Tuesday: Cleave to the Lord Your God
Thousands died in the sin with Baal Peor. “All the men who followed Baal Peor” were destroyed. However, many didn’t follow in the apostasy.
Who were they?
“But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day” (Deuteronomy 4:4). How does this text explain the difference between those who fell into sin and those who didn’t? What’s the important message for us here regarding sin and temptation and the power of God in our lives?
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Notice the contrast between the word “all” in this verse and the verse before. “All” who followed after Baal Peor were destroyed; but “every one of you” who did cleave to the Lord was alive. There was no middle ground then, and there is none now, either. We’re either for or against Jesus (Matthew 12:30).
The Hebrew word for “did cleave,” dbq, often points to a strong commitment to adhere to something outside of oneself. The same Hebrew word root is used in Genesis 2:24, when a man shall leave his family and “cleave” unto his wife (see also Ruth 1:14). It, in this context, appeared four more times in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 10:20, Deuteronomy 11:22, Deuteronomy 13:4, Deuteronomy 30:20), and in each case the idea was the same: they, the people, were to cleave (cling) to their God. That is, they were to give themselves to Him and to draw power and strength from Him.
What’s important to remember is that the people themselves are the subject of the verb: they must do the cleaving. They must make the choice to “cleave” to God and then, in His power and strength, avoid falling into sin.
Read Jude 24 and 1 Corinthians 10:13. What is being said here in the New Testament that also is found in Deuteronomy 13:4?
God is faithful; God is able to keep us from falling. But we have to make the conscious choice, as did the faithful at Baal Peor, to cleave to God. If so, then we can be assured that, whatever the temptation, we can remain faithful.
| How do things like prayer, Bible study, worship, and fellowship help us cleave to the Lord? |
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Why is it so important to 'cleave' (stick closely) to God and to 'walk' in harmony with His Ways? In order to understand the answer to this question, it is important to understand and keep 'the big picture' in mind regarding life and living.
While there seem to be many ways of living that fail to lead to true abundant life (Proverbs 14:12; 8:36), there appears to be only one way that does (John 10:10; 17:3). And that one way is 'God's Way' - the way that God is about and desires that we also be about. It is the "very good" (Genesis 1:31) way that Adam and Eve lived prior to their 'fall' and it is the way all who are willing will again be restored to once again (John 3:16).
In order to live and experience that way, 2 core things are absolutely essential:
1) Living in continual close connection with God who alone is the ongoing source of the breath of life (John 15:5; Acts 17:28), and
2) Living in harmony with the 'mechanisms' (principles/'laws') that God has created to support and maintain life (Psalm 1:1-3).
The first of these is also described as loving God with all our heart and soul and strength while the second is reflected in loving our neighbour as ourselves. Both are a reflection of other-benefiting love rather than self-pleasing lust.
All of this again comes back to the core message of Deuteronomy as summarised by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:15-20. There is a way of being and living that leads to life - and there is a way of being that leads to perishing. As today's lesson says, there is no middle ground. The recommendation, invitation and desire of Moses and of God was and is - choose the way of life that you may live. This is where prayer, Bible study and beneficial fellowship help us to make and sustain that choice.
Cleave is one of those English words that has two opposite meanings. It can mean cut or split apart, and it can also mean stick or cling together. This came about because while the word is spelt the same for both meanings now, in old English they were two different words. You can see the meaning "split" coming up in words like cloven.
In the current context we can make a play on the two meanings. If you cleave (cling) to the Lord then you are cleaved (split) from evil. I admit that this is just a little play on words and not an inspired interpretation of the original Hebrew, but it does embody the notion that we have to choose one or the other.
Word studies like this are fascinating. I think probably the separation meaning of cleave is what is meant by "cast off" your sin. The phrase "cast off" seems forceful, just like "cleave". I'm thinking meat cleaver, or cleave a tree with an axe. The cleaver in the case of sin is the sword of the LORD.
Stick to the Lord our God.
Cliff and I see the 'bigger picture' "regarding life and living" much the same way. What I have noticed in yesterday's and today's lesson is the effort by the God of Israel to make Himself known and establish Himself as the sole God of all the Earth - HIS time had come!
I think that when we pray, study the Scriptures, worship and fellowship, we do well to see all actions of God and our own in the context of the 'bigger picture' - His work of our Salvation
When God gave Israel a land occupied by people practicing worship of gods who's influence goes back millennia, He placed them in the middle of the 'Battle of Supremacy' - to establish who is the True God. He encouraged Israel to go out and conquer in His name and so establish His dominance over all other gods, calling on their trust in Him to do so. He had already established His record with them; it was a most powerful record, now they were to show their allegiance to Him and act on it.
As we know, 'to go and possess the land' was not for the sake of occupying 'land', but to establish the God of the People of Israel in the heart and mind of His people as well as all the nations around them as the God Supreme!
The Canaanite's religion was an old religion, going back to the time when people repopulated the earth after the Flood. Then, Mesopotamia was their religious center with many cities dedicated to the worship of these gods. Over time, many religious wars were fought and soon the worship of these gods spread throughout the lands all the way to Egypt. Remember, Abram's family left Ur in Mesopotamia and Israel left Egypt to take possession of the 'Promised Land'.
Since God's fight was for the heart and mind of the People of Israel, in essence all mankind's heart, it was never meant to be a 'regional' fight. After all, His Son, our Savior, was promised to come and lead all mankind into His Truth by the revealed Light of the Father who is in Heaven; Israel was to be His torch barer. His Light stands supreme, it gives Life and God decided that the time had come to establish it on all the earth.
Israel, in the course of occupying the land, was to conquer the regions to establish their God's religion, using the same means by which man then conquered other nations; then, warring parties gave their god the honor when victorious. Do we question the wisdom of God's choice of using man's way of warfare to accomplish His goal? He chose to be Israel's God, He fought on their side as long as they were faithful to Him and acknowledged Him by the way they lived! He does the same for us!
On the subject of Deuteronomy 4:4, "but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you until this day". "to cleave", or obey our God is a choice that every one of us is given to make. This concept "to cleave", or to make a personal commitment to, is used, in similar ways, in other parts of the Bible as our author illustrated in our lesson today.
One of my favorite places in the Bible was in Ruth chapter 1:14-16, where Naomi tells her daughter-in-laws, Oprah and Ruth, that she has no more family left in this land, and also tells them that she will be returning to her family and homeland today, and that they should return to their families; she is releasing them of them back to their own families. Then the Bible says in Ruth 1:14, "then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Oprah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave [or clung] unto her".
Oprah kissed Naomi, their mother-in-law, and return to her family, but Ruth "clave" to Naomi, and made the choice to go wherever Naomi went. Ruth said in verse 16, "intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following thee, for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God". Wow! Ruth make a personal choice to follow her mother-in-law, and to embrace and obey her God.
We can't even imagine the personal sacrifice, and commitment to God, that Ruth made that day, to leave her home land, her culture, her traditions, to follow an elderly woman to a land where she has never been, to a new culture with new traditions, and a new God, a "One God", which was a totally foreign concept to everything she has learned in her home land - to worship One God. And it wasn't an easy life for Naomi and Ruth when they got to Naomi's home land either. Naomi was not welcomed home with parades and fanfare, she was considered an outcast for leaving with her husband and her sons in the first place; kind of how we say nowadays, "she got what she deserved for leaving in the first place, and now she wants us to welcome her back home with open doors and hearts, no. And she brought with her a foreign person that we know nothing about. No, they both are going to be outcasts in our eyes. They can stay, but Naomi will not have the same social status among us and her tribe".
Naomi was too old to go out and work in the Potter's field, in the hot sun; so, she told Ruth to work and gather food for them, and the rest of the story of Ruth and Boaz is History. Ruth could have given up, and returned to her home land at any time. But she made a commitment to Naomi and to Naomi's God, and she was demanded to "cleave" to Naomi, and to obey Naomi, no matter what. This is the same Ruth that is in the genealogy line of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Can we made the same commitment that Ruth made? Can we decide "to cleave" to our Lord, no matter what comes our way, good or bad. And remember that Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the ages." Let's decide today "to cleave" to the Lord.
God's blessings to you all!
Deut 4:3-4
3Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor. 4But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you.
What is the parallel Present Truth?
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Amplified Bible John 3:36
He who believes and trusts in the Son and accepts Him [as Savior] has eternal life [that is, already possesses it]; but he who does not believe the Son and chooses to reject Him, [disobeying Him and denying Him as Savior] will not see [eternal] life, but [instead] the wrath of God hangs over him continually.”
What was and is the choice? Live a life with and for the LORD or cease to exist.
As Joshua and Elijah said- choose ye this day whom you will serve - but as for me and my household we choose the LORD!
Joshua 24:15, 1Kings 18:21