It must have been exciting for Israel to think about leaving the wilderness and settling down in permanent homes. These young Israelites had never lived in houses with comfortable furniture. They had never fenced their livestock in pens or sown seed and watched a crop come up. Everything they owned was leftover from Egypt or purchased from desert caravans that passed through from time to time.

When Israel conquered Midian they found whole towns with houses, barns and fenced pastures. They plundered beautiful objects, fabrics, and the kinds of home furnishings city dwellers enjoy.

Reuben and Gad felt they had found their Promised Land and they wanted to stay on the east side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River in the land of Gilead. They made a plea to Moses.

“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.” Numbers 32:5

Moses Rebukes Reuben and Gad

Moses was furious at their request.

 “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing 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 . . . they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them.” Numbers 32:6-9

The last time Israel refused to enter the Promised Land they were sent back into the wilderness for forty years and a whole generation of people was lost.

“And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.” Number 32:14-15

After Moses’s angry rebuke the Reubenites and Gadites reconsidered their plan and agreed to cross the Jordan with the other tribes. They still wanted to make the eastern territories their home, but they would leave their families in fortified cities and their animals fenced in for protection while they went to war in Canaan.

Moses agreed to this plan and told Joshua and Eleazar about it.

^“He said to them, ‘If the Gadites and Reubenites, every man armed for battle, cross over the Jordan with you before the Lord, then when the land is subdued before you, you must give them the land of Gilead as their possession. But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must accept their possession with you in Canaan.’ ” Numbers 32:29-30

Clearing the Land

The land the Gadites and Reubenites wanted had already been conquered in the war with Midian, but farther north was more good land belonging to the Amorites. Moses gave that territory to the tribe of Manasseh and they went in and drove out the Amorites who lived there.

God had a purpose in giving these lands to Israel.

He wanted to populate the world with people who had sworn allegiance to him. His goal was to establish a kingdom on earth that lived by his righteous law and recognized his sovereignty. The Israelites would bring worship of the one true God back to Canaan.

“On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho the Lord said to Moses. ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.” Numbers 33:50-53

What Israel didn’t know was what those carved images, idols and high places meant to the people who lived in Canaan.

Baal worship was a dead end religion that led people away from God and into sin and despair. It’s fertility rites involved prostitution and trafficking human beings and, at its worst, required child sacrifice. There was so much generational sin in Canaan that God decided to start over with new people.

A Risky Venture

The risk God took with Canaan was that Israel might not fully rid the land of idols and idolaters. They might give up the fight or even become friends with the people they were supposed to eliminate. God told Israel,

“If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.” Numbers 33:55-56

Israel was the apple of God’s eye, but he would not hesitate to discipline them as he disciplined the Canaanites if they, too, fell into idolatry. The best way to avoid idolatry was to rid the land of idols and idol worshippers.

Israel’s Travelogue

Numbers 33:1-49 is a list of the places Israel camped in the forty years after they left Egypt. It’s boring to read because most of us have never seen these places and we can’t imagine what they’re like. Also, there’s no information about what happened at each stop. It’s a travelogue of foreign places with no pictures or stories.

But here’s the interesting thing: God went with Israel to all of those places.

God Almost Didn’t Go 

Back in Exodus 33, when Israel turned from God to worship the golden calf, God told Moses to go to the Promised Land without him. He said he would send an angel to lead Israel, but he wasn’t going to go with them himself.

“Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” Exodus 33:3

 Moses begged God to go with them. He reminded God about his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that Israel was the nation God had redeemed for himself out of Egypt. God’s reputation in front of the world was at stake.

“Moses said to him, ‘If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?’” Exodus 33:15-16

God replied to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and you know me by name.” Exodus 33:17

Moses got what he wanted most, the presence of God.

But I don’t think Moses realized what a long and boring journey it was going to be. He didn’t know that his friends and siblings were going to die along the way, leaving him to train new leadership by himself. Moses spent the last third of his life leading Israel and in the end he died at the border of the Promised Land.

Moses’s Reward

What did Moses get out of all of this? He got a friendship with God. From the time God first spoke to Moses at the burning bush they had a face-to-face relationship with each other and God said there was no one else like Moses.

Long before Moses was born, God spoke to Abram, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, and your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1

When Moses said “yes” to God , he also received him as his very great reward. They met together everyday at the Tent of Meeting and Moses was radiant with the presence of God when he came out.

Our Great Reward

God never went back on his promise to go with Israel. His presence hovered over the tabernacle in the pillar of cloud and he led them from one wilderness place to another. He fed them manna everyday and gave them water in the desert. He attended the weddings, births, and deaths in the camp; he heard all of their prayers and accepted all their offerings.

God was with his people in the weary desert, and he’s with you right now as you read your Bible. Maybe your life feels full of purpose, or maybe it seems like you’re going nowhere, but your great reward isn’t in what you are doing or where you are going.

Your very great reward is the Lord himself and he tells us how to claim that reward.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

Keep coming to God each day in the Word, believe in him, and see how he becomes your great reward.