The Journey From Kadesh-barnea to Moab
June 20, 2022
Commentary
In this passage we can see how God did not give up on His people despite this 40-year judgment of that ungrateful and rebellious generation. We can see how He was still guiding them through His prophet Moses and had not abandoned His plan to give them the promised land in Canaan.
As God told Moses to go through Seir, the home of Esau’s descendants, He warned Israel not to fight with these people (vv. 1-8). Just as the Edomites were not attacked and conquered because they were related to Jacob, so the Moabites were spared because they were descendants of Lot, the nephew of Abraham (vv. 9-15). This points out that Israel was not free to conquer any territory they wanted but He had promised them a definite land. This shows how God is sovereign over all lands and all peoples even to this day. God has set the bounds of all nations (Acts 17:26). Most wars are fought because the boundaries of nations are not respected. Israel did not have to spend 40 years on the way to the promised land. God allowed them to experience the wilderness wanderings because they:
1. Rejected His love.
2. Rebelled against His authority.
3. Ignored his commands for right living.
4. Willfully broke their end of the agreement made in Exodus. (Ex. 19:8 and 24:3-8)
Application
God wanted the Israelites to deal justly with their neighbors. I must also recognize the rights of others and act justly in dealing with them. By doing this I may be able to establish and restore relationships which will be pleasing to God.
Deuteronomy 2:1– 15 (NET)
1 Then we turned and set out toward the wilderness on the way to the Red Sea just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time. 2 At this point the Lord said to me, 3 “You have circled around this mountain long enough; now turn north. 4 Instruct these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully. 5 Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir as an inheritance for Esau. 6 You may purchase food to eat and water to drink from them. 7 All along the way I, the Lord your God, have blessed your every effort. I have been attentive to your travels through this great wilderness. These forty years I have been with you; you have lacked nothing.’”
8 So we turned away from our relatives the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the route of the rift valley which comes up from Elat and Ezion Geber, and traveling the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession. 10 (The Emites used to live there, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. 11 These people, as well as the Anakites, are also considered Rephaites; the Moabites call them Emites. 12 Previously the Horites lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land it came to possess, the land the Lord gave them.) 13 Now, get up and cross the Wadi Zered.” So we did so. 14 Now the length of time it took for us to go from Kadesh Barnea to the crossing of Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, time for all the military men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them. 15 Indeed, it was the very hand of the Lord that eliminated them from within the camp until they were all gone.
Illustration: Evangelist Riding a Smoke Filled Plane
An evangelist was riding on a plane filled with people, cigarette smoke and defiled air. The evangelist knew he would have to take a bath, and send his clothes to the cleaners. He felt like he had been charcoal-broiled. Suddenly he turned to a woman and said, “Would you like to chew my gum for awhile?” The lady was insulted. “What in the world do you mean?” she snapped. The evangelist calmly replied. “I’ve been smoking your secondhand smoke ever since we left the city. I thought you might like to taste my secondhand gum.” (Source Unknown).