Israel’s interaction with pagan kings during their forty-year journey(Num 33 supp)

Israel’s interaction with pagan kings during their forty-year journey from Ramses to Moab.

As we noted before, the journey from Ramses to Moab was a type of honeymoon, only between God and Israel. This was part of God’s plan to bring the nation of Israel up to His standard of holiness. There were five kings in the area, the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16), Arad (Numbers 21:1-3), Sihon and Og (Numbers 21:21-35), and the Midianites (Numbers 25:1-18; 31:1-54) that they had to deal with.

Kings	Time and place	Circumstances
The Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16)	Just before Israel reached Mount Horeb; the covenant was not yet ratified	The Amalekites attack: This was a long and intense fight while Moses held up his arms in prayer to the Lord, with Aaron’s and Hur’s help; no command came from the Lord. After the Amalekites were defeated, God directed Moses to write down for them to destroy the Amalekites in the future.
Arad (Numbers 21:1-3)	The second generation of Israelites headed to the promised land, soon after experiencing the miracle of water coming from the rock	A Canaanite King attacked Israel after forty years of ‘training/punishment for their unbelief’ in the desert. In a vow, Israel asked God to deliver their enemies into their hands, and He listened to their request.
Sihon (Numbers 21:21-31)	The second generation was filled with songs as they experienced the “bronze snake healing”	Israel asked Sihon, the Amorite king, to allow them to pass through their land, on the way to the Promised land; he rejected their request, so Israel marched out and killed him, without any word from God.
Og (Numbers 21:32-35)	Same as above; a continuation of Israel’s war against the Amorites along the east side of the Jordan River.	Israel moved on further into the Amorites’ territory. Og, the king of Bashan, came out to meet the Israelite army. God’s unsolicited encouragement to them was: “do not afraid of him”
The Midianites (Numbers 25:1-18; 31:1-54)	With Moab, the Midianites seduced Israel into sexual immorality, which led them into idolatry. God told them to treat the Midianites as their enemy. Under God’s direction, Israel defeated thoroughly Midianites	God directed Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites for seducing Israel to sin. The territory of the Midianites was not a part of the “Promised Land”

Observation

1.      One thing is noteworthy about Israel’s war against Amalekites. In this war, God did not give Israel any direction or words of encouragement. They barely won the war after a long fight, through Moses’ prayer and Aaron and Hur’s assistance. Why didn’t God help Israel or exercise His power in this situation as He had done in the case of the Egyptians? At the same time, why didn’t Moses or Israel ask for God’s help? We need to consider the obvious absence or lack of a ‘covenant relationship’ with or ‘covenant commitment’ to God, as evident here. In contrast, this was how the second generation conducted their first war against Arad, the Canaanite king, in which Israel asked the Lord for help. We also need to determine why Israel did not thoroughly defeat the Amalekites then and God directed Moses to defeat them thoroughly in the future. Obviously, this had to do with Israel’s strength, which depended on their covenant commitment in faith. However, this war also revealed Israel’s military weakness to fight against their ungodly enemies, in order to conquer and occupy the land of God’s blessing. As low as their commitment was to the Lord, so also was their weakness when faced with war.

2.      King Arad’s attack: It was not the first generation, but the second generation of Israelites, who saw the death of all of their unbelieving fathers in the desert, which was God’s punishment for their unbelief. In other words, they were the survivors of the covenant curses, and, in this mindset, they developed a different level of commitment to the Covenant and to the Lord. They asked for God’s help in the form of a vow. In this way, they began to look for God’s help and showed their dependency on Him as their Lord. This revealed the value of thirty-eight years of wandering in the desert and seeing how their fathers suffered and died in their unbelief.

3.      In facing King Sihon, Israel did not ask God for help and defeated him, driving all of the Amorites out of the surrounding region. In facing King Og, Israel again did not ask God for help, but He gave them encouragement, assuring them that “he had delivered them into Israel’s hand”. This was the faith that Israel had when they defeated Sihon, and now God encouraged them to fight against King Og with the same faith. Their faith started in their dealings with Arad, and continued on in their handling of these two kings as well. God was the Lord and would deliver their enemies into their hands. Three series of Israel’s handling of enemy powers provide a clear contrast to the way that Israel fought against the Amalekites, and testify to the truth that Israel gained much strength and power. In other words, God had shown more mercy to them as their hearts grew more attuned to the Covenant and to God as their Lord.

4.      The Midianites neither blocked their way to the Promised Land nor were they a part of the land of God’s promise. They were not even considered as Israel’s enemies during that time period (Numbers 25:16); however, they not only made an attempt to curse Israel through Balaam, but they also lured Israel to commit sexual immorality for the purpose of destroying them. In this way, they showed their hostility and intention to destroy Israel. In view of this evil intention and actual attempts to destroy Israel, God specifically commanded His people to thoroughly destroy them. Israel failed to recognize the Midianites’ deceitfulness, Midianites because of their sinful desires and lack of experience in interacting with ungodly nations. For their sins, Israel paid with twenty-four thousand lives, until God’s fury subsided. For this violation, God was determined to bring judgment on the Midianites, and Israel had no problem totally annihilating them.

5.      Overall, God is the judge of who’s right and worthy of winning a war. Through Israel’s intimate relationship with the Lord, she became worthy of and were given confidence in God’s protection In her confidence in the Lord, Israel began to win. All of these came about after Israel showed their commitment to the Covenant through their experience wandering for thirty-eight years wandering in the desert.