Digging in the Desert- Rolling away the Reproach: Joshua Part 1

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

As I'm doing these things, I'm looking for, well, sort of natural breaks...clusters of verses, if you will.  And the first cluster in Joshua has to do with an event that happened just after the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River.  It is, really, the final closure on the end of the 40 years in the desert.

'Desert' is actually mentioned in the first chapter...as God is affirming his promise to Joshua, and it's a geographical reference.

'Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates -- all the Hittite country -- to the Great Sea on the west.' (Josh. 1:4)

But the cluster of desert verses is in Chapter 5, verses 4 - 6; I'm starting in verse 2 and going through verse 9 for context:

     At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again."  So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.
     Now this is why he did so:  All those who came out of Egypt -- all the men of military age-- died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt.  All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not.  The Israelites moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD  For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not  see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised.  They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way.  And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in the camp until they were healed.
     Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled the reproach of Egypt from you."  So the place has been called Gilgal until this day.

A little aside..My Sweet Babboo, being a participant in a 18th century frontiersman organization, actually has a hand-knapped flint knife and it is EXTREMELY sharp.  Almost surgical scalpel sharp. Definitely as sharp as a ginsu knife, lol. So it is quite believable that they could make really sharp knives for that task.  Just, you know, worth noting.

So, the deal was that none of the guys who had been born since leaving Egypt had been circumcised. They had crossed the Jordan; it was a new beginning.  And, just as if they were newborns, it was time for the males to be circumcised...to renew the covenant.

Now, if the whole fighting force was circumcised, they would have been particularly vulnerable had anyone attacked them in the following week. But...as is noted in verse 1, anyone who would potentially have attacked them was on lockdown, afraid.  The dramatic crossing of the Jordan had put the surrounding cities in terror of the Israelites and their God.  So, while they were weak, they were not challenged.

The phase 'today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you,' has always intrigued me.  It seems, after the people saw the Egyptian army defeated and  wandered forty years in the desert, with the passing of the generation that had actually served as slaves in Egypt, the reproach of Egypt should already have more or less dissipated.

But...no, it hadn't.

Hunting around in Blue Letter Bible (not happy with the new format over there but I supposed I'll get used to it) I found that the word translated 'reproach' is Strong's H2781 - cherpah, which, in this case, means 'a condition of shame or disgrace'.

I pondered it some more.  Circumcision was a physical mark declaring the individual...and, incidentally, his household...as one being in a covenant relationship with Yahweh. God instructed them to renew the covenant, and they did.  By renewing the covenant, they put themselves in position for God to remove the shame and disgrace of having served as slaves to the Egyptians.

Ok.  I'm going to do a bit of rabbit chasing here...yesterday, somewhere on social media I read a quote from someone who considers themselves a progressive Christian (I would quote it directly but, I don't know where I was when I read it and I didn't know at the time I would want the quote later), addressing someone who had a more biblical standard of right and wrong, saying something to the effect of 'You folks are in bondage to your legalistic views, but we are free to do what we want.'....and immediately I heard in my heart, 'Anyone who sins is a slave to sin.'  I thought it was in one of Paul's epistles, but when I looked it up this morning I found it was John 8:34...it was Jesus speaking.  Worth noting that Jesus himself said that choosing to do what is wrong is enslaving yourself.

Then I found the passage I had in mind...it's Romans 6, starting in verse 16:

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey -- whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Paul's explanation is basically...ain't nobody who is their own god, determining what is right for them.  Everyone serves something.

The dear progressive brother isn't, as he thinks, free to do whatever he wants...he is choosing to serve the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life; which is a more demanding and severe bondage than serving righteousness...because that 'whatever I want' is never satisfied but keeps demanding more.  That slavery has reproach.  And this really isn't about the obvious sins...typically those involving physical appetites such as lust, fornication, homosexuality, gluttony, drunkenness.  No, it includes the less obvious ones such as gossip, manipulation, lying, rebellion...anything that is done to serve a personal agenda.   Even if we shut our eyes and stick our fingers in our ears and sing 'lalala,' or compare ourselves to others, saying, 'Well, this isn't as bad as that....'  It's still slavery and there is still reproach.  And, if we are honest, deep down we know that.  Because, if we belong to God, he doesn't let his children off the hook.  Sooner or later, the reproach rears up. 


But God is faithful.... He will roll away the reproach of that servitude when we come to him.  Even if we wander away in the desert, there is a place of new beginning where we renew our devotion and our covenant to Him...and he removes the reproach.  Immediately.

I've had lots of reproach over the years over stupid things I said and did...typically because I was following my own agenda.  I am slowly learning the lesson, and I am very, very grateful that He rolls away the reproach of my bullheadedness.

Where I've been...

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Well, last weekend was the National Royal Rangers Lead Conference...an event for all the Senior Commanders (there's a new term now...maybe it's 'Outpost Coordinator'?) from around the country (and even a few from other countries; we hung out with a guy from Australia) to come together to get encouragement and strategy.  In the last year, our church has upgraded My Sweet Babboo's title in his work with our Urban Ranger program (a ministry to low income boys) from 'Deputy Senior Commander' to 'Senior Commander' since he is responsible for that ministry...which means that we were now candidates for the National conference.  They had a program for wives, so, well, I went too.

I got to hear three of the main sessions; the other two I was with the ladies.  But those three sessions gave me enough meat to chew for quite a while.   It's not often that I get to hear someone who is addressing leaders of leaders and the messages I heard were top notch.  It was definitely worth the trip.

But beyond the speakers, it was really neat to see the heart of so many guys for the boys in their outposts.  They were passionate about teaching the boys what they need to know to grow up in a difficult world.  It WAS encouraging.

Then...we hopped in the car as soon as we dismissed at 11:30 and beat it south...trying to get home before too terribly late, as we had to get up extra early to be at church in time to collect a church van to meet up with choir members and drive to our westernmost campus...an hour and fifteen minutes away...where we joined their team for worship Sunday morning.  The first 'choir tour' to connect with all of our campuses.  I don't know who thought Daylight Savings Sunday would be a good time for that, though...still, we persevered...lol.

My laundry now overfloweth, though. Time to catch up.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert-- Final Words of Moses

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Before I dive into the look at the rest of the 'desert' verses in Deuteronomy, I thought I'd share a little bit of humbling God did for me this week...I am taking a ministry course at church and, owing to the fact that we had to cancel a class due to winter weather (um, didn't happen, but that's Alabama for you), I was a week ahead on my  homework.  So I wasn't at all worried about the 'show your workbook' homework check that happened this week.  Until I flipped open my workbook and found that all the fill in the blanks were...blank.  I hadn't done it after all.  I could've sworn I remembered doing it...so, yeah, a little embarrassment there.  Now, there's lots of grace in that class and I caught it up this morning, but, wow, how could I have missed that?  I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere....

Anyway.  Deuteronomy.  Discourse Three is in chapters 27-28 and...there are no verses that mention 'desert' in that entire little review of blessings and curses.  So...moving right along to Discourse Four, which is recorded in chapters 29 -30 and reviews the terms of their covenant with God and has one reference to 'desert':

"During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.  You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink.  I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God." - (29: 5-6)

Have you ever pulled something out of your closet to wear for the day, and suddenly wonder how long it's been there?  And realized that it's about as twice as old as you thought?  I kinda think the Israelites had a similar reaction.  I wonder if anyone even really noticed that they were still wearing the clothes they...or their parents...wore when they left Egypt.  I wonder if anyone suddenly looked at their sandals...that they had worn longer than they could remember...with awe as they realized they really and truly weren't worn out.

God does lots of small miracles for us day by day that we never notice...not because they are invisible but because they involve ordinary things that we just don't perceive.

In Discourse Five (chapters 31 - 33) Moses  gives advice and presents them with a written copy of everything he had recorded.  He sings a song over them and  blesses all the tribes individually.  His last trip up a mountain to converse with the LORD is in chapter 34.

He mentions the desert in his song:

In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste.  He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye  (32:10)

Of coures, 'He' is the LORD; 'him' is Israel, as is established in preceding verses.

At the end of his speeches,  God gives him instruction regarding the transition of leadership and states,

"both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah  Kadesh in the desert of Zin, and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites." (32:51)

Here, Moses is recounting his conversation with God after he an Aaron had hit the rock at Meribah.  He got no special treatment on account of who he was: he had sinned, like those around him, and he would suffer the same penalty...he could not enter the land promised to them.  Just like the rest of his generation, he would die before they crossed the Jordan.

Whatever lay before them in the promised land, they would have to do it without Moses.

But they were there.  In the clothes that came out of Egypt 40 years earlier.  With no mall to shop at, no Amazon prime delivering new stuff, they likely  raided their parents luggage to find clothing they could wear.  It was, by and large, old stuff.  Ironic that, while their parents didn't make it in, their clothes likely did.

We have a conference next week, so it'll be two weeks before we get back into the Desert with Joshua.  Not even gonna try, lol. 

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Moses' Second Discourse

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, the notes in my Scofield Bible indicate that Moses' second speech consists of 22 chapters...from chapter 5 through chapter 26, and reviews the Law, with 'Warnings and Exhortations'.

But as we are looking, specifically, at verses that reference 'desert', we are not actually going to be considering 22 chapters worth of material here. 

The concordance I used listed only about eight verses.  So let's jump in and have a look at them.

Three of them are in chapter eight:

Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you  and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands....He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions.  He brought you water out of hard rock.  He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.  (Deut.8: 2, 15 - 16)

Wow.  Y'know, those two verses sum up so much...God led you...in the desert...to humble you...to know what was in your heart....He led you....He gave you....to humble you...to test you...so that in the end it might go well with you.

If you are going through a desert season now, you can apply that.

Even in the desert, God leads.
Even in the desert, God supplies what is needed.
Even in the desert, God protects his people from its dangers.

Twice we see that God does this to humble his people.  Not HUMILIATE... humble.   Humble people know that God is the one who leads, supplies and protects.  Their time in the desert was supposed to teach them to know their dependency on God.  So that...in the end...after the lessons are learned...it will all go well.

But this also raises a bit of a question...does God need to test us to know what is in our hearts?  Or does the testing of our hearts show US what is there?  Because...obedience when all is well is easy.  Obedience in the 'vast and dreadful desert', when God's instructions seem illogical or inconvenient or costly or even silly (remember what happened over the tassels?) is not so natural.  Sometimes obedience means squelching our own ideas of what is expedient or necessary.  In the desert...we learn to either humbly follow God and keep his commands...or we reject God's counsel for what makes sense to us.

Chapter nine has two desert references:

...never forget how you provoked the LORD your God to anger in the desert.  From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the LORD.  (9:7)

Because of that mass disobedience, Moses repeatedly found himself in the position of interceding for the people, humbly requesting that God not destroy them for their rebellion...

'Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness, and their sin.  Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, "Because the LORD was not able to take them into the land he promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the desert." ' (9:27b-28)

Hundreds of thousands died in the desert, but God did not destroy the nation.  The next mention of desert is in chapter 11 --

It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived at this place...But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done.'  (11:5,7)

No excuse for folks who have seen God move with their own eyes.  They will have to tell their children...but they themselves experienced it first hand.

Every place where you set your foot will be yours:  Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea.  (11:24)

The last appearance of 'desert' in this discourse is a mention of the desert owl in a list of birds not to be eaten in 14:17.

I am going to be pondering the concept of testing in the desert, I think.  How well have I handled my own desert testing?  To be honest...not as well as I would have liked...I fall, far too easily, into what makes sense or seems expedient, without considering if that's really what I am instructed to do. 
Which, of course, calls for repentance.

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...