THE
TIME HAS COME
After wondering through the desert
for 40 years, the time finally came for the Israelites to enter the Promised
Land. The first generation (those who left Egypt as adults) had already died in
the desert; now the new generation had grown, and as adults they were ready to
take possession of the divine promise. But it wasn’t them who decided on the
moment, it was God…
(Deut. 2:1-3) Then
we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as
the LORD told me. And for many days we traveled around Mount
Seir. (2) Then the LORD said to me, (3) ‘You have been
traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward
The time had come to enter the
Promised Land… but before they went on, he Lord made it clear that they would
go through some territories that they should not conquer: Edom, Moab and Ammon…
The Lord explained the reason why
these territories (Edom, Moab and Ammon) should not be conquered by the
Israelites. What all these nations have in common is that they were related to
the patriarchs. These relatives would not take part of the Promised Land
(Canaan), but the Lord gave them another land right by it:
- Edom (or Seir) are descendents of Esau (Jacob’s brother)
- Moab and Ammon are descendents of Lot (Abraham’s nephew)
Now let’s see what happened when the
Israelites went through the land of Edom (Seir), Moab and Ammon…
PASSING
BY EDOM
Coming from the desert towards
Canaan, the first occupied land they would go through was Seir or Edom (land of
the sons of Esau).
(Deut. 2:4-5) and
command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your
brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you.
So be very careful. (5) Do not contend with them, for I will not give you
any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on,
because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
God made it clear to the Israelites
that the right of conquest was limited to the Land that was promised to the
patriarchs. They should not have an expansionist’s ambition, but they should be
limited by the land God had given them. He specifically said that they should
respect the land of their neighboring relatives (Edom, Moab, Ammon).
Note:
From the beginning of history, many men have risen up with the ambition of
conquering the world, beginning with Nimrod (Gen. 10:8-12), and others like
Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Hitler, etc. This is the same
urge that was manifested in the Tower of Babel (to become famous and to be in
control, rebelling against God’s authority). This is not the order that God has
established, since He divided the land into several nations, and placed limits
between them (Deut. 32:8; Jer. 27:5). When God gave the Israelites the right to
conquer, it was not the entire world but JUST the Promised Land (Canaan). Every
time Israel has conquered land, it has not been because of their expansionist ambition
but as a result of being attacked by their enemies, who want to take from them
the Land that God gave them; on the other hand, they have lost land when they
sinned against God (as a result of their disobedience – Deut. 28).
Another instruction that God gave
them when they went through the land of Edom was to not accept any gifts from
the Edomites, so that they wouldn’t owe them any favors (which they usually
demanded later).
(Deut. 2:6-7) You
shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also
buy water from them with money, that you may drink. (7) For the
LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your
going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your
God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.
The book of Numbers tells us what
happened when the Israelites tried to go through the land of Edom (Num.
20:14-21). Moses asked the king of Edom to let them go through, assuring him
that they only meant to pass through and that they wouldn’t attack them nor be
any burden on the local population.
(Numbers 20:16-17) And when we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice
and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a
city on the edge of your territory. (17) Please let us pass through your
land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from a well.
We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand
or to the left until we have passed through your territory.
The king of Edom did not grant them
permission.
(Num. 20:18) But
Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword
against you.”
The Israelites insisted on their request, but the king was
very emphatic with his denial.
(Num. 20:19-21) And the people
of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your
water, I and my livestock, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on
foot, nothing more.” (20) But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And
Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. (21)
Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel
turned away from him.
Instead of going through the land of Edom by the main
highway (which was an important commercial route), the Israelites had to go
around the land, walking through the dessert and inhospitable territories.
(Deut. 2:8) So we went on,
away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the
Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber. And
we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab.
PASSING BY MOAB
The next territory the Israelites had to cross on their way
to the Promised Land was Moab. The Lord gave them some similar instructions:
(Deut. 2:9) And the LORD said
to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give
you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people
of Lot for a possession.’
The Moabites did not react like the Edomites did. Although they
responded with a lot of apprehension, they allowed them to cross without
putting before them any obstacles or giving them any threats (not because they
didn’t want to, but more because they couldn’t because they had just gone
through a military defeat and their
forces were drained).
After going through that rare event, the Lord instructed
them to move on.
(Deut. 2:13) ‘Now rise up
and go over the brook Zered.’ So we went over the brook Zered.
A NEW BEGINNING
The Bible points out that the date on which they crossed the
Zered River marked an anniversary:
on that date the exile to the desert began for the past generation, who died
there. Thirty eight years later, on the same date, that season came to an end.
The crossing of the Zered River marked a new beginning for the new generation.
(Deut. 2:14) And the time
from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was
thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had
perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
NEXT STEP: AMMONITES
AND AMORITES
After going through the land of the Moabites without any
mishap, the Israelites found themselves with another border they had to cross,
which would take them into the land of the Amorites and the Ammonites.
Before crossing that border, the Lord gave them instructions
again, but the warning only regarded the Ammonites…
(Deut. 2:18-19) Today you are
to cross the border of Moab at Ar. (19) And when you approach the
territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for
I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession,
because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’
Just as with Edom and Moab, the Israelites were to respect
the land of Ammon, because the Lord had assigned that portion as an inheritance
for Lot’s descendents. Interestingly, he did not say the same thing about the
Amorites…
(Deut. 2:24-25) ‘Rise up, set
out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given
into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take
possession, and contend with him in battle. (25) This day I will begin to
put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven,
who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of
you.’
The instruction for the dealings with the Amorites was very
different: they would be able to fight against them. They were not related to
them, they were actually part of the Canaanites whom they had to defeat.
As we will see later on the laws concerning war (Deut.
20:10-18), the Israelites had to send out a message of peace before they
declared war against other nations…
(Deut. 2:26-29) So I sent
messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with
words of peace, saying, (27) ‘Let me pass through your land. I will go
only by the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the
left. (28) You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me
water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot, (29)
as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for
me, until I go over the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is
giving to us.’
Although the Amorites were Canaanites, they were not in the
Promised Land (on the other side of the Jordan River) so they didn’t have to
conquer it. They were simply asking for permission to cross their land. But if
they refused to grant them the permission, the Israelites had God’s permission
to fight against them, and after defeating them they had permission to keep the
spoils.
(Deut. 2:30-37) But Sihon the
king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God
hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into
your hand, as he is this day. (31) And the LORD said to me,
‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take
possession, that you may occupy his land.’ (32) Then Sihon came out against us,
he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. (33) And the LORD our God
gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his
people. (34) And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to
destruction every city, men, women, and children. We left no
survivors. (35) Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves, with
the plunder of the cities that we captured. (36) From Aroer, which is on
the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley,
as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The LORD our
God gave all into our hands. (37) Only to the land of the sons of Ammon
you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the
cities of the hill country, whatever the LORD our God had forbidden
us.
The same thing happened with the other Amorite king of the
north, king Og of Bashan.
(Deut. 3:1-3) Then we turned
and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us,
he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. (2) But the LORD said to
me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into
your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the
Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ (3) So the LORD our God gave
into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we struck
him down until he had no survivor left.
It certainly sounds drastic that God would authorize the
Israelites to kill their enemies, including women and children. From a human
perspective, it is hard for us to understand it; we can only understand it from
a spiritual perspective. The Bible is clear in explaining that this is not a
permission to kill anyone, but only those who God indicates… and he gives a
reason for it:
(Deut. 20:16-18) But in the
cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an
inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, (17) but you shall
devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the
Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as
the LORD your God has commanded, (18) that they may not teach
you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for
their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God.
The Land of Israel is a very special place for God (because
that is where it all began: Adam’s creation; and that is where it all will end:
the Messiah’s kingdom). That is the place that the Lord chose to place His Name
on (specifically Jerusalem) and to edify His Temple. The eyes of God are over
that land in a special way…
(Deut. 11:12) a land that
the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are
always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
The Lord didn’t give that land to Abraham and his descendents
at just any time; instead he waited until the iniquity of the inhabitants had
reached its peak (which opened the spiritual legal right to take it from them).
(Gen. 15:16) And they shall
come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is
not yet complete.
It was important to get rid of all the population because
they were already contaminated (probably without hope of restoration, like
Sodom and Gomorrah). The Bible warns that, if they didn’t get completely rid of
the enemy, they ran the risk of being contaminated themselves (Deut. 20:18).
God does not make exceptions for anyone, because the Lord
warned that the Israelites would also be expelled from the Land if they
committed the same abominations (1 Kings 21:25-26), just as the Amorites did.
(Leviticus 20:22-24) You shall
therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land
where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. (23) And you shall
not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for
they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. (24) But I have
said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to
possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God,
who has separated you from the peoples.
GIANTS IN THE LAND
The Bible makes a parenthesis in the story of the crossing of
the Israelites through the Transjordan to mention the giants that lived there.
First it mentions the giants that the Edomites were able to
defeat.
(Deut. 2:10-12) (The Emim
formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the
Anakim. (11) Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the
Moabites call them Emim. (12) The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but
the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and
settled in their place, as Israel did to the land of their possession, which
the LORD gave to them.)
Further ahead, it mentions the “Land of the Giants”, which
was the territory that the Ammonites were able to conquer.
(Deut. 2:20-22) It is also
counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there—but the Ammonites
call them Zamzummim— (21) a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim;
but the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they
dispossessed them and settled in their place, (22) as he did for the
people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and
they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.
It also mentions that the king of Bashan was a giant.
(Deut. 3:11) (For only Og
the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was
a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its
length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)
Why does the Bible place so much emphasis on the giants?
It was important for the Israelites to know that just as God
had given the Edomites and the Ammonites the capacity to defeat the giants in
their lands, so the Lord would help the Israelites defeat the giants that they
would have to face in Canaan, the land that the Lord would give them as their
inheritance.
It served as an example that would give courage to the
Israelites, and help them overcome the fear they might feel.
IN HISTORY: Stepping
over the border
All throughout history, the Israelites have respected their
relatives’ borders (Edom, Moab, and Ammon) – except on one occasion:
In the days of the Hasmoneans, John Hyrcanus (son of Simon
the Maccabee) ordered a conquest of the region of Edom, in that time known as
Idumea. Besides being king, John was a high priest; nevertheless, he did not
respect the divine instruction of not taking the land of the Edomites. Not only
did he order the region to be conquered, but he also forced them to convert to
Judaism (which has been the only forced conversion in Jewish history). That bad
decision had a high cost for them later on, because when the Romans conquered
that whole region, they chose a leader from Idumea to be king over Judea:
Herod.
Respecting the border not only applied to the Israelites,
but also to Edom, Moab and Ammon. On one occasion in history, they tried to
step over the border and invade, but the Lord himself defended Israel (2
Chronicles 20).
More lessons on Deuteronomy: @ Devarim (Deut.)
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