Numbers 31:21-23: Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what is required by the law that the Lord gave Moses: Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water.
This struck me as interesting from a symbolic standpoint. Fire is often the metaphor for testing, trials and purification, while water is a metaphor for blessing, and in the New Testament for filling of the Holy Spirit. From this perspective it feels like a parallel for life’s struggles- those that can be strengthened by trials must be made stronger to endure what they will face, but must still receive the Blessing of the water. Those for whom such trials would destroy must be treated more gently before their consecration because they may not have the strength to pass through the fire. Only God knows who can withstand which trials, and what strength that will bring, but we must always be willing to extend the grace to those who could not have survived our particular fire, and be able to teach from a place of humility of the strength that fire brought before being cleansed in the water.