Jesus achieved where Israel failed. Deuteronomy 2.1-15
Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Deuteronomy (2)
Pray Psalm 78.1-5
Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children…
Sing Psalm 78.1-5.
(Foundation: How Firm a Foundation)
Give ear, O my people, attend to my word,
dark sayings and parables sent from the LORD,
things we have before by our Fathers been told,
which we would not dare from our children withhold.
The glorious deeds of our God in His might,
and all of the works He has done in our sight,
together with all of the words of His Law,
would we on ourselves and our children bestow.
Read Deuteronomy 2.1-15; meditation on verses 13-15.
Preparation
1. What did God command His people to do?
2. How did they respond?
Meditation
For forty years God bore with the temptations that overwhelmed His people because they would not obey His Word. They whined to Him for food and water. He met their need. They grumbled at His appointed leaders. He purged the rebels from their midst. They gave in to the temptations of pagan women. God punished the wicked.
For forty years Israel roamed the desert until every member of that faithless generation had died. Only Joshua and Caleb obeyed the Lord, and only they survived to enter the land. Forty years of failing every test, and forty years of denying God’s promises and disobeying His commands.
This is why Jesus began His ministry with a forty-day struggle in the wilderness of Judea. His was a time of deprivation and preparation, while Israel’s was a time of disobedience and destruction. His was because of obedience to the Lord. Israel’s was because of rebellion against Him. Israel’s ended with the unbelieving generation vanquished in the desert. Jesus’ time in the wilderness ended with the arch-rebel vanquished and bound and Himself attended to by angels.
Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s expectation for His faithless people. At the same time, He represented the new generation who would follow Joshua into the land of Canaan. Jesus would emerge from the wilderness to begin His campaign to bring His Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.
And we are still involved with Him in that struggle today.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162.
Good manners are a big part of Christian character; and Jesus was Exemplar Supreme.
God the Father was teaching the children of Israel good manners during this foray into the land of Promise.
“You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.” And then God warned them about their behavior toward another kindred family: “Do no harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession” (Deut. 2.4-6, 9).
They were not to behave in an entitled way. They were not to be covetous, nor selfish. They were to be polite and equitable to those with whom they did business.
Also, as an aside, God was gently informing them that He would no longer be providing their daily manna and water provisions. They were to grow up a bit and take some interest in their own sustenance. They were still to trust God daily, but in a new and different way. “For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing” (Deut. 2.7).
This was much the same way Jesus carried out His ministry. And this was what He taught: “Give us this day our daily bread…Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? …But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6.11, 25, 33).
But back to good manners; we are to have them, for without them we can be seen as boorish, unkind, unloving, and downright irritating to others. We bear the Name of Christ, and we are to strive daily not to be a blot against His good Name. “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man” (Prov. 3.3, 4). “What is desired in a man is kindness, and a poor man is better than a liar” (Prov. 19.22). “Love does not behave rudely” (1 Cor. 13.5). “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Lk. 2.52). “I have compassion on the multitude…I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way” (Matt. 15.32). “…having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (Jn. 13.1). And even in the throes of death, in agony and pain, He had time to speak to and care about a lowly thief who begged Him to remember him; and He did. “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Lk. 23.43).
Jesus’ good manners and love are the highest and loftiest ever to have graced this planet. It is certainly love and good manners beyond measure and comprehension; beyond humanly doing (Eph. 3.20). And yet, we are called to imitate Him.
Jesus never offended anyone through bad manners. He was always the picture of love and kindness. Even when driving out those in the temple, He exhibited great love for His Father. No doubt, He did offend, but only because He told the Truth to those who did not want to hear it. There is a big difference in the two.
We must strive to be like Jesus. Well-mannered, loving, and kind. It is an important attribute, for even in the direst of situations—no home, no food, no water—God was training His children that good manners must be at the fore of all we do. Surely, no one wants to be guilty of turning another away from the Kingdom simply because we will not see the importance of behaving in a mannerly fashion.
Reflection
1. What do we learn from Israel in the wilderness about character?
2. What do we learn from Jesus in the wilderness about character?
3. What specific areas of character and obedience will you be working on today?
Only a short account of the long stay of Israel in the wilderness is given. God not only chastised them for their murmuring and unbelief, but prepared them for Canaan; by humbling them for sin, teaching them to mortify their lusts, to follow God, and to comfort themselves in him. Matthew Henry (1642-1714), Commentary on Deuteronomy 2.1-8
Pray Psalm 78.56-72.
Wait in silence, asking the Lord if there is anything in your life that is testing or provoking Him. Seek forgiveness and repentance. Call on the Lord to help you serve Him throughout the day ahead.
Sing Psalm 78.56-72.
(Foundation: How Firm a Foundation)
Yet over and over they turned from His love
and scorned Him Who ruled them from heaven above.
His glory departed, they fell to their foes
and suffered His wrath in uncountable woes.
While they were still suff’ring, He rose in His strength
and fought for His people and saved them at length.
From Judah a king He set for Israel,
a temple He built with His people to dwell.
Now Jesus, God’s servant, is King evermore,
and we are His people, and He is our Lord.
His heart is upright as He leads by His hand
and causes us ever before Him to stand.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
