THIEF OF UNBELIEF (DEUTERONOMY 1:1-46) Deuteronomy is the recounting of the transition that occurred with the Israeli people at the end of their 40-year wilderness journey. This transition included the death of the generation of Jews who had been liberated from slavery in Egypt. Yet because of their unbelief they refused to obey God and enter the Promised Land. The privilege to do so was now passed on to their children. Moses explains here why the first generation failed to enter the Promised Land in the hope that this new generation would learn from the failure of their fathers. Moses reminds them how God had called them and begun to prepare them soon after He brought them out of their slavery in Egypt. It was at Mount. Horeb that God’s law was given to them. Moses reminded them how he had selected leaders to help with an orderly oversight of the people. Lastly, Moses retold the account of 12 men sent into the Promised Land to confirm that the land was all God said it would be. All 12 confirmed it was a land flowing with “milk and honey” yet all but two discouraged the people of Israel, saying they were unable to take the land. They thought it was impossible for them as former slaves of Egypt to overcome the strong people and their fortified cities. The end conclusion of this report was to declare, “God hates us” (v. 27). The thief of unbelief had slain the entire nation without even lifting a sword. Their unbelief turned into rebellion; they turned their backs on God’s promise. Their unbelief cast them back into the wilderness to wander aimlessly for 40 years. This history lesson echoes through the centuries to this moment. Unbelief continues to rob God’s people of His “exceedingly great and precious promises” (1 Pet. 1:3-4). Unbelief, under the cloak of religion, continues to turn many of us into rebels against God. Great personal courage is required to remove our cloak of “user-friendly” religion to discover where unbelief has kept us in a spiritual wilderness. A place where the divine interventions and power of God can transform us into children of light, who can be a force for God’s kingdom, turning the world upside down for Christ. Just as unbelief is like a spreading cancer, so faith can also spread. It can bring its healing transforming power. Let God arise in our hearts and His enemies will be scattered. Let God be magnified within us and let us have the courage of faith to make God’s promises our own. Deuteronomy 1:1-46 1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. 3 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, 4 after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei. 5 On this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying, 6 “The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.’MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011 (TOP)
NKJV BIBLE TEXT
| Moses Reminds The Children Of Israel To Cross The Jordan River And Take Possession Of The Land Of Canaan v. 1 Moses spoke – The book of Deuteronomy consists mainly of a series of addresses that God had made to Israel through Moses before they crossed over into the Promised Land. The name “Deuteronomy” literally means, “second giving of the Law,” and the book is so named because much of it is a reiteration of the laws that God had given them through Moses in the previous three books of the Old Testament. Moses needed to repeat the Law to them a second time because he is now addressing a new generation of Hebrews, the first having died in the wilderness. This new generation will be the one to enter and take the land of Canaan, and therefore they would need to know and obey God’s Law if they were to prosper, be blessed, and remain in the Land for many generations. In the plain – The Israelites had been encamped for a long time in a plain known today as the Arabah, a valley running north and south of the Dead Sea. v. 2 it is eleven days’ journey – Horeb is a name used throughout Deuteronomy to signify Mount Sinai. Kadesh Barnea (“land of wandering”) was the piece of land that stood at the border of the Promised Land. Therefore, this statement held much significance for the children of Israel because God reveals that their journey from Mount Sinai to the land of Canann, which took them 40 years to complete because of their lack of faith, could have been made in only 11 days. Because of their refusal to enter the Land (a period of their history described for us in Numbers 14), God caused them to wander again and again around the same small area of land until the entire generation died and was never able to taste the fruit of the Promised Land that God had waiting for them. | v. 3 in the eleventh month – the Jewish month Shebet, which takes place on our calendar in the last part of January and first part of February. v. 4 Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan – Moses will bring up Israel’s historic battle with these two kings several times in Deuteronomy, as they were representative of the fiercest opposition Israel had seen up until that point. Sihon means “mighty and tempestuous,” and Og means “man of gigantic stature.” These were kings over a race of giants. In this verse, Moses reminds Israel that the giants that their fathers were so afraid of are the same giants that they had defeated merely by trusting in and obeying the Lord. Thus, the frequent references to Sihon and Og in Deuteronomy are meant to be an encouragement to Israel concerning the things that God is able to do for His people if they will step out in faithful obedience. v. 6 dwelt long enough – Again, the Lord emphasizes the futility of the Israelites’ wandering, again and again over the same piece of ground. God explains that it was enough, and that the time had finally come to enter into and take the Promised Land. v. 8 the land – God promised Abraham that He would give his descendants the land which now belonged to the Canaanites in Genesis 12:6-7, and He established the future borders of it in Genesis 15:18-21. God reiterated the promise again to Abraham’s son Isaac in Genesis 26:3, and then to his grandson Jacob in Genesis 28:13-14. Here Moses reminds the descendants of Abraham that God had long since promised their family that land. All that was left was to run in and possess it through God’s power. |
Tribal Leaders Appointed 9 “And I spoke to you at that time, saying: ‘I alone am not able to bear you. 10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude. 11 May the LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you! 12 How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints? 13 Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.’ 14 And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’ 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.
| v. 13 wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men – Moses here carries on the tradition of appointing elders to rule over the nation of Israel. At one time, he attempted to bear all of the burden of governing Israel by himself, but in Exodus 18 God revealed to him a better way, which was to appoint elders from the people to help carry the load and to make sure that all the needs of the people were met. This is still the basic structure of the church in the New Testament, as is evidenced in passages such as Acts 14:23, 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. | v. 15 leaders – This verse supports the idea that God may anoint and call different men to be leaders over differently sized groups. Not everyone who is called into leadership is gifted to lead a group of thousands. Some may be called to shepherd a group of ten or fifty people. But the calling to lead is still just as spiritual and important as an opportunity to shepherd over hundreds or thousands, as the calling and the ability comes from God. |
16 “Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him. 17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do. Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land 19 “So we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the LORD our God had commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. 21 Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’ 22 “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’ 23 “The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. 24 And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a good land which the LORD our God is giving us.’ 26 “Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; 27 and you complained in your tents, and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ 29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet, for all that, you did not believe the LORD your God, 33 who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.
| v. 17 in any man’s presence – This exhortation is to be sure and judge without partiality, and to do so without concern as to what men might think or say. He commands them to be sure and to listen to everyone’s complaints and give them, whether rich or poor, a fair hearing. He also exhorts them to judge a righteous judgment no matter the outcry, knowing that if they are truly called into leadership, the Lord will have anointed them with wisdom, and the judgment would have ultimately come from Him. v. 22 every one of you came near me – This verse reveals that the plan for sending 12 spies into Canaan did not originate with the Lord or even with Moses but with the people. God allowed it, but it was not His highest will for them. This is important because in Numbers 13 we are told that it was the “evil report” of the spies that caused Israel to lose faith and refuse to enter the Promised Land. | v. 24 the valley of Eschol – The name Eschol means a “cluster of grapes.” The valley received its name from the extraordinarily large cluster of grapes which the 12 spies cut down and brought back to the people of Israel on a pole in Numbers 13:24. v. 28 the sons of the Anakim – The Anakim were a race of giants who dwelt in the land of Canaan in the days before the Israelites occupied it. In Numbers 13:33, ten of the spies which Israel sent into Canaan returned terrified of the sons of Anak, saying that they felt like “grasshoppers” compared to the giants who dwelt there. Deuteronomy 9:2 tells us that they were “great and tall” people, and this verse reveals that their walls were “fortified up to Heaven” (Archeology tells us that the walls which surrounded the Canaanite cites were 30 to 50 feet tall). By God’s grace, they were able to dislodge the majority of these men, but 2 Samuel 21:16-22 describes Israel’s future continuing battles with the races of giants, whom they did not completely wipe out in their occupation of Canaan. |
The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion 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.
| v. 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh – Out of all the men who were over 20 years of age among the Israelites, only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to live and enter into the Promised Land when they grew old. The reason for this is revealed in Numbers 13:30, when Caleb stood up against the other ten faithless spies and attempted to encourage Israel to enter and possess the land. In 14:6-10, we are told that Joshua joined Caleb in encouraging Israel to go in and take the land. But in response, the rest of the tribes of Israel threatened to stone them to death and choose a new leader who would lead them back into bondage in Egypt. v. 39 will be victims – In Numbers 14:3, the faithless Israelites lamented the fact that God had ordered them to go in and take the land of Canaan, believing that their children would die as victims of the Canaanites. Here, God tells them that the very children they were so sure would die as victims would instead be the overcomers and enter in and take the Land of God’s inheritance. | who have no knowledge of good and evil – God reveals that He will not hold the children responsible for the sins of their parents, as they were not yet old enough to choose intelligently for themselves. This is one of the verses in the Bible that implies an “age of accountability,” during which God does not hold a child responsible for sin because he is not old enough to understand. This concept is reiterated and strengthened in Isaiah 7:16 and again in Jonah 4:11. v. 41 we will go up and fight – Numbers 14:40 reveals that when the children of Israel understood that God was angry with them for their faithlessness, and that there would be severe consequences for it, they attempted to make up for their sin by strapping on weapons and running into the Promised Land ready to fight. However, God had already pronounced His judgment upon them and did not direct them to go into battle again. As a result, the Amorites soundly defeated them (v. 44). This is a reminder that we are not to have “faith in our faith” and presumptuously step out in self-will (v. 43), but rather have faith in and obey God’s will and word. |
