Sex cults are probably a bad idea

When the spirit is sacrificed for the flesh

Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I attempt to read the Bible with fresh eyes, as if I don’t know anything about it, and without consulting experts on what it “really” means.. Let’s see where this takes us!

I’m reading Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Numbers 25

“Baal” is first mentioned in Numbers 22:41: “On the next day Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he could see part of the people of Israel.”

Bamoth-baal sounds like a location. “Baal of Peor” in Numbers 25 sounds like a deity, or perhaps the plural name of the gods of the Midianites. The YLT says “the people begin to go a-whoring unto daughters of Moab” whereas the NRSV says, perhaps more timidly, “the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab.”

It sounds like Israel was lured into a sex cult. Israelites were invited to “the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.”

How sincere was the worship of these gods? Or were the Israelites just there for the sex? It’s unclear, but also wouldn’t make much difference. What…