The Lord is constantly telling His people to remember what He has done for them. Today He says when they come into the land flowing with milk and honey, He wants them to remember how He rescued them out of Egypt. So He tells them to gather the first of the produce and bring it to the priest and do what? Tell the story of the Bible! “My father was a Syrian [Jacob], about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers… He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’; and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.”

Paul is later going to refer to Jesus Christ as the firstfruits – “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus will be the firstfruits of our resurrection, giving us assurance that those who trust in Him will also rise from the dead. And it is no coincidence that Jesus will rise from the dead on the day of the Feast of Firstfruits; the day after the Sabbath following the Passover when Jesus will be crucified. Like the Israelites are to remember how the Lord saved them out of Egypt and provided for them, we are to remember how the Lord is saving us and providing for us through His Son, Jesus. God is sending His Son, the Savior, as He promised in the beginning of this story (Genesis 3:15) to die for us and rise from the grave, giving us assurance that we too can have eternal life through Him. 

And what does remembering do? It leads to worship and thanksgiving. Moses commands the Israelites when they cross the Jordan to write a copy of the book of the law and place it on Mount Ebal so that the word of God is constantly before the people. Then he gives further instructions for the ceremony of blessings on Mount Gerizim and curses on Mount Ebal, as we first read about in Deuteronomy 11:26-32. This ceremony will take place in Shechem where the Lord first promised the land to Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 12:6-7). 

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:”

• “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.”
• “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.”
• “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.”
• “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”

“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:”

• “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.”
• “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.”
• “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.”
• “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.”

“The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.”

Moses warns the people that if they continue in their disobedience, their circumstances will become so dire that they will eat their own children; and this is exactly what we will see happen down the road in the story. The people are going to turn their backs on the Lord and engage in all sorts of sexual sin and idolatry, and this horrific thing, women eating their children, will occur (2 Kings 6:26-30).

However, Joshua will make every effort to point the people toward the Lord during the conquest of the promised land. Once the Israelites are settled in the land, Joshua will bring the people back to Shechem to renew the covenant of the Lord with them (Joshua 24). The Conquest Era begins in a few more days, so keep reading! (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:1)

God’s heart for the outcast, broken-hearted, and unloved shines in today’s reading. He shows care for slave women, unloved wives with firstborn sons, wives falsely accused by their husbands, brothers with lost items, women who were raped, runaway slaves, poor servants, strangers, fatherless, widows, and so forth. These people might not be seen by society, but God sees them, loves them, protects them, and will take vengeance on anyone mistreating them.

The Lord calls His people to protect the outcast and to remember that they too were once outcasts who were saved by grace. Therefore, His people should extend the same grace the Lord showed them to others:

• “You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.”
• “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.”

The Lord also gives instructions regarding levirate marriages, which means if a married man dies without a child, his widow would marry the brother-in-law, and the first son born from the brother-in-law would be considered an heir of the widow’s deceased husband. With the story of Judah, we saw that Judah did not obey the levirate law with his widowed daughter-in-law Tamar (Genesis 38). However, later in the story we will meet a descendant of Judah’s, Boaz, who will abide by the levirate law with a young lady named Ruth, who comes to glean from his field. We will learn more about Boaz and Ruth when we reach the Judges Era.

Today’s reading ends with Moses reminding the Israelites of how the Amalekites attacked them when they came out of Egypt – “Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.” Later, in the Kingdom Era, we will see the downfall of a king due to his disobedience with the Lord’s orders against the Amalekites. And during the Return Era, we will meet a descendant of the Amalekites, Haman, who is set on destroying God’s people, which illustrates that there are always long lasting consequences to disobeying the Lord.

Tomorrow Moses gives the Israelites instructions for a corporate ceremony they will perform when they cross the Jordan into the promised land. Keep reading. (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19)

The Lord is fair and just and desires for His people to be fair and just, putting away all evil. So Moses tells the people, once they settle in the promised land, “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

The Lord says when the Israelites come into the land and say, “‘l will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses.” Nothing surprises God. He already knows that the day is coming when the Israelites are going to reject Him and desire to be ruled by man. Therefore the Lord gives the Israelites five rules for a king:

1) Can’t be a foreigner

2) Can’t multiply horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt for horses 

3) Can’t have multiple wives 

4) Can’t multiply silver and gold for himself

5) Must write a copy of the book of the law for himself and read it all the days of his life

Why does the Lord require the king to write his own copy of the book of the law and read it all the days of his life? “That he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.”

When we get to the Kingdom Era we will discover that none of the kings will obey all five of these rules. However, the perfect King is coming; “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). The Lord spoke to Moses of this coming King, the Messiah, in today’s reading – “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.”

But first in this story, the Israelites have to conquer the promised land, which is going to involve many battles. Therefore, Moses says, “Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”

We have several more days reading instructions from Moses, and then the conquest begins! Keep reading. (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)

God will put people and situations in your path to test you and your trust in Him. We saw this in the life Abraham, and now the Lord is explaining a way He tests the Israelites – “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.”

We have all heard the saying “be careful of the company you keep.” As Proverbs 13:20 says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” We see today how serious the Lord is concerning the company we keep – “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers… you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” God is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 6:15) and does not want His people to be lured into idolatry because He knows it will lead to their destruction. 

The Lord tells His people that there will always be people who are poor living in the land. Therefore, He instructs them to give to the poor – “You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’”

Then Moses restates instructions regarding diet, tithing, the Sabbatical Year, and the three annual feasts; Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles, which we read about earlier in Exodus and Leviticus. 

The Israelites loan to one another with the understanding that in the seventh year the debts will be released and slaves will be set free as instructed by the Lord. Moses says “the Lord will greatly bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.” However, while citing the curses that will come with disobedience, Moses is going to say that if the Israelites disobey the Lord, they will be scattered among all people – “And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul” (Deuteronomy 28:65). 

We will see the Lord’s people scattered amongst the nations later in the story because of their disobedience. But next up in tomorrow’s reading, the Lord provides the Israelites with guidelines for a king. God knows that the day is coming when the Israelites are going to reject Him and ask for a king to rule over them like the people around them. Therefore, the Lord is preparing the Israelites for that day because God always provides what we need before we even know we have a need. However, there is more to happen in this story before we get to the Kingdom Era, so keep reading. (Deuteronomy 13:1-16:17)

Moses says to the people, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.” Physical circumcision is a sign of the covenant the Lord made with His people, as He first told Abraham (Genesis 17). God is interested in people’s hearts, and circumcision of the heart means a heart totally devoted to the Lord. Later in the story, the prophet Jeremiah will tell the people to “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 4:4). Then in the New Testament, Paul will say, “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (Romans 2:28-29). Paul is teaching that the Holy Spirit changes the heart, not the law. Only the Lord can change hearts. Before Jesus ascends to heaven, He will say, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). The Helper He is referring to is the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul will write to the new believers, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:8-10).

When the Holy Spirit fills the Lord’s people they will become the temple where God’s spirit dwells (1 Corinthians 3:6), but until that day arrives, the Lord is telling His people that there is only one place to worship Him – “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord… Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.” 

The Lord warns the Israelites not to worship like the nations whose land they are going to possess. – “You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”

God expects His people to worship Him the way He instructs and in the place He will choose. The Lord will select Shiloh as the place to worship Him when the Israelites settle into the promised land during the Conquest Era and before the temple is built in Jerusalem during the Kingdom Era. However, during the Kingdom Era, one of the kings will disobey the Lord and worship false gods on the high places, resulting in the downfall of the kingdom and bringing us to the Divided Kingdom Era. But first, the Israelites still have to conquer the land, so keep reading. (Deuteronomy 10:1-12:32)

The Lord desires for His people to know His story, pass it on to others, and to walk in obedience as His image bearers. Moses says to Israel, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Today we see three truths regarding elevating God’s word, obeying His word, and remembering Him. 

1. Know His story and pass it down – “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates… When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there.’”
2. Be holy and set apart – Moses tells the Israelites not to make covenants with the people around them, not to intermarry with the people around them, and not to worship their false gods. “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt… Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments… Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.”
3. Remember the faithful God and His word – “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Then God warns his people to be careful when they enter the new land and get all fat and happy that they don’t forget Him. God knows how we tend to neglect Him when things are going well for us. This is why He says to Israel, “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

There is nothing that Israel did to deserve this land. The conquest of the promised land will solely be an act of the Lord on behalf of His chosen people and a punishment to the wicked ones walking outside of the presence of the Lord and His commandments – “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.” It is by God’s grace that the Israelites are going to receive the promised land. 

We end the reading with Moses recalling the epic fail with the golden calf in the wilderness. Have the children of Israel learned from their past mistakes? Will pride come with battle success and the new land? Will they forget the Lord? Keep reading to find out. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9:29)

Moses pleaded with the Lord to let him “cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan.” However, the Lord responded – “Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. But command Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see.”

Then Moses gives three key instructions to Israel:

1. Obey the Lord – “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” The Lord is calling His people to walk in such a way that those around them will be drawn into His presence. 
2. Teach your children the statutes and righteous judgments of the law – “And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb… So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.”
3. Do not fall into idolatry – “Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” But the Lord knows His people will not be faithful. Therefore, Moses says when they enter the promised land, they will forget the Lord, and begin worshiping false gods, “you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.” And this is exactly what will happen. The people will turn their backs on the Lord; thus the Lord will turn them over to their enemies. However, the Lord does not leave His people without hope – “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

Moses reminds Israel that there is only one God and restates the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, instructing them to “be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.” 

More from Moses to the children of Israel tomorrow, so keep reading. (Deuteronomy 3:21-5:33)

After nearly forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the children of Israel are camped on the plains of Moab, looking across the Jordan into the promised land of Canaan. In the book of Deuteronomy, which means “second law”, Moses will remind the children of Israel about the Law that the Lord first gave them at Mount Sinai. Moses knows that he is going to die before entering the promised land, so he is exhorting this new generation to remain faithful and trust the Lord as they move forward with the conquest of the land.

Moses reminds the Israelites of the time they asked for spies to spy out the promised land, but the people listened to the bad report from the ten spies and didn’t take the land. As a consequence for the people’s lack of faith, only Joshua and Caleb, the faithful spies, will enter the land from that generation, but “your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.” Then Moses highlights the Lord’s faithfulness to the Israelites during their years of wilderness journeys – “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” 

Moses recounts God telling the Israelites not to harass their relatives, Esau’s descendants (Jacob’s brother) or Lot’s descendants (Abraham’s nephew). The Lord destroyed the enemies of Esau, Moab, and Ammon (Moab and Ammon are descendants of Lot and his daughters) and gave them their own land. This land was not the promised land God has for the nation of Israel. However, the Lord gave the Israelites great victory over the Amorite kings, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who are descendants of Canaan, Ham’s cursed son (Genesis 9:18-10:1, 10:15-16), and gave the Amorite kings’ land to the children of Israel. 

Moses wants the Israelites to know that they can trust the Lord. If the Lord has defeated the enemies of Esau, Moab, and Ammon and given them their own land, how much more will He do for the children of Israel? And since God has already defeated two major enemies of the Israelites, the descendants of Canaan, Sihon and Og, and given their land to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, then the Israelites can trust Him moving forward with the remaining conquest.

We will see further into the story that there will be tension between the Israelites and their three neighbors; Edom, Moab, and Ammon. God will use these nations to discipline Israel, but later He will pronounce judgment against them for so eagerly attacking the children of Israel, highlighting the Lord’s sovereignty over His people and their enemies. 

Tomorrow Moses begins restating the law to the new generation, so keep reading. (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:20)

Today the Lord tells Moses about the land which the remaining nine and a half tribes will inherit once they come into Canaan. The Levites will be given forty-eight cities with surrounding common land scattered throughout the inheritance of the tribes of Israel. Moses says that the children of Israel “shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in proportion to the inheritance that each receives.” Of the forty-eight cities, six are cities of refuge. If a person accidentally kills someone, they can flee to a city of refuge for protection until the trial so that a family member cannot avenge the death of the victim. If the person is deemed innocent at the trial, he is to remain in the city of refuge until the high priest dies. After the death of the high priest, he can return home. 

A few days ago we learned that the Lord granted Zelophehad’s daughters’ request for their father’s land inheritance. Today the Lord commands that these daughters must marry within their tribe of Manasseh. “So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of the children of Israel shall keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.” The daughters obey the Lord because God is keeping His promise that He made to Abraham – “And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8). The Lord is ensuring that the land remains within the possession of Abraham’s descendants. 

God is always working on a much larger scale than just our short lifespan. He is working all things together from the Creation Era to End Times / New Beginnings Era to accomplish His plans to redeem His people through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ… all the way to Jesus’ second coming. 

Today we completed the book of Numbers. Tomorrow we begin the last book in the Exodus Era, Deuteronomy, which contains the final instructions from Moses before he dies and the Israelites enter Canaan. Keep reading. (Numbers 34:1-36:13)

The tribes of Reuben and Gad request to inherit the land on the east side of Jordan because of their great multitude of livestock. They approach Moses, Eleazar, and the leaders of the congregation saying, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.” 

Moses responds, “Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? Now why would you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them?” Moses reminds them of what their fathers did when Moses first sent them to spy out the promised land; how ten of the twelve spies came back with a bad report and put fear in the heart of the people. Moses tells them that “The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in His sight was gone. And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following Him, He will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.” 

 The tribes of Reuben and Gad agree to settle their livestock, little ones, and women in the land across the Jordan with the understanding that their men of war will cross the Jordan and fight with their brothers until each one of them inherits their land. So Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh settle in the land on the east side of the Jordan.

Then Moses documents the over forty moves the Israelites made during their wilderness journeys. Can you imagine moving that many times with over two million people and all that livestock?! The Lord is reminding His people how He was faithful during all of their wilderness journeys, and if He was faithful to them during their wilderness journeys, He will be faithful to them moving forward with the conquest of the land. 

We end the reading with the Lord once again commanding the Israelites to drive the inhabitants out of the land and to destroy their false gods because He knows they will be a stumbling block to His people. God gives Israel a warning of what will happen if they disobey Him – “But 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. Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.” 

Will the Israelites obey the Lord? Keep reading to find out. (Numbers 32:1-33:56)