In the sight of all the congregation! You must see it with me: this was done purposely, in open defiance. Not with shame would he commit his act in some secluded and secret spot, but openly, before the eyes of all, that all might witness what they were doing. Before the eyes of Moses, the God-appointed leader and saviour of Israel, as if to say to Moses, See what I think of the law of God which you gave us. Before repentant Israelites, who were humbled before God at the door of the tabernacle.
Here, indeed, was the remnant according to the election of grace who had not followed in the sin of Israel to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. When they saw the wickedness of Israel, they fled immediately to the tabernacle to pray for mercy upon Israel. But this defiant young Israelite virtually says to this repentant people: You silly ones! This is what I think of all your fear of God. Unbelievable wickedness! One stands amazed at its audacity!
Yet it is not so amazing when you consider that these are the depths of sin into which the carnal seed will fall apart from the grace of salvation. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. He orders Moses to behead the leaders. He brings a plague upon Israel whereby twenty and four thousand were slain. Taking a javelin in his hand, he followed the wicked pair into the tent and slew them both while they were in the act. We learn later in the chapter that Jehovah exalted him for his righteous deed by giving unto him His covenant of peace forever.
So, the plague was stayed. What must we learn from this history? In the first place, we learn that the doctrine of Balaam is still with us today, and that it will continue to the end of history. In the second place, we learn that apostasy will continue even until the Lord comes in judgment to slay all the wicked, and that apostasy will not only be realized through an enticement to forsake the cardinal truths of the Scriptures, but also through the enticement to fornication, such as Balaam proposed.
And, finally, we learn that there will always be the remnant according to the election of grace. That remnant shall be exalted, and that remnant shall enter the Canaan of rest. This article is provided as a ministry of Third Millennium Ministries Thirdmill. If you have a question about this article, please email our Theological Editor. Notifications include the title, author, and description of each article in the issue, as well as links directly to the articles. Like RPM itself, subscriptions are free.
To subscribe to RPM , please select this link. Biblical Perspectives Magazine. Advanced Search Go. Search Term Type any of these words all of these words exact phrase. It is commonly held that this form of Ba'al-worship especially called for sensual indulgence. The context seems to favor his view, on account of the shameful licentiousness into which many of the Israelites were there enticed.
But all Ba'al-worship encouraged this sin; and Peor may not have been worse than many other shrines in this respect, though the evil there was certainly flagrant. In Hosea ix. The worship of this idol consisted in exposing that part of the body which all persons usually take the utmost care to conceal.
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