The children of Israel are coming to the end of the forty years of wandering around in the desert. We have studied a few events already surrounding this time. Moses was meant to talk to the rock instead of strike it. As a result he and Aaron were not to enter into Canaan. Then the Israelites were complaining again and so God removed His protective care and they were bitten by serpents.

Now God asks them to move forward.

• Deuteronomy 2:3-5
  3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: 5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
• However, in moving forward, God instruct them not to meddle with the children of Esau. God had promised the land to them and so they were not to touch that land.
• Esau was the brother to Jacob who formed the 12 tribes of Israel. They were cousins to each other.

Deuteronomy 2:9
And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.

• God also had promised land to the children of Lot as well. The Moabites were also their relative too. Lot was the nephew of Abraham which made them second cousins.
• Although they came through the daughters of Lot sleeping with their father, nonetheless they were still related.
• The same is said also of the other children of Lot, the Ammonites.
• Deuteronomy 2:17-19
  17 That the LORD spake unto me, saying, 18 Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day: 19 And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.
• They are not to touch their land.

So the children move forward through the land of the Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites.

• Deuteronomy 2:24-25
  24 Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. 25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.
• Finally, God says that they can take possession of some land. It was the land of the Amorites.
• But notice what the Bible says here. God would put the dread and the fear of the Israelites on the surrounding nations. They would be afraid of them and be in anguish because of them.
• It was because of the presence of God that the others would be afraid of them. So long as they were faithful to God, His fear would be put on their enemies.

Notice that there is a big difference between this type of fear, and the fear that God asks us to have of Him.

• Revelation 14:7
  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
• What does it mean to fear God? Let’s go to the first time that we see fear God in the Bible.
• Genesis 22:12
  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
• Abraham was called to sacrifice his son, his only son that he loved. Isaac was not his first son, Ishmael was. But he was the son of promise. God had promised him that he would be the father of many nations and that it would be fulfilled through his son Isaac. In fact, it was God that named Isaac Himself. But now God had called him to sacrifice him.
• Abraham was willing to follow, willing to obey God. Even though he didn’t understand the reason why God was asking him to do this. Surely it was a test. But Abraham still had faith enough to trust God and to obey and follow all that God had commanded him to do.
• It was only at the point where Abraham had stretched out his hand with the knife ready to kill his son that God called out to him and asked him to stop. To fear God is to obey when though you don’t understand the reason why.
• God asks us to fear Him. Not to be scared of Him but to learn to trust Him and obey Him in every circumstance and how the word of God leads.
• But, the fear and dread that God was putting on the surrounding nations was of a different nature. It was a dread that came as a result of them not fearing God and obeying Him. And now they were about to conquer their land.

The Israelites were also learning to fear God. From the beginning when they left Egypt God was trying to help them learn this lesson.

• When they came out of Egypt, they were following the cloud, God’s leading. And God lead them to a dead end. The Red Sea on one side, mountains on the sides, and Egyptians were behind them chasing them.
• Instead of having implicit trust in God and faith in His leading, they began to complain and murmur against the visible leader Moses who was simply following the direction and leading of God.
• Often God brings us over the same ground when we fail the first time. When the trial comes and we’re not able to overcome, God will allow that trial to come back again and again until we are able to have victory.
• God would bring the Israelites to bitter water. He would lead them to places where it doesn’t seem to make sense why He would lead them there in the first place. To test them, to try them. To see if they would fear God, to obey and trust Him fully.
• God does that for us too in our lives. He leads us to situations, to places, where He wants us to exercise our faith and our love and trust in Him. He wants to see if we will really believe Him fully or not. Many times we’ve done nothing wrong. We’ve been following the guidance of God. Will we murmur and complain, or will we be like Abraham and trust Him fully and follow and obey even though we don’t understand the reason why?

Coming back to the Amorites whom they were about to attack. God had given them sufficient time to change and repent of their sins. He had given them many chances. How much time did God give to them?

• Genesis 15:13, 16
  13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
• In fact, God had given Amorites 400 years to change and to repent from their wicked ways.
• When Abraham came walking through the land, God promised him that the land would be his. And at that time the Amorites were one of the tribes living there. God said that the iniquity of the Amorites was not full yet. He was still giving them more time to repent.
• But now God is telling the children of Israel that the Amorites would be given into their hands.
• Deuteronomy 2:31-35
  31 And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land. 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. 33 And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. 34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain: 35 Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.
• They would be destroyed from off the face of the earth. No one would be left alive, not a single person. Their time of probation on this earth would finally come to an end. But this is not before God gives them the 400 years to change. And who knows how long they had before that as well right?
• God is long suffering and merciful. To every person, whether you are a Christian or not, His mercy is extended to each of us to make it right with Him, to change. Who knows when our time on this earth will close? But sure enough, He is just and every person will receive their just due at the end of time and none will be able to say that God did not give them enough chances. This is evident from this passage about the Amorites.

Probation closing on people is a real thing. Where have we seen throughout the Bible where probation closes on people on the earth?

• The flood. Probation closed when the door of the ark shut and everyone on the outside was destroyed and only those on the inside were saved.
• After he killed his brother, there was no more second chance for him.
• Sodom and Gomorrah. God gave them chances, but they never changed and fire would come out from heaven and destroy them.
• God was going to destroy everyone in that city. But Jonah came and preached to them and they repented.
• The Israelites had so many chances! Yet probation would close on some of them when they said that they wished to die in the desert. God would grant them their wish. Can you imagine that? They were alive but yet their sentence to die was certain?
  • Cain was like that.
  • Even King Saul was like that too. He was alive but yet God had chosen someone else to be king. His presence was on longer with Saul.
• Revelation 2:21
  And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
  • Babylon even was given space to repent. How long? They were given 1,260 years!
  • God is so merciful.
• He even had 10 chances to repent and chance before his whole kingdom was destroyed. And even after it was fully destroyed, he went chasing after the Israelites.

God gives enough chances to everyone to change and repent. No matter who they are, what religion they have, where they live. It doesn’t matter. God gives everyone sufficient time to make a choice to follow Him, to do good, to live up according to the light that He has shown them.

• Truly I believe that we will find people of different races, religion, of all types and stripes of colours in heaven. They would have lived up to all the light that God had showered on them.
• No one will be without excuse at the end of the day.
• Romans 1:20
  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
• Not even the heathen who don’t believe in the true God are without excuse. Why? Nature, creation, it testifies so clearly of God out there. The Bible says that His eternal power and even Godhead is evident.
• No one will have any excuse at the end of the day. Those who make it to heaven or end up in hell, we will know the reason why we are there. No one will say to God that He didn’t give them enough time or enough chances to change or repent.

So coming back to the Israelites now.

• Deuteronomy 2:36-37
  36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us: 37 Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.
• It was obvious that God was with them. No matter the size of the city, God delivered them all into the hands of the Israelites.
• There was very clear instruction though. They were not to touch the land of the Ammonites or any places that God told them not to go.
• And we ought to be careful also that we don’t walk presumptuously. God can only be with us as we walk according to His will. He was specific who He would help the children of Israel to conquer. And God is no less specific today as well. From the place we live, to the job that we work, to the person that we end up marrying one day. God cares about that, and He has specific instructions in His word to guide us as well. Let us make sure that we are careful to obey all that God instructs and commands us.

In conquering the Ammonites, the Israelites are at the place that God brought them to 38 years earlier when they were standing on the borders of Canaan after the 12 spies came back with their report of the land. At that time God was ready to fight for them. He would also send hornets before them.

• But you see, when we fail to overcome the trial the first time, it comes back round again. But this time it is more severe, more intense. Why?
• This time the armies are ready. The first time they tried to attack, they fought back and won. But the Israelites then retreated back to the desert wandering around and around. And so the Canaanite armies had time to prepare. To strengthen themselves. To build bigger fortifications and walls.
• Why does the test have to be more intense? Why can’t God bring us over the same ground again?
• You see, it’s like when we take an exam. Anyone ever failed an exam before? The teacher can’t give us exact same questions as last time right? Now we’ve had more time to prepare. It will be a different set of questions and probably harder. That is the same with our tests and trials in life also. At first if you don’t succeed, God will allow the test to come again to try us again and again until we are able to overcome.
• This time, the Israelites have faith in God and God is able to use them to fulfil His will in destroying fully the Ammonites from off the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 3:1-2
1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2 And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

• They come against Og king of Bashan and God promises them that they would be victorious as well. They would also destroy them fully from off the face of the earth.
• Deuteronomy 3:3-7
  3 So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. 4 And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. 6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. 7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.
• They are totally destroyed. All men, women and children. Everyone!
• This is the second battle now coming out from the wilderness wandering. Notice how it says that the cities, they were fenced cities with high wall, gates and bars! They were heavily defended. But yet the Israelites march forward and God helps them and fights for them.
• When the children of Israel came out from Egypt, on their way to Canaan the first time, they actually experienced war. The Amalakites came out to fight against them in Exodus 17. And Moses would hold up the rod of God in his hands and they would be victorious.
• You see, they had a taste of war and victory already. They had the evidence that God would fight for them. But somehow when they got to Canaan, they forgot all that God had done for them.
• Same with this experience that we have studied today. First the Ammonites. And then Og king of Bashan. They had finally learnt their lesson to trust God and have faith in Him. To obey even when they didn’t understand the reason why.

The first time that the Israelites were going to try and conquer Canaan after God said no because of their unbelief, they still went anyways without Moses or the Ark of God and they were utterly defeated. But this time, Moses went with them, the Ark of God went with them and God’s presence went with them.

If God is with us, we have nothing to fear. If we are walking in the middle of His will and obeying all the commands of God to us, we can walk forward confidently even though we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. The only question that we must ask ourselves today is, are we walking according to His will? Are we doing all that He has asked us to do even though we may not understand the reason why in the present? Are we walking by faith?

May God help us to exercise our faith in Him and in His word today. To trust Him through every situation. That we would learn to fear God from the beginning of our experience with Him.