Unlocking The Old Testament

Numbers 2

David Pawson looks at the narrative part of numbers which turns from the divine word to the human deeds, from what the Hebrews should do to what they actually did do. Israel did not pass the test of the difficulties of the wilderness. After Sinai they are in a covenant relationship with God and there are now punishments for their sins. They made a promise to obey Him. Obedience would bring blessing; disobedience, curse. God’s law showed them what is right; the limitation is that they can’t do it and the law can’t help them to live right. Without supernatural help we are unable to live right which is why the Spirit was given later at Pentecost. Moses got impatient with the people and didn’t listen carefully to what God told him to do. For this reason, God said Moses would not enter the Promised Land. All 3 leaders failed. Leadership of God’s people is a big responsibility, do it God’s way. The major failure of the people was they grumbled - about lack of water and lack of variety in food. The first huge crisis and the worst was when the people sent 12 spies to check out the land God was going to give them and 10 came back saying, we can’t do it, there are giants living there. So the people decided not to trust God and for that God made them wander the wilderness for 40 years.

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Deuteronomy 1

David Pawson explains that in Deuteronomy God’s law had to be repeated for a new generation as almost every adult who had come out of Egypt had died. They had to enter into the covenant with God as their parents had. 2 key phrases are repeated time & again. One is “the land the Lord your God gives you”. They are reminded that this land is an undeserved gift. The other is “go in and possess the land”. Everything you receive from God is a gift, but you must go in and take it otherwise you won’t get it. The message of Deuteronomy is simple, you can keep the land as long as you keep My law, but if you don’t keep it, even though you own the land, you won’t be free to live in it and enjoy it. Ownership is unconditional, occupation is conditional. The covenant linked the land and the law of God. The Israelites were not given the land because of their righteousness but because of the current inhabitants’ wickedness. Everything God tells the Israelites not to do is what was happening already in the Promised Land with its current occupants. Deuteronomy is made up of 3 long speeches, Moses talking to the people in the last week of his life. He speaks to them like a dying father to his children. It is warm, expressive and emotional and yet very well written.

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