Deuteronomy 2-Deuteronomy 3 (Click scripture reference for audio access)
"Battles, His Not Mine!" •
9.20.12 • Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary
Christian Fellowship
Intro.
- Last week,
Moses began the first of his last sermons given to the new generation of
Israelites, just prior to their entry into the promised land.
- He is looking
back upon their history and noting the provident, sovereign perspective that
governed their past actions and what that meant for them in the present.
Text
• Deuteronomy
2:1-7 : "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. 'And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘You have skirted this mountain
long enough; turn northward. 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. 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. 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. 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.'"
- On their journey toward the southern portion
of Israel, God told them not to meddle with Esau or the people of Edom. Edom
lived on what was a possession from God!
- Israel was not a marauding, warmongering
group of tribes, looking for great expansion at anyone's cost. They were headed
toward a specific land and would war for the purpose of God
- WIth the other nations, they were to have
cordial, national relations. God instructs them here to buy from them. They
were not to take advantage of them for any reason.
- God knows the heart of His people though. The
thought must have weighed in their minds, as they had been in the wilderness
for a long time.
- But they had currency to purchase their food
and water, because even in the desert, God had blessed the work of their hands.
What had they done or created?
- We read earlier in the Pentateuch that they
could sell certain parts of the sacrificed animals which were useless in
sacrifice, to other people groups.
- However they earned their money, God had
blessed them in that.
- There is also another warning here against
greed. The Lord knows their trudging. I like the NLT's rendering here: "He has watched your every step through this
great wilderness."
- God had not missed a single moment and He had
not dropped the ball once! In all that time, in that great wilderness, with
over 2.5 million people, he tells Israel, you lacked nothing!
- What an indictment to the modern mind, so
consumed with the thought of need. If it was true for them, how could it not be
true for you!? What a track record the Lord has!
•
Deuteronomy 2:8-15 : "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. 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 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, and dwelt in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their
possession which the Lord gave them.) Now rise and cross over the Valley of the Zered.’ So we
crossed over the Valley of the Zered. 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. For
indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the
camp until they were consumed." : Edom did
not let Israel pass through and they had to go around, which led them to the
next nation, Moab, whose land was also off limits to them.
-
The Moabites had allied themselves with Edom and they had dispossessed the
giants.
-
Moses remarks about the greatness of the land's inhabitants and the fact that
God had given land to other people before, and they were able to defeat giants
to secure it.
-
It's God's way of saying, "These people are not even my people and they
are where I want them! How much more will that be the case in your case!"
-
The only reason that they waited was for the unbelieving fighting men 20 and
older to die.
-
Listen to those words: The hand of the Lord was against them to destroy them.
These are the men who had not believed, who were a part of God's army, but had
refused to fight.
•
Deuteronomy 2:16-23 : "So it
was, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, that the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘This day you are to cross over at
Ar, the boundary of Moab. 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.’ (That
was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the
Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 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, 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.
And the Avim, who dwelt in villages
as far as Gaza—the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt
in their place.)" : Ammon was the other
descendant of Lot that the people of Israel were not to harrass.
-
Like the Moabites, this land was Ammon's by promised possession from God. In
fact, it was God who destroyed the giants for them!
-
When you think of Canaanite country, there were the usual, godless people, who
were ordinary in size, but there was also a collection of giant races that
lived on the perimeter.
-
Beside the Bible, giants are reported by Josephus, cursed by the Pharoah of
Egypt and are even mentioned by the Pawnee Indians! Today, it's not too rare to
find a 7 foot tall person.
-
Manute Bol was the tallest NBA player I could remember at 7'7 inches, but he's
not a giant!
-
In America, Robert Wadlow reached 8'11 inches, but still not bigger than
Goliath who was 9 ft tall and Og, who we are about to read about, was probably
12 to 13 feet tall.
-
These races, the Avim, Caphtorim, Zanzummin and Anakim were all races of
giants.
-
Two things should be occuring to them. First, the Lord appoints your battles.
Edom, Moab and Ammon were off limits. God's people are not always looking for
conflict!
-
They are ready to be ready for battle, but not just any battle. Be sure you are
fighting His battles! Too many Christians are fighting battles that God did not
call them to.
-
Second, the Lord has ways of defeating your enemies. He used Edom to take out
the giants and He personally dealt with the giants for the Ammonites. God never
runs out of ways to deliver!
•
Deuteronomy 2:24,25 : "'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. 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.’"
When they crossed the Arnon, God was leading them into this conflict with
Sihon.
-
Sihon will later attack the people of Israel and God is telling them before the
time, that they were to engage in the battle. They weren't looking for a fight,
but they were ready to!
-
From that day, the nations experienced a dread and a fear of them. People were
terrified irrationally because of the Israelites with an inner quaking that
caused them to be twisted emotionally.
-
God did this in their hearts from that very day. This was all told to Moses
prior to their engagement. He gave them a great encouragement before things got
started.
•
Deuteronomy 2:26-37 : "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. 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, 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.’ 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. 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.’ Then Sihon and all his
people came out against us to fight at Jahaz. And
the Lord our God
delivered him over to us; so we defeated him, his sons, and all his people. 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. 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, as far as Gilead, there was not one city
too strong for us; the Lord our God delivered all to us. 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." : When Moses came to Sihon, God had hardened his spirit and made
his heart obstinate. Like Pharoah before him, Sihon had every opportunity to
turn to God.
-
When he had made a repeated decision, God confirmed it and made it final! How
dangerous is it not to surrender to God? With each passing opportunity, our
reception grows less and less.
-
God used this opportunity to bring them into the land, to give them confidence
to take the next step, but never a step outside of his direction.
• Deuteronomy
3:1-7 : "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. 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.’ 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. 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. All these cities were fortified
with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns. And we utterly destroyed them, as
we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and
children of every city. But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as
booty for ourselves." : Og becomes a byword in
Israel's history of the greatness of God. He is mentioned in the same light as
Egypt or the Pharaoh is mentioned.
- There was a large cache of cities that were
taken, all of which were walled and gated, the technological equivalent to the
various implements used to guard cities today.
- Beside routing them, God also enriched them
through this battle, as the spoil was great!
•
Deuteronomy 3:8-11 : "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 (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it
Senir), 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. 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." : Og was the last of the giants, whose 13x6 ft bed was kept as a
memorial in the city of Rabbah.
•
Deuteronomy 3:12-17 : "And this
land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon,
and half the mountains of Gilead and its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and
the Gadites. The
rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of
Manasseh. (All the region of Argob, with all Bashan, was called the land of the
giants. Jair the
son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, as far as the border of the
Geshurites and the Maachathites, and called Bashan after his own name, Havoth
Jair, to this day.) Also
I gave Gilead to Machir. And to the Reubenites
and the Gadites I gave from Gilead as far as the River Arnon, the middle of the
river as the border, as far as the River Jabbok, the border of the people of
Ammon; the plain also, with the Jordan as the
border, from Chinnereth as far as the east side of the Sea of the Arabah (the
Salt Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah." :
This was the land on the western side of the Jordan river that Moses allowed
these tribes to possess.
-
It was not quite the promised land, but for these tribes, it was close enough,
which would later prove to be a dangerous proposition. This was the wild west
and law was far from helping them.
-
These tribes would be the first to fall to the Assyrians and the last to return
to the land.
-
In the things of God, close enough is never good enough! Go all the way with
the Lord!
•
Deuteronomy 3:18-22 : "Then I commanded you at that time,
saying: ‘The Lord your God has given you this land
to possess. All you men of valor shall cross over armed before your brethren,
the children of Israel. But your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know
that you have much livestock) shall stay in your cities which I have given you,
until the
Lord has given rest to your brethren as
to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them beyond the
Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession which I have given you.’ And I commanded Joshua at that time,
saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms
through which you pass. You must not fear
them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you.’" : These tribes were allowed their allotment, but were commanded
to come and fight with the rest of the tribes until the Lord gave them rest.
-
When God talks about winning a battle, the result is rest for His people! At
that same time, Joshua was commissioned to lead the people.
-
He had to remember what God had done to these kingdoms and that it was the Lord
that fought for them!
•
Deuteronomy 3:23-29 : "Then I
pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying: ‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your
servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or
on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? I pray, let me cross over and see
the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.’ But the Lord was angry with me on
your account, and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this
matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift
your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with
your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. But command Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him;
for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the
land which you will see.’ So we stayed in the
valley opposite Beth Peor." : Moses
had been asking God, now that things were really moving forward, to change His
mind.
-
I love that this was an ongoing conversation that God had to put an end to!
Moses despite what had happened, kept coming to God.
-
God essentially tells him this: "You can't bring the people in, so get
over that! I'll let you look at the land, and then get to what you can do:
Encourage and get Joshua ready for the battle ahead!"
Conclusion
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