Read: Numbers 30:1-31:54; Luke 4:1-30; Psalm 63:1-11; Proverbs 11:20-21
God gave the women coverings called husbands. I understand this passage because I had to use it once. I had gone to a meeting outside my church and heard a couple speak. They begged for support and I was full of compassion and probably guilt and wanted to help them. It was obvious that they were struggling financially. I pledged a certain amount to give them every month. We were struggling financially also. When I went home and told Dave, he was not so full of compassion. He told me we couldn’t pay that pledge so I had to go back the next night and tell them why I had to remove my pledge. They couldn’t refute the Bible and they were gracious to me but it was a very humbling experience for me. It did help me to understand why God gave it to us. Dave is my balancer and my support. He was my rescuer in that incident.
God told Moses to go against the Midianites who had done everything they could to curse Israel. When Balaam was not allowed to curse Israel he sought another way to curse them…from within. He caused them to enter into idolatry with the women of Midian. God was fed up with it and sent Moses to defeat the Midianites. Moses sent 12,000 men to fight them with the priests and the holy instruments and trumpets. They slew all the males and the five kings of Midian but kept the females and children alive. Wasn’t it the women who led them away from God and caused a plague that killed 24,000 of them? So they had to go through their captives and kill all the male children and every woman who were not virgins. Then they had to purify themselves and all the spoils of war with fire and then with water. God was giving them a way to rid all their spoils of any disease or infections so it wouldn’t enter the camp.
Then they could divide the spoil and give the Levites their part.
In Luke, we have Jesus’ temptations. This was not the only times Jesus was tempted because it says that after this time the devil left him for a season. Jesus was about to start his ministry and God had put his seal upon him at his baptism of water but now he had to go through the baptism of fire. The devil tried to tempt Jesus with earthly things but Jesus saw right through that and went for the spiritual things. Bread was natural, the Word of God was life. The kingdoms of the world were natural but to worship the Lord was worth far more. Proving himself was self-preserving but to tempt the Lord who was the giver of life was totally wrong. Jesus gained authority by not giving into these temptations. He returned from 40 days of not eating or drinking full of the power of the Spirit.
When Jesus began his ministry he was loved and esteemed highly by all who heard him. But he didn’t come for that. He came to test men’s hearts and bring truth. It didn’t take long to make people offended in him. The people in his own home town wanted to stone him after one short sermon.
Lord, help us to walk in boldness and authority, unmoved by the opinions of others.
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