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Chapter 41
Apostasy at the Jordan
[This chapter is based on Numbers 25.]
WITH joyful hearts and renewed faith in God, the victorious armies of
Israel had returned from Bashan. They had already gained possession of a
valuable territory, and they were confident of the immediate conquest of
Canaan. Only the river Jordan lay between them and the Promised Land.
Just across the river was a rich plain, covered with verdure, watered
with streams from copious fountains, and shaded by luxuriant palm trees.
On the western border of the plain rose the towers and palaces of
Jericho, so embosomed in its palm-tree groves that it was called "the
city of palm trees."
On the eastern side of Jordan, between the river and the high tableland
which they had been traversing, was also a plain, several miles in width
and extending some distance along the river. This sheltered valley had
the climate of the tropics; here flourished the shittim, or acacia,
tree, giving to the plain the name, "Vale of Shittim." It was here that
the Israelites encamped, and in the acacia groves by the riverside they
found an agreeable retreat.
But amid these attractive surroundings they were to encounter an evil
more deadly than mighty hosts of armed men or the wild beasts of the
wilderness. That country, so rich in natural advantages, had been
defiled by the inhabitants. In the public worship of Baal, the leading
deity, the most degrading and iniquitous scenes were constantly enacted.
On every side were places noted for idolatry and licentiousness, the
very names being suggestive of the vileness and corruption of the
people.
These surroundings exerted a polluting influence upon the Israelites.
Their minds became familiar with the vile thoughts constantly suggested;
their life of ease and inaction produced its demoralizing effect; and
almost unconsciously to themselves they were departing from God and
coming into a condition where they would fall an easy prey to
temptation.
During the time of their encampment beside Jordan, Moses was preparing
for the occupation of Canaan. In this work the great leader was fully
employed; but to the people this time of suspense and expectation was
most trying, and before many weeks had elapsed their history was marred
by the most frightful departures from virtue and integrity.
At first there was little intercourse between the Israelites and their
heathen neighbors, but after a time Midianitish women began to steal
into the camp. Their appearance excited no alarm, and so quietly were
their plans conducted that the attention of Moses was not called to the
matter. It was the object of these women, in their association with the
Hebrews, to seduce them into transgression of the law of God, to draw
their attention to heathen rites and customs, and lead them into
idolatry. These motives were studiously concealed under the garb of
friendship, so that they were not suspected, even by the guardians of
the people.
At Balaam's suggestion, a grand festival in honor of their gods was
appointed by the king of Moab, and it was secretly arranged that Balaam
should induce the Israelites to attend. He was regarded by them as a
prophet of God, and hence had little difficulty in accomplishing his
purpose. Great numbers of the people joined him in witnessing the
festivities. They ventured upon the forbidden ground, and were entangled
in the snare of Satan. Beguiled with music and dancing, and allured by
the beauty of heathen vestals, they cast off their fealty to Jehovah. As
they united in mirth and feasting, indulgence in wine beclouded their
senses and broke down the barriers of self-control. Passion had full
sway; and having defiled their consciences by lewdness, they were
persuaded to bow down to idols. They offered sacrifice upon heathen
altars and participated in the most degrading rites.
It was not long before the poison had spread, like a deadly infection,
through the camp of Israel. Those who would have conquered their enemies
in battle were overcome by the wiles of heathen women. The people seemed
to be infatuated. The rulers and the leading men were among the first to
transgress, and so many of the people were guilty that the apostasy
became national. "Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor." When Moses was
aroused to perceive the evil, the plots of their enemies had been so
successful that not only were the Israelites participating in the
licentious worship at Mount Peor, but the heathen rites were coming to
be observed in the camp of Israel. The aged leader was filled with
indignation, and the wrath of God was kindled.
Their iniquitous practices did that for Israel which all the
enchantments of Balaam could not do--they separated them from God. By
swift-coming judgments the people were awakened to the enormity of their
sin. A terrible pestilence broke out in the camp, to which tens of
thousands speedily fell a prey. God commanded that the leaders in this
apostasy be put to death by the magistrates. This order was promptly
obeyed. The offenders were slain, then their bodies were hung up in
sight of all Israel that the congregation, seeing the leaders so
severely dealt with, might have a deep sense of God's abhorrence of
their sin and the terror of His wrath against them.
All felt that the punishment was just, and the people hastened to the
tabernacle, and with tears and deep humiliation confessed their sin.
While they were thus weeping before God, at the door of the tabernacle,
while the plague was still doing its work of death, and the magistrates
were executing their terrible commission, Zimri, one of the nobles of
Israel, came boldly into the camp, accompanied by a Midianitish harlot,
a princess "of a chief house in Midian," whom he escorted to his tent.
Never was vice bolder or more stubborn. Inflamed with wine, Zimri
declared his "sin as Sodom," and gloried in his shame. The priests and
leaders had prostrated themselves in grief and humiliation, weeping
"between the porch and the altar," and entreating the Lord to spare His
people, and give not His heritage to reproach, when this prince in
Israel flaunted his sin in the sight of the congregation, as if to defy
the vengeance of God and mock the judges of the nation. Phinehas, the
son of Eleazar the high priest, rose up from among the congregation, and
seizing a javelin, "he went after the man of Israel into the tent," and
slew them both. Thus the plague was stayed, while the priest who had
executed the divine judgment was honored before all Israel, and the
priesthood was confirmed to him and to his house forever.
Phinehas "hath turned My wrath away from the children of Israel," was
the divine message; "wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him My covenant
of peace: and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the
covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for His
God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel."
The judgments visited upon Israel for their sin at Shittim, destroyed
the survivors of that vast company, who, nearly forty years before, had
incurred the sentence, "They shall surely die in the wilderness." The
numbering of the people by divine direction, during their encampment on
the plains of Jordan, showed that "of them whom Moses and Aaron the
priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the
wilderness of Sinai, . . . there was not left a man of them, save Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun." Numbers 26:64,65.
God had sent judgments upon Israel for yielding to the enticements of
the Midianites; but the tempters were not to escape the wrath of divine
justice. The Amalekites, who had attacked Israel at Rephidim, falling
upon those who were faint and weary behind the host, were not punished
till long after; but the Midianites who seduced them into sin were
speedily made to feel God's judgments, as being the more dangerous
enemies. "Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites" (Numbers
31:2), was the command of God to Moses; "afterward shalt thou be
gathered unto thy people." This mandate was immediately obeyed. One
thousand men were chosen from each of the tribes and sent out under the
leadership of Phinehas. "And they warred against the Midianites, as the
Lord commanded Moses. . . . And they slew the kings of Midian, beside
the rest of them that were slain; . . . five kings of Midian: Balaam
also the son of Beor they slew with the sword." Verses 7, 8. The women
also, who had been made captives by the attacking army, were put to
death at the command of Moses, as the most guilty and most dangerous of
the foes of Israel.
Such was the end of them that devised mischief against God's people.
Says the psalmist: "The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made:
in the net which they hid is their own foot taken." Psalm 9:15. "For the
Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His
inheritance. But judgment shall return unto righteousness." When men
"gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous," the Lord
" shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in
their own wickedness." Psalm 94:14, 15, 21, 23.
When Balaam was called to curse the Hebrews he could not, by all his
enchantments, bring evil upon them; for the Lord had not "beheld
iniquity in Jacob," neither had He "seen perverseness in Israel."
Numbers 23:21, 23. But when through yielding to temptation they
transgressed God's law, their defense departed from them. When the
people of God are faithful to His commandments, "there is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel." Hence
all the power and wily arts of Satan are exerted to seduce them into
sin. If those who profess to be the depositaries of God's law become
transgressors of its precepts, they separate themselves from God, and
they will be unable to stand before their enemies.
The Israelites, who could not be overcome by the arms or by the
enchantments of Midian, fell a prey to her harlots. Such is the power
that woman, enlisted in the service of Satan, has exerted to entrap and
destroy souls. "She hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men
have been slain by her." Proverbs 7:26. It was thus that the children of
Seth were seduced from their integrity, and the holy seed became
corrupt. It was thus that Joseph was tempted. Thus Samson betrayed his
strength, the defense of Israel, into the hands of the Philistines. Here
David stumbled. And Solomon, the wisest of kings, who had thrice been
called the beloved of his God, became a slave of passion, and sacrificed
his integrity to the same bewitching power.
"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." 1
Corinthians 10:11, 12. Satan well knows the material with which he has
to deal in the human heart. He knows--for he has studied with fiendish
intensity for thousands of years--the points most easily assailed in
every character; and through successive generations he has wrought to
overthrow the strongest men, princes in Israel, by the same temptations
that were so successful at Baalpeor. All along through the ages there
are strewn wrecks of character that have been stranded upon the rocks of
sensual indulgence. As we approach the close of time, as the people of
God stand upon the borders of the heavenly Canaan, Satan will, as of
old, redouble his efforts to prevent them from entering the goodly land.
He lays his snares for every soul. It is not the ignorant and uncultured
merely that need to be guarded; he will prepare his temptations for
those in the highest positions, in the most holy office; if he can lead
them to pollute their souls, he can through them destroy many. And he
employs the same agents now as he employed three thousand years ago. By
worldly friendships, by the charms of beauty, by pleasure seeking,
mirth, feasting, or the wine cup, he tempts to the violation of the
seventh commandment.
Satan seduced Israel into licentiousness before leading them to
idolatry. Those who will dishonor God's image and defile His temple in
their own persons will not scruple at any dishonor to God that will
gratify the desire of their depraved hearts. Sensual indulgence weakens
the mind and debases the soul. The moral and intellectual powers are
benumbed and paralyzed by the gratification of the animal propensities;
and it is impossible for the slave of passion to realize the sacred
obligation of the law of God, to appreciate the atonement, or to place a
right value upon the soul. Goodness, purity, and truth, reverence for
God, and love for sacred things--all those holy affections and noble
desires that link men with the heavenly world--are consumed in the fires
of lust. The soul becomes a blackened and desolate waste, the habitation
of the evil spirits, and the "cage of every unclean and hateful bird."
Beings formed in the image of God are dragged down to a level with the
brutes.
It was by associating with idolaters and joining in their festivities
that the Hebrews were led to transgress God's law and bring His
judgments upon the nation. So now it is by leading the followers of
Christ to associate with the ungodly and unite in their amusements that
Satan is most successful in alluring them into sin. "Come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean." 2
Corinthians 6:17. God requires of His people now as great a distinction
from the world, in customs, habits, and principles, as He required of
Israel anciently. If they faithfully follow the teachings of His word,
this distinction will exist; it cannot be otherwise. The warnings given
to the Hebrews against assimilating with the heathen were not more
direct or explicit than are those forbidding Christians to conform to
the spirit and customs of the ungodly. Christ speaks to us, "Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15. "The
friendship of the world is enmity with God; whosoever therefore will be
a friend of the world is the enemy of God." James 4:4. The followers of
Christ are to separate themselves from sinners, choosing their society
only when there is opportunity to do them good. We cannot be too decided
in shunning the company of those who exert an influence to draw us away
from God. While we pray, "Lead us not into temptation," we are to shun
temptation, so far as possible.
It was when the Israelites were in a condition of outward ease and
security that they were led into sin. They failed to keep God ever
before them, they neglected prayer and cherished a spirit of
self-confidence. Ease and self-indulgence left the citadel of the soul
unguarded, and debasing thoughts found entrance. It was the traitors
within the walls that overthrew the strongholds of principle and
betrayed Israel into the power of Satan. It is thus that Satan still
seeks to compass the ruin of the soul. A long preparatory process,
unknown to the world, goes on in the heart before the Christian commits
open sin. The mind does not come down at once from purity and holiness
to depravity, corruption, and crime. It takes time to degrade those
formed in the image of God to the brutal or the satanic. By beholding we
become changed. By the indulgence of impure thoughts man can so educate
his mind that sin which he once loathed will become pleasant to him.
Satan is using every means to make crime and debasing vice popular. We
cannot walk the streets of our cities without encountering flaring
notices of crime presented in some novel, or to be acted at some
theater. The mind is educated to familiarity with sin. The course
pursued by the base and vile is kept before the people in the
periodicals of the day, and everything that can excite passion is
brought before them in exciting stories. They hear and read so much of
debasing crime that the once tender conscience, which would have
recoiled with horror from such scenes, becomes hardened, and they dwell
upon these things with greedy interest.
Many of the amusements popular in the world today, even with those who
claim to be Christians, tend to the same end as did those of the
heathen. There are indeed few among them that Satan does not turn to
account in destroying souls. Through the drama he has worked for ages to
excite passion and glorify vice. The opera, with its fascinating display
and bewildering music, the masquerade, the dance, the card table, Satan
employs to break down the barriers of principle and open the door to
sensual indulgence. In every gathering for pleasure where pride is
fostered or appetite indulged, where one is led to forget God and lose
sight of eternal interests, there Satan is binding his chains about the
soul.
"Keep thy heart with all diligence," is the counsel of the wise man;
"for out of it are the issues of life." Proverbs 4:23. As man "thinketh
in his heart, so is he." Proverbs 23:7. The heart must be renewed by
divine grace, or it will be in vain to seek for purity of life. He who
attempts to build up a noble, virtuous character independent of the
grace of Christ is building his house upon the shifting sand. In the
fierce storms of temptation it will surely be overthrown. David's prayer
should be the petition of every soul: "Create in me a clean heart, O
God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10. And having become
partakers of the heavenly gift, we are to go on unto perfection, being
"kept by the power of God through faith." 1 Peter 1:5.
Yet we have a work to do to resist temptation. Those who would not fall
a prey to Satan's devices must guard well the avenues of the soul; they
must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure
thoughts. The mind should not be left to wander at random upon every
subject that the adversary of souls may suggest. "Girding up the loins
of your mind," says the apostle Peter, "Be sober, . . . not fashioning
yourselves according to your former lusts in . . . your ignorance: but
like as He which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all
manner of living." 1 Peter 1:13-15, R.V. Says Paul, "Whatsoever things
are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8. This will require
earnest prayer and unceasing watchfulness. We must be aided by the
abiding influence of the Holy Spirit, which will attract the mind
upward, and habituate it to dwell on pure and holy things. And we must
give diligent study to the word of God. "Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word." "Thy
word," says the psalmist, "have I hid in mine heart, that I might not
sin against Thee." Psalm 119:9, 11.
Israel's sin at Beth-peor brought the judgments of God upon the nation,
and though the same sins may not now be punished as speedily, they will
as surely meet retribution. "If any man defile the temple of God, him
shall God destroy." 1 Corinthians 3:17. Nature has affixed terrible
penalties to these crimes--penalties which, sooner or later, will be
inflicted upon every transgressor. It is these sins more than any other
that have caused the fearful degeneracy of our race, and the weight of
disease and misery with which the world is cursed. Men may succeed in
concealing their transgression from their fellow men, but they will no
less surely reap the result, in suffering, disease, imbecility, or
death. And beyond this life stands the tribunal of the judgment, with
its award of eternal penalties. "They which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God," but with Satan and evil angels shall have
their part in that "lake of fire" which "is the second death." Galatians
5:21; Revelation 20:14.
"The lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is
smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a
two-edged sword." Proverbs 5:3, 4. "Remove thy way far from her, and
come not nigh the door of her house: lest thou give thine honor unto
others, and thy years unto the cruel: lest strangers be filled with thy
wealth; and thy labors be in the house of a stranger; and thou mourn at
the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed." Verses 8-11. "Her
house inclineth unto death." "None that go unto her return again."
Proverbs 2:18, 19. "Her guests are in the depths of hell." Proverbs
9:18.
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