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year.” so every month a specific set of burnt offerings offered every month, marks a new month, every month is a new beginning, not just every day. [And that new month began at the New Moon, see https://www.unityinchrist.com/calendar/HebrewCalendar.htm ] Just imagine, every month, ‘LORD, we’re going through March, and spiritually LORD this hasn’t been a good month, I’m looking forward to April LORD, maybe I’ll have a better,’ it’s wonderful his grace is there, even every month, there’s a new beginning, each month there’s a set of sacrifices to inaugurate a new month, how wonderful we can have a better March than we had February or something. And believe me there are those months that I’m glad are gone and new ones are coming sometimes.

The Passover, 1^st & 7^th Day Of Unleavened Bread Holy Day & Pentecost Sacrifices

Verse 16 we begin a series of sacrifices relative to 7 different Feasts in Israel, it’ll go through Passover, it’ll go through the Feast of Weeks, which is Pentecost [three Feasts], it’ll take us through Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles, Booths, Succoth [four Feasts]. So these verses now take this new generation through 7 Feasts, and the offerings that are offered, and verse 16 wonderfully says “And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. In the first day shall be an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein:” (verses 16-18) “And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work. 26 Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat [grain] offering unto the LORD, after your weeks be out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work:” (verses 25-26) and the Passover was the first day of their calendar, it was New Years Eve is the Passover Feast, and the Passover was New Years Day, what a wonderful thing, instead of singing Old Langsyne and some of the things that we sing in our culture, to sing Oh The Blood of Jesus, or Rock of Ages, imagine if every New Years the President would get the nation together and sing some remarkable hymn, the whole nation on television, let’s join together, it’s New Years, bring forth the royal diadem, crown him Lord of all, what a wonderful way to start the year. Ah, Passover, freedom through the blood of the Lamb, coming out of Egypt to a new life. Down in verse 26 it brings us to the Day of Firstfruits, when you bring in the new meat [grain] offering unto the LORD, after your weeks, so this is Pentecost, when the weeks are gone by, 50 days after Passover, you’ll notice we’re moving through here, so you don’t have to be real troubled about this…

Numbers 29:1-40

“And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you. 2 And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish: 3 and their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram, 4 and one tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs: 5 and one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you: 6 beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD. 7 And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls [fast]: ye shall not do any work therein. 8 But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD for a sweet savour; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish: 9 and their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals to a bullock, and two tenth deals to one ram, 10 a several tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs: 11 one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering of it, and their drink offerings. 12 And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: 13 and ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish: 14 and their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth deals to each ram of the two rams, 15 and a several tenth deal to each lamb of the fourteen lambs: 16 and one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. 17 And on the second day ye shall offer twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot: 18 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner: 19 and one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering thereof, and their drink offerings. 20 And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish; 21 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after their manner: 22 and one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering. 23 And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish: 24 their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner: 25 and one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. 26 And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without spot: 27 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner: 28 and one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering. 29 And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish: 30 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner: 31 and one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. 32 And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish: 33 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner: 34 and one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. 35 On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein: 36 but ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish: 37 their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner: 38 and one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering. 39 These things ye shall do unto the LORD in your set feasts, beside your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat [grain] offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings. 40 And Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the LORD commanded Moses.”

Offerings For The Feast Of Trumpets, Day Of Atonement & The Feast Of Tabernacles

“And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.” (verse 1) Rosh Hashanah, the blowing of Trumpets. And of course the Church it is looking forward to some things here, Passover, we memorialize of course Christ being sacrificed, the Feast of Firstfruits, which is not mentioned here, three days later when he rose from the dead, Paul tells us that Christ was the Firstfruits of those who slept. The Feast of Pentecost, we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and of course we’re all one wondering if the Feast of Trumpets is going to be the Trumpet we’re waiting to hear, when the Church is caught away [see https://unityinchrist.com/corinthians/cor15-16.htm ]. And I hope that it is, because I don’t want to wait another Feast. In verse 7 we have the Day of Atonement “And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls [fast]: ye shall not do any work therein.” (verse 7) that was normally interpreted as a day of fasting [it is a Biblical command for fasting, Pastor Joe is taking the Calvary Chapel interpretation that is saying it was “interpreted” as a day of fasting, but all the rabbinic scholars know that it is a command to fast on the Day of Atonement.] Isaiah 58 speaks about that. And it talks about the offerings that were offered, ah, Leviticus gives us greater detail. And interesting here, in the Book of Numbers, verse 12 takes us to the Feast of Tabernacles, and then gives us an interesting description of all of the sacrifices that were made, verse 12 says “And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days:” this is the Feast of Tabernacles. And then it describes the sacrifices, there were 207 sacrifices [when you include the daily evening and morning sacrifices] that were offered that week, verse 13, “and ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:” So it seems that’s the first day, verse 13, 29 sacrifices were offered. Down in verse 17 you have the second day, 28 animals sacrificed. On the 3^rd day, verse 20, if you read that there’s 27 animals sacrificed there, verse 23 is the 4^th day of the Feast of Tabernacles, 26 animals were sacrificed, on the 5^th day, verse 26, 25 animals are offered, the 6^th day, verse 29, 24 animals are offered, and verse 32 is the 7^th day, 23 animals are offered, and the 8^th day then, of new beginnings, 9 animals are offered on that day, and verse 39 says “These things ye shall do unto the LORD in your set feasts, beside your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat [grain] offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings. And Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the LORD commanded Moses.” (verses 39-40) So reiterating. We read through this, imagine being part of this Feast though, Imagine 8 days that kind of blood being shed. [Comment: The early Christian Church, in Jerusalem and then on up into Asia Minor observed these Holy Days, and now the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God observe all these Feasts of the Lord, without the sacrifices of course (Hebrews 10:5), but as holy convocations, where services are held, those sermons usually being given explaining the prophetic meanings of these days. For the prophetic meaning of all the Feasts of the Lord, see https://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm (and to see how they observe the Feast of Tabernacles, scroll to the end of that link above), and for the prophetic meaning of the Fall Holy Days, see https://unityinchrist.com/E-Mails/June%2014/FallHolyDays-short.htm ] Imagine the Passover, you know they said during the days of Christ, that there were 200,000 lambs offered in Herod’s Temple, and Josephus tells us, that if you figure it was 10 people to a lamb minimum, you’re talking about 2,000,000 people in the area celebrating the Passover, and the amount of blood that was shed. You go to Jerusalem today, they uncovered a pipeline that comes through Judah, from the reservoirs, they had huge reservoirs, going over 30 miles to the Temple in Jerusalem, and a flow of water to wash the blood away. It would run down into the Kidron Valley, Kidron means “black” and it was black because of the untold amount of sacrifices that had been offered, and the valley turned black from the blood of centuries of sacrifices, remarkably. And just for you and I, to read it is one thing, imagine being in that culture, having to bring a lamb, without spot, without blemish. And for the priest to take the knife, in your hand and in his, and put your hand on the head of the animal, and to pull the knife, and then for a priest to catch the blood as you feel the animal stagger and finally collapse, and the impression of that on your heart, and the remembering that an innocent substitute, because I’m a sinner, an innocent substitute, a lamb shedding his blood, dying in my place, how poignant it was, what was impressed on the memory in those things. And how important it was for the LORD, for a new generation to remember and see the truth of this. Look, Jesus tells us this, when the lawyer asked him ‘What’s the greatest commandment, what’s the foremost, what’s the greatest of all the commandments? Summarize them.’ And he says this ‘To love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself. In these two laws hang all the Law and the Prophets.’ Imagine that, God says the greatest commandment. Now this is such a father’s heart, the greatest commandment, all of these laws, we’ve been through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, we’re headed into Deuteronomy, of all the things that are written in the Law, the greatest thing to me, God says, is that you would love me, that you would love me. [Comment: And it is impossible for a human being, on their own, to love God. That love must come from God by and through God’s Holy Spirit indwelling a person. Any obedience to God’s Laws, Old Testament or New, has to be empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, or else it is worthless, doesn’t hit the mark.] ‘If I have your heart, I have everything.’ Augustine said ‘Love the Lord with all your heart, and do as you will,’ ‘That you would love me, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, your neighbour as yourself,’ the problem is this, you can’t command somebody to love you. Husbands, try that out with your wives, ‘Love me Baby, that’s all, I don’t have nothing else to say to you, that’s the greatest commandment I’m ever going to give ya, so we don’t have to talk for the next thirty years.’ You know, you can’t do that, you can’t command love, love is a response. And God is the initiator. And he tells us in 1^st John we love him because he first loved us, ‘And herein is the love God manifested, that he sent his Son, his only Son, to be the propitiation for our sins, herein is the love of God manifest.’ We should love him with all of our heart because we see the cost, it’s unimaginable on his end, that he gave, not for us as a corporate people, but as individuals, it’s embraced individually, it’s believing individually, it’s effected individually. Your brother’s salvation, your mom’s salvation doesn’t save you, it’s individual. And as we see, he gave his Son for me, his perfect, holy, spotless Son, he let go of him so that he might take hold of me, what kind of love is that? we love him because he first loved us. And the heart of God with this ancient Hebrew people, so important for a new generation. As grotesque as this may seem to us, it’s daily to see, in the morning and evening sacrifice, to begin the day with the blood of the lamb, to end the day with the blood of the lamb. Because for the Father the Lamb had been slain from the foundation of the world, every day was the same before him, and he puts these sacrifices before the people.”

Numbers 30:1-16

“And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded. 2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. 3 If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth; 4 and her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. 5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her. 6 And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul; 7 and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. 8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her. 9 But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her. 10 And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath; 11 and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. 12 But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her. 13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. 14 But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them. 15 But if he shall any ways make them void after he hath heard them; [verse 14, “from day to day”] then he shall bear her iniquity. 16 These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.”

The Making & Keeping Of Vows & Oaths

“Chapter 30 brings us now to the making of vows. Vows and oaths are sometimes the same word in the Old Testament, there’s a difference, a vow is something you promise to do, and an oath differed, it was something you promised not to do. Ah Jesus said this to us, in Matthew, ‘Again you have heard that it hath been said of them of old time, thou shalt foreswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth which is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.’ before some of our current technology, ‘But let your communication be Yes or No, Yea, Yea, Nay, Nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh from evil.’ (Matthew 5:33-37) He says in the New Testament that God can never depend on you by the making of your vows. That’s the Old Covenant, or the Old Testament, based on man’s faithfulness to God. The New Covenant is based on God’s faithfulness to man. [Comment: Under the Old Covenant, man, the Israelites, had promised in Exodus 20 to do, to keep all of God’s Law, all on their own, without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. God himself, first through Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and then through the apostle Paul, who quoted Jeremiah 31:31-34 in Hebrews 8:6-13, defined the New Covenant as simply that God would write his Laws in the hearts and minds of his people, and that that is done through the empowerment of the indwelling Holy Spirit that God places within us as believers. In Jeremiah 31:31-34, the Hebrew word used for “law” in “I will write my law in their hearts and minds” is “torah,” the Old Testament Torah is what will be written in our hearts and minds. When Paul was writing Hebrews, the New Testament didn’t exist. Think about that for a moment.] But listen, as we look at this, there is sanctity in words. We are told not to lie in the New Testament [which is a repeat of the 9^th commandment]. You know if you talk to folks who remember 50, 60 years ago, there were times on Wall Street when untold millions of dollars changed hands on a simple handshake, because somebody’s word was their bond. And truth is one of the fabrics of society, when people tell the truth, when truth is esteemed, when someone’s word can be trusted. And God will challenge his people now in regards to making of vows, making of promises. “And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded. If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.” (verses 1-2) Be a man of your word, it’s basically saying, be a man of your word, someone can trust you when you say something. Now there’s some stipulations in regards to these vows, they were vows relative to the LORD. Now we’re going to talk about a single woman at home here, “If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth; and her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.” (verses 3-5) So we have some interesting things here. We have order, authority, and subordination in the home upheld here. The father was the head of the house, there were roles, as there are in Scripture, husbands, wives. But here it says there is power in words, and there was power in silence. If a father had a daughter, young daughter, who lived under his roof, she’s not married, she lives at home, she’s still under his covering. I don’t care if she’s 16, 17, she’s under his covering. You may not like to hear it, I didn’t write it, I have fun reading it to you though, because I got one of those. And if she swore to do something, ‘LORD I promise, I’m going to do this,’ and the father heard, if he didn’t like that, and didn’t want her making that commitment, he could disallow it, and she would have to yield to his wishes, there was authority and there was power in the things that he had to say, it was honoured. There was authority in his silence, because by silence, and it’s important for us to understand here, there is consent. And some of us as parents better take heed to that, because sometimes we watch our kids do stuff that they should never be doing, and we keep our mouths shut because we’d rather be their buddies than their mom or dad, and we have to understand that silence is consent. If you don’t say something when you need to say something, you’re consenting to something that’s being done. And the Word upholds that right here. It’s important for us to see that in the political world, it’s important for us to see that everywhere. Silence is sometimes consent. I hear the Church today in someplace, ‘Well, we don’t want to say anything about this behavior, we don’t want to say anything about…’ because we want to be in good with them, and you have to say, hey look, by not saying anything, you are saying something. By not saying anything you’re giving your consent, by not saying something you are saying something, and God points that out to us in his Word. If the father wouldn’t say anything then the girl was bound by all she promised before the LORD. If he heard it and didn’t approve, you know, binding herself to something so heavy, or he felt she was too immature to do that, the father said ‘No, I don’t want you to do that,’ then it was disallowed. And it begins with the home, because the home is the building block of the nation. It doesn’t take a village to raise a child, it takes a home and a mom and a dad. I don’t care what anybody says. Verse 6, “And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul; and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.” (verses 6-8) So God protects the order in the family, he’s writing a law in regards to vows. But what he’s saying is, this is not independent of what I’ve already established in regards to home and family, that he would uphold that initial order of family. So God protects the order of family in that he’s not giving a law here that someone could sidestep the order he had already established in regards to the home. Verse 9 says, “But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.” because there is no covering, an adult woman who is a widow or divorced, and they make a promise, a vow to the LORD, the LORD says that should stand. “And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath; and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.” (verses 10-11) So it seems to be indicating that if she made the vow when her husband was still alive, and he didn’t disallow it, then it still stands, even though she is a widow or divorced. “But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her.” (verse 12)

What Are We Seeing Here?

Look, there’s several things being put in front of us as we go through this. One of those things is, there’s order in the home that God expects. The other is, you know, that our word, the keeping of a vow or the making of a commitment is important. The foundation of our society is eroding today because of stepping away from this. 2^nd Timothy chapter 3 tells us that in the last days those kinds of things are going to become prevalent, ‘This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,’ it talks about that. You know today as we look at our culture, one of the things that’s eroding it is business contracts that are not being honoured, where someone has made a vow, they’ve made an oath. Marriage, we have young couples standing up here, and they make their vows before God and before witnesses. That’s why they do that. Those things then are to stand. And because those vows are not being honoured and not being upheld, our society is eroding, our culture is failing. You know, absentee fathers is one of the biggest plagues in our culture. And some man stood supposedly a man, and he made a vow, and I understand there’s different circumstances, I’m not condemning everyone. But I’m saying it’s a generality, where when things get tough and there’s a hassle, you move on. Well there’s a vow that’s made, and marriage is sacred, and I don’t care what the culture says. And we see it, look, Desperate Housewives, there’s stuff on television that would, like termites, just eat away at the moral fiber of vows and of commitment and all that’s sacred. All these stupid cartoons like the Simpsons and all this stuff, where always the fathers are being portrayed as a doofus and an idiot, that’s going on everywhere. No wonder kids have no respect. Here it says if a father’s in the home, and he hears a daughter make a vow, and he disagrees with it, God says, what the father says is important, and disavows, or his silence and the fact that he doesn’t speak out gives consent to something. And just our home and our commitments and our vows and all that’s sacred and honourable is being eroded in our culture today, and a huge part of it is not keeping our word. Politically, just we hear the same promises every four years. Look, in the courts, somebody’s under oath, in the court, and you’re wondering if they’re telling the truth or not telling the truth. They’ve made an oath before the court. Or, politicians that we swear into office, and we’re finding out that there’s a whole different life taking place. It’s just part of the erosion of our culture. God is upholding here, he says the words, there’s a sanctity to words and to commitments, there’s a sanctity to the home, there’s order. Verse 13 says, “Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them.” (verses 13-14) So silence is consent. “But if he shall any ways make them void after he hath heard them; [verse 14, “from day to day”] then he shall bear her iniquity. These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.” (verses 15-16) So if he gives consent by being silent, and then after she begins the vow he decides to break it, then he bears her iniquity, and there’s a sin offering we’ll find out later, then has to be offered in regards to that decision. “These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.” (verse 16) So you dads can make some great plaques here, couldn’t you.”

Numbers 31:1-54

“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. 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 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 a 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. [cf. Numbers 19, waters of purification made with the ashes of the red heifer] 24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. 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 one. 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 thirty thousand and five hundred; 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 the captains of hundred, 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.”

Jesus’ Teaching About Vengeance

“Chapter 31, some tough things here. God is going to command the children of Israel now to execute vengeance on the Midianites, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.” (verses 1-2) Now he’s telling Moses, this is the last public act you’re going to be involved in. ‘After the Midianites are avenged, Moses, you will be gathered to your people, you’ll fight the last enemy which is death.’ “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.” (verse 3) So vengeance now, it’s important to see its context. People can wrestle with this. I’ve had people leave the church because, believe it or not I’ve talked about forgiveness, and it breaks my heart, I need to track them down. But just challenging the congregation, that forgiveness is something that God asks for us to put into motion. And I have people come up with tears in their eyes, and say ‘I was abused,’ and I would say “You know, I understand, I’m not saying it’s easy, or that I have pat answers for pat problems, as long as you’re weeping about it, and as long as you keep your heart before the Lord,’ you know, Rob said, he’s still checking out holiness, well to me holiness is a direction. If daily my life is headed towards the Lord, and daily I’m being formed into his image and likeness, if that’s the direction of my life, that is holiness. It’s when I’m headed away from him, if I’m backsliding or I’m compromising, that’s when that process is broken. But we’re being conformed into his image, our destination, not just a place but an image. And as we’re moving toward that image, part of the process is the same Spirit that dwelled in Christ dwells in us, who said ‘Father forgiven them, for they know not what they do.’ So Paul says to us ‘Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,’ Romans chapter 13, ‘Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath’ King James says “unto wrath,” but there’s a definite article in there, “unto the wrath,” ‘Don’t avenge yourselves, but give place unto “the” wrath,’ the wrath of God, ‘for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the LORD.’ So God doesn’t want us, you know, going out there, you know, you have John and James saying ‘Lord, we tried to rent a room with the Holiday Inn in Samaria, they wouldn’t rent it to us, so call down fire from heaven and smoke ‘em, just burn ‘em up.’ and the Lord said, ‘Eey ya yiy, you don’t know what you are of, you’re not Rambo’s. you’re Lambo’s, you’re not Go get ‘em, you’re go tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ, our calling is not to go out there and get even with everybody.’ Now look, there’s a part of me that’s perverted, that likes that. When somebody steals Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter, and he goes into the cave next to his house, we wish we had one of those once in awhile, and he opens up the big case, he has machineguns and grenades, and he straps everything on, and there’s something in my heart saying ‘Go get ‘em Arnold, if somebody takes my daughter,’ or ‘Make my day!’ when Clint Eastwood puts his foot on the screwball’s neck, or Charles Bronson goes and getting the perverts [or Liam Neeson’s “Taken”]. Just there’s something in me sick that likes that. That’s why God has to tell me ‘Don’t avenge yourself,’ because that’s going to be your natural inclination, we’re attracted to that, and we love to get even, we love to just even the score. And then he says ‘That’s mine, give place to “the” wrath,’ in the final analysis nobody is going to get away with anything, ‘I’ll take care of this.’ And then my attitude is ‘OK you get ‘em. I can’t get ‘em, you get ‘em.’ And he don’t even like that, ‘You, behave!’ ‘ok Lord, you’re right.’ But here, you know, we’re going to have our chance, it does say this, and I’m glad, it says this in Psalm 149, it says ‘Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud on their beds, let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the nations and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written, this honour have all his saints, praise you the LORD.’ So there’s a day coming when we come with Christ on white horses and we descend, and there’s order in this world, and things are set right. But he’s in charge of all that, he’s governing all of that. Here, he tells Moses and the children of Israel ‘I want you to go and avenge yourself on the children of Midian.’ He had said to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, ‘Abraham, I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that curse thee,’ has never been revoked, that’s never been revoked. And Balaam taught Balak and those of Moab how to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, and because of that 23,000 of them died, 22,000 died in a day. So we’re almost picking up our text here from back in chapter 25, verse 17, where God tells Phinehas to go to avenge himself, and then he moves onto other things, and now he comes back and says ‘This is what I want you to do,’ God knows when it should happen. There are some very difficult things here by the way. This is going to be a dress rehearsal for the battles of Canaan. God’s going to say to Moses, choose 1,000 men from each of the 12 tribes, you’re going to go into battle with 12,000 men, against who knows how many Midianites. You know in the days of the Judges, 135,000 Midianites are going to come into the land of Canaan. And by the number of spoils here that we see, the numbers were incredible, and we’re going to find out not one single Israelite is lost, and they have the victory, and they come back and then want to make a special offering to the LORD, because they realize it’s supernatural. But all of the battles of Canaan are going to be that way, the Jordan River’s going to part, the walls of Jericho are going to fall down. And every victory they have is a secondary victory. The primary victory will be that they had gotten on their knees and gotten direction from the LORD. [I think Joshua was the one on his knees, not necessarily the ordinary Israelite, seeing the ordinary Israelite didn’t have God’s indwelling Holy Spirit.] That was their primary victory. Every victory militarily was a secondary victory. Every defeat they suffer in Canaan is a secondary defeat. They were defeated initially because they didn’t seek the LORD in regards to Ai, and with the Gibeonites, they made mistakes, so any defeat they suffered was a secondary defeat, the primary defeat was when they didn’t seek the LORD. So they’re being taught how to do battle, because they’re going to go into Canaan and take the land. At the end of the Book of Joshua, the beginning of the Book of Judges, it says there that God leaves some of the enemy in the land “to teach the children of Israel how to do battle.” He’s not talking about teaching them how to do swordsmanship, or teaching them how to use a bow. The idea is so that the next generation might learn how to hit their knees, and trust the Living God, and have the same kind of victory that the generation before them experienced as they came into the land. So this is kind of a dress rehearsal here, there’s not going to be a general there’s going to be a priest in front of them [a real warrior-priest]. Remarkable, they’re not going to win because of their military prowess, but because God is going to grant them the victory.

Avenging Of Israel Against The Midianites

So in verse 1 it says “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.” Moses, your last official public act. “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. Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.” it’s just a token, because we know there’s 600,000 fighting men over that, in the army, so 12,000 are chosen, “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.” (verses 1-6) Now it says “with the holy instruments,” plural, “and the trumpets to blow in his hand.” So we’re not sure, some feel this is the Ark of the Covenant, some feel that starts as they go across the Jordan River into Canaan, we’re not sure. But here the holy instruments, possibly the Ark, the head of the war is the priest, with the silver trumpets being blown, instead of a general, and they’re moving in now to the battle, and they’re getting used to what God will ask them to do on a larger scale as they cross the Jordan. “And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.” (verse 7) You know you think of Jonathan saying ‘The LORD can deliver his victory by few or by many, it’s nothing to him.’ So here they had victory over all of the males, the soldiers, “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.” (verse 8) Zur, now if you remember, Zur was the prince, father of Cozbi the Midianitish woman that went into the tent with Zimri and was slain by Phinehas, and it stopped the plague. And notice, “and Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.” Balaam should have hightailed it out of there long ago and got back to his home by the Euphrates River, but he stuck around. This is a guy in his prophecy, when the Spirit of the LORD was upon him said ‘Let me die the death of the righteous,’ and then he dies the death of the wicked. Here’s a guy who longed to go, he longed for silver and for gold, and all of those things, all of his Krugerrands, and all of the grain he had stored in his house could not protect him when it was time for the LORD to take his life. So great lesson here, we can’t live however we want to live and die the death of the righteous. I always thought it was interesting, just my own mental illness I guess, but if I watch the news I always kind of watch things and I think ‘Lord, are you speaking through this or that?’ It was very interesting the week that Princess Di was killed in the car wreck, whatever your conspiracy theories are, but Mother Theresa died the same week. And I thought ‘Here’s mother Theresa, whose like lived for the last decade with her heart not working, she could have dropped any moment, and God has them both in front of the world for a whole week. One of them leaves less than $2 worth of personal belongings, and the other one leaves unimaginable wealth.’ And you look at that and think ‘I want to live like Princess Di but I want to die like Mother Theresa,’ and that don’t happen, it don’t happen. And here is Balaam who ends up getting slaughtered in this battle, and he’s the one who gave them the advice on how to lure the children of Israel into this idolatry so that over 23,000 died, and it comes back now upon him, he’s not dying the death of the righteous at all. “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. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. 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.” (verses 9-12) They’re so close now to going into the Promised Land. “And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.” (verses 13-14) he is angry. Now this is the meekest man in the world’s problem, we know this by now, he gets angry. He already knows he’s not going into the Promised Land because he got angry, so he probably figures he’ll get angry now, it doesn’t matter anyway. “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.” (verses 15-16) ‘Are you out of your minds!? You want to win the battle and lose the war? What are you guys thinking? you’re supposed to go out there and not take hostages, and you bring back all of the idolatrous women that the Israelite men went to bed with, that brought the plague?’ It’s like if someone’s an alcoholic and you’re trying to straighten them out going to the State Store and loading a whole truck of booze into their living room, that doesn’t make any sense. And Moses is angry, and he challenges them and says ‘This is what you’ve done!?’ verse 17, “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones,” difficult text, “and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.” in evidently their idolatrous worship, “But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.” (verses 17-18) So the boys, the women who had been involved in the idolatrous worship, Molech and so forth, the LORD gives the command through Moses to slay them, to slay them. Difficult for us, this is the same God of the New Testament. But he had said ‘I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that curse thee,’ (Genesis 12:3) and in Genesis chapter 15, verse 16 he had told Abraham that for 400 years the children of Israel are going to be in Egypt, and then I’m going to bring them out, and I am going to use them to judge the Amorite and the Canaanite, because the iniquity of the Amorite has not yet come to a full. And again, God judges time morally, not by the calendar or the clock. And God is the only one that can look at a people or a nation and say ‘They are so perverted, they are so gone, there’s no longer opportunity for redemption to work here.’ And in God’s wisdom, not mine, it’s a hard and difficult text to read, he says these boys, these women that have been involved in idolatry, wipe them out. [Comment: What happens to these Midianites after they die? What is the purpose for all of “unsaved” humanity throughout the long history of this world who die in their sins, unsaved? Do they go to some “everburning hellfire” to spend eternity there? That doesn’t seem fair. Don’t forget, only those with God’s Holy Spirit are offered salvation, eternal life. God is a great teacher, and he’s teaching mankind a great BIG lesson. Mankind is taking the long way around the barn, including all that died in the wilderness, and including all of unsaved Israel, which was all of them except for Moses, Aaron, and maybe Eleazar, Joshua and Caleb. Most all of mankind is learning what Satan’s way is like first, in their normal lifetimes. And then what? Ezekiel 37:1-14 is the only Bible promise given to the Jews in their captivity in Babylon of a hope that they would be resurrected back to life at some unspecified time in the future, and verses 13-14 of Ezekiel 37 actually shows God giving his Holy Spirit to those resurrected in this resurrection. Now connecting the dots with the New Testament, we find that Revelation 20:11-13 shows this is the time of the Great White Throne Judgment, the 2^nd resurrection, when all of unsaved mankind will be resurrected back to life. In Ezekiel 37:13-14, it shows that at this time, God will give everyone resurrected in this resurrection his Holy Spirit, offering them salvation, which for most coming up in this resurrection, will be the first time that has been offered to them. See https://unityinchrist.com/ezek/Ezekiel%20pt3-2.htm and scroll to Ezekiel 37:1-14 and read that section about what those verses mean. So is God being unfair to the Canaanites or Midianites, or mankind in general? No way, man. That’s not the God I worship. He is both just and merciful at the same time, all in due time.] The young girls, who are virgins, who have never been involved in the sin of Peor, and the worship of Baal, keep them alive unto yourselves, but destroy this out of your midst. Hard text. If you again, really want to dig into some of this, go to the University of Pennsylvania, their library down there at the museum has some great things that will give you a sense of the religious practices of the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Hittitites, slaughtering their own children. Don’t feel bad, you know these children are put to death, how many of their sons had passed through the fire to Molech [Baal], how many of their own children were not alive because they had already slaughtered them. How many of their children were not virgins, already involved in this sexual idolatrous practices and so forth. You read there, how that sometimes whole villages were destroyed by venereal diseases, because of their practice beyond what we want to talk about here. So the LORD gives command to clean house, to clean this out, there won’t be health if this is left alive.

The Waters Of Purification, They’re Used In The Cleansing Of The Army

“And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed a person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood. 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; only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 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.” (verses 19-23) So anything that could be purified by fire was purified by fire. So anything that wouldn’t abide the flame they were to wash with water. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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:” (verses 24-26) So now I’m going to skip down to verse 32, they’re taking the sum of all the animals and so forth. When you start to look at this you’ll get an idea of how lopsided and supernatural this victory was. Verse 32, says “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,” 675,000 sheep they brought home. Verse 33 says 72,000 beeves, I like to say that, beeves, 72,000 cattle, verse 34, 61,000 donkeys, one of them talking by the way, hope that you get that one. 32,000 persons, that would be young women, young virgins, of the women that had not known man by lying with them, half of the portion would go to those that went to war, it says there in verse 36, the LORD’s tribute of the sheep was 675 of the sheep went to the LORD. It says of the 36,000 cattle 72 there went to the LORD. Verse 39, of the donkeys, 35,500, 61 of those went to the LORD. And the persons, the LORD’s tribute, 32 people, no doubt those people, those 32 women were taught to serve the Levites and the priests, and we would believe that they would come to faith in the True and the Living God. “And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD’s heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.” (verse 41) So you had those initial numbers, a small percentage of that went to the LORD, half of those numbers were divided up between the men who went to battle and the remaining portion of it went to those who stayed home of the tribes with the stuff, those that remained. And it says all of those were divided up, it brings you to verse 47. Verse 48 says this, “And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: 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.” (verses 48-49) Now by the number of the spoils that they had taken, it’s unimaginable how many tens of thousands were slaughtered in this war. And of the 12,000 Israelite soldiers not a single one was lost. And they come realizing now, as they come to Moses, God had supernaturally protected them, and they know that. Now you can imagine the commander, the generals, the captains, as they brought the count in, they all looked at each other and said, ‘We didn’t lose a single man,’ they must have gotten on their knees, they must have prayed, they must have said ‘We need to take an offering to the LORD,’ they’re acknowledging, and rightly so. “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.” (verse 50) Now it’s only an atonement in the sense of saying ‘LORD, we realize that our lives belong to you, or we wouldn’t be here, there wasn’t a single man that was lost.’ And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 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. (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of the hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.” (verses 51-54) And I think there were many in Israel no doubt in 1948, 1967, 1973, 1982 that realized the same thing, the supernatural hand of God in so many of those battles, Israel outnumbered unimaginably, and supernatural survival, supernatural things that took place, that nation still existing today, the same God, love for the same people. “And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 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.” That’s 6,720 ounces, that’s 420 lbs of gold. What is that in today’s market? If you know, you got way more invested than I do. But imagine 420 lbs of gold, that’s millions of dollars of gold. “And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 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.” (verses 51-52) So it seems that gold was set somewhere to be a memorial, because as they were going to cross over Jordan, by God’s supernatural hand, the feet of the priests touching the water as they carried the Ark, the Jordan River standing in a heap as they cross over, and then they face unimaginably the city of Jericho, and hard for us to imagine today what that was like for them, to look at those walls, without the technology and so forth [no Symtex, no C4]. And there would be, as they worshipped at the Tabernacle, a reminder of God’s supernatural intervention, granting victory against all odds. Isn’t that the struggle of our lives? To believe that he can intervene and provide whatever it might be against all odds, a spouse, a child, employment, resources, health, whatever it may be. It is the struggle of our lives, when odds seem insurmountable, to understand that in his Word he said ‘Only go with 12,000.’ Follow your High Priest, Jesus Christ, trust in him. ‘This is not about a struggle in the natural, this is about you learning to trust me in the more difficult circumstances of life,’ and I don’t like those lessons, I’m a wimp. I want everything in my life to be ok, and I want to sing songs and teach Bible studies and get Raptured, I have a whole plan. It may not happen that way, but that’s what I’m hoping for, what I’m shooting for. But we are living in interesting times [but boy are we now, 16 years after Pastor Joe gave this sermon in 2008]. And the struggle of our lives is always that, against odds, ‘Lord, your Word says this, but I want to react this way, your Word says this, but I want to go out on my own and try to do it in my own strength, your Word says this, but I want to do this, Lord. I’m afraid if I trust you it’s never going to work out, it’s never gonna happen, not for me Lord, for everybody else.’ And it’s the same, and there was a memorial there as they would go to worship, and they would see this gold laid up, a reminder, that God is the one who grants the victory. And he is he one who goes before them, and us, the author and the finisher of our faith. Read ahead, we come to Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh next week, very interesting study, and there’s some tremendous applications and things for us to learn in the struggles that we have in our relationship with one another, certainly, some remarkable things there. Read ahead, and we’ll have the musicians come, we’ll lift our voices, we’ll sing a last song together. I encourage you to stand, let’s pray…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Numbers 28:1-31, Numbers 29:1-40, Numbers 30:1-16 and Numbers 31:1-54, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]