To be honest, this was a hard passage for me to read. The first section contains regulations about vows, and it includes a lot of extremely patriarchal and sexist views towards the self-determination of women. After this, there is a section where the Israelites exact revenge on the Midianites (according to the LORD's command). After that, they split the spoils. Some tribes do not want to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land because the land looks so good, and therefore, the LORD is displeased with them. Then there is a final account of the sequence of locations that the Jews passed through in their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.
In the first section on vows, a lot of the discussion is how a man can override any of his wife's vows if he hears about it. I know that this was written in a different time and culture, but to me, an institutional discrimination and patronization of women is moral reprehensible no matter how happy they are regardless. Chapter 30:5, 8, and 12 all talk about how a man can nullify his wife's or daughter's vow. It does not specify what these vows are. I would be curious to know, and if any of my readers- that's you, Tom- know what those vows are.
Chapter 31 starts with God's command to wipe out the Midianites, enemies of Israel. The Midianites seduced Israel into sexual immorality (in all its forms, presumably) and idolatry (to Baal [tne God of] of Peor, some kind of idol/false god). How do I know these fine details? Well, I look to the notes in my study Bible for these sorts of things. So, the Midianite were stealing Israel away from God and his divine love and justice. So, God commanded that they be wiped out. The Israelites killed them all except the women and children, who they took as plunder. Balaam, the guy who talked to the donkey a couple of chapters back, was killed in this attack.. Then they kill all of the male children (Num. 31:17), but keep for themselves all of the virgin girls. That bothers me.
They divy up the plunder and then head on out. As they reach the Jordan, the last and final barrier between them and the Promised Land, the Reubanites and Gadites see all of the range land and how it would be really good for their flocks and herds. So, they do not want to cross into the Promised Land because the good land is already there. They ask if they can stay there to have that land for their herds and flocks instead of having the portion of the Promised Land. Here it says that the LORD's anger was aroused. He reminded them that their forefathers did the same thing sometime ago, "...when [the LORD] sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them" (Num. 32:8-9). As a result, their forefathers wandered the desert for 40 years.
I think God was trying to remind the Reubanites and Gadites, in lieu of their greed and lack of faith, how horribly things went when their ancestors did the same thing. It turned out very bad. So, they finally say that they will go into the Promised Land, Canaan, with the rest of Israel, if, when the land is given to the people, they can have the land that they want. I get the sense from the context, after having just read about how bad things went the last time the Israelite tribes fared when they abandoned the LORD's providence, that history did not favour even this final act by the Reubanites and Gadites.
The next chapter is a brief synopsis of the waypoints along the journey from captivity in Egypt all the way to Canaan.Although I do not have a map, I have a feeling that much of this time was spent going around in circles or crossing over paths they had already tread. It seems like the whole thing was an object lesson that without the direction of God in our lives, we are just spinning in circles without hope. We are utterly hopeless without him.
I know that firsthand. Just think about it. I have no control over whether my heart beats. Everything I have, every beat of my heart is a gift. May I never forget that. When I realize that, I am afraid. There is no way I have any control over my heart beat. I am nothing without Him. God's overwhelming, pervasive, and unmatched power to me is as a sea storm to a leaf upon those crashing waves. This video does a better job explaining it. The most striking line, is when Chan alludes to when God says, "You want to challenge me? Why don't you stand up right now and tell everyone, 'Hey, I could live without you.'" The sheer thought of that terrifies me because I know I am nothing without him, and to lose the only hope I have through him would render this life meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Thank God for Jesus Christ.
Only 1711 pages to go!
No comments:
Post a Comment