Numbers 25 - 27

Sin, Counting,  Inheritance, and a New Leader
A wide variety of subjects is covered in today's reading. First, the people of Israel sin with the Moabite women, committing physical and spiritual fornication.  Until Phineas is inspired to slay one of the men sinning (25:8), 24,000 people in Israel died under the Lord's judgement.  Phineas' act represents the attitude all believers should take towards sin (for the record, I am not advocating murder!). Sin must be immediately dealt with and destroyed, otherwise if sin is allowed to linger in one's life, it will spiritually kill the sinner.

After this incident, the Lord has Moses and Eleazar number the people again. (A quick digression is needed here.  Aaron died in chapter 20 and Eleazar, Aaron's son was appointed high-priest in his place. At this point, Moses alone has assumed all the authority.) It is interesting to note, that after wandering in the wilderness, the total number of warriors had only declined by less than 2000.  Although all those who refused to enter the Promise Land had died in the wilderness, the Lord had bless the people and maintained their strength.

In chapter 27, the grand-daughters of Manasseh present their case to Moses that just because their father had died in the wilderness, they should still receive an inheritance.  The Lord, in His grace, provides a law and ruling for these types of cases. In type, we who have no inheritance (the Gentiles) are still given an inheritance through Jesus Christ.

At the end of chapter 27, the Lord warns Moses that he will soon die. In preparation He instructs Moses to impart some of his authority to Joshua.  This is so that the people will still have a Godly leader to take them into the Promise Land.

May God bless you and bless the reading of His Word.