“Settling (Numbers 32)", Will DuVal | 6/8/25
Numbers 32 | 6/8/25 | Will DuVal
This morning, as our sermon title suggests, we’re talking about SETTLING. And I invite you to think back on a time in your life when you SETTLED.
Perhaps it was someone you dated, and you look back now and think, “Why in the world was I EVER with him, with her? Clearly I was just DESPERATE to be with SOMEONE… ANYONE!”
Or maybe it was the first JOB you took out of college; you were young and idealistic, ready to CHANGE THE WORLD. But then REALITY hit, and the only thing you were changing was DIAPERS, back at your old high school BABYSITTING gig.
For me: I learned the MOST about settling as a Vanderbilt fan. Most of you know I’m pretty competitive… but then I attended VANDERBILT for grad school. And this was LONG before we were upsetting #1 ranked Alabama last season; this was back when we finished 2 & 10 - 2 wins, 10 losses - in back to back seasons. We were usually just excited if we could score AT ALL against Bama, Georgia… just put a few POINTS up on the board.
As a Vanderbilt fan, you get used to SETTLING. “Of COURSE we lost, but Hey: at least we outplayed ‘em in the second half (after they were up 5 touchdowns and put their third string in…).”
But this morning we are warned against SPIRITUALLY settling, in Numbers ch32. And I was pretty proud of myself for that PUNNY title, because the way in which these two and a half tribes of Israel “settle” in this text, is by literally SETTLING in the land EAST of the Jordan River OUTSIDE of the land God had PROMISED them. So to quickly catch any newcomers up on the context of our story here: God has delivered his people Israel OUT of slavery in Egypt and He’s been leading them TOWARD the Promised Land of Canaan. In fact, He already led them right up to the EDGE of it, back in ch13, and God told them to go in and TAKE it. But they were too AFRAID of the Canaanites, and they disobeyed. So God made Israel wander an additional 38 years in the wilderness, until that faithless generation died out. But NOW, Israel’s right on the cusp of going in AGAIN, when TWO of the twelve tribes - the Reubenites and the Gadites - decide: “...Ehh… maybe we’ll just stay HERE…”. And they SETTLE for LESS than the BEST - the full BLESSING that God had in store for them.
And the reason I say that WE are being warned against SPIRITUALLY settling, is that time and time again, we’ve seen the “Promised Land” serves as a metaphor for HEAVEN for US. It is God’s BEST - the FULL future BLESSING He has promised us. A land flowing NOT just with “milk and honey”, but with no more TEARS or SUFFERING; no DEATH, no SIN! Heaven is everything that we LONG for and DREAM of… and MORE! The Bible says that every hardship in THIS life all put together won’t even be a drop in the BUCKET compared to the GLORY that is awaiting us in the life to come, if we belong to Christ. (2 Cor 4:18; Rom 8:18) THAT’s how wonderfully SUBLIME our future Promised Land will be.
And yet, how QUICKLY will MANY of us SETTLE for half an acre in Chesterfield? For 4,000 square feet; I checked on ZILLOW yesterday… sermon prep…; we’re on a quarter acre / 2500 sq ft. / 3 bedrooms, 3 bath - I discovered for under a million, we could get HALF an acre, FOUR thousand square feet, FOUR bed, FOUR bath, with a POOL… And I’m gonna be HONEST with y’all: when I stumbled on that Zillow listing yesterday, I’m not sure I got quite as EXCITED reflecting on and typing out that FIRST paragraph about my eternal mansion in HEAVEN as I did researching and writing the SUBSEQUENT paragraph about 14949 Straub Hill LANE.
How often do we SETTLE for LESS than God’s BEST? And more importantly, if we’re actually gonna DO something about it, to ADDRESS our “settling” problem - WHY? WHY do we settle? That’s the question Numbers 32 is gonna answer for us this morning, with seven SOURCES of settling.
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Let’s read it first together; (SCRIPTURE:) Would you STAND…
“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.”
16 Then they came near to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, 17 but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance. 19 For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.” 20 So Moses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, 21 and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him 22 and the land is subdued before the Lord; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. 23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. 24 Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.” 25 And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26 Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, 27 but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders.”
28 So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. 29 And Moses said to them, “If the people of Gad and the people of Reuben, every man who is armed to battle before the Lord, will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. 30 However, if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” 31 And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben answered, “What the Lord [YHWH] has said to your servants, we will do. 32 We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”
33 And Moses gave to them, to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land and its cities with their territories, the cities of the land throughout the country. 34 And the people of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. 37 And the people of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, 38 Nebo, and Baal-meon (their names were changed), and Sibmah. And they gave other names to the cities that they built. 39 And the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 40 And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he settled in it. 41 And Jair the son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and called them Havvoth-jair. 42 And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.”
This is the word of God… Seated…
Now before we get to the sources of settling, I wanna quickly make the CASE for why Reuben and Gad and half of Manasseh were in the WRONG here. Because we may READ this and be tempted to think, “Well, all’s well that ENDS well. They eventually got it worked out; just seems like a little misunderstanding; like Moses jumped the GUN a bit in his REBUKE. DID these tribes even do anything WRONG here, in settling down east of Canaan?” I want to give you FIVE quick defenses of my premise, that this was a SINFUL request on their part.
#1) God clearly identifies the “Promised Land” elsewhere as the land WEST of the Jordan. Deuteronomy 11:8 - “go in [to] the land that you are crossing over to possess… that the Lord swore to your fathers”; Deuteronomy 27:3 - “write all this law… on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you”. Remember Moses’ punishment, for striking the rock back in ch20? God told him, “you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them”. But Moses is still AROUND here in ch32; he BROUGHT them EAST of the Jordan. So this CAN’T be the PROMISED Land.
#2) Notice how v33 that we just read specifies that “MOSES gave to them” this land. The PROMISED Land is described as the land that GOD gave His people. But it’s repeated here for emphasis, v40: “Moses gave Gilead to Machir…”. And Later in Joshua 13:8 as well: “the Reubenites and Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward”. Not the LORD, MOSES.
#3) Related: how about the ABSENCE of God in this passage. Did the people of Reuben and Gad take their request to GOD? Did they ask if it was favorable in GOD’S sight? V5: “they said to MOSES, “If we have found favor in your sight…”
Did MOSES take their request to God? No; he confronted them initially - Moses’ initial INSTINCT was right - but when they came back and re-pitched him, did Moses take their COUNTER-offer to the Lord? No; God is NOWHERE to be FOUND in this passage, except when they try and drag Him INTO it, in v31: ““What the Lord has said to your servants, we will do.” Did GOD say ANYTHING to them here? No, he is conspicuously SILENT and ABSENT during this whole man-centered negotiation.
Argument #4) is the history of later problems that will arise BECAUSE they settled here. In Joshua ch22, civil WAR nearly breaks out in Israel because of this geographical divide. And when the ASSYRIANS came from the EAST in the 8th c., guess who the first tribes to be CONQUERED were? Because They never should have been east of the Jordan to BEGIN with.
Lastly, #5) The majority of the commentators AGREE with me:
Warren Wiersbe (OT, 299): “We can’t help wondering if these Transjordanic tribes made a wise choice. They were outside the land of promise and separated from the rest of the nation. They made their choice only on the basis of personal gain”
Gordon Wenham (Numbers, 237): “That any Israelite tribe should consider settling outside the land promised to Abraham showed a disturbing indifference to the divine word on which Israel’s existence entirely depended. The nation stood poised to cross the Jordan and take up its inheritance, when suddenly three of the tribes announced their intention of opting out. It look[s] like the spy story (from chs 13 & 14) all over again.”
Ronald Allen (Numbers, 411): “[This land] was, in a sense, just the fringe of the garment. It was not the heart and soul of the land. To settle in the fringes was a mixed blessing…. because they were somewhat removed from the center of the life of the land, [and] they were the most prone to be influenced by outsiders.” (Allen) Most vulnerable not just to attack, but to APOSTASY too.
And David Guzik writes (Enduring Word): “For 400 years, the tribes of Israel longed to go over the Jordan into Canaan. Now… these two tribes were content to stop short… and be satisfied with settling for less.”
And WHY did they settle? SEVEN underlying sources now:
And the FIRST is perhaps the biggest and most OBVIOUS:
1) PROSPERITY can lead to settling. (v1a)
V1: “Now the people of Reuben and Gad had a very great number of livestock”. They had a lot of STUFF. “Where we gonna FIT all our stuff? There’s plenty of space for it over here in Jazer and Gilead…”
“We’re getting a little cramped in our 2500 sq. ft.; Sure, I suppose we could just buy less STUFF… OR… plus, that POOL…”
And the more STUFF we have, the more stuff we have to get ATTACHED to here. Colossians 3:2 exhorts us to “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are here on earth”. The more “THINGS” that you POSSESS here on earth, the more there is to set your MIND on here. That’s why Jesus said, ““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures here on earth… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6:19-21)
Once there was a wealthy, important man who wanted to follow Jesus. He said, “Jesus, I’ve kept ALL the commandments ever since I was a KID”. But Jesus said, ““You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, and follow me.”” (Mk 10:21) And how does the story END? The man “went away sorrowful, for he had MANY possessions.” The more you GOT, the more you got to LOSE. And the more you got to LOVE!!
One of you submitted a prayer request this past week: “Pray that Jesus would come soon to bring us into our eternal inheritance”; Now, I imagine that’s not a very difficult PRAYER - it’s probably a much more COMMON prayer - for the Christian living in the Kiberan slums of Nairobi, but when I scrolled upon it on my shiny iPhone, the same one I’d used EARLIER that evening to order DINNER delivered right to my front DOOR; and as I was enjoying my DESSERT AFTER the dinner, checking prayer requests from my PORCH swing, with the basketball game on in the background on my outdoor TELEVISION set, while my kids played on the giant BOUNCE house that we OWN… There was this tiny MOMENT there where I thought to myself, “Do I really WANT Jesus to come back any time soon? I mean, How bad am I really ITCHING to get to that eternal inheritance?” Most days I think I’d be just fine if Jesus decided to tarry a little while longer.
Jesus said, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort.” (Lk 6:24)
Church… WEST County Church; I ASK you: “Are we SETTLING for the riches and the comforts of THIS life, or are we setting our minds, and fixing our hearts, and finding our JOY in the treasures that await us in the life to COME?
May we not let our PROSPERITY here hinder our ANTICIPATION, our CAPTIVATION with the eternal joys awaiting us in Heaven. “Set your minds on things that are above.”
#2) SECOND source of settling: REASON. (v1b)
Second HALF of verse 1: “They HAD lots of livestock. And they SAW that… the land was [good] for livestock.” They just put two and two together.
The PROBLEM is that two + two doesn’t always equal FOUR when God’s involved.
If you want a CHILD, and you’re 76 years old, it stands to REASON that your best CHANCE is probably to let your husband sleep with your much younger servant HAGAR, and then just take the child as your own, doesn’t it? But God isn’t always REASONABLE.
When Israel finally CROSSES the Jordan, and goes up against the heavily fortified Canaanite city of JERICHO, it does NOT stand to reason that the way to TAKE the city is to simply march around it for seven days blowing TRUMPETS.
When a 9 ½ ft. GIANT is TAUNTING you, demanding a one-on-one showdown to decide the fate of the entire NATION, it does NOT stand to reason that you’d send a scrawny, pubescent SHEPHERD boy, who couldn’t even fill a suit of ARMOR into battle with nothing but a sling, 5 stones and a PRAYER.
But here’s the THING, friends: David SAW the same giant all the other Israelite soldiers saw that day. But he HEARD something they didn’t; David heard God’s PROMISES ringing in his ear: “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear… for it is I the Lord your God who goes with you. I will not leave you or forsake you”” (Dt 31:8).
It is REASONABLE to FEAR a hostile, 9 ½ ft. giant; it is NOT reasonable to “be strong and courageous” in that situation. But FAITH means we believe our EARS more than our EYES.
Reuben and Gad SAW that the land was good for livestock. But God’s people get ourselves in TROUBLE when we trust our EYES more than our EARS, what we’ve HEARD God TELL us. Eve “saw that the tree [of knowledge] was good for food, and that it was a delight to the… [???] eyes… so she took of its fruit and ate”. And all of CREATION has been dealing with the FALL-out ever since. She should’ve trusted her EARS, when God warned, “You shall not eat of that tree”, when He PROMISED, “I’ve given you EVERYTHING that you need to be PERFECTLY HAPPY; you don’t NEED to know good from evil; you just need to know ME, trust ME… LISTEN to me.”
Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your [HEAD?? NO - with all your] heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Where might God be calling you to trust and follow Him right now, EVEN when you don’t understand, when it doesn’t seem to make SENSE?
* “FOSTER care?! But God, we’ve already got 3 young kids of our OWN! Most days it feels like we’re just trying to keep the WHEELS from falling off; how could we POSSIBLY care for another child right now?” The same way David fought Goliath - NOT in his OWN strength…
* “God, are you really calling me to quit my JOB? But it pays so WELL, and we just bought this house and settled down… [be careful SETTLING…]”
In the early 18th century, “two Moravian missionaries, Johann Dober and David Nitschmann… became burdened to reach the inhabitants of an island now known as St. Thomas with the gospel. Most of these inhabitants were slaves. But the plantation owners feared the gospel and its results, and wouldn’t allow missionaries to talk with the slaves. …So the [two men] sold themselves into slavery so they could take the gospel to the islanders.” (https://jdgreear.com/his-sacrifice-motivates-our-service/)
Friends: THAT doesn’t make ANY EARTHLY SENSE. That’s the kind of calling you put a FLEECE out overnight, to make REALLY sure I heard you RIGHT on this one, God, that it was really YOUR voice.
But sometimes God doesn’t even HONOR our fleeces, does he? Sometimes you’re MOSES and God calls you to go BACK to Egypt to set His people FREE, even though it makes no SENSE - “God, I don’t TALK so good; why would they listen to ME? God, I grew up in Pharaoh’s PALACE; I got no street cred with a bunch of slaves. God, how do I even know you’ll be WITH me and ACCOMPLISH all this? - and sometimes God replies, “This shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people OUT of Egypt, THEN you shall [know]” (Ex 3:12). In OTHER words, “Moses, you’re only gonna know for SURE that this was the calling… in HINDSIGHT, looking BACK. You’re just gonna have to TRUST ME til then. Even though it doesn’t make SENSE.”
And “For fifty years [Dober and Nitschmann] labored in the West Indies... They established churches in St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John’s, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbados, and St. Kitts [and] baptized 13,000 converts.”
I bet it made sense to them THEN. I bet SOME folks - I bet some CHRISTIANS were seriously scratching their HEADS, as Dober and Nitschmann voluntarily boarded the slave ship that day, and held their wrists out to be shackled.
“What are y’all THINKING?”
“We’re NOT thinking; we’re LISTENING, and OBEYING the Lord.”
“For we walk by FAITH, not by SIGHT.” (2 Cor 5:7)
#3) The THIRD source of settling: is FEAR. (vv2-5)
I think the “people of Reuben and Gad” subtly display TWO fears here in v5 in particular: the fear of MAN, and the fear of MEN.
When the Bible talks about the “fear of man”, it means caring more about what PEOPLE think than what GOD thinks. In the NEW Testament, the apostle Paul opened his most SEVERE letter to the GALATIANS by essentially saying, “Listen, I’m about to say some stuff y’all aren’t gonna LIKE, but “Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? …If I were still trying to please man, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ”” (1:10).
Paul had some sin struggles, but fear of man wasn’t ONE of them!
The REUBENITES, and GADITES, on the other hand - were they striving to “find favor” in GOD’S sight? No, they were PEOPLE-pleasers, MOSES-pleasers: “If we’ve found favor in YOUR sight, Moses - YOU give us this land…”
How about US, Church? Are we more like PAUL, or like the people of REUBEN & GAD? Are we seeking the approval of MAN, or of GOD?” Are we willing to make conversations AWKWARD, perhaps even lose RELATIONSHIPS, to PROVE it? Half our neighbors won’t TALK to me & Polly anymore, cuz we’re “servants of Christ”. So BE it. Real Christians don’t win popularity contests.
Proverbs 29:25 says “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.”
But there’s a SECOND fear they display here in v5 as well: the fear of MEN. They plead with Moses, “Do not take us across the Jordan” - they originally had NO intention of crossing over and joining the fight; WHY?
Moses TELLS us why in his rebuke (vv7-8): “Why will you discourage… the people of Israel… from going over into the land …Your fathers did this” TOO, back in ch14, when they got AFRAID of the Canaanites. Moses says, “You’re falling prey to the same FEAR they did!”
“Be STRONG and COURAGEOUS… the Lord GOD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Dt 31:7-8).
How about YOU? What do you FEAR?
-The fear of being ALONE can cause you to SETTLE for a partner who is LESS than God’s best for you.
-The fear of being POOR can cause you to settle for a job that is less than God’s best.
-The fear of being DISLIKED can cause us to settle for worldliness, so we fit in, or at least settle for SILENCE instead of boldly sharing our faith.
-The fear of INTIMACY causes SO many people to settle for PORN, because I don’t actually have to be vulnerable, and risk REJECTION, risk FEELINGS getting involved, with the women on the screen.
The list goes on and on - the fear of D.E.I. and an immigration crisis got us to settle for TRUMP! - but here’s one MORE thing to note before we move on: not ONLY does FEAR lead to settling; but SETTLING leads to FEAR as well. It goes both ways. That’s what Moses is warning them against in v7: “Don’t discourage the heart of the people” - “Guys, if y’all SETTLE for land here EAST of the Jordan, then THE REST of them are gonna get scared TOO.”
-When your Christian FRIENDS see you settle for that guy you shouldn’t be dating, they may start to think, “Maybe I should be more afraid of ending up alone…”
-When they see you settling for the material blessings in THIS life, you can cause others to get FOMO - “fear of missing out” - “I don’t wanna miss out on the fun! That vacation they just took, that swimming pool they just put in…” - we can discourage OTHERS’ hearts when we settle.
#4) GENERATIONAL SIN can lead to settling. (vv6-15)
V8: “Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.” They feared TOO. And now Y’ALL are just following in their footsteps.
V14: “behold, you have risen in your fathers' place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord”.
When all you ever KNEW growing up was FEAR and FAITHLESSness, it’s hard to break the cycle, the generational CURSE.
When all you ever KNEW from your parents was ABUSE, BULLYING, domineering parenting - I’m counseling someone right now who grew up with that, and now he’s got young kids of his own and he’s realizing, “I’ve been SETTLING for that kind of toxic parenting, because it’s all I ever knew, but I don’t WANT to parent that way. I want BETTER for my kids!” But it’s HARD to break the CYCLE.
If all you ever saw from YOUR father was mom getting talked DOWN to, like a second-class citizen in her own home; Man, that can get stuck DEEP in the psyche of a young, impressionable kid.
But brother, sister: You don’t have to SETTLE for misogyny, abuse, codependency, resentment, alcoholism, infidelity, divorce, depression, anxiety, fear, FAITHLESSNESS - you are NOT your parents, and our God is a chain-BREAKER, a cycle-BREAKER, a generational curse-BREAKER!
Turn to the LORD, and be set FREE.
#5) Settling can result from COMPROMISE. (vv16-27)
What do these Reubenites and Gadites DO when Moses CALLS them on their sin? Do they REPENT?
No, they propose a COMPROMISE: “We’ll build sheepfolds for our animals and “fortified cities” for our women and children” (you wonder how long all this construction would have DELAYED Israel’s crossing to Canaan?!); but they re-pitch Moses, “Let us get our families settled here, THEN “we will take up arms” and go fight with you.”
And now, the saddest part of the whole story in v20: MOSES settles. He DOESN’T take their request to God; Moses compromises with them: ““If you will do this, if you will take up arms… and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan…” - did Reuben and Gad hold up their end of the bargain? Commentator Adam Clarke points out that only about a THIRD of their available fighting men went across to join the fight: “Now from Joshua 4:13 we learn that of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half of the tribe of Manasseh, only 40,000 armed men passed over Jordan to assist their brethren… consequently the number of 70,580 men were left behind for the defence of the women, the children, and the flocks.” But Moses called for “EVERY armed man” to come across.
But this is what sin DOES: it COMPROMISES.
-We settle for a LITTLE materialism because at least our lifestyle is more modest than the neighbors’; sin justifies itself with comparisons to unregenerate SINNERS.
-We sing songs like, “Christ is Enough… I have decided to follow Jesus / No turning back…” - “Jesus, I’m gonna follow you with ALL my heart… EVERY armed man…”, but when the chips are on the table and it’s time to cross the Jordan, will we only give Him a THIRD of our hearts, and hold back the majority to look after our OWN self-interest?
So Moses WARNS them, in v23: “But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.”
Our SIN has a way of ‘finding us OUT’, doesn’t it? And please notice: their SIN here wasn’t so much what they DID, as what they FAILED to do. I’m convinced that the MAJORITY of the sin that exists within the CHURCH today - that we make COMPROMISES with and we SETTLE for - are sins of OMISSION; the GOOD that God calls us to, that we sinfully shrink back from. There’s a spiritual WAR raging, and we don’t have to cross the JORDAN, will we even cross the STREET to share the gospel with our neighbors? Will we cross the “Delmar Divide” to help with the tornado relief? There is SO much good out there for us to do, that we make excuses for, and we compromise, and settle.
We need to hear God’s WARNING for US this morning: “Be sure your sin WILL find you out.” And when it DOES, are you sure that you have the only DEFENSE attorney for the job, who is able to secure your PARDON, because he personally suffered and died to PURCHASE it for you.
Truth will out… sin will FIND us… but JESUS can SAVE us.
#6) Settling can result from SPIRITUALIZING OUR WILL. (vv28-32)
Now in vv28-32 Moses “gives the command” concerning Reuben and Gad to ELEAZAR and to JOSHUA, and he sticks THEM with his decision, since MOSES isn’t the one leading them across the Jordan anyway. But the most telling and troubling verse is 31, where “the people of Gad and Reuben answered Moses, “What the Lord has said to your servants, we will do.”
We already TOUCHED on this, so I’ll be quick: Did the LORD say ANYTHING about them settling east of Canaan?
No, what are they doing here? They aren’t praying and seeking and listening for GOD’S will; they are SPIRITUALIZING their OWN will, and attributing it to God: “I really feel like God is calling me to…” – be careful how you finish that sentence. Because unless it’s “calling me to be KIND, be GENEROUS, to EVANGELIZE, to MAKE DISCIPLES”, unless it’s explicitly BIBLICAL, it is POSSIBLE that God’s calling you to it. But it’s ALSO possible you are spiritualizing your OWN will. Claiming “What the Lord has SAID” when He hasn’t actually said a WORD.
“God TOLD me we’re gonna get married!”
“Interesting; cuz he told ME we’re supposed to break UP!”
Sounds like ONE of us must be MIS-HEARING Him. And SETTLING.
We might also ADD here the danger of “spiritualizing ANOTHER person’s will”, perhaps even a trusted Christian adviser, who is nevertheless still FALLIBLE.
I wonder if that isn’t how MANASSEH got pulled into this whole scheme. They only show up for the first time in v33, after MOSES has given his BLESSING. Maybe they’re thinking, “Well WE’VE been eyeing the land of Gilead TOO, but God said “Cross the Jordan,” so we weren’t even CONSIDERING settling here until MOSES got involved in the negotiations. I mean, after all: he is MOSES!”
We need to be careful trusting others’ advice as “gospel” truth. Now Manasseh would forever be SPLIT as a tribe; only HALF of them went across to Canaan. Settling is DIVISIVE to God’s people. Because SOME of them won’t STAND for it. They stick to their principles, and DON’T compromise.
Lastly, #7) Settling can result from SUCCESS. (vv33-42)
This KIND of brings us full circle back to “prosperity”, but it’s slightly different. It was through Israel’s SUCCESSES, their victories over Sihon and Og, that they ACQUIRED this land in the FIRST place, and even had the TEMPTATION to settle. And their continued successes - “the sons of Machir… went to Gilead and captured it… And Jair the son of Manasseh went and captured villages…” - that must have CONFIRMED in their minds God’s BLESSING of this compromise.
But we need to remember, Church: earthly success does NOT necessarily prove God’s blessing. You can get REAL rich, win LOTS of battles, living in disobedience to the Lord, grieving Him. As a matter of fact, earthly success is often a CURSE that prevents us from seeing our desperate NEED for God, spiritually.
I think it’s TELLING where this chapter ends, with “Nobah captur[ing] Kenath and [renaming] it Nobah, after his own name.” USUALLY in the Bible, when GOD would lead His people in victory, they’d rename the conquered city after HIM. But these Manassehites have settled for success APART from God.
CONCLUSION: So that’s where the CHAPTER ends, but is that really where the SERMON oughta end? Let me just quickly close - after ALL of that HARD truth, with two BEAUTIFUL truths now in conclusion:
#1- Even when we settle, God is so GOOD, He will often REDEEM our sinful choices. God didn’t WANT Reuben, Gad and ½ of Manasseh east of Canaan, but in his providence God would USE their settling to expand Israel’s borders and flourish his people. That doesn’t EXCUSE our sin, we don’t “go on sinning so that grace may abound all the more,” but we do recognize it, and praise GOD for it.
But let’s also realize, glorious truth #2- that we don’t HAVE to settle! Christ really IS enough, Jesus really IS better than ALL that this world has to offer. I’ll leave you with this quote from commentator Iain Duguid (343): “As those who are easily tempted in our prosperity to settle for the good things of this world, how do we keep our eyes fixed on the goal of Heaven and our hearts longing with a holy discontent for the things that are above? The answer is to fix our eyes on Jesus… The One who truly had everything - not just the very best that earth had to offer, but all the riches of Heaven itself belonged to him. Yet far from settling down comfortably with what he had… Jesus [EMPTIED himself,] became one of us, humbling himself as a servant,” and DIED for us.
Friends: JESUS didn’t settle. May WE refuse to settle for anything LESS, than full joy and satisfaction in Him alone.