14Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
15"Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them.
16"They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people.
17Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,
18but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
- P154
God, through Moses, commanded that the captured Midianites be put to death. However, the soldiers did not listen and instead kept alive those they wanted to. Yet we see in Numbers 25 that the Midianites enticed the Israelites to rebel against God so that His wrath would fall on them. God commanded the execution of the Midianites in order to protect the Israelites from idolatrous temptations. - P156
As believers in Christ, we face temptations from our sin that tries to entice us to disobey God. If we make peace with it, it will take deep root within our hearts. It must be completely uprooted so it does not take hold of us. - P156
But we do not fight sin alone; God gives us the strength to overcome it. - P156
God commands the Israelites to purify themselves and their captives before re-entering the camp. Moses emphasizes that both people and objects must undergo purification to be fit for God’s presence. This is a somber reminder that humanity carrying the effects of sin cannot enter in the presence of God’s holiness and needs cleansing from sin’s defilement. - P156
We must remember that God is both holy and gracious. - P156
God’s requirement for purification reminds us that, on our own, we cannot approach Him. - P156
We must first be cleansed. And in Christ, the ultimate purification has been accomplished for us. Jesus became the perfect priest and sacrifice, offering Himself to cleanse us from our sins once and for all and usher us into the presence of a holy God. - P156
Father, You paid a great price for my cleansing; I want to honor this sacrifice by uprooting sin from my life. - P157
Search me and know my heart. Make me aware of the sin I still harbor and remind me that You give me the grace to fight it. In Jesus’ name, amen. - P157
God instructs Moses and Eleazar on how to divide the spoils of war. It is to bedistributed equally between the soldiers and the rest of the community, witha portion set aside for the Levites. The soldiers offer a portion of their shareto God for atonement. Their offering is brought into the tent of meeting as amemorial before God. - P159
"When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by apledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said." - Numbers30:2 - P163
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