An Army of Phinehases – Part 3
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “ Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘ Behold, I give him My covenant of peace...because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” [Numbers 25:10-12]
If only we puny humans would submit to the Holy Spirit, we would be Johnny #2 and simply come clean with our sins. Instead we have a doctorate in rationalizations. We are Johnny #1. We make excuses and wheedle in an effort to gain pity for ourselves.
In 1 Corinthians 11:31 the Apostle Paul explained to the troublesome Christians in the church of Corinth that, if they judged their own sins, the Lord wouldn’t have to judge them. This concept is quite apposite to the situation in Numbers 25, dear friends.
The Israelites were on the east bank of the Jordan River opposite Jericho. They were delivered from Egyptian slavery by the Lord their God. The Lord led them through the wilderness for forty years and brought them to the plains of Moab on the east bank. They were on the verge of crossing the Jordan to the west bank and receiving their landed inheritance, the Promised Land.
Well, the folks who lived on the west bank weren’t too keen on the thought of this happening. Neither were the folks on the east bank who attacked the Israelites and were exterminated in the doing. Israel now owned all their lands.
Israel’s neighbors on the east bank weren’t much enthused with the new tenants either. These neighbors included the Moabites and their partners the Midianites. So those two folks wanted to evict the Israelites, preferring them dead over expelled.
First they tried to arrange a military conquest of the Israelites. The first step in doing this was to hire a false prophet named Balaam to curse Israel. That way the Israelites would be too weak to stand their ground against the enemy coalition. But the Lord blessed Israel and repulsed Balaam’s attempts, forcing him instead to acknowledge the blessing of God upon Israel.
So Balaam concocted another scheme: if attacks from the outside failed, try attacks from the inside. Balaam directed the Midianites to bedeck their loveliest honeys in alluring attire. Then dispatch them to the camp of Israel to seduce the pubescent Israelite boys.
Once in the embrace of the Midianite babes, those boys would worship the Midianite gods without even knowing it. Then the Lord God of Israel would be furious and kill the Israelite men. What a plan! The Moabites and Midianites wouldn’t even have to kill the Israelites. Their own God would do the job for them!
Oh, dear. Outta time again! I can’t wait to find out how Balaam’s devilish machination came out. But we’ll have to…until tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
If only we puny humans would submit to the Holy Spirit, we would be Johnny #2 and simply come clean with our sins. Instead we have a doctorate in rationalizations. We are Johnny #1. We make excuses and wheedle in an effort to gain pity for ourselves.
In 1 Corinthians 11:31 the Apostle Paul explained to the troublesome Christians in the church of Corinth that, if they judged their own sins, the Lord wouldn’t have to judge them. This concept is quite apposite to the situation in Numbers 25, dear friends.
The Israelites were on the east bank of the Jordan River opposite Jericho. They were delivered from Egyptian slavery by the Lord their God. The Lord led them through the wilderness for forty years and brought them to the plains of Moab on the east bank. They were on the verge of crossing the Jordan to the west bank and receiving their landed inheritance, the Promised Land.
Well, the folks who lived on the west bank weren’t too keen on the thought of this happening. Neither were the folks on the east bank who attacked the Israelites and were exterminated in the doing. Israel now owned all their lands.
Israel’s neighbors on the east bank weren’t much enthused with the new tenants either. These neighbors included the Moabites and their partners the Midianites. So those two folks wanted to evict the Israelites, preferring them dead over expelled.
First they tried to arrange a military conquest of the Israelites. The first step in doing this was to hire a false prophet named Balaam to curse Israel. That way the Israelites would be too weak to stand their ground against the enemy coalition. But the Lord blessed Israel and repulsed Balaam’s attempts, forcing him instead to acknowledge the blessing of God upon Israel.
So Balaam concocted another scheme: if attacks from the outside failed, try attacks from the inside. Balaam directed the Midianites to bedeck their loveliest honeys in alluring attire. Then dispatch them to the camp of Israel to seduce the pubescent Israelite boys.
Once in the embrace of the Midianite babes, those boys would worship the Midianite gods without even knowing it. Then the Lord God of Israel would be furious and kill the Israelite men. What a plan! The Moabites and Midianites wouldn’t even have to kill the Israelites. Their own God would do the job for them!
Oh, dear. Outta time again! I can’t wait to find out how Balaam’s devilish machination came out. But we’ll have to…until tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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