NUMBERS

Numbers Chapter 25

• Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 
• 2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 
• 3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 

This is the result of the work of Balaam. 

Here are some of the words of Josephus:

"But Balak being very angry that the Israelites were not cursed, sent away Balaam without thinking him worthy of any honor. Whereupon, when he was just upon his journey, in order to pass the Euphrates, he sent for Balak, and for the princes of the Midianites, and spake thus to them: - "O Balak, and you Midianites that are here present, (for I am obliged even without the will of God to gratify you,) it is true no entire destruction can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews, neither by war, nor by plague, nor by scarcity of the fruits of the earth, nor can any other unexpected accident be their entire ruin; for the providence of God is concerned to preserve them from such a misfortune; nor will it permit any such calamity to come upon them whereby they may all perish; but some small misfortunes, and those for a short time, whereby they may appear to be brought low, may still befall them; but after that they will flourish again, to the terror of those that brought those mischiefs upon them. So that if you have a mind to gain a victory over them for a short space of time, you will obtain it by following my directions: - Do you therefore set out the handsomest of such of your daughters as are most eminent for beauty,"

It was Balaam's plan to get around God. He knew that Israel would become so obsessed with these beautiful Moabite women that they would eventually entice the men of Israel into worshipping their gods instead of the God. Thereby the favor of God would not be with Israel and Moab could then defeat them. Balaam could then receive his rewards and be highly esteemed as a great prophet of God in the eyes of Balak. 

Here is more of Josephus:

"So when the Midianites had sent their daughters, as Balaam had exhorted them, the Hebrew men were allured by their beauty."

It worked, in other words but this was not all:

The men of Israel in fear of the women leaving and returning gave into their request to worship their gods. That was the real purpose behind all this plot. The fornication with these women would not have been enough to anger God although He would be grieved and they would probably suffer a physical affliction because of it. It was spiritual fornication or idolatry that could bring the curse of God upon them. That was the goal of these women who were sent by Balaam and Balak for the purpose of bringing a curse upon Israel. Balaam must have thought God was sleeping at this point. 

To quote their words from Josephus: 
"It will be absolutely necessary, if you would have us for your wives, that you do withal worship our gods."

The plan worked. 

This was the doctrine of Balaam in Revelation 2:14

• Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 

The doctrine of Balaam in the church age is that one can have Christ, be saved, inherit eternal life but indulge in the works of the flesh such as fornication and idolatry. As I mentioned before, idolatry is not only bowing down to images that represent a false god but images that represent God, Christ or Mary. Idolatry is anything we worship other than or along with God. This can be our possessions, our homes, our friends, our family or money. Covetousness is idolatry. Coveting the things of this world to the point that the gospel takes a back seat is idolatry. Teaching that to gain money and possessions is godliness is part of the doctrine of Balaam. The prosperity doctrine is very close to the doctrine of Balaam according to Peter.

• 2Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 
• 15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 

Warning by Jude: 

• Jude 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 

Adultery, idolatry and covetousness were the traits of Balaam. "To gain is godliness" is the modern teaching today and it is false. We are not to teach and practice these things. It is false. 

• James 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 
• 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 
• 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 
• 8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 
• 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 

Any doctrine that teaches us to despise the poor and think we don't have to give to the poor or even poor ministries is a false doctrine. Some prosperity preachers teach that we are to give to the prosperous ministries and not to the poor ones assuming that the poor ones must be out of the favor of God. Where is that in the bible????

• Numbers 25:4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. 
• 5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. 

God did not wink at this gross sin of idolatry. The sin of fornication was a serious sin but the greatest sin was that these men allowed the beauty of women to entice them to worship idols. This was like slapping God in the face and saying, we do not believe in you any more. After all God had done for Israel and they would yield to the temptation to worship idols in order to keep the women with them, was spiritual adultery. It was a serious offense. 

God knows that Satan is behind every false religion, every idol and every thing that opposes God. Satan is out to destroy the eternal soul of every single person he can entice. This was the work of Balaam but Satan was behind Balaam. He used Balaam's weakness, "The love of reward and to be exalted in the eyes of men."

Balaam wanted that honor that would be bestowed upon him as a great prophet who had power to curse Israel as well as the rewards of gold and possession Balak offered him. 

Worshipping false gods will destroy the soul and cause one to be lost. God had to allow the lives of these that sinned to be taken away in order to keep the others from following their ways. It shows us the seriousness of sin and how we need to be saved from sin or else our souls will be lost. Israel was chosen of God to bring forth God's Son into the world to save the world from sin. He couldn't allow them to sin and get away with it in this manner. 

• Numbers 25:6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 

Even though he had sinned and displeased God, this man still held onto this woman and didn't want to part with her. God takes no pleasure in killing women. It is not because of the woman being from Moab but because these particular women purposed in their hearts to lure the men of Israel first with their beauty and then they purposed to entice them to worship their false gods. Their motive was to defile Israel so that God would curse them. That is why the judgment here is severe. Aaron and his sons were not out to kill innocent women. These were conniving evil women who were acting on the advice of Balaam to entice Israel into fornication and idolatry. 

• Numbers 25:7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 
• 8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 
• 9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. 
• 10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 

Fornication and idolatry are serious sins. The first destroys the body, the second destroys the soul but many nations and people commits both of these sins continually. It will be judged eventually but in this case we are reading of here, the sin is more serious. This sin was not done by those who were innocent and just were brought up in a certain way and didn't know any better. This sin was done by those who knew better. Israel knew the real God and allowed their weakness in the flesh or their desire to remain with these women to cause them to worship the gods of those women.

If the women would have stayed home and have been content with worshipping their own gods, they would have lived on for a season until they faced the judgment day that all have to face. They did not do that though. They purposely wanted to give themselves over to the men of Israel for the purpose of defiling them and separating them from God's favor so that God would withdraw His protection from them and Balak could defeat Israel militarily. 

This sin was not in ignorance but open, willful and defiant against God. 

• Numbers 25:11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 
• 12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 
• 13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. 

God sent a plague and people repented. God renewed his covenant of peace with them so the purpose of Balaam was ended but not after many died. I doubt very much that God used Balaam to proclaim His word after this. 

• Numbers 25:14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. 
• 15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian. 
• 16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
• 17 Vex the Midianites, and smite them: 
• 18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake. 

Moab as I have said before was not originally scheduled to destruction and defeat. Israel would have passed through Moab and dwelled side by side with them if these things had not occurred. Thus Balak who desired the destruction of Israel actually brought about destruction upon his own people. 

It reminds me of the Proverb: 

• Proverbs 26:27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. 

We live in the dispensation of the doctrine of grace. We can repent of sin and trust in Jesus Christ to not only forgive our sin but cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We do not have to give into the flesh and walk in our old nature. 

• 2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

We do not have to be in bondage to sin and our old nature. Yet judgment is coming against all those who willfully sin and rebel against God without repentance. There is coming a day when God will not tolerate sin any longer. He made a perfect way for us to get rid of sin and become a child of God. We an choose that good way through faith in Jesus Christ or we can refuse. Its our choice but He made salvation freely available to all who would simply believe. DC

Jesus Said:

• John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.