War with Midian

INTRO

Yesterday we talked about the calendar of sacrifices in Numbers 29. While chapter 30 was not referenced, it provided instructions about regulations on vows, making vows, keeping them and communication to each other. We are in a transition period in chapter 31. Warren Wiersbe wrote, “This battle would be a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the battles Israel would fight in the land of Canaan.”¹This was also the last battle for Moses before he died. Joshua had received the baton from Moses and now the children of Israel began walking it out.

TEACHING

Number 31:1–2: The Lord spoke to Moses and told him to execute vengeance! Deuteronomy 32:35 states that vengeance belongs to God, but now God was telling Israel to go execute His vengeance on Midian. Why the Midianites? They were the people group that enticed Israel, luring them away by both physical and spiritual seduction. God told Israel to take vengeance on the Midianites. Then Moses would die and be with his people.

Numbers 31:3–4: Moses told the people they were going to go fight and to equip some of the men. The Lord was with the Israelites and they were to execute the Lord’s vengeance. Moses stood with the authority of a general. All 12 tribes were to send 1,000 men. Twelve thousand men were equipped for war.

Numbers 31:5–7: Phinehas, the son of the priest Eleazar, was the warrior leading the charge. Phinehas, had taken action by killing the Israelite Zimri and the Midianite woman Cozbi, thus stopping the plague of death on Israel (Numbers 25:6–15). The Israelites waged war and killed every male. Think of the bloodbath when thousands and thousands are killed!

Numbers 31:8–9: The Israelites killed the Midianite kings: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed Balaam, whose donkey spoke to him as an angel blocked his path (Numbers 22:22-27). Balaam was either a causality of war or still hanging out with the Midianites. The Israelites took all the women and children captive. They plundered all their cattle, flocks, and property. Imagine trying to gather and organize all this stuff.

Numbers 31:10–11: All cities and camps were burnt, and nothing remained. Captives and spoils of war were gathered. This was a full-on battle.

Few of us are in combat battles against physical enemies. Our enemy is not flesh and blood or seen with the naked eye. We are fighting the world, the flesh, or the things Satan throws at us. When we wake every morning, we are in a battle (Ephesians 6:10–11). We have to put on the full armor of God and be on high alert so that we do not end up like Balaam who released a blessing only to fall back into his old way. We tend to forget we are in a battle. It’s spiritual warfare. If you believe in angels, you have to believe in demons and that demonic activity is trying to come at you from any direction to knock you down (Ephesians 6:12–13). Like the Israelites, we must be prepared and equipped for war.

Numbers 31:12–14: The warriors brought all the spoils of battle to Moses and Eleazar and to all the Israelite community. They wanted to share their success. Moses, Eleazar, and the leaders met them outside the camp. Moses became furious with the officers and commanders of the army.

Numbers 31:15–16: Every Midianite female was left alive. But the army had brought the problem back to camp! The females were the ones who seduced the Israelite men. This was the cause of the Peor incident (Numbers 25). This is why a plague had been on Israel.

Numbers 31:17–20: Now the army had to kill all male children. The Midianite seed would be cut off. The army was also to kill every woman that had had sexual relations. These women were the issue. This had to take time figuring who had been in sexual relations and who hadn’t. Moses was not messing around; this was serious. They could keep the virgin females for themselves.

The men of battle needed to remain outside camp until they purified themselves from touching the dead. They had to purify everything: garments, leather goods, things made out of goat hair, and wood products.

Numbers 31:21–23: A legal statute from God was presented. It was a command, not an option. Anything that could withstand fire was to be purified with it. For example: gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead. This was the only time fire was required for the purification process. All the rest was to be passed through the water.

The refiner’s fire is a purification process. Being purified is powerful. The junk is cleaned up.

• Malachi 2:17; 3:1–2: Think of the gold, silver, iron, etc. from Numbers 31:23.
• Malachi 3:3–4: He knows they can withstand the fire. The Lord will again be pleased as in the past times.
• Malachi 3:5: These will not withstand the fire of judgment: sorcerers and adulterers, those that swear falsely and cheat the wage earner, oppressors of the widows and fatherless, and denier of justice to foreigners.
• Malachi 3:6: God has not changed; we need to clean up the junk. Let’s see who can withstand a refiner’s fire.

Read Matthew 3:11–12. You get to experience the Holy Spirit, the presence of God in your life, and the fire of God. It is an awesome picture. When you experience the Holy Spirit in your life, you will be able to express the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit working through you––the gifts of service, the gift of prophecy, of teaching, the gift of administration, of hospitality, all of these things. But it doesn’t happen if the fire of God is not burning within you, burning off the chaff, burning the sin, burning these things that are not of the Lord. If the baptism of fire is not constantly burning within, you will not manifest the Holy Spirit in a way that brings glory and honor to Him.

Those of Israel who went out into battle and brought back the plunder had to send it through the fire so God could use it. It is the same with our mentality; it is the same with us as we go out into the battle. We must understand we have the Spirit of God and the fire of God. That fire of God is going to burn away anything that is not of God and should not be there: pride, greed, lust, false worship, envy, or anything else that is not of the Lord.

Numbers 31:24–25: When the Israelites purified themselves with water and with fire, they would be clean. Only then could they enter the camp. The plunder was divided.

CLOSING

We are all in the battle, a spiritual battle, for which we need to be equipped. We need to be equipped in full, head-on battle gear. We have to put on the armor of God. The Spirit of God and the fire of God burning in us fuel the armor of God. This is the only way we can withstand the battle and remain strong!