Hey there,
I had a question while reading through Numbers for our Old Testament class.* In Numbers 10:29-32, it says:
- And Moses said to Hobab ben-Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which Jehovah said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for Jehovah has spoken good concerning Israel.”
- But he said to him, “I will not go with you, but to my land and to my kindred will I go.”
- And he said, “I pray you, do not leave us, because you have known our encampment in the wilderness, and you would be as eyes for us.
- And it shall be that, if you go with us, then whatever good that Jehovah does for us, we will also do for you.”
Then in Numbers 31, Jehovah commanded that all the Midianites be killed.
- And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
- “Take vengeance for the children of Israel on the Midianites; afterward, you shall be gathered to your people.”
- Then Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, and they shall go against Midian to execute the vengeance of Jehovah on Midian.
My question is, would this have included Moses’ father-in-law, since he returned to the land of his kindred?
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No, those Midianites were not in their own territory; they were in Moab. So, they were not the ones Reuel went home to. Those Midianites were evil.
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Also, I thought this was really good. Listening to the Old Testament CDs for Numbers, you said,“Moses renamed Oshea to Joshua. “Joshua” is the name “Jesus” in Hebrew. It means “Jehovah is salvation”. Moses was not able to bring the people into the Promised Land, which was a symbol of the law not being able to save us. Moses had to turn it all over to Joshua, and then Joshua took God’s people in! The Old Testament was a shadow of the New Testament. Our Joshua (Jesus) has to take us in. And he is doing it! Moses was unable to do it. Moses turned it over to Joshua twice: once in the OT when he anointed Joshua to take his place, and once in the New Testament when Moses and Elijah met and talked with Jesus on the mountain.”
God told Moses he could not enter into Canaan. Is it possible that God did not intend for Moses to enter Canaan’s land all along, since this was a symbol of the law versus the Spirit getting us to the Promised Land?
Amy F.
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Yes, Amy. God knew what would happen, and He planned to have Moses die before crossing over into Canaan to represent the law’s inability to save us. We must have Jesus!
Thank you for the good questions.
Pastor John
* Old Testament Course (Pt. 1) – Going to Jesus.com