God's Timetable for Judgment and Grace Text: Deuteronomy 2:8-15
Introduction: The Geography of Sovereignty
We live in an age that despises boundaries. Our culture is dedicated to the grand project of erasing every distinction it can find, whether it be between man and woman, good and evil, or sacred and profane. But the God of the Bible is a God who draws lines. He is the one who separated the light from the darkness and the land from the sea. And as we see in our text today, He is the one who draws the property lines of nations. He determines the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God is not just the God of Israel; He is the God of all history, the God of the Moabites, the God of the sons of Esau, and the God of the giants they displaced. He is the master cartographer of the world.
This passage is a history lesson, delivered by Moses to the new generation of Israel poised on the edge of the Promised Land. The previous generation had flunked their final exam at Kadesh-barnea. They saw the giants in the land and concluded that the giants were bigger than God. For this insolent unbelief, God sent them back into the wilderness for a thirty-eight-year death march. It was a long, hard lesson in the consequences of disobedience. It took forty years to get Israel out of Egypt, but it took another forty years to get Egypt out of Israel. Now, their children stand ready to take up the task their fathers fumbled. But before they can go forward, they must understand the past. They must understand that their God is not some local, tribal deity. He is the sovereign Lord who moves kings and peoples across the chessboard of history according to His perfect will.
What we have here is a lesson in the absolute sovereignty of God over the affairs of men. This is not a subject our democratic and egalitarian age is comfortable with. We want to believe that man is the master of his fate. But Scripture teaches us that God is the one who raises up nations and brings them down. He gives land, and He takes it away. And He does this not just for His covenant people, but for all peoples. The Moabites and the Edomites received their land as a possession from Yahweh. This truth is a bedrock for our faith. If God is not sovereign over the little things, like the historical migration of the Horites, then He cannot be trusted with the big things, like the salvation of your soul.
This passage is therefore intensely practical. It teaches us about God's patience, His judgment, His providence, and His unswerving faithfulness to His own word. It shows us that God's clock runs on a different schedule than ours, but it always runs on time. And it reminds us that while God's grace is freely offered, His patience with rebellion has a limit. There is a point of no return, a brook Zered that every generation must cross, beyond which lies either the promised land or the finality of judgment.
The Text
So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ (The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. Now the Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel would do to the land of their possession which Yahweh gave to them.) ‘Now arise and cross over the brook Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the brook Zered. Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war came to an end from within the camp, as Yahweh had sworn to them. Moreover the hand of Yahweh was against them, to bring them into confusion from within the camp until they all came to an end.
(Deuteronomy 2:8-15 LSB)
God's Property Lines (vv. 8-9)
We begin with Israel's itinerary, which is dictated not by military strategy, but by divine command.
"So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’" (Deuteronomy 2:8-9 LSB)
Notice the careful obedience. God had previously commanded them not to provoke Esau, their brother, because God had given Seir to him as a possession. Israel obeys. They take the long way around. This is a test for the new generation. Will they obey God even when it is inconvenient? Will they respect the boundaries God has set? Their fathers failed this kind of test repeatedly. This generation passes.
Then they come to the border of Moab, and God issues a similar command. "Do not harass Moab." Why? Because God has given the city of Ar and the surrounding land to the sons of Lot. This is a stunning statement. The Moabites were the product of an incestuous union between Lot and his daughter. They were not God's covenant people. Their religion was pagan and would later be a snare to Israel. Yet, Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the one who deeded them their land. He is the great landlord of the earth, and He parcels out the property as He sees fit. This demolishes any idea that God is only concerned with the elect. His providential care extends to all His creatures, even those who do not acknowledge Him. He gives them rain, sun, and land. This is what we call common grace.
This also teaches Israel a vital lesson about their own inheritance. Their claim to Canaan is not based on their own righteousness or military might. It is based entirely on the sovereign, gracious gift of God. If God can give land to the sons of Lot, He can certainly give land to the sons of Abraham. The basis for Moab's deed and Israel's deed is the same: the sovereign decree of God. This should produce humility in Israel, and it should produce profound confidence. The God who secured Moab's border is the same God who has promised to secure theirs.
A Divine History Lesson (vv. 10-12)
Moses then inserts a fascinating historical parenthesis. It is a divine editor's note, designed to bolster Israel's faith.
"(The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. Now the Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel would do to the land of their possession which Yahweh gave to them.)" (Deuteronomy 2:10-12 LSB)
This is God's history of the world, not man's. He reveals that before the Moabites, the land was inhabited by the Emim, a fearsome race of giants, as formidable as the Anakim who had so terrified the Israelite spies. The name Emim likely means "terrors." But what happened to these terrors? The Moabites, the sons of Lot, defeated them and took their land. Likewise, before the sons of Esau inhabited Seir, the Horites lived there. But Esau's descendants dispossessed them.
Do you see what God is doing here? He is systematically dismantling the excuse of the previous generation. Their great sin at Kadesh-barnea was to look at the Anakim and say, "We are like grasshoppers in their sight." They saw the giants and forgot their God. Now, God says to the new generation, "Look at the Moabites. Look at the Edomites. They are not My covenant people. They do not have My promises. Yet I gave them the strength to drive out giants. I enabled them to conquer their own 'terrors.' And I did it for them."
The logic is inescapable and powerful. If God did this for the sons of Lot and the sons of Esau, what will He do for you, the sons of Jacob, the people of His covenant? The end of verse 12 makes the point explicit: Esau did this "just as Israel would do to the land of their possession which Yahweh gave to them." God is pointing to the victories of pagan nations as a divine object lesson, a guarantee of Israel's future success. He is saying, "Their victories are a down payment on your victory. Their history is a prophecy of your future." This is how our God works. He writes His promises into the fabric of history itself.
Crossing the Line of Judgment (vv. 13-15)
After this lesson in God's sovereignty, the command comes to move forward. This is a moment of immense theological significance.
"‘Now arise and cross over the brook Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the brook Zered. Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war came to an end from within the camp, as Yahweh had sworn to them." (Deuteronomy 2:13-14 LSB)
The brook Zered was more than a geographical boundary. It was a chronological and theological boundary. It marked the end of an era of judgment. For thirty-eight years, Israel had been in a holding pattern of death. Their lives were defined by wandering and funerals. They were marching in circles, waiting for an entire generation to die off. This was the sentence for their unbelief. God had sworn an oath that the men of war, those twenty years and older who had rebelled at Kadesh, would not see the land. And God always keeps His word, whether it is a word of promise or a word of judgment.
Crossing the Zered was the signal that the sentence had been fully served. The judgment was complete. The last of the rebels had died. Now, the period of wandering was over, and the period of conquest could begin. This is a stark reminder that sin has consequences, and God's judgments are not arbitrary. He is patient, but His patience has a limit. That generation crossed a line at Kadesh, and for them, there was no going back. They had to die in the wilderness.
Verse 15 underscores the active, judicial nature of this process.
"Moreover the hand of Yahweh was against them, to bring them into confusion from within the camp until they all came to an end." (Deuteronomy 2:15 LSB)
Their death was not simply the result of old age or the harshness of the desert. The text says "the hand of Yahweh was against them." This was a divine judgment, actively prosecuted by God Himself. He brought them into "confusion," a word that speaks of turmoil and utter ruin. This is the same language used for God's holy war against His enemies. For thirty-eight years, God waged a slow, methodical war against the rebellion within His own camp. He had to purge the unbelief from His people before they could be fit to inherit His promise.
This is a terrifying thought, but it is also a necessary one. God is not a sentimental grandfather in the sky. He is a holy God who takes sin and unbelief with deadly seriousness. The same hand that delivers His people is the hand that judges them when they rebel. The wilderness was not just a waiting room; it was a crucible. It was designed to purify the nation, to teach the new generation the fear of the Lord, and to demonstrate that God's oaths are unbreakable.
Conclusion: Your Zered to Cross
This passage, like all of Deuteronomy, is a sermon preached on the border between two worlds, the world of judgment and the world of promise. And it speaks directly to us. We, like Israel, live between the memory of a great deliverance, our exodus from sin at the cross, and the promise of a future inheritance, the new heavens and the new earth.
And like Israel, we have our own wilderness to navigate. The Christian life is a pilgrimage, and it is filled with tests. God sets boundaries for us, commands that require our obedience. He gives us our own "Moabs" and "Edoms" that we are to leave alone. We are to trust His providence, respecting the lines He has drawn in our lives. We are not to covet what He has assigned to another.
He also gives us our own history lessons. He points us to the ways He has worked in the lives of others, even in the lives of unbelievers, to show us His power and to bolster our faith. The entire history of the world, if we have eyes to see it, is a testimony to the fact that God is able to keep His promises. He is able to defeat the giants in our lives.
But most importantly, this passage reminds us that there is always a Zered to cross. There is a line between the old life of rebellion and the new life of obedient conquest. The book of Hebrews warns us sternly, using this very generation as the prime example, not to harden our hearts as they did. "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it" (Hebrews 4:1). That generation heard the good news, but it did not profit them, because it was not mixed with faith.
The hand of the Lord that was against that rebellious generation is the same hand that was pierced for us on the cross. By His grace, we have been delivered from that final judgment. But the call to faithful obedience remains. We must not presume upon His grace. We are called to arise and go forward, to cross over from the wilderness of our remaining sin and unbelief into the promised land of fruitful obedience. The judgment on the old man is complete at the cross. The sentence has been served. Now, arise. It is time to cross over and take possession of the land.