Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Numbers 33-34.
I wonder what the mood of the Israelite camp is as they are parked at the Jordan awaiting God's instructions to move forward.
Two and one-half of the tribes have been given their land possession east of the Jordan, and are perhaps busying themselves in settlement.
Meanwhile, all twelve of the tribes understand that these lands are not vacant. God has required:
"When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. 53 And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it." (Numbers 33:51-53)
Even though they have just witnessed a miraculous victory over the Midianites, without the loss of one man, are they afraid of what might lie beyond the Jordan?
For forty years, God has provided a physical presence with his chosen people in the form of the cloud. Do they believe? Will they obey God's explicit commands when they cross this most famous river?
There are pagans living in these lands who perform the most disgusting of rituals, and worship false gods. The One True God intends to cleanse the land and make it holy. Will Israel obey?
The book of Deuteronomy stands before our view of Israel's entry of the Promised Land. Think of Mel Gibson, as William Wallace, riding his horse before the troops and giving them his famous speech before they attack their oppressors.
That is exactly the book of Deuteronomy. Moses will deliver a series of speeches, and recount for Israel where God has brought them, and how they are to live as God's chosen people in this their Promised Land.
All Israel needs to do is obey God. Will they? Better yet, will we?
