The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/numbers/33.htm

There has been a great debate over exactly where the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. Many try to follow the description given in the Bible, while others turn to science, looking for the location where the sea is at its shallowest, where the bank falls just right so there isn’t a big drop off, and looking at the lay of the land which would have allowed the children of Israel to become trapped. And while there are many different theories, we do know, by descriptions in the Bible, where their journey took them.

Below is a map from Pinterest, posted at the following web address. I have not explored the website below, but I plan on visiting and suggest you do the same.

Map courtesy https://maryrubow.wordpress.com/ via Pinterest.

The first part of Numbers 33 is a review of their travels through the wilderness, and while scripture doesn’t say, this maybe something Moses reviewed with the children of Israel. There are various times throughout the Bible when there is a oratory on things that have happened in the past, and I know of at least one which was Moses reviewing things with the children of Israel.

The rest of Chapter 33 is God reviewing the instructions for entering the land of Canaan. Always keep in mind, God didn’t hate their people, on the contrary, we’ve learned that the Midianites descended from Abraham and Keturah. But while He loved the people, He hated their sin. And the Bible mainly covers just the story of Jesus and how He descended. Other things were going on at the time, like the story of Job of whom we know little about. We don’t know who Job descended from or what happened to his offspring after his story in the Bible ended.

That said, we have no idea how many times God tried to draw the children of the land of Canaan back to Him, and they just flat refused. Incidentally, if you trace backwards in the Bible, I believe you’ll find that Canaan was a grandson of Noah.

Anyway, God wanted the descendants of Jacob, later named Israel, to occupy this land. And God gives pretty specific instructions, as He always had.

51 …When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their [e]high places; 53you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers.

Clear as crystal if you ask me. Notice God didn’t tell them to go in and kill everyone? This now sounds more like Jesus, so that is where I’m confused. Don’t get me wrong, I still have the faith, I still believe in the word of God, I simply believe in a loving and merciful God, and some of the scriptures don’t indicate that. I continue to pray for understanding, and I have faith that someday, when it’s time, when God believes I’m ready for it, He will.

The next information is very critical in my mind, because we see it today.

55But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. 56Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”

As we will see in coming chapters, the time when the men of Israel began fraternizing with the women in the land of King Balak won’t be the last. Instead of driving everyone out as the Lord has commanded, the children of Israel fall to temptation again, and allow some of the inhabitants to stay, and what do we see today. There are those that are “”irritants” “irritants” to Israel, “thorns” in their sides, and the children of Israel today are being “harassed”. If we follow God and obey His commands, we are much better off than if we ignore Him and rebel against Him.

In Chapter 34, God gives instructions on who and how the land will be divided. Everyone gets a share of the land but the Levites, but as we will read, they get land in each tribe’s territory in which to reside, and there are cities of refuge in each territory to which fugitives may find safety.

God bless you all, and don’t forget to pray and talk to your Creator. Amen.