Deuteronomy 3
For he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see
In Deuteronomy 3, Moses is now talking about defeating Og and giving his land to the tribes east of the Jordan. He also talks about God’s command to him about commissioning Joshua and about going up to die shortly.
Bible Passage:
3:1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2 And YAHWEH said to me, ‘Do not fear him. For I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’ 3 So YAHWEH our God also delivered into our hand Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We smote him until none was left remaining to him. 4 And we took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we did not take from them, 60 cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the great many number of unwalled towns. 6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. 7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took as a prey for ourselves. 8 And we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to mount Hermon 9 (Hermon which the Sidonians call Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir); 10 all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was the length of it, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.)
12 And this land we took in possession at that time: From Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead, and the cities of it, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13 The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same is called the land of Rephaim. 14 Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, to this day.) 15 And I gave Gilead to Machir. 16 To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and the border of it, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon. 17 The Arabah also, and the Jordan and the border of it, from Kinneret even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.
18 And I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘YAHWEH your God has given you this land to possess it. You shall pass over armed before your brothers the children of Israel, all the men of valor. 19 But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (I know that you have much cattle) shall abide in your cities which I have given you, 20 until YAHWEH gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also possess the land which YAHWEH your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then you shall return every man to his possession, which I have given you.’ 21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that YAHWEH your God has done to these two kings. So shall YAHWEH do to all the kingdoms where you go over. 22 You shall not fear them; for YAHWEH your God, it is he that fights for you.’
23 Then I beseeched YAHWEH at that time, saying, 24 ‘O Lord YAHWEH, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to your works, and according to your mighty acts? 25 Let me go over, please, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that pleasant mountain, and Lebanon.’ 26 But YAHWEH was furious with me because of you, and did not listen to me; and YAHWEH said to me, ‘Let it be enough; speak no more to me of this matter. 27 Get up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see.’ 29 So we dwelt in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
Reflection:
I think the business model of church in America has really killed the beauty of passing on leadership. Making the role of a shepherd into an occupation, makes moments like these, not impossible, but much harder to happen. Joshua is known and respected by the community, he is clearly chosen by God to lead and the man who came before him is able to lay hands on Joshua to commission him as the man who will lead the people next. There is so much power in this rite of leadership. The job search and the interview process and the salary negotiation and all the business of becoming a leader in the Church has certainly formalized and streamlined the process, but we’ve lost something significant. The passing on of leadership in the American church has often lost its godliness and it has certainly lost its magnificence.
Questions and Answers:
Verse 23: Why does it only mention Moses pleading with God to see the land here? [Gwendolyn, 9]
It’s a good question Gwen, but I can’t really answer it. It’s never mentioned in Numbers after chapter 20 when Moses is told that he can’t enter the land. In fact, it’s fairly conspicuous that you see no reaction from either Aaron or Moses about their punishment in the book of Numbers. I think in part that Moses and Aaron accept their rebuke publicly because they are good servants of YAHWEH. This isn’t even the only thing we hear about for the first time. We also read in Deuteronomy 9 that God wanted to destroy Aaron specifically after the golden calf, which is never said anywhere in Exodus. Those kind of revelations are part of the reason I think Deuteronomy feels so personal. The whole book consists almost exclusively of Moses speaking, and there are some personal comments on these situations that give us insight into the details of these significant moments. Moses begging God to let him enter the land, and having to pray for his own brother’s protection are really intimate insights into what Moses experienced. You’ll hear that same kind of personal reflection in the book of Jeremiah. It’s why Jeremiah came to be known as “the weeping prophet.” That’s one of the reasons it’s my favorite book of the Bible.
This gives us a really good insight into Scripture though. We need to remember that Scripture is not meant to be exhaustive in detail. The words that are written down are what God wanted humanity to have, but there are many aspects and details of all these events that are recorded in the Bible that we do not know. We can’t think that we know everything, we need to have humility. But what we do have, we know we can rely on. We can trust what God has revealed. And that idea is best encapsulated in a verse that comes from Deuteronomy that I love. It’s at the very end of chapter 29. It’s an easy reference to remember because it’s Deuteronomy 29:29. “The secret things belong to YAHWEH our God, but the things that have been revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Anyway, I think it’s really beautiful that Deuteronomy gives us further insight into what happened earlier in the Pentateuch, as Moses reflects on his life and the nation right before he dies.
Verse 28: Is some of this things that already happened and some of this things that are happening now? [Elisha, 8]
So the only thing happening currently is Moses speaking to the whole nation before he goes up to Mt. Nebo to die. This is all Moses’ speech to the people. So that is the thing that is happening now.
But what is confusing is that the things he is talking about are all things that have already happened. He talks about what happened at Kadesh-barnea, then going through the land of Edom and Moab, then the defeat of Sihon and Og. So all those are things we already read about in Numbers, but when we get to verse 23, that paragraph talks about something that hasn’t been fulfilled yet. God has already spoken to Moses about his death, but that hasn’t taken place yet obviously. That won’t happen until Deuteronomy 34. Moses also speaks about the commissioning of Joshua that YAHWEH commanded him to do. That has already happened, it took place back in Numbers 27. Later, God himself will commission Joshua in Deuteronomy 31.
This is another reason it’s important to try and remember what you have read because it shapes your understanding of a passage like this. It’s really hard to follow if you don’t remember what has taken place and what hasn’t. I think it’s awesome you recognized that some of the things you had heard before and some you didn’t remember reading about. Way to pay attention to the text Eli.
Recording of the Passage:
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