READ IT! - Introduction to Numbers 22-28

Readings for this week

Monday: Numbers 22

Tuesday: Numbers 23

Wednesday: Numbers 24

Thursday: Numbers 25

Friday: Numbers 26

Saturday: Numbers 27

Sunday: Numbers 28

Introduction to Numbers 22-28

Chapter 22

Israel made camp on the Plains of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho. Balak, the king of Moab, feared the Israelite presence in the land. He sent messengers to Aram to retrieve Balaam son of Beor. Balaam was a professional “curser.” Balak wanted Balaam to pronounce a curse upon Israel so that they would be destroyed. Balaam agreed to do it for a hefty sum of money.

Before Balaam arrived in Moab, God spoke to him and told him to only speak the words God would put into his mouth about Israel.

In 1967, an ancient manuscript was found at an excavation site in Jordan that contained the name of “Balaam son of Beor.” The text described Balaam as one who communicated with the gods at night. It also says that he had a vision of the god “El.”

As Balaam was traveling along the road, an angel stood ahead of him with a drawn sword. Balaam didn’t see the angel, but his donkey did and walked off the path. Balaam beat his donkey to get it back on the path. The angel stood in a different place between two walls of a vineyard. The donkey stopped walking and pushed up against the wall trying to escape and crushed Balaam’s foot. Balaam beat his donkey again. The angel moved to another place where the donkey could not escape from him. The donkey sat down and refused to move. Balaam beat his donkey again.

God caused the donkey to speak. The donkey says, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" Balaam says, "You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now!" The donkey says, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" Balaam says, "No."

The text then says that God caused Balaam to see the angel in the road. Balaam bowed down. The angel said: “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.” The angel then told Balaam to continue on his journey, but to only say what he would tell him to say.

Balaam took his sweet time and Balak was a tad impatient by the time he arrived. Balak reminded Balaam of the money he had promised him. Balaam informed him that he would only be able to speak what the LORD would allow him to speak.

Chapters 23-24

Balak took Balaam up a mountain to view Israel and put a curse on them. God spoke and Balaam delivered His messages to Balak.

Balaam’s First Message: “How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?”

Balak took Balaam to another place where he could only see the outskirts of Israel’s camp and told him to curse Israel.

Balaam’s Second Message: “I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.”

Balak told him to neither curse them nor bless them at all. Balak took Balaam to another place and told him to curse Israel from there.

Balaam’s Third Message: “May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!”

Balak became angry after this third blessing and told Balaam to go home.

Balaam’s Fourth Message: “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab... Edom will be conquered…but Israel will grow strong.”

Balaam’s Fifth Message: “Amalek was first among the nations, but their end will be utter destruction.”

Balaam’s Sixth Message: “You Kenites will be destroyed when Ashur takes you captive.”

Balaam’s Seventh Message: “Alas! Who can live when God does this? Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus; they will subdue Ashur and Eber, but they too will come to ruin.”

Chapter 25

Many of the Israelites went over to the Moabites and “committed themselves to the Baal of Peor.” The text says “The LORD’s anger burned against them,” and he sent a plague among the people. God told Moses to command the Israelites to kill everyone who had aligned themselves with Baal and the Moabites.

While Moses and the elders were weeping at the Tabernacle, an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman into the camp in front of everyone. Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, grabbed his spear and drove it through both of them and the plague finally stopped. The text says that 24,000 people died from the plague. Israel and Midian became enemies over this incident.

Chapter 26

Moses takes another census because so many people died since the last one. This took place on the Plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from the city of Jericho. The text says that the people counted in this census were completely different from the people in the last census. All the people recorded in the first census had died in the desert except for Joshua and Caleb.

Chapters 27-28

God told Moses to climb a mountain and look out over the Promised Land. God told Moses to appoint Joshua as the new leader of Israel because Moses would die before Israel entered the Promised Land. Moses and Eleazar the priest anointed Joshua in the presence of all of Israel.

God then says to bring offerings each morning and evening, on the Sabbath and on the first of the month, and to celebrate Passover and the Feast of Weeks.