The Greeting. Peace to you in the name of Christ, Who is the Prince of Peace and our Peace Bringer and our Peace Maker the One who wages a successful spiritual war on our behalf. (Isa.9:6, Rev.20:7-10, Lk.2:14-17)
The Word of God. We are in Numbers chapter thirty-one. It is a lengthy chapter, 54 verses. I will begin to read from verse one, hear God’s holy word – read.
The command for war. Numbers 31:1. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.”
The preparation for war. Numbers 31:3. Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the LORD’S vengeance on Midian. 4 “A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.” 5 So there were furnished from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, and the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
The success of the war. Numbers 31:7. So they made war against Midian, just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9 The sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered. 10 Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire. 11 They took all the spoil and all the prey, both of man and of beast. 12 They brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
The criticism of the war. Numbers 31:13. Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 And Moses said to them, “Have you spared all the women? 16 “Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD. 17 “Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. 18 “But all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves.
The purification from the war. Numbers 31:19. And you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. 20 “You shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of leather and all the work of goats’ hair, and all articles of wood.” 21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses: 22 only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and the lead, 23 everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean, but it shall be purified with water for impurity. But whatever cannot stand the fire you shall pass through the water. 24 “And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.” (Note: the purification is for coming into contact with the dead and other related ceremonial strictures)
The spoils from the war. Numbers 31:25. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the booty that was captured, both of man and of animal; 27 and divide the booty between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 “Levy a tax for the LORD from the men of war who went out to battle, one in five hundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep; 29 take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as an offering to the LORD. 30 “From the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys and of the sheep, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.”
Numbers 30:31. Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 32 Now the booty that remained from the spoil which the men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, 33 and 72,000 cattle, 34 and 61,000 donkeys, 35 and of human beings, of the women who had not known man intimately, all the persons were 32,000. 36 The half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500, 37 and the LORD’S levy of the sheep was 675; 38 and the cattle were 36,000, from which the LORD’S levy was 72; 39 and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the LORD’S levy was 61; 40 and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the LORD’S levy was 32 persons. 41 Moses gave the levy which was the LORD’S offering to Eleazar the priest, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 42 As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from the men who had gone to war– 43 now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep, 44 and 36,000 cattle, 45 and 30,500 donkeys, 46 and the human beings were 16,000– 47 and from the sons of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
The offerings from the war. Numbers 31:48. Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approached Moses, 49 and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing. 50 “So we have brought as an offering to the LORD what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.” 51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles. 52 All the gold of the offering which they offered up to the LORD, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels. 53 The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it to the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD.
The prayer. Please pray with me as we seek the Lord’s assistance in this difficult passage, pray.
The doctrine. The main teaching or doctrine in this passage this evening is the vengeance of the Lord. God commands that His vengeance be exacted or carried out by His human agents, the men of Israel.
The divine vengeance upon the sufferers of it are receiving the strict justice of God for their sins. We are looking at one example or expression of what is known as “just war”. Although I realize that in light of some of the things occurring, we may be perplexed at the justice of some of this.
My purpose in this sermon is just to treat the main idea. I will leave for another day discussion on the particulars.
The faith. But let me say at the outset there are certain things here that I cannot fully reconcile in my own mind. For example, how does the love of God and the vengeance of God reconcile exactly? I know in part. But other parts are beyond my current capacities. (Dt.29:29)
God tells suffering Job not to find fault with God even permitting the suffering.
John 40:1. Then the LORD said to Job, 2 “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it.”
We walk by faith in the Son of God who bore God’s wrath for our sin, that we might enjoy God’s mercy and forgiveness.
A wise man once called other men to be wise and trust in the Lord even in the face of overwhelmingly difficult or perplexing things. This is what saving faith can do. (WCF 14)
Proverbs 3:5. Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
The solemnity. As you read through the Bible, which is God’s word, you will find that there are a variety of subjects. Some of the things recorded for our instruction are pleasant to us and we receive them happily. For example, Christ Jesus saves sinners. What happy truth.
But there are also subjects that take our breath away because they are so awful. And what makes them so awful is that they are true. Tonight’s passage is such an awful truth.
When we come here, it is with solemnity that God speaks to us, and it is with solemnity that we listen to God. And I would say one of the things that we must do in receiving such a passage is to become solemn or serious before the Lord, to listen with gravity.
But this way of required receiving is difficult for our modern culture; we are a culture that strives with all it’s might not to be serious. We are the me-culture, the play-culture, the youth-culture.
I am quite sure that many people will miss heaven because they were unwilling to consider serious things and they devoted all of their time and talents to buying and selling and eating and drinking, casual things. (Lk.12:13-21, 14:16-24, 17:24-30)
Listen to what God tells those with ears to hear,
2 Timothy 4:1. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
The fear. This is truly a terrible passage. I do not mean “terrible” as in objectively wrong or sinful. And I will speak to the divine command in a moment.
I mean terrible because it strikes fear into the actual participants of such an event. And also, even for us as the readership, to the extent that we can enter into the truth of this passage – it makes us tremble with fear.
And Beloved, all fear is not wrong. This passage ought to cause men to fear.
There are three things from this passage that men should be afraid of.
1) One, ultimately God must be feared.
2) Two, God is to be feared because of what He can do to man, namely take back the life He has given to man. This passage teaches men to fear death. Death is the prince of fears.
Listen to the writer to then Hebrews speaking of this.
Hebrews 2:14. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (Rom.8:15, I Cor.15:26-28)
3) Three, physical death is a herald of the larger eternal death also known as the second death. Judgment Day and Hell are to be feared.
You see Beloved, a God that is not to be feared by Man is no god; it is a manmade idol.
Ethan the Ezrahite says this,
Psalm 89:7. A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him? 8 O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. 9 You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them. 10 You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. (Ps.31:30, 8:13, 1:7)
Jesus Christ says this,
Matthew 10:26. Therefore do not fear them (Man), for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. 27 “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. 28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Lk.12:4-5)
The rejection. Let me say something that is also obvious, this passage and others like it in the Bible are universally hated by those without saving faith in Christ.
The natural man mocks such a chapter, they loathe such a record.
Go to YouTube and watch countless men present this type of a passage to a Christian spokesperson and then they put them on the defensive.
One Christian fellow responded to the God-rejecter well the Old Testament ethic has been changed in the New Testament, and that this Christian did not think it was a moral thing of God to do, with say the killing of the Amelekites. (debate: Alex O’ Connor and Dinesh D’Souza)
Beloved, that is not true.
Actually, with the greater degree of divine revelation, men are more culpable to God. There will be greater vengeance upon the God rejecters of the New Testament epoch.
God says this,
Hebrews 10:26. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
And their criticism has to do with all divinely approved killing, killing of the Midianite men certainly, but especially of the killing of the women, and especially-especially of the killing of the children.
This is what natural man balks at. So, your holy and good God commands such butchery! They conclude that God is neither holy or good. They conclude, to use their phrase, that the God of the Bible is a “mass murderer”. I will say, this blasphemy will be added to their sins on the Day of Judgment.
This is a passage where the critic of the God of the Bible says, if this is God then I want nothing to do with this kind of a God.
Reject the Lord and embrace man-made gods. And they often reply, my god that I believe in is only love and never inflicts pain such as this.
Reject the Lord and embrace self-as-god. Or people read this passage and conclude if this is God then I am an atheist – I want nothing to do with such a God.
Briefly let me say this, many of these very same people are pro-abortion voters. These very same people foam at the mouth at the thought of preventing the butchery of millions of babies.
These are the very same people that consider it a fundamental doctrine of their fallen religion to offer up their infants to their Molech-god of so called bodily autonomy. (Lev.18:21)
These God-rejecters and God-criticizers are the very same people that vote for laws to enable doctors to mutilate the genitals of children in order to play God and make male and female as they wish.
For me, I find their objection to God disingenuous. And their rejection of God is the reason for the divine justice. And their rejection of God’s justice will not excuse them from it.
Beloved, I am quite sure that many people will miss heaven because they were Bible critics before they closed their mouth against God and actually listened to His word. (Prov.18:13)
You see the natural man hates God to begin with, and so when he hears such a passage, his prejudiced heart does not want to hear God’s holy reason. And when such an anti-God heart does hear God’s reason for the just war, they hate God all the more. (Rom.8:7, I Cor.2:12-16)
You see these God-rejecters hate God because He kills Man, but if these men could, they would kill God.
Watch their videos, listen to their voices, listen to their tone, look at their countenance, they are not neutral towards the God of the Bible. They are hateful accusers of God.
The Author. Now how are we to understand such a passage?
There are two things we need to know and have established in our hearts by faith to understand such a passage. One, who and what is God. Two, who and what is man before God.
The two things that must be believed by Spirit-wrought faith are: 1) God is utterly sovereign over all, 2) and man is utterly answerable and culpable to God.
These are the two things that unbelievers do not believe about God or man before God. And therefore, they scoff at such a passage as this.
God is utterly sovereign. Now when I say we must start with God I mean God as He reveals Himself in holy Scripture. This is not, I think thus and so about God, or my book of myth tells me such and so about my mythical false god.
There is only one God.
The God of the Bible, the LORD eternal tells us that He is the only God that is. And God says in His word that He created all things for Himself and He governs all things for Himself.
Man is utterly answerable to God. Everything, including Man, is utterly dependent and answerable to God. And God is not answerable to anyone.
In other words, God can do anything that He desires, and because He is God-Creator-Governor it means He is always right and just and good and holy in whatever He chooses.
Psalm 145:17. The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.
And again, no man can charge Him with wrongdoing.
King Nebuchadnezzar learned this about God after God took his human reasoning away and caused him to live like a cow eating grass, and then God restored his mind,
Daniel 4:34. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’
After God’s appointed federal representative Adam sinned against God, Adam’s fall put all men, except Christ, under the wrath and curse of God for sin – imputed sin and all actual sins.
All mankind are sinners. (Rom.3:1-18, Rom.3:23, Rom.6:23, Eph.2:1-3)
And here is the crux of the problem, even infants and children are born sinners in Adam, born under the curse of God. Little children if they are not converted, they grow up and express grown up hatred of God. Beloved, we are all fallen by nature. (Rom.12:1-21)
The doctrine of original sin answers the critic. But it does not satisfy them, and that is because they hate God, and they themselves want to be god of their own life. (Rom.12:1-21)
All human beings are therefore worthy of the divine death penalty, by God, for their sin. And God would be holy, and just, and good to exact that death on everyone. (Ezek.18:4, Rom.5:12)
Here is how our secondary standards summarize this truth.
WLC 152. What doth every sin deserve at the hands of God? A. Every sin, even the least, being against the sovereignty,(1) goodness,(2) and holiness of God,(3) and against his righteous law,(4) deserves his wrath and curse,(5) both in this life,(6) and that which is to come;(7) and cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ.(8)
(1) James 2:10,11 (2) Exod. 20:1,2 (3) Hab. 1:13 (4) 1 John 3:4; Rom. 7:12 (5) Eph. 5:6; Gal. 3:10 (6) Lam. 3:39; Deut. 28:15 to end. (7) Matt. 25:41 (8) Heb. 9:22; 1 Pet. 1:18,19
So no man could rightly object that God was wrongly exacting the death penalty on them for their sin.
God through the apostle Paul said this about Himself and His sovereignty over all men. God will extend mercy to some sinners. God will exact justice on other sinners. And He has done no wrong to anyone – only right.
Romans 9:10. And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” 13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
The vengeance. Let me briefly define what the Lord’s vengeance is.
Vengeance or revenge is punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or for an offense. Revenge is retributive justice. God has wrath and vengeance. And it is just and holy.
Deuteronomy 7:9. Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.
Romans 12:19. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.
The Midianites. The Midianites descended from Abraham and his concubine Keturah. (Gen.25:1-2)
The Midianites moved away from the people of God, and they became a distinct people to themselves.
After Moses killed an Egyptian, another enemy or oppressor of God’s people, he fled to Midian. And he ended up marrying Zipporah the daughter of the priest of Midian. (Exod.2:15-21)
Most of what we see recorded in the Bible is that the Midianites were enemies of Israel and thus of the God of Israel. (see Judges 6, Ps.83:9, Isa.10:26, Hab.3:7)
Most recently in our book of Numbers the Midianites joined forces with the Moabites trying to destroy Israel. (Num.22, 25)
Numbers 25:15. The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian. 16 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them; 18 for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor.”
The genocide. What God commands is a genocide. But this is a divinely approved genocide.
This is the definition of a genocide, the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.
This genocide is a precursor of what God requires to be done in the Promised Land, Canaan.
Deuteronomy 20:16. Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 “But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you, 18 so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God.
Later during the time of king Saul God commanded the destruction of the Amalekites.
I Samuel 15:1. Then Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD. 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 3 ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'”
Of course, without saving faith in Christ, this is utterly repulsive. And part of the reason is, the unbeliever says this, so God commands genocide and that makes Him equal to the Nazi murderers in the Jewish holocaust or in the Rwandan genocide, and so on.
Here is the difference. Remember the Bible makes a distinction between just killing and unjust killing. When the Nazis killed the Jews that was unjust, that was murder, that was for racial hatred.
When God takes away the life of any man for his or her sins, that is just killing.
I know this is not palatable. I know that there are many questions that could be asked. But beloved that is the basic answer.
The final book of the Bible shows us at the end of time, at the return of Christ, all those that are apart from Christ, they will suffer what these Midianites pointed forward to – receiving the righteous wrath of God for their sins – forever.
Revelation 19:11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
Beloved, our only hope to escape the wrath of God for our sins, is to believe in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior that bore the wrath of God for our sins.
Amen
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