Wandering in the Wilderness: Reflections from the book of Numbers
3500 years to Covid-19
Lesson Eleven (Numbers Chapters 25-26)
Lesson Eleven: Who is keeping the neighbourhood clean?
A. Introduction
1. Greetings
Shalom and happy new year to each of you here on the Zoom call and those who will watch this class lecture on YouTube later. Our usual program during these talks is to conduct an overview of the Bible section in the first 25 minutes and then let everyone on the call into a conversation about all the themes or ideas that I will bring up for the last 30 minutes or so. Further discussion happens even deeper in our D-Groups that happen over the next week or maybe some will conduct a D-Group on Shabbat.
I’m going to recommend that you who are watching this on YouTube should read the next two Bible chapters before you listen/ watch the rest of this. This is chapters 25 and 26. Then press play on your machine and re-join us. Thanks. Welcome back.
2. Overview
[For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://youtu.be/tp5MIrMZFqo)]
Some of you are new to our Zoom call and I especially welcome you, whether here in Australia or from overseas. You are muted at the beginning, but in a short while, our host will allow the usually lively conversations and questions. We are looking at the traveling of the Jewish people in the book of Numbers, titled in Hebrew “Bamidbar” or “In the wilderness.” With Covid-19 having its way throughout our state and our country, with US political turmoil, with the continuing uncertainty that almost defined the year 2020, the world is still in a wilderness and God’s answers for us are found in the pages of this book.
There are three theses that pop up often in this book of the Bible:
1) The goal of our wandering was another place: Israel
2) God is to be central to our marching and in our living
3) The authority of the Lord and his anointed is often front and centre.
B. Today’s study: Pinchas the swordsman and a headcount: Who is keeping the neighbourhood clean?
Remember we are in the final section of the Wilderness Wandering of the Jewish people as we read these chapters. We have walked often away from God for 38 years and in this final month of our studies, we bring the focus into both thesis 2 and thesis 3. God wants to be the centre of our lives, with his characteristic of holiness noteworthy. And thesis 3 about the Authorities in our lives is clearly highlighted again, so stay with me.
The sin of Israel at Shittim
First, you might remember in our last episode, the Gentile prophet Balaam has advised the king of Moab named Balak to trick the Jewish people by sexual impropriety. Balak wanted Balaam to curse the Jews; Balaam made public noise that he was going to be faithful to God and only to bless the Jews. That bothered Balak, but over time, Balaam was wooed and basically said, “OK, you can’t curse the Jews from the outside, but if you get them to abandon God, and thus to curse themselves, you will win!” How do we know that was Balaam’s final answer? Chapter 31.16, “Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD.”
Balaam’s counsel (Hebrew: word) caused the Jewish people to sin and as a result the plague came among us. Think of COVID-19 and its slaughter of the hundreds of thousands worldwide in only one year. Plagues are not little sicknesses. They are deadly. Like the deaths of many when the snake was put on a pole. Like the plague in chapter 11 when we sinned with the quail. Like the plague when the 10 surveyors brought back a bad report. And the people believed them. Like the 14,700 who died in the plague directly linked to the sin and rebellion of Korach. Plagues abound in the wilderness. Plagues are happening globally just now.
This verse, chapter 31.16 says that the plague is upon Israel due to the sin which is directly due to the counsel of Balaam.
With that as a background, we look at chapter 25 today. Verses 1-5 showcase the problem. Balaam’s advise we still haven’t heard, is acted out and we read
“While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab.”
Israel sinned. They ate. What did they eat? Keep listening. They bowed to idols. They joined the idolaters and worshipped false gods and the real God was angry. What’s especially poignant, and maybe if you know the story of Samson and others of significance who started well, but ended poorly, Shittim is the last stop of the Jewish people before we crossed the Jordan River. THERE we give it away? There we fail the Lord? 39 plus years and then finish poorly? That’s just not on.
God is angry and tells Moses to bring judgment on the house of Israel, starting with the leadership. Moses calls the judges and invites them to take the judgment of the Lord seriously and to slay the idol worshippers. It’s a hanging in the hot sun. It’s the exact opposite of the bronze serpent from chapter 21. There we saw Moses put a replica of the snakes that were biting Israel up in the hot sun and by our looking to it, we were saved. Here, the executed were to be put up on some impalement and by that curb the anger of the Almighty. How would we be sure the anger was gone? The plague would disappear.
Note the speed with which God acted. Note the clarity he communicated and left nothing to chance.
The sin of Zimri at Shittim and Pinchas, the spearman
But then verse six introduces another episode. It’s similar to the first, but seems to follow the first. Again it’s a Midianite woman with whom an Israelite is cavorting. She is brought into the camp of Israel by an as-yet unnamed fellow. It’s not only the sexual activity which is in view. It’s the idolatry which attends it. If the fellow is married, and the text doesn’t indicate this, then he’s committing two great and grave sins: adultery and idolatry, breaking two of the Ten Commandments. But even if he’s not married, the idolatry is the most egregious of sins, spitting in the face of the Lord, saying that other gods are worthy of the same affection and time, saying the Lord who delivered Israel and fed us in the wilderness is nothing more than a tribal deity. In other words either the man is lifting up other deities or diminishing the Almighty, and in either case, it’s a horrible sin. Worship may be defined as ‘worth’ship’ and thus God is found to be (most) worthy of our life’s energies, time, money, love and attention. Idolatry says ‘no’ to worship.
Later we learn the identity of this Israelite to be Zimri, a prince of the tribe of Shimeon. What makes his sin so bad, and actually most noteworthy is that he does this after seeing the men on stakes in the hot sun. He knows the penalty, the cost. He is willing to pay the cost of his own life and even worse, he basically says, “God, I don’t care what you are asking. I want what I want, and I want it now.” That defiance is the worst. Do you see where I get this? It’s in verse 6, “in the sight of Moses” and “in the sight of all the congregation.” There is a brazen, devil-may-care attitude on display.
Consider this passage of the Proverbs, “This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wrong.” Prov. 30.20
Some people say that the best way to learn is to go through things. I more often recommend you learn by watching other people make mistakes. For instance, I’m reminded of the story of the young executive on the first day of her new job. She approaches the big boss, and greets him, she says, “Boss, is there any advice you’d like to give me on my first day on the job?” He looks up from his desk where he’s working and says, “Make good choices.”
“Great,” she says as she makes her way to the door. “Um, sir, can I ask another. How do I make good choices?” Again he looks up from his writing and replies, “Experience.” And he goes back to writing.
She nods and again makes her way to the door, and while holding the knob, she asks one more question, “Excuse me, boss, how do I gain experience?” He looks up, not annoyed, but done with the conversation and replies, “Bad choices.”
The boss was telling the new executive that making bad choices will give her experience by the which she will make good choices. OK. I see that. And I’m itching to tell those around Zimri that playing the idol game is not a good idea. And maybe when the community gets judged, and I mean 24,000 dead Jews is a pretty big scale judgment, isn’t it? When the judgment comes, those who have not yet been judged should learn from the mistakes of others. You don’t have to learn only from your own errors. You can and should learn from the sins of others.
Now it’s not the generic judges or magistrates of Israel who identify and execute their kinsman. Now the Bible zooms in one person, it’s one individual, Pinchas or Phineas, who is assigned to destroy this Zimri. When you can, later today, please read Psalm 106 in its entirety. It’s a recounting of our wilderness wandering and a bit more of our story. You will hear the psalmist testifying against our people and calling us to repent and to acknowledge the love and the life of God. Verse 28 and following of Psalm 106 says,
“They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, And ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, and the plague broke out among them. 30 Then Phinehas stood up and interposed, and so the plague was stayed. 31 And it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to all generations forever.”
Our text here in Bamidbar 25 makes it clear what we ate. Food sacrificed to idols. And why God was moved to anger. We worshiped the wrong gods. And that Pinchas’ spear was the ending of the plague. By the way Pinchas is the son of Elazar and thus the grandson of Aaron. He was a priest and yet as a result of this action of spearing the sinful Zimri and Cozbi, the Midianite woman together, he forged his own perpetuity in both the priestly clan and in Israel itself.
Pinchas took a spear and plunged it through them both. Zimri the Israelite and Cozbi. (v. 7) That checked the death rate which had accelerated to 24,000 Hebrews.
God commends Pinchas
In verse 11 we see God’s reasoning for the blessing. Pinchas was jealous, very jealous for my sake. “The rabbis have a saying, “Pinchas is Elijah” and in this fearless deed, inspired by motives absolutely pure and holy, he is certainly a counterpart of the Prophet of storm and fire.” (Hertz, page 686)
Verse 12 God gives Pinchas ‘my covenant of peace.’ Think about the retaliation which was common in those days. The ‘avenger of blood’ is the relative of someone killed by another Israelite and it’s possible (certainly according to Ibn Ezra) that since Zimri was a prince that Zimri’s brothers might have come after Pinchas. God is assuring Pinchas that he will live on, and to be at peace.
What did we read in Ps 106? The phrase is “counted to him for righteousness.” Yes, the same phrase used of Abram in Genesis 15. (with a bit of grammatical variation) whose faith was reckoned to him as righteousness. Faith without works is dead, and Pinchas demonstrates his faith in the Lord by ending the lives of Zimri and that woman.
Compare Zimri with Pinchas and there’s really no comparison. Zimri is high-handed in his sin, and is a royal type man, hanging with a royal type woman, the daughter of a prince. Perhaps he thought their social standing would preclude any harsh treatment, but they were dead wrong.
Midian vs. Moab
In verse 17, God tells the Israelites to take up arms against the Midianites and to slay them. Why? The answer is in the text… due to the deception and the wrongdoing of the leaders and the people. The leaders are the governmental authority and responsible for bringing the people in line, to make them follow godliness. Here again, authority is shown as having both responsibility and accountability.
Of note is that Moab is not similarly hung out to dry. Why not? Rabbi Hertz says, “no punishment is meted out to the Moabites because these had at least the excuse of fear for their infamous conduct towards the Israelites whereas the Midianites were actuated by pure hatred.” (page 687)
It’s not a surprise to me that a head count takes place in chapter 26 after the plague. Rashi compared this scene to a shepherd whose flocks have been depleted by an inrush of wolves. “When a catastrophe is over, the shepherd lovingly counts his sheep in order to know how many are left alive.”
The 2nd census
Let’s look at a few items from the census.
God tells Moses and Aaron’s son Elazar to count the heads of the people. Not only is this a head count, it’s also a warning to those men that they are heads, that is, the responsible folks to make sure the Jewish people stay clean. The heads are named and some are noteworthy.
For instance, Korach. In verse 11, the sons of Korach did not die. Why does this stand out? To contrast with the father of those sons. Korach had led the rebellion against the leadership and God used the earth’s quake to swallow 250 of those rebels in front of all Israel. In the same way as Zimri dies in disgrace, and the other leaders were executed in broad daylight, God makes sure the community knows what’s going on, especially as it relates to holiness and staying clean.
By the way, the sons of Korach have a significant role to play later, in Temple days, as they help lead singing as Psalmists!
Other items to note, in verse 33, Zelophehad is listed as having no sons. We’ll see about that next week.
Three tribes, all on the south, showed major losses, especially Shimeon. They went from 59,000 or so to 22,000 or so. Reuben also lost military men as did Gad. Maybe they influenced each other as the Korach episode and the Zimri Baal-Peor episode showed.
I think it’s remarkable that the first census showed the military capacity to be at 603,000 or so and this 2ndcensus taken nearly 40 years later, with so many plagues and harsh travels, with the difficulty of travel and not having a home, that we had 601,730, men, just 1800 men fewer for military service. Fertility and child rearing, struggles behind the scenes… it’s not recorded, but if you have ever had a child or been one, you know it’s not easy in the most comfortable of places. God was indeed kind to the Jewish people in the wilderness.
One final point. Only two men who left Egypt at 20 years old or older were allowed to enter the Promised Land. (verse 65). What’s that about? It was they who were the spies, or as we called them ‘surveyors.’ They were the only ones who believed God’s promises of the 12. Consequences of their surveying and the response of the people included 38 more years of travail in the wilderness and the dying off of an entire people. But also the freedom to enter into Canaan for the two who would be men of faith and inspire a new generation, including the 601,730 who were just counted. And the 23,000 Levites who are not military were to be led by those two and Elazar and Itamar as well.
Faith is what matters.
Faith brings us into God’s house.
Faith brings God’s light and love into our houses.
Faith allows us the victories in our otherwise difficult lives.
Faith even allows us to see Yeshua, our messiah and Lord, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and apostle of faith.
Invitation
Dear friends, if you have never asked Yeshua to be your Saviour, today as we continue our class in 2021, would you choose to believe the Lord of life? He is the source of healing for the plague of sin which has captured the world since Adam sinned in the Garden. He’s the One who can overcome the plagues of evil which highlight the planet in Washington, DC, in the conflicts between governments, in conflicts between the peoples of the world… Look up to Him and be saved!
If you’d like to do that today, just now, join me as we pray.
Say something like this: “Father in Yeshua’s name, forgive me my sin, I was wrong to dismiss you and to disbelieve in you. I need your mercy. I deserve punishment but you are kind and merciful and I receive your grace. I receive Yeshua as my saviour and Lord. I look up to him who was lifted on the pole of the cross. I will live because of my faith in Messiah Yeshua. Amen.
If you prayed that, please let us know of your profession by writing straightaway, won’t you?Bob@JewsforJesus.org.au We’d love to hear from you.
Conclusion
We are delighted to be meeting again on Friday mornings. Please stay with us during these next few weeks and learn with the others how you can stay on track in 2021 and beyond. And in the D-Groups, you will work this out with others, as a community on the march. If you have not yet joined a weekly Discipleship Group, please re-consider that and join us as we dig deeper.
I hope to see you next week as we study chapters 27-29, and learn about Zelophehad’s daughters, about offerings and holidays. Hope to see you then, and until then, continue to stay safe, love one another, believe even if the report is the minority report, and shout Hallelujah to the Lord of life for all he has done for us all. Shabbat shalom!
The three theses:
4) The goal of our wandering was another place: Israel
5) God is to be central to our marching and in our living
6) Authority of the Lord and his anointed is not to be missed
Bibliography
Budd, Philip, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 5. Numbers. Word, Waco, 1984.
Hertz, Rabbi Dr JH, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Soncino, London, 1978.
Pakula, Martin, Numbers: Homeward Bound, Aquilla Press, Sydney, 2006.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Counted. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs,1999.
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D-Groups for this week
1) Tuesday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse
2) Thursday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White
(Contact our office for zoom details)
If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?
The Scriptures read in today’s lesson: Numbers chapters 25-26
The Sin of Peor
25 While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to commit infidelity with the daughters of Moab. 2 For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel [a]became followers of [b]Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry with Israel.4 And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and [c]execute them [d]in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill his men who have [e]become followers of [f]Baal of Peor.”
6 Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the inner room of the tent and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through the abdomen. So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. 9 But those who died from the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.
The Zeal of Phinehas
10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has averted My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was [g]jealous with My [h]jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My [i]jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I am giving him My covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be for him and for his [j]descendants after him, a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he was [k]jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”
14 Now the name of the [l]dead man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, [m]who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.
16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Be hostile to the Midianites and attack them; 18 for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was killed on the day of the plague because of Peor.”
Census of a New Generation
26 [a]Then it came about after the plague, [b]that the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, 2 “Take a [c]census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ households, whoever is able to go to war in Israel.” 3 So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 4 “Take a census of the people from twenty years old and upward, as the Lord has commanded Moses.”
Now the sons of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt were as follows:
5 Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, the sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the family of the Palluites; 6 of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the family of the Carmites. 7 These are the families of the Reubenites, and those who were counted of them were 43,730. 8 The son of Pallu: Eliab. 9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram who were called by the congregation, who fought against Moses and against Aaron in the group of Korah, when they fought against the Lord, 10 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with Korah, when that group died, when the fire devoured 250 men, so that they became a warning sign.11 The sons of Korah, however, did not die.
12 The sons of Simeon by their families: of [d]Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of [e]Jachin, the family of the Jachinites; 13 of [f]Zerah, the family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites. 14 These are the families of the Simeonites, 22,200 in number.
15 The sons of Gad by their families: of [g]Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the family of the Haggites; of Shuni, the family of the Shunites; 16 of [h]Ozni, the family of the Oznites; of Eri, the family of the Erites; 17 of [i]Arod, the family of the Arodites; of Areli, the family of the Arelites. 18 These are the families of the sons of Gad according to those who were numbered of them, 40,500.
19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan, but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 20 The sons of Judah by their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites. 21 The sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites. 22 These are the families of Judah by those who were numbered of them, 76,500.
23 The sons of Issachar by their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of [j]Puvah, the family of the Punites; 24 of [k]Jashub, the family of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites. 25 These are the families of Issachar by those who were numbered of them, 64,300.
26 The sons of Zebulun by their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. 27 These are the families of the Zebulunites by those who were numbered of them, 60,500.
28 The sons of Joseph by their families: Manasseh and Ephraim. 29 The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites; and Machir fathered Gilead: of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites. 30 These are the sons of Gilead: of [l]Iezer, the family of the Iezerites; of Helek, the family of the Helekites; 31 and of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites; 32 and of Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the family of the Hepherites. 33 Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, only daughters; and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 34 These are the families of Manasseh; and those who were numbered of them were 52,700.
35 These are the sons of Ephraim by their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of [m]Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. 36 These are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites. 37 These are the families of the sons of Ephraim by those who were numbered of them, 32,500. These are the sons of Joseph by their families.
38 The sons of Benjamin by their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites; of [n]Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites; 39 of [o]Shephupham, the family of the Shuphamites; of [p]Hupham, the family of the Huphamites. 40 The sons of Bela were [q]Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites; of Naaman, the family of the Naamites. 41 These are the sons of Benjamin by their families; and those who were numbered of them were 45,600.
42 These are the sons of Dan by their families: of [r]Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan by their families. 43 All the families of the Shuhamites, by those who were numbered of them, were 64,400.
44 The sons of Asher by their families: of Imnah, the family of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the family of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the family of the Beriites. 45 Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites. 46 And the name of the daughter of Asher wasSerah. 47 These are the families of the sons of Asher by those who were numbered of them, 53,400.
48 The sons of Naphtali by their families: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the family of the Gunites; 49 of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the family of the Shillemites. 50 These are the families of Naphtali by their families; and those who were numbered of them were 45,400.
51 These are the ones who were numbered of the sons of Israel, 601,730.
52 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 53 “[s]Among these the land shall be divided as an inheritance according to the number of names. 54 To a larger group you shall increase their inheritance, and to a smaller group you shall decrease their inheritance; each shall be given their inheritance corresponding to the total of those who were numbered of them. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. 56 Corresponding to the selection by lot, their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller groups.”
57 These are those who were numbered of the Levites according to their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites. 58 These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, and the family of the Korahites. Kohath fathered Amram. 59 And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses, and their sister Miriam. 60 And to Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered [t]strange fire before the Lord. 62 Those who were numbered of them were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and upward, for they were not numbered among the sons of Israel since no inheritance was given to them among the sons of Israel.
63 These are the ones who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. 64 But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the Lord had said [u]of them, “They shall certainly die in the wilderness.” And not a man was left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
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