Rest

Deuteronomy 3:17-20 – Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead 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 the other 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 fellow Israelites 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.”

Ezekiel 47:8 – He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.

Hebrews 4:1,3,9-11 – Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it…Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world…There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

Application:

• ·         Arabah is here the waterless region between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
• ·         God’s promise to bring His people into circumstances of “rest” in His creation, while conditional, was open-ended. Through the Messiah’s reign, God’s promise of rest will ultimately be fulfilled in the new creation.
• ·         Just as entering into rest in Canaan demanded faith in God’s promise, so the ultimate “Sabbath-rest” is entered only by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God rested from His work on the seventh day of creation, and thus His rest is already a reality. The rest God calls us to enter is not our rest but His rest, which He invites us to share.
• ·         God’s rest may still be entered by faith in His Son.
• ·         Believers cease their efforts to gain salvation by their own works and rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
• ·         “Make every effort” is not a call to earn one’s salvation by works but an exhortation to enter Sabbath-rest by faith and not follow Israel’s sad example in the wilderness.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Mount Hermon

Deuteronomy 3:6-16 – 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 Salekah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits 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 Maakathites; 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.

Psalm 133:3 – It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

Application:

• ·         A dew as profuse as that of Mount Hermon would make Mount Zion richly fruitful. So would communal unity make Israel richly fruitful.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Made His Spirit Stubborn

Deuteronomy 2:30 – 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.

Judges 14:4 – (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

1 Kings 12:15 – So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

Romans 9:18 – Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Application:

• ·         The Lord uses even sinful human weaknesses to accomplish His purposes and bring praise to His name.
• ·         By the statement in 1 Kings, the writer of Kings does not condone either the foolish act of Rehoboam or the revolutionary spirit of the northern tribes, but reminds the reader that all these things occurred to bring about the divinely announced punishment on the house of David for Solomon’s idolatry and breach of the covenant.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Thirty-Eight Years

Deuteronomy 2:8-18 – So we went on past our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab. Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.” (The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites. Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession.) And the Lord said, “Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.” So we crossed the valley. Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. The Lord’s hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp. Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died, the Lord said to me, “Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar.

Numbers 14:34 – For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’

Deuteronomy 1:3 – In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.

Application:

• ·         The 40 days of the travels of the spies became the numerical pattern for their suffering: one year for one day—for 40 years they would be reminded of their misjudgment, and for 40 years the people 20 years old or more would be dying, so that only the young generation might enter the land.
• ·         The Lord had condemned the Israelites to 40 years of wandering in Sinai as punishment for not entering Canaan as He had commanded them to do at Kadesh. The 40 years included the time spent at Sinai and on the journey to Kadesh, as well as the next 38 years.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Have Not Lacked Anything

Deuteronomy 1:46-2:7 – And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there. Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir. Then the Lord said to me, “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’” The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.

Deuteronomy 8:3 – He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Nehemiah 9:21 – For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.

Amos 2:10 – I brought you up out of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to give you the land of the Amorites.

Application:

• ·         Bread sustains but does not guarantee life, which is God’s gift to those who trust in and live by His word: his commands and promises. God’s discipline of His people by bringing them through the wilderness taught them this fundamental truth.
• ·         “Clothes did not wear out” was evidence of the special providence of God.
• ·         God’s great blessings to Israel in the past added to her guilt, and they are recalled in Amos as a part of the Lord’s indictment against His people.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

He Paid No Attention

Deuteronomy 1:44-45 – The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. You came back and wept before the Lord, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you.

Numbers 14:1 – That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.

Jeremiah 14:12 – Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

Micah 3:4 – Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.

Psalm 39:12 – “Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were.

Application:

• ·         The frightening words of the faithless spies led to mourning by the entire community and to their great rebellion against the Lord. They forgot all the miracles the Lord had done for them; they despised His mercies and spurned His might.
• ·         Sacrifice is to no avail when unaccompanied by repentance.
• ·         Disobedience leads to separation from God.
• ·         The Psalmist lived this life before God only as a pilgrim passing through.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Do Not Yet Know Good From Bad

Deuteronomy 1:38-43 – But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.” Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’” So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country.

Genesis 2:9 – The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Numbers 14:40 – Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!”

Application:

• ·         The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was signifying and giving knowledge of good and evil, leading ultimately to death, to those who eat its fruit. “Knowledge of good and evil” refers to moral knowledge or ethical discernment. In eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve sought a creaturely source of discernment in order to be morally independent of God.
• ·         Now, too late, the people determine to go up to the land. Such a course of action was doomed to failure. Not only was the Lord not with them; He was against them.
• ·         First the people rebelled against the Lord’s command to go into the land, then against His command not to enter the land. After their first rebellion the Lord would not go with them. His presence was essential, and Israel needed to learn that lesson.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Because Of You

Deuteronomy 1:34-37 – When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.” Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either.

Numbers 11:1 – Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

Numbers 14:28-29 – So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.

Numbers 20:11 – Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

Application:

• ·         Only three days into their march, the people revert to disloyal complaints. They had expressed the same complaints a year earlier, only three days after their deliverance at the waters of the “Red Sea”, and had subsequently complained about manna and a lack of water.
• ·         The people of Israel brought upon themselves their punishment. They had said that they would rather die in the wilderness than be led into Canaan to die by the sword.
• ·         In his rage Moses disobeyed the Lord’s instruction to speak to the rock. Moses’ rash action brought a stern rebuke from the Lord. These other factors were also involved: (1) Moses’ action was a lack of trust in God, as though he believed that a word alone would not suffice. (2) God’s holiness was offended by Moses’ rash action, for he had not shown proper deference to God’s presence.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

In Fire By Night And In A Cloud By Day

Deuteronomy 1:32-33 – In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

Numbers 14:11 – The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?

Numbers 9:23 – At the Lord’s command they encamped, and at the Lord’s command they set out. They obeyed the Lord’s order, in accordance with his command through Moses.

Exodus 40:34 – Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

• ·         By refusing to believe in the Lord’s power, especially in view of all the wonders they had experienced, the people of Israel were holding Him in contempt.
• ·         The presence of the Lord was in the cloud over the tabernacle to guide the Israelites through their wilderness journeys.
• ·         Moses was the Lord’s agent, who interpreted the movement of the cloud as signaling the movement of the people.
• ·         With the glory of the Lord entering the tabernacle, the great series of events that began with the birth of Moses and his rescue from the Nile, foreshadowing the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, comes to a grand climax. From now on, the Israelites march through the wilderness, and through history, with the Lord tenting among them and leading them to the land of fulfilled promises.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

God Carried You

Deuteronomy 1:30-31 – The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

Exodus 14:14 – The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Psalm 28:9 – Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Ezekiel 34:11 – “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.

Application:

• ·         “The Lord will fight for you” was a necessary reminder that although Israel was “ready for battle” and “marching out boldly”, the victory would be won by God alone.
• ·         God’s two primary acts by which he effects His people’s well-being: He saves from time to time as circumstances require; He blesses day by day to make their lives and labors fruitful.
• ·         Having dealt with the faithless shepherds, the Lord committed Himself to shepherd His flock.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Afraid

Deuteronomy 1:29 – Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them.

Deuteronomy 3:22 – Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.”

Nehemiah 4:14 – After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 – Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Application:

• ·         The Lord’s power, not Israel’s unaided strength, achieved victory.
• ·         The best way to dispel fear is to remember the Lord, who alone is to be feared.
• ·         By trusting in the Lord and obeying Him, His followers would be victorious in spite of great obstacles.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Grumbled

Deuteronomy 1:27-28 – You grumbled in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’”

Exodus 15:24 – So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

Numbers 13:32-33 – And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Application:

• ·         During their wilderness wanderings, the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron whenever they faced a crisis. In reality, however, they were grumbling “against the Lord”.
• ·         The promised land was a good land, a gracious gift from God. By speaking bad things about it, the faithless spies were speaking evil of the Lord.
• ·         The spies’ words became exaggerations and distortions.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Rebelled

Deuteronomy 1:22-26 – Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.” The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol and explored it. Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.” But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.

Joshua 1:2 – “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.

Numbers 14:1,9 – That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud…Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

Application:

• ·         The frightening words of the faithless spies led to mourning by the entire community and to their great rebellion against the Lord.
• ·         Israel forgot all the miracles the Lord had done for them; they despised His mercies and spurned His might. In their ingratitude they preferred death.
• ·         There are no walls, no fortifications, no factors of size or bearing, and certainly no gods that can withstand the onslaught of God’s people when the Lord is with them.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Afraid

Deuteronomy 1:20-21 – Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Numbers 14:9 – Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

Joshua 1:18 – Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

Psalm 27:14 – Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Application:

• ·         There are no walls, no fortifications, no factors of size or bearing, and certainly no gods that can withstand the onslaught of God’s people when the Lord is with them.
• ·         The people of Israel’s words of encouragement to Joshua echo and reinforce those from the Lord.
• ·         Waiting for the Lord is faith encouraging faith.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Partiality

Deuteronomy 1:17-19 – Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.” And at that time I told you everything you were to do. Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.

Acts 10:34-35 – Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

James 2:1 – My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.

Jeremiah 2:2,6 – “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the Lord says: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown…They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

Application:

• ·         God does not favor individuals because of their station in life, their nationality or their material possessions.
• ·         God does not show favoritism—nor should believers.
• ·         The Hebrew for devotion refers to the most intimate degree of loyalty, love and faithfulness that can exist between two people or between an individual and the Lord.
• ·         The Lord, Israel’s Redeemer, freed His people from Egyptian bondage so that they might serve Him alone.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

As The Stars In The Sky

Deuteronomy 1:7-16 – Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.” At that time I said to you, “You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone. The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky. May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised! But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself? Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.” You answered me, “What you propose to do is good.” So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials. And I charged your judges at that time, “Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you.

Genesis 26:3 – Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.

Genesis 15:5 – He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Psalm 72:1 – Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.

Application:

• ·         God’s promise to be a sustainer and protector of His people is repeated often
• ·         More than 8,000 stars are clearly visible to the naked eye in the darkness of a Near Eastern night.
• ·         Solomon asked for the necessary wisdom so he could govern God’s people justly.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV