1. These are the words [d’varim] that Moshe declared to all of Israel across the Yarden in the wilderness on the transitional land toward the Reed [Sea] between Pa'aran [cavernous], Tofel [unseasoned], Lavan [white], Chatzeroth [trumpet-shaped enclosure], and Di-Zahav ["which is gold"].
Words: or "things", "matters". The Aramaic targum Onqelos adds that Pa'aran was where they spoke irreverently about the manna, and Chatzeroth was where they caused a provocation about the meat. It cites the purpose for these words as being a rebuke for all these sins in the wilderness, and a "pep talk" to turn them from slackness to the serious task before them: battling to take the Land.
2. ([There are] eleven days' journey [from] Chorev to Qadesh-Barnea by way of the Mountains of Seir.)
Chorev 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. A more recent theory places Qadesh-Barnea in southern Jordan, possibly at the very spacious Wadi Rum. In light of how short a time the trip was supposed to have taken, consider the staggering ramifications of the next phrase:
3. Now at forty years, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moshe spoke to the descendants of Israel according to all that YHWH had made him responsible for concerning them,
Forty years: the period of transition, so we can sense that a change is coming. The eleventh month is near the end of the winter.
4. after he had struck down Sichon, king of the Emorites, who was living in Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, who was living at Ashtaroth in Edrei.
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.
5. Across the Yarden, in the land of Moav, Moshe took it upon himself to make this instruction clear, saying,
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. Make…clear: Most of those to whom he is speaking (all but two of whom are between 40 and 59 years of age) were either not yet born or too young to realize the implications of the Exodus or the reasons 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” and is 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! 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. They need to discern the value of YHWH’s commands in the way David later would. But 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! Y’shua 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. 4:9ff)—i.e., to refresh other thirsty people as well. But many make a dichotomy between the spirit and the Torah, so Y’shua 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. (Contrast those who have the Beast’s name on their hands, Rev. 13:16.) 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 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) 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 Y’shua’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 Y’shua 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.
6. "YHWH our Elohim spoke to us in Chorev, saying, 'You have sat at this mountain long enough;
This mountain was an awesome place, full of spectacular history. Here they had heared YHWH’s voice for the first time. Yet YHWH still wanted them to come closer. Except for Moshe and a few others, they 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. 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:
7. "'change direction: pick yourselves up and go into the hill country of the Emorites and onward to all its neighboring places--the Aravah, the mountains, the Sh'phelah, the Negev, and the sea coast--the land of the Kanaanites, and Levanon as far as the Great River--the Ferath River.
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.
8. "'Look! I have made the Land in front of you available! Go in and take possession of the Land that YHWH promised your ancestors--Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov--[with an oath] to give to them and to their seed after them.'
Made available: delivered up, granted, permitted, dedicated, or extended. YHWH has made a way back to His covenant available through Y'shua's blood. It is rightfully ours, but we have to walk through the open door. Take possession: includes the idea of expelling those already there. Today it is our task to bring the rest of the Northern Kingdom back into the fold of Israel. We are hunters (Yirmeyahu 16:16), and it is not for sport; we live by the hunting, for without every lost sheep of Israel back in the house, there are gaps in the structure. So even if we miss our prey the first few times, we cannot afford to stop hunting, or we will starve. Seed: descendants, but it is in the singular form, and thus has a special reference to the Messiah (Gal. 3:16), since Y'shua will indeed reign from Yerushalayim.
9. "And I told you at that time, 'I am not able to sustain you by myself.
10. "'YHWH your Elohim has caused you to multiply, and here you are today like the stars of the sky for abundance!'
11. ("May YHWH the Elohim of your ancestors add onto you a thousand times more, and bless you, just as He has promised you!)
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.
12. "'[But] how can I by myself bear your encumbrance, your burden, and your legal disputes?
13. "Provide for yourselves learned and discerning men of renown to be your tribal leaders, and I will set them in place as your head [men].
To be your tribal leaders: literally, "for your scepters". They were allowed to choose their own leaders as long as they fit the prescribed categories. 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.
14. "Then you responded by telling me, 'The thing which you have proposed to do is appropriate.'
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 good reputation in the Church, but, being without Torah, they fail to distinguish clean from unclean. (Lev. 11:46-47)
16. "And I gave orders to your judges at that time, saying, 'Listen to your brothers with discernment, and decide cases justly between a man and his brother or the newcomer [who is staying with] him.
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".
17. "You must not show partiality in legal procedings; you must hear [the cases] of people of little [consequence] in the same way [you hear those of] the mighty. You must not stand in awe of men's faces, because the decision is YHWH's. Now the case that is [too] difficult for you, you may present to me, and I will hear it.
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 equally, on the merit only of the facts of the case rather than on emotion, which clouds judgment. 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.
18. "And at that time I gave you orders in regard to all the things which you were to do.
At that time: see Exodus 18:20.
19. "Then we pulled up stakes from Chorev and walked that whole vast and dreadful wilderness which you have seen, by way of the hill country of the Emorites, as YHWH our Elohim had ordered us. When we had come as far as Qadesh-Barnea,
They could not leave Mt. Sinai (another name for Chorev) until a system of judgment was set in place.
20. "I told you, 'You have reached the hill country of the Emorites, which YHWH our Elohim is entrusting to us.
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. Because they did so, the Land was never fully taken. But we will have another opening to finish the job.
22. "Then all of you approached me and said, 'Let's send men ahead of us, and they can explore the Land and bring us back word [about] which road we should go up by and the cities into which we should enter.'
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!
23. "And the thing seemed beneficial to me, so I selected twelve men--one for each tribe--
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. Feet also link us to the concept of the pilgrim festivals, literally called the "three feet" in Hebrew. These have also made us give a good report about the Land today, though much of it is desert and it is full of churches and mosques.
25. "And they took some of the fruit of the Land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us back a report, saying, 'The Land that YHWH our Elohim is giving us is suitable!'
Moshe left out everything else they said. But this was enough information; the rest was irrelevant. Today as well, no matter what is on it, the Land itself is good! 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.
26. "But you were not willing to go up, and rebelled against the word of YHWH your Elohim,
Willing: or "content". Rebelled: the word includes the sense of having tasted bitter to YHWH. Thus we see rebellion defined as being unwilling to ascend or move on when YHWH says to do so.
27. "and sulked in your tents, and said, '[It is] because YHWH hates us [that] He has brought us out from the land of Egypt--to give us over into the hand of the Emorites and exterminate us!
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.
29. "But I had told you, "Do not tremble, and do not be afraid of them!
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".
31. "as well as in the wilderness, as you have seen how YHWH your Elohim has carried you as a man carries his son on the whole route you have walked until you arrived at this place.
32. "Yet in this matter there is no one among you who trusts YHWH your Elohim,
33. "who went ahead of you to search out a place to camp, in fire by night to enable you to see the way by which you should walk, and in a cloud in the daytime.
Seeing how far He had brought them already was meant to prevent them from being intimidated by the new enemies they would face. 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.
34. "And YHWH heard the tone of your words, and He burst out in anger and swore an oath, saying,
Tone: He knew the difference between an honest question and rebellion.
35. "'If any of these men of this evil generation shall see the good Land that I promised to give to your ancestors,
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.'
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)
37. "YHWH was also displeased with me on account of you, saying, 'You will not go in there either.
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), and in doing so, he marred a picture of Y’shua who, having once been struck, needs to merely be asked to let the water flow. (See note on v. 5.)
38. "'Y'hoshua the son of Nun, who remains in your presence--he [is the one who] will go in there. You must embolden him, because he will cause Israel to inherit it.
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 Y’shua’s. Embolden: "strengthen" or "encourage".
39. "'And your little ones, whom you said would be taken as plunder, and your children, who as of today have not yet come to know good from evil--they are the ones who will go there, and to them I have given it, and they will take possession of it!
Whom you said: YHWH would specifically demonstrate that their fears had been unfounded, but it was too late for the parents to repent. We must let this be instructive to us! 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 good and evil (which parallels the forbidden mixtures in ch. 22); they only followed what their parents did. This alludes to a return to the Garden of Eden, which is the real point of the Promised Land; Y'shua said the Kingdom was made up of those who were like little children.
40. "'But you, turn back and set out into the wilderness on the way to the Sea of Reeds.'
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:
42. "But YHWH said to me, 'Tell them, "Neither go up nor fight, so you will not be struck down by your enemies, because I am not in your midst.'
We cannot act when we want to, but when He says to.
43. "So I warned you, but you would not obey me, but [rather] rebelled against the mouth of YHWH, and went presumptuously up into the hill country.
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!"
46. "and you remained in Qadesh for many days--as [many] days as you lived there.
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 this lesson 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
1. "Then we turned and traveled the wilderness by the Way of the Sea of Reeds, as YHWH had told me, and we skirted the mountains of Seir for many days.
Moshe continues this long discourse, fluent in Hebrew forty years after making the excuse that he did not know how to speak. Skirted: or encircled, surrounded, revolved around. From Qadesh (1:46), 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)—hesitating to move on. They went from revolving around one mountain to revolving around another—possibly moving on from the mountains themselves, but still hanging onto the trappings. If we encircle the mountain long enough, it begins to surround us and hem us in, keeping us from where He really wants us to get. It may not appear that we are actually connected to it, but something that spins creates gravity that sucks us back into itself. This becomes more immediate for us when we remember that in Jewish thought, the scepter of Edom passed to Rome, the symbol of Christianity. When the Church stopped focusing on 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. The Reformation protested some of Rome’s doctrines, but held onto most, and thus Protestants remain her daughters. But many who have heard the call to leave the Church and return to living as Israel also still hang onto some of its less-obvious errors, like the trinity, the pagan concept of a god-man, etc. They appear to still give us some recourse to the security of the Church in case severe persecution begins. But when we learn who Y’shua 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 so we would appear to control Him more easily. He also does not want us to revolve around the mountain of Rabbinic Judaism, but around the Torah itself, which began on a mountain, but moves us to our true Homeland. Do your thoughts and mind revolve around it, or around the things of the present age?
2. "Then YHWH spoke to me, saying,
3. "'You have been circling this mountain range long enough; turn yourselves northward,
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) Y’shua says the Kingdom of Heaven is like a hidden treasure which we would sell everything else to procure. (Mat. 13:44) Thus the Word of YHWH, the fear of YHWH, and the Kingdom of YHWH are all described in the same way. They are all part of His covenant to which Y’shua came to return us. We must do more than just believe in it; we must become part of it. 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.
4. "'and to the people, give orders, saying, "You are about to cross the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and they will be afraid of you, so take extreme care
Cross: but not stay there! Seir means a hairy goat, but is based on the word for fear and dread. 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. All we should fear is that we would do something awful enough to cause YHWH to withdraw His presence and favor from us. But the Church will be fearful of us when we live truly as Israel, for we can back up our teachings with Scripture and they hold water.
5. "'"not to get into a skirmish with them, because I will not give you any of their land--not even a footprint's width, because I have assigned the mountains of Seir to Esau as inherited property.
Get into a skirmish: LXX, "engage them in battle"; Aramaic, "provoke them". 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 Y’shua 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 yours.
6. "'"For food you may deal with them with money for grain so that you may eat, and trade money with them for water so that you may drink,
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.
7. "'"because YHWH your Elohim has blessed you in all the workmanship of your hands; He has been familiar with your walking this vast wilderness. This is forty years [that] YHWH your Elohim [has been] with you, and you have not lacked a thing."'
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) 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!"
8. "And when we had passed on from [being] with our relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, [away] from the Aravah route [that comes] from Elath and Etzion-gever, we turned and traversed the route along the wilderness of Moav.
Recall that Seir means a shaggy goat, and that the Edomites actually did not let Israel cross their land. (Num. 20:18ff) They acted the part of the goats in Y’shua’s parable who did not do for the least of Y’shua’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. Do not cast pearls before those who do not prove worthy. (Mat. 10:11) The term Seir is also used of a type of demon (Lev. 17:7) to which things slaughtered but not to YHWH are credited.
9. "And YHWH told me, 'Do not treat Moav as an adversary, nor stir yourselves up against them in battle, because I will not give you any of their land, since I have assigned Ar to the descendants of Lot as inherited property.
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".
10. "'The Emim had their abode there in times past--a people mighty, numerous, and tall like the Anaqim.
Emim means "terrorizers".
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".
12. "'And the Chorites used to live in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed and exterminated them from before their faces, and settled [there] in their place, just as Israel has been doing to the Land of his inheritance, which YHWH has given to them.
Has done: 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 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.
13. "'Now rise up and go on across Wadi Zared.' So we crossed over Wadi Zared.
Wadi Zared: the border between Edom and Moav, feeding into the southernmost part of the Dead Sea.
14. "And the period [from] when we started walking from Qadesh-Barnea until [the time] when we crossed over Wadi Zared [lasted] thirty-eight years, until the whole generation of the [mortal] men of war were gone from the midst of the camp, as YHWH had promised them [with an oath].
Period: literally, "days". Men of war: Aramaic, "war-waging men". Gone: finished off, entirely spent, completely exhausted; LXX, "failed", i.e., "had faded away".
15. "And the hand of YHWH was also on them to push them out from the midst of the camp until they were finished off.
Aramaic, "A plague from YHWH emanated against them..." Push: Heb., stir up, impel, trouble, urge them out with a noisy commotion; Aram., destroy Were finished off: Aram., ceased to exist; LXX, were consumed.
16. "Now when all the men of war had finished dying off from the midst of the nation, what took place is that
17. "YHWH spoke to me, saying,
18. "'Today you are crossing the border of Moav, that is, Ar,
19. "'and you will get very close to the forefront of the descendants of Ammon; do not treat them as an adversary, nor stir yourselves up against them, because I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon, since to the descendants of Lot I have assigned it as inherited property.'
20. "(It too was counted as a land of giants; giants had lived there in times past, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim--
Zamzummim: "Devisers of plots"; Aramaic, "schemers".
21. "a people mighty, numerous, and as tall as the Anaqim. But YHWH annihilated them from before their faces, and they dispossessed them and settled [there] in their place,
As tall: Aram., "as powerful"; LXX, "mightier than you".
22. "as He had done for the descendants of Esau (the ones living in Seir--when He exterminated the Chorites from before their faces, and they dispossessed them and have lived [there] in their place to this day),
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 from the Greek spelling of the guttural first sound. Kaftorites: from Crete—one of the sea peoples probably related to the Filistines; the later Aramaic and Greek translations call them by their contemporary name of Kappadokians. YHWH was showing them 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:
24. "'Get up, set out, and cross the Arnon River. Look! I have delivered Sichon the Emorite, king of Heshbon, into your hand, along with his land. Make an inroad, take possession of it, and stir yourselves up against them in battle!
The Arnon River Canyon
Cross the Arnon: 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. Get up, set out: This is the language of the Feast of Trumpet-blasts. Make an inroad: begin, or literally, "puncture"; Aram., "start to expel...cause a provocation so as to make war". The command is different this time: “Your relatives are not the ones to provoke (vv. 5, 9), but the Emorites are. Save your energy for them!” They 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.
25. "'This day I will begin to put the dread and terror of you upon the faces of the nations under the whole sky, who will hear the report [about] you and will tremble and writhe [in anguish] because of your faces.'
Writhe: Aramaic, "become humbled".
26. "Then I sent messengers from a wilderness of Q'demoth to Sichon king of Heshbon, to speak words of peace:
Messengers: LXX, "ambassadors". Wilderness of Q'demoth means “place of speaking ancient things".
27. "'Let me cross through your land on the way; I will proceed along the road, and not turn off it to the right or the left.
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 the Edomites did not do this for them (Num. 20:18ff), though they did at least let the Israelites live when asked to do this; perhaps he assumed this was an unnecessary detail for his purposes.
30. "But Sichon king of Heshbon did not consent to let us pass by him, because YHWH your Elohim had hardened his spirit and made his heart bold, in order to deliver him into your hand, as [is the case] this day.
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. 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 progress, they needed to be taken out of the way. (YHWH promised to curse those who cursed Avraham’s descendants.) Paul speaks of pulling 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 many 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 valiantly have the say, not the most popular, and leadership passes through the family line.
31. "Then YHWH told me, 'See? I have made an opening to yield Sichon and his land before your faces. Make an inroad! Take possession, so that you may inherit his land!'
32. "Then Sichon 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.
34. "And we captured all his cities at that time, and dedicated every city to destruction--men, women, and little ones; we did not leave a survivor.
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.
36. "From Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon and the city that is on the river as far as Gil'ad, there was not a town that was set too securely on high for us [to capture]; YHWH our Elohim gave them all over before us.
Aroer: or "the ruin". On the river: or "in the river-valley".
37. "Only on the land of the descendants of Ammon did you not encroach, nor on any part of the river Yabboq, nor any of the cities of the mountains or anything about which YHWH our Elohim had given us orders.
Any part: literally, "any hand". The Yabboq crosses right through what became Israel's territory closer to the Yarden River, but there is a branch forking into it which appears to be at the right place to have formed this border. We are not to be rash, making war on everything just because it is not Israel, since we are not out for spoils, but conquer only what He says to conquer. Yet 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. As seen in this account, we may have to uphold those we cannot stand and contend with those most closely related to us in order to get to where YHWH wants us.
CHAPTER 3
1. "Then we turned and went up the road [to] Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle at Edrei--he and his whole nation.
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. Those who did not feel threatened by us before now want us to go back to the circles we had been walking in. But these problems are also YHWH’s, and He is very capable of fighting them:
2. "But YHWH told me, 'Do not be afraid of him, because I have delivered him into your hand, along with all his people and his land; you shall do to him just what you have done to Sichon, king of the Emorites, who lived at Heshbon.'
Sichon 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). Through “weaving together” stones that support each other, a strong fortress is built on such false premises that sound so right. (How could so many sincere people be wrong?) But as we die to self, like sappers who risk their lives to undermine the city walls, we just have to pull one or two strategic rocks out of place and the whole structure will collapse, and fruitfulness is back on the horizon. 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.
3. "And YHWH your Elohim also delivered Og king of Bashan into our hands along with his whole nation, and we struck him down until there was not one survivor left to him.
False fruitfulness tried to stop us, but we can defeat these enemies every time if we do not surrender either to them or to fear. If we do, we are already beaten, and YHWH counts that 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 (Ex. 20:20), believing that He can take care of us no matter what. Our trust is not in numbers or in whether we can growl more loudly than those who threaten us. These people’s 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, we will not get to our home, because we will have left the usurper in place. We are not meant to stand in awe of anything but YHWH. Fear is contagious. It steals our neighbors’ courage. We only need to deal with the cause of the fear. Having Avraham as our father is part of the foundation that gives us a platform to stand above the fear. (Gen. 26:24; 46:2). YHWH told the patriarchs not to fear, and we are their heirs, including the promises YHWH made to them.
4. "And we captured all his cities at that time; there was not a town which we did not take from them--sixty cities, the whole region of Argov, the dominion of Og in Bashan.
Captured: LXX, "mastered". Argov means "heap of clods". The Aramaic targum identifies it by the later (Roman-era) name of Trachonitis. Bashan: now known as the Golan Heights.
5. "All of those cities were rendered inaccessible with very lofty walls, drawbridges, and bars, besides having a great many unwalled towns.
Drawbridges: or "double-leaved doors".
6. "Yet we completely destroyed them, just as we had done to Sichon, the king of Heshbon, dedicating every city to destruction--men, women, and little ones.
Dedicating to destruction: again, 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 for destruction, and what is simply profane (i.e., ordinary, mundane). This was set apart for destruction. They were to take no captives this time, for 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.
7. "But we did seize for ourselves all the animals and the plunder of the cities.
8. "And at that time we took the land on that side of the Yarden (from the River Arnon to Mount Chermon) out of the hand of the two kings of the Emorites.
9. (The Tzidonians call Chermon [by the name of] Siryon, and the Emorites call it Sh'nir.)
Mt. Chermon
Chermon means “most set apart”, coming from the word from which we derive “harem”—that is something prohibited to outsiders—a sanctuary, 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 area today!).
10. "[That is], all the cities of the plateau, all of Gil'ad, and all of Bashan as far as Salchah and Edrei--cities of the dominion of Og in Bashan,
Plateau: or table-land—the precise topography east of the Great Rift Valley parallel to the Yarden River.
11. "because only Og king of Bashan was left of the [tribe] of giants who remained. Indeed, his bedstead was a bed of iron; is it not [on display] in the capital [city] of the sons of Ammon--nine cubits long and four cubits wide, by the cubit of a man?
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! The cubit of a man: measured from the elbow to the fingertips of an ordinary-sized man. In English terms, this bed measured 13.5 feet by 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!
12. "And we took possession of this land at that time: from Aroer, which is on the River Arnon, and half of the hill-country of Gil'ad, and I gave its cities to the Reuvenites and the Gadites.
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'.
14. "Ya'ir the son of Menashe took the whole land of Bashan as far as the border of the G'shurites and the Maachathites, and called them by his own name--'Bashan, the towns of Ya'ir' until this day.
Ya'ir means "he enlightens". G'shur means "proud beholder", and Maachath, "pressing".
15. "To Machir, 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].
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.
18. "And I gave you orders at that time, saying, ‘YHWH has given you this Land to take possession of. All you able-bodied men shall cross over armed ahead of your relatives, the descendants of Israel.
Able-bodied men: literally, "sons of ability". This is still addressed to the sons of Reuven and Gad.
19. "‘Only your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know you have many livestock!) may stay in your cities, which I have given you
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.
20. "‘until YHWH gives your brothers rest as well as yourselves, and they have taken possession of the Land that YHWH is giving to them on the other side of the Yarden. Then each of you may return to his inherited property, which I have granted you.'
21. "And I gave orders to Y'hoshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that YHWH the Elohim of you [all] has done to these two kings. YHWH will do the same to all the dominions to which you are crossing over.
See Numbers 27:18ff for details of this account.
22. "‘Do not be afraid of them, because YHWH your Elohim will Himself be fighting for you.'"
Fear basically means "respect" or "empowerment" of whatever we offer it to. If we empower our enemy, it become a foothold for the adversary instead of YHWH, Who will not inhabit the fear of anything but Himself. Whichever you prepare a place for, you will reap the effects of. (Yirmeyahu 1:17) You cannot serve two masters. He Himself: Aramaic, "His Memra" (living Word).