Tuesday: God’s Original Plan
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 26th of August 2025
Read Exodus 23:20-33. What methods did God desire to use for conquering the Promised Land?
It was not God’s intention for the Israelites to fight for their new territory; it was to be given to them. It had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and should have been received as God’s special gift to Israel.
Image © Jeff Preston at Goodsalt.com
The model for the conquest of the Promised Land was demonstrated during the crossing of the Red Sea. God fought for His people and gave them total victory over those planning to kill them (Exodus 14:13-14). The Egyptians were defeated because the Lord miraculously intervened. Similarly, in the time of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, God also defeated the vast, heavily equipped, and well-trained Assyrian army, but without the Israelites having to fight. God granted victory because King Hezekiah believed God’s word given to him through the prophet Isaiah (2 Kings 19:35, Isaiah 37:36).
God informed Abraham that the Promised Land would not be immediately given to his posterity, but only after 400 years (Genesis 15:13-16). Why? The reason was related to the wickedness of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. God was mercifully working with those people and gave them another period of grace to repent. However, they continued in their rebellion against God and His values, so when the iniquity of those nations was complete, God was ready to give their territory to the Hebrews as a new homeland.
In addition, God promised that He would drive the nations out ahead of Israel by two unusual but very effective methods: (1) by sending terror and fear upon wicked nations, and (2) with hornets that would drive the people away. Before the Israelites arrived in the new territory, their enemies would abandon the place, and “turn their backs and run” (Exodus 23:27-28, NIV).
The crucial role in the conquest of the Promised Land is played by the Angel of God. This Messenger was Christ, who guided Israel, conquered territories, and protected them. He was the pillar of cloud guiding them during the day and the pillar of fire during the night. Israel had to pay careful attention and listen to Him because He had divine authority (Exodus 23:21). Defiance of God’s will and unbelief in His leadership would complicate their advancement.
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What does this idea, that of God giving those pagans many years to change their ways, teach us about God’s grace and also about the limits of that grace for those who refuse to accept it? |
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“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land” (Isaiah 1:19, NKJV).
It is an irony that runs from Eden to Canaan, and even today, mankind inclines to resist God’s generosity. It is great wisdom to rely on God’s plan even though it might not make much sense. Human foolishness resists God’s best plans and chooses the hard road. At the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were free to eat all the fruits of the garden except just one, what an irony! To enter the promised land, God offered to give it to them on a golden platter without raising a finger; unfortunately, they failed to trust God’s ability to do it. What an irony! In Christ Jesus, free eternal life has been offered, but sadly, millions are still striving to attain it by their own works or turning to substitutes.
What went wrong with the Children of Israel from not inheriting the land without raising a sword? The greatest obstacle was unbelief and fear (Numbers 13-14). The second obstacle was partial obedience (Judges 1:27–36). The third obstacle was human pride. They thought that they were smart enough to go to battle without involving God (Numbers14:39–45). From the tragedy that befell the Children of Israel, what are the takeaway lessons:
1) God’s ways are always the best.
2) Human wisdom in place of God’s wisdom is mere foolishness, and it is extremely costly.
3) Partial obedience is disobedience.
4) True wisdom relies in trusting God’s plans even when it is not meaningful at all.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall [b]direct your paths” – Proverbs 3:5-6, NKJV
God’s original promise of the land to Israel was never about striving or fighting on their own strength, but about trusting His covenant faithfulness. When He brought them out of Egypt, He declared, “I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD” (Exod. 6:8). Their inheritance was a gift of grace, received by faith and obedience, not earned by conquest. This foreshadowed a greater inheritance that would come through Jesus Christ—who fulfills the promise not just of a strip of land, but of the5 whole world. As Paul writes, “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom. 4:13).This promise expands beyond Israel’s borders to include all nations. Jesus, having received “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18), now sends His followers to disciple the nations.
I had rose-tinted glasses when I started teaching maths. I thought I would walk into the classroom with my well prepared lesson and the students would eagerly participate, asking intelligent questions and follow my well-explained examples. As anyone who has taught even one class of thirty students knows, there are thirty devious minds in that class, most of whom are there because they have to be. Trigonometry is a sort of boring torture, in between recess times. You, the teacher, have to deal with quarrelling students, students who imagine they are in love, spit-balls, forgotten textbooks, pens and paper, talkative students, chewing-gum, forgotten homework and so on. Plan A quickly switches to plan B, C, etc, until finally you are winging it!
And if you think that controlling a class of thirty students is hard, just imagine how hard it is to lead a nomadic nation with herds of goats and donkeys. We need to get real! The Hebrews were a difficult mob to teach; and there were so many of them. I have seen a crowd of 100,000 people in a football stadium. They are only interested in two things; that their team wins, and brawling with the supporters of the other team. Mixing a football crowd with goats and donkeys and you have a glimmer of what the Hebrews must have been like. I cannot even imagine trying to lead a mob that big into a deep spiritual experience.
Moses, and God, had their work cut out for them, and all this talk about God's original plan is essentially theoretical. God was working on plan "etc" with this mob of nomads. These were not proto-Seventh-day Adventists. They had not even considered pacifism. They were spoiling for a fight.
The big take-away from today's lesson is that God worked with the Hebrews where they were at. And he persistently kept hammering away at them even when they did not want to learn. God still works that way today.
August is back, and you know what that means - loquat season is in full swing! Every year, those sweet fruits flood me with nostalgia. I still bear a visible scar from my childhood adventures, climbing a loquat tree in a mysterious compound just to taste the juicy fruits. The thrill was addicting! We'd sneak in, dodging fierce dogs, despite strict warnings from our parents and the risk of punishment. Some of us even had to get shots after our daring escapades. What's crazy is that loquats are abundant everywhere now, yet the memory of sneaking into that compound still holds a strong allure. I'm curious, what made the forbidden fruit so irresistible? Yet, even in recent years, including this one, I haven't eaten a single loquat, despite them being available in my house at this very moment.
It's called rebellion, and this phenomenon often stems from selfishness and a desire to be in control. We can't call it anything else but rebellion. This perfectly describes what's happening with the children of Israel. God had been consistently faithful to Israel, as we can see. He obliterated Pharaoh and his empire, and as the children of Israel began their journey, He reassured them: (Exodus 14:14). Even at this point, Israel wanted their own way. God labored to assure them that He would do everything, and all they needed to do was obey Him and keep His statutes. But Israel refused to submit, instead insisting on their own way.
In Exodus 23:20-33, God clearly lays out what Israel owes to do, specifying that He has full control over their success and destiny. Despite this, Israel still chose to disobey. The pattern of rebellion against God's clear instructions is a recurring theme in Israel's history.
Yet, are we any different? Let's ask ourselves. The allure towards selfishness and lack of faith is truly the fabric of our existence today, even deep in the church. We just desire to be god over ourselves, like Lucifer in heaven, or just like Eve in the garden, (Genesis 3:6). Israel was just in the same ship, lip service to God every time, saying (Exodus 24:3).
And just like Israel, we are serious churchgoers, the people of the book, but our faith might be wanting. We are so religious but very rebellious.
Hopefully, today's lesson will make us ask ourselves these deep questions, learning from the missteps of the children of Israel.
Just curious, where do we read that Israel wasn't actually supposed to fight at all?
I'm curious because the issue seems to be trusting the Lord to help them win in their battles. Even Jericho; we tell the story of walls falling down and stop there, not realizing the Israelites still had to take the city. Angels knocking the walls down just made it easy for Israel to take the city.
When I read Exodus 23:20-33 I see God promising to make it easy for them to take the land, to fight with them and for them, to cause the enemy to flee from them, etc., but are we reading too much into it to say God is handing it over to them on a golden platter, they don't have to do anything? Mixed in with God's promises of giving them victory, are also sentences that show they will be involved in the conquest.
Ex. 23:24 "but thou shalt utterly overthrow them",
Exodus 23:31 "I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and you will drive them out before thee."
In Joshua 14:6-14 Caleb, a man who obeyed, trusted and followed God, claims a well fortified area fully believing God will help him conquer and inhabit it.
Caleb, now 80 some years old "He did not ask for himself a land already conquered, but the place which above all others the spies had thought it impossible to subdue. By the help of God he would wrest his stronghold from the very giants whose power had staggered the faith of Israel. It was no desire for honor or aggrandizement that prompted Caleb's request. The brave old warrior was desirous of giving to the people an example that would honor God, and encourage the tribes fully to subdue the land which their fathers had deemed unconquerable." {EGW, Patriarchs & Prophets 512}
I don't think there's one answer to how God intended Israel to defeat the nations. The lesson does mention the Red Sea as an example of God doing all the work for them, but a few chapters later, they were called to fight the Amalekites (Exodus 17). There are examples where God did the fighting and examples where he blessed others doing the fighting. That's why I think devising an absolute rule about this is somewhat faulty.
God is amazing. He is merciful even to unfaithful people. But, of course, He is limited by the boundaries set by men themselves.