Numbers 25:6 6 Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. NIV
Can you imagine? I mean, really – right in front of God and everybody!? What was this dude thinking? If you read the whole account in Numbers 25 you see the in the next scene that the priest, Phinehas, chases the guy and the woman right into the guy’s tent and kills them both with a spear. Nuff said.
I think one of the problems with our view of the Old Testament – especially the period immediately following the Exodus and the subsequent wanderings in the wilderness – is that these people weren’t exactly all that keen on Moses or God or… manna for that matter. Just because the Lord delivered them from Egypt didn’t mean they necessarily liked it. I think they were then a lot like we are now – kind of independent-minded, sort of, I’ll-do-my-own-thing kind of people. The man who took the Midianite woman apparently had no qualms about it; sadly he was also a leader among the tribes as well.
There comes a point when we have to consider the consequences of choosing, I’ll-do-my-own-thing. There comes a point when we have to look at the spiritual implications and ramifications of our choices and actions, and then accept the consequences of them. Somehow these days, we’ve arrived at the point of, how dare you tell me what to do! And look at the fruit borne of that…
Father in Heaven,
You have called me to live in community with my relatives in Christ. I don’t live in a bubble and You’ve ordained it that way for a reason. Help me to be conscious of all I do and say and to look not only to my own interests, but also to the interests of others. I pray in Christ, amen.
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