Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon,[1] Moses’ account of the words yehôvâh (יהוה) spoke to him after all the military men had been eliminated from the community[2] continued. Look! I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Go ahead! Take it! Engage him in war! This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach.[3]
The Hebrew word translated and to terrify was yirʼâh (ויראתך), the word I’d hoped would distinguish the fear of the Lord from ordinary fear. In English to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them, causes me to wonder if I should simply accept that yirʼâh, similar to the fruit of the Spirit, comes from God, like the song says: “’twas Grace that taught, my heart to fear. And grace, my fears relieved.” The Hebrew word translated to fill was nâthan (תת). It was also translated I have already delivered (נתתי) in I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, and is giving (נתן) in the land the Lord our God is giving us.[4]
The Hebrew word translated engage in Engage him in war was gârâh (והתגר), to grate, to anger, to cause strife, stir up, contend, meddle. Moses’ tactic was to send messengers with an offer of peace.
|
Numbers 21:21, 22 (NET) |
Deuteronomy 2:26-29 (NET) |
| Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, saying, “Let us pass through your land; we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.” | Then I sent messengers from the Kedemoth Desert to King Sihon of Heshbon with an offer of peace: “Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the roadway. I will not turn aside to the right or the left. Sell me food for cash so that I can eat and sell me water to drink. Just allow me to go through on foot, just as the descendants of Esau who live at Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land the Lord our God is giving us.” |
I admit to wondering whether Moses’ tactic betrayed his unfaithfulness toward yehôvâh, or duplicity toward King Sihon. Either way it didn’t alter the outcome.
| Numbers 21:23a (NET) |
Deuteronomy 2:30, 31 (NET) |
| But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border… | But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him… |
| …because the Lord our God had made him obstinate and stubborn so that he might deliver him over to you this very day. The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.” | |
| …he gathered all his forces together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. |
It didn’t matter because the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) our God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) had made him obstinate, literally, hardened his spirit. The Hebrew word for hardened was qâshâh (הקשה), translated ἐσκλήρυνεν (a form of σκληρύνω) in the Septuagint. He also had made Sihon stubborn, literally, made his heart obstinate. The Hebrew word for obstinate was ʼâmats (ואמץ), to be strong, alert, courageous, brave, stout, bold. It was translated κατίσχυσεν (a form of κατισχύω) in the Septuagint.[5] Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you, yehôvâh reiterated. Start right now to take his land as your possession.
| Numbers 21:23b, 24a (NET) |
Deuteronomy 2:32-35 (NET) |
| When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel. | When Sihon and all his troops emerged to encounter us in battle at Jahaz… |
| But the Israelites defeated him in battle… | …the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, along with his sons and everyone else. |
| At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them under divine judgment, including even the women and children; we left no survivors. We kept only the livestock and plunder from the cities for ourselves. |
We call this genocide and fault yehôvâh for commanding it (or assume that He did not). I won’t mount an elaborate defense here except to say that this is how law works to purge out wickedness (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 NET):
If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. They must declare to the elders of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.” Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out wickedness from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid (yârêʼ, ויראו).
So that was then; this is now (Matthew 5:38-48 NET):
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well [Table]. And if someone wants to sue you and to take your tunic, give him your coat also. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you [Table].
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they? So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Fankly, in our natural selves we care little more for the latter than the former commandment. We are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another, “We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep.”[6] But before we call yehôvâh cruel or Jesus naïve, we who want to follow Him would do well to deny ourselves. When we do we may notice that the Israelites defeated [Sihon] in battle because the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) our God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהינו) delivered him over to [them]:
|
Numbers 21:24b-26a, 31, 32 (NET) |
Deuteronomy 2:36, 37 (NET) |
| …and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strongly defended. | From Aroer, which is at the edge of Wadi Arnon (it is the city in the wadi), all the way to Gilead there was not a town able to resist us – the Lord our God gave them all to us. |
| So Israel took all these cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites… | |
| So the Israelites lived in the land of the Amorites. Moses sent spies to reconnoiter Jaazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. | |
| However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God. |
In other words, here Israel obeyed yehôvâh, killing only those who were under divine judgment (châram, ונחרם) and taking only the land that was promised. The law reads: Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה) alone must be utterly destroyed (châram).[7] Nevertheless no devoted offering (chêrem, חרם) that a man may devote (châram, יחרם) to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה) of all that he has, both man and beast, or the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted offering is (chêrem, חרם) most holy to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה). No person under the ban (chêrem, חרם), who may become doomed to destruction (châram, יחרם) among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death.[8]
If we stop blaspheming yehôvâh for a moment, thinking He has no right to make such laws, we can begin—using the very laws I quoted above—to grasp what He meant when He spoke through the prophet Ezekiel.
| Ezekiel 20:11 (NASB) | Ezekiel 20:25 (NASB) |
| I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live. | I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live… |
We aren’t told how many parents, if any, brought their drunken rebellious sons before the elders of the city that they might be stoned to death. I can surmise that some parents remained silent or lied about them, while others with means bribed elders to redeem them. It’s fairly clear that many a drunken rebellious son rose to become an elder who led the people of Israel into πορνεία (Ezekiel 20:28, 30 NASB):
When I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and they offered there their sacrifices and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There also they made their soothing aroma and there they poured out their drink offerings…Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and play the harlot (zânâh, זנים; Septuagint: ἐκπορνεύετε, a form of ἐκπορνεύω) after their detestable things?
Paul wrote about the law in ways quite similar to yehôvâh’s words through Ezekiel.
| Romans 7:10b (NET) | Galatians 3:21b (NET) |
| So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! | For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. |
I wrote about this elsewhere. Here I want to skip ahead to begin to explore what life was like for Israel under law as the sharp tip of the sword of divine judgment, and to present an example of yirʼâh which resulted in fear and faith in yehôvâh. Outside Jericho just before the rams’ horns sounded and the city’s wall collapsed, Joshua gave the army of Israel the following command (Joshua 6:17-19 NET):
The city and all that is in it must be set apart (chêrem, חרם) for the Lord, except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies we sent. But be careful when you are setting (châram, תחרימו) apart the riches (chêrem, החרם) for the Lord. If you take any (chêrem, החרם) of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation (chêrem, לחרם) and cause a disaster. All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord. They must go into the Lord’s treasury.
I looked to see if yehôvâh commanded this. So far all I’ve found was Moses’ command: You must burn the images of their gods, but do not covet the silver and gold that covers them so much that you take it for yourself and thus become ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house and thereby become an object of divine wrath along with it. You must absolutely detest and abhor it (chêrem, חרם), for it is an object of divine wrath (chêrem).[9] A few commentators considered Jericho a kind of first fruits offering to yehôvâh.
The exception made for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house is interesting. The somewhat crass tit-for-tat cited above—because she hid the spies we sent—doesn’t quite tell the whole story (Joshua 2:1-7 NET).
Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.” They stopped at the house of a prostitute (zânâh, זונה; Septuagint: πόρνης, a form of πόρνη) named Rahab and spent the night there. The king of Jericho received this report: “Note well! Israelite men have come here tonight to spy on the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this order to Rahab: “Turn over the men who came to you – the ones who came to your house – for they have come to spy on the whole land!” But the woman hid the two men and replied, “Yes, these men were clients of mine, but I didn’t know where they came from. When it was time to shut the city gate for the night, the men left. I don’t know where they were heading. Chase after them quickly, for you have time to catch them!” (Now she had taken them up to the roof and had hidden them in the stalks of flax she had spread out on the roof.) Meanwhile the king’s men tried to find them on the road to the Jordan River near the fords. The city gate was shut as soon as they set out in pursuit of them.
What she did is exactly as Joshua reported. As James asked rhetorically, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way?[10] But I think her reasons, why she defied her king to do what she did, are far more interesting in this study of yirʼâh (Joshua 2:8-13 NET).
Now before the spies went to sleep, Rahab went up to the roof. She said to the men, “I know the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) is handing this land over to you. We are absolutely terrified (ʼêymâh, אימתכם) of you, and all who live in the land are cringing (mûg, נמגו) before you. For we heard how the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan. When we heard the news we lost our courage (mâsas, וימס) and no one could even breathe for fear of you. For the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיכם) is God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) in heaven above and on earth below! So now, promise me this with an oath sworn in the Lord’s (yehôvâh, ביהוה) name. Because I have shown allegiance (chêsêd, חסד; Septuagint: ἔλεος, literally, mercy) to you, show allegiance (chêsêd, חסד; Septuagint: ἔλεος, literally, mercy) to my family. Give me a solemn pledge that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us from death.”
Though Rahab didn’t use all of Moses’ words, given her testimony—the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below—and her plea for mercy, I feel confident thinking that she feared (yârêʼ, וייראו) the Lord, and [she] believed (ʼâman, ויאמינו) in the Lord.[11] She was as saved as anyone in Israel: Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.[12] As the writer of Hebrews declared: By faith Rahab the prostitute escaped the destruction of the disobedient, because she welcomed the spies in peace.[13] Everyone else: Israel annihilated (châram, ויחרימו) with the sword everything that breathed in the city, including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys…they burned the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the Lord’s house.[14]
But the Israelites disobeyed the command about the city’s riches. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, stole some of the riches.[15] I’ll continue this in another essay.
Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 7
[3] Deuteronomy 2:24b-25 (NET)
[5] A translation of the Septuagint reads: hardened his spirit and prevailed over his heart.
[8] Leviticus 27:28, 29 (NKJV)
[9] Deuteronomy 7:25, 26 (NET)
[12] Joshua 6:25 (NET) This verse also provides a clue that Joshua was written during Rahab’s lifetime. See: “An Introduction to the Book of Joshua”