Deuteronomy (Written)

Deuteronomy 3:1-11
The Defeat of Og, King of Bashan

At times, I have to stop and wonder if the passage I’m evaluating for you is being given proper treatment concerning the pictorial or typological patterns that I am making. I have to ask, “Does this really fit, or am I simply making things fit what I want it to say.

This was especially true for me in the Numbers 21 sermon where Sihon and Og were first described in Israel’s victory over them. I really stressed as to whether the typology was correct or not. At other times, the typology has seemed so clear that it is hard to miss. It simply jumps off the page and announces itself.

One good example of that is the typology of the Jordan picturing Christ. The Jordan flows from Mt. Hermon to the Salt, or Dead, Sea. In order for Israel (or indeed anyone) to enter the Land of Promise, it must be through the Jordan, or Christ.

The picture is so obvious, and everything associated with it is so certain, that it doesn’t really require any stress as to whether it is right or not. And yet, each time I have typed up some picture of it – meaning Hermon, the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and so on, I still have to ask myself if what I have been certain about is actually certain.

Presenting something inaccurate means presenting faulty theology. And presenting faulty theology will lead to faulty doctrine. And that leads to unstable Christians who have a part of their walk (maybe more than a part of it) on unstable footing. And each unstable step will lead one a little further off the proper path.

Text Verse: “A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; A mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.” Psalm 68:15

Until typing this sermon, I had never stopped to evaluate the name Hermon. Despite assuming the typology, I hadn’t actually checked it out fully. That actually troubles me thinking about it now. But the patterns seemed so obvious that knowing the actual meaning of Hermon never even came to mind.

However, the mountain is first introduced into the biblical narrative in today’s passage. Because of this, it became necessary to determine its meaning. Thankfully, and with a giant retroactive sigh of relief, it actually fits the typology of everything that you have been taught concerning it, the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and so on.

If it didn’t, the typology of at least half a dozen sermons, or more, would have to be reconsidered, all because I never checked the meaning of the name of a single mountain. But this will be true a thousand more times as we continue through Scripture.

It is impossible to anticipate everything that will arise in Scripture in regard to such things. The fabric is too intricate, and the weaving is too complicated to be able to guess all that the Lord has put in His word for us. So far so good though. The patterns have fit, the typology has matched, and the story continues to unfold so beautifully.

What a treasure God has given us in this marvelous gift we call the Holy Bible. Yes, great things are to be found in His superior word. And so, let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Do Not Fear Him (Verses 1-11)

Chapter 2 ended with the defeat of Sihon, king of Heshbon. Israel is being prepared for their crossing of the Jordan and into the promise. That prophetically looked forward to the destruction of the antichrist, something which must come about at the time of Israel’s acknowledgment of Jesus as their true Fountain of hope.

But, as we saw in the Numbers’ sermons, there were two foes to be defeated. The second of them is ahead of them on their trek to the promise. After defeating Sihon, Israel was in a place which made entrance into Canaan possible.

However, with Og and his people holding the northern portion of Gilead and also all of the Bashan, it would be unwise to leave him untouched. In type and picture, the same is true for Israel of today. There are two foes who must be removed before they will pass into the knowledge of Christ and into the heavenly inheritance.

Chapter 3 begins with the details concerning this second foe…

“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan;

va’nephen va’naal derek ha’bashan – “And we turned, and we ascended the road to the Bashan.” The verse begins with the simple word “And.” it is a continuation of the narrative, despite the chapter divisions later imposed on the text.

Further, the words of the verse are the exact same as Numbers 21:33, except that there it is in the third person plural (they) instead of the first person plural (we). Moses is exactingly recounting the narrative as it was previously given, but from a personal perspective.

As is consistent, there is an article in front of Bashan. It says, “the Bashan.” The name signifies something like the “Place of fertile soil.” Israel was making its ascent to this spot…

^{1 (con’t)} and Og king of Bashan came out against us,

va’yetse og melekh ha’bashan liqratenu – “and came out Og king of the Bashan against us.” The king of this entire fertile place brings himself against Israel.

Here, as in Numbers 21, Og is said to be king of the Bashan. His name comes from uggah, which is a round baked cake. That comes from ug, to bake. The picture we see is one set in opposition to Israel.

Obviously, he then is to be destroyed. The uggah, or baked cake, is seen seven times in the Bible. It is that which nourishes and sustains life. One can see that in denying Israel access to this fertile place, and standing in opposition to them, a picture is made which will be more fully developed.

For now, not only does the king not come out as if he was a friend, but rather, because he will stand against Israel, it will be…

^{1 (con’t)} he and all his people,

hu v’kal ammo – “he and all his people.” Based on the size of the Bashan, one can assume that it was a very large force. They gathered from the entire area of the Bashan in order to destroy them, knowing already that Israel had destroyed Sihon.

As this was so, they would not only have whatever weapons they previously possessed, but they would have accumulated those of Sihon’s army, they would be battle-hardened from the recent fighting, and they would be extremely confident in their capability to fight the next foe that came before them. Thus, Og mustered “all his people.” He could do no less. He then came…

^{1 (con’t)} to battle at Edrei.

la’milkhama Edrei – “to battle at Edrei.” Og led his entire force out to meet Israel at Edrei. Edrei means something like “Mighty.” Despite the name, implying the great force which has arisen against Israel, the Lord was shown to be more powerful. At that time, He had good news for His people…

² And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him,

The words are almost an exact repeat of Numbers 21:24. Again, the only difference is that it is in the first person here rather than the third person of Numbers 21.

It would be reasonable for an army to fear such a foe. The description of his physical size, which is coming in the verses ahead, along with an army which consists of all of his people throughout the Bashan, and in an area filled with strongly defended cities, one might expect fear and trepidation on the part of Israel. But the Lord told them that it should be otherwise…

^{2 (con’t)} for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand;

The outcome is assured, and the Lord conveys it in that way, ki b’yadekha nathati, “for into your hand I have given.” All Israel has to do is engage the enemy. The Lord has worked out the details, in advance, for them to find complete victory. In defeating the army, they are then to complete the task by also destroying it entirely…

^{2 (con’t)} you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’

Israel did not just defeat Sihon, they destroyed him and his entire army to the last man. None were to be spared so that there could be no remnant to later make a claim against the land. And, just as was promised, it also came about – both from the Lord’s assurance, and from Israel’s obedience…

³ “So the Lord our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining.

The verse here is similar in thought to Numbers 21:35, but it is worded quite differently. It is, again, in the first person instead of the third person. Also, in Numbers it said, “So they defeated him,” meaning Israel defeated Og. However, here the credit is given to the Lord first – “So the Lord our God also delivered.” Only after that are Israel’s actions then mentioned.

Further, in Numbers it mentioned the sons of Og. Here, that is left out. Rather, it simply states that there were no survivors remaining. The victory was complete because the Lord so ordained it, and Israel complied with the Lord’s directives. This was not only true with the army itself, but of all of Og’s kingdom…

⁴ And we took all his cities at that time;

Og ruled over an entire area, filled with cities. The area, not being very large, and with no access to the sea, would seem to not be fit for many cities, and yet throughout the years, it has been noted by those who visit the area that there are an exceedingly large number of ruins there. Israel, after destroying all of the men in the battle, went about taking those cities they left behind, and Moses says…

^4 (con’t) there was not a city which we did not take from them:

Despite the difficult terrain, and the description of the cities yet to come, Israel was able to take and possess every single one of them. In total, they numbered…

^4 (con’t) sixty cities,

In his book, The Giant Cities of Bashan, dating to 1867, Josias Porter notes the size of the area and that there were the remains of at least sixty walled cities and a great number of unwalled towns still there. To this day, one can go on Google maps and view them from a satellite view.

Therefore, the account stands as not only possible, but factual. Israel took over these cities after exterminating the inhabitants. These are next noted as being in…

^4 (con’t) all the region of Argob,

Here is a new word translated as “region,” khevel. It signifies a cord, rope, or measuring line. It comes from khaval, meaning to wind tightly, as a rope is wound. As it is a measuring line, it speaks of a region, as if it is measured off.

Another new word is the place itself, Argov. That comes from regev meaning a clod of the earth. Thus, the name means, “Stony” “Rough,” or “Rugged.” This is the same place referred to as Trachonitis, meaning “the rugged (or stony) region” in Luke 3:1.

This location, Argov, will be found only here in Deuteronomy 3 and in 1 Kings 4, when speaking of this same location and which mentions these same sixty cities which were captured and remained in continuous use at the time of Solomon. The entire location is then further defined as…

^4 (con’t) the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

There is a progression of thought in this one verse which appears to be an inked celebration of what occurred. First, it states what occurred in the positive and in the singular, “And we took all his cities.”

Then, it next states it in the negative, and in the plural, “there was not a city which we did not take from them. It then sings out, “sixty cities!” After that, it mentions the region in which this occurred, “all the region of Argob.” And then it resoundingly shouts out the final glory of the victory, once again speaking of the singular person, “the kingdom of Og in Bashan.”

Next, to show the exemplary nature of the victory, the cities themselves are described…

⁵ All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars,

The sixty main cities are described as if by an eyewitness, which Moses surely was. He is recounting the state of the towns for posterity to know the greatness of the victory, and to give assurances to Israel that any such fortifications in Canaan will be equally conquerable.

In this, he uses a word, gaboah, meaning “high” which hasn’t been seen since Genesis 7. There, during the Flood of Noah, it said –

“And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.” Genesis 7:19

The word signifies high and exalted. Further, the Hebrew reads, “gates and a bar.” Each city would have two doors which would form a gate, and then a large bar would go through holders on the doors to form an almost impenetrable wall.

Despite this, and despite the other fortifications, Israel – because of the Lord’s hand being with them – was able to conquer them. Nothing was too high for them to attain. They conquered all sixty…

^5 (con’t) besides a great many rural towns.         

This is a new word, perazi, or hamlets. These would be little towns, maybe surrounded by any rocks cleared from fields, or with low walls to keep in livestock, but not used as protective walls.

 

The houses would probably be centrally located with the fields outside of any stone borders. Each of these would have had numerous livestock and probably sizeable stores of food when they were taken over. And, as it says, there were many of them. Of all of these cities and towns, Moses says…

⁶ And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.

The translation does not give the sense of the Hebrew. Instead of “the men, women, and children,” it says, “utterly destroying men, the women, and the children.” It thus provides an emphasis that is missed by the translation. The women and the children were not exempt from the destruction.

As this is so, the words require further explanation. In Deuteronomy 2, concerning Sihon’s kingdom, it said –

“We took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining. ³⁵ We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we took.” Deuteronomy 2:34

Both there and here, the word kharam, or devoted to destruction, is used. It signifies that the devotion was required by the Lord, and the obedience of the people was followed through with according to the Lord’s word. We also saw this in last week’s sermon.

Though it seems overly brutal to our sensibilities, that is irrelevant to what the Lord determines. He creates, and He can dispense with His creation in whatever way He finds appropriate. As these are Amorites, they had been given the full measure of time to seek the Lord, as He conveyed to Abraham –

“Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Genesis 15:15, 16

The destruction of the Amorites was ordained for when their iniquity had reached full measure. That time had come, and Israel become the instrument in the Lord’s hand to accomplish His judgment upon them. Despite the kharam of the people, the Lord allowed the property and belongings to be spared…

⁷ But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as booty for ourselves.

Like last week with Sihon, at the allowance of the Lord, all the possessions of the people were not set apart as kharam. This would have been no small amount of livestock and agricultural goods, along with whatever else the people possessed.

At times, such things were set apart for destruction. When that was mandated and not followed through with, the anger of the Lord would then turn against Israel. They were never exempt from the same punishments as the people they encountered, with the exception of being kept as a people because of the Lord’s covenant with them.

In the end, obedience to the word of the Lord is that which is highlighted as the highest importance throughout Scripture.

⁸ “And at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were on this side of the Jordan, from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon

Here is a summary statement of all of the land which was taken by Israel from these two kings. It is stated as going from the River Arnon all the way to Mount Hermon.

As we have seen in earlier passages, Arnon comes from ranan, which signifies to give a jubilant, ringing cry, and thus Rejoicing.

Hermon, or Khermon, is introduced here, and it will be seen using this name 13 times. The word comes from the same verb used in verse 6, kharam. It speaks of designating something to the afterlife (like the people here were), to the thing that is designated in this way, or keeping that thing for something sacred. It is the same idea as the word harem that bears the same meaning.

Thus, Khermon means Sacred. As it is the name of a mountain, it is “Sacred Mountain.” It is a fitting description of heaven, from which the Jordan, or the Descender, flows from. One can see the marvelous picture here of the land of Bashan, the Place of Fertile Soil.

At one end is Rejoicing, and at the other is the Sacred Mountain, and flowing alongside it is the Descender. Here is a picture of life with Christ in view.

There is rejoicing, there is the fertile soil of the word, there is the coming of Christ from the Sacred Mountain, meaning heaven, and descending to earth. If one simply crosses over Jordan (the Descender), meaning going through Christ, there is access to the Land of Promise.

With that typology understood, the narrative continues…

⁹ (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir),

Here the Sidonians are introduced. Their name comes from Tsidon, or Sidon, which means “Fishing” or “Fishery.” The Sidonians called the mountain Sirion, or “Sheeted with Snow,” while the Amorites called it Senir, which is believed to mean “Glittering Breastplate of Ice.” It will be given another name, Sion, in Deuteronomy 4:48. That is probably a shortened form of Sirion.

The reason for including these words appears to be as a historical and geographical note. The mountain forms a natural boundary between several nations, and so the names are given as clarification now for when they will be used elsewhere, both in Israel’s history, and in Scripture itself.

Sirion will be mentioned again in Psalm 29:6, and Senir will be used in 1 Chronicles, the Song of Solomon, and Ezekiel. The KJV will mistakenly use the word Sion in Psalm 65:1 when speaking of Zion, thus adding another error to its translation.

With the borders designated as the Arnon and Mount Hermon, another general description is seen with the words…

¹⁰ all the cities of the plain,

Here is a new word, mishor. It signifies an even place, like a plain. It is then figuratively used at times to speak of uprightness and justice.

^{10 (con’t)} all Gilead, and all Bashan,

Both words are actually prefixed by an article, “the Gilead,” and “the Bashan.” Thus, they refer to locations, not cities. Gilead means “The Perpetual Fountain.” Bashan, as we saw, means “Place of Fertile Soil.”

^{10 (con’t)} as far as Salcah and Edrei,

Salcah is first seen here, and it means “Walking.” Edrei means “Mighty.” These are both…

^{10 (con’t)} cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

These cities would be those furthest out in the regional areas, and so they stand as representative of the border regions of what was previously the kingdom of Og in Bashan. He is especially highlighted because of his genealogical relationship to another group who are again brought into the narrative…

¹¹ “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants.

Again, as was seen in Chapter 2, the word is Rephaim. It is speaking of the exceptional size of the people from which he came. Their large size was probably the product of special inbreeding. This would seem most likely because there is a Rephaite in 2 Samuel 21 with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.

That is a particular genetic defect or hereditary syndrome known as polydactyly. Og was the last of them in this area, not everywhere, as they appear again in Canaan, and of whom the Anakim were associated. What their great size is actually attributable to is not stated in Scripture, but it is not from sleeping with angels. These were normal humans who were genetically larger than others. Of Og, the following is provided…

^{11 (con’t)} Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead.

There is a great deal of speculation on what is being said. Some translate it directly as is given here. He has an iron bestead with the given dimensions. Others say that this is speaking of his sarcophagus, a distinct possibility. Other suggestions have been made concerning both the material and what it is fashioned into.

The word itself is eres. It comes from an unused root meaning “to arch.” It is translated as couch or bed throughout the Old Testament. If it is a couch, and as he was a king, it very well could be speaking of a large covered place where he sat as a throne. Charles Ellicott writes of such a throne that was discovered in his time and which was close to the same dimensions.

^{11 (con’t)} (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?)

Rabbah, or Rabath, is now introduced into Scripture here. It comes from the verb ravav, meaning to become many or much. Thus, Rabbah means “Great City.” What appears to be the case is that the Ammonites either captured this in a previous battle, they got it from Israel after Sihon’s death and took it to their country, or something similar to that.

However they got it, it became a piece of war spoil so noteworthy that it is recorded here, showing that it was well known to exist and a point of somewhat awe or pride on the part of those who possessed it. The reason for it being so noteworthy becomes obvious from our final words of the day…

*^11 (fin) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.

Understanding that this may or may not be a bedstead, it does not mean that Og was thirteen feet tall. It is simply referring to whatever he sat, lay, or reclined on was. He was obviously a big guy, and he had big things around him.

The point is that he was defeated in battle, and therefore size was not the main factor in winning such a war – the Lord is. As an interesting note, the dimensions are specifically given in Scripture, and so we are asked to look at the numbers for clarity.

Of the number 9, EW Bullinger says that “…It is akin to the number six, six being the sum of its factors (3×3=9, and 3+3=6), and is thus significant of the end of man, and the summation of all man’s works. Nine is, therefore, the number of finality or judgment.”

And then, of the number 4, Bullinger says, “It is the number of things that have a beginning, of things that are made, of material things, and matter itself. It is the number of material completeness. Hence it is the world number, and especially the ‘city’ number.”

It is rather incredible that the two numbers fit so well with the finality and judgment of Og and his kingdom, and that the bed ended in Rabbah, or “Great City.”

For now, in Deuteronomy, Israel trusted the Lord, the Lord delivered His enemies into their hands, and they were able to defeat them because of this.

We bear the shield and by faith head in
We gird ourselves with truth as we seek the reward
We have a helmet of salvation for the battle to win
And in our hand, we carry the Spirit’s sword 

Yes, the word of God is the instrument by which we fight
And prayer is the line to our side’s Head
Upon our feet is the gospel of peace, as is right
And we have prevailed in the battle; the enemy lies dead 

The spoil is piled high from the battle of which we fought
There is great reward for those who entered the fight
On behalf of the Lord, the battle was wrought
And the rewards piled high are a beautiful sight

II. Types and Pictures

As we saw in the Numbers 21 sermon, and which is given more detail in this passage, Og is typical of the False Prophet of Revelation. He is the king of the Bashan, his name coming from uggah, which is a round baked cake. That comes from ug, to bake. He is set in opposition to Israel.

The uggah is that which nourishes and sustains life. In denying Israel access to Bashan, the fertile place, he – as typical of the False Prophet – denies the people of God the truth and nourishment of the word. The battle of Israel against him was at Edrei which signifies “Mighty.” Despite the mighty place chosen for this final battle, it is the Lord, through Israel, who defeats Og. It is even possible that the place was named because of the battle.

The region of the Argob is first mentioned here. It means, “Stony.” It also stands in opposition to the people, and it is something that must be defeated. If you remember, there was great highlight in the verse where the Argob was mentioned, focusing on the sixty cities as if they were the heart of the area.

Those obstacles would reflect the condition of the hearts of the people before coming to Christ – an act signified by passing through the Jordan. Such a condition of the people is actually prophesied about by Ezekiel –

Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:19

The Lord even repeats this thought in Ezekiel 36:26.

After noting the victory of the battle, it then noted the scope of both campaigns – against Sihon and against Og. They conquered all the foes on the side of the Jordan. They were the last foes to conquer before they were set to cross over. Likewise, both the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be destroyed before Israel enters the true Land of Promise.

The scope of defeating both these foes included from the Arnon to Mount Hermon. From “Rejoicing” to the “Sacred Mountain.” It pictures a complete victory with heaven as the furthest border. It then noted all the cities of the plain. That introduced the word mishor. A word figuratively used to speak of uprightness and justice.

The condition of the people has gone from wandering in the wilderness of disobedience to possessing the habitation of uprightness. Next, it mentioned “the Gilead,” and “the Bashan.” They now possess “The Perpetual Fountain,” meaning access to the Spirit, and the “Place of Fertile Soil,” meaning the truth of the word.

Also, the account notes the extent of those locations as being as far as Salcah and Edrei. Salcah is first seen here, and it means “Walking.” Edrei means “Mighty.” Both of these anticipate the state of a person at any given time. One can walk in the flesh or walk in the Lord. One can pursue his own might, or he can pursue the might of the Lord.

In possessing the land through the defeat of the two final foes, Israel is thus walking in the land of the Lord and in the strength of the Lord.

Finally, what is really most noteworthy is the connection between the dimensions of the bedstead that were recorded and a connection to that of Mystery Babylon, of which the False Prophet is so obviously connected to.

The number 9 is the number of finality or judgment. The number 4 is the city number. Og found his finality and judgment and his bed was taken to Rabbah, the Great City. Mystery Babylon is likewise called the “great city” again and again in Revelation 17 & 18.

It, and the false prophet, like this foe of Israel, will find both finality and judgment. The patterns are wonderfully placed within Scripture to show us, in advance, clues of what lies yet ahead in redemptive history.

The review of Moses concerning the events of those two battles – with Sihon and Og – is to remind Israel that it is the Lord who brought them to where they now stand, and it is the Lord who offers them the final step in their long and meandering existence as a people.

In this chapter, he will continue to describe this land in the verses ahead, he will speak of the rest offered to them on the other side of the Jordan, and he will then note his desire to cross over the Jordan with Israel, followed by the fact that he cannot do so.

The entire chapter is one which speaks of a promise which cannot be earned through the law, and it is through the law that the Antichrist and the False Prophet will make their deal with Israel, as is recorded in Daniel 9.

The law stands against Israel, except as the law is fulfilled in Christ. This is what the Gentiles learned and accepted two thousand years ago, and this is what Israel as a collective has yet to realize. The law must die outside of the promise.

Unfortunately, it is the law, not the grace of God in Christ, which has risen in the hearts of so many people again and again throughout the ages. It is the constant failing of human existence to simply trust God and to instead attempt to earn His favor through personal merit.

Israel fought these battles, but the victory was found in the Lord, not in their effort. We either have fought or will fight the same battle, but it must be a battle of faith in what He can do, not in what we can do. The spirit of Antichrist, and the teaching of false prophets, exists in the world today.

Together, they deny the Son. When we deny the Son, we deny the Father. When we receive the Son, we are adopted as sons by the Father. Israel is being prepared for her meeting with destiny, and each of us has our own meeting to face. Let us receive the Son and His fulfillment of that which stands against us, meaning the Law, and let us trust in the grace of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Closing Verse: “One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
⁵ I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.
⁶ Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
⁷ They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.” Psalm 145:4-7

Next Week: Deuteronomy 3:12-20 You are being given a great and lengthy test… (Until the Lord Has Given Rest) (10^th Deuteronomy Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. But He also has expectations of you as He prepares you for entrance into His Land of Promise. So, follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

The Defeat of Og, King of Bashan

“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan
And Og king of Bashan came out against us
He and all his people, to battle at Edrei
He was making a royal fuss

And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him
For I have delivered him and all his people
———-and his land into your hand
You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites
Who dwelt at Heshbon; you shall do as I have planned

“So the Lord our God also delivered
Into our hands Og king of Bashan
With all his people, and we attacked him
Until he had no survivors remaining; until his people were gone

And we took all his cities at that time
There was not a city which we did not take
From them: sixty cities, all the region of ArgobThe kingdom of Og in Bashan was destroyed in our wake

All these cities were fortified
With high walls, gates, and bars also
Besides a great many rural towns
Our enemies we did swallow

And we utterly destroyed them
As we did to Sihon king of Heshbon; showing no pity
Utterly destroying the men, women
And children of every city

But all the livestock and the spoil – yes, all the looty
Of the cities we took for ourselves as booty

“And at that time, we took the land from the hand
Of the two kings of the Amorites, as they were known
Who were on this side of the Jordan
From the River Arnon to Mount Hermon

The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion
And the Amorites call it Senir – so it was known

All the cities of the plain
All Gilead, and all Bashan too
As far as Salcah and Edrei
Cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan we cut through

“For only Og king of Bashan remained
Of the remnant of the giants, as they are known
Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead
(Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?)

Nine cubits is its length and its width cubits four
According to the standard cubit; pretty big, for sure

Lord God, turn our hearts to be obedient to Your word
Give us wisdom to be ever faithful to You
May we carefully heed each thing we have heard
Yes, Lord God may our hearts be faithful and true

And we shall be content and satisfied in You alone
We will follow You as we sing our songs of praise
Hallelujah to You; to us Your path You have shown
Hallelujah we shall sing to You for all of our days

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan; and Og king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. ² And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’

³ “So the Lord our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining. ⁴ And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns. ⁶ And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city. ⁷ But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as booty for ourselves.

⁸ “And at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were on this side of the Jordan, from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁹ (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir), ¹⁰ all the cities of the plain, all Gilead, and all Bashan, as far as Salcah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

¹¹ “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.

Deuteronomy 2:24-37
The Defeat of Sihon, King of Heshbon

The account here is parallel to that found in Numbers 21. The two really have to be taken together to get a full view of what is going on. And for the most part, that is what will be presented. When something needs to be compared to, or aligned with, the earlier story of Sihon, it will be laid out for you in that way.

Here we have a real battle that actually took place about 3400 years ago. And yet, it anticipates another actual battle that hasn’t even happened yet in human history. But along with that is the fact that these stories have parallels to our own battles in life.

I’m not one to make extended moral applications out of these passages, but it just cannot be overlooked that there are spiritual and moral parallels to what occurs in our own lives. For example, Israel is going to battle against a foe. It is a foe who is on the offensive in this particular battle, and Israel will respond to his aggression as it comes.

Once attacked though, we are not only assured the victory, as Israel was, but we are also able to go on out on our own offensive engagements, just as Israel was. We are the Lord’s people, and we have been provided both defensive and offensive weapons, and we have the ability to destroy what the enemy has built…

Text Verse: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

Paul speaks of pulling down strongholds. That is an offensive type of warfare. He also speaks of casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself. Those, likewise, are offensive maneuvers.

What Israel does in these verses in a physical realm very well mirrors the things we are to do as outlined by Paul. As I said, moral and spiritual applications of such things aren’t my main focus, but they do have their place.

In any given passage from the Old Testament, one can often find one of four main uses for it: a literal and historical account, a moral application, a prophetic application, and a pictorial application – meaning something that pictures something else.

As you read the Bible, it is always interesting to think on how these all fit into whatever you are reading, but you also have to be careful to not over-spiritualize things in the process. Unless what you are looking at is actually and accurately revealed in another way, it is best to not simply make stuff up. That is counter-productive and can lead people down unhealthy paths very quickly.

In all things, be sure the word is carefully handled, and you will do well. For today, we have some rather interesting prophetic and pictorial things that we will be looking into. Such interesting things are to be found in His superior word. And so, let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. This Day I Will Begin (verses 24-26)

The words here are the continued words of the Lord which began in verse 18. Moses has been quoting Him since then.

²⁴ “‘Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon.

As noted in Numbers 21, the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. Upon entering this area, the final trek before leading into Canaan is seen.

The name Arnon comes from ranan. It signifies to give a jubilant, ringing cry, and thus rejoicing. Therefore, this is the Roaring Stream. Upon crossing this river, they are no longer in a land which the Lord intends to be left alone. The inhabitants of the land they will now encounter are those noted to Abraham over four hundred years earlier –

“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Genesis 15:12-16

Abraham was promised the land of Canaan, a land where Amorites also dwelt. However, the Lord was not yet ready for them to be dispossessed. They had not done enough evil to justify their extermination.

But the Lord knew that by the end of these four hundred years, their iniquity would be so great that they would need to be destroyed. Therefore, the promise to Abraham was delayed until that time.

Some look at the extermination of these people as a brutal and unjust act by the Hebrew people, but they fail to see that the Lord treated Israel in exactly the same manner. For example, when Israel’s iniquity had become so great, there was eventually nothing else that could be done but allow their destruction and exile –

And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.
¹⁷ Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸ And all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his leaders, all these he took to Babylon. ¹⁹ Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions. ²⁰ And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, ²¹ to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. 2 Chronicles 36:15-21

The only difference between the extermination of the Amorites and the destruction of Israel is that the Lord had made a covenant with Abraham, and He had made a covenant with Israel.

Despite their conduct, which was as bad and often worse than those they dispossessed, the Lord kept His covenant promises to them. No such covenant was made with the Amorites however…

^{24 (con’t)} Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land.

The narrative will be filled in later as to what will bring about the coming battle. For now, Moses states the words as a fact. The land is given into Israel’s hand. Unfortunately for these Amorites, and unlike the others whom Israel has already encountered, there was no word of protection from the Lord for these people.

The name Sihon, or Sikhon, was introduced in Numbers 21:21. He is actually referred to many times in the Old Testament, even as late as the time of Jeremiah. This is because his name is directly associated with the land he rules. We do the same today when we might say, “This is the land of Chief Red Cloud.”

Sihon’s name comes from a root which signifies “to sweep away,” or “to strike down.” Thus, his name may signify anything from “Tempestuous” to “Warrior.”

He is defined further as melekh kheshvon ha’emori, or “king of Heshbon the Amorite.” The word kheshvon, comes from khashav. It is a word which signifies to consider, calculate, or devise. Therefore, it signifies an explanation of things, or “Intelligence.”

Amorite comes from amar, meaning to utter or say. Therefore, the name signifies being spoken of, and thus “Renowned.” The idea with the combination of his name, title, and location, is that despite his greatness as a warrior, despite the intelligence of the foe, and despite the renown of the people, Israel is assured victory.

As He says, “I have given.” The king, meaning he and all the people and the land, is given as a possession. The time of the iniquity of the Amorites is full, and Israel is to be used as the instrument of the Lord’s judgment against them.

One cannot find fault in the Lord, who is the Creator, and thus sovereign over His creation. He had mercy on this group of people for four hundred years, and in that time their iniquity grew to the point where there was no other remedy than their destruction. Therefore, Israel is told to…

^{24 (con’t)} Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle.

In verse 2:5, the word garah, or “engage,” was first used. It signifies to stir up, coming from a primitive root meaning to grate, and thus it figuratively means to anger. Here, it means to excite oneself against another.

It has been used three times to prohibit Israel from stirring up a fight. In 2:5, they were prohibited from stirring up a fight with the descendants of Esau. In 2:9, it was then seen that they were not to stir up a fight with the descendants of Moab. And in 2:19, they were then told to not stir up a fight with the sons of Ammon.

Now, it is used for the fourth and last time in the books of Moses to do exactly the opposite. They are to actively garah, or engage, the Amorites in battle for the purpose of possessing what will be dispossessed by Sihon. But there is further reason for conducting this battle which is outside of Canaan proper…

²⁵ This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven,

The reason for stating this now, rather than after the events of the actual account, which begin in verse 26, is to set the stage for Israel’s victories in relation to the nations of the world. It makes the fact more poignant by telling what will result, even before stating what will lead to this intended outcome.

Israel is promised that a dread and fear of them will affect the nations under the “whole heavens” (the word is plural in the Hebrew). Some scholars take this as hyperbole, but what occurs here still applies today.

God’s covenant with Israel, their campaign for the land of promise – both outside and within the borders of Canaan – and their continued existence, literally permeates the entire world. Just because the event recorded here occurred thousands of years ago, it doesn’t mean that it has any less value than it did then.

Rather, because the history of Israel is recorded, and because the covenant of God with them is contained within their historical record (meaning Scripture), this word – in fact – has gone out to all nations under the whole heavens. It is both geographically and temporally a true statement to all…

^{25 (con’t)} who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

v’ragezu v’khalu mipanekha – “and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.” The first word, ragaz, was used in Exodus 15 after Israel had passed through the Red Sea –

“The people will hear and be afraid;
Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia.” Exodus 15:14

The second word is khul. It signifies to whirl or dance, and thus by implication to writhe. It is used when waiting because there is this sense of anxiety or writhing when one waits. It is used also when a woman gives birth. There is travail and pain in the process. One can then think of the nations whirling and writhing as if waiting in anguish for a terrible outcome.     

The idea, then, is that Israel is the Lord’s possession. It is through Israel that the Lord is glorified. Those who are in fear of Israel are so because they understand that it is the Lord who accomplishes His feats through them.

So, it is logical to ask – “As recorded in the Bible, did all of the nations tremble because of Israel?” No. What about in their history and even today? Do all of the nations tremble because of Israel? No. And so, is this a failed statement?

The answer is “No.” It obviously speaks of those people and nations who understand that Israel is the Lord’s possession, and who accept that the Lord is God. This is the purpose of keeping Israel for all these millennia. Eventually, the nations will come to understand not only that the Lord is Israel’s God, but that the Lord is God. This is what is referred to in Ezekiel –

“And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.” Ezekiel 36:23

Here in Deuteronomy, the Lord says He will “begin” this process. In Ezekiel, it speaks of a time when the Lord will continue this process – something that is happening in our lifetime. Someday, the completion of this process will be realized, and all of the world will see that not only is the Lord Israel’s God, but that the Lord is, in fact, God. With that understood, the details of how this is to come about are now set to be reviewed…

I have given you the victory, and the battle is won
All you need to do is to engage the enemy
The outcome is assured, and the fight is done
Just step forward in faith, and this you will see

The fear of you will be upon all who hear
And none shall be able to stand against you
Whether the enemy is afar or near
Just step forward in faith; it’s all you need to do 

The victory is assured because of Jesus My Son
In Him, the battle is won; surely the battle is through
Trust in Him and the fight is done
Just step forward in faith; it’s all you need to do

II. A Hardened Spirit and an Obstinate Heart (verse 26-37)

The words now go from those of the Lord to those of Moses. He will fill in the details concerning what the Lord had just spoken.

²⁶ “And I sent messengers

In Numbers 21:21 it says, “And Israel sent messengers.” That was the narrative form of the account. Moses is now recounting it from his perspective. As the leader, he directed messengers to go forth…

^{26 (con’t)} from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,

The “Wilderness of Kedemoth” has never been mentioned before. The name comes from qedem, or east. However, qedem also speaks of that which is before, because the sun rises in the east. Therefore, the location means “Ancient Times,” “Antiquity,” or “Beginnings.”

It is from this newly stated location that Moses sent messengers to Sihon. And with them they carried words of peace. Israel has already been told to destroy all the inhabitants of Canaan. That was stated explicitly in Numbers 33 –

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵² then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; ⁵³ you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess.” Numbers 33:51-53

Sihon is not in Canaan, and therefore he was exempt from this directive. Therefore, Moses’ messengers extended words of peace from him, just as they were extended to the descendants of Esau and of Lot. Therefore, the fate of Sihon will be his own fault. For now, Moses’ words of peace are…

²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land;

The words are identical to Numbers 21:22. Israel had asked because Moses had asked. He petitioned the king through his messengers to simply pass through the land, but with the following guarantees…

^{27 (con’t)} I will keep strictly to the road, and I will turn neither to the right nor to the left.

In Numbers 21, it said “we.” Here it is spoken in the first person, “I will keep,” and “I will turn.” Moses gave his personal guarantee on behalf of the people. Further, he gives a strong emphasis by saying, baderek baderek elek – “by the way, by the way, I will walk.” He further defines that as, lo asur yamin u-semol – “no I will turn right and left.”

Sihon is given the same strong sureties that were given to Edom, as was stated in Numbers 20 –

“Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” Numbers 20:17

At that time, however, Edom refused passage to Israel, and so Israel turned and took another route. Eventually, as we will see, some of those in Edom did allow them a certain amount of passage through their land. For now, and with Sihon, Moses continues…

²⁸ You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot,

The offer is the same as that for Edom. The offer is to pay with silver for anything that is eaten or for any water that they obtain from wells or springs. They further note that they are passing through on foot. In this, there is no mobilized army. Any animals would be led, not ridden on. The sureties are that there will be peace and complete compliance with the stated words.

²⁹ just as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me,

The words here appear contradictory to both the earlier record in Numbers concerning Edom, and also a later note concerning Moab. First, after their petition to Edom, the response from the king of Edom was –

 “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.” Numbers 20:18

Also, later in Deuteronomy, we will read this concerning Moab –

“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, ⁴ because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 23:3, 4

The first thing to consider is that this is a continuing narrative, and the second statement is contained in the same book that the verse we are looking at now is in. It would be ridiculous to think that Moses would write one thing and then to contradict himself with his own words.

To resolve this, we can note first that the words here do not specifically apply to traveling through Edom, which was denied by them, but rather to the willingness of Edom and Moab to sell food and water to them as Israel traveled around their borders.

Secondly, in regard to Moab, the word Moses uses in Deuteronomy 23 is qadam. It signifies to come before or to meet. It would imply a hospitable meeting. The descendants of Lot may have been willing to allow Israel to skirt their borders, and they may have even sold them food and water for silver, but they did not voluntarily tend to their needs.

As their forefathers, Abraham and Lot, were related by blood, this was an especially unfriendly act. Thus, Moses codified it into the law that they should not be allowed into the assembly of the Lord for their lack of fraternal care for Israel.

And finally, Moses’ words here do not mention the king of any of these peoples. He simply notes that the people of the land sold them food and drink. Therefore, there is no contradiction in what Moses says now to anything which, at first, appears contradictory elsewhere. Understanding that, he now says…

^{29 (con’t)} until I cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord our God is giving us.’

Moses is obviously speaking for Israel, and not merely of himself. He already knows that he will not pass over Jordan and into Canaan. Therefore, his words – though in the first person – are spoken of concerning Israel collectively.

Despite this, the words are actually a continued note of surety to Sihon. If the Lord their God is giving them the land west of the Jordan, and as Sihon is east of the Jordan, then the Lord has not granted Sihon’s land to Israel. The words are actually a careful note of security for Sihon to consider. Despite these guarantees…

³⁰ “But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through,

The word here is different than that used in Numbers 21. There it said that Sihon would not nathan, or “give,” passage to Israel. Here it says he is not abah, or willing, to allow passage. The change is purposeful in order to set up the next words…

^{30 (con’t)} for the Lord your God hardened his spirit

Here is a verse which is similar to that of Exodus concerning Pharaoh, and which uses the same word, qashah, or harden –

“And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 7:3

The word signifies to be hard, harsh, or severe. Moses says that the Lord made his spirit hard. But further…

^{30 (con’t)} and made his heart obstinate,

The word here is amets. It signifies to be strong, bold, and courageous. It is the same word used later by Moses when he tells Israel to be strong and courageous. Likewise, the Lord says the same thing to Joshua to encourage him once Moses dies.

Rather than saying his heart is obstinate, I would say something like “strengthened,” or “encouraged.” The obvious question to consider, just as with Pharaoh in Exodus, is, “Did the Lord actively harden his spirit and encourage his heart, meaning purposefully override Sihon’s nature and thus bring the change about?”

The answer is, “No.” Sihon saw how Israel had traveled around Edom and Moab, not through them. Thus, it was obvious that they had not granted access to Israel through their lands. Sihon would have seen the passivity of Israel in this, and so he assumed they were unable to fight in such a battle. The same is true with Ammon as was seen in verse 2:19.

The trek to Canaan could have been immensely shorter if they had gone through their lands, but they didn’t. Therefore, Sihon’s spirit was passively hardened, and his heart was passively encouraged. Further, as an Amorite, he was kin to the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan.

Therefore, his spirit would have been hardened against Israel because of this as well. The very fact that Moses said to him that it was “the land which the Lord our God is giving us,” would bring exactly the opposite effect that it was supposedly intended to.

“We don’t want your land, because Canaan is given to us,” became in Sihon’s mind, “The land the Lord our God is giving us is the land that the Amorite’s gods will be expelled from.” The hardening was passive, and yet it was completely effective. This is so…

^{30 (con’t)} that He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day.

The word is l’maan. We simply say, “so” or “that,” but it signifies “to an end purpose.” The process of doing the things that have been done was purposeful. Nothing was left to chance, and Sihon’s reaction to it was assured. And yet, and despite this, Sihon is solely to blame for what occurred. Based on this…

³¹ “And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you.

The Lord, having directed all things to meet a determined outcome, now states that outcome which has been derived from His divine causality. “I have begun to give” signifies that it is done. The initiation of the process has begun, and the hardening and the encouraging have met their intended goal. Therefore…

 ^{31 (con’t)} Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.’

As in verse 24, it is an imperative. “You are to take this action.” However, in verse 24, it shows how it will come about. In this verse, the stated outcome is given. This is seen by putting the two side by side –

Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle.
Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.

The same word, yarash, is used in both verses, but it is repeated in the second one. It speaks of inheritance. In other words, one could say, “Begin to inherit it, that you may inherit his land.” The battle is merely a steppingstone on a path that leads to a guaranteed outcome. Because the land is an inheritance, it belongs to Israel.

³² Then Sihon and all his people came out against us to fight at Jahaz.

The name, Jahaz, or yahatz, comes from a root meaning “to stamp.” Thus, it signifies, “Trodden Down.” The name of the place is probably derived from what occurred during the battle. At this location, the Amorites were trodden down, and thus Israel gave the location its name as a memorial of what occurred.

It is Sihon who initiates the action. Israel has not moved from the wilderness, as is seen from the Numbers account –

“But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.” Numbers 21:23

Israel had peacefully petitioned Sihon, and they had remained encamped at their place of petition. Therefore, Sihon is to blame for the aggression, and any land lost in battle, by default, will belong to Israel. And the outcome is…

³³ And the Lord our God delivered him over to us;

The Lord is given the credit as the principal cause. He is ultimately responsible for the victory, and without Him, the victory would not have come about. Sihon was delivered to Israel by the Lord so that Israel could accomplish the Lord’s purposes, as is next stated…

^{33 (con’t)} so we defeated him, his sons, and all his people.

Israel is the instrumental cause of Sihon’s defeat. Because the Lord delivered him, so Israel was enabled to defeat him. And the victory was complete. As it says, “him, his sons, and all his people.”

At times in the Hebrew, there is a difference between the written text and that which is read. This is the case here. The written text says, “his son.” That margin note, however, says, “his sons.” Either way, whether one son or more died in the battle, even if he had more sons it makes no real difference. This is because…

³⁴ We took all his cities at that time,

Verse 31 said that “Sihon and all his people came out against us.” The implication is “all the fighting men.” In doing this, he left open the possibility of total defeat. In such a case, there would be no battle-capable men to defend the cities. Thus, Israel would have been able to take all of the cities with relative ease. Sihon’s overconfidence left his people in a very bad state…

^{34 (con’t)} and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining.

The word translated as “utterly destroyed” is kharam. It comes from a primitive root signifying to devote to religious uses. In such a case, it signifies a devotion to God, meaning that nothing would be spared, but all would be devoted to the Lord. In this, the implication is that the slaying of these people is by divine direction.

As He is the judge of all souls, and as all things belong to Him, what Israel does here with the extermination of even who we would call “innocents” in a regular war, cannot be considered either murder or some type of war crime.

As the Lord is God, and because Israel is the Lord’s arm of judgment, their actions are wholly acceptable. But this cannot be said in any other scenario. As there is only one God, then all other gods are false. Thus, the actions of those who randomly take innocent life cannot be condoned, even while the actions of Israel – as directed by the Lord, cannot be condemned.

Despite the mandate for kharam of the people, however, the cities were not destroyed. And more…

³⁵ We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we took.

The act of kharam, at times, extends to all things, including the livestock and the spoil of the cities. This is the case, for example, with Jericho. Nothing was to be taken from it. This is true at other times, such as with the Amalekites as is recorded in 1 Samuel 15.

The decision was the Lord’s, and each instance is based upon His will, not the desires of the people. Therefore, the act of kharam is as much a test of obedience to Israel as it is a point of authority of the Lord over Israel. Israel devoted to the Lord that which the Lord determined to be devoted, and they were also provided for from their battles according to the decision of the Lord.

³⁶ From Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, and from the city that is in the ravine, as far as Gilead,

Aroer means “Stripped,” “Bare,” or “Naked.” It is noted as being on the bank of the Arnon. It rested on the north bank of the Arnon River. The next boundary is noted as a city in the ravine. That is probably Ar of Moab which is noted in Numbers 21:15.

By naming Aroer and not naming Ar, it is showing that Aroer at least partially belonged to Israel, while Ar, though forming a border, still belonged to Moab. The middle of the river itself, however, is the border between the two lands. From that border, all of the land was taken “as far as Gilead.”

In the Hebrew, there is an article before Gilead. It says, “the Gilead,” and thus it surely speaks of Mount Gilead. The name Gilead means “Perpetual Fountain.” All of the land and all of the cities within the land were taken. As it says…

^{36 (con’t)} there was not one city too strong for us;

Here is a new word, sagav. It comes from a primitive root meaning “to be lofty,” and thus inaccessible. Therefore, it is better translated as “not one city was too high for us.” We could paraphrase that by saying, “No city was out of our reach.”

It is this word that brought to mind the text verse today where Paul spoke of “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” Moses is rejoicing in his words over a physical conflict that took place. Paul’s words rejoice over the spiritual equivalent which we face as believers.

Both are obstacles on the road to the Land of Promise, and both are only defeated in one way. For the church today, and for Israel of the past that is…

^{36 (con’t)} the Lord our God delivered all to us.

Though we are given weapons of war – be they physical or spiritual – apart from God, there can be no victory. But with Him, all strongholds will be cast down, and every high thing is brought low. It is He who ultimately delivers the enemy and grants His people the victory.

*^{37 (fin)} Only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon—anywhere along the River Jabbok, or to the cities of the mountains, or wherever the Lord our God had forbidden us.

The Jabbok, or yaboq, means “Pouring Out.” It is the designated border of the land. In this, is another note of obedience by Israel. They refrained from securing any land that belonged to Ammon, the descendants of Lot. Here it says, “along the River Jabbok.”

The Jabbok was the border between the two lands, and so Israel stopped at that point. However, in Joshua 13, it will say this concerning the inheritance of land given to Gad –

“Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, which is before Rabbah.” Joshua 13:25

This land comes into dispute in Judges 11. However, that was land which was won in battle by Sihon. When Israel defeated Sihon, that land became a part of Israel’s possession. Ammon lost their claim to it when it was lost to Sihon.

Everything else which still belonged to Ammon at that time was left to them as the Lord commanded as was all other land prohibited by the Lord. The borders remained set by the Lord alone.

The spoil is yours with the battle over and done
The enemy is destroyed, and you can now rest
You trusted in Christ Jesus, My precious Son
You had faith in Him, and you passed the test 

In this battle, you have the victory
And the spoil is there, waiting for you
The rewards of heaven are yours, heaped up aplenty
Because you trusted in Jesus who is Faithful and True 

Great are You, O God! And greatly are You to be praised
We honor You for all You have done
With hearts of joy and voices loudly raised
We worship You through Christ Jesus Your Son

III. Prophetic Pictures

The subject of Sihon has already been presented in Numbers 21. There, it was seen that he prefigured the antichrist. His name means Warrior, something identified with the antichrist. He is here called the king of Heshbon, or Intelligence.

His destruction here in a physical battle is equated to what Paul says of such things in a spiritual sense in 1 Corinthians –

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’” 1 Corinthians 1:18, 19 (NIV)

The antichrist is the king of that which is opposed to God. There is the wisdom of God and there is that which is opposed to Him, meaning false wisdom.

The first notable thing is that Moses sent his message from Kedemoth, or “Ancient Times.” That is reflective of the word of the Lord, issuing forth from eternity itself. The Lord uses qedem, the root of Qedemoth in this manner in Isaiah –

Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
¹⁰ Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure.” Isaiah 46:9, 10

It is a note of surety that what the Lord has ordained will come to pass. As we saw, despite it being a request for passage through the land, the request was actually the means of hardening Sihon’s heart to effect the purposes of the Lord. That is exactly what has been purposed for the antichrist from the very beginning.

And so, Israel proposes to go through his land to the Land of Promise, exactly what will happen in Israel’s future. But that is denied by him. However, as we saw, the Lord purposed for this to come about. The spirit of the antichrist, and thus the antichrist, must be destroyed, and the Lord purposed that it will come to pass.

As we saw in Numbers, and is repeated here, the place of the battle is at Jahaz which means Trodden Down. This is what will happen to Jerusalem as is noted in Revelation 19. The holy city will be trodden underfoot.

However, Israel will prevail in the end and they will take possession of Sihon’s land. What belonged to the antichrist and his master, the devil, is regained for Israel. At that time, it says that they have inherited the land from the Aroer on the Arnon to the Jabbok and even as far as the Gilead.

Aroer, means “Stripped,” “Bare,” or “Naked.” That is referring to the state of all things before the Lord –

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12, 13

Arnon comes from ranan, which signifies to give a jubilant, ringing cry, and thus rejoicing. The yaboq, or Jabbok, means, “Pouring out.” There is a pouring out of God’s favor – love, grace, mercy and the like – even the Holy Spirit – on Israel. But there is also a pouring out of God’s wrath on the antichrist.

And Gilead, or Perpetual Fountain, speaks of the state of Israel from that point on. They will have the Perpetual Fountain of God flowing forth for them, from that time on.

The narrative today is both in line with the account in Numbers 21, and it also expands on it, adding in new details through new names and places. It is a note of confirmation that God’s promises to Israel will not fail, and though they must face this foe in the end times, the Lord will be with them, bring them through what is coming, and bring them to the place that He promised their fathers thousands of years before.

The faithfulness of God to Israel is the surest sign of the faithfulness of God to us in Christ. He made a covenant with Israel which he has never forsaken, and which He will never forsake.

And, in the giving of the New Covenant in Christ, the same reliable surety is found for us. God can be trusted to follow through with His promises, even when we fall short. Have confidence in this, and trust that what God has promised in Christ will be brought to its happy conclusion.

Closing Verse: “Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:3, 4

Next Week: Deuteronomy 3:1-11 Another foe, another battle, someone to whoop up on… (The Defeat of Og King of Bashan) (9^th Deuteronomy Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. But He also has expectations of you as He prepares you for entrance into His Land of Promise. So, follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

The Defeat of Sihon, King of Heshbon

“Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon
Look, I have given into your hand
Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land
Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle, his defeat will be grand

This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you
Upon the nations under the whole heaven, so I shall do
Who shall hear the report of you
And shall tremble and be in anguish because of you

And I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth
To Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying
Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the road
And I will turn neither to the right nor to the left, so I was relaying

You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat
And give me water for money, that I may drink
Only let me pass through on foot
That’s my proposition, what do you think?

Just as the descendants of Esau
Who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me
Until I cross the Jordan to the land
Which the LORD our God is giving us, this is my plea

“But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through
For the LORD your God his spirit hardened like clay
And made his heart obstinate
That He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day

“And the LORD said to me
See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you
Begin to possess it
That you may inherit his land, so you shall do

Then Sihon and all his people came out
Against us to fight at Jahaz, this he did do
And the LORD our God delivered him over to us
So we defeated him, his sons, and all his people too

We took all his cities at that time
And we utterly destroyed (the victory we were gaining)
The men, women, and little ones of every city
We left none remaining

We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves
With the spoil of the cities which we took
From Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon
And from the city that is in the ravine; that is in the brook

As far as Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us
The LORD our God delivered all to us, we had no fuss

Only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon—
Anywhere along the River Jabbok, you did not trod
Or to the cities of the mountains
Or wherever had forbidden us the LORD our God

Lord God, turn our hearts to be obedient to Your word
Give us wisdom to be ever faithful to You
May we carefully heed each thing we have heard
Yes, Lord God may our hearts be faithful and true

And we shall be content and satisfied in You alone
We will follow You as we sing our songs of praise
Hallelujah to You; to us Your path You have shown
Hallelujah we shall sing to You for all of our days

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

²⁴ “‘Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

²⁶ “And I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the road, and I will turn neither to the right nor to the left. ²⁸ You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot, ²⁹ just as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord our God is giving us.’

³⁰ “But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day.

³¹ “And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.’ ³² Then Sihon and all his people came out against us to fight at Jahaz. ³³ And the Lord our God delivered him over to us; so we defeated him, his sons, and all his people. ³⁴ We took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining. ³⁵ We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we took. ³⁶ From Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, and from the city that is in the ravine, as far as Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us; the Lord our God delivered all to us. ³⁷ Only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon—anywhere along the River Jabbok, or to the cities of the mountains, or wherever the Lord our God had forbidden us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deuteronomy 2:13-23
From the Midst of the Camp

Three times in just three verses, the narrative today notes that the generation of the men of war was consumed and had perished. And yet, in all three of these verses, it adds on a qualifier. Twice it says, “from the midst of the camp;” once “from among the people.”

What is the Lord conveying to us with that thought? I’ll let you wait until we get there to explain it, but maybe you can guess in advance simply by thinking of the typology of what is being pictured.

Or, maybe you can put it together based on what the rest of the verses say about the nations which are noted as being destroyed in the other verses of our passage. Or, maybe you can put it together by thinking of the fate of those nations which did the destroying.

What is the common denominator between them, and what is the contrast between them and Israel? As you read the word, think on such things. Compare them to the rest of the word, and to what occurs in redemptive history as well, and you can usually piece such things together.

Text Verse: “Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
⁶ Do not add to His words,
Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar. Proverbs 30:5, 6

It’s a good set of words for our text verse for several reasons, but particularly for the words “He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” As long as Israel trusted the Lord, Israel was unstoppable. But as soon as they failed to trust Him, or when they trusted in another god, which is no god at all, they would quickly be crushed by their foes.

Israel is given to us as an example to live by and learn from. Sometimes, those lessons apply to us individually, and sometimes they apply to us in a more general sense, but they all have meaning. In following the history of Israel, and by comparing it to what Scripture says about them, one can form a plan for his own walk in this life, even if it is just one big broad plan – “The Lord has spoken, and I will obey the Lord.”

If you go no further than that, you will be far better off than most of the Christians in the world today. Just simply heed His word and obey it… in context of course. If you do these things, you will do well. But you cannot do those things unless you… Anyone? Yes, unless you know His word.

Pay heed to His word after you learn His word. God’s directives for you are all to be found in His superior word. And so, let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Just As the Lord Had Sworn to Them (verses 13-16)

¹³ “‘Now rise and cross over the Valley of the Zered.’

Moses now recounts a momentous event in the life of Israel. In this, he begins with these words, atah qumu v’ivru lakem eth nakhal zared – “Now rise and cross over Valley Zared.” The word nakhal signifies a wadi where water would flow through during the seasons of rain. That word comes from nakhal meaning, “to take possession,” or “inherit.” Zared comes from an unused root meaning to be exuberant in growth of foliage.

This location was first mentioned in Numbers 21:12. Israel had gone from Oboth, to Ije Abarim which is in the wilderness east of Moab, and then they camped in this valley. After camping there, Moses was specifically told to rise and cross over the Valley of Zered. In obedience to that, it next says…

^{13 (con’t)} So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered.

va’naabor eth nakhal zered – “And crossed over Valley Zered.” It is obviously an important point in their travels. How rare it is to record the command of the Lord and then for the execution of that to be immediately and specifically stated again in this fashion.

The direct command, followed by the immediate obedience, is not unexpected. But the stress in the word of recording both, one right after the other, asks us to consider the event. It is either the beginning of something extremely important, or the ending of something of particular note, or it is both.

Based on the next words, at least the second option is certainly true. A milestone has been reached which is marked out for Israel to remember in the crossing of the Valley of Zered…

¹⁴ And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years,

Deuteronomy 1:2 notes the arrival at Kadesh Barnea, saying, “It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.” This was the detail given to show that Israel had left Sinai (here called Horeb), and they had an 11-day walk to Kadesh Barnea. From that short walk, they had been offered Canaan, meaning the Land of Promise. All they had to do was go in and receive it.

The Lord promised to go before them, and He promised that it would be their possession. But, as we saw, this did not come about. Immediately after recording the fact that it was an 11-day journey, the next verse said –

“Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them,” Deuteronomy 1:3

Something had happened which caused an extended delay in Israel’s entering and receiving the promise. They failed to simply believe the Lord and trust His offer. From there, Deuteronomy 1 gave all of the details of that corporate failure of them to simply believe, trust, and receive. The chapter ended with these words –

“So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.” Deuteronomy 1:46

Without going on, one can do an approximate guess concerning the math based on what has been presented so far. Israel left Egypt and eventually arrived at Sinai (Horeb). Israel departed there, as it says in Numbers 10:11, “on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year.” Moses spoke to Israel the words of Deuteronomy, as it says in Deuteronomy 1:3, “in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month.”

The fortieth year, minus the second year, would make 38 years, exactly as noted in this verse. The eleventh month, minus the second month, would make 9 months. Understanding this, the crossing of the Valley of Zered happened sometime before this point – sometime before the passing of the 38 years and 9 months when Moses spoke out these words to the people. That specific timeframe was…

^{14 (con’t)} until all the generation of the men of war was consumed

This is exactly what the Lord has promised them, first in Numbers 14:26-30, and then as was repeated in an abbreviated form in Deuteronomy 1:34-38 –

“And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, ³⁵ ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers, ³⁶ except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the Lord.’ ³⁷ The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. ³⁸ Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.”

It cannot go without note at this time, that Peter uses the same terminology as is used here when speaking to Israel about their rejection of Christ in Acts 2 –

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
⁴⁰ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Acts 2:38-40

Moses called them an evil generation; Peter called them a perverse generation. Both words speak of the moral state of the people of that generation.

Further, and more directly, the author of Hebrews uses this same account from their past, and he equates it directly to their rejection of Jesus their Messiah –

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
⁸ Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
⁹ Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
¹⁰ Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
¹¹ So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Hebrews 3:7-11

The entire congregation of men of war was set to die outside of the Land of Promise with the exception of those few (meaning Joshua and Caleb) who simply believed.

The same was to be true for Israel at the coming of Jesus. None of those who failed to believe in the Messiah would be brought into the inheritance and God’s rest. Rather it would only be those few who would, by faith, accept and believe. Think of this account of Israel’s past as we continue the letter to the Hebrews –

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; ¹³ but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, ¹⁵ while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
¹⁶ For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? ¹⁷ Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? ¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:12-19

None who failed to believe entered the inheritance, not one. Only Joshua and Caleb, who trusted the Lord, could enter. This thought is then summed up in the first verses of Hebrews 4 –

“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. ² For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. ³ For we who have believed do enter that rest…” Hebrews 4:1-3

The Bible is so abundantly clear on this. Israel’s rejection of the Lord’s provision was simply a lack of faith. In that rejection, they died outside of the promise. That was typologically given to us to see Israel’s rejection of the Lord’s provision in Christ.

Their rejection of Him means that they die outside of the promise. They shall never enter His rest, meaning what God has prepared for His people since man’s expulsion from Eden. But for those who simply believed, they do enter that rest. It is in the present tense, indicative mood in the Greek – believe and enter, and it is real and certain.

Despite this rejection of the people, Israel, and despite their banishment from entry into the promise, there is a truth which is inescapable based on Moses’ next words…

^{14 (con’t)} from the midst of the camp,

The people who rejected the Lord were consumed from the midst of the camp. What does that imply? Without even giving it a second worth of thought, it tells us that there is a camp, and that the camp continues on.

God did not destroy Israel completely. Rather, He maintained them as a people, carefully protecting them from either separating into individual clans and spreading out from one another into different people groups, or from being destroyed as a people, thus ending their nation and culture.

Rather, the camp continued through the wilderness, and Israel continued throughout the many generations since their rejection of Christ. The camp remained. These things happened to them. While the camp continued, those who rejected them were consumed…

^{14 (con’t)} just as the Lord had sworn to them.

This goes right back to the words of Deuteronomy 1:34, 35 which was cited earlier. As it said –

“And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, ³⁵ ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers…”

The Lord took an oath, and as He swore, so He fulfilled. And this fulfillment wasn’t a passive waiting around for time to accomplish its work, as is seen in the next words…

¹⁵ For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them,

In the previous verse, the word tamam was used. It was translated as “consumed.” It means to come to an end or to finish a matter. Here, it shows that this was actively accomplished by the Lord. His hand was against them as they wandered.

It could be that some tried to escape the camp, leaving the body and heading for some people group around them. If so, He may have sent a lion to destroy them. Or, the person may have come to a camp and been killed by those he came to seek refuge with. Further, he may have sent disease into the camp.

We can only speculate, but the deaths of this generation were complete in scope and number, and they served the purpose of bringing to an end those who had seen the Lord’s glory and who failed to believe.

This is exactly what happened to those of Israel who were exiled after rejecting Christ. They may have tried to hide who they were, or they may have tried to leave their collective body, but the Lord searched them out and pursued them relentlessly, just as He promised He would in Leviticus 26.

What Israel faced can only be blamed on Israel. They were warned in advance, they were given the opportunity to believe the Lord. They failed to do so. And, the Lord pursued them, even to the ends of the earth. And yet, the same thought of God’s sure punishment is mingled with His unending grace, as is seen in the next words…

^{15 (con’t)} to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they were consumed.

Here, he says that the Lord was against them to hamam, or destroy them. The word signifies to put in commotion or throw into confusion. By implication then, it means to destroy. This is what the Lord did to Egypt as Israel crossed through the Red Sea. He threw them into confusion, resulting in their destruction.

Likewise, this was the active hand of the Lord against Israel, until they had come to their end. And yet, the camp remained. The grace of maintaining Israel, even as He destroyed Israel, served a purpose. It was to show Israel, and indeed all peoples of the earth – His holy character.

He had promised to forever keep Israel, and He kept them through the wilderness. Likewise, He had promised to keep Israel, and He has kept them throughout their exile –

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. ²³ And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. ²⁴ For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ²⁸ Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. ³⁰ And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. ³² Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!” Ezekiel 36:22-32

Replacement theology fails because it does not take into account the nature of God, the unconditional nature of His spoken word, or the surety of His covenantal promises.

Israel rejected the Lord Jesus, but God did not reject Israel collectively. Instead, He rejected them individually while maintaining them. The camp remains. And because it both remained and remains, there is a time for the punishment to end. For Israel in the wilderness, that time was to end in the crossing of the Valley of Zered.

As we saw, the word translated as “valley,” nakhal, comes from nakhal meaning, “to take possession,” or “inherit.” Zared comes from an unused root meaning to be exuberant in growth of foliage. The significance of the place is that for Israel, abundant life is once again ready to be possessed.

A whole generation had perished along the way
But the journey brought them back to the land again
Before them lay the prospect of a new day
Behind them lay the bodies of that generation of men 

In going forward they were to have faith in the Lord
They were to trust, unlike that generation of men
He would give them the land, according to His word
Because He had brought them back to the land again 

Faithful and True is the God of Israel
Though He destroyed them to the last unfaithful of those men
He also preserved them for the story to tell
That He had faithfully brought them back to the land again

II.Just as He Had Done (verses 16-23)

¹⁶ “So it was, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people,

Maybe Moses was thinking of the events recorded in this verse when He penned these words of Psalm 90 –

“For we have been consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath we are terrified.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
⁹ For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.” Psalm 90:7-9

In the previous two verses, it said, the men of war were destroyed from the midst of the camp. Here it says they were destroyed from among the people. The word ha’am, or “the people,” is singular. It speaks of the collective whole.

The camp remained, because the people remained. The generation had perished, but the generations continue. Israel remains. Praise God for His faithfulness. Israel remains.

¹⁷ that the Lord spoke to me, saying:

The Lord set a time and a location, along with the event (meaning the final death of the disobedient generation) to speak out words of a new direction and purpose for Moses, and thus for Israel. He begins that new direction with…

¹⁸ ‘This day you are to cross over at Ar, the boundary of Moab.

The words are explaining the crossing of the Valley of Zered. It is the border of Moab, and the location is by Ar, the city of Moab. Or, it could be as in verse 9 where Ar, the city, is representative of the land of Moab. In that case, it is saying that by crossing the river, they are in the land of Moab, regardless of the actual location of the city.

The latter seems more likely, because it then skips over anymore mention of Moab and goes directly to Ammon. The Lord has already taken care of his words of warning concerning Moab in verse 2:9, and so there is no need to repeat that again. Thus, he next continues with…

¹⁹ And when you come near the people of Ammon,

Lot had a child through each of his own daughters. The account is found in Genesis 19:36-38 –

“Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.”

The people of Ammon are descended from Ben-Ammi, or “Son of My People.” The name Ammon comes from am, meaning “people,” or im, meaning “with.” And so, it means either “A People” or maybe “Kinsmen.” The name is derived from this incestuous relationship, just as Moab, or “From Father,” is. Of them, like Moab, the Lord says…

^{19 (con’t)} do not harass them or meddle with them,

Here, the Lord uses the same words as He did concerning Moab in verse 2:9. In essence, the words mean that they are not to besiege them in their cities or fortifications, and they are not to stir up trouble with them in order to provoke them to war…

^{19 (con’t)} for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession,

Again, this follows on in thought with the words of verse 2:9 which concerned Moab, which said, “for I will not give you any of their land as a possession.” And the same reason is then given for this command…

^{19 (con’t)} because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’”

The land of Ammon is where the descendants of Ben-Ammi settled. It became their possession, and they dwelt in it. Israel was to leave this land alone, and to leave the inhabitants of the land alone as well. They were not allowed to cause any damage or harm to them, and this is for a specific, yet somewhat hidden reason.

As with verse 2:9, without being dogmatic about a typological picture, it again looks to what God would do in Gentile believers. Ammon descends from Ben-Ammi, or Son of My People. Citing Hosea, Paul speaks of the Lord’s people in Romans 9 –

“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
²⁶ “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.” Romans 9:25, 26

Israel of the future is to accept God’s chosen Gentiles, and they are not to harm them, even when they are again God’s chosen instrument for revealing Himself to the world.

The picture fits, especially because of the naming of Lot which, as we saw then, means “Covering.” The Lord has called them His people and thus they are covered as such.

But despite this, and again like for that of Moab, there is a more immediate reason for sparing Ammon as a people. Like Moab, they too will come into the line of Christ Jesus. Moab did through Ruth. But some generations later, this is said of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon –

“And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.” 1 Kings 14:21

From that marriage came the next king of Israel, Abijam (Abijah), and through him, eventually came the Messiah, our Lord Jesus. Thus, the family of Lot – all of them – are in the genealogy of Jesus.

He, his wife, his two daughters, and their two sons are all in this perfectly structured genealogy which was to usher in the Messiah of the world. The story of Lot and his daughters in the cave is one of the most misunderstood of the Bible. It is there for a reason, but not the reason that most people ascribe to it.

Of this land, like that of the land of Moab, a parenthetical thought is now introduced…

²⁰ (That was also regarded as a land of giants;

Here, we have the same translational problem as verse 2:11. The word “giants” is misleading. The Hebrew says Rephaim. The fact that they may be large is irrelevant.

As we saw, Rephaim comes from a word meaning to sink down or relax. This is similar to the Nephilim. That comes from naphal, meaning to fall. However, Rephaim could also come from the word meaning “to heal.”

The land of Ammon was called a land of Rephaim. This would be akin to saying, the land of Florida is the land of the Seminoles. They are the original inhabitants of the land. The name isn’t so much given based on their size, but on their clan, even if their size is part of the equation. The thought continues with…

^{20 (con’t)} giants formerly dwelt there.

It should say, “Rephaim formerly dwelt there.” This is the same as “Seminole Indians formerly dwelt there.” The thought goes on…

^{20 (con’t)} But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,

Rather than identifying them by their clan, the people of Ammon gave these people their own name. The name is believed to come from zamam, meaning to consider, purpose, or devise – often in a bad way, but not always. Thus, these are maybe “The Schemers.”

The inclusion of this clause is to identify the group based on their attributes rather than their clan. This would not be unlike calling the Seminoles, “The Unconquered People,” because they eluded capture by the US Army in the 19^th century.

Again, as before, by bringing in this subject matter, it is to show Israel, even before entering into Canaan, that just as these tribes who were closely related to them – Edom, Moab, and Ammon – could subdue their enemies, so Israel should not fear that they too could subdue the inhabitants of Canaan.

This continues to be seen with the next words…

²¹ a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim.

Like what was said of the Emim in verse 2:11, they are noted for their greatness, their numbers, and their height – thus they were terrifying to those who came into contact with them. It is also possible that, like the Emim, they were noted at the time of Abraham in Genesis 14. There, a group known as the Zuzim is recorded. It may be an abbreviated form of their name.

If this is so, the Rephaim, the Emim, and the Zamzummim are all ethnically related. No matter what, they were eventually destroyed, and the descendants of Lot filled their land.

Bringing in their similarity to the Anakim is again a note intended to bolster Israel as they entered Canaan. The Anakim still dwelt there, and if the Ammonites could wipe out the Zamzummim, Israel could wipe out the Anakim. There should be complete confidence for them in the battle ahead. This is especially so because of the next words…

^{21 (con’t)} But the Lord destroyed them before them,

Here, it is specifically stated that it is the Lord, meaning Yehovah, who destroyed the people before them. It is not that the Edomites, Moabites, or the Ammonites were the principal force behind the destruction of these people, but that they were the weapon the Lord wielded to destroy them.

This thought is seen in the setting up of kings in Daniel 2, and of the building up and destroying of nations in Jeremiah 18 and elsewhere. In Jeremiah, it says –

“The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, ⁸ if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. ⁹ And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰ if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. Jeremiah 18:7-10

This is the confidence-boosting thought that is now given to Israel. They will be the instrument of destruction against His enemies. The victory is assured, because the battle belongs to the Lord, just as for those in Ammon…

^{21 (con’t)} and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place,

va’yirashum va’yeshevu takhtam – literally, “and disinherited them, and sat under them.” To sit is to dwell or reside and to come under another is to replace them. Ammon, because of the Lord’s destruction of these people, took possession of their land…

²² just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them.

This has not been stated before. In verse 2:12, it said that “Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them” as in the coming clause. However, here it ascribes that to having been accomplished by the Lord, as is seen in the word ka’asher, or “just as.” The Lord was the principal cause, and Esau was the instrumental cause.

This could almost be inferred from the words of verse 2:12 which continue by saying that Esau dispossessed and destroyed them “just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.” The Lord gave the land of their possession to Israel, but He also did so for the descendants of Esau and Ammon. For each…

^{22 (con’t)} They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day.

There is a time when the Ammonites and Edomites were overthrown to the point where their names died out. From a biblical perspective, only the lands which they dwelt in still bear their names. The peoples were either killed or assimilated into other people groups.

For the Edomites, surprisingly, it was into the nation of Israel. That is recorded by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus who says that about 129 BC John Hyrcanus –

“…subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.” Antiquities, Book 13 Chapter 9 Section 1

At the time of the Deuteronomy narrative, however, Esau dwelt in the land of their possession because the Lord so determined it to be. Likewise, and to even further bolster Israel’s confidence that it is the Lord who establishes and destroys nations, the verses today speak of the destruction of another people group on the other side of the land of Canaan…

²³ And the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza—

The meaning of Avim is hard to pin down. It is related to a word meaning to bend or twist, but also a distortion or ruin, or even perversity or moral evil. Because no definitive name is given, I will venture out on a limb and call them the Mischief-makers, but that shouldn’t be used as a definition to dogmatically pass on to others.

Whatever their name actually means, this group of people lived on the other side of Canaan, along the coast where Gaza is today. The name Gaza, or as it is said in Hebrew Azzah, comes from the word az, or strong, and that is its meaning, Strong.

It seems that nothing has changed in 3500 +/- years, because there are still mischief-makers in that stronghold. However, those known as the Avim were overthrown by, as it says…

*^23 (fin) the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.)

This group of people is identified in Genesis 10:14. These people descended from Ham through Mitsraim, meaning the founder of Egypt. The meaning of Caphtor is extremely hard to pin down. But, because these people will become very prominent in Scripture in the coming books, a short explanation of them from Abraim is worthy of note –

“Through the prophet Amos, YHWH declared that he brought up the Philistines from Caphtor, and through Jeremiah that the Philistines emerged as a separate derivative culture from a remnant of Caphtor.

At that time this remnant of Caphtor appears to have been concentrated on an island (the noun אי, ‘i refers to a coast region: coast, capes and islands off the coast). Most commentators seem to favor Crete as the last stronghold of the Caphtorim, which would make the Philistines displaced survivors of the Minoan culture. The Minoans had maintained a highly advanced civilization from the 4th millennium BCE, which had absorbed much of Egypt’s culture and which in turn had radiated its own identity to the Greek and Canaan coasts. After a series of natural calamities and attacks by Hittites and probably others, the Minoan culture began to decline halfway the 2nd millennium BCE. Around 1200 BCE, the Minoan culture had been eradicated from the island.

It seems reasonable to expect that certain Minoan refugees began to seek refuge with their old business partners. Right around the time that the Minoan culture came to an end, Egyptian records begin to make mention of the Philistines in their realm, and the distinct Philistine identity may very well have come about when waves of late-Minoan refugees overwhelmed native Canaanite tribes.” Abarim

It is this group of people, probably from the Minoan culture, who came into the land of Canaan and destroyed the Avim. However, Joshua 13:3 records some of them still living in the land at that time, having been assimilated into what become known as the Philistines.

The point of this verse, like that of the others previously given, is that it was the Lord who directed the nations, and it is He who rules over the nations. Ultimately, it is He who decides when a nation, people group, or culture is to be expanded or ended.

As He had done this on both sides of the land of Canaan, He is the One who would ensure that the land of Canaan itself would be brought under Israel’s hand according to His promise. The only time this would not be the case is when Israel failed to obey Him.

If such should occur, He would redirect His purposes according to their behavior. This is seen, explicitly, in the book of Judges –

“Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, ²¹ I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, ²² so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” Judges 2:20-22

But Israel had been warned of exactly this thing. Joshua, an old man and ready to die, warned them of this–

“Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. ¹² Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, ¹³ know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.” Joshua 23:11-13

As we close, we must then consider what is going on in today’s verses. Israel had disobeyed the Lord. They had gone into exile in the wilderness, and they were destroyed – entirely – for having failed to believe the Lord. And yet, in their utter destruction – meaning those who had not believed – they were also preserved.

However, the nations that the Lord chose to destroy – and with whom He had made no covenant – were destroyed and not preserved. And those nations whom he had used to destroy those same nations, such as Edom, Moab, and Ammon, were eventually destroyed and not preserved.

What is the difference between them and Israel? It comes down to one thing alone. It is not Israel’s goodness. It is not Israel’s intelligence, wisdom, power, ability, or righteousness – they lacked all of these things in abundance.

It is because the Lord spoke, and in His speaking, He cannot lie. He further solidified His spoken word in a covenant, and in that covenant, He laid His honor on the line. The other nations were destroyed and perished, Israel was destroyed, and yet preserved. Israel stands and Israel shall stand – not because of their own goodness, but because of the faithful and tender mercies of the covenant-keeping Lord.

The same good and kind God who watches over Israel also watches over those who have come to Him through the giving of His Son. The covenant has been made, and God can no more betray those who come to Him than He could betray Israel.

The word is an everlasting surety that He is God, that He is faithful, and that His people are secure in Him. The lesson today is that in Christ you stand, and in Christ you shall stand – to the glory of God the Father.

Closing Verse: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. ¹⁴ I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’” Ezekiel 37:13-16

Next Week: Deuteronomy 2:24-37 The tales of valor could go on and on… (The Defeat of Sihon, King of Heshbon) (8^th Deuteronomy Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. But He also has expectations of you as He prepares you for entrance into His Land of Promise. So, follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

From the Midst of the Camp

“Now rise and cross over the Valley of the Zered
So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered, as the LORD said

And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea
Until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered
Was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war
Was consumed from the midst of the camp
———-just as the LORD had sworn to them; just as He said

For indeed, was against them the hand of the LORD
To destroy them from the midst of the camp
———-until they were consumed, according to His word

“So it was, when all the men of war
Had finally perished from among the people; when it came to be
That the LORD spoke to me, saying:
This day you are to cross over at Ar, Moab’s boundary                                                                     

And when you come near the people of Ammon
Do not harass them or meddle with them; use no such aggression
For I will not give you as a possession any of the land
———-of the people of Ammon
Because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession

(That was also regarded as a land of giants
Giants formerly dwelt there, with giants the place did teem
But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim
A people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim

But the LORD destroyed them before their face
And they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place

Just as He had done for the descendants of Esau
Who dwelt in Seir; as the record does say
When He destroyed the Horites from before them
They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day

And the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza
———-such was the case
The Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them
———-and dwelt in their place

Lord God, turn our hearts to be obedient to Your word
Give us wisdom to be ever faithful to You
May we carefully heed each thing we have heard
Yes, Lord God may our hearts be faithful and true

And we shall be content and satisfied in You alone
We will follow You as we sing our songs of praise
Hallelujah to You; to us Your path You have shown
Hallelujah we shall sing to You for all of our days

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

¹³ “ ‘Now rise and cross over the Valley of the Zered.’ So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered. ¹⁴ And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, just as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they were consumed.

¹⁶ “So it was, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, ¹⁷ that the Lord spoke to me, saying: ¹⁸ ‘This day you are to cross over at Ar, the boundary of Moab. ¹⁹ And when you come near the people of Ammon, do not harass them or meddle with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

²⁰ (That was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, ²¹ a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, ²² just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day. ²³ And the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza—the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deuteronomy 2:1-12
You Have Skirted This Mountain Long Enough

As Moses continues to recount the events of Israel’s past, since leaving Mount Horeb, he turns now to the ending of their time of punishment. In this, other than a single verse which speaks of “many days,” he skips over all of the events of the past thirty-eight years of Israel’s existence.

They were simply wasted years of waiting for a promise that was sure to come, but not for any of those who were under the sentence. They had to be taken out of the way while the years passed by in unrecorded silence.

The memory of the events would live on with the people, but the importance of them to the greater plan of redemption is not worth mentioning. And yet, within the words of today’s verses is the simply stated note that during all of that time, the Lord had continued to bless the people and look over them.

It is a note of grace that should not have been unexpected. The Lord promised that even in their punishment, He would preserve them. And He was faithful to do so.

Text Verse: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁶ So we may boldly say:
‘The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?’” Hebrews 13:5, 6

One of the most common communications I get is that of people who wonder if the Lord has forgotten them. I’m talking about saved believers. If those same people would heed the story of Israel’s history, they might not feel any less troubled in their affliction, but they would certainly feel less troubled in their convictions.

In other words, things may be so tough that they truly consume your joy, but they should never be so tough that you question if the Lord is there with you in your trials. The lesson of Israel is the lesson of the believer. They are a template for us to look at and see the faithfulness of God in all situations.

Here we are, adopted sons and daughters of God because of the giving of His Son for us. If God continued to tend to Israel, even when they have turned their back on that, do you honestly believe He has, or He even could, neglect you? May we never consider it!

Have faith, and trust in the Lord, even when the whole world has collapsed around you. He is there, and your situation is not out of His control. He has allowed it in your life for His own reasons, and I assure you, they are good reasons. Be sure of this. It is another truthful lesson that we can find in His superior word. And so, let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Descendants of Esau (verses 1-7)

“Then we turned and journeyed

This is exactly what the Lord had told Israel to do before their willful act of disobedience of turning to fight those in Canaan. They were told this in Numbers 14:25. Moses repeated that in Deuteronomy 1:40 –

“But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.” Deuteronomy 1:40

They had failed to trust that the Lord could deliver them, but when they came under sentence for that sin, they then added the sin of presumption and went to accomplish the deed themselves. The pattern was set, and it followed in the coming of Christ.

The people had failed to believe God’s provision as found in Christ, and they came under the sentence of God’s punishment. However, instead of accepting this, they added in their own attempt to obtain the promise apart from Christ.

They codified Jewish law through the Talmud, and they relied on their own deeds known as teshuvah and mitsvot – repentance and supposed obedience to their law – in a futile attempt to restore themselves to God.

However, that system can never restore man to God. The law was incapable of doing so. Adding in their own deeds could only make it worse. The people were, and are, defeated. They were turned away from the promise…

^{1 (con’t)} into the wilderness

As was explained in Chapter 1, in the Bible the wilderness signifies an uncultivated area, not specifically a barren desert. It is a place of God’s grace and of closeness to God, but it is also a place of testing.

For some, such as Israel, the testing resulted in disobedience. For others, such as when Christ was tested, it is a place of fellowship through obedience. The wilderness and the law are closely connected because it is by law that testing is accomplished.

Israel, under Moses, turned into the wilderness in exile and for the execution of their punishment based on their disobedience. Israel after Christ’s work, and still under the law, were turned into the wilderness in exile for the execution of their punishment based on the very law that Christ had fulfilled.

They rejected Him, and so the punishments of the law (Leviticus 26) were the stated remedy to someday lead them back to Him. This turning into the wilderness was…

^{1 (con’t)} of the Way of the Red Sea,

In being told to take their leave of the Land of Promise, by turning into the wilderness in the Way of the Red Sea, an ominous hint of doom can be seen. In Hebrew, the Red Sea is yam suph, or “Sea of the Ending.” The sea is a place of confusion and turmoil. It is, as in Daniel, a picture of the confusion of the nations of the world –

“I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.” Daniel 7:2

In Revelation, this is said of such things –

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.” Revelation 21:1

The word suph, comes from a verb meaning to cease, or end. That comes from a primitive root which means to end or perish. The people were sentenced to perish, and the path which they were to take signified exactly that.

The people of Israel were told they were to perish and here they are on the Way to the Red Sea. The people of Israel rejected Christ, and they were set to perish among the chaotic nations of the world. The exile would not be short, and the people would suffer because of their failure to simply believe the Lord. In Numbers 14:35, the Lord said, “In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”

And in John 8:24, the Lord said –

“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

^{1 (con’t)} as the Lord spoke to me,

Israel was given the choice of believing the Lord – who is the fulfillment of the law – and live, or failing to believe and die by the curse of the law. They unwisely chose the latter, and so the Lord spoke to them of exile, punishment, and perishing in death. Thus…

^{1 (con’t)} and we skirted Mount Seir for many days.

va’nasav eth har seir yamim rabim – “And we went around Mount Seir days many.” This is the first time this statement is made. However, it is given as a statement of fact. The implication is that they simply compassed about the mountain for the entire time they were dying off in the wilderness.

The term “many days” is indefinite. It simply means “all of the time that we were in this particular situation.” This then encompassed a period of thirty-eight years – from the time that they departed the border of Canaan, until the time they began their trek, once again, toward Canaan.

These words here beg us to revisit the symbolism. Mountains in the Bible have various meanings, but ultimately, they picture forms of government. There is, in Isaiah, the mountain of the Lord. Babylon, in Jeremiah 51, is called the “destroying mountain.”

Here we have Mount Seir, which has been what Israel has circled for an extended period during her exile. The meaning of the name Seir comes from the same as sear, or hair. Thus, it is Mount Hairy, or Mount Shaggy.

The appearance of Seir is that of a hairy mountain because of the many low bushes that cover it. But, as has been seen many times, hair in the Bible pictures awareness, particularly awareness of sin. For example, the sa’iyr or hairy goat is that which was given for sin in Leviticus.

Hair was first seen in Genesis 25:25 where it noted the birth of Esau. There it said, “He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.” He was given as a picture of Adam, the man that was made, and who had an awareness.

This is particularly so because of sin. In his sin the Lord said of the man, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil” (Genesis 3:22). Jacob, on the other hand, was specifically noted as being smooth, implying not hairy. That was seen later in Genesis 27:11 saying, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man.”

Jacob pictured Christ, the man without sin. Thus, encircling har seir, or Mount Seir – meaning “Mount Hairy” – is the fulfillment of Jesus’ words to Israel, exactly as He had spoken in John 8:24, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

Israel’s exile was not under the government of Christ, which they had rejected, but under the government of man under sin – the law. Moses is recounting a true narrative of Israel’s wanderings, but he is also prophetically laying out the future of Israel after the coming of Christ.

The introduction of this note now concerning the wilderness, the Way of the Red Sea, and Mount Seir is astonishingly and sadly seen in the history of Israel since Christ’s coming.

² “And the Lord spoke to me, saying:

v’yomer Yehovah elay lemor – “And Yehovah said to me, saying.” As has been explained before, the word davar, or spoke is similar to, but not the same as, amar, or said. The first conveys the idea of instruction to be followed. The second includes a broader thought of participation by the one being instructed. That is the case here…

³ ‘You have skirted this mountain long enough;

The words are similar to Deuteronomy 1:6 – “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.’” Mount Horeb is Mount Sinai. It was where the law was given. In Galatians 4, Paul explicitly shows that Sinai pictures the law and the place of the law which is the earthly Jerusalem –

“Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴ which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— ²⁵ for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— ²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Galatians 4:21-26

The idea we can get from these statements of Deuteronomy 1 and 2 is first, “You have been under the law long enough. Turn and head towards the promise in Christ.” And then after they rejected Him, “You have been under punishment for rejecting the Lord long enough. Therefore…”

^{3 (con’t)} turn northward.

penu lakem tsaphonah – “turn you northward.” The noun tsaphon, or north, comes from the verb tsaphan, meaning to hide by covering over, treasure up, conceal, and so on. That which has been hidden away and treasured up for Israel is now to be pursued.

It is an event which has, in its truest sense, begun for them in recent years. Israel is gaining an awareness of Christ, even if the number of them is small at this point. However, they, as a whole, will come to know Him in His fullness when He is finally revealed to them. The words here anticipate that day.

⁴ And command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir;

The narrative here seems confusing when put side by side with the same account in Numbers 20. In fact, it seems like there is a standing contradiction. There it said –

Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’”
¹⁸ Then Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”
¹⁹ So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”
²⁰ Then he said, “You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹ Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him. Numbers 20:17-21

It says, they weren’t allowed to go through Edom, but here it at first seems that this wasn’t so. However, in the account from Numbers, Moses said in verse 17, “Let us pass through your country.” In that, he first used the term b’artsekha, or “your land.”

Edom refused that request. Later, in that verse, he uses the word gebulekha, or “your border.” However, Edom told them to take a hike. And so, they did. The words here in Deuteronomy are after the fact. The Lord says, atem oberim bigbul akhekem – “You are about to pass over the border of your brothers.”

It says nothing of the land, only the border. Thus, Israel – instead of continuing on through Edom – turned back and skirted the border of Edom, not attempting to breach the borders of the land. This is seen later in Judges 11 –

“And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.” Judges 11:18

The perceived difficulties of such passages are often because of translational errors, or because the narrative is so widely disbursed throughout the pages of Scripture. In the end, there is nothing contradictory here.

Rather, Israel while heading towards Canaan, first petitioned Edom to pass through, Edom refused, Israel turned back and the Lord told them they were going to skirt their land and not to pester them, and they did just that. The reason for the coming words of verse 5 is because…

^4 (con’t) and they will be afraid of you.

This was prophesied in the Song of Moses from Exodus 15 –

“Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed;
The mighty men of Moab,
Trembling will take hold of them;
All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away.” Exodus 15:15

The people of Edom would have heard of the Lord’s deliverance of Israel. Even though it was quite a few years earlier, that would still be a story frequently repeated by the people. The people who would encounter them later would be afraid of their coming and act in a hostile manner towards them. This is exactly what occurred, and so the Lord said…

^4 (con’t) Therefore watch yourselves carefully.

v’nishmartem meod – “And watch yourselves exceedingly.” The slightest provocation was bound to turn into a very large problem, and so all of the people were told to conduct themselves accordingly. They had already been warned away. If they could not follow the eastern borders of Edom, they would be forced to return back into the wilderness. And so…

⁵ Do not meddle with them,

Here is a new word translated as “meddle,” garah. It signifies to stir up. It comes from a primitive root meaning to grate, and thus it figuratively means to anger. In Daniel, it is translated as “mobilize” or “wage war,” and that may be the sense here.

The verb is in the reflexive form, and so it means to excite oneself against another. Israel was not to provoke Esau, and they were not to make any threatening actions against them…

^{5 (con’t)} for I will not give you any of their land,

The division is to be complete. What has been given to Esau is to remain theirs. Israel is on a trek elsewhere and none of those who are going there will remain behind to occupy the land of Edom…

^{5 (con’t)} no, not so much as one footstep,

The Hebrew is more expressive, ad midrakh kaph ragel – “not as much as a tread of the sole of a foot.” This is another new word, found only here in Scripture, midrakh, or “foot place.” It comes from the verb darakh, to tread the foot.

The people of Israel were not to be given a single place for a foot to tread from Edom. Later, Edom and Israel will be back and forth in war, so it must be that the account here is given to fit certain typology.

^{5 (con’t)} because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

Again, a new word is found here, translated as “possession.” It is yerushshah. The word comes from yarash, signifying to inherit or take possession. Thus, it speaks of an inheritance.

Mount Seir, standing as representative of the land of the Edomites, is given to them. It is their possession as a right. It is not Israel’s inheritance. Here in verses 4 and 5 are a picture of the land given to man. The name Esau is derived from the verb asah, to do, or make. It is the word used in Genesis 1:26 when God said –

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26

Thus, Esau pictures the made man, Adam. The Lord said that He has given har seir, “Mount Hairy,” meaning the government of awareness – the world, to Esau, meaning Adam. The picture is accurately described in Psalm 115 –

“The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s;
But the earth He has given to the children of men.” Psalm 115:16

Man has been given the earth to dwell on. However, there are certain men who are given more. Just as the heavens are the Lord’s, so the Lord’s redeemed are given a heavenly inheritance –

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-6

This is but one example of such references to the heavenly anticipation and of the heavenly inheritance spoken of as belonging to those in Christ. Israel has been under punishment, but the Lord promised that after that time, they would be brought into Canaan, the Land of Promise.

It would be contradictory to give the land of Adam, meaning the earth, to the redeemed of the Lord. The stress in the words of this verse are to note – without any doubt – that the inheritance of the Lord’s people is not a land of the consciousness of sin, but a land where sin is no longer imputed.

The whole thought of these verses is well summed up in these words from Hebrews 9 –

“…how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ¹⁵ And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” Hebrews 9:14, 15

The conscience of sin (dead works) is cleansed in Christ. Thus, Israel is being prepared in type here in Deuteronomy to be redeemed from the transgressions of the first covenant, meaning the Law of Moses, brought into the New Covenant – the Christ covenant – and in this, they will receive the eternal inheritance, heaven.

This is why the stress is seen concerning the possession of Esau. The ironic part is that while Israel was under punishment for rejecting Christ, the Gentiles were grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, but eventually Israel will be brought back into right standing with God through Christ, receiving the benefits of the commonwealth that they had missed for so long.

⁶ You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat;

There is something to be said for the life that God’s people now live, and it is reflected in this verse here. Though there is the promise of a heavenly inheritance, there is also the reality of the earthly life we live.

Jesus spoke of it in His high priestly prayer, noting that those who are His remain in this world but are not of this world. Paul speaks of such things, noting that we can use the things of this world, but they are temporary and passing away.

This is not a stretch of the analysis. The last time the word for “buy food” was used was back in Genesis where the brothers of Joseph were sent to Egypt to buy grain. The word is shavar and comes from shever, cracked grain, rather than bar, or purified grain.

Following the details of the use of the words in Genesis showed a spiritual application. What is bought here is temporary and only sustains the body temporarily. That a spiritual picture is being made is even more evident in the next words…

^{6 (con’t)} and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

The word for “buy” here is a completely new, different, and rare word, karah. It is associated with the word karah, meaning to open or dig. In other words, it is probably saying that if a well is dug, silver would need to be paid for the water obtained from it.

The idea here is that in this life, there is work involved in what we obtain, and what we obtain is temporary. Israel is passing by the land of Edom, but along the way, they must purchase what they need and partake of what the land of Edom offers. Someday, they will enter the Promise and partake of what is everlasting. That is reflected in the words of Isaiah –

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1

It’s is also seen in its ultimate sense in Revelation, saying, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

⁷ “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand.

Despite being in the wilderness, Israel was not without work. They had artisans and craftsmen who exquisitely built the sanctuary – wood crafters, goldsmiths, stoneworkers (gemstones), workers in linen, incense, and so on. None of these skills would be wasted, and even more, they would have been used, perfected, and passed on to the next generations.

These things could easily have been traded or sold on caravan routes. They also had livestock which would have multiplied abundantly over the previous years. With the Lord’s blessing, even though they didn’t deserve it for rejecting Him, their wealth would have increased notably, and that was after having plundered the Egyptians when they left.

Likewise, Israel in exile around the world has continued to receive the Lord’s blessing. Anywhere you go in the world, you will find well-established and wealthy Jews – whether they deserve it or not. They have the finest skills, and quite often, their names reflect that – Neil Diamond, Joel Goldsmith, Adam Silver, and so on.

The words here beautifully reflect the state of Israel as it is closing in on its meeting with destiny. It is Yehovah, despite their failure to acknowledge Him, who has so blessed them. Further…

^7 (con’t) He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. 

The sense of the word yada, or “know,” here is that of tending to and watching. The Lord watched over Israel as they continued their walk through the long duration and the vast wilderness. His presence never left them, despite the sentence which lay over them for their rejection of Him.

Only one who isn’t looking, or who isn’t willing to look at Israel throughout the past two thousand years, can deny the parallel. The Lord has punished them, but he has also watched over them to preserve them, as He promised.

^7 (con’t) These forty years the Lord your God has been with you;

The number forty in Scripture signifies “a period of probation, trial, and chastisement” (Bullinger). Israel received all three of these – from Egypt all the way through until where they are, and where they are heading.

Forty “is the product of 5 and 8, and points to the action of grace (5), leading to and ending in revival and renewal (8).” This is exactly what is seen here in Deuteronomy, and what is pictured in Israel’s return from their time of punishment and exile. Through all of it, the Lord acknowledges that it is He who has been with them, tending to them, and preserving them so that…

^7 (con’t) you have lacked nothing.”’

lo khasarta davar – “No have you lacked a word.” The word davar, or word, by implication, means a thing, or a matter. This is true for Israel in the wilderness. The Lord kept them, and they had no lack.

However, I would suggest that for the typology of what this pictures, it asks for us to retain the original sense. Despite being in exile, Israel never lacked the word. Wherever they have gone, the word has been available to them. It is they who disregarded it, but the word has always been there with Israel waiting for them to return to it and find what they had missed.

You have skirted this mountain long enough
Your time of testing has come to an end
Though the past has been difficult and rough
Into the Land of Promise, you I will send 

And it is yours because the battle is already won
There is nothing for you to do but to trust and believe
All has been accomplished by My dear Son
Because of Him, you I will never forsake and never leave 

Trust in Him and the promise is opened to you
The victory is assured, so do not fear at all
There is nothing more that you need to do
Only upon My Son, you must call

II. The Descendants of Lot (verses 8-12)

⁸ “And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from Elath and Ezion Geber, we turned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab.

Israel’s travels, after having been refused travel through Edom, took them south to Elath, the very tip of where Israel ends on the Red Sea today. They then went a few miles south and east to Ezion Geber which is in Jordan today. From there, they turned north, went around Edom’s land, and passed through by way of the wilderness of Moab.

The plain, or aravah, comes from arav, meaning to grow dark. That is the same as arav, meaning a pledge, as in a covering with a texture. In the giving of a pledge, there is – in a sense – an intermingling of two into one. Israel is being united again with the Lord and away from the sentence they have been under.

Elath comes from ayil, meaning a ram, and thus one thinks of a protrusion. Hence Elath means “Trees” because they protrude up. But ayil also comes from ul, meaning strength. One can think of the strength found in trees, leading to that idea. Without being dogmatic about this, does it signify that Israel is being strengthened for their final reconciliation with the Lord? Such may be the picture.

Ezion is derived from atseh, the backbone. Geber speaks of a man. Thus, Ezion Geber is literally “Backbone of a Man.” As the backbone is the foundation of man, one could logically assume that this means, “Foundation of a Man.”

The foundation of a man is what he was created from and for. When man gets away from contemplating those things, the Lord works to redirect him so that there will be reconciliation. This was the purpose of Israel’s exile.

Even though those in exile were destroyed along the way, the purpose of the exile was to bring the body of people back to Him in a restored relationship.

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’”

The word translated as “harass” comes from a root meaning to cramp. Thus, this is speaking of besieging Moab. Israel is instructed to not besiege them nor face them in war. Moab means “From Father.” Ar simply means “City.” It is used to speak of the entire land possessed by Moab. And Lot, who hasn’t been seen since Genesis 19, means “Covering,” as if enveloping something.

Without being dogmatic about this picture, my supposition is that this is speaking of Gentile believers. They are “From Father,” they are a gathering of people, as reflected in a city, and the naming of Lot would signify the covering they possess. It is a difficult verse, but this at least sounds correct. Especially because Paul speaks of the saved in Romans 4:7 as having their sins covered.

Despite this, one reason for sparing Moab is because, eventually, a family of Bethlehem would move to Moab during a famine. There, a woman named Ruth would marry into it. From there, and through circumstance, she came into the line of David which eventually leads to the Messiah, Jesus.

¹⁰ (The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim.

Now is introduced a parenthetical thought which will take us to the end of our verses today. This land of Moab was once dwelt in by the Emim. The word is the plural of emah, or terror. Thus, these are “The Terrors.”

They are noted for their greatness, their numbers, and their height – thus they were terrifying to those who came into contact with them. They were noted at the time of Abraham in Genesis 14, but they were eventually destroyed, and the descendants of Lot filled their land.

They are further described as being as tall as the Anakim. As seen in Numbers, anaq, means “neck.” Thus, they were noted either for their necks – being very long or very thick – or for the adornments they wore on their necks.

I would assume that listing them here now is not without purpose. Israel, thirty-eight years earlier, had swooned at the thought of facing the inhabitants of Canaan –

“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” ³² And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:31-33

But if the Emim, who were so great, so numerous, and so tall – even as tall as those doods – could be defeated, then so could the Anakim. As Joshua and Caleb said of them, “…they are our bread.”

For Israel to find this out is a way of bolstering their confidence, in advance, to prepare them for their entry into Canaan. And so, the narrative continues…

¹¹ They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

“Giants,” or Rephaim, comes from a word meaning to sink down or relax. This is similar to the Nephilim. That comes from naphal, meaning to fall. However, Rephaim could also come from a word meaning “to heal.” If so, then it indicates that their size came from being invigorated in some way, probably through special inbreeding.

What this is telling Israel is that the Emim were of the same origins as the Anakim. The Emim got wiped out and were no longer a threat. As this happened by non-whopping people, then Israel was fully capable of whooping up on the whopping ones – the Anakim. But as more encouragement, we continue on…

¹² The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place,

Here is another group seen in Genesis 14, and who are again seen later mentioned in Genesis 36, ha’khorim, or the Horites. The word comes from khor, meaning a hole or a cave. Thus, these people were troglodytes.

Whether these were large people or not is not stated. With this group being listed within the genealogy of Esau as living in the land, Esau went in and assimilated with them to some extent, but as a people they died out. The point, once again, is that cave dwellers would be hard to drive out, and yet Esau was able to dispossess and destroy them.

This knowledge was sure to strengthen Israel in their determination to follow suit and wipe out the inhabitants of Canaan. With that thought, we read…

*^12 (fin) just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)

The words here are in the past tense. Three possibilities have been suggested. 1) It is spoken as an accomplished fact, even though it is future. 2) It is a later insertion by a scribe. Or, 3) this is speaking of the land east of the Jordan which had already been won in battle. This is explicitly stated in Deuteronomy 3.

The third option is certainly what is correct. The note would be pointless if it was a later insertion. Speaking of it in the future is unnecessary in relation to the names of the people who have just been mentioned, and so it is simply a note from Moses giving encouragement to the people to not lose heart as their fathers had.

Rather, they were to trust the Lord and receive their inheritance. And this is a noteworthy place to end the verses. It was the Lord who directed the events of these nations, as He Himself had said. “I have given the land to the descendants of Esau,” and “I have given the land to the descendants of Lot.”

He had further won the battles over Midian, Sihon, and Og for Israel. This parenthetic insert is prophetically given, then, to reassure Israel of today that He has already won the battles for them. He has sent Christ, Christ has defeated the foes, and all they need to do is – by faith – receive that, trusting in His provision.

The Land of Promise is not unobtainable, but it cannot come through works of the law. It must come by faith in the Lord. He has proven this is true. And so, like Israel of today, we also must simply trust in Him. The battle is not for us to win, nor can it be so.

Christ fulfilled the law for us. Christ lived the sinless life we simply cannot live. And, Christ has covered us with His covering. We must trust that, and keep trusting that, with each step – from salvation to glory – it is the Lord’s battle to win. We are merely temporarily passing through to a land already prepared for us.

Closing Verse: “I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me.”  Jeremiah 27:5

Next Week: Deuteronomy 2:13-23 They marched until all the rebels were gone. This was the date stamp… (From the Midst of the Camp) (7^th Deuteronomy Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. But He also has expectations of you as He prepares you for entrance into His Land of Promise. So, follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

You Have Skirted This Mountain Long Enough

Then we turned and journeyed
Into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea
And we skirted Mount Seir for many days
As the LORD spoke to me

And the LORD spoke to me, saying:
These words He was then relaying

“You have skirted this mountain long enough
Turn northward; time to see some new stuff

And command the people, saying
“You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren
———-the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir
And they will be afraid of you
Therefore watch yourselves carefully, so that they will not fear

Do not meddle with them
For I will not give you any of their land
No, not so much as one footstep
Because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession
———-please understand

You shall buy food from them with money
That you may eat, so you shall do
And you shall also buy water from them with money
That you may drink. Pay heed to what I am telling you

For the LORD your God has blessed you
———-in all the work of your hand
He knows your trudging through this great wilderness
These forty years the LORD your God has been with you
You have lacked nothing. What you needed you did possess

“And when we passed beyond our brethren
The descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir
Away from the road of the plain
Away from Elath and Ezion Geber…

We turned and passed by way
Of the Wilderness of Moab on that day

Then the LORD said to me
‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle
———-against them make no aggression
For I will not give you as a possession any of their land
Because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession

(The Emim had dwelt there in times past
A people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim
They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim
But the Moabites call them Emim

The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants
———-of Esau dispossessed them
And destroyed them from before them by the sword
And dwelt in their place, just as Israel did
To the land of their possession which gave them the LORD)

Lord God, turn our hearts to be obedient to Your word
Give us wisdom to be ever faithful to You
May we carefully heed each thing we have heard
Yes, Lord God may our hearts be faithful and true

And we shall be content and satisfied in You alone
We will follow You as we sing our songs of praise
Hallelujah to You; to us Your path You have shown
Hallelujah we shall sing to You for all of our days

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

“Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we skirted Mount Seir for many days.

² “And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ³ ‘You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward. ⁴ And command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. ⁵ Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

⁷ “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’

⁸ “And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from Elath and Ezion Geber, we turned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

¹⁰ (The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹² The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)

 

Deuteronomy 1:34-46
Many Days in Kadesh

Deuteronomy opened just where Numbers left off, right on the banks of the Jordan, opposite Jericho, while still in Moab. In relation to prophetic events which that pictures, it looks to Israel – the people Israel – finally ready to enter into their long-withheld inheritance.

Thus, it is a book which is perfectly suited for the day and age in which we live. The recounting of the events from Israel’s previous time on the doorstep of entry is to remind them of what got them into the pickle they were in. That comes down to one key thought – a lack of faith in what the Lord promised, and in His provision for obtaining that promise.

Israel, the people, are again united and back in the land, but despite this, they have not entered into their rest. Only a fool would look at the world and think they had. Therefore, they are being prepared for entry into it, just as Israel was being prepared for entry into it with Moses’ final words to them.

But even though Moses’ words are words of law, it is not the law which will allow them to enter that precious and blessed Rest of God…

Text Verse: “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; ³¹ but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. ³² Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’” Romans 9:30-33

Today, as with the last passage we looked at, we are seeing a review of what occurred in Numbers 14. Israel failed to have faith in the Lord, and Israel went about seeking to obtain their inheritance under their own power. This is a futile endeavor indeed.

And yet, it is a common theme found among many denominations. The question is, “What thing must I do to be pleasing to God.” Seventh Day Adventists say you must observe the Sabbath, and they observe various dietary restrictions, and so on.

Hebrew Roots adherents go with the Sabbath and dietary restrictions, and they add in the Feasts of the Lord and a host of other pick and choose laws from the Law of Moses.

The Church of Christ mandates water baptism… but it has to be done in the Church of Christ. We could go on and on with the man-made laws and or pick and choose precepts from the Bible for numerous other cults and sects. But in the end, only one thing is needed.

That one thing is so simple, so seemingly insignificant, that Paul calls it a stumbling block. A stumbling block is something that you don’t even notice. You just trip right over it. All that God asks of you to be right with Him is to accept His simple gospel of peace. Nothing more. Israel missed it, and it cost them greatly.

Let us hold fast to this precious gospel, and let us never deviate from it. It is the central point of theology when it comes to the salvation of the human soul, and it is found right in His superior word. And so, let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. He Shall Cause Israel to Inherit It (verses 34-40)

³⁴ “And the Lord heard the sound of your words,

v’yishma Yehovah eth qol divrekem – “And heard Yehovah the voice of your words.” It is an interesting phrase which is only seen again in this manner in Deuteronomy 5:28. As this is so, one should stop and look at why it is spoken in this way. This verse is an obvious reference to Numbers 14:1 –

“So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.” Numbers 14:1

This was speaking of the faithless people who heard the report of the spies, failed to have a trust in or fear of God, and who turned their hearts away from Him and back toward Egypt. However, Deuteronomy 5:28 is speaking of an entirely different account. There it says –

“Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.” Deuteronomy 5:28

This event was just after the giving of the Ten Commandments. At that time, the people said –

“Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. ¹⁹ Then they said to Moses, ‘You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’” Exodus 20:18, 19

One can see the complete contrast between the two accounts. In Exodus, the people had a fear of the Lord, they understood His power and majesty, and they asked Moses to be the one to stand between them and the Lord, knowing that His glory was too great for them as a people to interact with.

Despite this, just a year later, the people had lifted up their voices and wept, fearing the miniscule inhabitants of Canaan more than the great and awesome Lord who led them. The pillar and the cloud were still there – right there – with them. The manna came daily. The rock brought forth water for them. The promises had been given, and yet the people failed to simply believe and trust. Thus, Yehovah heard the voice of their words…

^{34 (con’t)} and was angry,

v’yiqsoph – “And was angry.” The word qatsaph comes from a primitive root meaning “to crack off.” Thus, it figuratively means to burst forth in rage. The Lord was furious at them. They had spoken what was right concerning His majestic power while at Sinai, and yet from that time on, they had constantly needled Him, rejecting His presence every step of the way.

Now, while literally one step away from Canaan, they needled Him again, failing to trust that the same power which was able to part the Red Sea, and the same power that spoke in thundering majesty from the top of Sinai, was able to uphold His promises for them to subdue the enemies which were like fleas before Him in Canaan. Surely He was furious…

^{34 (con’t)} and took an oath, saying,

v’yishava lemor – “And swore, saying.” The word is shava, coming from a primitive root signifying “to be complete.” It is used as a denominative from the word sheva, or seven. Thus, when swearing, a person is said to seven himself. In other words, it is as if he has made his declaration seven times.

The Lord’s word is its own oath, and so when He spoke, it was a firm and decided declaration that would certainly come to pass…

³⁵ ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see

Most translations miss the poignant nature of the words. They are very direct. A literal translation would be, “If! Shall see one of the men, the these, the generation, the evil, the this.” A suitable paraphrase would be, “Surely not one of these men – this evil generation – shall see.”

The entire body of people is collectively lumped together as one evil generation. Only later will exceptions be noted, thus demonstrating the horrendous nature of the collective body.

^{35 (con’t)} that good land

ha’arets ha’tovah – “the land, the good.” Whereas the people are one giant body of evil, the land which they are now to be denied is purposefully contrasted to them. They are the evil; it is the good. None of them shall partake of that which was set aside for them.

One can, quite clearly, see Jesus’ parable of the great supper in Luke 14 reflected here. When speaking of the kingdom, one of those with Jesus said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

In response, Jesus spoke a parable about a man who gave a great supper and invited many to join him. All of the people made excuses as to why they couldn’t come to the banquet. In response, Jesus exclaimed, “For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper” (Luke 14:24).

The types and shadows of the past hauntingly called out for the people at Jesus’ time to pay heed. The land was prepared for Israel, and later the kingdom was prepared for them. But they failed to accept the Lord’s provision for the things…

^{35 (con’t)} of which I swore to give to your fathers,

Here, the word shava, or swear, is again used. Thus, a contrast is set forth. The oath had been made, and thus it must come about. However, Moses said in verse 34 that the Lord made an oath against these people. That also must come about. But the later oath cannot negate the previous oath.

This is a point that must not be missed. The oath was made, and it must be performed. This oath is made, and it will be performed. But what was previously spoken will still surely come about. The land will come to Israel, and the kingdom will come to Israel. But there will be a delay in both.

For now, the oath which Moses refers to was spoken in Numbers 14:28, 29 –

“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: ²⁹ The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.’”

This is later referred to by the psalmist –

“Then they despised the pleasant land;
They did not believe His word,
²⁵ But complained in their tents,
And did not heed the voice of the Lord.
²⁶ Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them,
To overthrow them in the wilderness.” Psalm 106:24-26

It is also referred to in Psalm 95, a psalm which is then referred to and minutely analyzed in the book of Hebrews –

“For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
⁸ “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
⁹ When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
¹⁰ For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
¹¹ So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Psalm 95:7-11

In Hebrews, the author – speaking to the collective body of Israel – refers to their having been denied entry, but that it would someday come to pass. But he also notes that those individuals who had believed in the Lord Jesus had, in fact, entered their rest. Even before the cross, there was this separation of views about Jesus. This is reflected in the gospel of John –

“Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ‘What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.’” John 11:45-48

There were those who feared the Romans, and there were those who believed. And at Moses’ time, there were those who feared the Canaanites, and there were those who believed the Lord and His promises. That is reflected in what Moses will next say –

³⁶ except Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

Here, as in Numbers 14:24, Caleb is singled out, being named first and apart from Joshua. Moses uses a new word, zulah, to identify him. It signifies “except,” or “besides.” Caleb, if you remember, means “Dog.” In Numbers, he was identified as the Kennizite.

Though of the tribe of Judah, his Gentile ancestry was thus highlighted to make a picture. Dogs are unclean animals. With his name and his ancestry taken together, he forms a picture of the Gentile people who demonstrated faith in the Lord while the Jews collectively rejected Him.

His father’s name, Yephunneh, or “He will be beheld,” anticipated the fact that Christ would be beheld by the Gentiles even when He was rejected by the Jews. Of Caleb in relation to the promise, it then says…

^{36 (con’t)} he shall see it,

Caleb, picturing the Gentile believer, is set in total contrast to those of verse 35. The entire congregation is an evil generation, but Caleb is set apart from them because of His belief and faith in the Lord.

He is singled out first because he fills the typology of what would come during the Gentile-led church age. It is those who the Jews consider “dogs,” meaning Gentiles, that would inherit the lead role in this dispensation. While Israel was under punishment for not heeding the Lord, Caleb obtained the promise.

Caleb is promised entry into Canaan; Gentile Christians are promised entrance into the heavenly kingdom. It must be remembered that Caleb remained in the wilderness for the forty years, but his time was one of promise leading to entry into Canaan – something which will now occur.

Israel collectively retained the promise as well, as will be seen in the coming verses. The collective group, made up of individuals, was cursed, leading to their deaths. Understanding the typology leads to understanding what has happened and continues to happen with Israel, even today.

For individual Israelites, some bear the promise and some do not. For those who do, the time here is simply in anticipation of entering what God promised. Caleb possessed that promise; all who trust in Christ do so as well.

^{36 (con’t)} and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked,

Caleb anticipates the Gentiles who believed in Christ. But it was not just a group who believed and then the generation ended. Rather, the Gentiles fully followed after the Lord, and they assumed the lead role in the church age – one generation to the next. Each received the promise of inheriting the land on which their father walked.

This was spoken of by Paul, right at the end of Acts –

“Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” Acts 28:28

Paul then further explains this in Romans 11:25 –

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”

While Israel was set aside due to unbelief, the Gentiles were brought in and have continued filling the typology of Caleb…

^{36 (con’t)} because he wholly followed the Lord.’

yaan asher mille akhare Yehovah – “because which he fully followed Yehovah.” Though nobody translates it as such, this should be an independent clause, not part of the quote of the Lord. The quote should end with, “I am giving the land on which he walked.”

The reason for this is that the words are a close repeat of Numbers 14:24 where the Lord is speaking. There, it said v’male akhare – “and has fully followed after.” Here, it says, mile akhare Yehovah – “fully followed after Yehovah.” It is now Moses repeating the thought that the Lord had spoken in Numbers, and so he adds in the name of the Lord to show this.

Being certain of this, and not wanting to simply pass over it without really seeing if it is an independent clause or not, I asked Sergio in Israel to tell me his thoughts. They are long and detailed, but I am going to include them in their entirety so that you can see how thorough he is when considering the Word of God and, thus, how carefully and thoroughly we should evaluate it –

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The Hebrew text does not have quotation marks, so to be able to know where the quote begins and where it ends one would use context, cantillation marks, or the space gaps in the ancient manuscripts.

It seems like your proposition makes the most sense from a contextual perspective. However, to see if such interpretation is possible from a technical perspective, I went “digging” into the Qumran scrolls. (notice Sergio’s pun!)

The most ancient manuscripts we have of Deuteronomy are the Dead Sea scrolls. There are over 70 fragments of the book of Deuteronomy, found in 11 different caves, and dating back to the 1st century BC. However, despite having such a vast number of partial fragments of the book of Deuteronomy, they are mostly copies that were discarded by the scribes because they had at least one small defect.

And so, we have all these copies but almost all of them are missing the first chapter. In my opinion, it is because in the first chapter they must have still had great focus and attention to details, and so only a few mistakes were made as they were copying the first chapter. As a result, only a handful of scrolls were discarded. This isn’t looking good for our quest.

But the situation gets even tougher. There is only ONE scroll that has the verse you are looking for, verse 36. This scroll is coded as 4Q35 (4 stands for the 4th Qumran cave, and the 35 stands for the 35th manuscript that was found in the cave). The scroll that was found there was in pretty bad shape as it dates back to the 1st century BC, so we only have partial fragments of this chapter (see attached images). After digging through 44 fragments, I was finally able to find Verse 36. But unfortunately, this fragment is incomplete. So, we can’t really see if there’s a space gap. All this hard work and we’re still left with a mystery!

So, I moved on to the more modern manuscript, the Masoretic text which dates back to the 9th century, to see if we can find any clues there. And Wallah! In the Masoretic Text, the sentence “because he wholly followed the Lord,” has a Hebrew cantillation mark, called Zakef Gadol, on the word “because.” This mark functions as a separator between two segments of a verse. So, it appears that the Masoretic Text possibly agrees with this interpretation. It is quite possible that the words “because he wholly followed the Lord” were not part of the words which the Lord spoke but part of Moses’ explanation.

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Hopefully, you can now partially appreciate how much work it can be to evaluate a single portion of a single sentence that not a single scholar or translation seemed to care about, but which I and Sergio were determined to see through for your better understanding of God’s precious word.

Caleb pursued the Lord, and the Lord’s ways, step by step, in faith. He simply trusted the Lord’s promise and defended his position by saying, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (13:30). He did not waiver in his resolve even when the rest of the people turned against the Lord.

³⁷ The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there.

Verses 37 & 38 are stated here to relay why there needs to be a change in the leadership before the people can enter the promise. In it is a new word, anaph, translated as “angry.” It comes from a primitive root signifying “to breath hard,” and thus it signifies being enraged. At first, it seems highly curious that Moses would add this note in here.

The people were sentenced to die in the wilderness based on their disbelief in Numbers 14. However, the event which brought about the downfall of Moses and Aaron didn’t occur until Numbers 20, where it was in the first month of either the third year of their travels, or the first month of the 40^th year. We logically defended why it was the 3^rd year at that time.

Regardless of that, though, it was a considerable time after the events of Numbers 14 – either many months or many years. And yet Moses seems to place it in conjunction with the people’s faithless turning from the Lord.

Further, it was Moses’ own fault that this punishment was laid upon him. He and Aaron were told to speak to the rock before the eyes of the people and water would flow out. But the word was disobeyed, Moses struck the rock twice, and he failed to believe the Lord and hallow Him in the eyes of the people.

So why is Moses stating this in conjunction with the people’s rebellion and as if he is passing the buck to them concerning his own faults? It is because it was the fault of the people, indirectly.

The word Moses uses here, which is translated as “for your sakes,” is galal. It signifies “on account of.” It comes from the verb galal which means to roll. Thus, this speaks of a circumstance as if rolled around.

In other words, if the people simply trusted the Lord, obeyed His word, and went into the land, the entire congregation would have been in Canaan, not at Kadesh. There would have been no need for Moses to lose his temper with them and strike the rock.

But the circumstances rolled around, bringing him to the point where those events occurred. The fault was immediately his, but the blame still rested upon Israel because of what occurred at this time. This is why he includes this circumstance here now. It is also seen in the words of Psalm 106 –

“They angered Him also at the waters of strife,
So that it went ill with Moses on account of them;
³³ Because they rebelled against His Spirit,
So that he spoke rashly with his lips.” Psalm 106:32, 33

³⁸ Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there.

Just as the people could not enter except Caleb, so the leader could not enter. But the people would not be left without leadership. Joshua also demonstrated faith, and he too would enter – assuming the mantle of responsibility from Moses before that occurred.

Joshua means “The Lord is Salvation.” He is identified as the son of Nun, or “To propagate” or “Increase.” He pictures those faithful Jews who would receive the inheritance in Christ. Naming his father, Nun, shows that the Lord, would propagate, or increase His offspring. Moses, representing the law, would die outside of the promise. Joshua, then anticipates faith in Christ who then would bring the people into the promise. Through the death of the law comes entry into the inheritance, pictured by Joshua.

^{38 (con’t)} Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

khazeq ki hu yankhilenah eth Yisrael – “Strengthen, for he shall cause to inherit it Israel.” One can see Jesus all over this. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:56 that “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.”

Moses sinned and had to die outside of the promise, but Joshua, or “The Lord is Salvation,” will be strengthened by Moses, the law. In Christ’s death under the law, the inheritance is obtained for those who die to the law through Christ.

³⁹ ‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.

The Lord continues the thought. The people were held accountable for their failure to believe, but another generation will be brought in, and they will possess the inheritance. For Israel in the wilderness, he says that their children would do so.

However, the typology calls for more than just little ones and children. The reason for this is that the sentence was on all twenty and above. Though the term “no knowledge of good and evil” is given as a general statement in contrast to the adults, it cannot actually be said that those nineteen and younger have no knowledge of good and evil. That is an inherited knowledge of all people.

It is the same term, tov va’rah, that goes back to the early Genesis account. Paul says that by the law is the knowledge of sin. Thus, in type, those who will enter are those who are not under law. In other words, in type, this speaks of those who have come to God through Christ and who are thus – as Paul says – “not under law but under grace.”

It is such a generation as this who will be given the inheritance, and they will possess it. The typology is clearly evident. Only after the law has died can the promised inheritance be possessed, and that can only come through faith. For those who fail to believe…

⁴⁰ But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’

This is found in the second half of Numbers 14:25. The people were warned that the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley which lay before them. It was a warning because the Lord had determined to not lead them into the land.

Therefore, if they went, they would go alone and face the enemy alone. Instead, they were told to move out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.

As there are fingers of the Red Sea on both sides of Sinai, it could mean either direction, if the intent was west, it would have been ironic that they were being told to go in the general direction they had wanted to go when they rebelled, meaning back to Egypt.

Either way, it was away from Canaan and toward the sea. But in another ironic turn, they rebelled against this command in order to do on their own what they had just failed to do with the Lord leading them…

It is an evil generation that has rejected Me
They failed to simply take Me at My word
They are as stubborn as the mule. How can it be?
If only they would pay heed to what they have heard 

But their ears are closed, and their eyes are made dim
They will not pay heed to the thing that I say
“Who is the Lord? What care do we have for Him?”
Oh, Israel! Why must it be this way? 

If you will just come to Me, I would heal you
Here I am with my arms open wide
My hands and feet have been pierced through
And the spear has gone deep into my side

Come to Me, Oh Israel
When you do, from then on, all things will go well

II. From Seir to Hormah (verses 41-46)

⁴¹ “Then you answered and said to me,

Moses emphatically states his words to them, vataanu vatomeru elay – “and you answered, and you said to me. He is showing that they were the initiators of another rebellion, and that he had nothing to do with what occurred.

^{41 (con’t)} ‘We have sinned against the Lord;

khatanu l’Yehovah – “We have sinned against Yehovah.” It is a true statement. The people had sinned through cowardly unbelief. That will next be complemented with the sin of disobedient presumption…

^{41 (con’t)} we will go up and fight,

anakhnu naaleh v’nilkhamnu – “we will go up and we will fight.” There is no inclusion of the Lord in these words. To them, it is a battle that they alone will fight and prove themselves worthy of claiming the promise. It is a classic picture of those who attempt to earn salvation, and thus heaven, through their own efforts.

This is especially so for those who do so under the guise of obedience to the Law of Moses. They rejected God’s offer of Christ, and they then fall back on the commands of the law in an attempt to prove their own merit. This is exactingly seen in the next words…

^{41 (con’t)} just as the Lord our God commanded us.’

No! The land is an inheritance. An inheritance cannot be earned. Further, the Lord consistently said to the people that He would give them the land. It is He who would lead the battles. He never commanded them to fight apart from His presence.

The picture of Israel attempting to merit God’s inheritance through the law is perfectly seen here. And this is no different than any others who do the same today – Jew or Gentile – relying on the commands of the law to obtain what God offers apart from the law.

^{41 (con’t)} And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the mountain.

Here is a word found only here in Scripture, hun. It signifies, “to be easy.” Rather than “you were ready to go up,” it should say something akin to, “and you thought it would be easy to go up.” This is certain because of what will come in the next verse. But it is also evident from the typology.

People who pursue the law think it is easy to earn God’s favor through the law. They look at their own actions, with their own weapons of war, as the assured ticket to obtaining the promise. This is exactingly taught by Paul in Ephesians 6 –

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:12, 13

Only through the Lord and the weapons He has provided can man stand in the battle, and only through Him can man prevail. For Israel, their actions provided us with these typological truths.

⁴² “And the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.”’

This verse corresponds directly to Numbers 14:42. The Lord would not go with them into battle. If the Lord was among them, their victory in battle would be guaranteed. Without Him, their own defeat was certain. Such is true with salvation. With the Lord, heaven is guaranteed, but without Him, only death and destruction await.

⁴³ So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen,

Moses conveyed the word of the Lord to the people. It is the sin of willful disobedience. The Lord spoke, Moses conveyed the word, and the people ignored the word. It is just what Paul speaks of in Galatians and elsewhere. He rebuked those of the circumcision for attempting to merit God’s favor through the law. But they refused to listen…

^{43 (con’t)} but rebelled against the command of the Lord,

Here, as in verse 26, it says, va’tamru eth pi Yehovah, “and rebelled against the mouth of Yehovah.” The Lord spoke forth his word, and yet the people rebelled against it. However, as in verse 26, the word is marah, or rebelled.

The word marah comes from a root meaning, “to make bitter.” Thus, we can get the mental picture of, “You brought a state of bitterness to the mouth of the Lord.” That is then highlighted by the next clause…

^{43 (con’t)} and presumptuously went up into the mountain.

The word translated as presumptuously is zud. It signifies to boil or seethe. The people didn’t just bitterly rebel, but they did so in a boil. One can almost see a pot of bitter herbs being brought to a boil which is then presented to the Lord. The taste would be nauseous and revolting.

This is exactly the type of attitude those who pursue the law bring to God’s presence. It is precisely what Paul speaks of in Romans 8 concerning those who attempt to walk according to the flesh, meaning who use the law as a means of justification –

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁵ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:4-8

⁴⁴ And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you

The word says, “the Amorite.” It is speaking of the people group as a whole. In Numbers 14, however, it said, “Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them.”

Here, the general term for all of the dwellers of Canaan is used. Amorite comes from amar, meaning to utter or say.  Therefore, the name signifies being spoken of, and thus “Renowned.” Next, interestingly, it says…

^{44 (con’t)} and chased you as bees do,

Here, the devorah, or bee, is introduced. It is the same as the name Deborah. The word comes from the verb davar, or “to speak,” and it is the root of the noun “speech,” or “word.” Just as words are spoken in an orderly motion, so are the movements of bees.

What is interesting, is that the word Amorite comes from “to utter,” or “to say,” and bee comes from “to speak.” The picture should be clear. The Lord is using this to form a picture of His word. For example, bees produce honey, something that is equated to the words of the Lord.

Those who convey the word, and the word itself, speak against those who attempt to find justification for themselves apart from the Lord. The result of such is…

^{44 (con’t)} and drove you back from Seir to Hormah.

This is also something not recorded in Numbers 14. There it says, “and drove them back as far as Hormah.” Seir was never mentioned. The word Seir comes from sear, or hair, which signifies awareness. Man is a sentient being, he has awareness, in particular, an awareness of sin due to the law.

Hormah, or Kharemah, comes from the word kharam, it means to make accursed, or utterly destroy. Thus, it means “Destruction.” Again, the picture follows logically. Man, with an awareness of sin, but who attempts to be justified apart from the righteousness of Christ, is accursed and is to be destroyed.

Paul speaks of this in Galatians 1 in regard to those who attempt to pervert the gospel of Christ, particularly by reinserting the law –

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8, 9

⁴⁵ Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

The people of Israel rejected the Lord’s promise and provision concerning entrance into Canaan, and they were banished to the wilderness. In this, they wept before the Lord, but He paid no attention.

Likewise, and sadly, the people of Israel rejected the Lord’s promise and provision concerning entry into His promised rest through the Person and work of Christ. They were banished among the nations and have wept consistently for a return to the promise.

For 2000 years, the proclamation has been, “Next year in Jerusalem.” But the Lord would not listen to their voice, nor would He give ear to them. The pattern was given so that the people would see, open their eyes and their hearts to Christ, and be healed. But the healing would not come…

⁴⁶ “So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.

Here, a statement of fact is made. The people of Israel remained in Kadesh “many days.” The amount of speculation on how long they were in Kadesh is long, and the commentaries vary immensely. But What needs to be understood is that Kadesh is where the spies went out from and returned to.

It is also the last place that Israel was before beginning their trek back towards Canaan. Despite all the places that they are recorded as having trekked to during their time in the wilderness, the location of Kadesh is thus given to sum up the entire period of living in the wilderness.

The meaning of Kadesh is simply, “Holy.” As much as being a central point of reference for all of their time in the wilderness, then, it is also given to make a theological point concerning Israel. Despite being under punishment, despite being banned from entry into the promise, and despite the death of all of the people who rebelled, Israel was still set apart as “holy.”

The Lord made a covenant with Israel, and their faithlessness in no way negates His faithfulness. Though they were, in and of themselves, unholy the Lord maintained them as “holy” for His own sovereign redemptive purposes.

Their trek back to Canaan, as we previously saw, and as we will see again in the review of their historical events in the chapters to come, anticipates their trek back to the Lord and to being brought into the covenant promises found in Jesus Christ.

The lesson of what we have seen – for Israel and for us – is that we cannot come to God apart from the merits which are found in Jesus Christ. No obtaining of the inheritance is to be found in the Law of Moses, or in our futile attempts to be justified under that law through our own efforts.

This is the purpose of the story we have seen, and it is a truth which continues on throughout all of the Old Testament and even into the New. God has presented us with His final, full, and finished plan of salvation, and it is one which is solely dependent on the merits of Jesus Christ, and Him alone, for our justification before Him. Let us hold fast to this truth, and let us rest in the grace of God which comes through Him.

Closing Verse: “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” Galatians 6:14, 15

Next Week: Deuteronomy 2:1-12 It’s been a long walk and the times have been rough… (You Have Skirted This Mountain Long Enough) (6^th Deuteronomy Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. But He also has expectations of you as He prepares you for entrance into His Land of Promise. So, follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

Many Days in Kadesh

And the LORD heard the sound of your words
And was angry, and took an oath, saying
‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation
Shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers
———-so to you I am relaying

Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh
He shall see it, and to him and his children, so stands my word
I am giving the land on which he walked
Because he wholly followed the LORD

The LORD was also angry with me for your sakes, saying
‘Even you shall not go in there, so to you I submit
Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there
Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it

‘Moreover your little ones and your children
Who you say will be victims, when you disbelieved and quit
Who today have no knowledge of good and evil
They shall go in there; to them I will give it
———-and they shall possess it

But as for you, turn and take your journey
Into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea

“Then you answered and said to me
‘We have sinned against the LORD; we will go up and fight
Just as the LORD our God commanded us
We will show those folks our strength and might

And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war
You were ready to go up into the mountain
———- the Lord’s word you did ignore

“And the LORD said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up nor fight
For I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies
———-yes, in their very sight

So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen
But rebelled against the command of the LORD
And presumptuously went up into the mountain
Not paying heed to His word

And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain
Came out against you and chased you as bees do
And drove you back from Seir to Hormah
Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD
———-would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you

So you remained many days in Kadesh is where
According to the days that you spent there

Lord God, turn our hearts to be obedient to Your word
Give us wisdom to be ever faithful to You
May we carefully heed each thing we have heard
Yes, Lord God may our hearts be faithful and true

And we shall be content and satisfied in You alone
We will follow You as we sing our songs of praise
Hallelujah to You; to us Your path You have shown
Hallelujah we shall sing to You for all of our days

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

³⁴ “And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, ³⁵ ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers, ³⁶ except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the Lord.’ ³⁷ The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. ³⁸ Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

³⁹ ‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. ⁴⁰ But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’

⁴¹ “Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the mountain.

⁴² “And the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.” ’ ⁴³ So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the Lord, and presumptuously went up into the mountain. ⁴⁴ And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah. ⁴⁵ Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

⁴⁶ “So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.