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Numbers 31-34

Jeremy Bowling
01/30/22 - Sunday Bible Study

Series: Numbers

 

Numbers 31

Vengeance on the Midianites

31:1  And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”

³ So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of yourselves for war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the Lord on Midian. ⁴ A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.”

⁵ So there were recruited from the divisions of Israel one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ Then Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from each tribe; he sent them to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the holy articles and the signal trumpets in his hand. ⁷ And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.

⁹ And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captive, with their little ones, and took as spoil all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ They also burned with fire all the cities where they dwelt, and all their forts. ¹¹ And they took all the spoil and all the booty—of man and beast.

Return from the War

¹² Then they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ¹³ And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.

¹⁵ And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive? ¹⁶ Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately. ¹⁸ But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately. ¹⁹ And as for you, remain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ Purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything woven of goats’ hair, and everything made of wood.”

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses: ²² Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water. ²⁴ And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.”

Division of the Plunder

²⁵ Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁶ “Count up the plunder that was taken—of man and beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation; ²⁷ and divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. ²⁸ And levy a tribute for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep; ²⁹ take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord. ³⁰ And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take one of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹ So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³² The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³ seventy-two thousand cattle, ³⁴ sixty-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵ and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately. ³⁶ And the half, the portion for those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep; ³⁷ and the Lord’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. ³⁸ The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. ³⁹ The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. ⁴⁰ The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹ So Moses gave the tribute which was the Lord’s heave offering to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴² And from the children of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from the men who fought— ⁴³ now the half belonging to the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴ thirty-six thousand cattle, ⁴⁵ thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, ⁴⁶ and sixteen thousand persons— ⁴⁷ and from the children of Israel’s half Moses took one of every fifty, drawn from man and beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ Then the officers who were over thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses; ⁴⁹ and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are under our command, and not a man of us is missing. ⁵⁰ Therefore we have brought an offering for the Lord, what every man found of ornaments of gold: armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹ So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all the fashioned ornaments. ⁵² And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ⁵³ (The men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴ And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of meeting as a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.

 

Numbers 32

The Tribes Settling East of the Jordan

32:1  Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock, ² the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, ³ “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo, and Beon, ⁴ the country which the Lord defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” ⁵ Therefore they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.”

⁶ And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: “Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? ⁷ Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? ⁸ Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. ⁹ For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them. ¹⁰ So the Lord’s anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying, ¹¹ ‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, ¹² except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ ¹³ So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. ¹⁴ And look! You have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel. ¹⁵ For if you turn away from following Him, He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

¹⁶ Then they came near to him and said: “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷ but we ourselves will be armed, ready to go before the children of Israel until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸ We will not return to our homes until every one of the children of Israel has received his inheritance. ¹⁹ For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this eastern side of the Jordan.”

²⁰ Then Moses said to them: “If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the Lord for the war, ²¹ and all your armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies from before Him, ²² and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be blameless before the Lord and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. ²³ But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴ Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what has proceeded out of your mouth.”

²⁵ And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying: “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶ Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead; ²⁷ but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, before the Lord to battle, just as my lord says.”

²⁸ So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel. ²⁹ And Moses said to them: “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben cross over the Jordan with you, every man armed for battle before the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession. ³⁰ But if they do not cross over armed with you, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”

³¹ Then the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying: “As the Lord has said to your servants, so we will do. ³² We will cross over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, but the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us on this side of the Jordan.”

³³ So Moses gave to the children of Gad, to the children of Reuben, and to half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land with its cities within the borders, the cities of the surrounding country. ³⁴ And the children of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer, ³⁵ Atroth and Shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah, ³⁶ Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. ³⁷ And the children of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kirjathaim, ³⁸ Nebo and Baal Meon (their names being changed) and Shibmah; and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

³⁹ And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. ⁴⁰ So Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it. ⁴¹ Also Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its small towns, and called them Havoth Jair. ⁴² Then Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and he called it Nobah, after his own name.

 

Numbers 33

Israel’s Journey from Egypt Reviewed

33:1 These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. ² Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. And these are their journeys according to their starting points:

³ They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. ⁴ For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them. Also on their gods the Lord had executed judgments.

⁵ Then the children of Israel moved from Rameses and camped at Succoth. ⁶ They departed from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. ⁷ They moved from Etham and turned back to Pi Hahiroth, which is east of Baal Zephon; and they camped near Migdol. ⁸ They departed from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, went three days’ journey in the Wilderness of Etham, and camped at Marah. ⁹ They moved from Marah and came to Elim. At Elim were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there.

¹⁰ They moved from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. ¹¹ They moved from the Red Sea and camped in the Wilderness of Sin. ¹² They journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. ¹³ They departed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. ¹⁴ They moved from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

¹⁵ They departed from Rephidim and camped in the Wilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶ They moved from the Wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth Hattaavah. ¹⁷ They departed from Kibroth Hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth. ¹⁸ They departed from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. ¹⁹ They departed from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez. ²⁰ They departed from Rimmon Perez and camped at Libnah. ²¹ They moved from Libnah and camped at Rissah. ²² They journeyed from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. ²³ They went from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴ They moved from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. ²⁵ They moved from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. ²⁶ They moved from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. ²⁷ They departed from Tahath and camped at Terah. ²⁸ They moved from Terah and camped at Mithkah. ²⁹ They went from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. ³⁰ They departed from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth. ³¹ They departed from Moseroth and camped at Bene Jaakan. ³² They moved from Bene Jaakan and camped at Hor Hagidgad. ³³ They went from Hor Hagidgad and camped at Jotbathah. ³⁴ They moved from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. ³⁵ They departed from Abronah and camped at Ezion Geber. ³⁶ They moved from Ezion Geber and camped in the Wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. ³⁷ They moved from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the boundary of the land of Edom.

³⁸ Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. ³⁹ Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰ Now the king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

⁴¹ So they departed from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴² They departed from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³ They departed from Punon and camped at Oboth. ⁴⁴ They departed from Oboth and camped at Ije Abarim, at the border of Moab. ⁴⁵ They departed from Ijim and camped at Dibon Gad. ⁴⁶ They moved from Dibon Gad and camped at Almon Diblathaim. ⁴⁷ They moved from Almon Diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸ They departed from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ⁴⁹ They camped by the Jordan, from Beth Jesimoth as far as the Abel Acacia Grove in the plains of Moab.

Instructions for the Conquest of Canaan

⁵⁰ Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, ⁵¹ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵² then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; ⁵³ you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess. ⁵⁴ And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. ⁵⁵ But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. ⁵⁶ Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”

 

Numbers 34

The Appointed Boundaries of Canaan

34:1  Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance—the land of Canaan to its boundaries. ³ Your southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of the Salt Sea; ⁴ your border shall turn from the southern side of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of Kadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar Addar, and continue to Azmon; ⁵ the border shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea.

⁶ ‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.

⁷ ‘And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to Mount Hor; ⁸ from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward Zedad; ⁹ the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at Hazar Enan. This shall be your northern border.

¹⁰ ‘You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; ¹¹ the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth; ¹² the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’ ”

¹³ Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: “This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. ¹⁴ For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and the half-tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. ¹⁵ The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, across from Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”

The Leaders Appointed to Divide the Land

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land among you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. ¹⁸ And you shall take one leader of every tribe to divide the land for the inheritance. ¹⁹ These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ²⁰ from the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud; ²¹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon; ²² a leader from the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli; ²³ from the sons of Joseph: a leader from the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod, ²⁴ and a leader from the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan; ²⁵ a leader from the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach; ²⁶ a leader from the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan; ²⁷ a leader from the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi; ²⁸ and a leader from the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”

²⁹ These are the ones the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.