I Am the Law

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Background
God gave His Law, recognized as 613 laws, decrees, commands, rules, precepts, instructions, regulations, statutes, and stipulations, to the Israelites after their Exodus from Egyptian slavery, before they entered the Promised Land.

That is worth repeating. Before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God gave them His Law, and He expected it to be obeyed to the letter. It would seem that the Promise was tied to obedience, but let us not get ahead of ourselves. In this very detailed study, we will review God's opinion of His Law.

I Am the Law

The Old Testament authors also had a lot to say about God and His Law. While most Christians are at least somewhat familiar with the New Testament teachings on the Law, scarcely few have examined God's foundational perspective of the Law found in the Old Testament. A good place to start such a study is Psalm 119, but let us go deeper into God's word in the Old Testament, asking some very important questions:

What is the purpose of the Law?
Does the Law reflect God?
Will the Law ever change?
How long will the Law be in effect?
Does the entire Law need to be obeyed?
Is it possible to obey the Law?
What if you do not obey the Law perfectly?
If you obey God's Law, will you live?
What worldly influence does God expect the Law to have?
What is the connection between the Law and the covenant of an eternal Kingdom?
Can you summarize all of this information concisely?

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Exodus 18:20
Teach them His decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. NIV

What is the purpose of the Law?
We do not have to guess the purpose of the Law. God has two reasons spelled out for us.

First, Deuteronomy 4:5-8 states that this Law will show other nations the wisdom of God, thereby demonstrating that the Israelites worship the one true God.

Second, Deuteronomy 6:20-25 explicitly states that the meaning of the Law is for the Israelites to obey it in order to prosper in the Promised Land. Such obedience will be righteousness.

As Psalm 105:42-45 renders it, the whole point of the Egyptian Exodus and inheritance of the Promised Land was “that they might keep His precepts and observe His laws.”

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Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He. NIV

Does the Law reflect God?
The Law is a work of God, which, by the verse above, is perfect, but is the Law a valid representation of God's character? Deuteronomy 12:28 makes it pretty clear:

Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God. NIV

In case there is still some doubt, consider that the Law has been described as just, right, good, perfect, trustworthy, wise, radiant, firm, righteous, great, glorious, and eternal (Nehemiah 9:13-14, Psalm 19:7-9, Isaiah 42:21, Psalm 119:160). These attributes all reflect God's Biblically labeled character. Furthermore, as we see in Deuteronomy 28:9:

The LORD will establish you as His holy people, as He promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in obedience to him. NIV

obedience to the Law will permit the people to be holy.

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Psalm 119:96
To all perfection I see a limit, but your commands are boundless. NIV

Will the Law ever change?
If the Law is perfect, we would never expect it to change. Indeed, Deuteronomy 4:1-2 and Deuteronomy 12:32 both say that nothing should be added to the Law, and nothing should be taken away from it either.

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Psalm 119:160
All Your words are true; all Your righteous laws are eternal. NIV

How long will the Law be in effect?
God intends for His Law to be in effect forever (Psalm 119:152). It should be obeyed always (Deuteronomy 11:1). It is everlasting (Psalm 103:17-18), part of an everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24:5).

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Numbers 15:39-40
You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all My commands and will be consecrated to your God. NIV

Does the entire Law need to be obeyed?
There are well over a hundred references to the call to obey God's Law. A subset of at least thirty-two of those commands specifically says to follow all of the Law; Exodus 15:26, Leviticus 19:37, Leviticus 20:22, Leviticus 26:14-15, Numbers 15:39-40, Deuteronomy 5:29, Deuteronomy 5:31, Deuteronomy 6:20-25, Deuteronomy 11:8, Deuteronomy 11:22, Deuteronomy 11:32, Deuteronomy 12:28, Deuteronomy 13:18, Deuteronomy 15:5, Deuteronomy 17:18-20, Deuteronomy 19:9, Deuteronomy 27:1, Deuteronomy 28:1, Deuteronomy 28:13-15, Deuteronomy 28:58, Deuteronomy 29:29, Deuteronomy 32:46, Joshua 1:7-8, Joshua 22:5-6, 1 Kings 6:12, 2 Kings 21:8, 2 Kings 23:24-25, 2 Chronicles 33:8, Nehemiah 10:28-29, Psalm 18:21-22, Ezekiel 18:19, and Ezekiel 18:21.

Take note that this is not simply obeying all of the Law in spirit. With the phase “all the words of this Law” found in Deuteronomy 17:18-20, Deuteronomy 28:58, Deuteronomy 29:29, and Deuteronomy 32:46, it is crystal clear that God is referring to obeying each and every meticulous detail in the Law. As we see in Deuteronomy 32:46:

[Moses] said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this Law.” NIV

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Psalm 103:17-18
But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts. NIV

Is it possible to obey the Law?
When you see how often God pleads for His people to obey the Law, there should be no doubt. Why would God tell His people to do something which they could not do? In fact, this opinion is explicitly given. Deuteronomy 30:11-14 says this in respect to obeying the Law:

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. NIV

God had given the Law to them, instructed that it be spoken about continuously (Deuteronomy 6:7-9), and placed the Law in their hearts so that it would not be too difficult to obey.

There is an entire book of the Bible devoted to a man who perfectly upheld the Law. His name is Joshua. Of course, there are several other references to such complete obedience too, such as Job 23:12 (Note: Some scholars suggest that Job lived prior to when the Law was given), Psalm 18:21-22, Psalm 99:7, and Psalm 119:44. As we see from 1 Kings 8:61 (and 1 Chronicles 28:7), it is not just individuals which could have complete obedience, but also the entire nation:

“And may your hearts be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by His decrees and obey His commands, as at this time.” NIV

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Psalm 81:13-15
“If my people would only listen to Me, if Israel would only follow My ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes! Those who hate the LORD would cringe before Him, and their punishment would last forever.” NIV

What if you do not obey the Law perfectly?
Per the Bible, you did not have to obey the Law perfectly to be considered righteous. This is obvious both from the facts that not every transgression of the Law held the death penalty, and that there were several different atonement ceremonies which could be performed based on different transgressions. In a sense, in adhering to the punishment schedule and atonement rituals, the people were keeping the Law despite transgressions of the Law itself.

There are also shining examples of people who broke the Law, and yet were still considered righteous by God. In Numbers 20, Moses transgressed Leviticus 22:32, but God still thought Moses was righteous enough to speak with him face-to-face (Deuteronomy 34:10). In 2 Samuel 11-12, King David had committed adultery Bathsheba and then had her husband, Uriah, killed, yet 1 Kings 15:5 says this of him:

For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. NIV

and David's lineage was given the Kingdom as an inheritance (1 Kings 11:38).

It seems that God is willing to forgive past transgressions for those who are truly repentant. As Ezekiel 18:21 renders it:

“But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die.” NIV

This repentant turn to God is allowed for individuals and nations, as we see from the example set by King Josiah in 2 Kings 23:24-25:

Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the Law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD. Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. NIV

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Leviticus 18:5
Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD. NIV

If you obey God's Law, will you live?
Leviticus 18:5, Deuteronomy 4:1-2, Deuteronomy 6:20-25, Nehemiah 9:29, Ezekiel 18:9, Ezekiel 18:17, Ezekiel 18:19, Ezekiel 18:21, Ezekiel 20:11, Ezekiel 20:13, Ezekiel 20:21, and Ezekiel 33:15 all say that if you obey the Law you will live. Ezekiel 18:21 and Ezekiel 33:15 even go so far as to add that a person who obeys the Law will “not die.”

Live, and not die? Is eternal life granted by obeying God's Law? Not at all. You have to look at other verses within the Bible to get the entire perspective. Consider Deuteronomy 4:40

Keep His decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time. NIV

Speaking of “your children after you” means that you will die even while obeying the Law. So you will not live forever, but take a look at 1 Kings 3:14:

“and if you walk in obedience to Me and keep My decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” NIV

Obedience will grant you a long (not eternal) life. If you obey God's Law, you will live long, and you will not die prematurely. This is what it means to live by the Law, and not die, but that is not all.

Living a long time would not necessarily be a good thing, which is why God also promises blessings for you, your posterity, and your nation; habitation of the Promised Land, a peaceful life, and great prosperity were all gifts for obedience (Leviticus 20:22, Leviticus 25:18, Deuteronomy 4:1-2, Deuteronomy 5:29, Deuteronomy 6:20-25, Deuteronomy 11:13-15, Deuteronomy 30:16, Joshua 1:7-8, 2 Chronicles 31:21, Isaiah 48:18-19).

According to Deuteronomy 17:18-20, kings who obeyed God's Law would be granted a ruling dynasty.

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Deuteronomy 28:1
If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.

What worldly influence does God expect the Law to have?
Deuteronomy 4:5-6 gives us a hint at the influence God expected His Law to have:

See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” NIV

God's Law would show the surrounding nations how wise the Israelites were. From Deuteronomy 28:1-13, we can also see that obedience would not just grant the Israelites prosperity, but that God's blessing in return for obedience would make their nation the most prosperous nation in the entire world. It is from this perspective which we find Psalm 67:1-2 written:

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine on us— so that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. NIV

The blessings the Israelites had received would make all other nations envious and curious. These other nations would try to figure out what makes the Israelites so prosperous. They would discover that the Israelites worship God and follow His wise ways (obey His Law). Naturally, they would try to emulate this success, obeying God's Law, and being led to the one true God in the process. That is precisely why we see the prophesy in Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2 that:

Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.” The Law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. NIV

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Psalm 132:12
If your sons keep My covenant and the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your throne for ever and ever.” NIV

What is the connection between the Law and the covenant of an eternal Kingdom?
In Deuteronomy 4:40, we find some rather interesting text:

Keep His decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time. NIV

God has given the Promised Land to the Israelites for all time, forever. This eternal gift is seen in Genesis 13:15 and Exodus 32:13 as well. However, whether or not the Israelites get to live in the Promised Land is determined by their obedience to God's Law. If they rebel, they will be expelled, but they will always be welcomed back to the Promised Land when they will obey God. This theme of prophesy can be seen in verses such as Ezekiel 11:17-21.

The same kind of situation exists for the Kingdom itself. The Promised Land must be ruled, and that ruling will be by that of a king. The dynasty of kingship for this eternal Kingdom belongs to those who will obey God completely. That is why we see in 1 Samuel 13:13 that Samuel told King Saul:

“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, He would have established your Kingdom over Israel for all time.” NIV

That is why we see God's message to Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28:7 as:

I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out My commands and laws, as is being done at this time. NIV

and why we see Solomon plead in 2 Chronicles 6:16 to God:

“Now, LORD, the God of Israel, keep for Your servant David my father the promises You made to him when You said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before Me according to My Law, as you have done.’” NIV

By these verses, we can quite clearly see that ruling the Kingdom eternally meant having an unbroken dynasty of successors, and that such a dynasty was dependent on each descendant obeying God's Law.

When Solomon ultimately ended up drifting from obedience to God, God tore the Kingdom from his successor, giving it instead to Jeroboam and offering him the same kind of enduring dynasty which was given to David (1 Kings 11:29-39).

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Isaiah 63:17
Why, LORD, do you make us wander from Your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes that are Your inheritance. NIV

Can you summarize all of this information concisely?
God gave the Promised Land to the Israelites for eternity, but they can only stay there, and kings can only rule there, while they obey the entirety of God's Law. God established the Law forever, perfect, and unchanging, just like Him. It is possible to obey the Law, and obedience does not need to be perfect in order to please God as long as you are truly repentant for your sins. Such obedience will be rewarded with long life and abundant prosperity, which will in turn lead others around you to seek God.

Laying Down the Law

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Laying Down the Law
Looking back on my past OT studies, I found more typos than I care to admit! :-) But I also found a number of gems; studies which would be excellent to challenge your own faith and beliefs about God, or get the conversation started with a believer as to why they might want to reconsider that faith. Here are my favorites from the years gone by:

---Genesis

• The Sacrifice of Isaac is a classic point of Biblical contention. Would you do anything God told you to do, even if it was morally wrong?
• For humans to “play God” is often considered evil. What about the case with God Playing God? Is it really any better?

---Exodus

• Predators sometimes exploit their power to play mercilessly with their prey. In God: The Beast, that same theme rings through.
• How much suffering is enough? In One More Game, God will stop at absolutely nothing to let people know that He is God, even if that means their complete destruction.
• Promises, Promises. God promises that if they obey His Law, the Israelites will not have illness, miscarriages, or infertility, and they will have long lives. Long, but not everlasting...
• I'll Be There With Bells On, or I'll Be Dead. Because God would kill you for not wearing bells, or special underwear, when going to worship Him.
• We all have regrets. God does too, as you see in Repentant God, Part 2, where God wants to kill all of the Israelites which He just brought out of Egyptian slavery.

---Leviticus

• The Wrong Way = The Dead Way. Worship God wrongly, and He will kill you, and forbid people from mourning your death.
• If You Are Sick, You Are Guilty. At least, according to God. You are also guilty of sin if you have mildew in your house.
• The Second Greatest Commandment? God has a funny way of showing its prominence in the Law.
• In God's Altered Promise, take a look at how God changes His promises, adding on terms and conditions so that He is only obligated when He wants to be.

---Numbers

• God's forgiveness does not mean that God will not punish you, as you see in Repentant God, Part 3.
• God's Wrath Loves Company. Why else would God annihilate three entire families due to the guilt of three men?
• Scary as it is to consider, God Rewards Extremists.

---Deuteronomy

• The Law Makes an Impression. God thought that His perfect Law would prove His wisdom to everyone around the world. Well, it does make an impression, but not a good one for God.
• You are Chosen, but Not Special to God. Your salvation in His hands is arbitrary.
• God's Law demands absolute Intolerance for All other religions within the boundaries of His theocracy.
• You will find Virginity, Rape, and Bitter Justice in God's Law, as well as a poor understanding of human anatomy which has spawned a legacy of murders.

With my studies of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible complete, I am laying down the Law, so to speak. If I do any more detailed studies of the Old Testament, it will likely be sporadic, probably just to have a break from covering the Gospels. I will open it up to requests, though. So if you have ever had a question about the Bible and you would like my type of perspective, fire away! Leave your questions as comments below, and you just may win your own personal study, Foolishly hand-crafted. ;-)

God According to Numbers

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Background
The book of Numbers has been an interesting adventure; a tale involving counting, commandments, and catastrophes, culminating with the condemnation of Moses and a new generation of Israelites being poised to enter the Promised Land. God's fingerprints are all over Numbers, so let us review what we have learned about Him.

God According to Numbers
God began the book of Numbers by wanting a census of the Israelites. However, it seems that this census was really just a means of taxing the Israelites, because the census conspicuously added up the same count as the one taken in Exodus 38, and of course God would have already known how many there were. Yet in the Numbers' census, the Levites were excluded from the count. This is because Levites acted to protect the Israelites from God. Why? Because if a common Israelite tried to get too close to God, God would kill the trespasser.

We later found out that God essentially gave the Levites to the priests as possessions. The Levites were a substitute for the Israelites giving their firstborn children to God, thus contradicting the law made by God only a short time ago. But the number of firstborns outnumbered the Levites, so God decided that cash will work to make up for the shortcomings of this substitution.

God then went on to divide up the labor of the Levites based on their family lineages. He disproportionately assigned 8580 of them to move the Tabernacle and its accompaniments. (The Tabernacle was just a tent situated in the midst of a large portable-walled courtyard which was a little larger than a soccer field [football pitch].)

With the Levites squared away, it was time for more laws, and why not begin with suspected adultery? God described what a jealous husband should do if he suspects his wife of adultery, but has no witnesses. The suspect wife must drink a magic, cursed potion made by the priest. If she is guilty of adultery, God will cause her to miscarry (also known as aborting) pregnancies or become barren altogether. These holy abortions make you wonder about the fate of the soul of such a child, and in turn if life on Earth is really necessary.

Later, God described how someone can make a temporary pledge of devotion to God, thereby becoming a Nazirite. The pledge centered around growing your hair, abstaining from any products of grape vines, and staying away from dead people. If a Nazirite came near a dead person, they had to shave off their hair and start their pledge all over; after they made atonement for this sin. At the end of the vow, a Nazirite got to make several offerings, including burning his or her hair in front of God.

One common sub-theme in Exodus and Leviticus is that God loves a party! In Numbers, we found that God particularly liked the Passover festival. He even extended the invitation to the festival to aliens living in the Promised Land. However, if an Israelite did not participate without having good excuse, God expected that person to be “cut off,” which is usually a Biblical euphemism for being killed. Celebrate or die.

Another recurring sub-theme is that God sometimes needs to be reminded about His promises, and in Numbers that theme continues. God instructed the Israelites to blow a trumpet when they are attacked in order to remind Him of His promise to protect them from their enemies.

God demonstrated His loving providence to the Israelites by providing manna for them to eat. After eating manna every day for every meal for over a year, the Israelites complained for want of a little variety in their diets. God was quite offended by this, and so He buried them in quail and spitefully bestowed a horrible plague on them at the same time.

When Aaron and his sister, Miriam, started complaining about Moses out of their own jealousy, God reminded them that Moses is the only one with whom He speaks face-to-face, while He speaks to everyone else in dreams and with riddles. God then punished only Miriam, afflicting her with a skin disease. Meanwhile, Aaron got off free despite having enacted same sin and having led the earlier major transgression of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32).

As the Israelites approached the Promised Land, they sent out spies to survey the land. The Israelites were frightened by the news which the spies bring back; the occupants were numerous and powerful. They spoke about returning to Egypt and of stoning Joshua and Caleb for trying to rally them to instead continue on with God's help. God was so outraged by the Israelites that He wanted to kill them all and start a new nation from Moses, thereby repenting that He had brought the Israelites out of Egypt in the first place. Moses managed to calm God's hasty rage. God forgave them, which meant that He prevented them from entering the Promised Land for forty years, meanwhile slowly killing off everyone who was at least 20 years old at the time of this rebellion.

With the rebellion squashed, more laws were issued by God, which included the command that anyone who intentionally disobeyed God's laws should be “cut off.” This was followed by an illustrative incident where a man was caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath. God ordered his execution by stoning. Then God instructed the Israelites to sew blue tassels onto their clothes to remind them to follow God's Law as opposed to their own hearts.

Next, yet another rebellion sprang up. Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and 250 other nameless men challenged the leadership of Moses and Aaron. God was so furious that He wants to kill the rebels along with the assembly of onlookers. Moses and Aaron persuaded God not to kill the onlookers, but God did kill the 250, and destroyed Korah, Dathan, and Abiram along with their entire families. The Israelites grumbled against these deaths, so God inflicted a plague on the Israelites with the intent to kill them all. Moses and Aaron managed to make an atonement offering to stop the plague after 14700 people had died.

God established more laws for the Sanctuary. Instead of being welcoming to all because of His love for everyone, God instead put up a series of barriers, ultimately allowing only the High Priest to gain private audience with God, and even then only on one day of the year.

Surprise! Another rebellion occurred; the Israelites complained about lacking food variety and water. Echoing the earlier Exodus account, Moses whacked a rock to make water come out. Yet God does not something about like the way in which Moses did this, and so God condemned Moses and Aaron to die without entering the Promised Land.

As the Israelites made their way around to the Promised Land, with God's help they pillaged and committed genocide to all nations in their path. King Balak solicited a prophet named Balaam to help protect his people from the Israelites. Balaam asked God if he should go to Balak. God said no. Later, Balaam asked again. God then told Balaam to go to Balak, but to say only what God tells him to say. So Balaam set out on his donkey. The donkey seemed to act crazy. Balaam beat the donkey for this odd behavior. God made the donkey be able to speak, and then God told Balaam that had it not been for his donkey's actions, God would have killed Balaam.

When Balaam finally reached Balak, Balaam performed a series of three sets of sacrifices, inquiring of God after each set of sacrifices. Balaam had to go through this series because, instead of being straightforward from the beginning, God chose to only give piecemeal information.

While the Israelites were camped outside the Promised Land, some of them started up interracial relationships and worshiping the god of the natives, Baal. God was so angry that He sent a plague to kill the Israelites and demanded that their leaders be publicly executed. While Moses was gathering the leaders to develop a plan, an Israelite man walked by with a Midianite woman. Phinehas followed them back to their tent and skewers them both together with his spear. God was so impressed with Phinehas' extremist zeal that God rewarded him with the promise of a lasting priesthood and stopped the plague. Unfortunately and indiscriminately, 24000 had fallen already by God's plague.

Later on, we learned how God views vows. A man's vow is binding, while a woman's vow is subject to her male-authority-figure's approval. This approval process even extends to a promise a woman might make to honor God.

God directed a war of vengeance against the Midianites to repay them for corrupting the Israelites. This war was a genocide of the Midianites, with the extermination of all males of any age and any non-virgin females. The Israelites got to keep the virgins for themselves, which included some virgin sacrifices for God.

To wrap up the book, God dictated some more laws regarding murder and manslaughter. It was an interesting approach to these issues, for sure, and overall rang of justice. However, the term served for manslaughter was rather arbitrary; dependent upon the High Priest's death. Also, one clause stated that atonement for the land could not be made except by the blood of the guilty party. While the High Priest's death seems to foreshadow Jesus well, the non-substitution atonement conflicts with Jesus.

What We Have Learned
God likes to collect money. (Or rather, God likes to give money to the Priests. Convenient, no?) Plus, God will accept money as a substitute for some other offerings.

God has a problem allocating manpower proportionately.

God will conduct abortions (through miscarriages) to dishonor an adulterous wife.

God seems to hold high regard for hair, and thinks that it gets contaminated by dead people.

God does like to party, but He wants you dead if you do not go to the party without a good excuse.

God needs to be reminded to carry out His own promises.

God will punish you if you ask for more than what He gives you, no matter how meager His giving is.

God is sometimes arbitrarily selective in His wrath, and almost always speaks to people in riddles (even though revelation riddles have not yet been demonstrated in the Bible).

God will be exceedingly angry for a lack of faith. More significantly: God will still punish you even if you are forgiven.

God does not want you to follow your heart, but rather to follow His Law exactly.

God needs persuasion not to kill the innocent along with the guilty.

God only wants a direct relationship with a very, very select few.

God will condemn you due to one instance of using poor choice of words.

God will tell you that it is OK to do something, and then nearly kill you when you do that very same thing.

God will string you along instead of being up front with all pertinent information from the beginning.

God rewards extremists.

God puts a woman's vows under a man's control.

God will command genocide and virgin sacrifice.

God seems confused in His foreshadowing of Christianity.

In short: God is hungry for money, hair, and blood, but not for relationships. His arbitrary wrath takes out the innocent with the guilty. He is desperately in need of anger control management and memory aids. Yet he rewards those who exhibit His same fiery temper and expects you to follow the Law as opposed to your heart. Worst of all, He will punish you even if He forgives you, which does not bode well for His bumbled, foreshadowed Christianity.

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Blood Justice

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Background
The Israelites are on the borders of the Promised Land. Since the God-directed genocide of the Midianites in Numbers 31, the Israelites clans of Reuben, Gad, and Makir (from the Manasseh clan) decided that they would take land on the east of the Jordan River instead of entering the Promised Land (Numbers 32). Remarkably, God did not have an opinion on the alternative settlement.

Numbers 33 had God tell Moses to be sure to drive out all of the inhabitants of the Promised Land, despite God claiming earlier in Exodus 23:28-29 that God Himself would drive them out.

In Numbers 34, God established the borders of the Promised Land. That must have reminded God that there were still some important rules to convey, which we find in the chapter of this study.

Blood Justice
Murder and manslaughter. Outside of conditions of a war, what is the appropriate justice for the intentional and the unintentional killing of another person? The Bible presents an interesting approach to this question, and in the process provides even more interesting revelations; revelations which both support and refute of the efficacy of the blood of Jesus.

Numbers 35:1-15 opens the chapter describing how the Levites (the official helpers of the priests) will be granted 48 towns throughout the Israelite settlements, and how six of those towns will become Cities of Refuge. A person who accidentally kills someone or who is accused of murder can flee to any of these Cities of Refuge. (Cross-reference Exodus 21:12-14)

Numbers 35:16-21 elaborates on what counts as murder, such as any attack with a weapon in hand regardless of intent, or any attack made with malice or hostility, when a person dies as a result. The “avenger of blood” (typically the closest surviving family member of the dead person) gets to kill the murderer.

Numbers 35:22-28 covers the case of manslaughter in greater detail, when death comes without malicious intent. The person guilty of manslaughter should flee to a City of Refuge. His or her case will be judged by an assembly. Provided that the judgement is that there was no malicious intent, the person guilty manslaughter can live in a City of Refuge without any fear retribution. Once the High Priest dies, the guilty person can then return to his or her home without any fear retribution. However, if the avenger of blood sees the guilty person outside the City of Refuge anytime before the High Priest dies, the avenger can kill the guilty person without becoming guilty of murder himself.

So a man guilty of manslaughter could only be held accountable for a certain term; a term which could be anywhere from a few days up to the remainder of his life, if the High Priest lived longer than he did. Having a flexible and somewhat arbitrary term does not really seem like true justice. However, it does do a great job of foreshadowing redemption through Jesus, a different kind of High Priest (Hebrews 5:7-10). As the story goes, when Jesus died, all of our sins were forgiven. Well, at least the sins of believers were forgiven.

After that, we see that a murderer should be killed only if there is more than one witness (Numbers 35:30).

Numbers 35:31-32 expands on the guilty sentence, saying that no ransom should be accepted for the life of a murderer, or to allow a man guilty of manslaughter to return to his land before his full term in the City of Refuge.

Here is where things begin to look bad for foreshadowing Jesus. Scripture tells us that Jesus gave his life as a ransom to save everyone from death (Mark 10:45, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, Hebrews 9:15). You could argue that the death of Jesus was an act of substitution, not ransom, for guilty parties. Well then, examine the next verse of Numbers 35:33:

"Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it." NIV

God has a strict no-substitution policy here. So this is a definite failing of foreshadowing Jesus. Unless...

Well, there are some people who believe everything happens for a reason, and that God is in control of everything. From that perspective, we are just meat puppets without even realizing it. Now, if that is the case, then you could say that God is ultimately the one who shed the blood. So maybe this does foreshadow Jesus after all! ;-)

Genocidal God

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Background
Back in Numbers 25, the Israelites were camped out on the edge of Moab. While there, some of the Israelites had sexual relations with Moabite and Midianite women, and started worshiping their god Baal. Phinehas slayed an interracial couple, and God was so impressed that He stopped the plague He sent (after 24000 Israelites had died) and rewarded the vigilante Phinehas with a lasting Priesthood.

The five chapters which followed covered a census of the 601730 Israelite men, Moses beginning the transfer of power to Joshua, and God giving some more rules and regulations which mainly dealt with the offerings for various feasts, plus a chapter primarily on the vows of women to complete the set.

Genocidal God
If you have never been deeply disturbed by reading the Bible, you have not been really reading it. Read it. Read it for all that it is worth. Read it like your life depends on it, at least if you are a believer. I recommend starting at the beginning, but let this be a teaser to get you hooked into reading.

Numbers 31:1-2 opens the chapter with malicious intent:

The LORD said to Moses,"Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people." NIV

God tells Moses to start a holy war; a war of God's vengeance. Vengeance for certain Midianite women who had sex with some Israelites and convinced some Israelite subset to worship Baal (Numbers 25:1-3, Numbers 25:16-18).

Some commands for this war are elaborated on in Numbers 31:3-6. One thousand Israelites from each tribe (twelve thousand total) would attack the Midianites, accompanied by Phinehas the priest with the Ark of the Covenant and trumpets. This was not just a simple attack. We will see that the actual purpose was genocide.

The war goes on in Numbers 31:7-12, and it was a big success. They killed every Midianite man, and claimed their women, children, livestock, and other valuables as plunder, bringing them back to the Israelite encampment. But that was wrong, very wrong.

Moses is furious when they get back (Numbers 31:13-14). He angrily commands in Numbers 31:15-18:

"Have you allowed all the women to live?" [Moses] asked them. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man." NIV

Note that Moses is so angry because the Israelites had let the women live who were the very cause of the war. Pause, and think on this. Instead of God simply holding the specific guilty people responsible and subjecting only them to His wrath, God initiates a war which yields destruction of all male lineage, otherwise known as genocide.

Next, note that these women had followed Balaam's advice. Balaam. The gentile prophet with the talking donkey who said that he would only say what God had told him to say (Numbers 22:38). The one who danced with God's drawn-out prophesy of blessing the Israelites while cursing many others and infuriating Balak. Talk about being non sequitur.

Finally, note that they could keep the virgin women and little girls as part of the war plunder. It is arguable that such may be a better fate than being slain like the rest of the Midianites, but keep in mind that they would become slaves and wives to the same people who had slaughtered their brothers and fathers.

Perhaps you are not moved by Holy genocide. How about Holy virgin sacrifices?

After a purification process (Numbers 31:19-24), the Israelites divided up the plunder per God's instructions. Half went to the soldiers, and the other half went to the rest of the Israelites, but the Levites got a percentage of the Israelites' portion, and God got a percentage of the soldier's portion (Numbers 31:25-47). (It is interesting that God's portion came from the soldiers.)

As we discover in Numbers 31:40, God got 32 of the 16000 virgins. What does it mean when God gets people? Numbers 31:41 explains that God's share was given to the High Priest, Eleazar, but it does not elaborate any further.

In a previous study, we saw that the priests could not marry a non-Jewish women (Leviticus 21:13-15), so marrying these virgins was not possible. The best that these virgins could become was slaves or concubines for the priests. That is, if they belonged to the priests.

The text only says that they were “for the Lord” and “the Lord's part.” There is a Hebrew term for “irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord,” meaning completely destroying them, usually by fire, which is often simply translated as destroyed. In a previous study, we observed that indeed humans could be killed this way for God (Leviticus 27:28-29). It is likely that such was the ultimate fate of these 32 virgins.

So God expands the guilt of a culpable few to an entire people, resulting in their genocide, and (likely) has some of their surviving virgins sacrificed for Him. God demands mercy, not sacrifice? Ha.

A Woman's Word

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Background
After Phinehas skewered an interracial couple simultaneously with his spear, God was so impressed that He stopped the plague He sent (after 24000 Israelites had died) and rewarded the vigilante Phinehas with a lasting Priesthood.

In Numbers 26, God requests a census be taken, which found that there were 601730 Israelite men, and that only Moses, Joshua, and Caleb were still alive from the time that God had pronounced that no Israelite men living at that time would enter the Promised Land, except for Joshua and Caleb.

Then, Moses began the transfer of power to Joshua (Numbers 27), and God managed to remember some more rules and regulations over the next three chapters to tack onto the ones given previously. These commandments mainly deal with the offerings for various feasts, but Numbers 30 deals with vows, specifically the vows of women.

A Woman's Word
A man of character has many attributes, with one of the most important being that he stands by his word; that you can trust him to do what he says he will do. It is a quality you would expect from God, a quality that God expects from men, but not necessarily what God expects from women.

Numbers 30 is a revealing chapter on how God perceives vows and women. You can easily summarize it like so:

When a man makes a vow, God expects him to carry out that vow exactly as he promised (Numbers 30:1-2).

When a woman makes a vow, God only expects her to carry out that vow if the superior man in her life approves of that vow; be it her father (Numbers 30:3-5), her new husband (Numbers 30:6-8), or her existing husband (Numbers 30:10-15). Only if there is no man, like for a widow or divorcee, will her word be binding on her without approval (Numbers 30:9).

Now, the defense of such passages is not that the woman is necessarily inferior, but rather that this was her role. Gender roles are not necessarily a bad thing. Particularly in that time, the men were almost exclusively the breadwinners. If a wife, who was not well in formed on the family wealth, made a careless vow, it could bring financial ruin on the family. So the husband's evaluation of a vow his wife made provided a safety net.

That is not inherently bad, but the devil is in the details. Numbers 30:13 reads:

"Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself." NIV

To “deny herself” means to fast or abstain from something (chocolate or sex), and is performed as a pious commitment to God; done to honor God or as part of a prayer request (Luke 2:37, Acts 14:23). So the husband has a level of control as to his wife's commitment and communion with God!

This indeed does place women at a diminutive status; a place where her own desires for closeness to Heavenly God can be trumped by her husband's earthly desires.

Why would God permit this? God values the physical pleasures of a man higher than the spiritual sacrifices of a woman? God wants a woman's authority to be her husband's first and God's second? God values women less than men? These are unpleasant prospects, to say the least.

One alternative is to consider that this is a man-made religion. Men in that time wanted absolute authority over their wives, and would not tolerate wives who vowed to withhold sex in honor of God. No, in the religion they created, men would get the final word.

God Rewards Extremists

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Background
After slaying all of the Amorite men, women, and children in multiple cities with God's help, the Israelites settle down on the edge of Moab for a time. Balak, king of the Moabites, was scared by the Israelites' presence and reputation, so he sought out Balaam to curse the Israelites in order to help drive them away. After God almost killed Balaam for doing what God had told him to do, Balaam finally meets with Balak.

In a drawn out affair involving multiple prophesies and animal sacrifices with Balak and Balaam, God finally reveals, not only will God bless the Israelites instead of cursing them, but also that the Israelites will conquer Moab, Amalek will be destroyed, the Asshur will conquer the Kenites and then will be conquered themselves, along with Eber.

God Rewards Extremists
Christian terrorism. Mainstream Christianity compartmentalizes it as being caused by overzealous nuts who ignore the teachings of Jesus, such as not to judge others (Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37). After all, it is not like God would reward such an act, such as Islam has the 72 virgins for martyrs. Nope, no virgins, but do not be fooled. The God of the Bible does indeed reward overzealous extremists.

Note that this study is explicit, but 100% Biblical. Judge for yourself if you should continue reading.

Numbers 25:1-3 tells us that while the Israelites were camped in Moab, Moabite women enticed some Israelite men into having sex with them and worshiping their god, Baal. This made God angry, and you would not like God when He is angry. Numbers 25:4 states:

The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD's fierce anger may turn away from Israel." NIV

So God wanted all the leaders killed and stripped naked on display to make God forgive their sins. The phrase “these people” is ambiguous, and could mean just those who had sinned or all of the Israelites. Oh, and God's fierce anger (as we will later discover) is made manifest in the form of a deadly plague. God is so full of love and mercy.

Moses, seemingly oblivious to God's command but not to His anger, instead gathers the leaders (judges) and tells them to kill all of the men who have worshiped Baal (Numbers 25:5).

At that moment, Zimri, an Israelite man, walked by the assembly of the leaders with Cozbi, a Midianite woman, taking her back to his tent. Eleazar's son Phinehas springs into action. Phinehas stalks Zimri and Cozbi back to Zimri's tent. There, Phinehas skewers both of them together, sending his spear through Zimri and into Cozbi. At that moment, God stopped the plague, after it had already killed 24000 Israelites (Numbers 25:6-9).

It should be noted that the 24000 Israelites that God killed with the plague quite possibly died indiscriminately to their guilt. Remember that this scene happened while Moses was having a meeting to direct the killing of such guilty men. So it is likely that the sin of at least some of the 24000 was just letting their fellow Israelites sin, if they had known about it at all, which is questionable in such a large population (Numbers 1:46).

In Numbers 25:10-13, God rewards Phinehas:

The LORD said to Moses, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned My anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for My honor among them, so that in My zeal I did not put an end to them. Therefore tell him I am making My covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites." NIV

God loved the vigilante style and zeal of Phinehas. God was ready to kill all of the Israelites, but He was so impressed by Phinehas that He stopped the deadly plague. So Phinehas saved an entire nation by his actions, making atonement for them, and God bestows Phinehas the great honor of having a lasting priesthood in his lineage.

This is exactly the kind of fodder which feeds the animalistic urges of extremists, helping them cross the bridge from merely being pious to becoming a religious terrorist. It answers the desperate questions: What can I do to win God's favor? What can I do to ensure the blessings of God for myself and my family for generations to come? What can I do to save my nation, my country, or my people?

This is dangerous, as history has proven time and time again, such as with the KKK, anti-abortion violence, and the Hutaree. This is one of the primary reasons I continue with the work I am doing here.

Dance with God

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Background
In our previous study, we saw how a talking donkey helped Balaam escape the wrath of God. This study picks up right were that one left off.

Quickly, let us recap. Balak, king of Moab, is worried by the approaching Israelites. So Balak summons Balaam, a non-Israelite who talks directly to God, to come and curse the Israelites. God eventually tells Balaam to go to Balak, but nearly kills him on the way there for no apparent reason. God and Balaam make an agreement, so when Balaam makes it to Balak, he tells Balak that he will only speak what God tells him to speak.

Dance with God
One sign of the integrity of a man is how straightforward he is in his interactions with others. A man of integrity will not give you the run around, but will rather be direct about his intents, purposes, and restrictions from the beginning. One should hope that God is that honest and straightforward in His dealings with His creations. After all, God is supposed to exhibit the highest morality, and so we should be able to learn by His example.

In this study we continue on in a story from Numbers 22 where Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet of God, was headed to Balak, the king of Moab. Near the conclusion of that chapter, Balaam states that he will only speak what God tells him to speak (Numbers 22:38). Keep that in mind as we read more.

Numbers 23:1-12 has Balaam instruct Balak to make 7 altars, and then sacrificed a ram and a bull on each altar. Balaam then goes off to talk to God. It appears that Balaam met with God face-to-face on a barren hill (Numbers 23:3-4). This seems to contradict Exodus 33:20 and Numbers 12:6-8.

God tells Balaam to tell Balak that Balaam cannot curse what God has not cursed, that the Israelites live apart from other nations, and that they have a huge population. Balaam closes out in Numbers 23:10 with an interesting statement:

“... Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!” NIV

This could be taken a number of different ways; from confirming that death is final to implying that those who follow God will meet with a desirable “end” of life, which could be eternal.

Moving on. Balak is disappointed in Balaam's message, but Balaam reminds him that he must speak what God tells him to speak (Numbers 23:11-12).

If at first you do not succeed, try, try again. This seems to be Balak's motto, as he takes Balaam to another location, builds another 7 altars, and sacrifices another 7 rams and bulls (Numbers 23:13-14).

Balaam then goes “over there” to meet with God. God tells him to tell Balak that God is not like a man, that he would lie, or change his mind, or promise something and not fulfill it. (Of course, that contradicts passages such as Numbers 22:13 and Numbers 22:20 where God did change His mind and all three times God repented.) God goes on to say that no misfortune or misery is seen in the Israelites because God is with them. (And this contradicts other passages as well, such as when God killed some Israelites for wanting variety in their diets.) Furthermore, God says the Israelites like a lion which will not rest until it drinks the blood of its victims (Numbers 23:15-24).

As you may imagine, Balak is again not happy, but he is still persistent. The chapter closes out with another 7 altars built and another 14 sacrifices made (Numbers 23:25-30), but the story continues in Numbers 24.

Numbers 24:1 states that Balaam did not resort to sorcery this time, and then Numbers 24:2 says that the Spirit of God came to him. This gives you the impression that Balaam had used some sorcery to talk to God the previous two times.

(You may recall that in a previous study we discussed Exodus 22:18, which calls for the death of sorceresses, female practitioners of sorcery, and noted that the death sentence did not extend to men. Balaam would seem to be a confirmation of that sexist policy as opposed to showing how God was against any sorcery in general.)

With the Spirit, Balaam rattles off whole chapter's worth of prophesy in Numbers 24:3-25. He blesses the Israelites, speaking of how powerful and mighty they are, how they will have a king who is greater than Agag of the Amalekites, and have an exalted kingdom (Numbers 24:3-8). Then Balaam goes on to say that whoever blesses them will be blessed, and whoever curses them will be cursed (Numbers 24:9).

Balak is angry, and tells Balaam to go home without being payed (Numbers 24:10-11).

That does not stop the prophesy. In Numbers 24:12-25, Balaam states that the king of Israel will conquer Moab, the sons of Sheth, Edom, and Seir, that Amalek will be destroyed, that the Kenites will be captured by Asshur, and that Asshur too will be conquered.

Overall, there is nothing too outrageous in this story, but perhaps what stands out the most is that Balak and Balaam had to go through this dance with God. Instead of God just being honest and complete with Balak through Balaam on the first prophesy, God unnecessarily stretched out this correspondence as if it was done for His own amusement and to embarrass Balak as much as possible. What a great example for all of us to follow.

A Talking Donkey Evades God's Wrath

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Background
The previous chapter, Numbers 21, was fairly busy. The Canaanite king of Arad attacked and captured some Israelites, and so then the Israelites counterattacked and completely destroyed him and his lands with God's help.

Then, like before in Numbers 20, the Israelites complained about not having water. This time, God sent fiery serpents/venomous snakes to kill some of the rebellious Israelites. The Israelites repented being thirsty, so God had Moses make a bronze serpent on a pole, and if the bitten Israelites looked at this serpent, they would live. Jesus would later compare Himself to this serpent.

After that, they traveled around the desert some more. The Israelites asked Sihon, the king of the Amorites, for permission to pass through their land. The king responded by attacking the Israelites, but the Israelites defeated him. Moses sent spies to Jazer, and then captured it as well. Finally, with God's help, the Israelites conquered Og of Bashan as well.

As we would later learn in Deuteronomy 3:3-7, these victories ended with the pillaging of all goods and livestock, and the killing of all men, women, and children. This sets the stage for our study.

A Talking Donkey Evades God's Wrath
Mick Jones of The Clash asked “should I stay or should I go?” in a song which topped the charts one decade after it was written. Mick wrote about a tumultuous relationship; not sure if it was worthwhile any longer. Believers sometimes turn to God for answers in such unsure situations. Omniscient; if there was ever a source for wisdom, you would think your Heavenly Father would set you on the right path.

In this study, a man by the name of Balaam turned to God for guidance, but God jerked him around; almost killing him for following that same God-given guidance, and that is not even the strangest thing about this tall tale. Let us investigate in Numbers 22.

Numbers 22:1-4 opens the chapter with the Israelites camping in Moab. The Moabites are frightened by the numbers of the Israelites, probably on the order of over six hundred thousand men at this time (Numbers 1:46), but even more frightened because the word had spread that the Israelites had just slain every man, woman, and child in multiple Amorite cities (Numbers 21:25-26, Deuteronomy 3:6).

Balak, king of the Moabites, fears for the safety of his people. Desperate, he sends princes to summon Balaam, a guy with a proven track record of effective blessings and curses, to aid his defense against the Israelites. Balaam tells the princes that it will depend on what God tells him, which obviously reveals the source of Balaam's blessing and cursing powers as well as his relationship with God (Numbers 22:4-8).

God asks Balaam who are the men who have come to him (Numbers 22:9) Either this is proof that God is not omniscient, or God is testing Balaam to see if he will tell the truth, which would be stupid because God would already know what Balaam's answer would be.

Balaam informs God that Balak wishes to curse “a people” which came from Egypt, so obviously Balaam does not know who they are. God informs Balaam that he should not go with the princes, and should not curse the people because they are blessed. So, Balaam told the princes that God would not let him go with them (Numbers 22:10-14).

Balak does not give up so easily. He sends more princes, and higher esteemed princes, back to summon Balaam again, and offers Balaam a great reward. Balaam tells them that it does not matter what they offer. It only matters what God says, which again suggests that Balaam had a tight relationship with, or at least a considerable respect for, God (Numbers 22:15-19).

Because God does not change His mind (Numbers 23:19) and does not respect a man's earthly importance (Deuteronomy 10:17, 2 Chronicles 19:7, Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, Galatians 2:6, Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 3:25, and 1 Peter 1:17), naturally you would expect God to provide the same response again to Balaam. You would be wrong. Numbers 22:20 says:

That night God came to Balaam and said, "Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you." NIV

So God changed His mind, and let Balaam go, but God then gets angry at Balaam for going with the princes per His own command! After Balaam leaves in Numbers 22:21, we read in Numbers 22:22:

But God was very angry when [Balaam] went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him... NIV

Now here is where the story goes from bad to worse. Worse than God contradicting Himself? You bet.

We see in Numbers 22:23-27 that the invisible angel of God had a sword drawn, and on three occasions blocked Balaam's path. His donkey could see God, and so walked around Him the first two times, but stopped the third time because God had completely blocked the path. Because Balaam could not see God, he beat his donkey for misbehaving all three times.

God then grants the donkey the power to speak, and so she asks Balaam why she received the beatings. Balaam has a discussion with her about the beatings, instead of being utterly shocked (or reacting at all, for that matter) that his donkey could talk (Numbers 22:28-30)!

Then, in Numbers 22:31- 33, God grants Balaam the ability to see Him, to which Balaam does react; falling facedown. After chastising Balaam for thrice beating his donkey, God goes on to tell him, as Numbers 22:33 renders it:

"... If [the donkey] had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her." NIV

God was standing there, with His sword drawn; ready, willing, and even desirous to see Balaam dead. The only thing which stayed His sword was how close His target was. Proximity. As if someone could be too far away for God to kill. As if God was not omnipotent.

It is also important to note that God was not waiting for Balaam to commit one more sin. Instead, God was simply waiting for Balaam to take one more step closer to God to kill him. Ironic, no?

Balaam, humble as ever up to this point, tells God that he has sinned, and he will turn back around if that is what God wants. God replies with essentially the same response from Numbers 22:20, that Balaam can go with the princes, but must speak only what God tells him (Numbers 22:34-35).

So what was the point of all of this? Apparently God just wanted to put the fear of God into a man who, by this account, already had the fear of God. God was just being a bully.

Disposable Leaders

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Background
In Numbers 18, God confirmed a hierarchy of personal relationship, where only the Priests had access to God, and where anyone else who tried to access God would be killed. This is not exactly a great foreshadowing of Christianity.

In Numbers 19, God instructs on the purification of sin through water of cleansing; water mixed with the ashes of red cow, cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool. Again, this seems off for foreshadowing Christianity, but there is something even more strange about it. Aaron was the High Priest at the time, while Eleazar was his son. God specifically instructed Eleazar to make these special ashes, excluding Aaron and his other remaining son/Priest Ithamar. (Aaron's other two sons, Nadab and Abihu, had been burned to death by God.)

Why was Eleazar selected? That answer may be revealed in the next within this study of the next chapter.

(On a side note, it is rather amusing that the water of cleansing is used anachronistically in Numbers 8:7 before it was defined in Numbers 19:1-10.)

Disposable Leaders
In the business world, sometimes a manager will look for any excuse to fire a particularly bad employee. Poor attendance. Surfing the Internet instead of working. Stealing office supplies. Any little recordable reason will suffice to be rid of the bigger problem at hand. As it turns out, God may be the same way, even with His favorite worshipers, as we will see in this study.

In Numbers 20:1-5, we find the Israelites at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin. There was no water, so the Israelites complained to Moses about the lack of water and variety of their diet.

Does that plot sound familiar? It might if you remember the previous study involving thirsty Israelites, or if you remember complaints about water in Exodus 15:22-25 and Exodus 17:1-7, or complaints about food variety in Exodus 16 and Numbers 11:1-35 (also in a previous study).

Because of its many similarities with our present study, the Exodus 17:1-7 account stands out. There they are walking through the Desert of Sin. There was no water, so the Israelites complained to Moses that they were dying of thirst. God tells Moses to whack a rock with his staff, and God would make a spring come forth from it. Moses does this, and then names the place Meribah, which means quarreling.

Continuing now with the story in Numbers 20:6-13, God tells Moses to whack a rock with his staff to make a spring come forth from it. This place is called Meribah too. Quite a coincidence, huh? Even the names Sin and Zin are so close that it makes you wonder if this is really two tales are of the same origin.

Yet there are differences. Big differences. While the Exodus 17:1-7 episode went rather smoothly, the Numbers 20:1-13 version results in condemnation. In Numbers 20:10-11:

[Moses] and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. NIV

You may be wondering why Moses, the most humble man in the world (Numbers 12:3), is so confrontational. Well, the rebels did start it (Numbers 20:3-5), and perhaps Moses was remembering how God acted the last time the Israelites complained about provisions, sending a plague which killed many Israelites. It seems like Moses is projecting his and God's frustrations (Numbers 17:10) at this rebellious people. (Rebellious, that is, for being thirsty in the desert and complaining about it.)

Well, God was not impressed by this performance. We find in Numbers 20:12:

But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as Holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them." NIV

Wait, what? What is that supposed to mean?

Christian commentaries are a bit confused and uncertain as to what this means. They have come up with a myriad of explanations for why God was angry:

• Moses took credit for God's work, as seen by “must we bring you water...”
  
• God told Moses to speak to the rock (Numbers 20:8), but instead he struck it twice.
  
• Moses spoke to the people instead of to the rock.
  
• It was implied that Moses should strike the rock once, but instead he struck it twice.
  
• Moses struck the rock twice because he did not believe that once would be enough, similar to his second-guessing God in Numbers 11:21-23.
  
• By striking the rock twice, Moses messed up God's planned symbolism for Jesus being struck down once to produce “living water” (1 Corinthians 10:4) (despite this being actually the second episode of a rock being struck to produce water).
  
• Moses acted in a fit of rage and spoke in anger calling them rebels (Matthew 5:22) (despite that he was saying essentially what God had previously said in Numbers 17:10).
  
• Moses and Aaron had unbelief that God would actually provide water for such a rebellious people.

Thank God that the words of the Bible, and even the very words of God Himself, are so clear as to prevent misunderstanding, huh?

There are two references to this episode beyond this chapter which may help clarify. Numbers 27:13-14 claims that both Aaron and Moses “disobeyed [God's] command to honor [Him] as Holy.” Psalm 106:32-33 claims that “trouble came to Moses because of [the Israelites]” and “rash words came from Moses' lips.”

The commandment to honor God as holy comes from Leviticus 22:32:

"Do not profane My Holy name. I must be acknowledged as Holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD, who makes you holy." NIV

So putting all of the pieces together, it may be that God was offended by Moses using the term “we” in the act of bringing forth water; not in the sense that he was taking credit, but rather in the he was bringing God down to the level of himself and Aaron, or elevating himself and Aaron up to God's level. Moses did not emphasize that God was separate and different from himself, and the almighty, Holy source of miracles. Or simply put; Moses did not acknowledge God as superior in Holiness.

Of course, this still makes you wonder why Aaron was condemned in this episode. Was it just guilt by association, or is this what God meant by holding the Priests accountable for transgressions against the Priesthood?

Whatever the reason for God's pronouncement of a death sentence on Moses and Aaron, it seems relatively minor compared to their past transgressions. Moses was very reluctant in obeying God, he had challenged God's decisions not once, but twice, and he had previously doubted that God could provide what He had promised. Aaron lead the Gold Cow rebellion and complained about the superiority of Moses.

So it appears as though God is just drawing an arbitrary line, using this fairly minor mistake as an excuse for a change of command. Aaron dies at the end of the chapter, bestowing his son Eleazar with the title of High Priest (Numbers 20:22-29). Moses survives a bit longer, but dies before entering the Promised Land, and Joshua assumes the role of leadership in his place (Deuteronomy 34).

(For those of you who may still believe that this episode foreshadows Jesus, take a moment to consider that both this place and the previous place where water came from a rock were both named Meribah, which means quarreling, and that Moses and Aaron became condemned to die early as a form of punishment for their actions. Then ask yourself: How could those facts possibly relate to Jesus?)