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Week 12, Day 2 — Numbers 24-25

Jeremy Paschall
03/17/24 - Podcast

And now, a minute with the Word…

The Numbers narrative seems to shift abruptly, from Balaam’s oracles in chapter 24 to Israel’s fornication and idolatry in chapter 25, but the stories are closely connected. Balaam “caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the LORD” (Numbers 31.16), because Balaam “loved gain from wrongdoing [the wages of unrighteousness]” (2 Peter 2.15). In other words, when Balaam couldn’t get Balak’s reward money by pronouncing at outright curse upon Israel, he greedily sought it by causing Israel to stumble and bring a curse upon themselves for their sin.