Daily Thoughts from Numbers: Culture (21:1-3)

When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.” And the LORD heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.  (Numbers 21:1-3 ESV)

At the provocation of the Canaanites’ attack, Israel vows that if Yahweh gives them victory in their battles against the Canaanites they will totally destroy their cities.  This is a recognition that they don’t need the spoils of war to thrive, they only need Yahweh.  And it is an indication that they view the Canaanites as so evil that it is better to start fresh than to use what the Canaanites made.

This is, in some cases, the way we need to deal with the things of our culture.  There are undoubtedly many wonderful aspects to our culture, birthed there by the influence of Christianity on our people.  But there are also aspects of our culture that are a clear reflection of our rebellion against our Creator.  These are the ways our culture draws us away from worshiping the Lord and seek to control our own lives apart from Him.

We see this in our worship of what Jesus called Mammon, the promise of wealth.  We see it in our addiction to entertainment.  We see it in our elevation of the individual over the community.  And we see it in our own resistance to calling it Hormah.  We’re afraid to part from wealth and entertainment and individuality and all other aspects of our culture that run counter to God.

But as C. S. Lewis said, “All these toys were never intended to possess my heart. My true good is in another world, and my only real treasure is Christ.”  And, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Trying to explain why he continued after 30 years to battle for his vision of a Navy whose major fighting ships were nuclear powered, Adm. H.G. Rickover told an old and touching story, a parable about an ancient philosopher who came to a city to save its people from their sins. The inhabitants of the city who at first listened to him, gradually turned away.  One day a child asked the learned man why he went on, did he not see that his mission was hopeless? As Rickover told it, the philosopher replied, “In the beginning I thought I could change men. If I still shout, it’s only to prevent men from changing me.”