Bible Survey
Keith Sharp
Part 9
Wilderness Wanderings
Exodus chapters 15- Deuteronomy 34
The Lord promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation, that they would possess the land of Canaan, and that all nations of the earth would be blessed through a descendant of Abraham. When Jacob, Abraham's grandson, and Joseph, his great-grandson, died in Egypt, none of the three great promises had been fulfilled. But in the 430 years Israel lived in Canaan, they "became a great, mighty and populous nation" (Deuteronomy 26:5, New American Standard Bible). The Nation promise had been fulfilled. But, this nation of people, the people of God, needed to be organized with laws, an army, and a land to call their own.
Rather than leading Israel directly to Canaan, the Lord took them south into the burning deserts of Sinai. There He could teach them to depend on Him by faith for all their needs. There He could give them their national laws, their religion as a theocracy, an their military organization.
As Israel went from one camping place to another in their journey toward Mt. Sinai, rather than praying to God for their needs, they rebelliously, faithlessly complained to Moses. Moses interceded in their behalf, and God gave them the food and water they needed.
After a three month trek, they came to Mt. Sinai. God informed Israel through Moses: Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6, New King James Version).
The Lord God gave this covenant through angels to Moses on Mt. Sinai. This law was the national law for Israel.
God spoke the heart of this law in the form of the Ten Commandments by His own mouth from Mt. Sinai to Israel, as the mountain quaked and was covered with smoke. The Ten Commandments were the highest religious and moral law known to man until the coming of Christ.
They may be divided into two parts by the two great commandments of the law. The greatest commandment is to love God (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:35-38). The first four of the Ten Commandments told Israel how to love God. The second greatest commandment of the law is to love your neighbor (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39). Commandments five through ten reveal how to do this.
Then the Lord gave Israel through Moses all their laws as a nation.
Moses was on Mt. Sinai forty days receiving the law. Israel decided he wasn't going to return. They had Aaron erect a golden calf to represent God and to lead them. They held a lewd idolatrous feast to worship their self-made god. Moses, at God's command, returned at this moment with the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone only to find Israel in this shameful condition. God threatened to destroy Israel, and only through Moses' intercession did He spare them and renew His covenant with them.
God then gave Moses the pattern for the tabernacle, where He would dwell in the midst of Israel as their God, and they would come to worship Him. The Lord gave Moses a detailed pattern for this tabernacle and commanded him to follow this pattern exactly. Moses did so, "and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40:34).
The Lord gave to Moses detailed laws for the priests of the family of Aaron and how they were to offer sacrifices for the people. God is holy. He was teaching Israel how to become holy and to remain holy as His people.
Then the Lord had Moses take a census of all the mature men of Israel able to be in the army, except for those of the tribe of Levi, who served at the tabernacle. He organized this army around the tabernacle to journey through and camp in the wilderness on their way to Canaan. Israel had an army of 603,550 men!
Israel had been in the wilderness two years. The Lord now had them ready to go into Canaan and take the land as their own.
In preparation for this conquest Moses sent twelve spies to go throughout the land and bring back a report. They were gone for forty days. When they returned, all the spies agreed that it was a land of plenty. But ten of the spies declared they could not take Canaan, because the people of the land were too strong for them. Only Joshua and Caleb had faith that God could give them the land.
The people believed the ten evil spies, rebelled against Moses and Aaron, and tried to kill them. The glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle before all Israel. Again, the Lord threatened to destroy Israel, and only because Moses interceded did He spare them. He decreed that that generation would not enter Canaan, but that they would wander in the wilderness 38 more years, till all of that generation, except Joshua an Caleb, were dead. The ten evil spies who cause Israel to disbelieve God died immediately.
Thirty-eight more years of miserable wandering in a burning, desert waste filled with scorpions and poisonous snakes followed. The people of that generation repeatedly rebelled and eventually all but Joshua and Caleb died. Korah and his followers even tried to take the priesthood from Aaron and were swallowed by the earth.
Toward the end of this period, when Israel once more complained and rebelled, Moses lost patience, and he and Aaron sinned. Thus, they also were not allowed to enter Canaan.
As Israel journeyed to the east around the southern end of Edom, God had Moses take Aaron to the top of Mt. Hor. There Aaron died, and Eleazar his son became high priest.
As they journeyed north on the east side of the Dead Sea, Israel met and defeated Sihon of the Amorites, Og, King of Bashan, Balak, King of the Moabites, and the Midianites. Thus, they controlled the lan east of the Jordan River. This was good pasture country, and the tribes of Reuben, Ga, and half of Manasseh, who were shepherds, settled there.
Now the old generation had died. The Lord was ready for the new generation to take Canaan. Moses preached three great sermons to the new generation of Israel in the plains of Moab. He reviewed their history of rebellion in contrast with the faithfulness of God, he reviewed the good law God had given them, and he foretold their future, dependent on whether or not they obeyed God. In all three sermons he exhorted Israel to obey God.
The Lord chose Joshua to take the place of Moses to lead Israel into Canaan. Then He took Moses to the top of Mt. Nebo and allowed His servant to look across the Jordan Valley to that beautiful land Israel would inherit. For eighty years this great man of God had longed to go there. There was no other prophet like Moses, to whom the Lord spoke plainly face to face. But now, at the age of 120 but with his vigor undiminished, Moses died on Mt. Nebo. The Lord buried him in a grave unknown to this day on the eastern side of Jordan.
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