“You approached me, every one of you, and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us to explore the country for us and bring back word concerning what route we should use in going up and what the cities we will encounter are like.’ The idea seemed good to me, so I took twelve of your men, one from each tribe; and they set out, went up into the hills, came to the Eshkol Valley and reconnoitered it. They took some of the produce of the land and brought it down to us; they also brought back word to us — ‘The land Adonai our God is giving to us is good. But you would not go up. Instead you rebelled against the order of Adonai your God…“-Deuteronomy 1:22-26
Today’s lesson is going to be an important reminder of a crucial principle…
…something I think we all agree is true…
…yet rarely give it the most serious attention it deserves.
The principle is this:
YOU BECOME WHO YOU HANG OUT WITH.
Or as the Book of Proverbs says…
“He who walks with the wise will become wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer.”
-Proverbs 13:20
Let’s expound on this thought a bit and connect it to Deuteronomy Chapter One.
From verse 19, Moses is recounting the event concerning the 12 scouts who had returned from the Promised Land with samples of fruit and a positive report that the land “is a good land“.
Yet, in spite of the positive report, the people refused to go up and take the land per the Lord’s instructions.
Why?
Because there was another part of the report that was negative.
It was this pessimistic part of the report that turned into a virulent cancer which invaded the peoples’ collective consciousness until it dominated their minds…
…to the point where they could no longer see anything positive about God’s Promise to take the Promised Land.
All they could say was…
“The people in the land are too big!”
“The Canaanite population is too large!”
“It will be too difficult to wage an attack because of the walled cities!”
And then it finally reached the point where everybody concluded…
“HASHEM must hate us!”
All of this negative thinking effectively nipped what could have been the fulfillment of a great promise of God in the bud…
…resulting in a meaningless life of wandering in the desert for 40 years.
It’s important to understand “the people” being referred to here were the leadership.
Remember, we’re dealing with a tribal society.
People didn’t vote back in those days.
It was the leadership who represented the people.
For example, when it says the “People of Ephraim” made a decision to do something, it was referring to the LEADERSHIP of Ephraim, not the common Ephraimites.
This is really important to understand because what’s going on here is that Moses is accusing the LEADERSHIP for causing the rebellion of the people.
A rebellion that literally ended up wasting 40 years of everybody’s life.
Moses continues on by saying…
…he did his darnedest to persuade the leadership to not let their fears and worries overtake them…
…but instead to trust and surrender to God’s promises.
He reminded them of all the wonderful and incredible things God had already done for them.
He pointed to the fire-cloud they followed during the days and nights as sure-fire proof that HASHEM was indeed with them.
He also emphasized that not only was HASHEM with them…
….but that He had already gone ahead of them to secure the victory for Israel
Nevertheless, in spite of Moses’ pleading, the leadership counsel would not allow themselves to be persuaded.
As a result…
…the Lord had no choice but to respond with the irrevocable declaration…
…that this “evil generation” meaning men 20 years and older would…
…NEVER enter into the Promised Land.
How’s that for scary?
Here’s the oh-so-important takeaway for today.
Although this was a tribal society where the leadership counsel determined the fate of the common citizens…
…the Lord still held the general population accountable for their leadership’s rebellion.
Chew on this thought for a second here.
If you live in a democratic society where you have the freedom to vote and choose your own leaders, don’t you think God will hold you much more responsible for the ungodly actions and decisions of the leaders you chose…
…than he would for a tribal society like ancient Israel where for the most part the general population had little choice but to follow their leaders…
…or pack up their bags and hit the road?
It’s just common sense that HASHEM will hold the citizens of a democratic nation much more accountable for the decisions of poor leadership…
…than he will of the citizens of nations where there is no freedom to vote and choose their leadership (like North Korea for instance).
Moses makes it explicitly clear, more than once actually, that he was NOT able to enter the Promised Land because the people had rebelled.
The point Moses was making is that since he was their leader, he HAD TO take responsibility for their actions.
Now don’t misunderstand me here.
I’m not saying the leaders of a group decide everything.
For instance, your individual salvation is between you and HASHEM alone!
It is not decided by your pastor or church leader.
Or some pope.
But, more often than not, your earthly fate and how much fruit you will be able to produce for the Kingdom is GREATLY AFFECTED by the group of people you hang out with on a regular basis.
We see two group divisions in Scripture.
The division of the human race into Hebrews and gentiles and…
…the division of the gentiles into the nations.
Here’s what you’ve got to understand.
HASHEM is going to judge the gentile nations based on how they treated Israel, His Firstborn Son out of all the nations.
And if you are part of a nation that is against Israel…
regardless of where you personally stand…
…you will not be completely exempt from the NATIONAL judgement…
…the Lord will inflict on your country…
…for taking a stand of hostility against His Chosen People.
So the takeaway here is to fight tirelessly no matter where you live for HASHEM and what is right and good.
And this brings me to my final point.
If you are part of a congregation that is against Israel (like so many liberal churches are), or is lawless (against Torah) or promotes God-man worship like the trinitarian churches do…
…you have some tough questions to ask yourself like…
…in light of everything I have studied in God’s Torah…
…does HASHEM really want me worshipping here or…
…fellowshipping with this kind of people?
I’m done.
Leave a Reply