Summary #10

Weekly Summary
Numbers 22 to Deut 2

We rejoin our story with Balaam admitting that his donkey had more prophet powers than he did, and going with Balak, who wanted him to curse the Israelites. Instead, there were seven prophesies of doom for those surrounding Israel, and seven words of blessing for the Israelites. This was enough for even Balak, and he and Balaam parted ways.

Hanging out in Moab had a bad effect on the Israelite men, who began playing around with the Moabite women, indulging in pagan rites and worshipping their gods. The Lord has Moses put an end to this, telling each tribe that they must put to death the men who were doing this. One man even took a woman right into the meeting, where they were summarily killed by Eleazar the priest's son. What follows is another plague, this time killing 24,000. At this point, the Midianites are identified as the enemies of Israel, ith the command to kill them.

After the plague, another census is taken, and the adult men of Israel number over 600,000 - and none of them were counted as adults when they had been counted before, fulfilling the word of God that none of those men, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, would survive the wilderness and see the promised land. During this census, some daughters of a man who had no sons appealed to be given the family inheritence, and, defying all local patriarchal custom, the Lord gives property rights to women. Later we see that they must also preserve the tribal lands by marrying within their tribe, but this is truly revolutionary.

The Lord reminds Moses that he, too, will die before they enter the promised land, and has him name Joshua as his successor. God then has Moses remind the people of all the offerings and Festivals that they are to celebrate (Especially in the seventh month... they must have gotten NOTHING done in the seventh month...). He also goes over the rules for men and women and vows. (upshot: keep them, and if you're married, you have a say in what your wife vows.)

Next comes a new stage for the Israelites: they are commanded to take vengeance on the Midianites by going to war against them. They arm themselves, and defeat them roundly, killing the five kings of Midian, along with Balaam, who had tried so hard to prophesy against them. They killed all of the men, but were supposed to kill all of the adult women, too. They took all kinds of plunder, which was divided up between the fighting men, the rest of the tribes, and the Lord, through the priests. When the officers had counted their men, and found that they had not lost a single man, they presented an additional gift to the Lord.

Even as they approached the promised land, two of the tribes decided that the land they were sitting on currently would be better for their tribes than the land that God had promised, and asked if they could just stay there. Moses took them to task, asking if the other tribes would then have to fight on without them as they took the new land. The leaders of the two tribes - Reuben and Gad -- put their heads together and then promised that they would situate the women and children in this land, then the men would go with the rest of Israel and fight, then return back to their land after the alnd had been won. Moses took their oath, and gave them the land.

EXcerpting the highlights from the last 40 years in the desert, Moses gives the challenge to the people of Israel: drive out ALL of the people in this land, and destroy every idol. Take posession of the land and settle it. The land is to be distributed among the tribes, and the boundaries are set. They're ambitious, but they're set, including towns for the Levites, cities of refuge, and the area already allotted to the two tribes on the other side of the Jordan.

This brings us to the end of Numbers, and we dip our toes into Deuteronomy. Moses recounts the 38 year journey of the Isrealites, and the success and failures that they had. We stand here on the edge of the promised land, the place that God had promised to a people he had promised to make great and numerous, and we wonder: What next?