At Balaam’s suggestion, a grand festival in honor of their gods was appointed by the king of Moab, and it was secretly arranged that Balaam should induce the Israelites to attend. He was regarded by them as a prophet of God, and hence had little difficulty in accomplishing his purpose. Great numbers of the people joined him in witnessing the festivities. They ventured upon the forbidden ground, and were entangled in the snare of Satan.

In every gathering for pleasure where pride is fostered or appetite indulged, where one is led to forget God and lose sight of eternal interests, there Satan is binding his chains about the soul.

At Balaam’s suggestion, a grand festival in honor of their gods was appointed by the king of Moab, and it was secretly arranged that Balaam should induce the Israelites to attend. He was regarded by them as a prophet of God, and hence had little difficulty in accomplishing his purpose. Great numbers of the people joined him in witnessing the festivities. They ventured upon the forbidden ground, and were entangled in the snare of Satan.

Beguiled with music and dancing, and allured by the beauty of heathen vestals, they cast off their fealty to Jehovah. As they united in mirth and feasting, indulgence in wine beclouded their senses and broke down the barriers of self-control. Passion had full sway; and having defiled their consciences by lewdness, they were persuaded to bow down to idols. They offered sacrifice upon heathen altars and participated in the most degrading rites.

The rulers and the leading men were among the first to transgress, and so many of the people were guilty that the apostasy became national.

The rulers and the leading men were among the first to transgress, and so many of the people were guilty that the apostasy became national.

Their iniquitous practices did that for Israel which all the enchantments of Balaam could not do—they separated them from God.

The rulers and the leading men were among the first to transgress, and so many of the people were guilty that the apostasy became national.

By swift-coming judgments the people were awakened to the enormity of their sin.

God commanded that the leaders in this apostasy be put to death

The offenders were slain, then their bodies were hung up in sight of all Israel that the congregation, seeing the leaders so severely dealt with, might have a deep sense of God’s abhorrence of their sin and the terror of His wrath against them.

All felt that the punishment was just, and the people hastened to the tabernacle, and with tears and deep humiliation confessed their sin.

Phinehas

When Balaam was called to curse the Hebrews he could not, by all his enchantments, bring evil upon them; for the Lord had not “beheld iniquity in Jacob,” neither had He “seen perverseness in Israel.”

When Balaam was called to curse the Hebrews he could not, by all his enchantments, bring evil upon them;

When Balaam was called to curse the Hebrews he could not, by all his enchantments, bring evil upon them

But when through yielding to temptation they transgressed God’s law, their defense departed from them.

If those who profess to be the depositaries of God’s law become transgressors of its precepts, they separate themselves from God, and they will be unable to stand before their enemies.

All along through the ages there are strewn wrecks of character that have been stranded upon the rocks of sensual indulgence.

As we approach the close of time, as the people of God stand upon the borders of the heavenly Canaan

He lays his snares for every soul.

And he employs the same agents now as he employed three thousand years ago.

he tempts to the violation of the seventh commandment.

Sensual indulgence weakens the mind and debases the soul. The moral and intellectual powers are benumbed and paralyzed by the gratification of the animal propensities; and it is impossible for the slave of passion to realize the sacred obligation of the law of God, to appreciate the atonement, or to place a right value upon the soul.

Goodness, purity, and truth, reverence for God, and love for sacred things—all those holy affections and noble desires that link men with the heavenly world—are consumed in the fires of lust. The soul becomes a blackened and desolate waste, the habitation of the evil spirits, and the “cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” Beings formed in the image of God are dragged down to a level with the brutes.

Ease and self-indulgence left the citadel of the soul unguarded, and debasing thoughts found entrance.

It was the traitors within the walls that overthrew the strongholds of principle and betrayed Israel into the power of Satan.

A long preparatory process, unknown to the world, goes on in the heart before the Christian commits open sin.

It takes time to degrade those formed in the image of God to the brutal or the satanic.

By the indulgence of impure thoughts man can so educate his mind that sin which he once loathed will become pleasant to him.

Yet we have a work to do to resist temptation. Those who would not fall a prey to Satan’s devices must guard well the avenues of the soul