The Book of Law: 40 Years for an 11 Day Trip

 Have you ever stubbornly refused an instruction and ended up taking twice as long to get something accomplished?  Perhaps you refused to ask directions and ended up several hours off course, or may you didn't bother to read the assignment instructions and realized at the end you did way more work than was required.  The Israelites had the same problem.  Did you know that from Mt. Sinai it was only an 11 day walk to Canaan, the promised land?  Yet it took the Israelites 38 years to get there (Deut. 1:2-3).  Why did the Israelites end up spending 40 years in the wilderness instead of marching happily from Egypt to Canaan?  In Deuteronomy, Moses reviews the Israelites recent history with them to answer that very question.

The people had gone from Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and had camped out around Mt. Sinai to not only learn more about God, but learn HOW TO follow Him.  God then told them to pack their things, they were heading for the Promised Land (Deut. 1:6-8).  But even as they were camped out in the literal presence of the Lord 24/7, they still managed to bicker and complain to the point where Moses nearly lost His mind (Deut. 1:12).  So Moses set up a system of government for the people with judges from each tribe to help ease his burden and solve disputes for the people.  Moses and the people chose leaders who had wisdom, experience, and understanding.  People who would give a fair ruling on all manner of disputes.  You get the sense that this isn't going to go well if the people can't get along long enough to go from Mt. Sinai to the Jordan Valley.

When they get close, rather than just go in (like God said) the people asked Moses to send in spies to find the best route.  That was a sensible suggestion, so Moses sends in twelve spies (Num. 13).  You know the story, the spies go in and when they get back, Joshua and Caleb tell everyone how great the land is, but all the other spies scare the people with stories of giants and how impossible it will be to go into Canaan.  Moses about lost it, reminding the people all the great things God did for them (Deut. 1:29-33).  But despite the Red Sea crossing, the daily manna, the pillar of cloud & fire, the people doubt God.  At that point Moses loses his temper and God bans all the people there from the Promised Land (including Moses).

Flash forward 38 years.  All the complainers had died off, and God tells a very elderly Moses to start leading the people back towards the promised land (Deut. 2:1-7).  Finally, at long last, the people began crossing into the Promised Land!  They went through the land of their cousins, the Ammonites (descened from Lot, Abraham's nephew) and right up to the Amorites. But when they asked King Sihon if they could have safe passage through his land, he refused.  Like the Pharaoh 40 years before, the Amorite king hardened his heart (Deut. 2:30), but no one can stand in the way of the Lord!  So the Israelites completely destroyed the Amorite nation, wiping it from the face of the earth at the Lord commanded them (Deut. 2:32-37).

After conquering the Amorites, the King Og of  Bashan, and all the land east of the Jordan (Deut 3:1-11), Moses began to give out the land assignments to the tribes of Israel.  He gave some of the land to the Tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of Manasseh (Deut. 3:12-17).  However, Moses gave a caveat to these men.  He told them that just because they had their land to live in, they still must help their relatives conquer the land west of the Jordan so they too might have some land.

Have you ever done something wrong, gotten the consequence you deserved, but tried to get out of it anyway?  Moses tried that very same thing.  He begged God to let him cross the Jordan River with the rest of his people as they started their conquest of the Promised Land.  Perhaps Moses hoped God would forget his temper tantrum (Num. 20:1-12), but God does not waver in His judgement, and though He dearly loved Moses, He stuck true to His word and forbade Moses from entering the Promised Land (Deut. 3:23-26).  But God told Moses that he could go up to the top of Mt. Pisgah and see all the land that his people were going to occupy and take comfort knowing it was good land.  After that Moses commissioned Joshua to become the next leader of Israel.

As they are standing on the east bank of the Jordan, Moses pleads with his people not to forget their God.  He reminds them that they should obey everything he taught them during their wilderness years, because these are the commands of God.  He also warns them to always be on guard and never forget everything that they experienced in the wilderness, from Mt. Sinai onward to this moment.  What other people in all of history had stood before the physical presence of their God and heard His voice calling to them from the mountain?  Who was it that caused fire to shoot off the mountain into the sky, and spoke His Ten Commandments directly to His people (Deut. 4:9-13)?  Moses reminded the people that it was their God!

Moses did not just remind the people of their accomplishments, he also warned against about making idols or worshiping the sun, moon, or stars.  They would see this behavior in their neighbors, but their God, the Living God, had created EVERYTHING for all people (Deut. 4:19) and that Israel was His own very special people (Deut. 4:20).  Moses also prophesied to the people that if they forgot or ignored their God, than the special land He was about to give them would be taken away and they would be marched off all over the world to places that were not their homes.  As we know from later books in the Bible, the people forgot the warnings of Moses several times.

Finally, Moses reiterated the special relationship that the Israelites had with their God.  How the Lord of Heaven and Earth had spoken with them at Sinai.  How He had guided them to this place to give them their own special kingdom.  How their all powerful God had driven out people, even giants! from in front of them so they could have everything He had promised them.

“So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other. If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” (Deut. 4:49-40)

Moses' reminder still holds true for us today.  As Christians, we also have a special relationship with our God because of what He has done for us (II Peter 1:3-4, I John 3:1, Col. 1:19-22).  As you go through your daily life, to you remember what God has done for you?  Do you thank Him?  Are you a witness for your friend God by how you live your life?  It won't always be easy, and there will be challenges.  Perhaps it will take you 38 years to do something that might normally take 11 days, but if you keep your eyes on God, He will guide you all the way.

How great is our God!

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