Deuteronomy 1:6-8 – What We May Not Know – Bible study

Deuteronomy 1:6-8 What We May Not Know Have you ever heard the saying, "What you dont know wont hurt you?" I cant say there is no truth in it, but I can say that when it comes to government and God, it definitely is not true. Neither government nor God will give you a pardon for ignorance. The Jew found that out during the Exodus. Deut 1:6 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: 7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. The children of Israel arrived at Mount Sinai a little over 2 months after they had left Egypt \#Ex 19:1\. They stayed there just a few days short of a year \#Num 10:11-12\. The command to leave Sinai was actually given in \#Exodus 33:1\, but the remainder of the Exodus is devoted to giving details of the Law and the building of Tabernacle so that Exodus never recorded the Jews departure from there. The book of Leviticus picked up with more of the same. It is not until \#Numbers 10:11\ that the Jews actually packed up and left. Deuteronomy is a summary of the journey of Israel. The verses we are looking at picked up with the command to leave Mount Sinai. Let’s notice first what God said, then what Moses said. I. What God Said A. \#6-9\ God said, "Get off this mountain." 1. The children of Israel had spent almost a full year on this mountain. 2. Compared to what they had been through, this mountain-top experience must have seemed like a vacation. a. In Egypt, they had been oppressed for hundreds of years, pushed down the ranks from the comfortable life they had when Joseph was 2nd only to Pharaoh to the lowest spot on the totem pole, slaves. b. But they were pushed even lower in that they were treated like enemy slaves, being forced to make brick, beaten when they did not achieve their quotas, and even forced to slay their own male children so their population would not become too large. c. They cried out to God for deliverance, but when God answered their prayer and sent Moses, things did not get better but got worse. (1) After Moses spoke to Pharaoh, obeying Gods command to him, Pharaoh took the straw necessary to make the bricks away. (2) Their quota was the same, but now the Jews also had to find and scrape together uncultivated, discarded, and trash straw with which to make the bricks. (3) And if they did not meet their quotas, which was impossible, they were beaten. d. Of course, God stepped up to the plate. (1) He sent 10 plagues upon Egypt, but during some of first plagues, the Jews also seemed to suffer. (2) It is not until \#Ex 8:22\, the fourth plague flies), that the Bible specifically tells us that God put a separation between Israel and Egypt. (3) If that is the case, the Jews also suffered from the water being turned to blood, the frogs, and the lice. (4) But even after that, it was not a pleasant journey. (5) Im sure there was much tension and fear. (a) The Egyptians feared the Jews and their God. (b) Pharaoh despised the Jews and their God. (c) Then there was that Death Angel business. e. Then, at last, they left. (1) That must have been a relief. (2) They even got to "borrow" whatever they wanted from the Egyptians before they left. (3) Im sure the people would have stayed happy all the way to Mount Sinai, had Pharaoh not followed them. (4) Then came the Red Sea where it looked like they were going to be slaughtered by the Egyptian army. (5) Of course God steps up again, but you have to admit, most peopleeven Moseswere a bit confused about how they were going to get out of that. 3. I say all of that to say, being on Mount Sinai must have seemed a little like heaven. a. For the first time in their lives and in almost 400 years, they were not slaves. b. Not one military force came against them at Mount Sinai. c. There is no record of them being hungry or thirsty while there. d. They had no farm or fields so there was a lot more rest at Sinai than they had ever known. e. And God kept showing up. You could see His presence on the top of the mountain. B. God said, "Go into the land." 1. But then, in \#Deut 1:6\, God says it is time to go. 2. \#Deut 1:7\ And God made no pretense about where they were going. a. The mount of the Amoriteswho were not going to take Israels coming very well. b. To the land of the Canaaniteswhose land the Jews were going to take. c. Even up into Lebanon and to the River Euphratessome of which the Jews never did get to claim because they rebelled against Gods commands and started compromising with the enemy. d. Even so, God was giving the people the command, "You must leave this mountain of comfort, of feast, of fellowship with God, and go back down into the plains where there is danger, hardships, and war. e. Not a very happy prospect, is it? 3. Question: Why would God command these people to go into that kind of fight? a. I do not know for certain. Gods ways are much higher than ours. b. I do have some guesses. I have some guesses because I believe they are pretty much the same reasons God commands us to go into some battles. (1) God wants us to marvel at the One weve met. (a) God wants us to see Him in action and stand in awe and wonder. (b) God does not need praise, but after an infinite past of no one ever being there to see and marvel at Him, God decided to create someone who could. (c) So He created us. (2) God wants us to use the truths we have learned. (a) It is not just about Him. Its about us too. (b) God reveals things to us about faith and obedience, then He wants us to use them. (c) The best time to use faith and obedience is when problems come so God lets some problems come. (3) God want to give us rewards for the things we will do. (a) As much as God has given to His people, God wants to give us more and better, so God rewards us, both on earth and in heaven, when we obey Him. (b) These Jews were being offered land on earth, but God had more and better things to give them. 4. But the people refused to go into the Promised Land when they got there. a. Not right away. b. First, they travelled to the entrance to the Promised Land. c. The journey from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land was around 200 miles. d. On foot, that would be about 3 weeks of traveling. https://www.quora.com/How-long-did-it-take-the-Israelites-to-get from-Mt-Sinai-to-the-Promise-Land e. Then there was 40 days that the spies were in the land. f. But just 60 or so days after leaving Mount Sinai, the rebel against God. Deut 1:26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God: 27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. 5. And they did not just want to go back to Mount Sinai. a. They wanted to go all the way back to Egypt! b. Now, what kind of welcome do you suppose they were going to get if they did that? c. It had only been maybe 14 to 15 months since the entire Egyptian army was drowned in the Red Sea. d. I dont know but Im thinking Pharaoh might be the kind of guy would hold a grudge. C. \#34-35\ God said, "You will never go in." Deut 1:34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, 1. Their rebellion cost them 40 more years of wilderness living and the deaths of that entire generation. 2. That was a steep price, especially when you find out what they either did not know, forgot, or refused to believe. II. \#30-33\ What Moses Said A. Moses was speaking for God, relating what God had told them then and what he had learned since. B. Moses revealed three truths to the Jews did not know, did not remember, or did not believe. 1. \#30\ The Lord was going before them. Deut 1:30 The LORD your God which goeth before you. a. It should never be a surprise to one that knows God to find out that He has gone before you. b. If God is a God who is everywhere, then there is no place we can go that He is not already at. c. Obviously, an Omni-present God is all ready everywhere. d. However, Moses was not speaking just of Gods omnipresence. Deut 1:33 Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. e. God had gone before them to select the route they would follow, including the places where they would sleep at night. f. Every detail of their journey had been laid out by the mind and heart of God so that nothing could possibly happen to them that was beyond Gods control. g. Note: Sometimes in the Bible, God humanizes Himself to make it easier for us to identify with Him. (1) I dont know for certain, but I believe it is possible that God is applying physical characteristics to Himself whenever He speaks of His face \#Lev 20:6\, His hands \#Ex 7:5\, His eyes \#Psalm 34:15\ and so forth. (2) The Bible says that God is a Spirit. I am not certain that a spirit would have a face, eyes, and hands. (3) I think God is doing something like that in this text. (4) God does not have to walk a road to know what is on it. He is God. (5) As far as I know, God does not have to sit down and think through every possible scenario to know what is the best path to take. He is God. (6) God paints this kind of a picture to the Jews to show them how impossible it would have been for them to have been defeated or even afflicted if they had just crossed into the Promised Land when they first arrived there. h. However since God uses that image, I will stick with it in thinking about our lives. (1) Do we not know that God has gone down every road that we could ever travel and has selected the one that will be the best for us and bring Him the most glory? (2) Do we not know that He has even picked out the places we will sleep at night? (3) God has secured us both by day and night so that nothing happens to us that He does not allow! (4) God has gone before us! (5) Let us not linger at the boundary! Let us not look at the size of the enemy. Let there be no talk of quitting or returning. (6) God has gone before us! 2. God would fight for them. Deut 1:30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you. a. Taking the land was never the duty of the Jews. (1) It was Gods duty. (2) All the Jews had to do was to claim it. (3) God was going to defeat the enemy FOR them. b. Somebody might ask, "How do you know?" Answer: Because that is exactly what He did when 40 years later! (1) Yes, I know the Jews showed up on the battlefields and that a few of them even died, but God was there to do the fighting. (2) You can see Him when He caused the walls of Jericho to fall, when He held the sun in sky at Gilgal, and as region after region fell before the mighty moving of God. c. Someone else might ask, "How were the Jews suppose to know that?" Answer: By believing what God said and trusting Him. d. This truth applies to us as well! (1) God never allowed an enemy into our lives that He intended us to defeat. (2) Listen: (a) God knows the dirt of which He made us. (b) He knows how weak and useless it is. (c) He never intended us to do more than just believe and do what He said. e. Maybe they did not know. Maybe they did not remember. Maybe they did not think. Maybe they did not believe, but God would fight for them. 3. God was carrying them all along. Deut 1:31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. a. When you and I are in the will of the Father, we are always in His arms! b. Who can hurt us? Who can stop us? And if someone does hurt us, does it not mean that this is what God wanted for us? that somehow it was an opportunity to be more for God or to know Him better? c. Those that are in His arms are in the safest place they can be! In closing, notice that Moses three statements tell us something else about God and Israel 1. The fact that He went before them told them He was always guiding Israel. 2. The fact that He fought for them told them He was always protecting Israel. 3. The fact that He carried them told them that He cared for and was concerned for Israel, but Im going to use a different word. It told them that He loved Israel. So God was guiding, protecting, and loving Israel. Did they not know that? Did they know it and forget? Did they remember it and just chose to rebel. I dont know but the real question is, "What about us?" Will we believe these things? Will we remember them? Will we act accordingly? It matters not what we think or say. The proof will always be in our faith and obedience.