Numbers 32

I am reading my way through the Good Old Old Testament again, and if you have ever tried this yourself, you know that there are stretches that are difficult to read. I am being completely honest with you when I say that there are times when I get frustrated reading the OT because I feel like Im reading an extremely wordy history textbook rather than literature that is supposed to aid in my walk with Christ or provide me some glimpse into the character of God. When I pick up my Bible for my devotional time each night, I am hoping to close my eyes feeling recharged rather than even more drained, and sometimes the text can do just that.

Anyways, tonight I had a funny thought after reading a passage from Numbers 32 that I thought I would share with you, the ever-faithful readers of SOTHBLOG:

"Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon- the land the LORD subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. If we have found favor in your eyes," they said, "let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan." Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, "Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land the LORD has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them. The LORD's anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: 'Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob- not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly.' The LORD's anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone. " Numbers 32:3-13

Okay, so this is how my mind responded to this passage:

You know those cheesy countdown clocks you see at stores sometimes or even on ESPN or FOX as time draws nearer to a big game? With each passing second, you draw nearer and nearer to the fulfillment of the promise held by the clock!

What if the Israelites had a clock like that back then? Like, somehow they knew when the day would arrive that they would claim the land God had promised them?

Imagining that they did, think about this passage:

Countdown clock is almost to zero and a bunch of the leaders come whining to Moses: "Come on, Mo. According to the clock, we are basically here. Lets stay on THIS side of the Jordan. What do you say? It will save us the trouble of the classic Oregon Trail dilemma: Should we try and ford the river, or should we float our wagon across? This way, we save time AND we dont lose any spare wheels or the 700lbs of squirrel meat we shot yesterday! Win/win, Moses."

Of course, God hears this, and the next thing you know, the countdown clock has unexpectedly gone up again! By at least a generation, no less! How angry would you have been at the dudes who didnt want to get their feet wet?

Im not saying that God moved the Promise Land to spite the impatient Israelites or anything like that. This is just a "what if?" deal. Life is fun when you ask that question all the time and ponder its infinite answers. This time it just happened to manifest itself in Biblical times.