Seduction
Numbers 25:1 reads: “While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women” (NIV). Just a clear-cut statement of fact, nothing more.
The text says that “Israel was staying” in Shittim. That is, they weren’t going anywhere. They were at rest. At ease, really, because they just had finished a number of successful conquests: they had beaten the Canaanites (Num. 21:1–3), the Amorites (vss. 21–31), and the folk under the rule of King Og of Bashan (vss. 33–35). And now they were on the borders of the Promised Land, just across the Jordan River.
In other words, after numerous mistakes and setbacks, things were going quite well. They were in no immediate danger from warring armies, because they readily had dispatched all of these military threats. Hence, they were able to take it easy.
Read Numbers 25:1–3. What were the steps involved here in this apostasy? How did something so terrible happen?
Sex, food, idolatry—it was all there on the shores of the Jordan. According to the order seen in the texts, they first had sexual relations with the women, which clearly broke down barriers. And then it was at the invitation of these women that the men sacrificed to their pagan gods and then eventually bowed down and worshiped them.
Again, from our perspective, it’s hard to understand how something like this could happen. They should have known better, right? At the same time, here they were, mingling with these people, probably not much at first, but then, over time, more and more. Slowly but surely their guard was let down; and before they knew it, they were ensnared by lust and passion. Once they had fallen into that trap, anything was possible.
We fool ourselves when we think we are less vulnerable to the deceptions of sin of any kind.
| Read 1 Corinthians 10:1–14. How can we apply the lessons there to ourselves, today, in whatever situation we are in? What similar temptations do we face in our own contexts? What promise can we take from these words and make our own? |
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