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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
(God speaking) “Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day, I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under Heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”
(Moses speaking) “From the desert of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to Sihon, king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, ‘Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot - as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us - until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’ But Sihon, king of Heshbon, refused to let us pass through. For the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as He has now done.”
“The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.’"
“When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. At that time, we took all his towns and completely destroyed them - men, women and children. We left no survivors. But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The Lord our God gave us all of them. But in accordance with the command of the Lord our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.”
Deuteronomy 2:24-37
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we read at the beginning of the second chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites had been traveling for 38 years after their sinful disobedience and rebellion at Kadesh where they had refused to heed God’s call to enter Canaan. You’ll remember that the Lord imposed punishment by sending His people back out in the wilderness for 40 years, one year for each day that the scouts had spent in Canaan to assess the land and bring a report back to their fellow Israelites. And while that report began positive regarding the abundance of provision, there was also the negative side of things which included forces that would present a real challenge for the people of Israel to conquer. You’ll remember that the Israelite people chose to base their decisions on the ten spies who discouraged them from trusting the Lord instead of listening to Joshua and Caleb who both asserted that it didn’t matter who the opposition was because God would be fighting for His people.
And so the people were sent away for the aforementioned 40 years and during that time, the generation of rebellious Israelites would die off, leaving the next generation to gain the inheritance of the Promised Land.
It was during that time in the wilderness that the scriptures show us how God still led His people to the places He wanted them to be for the express purpose of doing what He wanted them to do, especially in regard to the other nations they would inevitably encounter.
Earlier in this chapter, we saw where the Lord directed the Israelites to not attempt to take any land from the people of Esau (Isaac’s son) in the Seir Valley or the Ammonites and Moabites. This was because God had granted all three of them the land that they possessed, the Ammonites and Moabites gaining theirs through relation to Lot, Abraham’s nephew.
Well, as we finish up chapter 2, we see where God gives a green light for the Israelites to enter into conflict, saying:
“Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under Heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you."
Go back to when the Israelites rebelled and chose to not trust God and enter Canaan. After they learned of His anger over their sin, you’ll recall that they took it upon themselves to take on the Amorites, all this despite God warning them that He wouldn’t be in the midst of it. The end result was a humiliating defeat. Now, fast forward to this moment and we see a much different picture painted. For God was not only going to give His people victory over Sihon the Amorite and those he ruled in Heshbon but promised to make Israel an intimidating presence, one that would cause other nations to feel “terror and fear”. Indeed, the Israelites were returning to God’s good graces, all because they were learning to properly trust Him.
With this stage set and before any actual battle happened, the scriptures show us how Moses tried to reach a peaceful resolution first. We read where he “sent messengers to Sihon, king of Heshbon, offering peace” while in “the desert of Kedemoth” saying:
“Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot - as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us - until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us."
Unfortunately, Sihon refused to accept this offer, choosing instead to bring his army out to meet Israel “in battle at Jahaz” and it was there that “God delivered” Heshbon’s king over to His people who “struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army.” Then, we read where the Israelites “took all his towns and completely destroyed them”, “leaving no survivors” and carrying off the “plunder and livestock”.
After this, the nation of Israel becomes a force to be reckoned with, just as God promised they would. The scriptures tell us that “from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong” for the Israelites to defeat. They vanquished every foe, not because of what they had done but what God had done for them and we find Moses giving Him full credit, saying:
“The Lord our God gave us all of them.”
Indeed, the Lord had brought Israel to victory by delivering their enemies to them and just as when they had left Egypt, He once again showed that He was Israel’s great Deliverer.
Today, God is still our great Deliverer as well. In fact, He provided us the ultimate rescue from an eternity in Hell when He willingly chose to sacrifice His only Son, Jesus, on Calvary’s cross, In doing so, He freed us from certain destruction and opened the gates of Heaven for us if we would just believe and trust in His Son, the crucified and resurrected Lamb of God who came and took away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
My dear friends, what a blessing it is to know we are delivered and saved! Just as the Israelites gained confidence in knowing they could face any enemy and gain victory, so too do we gain blessed assurance knowing we have already been granted the ultimate victory over our greatest foe, Satan. This truth frees us to be able to go out boldly to do the Gospel work that Jesus called us to without fear of defeat.
Is this not reason for us to celebrate, rejoice, and be glad, not just today but everyone thereafter as we proceed toward the glory of Heaven?
For our God is our Deliverer and it is only through Him and our faith in Christ as Savior that we have a hope that can never be taken away.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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