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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei. The Lord said to me, ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.’"
“So the Lord our God also gave into our hands, king of Bashan, and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. At that time, we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them - the whole region of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon, king of Heshbon, destroying every city - men, women and children. But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.”
“So at that time, we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon. (Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og's kingdom in Bashan. (Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)”
“Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns. The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites. Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.) And I gave Gilead to Makir. But to the Reubenites and the Gadites, I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites. Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.”
“I commanded you at that time: ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of your brother Israelites. However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them, across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.’"
“At that time, I commanded Joshua: ‘You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God Himself will fight for you.’"
“At that time I pleaded with the Lord: ‘O Sovereign Lord, You have begun to show to Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in Heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan - that fine hill country and Lebanon.’"
“But because of you, the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. ‘That is enough,’ the Lord said. ‘Do not speak to Me anymore about this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’"
“So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.”
Deuteronomy 3
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the closing verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 2, we saw how God gave the Israelites victory over Sihon, the king of Heshbon, his army, and all the nation’s possessions and territory. This act allowed us to examine how the Lord delivered His people in biblical times and continues to do so today.
As we turn the page to begin our study of chapter 3, we find Moses continuing with his historical review of the people of Israel that covered their release from Egyptian captivity right up to their second opportunity to enter Canaan, the land God had promised to them.
Moses’ review carries on with God continuing to give the Israelites victory, this time over King Og and his kingdom of Bashan. The scriptures tell us that “Og, king of Bashan, with his whole army marched out to meet (Israel) in battle at Edrei.” As this opposition force advanced, we find the Lord assuring Moses with the following words:
“Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon."
And so Israel did as the Lord commanded and He “gave into (their) hands Og, king of Bashan, and all his army…leaving no survivors.” Israel “took all (of Og’s) cities”, sixty in all, “completely destroy(ing) them” just as they had “done with Sihon.” And they also took all the “livestock and the plunder” for themselves, just as before.
So what did Israel do with the land they had gained from Heshbon and Bashan?
Well, you may remember back in our study of the Book of Numbers that God gave this land to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (chapter 23). You’ll also remember that the men of these tribes were commanded to cross the Jordan River and march with the rest of Israel into battle. Once Israel was victorious, they would be allowed to re-cross the Jordan and rejoin their families.
As we look at the second half of Deuteronomy, chapter 3, we see where it is centered on Moses and Joshua, who would be the new leader of the Israelites after Moses died.
First, we see where Moses provides encouragement to Joshua as the Israelites were on the brink of finally entering Canaan. He tells his successor:
“You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God Himself will fight for you."
Note here that Moses doesn’t say “all the kingdoms over there where we are going”. This is because God had already told Moses that he would not be permitted to enter the Promised Land after an incident where Moses and his brother Aaron sinned against God by not following His directions for bringing water from a rock to meet the need of a thirsty Israel. Going back to that terrible error on judgment, you will recall that Moses spoke as if it would be his and Aaron’s power that would bring forth the water, leaving God discredited. Further, instead of speaking to the rock for water to flow forth, he struck the rock twice with his staff. The two acts of disobedience cost both Moses and Aaron their privilege to enter Canaan (Numbers 20). As the Israelites reached that moment, we know that Aaron had already died and Moses would soon follow him to the grave.
Despite knowing this, we see in our passage for today that Moses tried one more time to see if God would change His mind and reconsider the judgment He had imposed. Approaching the Lord, Moses said this:
“O Sovereign Lord, You have begun to show to Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in Heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan - that fine hill country and Lebanon."
What we have here is a classic “butter up” job by Moses as he heaps compliment upon compliment upon the Lord before asking if he could “go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan - that fine hill country and Lebanon.” As mentioned, he was hoping the Lord might pull back His punishment and allow Moses to enter Canaan with the rest of the Israelites.
Well, it didn’t take long for God to render His verdict for we see Him saying this:
“That is enough. Do not speak to Me anymore about this matter.”
In other words, God let Moses know that the case was closed. He wouldn’t lead the Israelites into Canaan but Joshua would and in advance of that, God commanded Moses to do the following:
“Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’"
A new era of leadership was coming for Israel and Joshua would soon replace Moses to bring the Israelites into Canaan.
So what should take away from this chapter?
I believe God is reminding us that He definitely has His limits, something He showed consistently since the dawn of creation. Indeed, from all the way back to Adam and Eve, the Lord has shown a deep disdain for anyone who blatantly chooses to violate His commands or guidance. He demands our absolute obedience and it doesn’t matter who we are or what position we might hold.
Now, a person might read this and think the Lord was being too harsh. After all, His created things are human and this means they are sinful and imperfect. So one might try and reason that God should give some slack when it comes to handling our life choices.
Frankly, this is just the way Satan wants us to think, to willfully give into sin and then expect God to just look the other way.
Well, God doesn’t operate that way because He despises sin and there’s no wonder why. It was the disobedience of the very first couple in Eden’s garden that ruined God’s perfect creation forever, leading Him to come up with a solution that would bear a heavy cost.
For we know that He loved His creation so much that He chose to give up His only Son Jesus for only a perfect atoning sacrifice could atone for the sins of the world. And so Jesus was crucified, nailed to a cross at Calvary where He would bear the punishment for all the sin of the world.
Oh how it must have pained the Father to put His Son through so much suffering. To further the agony, He (God) couldn’t even be present with His Son at His dying moment because of the sin He (Jesus) was bearing. This left the Son to feel forsaken by His own Father and it was all because of sin (Matthew 27:46).
Friends, it’s high time we adopt a very conscientious, intentional, zero-tolerance approach to sin. For every time we willfully disobey our God, it’s as if His Son has to relive His crucifixion all over again, a conviction that led Christian singer and songwriter Ray Boltz to write these words:
Does He still feel the nails
Every time I fail?
Can He hear the crowd cry "Crucify" again?
Am I causing Him pain?
Then I know I've got to change
I just can't bear the thought of hurting Him.
As believers, we need to adopt this same feeling of sensitivity to the sin that the enemy is always trying to bring us into. I don’t know about you but I can’t bear the thought of hurting Jesus and this is a great motivator to want to change and rid my life of the transgressions that He suffered for.
The truth is that anyone can commit themselves to live anew in Christ this very moment, rejecting Satan and His wicked ways while modeling our lives after Jesus, the only person who has ever walked this earth and lives sinlessly. The key here is to surrender fully to the leading of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to guide us in the ways of righteousness and holiness so that when God looks at our life, He sees the life of His Son being lived out. There’s nothing that would bring Him more joy than that.
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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