Numbers 31

v1-6: “There is a day coming when vengeance will be taken on those who have introduced errors and corruption into the church, and the Devil who deceived people will be cast into the lake of fire.”

v7-12: The Midianites were punished for leading the Israelites into sexual immorality and idolatry. This was “Balaam’s doing, and so it was right that he should therefore die with them.” If only Balaam had believed what he had said about Israel. His “foolishness was revealed to everyone” for, “he foretold the fate of others, but did not foresee his own.”

v13-24: Moses was furious with the commanders of the army for keeping all the women alive. Why? Because it was “dangerous to let them live” because “they will… continue to tempt the Israelites to be sexually immoral.”

v25-47: Everything we have, has been given to us by God. Therefore how we use it “must be subject to his will,” and “God must receive” from it “what is due to him.”

v48-54: “When God has preserved and prepared us in a significant way, he expects us to make some particular response in gratitude to him.”

Numbers 32

v1-15: The Reubenites and Gadites ask for the land that had just been conquered, to be assigned to them as their share of the inheritance. This land that they wanted was not only “attractive to look at,” it was also “suitable for food for their cattle.” They seemed to be more “influenced by the worldly things they can get out of life” and so they failed to reach Canaan. Likewise, we can seek after worldly things “more than the things of Jesus Christ,” and “so fail to reach the heavenly Canaan.” We must be concerned about looking beyond the things that are seen. They also showed a lack of concern for their brothers and sisters, as they did not seem to care about “what happened to Israel, as long as they themselves were all right and were well looked after.” It is not right for us to be unconcerned about our brothers and sisters if they “are in difficult and dangerous circumstances.”

v16-27: After Moses showed the two tribes “their sin and its dangerous effects, they were brought to realise their duty without any arguments or grumbling.” They agree to help the other tribes in the conquest of Canaan “for as long as they needed it.” It is important for us to not only “find out our own sins,” but also to “repent of them and abandon them” and do what is right.

v28-42: Why did they change the names of the cities? It was because the names “were idolatrous” and “carried a respect for the false [gods] worshipped there.” The name change shows that God will keep his promise “to take away the names of Baals out of the mouths of his people.”