CHAPTER XV
ISRAEL ARRIVES AT THE BORDER OF THE PROMISED LAND
Numbers 21.1 to 3 and 21 to 35, also 22.1 to 24.25, also 31.1 to 54 and 32.1 to 42
Interpretation. The wandering through the wilderness, which in this chapter draws to a close, has had its desired effect in producing a race capable of giving battle. Its powers are put to the test by the necessity of pushing its conquests through the territory of Sihon, King of the Amorites, and of Og, King of Bashan.
The command to conquer these nations and the Promised Land itself may present religious difficulties to some. Indeed, such wars of conquest are responsible for the charge frequently brought against religion in general, that it brought bloodshed and persecution into the world. This would, however, be an entirely wrong conception of the significance of this milḥemet miẓwah. We must bear in mind that warfare was the normal state of the ancient world. If we ask why God so ordained, we can give no answer any more than we can to the general question of why God suffers evil to exist and then desires man to contend against it. But no religious person really believes that God desires the evil. Similarly we must not construe these chapters to assume that God desires or ever desired war but merely that, warfare between the nations being inevitable in an age when there were no peaceful methods of settling national and tribal disputes, God desired Israel to be victorious because her civilization was superior to that of Canaan. Even the command to exterminate the inhabitants must be construed in the light of the fact that otherwise the only alternative was perpetual warfare between the races on the land or an assimilation of Israel to the native races with the loss of the hope that Israel's victory held out to the world. Again and again are we told in the Torah that the sole justification for Israel's conquest is the sinfulness of the nations of Canaan, and that Israel's sinfulness would subject it to the same treatment as was meted out to the Canaanites. In the very chapters that we are considering now it is to be noted that the command to conquer the land applied originally only to Canaan, to which the people laid claim by virtue of inheritance from the patriarchs who had dwelt there, and that, therefore, all that was originally demanded of the trans-Jordanic lands is the right to pass through without doing any injury in transit. It is only when this is definitely refused that the Israelites are permitted to resort to arms.
The story of Balaam and Balak is significant as a poetic expression of the invincibility of Israel. Balaam is sent for by Balak to curse Israel because of the reputation that this heathen prophet and sorcerer enjoyed. Though tempted by the bribes offered by Balak he knows that God will not suffer him to pronounce an effective curse upon Israel and at first refuses to go. He is, however, finally permitted to go, after due warning, both before he sets out and again when the angel opposes him on the way, not to speak anything save what God puts into his mouth. The final result is that he blesses Israel and curses Moab.
The reader should not be troubled by the apparent admission that a magic power attaches to a formula of curse or blessing, as the point of the story is not to teach that curses are or are not effective, but that, whether they are or not בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל קֶסֶם וְלֹא בְּיַעֲקֹב נַחַשׁ לֹא which, though usually translated otherwise, may fittingly be rendered, "There is no enchantment against Jacob and no divination against Israel." (Numbers 23.23.) In rabbinic tradition the story of Balaam's dialogue with his ass is the classical text for the preaching of humane treatment to animals. It is still capable of yielding that moral.
The incident of the oath taken by the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh has a very obvious moral in its insistance on Jewish unity and cooperation. "We will not return unto our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance". (Numbers 32. 18.) The fear of Moses that the premature settlement of the trans-Jordanic tribes might lead to division in Israel was certainly well-founded in view of subsequent events when the development of local tribal jurisdictions almost threatened the existence of the nation in the days of the Judges.
Aim. To strengthen the child's faith in God's choice of Israel.
Suggestions to the teacher. In telling of the wars of Israel all harrowing details would naturally be omitted and the emphasis put not on the fight, but on the victory which Israel won by the help of God. A good point of contact for beginning the story could be obtained by recalling the narrative of the report of the ten spies and of the punishment to which Israel was sentenced by reason of its acceptance of this report.
Then show how God's punishment was adapted to the offense in that it gave Israel the opportunity to rear a generation of brave men in the free atmosphere of the wilderness. Be sure that the child understands the advantage of the training in the wilderness for the new generation, over the experience of their fathers in Egypt. It will not suffice to state the thing abstractly, but make your point clear by repeated illustration as follows:
"Many years had now passed since the children of Israel had sent the ten spies and had been told that they could not enter the Promised Land until all the full grown men of that day should have died. During these years almost all of that generation who had been afraid to go up into the land had died and their sons and daughters, who, at that time, had been children, or had not yet even been born, had now grown up to manhood. And they were a very different generation from what their fathers had been. In the first place they were different in appearance. Their fathers, who in youth had been slaves to Pharaoh, had grown up with backs bent by the burdens they had to carry. Many of them had been permanently weakened and even deformed by the hard treatment they had received in Egypt. But their children, who had grown up in the wilderness and had lived all their lives out of doors, with plenty of fresh air and healthful exercise, and with no one to make them work at labor that was too hard for them, grew up straight and sturdy, broad-shouldered and muscular, like well-trained athletes. They were as different in appearance as a poor peddler whom you may see carrying his pack on his shoulders is from the strong and vigorous farm hand.
"Nor did they differ in appearance only, but also in character. Slavery had made cowards of their fathers. The slightest act of disobedience to the task-masters bringing instant punishment, they had learned to fear every enemy. No doubt their fathers had been warned in childhood never to attack an Egyptian no matter what he did, because they would in the end have to suffer for it. And so their fathers had become accustomed to thinking of themselves as too weak to fight and when they saw the Canaanite warriors they said, 'We are like grasshoppers compared to them.' But their sons who had grown up in the wilderness did not know the meaning of fear. They were used to hardship and dangers, for the wilderness was beset by all manner of wild beasts and wild men also, and this had trained them to be brave. Moreover they saw from childhood up how God at every step helped His people, how He helped them at the Red Sea, how He fed them on Manna, etc., and they said to themselves, 'Since God is with us, we need not fear, what can man do unto us.'"
You are now in a position to tell of the campaigns against Sihon and Og, stressing the overtures of peace, the rejection of which justified the invasion, and enlarging on the Israelites' sense of triumph which resulted from their victories, in which they saw the beginning of the realization of God's promise to give them the land of Canaan.
This is a good point in the narrative at which to trace the route of Israel's marches through the wilderness and to locate the important places on the map.
In telling the story of Balak and Balaam be careful not to leave the child with a superstitious belief in the efficacy of a curse, not only because superstition is in itself evil, but because the association of religion with superstition becomes very dangerous to the former when the child reaches an age at which he will in all probability see the unreasonableness of the superstition. Make it plain that Balak's sending for Balaam to curse Israel does not mean that Balaam actually possessed this power, but merely that Balak believed him to possess it in accordance with the superstition of his day. The point of the narrative should lie in the discomfiture of Balak, which teaches that when God is bent on blessing, no human being can effectively curse, and that God had destined Israel for blessing. Do not make this explanation as a digression from the story, but weave it into the narrative itself by suggestion as follows:
"Now Balak, the king of Moab, had heard that there lived in Mesopotamia, a famous sorcerer named Balaam, and that whomever this Balaam blessed would be sure to have good luck, and whomever he cursed, bad luck, and, being very superstitious, as were most of the people in his day, he believed that Balaam really had this power, and so he sent presents to him to persuade him to come to Moab and curse Israel for him so that the Israelites should be defeated in battle."
Do not attempt to rationalize the miracle of the ass's speaking to Balaam. If the child wants to know how it was possible for the ass to speak, answer that it is no harder for God to give an animal power to speak than a man. No baby is born with the ability to speak and we only learn to speak when God gives us the power and intelligence. By answering the question in this manner one attaches to the commonplace the mystery associated with the supernatural. By attempting to rationalize, one would reduce everything to the level of the commonplace. At a later age, when the pupil has developed a concept of natural law, this answer may not prove satisfactory, but it would be absurd to attempt a philosophic reconciliation of the natural and supernatural for children at an age when they lack the concept of either.