‘RISE, TAKE YOUR JOURNEY . . .!’ – Deuteronomy 2:1-37

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 9, 2011 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group; March 9, 2011

Deuteronomy 2:1-37

Theme: In this chapter, Moses reviews the call for the second generation to rise up and take the promised land.

This chapter describes the end of the wilderness wanderings and the beginnings of the conquest of the promised land by the second generation. What is demonstrated throughout this chapter is the sovereign power of God that lies behind His call to the people to rise up and take the promised land.

I.GOD’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE END OF THE WANDERING (vv. 1-3).

A.The wandering of the people led them to Arabah—the long strip that runs from the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba (here called the Red Sea) northward up into Edom. They circled (“skirted”) around Mount Seir in Edom (v. 1). Not much at all is said about the thirty-eight years of wandering that were lost to the first generation.

B.When the time finally came, God spoke. Note that it was not Moses but God who issued the call to turn northward toward the promised land (vv. 2-3). Praise God that His disciplining hand of punishment upon His disobedient people had an end; and that His promise to them would still be kept!

II.GOD’S LIMITATIONS PLACED ON THE CONQUESTS (vv. 4-23).

A. Regarding Edom (4-7). Edom was the people who were born of Esau, the brother of Jacob. They were to be considered “brethren” to the people of Israel. They were not to take any portion of their land or meddle with them; because God had given that region to them. Note here that God has a plan, not only for Israel, but for other nations as well. They were to buy food and water from them for price; and this was to help them remember that God was their Provider (v. 7). Numbers 20:14-21 and Judges 11:17 tell us that Edom refused passage to the people of Israel. Nevertheless, they didn’t harass them but simply moved on.

B. Regarding Moab (vv. 8-15). Moab was also to be treated with care. Moab descended from the offspring of Lot (see Genesis 19:30-28). Once again, God made it clear that the people of Israel were not to take the land that He gave to Moab. Mention is made of the giants that had once dwelt in that land, that the people’s of that land had driven out. Passing by this land would have been a reminder to the people of Israel that God was able to drive out the inhabitants of the land He was giving them too. The previous generation had failed to take the land because of the fear of these ‘giants’ (see Deuteronomy 1:28); and that’s why they had wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years (see vv. 14-15).

C. Regarding Ammon (vv. 16-23). They people were also the offspring of Lot (see Genesis 19:30-28); and their land, too, was forbidden to the people of Israel. But once again, in passing by these people, Israel was given a reminder of how God is able to drive the giants out of the land that He was about to give them.

III.GOD’S SOVEREIGN CONTROL OVER THE TAKING OF THE LAND (vv 24-37).

A.When the people came to the land of the Amorites—ruled by King Sihon—it was then that God commanded them to take possession. This was land that was east of the Jordan River; and it eventually became the possession of the two-and-a-half tribes on the East (see Numbers 21:21-32). They were to engage the king in battle—knowing that God would put the fear of them into the hearts of the people of that land (v. 25).

B.The method of doing so was not aggressive. They came with words of peace—asking that they may pass through, and offering to buy what they use. This showed that God was sovereign over their conquest of the land. The Amorites refused and even went out to attack the Israelites; and as a result, the Israelites conquered them (see Deuteronomy 20:10-18).

C.Note that it’s made clear that this was not a wild campaign of conquest. The people were careful not to touch anything of the Ammonites who lived immediately next to the kingdom of Sihon (v. 37).

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This illustrates how God exercises sovereign control even over the times and borders of the nations for the good of His people. As Paul testified in Acts 17:26-28; “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.”