The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Numbers 31:48-50,
"Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses and said to him, 'Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing. So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.'"
Following the conquest of the Midianites, the Israeli soldiers were to distribute the booty taken in a prescribed way, as recounted in verses 25-47.
Following this, the commanders of the army brought to Moses the gold articles they had acquired in the defeat of the Midianites as an offering to the Lord. This they did for two reasons.
The first is that at the end of the fight, they found that they had not lost a single man out of the twelve thousand troops that had gone into battle.
The second reason was they wanted to make atonement for themselves. In verses 14-18 we read, "Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle. 'Have you allowed all the women to live?' he asked them. 'They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.'"
"Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses and said to him, 'Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing. So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.'"
Following the conquest of the Midianites, the Israeli soldiers were to distribute the booty taken in a prescribed way, as recounted in verses 25-47.
Following this, the commanders of the army brought to Moses the gold articles they had acquired in the defeat of the Midianites as an offering to the Lord. This they did for two reasons.
The first is that at the end of the fight, they found that they had not lost a single man out of the twelve thousand troops that had gone into battle.
The second reason was they wanted to make atonement for themselves. In verses 14-18 we read, "Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle. 'Have you allowed all the women to live?' he asked them. 'They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.'"
Out of a heart of gratefulness to the Lord in not losing any men in battle and due to their poor judgment (while putting the Midianites to death) in allowing the very women who enticed the Israelite men to abandon God earlier live, they brought this voluntary offering of gold to the Lord.
Gratefulness and a desire to make reparation for bad judgment. Both heartfelt attitudes expressed in a very tangible way. It causes me to think of what it is I am grateful to the Lord for and what I might need to make reparation for. How would I express that?
I do thank the Lord with profound gratitude for sending his Son to provide a reparation, an atonement, for my sin and making a way for me into his family!
How about you?
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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