Torah Portion: Numbers 30:1-36:13

Matot / Masei ('Tribes' / 'Journeys')

We come to the end of our journey through Numbers this week, following Moses as he fulfils his final acts of service to the Lord and to Israel. Anticipation builds through these chapters as the Children of Israel are now just a stone’s throw away from the Promised Land, after 40 long years wandering in the wilderness.

We know that these years were not easy, with Israel facing a series of implacable external enemies as well as internal revolts. The enemy tried every which way to stop God’s covenant people from receiving their promised inheritance, throwing obstacles into their path ranging from threats of physical violence to occult curses, from sexual temptations to spiritual seductions (are not all these tactics still used against God’s people today?).

But with the Lord on their side, Israel was unstoppable. Canaanite and Amorite armies fell before them. The curses of professional seer Balaam, commissioned by the Moabites, were turned on their head. Attempts by Moab and Midian to use their women to seduce Israel sexually and spiritually were thwarted. Each of these obstacles was turned by the Lord for good: to judge His enemies, test and strengthen Israel’s faith, bless them and bring Himself glory. But they were not without cost on Israel’s part.

Moses’ Final Task

In chapter 31 of Numbers, the Lord gives Moses one final instruction before the Children of Israel were finally to cross over the Jordan: to order vengeance on the people of Midian for their part in seducing the men of Israel with women and pagan idols. From the moment of this betrayal (reported in Numbers 25) Moses had been instructed to “treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them, because they treated you as enemies” (Num 25:16-18).

This must have been a difficult pill for Moses to swallow – Moses, who had married a Midianite woman, lived for years in Midian in the tents of his Midianite father-in-law, who also acted as an advisor to him (Ex 18). Moses, who was evidently close to his Midianite brother-in-law (see Num 10:20-32), as well as probably many others from this tribe. Indeed, the Midianites were descendants of Abraham (see Genesis 25:1-2), so they were probably viewed by the Children of Israel as distant relations.

But something had happened to persuade Midian to turn on their own flesh and blood, joining the Moabites in plotting to thwart God’s purposes for Israel. How painful this must have been for Moses to witness – and how difficult he must have found it to order Israel to take up arms against them.

Zealous Defence

Even in his old age, on the verge of death, Moses had to learn to count the cost of following God wholeheartedly, as Jesus taught us to do:

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26-27)

Today we may not be called to kill in order to defend our families and communities from evil, but we ought to have the same spiritual zeal in the battle against the “principalities and powers of this world’s darkness” (Eph 6:12) in which we are all embroiled. This visceral illustration from the journey of ancient Israel shows how seriously God takes the defence of His children's safety and purity. So ought we – whatever the cost.

Author: Frances Rabbitts