Tired of wandering and ready to settle down, the tribes of Reuben and Gad asked permission to remain on the east side of the Jordan River instead of crossing over it into the Promised Land. Moses took offense at this for two probable reasons. One was that the request was unfathomable to Moses, who had been denied access to the Promised Land after 40 years of striving to get there. These people had permission to enter it, and were choosing not to! The other problem with the request was that it was likely interpreted as a lack of confidence in Israel's ability to conquer the territory. This was reminiscent of the fear that spread through the camp years earlier after the 10 scouts reported that the land was inhabited by giants. That lack of trust cost the Israelites 38 more years of wandering in the desert and Moses did not want their reticence to enter the land to infect the opinions of the rest of the tribes. When Moses was convinced that Reuben and Gad were willing to fight alongside their brothers for the land, he agreed to their terms.
The remainder of today's reading was a recap of the 40 years in the desert, which was a great review...almost like Cliff's Notes ( I am dating myself I'm sure). The Lord moved them around alot because it was necessary for the well-being of their flocks. They had a considerable amount of livestock and when the resources for grazing had been depleted in an area, it was time to move on to "greener pastures". I love the sentence at the outset of this synopsis..."At the Lord's command Moses recorded the stages of their journey". We have this incredible history of the nation of Israel simply because God told Moses to write it down and he obeyed. It couldn't have been easy to do. They had to make their own paper! But God wanted us to have the Old Testament and ensured that we would.
Tomorrow's reading: Numbers 34-36
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Great point about how Moses probably felt knowing he couldn't enter the Promised Land and here were folks who could, but didn't seem to want to. Hadn't thought of that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my attention was drawn to the verse at the outset of the synopsis of Israel's journey about Moses recording it all at the Lord's command. What a blessing for us to have this historical record; thank You, Lord!
One last thing that captured my attention in today's reading was the description at the end about how any inhabitants left in the Promised Land would be like "splinters" in the Israelites' eyes. Think about having a splinter in your eye---the pain, the inability to see, the way it would keep you from enjoying the fullness of life. . .
Whenever I encounter a listing of places that Biblical characters have been or detailed geneologies, I am always grateful to God for providing us His own proof of where He was and who He was with. But do you (or any of your readers) know if there is archeological evidence of any of these settlements/places? I'm not sure where to go to look that up (and it's the one question my Quest Bible didn't anticipate I would ask!). Thanks!
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