CbC June 8-14

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June 8, Sunday

Reading A159 — Numbers 22 — Balaam’s Talking Donkey       Audio: Numbers 22 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Puzzling Miracles — This chapter contains one of the most dramatic, miraculous stories in the Bible.  In Genesis 3:1, the demonic serpent talked to Eve, and in today’s chapter, God causes a donkey to speak.  In the eyes of our modern world, this is an unbelievable story, but since nothing is impossible with God, we believe it.  Israel had arrived at the northeastern tip of the Dead Sea, just across the Jordan River from Jericho (v. 1).  They were closely watched by others.  Balak, the king of Moab, had seen Israel wipe out the Amorites who attacked them (v. 2) and he also knew they had come out of Egypt (v. 5).  They had a miraculous history and created a present fear.  Although they had not fought with Moab, King Balak sought for outside help.  He knew of Balaam, who lived 400 miles (644 km) north of Moab and had a reputation for being able to curse or bless large groups of people.  Joshua 13:22 says that Balaam “practiced divination” and Peter said that he “loved gain from wrongdoing” (2 Pet. 2:15), but Balaam claimed Yahweh as his God: “…the LORD my God” (Num. 22:18).  There is one big question in this story: Why was God angry at Balaam “because he went” (v. 22), when God had told him to go (v. 20)?  Many possibilities have been offered, but the Bible doesn’t give us any more information.  It may be just another example of the fact that the Bible doesn’t tell us everything we want to know and that God’s ways are not our ways.  Another puzzling thing to me was that after the donkey talked, asking a question, Balaam answered her as if it were nothing unusual.  I don’t think I would be threatening to kill a talking donkey!

June 9, Monday

Reading A160 — Numbers 23 — Balaam Blesses Israel            Audio: Numbers 23 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Hoping for Magic — We read earlier about the blessings that Jacob gave to his sons and the sons of Joseph.  They were not idle words of hope, but they were predictions of what would be true in the future.  King Balak wanted just the opposite from Balaam—a magical curse that would ensure a negative future for Israel.  He didn’t get what he wanted, however, because God knew and directed the future, and He would only bless His people.  Balak thought that if he couldn’t get a curse from Balaam in one location, he could get it in another place.  No, he wasn’t working with magic here but with the almighty God.  The first message God had Balaam declare was so positive for Israel that Balaam wanted to finish like them: “…let my end be like his [Israel’s]” (v. 10)..  The second attempted curse resulted in Balaam concluding that God cannot lie and would not change His mind (v. 19).  The blessing would remain a blessing.  We will read God’s response to the third curse-attempt tomorrow.  I was impressed with Balaam’s faithfulness in trusting God to tell him what to say, and for him to say it despite offending a powerful king.  We should have that kind of courage for truth, too.

June 10, Tuesday

Reading A161 — Numbers 24-25 — The Final Blessing      Audio: Numbers 24-25 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Sin’s Danger — Balaam’s final blessing for Israel was given from “the top of Peor” (23:28), and it was at the base of this mountain that “Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor” (25:3).  Baal was the primary god of the Canaanites, and it was a fertility god.  Its worship practices had extended across the Jordan River and, being attracted by its sexual emphasis, Israel began to “whore with the daughters of Moab” (v. 4), which brought down the wrath of God in the form of a plague that killed 24,000 people.  In blatant defiance of the law of God, one man, Zimri, brought a Midianite woman, Cozbi, into his tent (v. 6).  God used Aaron’s grandson, Phinehas, to stop the plague by killing Zimri and Cozbi, thus providing atonement for Israel’s sin (v. 13).  God’s punishment for sin might seem to us to be too drastic, but it is probably because we don’t see the extent of sin’s danger and its offensiveness to God.  God is holy and reacts very strongly against sin.  Since we are to be holy because God is holy (Lev. 11:44-45), we ought to be growing in our disgust, fear, and avoidance of sin.

June 11, Wednesday

Reading A162 — Numbers 26 — The Second Census               Audio: Numbers 26 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Stunted Growth — The first census was taken just before Israel was to enter the Promised Land from the south, but because of the faithless influence of the 10 spies, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that generation died off.  The second census was taken before entering the land of Canaan from the east, crossing the Jordan River.  Its purpose was not only to determine the number of men able to go to war (v. 2), but also to determine the size of land to be allotted to each tribe according to their numbers (v. 53).  There are several surprises in these numbers.  The first was why the total available army decreased over 40 years from 603,550 (1:46) to 601,730 (26:51).  The annual world population growth in 2024 was 0.85%, so at even half that rate, the men of Israel would have grown from 603,550 to 714,000 in 40 years.  Life in the desert was tough, and the people were in poor spirits, knowing they were being punished by God.  Israel was not prospering, and their growth was stunted.  The second surprising set of numbers is that in the first census, fighting men in the tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300 (1:23), but that number fell to 22,220 at the second census.  Why?  In yesterday’s reading, we saw that God sent a plague that killed 24,000 people because of the blatant sin of Zimri.  Perhaps that punishing plague was centered on the tribe of Simeon because Zimri was a Simeonite (25:14).  There had also been recent wars with the Amalekites (Ex. 17:8) and the Amorites (Num. 21) that could have reduced some of the numbers of Simeon’s fighting men.

June 12, Thursday

Reading A163 — Numbers 27 — Joshua Made Leader             Audio: Numbers 27 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Led by the Spirit — Anticipating Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land, the daughters of Zelophehad requested, and were promised, an inheritance of land, since their father had no sons.  Moses was also preparing for the fact that God would not allow him to enter the land “because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness … failing to uphold me as holy at the waters … of Meribah” (v. 14).  He wisely asked God to choose a replacement for him to lead Israel into the land (vv. 16-17).  God’s choice was Joshua, “in whom is the Spirit” (v. 18), which is a rare condition experienced by a person in the Old Testament.  What a blessing we Christians have in enjoying the constant indwelling of the Holy Spirit!  God also told Moses that Joshua would have “some of your authority” (v. 20), being limited by often having to communicate indirectly with God through Eleazar, the high priest.  Although Moses is directed in this chapter to “Go up into this mountain of Abarim … When … you also shall be gathered to your people” (vv. 12-13), that would not happen until the last chapter of Deuteronomy.  There was still more preparation for Israel to be provided through Moses before his death.

June 13, Friday

Reading A164 — Numbers 28 — Summary of Offerings              Audio: Numbers 28 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Giving Your Best — This chapter contains a summary of Israel’s sacrifices required throughout the year, which is similar to what we read in Leviticus 23.  Five categories of sacrifices are listed here: Daily, Sabbath, New Moon, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Firstfruits followed by the Feast of Weeks.  It was expensive.  In one year, over 100 bulls, 1,000 lambs, a ton (900 kg) of flour, and 1,000 bottles of oil and wine were required.  Does that sound like too much?  God required it so that His people would know what it looks like to put Him first.  That reminded me of a hymn, written in 1902 by Howard Grose, with the verses beginning as follows:

1. Give of your best to the Master;
Give of the strength of your youth…
2. Give of your best to the Master;
Give Him first place in your heart…
3. Give of your best to the Master;
Naught else is worthy His love…

June 14, Saturday

Reading A165 — Numbers 29 — Holy Celebrations                   Audio: Numbers 29 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Double Celebration — This is another summary chapter, featuring the activities and sacrifices on the most holy days of the year for the Hebrews.  All of them happened during the seventh month of the year, the most holy month for the Jews.  The titles of these holy days are not identified here, but the first one, on the first day of the seventh month, was the Feast of Trumpets (v. 1, cf. Lev. 23:24).  The second one, on the tenth day, was the Day of Atonement, the most holy day of the year (v. 7).  The third celebration was that of Passover on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (v. 12), followed immediately by the seven days of the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles).  It was interesting for me to discover that it was the seventeenth day of the seventh month that Noah’s ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4).  So, while later Jews were spending their second day living in temporary booths to remember their wilderness wanderings after being released from bondage in Egypt, they were unknowingly celebrating the release of Noah’s family from the flood and from their one year of being contained in the ark.