He it was Who struck down the first born of Egypt, both of man and of beast; Who, in your midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants; Who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to His people Israel. (Verses 8-12)
Remember how Moses came to be in the house of the king of Egypt? There was an edict that all the male children born to Jewish women should be killed. In order to save her child, his mother set Moses in a basket and let it float in the Nile toward the bathing daughter of Pharaoh. Saved from the slaughter, Moses grew up as the princess's child. The revenge for that slaughter took a generation for God to deal with. He performed mighty miracles through Moses when the man returned at the age of eighty with an imperative from God to get His people out of slavery to the Egyptians. Over and over again there was no relenting from the Egyptian government. No matter which plague, every mighty act of God was ignored until the night of Passover when the angel of death took the firstborn of any whose home didn't have the blood of a lamb on its doorpost. That seems pretty patient of God...being as gentle as He can with stubborn hearts. Showing His power and glory and hoping for a response to that instead of having to play the brutal hand that avenged the deaths of the Israeli children eight decades previous to that mournful night.
On their journey through the desert, the Israelites needed to pass through the land of the Amorites over which Sihon was king. He'd won the land by killing the former king of Moab and taking all the land out of the man's hands in a bloodbath. Israel sent messengers to Sihon asking for safe passage through the land via the King's Highway, a thoroughfare used for peaceful transport. Israel vowed not to drink from the wells of the Amorites or turn into their vineyards. The mass of people in exodus from Egypt just wanted to walk on through. Sihon's response to their peaceful request was war...a bloody battle in Jahaz. Israel fought against the Amorites and won, taking control of their country.
It was the first victory of their journey to Canaan and showed them their God was still with them. It was a struggle they were surprised by, but God championed them.
In Deuteronomy 3, Moses tells the story of the defeat of Og, who was king of Bashan. This struggle came on the heels of the fight with Sihon. Bashan heard of the coming throng of Israelites and went out to slaughter them and take their spoils. No provocation. "Do not fear him," said the Lord to Moses. "I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand." And so it was.
To anyone simply reading this psalm without thought to the stories behind it, God would seem ruthless and angry, taking lives of entire nations in order to establish His people in Canaan. History, however, records the savage nature of those kingdoms. Imagine the torturous sobbing and heartache the Jewish women experienced at the mass slaughter of their babies. Pharaoh's ears were silent to the anguish he caused by the infanticide. God is slow to anger, but the retribution came at the end of that generation, to a Pharaoh still stubborn and haughty.
God doesn't arbitrarily extinguish nations or command the slaughter of kings, but He does protect His children from the power of the enemy. I'm sure back then those enslaved wondered when on earth God was going to free them. Why day after day they were stuck in the same old bondage to the same old ruler. While Moses was herding his father-in-law's sheep in a desert wilderness, God had a plan. All along. And it was big. And the Jews wouldn't have been able to dream it up in their wildest imaginations. Plagues of frogs, rivers of blood, boils, hail and mass deaths of livestock. Natural disasters that swarmed in at the waving of a dried up stick from the floor of the desert.
Why would God do such a thing? Love. "He who touches you touches the apple of His eye. (Zechariah 2:8)." That's why. Whoever comes against us in our walk with God comes up against Him. To our God it's like someone sticking something in the iris of His eye. It stings. It makes Him mad. He feels what we feel. In every case described in this psalm, man poked at what is precious to God...first! But be careful when our God stands up! His great love covers us, defends and protects us. And though to us it might seem slow in coming, God's great grace is extended to even our enemies so that they might come to repentance. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night...(2 Peter 3). Make no mistake, you are loved by Love Itself. Covered in eternal protection. Equipped to fight your enemy, the evil one. Trust the heart of the General Who leads the surge because He's already won the war!
Remember how Moses came to be in the house of the king of Egypt? There was an edict that all the male children born to Jewish women should be killed. In order to save her child, his mother set Moses in a basket and let it float in the Nile toward the bathing daughter of Pharaoh. Saved from the slaughter, Moses grew up as the princess's child. The revenge for that slaughter took a generation for God to deal with. He performed mighty miracles through Moses when the man returned at the age of eighty with an imperative from God to get His people out of slavery to the Egyptians. Over and over again there was no relenting from the Egyptian government. No matter which plague, every mighty act of God was ignored until the night of Passover when the angel of death took the firstborn of any whose home didn't have the blood of a lamb on its doorpost. That seems pretty patient of God...being as gentle as He can with stubborn hearts. Showing His power and glory and hoping for a response to that instead of having to play the brutal hand that avenged the deaths of the Israeli children eight decades previous to that mournful night.
On their journey through the desert, the Israelites needed to pass through the land of the Amorites over which Sihon was king. He'd won the land by killing the former king of Moab and taking all the land out of the man's hands in a bloodbath. Israel sent messengers to Sihon asking for safe passage through the land via the King's Highway, a thoroughfare used for peaceful transport. Israel vowed not to drink from the wells of the Amorites or turn into their vineyards. The mass of people in exodus from Egypt just wanted to walk on through. Sihon's response to their peaceful request was war...a bloody battle in Jahaz. Israel fought against the Amorites and won, taking control of their country.
It was the first victory of their journey to Canaan and showed them their God was still with them. It was a struggle they were surprised by, but God championed them.
In Deuteronomy 3, Moses tells the story of the defeat of Og, who was king of Bashan. This struggle came on the heels of the fight with Sihon. Bashan heard of the coming throng of Israelites and went out to slaughter them and take their spoils. No provocation. "Do not fear him," said the Lord to Moses. "I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand." And so it was.
To anyone simply reading this psalm without thought to the stories behind it, God would seem ruthless and angry, taking lives of entire nations in order to establish His people in Canaan. History, however, records the savage nature of those kingdoms. Imagine the torturous sobbing and heartache the Jewish women experienced at the mass slaughter of their babies. Pharaoh's ears were silent to the anguish he caused by the infanticide. God is slow to anger, but the retribution came at the end of that generation, to a Pharaoh still stubborn and haughty.
God doesn't arbitrarily extinguish nations or command the slaughter of kings, but He does protect His children from the power of the enemy. I'm sure back then those enslaved wondered when on earth God was going to free them. Why day after day they were stuck in the same old bondage to the same old ruler. While Moses was herding his father-in-law's sheep in a desert wilderness, God had a plan. All along. And it was big. And the Jews wouldn't have been able to dream it up in their wildest imaginations. Plagues of frogs, rivers of blood, boils, hail and mass deaths of livestock. Natural disasters that swarmed in at the waving of a dried up stick from the floor of the desert.
Why would God do such a thing? Love. "He who touches you touches the apple of His eye. (Zechariah 2:8)." That's why. Whoever comes against us in our walk with God comes up against Him. To our God it's like someone sticking something in the iris of His eye. It stings. It makes Him mad. He feels what we feel. In every case described in this psalm, man poked at what is precious to God...first! But be careful when our God stands up! His great love covers us, defends and protects us. And though to us it might seem slow in coming, God's great grace is extended to even our enemies so that they might come to repentance. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night...(2 Peter 3). Make no mistake, you are loved by Love Itself. Covered in eternal protection. Equipped to fight your enemy, the evil one. Trust the heart of the General Who leads the surge because He's already won the war!
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