Parashat D'varim

Words: The term "declared" is from the same root, which indicates that he is speaking very strongly, with an urgency in his voice. This is Moshe's "swan song". He is about to die, so there is an absolute firmness to his words. What he is about to say is crucial to the nation's survival. His intent is to ensure that the generation that is entering the Land forget nothing that he has taught them for the past forty years as they were growing up. A Midrash says the word should be read as d'vorim--bees--because while these words bring us great sweetness, they will also sting if we get on the wrong side of them. The Aramaic targum Onqelos cites the purpose for these words as being a "pep talk" to turn them from slackness to the serious task before them: battling to take the Land. This is a wake-up call: Who are we? Where are we? Are we ready for what is next? The events in the Land today are the same for us. The time to re-enter is approaching; are we ready? All of Israel: This time his words were not just for the leaders, or just the men, or just the adults, the obedient, or the wise and understanding. This is for the whole nation. This is for the whole nation. He is preparing them to do what their parents never did: take the Land. Across the Yarden: Though he is still on the same side he has always been on, he speaks of this place from the perspective of being in the Land. Though he would never get there, he still knew he belonged west of the Yarden, as part of the Land. This is instructive to us while we are still in the "wilderness". We should already be viewing everything as from the perspective of the Land of Israel. The names of the places they are between are also instructive. Pa'aran means "gleaming, beautifully adorned"--like a bride, especially the traditional brides whose customs still survive among the Moroccan and Yemenite Jewish communities, in which all the gold available in the community is strung around their necks or on their foreheads for this special occasion. Tofel is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture as a place we had been, so what is being emphasized here is the condition it describes. It means "whitened", but the root word, tafel, shows that it is an unnatural whiteness, because it means "plastered"--made to look like something it is not, for in Lamentations 2:14, it is used to refer to something fake, false, or deceptive. It is what you want someone to see--a veneer of stucco rather than the bricks underneath. It covers up a crookedness that must be uncovered in order for our exile to end. We all need to decide between the words that make us truly beautiful and the plaster of saying and doing the right things, but with no change on the inside. We can easily do the Torah without living the Torah. Is it why we get out of bed in the morning? It has to be our inner motivation, not just something we do under duress, just as the Ark of the Covenant is plated with gold both inside and outside. Are we truly covered, or just whitewashed? Certainly it is a process not accomplished in one day, but have we begun? If we choose to fake it, the truth will certainly come out eventually, resulting in great loss for Israel. Chatzeroth means a trumpet-shaped enclosure for sheep, and D-Zahav means "enough gold". Again, this points to a decision we have to make before we can cross the Yarden: Will we be about gathering the lost sheep or about amassing wealth? If the latter, the Land will only be defiled again.

Horev is Mount Sinai, and Seir is in present-day Jordan near Petra, so this route is one of many things that cast doubt on the traditional location of Qadesh-Barnea on the present Egyptian-Israeli border west of the Ramon Crater. There was a later town there called Qadesh in King Shlomo's day, but the only archaeological remains found there are from that time. There would also be no reason to go through Seir if traveling from the traditional Sinai to the traditional Qadesh-Barnea. The latter was more likely on the western rim of the Aravah, no further west than the eastern end of the Ramon Crater, for Numbers 20:16 tells us it was on the border of Edom. The phrase could also read "on the road [to] the Mountains of Seir". In light of how short a time the trip was supposed to have taken, consider the staggering ramifications of the next phrase:

Forty years: the period of transition, so we can sense that a change is coming. Forty years, by the ancient 360-day year, totals 14,400 days. This is about 1,300 times as long as it should have taken! They could have been there and back 650 times in the time it took them to get there once! We must not repeat this error. The beginning of the eleventh month is in mid-winter. This is the next to the last new moon before the period of punishment for doing things our own way will be over. We may be in the same place today, so we can identify with this. Moshe does not wait until the last minute to say these things, because they do need to prepare, but almost, so that they do not have time to screw up the preparations for going into the Promised Land. But Moshe already knows he is not going in, so he knows that he has at most two months to live. He does not decide to go visit his father-in-law or spend his last days in peace and relaxation, but spends this time preparing his people to go in and do what he cannot. These are the words of preparation. They had done their time; justice had been served, but now that they are at the end of their sentence, they are not just allowed to go home with a mad dash, though they can already see the Land in front of them. The price has been paid, but YHWH's covenant promises are not just about living in the Land, but becoming a permanent part of it. It is about the generations to come remaining in the Land forever in YHWH's presence, and the Land becoming a part of us. It is not just any land that we can casually live in for a while and then leave, for this Land will spew us out if we are not the kind of people He wants living in His Land. If we are not ready, we should not go in. We have to become the kinbd of people the Land can live with, and make sure our children remain so. We must care more about what He has given us than what our neighbors have. If we are not mindful of the heritage that goes with it, we will only squander our inheritance. So before they run to claim their inheritance, He makes sure they remember their heritage.

It was in itself somewhat of a miracle that YHWH allowed them to defeat these very powerful kings, so this should set the stage for them to recognize that they did not need to fear as they entered the Land of Kanaan, where they knew there would be more battles.

Yarden means "the one that descends". They had to pass it to continue ascending. Moav means "from the father", but also "away from the Father", for they were not yet as close as He wanted them to be. This instruction: The word for instruction is "torah", but he does not just say "the Torah" in general, but "this instruction", because this is the part needing clarification. He does not retell the story of the exodus, which the children have surely heard. He speaks only about the period from Sinai onward. The application of the Torah to the Land will be different from what they have been experiencing in the wilderness all their lives, in tents all dwelling together with YHWH's cloud and fire to lead them. Now they will need to take responsibility for their property and make sure their children remain attached to the Land and YHWH's instructions for living there and staying there. We are not prepared to enter the Land until we understand and commit to this part of the Torah. Make... clear: Most of those to whom he is speaking (all but two of whom are under 59 years of age) were either not yet born or too young to realize the implications of why the eleven-day journey took forty years. He wants to be sure they understand what took place so they will not repeat the same errors their parents had made by allowing themselves to be vulnerable to the same influences. But the term for "make clear" means "to carve into", for these words must become a permanent part of us. It is also from a root word meaning "to dig a well or cistern". The last phrase could literally read, "Moshe began to dig a cistern." This is a place to store water collected during seasonal rains so the supply will remain longer than the source is accessible. It is covered over so it will remain clean and not be stolen. David understood this concept when he said, "I have hidden Your Word in my heart so that I will not sin against You." (Ps. 119:11) In the context, He says, "Do not hide your commandments from me." Rather, hide them in me, a living cistern! Yitzhaq spent much of his life re-opening wells his father had dug, and Moshe is doing the same for this new generation of Israelites to empower them to cross over and ascend. He is making water available not by striking a rock, but by digging the "well of the lawgivers". (Num. 21:18) But the waters of the Torah can be muddied, and many Christian shepherds have done so. (Y'hezq'el 34:19) Rabbinic rulings, on the other hand, dammed up the water so that it no longer flows as it should. The water is meant to be a miqvah (ritual bath) also, so that those who are defiled can become clean again. We need to prepare a plae within ourselves both to retain the water and keep it pure. Digging a cistern for the waters of Torah has a supernatural effect: if we dig deep enough, the water itself will keep digging for us and the cistern will become a well! Yahshua said that those who came to Him for water would have the "Spirit" spring up like a fountain and flow out of their own innermost beings (Yochanan 7:37-38; compare Yoch. 4:9-14)--i.e., to refresh other thirsty people as well. (Yeshayahu 58:10ff) But many make a dichotomy between the spirit and the Torah, so Yahshua qualified this with, "as the Scripture has said". Which Scripture? Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 44:1-5 equates water and YHWH's Spirit, and in that context He is addressing Israel and those of their offspring who rejoin themselves to YHWH and call themselves Israel (again), inscribing on their hand that they belong to YHWH. In addition to the restoration of the use of His Name, in Yeshayahu 58:7-12 we see this water springing up in those who learn to love one another as He commanded, and the result is the restoration of the ancient ways. He then says that His renewed covenant will mean that neither His Spirit nor His words will depart from our mouths. (Yesh. 59:21) Speaking Torah to one another is part of our covenant. So the two are parallel, not in opposition. When His words are in our mouth, His Spirit (breath) will be as well. The more we repeat them, the more readily they will flow from us. In Yahshua's day, the restoration of the Kingdom was paramount in the minds of all in Yehudah but those who had sold out to Rome. But He says that if we receive the Torah (the words Moshe was rehearsing here) in the way Yahshua teaches it (rather than by the other methods that were being recommended), no one will be able to stop us from rebuilding the Kingdom. It does not have to do with burdensome legalism or amassing an army of cut-throats, but with truly loving one another. "Spirit" in Hebrew means "wind", and wind and water together produce a perfect storm. The calm cannot come until this storm is past. If we are part of the source of the storm, we will not be washed away by it.

This mountain was an awesome place, full of spectacular history. Here we had heard YHWH's voice for the first time. We had received the Torah and become engaged to YHWH. We had been through a lot with Him there. Yet He still wanted us to come closer. It was time to move on. Except for Moshe and a few others, this generation had not even come up the mountain, but stayed at its foot by their own choice. If they stayed any longer, they would not see all that He wanted them to see. It would become a mere museum. Yesterday's miracles were for yesterday, and we should recount it, but for the sake of motivating us today. He may have used the Church to bring most of us into initial relationship with Himself, but He is moving us on from there once again today, for it is not close enough to what He wants His people to be. (Heb. 12:18-28) They need to turn their faces:

Change direction: similar to the English command, "About face!" We have to turn our back on many things, but for only the sake of what we are heading toward. We face toward YHWH. This we must get right before crossing into the Land. Aravah: transitional area between arable land and desert, with some vegetation that flocks can feed on. Country of the Emorites: where there was war, for without being there for a time, they oculd not fully know the "Elohim of Armies". Sh'phelah: literally, "falling"; a particular region of foothills between the mountains of Israel and the coastal plain. Negev: the desert in the southern third of present-day Israel. Ferath: the Euphrates. This is the area that YHWH had promised to Avraham, but it is larger than the borders outlined in Numbers 34. Apparently their unwillingness to possess it all (until, to some degree, in the time of David and Shlomo) led YHWH to diminish their inheritance until the Nation was really ready to care for it in the way He desired. The name Ferath, like Efrayim, is derived from the word for "fruitfulness"; the Land will not come to its full fruition until Efrayim (the Northern Kingdom) returns to assist Yehudah, which is already there. Even Y'hezq'el 48 does not mention the river, but says the Land extends to somewhere near Damaseq and Khamath, so the full extent may be conquered somewhat later, when the Land becomes too crowded. (Zkh. 10:10)

Made available: delivered up, granted, permitted, dedicated, or extended. Take possession: includes the idea of expelling those already there. His promise to our ancestors puts a responsibility on us to make it come to pass. But unlike other lands that He would not let us take, He both gave permission for us to dispossess this Land and made the inhabitants fearful so the job was not beyond our ability. YHWH has made a way back to His covenant, but we have to walk through the open door.

I told you: Yet this was spoken to their parents, who have died since then. But anything that has ever been spoken to "all of Israel" is not limited by time. It still reverberates across the ages and is fresh and applicable to us today.

As He promised to Avraham--but it goes back even further. The first word in the book is "eleh" (these). Moshe rarely begins a phrase this way, but he does it to remind us of where this term first appears (Genesis 2:4), where it speaks of the generations or genealogies of heaven and earth--as if in terms of people! So even before Avraham, there are people connected to the heavenly hosts. By comparing Israel to the stars again, he is alluding to the truth that all of creation will be renewed when we truly hear these words and take hold of our heritage. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, whether literally or not, because there will be an order based on YHWH's words, if we do what these people did not fully do. It must continue with your children or it dies.

Though Moshe in some sense sees his flock as to some extent having fulfilled YHWH's promise to Avraham, he expresses a hope that "He will add". In Hebrew this is one word--yoseyf! If there were 600,000 warriors already, this prophetic wish would indicate 600 million men of war alone by the time all is said and done. This is about half the population of India today. He blesses them by recalling a promise that sets everything else he is about to say in context. It is the "spoonful of sugar" to help them swallow the "medicine" that he has to administer after this.

If Yithro warned him he was about to have a nervous breakdown with this many, how would he handle a thousand times as many? The Torah cannot stand alone; it needs interpreters.

To be your tribal leaders: literally, "for your scepters". They were allowed to nominate their own leaders as long as they fit the prescribed categories, and Moshe had to approve them. They had to be skillful, recognized by the tribe, well-known, well spoken of. They had to come from inside, not be hired from outside, and be endorsed by Moshe (who represents the Torah). Leaders today in Israel must be those proven by their adherence to and love for the Torah. Until this pattern is established once again, we cannot enter the Land.

15. "So I accepted the leaders of your tribes, learned and noteworthy men, and appointed them as heads over you--captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains over fifty, and captains over ten, as well as overseers for your tribes.

Learned and noteworthy: but he had also specified "discerning". (v. 13) Their earlier leaders had been missing this quality, and thus they allowed their natural, fearful wisdom to rule (in a "democratic" fashion, letting the ten spies overrule the two). Those who cannot distinguish YHWH's will from natural wisdom should not be in leadership. And as we learn in this portion's haftarah (Yeshayahu/Isa. 1:3), this pattern continued throughout Israel's history. Since the message of YHWH's amnesty went out to the Northern Kingdom, it has been the same story: there are many wise and of spotless reputation in the Church, but, being without Torah, they fail to distinguish clean from unclean. (Lev. 11:46-47) Today we only have rulers of tens re-established, but it is a start that can be the foundation for the rest. But no matter who we nominate or whom their fathers were or what seminary or yeshiva they graduated from , it is those whom Moshe (the Torah) appoints who will end up as rulers in Israel. I.e., the foremost criterion is, Who follows the Torah most closely?

Moshe set up an order because the main problem in the wilderness had been individuals rising up from below and rebelling against authority, trying to do things their own way. Brother: or "fellow countryman". Newcomer: Based on this, in Israel there must always be someone to advocate in court for the strangers among us. We have a particular responsibility toward those who turn aside to learn from us, even if they have not yet fully committed to follow. But this also shows that everyone who wants to be part of Israel has to be willing to submit to the rulings of its courts rather than make all our own decisions as wbe are used to doing. We must have such order if we want to receive the covenant again. Even if Yehudah does so perfectly, they cannot making rulings for the other tribes; only we can (or the Levites at the highest levels), so we must all become seasoned in Torah.

Show partiality: acknowledge one's position; literally, "cause faces to be distinguished". I.e., whether a king or the lowest of servants was being tried, the judge should not take notice, but treat them on the merit only of the facts of the case rather than on emotion, which clouds judgment. It also applies to trivial cases as well as capital ones; we must pay attention to the details of each and rule accordingly. Whatever we do we must do correctly. Rabbi Y'hoshua Kutner recognized that a poor widow's tears could be a form of bribe, even though she did not intend to manipulate, and called in another judge to assist him so that this would not bias him. Note that only the judge can appeal to a higher court to seek added wisdom, not the one being judged. He must abide by the ruling of the one who is already in authority over him. If this "father of the household" is able and willing to rule, that is where the process stops. Moshe's position has in most cases passed to the priesthood for such rulings. Establishing right, true, and equitable judgment is part of preparing to go home. Only then can we continue the journey, because doing what is right in our own eyes will only get us kicked out of the Land.

At that time: see Exodus 18:20.

20. "I told you, 'You have reached the hill country of the Emorites, which YHWH our Elohim is entrusting to us.

YHWH has set the Land before them, but they cannot see it because of the mountains that are in the way. But we are not to look at them or even at the Emorites. We need to see the Land instead. No matter how big the mountains are, we always need to have it in the back of our minds that as soon as we get over them, we will be there. They are much easier to climb if we know that just beyond them lies our Home. That should give us the courage we need. It is YHWH's will for Israel to dwell there; what do we have to fear? If we walk in His way, the mountain will either move out of the way, or you will get over it--literally!

21. "'Look! YHWH has made the Land before you available; Go up and take possession of it, as YHWH the Elohim of your ancestors, has told you! Do not lose resolve or be afraid!'

Lose resolve: literally, "be broken down" or "discouraged". I.e., do not let up or lazily lie down and just let happen what will happen or prostrate ourselves to anything but the task YHWH has given us. . Because they did so, the Land was never fully taken. But we will have another opening to finish the job. And with heaven on our side, why should any leaders be cowards?

They were only supposed to do reconnaissance for the purpose of mapping out a strategy for which order to take the Land, not to decide whether or not to enter!

24. "and they made preparations and went up into the hill country, and came as far as the Valley of Eshkol, and went [through it] on foot.

On foot: so they would know where they could march the whole congregation, since they too would have to come by foot. The pilgrim festivals are literally called the "three feet" in Hebrew. These have also made us give a glowing report about the Land today, though much of it is desert or full of churches and mosques.

They did? Only two said this, but these are the only witnesses he admitted. Moshe left out everything the other ten said at this point. This was enough information; the rest was irrelevant. He would not pass the evil report on to the next generation as plausible, or they could have said ten men made a minyan (quorum), and therefore must be right. No matter what is on it, the Land itself is beneficial! What YHWH says will take place, no matter what is in the way. Anything that rises up against us is just one more thing to cut down. It is never meant to inspire fear. Moshe knows when to tell them what, and how much to say. In this context, additional information would stand in the way of his message. Even when their words were misleading, he considered only what the fruit said. It told him whether what they were saying was true or not.

They did not want what He was offering if they had to fight for it. YHWH's "mouth" in this case was the fruit of the Land, which spoke for itself. Thus we see rebellion defined as being unwilling to ascend or move on when YHWH says to do so. And complaint nullifies ascension:

28. "'To where should we ascend? Our brothers have made our resolve melt, saying, "A people mightier and taller than we", "large cities, fortified up to the sky", and, "We even saw the sons of Anaqim there!"'

Their complaining stopped the ascending and nullified the progress they had made. Resolve: literally, "heart". Fortified: fenced, cut off, rendered inaccessible. Yet they had allowed their enemies to become bigger in their minds than they actually were. "Life and death are in the power of the tongue": their words--the report they chose to give--empowered those things against them, and the situation indeed became worse--a self-fulfilling prophecy. (See v. 42) They had a reason to believe the odds were against them, for some put themselves in the position of giving their brothers the excuse they were looking for, and were counted as guilty as the latter. Anaqim: A race of giants. But it always looks like a much bigger challenge than it really is. But once we grab hold of it, we often find that it is not nearly as intimidating as we had imagined.

30. "'YHWH your Elohim is the One going ahead of you; He will fight for you, in all the same ways He did for you in Egypt, [which you witnessed] with your own eyes,

Fight for you: the LXX adds "effectually". Did for you: literally, "did to you". Same ways: Possibly bringing heaven and earth to our aid with a series of natural catastrophes that give us the advantage.

He carried us on His shoulders. He carried us on His shoulders. There are times to look back, to recall the last time we thought we were defeated, but YHWH overcame, to realize that if He did it them He can do it again, to see how far we have come, but never to complain about what we have left behind. The fact that we are here means that YHWH is true, because what they are seeing is impossible, just like what is taking place today: a people that had ceased to be a people over 2,700 years ago have suddenly awakened and realized who we are! If He had not been who He said He is, you would never have made it this far. Any further does not seem very far.

We cannot pick and choose what we want to trust Him with. Trying to ensure our security in places we have not seen Him work before only drains the faith out of our souls.

He treated you like children, even telling you where to set up your tents; how much more personal could He get? The cloud and fire were meant to inspire fear in the Egyptians, not in Israel; to us it is the witness to reassure us that He can do again what He has done before.

Tone: He distinguished between an honest question and rebellion.

36. "'except Kalev the son of Y'funeh; he will see it, and I will give the Land which he has traversed to him and to his children, because he has fulfilled [his duty to follow] after YHWH.'

Kalev: One way to translate his name is "whole-hearted". Indeed he was that. The Land he has traversed: the land assigned to Yehudah is what he must have been assigned to search out, for he specifically asked for the area around Hevron. (Y'hoshua 14)

Was displeased: literally, "breathed hard". Moshe reverted to what had worked before when he allowed his anger to try to work out YHWH's righteousness (Yaaqov/James 1:20) But here we hear it from a different angle. The chronology is hard to follow again, but he blames their own words (d'varim) for his own words, which kept him out of the Land. It almost seems as if YHWH was angry with him for not doing enough to motivate them or even for agreeing to allow them to send the spies (v. 23). Was this already catering to their fears? Yet in Numbers 13 it says YHWH told them to send the spies. If we do what He told us to and we fail miserably, is it His fault? What if He said to send them, but really wanted Moshe to ask Him, "Are you sure?" And he did not ask when to send them. If it was not the right season, everything could go awry. Or Moshe may just be using every resource he has--even the guilt trip ("You screwed up and it kept me out too!")--to make them listen, so they would not repeat the errors of their parents. How well do your words line up with Moshe's (the Torah)? It is an excellent measure of whether we are rebellious.

Remains: one of only two in his generation who would see the Promised Land because they gave a favorable report and upheld Moshe. His name, of course, is the same as Yahshua's. Embolden: "strengthen" or "encourage". When Moshe had first encountered YHWH, he was the one who needed strengthening; he did not even speak Hebrew well enough to lead, and needed Aharon's help. But now he is verbally preparing them to go into the Land, using eternal words, because he saw what YHWH could do. They are words of love, b ecause he is committed to YHWH and to His people, though at this time this must take the form of rebuke and strong warning. He even has to go to the extent of belittling their parenst so that they will be properly prepared. He is about to die, and another must be strengthened. But because he did so, well over 3,000 years later, we have words that are just as appropriate for us right now. The sins of our ancestors are latent in us; there are things in us that we do not realize are present--fear, cowardice, rebellion. YHWH wants to give us a wonderful inheritance, but we are inclined to be stiff-necked, so we must be made aware of it or we will be unable to do something about it. If we cannot see ourselves in this book of life, it may be because we are not in it! So we had better listen carefully: What do we fear? What is inside us that is holding us back from the Promised Land?

Whom you said: YHWH would specifically demonstrate that their fears had been unfounded, but it was too late for the parents to repent. What poetic justice! Not yet come to know: those not old enough to go to war. Thus we see that in a united Israel, YHWH considers those under age 20 to have some degree of innocence, answering the long debate about the "age of accountability"; they do not count as having eaten of the tree of knowledge of right and wrong; they only followed what their parents did. But returning to the Garden of Eden is the real point of the Promised Land; Yahshua said the Kingdom was made up of those who were like little children. This is probably where he got the teaching about new wine being put into new wineskins.

41. "But you responded by telling me, 'We have sinned against YHWH; we will go up and fight, just as YHWH our Elohim commanded us!' And each of you strapped on his battle gear and were ready to go up into the hill country [just like that]!

Just like that: the word for "ready" implies the sense of taking something too lightly ,thinking it an easier matter than reality warrants. But indeed it was too much for them alone:

We cannot act when we want to, but when He says to. He is not with us if we are not where He wants us.

44. "Then out came the Emorites who lived in those mountains. [They] met you unexpectedly, and chased you just like the bees do, and crushed you in Seir, all the way to Hormah.

45. "Then you came back and wept before YHWH, but YHWH neither listened your voice nor cupped His ear toward you,

Came back: returned to the starting point. YHWH simply said, "You had enough time to act", in so many words. He had given them occasion to go in, as there was a certain level of weakness available which would not again be available for another 40 years, so they could not just repent and say, "OK, this time I'll obey!" As with a tax bill, there were penalties for trying to pay late, and if one waits too long, the very thing being taxed is taken away. They were now out of season, and it could not work. We must follow His calendar carefully so that we will be able to discern when it is the right season to act.

As many days: The Aramaic targum Onqelos interprets this to mean as long as they had stayed at all the other stops along the way. Qadesh means "set apart". They had to wait as long as it took to learn how to be holy so they could enter the truly set-apart place and survive. Soul-ties to other things can be one of the greatest enemies of reaching this goal, for they are deceivingly comfortable. We may teach those outside of Israel if they are willing to learn, but we must only have deep-level connections with those He has placed in the same flock He put us in.

CHAPTER 2

Turned and traveled: literally, faced a different way and pulled up (tent pegs). They had spent the majority of the time in the wilderness at Qadesh (1:46), for being a set-apart (qadosh) people was one of the biggest lessons we needed to learn. Learning to be separate from whatever is not of the Kingdom teaches us to turn from not listening to His voice. We must stay however long it takes to have the breakthrough, until the heaviness is gone that comes through disobedience, then we can turn and travel on together. Skirted: or encircled, surrounded, revolved around. From Qadesh, it was backtracking to return to the Mountains of Seir. (1:2) They were repeating a pattern they had followed at Mt. Sinai (1:6). They went from revolving around one mountain to revolving around another--possibly moving on from the mountains themselves, but still hanging onto the trappings. At least at Sinai, they had sat--an idiom for learning. It was appropriate to settle in and remove ourselves from other influences while we learned, but when we are no longer learning, we should not be sitting still. We should be doing things and learning from them as well. When we do not have a teacher, we must all the more seek to learn from our experiences and dig deeper to mine what is already written. The rabbis say study is the highest form of worship. When we are not studying, we need to be gathering tools with which to continue mining the Torah, then enter it, not always looking for something in particular, but seeing what is actually there, for if we have an agenda, we will miss many treaures. But now we have moved on to the territory of our belly-driven brother Esau. There is not a word of Scripture that is not prophetic, especially the torah, which was all written by a prophet. If we stay close to something long enough, it begins to pull us in to its orbit, keeping us from where He really wants us to get. This becomes more immediate for us when we remember that in Jewish thought, the scepter of Edom passed to Rome, the hub of Christianity. When the Northern Kingdom turned away from Mt. Sinai (where the Torah was given), it became centered on Rome and kept people's attention on the Church itself rather than on YHWH. Our exile is the time in which we really need to be learning, but we forgot what we had heard and listened to our own hearts instead. The Reformation protested some of Rome's doctrines, but held onto most, and thus Protestants remain her daughters. If they are really not part of the Roman Church, why do they observe Sunday, Christmas, Easter, which are not Scriptural and were commanded by no one but Roman Catholic authorities? The church is the church, no matter how it is sliced. The root word for "church" is kirke, which is the root also for circus--and circle (being originally symbolized by a sun-disk). So this traveling in circles is inevitable when we stop applying the Torah to our experience. Saying, "I feel that YHWH would never do or require such things" when He clearly laid them out in the Torah only made us clowns in that circus. Going in circles too long,we became dizzy and could not see things properly. For many of us the Church was a stepping stone, something YHWH used to our profit, but it is time to break free of its orbit and continue on to greater maturity in the place that is closest to YHWH's heart. Even many who have heard the call to return to living as Israel also still hang onto some of the Church's errors, like the trinity, the pagan concept of a god-man, etc. Why do we not protest these Roman doctrines as well? They appear to still give us some recourse to the security of the Church in case severe persecution begins. But when we learn who Yahshua really is and what His Kingdom is really meant to be, our priorities become much clearer and we realize we do not need these comfort zones that lower YHWH to a level where we would appear to be able to control Him more easily. Anything that is not the Kingdom can trap us in such an orbit in the same way. Following what feels nice does not let us ascend. (Yirmeyahu 16;19) YHWH gave us His calendar as a way to escape these other orbits. It looks like a circle too, but it is really a spiral staircase that is higher with each round. Even Rabbinic Judaism, though it follows this pattern, often turns it into nothing more than heritage. Heritage is a great thing, but if it takes us nowhere, it is not enough. We must move beyond agreeing with the words on a page to actually becoming what it describes. We cannot carry out Torah at a keyboard or monitor; it must lead to something else. How can a "cyber-shepherd" really know when the wolves are threatening his sheep? And how can he intervene? We must work it out face-to-face in community. If the Torah could be done by oneself, Yahshua would have done so, because he did not like to be among crowds. But even he needed twelve to work it out. The Torah itself began on a mountain, but we are meant to be moving toward a different mountain--Tzion or Moryah. Both the New Testament and the Talmud are based on the Torah, but both can get us sidetracked if we cannot tell where the commands end and the commentary begins. The key to stop going in circles is in the same phrase from another angle: go around it--that is, bypass it. Like rocket scientists, YHWH designed our bypass of Seir to ride its orbit only long enough to use it to sling us onto the trajectory toward the promised Land at an even higher speed, and many of us who did start out in the church have indeed been more zealous to hurtle toward Tzion than some who were born already in the festival pattern, since we could more clearly see the contrast.

3. "'You have been circling this mountain range long enough; turn yourselves northward,

Traveling eastward from Makhtesh Ramon (if Qadesh-Barnea is near its east end), one would run straight into the thickest of the mountains of Seir (pictured at left), so they had to go around it. (v. 1) Edom would not let them pass the more direct way to the north of it (Num. 20:20), so they had to skirt it by turning south (through the wide and level Aravah, in the direction of the Reed Sea's northeastern tip), then circling the range eastward, and finally turning northward once they had completely cleared the mountains. They then followed the more level valley up to the east of Edom and Moav. "And they came from the sun rise [i.e., east side] to the land of Moab" (Jud. 11:18) Turn...northward: this can also mean " face the hidden treasure." What is this treasure? Proverbs 7:1 tells us to treasure up YHWH's commandments. David rejoiced over YHWH's word like one who discovers great gain. (Psalm 119:162) The fear of YHWH is our treasure. (Yeshayahu/Isa. 33:6) As we do so, we will keep His commandments and destroy His enemies, and thus become a special treasure to Him as well. (Ex. 19:4ff; Deut. 7:1-6) So Israel is the treasure. To find it, we must face what we do not know, and dig. We will thus be able to uncover ancient foundations and rebuild the ruined cities. We do not know how this ragtag group of rebels against the world's ways will ever be unified and embrace authority, but everything else that YHWH has said has come to pass in the right season. The government will not give us grants to accomplish this, but YHWH will and so will the rest of Israel as it grows up and takes responsibility. Yahshua says the Kingdom of Heaven is like a hidden treasure which we would have to sell everything else to procure. (Mat. 13:44) But then we do have the greatest treasure. It is not for everyone. It is for "the few, the non-proud"--those who are willing to walk in it. It is not simply believing; that is still walking in circles. It is proviing our belief by doing. Thus the Word of YHWH, the fear of YHWH, and the Kingdom of YHWH are all described as the treasure. They are all part of His covenant to which Yahshua came to return us. We must do more than just believe in it; we must become part of it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, action is worth a million! Let them see it alive in us. We need to turn from mere personal salvation to focus on the salvation of the whole nation of Israel as part of the people who follow the kinsman who came to redeem it. (Mat. 10:6; 15:24) All these references to being His treasure are to a plural people. Turn and face one another as our treasure as well, for only corporate Israel can together make up His treasure.

Cross: but do not stay there! Roman roads were the easiest to travel in ancient times, and they still are. But we who have become Hebrews cannot follow their paths. They all lead to Rome, and that is not where we are going. We cannot do things the way everyone else does, and while this may be discouraging to children, it is something to celebrate when we are mature. They are our relatives, but they are settled in their mountains, and YHWH has a different place for us. Like a military marching band, we must stay in step, keep doing our job, and not even wave at those we are passing by. It is not our job to persuade them to come with us; that is the Holy Spirit's job, and if they want to follow, they can come and meet us at the right mountain. Remember, they are afraid. Their very name is based on fear. Seir means a hairy goat, but is based on the word for fear and dread (seen in the picture of hair standing on end). And indeed it is the fear of death and hell that gives the Church its power, as they claim to have a handle on it. But this is still about self. Christianity gives us a place where we do not have to be held responsible for our actions; all we have to do is say, "I'm sorry; please forgive me", and our guilt is magically gone! That is all that small children can do, but this is not maturity, so we cannot remain there. The Church's version of morality also gives us an excuse to ignore YHWH's actual commands. But it is fearful of us when we live truly as Israel, for we can back up our teachings with Scripture and they hold water. They are afraid of losing Christmas, pork chops, and the kind of "Jesus" they have been taught about. But all we should fear is that we would do something awful enough to cause YHWH to withdraw His presence and favor from us.

Get into a skirmish: LXX, "engage them in battle"; Aramaic, "provoke them". We are to leave alone what actually belongs to Edom--the peripherals added to the truth, like the holidays not based on paganism, the historical "saints" who did noteworthy things, even some claim to survive into the kingdom when put in its true perspective. But Edom has laid claim to much that is in reality ours. It may appear to be part of Edom, but whatever originated directly from the Torah must be taken back as rightfully Israel's. Not until the Kingdom do we possess the "remnant of Edom". The Church fears us because they know that if they join us they will lose their holidays, many of their favorite doctrines, and some of the things they like to eat, and they should, for the truth divides. But this is not what we are to go in announcing. We only need to teach what Yahshua actually taught--love for our true neighbors, and that He came to restore the lost sheep of Israel and make us one community again. YHWH gave them a place and He will decide who lives there. Do not argue with them; it is only YHWH's Spirit that convinces anyone. If they ask questions, give them answers, and let Him decide if they respond. If He wants them to stay in Seir, that is His business, not ours. Do not cast pearls before those who do not prove worthy. (Mat. 10:11) If they ask a question, answer it, but do not let it become an arguing match. We will not convince them of anything, and their willful ignorance will only frustrate you. We have nothing to prove to anyone except YHWH, and He will test us. He gave them their scary mountain, and He decides who will remain there. Let Him do the beckoning. If they want to be taught, they are probably some of the lost sheep of Israel who are yielding to the Shepherd's call. If they follow when we pass through, it is His doing.

Trade: or bargain for. As with Moav below, YHWH had Israel treat the nations of their relatives with more respect than the other nations around them. (Compare 1 Tim. 6:2; Philemon 1:16) Many of those in the Church that revolves around Rome are related to us, using the same Scriptures, but they view them through a different grid and therefore draw very different conclusions about them. Thus we can sometimes receive valuable things from them, but this does not mean we have to live there too. We must not make ourselves indebted to them in any way. We pay with silver, not with our labor, which should be reserved for Israel. We should not be building anything for what is not Israel. Using silver also shows Edom that YHWH has prospered us independently of them, just as our ancestor Yaaqov showed their ancestor Esau. (Gen. 33:5) What is theirs is theirs, and we do not need it.

Because...blessed you: They did not really need the Edomites' food, because they still had manna until they crossed the Yarden. (Y'hoshua 5:12) We do not need to attach ourselves to anything else to get to where we need to go. Even if Esau is our brother, we do not need his help. They were essentially offering a "toll" to a people whom he thought would be content to give them no trouble if only they got something out of it. He gave them no leverage to say, "Your cattle ate some of our grass as you passed through; you owe us for that!" He has been familiar with your walking: The same holds true for our wilderness. YHWH says of Ephraim, "My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face..." (Yirm. 16:17)

Recall that Seir means a shaggy goat, and that the Edomites did not let Israel cross their land--at least, not before they started circling around it. (Num. 20:18ff) They acted the part of the goats in Yahshua's parable who did not do for the least of Yahshua's brothers what they needed (Mat. 25:32ff), and thus did not prove to be His sheep. They are distant brothers, not our true neighbors. Here it sounds like they had a friendlier relationship with Esau than is indicated elsewhere. He may be putting Kanaan in perspective: "You thought Esau was an enemy? No, that was just a family squabble. Focus your hatred where it really counts! Save your energy for the ones YHWH is ready to judge now; Edom will be dealt with later."

Treat as an adversary: Aramaic, "oppress"; LXX, "quarrel with". They receive some benefits for the present just because they are descendants of the righteous Lot, Avraham's nephew. During the time of the kings they would be subjugated by Israel, but they would still remain a separate land. Ar: the Aramaic version calls it "Lehayath".

11. "'They were even considered giants like the Anaqim, but the Moavites call them "Emim".

Giants: Heb., Refa'im, from a root meaning "healthy", "robust", or "vigorous". Emim seems like a pejorative term: It is the word for "mother" with a masculine ending. Some take it as meaning "terrors", as the Aramaic form has, "fear-inspiring ones".

Dispossessed: They won their land like Makhir did, so He would not take it from them--especially with all that Esau had already lost to Yaaqov (both birthright and blessing; this is all the land that was left to him when Yitzhaq had blessed Yaaqov already, so He was not going to take that away too). It did not matter how big they were; when YHWH wanted them dispossessed, they were, and this was to encourage Israel with the knowledge that though they may be too big for us to deal with, they are not too big for YHWH. Esau was also left in place because he was supposed to be what Yaaqov ended up being, and thus YHWH had something to contrast with--an example of what Israel was not to be like. Has been doing: This is spoken prophetically as something certain because in YHWH's eyes it was already done. In their place: There is a double meaning here, for Chorites literally means "cave dwellers". Esau killed off the cavemen! They did not disappear millions of years ago. But since Esau (Edom) represents Rome, we also see a prophecy here of the fact that Christianity, once it was made the state religion by Constantine, would usurp the sanctuaries that had been used by Mithraism, the religion of Roman soldiers, but which traced its roots all the way to Nimrod. One of its hallmarks is that they always worshipped in caves. They had an elohim called Gad (pronounced exactly like the modern term "God"), and had major festivals on December 24-25 and January 1. They had water baptism, and the form in which the priest holds the recipient as he goes underwater stems from them, not from the Hebrew form of immersion in which there is merely a witness that one goes completely under water. So the Church (Esau) actually still inhabits the "caves" of Mithraism by retaining these tenets.

Wadi Zared: the border between Edom and Moav, feeding into the southernmost part of the Dead Sea.

Period: literally, "days". Men of war: Aramaic, "war-waging men". Gone: finished off, entirely spent, completely exhausted; LXX, "failed", i.e., "had faded away".

Push: Heb., stir up, impel, trouble, urge them out with a noisy commotion; Aram., destroy How did He push them out? The Aramaic targum says, "A plague from YHWH emanated against them..." Yet the children all survived. Some had to be as youing as 60 years old when they died, so it appears that YHWH just left them to their own dangerous tendencies, and did not shield them from their own bad choices.

17. "YHWH spoke to me, saying,

18. "'Today you are crossing the border of Moav, that is, Ar,

Now that the generation that had let fear rule their choices was gone, their children could go in. He waited for them to die. That is something to really be afraid of--that YHWH will give up on us. They were not even allowed to fight outside the Land. He did not want them to be the examples for His true warriors. Only Y'hoshua and Kalev were left of the earlier generation. Again, YHWH is raising upa new guard. Only a few who were leaders in the Church are leaders in Israel now. He is raising up fresh minds , and if we keep looking to Christian interpretations for clues about the times, we will miss YHWH's real cues.

Lot was also a righteous man, so YHWH had plans for his descendants as well. He did wonders for them too, just as Avraham gave gifts to his sons other than Yitzhaq. The lands Israel was to leave alone (Edom, Moav, and Ammon) are the same three whose lands the "king of the north" will not control. (Dan. 11:41)

Zamzummim: "Devisers of plots"; Aramaic, "schemers", or simply, "those who make plans"--yet none of this got them anywhere; they lost their land as well.

As tall: Aram., "as powerful"; LXX, "mightier than you". YHWH even fought for them. Their story is not ours, but we cannot displace theirs until the Kingdom when the instruction goes forth from Yerushalayim to every other place.

23. "and the Awwim who lived in the villages up to 'Azzah--Kaftorites who left Kaftor exterminated them and lived there in their stead.)

'Azzah: "the strong place", now known as Gaza because of the Greek spelling of the guttural first sound. Kaftorites: from Crete--one of the sea peoples probably related to the Filistines (for they are listed along with them in Y'hoshua 13:3). How evil must the Awwim have been to be allowed to be displaced by the likes of the Filistines? This may not be the case at all; it may just be that YHWH wanted the Filistines there for lessons He wanted to teach Israel later. At this point, He was showing Israel how other nations much smaller and far less righteous than they were allowed to keep their lands because they had dared to oust peoples greater than themselves, to show that their parents really had no excuse to doubt Him, even in natural terms, but also to give the new generation courage for the task that lay ahead:

Get up: or wake up; this is not just a history lesson. This is the language of the Feast of Trumpet-blasts. Listen to what He is saying! The Arnon was the border between Moav and the Emorites. (Judges 11:19-22) Crossing it was no small task, as it is very comparable to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. In fact, Arnon means "great overcomer", possibly since it was able to carve out such a deep channel. It comes from a root meaning to give a ringing shout of joy (as in Psalm 95:1), and indeed such shouts would echo from the canyon walls. But we need to cross over (go beyond) mere praise to YHWH and actually carry out His purposes on earth. Make an inroad: begin, or literally, "puncture"; Aram., "start to expel...cause a provocation so as to make war". The Emorites were Kanaanites, who were under Noakh's curse, but had been spared by YHWH until their perversity reached its overflow point. (Gen. 15:16) Now it had.

26. "Then I sent messengers from a wilderness of Q'demoth to Sikhon king of Heshbon, to speak words of peace:

Messengers: LXX, "ambassadors". Wilderness of Q'demoth means "place of speaking ancient things".

28. "'You may sell me food for silver so I can eat, and give me water for money so I can drink; just let me cross by foot,

29. "'as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the descendants of Moav who live in Ar have done for me, until I have crossed the Yarden into the Land that YHWH our Elohim is giving to us.'

Esau: Yet we were told the Edomites did not do this for them (Num. 20:18ff). That may have been the first time they asked, before they started encircling the mountain (v. 1). These events may have been years apart, and the Edomites may have changed their attitude between the two occasions. There the king refused to let them pass through. There the name used was Edom, not Esau, as it is here. It may be that that king was someone else who lived in Mt. Seir, and was not truly Esau's descendant. Or, as the pope does not support Israel, but many Christians do, it may be that while the refusal was official, there were some on the periphery who allowed them to take a smaller shortcut across part of the Edomite territory.

Moshe used the same formula for these that he had used with the other nations, but they responded very differently. It may be that he did not want us in the Land either because there were other Emorites across the river (Y'hoshua 5:1)--his distant relatives, and so he was guarding them. They were warned (v. 25), and when YHWH put the fear of Israel in their hearts, the playing field changed. As long as some of the earlier generation were still alive, they could pay their way through; now there was a new spirit in the earth. Things change when the fearful who discourage others are gone. Also, these were not relatives, so they did not receive the same measure of patience the others had. Bold: obstinate, self-assured, with a confidence that one is superior and secure. Heshbon means the best-woven-together, the most-reasoned-out or best-devised, i.e., a stronghold designed so well that nothing should be able to conquer it. Sikhon forced them to fight by saying "no". The Heshbonites were not on YHWH's initial list of people needing to be judged, but because they stood in the way of Israel's obedience to YHWH, they needed to be taken out of the way. (YHWH promised to curse those who cursed Avraham's descendants.) We cannot be rash and make war on everything that is not Israel; then we would constantly be in a state of war. We are not out for spoils. The adage says, "Choose your battles wisely." But "Let YHWH choose your battles" is even better. If He says "take it", do so; the rest are not our problem. Avraham was a peace-loving man, but when his relatives were taken captive, he went to war. Do not waste time or energy on mere skirmishes so that you miss the truly strategic battles. The Torah prepares us, and the season informs us of what to fight. At Passover we fight against whatever leavens the community. At Sukkoth we fight against anything that would rob us of joy. On the Sabbath we battle against anything that would continue when YHWH has said, "Cease." We make war by stopping, if we do so with understanding. We do not contribute to the economy on its biggest market day.We move unseen things, even if there is no body count. Sometimes our weapons are physical, and at other times we pull down strongholds in the form of logical systems (reckonings or computations--exactly the meaning of Heshbon) that raise themselves against the knowledge of YHWH. And being ready to avenge disobedience. (2 Cor. 10:4-6) Some philosophies like democracy are well-reasoned and do make more sense than anything else available, and may be the best form of government for most nations--something we do not need to fight in our exile. But in the Land, it stands in the way of Israel living according to Torah, wherein the most valiant and most knowledgeable in the Torah have the say, not the most popular, and leadership passes through the family line. We must fight within His boundaries. There are many who think they know better than we, and would argue, but let them compare their fruits with ours. But first we must weigh our own fruit. Is it still fresh? Is it still edible? Ours can rot away too, so we must keep checking to ensure that we are doing the best we could. Count the cost, as Yahshua said, making sure that we are really prepared to do what needs to be done. Make sure your fruit is in season and mature enough to be eaten of. We must not assume that everyone who is hungry will eat what we offer them, recognizing it as the food of their homeland. If they stand in the way of the truth, the truth must, by virtue of its inherent nature, prevail over error when challenged. We may have to uphold those we cannot stand and contend with those most closely related to us to where YHWH wants us.

32. "Then Sikhon came out to encounter us in battle at Yahatz--he and his whole nation.

33. "But YHWH our Elohim gave him over before our faces, and we struck him down along with his sons and his whole nation.

We: Moshe did not lift a sword, but he took responsibility, and shared the rewards with the all Israel.

35. "Only the animals did we seize for ourselves, along with the plunder of the cities that we had captured.

Only the animals: they alone were innocent or did not carry the tainted seed of these inhospitable people.

On the river: or "in the river-valley". Set securely on high: A common practice, as we see clearly with Yerushalayim, was to build a city atop a hill that was flat on top but steep on the sides, or build an artificial grassy slope called a glacis at the base of the walls, building the walls all the way out to the slope so there was no place for besiegers to stand in order to assault or undermine the wall. Glacis means "to make slippery", and that was the exact purpose. They would have to stand at the bottom of the hill and at a distance to sling their stones or shoot their arrows to the top of the wall, thus making the wall all the higher. Beth-She'an's glacis made the net height of the walls nine stories tall!

The Yabboq crosses right through what became Israel's territory closer to the Yarden River, but there is a branch forking into it that formed this border.

CHAPTER 3

Bashan is th land north of the Yabboq River as far as Mt. Hermon. Israel had conquered as far as the Yabboq. (Num. 21:24) Edrey is between the Yabboq River and the Golan Heights. Much of its stone wall, 3 miles in circumference, still remains. That we were near Edrey probably means we had crossed the Yabboq, possibly to retrace Yaaqov's footsteps. (Gen. 32) Og probably came out because we were getting too close to his land, but he was a slow learner. He had seen the destruction wreaked on the Emorites by Israel, yet he decided to make the same mistake. Israel was not looking for trouble, but it sought us out. Bashan means "fruitful". Whenever we set out to get closer to home and start approaching fruitfulness, we encounter new obstacles and make new enemies, for we have upset the balance. Things we had nothing to do with before now become our problem. Those who did not feel threatened by us before now want us to go back to the circles we had been walking in. Families, employers, governments, and even spiritual forces will try to stop us from crossing that border whenever we are making progress toward it. Armies tried to drag us back into the bondage we had come out of. When we encounter opposition, it is a sign that we are on the right path; if nothing comes against us, we are not making many waves. Whenever we do something noteworthy, we are most susceptible to attack, and the first thing that usually attacks us is self--the thought, "I must be special if YHWH used me in this way!" This opens the doors for other things to attack us. But these problems are also YHWH's, and He is very capable of overcoming them. This book shows us how. One way is to close the gates behind us when we go out to battle. Even if we have a great victory at one gate, the enemy will try to enter by another, for there are many ways to get at our thoughts and priorities. YHWH tells us to "put" His words on our doors and gates as the way to guard them.

We can defeat our enemies if we do not surrender to fear. It is the fear that can beat us even before we go to battle. YHWH does not inhabit the fear of other things; He says He inhabits praise. (Psalm 22:3) It is difficult to praise YHWH and be fearful at the same time. A firm witness of what He has done in the past is the best way to remove fear from our minds. We are not meant to stand in awe of anything but YHWH. Fear is contagious. It steals our neighbors' courage, and YHWH counts it as worship of some other elohim, for it means we do not really trust Him. He tests us through bringing fearful things into our lives so that we will learn to fear Him alone, believing that He can take care of us no matter what. Our trust is not in whether we can growl more loudly than those who threaten us. We need to deal with the cause. Having Avraham as our father is part of the foundation that gives us a platform to stand above the fear. YHWH told the patriarchs not to fear, and we are the heirs to the promises YHWH made to them. The wages of not being afraid include His multiplying our descendants (Gen. 26:24), our becoming a great nation (Gen. 46:2-3), avoiding sin (Ex. 20:20), the people of the Land becoming fearful of us (Num. 14:9), and taking possession of the Land. (Deut. 1:21) 52 times in Scripture YHWH tells us not to fear--one for each week! In fact, it is actually a positive command: "Do no fear" or "Fear nothing". It is not something we avoid, but something we actively engage by determining in our hearts that we will not partake of. Sikhon means "sweeping away", and that is what he tried to do to all the gains we had made through his "contrived reason" and "plots invented" to discourage us (the meanings of the name Heshbon, but the root means "to weave together") with the "what-if's" that convince us that we cannot win. Through "weaving together" interlocking stones from opposite directions to support each other (a fine example of which is seen at Yerushalayim's "stepped-stone structure" from before David's time, which still stands 3,000 years later), a strong fortress is built on such false premises that sound so right. (How could so many sincere people be wrong?) But even that cannot stand if we do not fear. It does not matter what the experts say or where the numbers are. When they see us coming, they arm up, but they do not have the resources to defeat truth. As we die to self, like sappers who risk their lives to undermine the city walls, we only have to pull one or two strategic rocks out of place and the whole structure will collapse, and fruitfulness is back on the horizon. YHWH told Moshe this, but as we walk in the Torah he wrote, what is said to him becomes the promise to us as well. Emorites: based on a word for "to say". We defeat them by not taking their words seriously and holding onto the truth YHWH has already revealed. He says "I have delivered... you will do..." I.e., He will underwrite it and ensure victory if we are not fearful to carry it out, not being afraid to step outside of self and become one people again. Heshbon was quite a large city, and has been under excavation for 40 years.

This time there is no negotiation. He postured himself against uis, so we had to take him out. False fruitfulness tried to stop us, but we can defeat these enemies every time if we do not surrender to them or to fear. Their protection had already been taken away. (Num. 14:9) If we act at the time He tells us, the window will be wide open and victory sure. If we are afraid and hesitate, we may miss the open door, and not get to our home, because we will have left the usurper in place. There is another kingdom principle in that YHWH gave him into our hands, yet told us to go and do the fighting. He goes before us, but lets us carry out the battle, because there is much to learn therein. He tells us to jump into it, for only then will we see what He can do. As with the manna in the wilderness, the provision is there, but we have to go gather it--in season--and prepare it to be eaten. We attacked Og when he came against us, not before. And when walking in His calendar makes it obvious that the season is right, do not delay. Not one left: Whether destroying a nation or preparing a meal, whatever He gives us to do, we must do to our utmost.

Argov means "heap of clods". The Aramaic targum identifies it by the later (Roman-era) name of Trachonitis. It covers 308 square miles in all. Bashan: now part of it is known as the Golan Heights.

They had high walls. Why does he point this out? Because the spies had exaggerated and said the cities in the Land had walls reaching to heaven--as if even YHWH could not penetrate them! Nonsense. The only factors that matter are whether we are obedient and whether we act in the right season.

They were inaccessible, but we accessed them! It doesn't say how. Strategies are given in some accounts in Torah and in Y'hoshua, but not here. YHWH may have given us the strategy as well, as He did on some other occasions, but strategies will differ everywhere; what matters most is that we did it only because YHWH was with us. Dedicating to destruction: based on the word from which we derive "harem" because of its connotation of being "off limits". In this case it was set apart for destruction. So there are three categories in the Hebraic mindset between which we must learn from Torah to distinguish: what is holy to YHWH (one kind of set apart), what is marked off for destruction, and what is simply profane (i.e., ordinary, mundane). This was set apart for destruction. It is a horrific thing to kill women and children, and it has a profound effect on soldiers; the half-sheqel tax was given specifically to deal with this feeling of guilt in a final way. (Ex. 30:13) It is true that "war is hell", but there is a season for it. They were to take no captives this time, for this was not a people they could make a deal with. Where there are no people left who would rather still be in that stronghold, there is no negative influence and no reminder of where we have been, so our focus can remain on where we are going instead of on nostalgia that only keeps us circling the places we should leave behind. As nasty as it might be, this brought about a clean cut, which precluded many evils that would come with having an enemy on our border.

Because they were outside the Land, nothing but the people were under the ban. They only took what was worthy taking. They could not bring these people with them.

9. (The Tzidonians call Hermon [by the name of] Siryon, and the Emorites call it Sh'nir.)

Mt. Hermon



9,200 feet high, Hermon means "most set apart", coming from the word from which we derive "harem"--that is, something prohibitive--for it is difficult to access, being surrounded by lower hills. This highest mountain in Israel is on the border between Syria and the Golan Heights. Siryon means "breastplate". Sh'nir: "mountain of snow". Indeed, it does have snow year-round (even a ski resort today!).

Plateau: or table-land--the precise topography east of the Great Rift Valley parallel to the Yarden River. Still, it is not easy terrain to traverse; one city here in Roman times, Gamla, was so hard to get to that even tax collectors usually skipped it!

Only one left: The spies 40 years earlier had seen evidence of giants, but this race was already dying out, and out of the one man (or possibly the few elderly others that were still there at that time), they built a "Heshbon"--a cleverly-crafter myth calculated to discourage the whole nation. It was all between there ears! If Og was in Bashan, there were no giants actually left in the Land of Israel proper! We read of only a few--the Anaqim--whom Y'hoshua and Kalev themselves would conquer (Y'hoshua 11:21-22; 14:12ff) when they finally got to the Land. The cubit of a man: measured from the elbow to the fingertips of an ordinary-sized man. In English terms, this bed (or possibly the bier on which they carried him to be buried) measured 13.5 to 14 feet by about 6 feet. It was left as a "museum-piece" to remind us that there was no one left to sleep in it, because YHWH had already given the giants into our hand. There was no reason to be afraid!

13. "Then the rest of Gil'ad and all of Bashan, the realm of Og, I gave to half of the tribe of Menashe--the whole region of Argov, so [he would have] all of that [part of] Bashan [which is] called 'the land of giants'.

Argov: the site of the present-day Leja, it had solid walls four feet thick, and doors and gates of stone a cubit thick. It holds some of the oldest intact houses in the world, they were so well-built. Menashe did not ask for this land, but the reason it was give to them lies in the name of Gil'ad. It comes from the Gal'ed that Yaaqov established here. It just means a pile of stones built for the purpose of being a witness to a covenant he had made with Lavan. (Gen. 31:47) Menashe is here as a witness of the connection the tribes here have on the other side of the Yarden, for Menashe is the tribe that has land on both sides.

15. "To Makhir, I gave Gil'ad,

16. "then to the Reuvenites and Gadites I assigned from Gil'ad to the River Arnon--the middle of the valley being a border--and up to the Yabboq River, the border of the descendants of Ammon,

17. "and the Aravah of the Yarden a border, from [Lake] Kinnereth all the way to the sea of the Aravah--the Salt Sea below the slope from the summit [that is] toward the sunrise [from it].

Kinnereth: so called because of its harp-like (kinnor) shape, it is more widely known as the Sea of Galilee. Salt Sea: also called the Dead Sea because only a few types of algae can live in it due to the high concentration of salt since the Yarden no longer empties it out. Summit: Heb., pisgah, sometimes a proper alternate name for Mt. Nevo, where Moshe would die.

Able-bodied men: literally, "sons of ability". This is still addressed to the sons of Reuven and Gad.

The background for this sarcastic statement by Moshe is Ex. 12:38 and Numbers 32. In the latter passage this was the reason two tribes asked to settle east of the Yarden outside the Promised Land. They had put their cattle(i.e., their wealth) first, and he reminded them to prioritize care for the next generation over care for their possessions.

It may be granted, but could still tempt us to lose our focus, so beware. It is another kingdom principle that until we have all arrived, we have not arrived. We cannot settle down if our battle is won but our brothers' battle has not. If we have mastered something others have little of--be it faith, knowledge, intelligence, or just finances--we nee dto help our brothers achieve the same so we can all receive together. With whatever we have, we must help prepare the rest of Israel until everyone is ready.

See Numbers 27:18ff for details of this account.

Fear basically means empowerment of whatever we offer it to. If we respect our enemy, this becomes a foothold for him instead of YHWH. Whichever you prepare a place for, you will reap the effects of. (Yirmeyahu 1:17) You cannot serve two masters.