Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Numbers 31-32.
Our fallen nature detests judgment.
I see it displayed all the time as I have interacted with various people over the past year on this website over sensitive issues.
It is very common for people to say, "who are you to judge?"
First of all, I don't judge, and I am not the judge.
When we get to the book of Joshua, we are going to see God's judgment, vengeance, and holy wrath in great display.
Here, with the destruction of these Midianites, we are for the first time graphically introduced to God's vengeance, and the subsequent division of the spoils of war.
The natural mind recoils at such a thing, and perhaps even the milk-fed Christian is likely to join the chorus.
We must remember that God's holy word to us is a story of redemption, a love story, a story of God saving his chosen from the second death.
God has taken Israel as his bride, and through Balaam's suggestion, the Midianites had caused the Israelites to "whore" after other gods.
Therefore, here we see God's retribution in the complete, and total destruction of these people from the face of the earth.
God desires that we understand his character. Here, we see that a part of his character is to have vengeance against, and to utterly destroy those opposed to him.
Our nature's tendency is to question God's actions. But we must push back on this inner rebellion against God, and instead ask the Holy Spirit to instruct us.
God is sovereign...right? God is the Creator of all...right? Then it is wrong for us to question him in any way.
I am not suggesting that these things are simple, and easily digested. I am, however, suggesting that this is where we put down our milk, and begin to ask God for meat, and to give us the ability to understand.
In coming chapters, we are going to see God utterly destroy whole civilizations, and we must make our first desire to understand God's character, rather than succumbing to our temptation to wag our self-righteous fingers in his face.
From the New Bible Commentary:
"The wrath and vengeance of God are offensive ideas to many modern people, largely because they assume that God’s wrath and vengeance is irrational, capricious, out–of–control. But Scripture teaches that God’s wrath is revealed against man’s sin (Rom. 1:18), and, ‘vengeance is mine, I will repay’ says the Lord (Rom. 12:19; (AV KJV)). His wrath and ‘vengeance’ manifest his righteous indignation, and are not the result of bad temper."
If someone were to attack my bride, I would put forth every effort to kill them. God has chosen a bride (his church), and we should be thankful that our Husband will defend us, and slay those who would desire to slay us (his church/bride).
