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Numbers 32 Bible study: Your sin will find you out
When Reuben and Gad said, "Don’t bring us over the Jordan" (32:5), Moses reminded them of the spies (32:8-9). They agreed to go over armed "before the LORD" first (32:20), and they did (Joshua 4:12). "Be sure your sin will find you out" (32:23) names one sin: staying behind while your brothers go to war.
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“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Numbers 32:23, the sin Moses warns will find them out is staying behind instead of going over the Jordan armed.”
Is that in Numbers 32, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
A place for livestock
The chapter opens with animals: "the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock" (32:1). They look east of the Jordan, at "the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead", and see that "the place was a place for livestock" (32:1). This is the land Israel has just taken from Sihon and Og (21:24-35); they call it "the land which the LORD struck before the congregation of Israel" (32:4). So they come to Moses, to Eleazar the priest and to the princes (32:2) and ask, "let this land be given to your servants for a possession" (32:5). Then they add one more request: "Don’t bring us over the Jordan" (32:5).
Where it leads to Jesus
Nothing covered up
Numbers 32:23leads toLuke 12:2
Moses warns, "be sure your sin will find you out" (32:23). Jesus told his disciples, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known" (Luke 12:1-2). Luke doesn't cite Numbers 32, so this is a reading. Some hear in Jesus' words what Moses warns of, if "find you out" means the sin will come to light: nothing stays hidden before God, as Hebrews says, "There is no creature that is hidden from his sight" (Hebrews 4:13). Others note that the settings differ: Moses names one broken promise, not going over armed (32:20-23), while Jesus is warning against hypocrisy and goes on to "don’t be afraid of those who kill the body" (Luke 12:4), so they read the two as sharing a theme without one pointing to the other.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Numbers 32
That was a taste
The rest of Numbers 32 is waiting in Favor
- "Your fathers did so"
- From "before the children of Israel" to "before the LORD"
- The land given, the cities built
- They kept their word
- Havvoth Jair and Nobah
- 16 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Numbers 32 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
מָצָאmatsa'say ma-TSA
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "attain to, find". Strong's: "to attain, i.e. find or acquire". The chapter uses it twice. Reuben and Gad begin, "If we have found favor in your sight" (32:5). Moses ends his terms, "be sure your sin will find you out" (32:23), where the Hebrew is, literally, "know your sin which will find you". They hoped to find favor; Moses warns what else could find them. Judah uses the same verb when the cup is found in Benjamin's sack: "God has found out the iniquity of your servants" (Genesis 44:16).
For your group
Numbers 32 Bible study questions
- 1"Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?" (32:6). Where are you tempted to settle in while others are still carrying a load you could help with?
- 2Reuben and Gad promised, "We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have all received their inheritance" (32:18). Who are you committed to stay beside until they are through, and what does that cost you?
- 3Moses told them, "do that which has proceeded out of your mouth" (32:24). What promise have you made, to God or to someone else, that you need to keep this week?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Numbers 32 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home