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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy Marketing for our church. Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you, trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full. The glory of Jesus. Let's go. We 124 days in this. Okay, today we got numbers. Chapter 31, 32, and 33. Maybe yesterday was a bit of a climb. Today is way more narrative based. Okay, a lot more like story based. So let me kind of tell you what we got. If you've done the reading, then listen up, let's dive in. If you haven't done the reading, hey, don't use this as a substitute for actually reading the Bible. This is a supplement for reading the Bible. I want to help make the Bible clear. I want to break it down for you. We don't want to substitute your time with God. All right, so Today, numbers, chapter 31. We're going to have vengeance on the Midianites. So I'll break down who the Midianites are when we get into our context clues. Numbers, chapter 32. We're going to have the Reubenites and the Gadites. That means the clan or the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Gad. They are going to propose an idea to Moses. And on the surface this is going to seem like it's a great idea, but we're actually going to dig into some nerdy nuggets today. We're going to kind of unveil that's. It's not the best idea. And then numbers, chapter 33, we're actually going to kind of get a travelog or travel diary, okay? We're going to recant, recount or kind of recap. There we go. That's the word I was looking for. Recap the wilderness wanderings. Okay? So numbers 31, we're going to have vengeance on the Midianites. Numbers 32, we're going to have the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh are going to propose an idea to Moses. That seems like a great idea, but it's actually a terrible idea. We'll really dive into that. And then numbers, chapter 33, we're going to have essentially a travelogue, okay? A travel diary recap. So with no further ado, let's get into our hashtag context clues. Okay, first of all, in order to understand what's going on with the Midianites, okay, vengeance on the Midianites. We need to remember that when the people of Israel move into the area on the plains of Moab, okay, they are right on the edge of Canaan. They are on the, the west side of the Jordan. They are not taking in the land, but they go to war with the Amorites, okay? And they kill two main groups, okay? They, they conquer Og King of Bashan and Sihan, they conquer these two kings, and then a man by the name of B. Balak, okay, is scared and hires a prophet named Balaam, okay, to curse the people of Israel. Balaam is unable to course curse the people of Israel, okay? God does not allow him to curse the people of Israel. So, and this is, we, we did a whole day on this. So Balaam, okay? Oh, this is the. What you need. Balak is, Is. Is. Is a member of the Midianites. So now the people of Israel have defeated the Amorites, okay? And now the Midianites are scared. So Balak goes and he purchases some. Some. He hires a prophet by the name of Balaam to curse the people of Israel, okay? So we got all the players, okay? Amorites have been defeated. The Midianites are Scared. Balak is like, hey, Balaam, could you help us out? Balaam tries to curse the people of Israel. Standing up on the mountain, he tries to rain down curse on them. He cannot curse them because they're blessed by God. And God does not allow this sorcerer really to curse them. But instead, okay, this is the wicked scheme. Instead of cursing them, Balaam's got a whole better plan. He's like, how about we send some Midianite women into the camp to have sex with the men? And why we waste our time trying to curse them? They have no self control. We no need to curse them. They can curse themselves. If we just send Midianite women down there to have sex with them, guess what? They'll end up worshiping other gods. They will become idolatrous if you just send some women. Why are we up here trying to fight this battle spiritually when we can just fight it on a. On a carnal playing field? On a carnal level? That's exactly what happens. And remember, we get this famous guy named Phineas who's full, full of zeal for the Lord while one of these Israelite men is having sex with. And it's also Midianites and Moabites, by the way. While he's having sex with. With one of these women, Phineas comes through and throws a spear into the back of this Israelite man. And since he's having sex with a woman, the Bible says that the spear goes through him into the woman and kills them both. And this is like this. This man Phineas is full of zeal for the Lord. Okay, in numbers, chapter 31, so that, that is how the Midianites and the Moabites have essentially attacked the people of Israel. They've tried to curse them. The curse did not work. And God can protect you from a curse, but God can't protect you from your own sexual immorality. Okay? So God can protect you from whatever curse the enemy has tried to speak over your life. But if you allow a curse into your life by. By sexual sin, then, then, then now you've. You've put God in a situation where he's tried to protect you, but you actually don't want to be protected. So with all that context, now let's read numbers chapter 31. So that was all of our context clues so that we understand what's happening. In Numbers chapter 31, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, avenge the Israelites on the Midianites. Afterwards you shall be gathered to your people. That's kind of bummy, right? Hey, Lead the Israelites to avenge themselves against the Midianites, then you're going to die. I'd be. I'd be real slow to obey that one. You know, if I'm Moses, I'm like, let me take my time because I'm going to die. So Moses said to the people, arm some of your number for. For the war so that they may avenge, so they may go against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian. Okay, now drop all the way down to verse eight, big verse. They killed the kings of Midian. Evi, Rekem, zur hur, and Rebbe. The five kings of Midian, in addition to others who were slain by them, they also killed Balaam. Okay, so Balaam, remember his donkey is talking. He's trying to curse the Israelites. They also killed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword, so they finally get vengeance. The Israelites took the women of Midian and their little ones captive, and they took all the cattle, the flock, and their goods. Now Moses is going to be pissed that they took the women. Why? Why is Moses mad that he took the women? Ah, here we go. Verse 14. Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds who had come from the service in the war. Moses said to them, how have you allowed all the women to live? These women here, on Balaam's advice, made the Israelites act treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor. So the plague came against the whole congregation. So Moses is going to give them a compromise. You can keep the virgins, but kill all the other women who led or seduced the men of Israel to worship foreign gods. Okay, so Balaam finally dies, and the Midianites are avenged against. Now, here's where we're going to put this into even more context. Who are the Midianites? This is a very important question. In order to answer that question, we have to go all the way back to Genesis, chapter 25. Okay, who are the Midianites? Genesis chapter 25. Abraham took another wife. Okay, Sarah's dead, took another wife whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jochan Meden. Midian. Midian. Midian. So Midian is the leader of the Midianites. So the Midianites are like cousins to the Israelites, and so are Moabites. They're cousins to the Israelites. And so what we're seeing when it comes to the Israelites and the Midianites fighting is we're getting a replay of what Cain and Abel. Because this entire movement of numbers is echoing back to sibling rivalry. And where do we get sibling rivalry in Genesis chapter one through nine in the conflict between Cain and Abel? Now this is going to get heightened as we move from Numbers, chapter 31, where the Israelites get vengeance on the Midianites. Also, if you just want to do a word search, I did this in Logos. I love Logos Bible study software. I did this in Logos as I was preparing. And just search Midian Midianites. The Midianites are always going to be portrayed in a negative way. Okay? It's the Midianites that Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery to. And it's the Midianites who then sell him in slavery to the Egyptians. The Midianites, man, they're supposed to be these, like, awesome cousins. But we're going to get this sibling rivalry not played out against individuals, but played out against the. The descendants of those individuals. Okay? So when we think about the theme of sibling rivalry throughout the Scriptures, don't just think individual people, but think about the descendants or the groups of people that are now fighting against each other, whose ancestor had issues with each other. Okay? All right, let's move to numbers, chapter 32. The Reubenites and the Gadites have a great idea. Numbers, chapter 32. Here's their idea. This is. I'll start reading. Numbers, chapter 32, verse 1. The Reubenites and the Ganites owned a very large number of cattle. When they saw. Keyword saw. When they saw that the land of Jazer in the land of Gilead, was a good place for cattle, the Gadites and the Reubenites came and spoke to Moses. Here's what they said. If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given. Given. Keyword given to your servants for a possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan, okay? So God's ideal for Canaan is that the 12 tribes live together in unity. Here we have two and a half tribes. This is going to be Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Two and a half tribes don't want to live in unity with their brothers. They want to possess the land, okay? On the side of the Jordan that they're already on. And they see that the land is good, Moses is gonna be pissed. Okay? Moses says, shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? Why will you discourage the hearts of the Israelites from going over into the land that the Lord has given them? Your fathers did this. When I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land he's Saying, the spies that I sent out, they did the same thing. They discouraged everybody. When they went to the Wadi of Eshkol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the Israelites from going into the land that the Lord had given them. The Lord's anger was kindled on that day. And he swore, saying, surely none of the people who came out of Egypt these 20 years and upward shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Because they have not. Because they have not unreservedly followed me. Okay, so Moses upset. So now Reuben and Gad have a compromise. They're like, okay, all right, all right, Moses, we see that you're a little ticked off by this, okay? Instead of crossing over to the Jordan and taking the land that God wants for us, we see this land over here and look, man, we defeated Og, King of Bashan. We defeated Shihon, like, we defeated the Amorites, man. We. This land's good. Why we got across the Jordan and go get that land. Why we gotta go get Eden? Why don't we. We can create an Eden for ourselves over here. And they see that the land is good. When's the last time someone saw something and they judge for themselves that it was good? Eve saw. Eve saw that the tree, that the fruit was good. And what did she do? She took it and she gave it. So that here's what the is. Here's what the Reuben and Gad are asking for. They're saying, we see that this land is good. How about you give this land to us and see what we're gonna see is that every story after Genesis 3 is gonna put new humans at a new tree of knowledge of good and evil, where people are gonna have to judge. Do I trust what God has shown me is good, or do I judge what I see as good? For myself, I think this is good. What's wrong with this land? And so they come to a compromise. Here's the compromise. We're going to build cities on this side. Since we like this land. We got a lot of cattle. This is nice land over here. We're going to build cities, and we're going to leave our wife and children over here, and we'll fight. We'll go. We'll cross the Jordan and we'll fight. We'll make sure that our brothers have possession of the land over here. And then once it's all done, we'll come back. Moses says, okay, cool. Let's compromise. Let's do it your way. The Torah doesn't tell us that this is bad. But here's what the Torah does tell us. 1st Chronicles, chapter 5. And we're going to go to verse 25. 1st Chronicles chapter 5. We're going to go to Verse 25. The Bible doesn't tell us that this is bad. But the Bible doesn't always tell, but it often shows. And here's what the Bible is going to show us. But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves to the gods of the people of the land whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of King PUL of Assyria, the spirit of King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria, and he carried them away. This is the beginning of exile back to Assyria. Who did he carry away? Namely the Reubenites, the Gadites in the half tribe of Manasseh and brought them to Halah Habor Harah in the river goes on to this day. Guess what? When we finally get into Kings and Chronicles and the Assyrians come to lead God's people out of their land into captivity, guess who gets taken first? These Reubenites and these Gadites who refused to enter into the land that God said is for them. But the compromise they settle in the land that God never said is for them. And then the Bible tells us that hundreds of years later. See, they flourished for hundreds of years. I'm going to get into my timeless truth for the day. You know, you could compromise and it could work out for months for you, it could work out for years, it could work out for hundreds of years. But if you make compromises and you disobey God in slight ways after a while, it's not even. None of them even had to deal with these consequences. It was their great great, great great grandchildren who have to deal with the consequences of their compromise. They don't want to. They don't see that the land God has for them is good or is enough. All they can see is that this land is good. But they did not see is that hundreds of years from now that God would stir up the spirit of King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria, that he would come, that he would seize the Reubenites and the Gadites. Why? Because they were outside of the boundary that God had marked off as Israel's actual boundary. When you live outside of the bounds that God has actually said, even if you think that outside of the boundary is good, and even if you make a compromise, that compromise is going to come back. Here's the reality is that God can see what we can't see. You can't see what's going to happen 300, 400 years from now, but God can. God can see 500 years into the future. Which means if God is saying, don't deviate, don't compromise, ah, don't do that, then God knows something that you don't know. It's funny how like one time I was using this camera and the more I was trying to. I was really, really far away from an object that I was trying to take video of. And the farther away I am, the more I had to focus. And the more you have to focus. A slight shift of hands means that the footage is super, super shaky because the more you have to focus in, the more stable you have to be in order to actually see far. And you know, it may seem like a slight variation, we just made a little compromise. But what you don't see is that a hundred years, 300 years away, your slight little variation, your tiny little detail where you didn't obey God now has massive consequences 500 years down the road. The Torah is telling us, just obey God. It doesn't matter what seems right in your eyes. It don't fall for the trick of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Bible nerds, I have an announcement. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos releases May of 2025. In pre orders are officially open. When I began to learn Genesis in its proper context, I learned that the creation account is not primarily about God creating science, something out of nothing, but rather God bringing divine order to the chaos of the cosmos. That one nugget was a game changer for me because I've been preaching to all the kids in my youth group that peace was a solution for their anxiety. But really, God's solution to chaos is never peace, but rather order. Peace isn't something that you stumble into. It's something that you intentionally step into. And that starts with aligning your life with God's order. I think that this book is a game changer. It's nerdy, it's practical, it provides a very contextual understanding of the book of Genesis. And if you grab a copy, you'll learn why there's a huge dragon on the COVID Head to the link in the show notes to pre order or head to crushingchaos.com to see the really dope trailer that we made for this book. I think it's time for you to crush the chaos in your life. And that starts with grabbing a copy of this book. Now back to the podcast. Okay, let's keep working. If. If Numbers Chapter 31 is all about Vantage on the Midianites, Numbers Chapter 32 is all about the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh not wanting to cross the Jordan. And the context that we need for this is actually numbers chapter 21. And then we're going to need. We're going to see our nerdy nuggets, are going to be all of our Eden echoes, and then our timeless truth. I've already. I've stolen my own thunder. We're actually gonna see this. I got like a. A couple minutes left. We're actually gonna see this, like this truth of the knowledge of good and evil theme play out multiple times where someone sees something and they take it and they give it. This is actually gonna happen in Genesis, chapter 16, okay? Sarah is gonna see Hagar, okay? And then she's gonna take Hagar and give her to Abraham in the same way that Eve saw the tree and took the fruit and gave it to Adam, okay? This same verbiage, this, see, give, take, like that. Same thing gets those words get planted all throughout the Old Testament and you kind of have to have your ears perked up to hear it. You gotta have your eyes dialed in to really see it, okay? And that's exactly what's happening here. And as the Reubenites and the Gadites, they see this land, they think, this land's good. Why cross over to that land? This land's fine. And they go to Moses and like, ah, hey, just give this to us. Then we'll go over and we'll take that land for our brothers. But let's stay over here. So we're gonna get Adam and Eve echoes, but we're also gonna get Cain and Abel echoes because sin always brings division. Okay? So when Adam and Eve sin, they see that they're each naked, they cover, okay? So they divide. They're no longer naked without shame, now, oh, I don't wanna be naked around you. There's now division within their marriage. And now how does that get played out? Cain and Abel, there's an ultimate division leading in death. Okay, am I my brother's keeper? No, we're not one. We're two. And now that's the same thing with Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. They separated themselves from the rest of Israel. And anytime you separate yourself from the pack, you're more vulnerable to attack. And they're going to be vulnerable to that attack hundreds of years later when The Assyrians are going to come in and just, literally just come in, pluck them up and take them out into captivity. Don't compromise, don't deviate. Do what God told you to do. Because you have no idea how your one decision today is actually going to have a ripple effect or butterfly effect with your family and your generation. Yesterday we talked about having a hundred year vision like, like man, even God, the stuff I can't see, I'm going to obey you. I'm going to obey you because you can see farther than I can see. So I want to have more vision than I naturally have. But God give me supernatural obedience to even obey the stuff that I can't see, the stuff that I don't know. God, since I don't know everything in humility, I'm going to obey since I have no idea how this could have a ripple effect. That's our timeless truth. All right, you got context to those nerdy nuggets? Timeless truths. Today was a good day. Numbers, chapter 31 to 33. Tomorrow we got our last day in the book of numbers. We're going to close out numbers with a bang. We got chapters 34 to 36 tomorrow. And I'll see you right here. If you're on a streak, I'm so proud of you. Keep the streak going. Don't break the streak. Don't break the streak, okay? If you're not on a streak, all you need is two days. Two days and you're in there. All right? So if you're not on a streak, just add tomorrow to today and you'll get on a streak. There's nothing like getting the word of God, okay? In your mind, in your heart, every single day. I'm so proud of you. Hey, I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 125 as we look at the very, very end of the book of numbers. It's going to be great. I'll see you tomorrow. Love you guys. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram at the Bible Department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.