Num 28-31, The necessity of a relationship and seriousness in walking with God

Num 28:3, 9, 11, 16, 26, 29:1, 7, 12 (NIV) Say to them: 'This is the offering made by fire that you are to present to the Lord: two lambs a year old without defect, as a regular burnt offering each day.

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9 "'On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil.

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11 "'On the first of every month, present to the Lord a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.

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16 "'On the fourteenth day of the first month the Lord's Passover is to be held.

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26 "'On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain during the Feast of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.

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29:1 "'On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets.

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7 "'On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves and do no work.

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12 "'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days.

• As the people prepare to enter the land, why does God remind them of their obligations to him?
• It is easy to forget God when life seems to be coming together
• It is easy to forget the importance of the relationship

• God reiterates the sacrificial and feast requirements. How is the list organized?
• By frequency and date
• The first requirements are daily, then weekly, then monthly, and then each of the seven main feasts that occur once per year in the order of their appearance
• The unleavened bread feast is not shown above but is recorded in verses 17-25
• Later on, the Jews will add two more festivals, the day of Purim (added during the time of Esther) and Hanukah (added during the period of the Maccabees)
• The seven feasts have eschatological significance with Jesus death and Pentecost fulfilling the first four. The final three feasts all occur in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar (October / November of ours)

• Still, the real importance of the list was the protection of the people so that they could maintain a relationship with God

• In the New Covenant, Jesus satisfies all of these sacrificial demands. But the importance of relationship is still key. The children of the Exodus are not about to enter the land, and their success in life will depend upon them seeking God

• So too, our success in life (as witnesses for Christ) is dependent upon our relationship with God. If we seek Him regularly, He will use us for His name's sake and glory. If we ignore him, we lose our salt and are best thrown onto the garbage pile of life.

Num 30:1-5 (NIV) Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: "This is what the Lord commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.

3 "When a young woman still living in her father's house makes a vow to the Lord or obligates herself by a pledge 4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand. 5 But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the Lord will release her because her father has forbidden her. . . .

• How do these verse strike you, especially in modern society?

• There is one verse for a man concerning a vow or oath, and then 13 verses follow for a woman concerning a vow or oath. What are the consequences of a rash vow for a man and for a woman?
• The man is given freedom to take a vow or oath without any second guessing or review
• Except for the case of a widow or divorced woman (vs. 9), the woman's vow or oath can be nullified by various persons depending upon her situation (Father or husband)

• So is that unfair?
• Actually it would seem that the woman is given a better deal. She is protected from a rash vow or oath. Also, the husband bears the guilt if he waits too long before nullify a vow or oath of his wife
• On the other hand, the man must be very careful with his words because he has no one to protect him from rashness. Nor does he have an advocate to release him from his words

• One principle that comes out of this section is the role of a Husband as the protector an advocate of his wife (I did not say ruler)
• He protects her from rashness and he bears her guilt of rash statements that he is slow to nullify
• The husband's wife is not a servant to be abused. She is a precious gem to be protected and loved. The husband is to be interested in all aspects of her life and he is to seek to present her to God in the radiant beauty that God designed her to be.

Num 31:1-6, 13-15 (NIV ) The Lord said to Moses, 2 "Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people."

3 So Moses said to the people, "Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the Lord's vengeance on them. 4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel." 5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.

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13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army — the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds — who returned from the battle.

15 "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. 16 "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. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

• What do we know of the Midianites?
• They are a nomadic tribe occupying the Arabian desert and the area south of Israel
• They participated with Moab in seducing Israel to worship Baal, and to engage in sexual immorality
• Additionally, Balaam is a Midianite, and he does not escape God's judgment for his participation in the plan to seduce Israel
• Surprisingly, Moab is not judged here and will continue for many centuries, which also says that Moab's fear of Israel was unjustified
• The Midianites are not large and it takes only 12,000 men to destroy the 5 clans. Balaam is killed in this battle. 

• Why does God require the women and boys to be killed, it seems unfair to kill the women and boys?
• I think our definition of fairness is a misunderstanding of holiness. No one can stand before God without faith, we are all undeserving. If he is merciful to some, who are we to judge the creator? He has the right to do as he pleases with his creation
• But God also understands what we do not, and that is, half-measures toward sin inevitably fail. We need to be serious with sin in our life and not play at the edges, because in the end, we will be burned
• At this point, Israel does not understand the danger of half measures and  spares the women and children