Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Deuteronomy 1 - 4: The first Lecture, er, Discourse

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, the book of Deuteronomy is a collection of 5 lengthy speeches Moses makes to the nation while they are camped on the plains of Moab on the east side of the Jordan.  It's not a chronological thing with Numbers; it's kind of happening simultaneously with the events in the last 15 chapters of Numbers.  I'm going to break it down by discourse and we'll look at the word 'desert' in each of them...although, to be honest, there are not that many mentions of 'desert' in the whole book, just looking at my list of verses.  So we'll see what we see.

The first discourse is recorded in chapters 1 - 4 and is a review of history of the Exodus up to the  Plains of Moab.  The first verse sets up pretty much the whole book:

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert east of the Jordan -- that is, in the Arabah -- opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab.

Then we have an interesting parenthetic note in verse 2 that doesn't mention desert, per se, but it does give some perspective on the almost 40 year journey from Sinai...

(It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)

Eleven. Days.

I'm assuming that's a small group of folks, traveling light and quick, but still...how long do you suppose it took them to make that trip, back in Numbers 10 through 12?  A couple of months, maybe, at the most, traveling with livestock and all?  It wasn't a long journey, really.  It was probably less than a year and a half after they left Egypt that they set up camp there....and most of that time had been spent at Horeb, making the Tabernacle and all its furnishings.

Then, as the LORD our God commanded us,  we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea. (1: 19)

Yes, they were well acquainted with the vast and dreadful desert.  And we all know what went down at Kadesh Barnea...the Great Complaint.

Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. 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 desert.  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.' (1:29-31)

But they wouldn't have it, rebelled, and God pronounced his judgment on them, concluding,

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. (1:39-40)

How discouraging!  Back into the 'vast and dreadful' desert!  But...they had made their choice by refusing to believe that God would give them the land he brought them to through multiple fantastic miracles.

Then we turned back and set out toward the desert 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. (2:1)

There really isn't any account of when they moved or how they moved during that 'long time'.  They really didn't have a purpose in the journey during that season...they just hung out.  And complained.  And died.   Until, finally, they began the march towards the promise again.

The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands.  He has watched over your journey through this vast desert.  These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.  So we went on past our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in the Seir.  We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab. (2: 7-8)

On God's instruction, they did not engage the Moabites or the Amonites, who were descended from Lot, but when they encountered the Amorites things changed.

From the desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace... (2:26)

Moses offered to cross quietly, not disturbing anything, purchasing any food or water or any other necessity, but Sihon brought his army out to stop him and was the first king defeated on the way to the promise.  More kings were similarly defeated and ultimately Israel found themselves camped on the plains of Moab.  Moses concludes his review by exhorting the young generation to learn from these things and remember what God had done for them.  He also specified which three cities would be designated as cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan:

The cities were these: Bezer in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth, in Gilead, for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites. (2:43)

I think it's interesting that the last mention of 'desert' in the first of Moses' discourses is connected with a sanctuary city...a place of safety.  The whole 'sanctuary city' concept was an interesting one...with the 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' concept of justice, if someone accidentally was responsible for the death of another...well, life for life.  Unless the individual could make it to a sanctuary city before the designated 'avenger of blood'...ie, executioner...could catch them.  There, they could plead their case before the elders of the city and if the elders agreed that the death was an accident, without malice, the person was safe so long as they stayed within the walls of the city.  Outside of the city...they were fair game for vengeance.  This sentence stayed in place until there was a change in high priest.  Then the slate was wiped clean and the  individual could return home without fear of retribution.

It was a hard core sense of justice, but it was somewhat tempered.  Families were separated while folks were in exile...but they could be reunited. And that law underscored the value of life.  It was a serious thing to cause a death...even accidentally. People mattered.

But there was sanctuary on the desert plateau.  Even there.

Even there.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- Desert Journey Recounted

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It's interesting; here, on the east side of the Jordan, we now have a recount of the entire journey from Egypt to the Plains of Moab in Numbers 33.  The word 'desert' is mentioned 8 times in verses 6 - 36, mostly identifying a specific area, such as 'the Desert of Sinai', although there are two times where 'desert' is mentioned as their general location...

They left Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the desert. 
They left Etham, turned back to Pi Hahiroth, to the east of Baal Zephon, and camped near Migdol.  They left Pi Hahiroth and passed through the sea into the desert, and when they had traveled for three days in the Desert of Etham, they camped at Marah.  (33:6-8)

They passed through the sea into the desert.

That was the delineation, the point of no return, the true start of the journey.  Until that moment, they had been leaving Egypt.  But once they had passed through the sea, they were no longer going away from slavery, they were going toward a promise.

And they bungled the journey, complained way too much and suffered the consequences.  Thousands died.  But now, the new generation, is poised to pass over the Jordan out of the desert.

There is just one more mention of the word 'desert' in the book of Numbers...it's in 34:3:

Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom.

From there, the rest of the boundaries of the land they are to call home are described.  There is more discussion of inheritance, of the  cities of refuge, and one more addendum to the story of Zelophehad's daughters...they are required to only marry men from within their tribe, so their inheritance would stay within their tribe. So Zelophehad's daughters all married men from their father's clan, and we find ourselves at the end of the book of Numbers.

Next week...we'll dig into Deuteronomy.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - The Trans Jordan Tribes

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I will fess up to being a day late with this post; we had a MAJOR conference at church this week and yesterday was completely covered.  It was...amazing...and I want to go back and listen to nearly every message all over again to completely absorb it.  One of our speakers, Robert Stearns, leads a ministry that assists Jews in Israel, and was particularly moving on the need for the church to wake up and walk in unity.  And he totally stirred my heart to go back to Israel, lol.

So today I will dig back into the desert topical study.  We have arrived at Numbers 32, and Moses gives us our next reference to 'desert':

'The LORD's anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone....If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the desert, and you will be the cause of their destruction.'   (Num. 32:13,15)

Once again, we have found ourselves in the middle of a story.  This one began in verse 1 of chapter 32, with the leaders of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, who had very large herds and flocks, asking Moses and the elders if they could just take their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan river, where there was good pasture land.

There was just one problem:  That was not the land that God had promised the Israelites and if the Gadites and the Reubenites stayed on the east side of the river, then the Israeli army would be short a goodly percentage of the warriors they needed in order to claim the land that WAS promised to them.

Moses was ticked off.  I didn't quote verse 14 earlier, because it didn't reference the desert, but it will give you a fair idea of his thoughts on the issue:

'And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the LORD even more angry with Israel.'

Yup.  Not a happy camper.

But the folks in those tribes really, really liked that area.  So they came up with a compromise...They offered to send all the fighting men across the river with the rest of the tribes, to help conquer the enemies on the other side, while the women and children stayed behind with the herds and the flocks, in fortified cities.

Moses and the elders heard them out, and rather reluctantly agreed to the compromise.  In the end, the tribes of Gad, Reuben and half the tribe of Manassseh had their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan, and all their fighting men promised to not return to their specified lands until the other tribes had been settled into their inheritance in the land God promised to give them.

Sounds like a win-win, eh?

Well, maybe.

See, those two-and-a-half tribes took a fancy to that area...but they didn't know what God had intended for them on the other side of the river.  There may have been even BETTER pasture there.  But they were happy with the first good pasture they saw, and they wrangled a deal to keep it.  They settled for what seemed good to them instead of pushing through to get the inheritance God had intended for them.

And here's something to consider...in settling for something that looked good, they did not only NOT get the inheritance God had intended for them but they could not hand God's preferred inheritance to their kids.  The kids inherited the land on the east side.

And, do you know what happened over the years?  Those tribes on the east side felt like they were not fully invested or represented in the nation as a whole.  It was the start of a faction.  And, with a river between them and their country men, it was difficult for them to come to the defense of one another.  The Trans-Jordan tribes were more vulnerable to enemies.

Years ago when I studied this passage a thought came to me, regarding the inheritance that we pass down to our children...If we only do not pursue the promises of God then our children cannot inherit them.  Doing the bare minimum, compromising to make life easier...that only secures a mediocre inheritance at best.  And if we only offer our kids a mediocre inheritance in the kingdom, why should we be surprised if they go looking for something of a higher quality...elsewhere? 

Learn from the mistakes of the forefathers in the desert...

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Daughters and the Inheritance

Posted By Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

When I sat down to look up the next desert verses, I didn't find what I expected to find.  I thought we were going to jump right into the discussion of the succession of leadership.

I'd forgotten about this little episode.

The next 'desert' verse is Num 27:3;  the daughters of Zelophehad, of the tribe of Manasseh, came before the leaders at the Tent of Meeting and said

'Our father died in the desert.  He was not among Korah's followers, who banded together against the LORD, but he died for his own sins and left no sons.  Why should our father's name disappear from his clan, because he had no son?  Give us property among our father's relatives.'  (vs 3 - 4)

Property was inherited from father to son; but Zelophehad did not have any sons.  It was quite possible, then, when the property was divvied up by tribe and clan and family, that his daughters would have nothing...and their family name would have no inheritance.

Their request sent Moses to inquire of the LORD what to do about such things...what if a man had no sons?  What happened to his property?

The LORD responded, and the law was established:

'Say to the Israelites, "If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter.  If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers.  If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father's brothers.  If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it.  This is to be a legal requirement for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses." ' (vs. 8 - 11)

That, more or less, settled that,  but God spoke to Moses concerning those ladies before giving him the instruction for the  nation.

'What Zelophehad's daughters are saying is right.  You must certainly give them property  as an inheritance among their father's relatives and turn their father's inheritance  over to them'  (v 7).

My friends, this is remarkable.  God commended these ladies, said they were right, and made sure they had an inheritance.

Can I just offer one little opinion?  That if the God of the Old Testament was a product of misogynistic old patriarchs who saw women as less valuable then men, less able to manage, as servants,  then this pronouncement would not have happened?  The women would have been scorned for daring to suggest that they should have any claim to an inheritance.

But Moses took their question seriously.

And God said they were right.  And He gave instructions that for all generations to come...women had the right to inherit if they had no brothers.  The rights of daughters superseded that of uncles.

Their father died in the desert, but there would be an inheritance passed along to his descendants because his daughters dared to ask...securing the inheritance not only for themselves, but for other women in similar circumstances in years to come.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- The Final Purge

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

For those of you who are just joining us (as if there might be someone joining us, lol)...I've been doing a topical study on the word 'desert'; finally getting back to it after a crazy busy holiday season.  If you want to catch up on the topic so far, you can click HERE to binge read the previous posts. 

When we last left our friends, the migrating Israelites,  all the way back on November 15th, they had just arrived to the east bank of the Jordan River, opposite Jericho, and set up camp there on what was known as the plains of Moab, as noted in Numbers 22:1.

The next mention of the word 'desert' is two chapters later, in 24:1-3a

Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as at other times, but turned his face toward the desert.  When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him and he uttered his oracle

So, in actuality, we have landed in the middle of a narrative without much context for what is going on.  So I'm going to take another little sideline here to discuss this guy named  Balaam.

Basically, in the camp of the Israelites, Moses is preparing for the change in leadership. Joshua is designated as the next leader, and Moses began giving them an extended review of their history and the Law.  But in the meantime, the Midianites and the Mobaites were terrified and Balak, king of Moab, having observed the defeat of both the Amorites and Bashan, came up with a scheme to try and protect them all against the Israelites and hired a prophet to come and curse Israel.  The prophet was Balaam, and you can read the story of how God allowed him to come and strictly warned him, so that Balaam failed utterly to curse the Israelites as he was paid to do and blessed them instead in Numbers 22 and 23.  24:1 picks up with the third attempt to curse the Israelites...and once more, as is recorded in chapter 24, Balaam blesses them instead.  He even gives what is generally considered a Messianic prophesy in 24:17-19. Balak is disgusted with him, and, according to 24:25, Balaam returned home.

That seemed to be the end of that, but it actually wasn't.  Apparently Balaam had left some advice for the folks who hired him.  Jumping ahead a bit, Moses has a problem with soldiers who allowed Midianite women to live after a battle...

They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor... (31:16a)

And what was that advice?  Well, back to 25:1-3

While Israel was staying up in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the Moabite women, who invited them to sacrifice to their gods.  The people ate and bowed down before these gods.  So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD's anger burned against them.

So, before Balaam left, he told the Moabites that, if they couldn't defeat the Israelites by battle or by supernatural curses, they could entice them away from the God who protected them by getting the Israeli men involved with the Moabite and Midianite (v. 6) women so that the Israelites took up the worship of the local gods.

And it almost worked.  However, instead of God abandoning his people, he sent judgment on them and 24,000 people died in  a plague....including the last of the generation that had rejected God's plan at Kadesh Barnea 40 years earlier. The only ones left of that generation now were Moses, Joshua and Caleb:  

After the plague, the Lord said to Moses...'Take a census of the whole Israelite community by families -- all those twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army of Israel.'  ... Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai.  For the LORD had told those Israelites they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.'  (Num. 26: 1-2, 64-65)

Regarding Balaam...apparently he didn't stay home after he went back there.  There was a battle against Midian after the census, and Num. 31:8 records the 5 kings of Midian who were killed in the battle, and there's one small note there as well:

They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

So the prophet had apparently been hired again...and was with the enemies of Israel when the judgment fell.  Incidentally, Balaam is also mentioned in the New Testament; Peter, in discussing false teachers, wrote in 2 Pet. 2:15

They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

Jude also sites Balaam as an example of false teachers in verse 11 of his short letter:

Woe to them!  they have taken the way of Cain, they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.

 And finally,  the worldly church is warned in Rev. 2:14

'Nevertheless, I have a few things against you:  You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the  Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.'

 The Israelites were at the very end of their sojourn in the desert, on the cusp of the promise...and Balaam conspired to overthrow them through the enticement of the culture around them.  Not only did they suffer consequences, but now Balaam's name has been memorialized as an example of fatal error.  Using the gifts and office of a prophet for personal gain and entrapping God's people into going along with those who neither fear nor honor Him  will bring judgment and grief.

Beware the error of Balaam.

Six weeks later...what did I learn?

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It's been six weeks since my last Beer Lahai Roi post. Wow, it went by in a flash.

I sewed costumes literally up to the production date; we left town the next day (actually, I missed the final two performances because we traveled home to Indiana for Christmas).  We've been doing holiday stuff pretty much non-stop since.  I thought THIS week would be a down-time week but, no, not so much.  My Sweet Babboo did have to go back to work yesterday, but The Actor just pulled out a little bit ago to head back to Florida so that means today is laundry and tomorrow is the start of the de-decorating.  I am telling myself I will get back to the desert series next Friday.

I am ready.

I am not joking; this was kind of a brutal Advent.  I have been told that NEXT year's Christmas production will be the FIRST weekend in December; so next year's holiday will not be so consumed with production-related stuff.  And, knowing what's coming, maybe we can get some prep done ahead of time...like, say, in June, lol.

But all of that is to say that I really, really neglected the spiritual side of the holiday.  Advent was not spent on eschatological reflection; it was spent taking care of the next urgent thing.

I am here to tell you that neglecting the spiritual aspect of the holiday season really makes for a dry season.  The whole thing had a 'going through the motions' feel to it, from putting up the decorations to wrapping the presents even to attending the traditional Christmas Eve service in the historic Methodist church back home.  I just wasn't there, quite, and I could feel it.

And that makes me sad.

So if I have ANY New Year's Resolutions, it would be to order life so that the holidays of the year...primarily Easter and Thanksgiving/Advent/Christmas...would not be so consumed by the urgent that I can't process the eternal.  Not that I won't do the urgent stuff, but, hopefully, if the rest is in line the urgent won't consume everything.

Which means I need to start NOW.

That's really going to be a struggle for this Tigger personality.  But it needs to happen. 

I need it to happen.  I want to be able to reflect in Advent and celebrate Christmas.

I didn't think I was going to get a 'WORD' for 2020, but maybe I did.

Maybe the word is 'Preparation'.

So that Christmas 2020 is a spiritual restoration that I entirely missed in 2019.

Amen.  Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Holiday Hiatus

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It's that time of year....

And this year we are doing a fairly large scale production for the holiday at church.

And, well, that means costumes.  Lots of costumes.

So, in the interest of keeping my sanity...and maybe actually getting everything done that has to be done, I'm going to suspend the Desert Digging study until January.

Just don't think I've got the time to put in on it right now...and I want to put time on it, not just check it off the box.

I will drop in as I can!