Daily Devotional Monday 26th October 2020
by William Moody
Numbers 32:1–15
Reuben and Gad Settle in Gilead
32:1 Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. 2 So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land that the LORD struck down before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.”
6 But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? 7 Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the LORD has given them? 8 Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. 9 For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the LORD had given them. 10 And the LORD’s anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, 11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, 12 none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.’ 13 And the LORD’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone. 14 And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel! 15 For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.”
(ESV)
The tribes of Reuben and Gad come to Moses to request that they do not cross the river Jordan but live where Israel is already camped on the east side of the Jordan where the land is very fertile (v1-5).
Moses’ response is very strong as he sees their request as a betrayal of the rest of the people and something that would really discourage the rest of the tribes from entering the Promised Land (v6-15). Moses likens their request to the actions of the ten bad spies who gave a discouraging report which resulted in the Israelites not entering the Promised Land and spending 40 years in the wilderness until that generation had died (see Numbers 13 &14).
It is very important as we consider our actions to think about the impact on the rest of our church fellowship. We must not just think as individuals but as part of a caring and supporting family whose actions influence each other. Our attendance and involvement in church meetings or activities can really encourage others when we are there but also greatly discourage when we are not. Is your level of commitment and encouragement of discouragement to others? Pray about this.
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