I. The Detour that Leads to Death

Transcription

1 Women s Bible Study Fall 2016 The Forty Year Detour: Learning to Trust God When Life is Hard November 2, 2016 Stuck in the Desert Part III: Look and Live (Numbers 20:14-21) Gretchen Steer Today is November 2, years ago, on November 2, 1988, I gave birth to the young woman in the picture our daughter Emily. As you can see she is both a mother and a mother-to-be. Emily was ten days old when the search committee from Autumn Ridge Church visited us at our church in Los Angeles. We candidated here when she was 3 months and moved here when she was 6 months old. Those 28 years have flown by. We are all different. The church has changed in name, location, size and worship style. But the important things haven t changed. We are still centered on Jesus Christ and we still love scripture. That is why we are studying the book of Numbers, because the history of the Israelites is also our history. In leading them, God leads us. In their history, we have covered almost 40 years of wilderness wandering, as we reach the threshold of the Promised Land. So please turn with me to Numbers chapter 20, and we ll start by looking at: I. The Detour that Leads to Death We ve learned that the Israelites have been on a large, wandering detour for the past 39 years. Instead of heading straight to the Promised Land, they refused to trust God and enter the land he promised them. Their sin caused God to condemn them to wander for forty years, until that first generation died. Now their children are grown and are almonst on the doorstep of the Promised Land. But to get there, they have to pass through hostile territory. And in Numbers 20 we read about a secondary detour that is caused by their relatives, the Edomites. The Detour The Israelites, with their huge group of people, flocks and herds, are traveling north on a well known caravan route called the King s Highway. This was a sort of neutral zone that allowed trade to pass among nations. It would have been understood that anyone taking this very obvious and straightforward route was not trying to planning a sneak attack. However, the King s Highway went through hostile nations. I m going to begin with a parallel passage to Numbers 20, where we read God s instructions to Moses: You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink. (Deut. 2:4a, 5a, 6) Knowing the ground rules, Moses then exercises diplomacy in sending a tactful message to the Edomites explaining what they are doing. He tries to establish common ground by reminding the Edomites they are relatives. Edomites are descended from Esau, and Jews 1

2 are descended from Jacob, and those two were twin sons of Isaac and grandsons of Abraham. Moses writes in Numbers 20:17: Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory. (Numbers 20:17) A year ago we finished walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Many of those 500 miles were through vineyards, and the grapes were ready for harvest. Often we saw pilgrims eating the grapes from the vines nearest the road. They seemed so abundant that it would hardly matter if a few were taken. But in 2015 about 250,000 people walked that same route. If they all took grapes, there wouldn t be any harvest. Moses offer is important, because water and food are scarce. But the Edomites refuse. So the Israelites politely request passage again. Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them. (Numbers 20:20-21) It s wise to turn away from Edom to avoid conflict. However, this change of route sends the Israelites into the desert again and far out of their direct way. It would be like trying to get from Rochester to Minneapolis by way of Madison, Wisconsin. Now their journey is longer and it s through very unpleasant desert terrain. These folks are weary. They want to get to the Promised Land. And now they are on yet another detour. The detour leads them first to the place of Aaron s Death Although no one can say exactly for sure where Mt. Hor is, it s somewhere near the border of Edom. Look at Numbers 20:23: At Mount Hor, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. (Numbers 20:23-24) If Aaron and Moses were hoping that God might have forgotten their transgression, here s proof that he has not. So the two old men and Aaron s son Eleazar trudge up the mountain. Moses removed Aaron s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. (Numbers 20:28) The garments of the high priest are tremendously symbolic. They can only be placed upon another high priest, and here is the proof that God intends for the priesthood to go on. An old saying goes, God buries the workmen, but his work goes on. No one person is indispensible not even Aaron. See how God provides for the community? There s no gap in spiritual leadership despite the great loss of Aaron. Deuteronomy s account tells us a little more: 2

3 At the Lord s command Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor, where he died on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor. (Numbers 33:38-39) Remember that Aaron is 123 and Moses is 120. They worked together as God s team to bring the Israelites out of captivity and to forge this unruly group into a nation. His sister Miriam had recently died. After Aaron s death as well Moses must have felt very alone. And the community really missed their high priest. Aaron may have been more approachable and less terrifying than Moses, for we read: When the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days. (Numbers 20:29) So the detour around Edom leads first to Aaron s death. But next it takes them to another place of death - to Hormah the place of destruction As they travel, a Canaanite king of Arad hears they are on the move. He pre-emptively attacks and captures some of them. Now look at Numbers 21:2: Then Israel made this vow to the Lord: If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities. The Lord listened to Israel s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah. (Numbers 21:2-3) Hormah was a familiar location. Back in Numbers 14 the Israelites had failed to enter the Promised Land and had unwisely decided to go into battle anyway without God s blessing. The Canaanites and Amalekites beat them and chased them all the way to Hormah. It was a place of humiliation and defeat. But now Hormah is the place of victory for the Israelites, and total death and destruction for the Canaanites. The difference is that this time they prayed to God for victory. This time the Lord is with them. It sounds harsh to completely destroy towns, including every living person and all the livestock. But the Israelites are not hoping to be friendly neighbors they are reconquering land which formerly had always been promised to them. The Canaanites were the interlopers. The danger in leaving Canaanites alive, especially women, is that the Israelites would become ensnared by pagan religion. This is a legitimate concern. It happens the first time they settle, in Numbers 25. So the detour to avoid the Edomites leads first to death for Aaron, and then death for the Canaanites. The next section forms the most important point of this passage, where the Israelites are taught to: II. Look and Live Edom s hostility has forced the Israelites off course into the desert, as they make a big semicircle around Edom. And bad things start to happen in the desert. Here s The Problem 3

4 Look at verse 5 of chapter 21: But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food! (Numbers 21:4-5) Now this complaint sound tiresomely familiar. But it s a bit different. First, these are now the children of the original group. They are chips off the old block since they are complaining in nearly the same words as their parents did forty years earlier at the place called Graves of Craving. But this wording is even more insulting to God. They use a Hebrew word meaning fodder fit for animals, as if God was giving them moldy straw to eat. But this is manna! Its very name means what is it? It wasn t something that occurred naturally in the desert nor did it fall on the tribes around them. Manna was a supernatural provision that kept them alive for four decades. Psalm 78 tells us: He rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. (Psalm 78:24-25) I hope we d be more respectful of the bread of angels, the grain of heaven. But being human, we probably wouldn t, if we too had to eat it for forty years. In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; In spite of his wonders, they did not believe. (Psalm 78:32) So there was a consequence, in rejecting God s good provision for them. Notice they are not technically hungry. They are just bored with their food. Look at verse 6: Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. (Numbers 21:6-7) This group seems a bit more self aware than their parents. As soon as the consequence comes, in the form of snakebites, they flee to Moses. They take responsibility for their sin and recognize that their complaints dishonor both God and Moses. And they ask Moses to help them. Here s The Solution So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. (Numbers 21:7-9) The Lord could have removed the snakes. The Lord could have made the snake venom non poisonous. Or he could have Moses make a bronze snake and put it on a pole why?? Well, the snake was a despised and filthy creature to the Jews. We might have the same 4

5 reaction if we had to look at a large bronze cockroach or black widow spider in order to be healed. But the snake was worshiped by Egyptians and some of the local Canaanites. It was a symbol of power being used in an almost mocking way by the all powerful God. The snake was bronze, perhaps to reflect the color of the actual snakes. This part of the desert is filled with venomous snakes. Lawrence of Arabia wrote a journal of time spent in this area and described how snakes were everywhere. It s almost impossible to walk in a desert, in sandaled feet, without stepping on something noxious. So the snakes were part of the landscape and the Lord did not remove them. Snakebite is agonizingly painful, as it can cause tissue death, swelling and affects all bodily systems. One common effect of snakebite is overwhelming fear, however, increased by a racing heart and trouble breathing as the poison enters the body. So it was an awful way to go, and people were dying until Moses followed God s instructions, crafted a bronze snake on a pole, and raised it up. The word used for look doesn t mean a quick glance. They had to gaze intently at the loathsome bronze snake, and presumably, have faith that God would heal them. The snake was not magic; it simply caused them to focus their eyes on God, the healer. Jesus later explained that this symbol foreshadowed his own death on a cross. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14-16) Later on in John Jesus explains, And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:32-33) The crucifixion was a horrible sight. There is almost no death crueler than this one. To the Jews, death by hanging on a tree was cursed. Yet it is the terrible symbol of the cross that saves the world through Jesus death. Just as the people were healed from deadly poison by gazing at the bronze snake, we need to look at Jesus and the cross for our for our healing from sin. The bronze snake was kept by the Israelites and carried with them to the Promised Land. Over time, however, it stopped being seen as a symbol of God s healing and began to be worshiped as an idol. It was even given a name, Nehushtan. Over 700 years later King Hezekiah ordered Nehushtan to be destroyed because this symbol of life had become a snare of death for the people. So the Israelites move on, and we see III. The Beginning of the Conquest This chapter ends as they reach Mount Pisgah But before Mount Pisgah the Israelites still have some traveling to do on their detour around the Edomites. Look at verse 16 of chapter 21: 5

6 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the Lord said to Moses, Gather the people together and I will give them water. (Numbers 21:16) This is a brief story about how the Israelites came to a wadi, or dry ditch, yet were able to dig where the Lord showed them and ultimately find water. Remember at other times the people have had to cry out for water before it was provided. Now the Lord leads them to a plentiful spring of water in the midst of a dry desert. It looked completely barren, but the Lord knew where the water lay underneath, just as he can show us where a spring of joy lies underneath our dry, present sorrows. We just have to dig where he shows us. In verse 20 we read they came to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland. Now Pisgah is on the border of the Promised Land. Seeing that the end of the forty year detour is near, here s what Moses records in Deuteronomy: At that time I pleaded with the Lord Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan that fine hill country and Lebanon. But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. That is enough, the Lord said. Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. (Deut. 3:23, 25-26) This is one of the rare times that God tells someone to stop praying. But even Paul was told to be content with the existence of the thorn in his flesh, because it would show that God s strength was made perfect in weakness. Even though the Lord would not let Moses enter the Promised Land, as a consequence of his sin, he gave Moses an extraordinary God s eye view of what was to come for his people: Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across (Deut. 3:27-28) God does not leave the Israelites leaderless. Though Aaron is gone and Moses soon will be, the Lord anoints Eleazar as high priest and will soon commission Joshua as Moses successor. His work goes on with a different cast of characters. The end of the person is not the end of the work. This is good for all of us to remember. In some future period of time John and I will retire. We won t be retiring from ministry, because that is not what the Lord has called us to. But at some point we will retire from the senior pastorate of this church. A change like this, after almost 30 years, might seem traumatic to some of you. But the Lord carries on his work. The work is far bigger than any one person s impact, and God is already raising someone up to lead the church in the future. He knows even if we don t. There is a lot to do before the Promised Land can be claimed and settled. It begins with the Defeat of Sihon and Og The Israelites aren t looking for a fight. They are still trying to pass peacefully through the nations along the King s Highway, and Moses sends messengers to the King of Sihon asking for peaceful transit. Look at verse 23 of chapter 21: 6

7 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land (Numbers 21: 23-24) After forty years, the lesson has been learned. In the first year of the Exodus God told them go in. The spies reported that the people looked like giants and they felt like grasshoppers in comparison. So instead of acting in faith, which simply meant getting up and walking in that direction, the Israelites fell apart, rebelled and were condemned to the forty year detour. Now they are in almost the same geographic region. They are attacked. And the Lord equips them to defend themselves against aggression. Having conquered, they temporarily stay in Amorite territory. But there s more to do. They continue along the road to the kingdom of Bashan, ruled by Og. He is an enormous fellow with a gigantic iron bed. Yet : The Lord said to Moses, Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. (Numbers 21:34) And he is. These two battles are shaping the Israelites as a fighting force, and God is with them. They are now, finally, poised to enter the Promised Land. But before we go on, I have some IV. Reflections As I look back on these chapters from the past two weeks, here are some thoughts. The first is, 1. Don t despise manna. The Psalmist writes, How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the wasteland! Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. (Psalm 78:40-41) We heard about this so many times it got tedious. Yet the point remains the same. Manna was the supernatural provision of food that kept the Israelites alive in a hostile climate. What has God provided for you and me that we disdain? We don t want the stuff, the job, the spouse, the children, the home he s given us. No, we want something different, new, unusual, less predictable. When we are discontented we are despising manna, the provision God has given us for this time. And we must remember that manna was the bread of angels. So what manna are you and I despising right now? And how can we change that? Another reflection: 2. Don t wait for tragedy to give you a different perspective. The people were moaning about food until they began dying of snakebite. Suddenly the most important thing in the world was keeping alive. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away. (Numbers 21:7) Many times tragedy has that effect on us. We wonder why we didn t value that person more, until they died. We disdained our job, until we got fired and had no family income. 7

8 Complaint is a luxury that comes from having enough. When we are starving or dying, food and health are the only things that matter. So don t wait for tragedy to begin valuing what we have. What are you thankful for? Another reflection: 3. Utilize intercessors and be one yourself. The Israelites were incredibly fortunate to have Moses. intercedes for them with God: In chapter after chapter he So Moses prayed for the people. (Numbers 21:7) So Moses cried out to the Lord, Please, God, heal her! (Numbers 12:13) When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. (Numbers 11:2) Good old Moses. He s always there, praying, even when he is exasperated himself, when he s grieving, or when he is heartsick over his own sin and judgment. He still, faithfully, falls on his knees and begs God for mercy for other people. So when you are sinking under, call an intercessor. And when your friends and loved ones are sinking, BE that intercessor. God listens to prayer. He delivered the people again and again in response to Moses fervent plea. He will deliver those we love and pray for. So whom can we pray for? Reflection #4: 4. Take the long view Let s go back to Moses for a moment and look at his experience in Deuteronomy: Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to him, This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said I will give it to your descendants. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it. (Deut. 34:1-4) What can we learn from God s refusal to let Moses or Aaron see the Promised Land, after they had spent forty years of their lives helping others get there? First, there is a consequence to sin. It s hard to understand the depth of Moses s sin in striking the rock rather than speaking to it, but that it was important to God was clear from God s words. He told Moses and Aaron Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them. (Numbers 20:12) What does it mean to honor God as holy? Moses failed to honor God when he disobeyed. To disobey is to say to God, my way is better than yours. So in a sense it s a sin against God s 8

9 sovereignty. Moses position as leader of the nation made such a sin more severe. We re told in James that not many of you should become teachers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1) It s a huge responsibility to bring God s word to others in a public setting. Now think of Moses. He wasn t just teaching; he was literally the mouthpiece of God. So if he misrepresented to the people what God wanted, that not only failed to honor God but misled others. Moses actions at Meribah - his shouting, his anger, and striking the rock, showed an angry and vengeful God to the Israelites. On the contrary, God was a gentle and gracious provider of food and water, a God who continued to forgive them over and over again despite their attitude. Romans 12 tells us Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God s wrath, for it is written, It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. (Romans 12:13) If God had wanted to show his wrath he easily could have - remember Korah s rebellion and the fire and the plague? But Moses was doing wrong by representing God as angry when he was providing water. Maybe God should have relented and said, Oh, all right, I ll let you off this time. You can go to the Promised Land. That might make God human but it doesn t make him just. If we do this as parents, our children will know that they can always disobey without consequences. This sin was against God s holiness, meaning that Moses actions showed God to be of a different character than he actually is. Hebrews 12:16 reminds us See to it that no one is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. (Hebrews 12:16-17) Esau was the oldest son of Isaac, all set to inherit the blessings of Abraham. If he hadn t treated a holy thing with contempt, and sold his priceless spiritual inheritance to his brother Jacob for the cost of dinner, Esau would have been the ancestor of the Israelites instead of the ancestor of the Edomites. After they refused safe passage to the children of Israel in chapter 20, they thought they were safe in their domain but were eventually crushed by Babylon. I think perhaps God was being merciful to Aaron and Moses by permitting them to die in sight of the Promised Land, but without having to experience the warfare and settlement that came with entering it. As Israel s leader Moses would have had to lead those battles. They were old men and weary. Their contemporaries were dead. Perhaps it was kinder to let Moses just see the land and trust God for the fulfillment of his promises. And, in a sense, Moses and Aaron did get to the Promised Land the true one. They are in heaven with God, free of the physical ills and emotional sorrows that had plagued them for so long as leaders of the Israelites. Moses experience also reminds us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Just one sin disqualifies us all from a relationship with God, and yet we cannot help sinning every day. Moses was a great man the greatest man in Jewish history and yet, like us, he was a sinner in need of a Savior. Moses was disqualified from entering the Promised Land, but not from entering God s presence, which in the end is far more important. So let s take the long view. Let s try to discern God s loving purpose even when we think he is taking away our heart s desire. 9

10 The long view has shown me that sometimes the things that seemed so important to us earlier in life just fade away. Ever since we began backpacking, I had my eye on this goal. That is Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental US. Two of my siblings climbed it in 2010, a year that I couldn t go because of family obligations. We ve talked about climbing Whitney again. But I finally realized that I don t care so much about climbing this mountain anymore. I wonder if my lungs are up to it. And I get just as much satisfaction from hiking at an altitude that s not going to kill me. It s ok to give up some of our youthful desires, and be thankful for what God has lavished upon us instead. Moses died in the wilderness, but before he died God permitted him to see a supernatural view of what lay ahead for his people a land flowing with milk and honey the Promised Land made real. WBS is a ministry of Autumn Ridge Church Rochester, MN Questions: ouren.jennifer@autumnridgechurch.org 10