Bible Study

Bible Study: Deuteronomy 17-20 (Shoftim)

One of the most popular Biblical topics is prophecy. Often overlooked is prophecy which has already been fulfilled. One such prophecy occurs in this week’s section. Moses prophesied that when Israel entered the land that they would demand a “king” in order to be like all the other nations (Deuteronomy 17:14). Almost 400 years later in the days of Samuel, Israel made this demand. God told Samuel that Israel had not rejected him (Samuel) but had rejected God.

It took Israel almost 400 years to begin to see themselves as a nation like others. This, I believe, is a function of the fact that Israel had been slaves for an extended period in Egypt. Slavery destroys self confidence in the individual and in the community at large.
Also, in this section, Moses specifically prohibited some activities by a future king.

“Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, “You shall never again return that way.” Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.” (Deuteronomy 17:16-17)
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Bible Study: Deuteronomy 12-16 (Re’eh)

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From the time that God made a covenant with Israel, He began to indicate that He would eventually designate a specific place where He would establish His name. This would become the unique place of worship for Israel, His people. This site would also designate the future seat of God’s Kingdom on earth. The Bible section that we are considering today repeats that declaration again and again. We know that spot would ultimately be the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But at this point in the revelation, the exact location that the Lord had in mind had not been established. Israel moved about led by the “cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night” which dwelled over the Tent of Meeting in their midst.

We can begin to appreciate the importance of the specific place that God would designate by the number of times that He repeats His command. Without quoting the specific verses, I will simply list them here. They include: Deuteronomy 12:5, 12:11, 12:14, 12:18, 12:21, 12:26, 14:23, 14:24, 14:25,15:20, 16:2, 16:6,16:7, 16:11,16:15, and 16:16.

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Bible Study: Deuteronomy 7-11 (Ekev)

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The Bible section for this week contains some interesting revelations about God, His people and His land. I will start with His land.

If we return to the book of Genesis and with God’s interactions with Abraham, it is evident that God chose the Land before He chose the people, i.e., Abraham. He commanded Abraham to go where He would show him. God brought Abraham to the area that we know today as Israel. Therefore, we conclude that the Land itself has special significance to God and to His plan of redemption. God described the Land as:

“a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:12)

The word translated as “cares” means: to go to a place, to frequent it, to trample with the feet. So we might say that God walks about in the land of Israel. When you have the privilege to visit Israel you will most probably note this if you are a discerning person.

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Bible Study: Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11 (V’Etkhanan)

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In this Torah section, Moses rehearses the encounter between God and Israel at Mt. Sinai. Here we learn about the intent of God concerning the commandments. If Israel obeyed His commandments, it would make them “wise”. They would prosper and live long lives in the land that He was giving to them.

God declared,

“You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

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Bible Study: Deuteronomy 1-3 (Devarim)

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The Book of Deuteronomy (Hebrew “Devarim”) was recited to Israel on Mt. Nebo just before Israel entered the land. Moses’ work in this age has been completed. Joshua would lead Israel into the Promised Land. Since the specific date was given, the first day of the 11th month of the 40th year, it would be only 70 days before Israel crossed the Jordan River and began the conquest.

The land that God would give to Israel is defined once again.

“The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.’” (Deuteronomy 1:6-8)

This land can roughly be described as the land from the desert in the south (Sinai) to the Euphrates River (the great river) in the north and from the sea in the west (the Mediterranean) to the desert to the east. This is the land bridge between the two ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

God commanded Israel to “go in and possess” the land. To do this they would have to dispossess the Canaanites who were already there. This would entail bold spiritual as well as physical battles. They would have to forcibly take the land from the Canaanites. Moses declared, “Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the one fighting for you.” God would do this by,

“This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.” (Deuteronomy 2:25).

God would also harden the hearts of the Canaanites as He had done to Sihon, king of Heshbon (Deuteronomy 2:30). When God “hardens the heart” of an enemy, He makes him foolishly aggressive. God used both fear and the hardening of their hearts to undermine the Canaanites. Whenever Israel believed God and boldly advanced against their enemies, their enemies could not stand in battle and were defeated. The opposite occurred when Israel disobeyed the Lord and attempted to avoid the conflict. Their enemies were emboldened and defeated Israel. Finally, we know from the book of Joshua that God entered the battle directly as needed. I believe that these commands are as applicable today as they were when Moses spoke them.

In the account presented in the book of Numbers, it sounds as if God wanted Israel to send spies into the promised land to assess the difficulty of conquering the land.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” (Numbers 13:1-2)
It is not often that a clarification occurs in the Bible. This is one such case.

“Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter. The thing pleased me and I took of your men, one man for each tribe…”. (Deuteronomy 1:22-23)

So we may conclude that spying out the land was not God’s idea, it was a result of the apprehension of the people. After the spies returned, two men, Caleb ben Jephunneh and Joshua ben Nun, encouraged Israel to advance in the conquest of the land because they knew that the Lord was with them. The other spies only saw the challenge in terms of their perceived natural strength. This speaks to the faith process. Whenever we have a sure word of faith concerning any endeavor, we know that the Lord is with us; therefore, we will be able to accomplish the endeavor. Making an assessment of our physical capability is counter-productive to our faith. We are admonished to “count the cost” but that only means that we must be able to endure whatever consequences comes with our faith assignment.

Throughout the life of Joshua and beyond, Israel would be engaged in possessing the land that God had promised them. Fulfilling a faith assignment – both then and now – involves believing a word from God and stepping out to act on it. As James writes, “I will show you faith by my works.”

Bible Study: Numbers 30-36 (Matot-Masay)

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At the close of the account given in Numbers, Israel has spent 38 ½ years wandering about in the wilderness. This resulted from their unbelief in response to the majority report brought by the spies which had entered the land. That generation had died off and a new generation was prepared to enter the Promised Land. Moses was nearing the end of his ministry and gave his parting exhortation in what we know as the book of Deuteronomy.

As Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, God instructed Moses saying,

Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places;…” (Numbers 33:51-52)

And,

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land in which you live. And it shall come about that as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.” (Numbers 33:55-56)

Of course, Israel failed in this commandment and God’s judgment fell upon them. This dominated Israel’s history for about 800 years during the First Kingdom Era (~ 1447 – 586 BC/BCE). Do you suppose that this could still be a problem in Israel?

Representatives of the tribes of Reuben and Gad (and evidently a portion of the tribe of Manasseh) sought Moses and requested to receive their inheritance on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Moses interpreted their petition as rebellion in the likeness of that of the spies that had brought an evil report earlier in the journey. It appears that Moses reluctantly agreed to their request with the provision that the armed men from these tribes cross over the river with the others and participate in the battle to conquer the land.

The conduct of these tribes demonstrates an important truth that we need to comprehend. Reuben, Gad and portions of the tribe of Manasseh saw what they wanted and went for it. They obviously were not seeing themselves in terms of God’s greater plan. They could find everything that they thought they needed on the East Bank of the Jordan but God’s plan was for all the tribes to conquer and inhabit the land between the Jordan and the western sea. This was the land that God had chosen for His redemptive purposes and was first identified as such to Abraham some 600 years earlier. (Note! Please see my book – “Israel: God’s Interdimensional Portal” for a discussion of why this area is so important to God’s plan – available at Amazon.) Israel, at least these tribes, had little understanding of a greater plan or they simply didn’t care.

Many believers today have done the same thing. Sometimes they are referred to as “carnal Christians”. I don’t believe this is a Biblical concept; nevertheless, I hear the expression used today. I believe that God has a specific plan for each believer who confesses that Jesus is Lord and for each local congregation that makes the same confession. Unfortunately, many are grazing their cattle on the hills of Gilead rather than living a bold, fruitful life on the mountains of Israel. They can see God’s will from a distance but are not really entering into it. This is also true of many of our Jewish brethren. The settlements of Reuben, Gad and portions of the tribe of Manasseh are in America today. Israel can be seen at a distance through Arutz Sheva or the Jerusalem Post yet most are not fully engaged in the redemption process that is taking place in the land of Israel.

Over hundreds of years, the tribes who received their inheritance on the East Bank of the Jordan appear to have become less and less significant in terms of Biblical revelation. The main prophetic, priestly and royal lines would come through their brethren to the West specifically from the tribes of Judah and Levi. In other words, Reuben, Gad and portions of the tribe of Manasseh had an opportunity to be participants in the most important events in human history but settled for something far less significant.

Are we doing the same thing today? Are we just looking for plush pastures for our cattle or are we seeking to understand and do God’s will? A famous rabbi once said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34b).

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