Sermon Tone Analysis

The God of the Wilderness

Recap of last week:

Moses is retelling the history of the beginnings of Israel’s time in the wilderness.

Israel refused to enter the land; after witnessing many miracles, they still did not trust God to deliver them.

The consequence:

40 years (or 38 of wandering) Until the entire generation of fighting aged men died off (20 years or older at the time of their rebellion).

The response: Now we will obey.

God’s response: it is too late, don’t go up now to fight, I won’t be with you

They go anyway, they got beaten by the Amorites.

Then they wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen.

This was the cost of their rebellion.

Ultimately, it was the difference between a worldly grief and a godly grief: 2Cor7.10

This morning we continue on with the narrative, and we learn more of the wanderings.

Much of this passage coincides with the narratives found in the book of Numbers.

You have been traveling around this mountain long enough.

We saw a similar phrase in 1.6.

There God had said, you have stayed long enough at this mountain.

In Moses’ narrative, he is now describing how God had told them to pass through the territory of Esau.

These people would be afraid of the Israelites, so they were to be careful.

Deut2.5

God is faithful, not only to Israel, but to the Edomites, that is, the descendents of Esau.

Even though Esau had given up his birthright, still God provided for his descendents.

The command not to contend with Esau’s people was not only because of God’s provision to them, but also as warning of sorts to Israel.

They were to trust God and the land he had given them, and believing it would be a good land, they were not to covet land that was not yours.

If you ever go to a restaurant, and you’ve already placed your order, and you see the waiter coming with that big tray, only to see the tray brought to someone else’s table, well then it is easy to look over there and see what food that is, and that other table probably had something different than what you were getting.

Yet it is very tempting to look over at that other food, longing for it, even though you know that soon your own plate will come, with the food made especially as you ordered.

When God has promised us something good, and we wait for it, we are not to long for something other than that which He himself is going to provide.

So the people are to know right off, this land you are passing through, the land of Edom, is not for you.

There is something better coming for you, so don’t let your eyes wander or begin to covet what the Edomites have.

For one thing, that has been given to them, and besides, I have something better for you.

Instead of taking by force, or even just taking from the land as they pass through, they are to pay for water and food.

God had blessed Israel with many provisions, so they had the means to purchase their own food and water, so they are to pay for their needs.

Now, if you look in the book of Numbers, you will find they actually were not allowed by the Edomites to go in: Numb20.18-21

Obviously, God knew what would happen.

He is sovereign and omniscient, but still he warned the Israelites that they were to pay their share in land that was not theirs.

They were to trust God for their provision.

God is faithful even in dealing with unfaithful people:

John Maxwell writes: The people who had insulted God by not trusting Him wanted for nothing!

The Lord gave them food, clothing, and protection.

He knew their path in the wilderness and for forty years He took care of them.

Moses continues to remind the people of the faithfulness of God.

And then he mentions that they ended up not going into Sier, where the people of Esau were in verse 8.

Now we see the people turning towards another place, the place of the Moabites.

And here they are also told not to harass or contend with them, because God had given Ar to the people of Lot.

Deut2.9

Now the Moabites are the descendents of Lot.

If you care to read more about that, you can read in Genesis 19 about the sordid tale of Lot and his daughters.

But we do learn from that narrative the origins of two people groups, ,the Moabites and the Ammonites:

But just like Esau’s people, Lot’s descendents are also given a place to call their own, a place where the Israelites were not to contend with, or covet after.

I’m not going to spend much time in 10-12, But just to give a quick explanation from the Preacher’s Commentary Series

The “Emim” were giants whose name meant “terrors” or “dreaded ones” (vv.

10–11).

The Horites were non-Semitic people who lived in scattered groups in Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia.

They occupied Seir before Esau drove them out.

The explanatory notes (vv.

10–12) leave the impression that no enemy is invincible.

If the Moabites could drive out the people of Emim who were “great and numerous and tall” and if Esau’s descendants could expel the Horites, then surely God could give Canaan to Israel, regardless of the opposition.

Here again we are reminded of the cost of disobedience, which was the main topic of the message last week.

The time from leaving kadesh-barnea until they crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years.

Now, you may be thinking it should be 40 years.

Well, the total time wandering was about 40 years.

In fact, it was 5 days short of 40 years from the time they left Egypt until they entered the promised land.

Here it says 38 years, this is not for the entire time of the journey, it was just as Moses says, from leaving Kadesh-barnea until they crossed the brook Zered.

That was 38 years.

Now the older generation has died off, so the Lord speaks again to Moses that now they are to cross the border of Moab Ironically, they are referred to here as men of war, which is what they should have been.

But instead they were men of comfort, who did not want to risk their lives to take the land God had given them :

Remember the Moabites and the Ammonites are the descendents of Lot.

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 6A: Deuteronomy 1:1–21:9, Revised (Form/Structure/Setting)

The legendary Anakim, who occupied the land of the Rephaim (v 20) of the distant past, were divided into subgroups that were displaced by the nations of Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Israel as ordained by YHWH:

The two Amorite kings that Moses defeated in Transjordan, Sihon and Og, are also part of the larger picture.

Og, in particular, is described as the last of the Rephaim (3:11).The legendary stories of the Rephaim displaced by the nation of Israel in Deut 2–3 were used to shape the narrative traditions in Genesis.

Israel and Edom are described here as Israel’s “brothers the children of Esau” (2:4).

In the Genesis narrative, Jacob and Esau are presented from the outset as the nations of Israel and Edom.

At the moment they were born to Isaac and Rebekah, YHWH himself announced, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger” (Gen 25:23).

Also, some scholars believe the Caphtorim mentioned in 23 were Cretians, or Greeks, who had come over and conquered the Avvim.

God is sovereign and faithful.

He is faithful to the chosen people Israel.

Even in their unfaithfulness, he provided for them.

He was faithful to Esau.

He was Faithful to Lot.

Now, what can we learn from all of this? Paul wrote that all of this happened so it would be an example for us.

In scripture, as in life, we find both negative and positive examples.