Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me; and we encircled Mount Seir many days.
Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “You have encircled this mountain long enough. Turn northward.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Deuteronomy 2:1-3 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me; and we encircled Mount Seir many days.
Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “You have encircled this mountain long enough. Turn northward. Command the people, saying, ‘You are to pass through the border of your brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore be careful. Don’t contend with them; for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession. You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat. You shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink.’ ”
Parallel Translations
-
Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me; and we encircled Mount Seir many days.
Yahweh spoke to me, saying,
“You have encircled this mountain long enough. Turn northward.
-
Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.
And the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
Show all 3 translations
-
Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the LORD spoke unto me; and we compassed mount Seir many days.
And the LORD spoke unto me, saying:
'Ye have compassed this mountain long enough; turn you northward.
Cross-references (7)
- Deuteronomy 1:6 (v3) “Yahweh our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain.
- Numbers 21:4 (v1) They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. The soul of the people was very discouraged because…
- Deuteronomy 1:40 (v1) But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
- Deuteronomy 2:14 (v3) The days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea until we had come over the brook Zered were thirty-eight years: until all the generation of…
- Numbers 14:25 (v1) Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
Show all 7 cross-references
- Deuteronomy 1:2 (v1) It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.
- Judges 11:18 (v1) Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v1 Eight and thirty years, as verse 14.
Eight and thirty years, as verse 14.
They obeyed, after that God had chastised them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Deu 2:1 Then we turned, and took our journey…
Deu 2:1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.
Ver. 1. Then we turned,] viz., When we had bought our wit, and had paid for our learning, by our late discomfiture.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 The mountainous country of Seir or Edom. Many days,…
The mountainous country of Seir or Edom. Many days, or, many years, even for thirty-eight years.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. A short account of the long…
Here is, I. A short account of the long stay of Israel in the wilderness: We compassed Mount Seir many days, Deu 2:1. Nearly thirty-eight years they wandered in the deserts of Seir; probably in some of their rests they staid several years, and never stirred; God by this not only chastised them for their murmuring and unbelief, but, 1. Prepared them for Canaan, by humbling them for sin, teaching them to mortify their lusts, to follow God, and to comfort themselves in him. It is a work of time to make souls meet for heaven, and it must be done by a long train of exercises. 2. He prepared the Canaanites for destruction. All this time the measure of their iniquity was filling up; and, though it might have been improved by them as a space to repent in, it was abused by them to the hardening of their hearts. Now that the host of Israel was once repulsed, and after that was so long entangled and seemingly lost in the wilderness, they were secure, and thought the danger was over from that quarter, which would make the next attempt of Israel upon them the more dreadful.
II. Orders given them to turn towards Canaan. Though God contend long, he will not contend for ever. Though Israel may be long kept waiting for deliverance or enlargement, it will come at last: The vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak, and not lie.
Read full note →
III. A charge given them not to annoy the Edomites.
1. They must not offer any hostility to them as enemies: Meddle not with them, Deu 2:4, Deu 2:5. (1.) They must not improve the advantage they had against them, by the fright they would be put into upon Israel's approach: "They shall be afraid of you, knowing your strength and numbers, and the power of God engaged for you; but think not that, because their fears make them an easy prey, you may therefore prey upon them; no, take heed to yourselves." There is need of great caution and a strict government of our own spirits, to keep ourselves from injuring those against whom we have an advantage. Or this caution is given to the princes; they must not only not meddle with the Edomites themselves, but not permit any of the soldiers to meddle with them. (2.) They must not avenge upon the Edomites the affront they gave them in refusing them passage through their country, Num 20:21. Thus, before God brought Israel to destroy their enemies in Canaan, he taught them to forgive their enemies in Edom. (3.) They must not expect to have any part of their land given them for a possession: Mount Seir was already settled upon the Edomites, and they must not, under pretence of God's covenant and conduct, think to seize for themselves all they could lay hands on. Dominion is not founded in grace. God's Israel shall be well placed, but must not expect to be placed alone in the midst of the earth, Isa 5:8.
2. They must trade with them as neighbours, buy meat and water of them, and pay for what they bought, Deu 2:6. Religion must never be made a cloak for injustice. The reason given (Deu 2:7), is, "God hath blessed thee, and hitherto thou hast lacked nothing; and therefore," (1.) "Thou needest not beg; scorn to be beholden to Edomites, when thou hast a God all-sufficient to depend upon. Thou hast wherewithal to pay for what thou callest for (thanks to the divine blessing!); use therefore what thou hast, use it cheerfully, and do not sponge upon the Edomites." (2.) "Therefore thou must not steal. Thou hast experienced the care of the divine providence concerning thee, in confidence of which for the future, and in a firm belief of its sufficiency, never use any indirect methods for thy supply. Live by the faith and not by thy sword."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Then we turned,.... From Kadesh, where they had been…
Then we turned,.... From Kadesh, where they had been many days, and so also their backs on the land of Canaan, on the borders of which they had been:
and took our journey into the wilderness, by the way of the Red sea, as the Lord spake unto me; Deu 1:40.
Read full note →
and we compassed Mount Seir many days; many think by Mount Seir is meant the whole mountainous country of Edom, about which they travelled to and fro in the wilderness that lay near it for the space of thirty eight years, which they suppose are meant by many days; but I rather think they came to this mount towards the close of the thirty eight years, before they came to Kadesh, from whence they sent messengers to Edom, which they went round about for several days,
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Their march from Kadesh-barnea, ver. 1-3. A charge not…
Their march from Kadesh-barnea, ver. 1-3. A charge not to trouble the Edomites, ver. 4-8. Nor the Moabites, ver. 9-12. (They pass the river Zered, ver. 13-16.) Nor the Ammonites, ver. 17-23. A command to attack Sihon, ver. 24-26. The conquest of his kingdom, ver. 27-37
Mount Seir - The mountainous country of Seir or Edom. Many days - Even for thirty eight years.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Moses continues to relate how they compassed Mount Seir,…
CHAPTER II
Moses continues to relate how they compassed Mount Seir, 1.
Read full note →
And the commands they received not to meddle with the
descendants of Esau, 2-8;
nor to distress the Moabites, 9.
Of the Emims, 10, 11;
the Horims, 12.
Their passage of the brook Zered, 13.
The time they spent between Kadesh-barnea and Zered, 14;
during which all the men of war that came out of Egypt were
consumed, 15, 16.
The command not to distress the Ammonites, 17-19.
Of the Zamzummims, 20,
the Anakims, 21,
the Horims, 22,
the Avims and Caphtorims, all destroyed by the Ammonites, 23.
They are commanded to cross the river Arnon, and are promised the
land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, 24, 25.
Of the message sent to Sihon, to request a passage through his
territories, 26-29.
His refusal, 30.
The consequent war, 31, 32.
His total overthrow, 33;
and extermination of his people, 34.
The spoils that were taken, 35.
And his land possessed from Aroer to Arnon by the Israelites,
36;
who took care, according to the command of God, not to invade any
part of the territories of the Ammonites, 37.
NOTES ON CHAP. II
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v1 Deu 2:1. We compassed mount Seir — The mountainous…
Deu 2:1. We compassed mount Seir — The mountainous part of Edom, or Idumea. Many days — Even for thirty-eight years, which time they spent in tedious marches to and fro through that desert country, reaching from Kadesh to the Red sea, and in various encampments, till that race of murmurers was quite extinct, and then orders were given them to bend their course again toward Canaan, Deu 2:3.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 Deu 2:1 seems to refer in general terms to…
Deu 2:1 seems to refer in general terms to the long years of wandering, the details of which were not for Moses’ present purpose. The command of Deu 2:2-3 relates to their journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor Num 20:22; Num 33:37, and directs their march around to the southern extremity of Mount Seir, so as to “compass the land of Edom” Jdg 11:18; Num 21:4, and so northward toward the Arnon, i. e., “by the way of the wilderness of Moab,” Deu 2:8. This circuitous path was followed because of the refusal of the Edomites to allow the people to pass through their territory.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v1 Sea, encamping again at Mosera. When they were at…
Sea, encamping again at Mosera. When they were at Asiongaber, they were ordered to go to the north, by the mountains of Idumea or of Seir. Being arrived at Cades, they attempted to penetrate into Chanaan, by the road of the spies, but were repulsed. Upon which they asked leave of the Idumeans to pass through their country, lying south of the Dead Sea, but could not obtain permission, and God would not suffer them to force a passage, but ordered them to go round their territories, Numbers xx., and xxi. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 FROM KADESH TO THE TERRITORY OF THE AMORITES, Deu_2:1-23.
FROM KADESH TO THE TERRITORY OF THE AMORITES, Deu_2:1-23.
1. The way of the Red Sea — The way to the Red Sea — that is, the AElanitic Gulf, now called the Gulf of Akabah.
Read full note →
As the Lord spake — Comp. Num_14:25.
Compassed Mount Seir many days — This refers to the long years of wandering, of which, in the narrative, we have so few details.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 1. Then we turned, etc.] See on Deu_1:7.
1. Then we turned, etc.] See on Deu_1:7.
by the way to the Red Sea] Rather, in the direction of the Red Sea.
Read full note →
as the Lord spake unto me] Deu_1:40.
and we compassed mount Seir] The range E. of the ‘Arabah: see on Deu_1:2; Deu_1:44 JE, Num_21:4 b, by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom.
many days] As in Deu_1:46, indefinite; that a long time is intended is clear from Deu_2:14, which states that Israel spent 38 years between Ḳadesh and the Zered; while Deu_2:7, whether from the same hand or not, implies that the 40 years from Egypt had practically all passed when the people turned N.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 (1) Then.—In the original simply “And.” There is no…
II.
(1) Then.—In the original simply “And.” There is no note of time.
Read full note →
By the way of the Red sea.—i.e., in the direction of the Gulf of Akabah, southwards.
As the Lord spake unto me.—In Num_14:25, as noted on Deu_1:40.
Many days.—Until near the close of the thirty-ninth year of the exodus.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Deuteronomy 2
Deuteronomy 2
The closing lines of chapter 1 show us the people weeping before the Lord. "And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there."
Read full note →
There was no more reality in their tears than in their words. Their weeping was no more to be trusted than their confession. It is possible for People to confess and shed tears without any true sense of sin, in the presence of God. This is very solemn. It is really mocking God. We know, blessed for ever be His Name, that a truly contrite heart is His delight. He makes His abode with such. " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." The tears that flow from a penitent heart are more precious, by far, to God, than the cattle upon a thousand hills, because they prove that there is room in that heart for Him; and this is what He seeks, in His infinite grace. He wants to dwell in our hearts, and fill us with the deep, unspeakable joy of His own most blessed presence.
But Israel’s confession and tears at Kadesh were not real; and, hence, the Lord could not accept them. The feeblest cry of a broken heart ascends directly to the throne of God, and is immediately answered by the soothing healing balm of His pardoning love; but when tears and confession stand connected with self-will and rebellion, they are not only utterly worthless, but a positive insult to the Divine Majesty.
Thus, then, the people had to turn back into the wilderness, and wander there for forty years. There was nothing else for it. They would not go up into the land, in simple faith, with God; and He would not go up with them in their self-will and self-confidence; they had therefore simply to accept the consequence of their disobedience. If they would not enter the land, they must fall in the wilderness.
How solemn is all this! and how solemn is the Spirit’s commentary upon it, in the third chapter of Hebrews! And how pointed and forcible the application to us! We must quote the passage for the benefit of the reader "Wherefore - as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day Of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in heart, and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. - Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. While it is said, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke; howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard."
Here, as in every page of the inspired volume, we learn that unbelief is the thing that grieves the heart and dishonours the Name of God. And not only so, but it robs us of the blessings, the dignities and the privileges which infinite grace bestows. We have very little idea of how much we lose, in every way, through the unbelief of our hearts. Just as in Israel’s case, the land was before them, in all its fruitfulness and beauty; and they were commanded to go and take possession, but, "They could not enter in because of unbelief;" so with us, we fail to possess ourselves of the fullness of blessing which sovereign grace has put within our reach. The very treasure of heaven is thrown open to us, but we fail to appropriate. We are poor, feeble, empty and barren, when we might be rich, rigorous, full and fruitful. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ; but how shallow is our apprehension! how feeble our grasp! how poor our thoughts!
Then again, who can calculate how much we lose, through our unbelief, in the matter of the Lord’s work in our midst? We read, in the gospel, of a certain place in which our blessed Lord could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief. Has this no voice for us? Do me too hinder Him by unbelief? We shall perhaps be told by some, that the Lord will carry on His work irrespective of us or our faith; He will gather out His own, and accomplish the number of His elect, spite of our unbelief; not all the power of earth and hell, men and devils; combined, can hinder the carrying out of His counsels and purposes; and as to His work, It is not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit, Human efforts are in vain? and the Lord’s cause can never he furthered by nature’s excitement.
Now, all this is perfectly true; but it leaves wholly untouched the inspired statement noted above. "He could there do not many mighty works because of their unbelief." Did not those people lose blessing through their unbelief? Did they not hinder much good being done? We must beware how we surrender our minds to the withering influence of a pernicious fatalism which, with a certain semblance of truth, is utterly false, inasmuch as it denies all human responsibility and paralyses all godly energy in the cause of Christ. We have to bear in mind that the same One who, in His eternal counsels, has decreed the end, has also designed the means; and if we, in the sinful unbelief of our hearts, and under the influence of one-sided truth, fold our arms and neglect the means, He will set us aside, and carry on His work by other hands. He will work, blessed be His Holy Name, but we shall lose the dignity, the privilege, and the blessing of being His instruments.
Look at that striking scene in the second of Mark. It most forcibly illustrates the great principle which we desire to press upon all who may read these lines. It proves the power of faith, in connection with the carrying on of the Lord’s work. If the four men, whose conduct is here set forth, had suffered themselves to be influenced by a mischievous fatalism, they would have argued that it was no use doing anything - if the palsied man was to he cured he would be cured, without human effort. Why should they busy themselves in climbing up on the house, uncovering the roof, and letting down the sick man into the midst before Jesus? Ah! it was well for the palsied man, and well for themselves that they did not act on such miserable reasoning as this. See how their lovely faith wrought! It refreshed the heart of the Lord Jesus; it brought the sick man into the place of healing, pardon and blessing; and it gave occasion for the display of divine power which arrested the attention of all present, and gave testimony to the great truth that God was on earth, in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, healing diseases and forgiving sins.
Many other examples might be adduced, but there is no need. All scripture establishes the fact that unbelief hinders our blessing, hinders our usefulness, robs as of the rare privilege of being God’s honoured instruments in the carrying on of His glorious work, and of seeing the operations of His hand and His Spirit, in our midst. And, on the other hand, that faith draws down power and blessing, not only for ourselves but for others; that it both glorifies and gratifies God, by clearing the platform of the creature and making room for the display of divine power. In short, there is no limit to the blessing which we might enjoy at the hand of our God, if our hearts were more governed by that simple faith which ever counts on Him, and which He ever delights to honour. "According to your faith, he it unto you." Precious soul-stirring words! May they encourage us to draw more largely upon those exhaustless resources which we have in God. He delights to be used, blessed for ever be His holy Name! His word to us is, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." We can never expect too much from the God of all grace who has given us His only begotten Son, and will, with Him, freely give us all things.
But Israel could not trust God to bring them into the land; they presumed to go in their own strength, and, as a consequence, were put to flight before their enemies. Thus it must ever be. Presumption and faith are two totally different things: the former can only issue in defeat and disaster; the latter in sure and certain victory.
"Then we turned and took our journey into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spake unto me; and we compassed Mount Seir, many days." There is great moral beauty in the little word "we" Moses links himself thoroughly with the people. He and Joshua and Caleb had all to turn back into the wilderness, in company with the unbelieving congregation. This might, in the judgement of nature, seem hard; but we may rest assured, it was good and profitable. There is always deep blessing in bowing to the will of God, even though we may not always be able to see the why and the wherefore of things. We do not read of a single murmuring word from these honoured servants of God, at having to turn back into the wilderness for forty years, although they were quite ready to go up into the land. No; they simply turned back. And well they might, when Jehovah turned back also. How could they think of complaining, when they beheld the travelling chariot of the God of Israel facing round to the wilderness? Surely the patient grace and long-suffering mercy of God might well teach them to accept, with a willing mind, a protracted sojourn in the wilderness, and to wait for the blessed moment of entrance upon the promised land.
It is a great thing always to submit ourselves meekly under the hand of God. We are sure to reap a rich harvest of blessing from the exercise. It is really taking the yoke of Christ upon us, which, as He Himself assures us, is the true secret of rest. "Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
What was this yoke? It was absolute and complete subjection to the Father’s will. This we see, in perfection, in our adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He could say, "Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight." Here was the point with Him. "Good in thy sight." This settled everything. Was His testimony rejected? Did He seem to labour in vain, and spend His strength for nought and in vain? What then? "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." It was all right. Whatever pleased the Father, pleased Him. He never had a thought or wish that was not in perfect consonance with the will of God. Hence He, as a man, ever enjoyed perfect rest. He rested in the divine counsels and purposes. The current of His peace was unruffled, from first to last.
This was the yoke of Christ; and this is what He, in His infinite grace, invites us to take upon us, in order that we, too, may find rest unto our souls. Let us mark, and seek to understand the words. "Ye shall find rest." We must not confound the "rest" which He gives with the "rest" which we find. When the weary, burdened, heavy laden soul comes to Jesus in simple faith, He gives rest, settled rest, the rest which flows from the full assurance that all is done; sins for ever put away; perfect righteousness accomplished, revealed and possessed, every question divinely and eternally settled; God glorified; Satan silenced conscience tranquilized.
Such is the rest which Jesus gives, when we come to Him. But then we have to move through the scenes and circumstances of our daily life. There are trials, difficulties, exercises, buffetings, disappointments, and reverses of all sorts. None of these can, in the smallest degree, touch the rest which Jesus gives; but they may very seriously interfere with the rest which we are to find. They do not trouble the conscience; but they may greatly trouble the heart; they may make us very restless, very fretful, very impatient. For instance, I want to preach at Glasgow; I am announced to do so; but lo! I am shut up in a sickroom in London. This does not trouble my conscience; but it may greatly trouble my heart; I may be in a perfect fever of restlessness, ready to exclaim, "How tiresome! How terribly disappointing! Whatever am I to do? It is most untoward!"
And, how is this state of things to be met? How is the troubled heart to be tranquilized, and the restless mind to be calmed down? What do I want? I want to find rest. How am I to find it? By stooping down and taking Christ’s precious yoke upon me; the very yoke which He Himself ever wore, in the days of His flesh; the yoke of complete subjection to the will of God. I want to be able to say, without one atom of reserve, to say from the very depths of my heart, "Thy will, O Lord, be done." I want such a profound sense of His perfect love to me, and of His infinite wisdom in all His dealings with me, that I would not have it otherwise, if I could; yea, that I would not move a finger to alter my position or circumstances, feeling assured that it is very much better for me to be suffering on a sickbed in London, than speaking on a platform in Glasgow.
Here lies the deep and precious secret of rest of heart, as opposed to restlessness. It is the simple ability to thank God for everything, be it ever so contrary to our own will and utterly subversive of our own Plans. It is not a mere assent to the truth that " All things work together for good to them that love God; to them that are the called according to his purpose." It is the positive sense, the actual realisation of the divine fact that the thing which God appoints is the very best thing for us. It is perfect repose in the love, wisdom, power and faithfulness of the One who has graciously undertaken for us, in everything, and charged Himself with all that concerns us for time and eternity. We know that love will always do its very best for its object. what must it be to have God doing His very best for us? Where is the heart that would not be satisfied with God’s best, if only it knows ought of Him?
But He must be known ere the heart can be satisfied with His will. Eve, in the garden of Eden, beguiled by the serpent, became dissatisfied with the will of God. She wished for something which He had forbidden; and this something the devil undertook to supply. She thought the devil could do better for her than God. She thought to better her circumstances by taking herself out of the hands of God and placing herself in the hands of Satan. Hence it is, that no unrenewed heart can ever, by any possibility, rest in the will of God. If we search the human heart to the bottom, if we submit it to a faithful analysis, we shall not find so much as a single thought in unison with the will of God no, not one. And even in the case of the true Christian, the child of God, it is only as he is enabled, by the grace of God, to mortify his own will, to reckon himself dead, and to walk in the Spirit, that he can delight in the will of God, and give thanks in everything. It is one of the very finest evidences of the new birth to be able, without a single shade of reserve, to say, in respect to every dealing of the hand of God, "Thy will be done." "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." When the heart is in this attitude, Satan can make nothing of it. It is a grand point to be able to tell the devil, and to tell the world - tell them, not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth; not merely with the lips, but in the heart and the life - -"I am perfectly satisfied with the will of God."
This is the way to find rest. Let us see that we understand it. It is the divine remedy for that unrest, that spirit of discontent, that dissatisfaction with our appointed lot and sphere, so sadly prevalent on all hands. It is a perfect cure for that restless ambition so utterly opposed to the mind and Spirit of Christ, but so entirely characteristic of the men of this world.
May we, beloved reader, cultivate, with holy diligence, that meek and lowly spirit which is, in the sight of God, of great price, which bows to His blessed will in all things, and vindicates His dealings, come what may. Thus shall our peace flow as a river, and the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be magnified, in our course, character and conduct.
Ere turning from the deeply interesting and practical subject which has been engaging our attention, we would observe that there are three distinct attitudes in which the soul may be found in reference to the dealings of God, namely, subjection, acquiescence, and rejoicing. When the will is broken, there is subjection; when the understanding is enlightened as to the divine object, there is acquiescence; and when the affections are engaged with God Himself, there is positive rejoicing. Hence we read, in the tenth chapter of Luke, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." That blessed One found His perfect delight in all the will of God. It was His meat and drink to carry out that will, at all cost. In service or in suffering, in life or in death, He never had any motive but the Father’s will. He could say, "I do always the things that please him." Eternal and universal homage to His peerless Name!
We shall now proceed with our chapter.
"And the Lord spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough; turn you northward."
The word of the Lord determined everything. It fixed how long the people were to remain in any given place, and it indicated, with equal distinctness, whither they were next to bend their steps. There was no need whatever for them to plan or arrange their movements. It was the province and prerogative of Jehovah to settle all for them; it was theirs to obey. There is no mention here of the cloud and the trumpet. It is simply God’s word and Israel’s obedience..
Nothing can be more precious to a child of God, if only the heart be in a right condition, than to be guided, in all his movements by the divine command It saves a world of anxiety and perplexity. In Israel’s case, called as they were to journey through a great and terrible wilderness, where there was no way, it was an unspeakable mercy to have their every movement, their every step, their every halting-place ordered by an infallible guide. There was no need whatever for them to trouble themselves about their movements, no need to inquire how long they were to stay in any given place, or where they were to go next. Jehovah settled all for them. It was for them simply to wait on Him for guidance, and to do what they were told.
Yes, reader, here was the grand point - a waiting and an obedient spirit. If this were lacking, they were liable to all sorts of questionings, reasonings and rebellious activities. When God said, "Ye have compassed this mountain long enough," had Israel replied, "No; we want to compass it a little longer; we are very comfortable here, and we do not wish to make any change" or, again, if, when God said, "Turn you northward, they had replied, "No; we vastly prefer going eastward;" what would have been the result? Why, they would have forfeited the divine presence with them; and who could guide, or help, or feed them then? They could only count on the divine Presence with them while they trod the path indicated by the divine command. If they chose to take their own way, there was nothing for them but famine, desolation and darkness. The stream from the smitten rock, and the heavenly manna, were only to be found in the path of obedience.
Now, we Christians have to learn our lesson in all this - a wholesome, needed, valuable lesson. It is our sweet privilege to have our path marked out for us, day by day, by divine authority. Of this we are to be most deeply and thoroughly persuaded. We are not to allow ourselves to be robbed of this rich blessing by the plausible reasonings of unbelief. God has promised to guide us, and His promise is yea and Amen. It is for us to make our own of the promise, in the artless simplicity of faith. It is as real and as solid and as true as God can make it. We cannot admit, for a moment, that Israel in the desert were better off, in the matter of guidance, than God’s heavenly people, in their passage through this world. How did Israel know the length of the haltings or the line of their march By the word of God. Are we worse off? Far be the thought. Yea, we are better off by far than they. We have the word and Spirit of God to guide us. To us pertains the high and holy privilege of walking in the footsteps of the Son of God.
Is not this perfect guidance Yes, thank God, it is. Hear what our adorable Lord Jesus Christ saith to us: " I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Let us mark these words, "He that followeth Me." He has left us an example that we should follow his steps." This is living guidance. How did Jesus walk? Always and only by the commandment of His Father. By that He acted; by that He moved; without it He never acted, moved or spoke.
Now, we are called to follow Him; and in so doing we have the assurance of His own word that we shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life! Precious words! "The light of life.’’ Who can sound their living depths? Who can duly estimate their worth? "The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth," and it is for us to walk in the full blaze of the light that shines along the pathway of the Son of God, Is there any uncertainty, any perplexity, any ground for hesitation here? Clearly not. ’How could there be, if we are following Him? It is utterly impossible to combine the two ideas.
And be it remarked here, that it is not, by any means, a question of having; a literal text of scripture for every movement or every act. For example, I cannot expect to get a text of scripture, or a voice from heaven, to tell me to go to London or to Edinburgh; or how long I am to stay when I go. How, then, it may be asked, am I to know where I ought to go, or how long I am to stay? The answer is, wait on God, in singleness of eye, and sincerity of heart, and He will make your path as plain as a sunbeam. This was what Jesus did; and if we follow Him, we shall not walk in darkness. "I will guide thee with mine eye," is a most precious promise; but, in order to profit by it, we must be near enough to Him to catch the movement of His eye, and intimate enough with Him to understand its meaning.
Thus it is, in all the details, of our daily life; It would answer a thousand questions, and solve a thousand difficulties, if we did but wait for divine guidance, and never attempt to move without it. If I have not gotten light to move, it is my plain duty to be still. We should: never move in uncertainty. It often happens that we harass ourselves about moving or acting, when God would have us to be still and do nothing. We go and ask God about it, but get no answer; We betake ourselves to friends for advice and counsel, but they cannot help us; for it is entirely a question between our own souls and the Lord. Thus we are plunged in doubt and anxiety. And why? Simply because the eye is not single; we are not following Jesus, "The light of the world." we may set it down as a fixed principle, a precious axiom in the divine life, that if we are following Jesus, we shall have the light of life. He has said it, and that is enough for faith.
Hence, then, we deem ourselves perfectly warranted in concluding that the One who guided His earthly people, in all their desert wanderings, can and will guide His heavenly people, now, in all their movements and in all their ways. But, on the other hand, let us see to it that we are not bent on doing our own will, having our own way and carrying out our own plans. "Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee." Be it our one grand aim to walk in the footsteps of that blessed One who pleased not Himself, but ever moved in the current of the divine will, never acted without divine authority; who, though Himself God over all, blessed for ever, yet, having taken His place as a man, on the earth, surrendered completely His own will, and found His meat and His drink in doing the will of His Father. Thus shall our hearts and minds be kept in perfect peace; and we shall be enabled to move on, from day to day, with firm and decided step, along the path indicated for us by our divine and ever-present Guide who not only knows, as God, every step of the way, but who, as man, has trodden it before us, and left us an example that we should follow His steps. May we follow Him, more faithfully, in all things, through the gracious ministry of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in us!
We have, now, to invite the reader’s attention to a subject of very deep interest, and one which occupies a large place in Old Testament scripture, and is forcibly illustrated in the chapter which lies open before us, namely, God’s government of the world, and His wonderful ordering of the nations of the earth. It is a grand and all-important fact to keep ever before the mind, that the One whom we know as "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," and our God and Father, takes a real, lively, personal interest in the affairs of nations; that he takes cognisance of their movements, and of their dealings one with another.
True, all this is in immediate connection with Israel and the land of Palestine, as we read in the thirty-second chapter of our book, and eighth verse - a passage of singular interest, and of great suggestive power. "when the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." Israel was, and shall yet be God’s earthly centre, and it is a fact of the deepest interest that, from the very outset, as we see in Genesis 10. the Creator and Governor of the world formed the nations and fixed their bounds, according to His own sovereign will, and with direct reference to the seed of Abraham, and that narrow strip of land which they are to possess, in virtue of the everlasting covenant made with their fathers.
But, in Deuteronomy 2, we find Jehovah, in His faithfulness and righteousness, interfering to protect three distinct nations in the enjoyment of their national rights, and that, too, against the encroachments of His own chosen people. He says to Moses, "Command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore meddle not with them: for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot-breadth, because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink."
Israel might imagine that they had nothing to do but seize upon the lands of the Edomite; but they had to learn something very different; they had to be taught that the Most High is the governor amongst the nations; that the whole earth belongs to Him, and He portions it out to one or another according to His good pleasure.
This is a very magnificent fact to keep before the mind. The great majority of men think but little of it. Emperors, kings, princes, governors, statesmen, take little account of it. They forget that God interests ’Himself in the affairs of nations; that He bestows kingdoms, provinces and lands as He sees fit. They act, at times, as if it were only a question of military conquest, and as if God had nothing to do with the question of national boundaries and territorial possessions. This is their great mistake. They do not understand the meaning and force of this simple sentence, "I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession." God will never surrender His rights, in this respect. He would not allow Israel to touch a single atom of Esau’s property. They were, to use a modern phrase, to pay ready cash for whatever they needed, and go quietly on their way. Indiscriminate slaughter and plunder were not to be thought of by the people of God.
And mark the lovely reason for all this. "For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand; he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness; these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee, thou hast lacked nothing." They could well afford, therefore, to let Esau alone, and leave his possessions untouched. They were the favoured objects of Jehovah’s tender care. He took knowledge of every step of their weary journey through the desert. He had, in His infinite goodness, charged Himself with all their necessities. He was going to give them the land of Canaan, according to His promise to Abraham; but the self-same land which was giving them Canaan, had given mount Seir to Esau.
We see the same thing exactly, in reference to Moab and Ammon. "The Lord said unto me, distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give thee of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession" And, again, "And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession"
The possessions here alluded to had been, of old time, in the hands of giants; but it was God’s purpose to give up their territories to the children of Esau and Lot, and therefore He destroyed these giants; for who or what can stand in the way of the divine counsels? "That also was accounted a land of giants; Giants dwelt therein in old times ....a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead; as he did to the children of Esau which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day." (Vv. 20-23.)
Hence, then, Israel were not permitted to meddle with the possessions of any of these three nations, the Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites. But, in the very next sentence, we see another thing altogether in the case of the Amorites. "Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle."
The great principle, in all these varied instructions to Israel, is that God’s word must settle everything for His people. It was not for Israel to inquire why they were to leave the possessions of Esau and Lot untouched, and to seize upon those of Sihon. They were simply to do what they were told. God can do as He pleases. He has His eye upon the whole scene. He sees it all. Men may think He has forsaken the earth; but He has not, blessed be His Name. He is, as the apostle tells as in his discourse at Athens, "Lord of heaven and earth;" and "He hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth; and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation," And, further, "He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the habitable earth [oikoumenen] in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance [Given proof] unto all, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
Here we have a most solemn and weighty truth to which men of all ranks and conditions would do well to take heed. God is the Sovereign Ruler of the world. He giveth no account of any of His matters. He puts down one and sets up another. Kingdoms, thrones, governments are all at His disposal. He acts according to His own will, in the ordering and arrangement of human affairs. But, at the same time, He holds men responsible for their actings, in the various positions in which His providence has placed them. The ruler and the ruled, the king, the governor, the magistrate, the judge, all classes and grades of men will have, sooner or later, to give account to God. Each one, as if he were the only one, will have to stand before the judgement-seat of Christ, and there review his whole course, from first to last. Every act, every word, every secret thought will there come out with awful distinctness. There will be no escaping in a crowd. The word declares that they shall be judged - every man according to his works." It will be intensely individual, and unmistakably discriminating. In a word, it will be a divine judgement, and therefore, absolutely perfect. Nothing will be passed over. "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof at the day of judgement." Kings, governors and magistrates will have to account for the way in which they have used the power with which they were entrusted, and the wealth which passed through their hands. The noble and the wealthy who have spent their fortune and their time in folly, vanity, luxury and self-indulgence will have to answer for it all, before the throne of the Son of man, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, to read men through and through; and His feet as fine brass, to crush, in unsparing judgement, all that is contrary to God.
Infidelity may sneeringly inquire, "How can these things be? How could the untold millions of the human race find room before the judgement-seat of Christ? And how could there be time to enter so minutely into the details of each personal history?" Faith replies, "God says it shall be so; and this is conclusive; and as to the ’Hows’ the answer is, God! Infinity! Eternity!" Bring God in, and all questions are hushed, and all difficulties disposed of in a moment. In fact, the one grand, triumphant answer to all the objections of the infidel, the sceptic, the rationalist, and the materialist, is just that one majestic word - "GOD!"
We press this upon the reader; not indeed to enable him to reply to infidels, but for the rest and comfort of his own heart. As to infidels, we are increasingly persuaded that our highest wisdom is to act on our Lord’s words, in Matthew 15. "Let them alone." It is perfectly useless to argue with men who despise the word of God, and have no other foundation to build upon than their own carnal reasonings. But, on the other hand, we deem it to be of the very last possible importance that the heart should ever repose, in all the artless simplicity of a child, in the truth of God’s word. "Hath he said, and shall he not do it a or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
Here is the sweet and hallowed resting-place of faith, the calm haven where the soul can find refuge from all the conflicting currents of human thought and feeling. "The word of the Lord endureth for ever; and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Nothing can touch the word of our God, It is settled for ever in heaven; and all we want is to have it hidden in our hearts as our own very possession; the treasure which we have received from God; the living fountain where we may ever drink for the refreshment and comfort of our souls. Then shall our peace flow as a river; and our path shall be as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Thus may it be, O Lord, with all Thy beloved people, in these days of growing infidelity! May Thy holy word be increasingly precious to our hearts! May our consciences feel its power! May its heavenly doctrines form our character, and govern our conduct, in all the relationships of life, that Thy name may he glorified in all things!
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Vers. 1-23. THE NEW BEGINNING AND REVIEW OF THE…
Vers. 1-23. THE NEW BEGINNING AND REVIEW OF THE JOURNEYINGS OF ISRAEL FROM KADESH TO THE RIVER ARNON, THE FRONTIER OF THE AMORITES. At this point the language of address is exchanged for that of narrative. The change of subject from "ye abode" to "we turned," became necessary when Moses passed from exhorting and warning the people to narrating what happened after they resumed their journeyings; and gives no support to the notion of some recent German critics, that Moses left Kadesh with only a portion of the people, while the rest remained there, so that no entire departure of Israel from Kadesh ever took place a notion which the whole tenor of the subsequent narrative contradicts. In obedience to the Divine command, (Deu_1:40) the people, after tarrying for a while at Kadesh, took their departure and marched in the direction of the Yam-suph. (Num_14:25)
And we compassed mount Seir many days. These "many days" are the thirty-eight years during which the people wandered in the wilderness before they camped the second time at Kadesh; their going round Mount Seir, which was in Edom, (Gen_36:8, Gen_36:9, Gen_36:20) is descriptive of their nomadic wanderings in various directions, west, south, and south-east of that mountain. (Num_21:4) "Crossing the long, lofty mountain chain to the eastward of Ezion-geber, (Num_21:4, Num_21:5) the Israelites issued into the great and elevated plains which are still traversed by the Syrian pilgrims on their way to Mecca; and appear to have followed northward nearly the same route which is now taken by the Syrian Hadgi along the western skirts of this great desert near the mountains of Edom" (Robinson, "Bib. Res.," 1:253, 559). Mount Seir is now Jebal and esh-Sherah. This mountain range is a continuation of that which surrounds the eastern side of the Dead Sea. The details of this protracted wandering are passed over by Moses as not required by his purpose here.
Read full note →
Vers. 1-23 (specially ver. 7). God"s knowledge of our pilgrimage.
(For the historical and geographical details connected with this section, see the Exposition.) Moses here reviews the career of Israel during the wanderings, with reference to their treatment of the nations through whose territory they required to pass on their way. They, though the favored people of Jehovah, were not allowed to transgress the common laws of righteousness, by levying any demands on the nations through whose country they passed, nor to "distress" in any way those peoples whom the Lord had not delivered into their hands. They were to labor for their own sustenance, and to purchase, at a fair rate, meat or drink. And so far as this precept was concerned, they seem to have been (notwithstanding their waywardness in other respects) loyal to the Lord their God. These directions against transgressing the rules of right in national intercourse, were a most important part of the education of a people, where God was forming a commonwealth with this (then) unique feature, that its cornerstone was righteousness. (For an admirable survey of the fundamental principles of the Hebrew polity, home and foreign, see Wines"s "Commentaries on the Laws of Moses.") And as Moses is now reviewing the stages in their experience when they passed through an alien"s land, he reminds them how faithful God had been to them; that they bad had no need to depart from the Divine injunctions, for their good and gracious God had taken all their need into account. He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness." This clause contains a world of meaning in itself, and opens up a most fruitful theme for the Christian"s meditation and for pulpit exposition, viz. Gods knowledge of our pilgrimage in life. Three inquiries invite our notice
I WHAT IS IT THAT GOD IS HERE SAID TO KNOW? "Thy walking." We understand Moses as here referring to the walking, viewed objectively, not subjectively. The sentence would be true in both respects; but, nevertheless, the reference does not seem to be to the manner of Israel"s walking, but to the pilgrimage itself. What was true of them is also true of us. He knoweth our walking, etc.
1. The meaning of our pilgrimage is known to him as being that of moral and responsible beings, made in the image of God, and as having for its purpose the education of character for eternity.
2. He knows the difficulties of the pilgrimage the obstructions with which we are continually meeting, thwarting, perhaps, our fondest plans and wishes.
3. He knows the trials of the way. Not only the trials which are "common to man" in general, but also those indefinable, felt peculiarities, which are ours and ours only, which we cannot unfold to a single soul on earth.
4. He knows the enemies which beset us: their strength, number, malice, and craft.
5. He knows the appointed goal at the end of the pilgrimage, and all the glorious possibilities which may be unfolded in the realization of our destiny.
6. He knows the wants of each and of all, temporal and spiritual; that we are helpless to the attainment of life"s end, without constant supplies from him.
II WHAT IS HERE MEANT BY GOD"S KNOWING ALL?
1. Obviously, his perfect, full, entire acquaintance, not only with the pilgrimage in general, not only with such particulars of it as those we have just named, but also with every detail of each particular. He seeth the whole of everything.
2. But it is not a bare seeing; the knowledge is attended with a fatherly interest in all that concerns the welfare of his children. He "taketh pleasure in them that fear him." "He careth for" us. The training of his children for a home by means of a pilgrimage thither, is one of the most kind and loving designs of the heart of infinite love!
3. The knowing includes the actually taking into account all the need of our pilgrimage, in his words, works, and ways.
(1) In the promises he makes, all things are taken into account. These promises are not merely applicable in part, or at times, but wholly and always.
(2) His precepts too are framed according to the same perfect knowledge.
(3) His providential mercies, general and special, meet the wants of today and prepare for those of tomorrow. He works for our future, that we may live by the day.
(4) In his great redemptive provision for our spiritual training, there is the same forethoughtfulness.
(5) In his distinctively personal and individual care over each one, the whole of our pilgrimage is taken into account. No one is confused with any one else. The Great Father"s family is not so large as to tax him. He can care as lovingly for each as if each one were all!
III WHAT IS THE PRACTICAL VALUE TO US OF SUCH KNOWLEDGE? The value of it is infinite. On three main points, however, the preacher may dwell, and revel in the luxury they afford.
1. If life"s pilgrimage is just beginning, this Divine knowledge, so applied, may yield us guidance in treading the way. For it, God has so mercifully taken all things into account in promise and precept, then we never need to depart a hair"s breadth from the right path, for the sake of securing any apparent advantage whatever. This is specially suggested by the way in which Moses uses the words.
2. If we are just in the mid part of the pilgrimage, we may find immeasurable comfort under the difficulties of the way. All our responsibilities are accurately estimated, all wants perfectly considered, all supplies certainly ensured. What more could we desire?
3. If we make use of the Divine knowledge in the ways we have specified, we shall find that it will also give us a soul of thankfulness when near the end of the way. At the point of time referred to in the text, Israel was near the verge of Canaan. And the words are retrospective. They are a testimony to Divine faithfulness and care; "These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing." So may the believer say and sing as he closes stage after stage of life; so will he sing when he closes the last stage of all: one thing hath failed of all that the Lord hath spoken." The more life unfolds to him of his own weakness, the louder and sweeter will be his song over Divine care; yea, he will go singing to the heavenly rest!
HOMILIES BY D. DAVIES. Vers. 1-23. International relationships.
The wilderness state is the most salutary for men. Prematurely to enter into the land of rest would prove an endless calamity. Theoretically, it is possible to gain heaven too soon. Even "the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering." That heaven may be to us a perfect paradise, there must be complete harmony between the soul and its environment.
I GOD BRINGS NATIONS INTO CONTACT FOR RECIPROCAL MINISTRATION. SO long as the conviction prevails that distinct nations are natural foes, it is best for them to remain apart. Mountains and seas and languages are God"s bulwarks of peace. Yet this is but a temporary arrangement. Nationality has its use, but is liable to great abuse. God has given a monopoly of blessing to no one nation, that all may feel mutual interdependence. The products of nature are the property of all; yet personal interests are to be respected. The life-long enjoyment of Divine bounty should make us grateful, modest, and benevolent.
II COMMERCE WITH OTHERS AN OCCASION FOR SELFCONTROL. We are often ignorant of the selfishness and arrogance of our own hearts, until our material interests come into seeming conflict with the interests of others. In the presence of a stalwart foe, our courage or our cowardice is made manifest. We know not whether good seed or bad lies in our fields, until the summer sun makes them spring. On the wheel of the lapidary the qualities of the jewel are revealed. Such occasions for knowing ourselves testing ourselves disciplining and controlling ourselves, must be highly prized. The ruler of his own nature, especially under sore provocation, is a genuine victor.
III OUR SUPERIOR STRENGTH AFFORDS NO WARRANT FOR VIOLENT INVASIONS. Might has a terrible proneness to warp our sense of right. Unless might is penetrated through and through with a spirit of righteousness, it is a body without a soul; it soon becomes a despicable corpse. Mere strength gives to no man, and to no body of men, warrantable authority to rule. It is base and self-degrading for strength to trample on weakness. Real strength displays its latent reserves when it stoops to protect when it endures rather than contends. Violence is essential weakness, the scarecrow of power.
IV OUR NATURAL RELATIONSHIPS HAVE A CLAIM UPON OUR REGARDS. What God hath constructed, man may not wantonly destroy. We are to "honor all men," but to "love the brotherhood." We may send our portions of sympathy to the uttermost circumference of the human circle, but we are to reserve a double portion for kindred. Spiritual ties are superior to all the bonds of nature, but they need not be separate and distinct. The natural may, yea ought, to be the foundation on which the spiritual relationship is built. He who affirmed that all who did the will of his Father were his mother, sisters, brothers," said also as he commended his human mother to his disciple"s care, "Behold thy mother!
V A SENSE OF GOD"S PRESENCE FOSTERS SELF-ABNEGATION. Because we have so many proofs that God is about us, safeguarding our interests, we shall not be so anxious to extort our fancied rights. "He is at my right hand: I shall not be moved." "Let your moderation be known unto all men: the Lord is at hand." We have an all-wise, all-mighty, and omnipresent Defender; therefore we will not fear. We will not avenge seeming injuries: the Lord doth fight for us. "Vengeance is his.
VI THE DISPLACEMENT OF SUCCESSIVE HUMAN RACES IS AN ORDINANCE OF GOD. Throughout the entire plan of God"s providence the same law is manifest. In the formation of the earth"s crust we see that one order of life passed away another order appeared. This phrase of God"s procedure science has labeled "the survival of the fittest." Is man the final link in this magnificent series? All oracles are dumb. Yet this law of successive development is apparent everywhere. History and ethnology record the facts; the Bible ascribes them to the personal God. Whatever were the motives or the passions which prompted Esau to evict the Horims, or Moab to displace the Emims, or the Caphtorims to dislodge the Avims, this much is plain that the hand of the Lord wrought behind the human machinery. Bad as some of these races seem to have been, they were, without doubt, an improvement on the preceding. "First that which is natural; afterward that which is spiritual." The world"s amelioration may be waiting for our removal.
VII THE DEATH OF UNITS PROMOTES THE WELFARE OF THE NATION. The patience of Jehovah is conspicuous in that he did not destroy the murmurers and recusants in Israel with a stroke. He used them still as the natural protectors of the younger members, and when these reached maturity of courageous faith, the older portion fell away, like useless husk and chaff. As in the human body, so long as cellular tissue dies and is replaced by fresh development, there is health; so in the race, the removal of effete elements secures the advancement of the whole. Yet it is not inevitable that the separate units of mankind should absolutely perish. The same law of development may prevail in each separate person. The inferior parts of our being may minister to the growth of the higher. The outward man, like the husk, may perish, while, withal, the inner man may be renewed daily, and be fitted for a higher plane of existence. Death is the gate of life.
VIII GOD EXTENDS A WATCHFUL SUPERINTENDENCE OVER ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH. The children of Ammon rose in arms against the Zamzummims, and defeated them, yet (though they knew it not) it was Jehovah who destroyed their foes. God has a thousand various methods for ruling a nation"s career and destiny. Because Britain has come into a larger heritage of blessing than other empires, or because many of the British people consciously recognize the scepter of Jehovah, we may not conclude that the Zulus or Papuans are not equally overruled by him. "His kingdom ruleth over all." Respecting Cyrus, King of the Medes, God said, "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." There is an unseen and an unrecognized scepter directing all the movements of the world, controlling and restraining even wickedness itself! The errors of the heathen are, after all, partial truths, and God is leading their minds onward from obscurer to clearer light. Sometimes, we must admit, there is a temporary submergence-the advancing light is for a time eclipsed by a wave of darkness. Nevertheless, through long periods of human history, we can for the most part discover progress. Eternity is God"s abode, and we discern but fragments of his work. D.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR
Vers. 1-23. God"s faithfulness in dealing with nations outside the covenant.
We have here strict injunctions given to the pilgrims not to disturb the children of Edom, nor the Moabites, nor the children of Ammon, because they were occupying the district assigned them. These tribes, though related to Israel, were not in the covenant. Still God had guaranteed to them certain temporal blessings, and he shows himself faithful in his dealings with them.
I GOD IS A RIGHTEOUS GOVERNOR AMONG THE NATIONS. It is in equity that he rules. His judgment is always according to truth. Having written the law of conscience upon every human heart, he can justly judge men thereby. They are laws unto themselves, and so will be held accountable for their relation to their law, or, as we might call it, inward light (cf. Rom_2:14, Rom_2:15)
II TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES ARE GIFTS OF GOD. The laws which regulate nature are, we believe, the ordinances of God. Hence the benefits irreligious nations receive through the laws of nature are really the gifts of his bounteous hand. Though the nations may not so regard them, the people of God can form no other notion of them. As gifts, they are undeserved. Hence it is part of God"s scheme of mercy so generously to treat the race of men. We must look to Christ"s atonement for an explanation on the ground of justice of this merciful treatment of mankind. The death of Jesus purchased temporal as well as spiritual blessings, and its vast application should be recognized and known. In this sense he did "die for every man.
III THE CONSTANCY OF THE LAWS OF NATURE Is TO BE TRACED TO THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD. No other hypothesis can be offered so consistent with the facts. The promises treasured up in nature are promises of God, and the laws which secure their fulfillment are the ministers of his faithfulness.
IV THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD IN THE CASES REFERRED TO WAS NOT RECOGNIZED BY THE TRIBES PROFITING BY IT. In seizing the places allotted to them by God, the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites fought each for his hand and in no religious spirit. They overcame and exterminated races of giants who formerly possessed the land. All the while, God"s plan and faithfulness were receiving illustration and fulfillment. The exercise of human freedom did not militate against, but secured the Divine pleasure.
V GOD"S BOUNTY TO NATIONS OUTSIDE THE COVENANT IS INTENDED TO ENCOURAGE HIS OWN PEOPLE. The Israelites would be the better prepared to meet and master the giants in Canaan after seeing the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites snugly dwelling in the inheritances of gigantic predecessors. If these tribes, without any sense of dependence upon the Almighty, overcame the giants opposing them, what will not be possible to faith? And the whole government of the world is really intended to foster confidence in God"s covenant faithfulness and to forbid all despair. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you…
Deu_2:1-7
Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
Read full note →
A sermon for the new year
Such were the words which the Lord spoke to Moses, after the children of Israel had been compassing Mount Seir many days. There are a great many mountains which a great many people compass in the present day. Some of them mountains indeed--mountains of doubt and difficulty and sin; some of them molehills, which the very pilgrims in their blindness verily believe to be mountains; some of them little hills of pride and obstinacy, the paths round which have become all beaten down because the pilgrim feet have so long trod them. Turn you northward is the command required. Anything is better than the old going round and round and coming to the same place again. Northward may mean hard fighting, but it will mean great victory.
I. Monotony the ordinary Christian experience.
1. See it as regards the Christian life. How many Christians have much the same experience year after year. We talk about growth in grace, and trust we are making some progress, but if many of us were to examine ourselves should we not find that our experience differed little from that of our early Christian life? Thousands of people are lapsing into a monotonous experience. There is no standing still in the Christian life, we hear it said. That may be true, but it is also true that there is a great deal of moving round and round. Compassing the mountain is the experience of not a few.
2. See it as regards Christian work. The ideal of Christian work is the same in all ages. It is the conversion of the world. But the method of its accomplishment varies with times and peoples and circumstances. And the Church or worker is wise which adapts the method to the requirements of the hour. But how we like to keep to the old work and do it in the old way! And how apt we are also to keep to the very same kind of work. There is work, I grant, which can best be done by the man who has done it for many years, but there is other work which would be done all the better if the worker were changed sometimes. The question is, are we putting the same enthusiasm into our work which we put into it at the commencement? But there is danger lest compassing the mountain should become monotonous. Even the most holy occupation needs varying at times, as every preacher will testify. A change often benefits both worker and work. Then monotony is near akin to sluggishness. Somehow or other that mountain of work takes longer and longer to compass. I long that Gods voice should speak to them as it did to Moses, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough. See it as regards Christian thought. The great verities of our holy religion do not change. Truth is eternal as God Himself. But how apt we are to live and move round a little mountain of thought of our own. We made it ourselves years ago, and were very pleased with it then. We do not stop to think whether it suits us now. Surely we should always be having grander, newer thoughts, nobler impulses from the Most High. He has ever greater truths to teach, ever fresh secrets to tall. There are ever fresh treasures of learning to be ransacked. Ideas of Christian life and thought are ever maturing. Turn you northward is the needed cry.
II. Progress the proper rule of life. Says Godet, Man was made in the image of God. He is not therefore condemned, like the lower animals, to move incessantly in the same circle. His progressivity has no limit but that of the absolute good to which he aspires. The emblem of human life is a spiral, not a circle! Just so! Man must continually move on. If he goes round he must at the same time go up. It will be easy to show that this is Gods purpose concerning us.
1. Monotony is contrary to the constitution and course of nature. These point to progress. New forms of life, of thought, of government are being continually evolved. Nothing continues the same but God and His eternal truth.
2. Monotony is contrary to Gods dealings with the human race. God has not dealt with us in a circle. He has ever led His people forward.
3. Monotony is contrary to the spirit of the age, The age is one of progress. New inventions are showered upon us week by week.
4. Monotony is contrary to the teaching of Gods Word. There are three things among many others which I may point out are contrary to monotony, but analogous to progress.
(1) Growth. This is self-evident, and I have no need to do more than mention it. Grow in grace is the command of Scripture, and all kinds of growth should be seen in the character of the true Christian. There should be inward growth, the life becoming firmer and stronger; there should be outward growth, the life developing in all the more visible graces of the Spirit; there should be upward growth--upward to God, to holiness, to heaven; there should be downward growth--the roots of the Christian life becoming even more firmly planted in the soil of Gods love.
(2) Enthusiasm. I can imagine that when first the children of Israel commenced to compass the mountain they did so with a great deal of interest. But after this compassing. the mountain had proceeded many days, interest would decrease and enthusiasm would disappear. The summons Turn you northward; would, however, call out all the old interest and enthusiasm, and would come as a grateful relief from the monotony of the past. And in our weakness our enthusiasm requires something new. Further, the command Turn you northward not only generated enthusiasm, but required it. It was much easier to continue the task of compassing the mountain than to turn northward. They had become accustomed to the old circular progress. There were difficulties northward. And so it is with us in the present day. To turn northward requires enthusiasm. It would be much easier and pleasanter to go the old round, to live the old life.
(3) Enterprise. This is another thing contrary to monotony, but analogous to progress. It required no enterprise to compass the mountain after they had been engaged in that task many days. But when they began to turn northward enterprise was implied and required at once. And surely enterprise is required today. In every sphere of our life in this world it is to be found. And yet in work for Christ by some it is hardly known except by name. Why should we be content to go along the old beaten tracks? Why should we not strike out new ones for ourselves, or follow without hesitation where the Guiding Hand indicates?
A thing has not always to be because it has been. (W. E. Sellers.)
A new departure
The story with which this order is connected in the annals is found in Num_21:12-35.
I. The new departure in Israels wandering. Only a few particulars will be necessary in order to show us the pertinency to an anniversary service which the ancient narrative will bring.
1. Past experience was in the word compassed.
2. Future experience was in the word northward. For they all knew that in that direction lay Canaan. The time was complete, the retribution was fulfilled, a young generation had arrived upon the stage of action. So another forward movement was ordered, this time in the line of progress towards the Jordan and the covenanted land of promise. Evidently a great historical crisis is reached at last. The deadlock of rebellious will is broken. Humanity shows a quickening of life once more. This is what in modern times is called a new departure; and this is what renders the incident suggestive as a religious symbol for our present employment.
II. The new departure in our work today. The last week in December is what merchants call inventory time. Thoughtful religious people use it often for taking account of spiritual stock. Let the past be left behind; our hopes are all in the future; we have compassed that mountain with its twelve peaks long enough; it is time to turn northwards.
III. The new departure in each believers history. So vivid appears this illustration that it might easily be made to serve for a permanent exhortation to the churches. Three grand principles in ordinary spiritual life are exhibited in the image employed.
1. All true Christians have mountains to compass. Sometimes our duties are mountains, sometimes our trials. Some have more mountains than others have. Some have harder ones than others have. Some make mountains out of what would be only molehills to those who are braver than they are. But this will be the lesson: God gives all His children mountains to compass.
2. All true Christians must compass their mountains. There can be no rebellious refusal of the task God sets for us. There is no room for any ingenious evasion of His commands. There can never be permitted any sudden leaping over or flying across the difficult ridge of duty. There can be no changing mountains with each other in the hope of getting easier ones.
3. Gods sovereignty decides when the mountain is compassed long enough. There is a period set for continuance and for cessation. Long enough--for the mountains sake. Real work has to be done slowly and patiently. Some tasks there are which cannot be at all hurried.
(1) Long enough--for our own sakes. Certain disciplines must be wrought out upon our characters. Dispositions, like finest wines, require what can be done for them only by time and silence. Jehovah was preparing these people for Canaan before He suffered a single one of them to enter.
(2) Long enough--for others sake. The principle of division of labour is here involved. Vicarious suffering is the rule for the redeemed race who follow Christ, who was cut off, and not for Himself. These young Israelites were held back to give the older people decorous space in which to die (Deu_2:14).
(3) Long enough--for the Lord s sake. He asks us to labour on and wait till He tells us what it is all for.
IV. The new departure in Church life. Our admonitions grow rapidly now, for the field of application for the figure is wider.
1. To some who now hear this call it will be the language of rebuke. Ye have compassed this mountain long enough. It is of no use to stay here any longer; the chance is lost. It is like Jesus saying to His disciples in slumber, Sleep on now. Duty is sometimes neglected until the man is withdrawn from the charge.
2. To some who now hear it this call will be the language of comfort. Ye have compassed this mountain long enough. Oh, how fine a thing it is to look back upon a hard work carried well and patiently through into grand success! Leave the old toil now; let the bent form straighten up; let the tired shoulder rest.
3. To some it will be the language of command. Ye have compassed this mountain long enough; turn you northward. Yes; turn northward straight to another mountain, and another; for there is no discharge in that war! Is it your birthday? Then one mountain is well compassed; take a new one. Is it the anniversary of your first communion? One good mountain compassed; now again! And the soul is all alive with fresh exhilaration from the hill climbing.
4. For to some this call is the language of encouragement. Ye have compassed this mountain long enough; turn you northward. And northward lies the land of covenant promise; every mountain now passed brings us nearer to the end of them. It grows a little gladder in the sunshine and clearer in the atmosphere; it seems like attaining the last hill and catching the gales from beyond the river. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The Divine recall to duty
I. If we do not follow Gods plan, if we neglect our duty, we are losing time. The Israelites lost thirty years by disregarding the call of duty, and we too are always losing time when we obey not Gods commands.
II. By commanding the Israelites to leave the mountain and turn northward, God was teaching His people that there is no better defence to a life of obedience than life itself. It is evident that the children of Israel stayed by the mountain partly for purpose of self-defence.
III. By commanding the people to leave the mountains and turn northward, God was teaching them that their work was not done until they had conquered their enemies.
IV. God said, turn you northward, for that was the way to Canaan. (J. L. Williams, B. A.)
A short account of the long story of Israel in the wilderness
We compassed Mount Seir many days (verse 1). Nearly thirty-eight years they wandered in the deserts of Seir; probably in some of their rests they stayed several years, and never stirred: God by this not only chastised them for their murmuring and unbelief, but--
1. Prepared them for Canaan, by humbling them for sin, teaching them to mortify their lusts, to follow God, and to comfort themselves in Him. It is a work of time to make souls meet for heaven, and it must be done by a long train of exercises.
2. He prepared the Canaanites for destruction; all this time the measure of their iniquity was in the filling; and though it might have been improved by them as a space to repent, it was abused by them to the hardening of their hearts.
3. Orders given them to turn towards Canaan. Though God contend long, He will not contend forever; though Israel may be long kept waiting for deliverance and enlargement, it will come at last.
4. A charge given them not to annoy the Edomites.
(1) They must not offer any hostility to them as enemies (verses 4, 5). Meddle not with them.
(a) They must not improve the advantage they had against them by the fright they would be put into upon Israel s approach. They shall be afraid of you, knowing your strength and numbers, and the power of God engaged for you; but do not you think that their fears making them an easy prey, you may therefore prey upon them; no, take heed to yourselves. There is need of great caution, and a strict government of our own spirits, to keep ourselves from injuring those we have an advantage against. Or, this caution is given to the princes; they must not only not meddle with the Edomites themselves, but not permit any of their soldiers to meddle with them.
(b) They must not revenge upon the Edomites the affront they gave them in refusing them passage through their country (Num_23:21). Thus before God brought Israel to destroy their enemies in Canaan He taught them to forgive their enemies in Edom.
(c) They must not expect to have any part of their land given them for a possession; Mount Seir was already settled upon the Edomites, and they must not, under pretence of Gods covenant and conduct, think to seize for themselves all they could lay hands on. Dominion is not founded in grace.
5. They must trade with them as neighbours: buy meat and water off them, and pay for what they bought (verse 6). Religion must never be made a cloak for injustice. The reason given (verse 7) is, because God hath blessed thee, and hitherto thou hast lacked nothing; and therefore--
(1) Thou needest not beg; scorn to be beholden to Edomites when thou hast a God all-sufficient to depend upon. Thou hast wherewithal to pay for what thou callest for, thanks to the Divine blessing; use therefore what thou hast, use it cheerfully, and do not sponge upon the Edomites.
(2) Therefore thou must not steal. Thou hast experienced the care of the Divine Providence concerning thee; in confidence of which for the future, and in a firm belief of its all-sufficiency, never use any indirect methods for thy supply. Live by thy faith, and not by the sword. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
For He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness.
Comfort in the wilderness
I. A fact general. He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness. Wilderness and a complete barrenness are not synonymous in Scripture. There were palms of Elim, and wells of Marah, and beautiful withdrawn places where the grass grew; and yet it was a wilderness great and often terrible. After all, like such a wilderness is life. It is not all a wilderness. There are pleasant places in it, and homes, and loving hearts. This is the fact general--that the usual human life has a good deal of wilderness in it. Life is a wilderness because--
1. Of its mystery.
2. Of its discipline.
3. Of its unreached ideals.
4. Of its transitoriness.
5. Of its enemies--Egyptians, Amalekites, Midianites, Edomites, Moabites, Amorites throng against it.
II. A fact personal. He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness. The personal fact is that you must thread your way through this strange, great wilderness of a life. Nobody can tread the path for you. The decisions of it you must make. The results of your decisions you must abide.
III. The girding comfort for us. He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness.
1. He knoweth sympathisingly. It is such meaning Gods knowing always carries in the Scripture.
2. He knoweth in detail. Thy walking; precious truth this of the Divine omniscience of us.
3. He knoweth, taking account of thy weakness. How tender God was toward these Israelites!
4. He knoweth, wisely providing. Think how all the various discipline of the wilderness wandering issued in the change of the Israelites from a mob to a nation.
IV. What then?
1. I can walk the way.
2. I shall not be lost.
3. I shall reach Canaan.
4. I have comfort for the journey. (W. Hoyt.)
These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.--
Forty years
I. Look back upon the past.
1. What strikes me in Moses review is this, the prominence which he gives to God in it. Here let me note that our own retrospect of the past will, if we are genuine Christians, have in it many bright lights of the conspicuous presence of God, making the pathway here and there like holy ground.
2. A very leading point is the blessing which God gave. Our text says He has blessed all the works of our hand. I suppose that alludes to all that Israel had a right to do; the Lord multiplied their cattle, He increased their substance, He guided them in their marches, He protected them in their encampments. There were some things in which He did not bless them. They wanted to go up into the promised land against His commandment, and the Amalekites smote them; He did not bless them there. God does not bless the sins of His people, for if He did it would bring on them the tremendous curse of being happy in the ways of evil.
3. Again, in our retrospect of the past we should notice the perfection of the Lord s sympathetic care; Observe the words, He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness. He has known our rough paths and our smooth ways, the weary trudging and the joyous marching; He has known it all, and not merely known it in the sense of omniscience, but known it in the sense of sympathy.
4. We have had also what is better than this during our forty years, the special presence of God. These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee. He has not been ashamed to be with us, though we have been despised and ridiculed. Whenever we have prayed we have had audience with Him; when we have worked we have seen His mysterious hand working with us; when we have trembled we have felt the tender arms sustaining us; when we have been in bodily pain He has made our bed in our sickness. The best of all is God with us, and in this sign we conquer.
5. Again, we have had much cause to bless the Lord for the abundance of His supplies. Thou hast lacked nothing. Some things which we could have wished for we have not received, and we are glad they were denied us. Children would have too many sweets if they could, and then they would be surfeited or be ill. Walking on in the path of Providence, trusting in the Lord, what have we lacked?
II. But now we must take the second head, which is--Forty years in the wilderness should teach us much of service for the present. I do not say that it will do so, for we do not all grow wiser as we grow older, but it ought to be so. Folly is bound up in the heart of many a man, and it takes much of the rod to whip it out of him.
1. Experience is a noble teacher, but we are dull scholars; yet at any rate we ought to have learned to continue trusting in God.
2. Experience should also give us greater ease in confiding in the Lord. Use is said to be second nature, but in your case grace has given you in very deed a real second nature, and this by use should have grown stronger and more prevalent.
3. Forty years of Divine faithfulness should teach us also a surer, quicker, calmer, and more joyous expectation of immediate aid in all times of strait and trial: we should learn not to be flurried and worried because the herds are cut off from the stall, and the harvest is withered, for we know from abundant proofs that The Lord will provide.
4. Forty years of blessing should teach each of us to believe in holy activity. The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand. Some people believe in Gods blessing the dreams and theories of their heads, and their prayers are unattended by action. They believe in His blessing them when they are scheming and putting fine plans on paper, or when they meet at a conference to talk about how to do Christian work. I believe in Gods blessing the actual work of our hand; He waters not the seed which we talk of sowing, but that which we actually scatter.
5. Forty years experience ought to have taught us to avoid many of the faults into which we fell in our early days. It is a great pity when advancing age teaches men rather to avoid their virtues than their follie.
6. You will have observed that the text mentions twice The Lord thy God. All through the chapter it is always that--Jehovah thy God. Here we have mention of His covenant relationship, in which He is ever most dear to us. Shall we not at this time renew our own personal covenant, and take our God to be ours afresh? We read that Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebecca. Let us have a new wedding day ourselves, and give ourselves over again to the Husband of our souls, even Jesus the well-beloved.
III. The future. Having come so far on our journey as to have reached forty years, we are bound to feel a powerful influence upon us as to the future. How? I will borrow our remarks from the context.
1. Read in the second chapter, second verse, And the Lord spake unto me saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn ye northward. What way was northward, then? Why, toward Canaan. Forty years wandering up and down in the wilderness is enough, now turn your faces towards Canaan and march heavenward. It is time we all had our faces turned heavenward more completely. The time past may suffice us to have wrought the will of the flesh, now let us cry, Heavenward, ho. Pull up the anchor, spread the sails, and let us away to the fair country whither Jesus has gone before us.
2. The next thing we should learn is indifference to this worlds heritage. The next verse says, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you; take ye good heed unto yourselves, therefore: meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. Esau sold his heritage, and had his mess of pottage, let him have it; keep you the birthright, and never think of putting your spoon into his mess. The world is for worldlings. What do you want with it?
3. Let us learn from the past to cultivate independence of spirit. Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. He is indeed a man of God who has learned to walk uprightly, and no longer leans upon the creature, nor practises policy to win his way.
4. Once again, after forty years in the wilderness God would have His people learn generosity of spirit. The Edomites were very much afraid of the Israelites, and would, no doubt, have bribed them to let them alone, but Moses in effect says, Do not take anything from them; you have no need to do so, for you have never lacked anything, and God has been with you. They are afraid of you; you might take what you please from them, but do not touch even the water from their wells without payment. Oh, that we had a generous spirit, that we were not for oppressing others in any degree whatever, feeling that we have too much already given us by God to be wanting to tax any man for our own gain.
5. The spirit of freedom from murmuring should be in us after forty years of blessing. Jarchi tells us that this exhortation meant that they were not to pretend to be poor. You know how many do so when it is likely to save their pockets.
6. Lastly, we ought for the future to show more confidence in God if we have had forty years of His love: we should have more confidence in working for Him that He will bless us, more confidence as to our personal weakness that He will strengthen us, more confidence as to the unknown future, that through the great and terrible wilderness He will be with us, and that through the last cold stream He will still be our companion; more confidence that we shall behold the light of His countenance, and more confidence as to the supply of all our needs, for as we have lacked nothing, so all things shall be freely supplied till we cross the river and eat the old corn of the land. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Deu_2:1. The story continued. After the unsuccessful attack, Israel…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Deu_2:1. The story continued. After the unsuccessful attack, Israel broke up emcampment at Kadesh. Many days. i.e., many years in a nomadic life, wandering in various directions from place to place, according to pasturage and water. Details are not mentioned, because not required.
Read full note →
Deu_2:2. This command relates to the journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor (Num_20:22; Num_33:37), and directs their march round the south extremity of Mount Seir, so as to “compass the land of Edom” (Jdg_11:18; Num_21:4), and so northwards towards the Arnon, i.e., “by the way of the wilderness of Moab (Deu_2:8). This circuitous path was followed because of the refusal of the Edomites to allow the people to pass through their territory” (Speak. Com.).
Deu_2:4. Afraid. They repelled approach from western frontier; now they fear Israel coming round on the weak side (Exo_15:15).
Deu_2:5. Meddle not, lit., excite not yourselves against them. They were not to war, nor injure them in property nor persons. Originally the relation between the two people was fraternal, and God had granted Mount Seir to Esau.
Deu_2:6. Buy water, lit., dig water; perhaps purchased permission to dig wells for water.
Deu_2:7. Blessed thee. Israel had means to buy provisions, and should not therefore be guilty of fraud or violence.
Deu_2:8. Elath (tress.), cf., 1Ki_9:26, now called Akaba, on the route of annual pilgrimage from Cairo to Mecca. Ez-gaber, cf. Num_33:35 (backbone of a man; so called, probably, from rugged rocks in its vicinity). A seaport near Elath, cf. 1Ki_9:26; 2Ch_20:36.
Deu_2:9. Moabites and Ammonites (Deu_2:19) descended from Lot, and like Edomites, kinsmen of Israelites.
Deu_2:10-12. Ethnographical notices concerning earlier inhabitants of these lands. Emim, i.e., frightful, terrible to the Moabites. Anakim, cf. Num_13:32. Horims, Gen_14:5.
Deu_2:13. Connected with Deu_2:9. Zered, the boundary line between Edom and Moab, crossed thirty-eight years after the doom pronounced upon them at Kadesh.
Deu_2:14. Sware, Num_14:28 -Ver. 29.
Deu_2:15. Destroy not by natural causes, but by terrors (Exo_14:24) and judgments (Num_16:35; Num_16:49).
Deu_2:16-19. Advance into the country of Moabites, but Israel not to meddle with them, for God would give them nothing of their land.
Deu_2:20-22. For confirmation, ethnographical notices introduced again. Zam, from zamam, to hum, a humming or roaring people; probably the Zuzim (Gen_14:5).
Deu_2:23. Avims, the Avites (Jos_13:3), possibly connected with Ava, 2Ki_17:24 (Speak. Com.)
Deu_2:24. Command to possess the land of Sihon.
Deu_2:25. Be in anguish, lit., writhe in pain (Isa_13:8).
Deu_2:26. Moses sent a peaceful messenger, to prove to the Amorites that they brought punishment upon themselves.
Deu_2:30. Hardened, lit., sharpened his heart by keen resolution. No direct influence from God imparted. Sihon was permitted like Pharaoh to pursue his own course.
Deu_2:32. cf. Num_21:23 -Ver. 26. “A war of extermination, in which all towns were laid under the ban (see Lev_27:29), i.e., the whole of the population of men, women, and children, were put to death, and only the flocks and herds and material possessions were taken by the conquerors as prey.”—Keil.
TURNED BACK AND DELAYED.—Deu_2:1-3
In this chapter Moses reviews the history of Israel, and narrates the journey from Kadesh to the frontier of the Amorites. He is silent about many things, but glances at God’s goodness to the end of their wandering. Israel had been turned back, and entrance into Canaan delayed.
I. God’s purpose is sometimes delayed in its fulfilment. God had purposed and promised that the land should be given to Israel, but they had come short of it. Their unbelief and rebellion had delayed the fulfilment of this design. Thus by our sins we may be driven away from our destiny, and hinder the work of God. “Ye shall know my breach (lit., removal, withholding) of promise.” (Num_14:34.)
II. Human discipline is secured by this delay. We cannot always see what ends God has in view, but he brings good out of evil, and light from darkness. Two things we learn from this delay.
1. Israel was prepared for the inheritance. Men are often unfit for duty and destiny. Hasty preparation will be a curse and not a blessing. In the wilderness Israel was organised into a nation, received laws and learned obedience. Solitude, delay, and affliction are salutary, and discipline for life’s end and reward. “How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out.”
2. The Canaanites had forfeited the inheritance. Their opportunities were almost gone, and their day of grace over. They had ripened themselves for their doom. No overtures of peace were offered them. Their land was taken from them, and as an absolute sovereign gift bestowed upon Israel. Solemn thought, men may sin away their day of salvation. (Lev_16:30.)
III. When men are prepared by discipline, God’s purpose is realised through them. God’s design is not forgotten nor frustrated, though often delayed. If some do not, others are taught to accomplish it. David may not, but Solomon builds a house for God. God’s purposes comprehend all agencies and all events. Change of method does not indicate change of design. “For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him.”
ISRAEL’S CHARGE CONCERNING ESAU AND MOAB.—Deu_2:4-9
It appears from Num_20:18-20 that the Edomites were prepared to resist Israel’s passage through their land. But the country was not invaded, and the Edomites did not attack nor hinder them in their journey. The Israelites are forbidden to meddle with these nations, for their lands were given them; to remember their blood relationship, and to deal kindly and justly with them. From this charge learn—
I. Natural advantage is no ground for strife. The Israelites were now strong in number and wealth. God was with them, and terror fell upon their enemies. “They shall be afraid of you.” But they were not to take advantage of prevalent fear and weak opponents. The strong must help and not oppress the weak. Right and not might must rule. We are not to despise others because we are stronger than they in body and mind. Great nations should not invade and destroy small ones. Aggressive war may defeat its end, and ruin those who engage in it. “Scatter thou the people that delight in war.”
II. Natural brotherhood is a ground for social intercourse. Israel, Edom, and Moab, were kinspeople. “Our brethren the children of Esau.” All nations are made of one blood, bound by natural affinity, and mutually dependent. Trade, commerce, and international treaties, promote the good feeling and develop the resources of nations. Israel must not war, but trade. Their social intercourse must be straight-forward and honourable—not in jealousy, but in love—not as strangers, but as brethren. “Honour all men, love the brotherhood.”
III. God’s gifts to others are no reason for dissatisfaction with our own. “I will not give thee of their land,” Deu_2:8, “because I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession,” Deu_2:4. God has apportioned to men and nations their position. They are to be grateful and content, and not to touch possessions which do not belong to them. Covet no man’s houses or land, envy no person’s influence and position. Be content with your own lot—it might have been worse—improve your own gifts. The desire of something unpossessed is a greater source of misery than positive pain or actual destitution. Solon asked by Croesus, “Who was the happiest man?” referred to a poor cottager of Greece, who never desired greater wealth or a better condition than he possessed.
IV. God’s goodness in the past is an encouragement for future blessings. “The Lord thy God hath been with thee, thou hast lacked nothing.” God had blessed Israel with abundance and they had no need to beg nor steal. His continued presence should prevent us from resorting to fraud or violence to supply our wants. We have God’s all sufficient providence to depend upon, and should therefore live by faith and constant obedience. Our wants are known and our supplies are promised (cf. Deu_8:2-3; Deu_8:15-16). Carking anxiety preys upon temper, spirits, and health; leads to envy, selfishness, and unbelief; and acts like the vulture feeding upon the vitals of Prometheus while chained to the rock. “Take no thought for the morrow.”
GOD’S CARE FOR HUMAN LIFE.—Deu_2:7
He knoweth thy walking. God is omniscient and knows all things. But this knowledge is not mere notice, but intimate acquaintance with every step and circumstance of life; a fatherly care and regard for men. We learn therefore from this verse—
I. Human life is under divine control. This knowing comprehends purpose, presence, and providential guidance.
1. In preventing wrong. Israel were prevented from entering Canaan when determined to go in defiance of God’s command. A rebellious self-will leads men to misery and destruction, but a merciful providence checks their folly.
2. In disposing to right. Israel’s proud will was conquered, and they were led back into the wilderness. They were humbled and taught to obey and depend upon God. We are prevented from sin “and made willing” to serve in “the day of God’s power.”
II. Human life is measured by Divine purpose. The journey in the desert is a type of our life in the world. God fixed the time—“these forty years.” So human life is measured in its length. It is not a matter of chance or inflexible law, but an object of Divine purpose. So many days, months, years, and no more. “The measure of my days.” “Man’s life,” says Mt. Henry, “is no more governed by the stoic’s blind fate, than by the Epicuræn’s blind fortune.” “His days are determined, the number of his months are with thee.”
III. Human life is an object of Divine care. Whatever God makes He sustains. Human life, Christian life, is especially dear to Him.
1. In our journeys. “Thy walking.” Temporally and spiritually the steps of a good man are ordered (formed, prepared) by the Lord (Psa_37:23). God keeps an exact account, and notes every incident of our life. “Thou tellest (takest note of) my wanderings” (Psa_56:8).
2. In our works. “In all the works of thy hand.” Flocks and herds had increased (Num_32:1). Israel had gained wealth in trafficking with the tribes, and in cultivating the soil of the desert. There can be no prosperity or increase in labour without God’s blessing. “The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich.”
3. In our wants. “Thou hast lacked nothing.” God had been their leader and protector, chosen places of rest and supplied their varied wants. Their clothes decayed not, and their shoes wore not away (Deu_29:5). He knows our wants and wishes, temporal and spiritual, and can sustain us through life. “Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing.” If God knows, measures and controls our pilgrimage on earth.
1. Learn dependence on Him.
2. Submit to Him.
3. Seek His guidance and presence.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_2:1-4. God the Leader of His people. Resting where they encamp, going with them in their journey, commanding and directing in their march and social intercourse.
Deu_2:4. Take ye good heed to yourselves. Self-control needed.
1. In prosperity. Israel wonderfully blessed in strength and numbers, but must not become selfish and tyrannical.
2. In the presence of those who fear us. When men are an easy prey to us we are ready to take advantage. But we must be cautious, and keep strict control over our spirit and actions.
Deu_2:7. God’s continued mercies to us. That we may see that God’s care was not exclusively confined to Israel, we will show—I. What mercies have been vouchsafed to us during the whole period of our sojourning in this wilderness. In relation to—
1. Temporal concerns: the necessities and luxuries of life;
2. The concerns of the soul. II. Under what circumstances they have been continued to us. If we look at Israel they will serve to show us.
1. How great our provocations towards God have been.
2. How entirely we have been under the influence of unbelief.—C. Simeon, M. A.
THE VICISSITUDES OF NATIONS.—Deu_2:10-12; Deuteronomy 20-23
The mention of the Moabites gives occasion for the interpolation of remarks concerns the earliest inhabitants of these countries. From what we read of these nations in this and other places, we trace the providence and purpose of God in history.
I. God has made Nations to differ in their character and habits of life. The names of these people are instructive. The Enims were considered by the Moabites to be terrible; men of gigantic stature and fierce manners. The Horim appear to be dwellers in caves, which abound in the Edomite range. Their origin is not known (cf. Gen_14:6; Gen_36:20). The Zamzummims, Deu_2:20, a bullying presumptuous band of Rephaim; Gen_14:5, were another giant tribe. The Avim dwelt in villages (farms) south-west of Canaan, and were a pastoral people. The Captorims sprang from Caphtor (Gen_10:14), and were immigrants, like the Israelites. Thus some nations are physically strong and numerous, and others few and weak; some blessed with natural and others with spiritual advantages. The climate and products, the language and diversities of nations display the wisdom and goodness of God.
II. God displaces some nations to fix others. God permitted the children of Esau to drive out the Horims; Moab to subdue the Emins; and the Caphtorims to dislodge the Avims. Wars of conquests, changes of dynasties, and revolutions of history are under Divine control, and work out Divine purposes. The same law appears in the formation and government of the earth, and in the progress of Christianity. “This is so often repeated, to possess the minds of the Israelites with a sense of God’s providence, which rules everywhere; displacing one people and settling another in their stead, and fixing their bounds also, which they shall not pass without leave” (Patrick). “He putteth down one, and setteth up another.”
III. God in the history of nations teaches many lessons. If the providence of God is seen in the settlement of nations, it is not by chance or accident that they are what and where they are. Learn—
1. That all our possessions are the gifts of God. Whatever be the skill and valour by which they were gained, in some mysterious manner they come from Him. The lands of Edom, Moab, and Ammon are said to be given by God. Canaan was not acquired by the valour of Israel, but by the will of God.
2. That all our possessions are uncertain in their tenure. If nations can be deprived of their territories, kings of their thrones, and families of their inheritance: What hold have we of earthly fortunes? Why may we not be deprived of our place and power? Let us take heed lest we forfeit our blessings, lest God “take us away and pluck us out of our dwelling place.”
“What exhibitions various hath the world
Witness’d of mutability in all
That we account most durable below!
Change is the diet on which all subsist;
Created changeable, and change at last
Destroys them.”—Cowper.
Men of War Consumed.—Deu_2:14-15
The outbreak at Kadesh at the false report of the spies was only the filling up of the measure of Israel’s iniquity. That generation was not wholly given up to idolatry, but they had displayed a fearful amount of rebellion in the desert, only hinted at in this history, but truly described in other places. (Ezekiel 20, 25, 26; Amo_5:25; Amo_5:27; Act_7:42.) For this great wickedness “the men of war,” those able to war, the responsible transgressors were doomed to perish in the desert by special judgments of God.
I. The cause of this consumption. By their long and open revolt, Israel had provoked the wrath of God. In his displeasure they were punished and buried in the wilderness. Wickedness of any kind is most unprofitable, often brings down the judgments of God and shortens human life. “With whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?”
II. The method of this consumption. Their unbelief made this “a day of provocation in the wilderness” and their punishment was most exemplary.
1. It was a terrible consumption. “I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them.”
2. It was a complete destruction. With two exceptions the whole generation were blotted out of existence.
3. This was designedly carried out. “When all the men of war were consumed and dead,” then and not before were they permitted to invade the land and conquer its inhabitants. God can do without the greatest warriors. In his cause faith is more needful than numbers. This gives courage and make children heroes. God designs to give success, by removing the wise and the mighty and causing us to look to Him alone. “To whom sware he that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not.”
ISRAEL’S CHARGE CONCERNING THE AMMONITES.—Deu_2:16-19
After the death of the generation that had sinned the people were to cross the border of Moab and advance into Canaan. To the east of Moab was the country of the Ammonites, but Israel was not to touch them, for God had bestowed upon them possessions which must be held sacred. From this charge we learn—
I. The honour God puts upon His word. “I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.” God never breaks His word, nor changes His purpose. Ammon did not belong to the chosen people, but God guaranteed them certain temporal advantages. He is faithful in His dealings with them, and others must be taught to recognise this faithfulness. “I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass.”
II. The sacredness of human rights. “The Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,” and what is assigned to them by right belongs to them. It is our duty to respect national rights and national territories, and never wrong men by force or fraud. They may insult and seek to do us mischief, as Moab sought to ruin Israel (Num_22:6), but we are not to retaliate, nor meddle with their possessions. “He that studieth revenge keepeth his wounds open.”—Bacon.
III. The blessings derived by children from their ancestors. The Ammonites are called “the children of Lot,” a righteous ancestor. We have power to be of service to our offspring, and put succeeding generations under obligation. “Children often fare the better in this world for the piety of their ancestors;” says Math. Henry, “The seed of the upright, though they degenerate, yet are blessed with temporal good things.”
THE FIRST WAR.—Deu_2:24-25
Israel ceased to meddle with some nations and thus practised self-denial and obedience. Now God gives them commission to begin the war, and promises them success over Sihon, king of Heshbon. If we wrong not others, God will ever right us.
I. Israel must co-operate with God to attain the victory. God purposed to give Sihon into their hands, but they must “contend with him in battle.” God’s promise does not exclude human effort. It should stimulate and encourage it. To secure the fulfilment of the pledge, we must “rise up” from idleness and doubt. God has promised to give us daily bread, a regular harvest, and spiritual conquest in His service; but we have to pray and fight.
II. God will help and encourage Israel when they begin the contest. No longer must they wait or hesitate. They must take the journey, pass over the river, begin the war.
1. The enemy is dispirited. They trembled in fear, were bereft of strength, and were ready to melt away before the victorious nation. “Their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel” Jos_5:1-2. God begins the work, and they have only to carry it on. “Begin to possess it,” for “this day will I begin.” God’s people must follow their Commander in courage and confidence. Fear, inactivity, and cowardliness may lose the day. Success often depends upon the vigour of the onset. “The first stroke is half the battle.” This was seen at the battle of Cressy, in King Alfred’s attack upon the Danes, and in Israel’s conflict with Sihon. “Only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord’s battles.”
THE DESTRUCTION OF SIHON.—Deu_2:26-37
The kingdom of Sihon formed no part of the land promised to the seed of Abraham. Moses desired to pass through peaceably, and sent messengers to request this, but the king rejected the proposal, met Israel with hostility, and brought ruin upon his people and country.
I. An example of human folly. A respectful and pacific message was rejected (cf. Num_21:21-22). Israel was not permitted to pass through the “high way” quietly, and pay for what provisions they wanted, but Sihon made a bold and unprovoked attack, and was utterly defeated. What folly to be obstinate in wrong doing, to oppose might against right, and bring on self-destruction! How often are men found self-willed, casting off all restraint, forgetting their opportunities, and ripening themselves for judgment by abusing their mercies!
II. An illustration of spiritual law. “God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate.” Not by evil influence, but by permitting him to carry out his own will, and to remain in circumstances fitted to soften rather than to harden. This effect results from a law which we see in operation every day in our moral nature. Sin blinds the mind, and alienates the affections. Indulgence in self-will corrupts and hardens the heart. When men resist the truth, and ward off appeals of conscience—when they are obstinate and invincible in sin—then a process of hardening goes on. They have less struggle, less compunction, and less feeling. And as the same sun melts one substance and hardens another, so the gospel subdues one heart and indirectly hardens another—becomes the savour of life to one and the savour of death to another. Pharaoh grew more stubborn, and rushed madly to his ruin. Ahab despised reproof until “the bow” received its commission. “He that being often reproved (a man of reproof, marg.) hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Pro_29:1).
III. An evidence of a retributive Providence. This law is a mysterious operation of God in the moral government of the world. God hardened Sihon “that He might deliver him” up. The guilt of the Amorites was great, ready for judicial punishment. If they gained their territory by violence and bloodshed—if they forced their way into Gilead and Bashan, then they were repaid; for as they measured to others it was measured to them. But a natural course of sin against spiritual laws and unseen forces will bring retributive justice. In this world we have awful examples, predictions, and precursors of the judgment to come.
“Oh I blind to truth and God’s whole scheme below,
Who fancy bliss to vice, to virtue woe.”—Pope.
THE VICTORY OF JAHAZ.—Deu_2:32-35
Jahaz was a memorable place—a city of Moab, afterwards assigned to the tribe of Reuben and given to the priests (Jos_13:18; 1Ch_6:33; Isa_15:4). Here Israel fought a battle and gained the victory.
I. The victory was gained in self-defence. Israel could only reach Canaan through the lands of Sihon. All reasonable demands had been rejected. They were hindered in seeking their natural rights, and provoked to war by a needless attack. A righteous cause gives courage, and inspires hope of victory in the conflict.
II. The victory was secured by Divine help. “The Lord our God delivered him before us.” With God with us we shall always win, but without Him numbers and skill will not avail. In all spiritual conflicts victory belongs to Him, “for the battle is not your’s, but God’s.”
III. The victory was decisive in its results. The battle had not to be fought again. Its advantages were not worthless. It was complete and overwhelming. The people were exterminated; “We smote him, and his sons, and all his people”—a warning to all who fight against God. The cities were “utterly destroyed” and the land desolated.
IV. The victory was limited in its operations. Only cattle and material goods were booty for the conquerors. The lands of the Ammonites were not touched. They left undone “whatsoever the Lord our God forbad us” to do. Ambition must be checked, and victors must learn self-control and dependence upon the Divine will. “Next to gaining a great victory is knowing how to use it,” said Wellington.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_2:24. Rise up. Activity, diligence, progress and Divine direction in Christian pilgrimage. Neither be idle, nor remain stationary.
Deu_2:24-25. I have given, rise up. Attainment of Divine gifts.
1. They are ready to be given.
2. God will help us to get them, (a) By giving strength. “Contend with Him.” (b) By disposing us to follow Him. “I begin”—“You begin.”
Deu_2:24-25. The fame of Israel as a conquering people. I. How, at this time, that fame was increased, viz., by the conquest of the mightiest nations east of Jordan. II. The moral effects of this conquest.
1. Israel prepared for future conquest.
2. Canaan awed before she had received a blow.—Biblical Museum.
Deu_2:30. Made his heart obstinate. Learn—
1. God’s power over men.
2. God’s method of dealing with men as moral governor and judge. He suffers them to be hardened in consequence of obstinate wickedness, yet not as an arbitrary, capricious, or tyrannical being. He wills nothing but good, and therefore His will is the proper rule of judgment. But men obstinately pervert and resist His will. Hence learn—
3. Man’s fearful power in opposing God and destroying himself. “Who hath hardened himself against Him and hath prospered?”
Deu_2:31. Israel victorious. We may apply thus to the spiritual Israel, the Christian Church. 1: We have a warfare. Contest with ignorance and sin, Satan and the world.
2. In this warfare God prepares the world for the conquests of the Church. By toning society, removing difficulties, and striking terror into the enemies. The world was never riper than at present for courageous, determined effort. “Great fear came on all them that heard those things.”
3. In this warfare the Church can only conquer by God’s presence. “Providence is with the strongest battalions,” said Napoleon. But in this war neither might nor numbers will avail. “Not by might, nor by power.”
4. The more victorious is the Church the stronger is she for warfare. Victory gives experience, courage, and confidence in the commander. One success may be the forerunner of many. Israel’s prowess flew on the winds, and widespread fear made further achievements easy. Good deeds reproduce themselves. The conquests of grace in the heart, and of the gospel in the world, inspire the Church with hope and enthusiasm. She becomes stronger, more ready to obey and fight, and appears “terrible as an army with banners.”
Deu_2:31-33. Sihon’s defeat.
1. Self-inflicted. “He came out.”
2. Unexpected. Just the reverse of anticipation. “I have them,” cried Napoleon, concerning the English at Waterloo. What disappointment!
3. Very sudden. Only one pitched battle.
4. Divinely accomplished. “And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them.”
Deu_2:33; Deu_2:37. The secret of successful undertaking.
1. When directed by God.
2. When accompanied by God’s help.
3. When made subservient to God’s will.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Deu_2:1. Turned. Thus God orders our will without infringing our liberty. We observe this supremacy in directing not only an important end, but every stop towards it. Often has the way of our own devising been blocked up and an opposite way marked out, with the ultimate acknowledgement.”—He led me forth in the right way.—Bridge.
Deu_2:3. Long enough. Delays, whether in the business of God or our own, are hateful and prejudicial; many lose the land of promise by lingering.—Nicholls.
Deu_2:4-5. Meddle not. How many unholy hearts would be restrained by the practice of these rules of wisdom and love! A generous self-forgetting warmth of kindness puts down the first evil; denying ourselves the pleasure of justifying our cause, or triumphing over our opponent; instead of standing upon punctilious reforms, or waiting for an acknowledgement from the offender.—Bridge.
Deu_2:6. Water. The value attached to water in the East is here brought strikingly before us; also the justice which characterised the policy of the Jewish law giver. The Edomites were in possession of the wells, and the fluid of life must be paid for, if money would be accepted.—Temperance Commentary.
Deu_2:7. Knoweth. Have you not much reason for thankfulness in your retrospect? And when things you undertook have not prospered in your sense of prosperity, have you not found that in some way you never expected they did you good? Have you not often been thankful that you did not succeed where your heart was calculating on unbounded success? Where your work has not enriched you, has it not often humbled you? and are you not constrained to say now, after an impartial retrospect of thirty, forty or sixty years, that “the Lord hath blessed me in all the works of my hands”—Dr. Cumming.
Deu_2:10-12; Deuteronomy 20-23. National changes. The succession of tribes or nations indicated in the chapter is a very remarkable feature; showing that not only individuals pass away like a shadow, but nations also. There is not a nation at this moment inhabited by the people that dwelt in it fifteen, or sixteen hundred years ago. The people in Rome are less like the ancient Romans than we are; the inhabitants of Athens are not the lineal descendants of the ancient Greeks. And who knows not that our own country has successively been invaded by Saxon, Norman, and Dane; and that Britain which we look upon as our home has been successively peopled by different nations. As if God would teach the nations of the earth, as well as the units that compose them, that here we have no continuing city, no fixed place of abode; that we are nationally and individually pilgrims and strangers and should be looking for a better country.—Dr. Cumming.
Deu_2:14-16. Wasted.
Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,
Now green in youth, now withering on the ground:
Another race the following spring supplies;
They fall successive, and successive rise.
—Pope’s Homer.
Deu_2:24-25. Fear of thee. As in the natural world in times of ripeness there is change in the appearance of things; so there are evident signs of ripeness in the spiritual world. There is a preparedness with individuals, neighbourhoods, and nations. Let the Church awake and work, and her victories will be large and immediate.
Deu_2:33-37. God delivered. The person who has a firm trust in the Supreme Being, is powerful in his power, wise by his wisdom, happy by is happiness. He reaps the benefit of every Divine attribute, and loses his own insufficiency in the fulness of Infinite Perfection.—Addison.
Give me the eye which can see God in all, and the hand which can serve Him with all, and the heart which can bless him for all.—Abp. Secker.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Review of the Journey (continued)
Review of the Journey (continued)
1. The Red sea] i.e. the Gulf of Akaba. On Mt. Seir see Num_20:22-29.
Read full note →
4. Through the coast] RV 'through the border,' as in Num_20:18. The Edomites, however, refused to give them a passage through their country: see Num_20:14-21. The Israelites accordingly went southward towards Elath and Ezion-geber at the N. end of the Gulf of Akaba (see Deu_2:8 and on Num_20:22), and so round Edom to the country of the Moabites. 9. The Moabites and the Ammonites (Deu_2:19) were related to the Israelites, being descended from Lot, the nephew of Abraham (Gen_19:37-38). The Edomites were descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob. Ar] the capital of Moab, lying on the river Arnon, which formed the northern border of the country (Num_21:15, Num_21:28).
10-12. These vv. form an antiquarian parenthesis, like Deu_2:20 to Deu_23:10. The Emims (RV 'Emhn,' i.e. the 'terrible ones') and the Horims (RV 'Horites,' i.e. the 'cave-dwellers') are mentioned in Gen_14:5, Gen_14:6. The tribes E. of the Jordan seem to have been of great stature: see on Num_21:33 to Num_35:12. As Israel did] These words must have been written after the occupation of Canaan.
13. On the Zered see Num_21:12.
20. The Zamzummims (RV 'Zamzummim') are probably the same as the Zuzim in Gen_14:5.
23. The Avims (RV 'Avvim') dwelt in the SW. of Canaan, in the neighbourhood of Gaza, here called Azzah. Hazerim] RV 'in villages.' Caphtorims] the Philistines who came from Caphtor, usually identified with Cyprus or Crete: see Gen_10:14; Amo_9:7; Jer_47:4.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 3. After the Forty Years and From Conflict to…
3. After the Forty Years and From Conflict to Conquest
CHAPTER 2
Read full note →
1. From Kadesh to the land of the Amorites (Deu 2:1-23)
2. The command to possess (Deu 2:24-25)
3. The conquest of Sihon (Deu 2:26-37)
The many days in the first verse are the thirty-eight years. We must notice the little word “we.” “We turned and took our journey into the wilderness.” Moses, Aaron, his sons, Joshua, Caleb and the faithful Levites turned back with the unfaithful, murmuring Israelites. Moses and all who had not shared in the unbelief of the people submitted to the sovereign will of the Lord. How strange it would have been if they had complained in sharing in the judgment of the mass of the people. This is true obedience and humility. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble; submit yourselves, therefore, to God” (Jas 4:6-7). The faithful ones shared the trials, the sorrows, the hardships of the murmuring multitudes. And Jehovah was with them and in gracious tenderness. Can there be anything more beautiful than the testimony of Moses he gives in verse 7! “For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand; He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God has been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.” Well may we ponder over it. The people, who had accused Him, insulted Him, disbelieved His word, this people He carried through the great wilderness so that they lacked nothing. May we take courage. Our failures, our short-comings, our unbelief do not arrest the gracious tenderness of His loving heart.
Intensely interesting is the divine injunction not to molest Edom, Moab and Ammon. The great principle which goes through Deuteronomy is very outstanding in this command of Jehovah. He guided them, gave His instructions and they were to depend on Him and be obedient to His will. They might have coveted to possess the plains of Moab or Mount Seir and the lands of Ammon. The Lord forbade them to do so. Disobedience would have been disastrous. Though Edom had harrassed Israel greatly and displayed an arrogant pride, yet Jehovah would not give Edom’s possession to Israel. He remembered His word “I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession” (Gen 32:3; Gen 36:6-8; Jos 24:4). They were, therefore, not to seek what the Lord had not given to them. And this is obedience and a lesson of faith. What happy contentment there would be among God’s people, if this rule were followed.
The same command not to distress the Moabites and Ammonites (blood relations to Israel) is given. The races of giants are mentioned, which occupied the territories of Moab, Ammon and Edom. They had different names as stated in the text. Emim means “the terrible ones;” Zamzumim has the meaning “to murmur and meditate.” This may have some reference to demon possession as seen in some of the present day mediums of spiritism. They were powerful and extremely vicious beings, given up to the control and service of Satan.
Then Jehovah called to action. “Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon, behold I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, King of Heshbon, and his land, begin to possess it and contend with him in battle.” (In verse 13, “Now rise up, _said _I”--the words in italics “said I” must be omitted. Not Moses, but Jehovah gave the command.)
Obedience is again the demand. While the statement in verse 25 “I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven” has been taken as hyperbolical, it also has a prophetic meaning. The Gentiles fear the Jews and the nations stand in dread of them. Some day the Jewish race will be the head of the nations of the world. Sihon’s measure of wickedness and cruelty was full. His spirit was hardened like Pharaoh’s and Israel completely overthrew him and his kingdom. “The LORD our God delivered all unto us” (verse 36). Read Psa 136:19-26. It was His mercy. And His mercy endureth forever and is blessedly on our side. May we walk in obedience and find His mercy acting in our behalf.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 From Kadesh to the Brook Zered
From Kadesh to the Brook Zered
v. 1. Then we turned and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, that is, in the direction toward the Red Sea, Num 14:25, as the Lord spake unto me; and we compassed Mount Seir many days, ever moving around in the neighborhood of this mountain range, in the Wilderness of Paran, down to the Elanitic Gulf.
Read full note →
v. 2. And the Lord spake unto me, saying,
v. 3. Ye have compassed this mountain long enough, after they had been journeying back and forth some thirty-seven years; turn you northward, back once more to the edge of the Wilderness of Paran.
v. 4. And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast (boundary)of your brethren, the children of Esau, the half-brother of Isaac, which dwell in Seir, in the country south of the Dead Sea; and they shall be afraid of you, since the fear of the Lord had fallen upon all the nations round about; take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore;
v. 5. meddle not with them, that is, do not attack them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot-breadth; because I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. It was for this reason that Israel did not react to the challenge of the king of Edom with an attack, Num 20:14-21, when the latter refused them passage through his land.
v. 6. Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that is, something to eat, food, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.
v. 7. For the Lord, thy God, hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand, not only in their herds and their flocks, but in whatever industry they found occasion to carry on in the wilderness; He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness, and his knowing involved care and protection. These forty years the Lord, thy God, hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing, the Lord had supplied everything, Pro 27:23; Psa 1:6.
v. 8. And when we passed by from our brethren, the children of Esau, which they did by marching around their country, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, on the shore of the Elanitic Gulf, and from Ezion-gaber, later the harbor of Solomon at the head of this body of water, we turned, to the west and north, and passed by the way of the Wilderness of Moab, the Plains of Moab being the present end of that journey.
v. 9. And the Lord said unto me, Distress not, use no hostile attitude toward, do not attack, the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar, a city near the boundary of Moab and here representative of the entire country, unto the children of Lot for a possession, the Moabites being descendants of Lot, Gen 19:37.
v. 10. The Emims dwelt therein in times past, in the land now occupied by Moab, a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakims;
v. 11. which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
v. 12. The Horims, or Horites, Gen 14:6; Gen 36:20, also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead, in the land formerly occupied by the cliff-dwellers; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, the country east of the Jordan, which the Lord gave unto them.
v. 13. Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered, the stream which formed the general southern border of Moabitis, Num 21:12. And we went over the brook Zered.
v. 14. And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, after the return of the spies, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years, until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, Num 26:65, as the Lord sware unto them.
v. 15. For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed. The judgment of the Lord was carried out with unrelenting severity. He is a jealous God even today, and often strikes down the mockers in fury as a warning to all men.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 General Information:
General Information:
Moses continues reminding the people of Israel what the previous generation of Israelites did.
Read full note →
Then we turned and took our journey
"Then we turned around and went"
we went around Mount Seir for many days
Possible meanings are 1) the Israelites traveled around the mountain called Seir for a very long time or 2) the Israelites wandered in a region called Mount Seir for a very long time.
Mount Seir
This is a mountainous area south of the Dead Sea. The area is also called "Edom." See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 1:2 (See: How to Translate Names)
many days
Some languages translate this as "many nights."
translationWords
desert
Sea of Reeds
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–2 2:1 Mount Seir was a mountainous territory north of…
2:1 Mount Seir was a mountainous territory north of the Gulf of Aqaba, east of the Arabah (see study note on 1:1) and the Dead Sea. It was originally settled by the Horites (Gen 14:6), now identified by many scholars as the Hurrians. The Hurrians are described in many ancient texts as wandering tradesmen and adventurers who found a home in many parts of the ancient Near East. In time, the Horites of Mount Seir were supplanted by the descendants of Esau (Deut 2:22), and the region was called Edom (“red”), perhaps because of the rose-red stone typical of the area.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.