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St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 2 | April 2012 his faithfulness and to know hers uniquely and unreservedly (cf. Jer 2:2-‐3). 110 Yet Moses is compelled to rebuke them with the severe words of Deuteronomy 1:32-‐33: “In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God 33 , who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.” In a word, the people were the problem. Their fixed purpose and YHWH’s fixed purposes were not in alignment. Whereas YHWH was grooming his treasured possession, namely his chosen people to collectively be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:6) as a pure bride for Himself, they often appeared to be unholy, divided among themselves, less than kingly and priestly, and even adulterous. Sure they showed generosity in donating tabernacle materials (Ex 35-‐36) and trusting and fearing YHWH after the Red Sea crossing (Ex 14:31) but these seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. With great difficulty they are entering into what Hanson referred to as a “transformation process based on separation and incorporation into a new state.” In the liminal state in the “vast and dreadful desert” (Deut 1:19) where former status, former comforts, and former ways of doing things were made obsolete and the realities of a vulnerable state settle in, the people were easily tempted to look back, rush forward, or fall into a state of paralysis. This made abundantly evident by Paul the Apostle’s summary of lessons in 1 Cor 10:1-‐13 that must be learned from this generation, namely to avoid idolatry (v.7); sexual immorality (v.8); testing the Lord (v.9); or grumbling (v. 10). 4.5 Hardship 110 Seock-‐Tae Sohn in his The Divine Election of Israel, demonstrates that Exodus 6:7, Deut 4:3; 7:6 all used marriage language to describe the relationship of YHWH to Israel. (Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, 2001) 244
St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 2 | April 2012 Now the people complained about their hardships [at Taberah] in the hearing of the LORD (Nu 11:1) In the wilderness, the Hebrews find themselves in that maddening and wonderful tension and vulnerability of living between their known former slavery and settlement in an unknown land of “milk and honey.” That there was physical hardship is a given. Water, food and shelter were all in short supply. Then there were the physical threats of surrounding nations like the Amalekites, Amorites, Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites. There were the threats of seduction of foreign gods and the suffering that comes with the temptation to commit spiritual adultery (Nu 25:1-‐3). There were the threats of discouragement from living in a “no man’s land” and having no land, but only the promise of one as well. There was the threat to start to doubt the promises when fulfillment seemed so distant and unreachable—and to even have a seemingly good excuse for it. Inspite of these threats this was the perfect place to learn trust in YHWH who had promised to lead the people He had redeemed in His unfailing love (Ex 15:13) and who had “sworn with uplifted hand” to bring his people to the land promised to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. (Ex. 6:8). Thus YHWH used this special kind of school of ‘hard-knocks’ to teach his chosen people to lean on Him, and for Him to humble them and to “see what was in their heart” (Deut. 8:1). He used this school as a father would train up his son (Deut 8:3); in fact He had called Israel His firstborn son (Ex 4:22). He also wanted to see if they would take Him at his word. The three books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy all demonstrate a common refrain when hardship is introduced into the lives of the Hebrews on their journey from Egypt to Canaan: “Oh that we…” The look was always in the rear-‐view mirror, and the statement that was under the breath “Is the Lord 245
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