The Snare

Numbers 25:1-3, Numbers 31:16, Revelation 2:14

The scriptures may not make much sense to you today unless you know the story of Balaam and Balak, so let me fill in the gaps...

Balaam could not curse Israel the way Balak wanted him to so according to scripture, Balaam gave Balak advice on how he could defeat the Israelites. He advised Balak to get the Moabite and Midianite women to seduce the Israelite men into worshipping their God, Baal, and indulging in sexual immorality with them.

Baal, was a fertility god and the worship of him involved ritual prostitution in the temple of Baal. This was detestable to God and the Israelites knew it. God acted swiftly in the punishment of this sin. All the men who took part in this idolatry were killed, but the damage was done.

How many times throughout the rest of the Old Testament do we hear about the Israelites falling into the snare of idol worship to the false god Baal? Too many times to count. This was their first encounter and it became a snare to them the rest of their ancient history.

The Israelites did not even see this snare coming, but the decision they made took them, their children, their grandchildren , and the rest of their decendants much further than they ever wanted to go with sin. It is amazing to me that sin sometimes seems to come from no where and one decision can sometimes change the course of our lives and possibly the lives of our entire family.

We must be aware of this warning in scripture: Evil wants to destroy us and our desire for God.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8. Don't let one foolish decision change your entire history.