The Lord God goes before us. This is such a simple but profound statement. But how deep is our belief and trust in this truth?  How solid is our faith in the One who provides, heals, protects, rescues, and redeems for life? How secure is our daily trust in God who delights in all the details of our lives and fulfills every promise He makes? How we view God on a personal level determines the depth of our relationship with Him.  What we believe about God will be reflected in the behaviors that we display to the world. 

Truth Expanded:  The Lord God goes before us, walks beside us, walks behind us, and lives in all who are fully committed to believing what He says and doing what He commands as we walk with Him.  Too much to take in?  God doesn’t think so.  We either trust God or we do not when we lean on our own understanding in daily living.  The wisdom of Proverbs reminds us that way of thinking is not a wise way to live.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV

Moses, guided by God, now reminds the Israelites of the command to take possession of the land He is giving to them.  Moses reminds them of God’s promise to go before them and disarm the enemy so they can win the battles they are directed to fight.  “Do not be afraid, for I have delivered the enemy into your hands” is the battle cry of trust in God, The Deliverer!  They obeyed and the change of land ownership goes to the tribes of Reuban, Gad and half of Manasseh on the east side of the Jordan.

This “deal of ownership” was made between God, Moses, and these tribes before going to battle.  Moses reminds these tribal leaders of their promise to God and His People to come and help the rest of tribes possess the land God gives to them.

Moses also begins the transfer and transition of leadership to Joshua, a man fully committed to God.  Moses’ words to Joshua come from God as encouragement: “Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.”

Moses pleads for a glimpse of the Promised Land—can I just get a peek?  God sends Moses to a lookout point to see where God’s People will reside. 

And don’t miss the first description of a King-size bed!  Wait, what, now?

Deuteronomy 3

Defeat of Og King of Bashan

Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei. ² The Lord said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

³ So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. ⁴ At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. ⁵ All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. ⁶ We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women and children. ⁷ But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

⁸ So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon. ⁹ (Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) ¹⁰ We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. ¹¹ (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

Division of the Land

¹² Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns. ¹³ The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites. ¹⁴ Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.) ¹⁵ And I gave Gilead to Makir. ¹⁶ But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites. ¹⁷ Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.

¹⁸ I commanded you at that time: “The Lord your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of the other Israelites. ¹⁹ However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, ²⁰ until the Lord gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.”

Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan

²¹ At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. ²² Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.”

²³ At that time I pleaded with the Lord: ²⁴ “Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? ²⁵ Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.”

²⁶ But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. ²⁸ But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” ²⁹ So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Sihon and Og were powerful, egotistical, brutal kings in the region of the Amorites on the east side of the Jordan. The Lord had determined to destroy them and their wicked people. It was King Og who had a king size bed to match his king size ego. The dimensions are there for a reason—to describe the audacity and greed of this king!  (14 feet long and 6 feet wide in our measurement today!)

God’s strategy in battle here is the pattern Israel will follow in their conquest of the Promised Land with Joshua as the new leader. 

God goes before them—

God would tell Joshua which city or people to attack; He would assure them of victory; and He would go with them to help them win the battle. Israel’s defeat of Sihon and Og was especially important because it would send a message ahead to the nations in Canaan and bring fear to their hearts. By the time Joshua was ready to enter the land, the news of Israel’s invincible march had already gone before them!

Trust and obey for there’s no other way….

You might be thinking; why kill innocent people to possess the land?  But how “innocent” were these people? We who read this for the first time without studying the history of these enemies of God do not realize that the nations Israel encountered east of the Jordan and in Canaan itself were indescribably wicked. They were brutal people who sacrificed their own children to the false gods that they worshiped. Male and female prostitutes served in their temples and illicit sexual intercourse was an important part of the Canaanite religion.

Bittersweet victory for Moses—

Moses described this victory as when the Lord has given literally “rest,” a word that is used in throughout Deuteronomy and will be frequently expressed in the book of Joshua. The Book of Hebrews picks up the phrase and applies it to the spiritual rest we have in Christ because we have trusted His finished work on the cross (See Hebrews 3:11,18; 4:1–11).

The only cloud over all this celebration of victory was that Moses wasn’t permitted to enter the Promised Land because of his impetuous sin of striking the rock (Numbers 20). But even this sad note brought with it a trumpet call of encouragement in Moses’ response to God: “O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds?”

Truth Bomb:  Godly leaders receive more joy in seeing another leader do what they did better than they way they did it!  Moses was that kind of leader who was grateful for his opportunity to serve His Lord in his time for God’s glory and praise!  Are we?

Lord,

There is no one like You!  Thank you for rescuing us from evil by sacrificing your life to save us. Thank you for always being with us, going before us, walking beside us with protection and provision, guiding us your path of all that is good for us and gives you glory!  Thank you, thank you, thank you for cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, refreshing our souls with your mercy and unending grace, and restoring the joy of your salvation at work continuously within us. To you be the glory!  I trust you with my life for you are Life!

In Jesus Name, Amen