Ps. 95: Worship the Rock

Psalm 95:1 "Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation."

It is good to worship God. He is the creator and protector of all things. He created all things seen and unseen, and this alone indicates unspeakable power. And above all things, he is a good God, seeking that we have great blessing, like a sheep receives protection and providence from his shepherd. That is pretty awesome.

The Psalm ends with a warning not to astray like they did at Meribah and Massah, a reference to Exodus 17 and the Israelites' desire to return to Egypt and captivity. This quarreling led to their 40 years of wandering. Not a fun time.

Dt. 2: ...And We Wandered.

Deuteronomy 2:13 "And the LORD said, "Now get up and cross the Zered Valley." So we crossed the valley."

Moses continues recounting the Isrealites' journey in the desert.

A couple of the highlights include when they passed through the land of Edom, Esau's descendants. Back in Numbers 20, it says they turned away, but here in Duder, it says they were careful when they went through, and paid for any food and water. But maybe I'm splitting hairs between passing through, and passing by.

I find Deuteronomy 2:7 a rather fascinating insight into the heart of God during a time of discipline. While he was punishing Israel for their unbelief, at the same time, God was "watching over their journey through this vast desert." How many deserts do you pass through, and assume God isn't watching or caring? Even in a time where God is upset with the Israelites for a pretty grievous sin, He has set this precedent where he still lovingly watches over them, provides for them ("...you have not lacked anything..."), and protects them.

When it comes to Moab, God told them not to mess with the Moabites, because they have their promised land already. God won't even allow the dispossession of promised land away from those who aren't his chosen people. The same goes for the Ammonites. Moab and Ben-Ammi both are the result of Lot's daughters' drunken incest. Both of them had conquered land inhabited at one point by people called Rephaites, which appears to be a race of giants.

Interesting that in verse 14, it is recounted that it took 38 years to go from Kadesh Barnea to the Zered Valley. I find that ridiculous. On a clear day, you could probably see that far. Had to be absolutely aggravating, like waiting to decide what degree you want to pursue in college, or what career God wants you in. But, like it says in verse 13, when God said "Move," they moved.

Moses then recounts the story of how they defeated Sihon the Amorite, and how Israel was going to be feared in the hearts of other nations. God hardened Sihon's heart, and made him obstinate. And here in Duder, God explains why. It was so that he would be delivered over to Israel. Same with the Pharaoh, I would assume.

Nu. 33: Connect the Dots

Numbers 33:5 "The Israelites left Rameses and camped at Succoth."

Israel's journey from Egypt to the threshold of the promised land is chronicled in chapter 33. I tried looking these place up on maps to try to find out what their journey actually looked like. Only thing we really have are educated guesses. The point is, they took 40 years to travel about 200-ish miles. If they traveled every day, taking the sabbath off, that's a mind-blowing rate of about 72 feet per day. No, that's feet-per-day. Does God take his sweet time, people?

The passage lists off about forty places where the Israelites stopped and camped.
The people had made it as far as Rithmah in the desert of Paran before they lost their minds and rebelled after hearing the scouts' report. That wasn't even in the right direction of the promised land. If these people knew where the promised land was, and continued to be led by this cloud in the wrong direction, no wonder they were ready to rebel so easily.

Moses, who still hasn't been gathered unto his people after seeing the promised land from the mountain in chapter 27, and devastating the Midianites in chapter 31, is told to instruct the Israelites on how to capture the land. Interesting that this land was given to them, but they still had to go in and take it.

The Israelites were to follow the five Ds: Drive out, Destroy, Demolish, Distribute, and Drive out.

• Drive out the inhabitants
• Destroy carved images and cast idols
• Demolish the high places
• Distribute the land by lot.

The Israelites cast lots to determine where tribes would live, and larger clans (Judah, Issachar, Zebulun) would get larger parcels of land. Duh.

Seems easy enough. Go forth into the land, and with God on their side, they kick butt and take land. Biblical narrative over. Everyone lives happily ever after.

But verse 55 serves as a warning as to what would happen if they don't follow the 5 D's. The inhabitants would become "barbs in their eyes" and "thorns in their sides." Then God will turn his anger on the Israelites as opposed to the people the Israelites were supposed to wipe out.

Nu. 14: Israel Complains

Well, of course Israel wasn't thrilled to hear 10 of the 12 scouts' reports on the promised land. So they complained amongst themselves, which they were good at, against Moses and Aaron and against God. They wondered why God would take them this far and then let them fall by the sword. And I would wonder why He would do this too. They even wanted to choose a leader for themselves and head back to Egypt, to the comfort of slavery. They knew the promise. I'm sure they were well aware of the history with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a mere two years out of the entire existence of the nation of Israel that they were wandering. And they were ready to give up.

They were not convinced by the faith of Caleb and Joshua. Why would they just roll over and accept what the majority of the 12 explorers said, without giving a lick of consideration to what Caleb and Joshua were saying? Caleb and Joshua didn't contradict what the other ten said, so it wasn't a case of mob rule. The community didn't buy their confidence in God's promise, and were to the point of stoning them. Crushing their skulls with big rocks. Talk about not wanting to hear the truth.

Then God shows up and talks to Moses. God threatens to destroy the lot of them with a plague, but again Moses reminds God of His patience, His power, His promise, and His love. What God had been doing was well known to the surrounding nations, and Moses, the PR Man, was concerned again about how this would look to them, as he was in Ex. 33.

God forgives the people, as Moses asked, but He also had to punish Israel. Just as Israel didn't want to enter the Promised Land, God banned them from ever setting foot in it. For forty years (a year for every day the Promised Land was explored) they would suffer outside the land, and only the kids, 20 and under, would be able to enter it. Even then at a relatively old age. The other thing I note here is that God apparently sets a date for them all to die, at forty years frooooooommm...rightnow. God struck the nay-saying scouts with a plague, while re recognized the faith of Caleb and Joshua, promising that their descendants would inherit that Promised Land.

The Israelites knew they screwed up bad. They said, "We sinned. Ok, we'll go up to the place the LORD has promised." Sorry. The punishment stands. Moses tries to warn them that God will not be with them, and that the Amalekites and the Canaanites will bust them up. Sure enough, because the ark wasn't with them, and because God punished them, they got their butts kicked. So God used the Amalekites and the Canaanites to accomplish his purpose. Without them even knowing it. They just did what came natural, defending their land.