Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this the first weekend in February, 2022.
Have you ever been on a long trip and found a place along the way that seemed so wonderful you decided to stop there for a while, and eventually you discontinued the rest of your trip, forgoing whatever it was you had anticipated as your original destination, choosing instead, to stay at this place along the way? That is exactly what happened to some of the people who had been traveling with Moses for almost 40 years, did you know that?
Come with me today to Numbers 32 and we’ll see for ourselves what happens when you take your eye off the long term goal and settle for short term comfort. Oh it may seem comfortable at first, but it can be dangerous, right? Yesterday I left you with Moses and Joshua, as God had finally told Moses his life journey would soon be ending and his leadership role would need to be passed to Joshua.
Almost 40 years before, Moses had led about 1 million Hebrew slaves out of Egypt in the middle of the night as God had sent his 10th and final plague on Egypt, remember? You’ll find that in Exodus 12. In the 40 years since, everyone over age 20 on that night, had died in the desert except Moses, Joshua and Caleb. Two generations of Israelites now numbered even more, perhaps 1.5 million people, and they were camped in the Jordan river valley, on the east side of the Jordan river. Thanks to water runoff from the mountains to their east and the beautiful Jordan river to their west, this valley was a wonderful place, especially if you were a person with animals like sheep, goats and cattle. What a contrast to the hot, dusty, dry desert where they’d spent the last 4 decades of time.
On the other side of the Jordan river was the land of promise to which God had promised He would lead the people after He rescued them out of Egyptian slavery. As these two generations of Hebrews looked around at the lush vegetation of the Jordan river valley, and then across the river into Canaan, I’ve often wondered what they were imagining life would be like for them and their descendants? Almost 40 years before their parents had sent 12 scouts into the land and after 40 days exploring, they’d returned with a wonderful report about the land, but also a warning that the cities had very high, impregnatable walls, and the people seemed too strong to consider invading the land. (Numbers 13,14) So they refused God’s offer and instead they wandered the desert in their doubt, waiting for that fearful generation to die. Now a new census had been taken, (Numbers 26) confirming that entire, faithless generation was gone. It was time. God would very soon give this new generation the chance their parents had rejected... the chance to enter Canaan, the land which God had given to Abraham 500 years before!
But then something unexpected happened. In fact, I don’t know if anyone thought about it, but it was the very same thing which had happened to their famous ancestor Jacob and his 12 sons, more than 400 years ago. Can you guess what happened? Some of these people became very comfortable in this Jordan river valley land and gave up on their dreams of the land of Canaan! With Jacob and his sons, the same thing had happened in the land of Goshen in Egypt, during the great famine which brought them from Canaan to Egypt. (Genesis 45,46,47) That famine lasted only 5 more years, but life was so good in Goshen, Jacob, his 12 sons, and all their families pushed off any thought of returning to their homeland in Canaan, and they settled instead for the lush land of Egypt. (Genesis 47:27-30) It was wonderful for a few generations, but then a new Pharaoh came to power in Egypt and he knew nothing of Jacob’s son Joseph, and so he enslaved those descendants of Jacob! (Exodus 1) I wonder if anyone thought about that among this young generation of Hebrews camped in the lush Jordan river valley?
Numbers 32 begins with this: “The Reubenites and the Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and said… ‘if we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan river.” (Numbers 32:1-5) What?? The Reubenites and Gadites were the people of two large tribes who could trace their heritage all the way back to Jacob’s sons Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn son, and Gad. The Reubenites and Gadites had been greatly blessed by God with large flocks and herds of animals which depended on good grazing land… the kind where they were camped right now, in the Jordan river valley. I imagine they hadn’t seen pastureland like this for many years, maybe not since they left Egypt a generation before! I can’t blame them for recognizing the bounty and potential of this river valley for their flocks, can you?
But there was a problem. This wasn’t the land of God’s promise. Canaan was over there, on the other side of the Jordan river. This was good, but it wasn’t God’s provision. Have you ever heard the old adage, ‘better one bird in the hand than two in the bush’? It’s a call to settle for what you have if it’s good, even if there is the potential for something much better. It’s a pragmatic life rather than a life of faith. For several generations these Israelites had lived together… in Canaan as a large family, then in Goshen as a huge community of people, and now the past 40 years wandering in the desert all following the cloud of God’s presence and camped together, everyone under their family and tribal banner. But now, for the first time in many generations, two tribes, the Reubenites and Gadites were proposing separating from the rest of the Israelite nation! If they remained here in this lush Jordan river valley, and the other 10 tribes went across the river into that land of promise, then a river would separate them. Can you hear some of them saying, ‘but it’s only a river, and not a very large river most of the time. We can easily cross back and forth and we’ll stay closely connected.’
Moses reacted as you might imagine… in shock, that after all they’d been through together, two family tribes would want to separate from the rest of the Israelite nation simply because the pastureland was nice here! But ‘here’ was not over there, God’s promised land. Moses begged them not to divide the nation, but they were insistent. Moses warned them that it was a decision they would long regret, but they were insistent. The lush pasture land here was simply too much to forgo in hopes there might be good grazing land over there. In negotiations they promised to send some of their men ‘over there ‘with the rest of the Israelites to help them conquer the promised land, and then return here to their pastureland. In the end, old Moses gave in and agreed to their promise and their request. But I see a leadership failure, do you?
As you read through Numbers 32 or listen to the audio dramatized Bible link at the conclusion of our notes today, watch carefully. Do you see something missing? I find no evidence Moses did here as usually had done in the past. He did not tell the people to seek God for God’s guidance, nor did Moses go to the Tent of Meeting and meet with God asking for God’s guidance. Perhaps he did and he simply didn’t write it into the record. I wonder if this is an indication that Moses in his older years, had simply grown very weary of the people constantly looking for a short cut, wanting to do things their way rather than God’s way, and way too often complaining? Had Moses run out of leadership courage and boldness? Was Moses starting to think like a ‘lame duck president’, since he knew Joshua would very soon be taking over his leadership role?
I want us to pause right here, watching Moses and the leaders of the Reubenite and Gadite clans, as they negotiate. Evidently another group of people were listening and they joined in the discussion expressing that they too wanted to stay in the lush Jordan river valley. They were 1/2 of the tribe of Manasseh. They too had flocks and herds and would prefer NOT to cross over with everyone else. I don’t want to be too hard on Moses here, but this decision was dramatic and divided the Hebrew nation forever!! The record says: “So Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites and the 1/2 tribe of Manasseh… the territory around them.”
That night when everyone in the camp went to bed, under the pillar of fire which had led them here, and had united them for so long, everything started to change. For the Reubenites, Gadites and 1/2 the tribe of Manasseh, they could already feel their relationships with the rest of the Israelites severing. This would be home, not Canaan. For all the other people, they too sensed a change, for those who would remain behind had chosen separation rather than unity and nothing would ever reunite them again. Let’s spend some time pondering this my friends… is it possible you will face some decisions like this in 2022? No matter how far you live apart from your family, how are you using modern technology to stay connected? Do you need to call someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time, this weekend? Why don’t you do that!
Today’s Scripture is Numbers 32.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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