Numbers 20:14-21. 9-3-16. Moses Brings Honor To God In Turning Away – my devotional

Numbers 20:14-21    Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse   20:21                9-6-16

^“Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.”  (NIV)

Numbers 20:14-21 reads, “Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. ¹⁵ Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, ¹⁶ but when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. “Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.¹⁷ Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” ¹⁸ But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.” ¹⁹ The Israelites replied: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.” ²⁰ Again they answered: “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army.²¹ Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.”  (NIV)

Part 1: Moses Honors The Lord (14-29).

The Israelites traveled through Edom to get to the Promised Land. They needed to pass through Edomite territory. And so they sent emissaries to the King of Edom. Look at verse 14, “Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us.”  Moses was going to ask the King of Edom if the Israelites could pass. (They would eventually refuse. But it was all under the sovereignty of God. We will be getting into that.)

Moses could have forced the Edomites to let them pass. He did not express frustration or anger. He was very diplomatic. Look at verses 14b-16, ““This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. ¹⁵ Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, ¹⁶ but when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. “Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.”

Let’s look and see how the negotiations unfolded.

     Moses made a formal request for his people to pass, in verse 17, “¹⁷ Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”  The king’s highway, was an old caravan route. It was used as a major public thoroughfare. They were firm, but respectful in their request. He sincerely promised that he people would not use up any of their resources. He promised to take the shortest route. They would just pass through.  He made no demands, except to be allowed to pass. This is totally reasonable.

Their passage was refused by the King of Edom.  Look at verse 8, “But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”

Again, when Edom refused, Moses did not get angry. He simply tried again in verse 19, “¹⁹ The Israelites replied: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”  Moses promised reparation for anything that the Israelites took. In responding this way and reacting this way, Moses honored God as holy. He trusted in God’s timing. He was portraying what it means to stand a God’s representative. He was God’s ambassador.

Edom continued to refuse. They didn’t trust the Israelites. Look at verse 20, “²⁰ Again they answered: “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army.”  It wold have been pleasing to God if the Edomites would have supported the Israelites. They would have been blessed. But it was so hard to trust the Israelites. If I was the King of Edom I wouldn’t trust the Israelites either. The Edomite nation was on the verge of getting annihilated. It would really take faith to submit and support the Israelites. It would take an act of God for the Edomites to see that this is the way they should go.

Moses tried to negotiate with Edomites but it did not work. Moses was left with two choices. He could either force a conflict or avoid a conflict. It was God’s wisdom to not start a conflict. Look at verse 21. ^“Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.”  Why start a conflict with Edomites? Warfare is not the best choice. Moses found God’s will in this situation. It was not easy for Moses to obey this direction, but it was the best way, for it was the Lord’s will. Moses honored the Lord before the eyes of the people.

It is so hard to walk away from a conflict. To do so reminds me of Jesus’ teaching for his disciples to turn the other cheek. Matthew 5:39 reads, “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” I want to justify myself. I want to prove to the other person that I am right. I want them to at least acknowledge this. Then I would be satisfied. How hard it is to just walk away. I pray for strength do so at the critical moment.

Though the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, it was not going to get any easier for them. They were still complaining a lot. There was still opposition from the people indigenous to the region. There was still God’s divine discipline. It was not going to be easy but it was going to be totally necessary. But, through it all, God was growing them in faith. He was molding them into a powerful nation.

In this chapter, Numbers 20, we learned about the core essence of what it means honoring God as holy. Mostly it has to do with obeying God even when we are stressed out. It has to do with standing up as God’s representative. It means revealing God’s just and diplomatic ways and respecting the people.  It does not mean giving into our anger and frustration and disobeying the Lord.  Our frustration and anger, leads to disobedience and places huge road blocks between people and God when servants of God vent their anger publically and disobey the Lord out of their frustration.

We are called to be God’s ambassadors and to glorify his character to the people of the world. God keeps his servants to a high standard. Even Moses succumbed to anger and frustration when he struck the rock and rebuked the people. He dishonored God. It disqualified him from setting foot in to the Promised Land.

We are servants of God only because of the grace of Jesus. I thank God that there is abundant grace for us. A public display of anger may cost us a position in the church, and break relationships, but God does forgive. He will help us overcome our anger. He will make us more Christ-like and he will lead us into the kingdom of God even if we fail to be ambassadors of Christ from time to time. We stand only because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Part 2: How To Be A Negotiator Like Moses

Let’s think about how Moses began his negotiations with the Edomites. Maybe we can glean some wisdom on how we too can negotiate with people.

First, Moses found the common ground. The two nations did have a brotherly heritage. Two nations became the ancestors of two brothers, Jacob and Esau. The Edomites were descended from Esau and the Israelites from Jacob. These bothers lived 500 years earlier. Over the 500 years their descendants became two nations.  In this way, Moses called the Edomites brothers. When dealing with people we need to acknowledge that we are all created by God. We may even share a spiritual heritage together. In dealing with people we need to find our common ground.

     Second, Moses shared with them about the wonderful grace of God. He updated them on five centuries of history. They were oppressed by the Egyptians. But God heard their cries and delivered them. Her led them to where they were at that time.  How important it is to always begin conversations with the grace of God.   It really brings all things into the proper light.

Third, Moses sought to obey the will of God.  In this situation he was obeying the will of God. According the Deuteronomy 2: 4-5, “Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. ⁵ Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.” (NIV) This was God’s will. Moses knew it and he really wanted to obey it. We need to find out what God’s will is, when we negotiate and stand on the side of God, for it is his will that will prevail.

    Fourth, Moses decided to honor the Lord before the eyes of the people. In the first part of Numbers 20, he dishonored God by giving into frustration and disobeying God and taking some of God’s glory for himself. It seems that he learned his lesson here at the end of Numbers 20. How easy it would be to just get angry and unleash the armies of Israel on the Edomites? Moses could have easily unleashed the fury of his armies. Why not at least yell at the King’s representatives a little bit. But he controlled himself and sought to obey the Lord in this matter. He grew spiritually. (But his change did not mean that he would be allowed to set foot in the Promised Land however. Just trying to do things right is not enough to get into the Promised Land. There needs to be God’s grace of forgiveness. That would come with the Jesus and the Gospel.)

Prayer, “Lord, there are times that I get so frustrated with people around me that I want to lash out in anger and disobey and dishonor your holy name. This only closes doors in others faces. Forgive me and help me to always honor you as holy before the people.”

One word: Always honor God as holy.