Deuteronomy 3 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Ch. 1-3 The Historical Context – how Israel came to this point of their history

Passage: Deut 3:1-20

1 Next we turned and went up along the road towards Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei. 2 The Lord said to me, ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.’

3 So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. 4 At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them – the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 5 All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. 6 We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city – men, women and children. 7 But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

8 So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon. 9 (Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) 10 We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 11 (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

12 Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns. 13 The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites. 14 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.) 15 And I gave Gilead to Makir. 16 But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the River Jabbok, which is the border of the Ammonites. 17 Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.

18 I commanded you at that time: ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of the other Israelites. 19 However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, 20 until the Lord gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.’

A. Find Out:

1. Who next came against Israel? v.1
2. What did the Lord tell Moses? v.2
3. What was the outcome? v.3-7
4. What land was taken and given to whom? v.8,12,13
5. Yet what instructions did Moses give to this people? v.18-20

B. Think:

1. Look up a map of the land given to what tribes in this passage.
2. Why was the defeat of Og significant?
3. Why did Moses instruct the men of the 3 tribes as he did?

C. Comment:

     Having had to defeat Sihon, even though they had approached him peaceably, Israel now had a second king coming against them. There was no opportunity for diplomacy and the Lord told Israel that they would defeat Og. This they did!

     This was very significant on two counts: first, the cities of Og were particularly well fortified, but they proved no match for Israel and the Lord. This would have increased Israel’s confidence, as they prepare to go in and take the land. Second, it means that with this second victory, Israel have taken all the land to the east of the Jordan and can now colonize it, so that it becomes part of the Promised Land.

     This area is given to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. However, rather than let them all settle there, Moses instructs the fighting men of these three tribes to pass over the Jordan with the rest of Israel, to help them clear out the land. There had been no presumption that Israel could do it without these three, or each tribe on their own. If they had started doing this, then each tribe would have dropped out when they took the land allotted to them, leaving a decreasing number of men to clear the last parts of the Land. No, they were all to work together in taking the land. An important principle! Israel are to learn to act as a complete nation, not merely a number of separate, individual tribes. Unity is a characteristic of a nation.

D. Application:

1. The church is a body, with many members working together.
2. Do we understand the unity that there should be in the church?

Passage: Deut 3:21-29

21 At that time I commanded Joshua: ‘You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. 22 Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.’

23 At that time I pleaded with the Lord: 24 ‘Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? 25 Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan – that fine hill country and Lebanon.’

26 But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. ‘That is enough,’ the Lord said. ‘Do not speak to me any more about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. 28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’ 29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

A. Find Out:

1. How did Moses encourage Joshua? v.21,22
2. How had Moses pleaded with God? v.23-25
3. What had been the Lord’s response? v.26
4. What, at least, did the Lord allow Moses to do? v.27
5. What was Moses to do with Joshua? v.28

B. Think:

1. What had Moses yearned to do?
2. Read Num 20:1-13. Why was Moses not allowed to enter the Land?
3. How was Moses to encourage Joshua?

C. Comment:

      In this passage we see Moses revealing something of the ache of his heart. In Numbers 20 we find the account of Moses bringing water from the rock. He had known the Lord’s presence in Egypt , in the travels in Sinai, and at Sinai, in most wonderful ways. Then for a moment in a crisis over water, he took the reins, and he had put himself forward as their savior and demeaned the people, in his harsh words to them. In all else he faithfully represented the Lord, but on that one occasion he failed, and for that the Lord said He would take him home to heaven. Moses would not go into the Promised Land.

    Perhaps the Lord knew that if he had gone in, pride would have arisen in him over that achievement. Instead Moses is to identify with the past generation. The only one to enter of that generation (who were over the age of 20 at the time of the first entry attempt) was Caleb (1:35 ,36). Joshua will now lead but (presumably) he had been under 20 then.

     Joshua had been Moses’ servant, one having the closest contact with the Lord at the Tent of Meeting (Ex 33:11). The implication is that the future leader’s primary qualification to lead is that he is to be one who has had the closest walk with the Lord. Now, at the Lord’s direction, Moses is to commission Joshua, and he will take the people in shortly.

D. Application:

1. The greater the knowledge of the Lord, the greater the responsibility.
2. The ultimate for the children of God is that we go to heaven.