What is this vengeance that we read of in
Numbers 31 v2? Does it feel like genocide or ethnic cleansing? Are we uncomfortable?
Do we question why? How can a God of love countenance the murder of women and
children (v17)?
We need to see that this is not human but ‘the
Lord’s vengeance’ (v3). God is using the Israelites, His people, to cleanse the
land. Consider God’s perspective. Look back to Genesis 15v12-19 when God
promised the land to Abraham. God tells Abraham that his descendants will be
enslaved for 400 years but “in the fourth generation your descendents will come
back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not reached its full measure”
(v16). Our God is slow to anger, longing that all should come to repentance (2
Peter 3v8&9). He is also a Holy God who will judge in His time all who
rebel against Him. “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity”
(Psalm 75 v2). Note how the soldiers purify themselves (v19/20), the awe they
have for God when they realised that none of their number had died in battle
and the freedom with which they brought “an offering ... to make atonement for
ourselves before the Lord” after the spoils had been divided and a share given
to priests and Levites (v48-50).
Today let’s ask questions, not of God, but of
ourselves:
Who am I to question God? How do I understand
the Holiness of God? Am I in awe of Him? Do I have His perspective (400 years/4
generations)? Do I give Him all He is due? Do I know and trust Him like the
Psalmist?
Ultimately I need to revel in the fact that this
awesome, Holy God is also my loving Heavenly Father, I need to learn afresh to
submit to Him and praise Him for, as we will read later in Isaiah “my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares
the LORD.
(member of a homegroup)