It was necessary for Israel to undertake a journey if they were to go from Egypt to Canaan. That which they did take was not haphazard, although often termed the “wandering”; it was directly supervised by God through His angel (Ex.23:20). In the analysis presented by Moses in Deut.8 the purpose of the journey is not considered in terns of the place of departure or arrival, but rather in terms of the character development that it was to achieve. Deut. 8:2-3,16 clearly shows three objectives of the wilderness experience:
- To humble thee;
- To prove thee (i.e. to know what was in thine heart);
- To do thee good at thy latter end.
It is clear, then, that the record of the events ought to be viewed with this summary of purpose as the key. The events experienced by Israel were to develop their characters, to enable them to see themselves as they were, and to see the goodness of the LORD, whose principle objective was to do them good at their latter end.
Were there Alternative Routes to that actually taken?
In Genesis ch.15 God revealed to Abraham the course of history of the next few generations. It was stated that his descendants would go into Egypt, be in bondage, be delivered and come forth again when the iniquity of the Amorites had developed to such a stage that their removal was inevitable.
These developments would allow the Israelites to take over the land by conquest, both providing divine judgment on the iniquitous Amorites, and fulfillment of the promise of inheritance of the land. It is obvious that they would need to journey from Egypt to Canaan; but the route is not specified. The number of references to journeys between Egypt and Canaan in the record of this time suggest that there was a well-defined route (or routes) available (Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Joseph’s brethren all took this journey); and Abraham would have no reason to think that it would not be used.
It was not used, because God had planned otherwise. Moses was promised that Israel would
“serve God upon this mountain (Sinai)” when they had been delivered from Egypt (Ex.3:12). When Israel left Egypt, we are told, “God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines (presumably the obvious and the quickest route), although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: but God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea” (Ex.13:17,18).
It is clear, then, that there was at least one alternative route to Canaan available when they left Egypt, but God judged that they would not successfully complete their journey that way, for they would not be prepared to endure the cost.
Again, there was an alternative available to Israel at Kadesh-Barnea. If they had been faithful they could have entered the land after only a brief journey from Sinai. Deut.1:2 tells us that there were “eleven days’ journey from Horeb…unto Kadesh-Barnea”, so that entry into the land could have been effected quickly, had not their faith been unequal to the prospect.
They had not learnt their own weaknesses nor the strength of God, with the consequence that they were condemned to remain in the wilderness until the faithless generation had died. Even though this period of “wandering” may have seemed aimless, its purpose was to instruct those who would ultimately come to enter the land, that the Word of the Lord was certain. Just as His “breach of promise” (Num.14:34) was evidently happening before their eyes, so too would His promise,”your little ones.., shall know the land which ye have despised”, be fulfilled. We may therefore conclude that the way was chosen so as to allow Israel’s character to be developed on the way to the land of promise.
The Character-building Wilderness Experience
1. To Humbled Thee
“And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”
Moses clearly reminds Israel that they were allowed to go hungry to humble them. Furthermore, in their hunger (which if unrelieved would have destroyed them) manna was provided not simply to relieve it, but to teach them basic values – that life was dependent on the word of God.
How did being hungry and being fed with manna achieve these ends? Israel were in a favoured position and had been delivered from the oppression and mighty power of Egypt. They had seen a decisive deliverance at the Red Sea and were obviously glad for it. The thought they may have developed (which was certainly a failing in later generations) was that they deserved such deliverance: and, by implication, they deserved an easy journey to and possession of the land. Indeed, in Deut. 9:4-6 Moses warns Israel against such complacency and pride.
In such a context as this,hunger (because of the non-availability of food) would be a sharp reminder that they were not self-sufficient, that they were wholly dependent on the goodness of the LORD to bring them to the land “flowing with milk and honey” where they would eat “bread without scarceness”. It is clear from the number of occasions recorded in which Israel either hungered or thirsted and also murmured against the LORD, that the lesson of humility was not readily learnt.
In what way are we to see the provision of manna as underlining the need for humility, and yet teaching them that “the word of the LORD” is the real basis of life? The record of the giving of manna is in Exodus 16. It is evident from the record that the provision was by God’s command – i.e. the word which He spoke. Also, the arrangements relating to its provision served to emphasize the absolute necessity of ‘obeying what God had spoken if it was to be successfully gathered and used:
- It was available every morning until the sun melted it (16:21);
- They were to gather a basic ration per person which would prove to be adequate (16:16);
- It was not to be left overnight (16:20);
- On the sixth day the basic ration was sufficient for two days (16:22);
- It was sustained without fail until they reached the land to inherit it (16:35).
Every day the faithfulness of God’s word was confirmed. Every sixth and seventh day it was re-emphasized. For Israel to live, they had to eat manna; but manna was there because of what God had said, and its availability was strictly in accordance with what God had said – as those who ignored it found out (16:27-30). Therefore, by the Word of the LORD they were given life.
It would seem that there was another aspect to the manna which was designed to teach them that every day life sustained by food and drink is not an end in itself. That manna was a perfectly suitable and healthy diet cannot be doubted; but that it was always the same, and probably not very exciting is also true (see Num. 11:4-10; 21:5). Israel had to learn that it was sufficient for them then because they were engaged not just in living for the present, but were on a journey to the land of promise.
2. To Prove Thee
Deut.8:2 tells us that to prove thee is “to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no”: but God knows what it in man’s heart, as the scripture abundantly testifies (Ps. 44:21; Jer. 17:10; 1 Sam. 16:7), so that we must conclude that the proving process was to reveal to Israel exactly what sort of people they were.
Their reactions to their experiences would show to what extent they were applying His commandments to their daily living, and in so doing clearly reveal how much importance these commandments were given in their daily lives. Thus their hearts were revealed.
Moses had previously emphasized how important it was to ensure that the heart was rightly trained. “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them…” (Deut.6:5-7). It was, therefore, important that they should know their true affections and interests.
An example of the proving process in action is given in Exodus 15:23-26. A few days after the miraculous deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea, where they had been saved from a seemingly impossible situation, they reached Marah and could not drink the water. What was their reaction?
“They murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” – they had not learnt to trust that a God who could divide the waters to save them, could also sweeten water to quench their thirst. So in comment Moses records, “…and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved, them.”
Their failure to see the lessons of the deliverance at the Red Sea were clearly demonstrated; the extent of their trust in God to save was proved (i.e. tested) and shown to be inadequate. How soon they had forgotten their song, “Thou in mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation” (Ex.15:13): So God reminds them in verse 26 that their redemption and salvation depended on diligently hearkening “to the voice of the LORD thy God” and doing “that which is right in his sight.. .for I am the Lord that healeth thee”.
Other scripture testifies that for many of Israel, their heart was not filled with what was right in His sight (e.g. Ps.78:8,8,37; Ps.95:7-10). Stephen’s assessment in Acts 7:39 was “to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt.”
3. To Do Thee Good At Thy Latter End
The humbling and proving wilderness experience was not an end in itself. At least, it was not meant to be, although it was for those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. It was part of a character-building process through which the LORD could do them good at their latter end. The object of the Exodus was inheritance of the land of promise: the Exodus was the means by which they could reach the land described by Moses in
Exo. 8:7-14: “a good land…of brooks of water, of fountains…a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it…”
We should remember that the land was outside their experience. Compared even with Egypt, it was superlatively good; but it was still a land that they had never seen. Moses reminds them of this in
Deut.11:10-12: “For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt”; it is “a land which the LORD thy God careth for: for the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”
Because this land was outside their experience, they needed to trust God that it was as He said. This they were assured of by the way they were cared for in the wilderness, even to the extent that “thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years” (Deut.8:4). Nehemiah (9: 21) also comments on this feature of Israel’s wilderness experiences as evidence of God’s care “so that they lacked nothing”.
Israel may have protested that they did lack – they suffered hunger – but in the over-all context of real needs and their development of son-ship, they did not. For, said Moses, “Thou shalt consider in thine heart,that,as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee”.
Their experiences, as also stated by Moses in Deut. 11:2, were essential character-development for their calling as God’s children. The good being done to Israel at their latter end was to give them inheritance in the land with its blessings. The good being done on on the way, although, perhaps, less obvious, was to equip them for responsible behaviour in this new and desirable environment (hence the warnings in Deut. 8:14- 20).
Jesus the Son — tempted in the Wilderness
Israel were to view their chastening experiences as the sign of son-ship. It is fitting, then, when the only begotten Son faced hunger and temptation, that he is immediately able to relate the experiences of Israel to his own situation and successfully resist temptation. Indeed, the forty days and nights fasting in the wilderness that Jesus undertook instantly brings to mind Israel’s 40 year chastening in the wilderness. Unlike Israel, however, Jesus could look beyond the immediate and trust his Father would provide his need, which He did by angelic ministration (Matt.4:11) – as God had also done many times for Israel (Is.63:9-10).
Lessons for Us
Are there lessons in this for us?
Paul in 1 Cor.10 clearly directs us to view Israel’s wilderness experience as a warning for us in our walk:
“These things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted” (v.6); “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (v.11).
The things that happened to them include the fiery serpents, which are also a feature noted in Deut.8:15. The application of the lessons in Deut.8 are particularly appropriate, therefore.
We, too, have been called to son-ship – a son-ship which will result in identity of nature with the Father: “according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet.1:3-4).
As it was for Israel, the inheritance is outside our experience. We need to be shaped and disciplined for it. We have to reckon that God is faithful. Consequently, our lives will be beset with difficulties at times, but the object of them is to do us good at our latter end – indeed, we also have to be humbled and taught that “man does not live by bread only”, that purely material day-to-day living is not the destiny to which we have been called.
We must expect experiences to prove us, to show our hearts, that we might replenish them with right desires, so laying up treasure in heaven.
Chastening we must expect, as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us in ch.12:5-11. But the object is “for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness”, i.e. it is to do us good at our latter end. So he advises, “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” (v.11-12). The same exhortation to endure because God is faithful is liven in 1 Cor.10:13.
The experience of Israel, of Jesus and our own lives, is that God is faithful. What He brings on us is to do us good at our latter end, that we might be inheritors in the city of God.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One