Moses and the Israelites

[jeannieboudra]

I never really grasped the fact that it took the Israelites 40 years to complete an eleven day journey????  Wow, is that how we are in life?  We wander around and around the mountain.....

[Fez]

Well if only we would listen.....

[other one]

Keep in mind that it did not take them that long to get to the promise land......   what happened was that generation was afraid to go into the land when God told them to do........     He made them wander around in the deserts until all the people who were over a certain age had died.

Sometimes in life the same things happen to us........    If God tells you to do something and you don't, often he will leave you alone for several years.......   with me it was seven......   and it's still not where it was 20 years ago.

[MorningGlory]

Keep in mind that it did not take them that long to get to the promise land......   what happened was that generation was afraid to go into the land when God told them to do........     He made them wander around in the deserts until all the people who were over a certain age had died.

Sometimes in life the same things happen to us........    If God tells you to do something and you don't, often he will leave you alone for several years.......   with me it was seven......   and it's still not where it was 20 years ago.

 

Good explanation, O.O.  I was going to post but really can't add anything to the above.

[mikeecsedy]

Did anyone else come across this notion that was a surprise to me this year?  Apparently the old Sunday School versions of the route of the Exodus are in question.  There seems to be a suggestion based on both the topography of the Sinai peninsula and its surrounding water, the nations that the Israelites encountered on their journey,  and the fact that Paul puts Sinai in Arabia that the crossing of the Red Sea actually took place when the Israelites went from the southeast corner of the Sinai peninsula, across the mouth of the current Gulf of Aqaba, and Moses actually received the law on a mountain that is east of the Sinai peninsula (in Arabia).  Is that the current paradigm and I'm just behind the times, or did I come across some wacko stuff?  Thanks.  

[kwikphilly]

Blessings Jeannie

     They were a stubborn & disobedient bunch,weren't they?The thing that truly amazes me ,whenever I read about that entire journey is Gods Love & Compassion,His Patience & Mercy.........Our Loving Father just never runs out of Mercy & Forgiveness,He was the same Awesome God yesterday,today & forevermore................how many times did the Jews lose Faith & Trust in the One that parted the sea that they could walk safely across,right before their very eyes...He lead them with a Pillar of Smoke by day & fire by night.....manna fell from the sky!!!!!!!Water from  rock,miracle after miracle  & yet they had fear & doubt..........ggheesh!Who could tolerate such a people?Only God the Father could have that much Mercy & Forgiveness

     It is no wonder that Jesus said

 

John 20:29 (KJV) |

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

 As for your question in the OP....yeah ,Jeannie......I do believe so,sad to say.......like Fez said"If only we would listen"

                                                                                                                                                    With love-in Christ,Kwik

[Guest]

We always think we would be better than Adam and Eve, have more faith than Moses, and use the wisdom God gave Solomon better, but tend to not learn from our lessons.

[angels4u]

I never really grasped the fact that it took the Israelites 40 years to complete an eleven day journey????  Wow, is that how we are in life?  We wander around and around the mountain....

 

  Eph:2:8

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--

 

We would never make it on our own..

[faith pleases God]

Keep in mind that it did not take them that long to get to the promise land......   what happened was that generation was afraid to go into the land when God told them to do........     He made them wander around in the deserts until all the people who were over a certain age had died.

Sometimes in life the same things happen to us........    If God tells you to do something and you don't, often he will leave you alone for several years.......   with me it was seven......   and it's still not where it was 20 years ago.

I agree. I was a foreign land with giants.

[Hobbes]

I never really grasped the fact that it took the Israelites 40 years to complete an eleven day journey????  Wow, is that how we are in life?  We wander around and around the mountain.....

 

I do wonder when we hear God, do we listen right away?  I know I haven't.  Sometimes church teachings, the world, and our sinful nature gets in the way of hearing what He is saying plainly in His words.  It never dawned on me to prove with His help everything that the church taught me by the King James Bible until later on in life.

 

And then comes the lesson of applying faith in God even when we do hear Him.  The Israelites heard the command but did not apply faith in God that they will be all right.  Just as Peter had walked out unto the water to Jesus, he had that faith for a while, but then the storms of life has a way of taking our eyes off of Him too and then we doubt & begin sinking where we need to call out to Jesus for extra help just to keep on believing or to keep applying faith in Him still.

 

Mark 9:²³ Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. ²⁴ And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

 

So the lesson I gleaned from the Israelites wandering in the wilderness was not that they did not listen to God, but that they did not ask Him for help to believe Him and to take Him at His word.  In a lot of ways, we are wandering in the wilderness until we recognize our need to ask Him for help with any lack of faith in Him of our own in regards to what life throws at us to remind us that Jesus is Lord still.