Week 10

Once again, I find myself posting in the last hour on the last day of the week. One day soon, I hope to actually have some time. Until then, here’s what we have from Week 10.


Topics of Interest

* We are familiar with the giant, Goliath, whom David slew with his sling and a stone. Scripture records Goliath as standing approximately 9ft 6in tall. At the end of Numbers, we read of Og, king of Bashan. It is recorded that his bed was 13ft long and 6ft wide. We aren't told his exact height, but one could gather from the size of his bed that he perhaps was taller yet than Goliath.

* Moses prophesied that when the Israelites go into the promised land, after they inhabit the land for a long time, if they then begin to worship idols and do evil, that they will not live in the land much longer before the Lord destroys them and scatters them throughout the world. (Deuteronomy 4:25-31)

This week, I'm going to present two points to consider. They will be brief due to the lateness of the week for posting, but please post questions or observations you have regarding either point.

Point to consider #1:

First, we're going continue our look at how the scriptures point to Jesus.

With the book of Deuteronomy we conclude the 5 "Books of Moses", also known by the Hebrew word, Torah. John 5:46 records Jesus telling the Pharisees "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me." Although we have seen several passages that speak directly of Christ, we certainly haven't exhausted the references in these books. We've seen pictures of Christ, foreshadowings of His life, parallels to His redemptive sacrifice, and prophetic announcements of His coming to provide our salvation.

This week, we are going to look at a short prophetic passage spoken by Moses.

The Israelites were encamped on the other side of the Jordan and ready to cross over into Canaan. Moses would soon die, and addressed the people with his final speeches. In one of his addresses, he prophesied:

'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.' (Deuteronomy 18:19-20)

There are two obvious points in this prophetic word. The first is that this prophet would be Jewish. We see the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 that He was born in the line of Abraham and David.

Jesus spoke to this issue of His identity.
So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. (John 8:28)

For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me." (John 12:49-50)

And for those who do not listen to Jesus, God Himself will require it of them:
I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. (Isaiah 45:23)



Point to consider #2:

With this week's reading, we come upon one of the more hard to understand issues for the first time, and more of the same will be coming up as we read in Joshua of the conquest of Canaan - the promised land. That issue is of complete annihilation of peoples - not only the men and women, but the children also. This is a sticking point for many unbelievers which they use to justify not believing in God. The frequently asked question is "How can a supposed loving God command the killing of innocent children?"

While this won't be an end-all, definitive answer, I hope to provide enough information to help you understand the issue.

We have already read that because of Adam sin and death has been passed on to all men. This is referred to as "original sin" and it is what is ingrained into our basic nature from birth. Not only are we born with this sin nature, we then act out from it.

When asked about this topic, one minister I am familiar with pointed out that you do not have to teach a a child to be greedy, to be selfish, to lie, to steal, or to hate. Those come naturally. You have to teach them moderation, to share, to tell the truth, not to steal, and not to hate. This is evidence of the sin nature we are born with.

God, in His righteousness and holiness, can not tolerate or allow sin in His presence. Being born with sin, we are then already separated from God. We are guilty even at birth. What we refer to as an "innocent child" is by our human concept and position; not the terms from God's holy position.

God in His wisdom and mercy, however, has provided a way for those children to receive the reward of eternal life. Christ died for all sins, once and for all. Until a person is mature enough to be held accountable for either choosing to follow Christ or rejecting Him, they are extended God's grace already whether they are a child or mentally underdeveloped.

God not only judges an individual, but He also judges nations and cultures. When a nation or culture has reached a point with its sins against God that He will no longer tolerate it, sometimes in the punishment of that nation or culture, innocents and God-fearing people suffer the punishment alongside those guilty of bringing it upon them. For example, when God delivered Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, certainly Daniel, Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah (known more commonly as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego) were not guilty of the sins of the nation, yet they were taken into captivity.

God had already judged the people of Canaan for their wickedness as a whole.

After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:4-5)

The critics of God's command often forget that the people of those cultures were themselves sacrificing their children to their gods by burning them in the fires at their idols and altars.

You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. (Deuteronomy 12:31)

But there were many other ungodly practices observed by these peoples, such as sexual immorality in worshipping the gods of fertility with orgies, that finally brought God to the point of judging their nations. He warned the Israelites not to become like them.

When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD , and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. (Deuteronomy 18:9-12)

Recall in our reading of Exodus 34:12 that God warned the Israelites not to make any covenants with the Canaanites otherwise they would become a snare to them and ultimately lead to them worshiping the gods of the Canaanites. Other verses echo the same warning (Deuteronomy 7:16, 12:30, Joshua 23:13, Judges 2:3)

We can not know the entirety of the wisdom of God's command to kill even the children, but we can see that allowing them to live in opposition to God's command would be detrimental to Israel. We can learn that lesson from the story of Haman. In 1 Samuel 15, we will read of when God commanded Saul to kill Agag and the Amalekites - man, woman, child, ox, sheep, camels and donkeys. He commanded the utter destruction of the Amalekites because when the Israelites were in the desert, the Amalekites would pick off the sick and elderly that trailed the main body of Israelites. Saul did not fully obey God's command. In the book of Esther, we are introduced to Haman the Agagite (descendent of Agag). He fostered an intense hatred for the Jews which had killed his ancestors and disposed them many generations before. Haman, through craftiness and plotting, nearly managed to arrange for the genocide of all Jews.

We will see that, like Saul later, the Israelites did not fully obey God's instructions when entering Canaan to take it. True to God's word, their involvement with the people of the land would be a serious problem for them...and it is still a serious problem for them today. God's plan for Israel to be a light to the world and to bring all men to God has never been fully realized because of their disobedience.

As for the babies that were killed by the Israelites at God's command, we can praise God that because of His mercy they are with Him.