In The Word
Read: Deuteronomy 2
Wanderings in the Wilderness
2 “Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled Mount Seir for many days. 2 And the Lordspoke to me, saying, 3 ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, 4 and command the people, saying, “You are going to pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; 5 do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6 You are to buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. 7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wandering through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lordyour God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.”’
8 “So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’10 (The Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. 11 Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and settled in their place; just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)13 ‘Now arise and cross over the Wadi Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the Wadi Zered. 14 Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as the Lord had sworn to them. 15 Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.
16 “So it came about, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, 17 that the Lord spoke to me, saying, 18 ‘Today you shall cross over Ar, the border of Moab. 19 When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not attack them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ 20 (It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, because theRephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, 21 a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22 just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain even to this day. 23 And as for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) 24 ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the Valley of Arnon. Look! I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; start taking possession and plunge into battle with him. 25 This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the faces of people everywhere, who, when they hear the news of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
26 “So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27 ‘Let me pass through your land; I will travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28 You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, only let me pass through on foot, 29 just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today.31 And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’
32 “Then Sihon came out with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz. 33 And the Lord our God turned him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people. 34 So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor. 35 We took only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured.36 From Aroer which is on the edge of the Valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the Lordour God turned it all over to us. 37 Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us to avoid.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
In today’s reading, Moses recalls encounters with people groups that the Israelites faced in their journey toward the Promised Land. Even though they did not provoke these groups, obeying what God had commanded them, the Israelites encountered trouble with one of these nations. A lesson we learn here is just because you are doing things right, does not mean trouble will not come, and you may even encounter difficulty with people simply because you are doing things God’s way. However, God’s path for us is to do the right thing, anyway.
We also learn that people may be adversarial toward us even though we did nothing to provoke them. Jesus tells us how to treat difficult people, even those who intentionally seek to harm us. In Luke 6:27-28, He encourages us to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.”
We may not like Jesus’ method and find it difficult to achieve because we are dealing with feelings of hurt, anger, and even betrayal. We may rather want to treat people similar to the way they have treated us. But, if we do what Jesus says, we will find that there is a peace that comes which is bigger than the problem we are facing. Also, we will find the reality of verse 7 in today’s reading, “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done.”