Numbers 24:17-25 - Balaam went back to his place

24:17-19

The ESV labels the section from 24:15 as “Balaam’s Final Oracle”, whereas the NIV splits it up into seven “messages”. The section headings are not actually part of the Bible, though they can be helpful, we should not treat them as “gospel truth”! Balaam prophecies the destruction of Moab by a “sceptre” from Israel, i.e. a king from Israel. The “sons of Sheth” are probably Canaanite Nomads. Verses 18 and 19  then talk about more victories. The key point is that Israel is going to be victorious, despite the wishes of Balak. We need to understand that just because the enemy wants to destroy us, that doesn’t mean he is going to succeed!

24:20-25

There are then three short oracles, foretelling the defeat of Amalek, the Kenites, Ashur and Eber. These were all said in the presence of Balak, or at least 23:25 seems to imply that. Balaam is probably keen to demonstrate to Balak that the words he speaks are true, as there are significant details in the prophecies. In time, Balak would see that Balaam spoke the truth.  Balaam does come in for a hard time in the New Testament, though while the narrative here make clear that he is far from pure, his mercenary attitude is more implicit than explicit.

Ephesians 2:21,22 - You are being built together into a dwelling place for God

2:21

Paul is waxing lyrical on what is achieved in Christ. Those who were obsessed with the Jew-Gentile divide, on circumcision as a dividing line, look increasingly petty. In Christ God is building a beautiful structure. In Christ people are brought together, and they grow together “into a holy temple in the Lord”.

2:22

And all this applied directly to the Gentiles. They were being built together into this holy temple by the Lord. They were being built “into a dwelling place for God”.  Notice the deeply trinitarian nature of all that Paul has been saying. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are inseparable. They are distinct, but they work together in perfect harmony, to achieve the one purpose. Whoever you are as a believer, you are fully accepted by God, and God want to dwell with you. He also wants to dwell with us. That is why unity is so important.

Numbers 24:12-16 - I will not go beyond the word of the Lord

24:12-14

Balaam told Balak that he had said from the beginning that he could only give the words that God gave him. Silver and gold could do nothing to change that. Balaam is going to leave Balak, but before he does that he will give Balak “a word for free”. Not that Balak will like it!

24:15,16

Again there is mixture in Balaam The words of the previous few verses sound as if he is acting faithfully, being not really bothered about the money, and saying he can only speak the words of God. He also says he falls prostrate before the Lord. At the same time he could be taken as being boastful, declaring that he sees clearly and has “knowledge from the Most High”. I do find Balaam to be something of a puzzle.

Ephesians 2:19,20 - You are no longer strangers and aliens

2:19

So the Gentile Christians were no longer “strangers and aliens”, they were no longer separated from God. Instead they are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. The Gentiles needed to know and believe this, knowing that there was no way in which they were second class citizens. The Jews needed to know and believe this so that they would know that the Gentile believers were their brothers and sisters.

2:20

All this was built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Prophets here are presumably the Old Testament prophets. In the Old Testament prophets, with Isaiah being the prime example, it is clear that the kingdom of God goes way beyond the confines of Israel. The apostles preached the gospel, first to Jerusalem, then to the Gentile world. And in all this Jesus is the cornerstone, everything is built around Him, is held together by Him, depends upon Him.

Numbers 24:8-11 - Balak's anger was kindled

24:8,9

“They have the strength of a wild ox ...” This is not how Israel saw herself, and it must be prophetic. I.e. This is what Israel would become like. There were hints of this occasionally in the Old Testament on the rare occasions when they had a faithful king. There is a lesson for all of us. When we trust God and live according to His ways we become very different people. “May those who bless you ...” is a quote from Gen 12:3a.

24:10,11

Balak is extremely angry that Balaam has failed to curse Israel, but has blessed them yet again. Balak had no understanding of how things worked, of how God works! So he reacted in anger.The correct way to react would have been to seek to learn how God works. The Pharisees and other religious leaders made exactly the same mistake, and they too reacted with anger. Balak refuses to give Balaam any reward, for as far as Balak was concerned Balaam had failed on his part of the contract.

Ephesians 2:17,18 - He came and preached peace

2:17

It was always God’s plan to bring salvation to the whole world. He created the whole world, and to Abraham He promised that all nations would be blessed through him, and that he would be the father of many nations. Jesus came and preached the same message to all peoples, whether Jews or Gentiles. And the message was repent for the kingdom of God is near.

2:18

All can know the Father. In Christ we all have access to the Father through the one Spirit. Jesus did not come to bring division on that score.  In Lk 12:51 Jesus says He came to bring division not peace. This division is on whether a person believes in Him or not, that is the only dividing line. All other dividing lines are man made and must not be adhered to. So the Jew-Gentile dividing line no longer exists in the kingdom.

Numbers 24:1-7 - The Spirit of God came upon him

24:1-4

Verse 1 demonstrates the mixture within Balaam. He clearly used omens (presumably a form of divination) at various times, but realised there was no point doing that in this situation. Instead he set his face towards the wilderness. He did this in order to see the Israelites. The Spirit of God came upon him. Verses 3 and 4 seem to show that Balaam has a high opinion of himself. It could be that he is simply stressing that he is giving the word of God, but there does seem to be a lot of pride within him. Alternatively, if we take these words as coming directly from God (and not that this part is Balaam’s own words), then it is God declaring to Balak that Balaam is giving the word of God, not the result of some form of divination.

24:5-7

The blessing now starts. The picture here is looking forward to the time when they are settled in the Promised Land. These are God’s plans for Israel. The reference to Agag (24:7) could be a prediction of Saul defeating Agag (1 Sam 15:1-9). It is worth noting that one of the reasons so many scholars cannot believe that Isaiah 40 onwards was written by Isaiah is the mention of specific details about Babylon and its defeat by Cyrus (e.g. Is 45:1). Here it seems that we have another mention of a specific king well before the king reigned.

Ephesians 2:15,16 - Might create in Himself one new man

2:15

The Law was set aside in Christ’s flesh. This happened because Christ fulfilled the Law. The Jews saw the rules and regulations of the Law as a means of separating them from the Gentiles, and were an obstacle to Gentiles becoming Jews. In Christ these barriers were done away with. This does not mean the moral requirements of the Law were set aside, the teaching of Christ and the rest of the New Testament make this clear. The purpose in this was “to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.” Elsewhere Paul says that we are a new creation. If we are holding on to the old then we cannot grasp hold of the new. Equally, if we feel we are still dragged down by the old, we need to realise that in Christ the old has gone, the new has come.

2:16

In this verse we see how the reconciliation works. First, both needed to be reconciled to God. If I think the main problem is that you need to be reconciled to me, then I am badly mistaken. We both need to be reconciled to God. The starting point has to be our being reconciled to God, and this is achieved through the cross. And it is this reconciliation that puts to death our hostility. For in Christ there are no grounds whatsoever for hostility between you and me.

Numbers 23:25-30 - Let me take you to another place

23:25,26

Having seen that despite asking Balaam to curse the Israelites he now tells Balaam to do nothing at all. However, Balaam responds that he has to do what God tells him to say. This further adds to the enigma of Balaam. Outwardly he is obeying the Lord, but it would seem that this is outward only (Matt 7:21-23).

23:27-30

Having tried the idea of moving to a different place once and having seen it fail, Balak has not learnt anything. So he once again takes Balaam to another place in the hope that God will curse the Israelites from there. He does seem to realise that the outcome is up to God now, rather than up to Balaam. Balaam goes along with Balak, and once again goes through the rigmarole of setting up seven altars with the associated sacrifices. So the altars were set up and the sacrifices offered.

Ephesians 2:13,14 - You have been brought near

2:13

“But now ...” Once the Gentiles were “far away” or “far off”. Now, in Christ, we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. In Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew. There is a unity to humanity. We were all created by the same God, and live in the same universe, created by that God. We have all sinned, and all can be saved through faith in Christ. There is no difference. In Paul’s day the Jews found it hard to believe that there was no difference. Any group that considers itself to be in some way superior to another is deeply mistaken. Various white nations have considered themselves superior, the apartheid in South Africa was a most gregious example of this.  Today there are various ideologies which consider blacks to be superior to whites (many based on critical race theory), these are equally flawed.

2:14

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the buried, the dividing wall of hostility.” Note that Paul does not pretend that there wasn’t a division, nor that hostility did not exist. We take the focus off ourselves and put it on to Christ, we then look at ourselves in the light of Christ. When we do this we realise that we are sinners, so are no better than anyone else. We then also realise that we have received forgiveness and new life in Christ, and that anyone else, including the person we despise, can receive the same forgiveness and new life.

Numbers 23:20-24 - I have received a command to bless

23:20-24

Balaam had received a command to bless Israel, and nothing could change that. God has determined to bless Israel, and bless Israel is what He will do. God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and He did so in order to take them to a good place (despite what the Israelites themselves often thought!). Then he says that there is no comparison between the blessing of God and the divination of the various seers etc of the nations. God has determined to make Israel strong. This purpose still stands. This does not mean Israel’s sinfulness is overlooked, the Bible makes that abundantly clear. But we are in a whole different ball game. When we see the world in increasing rebellion against God  we should not fear, for the rebels of the world are like the enchanters etc of Balak’s time, utterly useless against God.

Ephesians 2:11,12 - Having no hope

2:11

Paul is now moving on to address the whole Jew-Gentile divide, and to demonstrate how this has been completely done away with in Christ. It is worth looking at how he has gone about this so far. The starting point has been God, His sovereignty and His grace and richness towards us. Then he spoke about how we are saved purely by the grace of God, the gift of God, so that no one can boast. There is no room for pride at all. Here Paul starts by looking at the situation the Gentile believers found themselves in. The Jews considered themselves better than the Gentiles. They called the Gentiles “the uncircumcision”, they were excluded from God’s covenant. Paul also notes that circumcision was a mark made by human hands. This is in contrast to the new birth that is something made by God.

2:12

So before Christ the Gentiles were indeed separated from Christ and alienated “from the commonwealth of Israel”. They were strangers to the covenant and the promises, and were without hope and without God in the world. Without Christ their situation was indeed dire. So the Jews had, at one level, a point. But all that was without Christ, and with Christ everything changes, as we shall see.

Numbers 23:16-19 - Go back to Balak

23:16,17

The Lord does meet Balaam and gives him another word. Balaam returns to Balak, and Balak asks him what the Lord has said to him this time. No doubt he was hoping for fire and brimstone to be rained down on Israel, or something along those lines, but he would be disappointed. 

23:18,19

The message that Balaam gives is from God. Earlier God has demonstrated that He can speak through a donkey, so he can even speak through Balaam. Balak thought that he would be in control and judgement would be upon Israel. Instead he finds that he is the one under judgement. God tells Balak that He is not a man. When God speaks He does. This is in stark contrast to men. We often say things and do not do them, whether through duplicitousness, or weakness (i.e. not having the ability to fulfil our words).

Ephesians 2:9,10 - Created in Christ for good works

2:9

Our salvation is not a result of any works on our part. Therefore, no one has any grounds for boasting. Why might people boast? The Jews may have boasted about their Jewish heritage and observance of the Law. But no one kept anything like all of the Law. In particular, they may have boasted about being circumcised, as the Judaisers did in Galatia. But that played no part in their salvation. Someone may claim to be good, but all such claims are false.

2:10

Our human nature is to claim that we are our own workmanship. We are nothing of the sort. We had no say whatsoever in the fact that we exist at all. Likewise, in terms of being saved we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ. Now comparing this to our very existence is useful, for though we had no say in our coming into existence, we know that our existence is real, and that what we do matters. So it is with our salvation. We are saved by God’s workmanship, but what we do with our lives matters. Indeed, we were created for good works. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works. And God prepared these in advance for us to carry out. We were created with a purpose, and were saved for a purpose. We should seek to fulfil that purpose.

Numbers 23:11-15 - What have you done to me?

23:11,12

Balak is not best pleased. Balaam answers by repeating that he can only give what God gives him. Balak thought that Balaam was in control, that the power resided within Balaam. Therefore, if he “bought” Balaam he could use this power for his own purposes, namely cursing Israel. However, the power resided with God, not with Balaam. Now at this stage Balaam, for all his faults, seems to recognise this as well. Balaam is a somewhat enigmatic figure.

23:13-15

Many of the “gods” that the various peoples had were thought to be limited to particular spheres or locations. Therefore Balak thinks that by going to a different place they might get better results, for God may not have power in this other place. Of course, his thinking is completely wrong. Once again seven altars were built with the corresponding sacrifices. Balak once again goes to seek the Lord. If Balaam had been a true servant of the Lord he would have known that God is Lord of all the earth, but he is just acting in a mercenary manner.

Ephesians 2:7,8- By grace you have been saved

2:7

The reason for this is that “in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus”. So in the age to come we will receive the riches of His grace, and these riches are without measure. The fullness of this gift will be received in the age to come. And all these riches are received in Christ. Moreover, these are an act of kindness.

2:8

We are saved by grace through faith. There are debates about whether “and this is not your own doing” refers to the faith. It is God who enables us to have faith. But when God works in our life He works to make us people “with agency”. I.e. without God we have nothing, but the faith we express as a result of His grace is real faith. We are not automatons. 

Numbers 23:1-10 - Build me seven altars

23:1-6

Balaam now begins something of a performance, asking for seven altars to be set up, along with seven rams and bulls to be brought. A bull and a ram was offered on each altar. True prophets of God are usually much more straightforward in what they do. Balaam left Balak and went up to a barren height hoping to meet the Lord. God did indeed appear to him. Balaam tells God that he has made seven altars with sacrifices. One gets the impression that Balaam is trying to impress God. Lord gave Balaam a word, and so he returned to Balak, ready to pronounce the word.

23:7-10

The oracle starts with Balaam making it clear that it was Balak who had summoned him, and with the express intention that he curse Israel. Balaam then declares that he cannot curse whom God has not cursed. If we view “curse” as “God’s judgement on man’s sin”, then this fits very well. Balaam was not pronouncing a “spell”, but declaring God’s will. He then goes on to say that Israel is not a nation like other nations, they are also very numerous. A key fault on Israel’s part was to want to be like other nations. It is also a common fault in the church.

Ephesians 2:5,6 - By grace you have been saved

2:5

The primary emphasis in chapter one has been on the sovereignty of God, here it is on the grace of God. Our human tendency is to want there to be emphasis on our goodness and what we do. This is a failed enterprise. Conversely when we put our emphasis where the Bible puts its emphasis then we actually become better and are more effective! God made us alive in Christ when we were “dead in our trespasses”. God saved us when we could do nothing to save ourselves. He made us alive in Christ. We have been saved by grace. So there are no grounds at all for any pride.

2:6

But “saving us” was not the end of it. At least not in the sense of “saving us from hell”. God’s plans were and are much greater. He raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. In the realm of spiritual conflict we are seated with Christ. With Christ we are in a position of authority. Now this needs to be taken very carefully. We only occupy this position in Christ. If ever we start to imagine we are in this position on our own merits or for our own purposes we will quickly be in for a rude awakening.

Numbers 22:31-41 - Speak only the word I give you

22:31-35

Now God opens Balaam’s eyes to see the angel. Balaam now understands and bows down before the angel. God then warns Balaam that he is now walking in disobedience. Balaam utters words of repentance and offers to turn round and go back. Yet the angel tells him to continue with the men, but he must say only what the Lord tells him to say. “If it is evil ..” could be seen as questioning God, even so God’s approach here is difficult to understand. There is also a mocking of Balaam. The donkey could see the angel, but the supposedly wise Balaam could not. The donkey saved his life!

2:36-41

Balak was excited that Balaam had finally agreed to come and see him. His meeting Balaam at the “extremity of the border” was a mark of respect for Balaam. Balak was putting all his hope in Balaam. However, Balak also expressed his displeasure that Balaam had been so hard to get hold of. Balaam appears to be humble at this stage, stating clearly that any power or wisdom that he has is wholly dependent upon the Lord. And he can only speak the words that God gives him. Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, though we are not told to whom or what they are sacrificed.

So we are now ready for Balaam to give his oracle.

Ephesians 2:3,4 - Children of wrath

2:3

“Among whom we all once lived”. None of us were any different. We all lived according to the flesh.  We carried out teh “desires of the body and the mind”. Everything we did was ultimately governed by the flesh, this includes overtly sinful actions (sexual lust, violence, lying, hatred etc), and living according to our own strength. We were “by nature children of wrath”. We like to think of ourselves as quite nice really, but this is not the Biblical picture. We were creatures deserving of God’s judgement.

2:4

It is our nature to want to deny that we are “children of wrath”, and we do so out of pride and fear. Pride in that we don’t like being told that we need God and need forgiveness, we think we can manage without God. Fear in that if it is true that we are children of wrath, then God’s judgement is coming our way. God, however, has a very different approach. Our “solution” is based on a lie and doesn’t work. God’s solution is based on truth and does work. “But God, being rich in mercy”. God is very different from us. He is rich in mercy. “Because of His great love ...” God acted out of love. This love is not based on a lie, nor on overlooking the truth, but is fully aware of the truth, and takes full account of the truth.

Numbers 22:22-30 - God's anger was kindled

22:22-25

“But God’s anger was kindled ...” This adds to the mystery. God had told Balaam to go! God sends an angel and the angel stands in the road. Balaam was riding on a donkey, and the donkey saw the angel. The angel held a sword, so the donkey veered off the road. Balaam did not see the angel and was angry at the donkey’s behaviour. The angel continued to block the way, the donkey continued to avoid the angel, and Balaam continued to beat the donkey.

22:26-30

The angel continued to block the way and the donkey finally decided to lay down. This increased Balaam’s anger, but then God enabled the donkey to talk. The donkey got into an argument with Balaam. “Am I not the donkey, on which you have ridden all your life ...” Perhaps God is drawing a parallel with Balaam having depended upon God all his life, yet now he is disobeying God.

Ephesians 2:1,2 - You were dead in your sins

2:1

The riches and glory of the gospel all stems from Christ. The first chapter emphasised what God has done, and all this is centred on Christ. The focus now shifts to us. The starting point is that we were “dead in our trespasses and sins”. Realising this is the only point from which we can hope to appreciate the gospel. If we think we are basically good then Christ has nothing to say to us. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day refused to face up to their own sinfulness, therefore they failed to appreciate who Christ was, and saw Him only as a threat.

2:2

“In which you once walked”. Our sinfulness was not just an academically or theologically correct way to refer to us, but it was our “lived experience”.  We followed the “course of this world”. We lived according to the world’s ways. We think we were not really bad, but we lived without God, our number one aim was ourselves. We loved ourselves.  We followed the “prince of the power of the air”. In short we were devil worshippers! No, we didn’t get dressed up in ridiculous garb and dance around a fire, or indulge in orgies. But we followed “the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience”. The world is working against God. To see this we need only consider where our society has gone and is going. It no longer knows the difference between male and female, sex is a commodity, rather than a gift from God. Society demands the right to kill life in the womb.

Numbers 22:9-21 - God came to Balaam

22:9-14

Balaam does indeed meet with God, and God warns him against having anything to do with Balak. Israel is a blessed people. (BTW this does not mean they can get away with sin, as the whole of the Bible clearly demonstrates!) Balaam will end up blessing Israel, but there was no need for this as Israel was already blessed by God. The key thing he should have done was to refuse to go with Balak. AT first Balaam obeys God’s instruction and refuses to go to Balak.

22:15-21

Balak was not easily dissuaded from his course of action. So he sent more numerous and more honourable men, and also offers him more in reward, urging Balaam to reconsider. Balaam still refuses, saying that he cannot go beyond the command of the Lord. Indeed, he refers to “the Lord my God”. He does, however, consent to inquiring of the Lord again. This time the Lord tells Balaam to go with the men, so Balaam saddles his donkey and goes with the men. Now why did Balaam do this, and why did God tell him to go. Balaam is something of a mystery for there is some devotion to the Lord, at least in the words he uses, and to some extent in his actions, yet ultimately he disobeys. Why did God apparently change His mind? Was it to demonstrate to Balak that God does what He wants, He is not at the beck and call of anyone?

Ephesians 1:22,23 - He put all things under His feet

1:22

God has placed all things under Christ’s feet. He has also been appointed as head over all things for the church. We see in all these verses two key things. First, God is in charge everything, everything is according to His will and purpose. Secondly, that will and purpose is established through and in Christ. When the church forgets this, as, sadly, it often does, we go astray. We need to be God centred and Christ focused.

1:23

The church is Christ’s body. We are the “fullness of Him who fills all things”. So the greatness of Christ permeates into the church. Now we need to be very careful how we understand this. All too often we start to think it is all about us. It is not all about us, but it is all about Christ in us. There are two great dangers. One is making too much of ourselves. The other is making too little of ourselves in Christ. If the focus is taken off Christ then we do indeed become nothing, but when our focus is properly on Christ life becomes very different.

Numbers 22:2-8 - Moab was in great dread of the people of Israel

22:2-5

Remember that Israel has just had a series of victories, and this had been noted by Balak the son of Zippor. Balak was the king of the Moabites. So the Moabites were in fear of Israel, and Israel had also become very numerous. Balak could not see any natural way of defeating Israel (though if he had simply allowed Israel to pass through safely they would not have attacked), so he seeks supernatural help in the form of Balaam, a man know as some sort of prophet.

22:6-8

Balak called on Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam had a reputation that if he cursed someone they were indeed cursed, and if he blessed them they were blessed. Balaam exercised his ministry for money. This is what Peter and Jude specifically warned against. Balaam seemed to recognise that any power he had came from the Lord, and he prayed to the Lord. Balaam is a somewhat enigmatic figure, and does demonstrate that doing miracles is not a sign of being right with God. Indeed, Jesus taught this very lesson in Matt 7:21-23.

Ephesians 1:19-21 - His power towards us who believe

1:19,20

Paul’s extolling of the greatness of God’s power, and that power for us continues. The greatness of His power is immeasurable. We cannot think too highly of God, nor put too much trust in Him. And that power is towards us who believe. We need to have faith.

And the power is in accordance with the power He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. And seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. This is the second mention of the heavenly places. Remember that this is the place of spiritual conflict, and in that place Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

1:21

Christ is seated “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named”. There is nothing with any power or authority anything like Christ’s, there is no comparison. And this applies in this age and in the age to come. We need have no fear at all.

Numbers 21:31-22:1 - They camped on the plains of Moab

21:31-35

We now get a couple of brief descriptions of victories. First of all capturing villages in Jazer, and then defeating King Og of Bashan. Initially Og came out to challenge the Israelites, but God assured Moses that they would defeat Og, and so they did. So we have a steady stream of victories as the people simply follow the direction of the Lord.

22:1

We now come to what one might call the more interesting parts of Numbers, though actually all of it is of value. However, it is probably fair to say that alongside the spies going into the Promised Land, this is one of the better known parts of Numbers.

The Israelites are now at the plains of Moab, at the northern end of the Dead Sea, preparing to cross the Jordan. In this whole episode we will see two main things. The first is the impossibility of the enemy defeating Israel by its power. Balaam was utterly incapable of cursing Israel, even though he wanted to. The second is the tragic “defeat” of Israel due to her sin, which we see at the end of the episode. We can also see in Balaam the effects of increasing pride. It is also worth noting that Rev 2:14, the letter to Pergamum, refers to Balaam and Balak. 2 Pet 2:15 and Jude 11 refer to Balaam, warning against seeking after profit.

Ephesians 1:18,19 - The hope to which He has called you

1:18

“Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened”. We tend to associate “heart” purely with emotions, in Paul’s day the heart included much more than this, so it includes mind and will. The phrase “let your heart rule your head” wouldn’t make a lot of sense to them. So Paul is asking for them to have a much greater, all encompassing, view of God and what He has done for us. We are meant to live by emotions and mind working together in harmony, both subject to the Lord Jesus Christ. As the greatest commandment says, we are to love God with all our heart, mind, spirit and strength. And this revelation and wisdom will make us more aware of the great hope to which we have been called, and the glorious riches of our inheritance in the saints.To live a full Christian life we need to be aware of both the depths of sin within us, and the heights of the life that has called us to.

1:19

There was once a book written called “Your God is too small”, and this is true for all of us. None of us realise just how great God is.  And this is not just a general greatness, it is “the immeasurable greatness of His power towards us who believe”. God is committed to us. He is able to save us, and He is committed to us. As Rom 8:32 says, if He did not spare His own son, what will He not do for us. And His commitment to us is “according to His great might”.

Numbers 21:10-30 - Spring up, O well!

21:10-20

We then get a detailed geographical account of the next stages of their travels. This relates their passage through Transjordan and through Moab, and the land of the Amorites. It isn’t known exactly what the “Book of the Wars of the Lord” was. It may have been an account of various battle victories, and the writing of part of Numbers may be partially based on this book.

21:21-30

They then came to the land of the Amorites and, as with Edom, asked for safe passage through the land, promising not to cause any trouble. Sihon, king of the Amorites, refused and attacked Israel. This was a big mistake, for he was defeated. Moreover, Israel took possession of many cities of the Amorites. The victories are followed by a victory song. The first part of the song tells of the time the Amorties took the land from Moab. So it did not originally belong to the Amorites.

Life's a Battle - But we win : A sermon on Psalm 86

 A sermon on Psalm 86 I preached at the Gate Church International, Dundee, can be seen here:

Life's a Battle - But we win

Ephesians 1:15-17 - For this reason ...

1:15,16

As is often the case, Galatians being a notable exception, Paul gives praise, thanksgiving and prayer for the Ephesians. “For this reason ...”, the thanksgiving is all founded in what God is doing, and has done. There are two key aspects of the Ephesians that brings joy to Paul. The first is their “faith in the Lord Jesus”, and the second their “love toward all the saints”. We should all use the same two measures in assessing ourselves, and our churches. So Paul does not stop giving thanks and remembers them in his prayers. In Philippians 4:8 Paul says we should focus on whatever is noble. This is an example of that.

1:17

We then learn about the nature of his prayers for the Ephesians, and we do well to model our prayers for each other on this. We should also look at how we pray for each other, we may well find that our prayers are rather impoverished. Our reaction to this should be to up our game! First of all Paul reminds us of whom we are praying to, the Father of glory. Too often our prayers are founded on our own insecurities and weaknesses (now it is not wrong to confess our weaknesses and fears to God, David does this often in the Psalms), instead they should be founded on “the Father of Glory”. Paul asks this God to give them “the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”. Spirit here might be spirit, but either is true and relevant. We need our own spirits to have wisdom and revelation, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives us wisdom and revelation. And this wisdom and revelation is “in the knowledge of Him”. Him here is Jesus Christ, but could be God in total, again it matters little as all of God’s plans and purposes for man are fulfilled in and through the Son. For myself, if I know and understand Jesus better then I will be better. When we pray for others, so often the problem is a lack of understanding of who Christ is and what He has done.  We do well to pray this for ourselves, and for each other.

Numbers 21:1-9 - The Lord heeded the voice of Israel

21:1-3

There has been much disobedience, Aaron and Miriam are now both dead, the people have been told they will wander in the wilderness for forty years. All seems lost, but now we enter a spell when victories start to come. Hebrews speaks of God disciplining His people as a Father disciplines a son. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but later it yields a harvest of righteousness (Heb 12:5-12). 

The first victory came as a result of Arad attacking Israel. The king of Arad was a Canaanite. Initially it seemed as if he would win, for some of the Israelites were taken captive. Instead of their past practice of complaining whenever trouble arose, they turned to God and promised to devote the cities of Arad to destruction. This meant irrevocably dedicating them to God.

21:4-9

This better behaviour on the part of the Israelites was, however, short-lived. As the journey continued the people became impatient and returned to their old habits of complaining against God and against Moses. As many times before, they grumbled about having been rescued from slavery. In response the Lord sent serpents among them, and many died. Seeing what was happening they “repented” and pleaded with Moses. Moses went to the Lord and was ordered to make a bronze image of a fiery serpent. He then lifted the serpent up, and anyone who was bitten could look at the serpent and be healed. There are clear parallels with Jesus and the cross (John 3:14,15). Jesus was “made sin” (2 Cor 5:21), just as the bronze image was made to look like the serpents that were killing the people.

Ephesians 1:13,14 - Sealed with the Holy Spirit

1:13

Paul now extends the blessings to the Gentiles. They were also sealed with the    promised Holy Spirit. Now why does he express this as "sealed with the Holy Spirit", rather than saying they were included in the inheritance, or something like that? Maybe because they had experienced the Holy Spirit, it would make it more concrete for them. We rightly warn against putting too much weight on experience, but we should also note that the Bible does place a significant weight on experience. We need to have a proper balance. As indeed, Paul does here. For he starts this verse by saying "when you heard the word of truth" and "believed in Him".

1:14

"The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire the possession of it". So through the Holy Spirit we get a foretaste of what is to come. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, He is active in our lives. We are indeed to experience Him. And all of this is to the praise of His glory. So Jews coming to know Christ is to the praise of His glory, and Gentiles coming to believe is also to the praise of His glory.

Numbers 20:14-29 - Aaron dies

20:14-21

Having had rebellion and disobedience of various levels within Israel, i.e. from the people, some Levites, Aaron and Miriam and then  Moses himself, we now get disobedience from outside Israel, namely Edom. Edom was closely related to Israel, having descended from Esau. Moses sends a message to Kadesh, the king of Edom, outlining the history of Israel and asking for safe passage through Edom. Edom refused. Various concessions were offered by Israel, but these were all refused as well. So Israel went a different way.

20:22-29

Miriam had died earlier and now Aaron dies. Indeed the chapter is bookended by the two deaths. The Lord speaks to Moses about the death of Aaron, and it is said in quite a controlled way. Aaron’s priestly role is passed on to his son Eleazar. All this was done on Mount Hor and all the people saw. So they knew that the priestly role had been passed on, and that Aaron died. There was thirty days of “official mourning”.

Ephesians 1:11,12 - In Him we have obtained an inheritance

1:11

In Christ we have an inheritance, we have a destiny.  Most translations have “we have obtained an inheritance” (ESV and many others), though FF Bruce thinks “we were made a heritage” is better. (ASB). NIV says “in Him we were also chosen”, The emphasis is that we belong to God. This happened because we were “predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will”. The emphasis throughout is upon God and His will. Most human thinking puts us at the centre. Even much church thinking does the same, and it always leads to error. We fear that if we put God first then we lose out. This was the lie of the devil in the Garden of Eden. The truth is that when we put God first we win out. 

1:12

God did this so that we might “be to the praise of His glory”. The purpose is the “praise of His glory”. “We who were first” implies that 1:11,12 are aimed primarily at the Jewish believers, 1:13,14 will then go on to say that the same blessings and purposes apply to the Gentile believers as well. In all our thinking we should put God first. In theology if we want to have a right theology we need to put God first, the temptation is always to put ourselves first.

Numbers 20:10-13 - Striking the rock

20:10,11

We now come to Moses’ disobedience, which had major consequences for him. First of all at a quick reading one might think “what has Moses done wrong?”. He struck the rock, water came out of it, and he had also told the people that they were rebels. So where’s the problem? The problem is that Moses had been told to the rock (“tell the rock”), not to strike it. Why did Moses strike the rock? Probably a combination of things. Moses seems to be angry, and he does seem to have had some “anger issues”. He had seen water come from a rock before after striking it with his staff (Ex 17:6). So maybe he was actually living on his own behalf, rather than remembering that he was a servant of the Lord. So he took the line that seemed beat to him. We all need to watch our own lives, we probably need constant small course corrections to ensure we are truly following Christ. Otherwise we will end up needing a major course correction.

20:12,13

God now speaks to Moses to rebuke him. Most importantly He tells Moses that he will not now take the people into the Promised Land. God rebukes Moses for not honouring Him as holy before the people of Israel. Again, we need to constantly ask ourselves if we are honouring the Lord as holy. Moses only had power and authority because he was under God’s authority. All this happened at the waters of Meribah. It says the Lord showed Himself as holy. As far as Moses was concerned, it was just a matter of getting water from the rock. The Lord had a deeper purpose in addition to supplying water.

While Moses failed badly, we should remember that rather than being bitter about it, he faithfully led the people through the wilderness to the edge of the Promised Land. Also, he appeared with Elijah with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Ephesians 1:9,10 - According to His purpose

1:9

The “with all wisdom and understanding” could go with the “lavishing” of with “making known the mystery”. It actually matters little as both actions were done with all wisdom and understanding, and are all part of a piece. God chose to send His Son at just the right time, thus making the mystery known at just the right time. The mystery is how on earth God’s plans as expressed through the prophets could possibly work out. And Christ is the centre of all that God does.

1:10

God’s plan is to bring unity to all things. Some of the language used in this chapter (e.g. talking about mystery, bringing things to fulfilment etc) may have been deliberately chosen to counter gnostic type teachings (Gnosticism itself was not fully formed at this stage, but the basic ideas were floating around). The times will reach their fulfilment when Christ returns. Everything will be brought together under Christ. This is very fitting. One of the oft repeated phrases in the Old Testament is “I will be their God, and they will be my people”. There is meant to be a unity between man and God, with God at the head (obviously).

Numbers 20:2-9 - Speak to the rock

20:2-5

We are now going to get two more incidents of disobedience. One is of the people grumbling, and then Moses failing to obey God properly. “Now there was no water for the congregation”. This is not the first time that this has happened (Ex 17:1). The people had failed to learn the lesson from the previous incident, and later we will see that Moses had learnt, if anything, the wrong lesson. The people should have learnt that God provides. Instead of grumbling they should have asked God, or at least have asked Moses to ask God for water. The same applies to us. When we go through incidents in our lives where we experience God’s rescuing us in some situation or other, we should learn from it. We should learn that God will provide. As it says in 2 Cor 1:10, “He delivered us ..., and He will deliver us”. As usual, the Israelites complain that Moses had ever rescued them from slavery in Egypt. 

20:6-9

There will be times when it may seem that God has left us in the lurch, or that He has forgotten us, or overlooked some vital factor. He has not. Moses and Aaron do, initially, react in the right way. They go to the tent of meeting and fall on their faces before the Lord. The glory of the Lord appears to them and speaks to them. Moses is to take the staff, assemble the people, and tell the rock to yield water. The key thing here is that Moses was not told to strike the rock, unlike in Ex 17:6. The purpose of this was not just to provide water, but also to demonstrate more of the power of God to the people. Also the authority that God gave to Moses.

Ephesians 1:7,8 - In Him we have redemption

1:7

We then get some of the fruits of that grace. We have redeemed through the blood of Christ. We were captives to sin, but He has redeemed us. We were guilty and deserving of judgement, but through His blood we have been forgiven. All of this is in accordance with the “riches of God’s grace”.

1:8

And this grace has been lavished on us. God has not just given us a little bit of grace, He has lavished His grace upon us, He has poured it out in abundance upon us. And this was done with “all wisdom and understanding”. God knew exactly what He was doing. He knows exactly what you and I are like, He knows the depths of sin within us, and the effects it has had on us. God knows how to save us. 

Numbers 19:14-20:1 - When a person dies

19:14-22

If someone dies in a tent, then everyone who is in the tent is deemed to be unclean for seven days. For someone who dies in the field, a person is unclean if they touch the body. We then get the purification ritual that had to be carried out. If a person who had become unclean through contact with a dead body did not go through the purification ritual, then they were to be cut off.

20:1

Kadesh was near the region where the spies had gone in. We are then told that Miriam died. Miriam was a leader, along with Aaron. She had saved Moses’ life (Ex 2:4-8), she was also a prophet and worship leader (Ex 15:20,21). She did also rebel along with Aaron (Num 12:1). In short, she was an important woman in Israel.

Ephesians 1:5,6 - He predestined us

1:5

We were “predestined for adoption to sonship” “in accordance with His pleasure and will”. Now some folk get all hung up about predestination. The first thing to note is that the Bible does not get hung up about it all. As far as the Bible is concerned it isn’t a problem! The Bible teaches two things very clearly, the absolute sovereignty of God, and human responsibility. Now we cannot work out how these two things can both be true. We should stop worrying about it, and live in the light of God’s sovereignty. God works in and through our lives to make us into the sons He wants us to be. And all this takes place “through Jesus Christ”.

1:6

This is all to the praise of His glorious grace. It will be seen that the most wonderful thing in the world is the grace of God and its effects. His grace solves no end of otherwise intractable problems. And He has freely given this grace to us in “the One He loves”, i.e. in Jesus Christ.