This post is part of my ongoing series of writing down my thoughts on the Bible passages I read each day. Some days I hope to have great insight that the Lord gives me, and many days, I will likely struggle through the text and not know what to write down based on what I read. My hope and prayer is that as I make this a habit, just as I did daily writing for so long, that I will improve on my ability to read and understand the passages I’m reading. Please keep in mind that many of these posts may be published late at night or with little time studying and simply be my first thoughts after reading. This is in no way a commentary that one should use to discern the Bible, but my own personal thoughts.
It is what it is.
It’s annoying when I get a couple days behind in my reading, because it seems there are so many things that unfold in that short amount of time. These chapters started with Balak summoning Balam to come and curse Israel, and ended with God, through Moses, taking care of the daughters of a man with no sons.
The story of Balam and Balak was almost humorous. Balak summons Balam to come and curse the people of Israel, and Balam goes into it and says, “bro, I can only say what God tells me I can say.” And then for the next couple of chapters, he proceeds to bless Israel over and over again. You can almost hear Balak’s frustration in the text. He’s like “What the heck man, I brought you here to curse these people and you keep blessing them. Why you do that to me?”
Such an entertaining story.
Right after this, God has Moses take a census of the people again, and this is where the story gets a bit sad. Only Caleb and Joshua, out of all the people of Israel, are the ones that get to enter the promised land. We’re not there yet. But that’s what it tells us. We’ve been on this journey with a million Israelites, and yet, due to their sin and grumbling, they are not going to see the reward that God brought them out of Egypt to experience.