The God of Justice

The God of Justice
Numbers 31-36
“When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.”

The book of Numbers, which began with the refusal of the people to follow God’s command, ends with the first major military campaign of the conquest.  In the forty years between these two events, the justice of God is evident as He brings judgment upon the generation that had refused to obey Him.  As we read of the first battle with Midian, many people are troubled by the command to destroy the people of Midian.  The only ones left were the unmarried girls.  As we read this passage, we wrestle with the severity of God’s command.

To understand the passage and the subsequent conquest of the promised land, we need to go back to a statement that God made to Abraham when He promised the land of Israel to the descendants of  Abraham.  In Genesis 15:13, God informs Abraham that 400 years would pass before the promise would be fulfilled.  During this time, the people would become enslaved to Egypt, and then God would judge Egypt and deliver the people of Israel from the land.  The immediate question we are confronted with is, “Why the delay?”  Why does God wait 400 years before bringing them to the promised land?  This ties into the other question we struggle with.  Why does God command the people to destroy the nations that were living in the promised land at the time of the conquest under the leadership of Joshua?  The answer to these questions is found in Genesis 15:16, “then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”  In other words, Israel’s destruction of the people in the land was not ethnic cleansing, nor was it because God favored the Israelites over the Canaanites.  The reason was for spiritual cleansing.  In Scripture, there is often a period between the pronouncement of judgment and the execution of the judgment.  The purpose of this delay is to give people an opportunity to repent.  God never judges capriciously or unjustly.  His judgment is always just and deserved.  

To understand why God commanded Israel to annihilate the people in the land, we need to understand the depth of the wickedness and sin of the Midianites and Canaanites.  The depth of their depravity is difficult for us to understand.  Their worship included every form of type of sexual perversion, including temple prostitution and bestiality.  Instead of worshiping God, they worshipped demonic beings through sorcery, incantations, and witchcraft.  Their widespread practice of child sacrifice manifested the complete depth of their depravity.  Their society had become so depraved that it was unredeemable and required the justice and punishment of a holy God. In 33:52, God warns them that if they do not execute His judgment, they will fall into the same evil practices and face the same judgment.  Tragically, because Israel failed to obey God’s command to execute His judgment, this is what happened in the period of the Judges.

In our understanding of God, we focus on His love and compassion.  God is a forgiving and gracious God who does not take pleasure in the judgment of the wicked (Ezekiel 33 11; 2 Peter 3:9).  He desires that all people would turn from their sin and live (Titus 2:11).  However, we should not overlook that God is holy and just and will bring judgment upon individuals and a society that continues to celebrate and embrace immorality and sin.  The tragedy is that in our sin, we condemn God and accuse Him of injustice when we continue to refuse to accept His grace and embrace His salvation.  The depth of our depravity is seen in our justification of sin rather than repentance.  The Canaanites were judged not because God favored Israel or because of ethnic cleansing but because of the depth of their depravity and refusal to repent.  He used Israel to be His arm of justice to bring spiritual cleansing to the land.  However, before judgment is executed, there is always hope.  Just as Nineveh (an equally depraved society) was saved when they repented (see the book of Jonah), we can be delivered from the certainty of judgment if we are willing to accept the salvation of Christ and His offer of grace.  In understanding God, we must keep His holiness and justice in perfect balance with His grace and love.  We must recognize that He will judge if we continue to reject Him, but He will save even the most depraved sinner if we accept His offer of grace.  The real question we must ask ourselves is: “Have I accepted His grace?”