The Sin That Hunts You Down Text: Numbers 32:20-24
Introduction: The Comfortable Compromise
We come now to a passage that puts its finger directly on one of the most pressing temptations for the modern American Christian. It is the temptation of the comfortable compromise, the desire for the inheritance without the fight, the crown without the cross. The tribes of Reuben and Gad, along with half the tribe of Manasseh, come to Moses on the east side of the Jordan. They look around at the lush pastureland, recently conquered from Sihon and Og, and they see that it is good. It is good for their cattle, good for their families, and good for a quiet life. And so they ask for their inheritance right there, on the wrong side of the river.
Moses, a man who has had a full education in the grumbling and faithlessness of Israel, immediately sees the danger. His initial reaction is hot. "Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here?" He sees this for what it is at first blush: a dereliction of duty, a desire to settle down before the war is won. This is the temptation to trade the birthright for a bowl of very comfortable, well-watered pottage. It is the temptation to define the mission of God by our own immediate comforts rather than by the explicit command of God.
Our culture is saturated with this mindset. We want the blessings of a Christian heritage, the stability, the prosperity, the general decency, but we do not want the fight that is necessary to secure it and advance it. We want to build our sheepfolds and settle our little ones down while our brothers are still on the front lines, facing the giants in the land. We want our inheritance now, and we are willing to redefine the boundaries of the Promised Land to get it.
But the Christian life is a warfare. The church is militant before it is triumphant. To ask for a discharge before the final victory is to misunderstand the nature of the covenant. Moses, however, is a wise leader. He doesn't just rebuke them; he puts them to the test. He lays out the terms of their obligation, the conditions of their inheritance. And in doing so, he gives us a timeless lesson on the nature of covenant faithfulness, the corporate solidarity of God's people, and the inescapable consequences of our sin.
The Text
So Moses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will arm yourselves before Yahweh for the war, and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before Yahweh until He has dispossessed His enemies from before Him, and the land is subdued before Yahweh, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation toward Yahweh and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before Yahweh. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh, and be sure your sin will find you out. Build yourselves cities for your little ones and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.”
(Numbers 32:20-24 LSB)
The Covenantal Condition (vv. 20-22)
Moses lays out the terms of the deal. It is a covenantal "if/then" proposition. God's blessings are free, but they are never unconditional in the sense that they require nothing of us. Faith is the condition, and true faith is never without its works.
"So Moses said to them, 'If you will do this, if you will arm yourselves before Yahweh for the war, and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before Yahweh until He has dispossessed His enemies from before Him, and the land is subdued before Yahweh, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation toward Yahweh and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before Yahweh.'" (Numbers 32:20-22)
Notice the repeated phrase: "before Yahweh." This is not a merely human, political arrangement. This is not just about helping their Israelite brethren out of some sense of familial duty. They are to arm themselves "before Yahweh." They are to cross the Jordan "before Yahweh." Their possession will be "before Yahweh." All of life, and especially the high stakes of war and inheritance, is lived out coram Deo, before the face of God. This elevates the entire affair from a real estate transaction to a solemn act of worship and covenantal warfare.
The obligation is clear: they must go to war. Not just some of them. "All of you armed men." This is a matter of corporate solidarity. The people of God are one body. When one part of the body is engaged in a fight for its life, the other parts do not get to recline on the couch because they have found a comfortable spot. The hand cannot say to the foot, "I have no need of you," and the tribes on the east cannot say to the tribes on the west, "We have no need to fight with you." Their inheritance is tied to the inheritance of the whole. They cannot truly possess their land until the entire land is subdued.
This is a direct lesson for the church. We are not a collection of isolated individuals pursuing our own private spiritual bliss. We are an army. When Christians in one part of the world are being persecuted, we are not free of obligation. When the battle for the truth is raging in our own nation, we do not have the option to sit it out because it makes us uncomfortable. We are to arm ourselves before the Lord and join the fight until the land is subdued.
Only after the victory is won, after the land is subdued "before Yahweh," can they return. Then, and only then, will they be "free of obligation toward Yahweh and toward Israel." And then their land will be a true possession. A possession received apart from the covenant community, apart from the shared fight, is a stolen possession. It is not a gift from God; it is a pragmatic land grab. But a possession received after fulfilling your covenant duties is a true inheritance, a blessing from God Himself.
The Inescapable Sin (v. 23)
After the promise comes the warning. This is the hard edge of the covenant, the part our modern sensibilities want to sand down. Moses presents the alternative with stark clarity.
"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh, and be sure your sin will find you out." (Numbers 32:23 LSB)
The sin here is not some gross immorality in the modern sense. It is the sin of omission. It is the sin of doing nothing. It is the sin of prioritizing personal comfort over covenantal duty. And notice against whom this sin is committed. It is not fundamentally a sin against their brothers in Israel, though it is that. It is a sin "against Yahweh." All sin is ultimately vertical. To neglect our duty to our brother is to defy our Father.
And then we have this glorious, terrifying phrase: "be sure your sin will find you out." This is often quoted as a general proverb, and it is true in that sense. But here, in its context, it has a specific, earthy meaning. Sin is not a static, abstract violation. It is an active, living thing. It is a bloodhound. If you commit this sin, if you abandon your post, that sin will get up on its hind legs and it will hunt you down. You think you can settle down in your comfortable pastureland and escape the consequences? You are mistaken. Your sin has your scent.
How would their sin find them out? First, it would find them out in their conscience. They would have no peace, knowing they had abandoned their brothers. Second, it would find them out in their reputation. They would be known as the covenant-breakers, the cowards. Third, and most importantly, it would find them out in the judgment of God. The enemies they refused to fight on the other side of the Jordan would not stay there. The chaos and idolatry they refused to confront would eventually cross the river and find them. By seeking to avoid the war, they would guarantee a future, more devastating war on their own doorstep, without the help of their estranged brethren. When you run from your God-appointed battles, the battle follows you home.
Sin has consequences built into the fabric of reality. God has wired the world in such a way that rebellion against His order is self-destructive. You cannot break the moral laws of the universe; you can only break yourself against them. Your sin will find you out. It may be slow, it may be patient, but it has a perfect memory and it never gives up the trail.
The Obedient Action (v. 24)
Moses concludes not with the threat, but with a command to act in faith. He takes them at their word and tells them to get to it.
"Build yourselves cities for your little ones and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do what you have promised." (Numbers 32:24 LSB)
This is practical theology. Faith is not a feeling; it is an action. They have made a promise, a vow before the Lord. Now they must act on it. "Do what you have promised." Or more literally from the Hebrew, "do what has come out of your mouth." Your words have created a reality, an obligation. Now your hands must ratify what your lips have spoken.
There is a right order to things. First, secure the vulnerable. "Build yourselves cities for your little ones and sheepfolds for your sheep." This is not a contradiction of the command to go to war. It is the necessary preparation for it. A man who goes to war without first ensuring the safety of his family is not a warrior; he is irresponsible. This is the principle of 1 Timothy 5:8, that he who does not provide for his own household is worse than an unbeliever. They are to establish their non-combatants in fortified cities, and then the armed men can go to war with a free conscience, knowing their first duties at home have been met.
This is the balance of Christian faithfulness. We have duties to our homes and duties to the larger kingdom. We must not neglect one for the other. We build our homes, we catechize our children, we establish godly order in our own lives, and we do this so that we can be effective warriors in the broader cultural battles. We are not to be so heavenly-minded that we are no earthly good, nor so earthly-minded that we neglect the heavenly calling. We build our cities, and then we march to war.
Conclusion: Your Sin and Your Savior
This passage presents us with a stark choice, the same one that confronts every generation of God's people. It is the choice between comfortable disobedience and costly faithfulness. It is the choice between settling on the wrong side of the river or crossing over to fight the Lord's battles.
And the warning remains as potent for us as it was for the tribes of Reuben and Gad. "Be sure your sin will find you out." Every compromise with the world, every neglected duty, every act of cowardice when the truth is under attack, every refusal to join the battle for the kingdom, is a sin that will hunt you down. It will find you in the hollowness of your worship, in the rebellion of your children, in the decay of your culture. You cannot escape it.
But there is another side to this. There is one man whose sin did not find Him out, because He had no sin. Jesus Christ, our great captain, crossed the ultimate Jordan, the river of death itself, to fight our battle. He went to war for us, His brethren, while we were sitting helpless on the other side. He subdued the ultimate enemy, Satan, and conquered the ultimate territory, the grave.
And because He was faithful, we receive an inheritance. But our story does not end there. We are now called to follow Him. We are called to arm ourselves before the Lord and fight. But we do not fight for our inheritance; we fight from our inheritance. We fight because He has already won the decisive victory.
The good news of the gospel is not just that Christ died for your sins, but that He frees you from the sin that would hunt you down. The bloodhound of your sin is hunting you, but Christ the Lion of Judah stands in the way. He has dealt with your sin. He has taken the consequences upon Himself. And now He turns to you and says, "Your obligation is fulfilled in me. Now, take up your arms, cross the river, and fight with me. The land is ours. Let us go up and possess it."