Similar to the progression of reactions and emotions to the book of Job, I've had a sequence of thoughts regarding the entire chapter of history of the Israelites as a people journeying from Egypt (post-Red Sea) to the Promised Land. My own awareness of the progression of my thoughts isn't as clear as it was with Job (I've read through it intently considerably less, although I've certainly been aware of the storyline for many years). As such, I will not detail it bullet by bullet, but I will mention a few key thoughts that have come up over the years. Hopefully those thoughts will be somewhat sequential.
In my earliest thoughts from reading about this journey, typical of how I process information, I simply thought, OK, they wandered in the desert for 40 years after crossing the Red Sea. Sometimes that's just the way it goes.
Then, probably around college age (or just after), I became really aware of two things: 1.) many of the Israelites died along the way, and 2.) Moses didn't get to enter the Promised Land, even though God initially promised him he would.
Sometime later, I then learned the reason that Moses didn't get to enter the Promised Land: he struck the rock when God told him to speak to it instead. My reaction honestly was that I thought God was being unfair and in this case, broke a promise. My defense of Moses (incorrect, of course) was that Moses must've just had a bad day and snapped, and God punished him big time for it.
Then, after having a personal spiritual awakening in 2020 and 2021, I sketched a post in the fall of 2021 that ultimately ran in June 2023, where, as I was attempting to defend God and the Bible to an audience of nonbelievers (ultimately to defend why homosexuality (and all sexuality outside of God-ordained marriage) is sin and why gay "marriage" is ungodly), I listed out what I understood to be key points in Biblical history in which nonbelievers have tended to call God "cruel," and I found out that in fact, Moses did not simply have "a bad day and snapped," like I had previously characterized it. He had lost his faith which had eroded over time and simply didn't give a hoot about obeying God by that point (he probably had also demonstrated other instances of disobedience due to lack of faith) that he deliberately struck the rock out of spite, blaming God for the pileup of misfortunes and stresses that he had had. (Just like Job had also been doing right before God corrected him.)
In 2022, before my Bible reading fell off the rails, I did manage to read through this entire section of Biblical history, and my eyes were opened as to how much the generation of Israelites that had endured the hardships in Egypt were quick to whine like immature teenagers and ready go to back to captivity (an act of disobedience in their hearts and ultimately with their mouths and their actions) because they somehow decided they preferred it to the unknowns that came from traveling in the desert.
The last major piece of corrective thinking on this patch of history, in the form of an encouragement this time, was the truth that, despite what God had told him, Moses did eventually get to enter the Promised Land, as per the below passage:
The last major piece of corrective thinking on this patch of history, in the form of an encouragement this time, was the truth that, despite what God had told him, Moses did eventually get to enter the Promised Land, as per the below passage:
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Matthew 17:1-3, NKJV
The scene of Jesus's transfiguration took place in the same area that the Old Testament Israelites' Promised Land was. Moses' presence at that location would mean that God did eventually relent and allow him to indeed enter. His punishment for his disobedience was therefore limited only to his natural life. Moses was no longer allowed to enter the Promised Land before dying, but that didn't mean that that punishment would hold for eternity. Moses was still blessed.
One piece of context that is important before I delve into the main topic of the day, which is that the people of Israel overall were still blessed by God. God did not decide to sentence the entire population to never being able to enter and live in the Promised Land; only the ones that were older and had spent much of their lives in Egypt (and as such, complained and demanded to return to slavery). The younger generation, who did not have as much life experience in Egypt, received the promise. And in the account of God speaking to Balaam (not a believer, by the way), He made it clear that He still favored the people of Israel, despite their disobedience.
With all that out of the way, here is what the Lord said in no uncertain terms to Balaam:
“And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.””Numbers 22:12 NKJV
Think about it: this is the same group of people that continued to rebel against God, including the two recent incidents where they believed the 10 spies that brought back a bad report, as well as the incident where Moses struck the rock after God told him to speak to it instead (as mentioned earlier in this post). as it is written in the last verse of Psalm 95: “I swore my anger that they will not enter into my rest.” And true to his word, no one above the age of 20, except for Joshua and Caleb, lived to enter the Promised Land.
The takeaway from Numbers 22:12 is that, despite all of the sin and all of the unbelief and all of this rebellion, God still called his people blessed.
Later, Balaam passed on his message to King Balak who had seen Israel's victories and had gotten so filled with fear that he sent Balaam to curse them:
“Then he took up his oracle and said: “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them.”Numbers 23:18-21 NKJV
God used Balaam as an instrument of His will. And although Balaam wasn't saved and otherwise didn't follow the Lord, he did obey here.
Israel is still blessed.
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