Grace Thoughts
GraceLife Thoughts – Train to Reign (Part 30)
As I’ve mentioned before, many Christians don’t read the Pentateuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy). Some say it’s too hard to understand. Others say it’s dull and they don’t see how something that happened thousands of years ago has any impact on us today.
What they forget is that Jesus and His disciples quoted from the Pentateuch – often. The history of Israel is especially important as we see how God trained His people to ‘reign’ with Him. When people push back on the idea of reading Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, I invite them to at least read the Book of Deuteronomy. That’s the last Book of the Pentateuch. It’s also the final words of Moses to Israel prior to his death.
Moses also made a major error that would keep him from entering the ‘promised land.’ He lost his temper with Israel and disobeyed a direct command from God because of that anger. Because of that sin against God, Moses was not allowed to enter the ‘promised land’ with the children of Israel. I know that may seem unfair on the surface, but an important part of ‘training to reign’ is obedience.
And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, ‘Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?’ Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. Numbers 20:10-12
Moses disobeyed God soon after his sister Miriam died in Kadesh. Maybe he overreacted to Israel’s continued rebellious spirit because of grief over his sister’s death. We’re not told, but for some reason Moses disobeyed what God told him to do and was punished for it.
After burying Miriam, the children of Israel journeyed from Kadesh to Mount Hor. God spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hot and told them that Aaron was about to die and reminded him that he would not enter the promised land, ‘because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah’ (Numbers 20:24). God told Moses to take Aaron’s priestly garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Moses did as he was told, placed Aaron’s garments on Eleazar, then Aaron died. The congregation of Israel saw that Aaron was dead and all the people mourned for him for thirty days.
God had more for Moses to do before his death, including taking vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. God told Moses that he would be gathered to his people after that. You can read the details in Numbers 31. God was getting Israel ready to go to war and reclaim the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob –
Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess. And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ Numbers 33:50-56
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is a record of what Moses said to Israel ‘in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month’ (Deuteronomy 1:3). The word ‘Deuteronomy’ comes from the Greek word Δευτερονόμιον used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Latin word Deuteronomium used in the Vulgate. It basically means ‘a repetition of the Law,’ sometimes called the ‘Second Law’ because Moses was repeating it for the benefit of Israel.
Keep in mind that the people Moses was talking to were the children of the Israelites who left Egyptian slavery 40 years earlier. God caused those Israelite to wander through the wilderness for forty years because of their rebellion against God and refusal to enter the promised land. The two exceptions would be Joshua and Caleb because they believed that God could defeat His enemies. Moses explained what happened this way –
And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the Lord.’ The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Deuteronomy 1:34-38
In addition to being a wonderful summary of Israel’s escape from slavery in Egypt through their many times of disobedience and eventual punishment of wandering the wilderness, we learn much about what’s important as followers of God. The well-known ‘Shema’ prayer is found in Deuteronomy 6. It reiterates Training Rules #1 and #5 for reigning with God –
‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Christians should certainly recognize this from how Jesus answered a question from a Jewish lawyer –
But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’ Matthew 22:34-40
Moses also reminded the children of Israel about not forgetting God once they settled into their new home –
So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you (for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken. Deuteronomy 6:10-19
This is the basic tenor of Deuteronomy – Moses repeating and reminding the children of Israel of their special place in God’s eternal plan. The day came when Moses handed the leadership over to Joshua. He said this on his birthday –
I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in … Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:2, 7-8
Moses sang a song to Israel (Deuteronomy 32), gave them his final blessing (Deuteronomy 33), then went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. God showed Moses all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the South, and the Plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. This was the land that God swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – ‘saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’
What happened next was extraordinary in human history – God buried a man –
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended. Deuteronomy 34:5-8
Finally, we have this amazing epitaph –
But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. Deuteronomy 34:10-12
Free eBooks
You can download the first 13 chapters of this series here.
You can download chapters 14 – 24 of this series here.
You can download chapters 25 – 30 of this series here.
Next Time
The time had come for Joshua to lead Israel into the ‘promised land’ to ‘subdue and have dominion.’ The children (armies) of Israel were trained to reign, but how well would they do under the intense pressures that awaited them? We’ll see in the next part of our special series – Train to Reign.
“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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12 Tribes of IsraelBible StudyChildren of IsraelChristianityJesus ChristJoshua and CalebLaw of MosesMosesPromised Land
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Founder & Director of GraceLife Ministries View all posts by gracelifethoughts
