The Cost Of Disobedience

 Balak, the Moabite king had hired the prophet Balaam to curse Israel.  Wanting the rewards Balak was offering, Balaam disobeyed God, telling him that the reason God would not curse them was because he had seen no iniquity in them.  Balak decided to use that information against the Israelites, and began encouraging the Moabite women to have affairs with the Israelite men and in the process get them to take part in the Moabite religion.    

 

To understand Balak’s logic it is helpful to remember Moabite history.  Almost seven hundred years before, Abraham’s nephew Lot had moved into Sodom, ignoring the sexual sin there.  God’s angels had literally forced them to leave because God was going to destroy the city for their wickedness, so they knew about God’s hatred of wickedness.  Lot’s two daughters had then had incestuous relationships with their father, and the Moabites and Ammonites were descendants of the two sons that resulted of those relationships, so the idea of using sex to get what you wanted was an accepted part of their history, making it easy for him to justify what is described in Numbers 25:1-3.  “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.  And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.  And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.”

 

Just as he had hoped, God was angered when Israel ignored his laws and began worshipping other gods, resulting in the deaths of twenty four thousand Israelites, according to Numbers 25:4-9.  “And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.  And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.

 

And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.  And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.” 

 

The sin was so prevalent they no longer even tried to hide it, as demonstrated by the couple blatantly coming into the camp, and the man involved was one of the   God blessed Phineas for his action in stopping them, but the woman he killed was one of the leaders of the tribe of Simeon, while the woman was the daughter of one of the Midianite rulers, according to Numbers 25:14-15.  “Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.  And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.”   

 

That Midianite women were involved as well as Moabite women implied this was a deliberate attack on Israel’s moral standard, and God directed Moses to punish the Midianites for their involvement in trying to bring a curse on Israel, in Numbers 25:16-31:2.  “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them: For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake.  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.” It would be Moses last major action with the nation of Israel. 

 

Moses sent out just a small force of twelve thousand to sweep across the Midianite territory wiping out the kings involved in trying to destroy Israel as described in Numbers 31:3-12.  “And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian.  Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.  So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

 

And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.  And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.  And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.  And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.  And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.  And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.  And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.”

 

Most of the cities were comparatively small by today’s standards, and a small force could travel fast, catching them unprepared.  With God’s help they wiped out several Midianite cities and their rulers.  In the process they also killed the prophet Balaam.    All he wanted was a little prestige, but Balaam’s disobedience of God cost his life and resulted in the deaths of twenty four thousand Israelites and an untold number of his own people.   Disobedience frequently costs far more than we ever expected.  We need to learn to obey God completely, trusting him to reward us appropriately.