Numbers 33 A Word

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Numbers 33:50 On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho the Lord said to Moses, 51 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 52 drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. 53 Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54 Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.

55 “‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. 56 And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.’”​

I went back to Bibletrack.org this morning. It seemed to have the best commentary on where Jacob's family seems to be at this point.

At this point, Israel is set up east of the Jordan River across from Jericho. That's just east of the north side of the Dead Sea. They are ready to go into Canaan. But first, some instructions about what to do when they get there are in order. Verse 52 says it well, "Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:" Paganism, polytheism and the people who are involved - all must go. Verse 53 says that Israel is to evict these folks. Later we see in Deuteronomy 9:4, "Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee." A similar statement is made concerning the banishment of these people from Canaan in Leviticus 18:27-28. Verse 54 explains the process whereby Israel shall determine which tribe moves where after crossing the Jordan River into Canaan - the lottery. Casting lots was the supernatural way Israel made decisions.

So, what if Israel chooses not to drive out the current inhabitants of Canaan? There's your answer in verse 55, "...those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell." After a seven-year campaign of Israel inhabiting Canaan, they did not manage to drive all of the previous citizens out of the land. And, just as verse 55 says, those previous residents turned out to be a problem...a huge problem.

I'm curious about how the map would look back then and how it looks now.

Promised_boundaries.jpg today.jpg

The maps would have been different if the dysfunctional humans that made up Jacob's [Israel's] family had simply followed God's instructions. Then again.... if Eve had done as she was told, and Adam weren't such a wimp....

:coffee:
 
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