And that’s the way it is on the way to the promised land.
Seeing Life Through Scripture
These chapters challenge us to find a balance between common sense and divine guidance. I’m turned off by those people who solve all issues by saying, “The bottom line is this . . .”—and by the “bottom line” they mean the expedient, the politically advantageous, the financially beneficial. But I’m equally troubled by the person who says, “The Lord told me to. . . .” Now where is the middle ground?
The Israelites were led miraculously. “Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, resting upon it, the Israelites would remain in camp and would not set out; but when it lifted they would set out” (Numbers 9:22). When they were near their destination, they did a commonplace thing: They appointed a committee to do a research project. And this was no act of the doubting and the unduly cautious; they did so because “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Send men to spy out the land’ ” (13:1). This committee action went wrong, but it isn’t because the idea was flawed—only its execution.
So when do we use our common sense, and when do we wait for the indefinable prodding of the Holy Spirit? To what degree does God expect us to compile data and use the brains we’ve been given, and to what degree do we expect a cloud or a pillar of fire? And even when we’ve collected the data, where does faith enter the picture?
The Sum of It All
“The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey” (Numbers 14:7-8).
How can we claim to believe in heaven if we
have so little regard for the potential of life in
the here and now? Perhaps there is no better
way to prove that we cherish the prospect of
eternity than to take hold of life on this earth
with a passion and a gladness.
—From Parables From the Back Side (1992); page 31
| NUMBERS 22–24 | Week 9, Day 1 |
The ultimate battlefield of history is the individual human soul. There is the same deployment of forces, the same advancing and retreating, and at last the same satisfaction of victory or shame of defeat.
Rarely do we get a clearer account of such a struggle than we have in this story of Balaam. It is, of course, the story of a conflict between two nations; but as it happens—and as is so often the case in the affairs of state and world—it is settled within the confines of one human soul. What goes on in Balaam’s heart eventually affects a whole people.
Balaam is a talented, gifted human being, able to commune with God in an extraordinary way. At first he answers God rightly, but he tips his hand early in a conversation with Balak’s servants when he says, “Although Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God” (22:18). I don’t think he knew it, but he was announcing his price; Balak now knew he was susceptible to an offer.
So we watch the pendulum of the soul swing, and we smile at times at the way Balak tries to get a curse upon Israel, only to see Balaam offer another blessing. It looks as if this strange man is on the right track, but unfortunately he is too clever for his own good.
PRAYER: Help me, O Lord, to keep my values straight so that I never trade the eternal for the transient; in Jesus’ name. Amen.
We learn later that Balaam betrays God’s plan and leads Israel astray. What signs of such ultimate sin do you see in Balaam?
| NUMBERS 25–27 | Week 9, Day 2 |
When we left the battle of the soul yesterday it appeared Balaam had won, for he was blessing Israel, just as God had commanded him to do. Now we learn differently, though we don’t get the details until later. What Balaam could not do through cursing he did through his counsel.
He obeyed the letter of God’s command on his life but violated the spirit.
Balaam sensed that the men of Israel could be led astray by the attractiveness of the Moabite women (25:1; 31:16), and Balak followed his counsel. Balaam, not able to curse Israel, found a way for Israel to curse itself. It was a devastating sin, not only for its sexual infidelity but also because it meant violating what was then so important to Israel, ethnic purity. The New Testament Book of Jude will refer to this sin and will correctly identify Balaam’s error: greed (Jude 11).
But there are bright elements in today’s reading. For one, we learn that in spite of Korah’s sin, his sons do not die; indeed, they must have come to some kind of redemption, because later they author a number of psalms. The daughters of Zelophehad (27:1-11) make a notable early instance of establishing women’s legal rights. And provision is now made for a successor to Moses, the man Joshua. He has been Moses’ right-hand aide for years, and—even more important—he is “a man in whom is the spirit” (27:18).
God’s servants go, but the work of God goes on. There will be life after Moses.
PRAYER: Sometimes, Lord, like Balaam I stay within the letter of the law even as my heart goes outside it. Save me, I pray. Amen.
What factors, both natural and spiritual, did Joshua have going for him as he prepared to succeed Moses?
| NUMBERS 28–31 | Week 9, Day 3 |
As we have seen before, life has its holy, memorable occasions. They add luster to life and direction, too, and the biblical writers want to be sure they are not neglected. The Israelites, with a routine lifestyle in a world that seemed never to change, needed such occasions to lift their eyes to the divine; you and I, sometimes almost drowned in an endless sea of sound, activity, and clamor, need these times to lift us from the trivial and the transitory to the eternal.
It isn’t always easy for us to put ourselves in the place of the Israelites in their wilderness wanderings. When we read the rules concerning women and their relationship to husbands and fathers, our modern sensibilities are offended; and when we see the violence of Israel’s vengeance against the Midianites, that offense is heightened. But we need to remember that it is always easy, in another time and place, to say, “They shouldn’t have been like that”; as a matter of fact, future generations will no doubt pass such judgments on us. No generation really has a right to impose its standards or its solutions on the actions of another, because each generation has to cope with its problems with the equipment at hand. We can hardly imagine the struggles of maintaining order in a nomadic wilderness; so we’re probably no more qualified to say what they should have done than they would be to offer advice on dealing with air pollution, nuclear holocaust, and urban crime.
PRAYER: Give me the grace, O God, to be a faithful steward of the times in which I live, demanding as they are; in Christ’s name. Amen.
Why, as you see it, are all these special occasions marked