Learning to accept victory: Numbers 31 and John 21

In Numbers 31:31-50, there is this strange passage of a disclosure of an amount of booty collected after having defeated the Midianites:

³¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses. ³² ¶ Now the plunder remaining of the spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, ³⁵ and 32,000 persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶ And the half, the portion of those who had gone out in the army, numbered 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ and the LORD's tribute of sheep was 675. ³⁸ The cattle were 36,000, of which the LORD's tribute was 72. ³⁹ The donkeys were 30,500, of which the LORD's tribute was 61. ⁴⁰ The persons were 16,000, of which the LORD's tribute was 32 persons. ⁴¹ And Moses gave the tribute, which was the contribution for the LORD, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses. ⁴² ¶ From the people of Israel's half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had served in the army-- ⁴³ now the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ and 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ and 16,000 persons-- ⁴⁷ from the people of Israel's half Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who kept guard over the tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses. ⁴⁸ ¶ Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses ⁴⁹ and said to Moses, "Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. ⁵⁰ And we have brought the LORD's offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD."

Defeating the Midiatintes had to bring no pleasure to Moses. The Israelites had had cordial relations with this tribe until the whole Balak & Balaam episode. Moses had lived with the Midianites after fleeing in Egypt. His wife was Midianite. Yethro, his father-in-law, had been a Midianite priest. Once Yethro left Moses while they were in the wilderness, some tension developed between Moses and the Midianites. A couple of generations had passed from the time of Moses left Egypt and the present wandering of Israel in the wilderness. From the text, we see that most of the Israelite fighters were those who were younger than 20 years old at the time of the tragedy of the 10 spies. The context of this passage lends us to believe that this whole set of circumstances was very grievous for Moses personally, as well as for Israel.

As a result of the Balak & Balaam episode, as well as the evil worship of Baal Peor, the Israelites were required to render a military judgment upon the Midianites. In battle, the Israelites were victorious. In 31:49, the text reads that not one Israelite was killed. Yet, every Midianite fighter had been killed. Not one remained. Yet, the Israelites were not pleased to have killed them all. They had mercy and they left the women and children. In 31:14-15, Moses was angry, and he reminded them that these women were the same women who caused the Israelites to sin in the matter of Baal Peor. Thus, Moses had all of the boys, all mothers, and all remaining widows killed. Only unmarried women were allowed to remain alive. In today's political correct rhetoric, one could say that the Israelites would have been accused of a very serious crime against humanity. But God was not as concerned about the humaneness of rendering his judgment; He was concerned about the righteous actions of a young nation. Our self-righteousness is not the same as God's true righteousness. We must beware that when God acts in His righteousness, that often there is judgment. His judgment in the world often is fatal for humanity. When we ask for salvation, there is certainly a double meaning when we say, "Salvation is from the Lord." The Midianites sinful practices could not be tolerated in Israel, and the women may have been very unlikely to have adapted to the Israelite way of life and their trust in the One True God.

But what was Israel to do with all of the captured spoils of war? In other situations, the Israelites destroyed everything; but in this case, the Israelites were allowed to keep much of the booty. The only conditions were that a certain amount was to be presented to the priests and Levites as an offering. (In 31:40 we read that 32 people were set aside for the Lord.) It is interesting the large quantities of booty that Israel acquired. While it may seem that the Israelites were a desperate group of wanderers in the wilderness, they had a mission and vision for what needed to be done. Furthermore, God had always provided the resources by which to accomplish His purposes.

In John 21, we read that the disciples were pulling on all-nighter on their fishing boat: John 21:2-3
² Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

After the death of Yeshua, the disciples seem to have felt defeated. In John 20, we read about Thomas's doubt. In every interaction with Yeshua after His resurrection, the disciples do not appear to have fully accepted that was in fact alive. They spent the whole evening fishing, but to with no success. Perhaps they were not even really concerned about the fish. When people are depressed, they will often find solace in doing something that is comfortable. In fact, therapists often recommend this as a positive course of action. However, there is no greater therapy than a personal encounter with Yeshua. When this man on the side of the lake tells them to cast their net on the other side, and when they do this, they suddenly have more fish than they can drag into the boat. The disciples may have not recognized His new form, but the certainly recognized His miracles. In verse 12, it appears that they were beginning to accept this concept of resurrection as reality: John 21:12
¹² Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord." So they sat down to eat breakfast with the Lord, accepting that everything they had known up to this point had permanently changed. Yet, at the same time, Yeshua was still concerned for their physical needs. He provided fish for them to eat. Of course, we are familiar with the text about Yeshua telling Peter to "feed His sheep." While Peter had failed Yeshua, Yeshua was still going to use Peter for the God-given purposes that he was created for. The commission to the nation of Israel was no small calling, but that was Peter's commission. Yeshua's last words in the book of John were the commissioning of Peter to do the work that God called him to do. The book of Acts proves that Peter achieved God's purposes. Not only that, but the fact that you are reading this blog proves that Peter achieved his purpose. God has purpose for each of us is not the same, but when we are faithful to God, He will use us.

This is a strange reality for most of us. We read in the Bible about God's miracles, we believe in the resurrection of Yeshua, and we believe that soon He is returning to accomplish the next phase of His purposes. But we seem to be like Thomas when he doubted. We are like Peter and the disciples who have gone fishing. We are like many of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness who never made it into the promised land. We act as if we have lost a war. But the reality is that the war has already been won. But how do we lift ourselves out of what we see every day, from being exhausted from the daily devastation that we experience in our life? The answer is that we have to fight! We may not be physically fighting Midianites, per se, but we do have to fight some things in our life that we may actually be fond of. We may have to fight our doubting friends or family members who put us down. In our context, we may be fighting against Jewish people criticizing us because of our belief in Yeshua. We may be fighting against Christian people who fight against us living out our faith in the Jewish context or against following Torah. It doesn't really matter, our focus in on proclaiming that Yeshua is the light of the Torah and that He is the Way, the fulfillment of the Tenakh. He is the Messiah. The reality that we need to accept is that there is much booty to have. While there may be many who are figuratively slain, ones who live as though they are dead, there are those who will be saved. If we will engage in the purposes of God, the needs that we will have will be taken care of. I'm not sure how many people 675,000 sheep will feed, nor how many steaks can be made from 72,000 cattle, but as we defeat enemies, we can be assured God will provide for those He saves.

As it says in the book of Joshua, "Be strong and of good courage." I believe we are entering a difficult time, but I also believe that these difficult times lead to ultimate victory. So let us be strong and let us take courage!