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I mentioned last week that we're 
going to finish the book tonight. I know there's several chapters 
left, but we're going to just kind of overview it and God willing 
start the book of Deuteronomy next week. We've worked our way 
thus far through the Pentateuch. So numbers 32.1 to 36.13 is what 
we're looking at tonight. I will read chapter 32, at least 
some of it, just to get the ball rolling and then I'll give you 
an overview of what's happening at the end of this particular 
book. Just by way of reminder, the book of Numbers records the 
wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Remember, the book Numbers, the 
title Numbers, comes from the two censuses. There's one in 
the first part, chapters 1 and 2, and then there's one in chapter 
26. And basically, you have the first generation die out because 
of God's judgment, and then you have the second census in chapter 
26. The name of the book in the Hebrew canon is in the wilderness 
and that's from the first few words in chapter 1 verse 1 So 
basically what you have is the children of Israel set out from 
Sinai They wander through the wilderness and then the latter 
portion of the book takes place on the plains of Moab That's 
where they presently are poised to go into the promised land, 
so the book of Deuteronomy takes up where Numbers leaves off, 
and it basically is the final exhortations of Moses to prepare 
the children of Israel as they go into the land for the conquest, 
and that is picked up by Joshua, and we see the negative sort 
of side of that in the book of Judges. I think after Deuteronomy, 
we'll just keep going through the former prophets, so Joshua, 
and then Judges, and Ruth, and 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings. 
If Jesus doesn't return by then, then we'll be studying what's 
called the former prophets. So Numbers chapter 32, I'll read 
beginning in verse one. Now the children of Reuben and 
the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock. 
And when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, 
that indeed the region was a place for livestock, the children of 
Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar 
the priest, and to the elders of the congregation saying, Adaroth, 
Dibon, Jazer, Nimra, Heshbon, Eliela, Shabam, Nebo, and Bayon, 
the country which the Lord defeated before the congregation of Israel, 
is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock. 
Therefore they said, if we have found favor in your sight, let 
this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take 
us over the Jordan. And Moses said to the children 
of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go 
to war while you sit here? Now why will you discourage the 
heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land 
which the Lord has given them? Thus your fathers did when I 
sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they 
went up to the valley of Ashkel and saw the land, they discouraged 
the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not 
go into the land which the Lord had given them. So the Lord's 
anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying, 
Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt "'From 20 years 
old and above shall see the land "'of which I swore to Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, "'because they have not wholly followed me, 
"'except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, "'and Joshua, 
the son of Nun, "'for they have wholly followed the Lord.' So 
the Lord's anger was aroused against Israel, and he made them 
wander in the wilderness 40 years, until all the generation that 
had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. And look, 
you have risen in your father's place, a brood of sinful men, 
to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel. 
"'For if you turn away from following him, "'he will once again leave 
them in the wilderness "'and you will destroy all these people.' 
"'Then they came near to him and said, "'We will build sheepfolds 
here for our livestock "'and cities for our little ones, "'but 
we ourselves will be armed, "'ready to go before the children of 
Israel "'until we have brought them to their place. "'And our 
little ones will dwell in the fortified cities "'because of 
the inhabitants of the land. "'We will not return to our homes 
"'until every one of the children of Israel "'has received his 
inheritance. for we will not inherit with them on the other 
side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen 
to us on this eastern side of the Jordan. Then Moses said to 
them, if you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the 
Lord for the war, and all your armed men cross over the Jordan 
before the Lord until he has driven out his enemies from before 
him, and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward 
you may return and be blameless before the Lord and before Israel. 
and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. But if you do 
not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord 
and be sure your sin will find you out. Build cities for your 
little ones and folds for your sheep and do what is proceeded 
out of your mouth. Amen. Well, as we look at these 
concluding chapters, chapters 32 to 36, there's three specific 
things that I want to notice. First, the inheritance on the 
east side of the Jordan, which we just read about here in chapter 
32. It goes all the way from verses 
1 to 42. So the inheritance on the east 
side of the Jordan. Secondly, the itinerary of the 
journey in chapter 33, verses 1 to 49. And then third, instructions 
for life in Canaan. And you find that in chapter 
33, verse 50, all the way to chapter 36, verse 12. And then 
the formal conclusion of the book is in chapter 36 at verse 
13. So we'll look first at the inheritance 
east of the Jordan. So basically what we have in 
the section that I read are the tribes Reuben and Gad. And then 
they're later joined by half the tribe of Manasseh, which 
we then call East Manasseh. They are joined because they 
want to settle on the east side of the Jordan, or what we call 
the Transjordanian tribes. So Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. And the reason is very simple. 
They were livestock herders, they had animals, and that place 
was very rich. and very plentiful, and so they 
wanted to bed down there, and they wanted to receive that as 
their tribal allotment. And the supposition is, is that 
that portion of the region was already dispossessed of any enemies, 
they had already found pasture there, they had already found 
stability, they already wanted to settle in, and that's their 
presentation to Moses and to Eleazar in chapter 32, in verses 
one to five. Then Moses responds with a specific 
question in verse 6. He says, to the children of Gad 
and to the children of Reuben, shall your brethren go to war 
while you sit here? His question is pretty pointed 
and pretty direct, and essentially it's this. So you guys found 
a safe harbor east of the Jordan, Now the other nine tribes are 
tasked with going into the land of Canaan, and they now have 
to dispossess that land, and now they're three tribes or two 
and a half tribes short. They're lacking manpower when 
it comes to the conquest that God had commanded. That presents 
a problem. And then Moses basically goes 
on to rehearse what happened when he sent out those spies 
to recon the promised land itself, and the division that came as 
a result of that. Remember they sent out those 
twelve spies, and two spies, Joshua and Caleb, gave a favorable 
report, and then the ten spies gave an unfavorable report. Of 
course the congregation of Israel sided with the unfavorable report, 
because they didn't believe God, They didn't believe in His promise 
to give them the land that He had swore to Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, and they believed the ten spies who said that there 
were too many giants in the land and we can't take it. And so 
there was division as a result of that, and that brought God's 
judgment, and that was the section, Numbers 13 and 14, where God 
promises that He's going to destroy that first generation, and that 
none of them, save Joshua and Caleb, were going to enter into 
the promised land. And so Moses invokes that particular scenario, 
and he says division amongst the tribes is not good, and that's 
what you're doing when you settle here on the east side of the 
Jordan. So then the men of Reuben and Gad respond by saying, we're 
going to go ahead and settle down east of the Jordan, but 
we will assist the other nine and a half tribes in the battle. We will accompany them, and then 
after that conquest, we will return to the east side of the 
River Jordan. So the Transjordan was already 
conquered so that Eastern tribes needed to assist the other tribes 
in the conquest of the promised land. So that's the back and 
forth that is going on here. And so the favorable response 
on the part of Reuben and Gad is in verses 16 to 19. Note specifically in verse 18, So they agree. They see the problem. 
They see the potential difficulty. And so they agree with Moses 
that they're going to go ahead and leave their families and 
leave their animals stationed safely on the east side of the 
Jordan. They're going to assist their 
brethren in the conquest to dispossess the land of the Canaanites. So 
Moses then responds favorably to them, but gives them this 
caution in verse 23. So that's the specific issue 
there in terms of the Eastern tribes and the necessity for 
them to join the other tribes in the conquest of the promised 
land. So as I said, later we see half 
the tribe of Manasseh joins with them as well. So Reuben, Gad, 
and East Manasseh settle in the Transjordan region. Now secondly, 
the itinerary of the journey, chapter 33, verses 1 to 49. For obvious reasons, we're not 
going to go jot by jot through that particular list. Fun fact, 
however, I think it was the second sermon I ever preached, which 
was probably 33, 34 years ago, actually 30 some years ago, at 
a prison. It was actually numbers 33-4. You might wonder, why would you 
choose that text? The previous sermon I had preached 
in that context was, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven. So why then Numbers 33, 4? For 
the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord 
had killed among them, also on their gods the Lord had executed 
judgments. Just a very stunning statement 
in terms of a haunting view of God's sovereignty, and I think 
it capitulates for us or recapitulates the Exodus. For the Egyptians 
were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among 
them, also on their gods the Lord had executed judgments. 
Remember in Exodus 12.12, one of the reasons why God does what 
he does in terms of the situation in Egypt is not only the deliverance 
of his people from that house of bondage, but also judgment, 
a verdict of judgment and punishment upon the gods of Egypt. So the itinerary there in chapter 
33, verses 1 to 49, rehearses the wanderings of the children 
of Israel throughout the wilderness. And then that brings us then 
to the instructions for life in Canaan. So chapter 33, verse 
50, on to chapter 36, verse 12. So first, the conquest of Canaan. Notice in chapter 33 at verses 
50 to 56. It says, Now the Lord spoke to 
Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, a cross from Jericho, 
saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, when 
you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you 
shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, 
destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, 
and demolish all their high places. You shall dispossess the inhabitants 
of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land 
to possess. And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance 
among your families. To the larger you shall give 
a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a 
smaller inheritance. There everyone's inheritance 
shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according 
to the tribes of your fathers. But if you do not drive out the 
inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be 
that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes 
and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the 
land where you dwell. Moreover, it shall be that I 
will do to you as you thought, or as I thought to do to them." 
So the instructions for holy war, essentially, are the dispossession 
of the land of the Canaanites. You see this in Exodus chapter 
23, in verses 20 to 33, and then Exodus chapter 34 verses 11 to 
13, but most profoundly in Deuteronomy chapter 7 in verses 1 to 5. And so what you see in this brief 
section is the command to dispossess the land of the Canaanites in 
verses 50 to 53. Now make no mistake about it, 
they dispossessed the land of the Canaanites by killing them, 
by breaking things, by engaging in warfare. Remember along the 
way in the Book of Numbers they've been preparing for war. They 
were not a military people. They did not have abilities with 
weaponry and with military or martial arts or anything like 
that. They came out of slavery in Egypt and one of the functions 
in their wilderness wanderings was to prepare them to battle 
in the promised land. In fact, that's the purpose behind 
the census, the first census in the Book of Numbers, and the 
second census in the book of numbers. It wasn't just to find 
out if you had extra rooms in your house so that immigrants 
could live there. That wasn't the purpose of the 
census. The purpose of the census was to find out what men were 
of age and ready to fight in battle. And so along the way 
they fought in a few battles and they've done well under their 
God. And so they're going to go into the land of Canaan and 
they're going to dispossess it by killing people, by breaking 
down all of their articles of religion. God knows that if they 
go in there and they don't do that, it won't be long before 
they're worshipping with those articles of religion. So in Deuteronomy 
7, they're to have no social alliances. They're not supposed 
to marry the Canaanites. They're not supposed to have 
political alliances. They're not supposed to do government 
with the Canaanites. And they're certainly not supposed 
to have religious alliances. Again, God knows that if they 
don't dispossess the land of the Canaanites, it won't be long 
before they themselves are like the Canaanites. And that's the 
trajectory that we have in the former prophets. So Joshua presents 
a favorable view of the conquest. But even in Joshua, we see that 
the land was not utterly dispossessed of the Canaanites. So when we 
get to the book of Judges, it really starts to get dark, and 
it really starts to show decline, and it shows the Canaanization 
of the children of Israel. That brings us then to 1 and 
2 Samuel. some good times under David, Solomon, and 1st and 2nd 
Kings, but some dark times as well. So they were to dispossess 
the land of the Canaanites, according to verses 50 to 53. They were 
to divide the land, according to verse 54, and then a failure 
to dispossess the land in verses 55 and 56. I'll read that again. 
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, from 
before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain 
shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and 
they shall harass you in the land where you dwell." That's 
exactly what happens. It's already there a bit in Joshua. It is certainly there in the 
book of Judges. And then verse 56 basically is 
programmatic for much of what happens, from this vantage point, 
in the future for Israel. Moreover, it shall be that I 
will do to you as I thought to do to them." So when Israel does 
take possession of the land, once they start acting like the 
Canaanites in the land, then God raises up the Assyrian army 
to judge the northern tribes in 722 BC. When Judah, the southern 
tribes, do not learn that lesson from the decimation of the northern 
tribes vis-a-vis the Assyrians, God raises up Nebuchadnezzar 
and the Babylonians in 586 BC to decimate the southern kingdom. 
And then, of course, the Judahites go into Babylon, and then they're 
there for 70 years, and then under the decree of Cyrus, they're 
able to return to Judah, but it's not anywhere near the amount 
of people that they had, it's not anywhere near the sort of 
glory that they once possessed. And what they brought out of 
Babylon was a distortion of what they had had religiously. The 
Babylonian Talmud, I think a lot of times people assume that this 
is another religious document. It is vile to the core. It is 
wretched. It is godless. It is anti-Christ. So don't think for a moment that 
it's just another book of books out there that have some information 
about the Lord. It is not a good book. It is 
not a good collection of laws and regulations and things of 
that nature. So dispossess the land. If you 
don't dispossess the land, the Canaanites that you leave behind 
are going to be irritants to you. And then you're going to 
find out that I'm going to be against you the way I was going 
to be against the Canaanites. In fact, in some ways, the Israelite 
guilt was even worse because they had the oracles of Yahweh. 
They had the direct influence of Moses. They had the written 
law of God Almighty. And yet they reject that. They 
refuse that. And so they reap the consequences 
involved with that godlessness. So instructions for life in Canaan 
begin with the conquest of Canaan. You're not going to have life 
in Canaan unless you go dispossess the land. Secondly, in chapter 
34 and verses 1 to 15, you have the borders or the boundaries 
of Canaan. It was a specific land with specific 
borders. You had specific boundaries involved 
in what God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It wasn't just, 
oh, the whole world is yours, or the whole world is the Canaanites. 
No, there's borders. There's nothing wrong with borders. 
That's how a nation maintains its sovereignty. Notice then, 
thirdly, the commanders in Canaan, chapter 34, verses 16 to 29. These would be the men initially 
that would provide command and leadership when they settle in 
Canaan. Then we have the cities for the 
Levites in chapter 35, verses 1 to 8. Remember, the Levites 
didn't get a tribal allotment. So they had cities carved out 
in the promised land for them that each tribe would afford 
to the Levites so that they could live. Remember that the Levites 
basically had their livelihood because of their service with 
reference to the tabernacle and then the temple. So you had the 
Levites and the priests, they were sustained by the cult, the 
religious cult. And so they got these portions, 
or rather these cities from the various tribes in terms of Levitical 
cities. They didn't farm, they didn't 
have big patches of ground. They may had a family cow, they 
may had a few chickens, something like that. they didn't have enough 
for a good livelihood, so they reaped the benefit from the sacrificial 
system. Not all, but some of the sacrifices 
offered up to Yahweh, a portion was set apart for the priests 
and for the Levites to participate in, because they were religiously, 
serving religiously, therefore they ate and fed based on the 
kindness of God revealed in that sacrificial system. So the cities 
of the Levites You'll see that in Joshua chapter 21, in verses 
1-42. And then next, in chapter 35, in verses 9-34, you have 
cities of refuge. Cities of refuge. You see this 
in Deuteronomy 19, verses 1-13, and then Joshua chapter 20, verses 
1-9. And the cities of refuge were very important. And basically what you have in 
this legislation, in chapter 35, verses 9 to the end of the 
chapter, is legislation concerning the cities of refuge. So basically 
what you have is a distinction between murder and manslaughter 
within the chapter. If you look specifically at manslaughter, 
for instance, notice in verse 11, Then you shall appoint cities 
to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills 
any person accidentally may flee there. They shall be cities of 
refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die 
until he stands before the congregation in judgment. So when it speaks 
of manslaying there, or when it speaks of manslaughter there, 
notice specifically at the end of verse 11 that the manslayer 
who kills any person accidentally may flee there. That is manslaughter. That's not murder. There's no 
malice aforethought, there's no premeditation, there's no 
hatred in the heart of the particular individual. Rather, it is an 
accidental death. Notice in verse 12, you've got 
that language of avenger. Avenger is probably a male in 
a family whose family member was killed, either through manslaying 
or through murder. And that avenger of blood functioned 
in a legal capacity to render vengeance upon the manslayer. 
whether he was a, well, specifically for the crime of murder. So the 
avenger, again, likely a family member that was tasked with going 
after the manslayer, and if the manslayer was in fact guilty 
of murder, then that manslayer was executed by this avenger 
of blood. So you've got accidental homicide, 
or what we call today manslaughter. I know manslaughter sounds a 
lot more vicious than accidental homicide. Slaughter just involves, 
you know, you can't even say slaughter without sneering and 
wielding a sword. Manslaughter sounds almost worse 
than murder, but it's not. Manslaughter is accidental. Now 
notice murder in verse 16. And again, you're looking at 
the concepts of hatred, malice aforethought, premeditation, 
all those sorts of things. So verse 16, if he strikes him 
with an iron implement so that he dies, he is a murderer. Notice, 
he's striking him with an iron implement. The murderer shall 
surely be put to death. And if he strikes him with a 
stone in the hand by which one could die and he does die, he 
is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be 
put to death. Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon 
by which one could die and he does die, he is a murderer. The 
murderer shall surely be put to death. The Avenger of Blood 
himself shall put the murderer to death when he meets him. He 
shall put him to death. If he pushes him out of hatred, 
or while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, 
or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the 
one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. 
The Avenger of Blood shall put the murderer to death when he 
meets him. So this distinction between murder 
and manslaughter is absolutely crucial. Now, the underlying 
passage behind this is Genesis chapter 9 and verse 6. And remember in Genesis chapter 
9, you have something of a new beginning with Noah. It's after 
the flood. One of the things that was true 
prior to the flood is that the earth was exceedingly corrupt 
and it was filled with violence. That was one of the reasons, 
one of the predicates by which God judged the then known world. So coming out of the ark, God 
gives Noah a command. with reference to man's life 
and the sanctity of life. He says, whoever sheds man's 
blood, by man his blood will be shed, for in the image of 
God he made man. Now, that seems like it would 
entail not only the murderer, but the manslaughterer, but later 
legislation does show us the difference between manslaughter 
and murder. So the principle is that murder 
is always a capital offense. Murder demands the execution 
of the murderer. There is nowhere in the Bible 
that that has ever been suspended. There is nowhere in the Bible 
that that has ever been done away with. In fact, most people 
that study the Bible, I say most people, I wouldn't actually say 
that, most people that have a clue who study the Bible, especially 
with reference to covenant, realize that Noah's covenant is universal, 
It is perpetual that it obligates all men everywhere. It's a common 
grace covenant. As long as there is this earth, 
the ramifications of Noah's covenant hold true. But not only does 
Noah's covenant in Genesis 9 affirm this, but the sword given to 
the magistrate according to the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 
13, verses 1 to 4. The civil government wields the 
sword for the execution of God's wrath in history against criminal 
doers. And so the idea behind murder 
and death penalty is that any nation that doesn't execute murderers 
is guilty of blood. It ought to cause us actually 
to tremble, and the fact that no government, at least that 
I know of, or at least our government, never even entertains the thought 
that this is something a civil government should do. I think 
it was last week, either North or South Carolina, there was 
an execution, and it was by firing squad. Praise God, they're doing 
their job. Vicious, vile, murdering criminals 
deserve to be executed. That is simply God's work. Why 
do I say that? For in the image of God, He made 
him. There is a theological rationale. As Voss says, that in life slain, 
it is the image of God that is assaulted. And so when it comes 
to this, as we see it repetitiously throughout the Pentateuch, it 
is an emphasis by God that when you have criminal offenders in 
a society that take the lives of other people, those criminal 
offenders should be executed by the civil state. We don't 
have the Avenger of Blood, a family member at this point. That would 
eventually evolve into civil government, judges, courts, higher 
courts. adjudication, guilty sentences, 
and then punishment consistent with that. But this is it in 
seed form. So we've got this distinction between murder and 
manslaughter. Now, one of the purposes for 
the cities of refuge was that the manslayer could go there 
and get a fair hearing. That's the emphasis in this legislation. Because if the Avenger of Blood 
finds the guy and kills him, but the guy's not actually a 
murderer. He didn't try to bury the axe 
head in that man's brother's head, but rather the axe head 
flew off and found its way into that man's brother's head. So 
if the Avenger of Blood kills somebody that's not actually 
a murderer, then the Avenger of Blood himself is guilty. And 
so you need these courts set up so that they can listen to 
this and adjudicate it. If it is the case that the man 
is a murderer, then he is sentenced to die and the Avenger of Blood 
is there to take that particular prerogative. So there is a demand 
in this for due process. Again, look at verse 12. They 
shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the 
manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation 
in judgment. You mustn't ever miss this, because 
oftentimes biblical law is mis-caricatured as being this vicious barbaric 
code, and if we implemented it, then the gutters would run with 
blood. No, there's law, and courts and evidences and examination, 
all that stuff comes to play. Notice in verses 22 and 23. We've already read that. Look 
at verse 23. "...or uses a stone by which a man could die, throwing 
it at him without seeing him, so that he dies while he was 
not his enemy or seeking his harm. Then the congregation shall 
judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according 
to these judgments." So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from 
the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return 
him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain 
there until the death of the high priest who was anointed 
with the holy oil." The difficulty of that is not lost. Some suggest 
it's the beginning of a new era, the end of an old era, that's 
why. But if the manslayer at any time 
goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, 
and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his 
city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, 
he shall not be guilty of blood. Because he should have remained 
in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But 
after the death of the high priest, the manslayer may return to the 
land of his possession. So there's this period of time, 
it's so that things can cool off, and it's so that parties 
can get a fair shake and be examined under witnesses, and if the man 
is guilty, then he is subject to the death penalty. If he's 
not, well then he's not subject to the death penalty. So then 
notice the necessity of witnesses in these proceedings. Again, 
biblical law isn't, oh, I think this guy stole my car. Let me 
shoot him. That's not it. Notice in verse 
29. You see this in Deuteronomy 17 
and 19 as well. You see this mandate for two 
or three witnesses. That is absolutely crucial. You 
can't have death penalty without two or three witnesses. Notice 
in 29. These things shall be a statute 
of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your 
dwellings. Whoever kills a person, the murderer 
shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses. But one 
witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death 
penalty. You had to have a couple of witnesses 
in order to enact the death penalty. This is crucial. This is absolutely 
necessary. And interestingly, in Deuteronomy 
19, there's something built into the law of God there, that if 
I allege something false, let's say against Micah, and I bring 
him to the court, and it's a capital offense, and the judges find 
that I'm lying, I'm false. Do you know what the penalty 
is? I get whatever he would have been penalized with. Do you know 
how good that would be to reduce frivolous lawsuits? If I knew 
that my case was not absolutely winnable, I have a lot of incentive 
to go into that courtroom ready to win. Because if there's any 
thought that I might lose, I may be subject to death. So the Old 
Testament law, far from being barbaric and antiquated, it's 
even the law of retribution, the eye for eye, tooth for tooth. 
How many times is that invoked as if it's just this horrific 
principle? It's the law of retribution. 
Do you know what it means? Simply, the punishment must fit 
the crime. we all operate based on that 
principle in Western civilization, or at least we're supposed to, 
the punishment must fit the crime. And far from allowing unbridled 
penalties and punishments, it actually is an imposition or 
a restriction on the amount of punishment that is meted out. If I knock out your tooth, you 
don't get to gouge out my eye. Arguably, the eye is far more 
important than a tooth. I mean, you can look like a hockey 
player without a tooth, but you can't look if you don't have 
an eye. So you see, it actually restricts a vicious and a mindless 
sort of a punishment when it comes to the body politic. So 
for us today to say, well, you know, that Old Testament, it's 
full of barbarism, and nope, absolutely positively not. Witnesses, 
cross-examination, decency, order, all that sort of a thing absolutely 
positively obtains in Old Testament law. So the necessity of witnesses, 
verses 29 to 30, notice the necessity of capital punishment for murderers, 
verse 31. Moreover, you shall take no ransom 
for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall 
surely be put to death. One commentator says, excuse 
me, that in the ancient Near Eastern world, other countries, 
other nation states, had it such that a man, if he had enough 
money, could basically pay that money and not go to the death, 
get the death penalty. Not so in Israel. If you murdered, 
then you were to be executed. No ifs, ands, or buts. There was no mitigating of circumstances. If you murdered somebody, again, 
it had to be proven, there had to be witnesses, there had to 
be a courtroom and all of the proceedings, but if you murdered 
somebody, you were to be executed. And then notice in verse 33, 
you shall not pollute the land where you are, for blood defiles 
the land and no atonement can be made for the land, for the 
blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed 
it. You look at a nation that doesn't execute murderers and 
saturates the earth with aborted babies and with euthanasia. I mean, it's an amazing thing 
that fire isn't raining down upon our nations each and every 
day. It is an amazing thing that we 
don't experience Sodom and Gomorrah type judgment every moment of 
every day. In fact, some of the things that 
we practice on just a regular basis, the pagan nations around 
Israel would have said, we haven't even done that. murdering babies 
in the womb. I mean, they did do that. They 
threw them into the arms of Moloch. But the euthanasia and the barbarism, 
child mutilation for sexual ends, it's vicious and vile. So when 
Western civilization gets on the high horse and starts to 
condemn biblical law, they have no ground upon which to stand. 
They are godless, vile, Christ-rejecting, wretched people. And what we 
find in God's law is equity and justice. And then the last section 
in chapter 36 deals with female heirs. We already saw this in 
chapter 27 and verses 1 to 11, the daughters of Zelophehad. Remember the daughters of Zelophehad? 
Their father died, but he wasn't, you know, extra sinful. It's 
basically their argument. He was a sinner, but he wasn't 
one of those wretched sinners like in Korah's rebellion. So 
basically, it's not that he wasn't a sinner, but he wasn't a notorious 
sinner with Korah's rebellion or with the others that rose 
up against Moses and Aaron. And so Moses seeks out counsel, 
and God says, yeah, they're right. They have no male heirs in their 
family. The daughters of Zelophehad get to take the land. They get 
that tribal allotment. They shouldn't be gypped or bypassed 
because they don't have brothers or some male blood that is a 
recipient of that tribal allotment. So that's revisited here in chapter 
36. Why do you think that is? Because they're going in to inherit 
the promised land. They're going in to divide up 
the land. These kinds of things are very important when you're 
going to go conquer a land and start to divvy it up. You want 
to get this stuff worked out and figured out before you start 
shedding blood and start carving up the land. So basically, the 
emphasis here is that if the daughters of Zelophehad or any 
female heirs to tribal allotment marry outside their tribe, then 
at the time of the Jubilee, the outside their tribe is going 
to inherit that portion of land. So the safeguard for these female 
heirs is that they marry within their tribe. And if they marry 
within their tribe, then they get to keep that land in their 
tribe. So that's the legislation in 
36, 1 to 12. Kind of an interesting way for 
the book of Numbers to end. Again, those who say, oh, God 
hates women, God's a chauvinist, all that. He ends the book of 
Numbers making sure that the women are looked after. And then 
the summary statement in 36, 13, these are the commandments 
and the judgments which the Lord commanded the children of Israel 
by the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across 
from Jericho. Timothy Ashley in his commentary 
says, the last section of Numbers 33, 50 to 36, 12 dealt with matters 
of property and land within the land of promise. Thus the book 
ends on a forward-looking and open-ended note. What will happen 
in the land of Canaan? There is one major event to take 
place before the people can cross over the Jordan under the leadership 
of Joshua. Moses must die and entrust the 
leadership to a new generation. Preparation for life in the land 
of Canaan without Moses is a major theme of Deuteronomy. So it provides 
for us that necessary step to get to the plains of Moab in 
Deuteronomy, where Moses gives his final addresses or exhortations 
to the children of Israel to prepare them for the conquest. 
And then, of course, Deuteronomy ends with the death of Moses. 
Joshua begins with the succession of Moses as the leader and the 
one tasked with going to dispossess the land of the Canaanites. Well, 
just a few thoughts and then we'll close. First, I mentioned 
this when we looked at the book initially, the ideal and the 
real in the book of Numbers. Now, in the history of philosophy, 
there's philosophical schools called idealism and realism. That's not how I'm using it. 
I'm using ideal in the sense of something the way it ought 
to be, and real the way things are. So for instance, 1 John 
2, my little children, I write these things so that you may 
not sin. That's idealism. But if anyone does sin, we have 
an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. 
That's realism. It's what we sang tonight, prone 
to wander, prone to leave the God that I love. Well, the book 
of Numbers does display that very clearly. If you turn back 
to Numbers chapter 9, Numbers chapter 9, verses 15 to 23. We won't read the whole section. But the point is, the idealized 
version of what this wilderness wandering should look like. God 
will guide you. In fact, you see this in Exodus 
chapter 40, verses 33 and 34. This pillar of cloud and fire, 
God is going to be present among them and He will be in their 
midst and will be that one who guides them through the wilderness 
to their destination. That's the idealized version. 
Well, on the heels of that, we get realism. We've got the children 
of Israel complain, chapter 11, verses 1 to 9, chapter 12, verses 
1 to 2. The people are fearful and unbelieving, 
chapter 14, verses 1 to 10. The people reject God, the one 
who said, I will guide you, I will be that pillar of cloud and fire, 
or pillar of fire and cloud, and I will be in the midst of 
you. They reject God, 14, 11, 23, 
27, and 35. The people engage in whoredoms. or they engage in defilement. They depart from the true and 
living God, 1433 and 1443. The people rebel against Moses 
and Aaron, Korah's rebellion. Dathan and Abiram, their rebellion. What we have with Korah is this 
jockeying for position, namely with reference to the priesthood. 
What you have with Dathan and Abiram is jockeying for position, 
specifically with reference to leadership of the body politic, 
with reference to Moses' job. So just completely rejecting 
the men that God had put in that particular position. The people 
are impatient and fearful. Chapter 21, remember God sends 
those fiery serpents to bite those Israelites grumbling in 
the wilderness? It wasn't just because they were, 
you know, a little off. They were viciously rebellious 
against God. And the people engaged in idolatry. We saw that just a few weeks 
ago in chapter 25 in verses 1 and following, at the behest of Balaam, 
that false prophet, that prophet for prophet, who basically enticed 
the Midianites and the Moabites to play the harlot with the children 
of Israel. Well, they do that in Numbers 
25. We see the vengeance upon the Midianites. We see the vengeance 
upon the Moabites. But the Israelites were just 
as complicit. They didn't have to jump into 
bed with these prostitutes. They didn't have to bow to Baal 
at Baal Peor. They did that willingly. So you've 
got the ideal. God is in the midst of his people. 
But then you've got the real. They are prone to wander and 
prone to leave the God that they love. As well, you see the sovereignty 
of God in numbers. I mean, how else do we get these 
people from point A to point B with all of the whining, with 
all of the grumbling, with all of the sniveling, with all of 
the idolatry, with all of the defilement, and all the whoredoms? 
How do we do that? Well, we don't. Moses doesn't. In fact, Moses at certain points 
says, you know, if I have found favor in your sight, God, then 
kill me, is what he says. I mean, that's kind of a prayer 
that expresses, you know, destitution and desperation. That's in Numbers 
11. You can look there, verse 10. Moses heard the people weeping 
throughout their families. Everyone at the door of his tent 
and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused. Moses also was 
displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, why 
have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in 
your sight that you have laid the burden of all these people 
on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them that 
you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a guardian carries 
a nursing child to the land which you swore to their fathers? Where 
am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all 
over me saying, give us meat that we may eat. I am not able 
to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy 
for me. If you treat me like this, please kill me here and 
now, if I have found favor in your sight, and do not let me 
see my wretchedness." That's desperation. So it wasn't Moses 
that got these people from point A to point B, it was God. And lest you think that this 
prayer was untoward or was somehow ungodly, God answers it. God 
answers it. He says specifically in verse 
14, I am not able to bear all these people alone. Well, then 
in verses 16 and following, God says appoint 70 men to help you. 
God took that prayer seriously and answered that prayer, not 
only with reference to Moses' fellow leaders, but also to meet. And it was a judgment. They want 
meat, they're going to get meat. They're going to get so much 
meat, it's going to come out of their nostrils. They are going 
to be judged via meat to teach them not to complain about the 
manna. And that brings us then, thirdly, 
to the people in the wilderness. Now, this is where we can make 
a new covenant application, I think, very appropriately. We have, 
or we are, the recipients of God's promises. They were from 
bondage in Egypt. They received the promise that 
came through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that they would receive 
the land. Right? Well, they expected everything 
that was good about the land to be in their present. And it's just not that way. You're 
going to have to eat manna. You're going to have to battle. 
You're going to have to resist temptation. You're going to have 
to resist sin. The blessings of the promised 
land flowing with milk and honey does not necessarily obtain in 
that interim period. So we likewise are the promises 
of an eternal Canaan with all of the milk and the honey, but 
that doesn't mean our present isn't going to be punctuated 
with a bit of affliction and hardship and trial. In other 
words, we can't expect the blessings of the promised land in the here 
and now. The blessings of the promised 
land spur us on enable us to persevere, cause us to reflect 
that these are momentary light afflictions, but they give way 
to an exceeding weight of glory. You see that problem amongst 
the children of Israel in the book of Numbers. They whined 
and they complained. Why? Because they wanted the 
promises of the promised land right here and right now. Well, 
that's just not the way it is. We have the blessed promises 
of God. We enjoy every spiritual blessing 
in the heavenly places in Christ, but we've not yet fully entered 
in to all that is going to be ours in the eternal state. In 
other words, there's going to be affliction in our journey. There's going to be hardship. 
There's going to be travail. There's going to be tribulation. 
Our section in the high priestly prayer and the end of the upper 
room discourse, in this world you will have tribulation. but 
be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world." We cannot bring the 
blessings of the eschaton and make them ours presently. We 
have to persevere by the grace of God, enjoying the benefits 
that He gives us along the way, making use of the means, coming 
to Bible study, going to church on the Lord's Day, participating 
in prayer, reading and praying on your own, family worship. 
All of these are down payments of the Canaan to come, But we 
have some struggles in this present evil age. So there is a parallel 
in terms of the new covenant Israel of God and the old covenant 
Israel of God. And then I would suggest finally, 
the Lord Christ in the book of Numbers. The Lord Christ in the 
book of Numbers, the presence of God with his people, that 
bit 9, 15 to 23. Jesus guides us, Jesus directs 
us, Jesus is present in our lives. Second, He is the compassionate 
shepherd. Look at Numbers 27. Numbers 27, 
at verse 15, Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the 
God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, 
who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead 
them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord 
may not be like sheep which have no shepherd. That is applied 
specifically to the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 9. He looks 
at the multitudes and He feels compassion for them. Why? Because 
they were like sheep having no shepherd. Christ is in the book 
of Numbers. Third, He's greater than Joshua. If we continue reading in this 
particular section, Joshua the son of Nun is appointed to be 
that military commander that takes them from the plains of 
Moab over into the land of Canaan to lead the conquest in the land 
of Canaan. He serves well, he serves admirably, 
he sums it all up at the end of his book when he says, as 
for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Joshua was a faithful 
servant, Hebrews 4 tells us of a greater than Joshua, one who 
leads us into an eternal Canaan, into an eternal rest. Fourth, 
you've got Jesus, the great high priest, typified in the priestly 
activities of Aaron and Phinehas. You've got Aaron and Eleazar 
mitigating the wrath and fury of God when He pours out judgment 
upon the nation of Israel. You've got Phinehas in that scene 
in Numbers chapter 25, when he takes that javelin and he drives 
it through that Israelite, that Midianite woman. What is he doing? Yes, he's bringing judgment upon 
that sinful wretch, but he is mitigating the effects of God's 
wrath. He's effectively interceding 
on behalf of Israel. And then the final place, and 
there's more to be sure, but the final place that I'm going 
to suggest is that he is the sacrifice of atonement, according 
to chapter 21, After God sends those fiery serpents to bite 
the Israelites, Moses is instructed to make a brazen serpent, lift 
it up into the wilderness, and everyone who looks at that brazen 
serpent will live. Well, of course, Jesus invokes 
that image in John 3, 14 to 16, when He says, just as Moses lifted 
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted 
up. The implication being, He is 
the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the 
world. All those who look to Him in faith will have everlasting 
life. So when you read Genesis, Exodus, 
Leviticus numbers, and God willing, as we move through the book of 
Deuteronomy, you need to see Jesus in those books. You need 
to see Jesus all over the Old Testament, because Jesus is all 
over the Old Testament. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for this wonderful 
book of numbers. We thank You for what it teaches 
us concerning Your sovereign power and Your glory, what it 
teaches us concerning sacrifice and intercession, what it teaches 
us about our own hearts and that we are prone to wander and prone 
to leave the God that we love. And we thank you that there is 
grace. We thank you that we have a great high priest, that blessed 
Lord Jesus, who intercedes for us, who has lived for us, died 
for us, and has been raised again for us. And we thank you for 
all of the mercies that you have showered upon us in and through 
him. We ask that you would go with us now, watch over us in 
the remainder of this week, be with all of our brothers and 
sisters, be with our brethren in Philippines. May you give 
them grace and strength and help. and cause them to minister well 
the truth of God and love for people there. Bless Wim and his 
family as they go to Holland tomorrow. Give that brother a 
safe trip and a blessed time with his family. And we ask this 
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, any questions or 
comments on any of that material? All right. All right.