Deuteronomy 2:5 Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.
We all like to push the boundaries when we are young. We questions everything, the hallmark of a teenager. We want to know the “why?”, the question of a four and five year old. Some people never move past that questioning stage. The get stuck there and often don’t accomplish much in life.
There are bigger questions that need answers than those asked by children and youth. It isn’t that these questions are not important, it is that they are important at certain stages in life, but that there are far more important questions with which we must wrestle. At some point in life we have to just do what we are told, follow the rules, obey first and ask questions later.
The military uses Basic Training to accomplish this task. Not obeying the directives given results in many more pushups and longer hikes in the wilderness. The goal of that training is more than just physical stamina, the goal is to harness the power of decision all in one direction. We learn to obey an order to keep us moving in the same direction and hopefully save our lives in combat.
Some people would rather continue the push against authority for the rest of their lives. The pride themselves on their ability to resist! So they end up pulling and pushing a directions that keep the rest of us form moving forward.
Israel is making their final steps before they enter the Promised Land. They must journey though other nations’ territory along the way. And the LORD honors his promises to the descendants of relatives to the Jewish people. These relatives are not to be conquered. They are to be allowed to receive the blessing of the LORD unhindered by Israel’s move from captivity to rest in the Land.
Our text tells us that none of the land these relatives have is to become Israeli territory. Not even a footprint’s worth of land will become theirs. Not that is small measurement of land, isn’t it. Less than a square foot. That is a small measurement.
But is the point of the passage the measurement of land? No! The point is that the LORD is protecting more than just Israel. Israel has a purpose in the LORD’s plans, but so do the descendants of their relatives. These relatives have had encounters of grace with the LORD, and those encounters made them recipients of the LORD’s protection.
But as we have read, other nations did not have this same protection. The inhabitants of the Promised Land did not, and therefore they were on the “Nations to be Eliminated” list. And what was the distinguishing mark of those nations? Their persistence in the worship of other gods. That was their downfall.
All these nations had heard about what the LORD had done in delivering Israel from captivity in Egypt. It had been nearly forty years, and even in the ancient world, their internet was fast enough to carry that message. And now these nations waited in fear of what the LORD would do on behalf of Israel and against them.
It would be wise to heed the message. The LORD has paths that are blessed and paths that aren’t. He is the One to determine where and when we are to travel, and who and what we are to meet and do. Our job is to be obedient to those instructions.
Israel had a choice and a series of choices to make. They too often chose to not listen to the direct instruction of the LORD. Will we make that same mistake?
The Arnold Journey 