God’s Word for You

Numbers 25:1-5 The Baal of Peor

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, December 2, 2021

Israel Worships Baal

Balaam is not mentioned in this chapter, or again in the book until Numbers 33:8,16. But eventually we learn that the sin Israel fell into here at Shittim was Balaam’s idea. If he could not curse them, he could get them to turn away from the Lord through a sin. Since Israel was already camped in western Moab, they might use the beautiful Moabite women to seduce the Israelite men away from the Lord their God. We will also see that it was not only the Moabite women who were involved, but also certain Midianite women, distant relatives of Moses’ first wife (Numbers 25:15).

25 While Israel stayed in Shittim, the people started to commit sexual immorality with the women of Moab.

Shittim is a plain several miles long and wide, on the east bank of the Jordan opposite Jericho. Acacia trees grow there, and at various times throughout history they have grown thinly or thickly, but sometimes so thickly that the river cannot be seen at all through the wide, high canopy and impenetrable tangle of their branches. It was under this sudden, plentiful and exotic shade that the resting Israelites fell so quickly into sin.

Sexual immorality means sex apart from marriage. God has reserved sex and all its pleasures and relief for the estate of marriage, “with the one person of the opposite sex with whom a person has vowed to remain faithful until death separates them” (Lange, God So Loved the World, p. 214). God wants us to look after each other, and even in the sexual relations of marriage, our thoughts should not be self-centered, seeking one’s own gratification, but “the husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband” (1 Corinthians 7:3). Thoughts, desires, and urges that do not fall within God’s will for marriage are therefore sinful, whether these desires and urges involve self-gratifying lust, pornography, homosexuality, plural marriage, or even forbidding marriage to fulfill certain qualifications for service (such as among monks, nuns, and priests). It is no accident that the Holy Spirit tells us that Peter and other Apostles were married (1 Corinthians 9:5; Matthew 8:14).

The simplest summary of the Sixth Commandment is this: “We should fear and love God that we lead a pure and decent life in words and actions, and that husband and wife love and honor each other” (Small Catechism).

2 The women invited the people to the sacrifices for their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 The Israelites attached themselves to the Baal of Peor.

The argument so often given by people who want to negotiate around the Sixth Commandment is, “It’s not hurting anybody.” But look at the progression of the sins in this passage. Three things happened:

1, The woman (that is, the women that the Israelite men were sleeping with) invited the men to attend sacrifices for their gods. This was essentially asking the men “out to dinner,” since most sacrifices involved a communal meal consisting of the things that were offered: meat, bread, fruit, oil, salt, wine, honey and other delicacies such as raisin cakes and cakes of dates or figs (1 Samuel 25:18).

2, The Israelites ‘politely’ bowed down to the gods when they came to dinner with their new lovers. This foreshadowed the sins of Solomon when his many foreign wives led him astray (1 Kings 11:3) and the kingdom was torn away from him (1 Kings 11:11).

3, The Israelites now attached themselves to the local divinity, the Baal of Peor. This was the slippery slope from adultery to idolatry.

Time and time again, throughout the whole history of mankind, this is the path that adultery takes. Did Solomon stay faithful to the Lord? Does any believer, caught up in the sin of adultery, find it easy to remain within the true church? By their very nature, sexual sins cause such a degree of shame and embarrassment that a sinner, even a repentant sinner, can feel compelled to distance themselves from their church family. That can quickly lead a person down various roads: (1) resenting the Bible’s doctrines about sex and marriage, or (2) seeking another church home that is more lax in its teachings about sex (2 Timothy 4:3), or (3) seeking another church that has gone out of its way to embrace sexual perversions and other sins (2 Timothy 4:4).

This can so easily end up branding conservative churches that follow the Scriptures as ‘the real problem,’ since they are perceived as behind the times or stagnate in their beliefs, because “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12-13). The slippery slope makes the sinner think of God and his church as enemies. Paul says: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).

The LORD’s anger burned against Israel. 4 The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the heads of the people and impale them before the LORD in broad daylight so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” 5 Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill any of his men who have attached themselves to the Baal of Peor.”

What was done under the shade at Shittim was not hidden from the eyes of God (Psalm 33:13).

Our translation (the Evangelical Heritage Version) does not make clear what was to be impaled on poles, but it faithfully reflects the Hebrew text Moses wrote, which is likewise somewhat unclear in this place. Are the “heads” of the people their leaders, or the things on top of their necks? Later we will see that the leaders are meant. All of the men who were guilty of this sin were to be put to death, but it was the leaders of the tribes and families who were to be exposed on pikes and poles for the Lord to see and for the rest of the Israelites to see. One of the fastest ways to stop a crime wave is to make a public display of the punishment. We should not assume that this was crucifixion as a means of execution. Any form of execution was permitted (with a blade, a rope, a spear, or stoning), but the bodies of the leaders were to be exposed in this way. This was also a special symbol of disgrace (2 Samuel 21:6; Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

This is a warning for us all not to wander off into the infinite temptations that the devil offers to us in this fallen, sinful world. The devil wants us to think of anything but God, and if he can coax a man into thinking of his own pleasure rather than his marriage vow or the status of his immortal soul, then he will do it. The devil will use every power at his disposal, manipulate opinions, churn up public opinion; what would the devil not do to wreck one single soul? The devil is a mocker, imitating and ruining whatever God does; whatever is good and right in the world. So don’t forget that the devil, that great destroyer of the sheep, the wolf in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15), will leave his own ninety-nine content in their sinful lusts and passions just to tempt and ruin one Christian. You. Paul warned: “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!” (Acts 20:30-31). And what the prophet said about the city of oppressors can be said about so many who fall into sexual sins: “She obeys no one. She accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord. She does not draw near to God” (Zephaniah 3:2).

We need to remember the positive application of the Sixth Commandment. Live in physical and sexual purity in thoughts, words, and actions, to preserve the blessing of marriage, and to love and cherish one’s wife or husband. Thank the Lord for your good spouse, or, if you do not have a spouse today, ask the Lord to provide you with one! Be bold in your prayers. You don’t have to say, “Lord, I need someone to sweep me off my feet and become my mate,” but then again, you can pray that in complete earnestness and honesty if need be. “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” Jesus promises (John 14:14). “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord,” Solomon said (Proverbs 18:22), and added: “A poor man pleads for mercy” (Proverbs 18:23). Don’t be afraid to admit that the mercy of the Lord you seek is merciful protection from sin, from temptation, and yes even from loneliness. Sexual temptations take on different characteristics depending on whether one is all alone, with one other person, or with a group. That doesn’t make one temptation easier or harder than the others. Pray for help, pray in the precious name of Jesus, and trust in him. “Your Father in heaven will give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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