Day 67: Numbers 31-32

Welcome to 5 -Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's March the 8th and we'll be looking at Numbers 31 through 32.

Today's reading brings us very near to the end of Israel's long wilderness journey.

For nearly 40 years the nation has wandered between promise and fulfillment, learning hard lessons about faith and obedience and trust in God's leadership.

In Numbers 31 and 32 the story begins to shift from a wandering people towards a prepared people.

Israel carries out a final act of judgment against Midian, the nation that had previously drawn them into idolatry, and then the nations begin making decisions about how the land will be settled once the conquest begins.

These chapters reveal that as Israel prepares to inherit the land, God is shaping both their obedience and their unity as a distinct people.

Numbers 31 records God's commands for Israel to carry out judgment against the Midianites.

Earlier in the story you'll remember that Midian had played a decisive role in seducing Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality, drawing them into the worship of Baal and leading them to devastating spiritual collapse in the camp.

Now God brings justice against the corruption and Israel defeats Midian in battle and the spoils of victory are carefully counted and divided according to God's instructions.

Even in the distribution of the plunder, the narrative emphasizes that the victory did not come from Israel's strength but from the

Lord who fought on their behalf. Then Numbers 32 shifts the focus to a decision about the land east of the

Jordan River. The tribes of Reuben and Gad notice that the territory there is well suited for their large herds of livestock and they approach

Moses with a request to settle there rather than crossing the Jordan into Canaan itself.

Moses reacts with alarm because the proposal sounds dangerously similar to the earlier rebellion when the previous generation refused to enter the land, but the tribes clarify their intention.

Their families and their flocks are going to remain east of the Jordan, but their warriors are still going to cross over with the rest of Israel and fight until the land is secured for all the tribes.

Only after the conquest is complete will they return to their inheritance and in this way the unity of Israel's mission is preserved even as the tribes settle in different locations.

Now as you read these chapters, I want you to consider the following question. How do personal interests and community responsibilities interact with the life of God's people?

Numbers 31 and 32 reminds us that individual decisions are never isolated. What one group chooses will affect the entire covenant community and in that a clear pattern emerges across these chapters.

Before the people are going to inherit the land, God addresses both justice and unity. The judgment against Midian confronts the corruption that had previously threatened

Israel's spiritual vitality and the arrangement with the tribes of Reuben and Gad ensures that the nation is going to move forward together in unity rather than fracturing into competing interests.

And this pattern speaks directly into the life of God's people throughout every generation because faith is never merely a private matter.

God's people belong to a covenant community where victories and failures are shared.

Obedience to God includes not only personal faithfulness, but also a commitment to the well -being and the mission of the larger community.

The tribes cannot pursue their own prosperity at the expense of the nation's calling any more than individual

Christians can pursue their mission apart from the local church. Now in all of this, we see that these chapters uniquely point forward to Jesus because the judgment against Midian reminds us that God does not overlook sin and idolatry.

He is going to put all of his enemies under his feet. Evil will ultimately be confronted and removed in the course of redemptive history.

And yet the deeper answer to human rebellion comes not through military victory, but through the work of Christ.

At the cross, Jesus bears the judgment that sin deserves so that his people can inherit the promises of God that they could never earn.

The unity displayed among the tribes also anticipates the New Testament vision of the local church because God's people move forward together towards the inheritance that he's promised them.

Christ is the greater leader who secures victory for his people and distributes the inheritance of his kingdom to some 30 fold, some 60, and some even a hundred fold.

Under his leadership, the people of God advance not as isolated individuals, but as one body moving toward the fulfillment of God's promises.

So as you read numbers 31 through 32 today, I want you to notice how close Israel now stands to the promised land.

The wilderness years are almost up and the nation is preparing for the final steps of that journey.

And tomorrow we're going to look back across the entire wilderness route as the story begins to move towards its conclusion and Israel prepares to cross into the land.

And with that, read your Bible carefully, devotionally, and joyfully, and may the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely.