Numbers 20-25 Recap | OT Ep 19

In this episode, Austin and Ashley explore the themes of faithfulness, disobedience, and God's unwavering promises as they discuss the narratives from the Old Testament, particularly focusing on the Israelites' journey, the role of Moses and Miriam, and the "prophetic insights" of Balaam. They highlight the struggles of the Israelites, their complaints, and the consequences of their actions, while also emphasizing God's grace and the foreshadowing of Christ's redemptive work.

Reading Plan - Old Testament in One Year
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Transcript

Hey everyone,

My name is Austin. And my name is Ashley. Welcome to the Clean Slate Podcast. Where we're finding Jesus in the Old Testament.

Hey friends, so glad you're with us here in episode 19. In this episode, we're going to be recapping chapters 20 through 25 in numbers, and we'll actually finish out what is called the Exodus generation.

And you know, while we might see the people out of Egypt, we see that there is still a whole lot of Egypt in the people.

So jumping right in to chapter 20, verse one, we read that Miriam has died. We have to remember that despite her shortcomings, just like the rest of us, God still used her to watch over and actually restore Moses back to their mother as a wet nurse when he was a baby. Remember, she was the one who just so happened to be there when Pharaoh's daughter pulled Moses out of the Nile.

She said, essentially, look, you can take him to my mother who's a wet nurse. What a coincidence. So let's make sure that we remember her rightly.

Then we move on to verse two and we already have more complaining. Haven't we been without water before? Didn't God provide? Do they approach God and say, you've been faithful, please provide us with water? No, they assembled together against Moses and Aaron saying, the same old, old, why did you bring us here? It would be better if we would have died, et cetera.

So Moses and Aaron in verse 6 go to the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. And the Lord tells Moses to take the staff and assemble the congregation and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. And you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.

Okay, so far we have a pretty usual scenario. The people are complaining, Moses and Aaron go before the Lord on their behalf, and the Lord provides a solution. Now, in verse 10, Moses, I think, is getting fed up with these people. He says, here now, you rebels, shall we bring you water out of this rock? But now we see that the story doesn't carry on as usual.

Normally we see something like, and Moses did just as the Lord commanded, but not this time. This time we see Moses not follow the instructions he was given. Rather than calling water out of the rock as instructed, he struck the rock with his staff twice. Notice that while water still came out because God is gracious even in our disobedience, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in verse 12,

because you did not believe in me, now you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have promised.

the Israelites, age 20 and up, amongst the congregation were already not allowed to enter the promised land, except for Caleb and Joshua. Now we see Moses and Aaron aren't allowed because of their disobedience and lack of faith in God's Word.

So the next section in verses 14 through 21, Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. Now remember, way back to Genesis 25, there were two twin brothers born, Jacob and Esau. Jacob is later renamed what? Israel. And we also see that Esau is also known as Edom, because in the Hebrew, Edom is a word close to red.

And Esau was very red and very hairy.

So when we think Israel and Edom, think Jacob and Esau and their descendants.

So Moses is appealing to that brotherly relationship from the people of Israel to the people of Edom when he says, thus says your brother Israel. And Moses asked just to pass through your land. We will not pass through the field or the vineyard or drink water from a well. We will go along the king's highway or the main road and we will not stop. But Edom says no,

Which, by the way, was not an unreasonable answer because this was still millions of people passing through. This was not a small ask of Moses.

So Moses asks again and adds, even if we do drink water, we will pay for it. Just please let us pass. And Edom again says no and even meets them with a large army to ensure that they got the message.

Next we see the Lord tell Moses and Aaron that Aaron should be gathered to his people, which is the Hebrew way of saying, call in the family, and go up to Mount Hor and strip Aaron of his garments, being the high priestly garments, and put them on his son Eleazar And so they did, and Aaron passed away.

Moses and Eleazar came down the mountain, and when all the congregation learned of his death, they wept for Aaron for thirty days.

Now this is actually a long time because normally the initial weeping period during a loss called Shiva was about seven days. So although they had a funny way of showing it sometimes, that showed their deep respect and sympathy for Aaron's passing that they would weep for 30 whole days.

My gracious, we had a lot happen in that short little chapter.

Moving into chapter 21, we see in the first three verses that the king of Arad, who was a Canaanite, fought against Israel and took some of them captive. And Israel vowed to the Lord and said, If you will indeed give us this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction. Remember, we talked about devoting things to the Lord a few episodes back. In this case, it meant we will not keep any spoils from the fight, just get our people back.

and the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave them the victory, and the place was named Hormah, meaning destruction. Now, it is worth noting that Israel did not start this war themselves. And it might be easy to think, hey, look at Israel. They vowed a vow, they kept it. The Lord, of course, kept His word, and everyone is doing what they should. And you would not be wrong for thinking that. But I hate to break up your moment.

Welcome to verse 4 where the people became impatient again. So we already saw in the last chapter that Edom said no, they could not pass through, so they were having to go around.

And the people spoke against God and Moses, I mean, you could probably just copy paste at this point. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.

So in verse 6, we see the Lord sends fiery serpents, also known as venomous serpents, and they bit the people And many of them died. When is the first time we see a serpent in scripture? In the garden, right? So now again, when God's people chose to follow evil, they get a punishment that befits the crime, symbolically representing their sin and ultimately should end in death.

But, in verse 7, the people come to Moses and actually recognize and admit their sin, and ask Moses to intercede for them, which he does. And what does the Lord tell Moses? Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. Friends, if this isn't a gospel glimpse, I don't know what is.

Galatians 3, 13-14 says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.

And in John chapter three, verses 14 through 15, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and explaining the curse. And he says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man talking about himself be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Jesus was lifted up on the cross, became that curse of sin so that those who would look upon him in faith to save them

would in fact have spiritual life.

So picking up starting in verse 10, it's recording the Israelites camping at various places.

And in verse 14, it starts talking about a book of the Wars of the Lord, which is believed to be a collection of ancient songs. And I can get down with that. Let's sing about the Lord and his victories. That is completely the opposite of their previous groanings. So I like it. I wonder if any of you were like me in, in verse 17,

When it said spring up, well, did you say it or did you sing it? I had to sing it. And of course, annoying Austin during our prep time with the rest of the song that I could remember.

Picking up in verse 21, Israel sends messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, much like they did to Edom. They're asking, please let us pass. We will not stop or go into any fields or vineyards or drink any water. But Sihon's answer was also no. In fact, he gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness and fought against them. Well, as we continue to read, that did not turn out well for King Sihon.

Again, the Israelites did not start this war, but overcame their attackers and took possession of their land all the way from the Arnon to the Jabbak Including Heshban, where the king had lived. Now, this is important because the next verse tells us that King Sihon had attacked the former king of Moab and taken all of this land from them.

So the next song we see is a little smack talk. Woe to you, Moab, you are undone. people of Chemosh And Chemosh was a god of Moab. And basically they said, we beat the people who beat you.

So they continue traveling and are attacked in a similar fashion by Og, king of Bashan. And the Lord gives them yet another victory.

As we step into the narrative of chapters 22 through 25, we see that this is the last test of faithfulness for this generation.

So a couple of names of nations that we've already heard some in the Old Testament, but we will continue to hear will be the Moabites and the Amorites.

If you remember the name Moab sounds familiar that that's actually from Genesis 19

where you have the unfortunate story of Lot impregnating his daughters.

Lots two sons would be named Moab and Ben Ami. Moab was obviously the father of the Moabites and then Ben Ami was the father of the Amorites.

So an interesting thought here is that you have the sons of Abraham warring against the sons of Lot.

So in chapter 22, the people of Moab and the king of Moab named Balak are in fear of what will happen to their country because of the victory the Israelites have won against the Amorites. Balak has a plan to get a seer, or someone who is believed to have prophetic insight, to curse the people of Israel. The seer they went to was named Balaam.

Verse 7 says the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. So guys, they're attempting to purchase a divine response.

The men came to Balaam and delivered the king's message that he was afraid if someone didn't curse the Israelites, the blessing God had on them would be too strong and he could not defeat them in battle.

Balaam told the men to stay the night and perhaps God would speak with him.

Now an interesting thing here is that Balaam actually uses the divine name of God, Yahweh. It is very unusual for anyone in the Old Testament who isn't an Israelite to use that name for God. It is His personal name. So God does indeed speak to Balaam in the night and tells him that He is not to go back with the men or to curse Israel since God Himself had blessed Israel.

Balaam breaks the news that he wouldn't be coming back with them, nor would he be able to curse Israel because God had forbade him from doing so, so the men leave. When the men returned to the king, they only tell him that Balaam refused to come with them, and they left out the part that God told Balaam he couldn't go back with them or curse Israel.

Balak sends another entourage back to Balaam and told him to say in verse 16, let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor. And whatever you say to me, I will do. Come, curse these people for me.

The men relayed this to Balaam, and Balaam to his credit responds, though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more.

Now if Balaam really believed that in his heart, he would have told them to go home right here and the story would be over, but that isn't what happens.

Balaam continues, So you too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.

God tells Balaam to go with the men, but only do what I tell you. The next day Balaam saddles his donkey and leaves to go see Balak.

Along the way, he comes to a narrow place on the road, probably with high rock walls on either side, at some sort of embankment.

the angel of the Lord was standing in his way, but only the donkey could see it.

Verse 22 tells us that God's anger was kindled because he went and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way of his adversary.

So before we go any farther, this needs to be unpacked. It can totally seem upon a cursory glance that God is acting irrationally here.

But a really helpful phrase I heard some time ago is that you interpret the unclear passages in light of the clear passages.

So this passage seems to not make sense, right? God told Balaam he could go, but now God says that Balaam is his adversary? A thing to keep in mind is that God knows the very intentions of man. He doesn't just sit and wait and say, let's see what happens. If you read further ahead in Deuteronomy, it seems that Balaam did indeed intend to curse Israel.

rest assured God knows the intentions of man's heart.

So the only assumption I can make with this text is that God tells Balaam to go, but he knew what Balaam was planning to do and it wasn't good.

Perhaps Balaam was counting the dollar signs in his head. Perhaps Balaam was already planning on cursing Israel if the dollars added up just right.

In any event, we have to trust the Lord and His judgment since He knows things we've never even considered.

Okay, so back into the narrative.

At first, Balaam's donkey is the only one who can see the angel of Lord standing there. And three times the donkey tries to avoid the situation because the angel of the Lord isn't just standing there. He is standing there with sword drawn, ready to kill.

now this story is not meant to be a comedy, but there is thick irony in the story. So think about this. The donkey is the one who sees the angel of Lord and not this seer that had been sent for God opened the mouth of the donkey so that she could speak to Balaam. And she said in verse 28, what have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?

Balaam responds and listen, that alone is cause for laughter.

How is he even able to speak since this donkey just spoke to him using words? But Balaam says, because you have made a fool of me, I wish I had a sword in my hand for then I would kill you.

Then the Lord opens the eyes of this seer and he falls down on his face and admits his sin. The angel of the Lord tells him that Balaam's way is perverse and that had the donkey not stopped, he would surely have killed him.

Baalim offers to go back home, but the angel tells him in verse 35, go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.

This seems to scare Balaam straight.

Balaam goes on to meet King Balak and he says to Balak, have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The words that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.

So there's a few things that happen in the next little bit of this narrative that I want to frame out right for you. So remember, in historic Protestant belief, we believe that there is only one God and there's only one way to Him since we are sinful people. And that is through Jesus Christ. A verse for reference there is John 14.6. But in the ancient Near East, there were lots of deities that were often worshiped.

The mindset was different though. It was much more of a, I don't believe in your God, but I would never say he doesn't exist sort of attitude. The other thing to note is that lots of folks were willing to believe in whatever they needed to in order to get the outcome they were after.

So remember in past episodes we've covered that in pagan cultures, their rituals were intended or centered around influencing divine decisions. So in other words, if they rub the genie just right, that he get their god lowercase g god, to do whatever they wanted.

So again, that's crucial to the pattern that sets itself up here.

Balaam has Balak built seven altars and offer a sacrifice of a bull and a ram on each one and then goes and prays. So again, one more little sidestep. A bull and a ram were about the most expensive combo offer you could have. Okay. So this is, this is a really expensive thing to do.

And, you know, again, Balak is still hoping that Balaam will curse Israel, even though he told him he's not going to. If you think about it, really, none of this makes any sense.

God has never told anyone to build him seven altars.

This is most likely that practice that I mentioned about trusting in whatever god you needed to.

Balaam is probably keeping in step here with his habits, but he does say what God tells him to.

I don't know about you guys, but I don't think God, the creator of God is particularly jazzed about being one amongst six other deities that a sacrifice has been offered to.

At the end of this first session, Balaam comes back and delivers an Oracle to Balak

Now if you're not familiar, an oracle is not really a person. It's actually a vernacular. It's a way of speaking. So when the prophets in the Old Testament would speak, there were really two different oracles they would use. They would have an oracle of weal or an oracle of woe. An oracle of woe is what it sounds like. There's multiple times, especially later in the prophets, where they start out, woe is Israel or woe is me, right?

And then an oracle of weal was an oracle of good tidings or an oracle of blessing.

And of course, all of these came from God Himself and it was delivered to the prophet to deliver to the people. In this case, this oracle was delivered to Balaam to deliver to Balak.

This first Oracle about Israel is a lot more like a blessing with lines like, how can I curse whom God has not cursed?

And who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel?

Balik is clearly confused and says to Balaam, please come with me to another place and then curse them for me from there.

The whole process plays itself out in much the same way, and Balaam comes back with another Oracle of weal and says,

God is not man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind. And you know what he means there is that God has promised to bless Israel and he's not gonna change his mind. And Balaam goes on and says, for there's no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel. And later on in this oracle, what has God wrought? Behold a people as a lioness that rises a lion lifts itself.

It does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.

You know, remember again that Balak is afraid of these people and losing to them in battle. And, and at this point he's beside himself. He has to be confused as to why Balaam isn't getting his point, but in ancient pagan fashion, he thinks let's try this again from a different area and maybe another round of sacrifices or change in location will do the trick.

Balaam winds up giving two more oracles and in the final one Balaam says, the oracle of Balaam, the son of Baor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened. I see him now, I behold him, but not near. A star shall come of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. It shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.

This is most assuredly about Jesus. He saw but not near the one who would be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The one who by his death and resurrection would reign forever and put an end to the enemies of the people of God.

Chapter 24 ends with Balak and Balam separating and going their different ways.

Chapter 25 sort of ends this narrative. Verse 1 says that while the people of Israel lived in the land, quote, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.

This language is the same sort of language used in the golden calf incident from Exodus 34.

This also led the people into worshiping Baal, a false god of the Canaanites and people in the land.

God's anger was kindled against the people and he had some of the leaders of the Israelites hanged and also sent a plague on the people. This plague was ultimately stopped by Phineas who was Aaron's grandson.

By this point in the chapter, there had already been a prohibition on the sexual relationships with the Midianites and the Moabites. And Phineas finds an Israelite man with a Midianite woman in the camp.

Now to set this picture, this is happening while many Israelites are dying as a result of this play and some of the elders were killed not long before all of this because of these types of relationships.

When Phineas finds this Israelite man and Midianite woman, he actually kills both of them. And when he does, the plague is then averted.

So this story bookends the generation that was freed by Yahweh Himself from Egypt.

Think about what we have seen in these chapters. No pair of events captures the stunning goodness of God on the one hand, know, God turning what would have been curses from Balaam into blessings and the equally stunning faithlessness of the Exodus generation on the other hand. I feel like as difficult as these last few chapters can be in some respects, they perfectly encapsulate this generation of Israelites.

very well said. And that's going to do it for today's recap guys. May his grace abound to you and to me as we study to find Jesus in the Old Testament.