Read the Word:
Numbers 25:1-9
Meditate on the Word:
It can be difficult to read a passage like this with our contemporary sensibilities. The punishment for these men’s idolatry can seem very harsh to us. The killing of the Israelite man and the Midianite woman seems brutal. We can find ourselves asking why what these men were doing required such a harsh punishment. We might even think that it seems unfair.
These men were first led away by their sexual temptation. There is no room for doubt in the text that these were illicit sexual relationships. These were God’s chosen people and decided that they wanted these foreign women. This is not about race. Otherwise, Moses would have been executed for having Zipporah, the daughter of a Midianite priest. And God would not have let Boaz (many generations later) marry Ruth, a Moabite woman. The difference: Zipporah and Ruth worshiped the God of Israel. They did not lead men into idolatry as these women of Moab did.
Their enticement by these women turned them into idolaters. They worshiped foreign gods, which our God never allows. These men needed to be removed because their idolatry, like a cancer, was spreading through the camp. If we are to live our lives as a people set apart by God for His purposes, we must control our bodies so that we are not dragged into worshiping the wrong things as these were.
Pray the Word:
Ask our Lord whether any current relationships bring you closer to Him or further away from Him.
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