Numbers 28–32

Remember now, we've got a new generation of people who come to the border of the Promised Land. They’ve been clearing out the east side of the Jordan - all of that area. We call the Trans-Jordan area. They've been slow. And that really wasn't even part of the Promised Land. But they had some enemies come against them. They conquered them. They've begun to even live in that area prior to crossing the Jordan and making their way into the Promised Land. And let me just say, that I wanted to remind you of something. And we've said this many times in our study of Numbers, that crossing the Jordan and going into the Promised Land is a picture. In fact, we see many, many pictures in the Book of Numbers. But this is a picture of moving into the promises of God. Walking out the promises of God. It's living with Jesus in such a way that we begin to understand His promises, walk in them and truly walk in the victory of what those promises are. You'll remember that as soon as the nation of Israel went into the Promised Land, they were met with enemy, after enemy, after enemy, after challenge. And that's what our lives in Christ are, aren't they? Anybody that tells you coming to Jesus is a cakewalk, you got to wonder if they've ever come to Jesus. Because it is a constant series of battles that we face. Right? But we can have victory when we walk out the promises of God. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, and understand His promises and walk those out. It's not much fun being a wilderness Christian. And it's time to come into the Promised Land. And that's what is being talked about in these coming chapters. Since we have a young generation here though, the previous generation because of unbelief, fell in the desert. And now their children are ready to enter in. There is some time for repetition, particularly as it relates to the various offerings that were required for the different feasts and special days on the Jewish calendar. And it begins like this in chapter 28.

And what we have here in this and the next chapter, are reminders as to what offerings were to be made in certain specific circumstances. And it begins with the daily sacrifice. They, every day, would do the following. Verse 3,

I like this as a daily offering. And I like the fact that it is done in the morning and at night. And there's something important, the whole sacrificial system reminds us of one very important thing. We need somebody to stand-in on our behalf. Right? That's why the sacrificial system was established. God wanted to communicate to the nation of Israel, and ultimately to all of God's people in all of time, there needs to be someone who stands-in for you. There needs to be a sacrifice. Now, Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of that ultimate sacrifice. But notice how God says, “Your day begins with a reminder of your need for a sacrifice, and your day ends with a reminder of your need for a sacrifice.” What is that good... How is that good for you and I? Well, I think we ought to have that same reminder at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. Listen, Jesus is the one who came to die for your sins. There's nothing you can add to that. It is done. It is finished. Right? And we start the day with that understanding, and we close the day with that understanding. He is the sacrifice. He is the perfect sacrifice. And there is no other sacrifice needed other than the one God provides. Okay? Don't let… I don't care who comes to your door, knock, knock, knock and tells you otherwise. Or what other flyer you get in the mail, or hanging on your doorknob, or whatever, and they tell you got to do this, you got to do that. Listen, Jesus is enough. Jesus is enough. Alright, now in verses seven and eight, they give some specifics about how those offerings, exactly were to be made. Skip down if you would to verse nine. Verses nine and ten, then go on to cover the special offerings made every Sabbath. Alright? And this is in addition to the daily offering. ---

Verse 9 says, “On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: 10 this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides, (or in addition to) the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.” Alright? That's the Sabbath offering. Happened every day of rest. These things were offered to the Lord. In verses 11 through 15, the offerings are covered that were made every beginning of every month. And that's why it begins in verse 11 to say, “At the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD:” Now again, this is in addition to the other. So if the Sabbath happens to land on the first day of the month, guess what? You just have these compounded offerings. And you're to offer to the Lord, “…two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 12 also three tenths of an ephah fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull, and two tenths of fine flour for a grain offering...” Da da da da da, gives you all the specifics. Right? And it goes on in verse 14 and 15 to talk about “14...the drink offering...” and how that is measured out and so forth. And then if you'll skip down to verse 16, it says, “On the fourteenth day of the first month (now we're coming to the feast offerings on the 14th day of the first month) is the LORD's Passover, and on the (very next day) the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. (And that is the feast of unleavened bread) Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 On the first day there (should) be a holy convocation. (And again, that's Passover and) You shall not do any ordinary work,...” All right? Now...And you know Passover is a remembrance of God's deliverance of the people of Israel from Egypt by the angel of death coming and bringing death to every home in which the blood of the Lamb was not covering the doorpost and lintel of their home. (Exodus 22-23) And for the Jews and for those who were operating by faith that night, who are sheltering under the blood of the Lamb, no death came. This is a reminder of that in Passover. And of course we know that Passover is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. He is… The New Testament comes right out and says, He is our Passover Lamb. Jesus is the fulfillment of Passover.

Skip down to verse 26, because in those verses 19 through 25 are just specific measurement elements, related to the Passover sacrifice that was made. And I'm not going to go through those because we've already gone through them in Leviticus. We talked about them in detail. Verse 26, “On the day of firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work,...” Now, what's the next feast? The next feast is the Feast of Weeks, also known as Pentecost. And this is the next feast after Passover. Right? And it was during this feast that the Church was praising and worshiping and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. And empowered the believers to go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of bringing the Gospel to all nations. Jesus had specifically told them, do not run off before the Spirit comes to empower you; to prepare you for the work of the ministry. (Acts 1:8) Oh, how the Church needs to hear that today. Don't run off halfcocked. And whatever you don't run off in your own strength. Because that's what happens when we're not walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are walking… There’s only one other option, and that's the power of the flesh. You either got the power of the flesh, or you have the power of the Spirit. And we need to be empowered by God's Spirit because it's a spiritual work that we do. Right? Whether it's warfare or sharing the gospel... Even in warfare, what does the Bible tell us, your battle is not against flesh and blood. It is against spiritual principalities, and powers, rulers of this dark world. (Ephesians 6:12) Right? Even that requires a spiritual dynamic, a powerful dynamic. Well, that took place... God chose to have that take place on the day of Pentecost, or the day of in-gathering. (Exodus 34:22) And this was a powerful reminder for the Church. But here in the Old Testament, this is the Feast of Weeks when the firstfruits come in. And they were to remember, in verses 27 through 31, exactly how those burnt offerings were to be offered. And all of the details are given you there with their amounts and measurements. We'll skip over them. Let's go to chapter 29, “1 On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is the day for you to blow the trumpets,”

--- Now this wasn't a day of having jazz music in Jerusalem. Blowing of the trumpets was basically, a declaration for the people to enter into a proper mindset for what is coming - like the Day of Atonement and so forth, which also goes on in this very month. The Feast of Trumpets, which is what we call it, was an opportunity... Now, more than an opportunity. It was a calling to the people to come and ready themselves for the things that were about to take place. And I think this is important. There are times that we need to ready ourselves. I think we've lost sight of that sometime. Have you ever readied yourself for a holiday season, when you're celebrating something that the Lord has done powerfully? If you don't find yourself... If you don't ready your heart, many times your heart is unprepared to receive. Have you ever gone through a resurrection celebration like we just went through? Celebration of Easter Have you ever gone through it and just went, meh. It was just not... It wasn't much to it. And you might even pass it off on somebody else. Yeah. Church service was kind of blah. I just... I don't know. Or maybe you come up to Christmas - celebration of the Birth of Jesus Christ - the most wonderful gift we've ever received. And you're just, yeah, I'm just, Christmas this year it was just kind of blah. Just wasn't much to it. You ever think that maybe it was you not preparing your heart, for those holy times of just recognizing. Okay, you say, well, pastor Paul, what does it mean to prepare your heart? Well, during the Feast of Trumpets, it was a time of making sure that there were no barriers. It was a time of repentance. It was a time of just, setting aside one's usual thought processes, and goals, and desires, and whatever else. And just focusing on the Lord. It's something we really ought to do all the time. But there are times that God, actually, factored this in to the life of His people in Israel. And I think these are great reminders for you and I, that there are times we need to prepare our hearts for what God wants to do. Every Sunday morning, every Wednesday night, whenever you're, going in a Bible study or whatever. If our hearts are unsettled and just haven't been prepared, many times, it's just like that seed getting scattered on the hard path. We look at that parable of the sower and we think that the hard path is like the unbelieving heart. You think a believer can't have an unbelieving heart? You think a believer can't have a hard heart? Think again. Of course we can. I have had a hard heart as a born-again child of God. My heart has grown hard and the Word of God has a hard time getting in. There needs to be a preparatory work. ---

What does a farmer do to prepare? We're watching the farmers at this time of year, starting to get out into the field to prepare their fields for the coming crop. What are they going to do? Do they just start planting on top of whatever showed up after the snow melted? Heavens no! They get out there and they plow. And got to turn up the ground. And many times that's what's required in our hearts. To turn up the ground of our hearts so that the seed of the Word can get in there. And it begins with saying, Lord, I know that my heart can go astray very easily. I want to just come to You. And I want to confess my sin. Jesus told us - He taught us to pray about forgiving us of our trespasses and so forth as we forgive those who trespass against us. Offering forgiveness, receiving forgiveness, what a great preparation that can do to prepare our hearts to just hear the Word of God, to receive the Word of God. Even the simple prayer, Lord, I'm going to go to church tonight. Would You open my heart to hear Your voice tonight? How often does that happen, do you think when people actually go to church, lord, I want to, I just really want to receive from You today. Sometimes that trumpet, that says, hey, ready yourself is needed in our lives. Well, verses 2 through 6, are all of the specifics of what they were to offer. Again, we've gone through these before. The measurements and so forth are there. Skip down to verse 7. Now we come to the offerings required for the Day of Atonement. And this was, remember, the one day of the year when the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was. And he would bring a blood sacrifice for the atonement of his own sins and then the sins of Israel. Verse 7 tells us,

And there was to be a time of fasting. There was to be a time of setting aside all other work and activity, to just focus on the Lord. And it says in verse 8,

And then it goes on to list those offerings. Skip down to verse 12. You can see we're making our way through here. Now, verses 12 through 38, are going to cover the specific offerings for the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles, which the nation of Israel was to annually observe in remembrance of what? The nation of Israel living in the wilderness for 40 years and God's supernatural, providential care.

Isn't that cool? You think about it. What if you guys went camping? I mean, because that's really probably the closest sort of a connection. They would actually leave their homes and put together these little temporary booths. And they would stay in them once a year to remind themselves, we used to live like this. Our forefathers lived like this in the wilderness. But it wasn't just camping to say, gee, wasn't that fun camping. They would go out and live in the booths to remind themselves for 40 years God cared for us. Our shoes never wore out. Every morning, we would go out of the entrance of our tent and there on the ground would be supernatural cornflakes - on the ground - that we could scoop up and eat. It was called, manna. And God gave us water to take care of us. And He… There was a cloud of fire at night, and a pillar of cloud by day, to lead, and guide, and to direct. And once a year, the nation of Israel was to remember God's providential care. For 40 years as a people God didn't let us die-off in the wilderness. The generation of unbelief died off. But a new generation grew up in their place and God took care of us. What a great reminder. What a wonderful thing. If we could do something like that today, I think Christians ought to. And to go camping... And I keep saying camping. And it wasn't literally camping. But for those of you that do go camping- some of you like it, some of you don't - but it takes work. And you have to replace your schedule. And go do something really different. But that's the point, to remind yourself of what God did. Sometimes if we… If it's too easy, if the reminder is too easy, we're not really reminded. Sometimes I think Communion can be too easy. We take Communion fairly regularly. But sometimes it can just be a little too easy. And if you're a little bit too distracted, you can go through a Communion Service and just go, what was that all again about? We're supposed to do it in remembrance. To remember a very important thing. God likes us to remember. And He says, here in verse 12,

This is the Feast of Booths. And it goes on… Actually, there's a full eight days of instructions that goes along with this. Skip all the way down to verse 39. You're going to go all the way down to verse 39

40 So Moses told the people of Israel everything just as the LORD commanded Moses.” Alright, Numbers chapter 30. We’ve gone through the feasts and refreshed ourselves on what the feasts are and what they meant. And why God gave them to the nation of Israel. Chapter 30 of Numbers, is going to, if you're looking at the little headings on your Bible... If your Bible puts those little headings above chapters, it's going to talk about… Your Bible's probably going to say something about taking a vow. It's about keeping vows, reciting vows, or something like that. But you know what? What this chapter is really about, is about headship. And biblical headship is something that we have a picture of in the Old Testament, particularly in this chapter. And it's also echoed in the New Testament. We'll talk about that in a bit. And I'll show you how headship comes into it in just a moment. Verse 1,

Do you know that it's important for God's people to have, to be true to their word? And one of the reasons it's very important for God's people to be people of their word is because we have been given a message. And that message is true. In fact, we represent He who is true. Jesus said, “I am the truth…” and we're His ambassadors. What do you think it looks like if you're an ambassador for the Lord of truth, but your word isn't kept. Do you see what that looks like? It's like…He’s also the ambassador, or He’s the Lord of love. And yet sometimes we don't represent that very well, either. But here He’s talking about truth. You and I need to be people where your word is true. Because you represent the Lord who is true. God is concerned about this. He says, hey, you take a vow... All right, let's define a vow for just a moment. Most of us probably know. But we think of vows like marriage vows or something like that. But… And that's part of it. I mean, a marriage vow, those are vows. A vow is essentially a promise someone makes to God. And during the Old Testament, they often came about during a time of crisis. And they were something that was said to God in the sense of saying, if God, if You will do X, I will do Y. Right? And God if…

Martin Luther, the reformer, was a man who didn't really care a whole lot about religion. But he found himself caught in a very severe thunderstorm, riding his mount through this wooded area. Very, very severe thunderstorm and he promised God. He said, God, if you get me through this storm, I will become a priest. And God spared him and he became a priest. Well, then, of course, he started getting into all of what Roman Catholicism was about back in the early 1500s. And he realized how empty and ridiculous it was. And then he started reading the Bible. Imagine that. And he found Jesus Christ. But it was interesting through this vow that he made to the Lord, he actually came to a place of recognizing that Jesus Christ is Lord. And that salvation is only through Him. And he then was so disgusted with what he saw had become part of Roman Catholicism, that he started what we now know as, The Reformation - The Protestant Reformation. Pretty amazing things that can happen from the taking of a vow. But that's often how vows would take place back, many years ago. The problem is, once the crisis goes away, sometimes we forget to keep up our end of the bargain. The crisis goes away and it's like, “Well, let me think about that again.” Now, Martin Luther went on and became a priest. But some people forget about the promises they make to God. Even our marriage vows, sometimes we forget. God gives warnings throughout His Word. Telling His people, hey, you're going to be held to your vows. The remainder of the chapter is about situations where someone would say a vow. But what we're going to read largely here in this chapter, is times when a vow will not be held by the Lord. In other words: When, if ever, can a vow be nullified? We're going to find out headship plays into this. Verse 3. It says,

Why? Because even though she's under her father's headship, the fact that he didn't say anything assumes he's in agreement with the vow. All right? “But (verse 5) if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, (not even necessarily on the day that she takes the vow, but on the day he hears of it, it might be a long time down the road) no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the LORD will forgive her, because her father opposed her.” Again, we ask the question why? Well, it's because this young unmarried woman under the headship of her father while still at home. And he has the right to untangle her from any rash vow that she may have spoken in the heat of a moment. Now, verse 6 applies the same idea to a woman who's gotten married. It says, “If she marries a husband, while under her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, 7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vow shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.” Right? And again, the idea here is, because he doesn't say anything, he's in agreement. You guys remember that Hannah, vowed a vow to the Lord? She was unable to conceive children. She went before the Lord with her husband. And she came to worship before the Lord at the tabernacle. And she said, Lord, if you give me a child, I will give him back to you. And he will for all of his life be devoted to you, and I will give him literally to the high priest. And she made good on her vow. (1 Samuel 1:11) Think ladies, you who have given birth to children, think how tough that one would be to keep. Right? To offer - to hand your baby to this old crusty guy, Eli, who is mostly blind by this time. And had a couple of sons who were, practically, reprobate. I mean, that woman had faith. But she vowed a vow. And she made good on her vow. Look at verse 8, “But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips (Notice that... And it's assumed that because he is opposing it, it was a thoughtless utterance which she) by which she bound herself. And the LORD will forgive her.” Again, because she now, has gone from the headship of her husband, excuse me, her father to the headship of her husband. Now when we talk about headship, you might be saying, well, Pastor Paul, isn't that an outdated, outmoded idea here for us, enlightened people living in the United States of America today in 2017? I mean, really, pastor Paul, how could you even say such a thing?” Well, the fact of the matter is the apostle Paul talks about this in the Book of Ephesians. You can take time to look it up yourself in Ephesians chapter 5. The

--- apostle Paul, talks about how the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church. (Ephesians 5:22-23) This is not something that is given for a period of time. It is... Well, I guess it's given for the age in which it was spoken. And there will come a time when we will neither marry nor be given in marriage. And that headship issue will no longer be - play into things in the next age. But for right now, there is an issue of headship that God still applies. Women, I want you to understand that this is not something that God does or speaks to negate any sense of equality, or specialness, or importance for a woman. This is a protection element. And it has vast spiritual implications. And what I mean by that is, if the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church, then we can assume that there are some similarities of roles related to that position of headship. We know that one of the roles of headship that Jesus exercises for the Church is, that He is constantly interceding. This is what the Bible tells us, Jesus is constantly interceding for His bride, the Church. Right? He's constantly praying for us. That's a wonderful thing. Jesus, is right now seated at the right hand of the Father, and He is praying for us. That's a very cool thought. But men understand this: Jesus is praying because that's His role. And because it's His role to do that - to intercede for the saints, the Church - God is going to give a special ear to that prayer. Because that's His role. That's His job. Guys, I want to encourage you, it is your job to pray for your wife and to pray for your family. That's your role because you've been given that position of headship. And I know that there are families that are in all different stages of function and dysfunction. I get that. But you know what? Because your family may be in a state of dysfunction, or maybe you're even estranged, that doesn't mean that you've been released from your responsibility. You are still called to pray. Pray for peace. Pray for grace. Pray for repentance. Pray for life. Pray for the individual members. Guys, we need to be praying for our wives. I got to say something. It hurts my heart a little bit when a woman comes down for prayer and her husband is off talking football or something with somebody. It bothers me. Because that woman is asking me to do something that's not technically my role. I'm not her head. I don't have a position of headship over her. I have a position of headship over one woman. There used to be two more in my home, but they've both gotten married. They've now been transferred. Now I've got this one woman. And, oh boy, over the years, God has smacked me upside --- the head a few times and said, pray for your wife. Be praying for her. It's your role. And God is looking to you to function, men, in that role of headship. And I know some guys might be saying, yeah, but my wife doesn't really recognize my role of headship in the home. That really is irrelevant. Your position of headship is not given by your wife. It is given by God. And you are not to do it to please her. You're to do it out of obedience to God. Right? I just want to really encourage you men, be praying for your wives. And if there's something going on with your wife that is just really challenging her. I mean, if she's going through a hard time, we men, we can be pretty insensitive sometimes. Because we just don't tune in many times to our wives on an emotional level, or on a level that really meets her needs. And sometimes she's going through some stuff and we're just, I don't get it. I don't really get what she's going through. And it's too, easy guys. It's too, easy for us just to abdicate. Maybe call another woman. And go, hey, would you be praying for my wife? She's just... She's really having a rough time. She cries practically, every night before she goes to bed. I just don't even know what's going on. Would you be praying for my wife? Or we might just say to our wife, you know what? I don't know what to do for you. I'm sorry. I know men have said that to their wives, I don't know what to do for you. Guys, go to God, for your wife. And I would encourage you to do it in her hearing, and out of her hearing. It is a great encouragement for a woman to know that her husband is praying for her. If she's going through a hard time, sit her down on the couch, grab her hand, and pray for her. And tell her you're going to continue to pray for her until that situation... until she's on the other side of it. There's many times in life, guys, that we face situations with our wives that we just don't know how to resolve. And because men are naturally fixers... We like fixing things because we're occupational by design. We look at our wives and we say, I can't fix you. And so I'm just going to go do something. Or maybe I'll tell her, you just need to go find a good counselor or something. I'll pay for it.” Which is a way of just passing the buck. Guys, pray for your wife. Pray for her every day. I was so delinquent in my intercession for my wife, in my role of headship. In the early days of our ministry, I was so bad, that my wife got into trouble. And the enemy came and attacked her at a very tender time in her life. And of course, the enemy was messing with my head as well. And I was so involved in my own thoughts, that I wasn't even paying attention to what was going on with my wife. And she was being pummeled by the work of the enemy. And I was oblivious to it. And the Lord, brought it to my attention in a very clear sort of a way. And I spent about three months just praying for my wife. Once God got my attention and showed me how bad it really… And, you know what? When the Lord first told me about it, I didn't believe Him. The Lord, literally, through another individual said, your wife is close to an emotional and physical collapse. And I didn't believe him. I was like, why my wife? You kidding? She comes from strong German stock. She can handle anything. She's bulletproof. I really thought that about her. And then the Lord opened my eyes and allowed me to see the tender place her heart was. And how damaged her heart had become over a period of time. And I knew there was nothing I could do except pray. But I knew that was what was needed to happen. And it was interesting, because in that - it was actually during the course of a summer - June, July, and August - that I prayed for my wife. And the Lord would not let me get a job. I mean, everywhere I looked, there was nothing. And the Lord was like, I am putting you son… I'm taking you off the floor, as it were, to use a sports metaphor. And you're on the bench, buddy. And you're going to be here and you're going to pray for your wife. And when I finally got it through my head, that she was in desperate trouble, I began to intercede for her. And what a wonderful sort of a healing God brought about in her life. But it wasn't overnight. Took literally about three months for the enemy just to back off. And for her heart to be healed and restored. But it was a something that God called me to, because I was her head. He didn't call somebody else to do it. He told me to do it. And He even told me to do it at a time when I was going through a hard time in my life. And God said, you pray for your wife. And as you pray for your wife, I'm going to heal you, too. But not because you're sitting there praying for yourself. Because you're praying for her. You are her spiritual head, get the job done. Boy, I learned a lot that year. That summer was a powerful time of lessons. Verse 9, "(But any vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.)" Wow, bummer! But again, it's because no headship. There isn't that role of headship to protect and stuff.

And verse 10 says, "And if she vowed in her husband's house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath, 11 and her husband heard of it, and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she (has) bound herself shall stand." "But if her husband (verse 12) makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband (You might as well just say, her head) has made them void, and the LORD will forgive her. 13 Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself, her husband may establish, or her husband may make void. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them." Men, you can see here that if a man says nothing or does nothing, it can actually be a dangerous thing for his wife. "15 But if he makes them null and void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity." Right? Right? If he tries to nullify them after he heard of them, then it's on him, not her. Because he wasn't doing his job of headship. That's an important thing. It says, "16 These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses about a man and his wife and about a father and his daughter while she is in her youth within her father's house." Again, that chapter is more about headship than anything. Chapter 31. "1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”” Alright, remember here, it was the Midianites who joined with the Moabites together, to successfully seduce the men of Israel into sexual worship practices at Peor. Remember, this happened after Balaam failed to curse the Israelites. He gave the men there an inside track. And he said, hey, listen, you're not going to be able to curse them by their God. But I can tell you how you can make the wrath of God fall upon them. By getting them to worship other gods. And that's exactly what they did. And now God says, it's time to bring wrath on this nation. And this is the response of the Lord, in the form of a military campaign launched against the Midianites here. For again, persuading the men to worship other gods and so forth.

--- “3 So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the LORD's vengeance on Midian. 4 You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” 5 So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 They warred against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian (and the rest of their slain, excuse me) with the rest of their slain, (And then it names those) five kings of Midian. (there) And (it says,) they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. (So he got what was coming to him in that particular campaign.) 9 And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. 10 And all their cities in the places where they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire, 11 and took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of man and of beast. (And) 12 Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. (And) 13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. 14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live? 16 Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the LORD.” In other words, some of the very same women who were involved in leading those men astray, were now being spared. And what was being brought into the camp was the same threat. And they're thinking, just because we battle against their men and killed them, we can bring the women in. But, oh, that's going to be just fine. And Moses says, wait just a minute here. You've brought the same danger back into the camp. Verse 17, “Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves.” Typically, in any kind of a war campaign - military campaign - outside of the Promised Land, which this one is. This is outside. The women were always --- spared. But in this situation, again, these women were responsible for seducing the Israelites. And they had to be put to death in order to save the people of Israel. And the girls who had no sexual activity and were not involved in the seduction at Baal-Peor, we're allowed to live and then marry Israelite men. Verse 19 says, “Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. 20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goat's hair, and every article of wood.” So as they come back into the camp, there's a cleansing period for these things. “21 (And) Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded Moses: 22 only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean.” (In other words, shall be cleansed with fire) Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. 24 You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you may come into the camp.” 25 (And) The LORD said to Moses, 26 “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation, 27 and divide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 And levy for the LORD a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, one out of five hundred, of the people (who went) and of the oxen and of the donkeys and of the flocks. 29 Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the LORD. 30 And from the people of Israel's half you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the people, …oxen, …donkeys, and …flocks, (and)… cattle, and give them to the Levites who keep guard over the tabernacle of the LORD.” This was to be the way they dealt with things by providing for the priests and so forth. And the rest of the chapter is just an inventory of the plunder. Unless you really like doing that. But this is one of the reasons why we call this book, the Book of Numbers. In addition to the censuses that are done, there's also all these keeping of numbers for things like that. Alright, quickly, Chapter 32, “Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. (In other words, it had good pasture lands.) 2 So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land (of the Lord) that the LORD struck down before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 And they said, (Listen) “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.” Now you'll remember back in chapter 21, we read about the conquest of the Transjordan area. It's not part of the Promised Land, but some of the nations came out against them. They battled them. They defeated them. Conquered them. And now this land is essentially, cleared of these other people groups. And these two tribes are coming to Moses, and they're saying, “This is really good land. We'd really like to stay here.” We'll see here that Moses, isn't terribly thrilled with that idea. Verse 6,

(And) 16 Then they came near to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, 17 but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place.

And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance. 19 For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.” 20 (And) So Moses said to them, (Listen) “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the LORD for the war, 21 and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the LORD, until he has driven out his enemies from before him 22 and the land is subdued before the LORD; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the LORD.” In other words, Moses agrees. “23 But if you (do not… and here he gives him some warnings. If you do not do so,) behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out. 24 Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.” 25 And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26 Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all (the) cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, 27 but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord orders.” 28 So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. 29 And Moses said to them, “If the people of Gad and the people of Reuben, every man who is armed to battle before the LORD, will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. 30 However, if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possession among you in the land of Canaan.” 31 And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben answered, “What the LORD has said to your servants, we will do. 32 We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.” 33 And Moses gave to them, to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben (Oh! And look at this.) to the half-tribe of Manasseh (They said, “Hey, we want in on this, too.” (which was) the son of Joseph, (And this is just half of the tribe.) the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land and its cities with (its) territories, the cities of the land throughout the country. 34 And the people of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,...” (And all the rest of them. For the) folds for (their) sheep.

Verse 37, “And the people of Reuben built...(those places; it says,) (their names were changed),... And they gave other names to the cities they built. 39 And the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and (he) captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 40 And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he settled in it. 41 And Jair the son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and called them Havvoth-jair. 42 And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.” You know what's interesting about this? This is a concession. These two and a half-tribes of Israel, are basically choosing not to enter into the Promised Land. They're choosing to stay on the other side of the Jordan, which is in a land that God, originally, had not given to Israel. Now, Moses, as by concession, gave it to them. But you'll notice his big concern was what? You take care of your brothers. And if you'll do that, I will concede to your wishes and give you this land. But you know what? It never went very well for them. I mean, it started causing problems right away. By the time Jesus gets on the scene, hundreds and hundreds of years later, what does He find when He crosses the Jordan, goes on the other side of the Sea of Galilee? He finds a people who have really let go of the things of the Lord. They're herding pigs. There's demoniacs galore living among the tombs. And it's just a nasty, nasty situation. And when they - the people of that area - saw what Jesus had done, it says, they begged him to leave their region. (Mark 5:1- 21, Matthew 8:28-9:1, Luke 8:26-40) Things did not go well. Whenever a believer chooses to remain outside of walking out the promises of God, there's not a whole lot you can do about it. I mean, if they decide they want to stay there, that's where they're going to stay. If they're like, you know what? This battle business, I don't know. And living by all the... Yeah, I don't know. And I'm just going to stay put. And it happens. It happens today. We see Christians doing it and it's sad. And it usually doesn't go well for them.