Numbers 33:38 says, And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month. We once again have the record of Aaron going up on Mount Hor at God's commandment and dying there, forty years after the people of Israel left Egypt. Verse thirty-nine adds, And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor. Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old, and had evidently spent the first eighty-three as a slave in Egypt, then forty as God's priest wandering in the wilderness. We are not guaranteed riches and power in this lifetime as followers of Christ. Verse forty states, And king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel. The king of the Canaanites heard about the coming of the people of Isreal. People today should hear about the coming of God's people into their communities. We should be as hard to overlook as the people of Israel were. The next several verses continue to track their movements. Verse forty-one adds, And they departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah. Verse forty-two, And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon. Verse forty-three, And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth. Verse forty-four, And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ijeabarim, in the border of Moab. Verse forty-five, And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibongad. Verse forty-six And they removed from Dibongad, and encamped in Almondiblathaim. Verse forty-seven, And they removed from Almondiblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. Verse forty-eight, And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. Verse forty-nine concludes, And they pitched by Jordan, from Bethjesimoth even unto Abelshittim in the plains of Moab. They were once again on the edge of the Promised Land, though nearly all of those who had been there before had died. As Christians, we will never get to the Promised Land, Heaven, in this lifetime, but we must faithfully follow God as we wander through this world full of sin, and we are always but a breath away from entering in. Verse fifty says, And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Verse fifty-one adds, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; God told Moses to speak to the children of Israel and tell them when they had passed over the Jordan into Canaan. The promise God was about to make was still based on them obeying His command and actually entering the Promised Land, without questioning if they would be successful in conquering it. When God sends us somewhere, we must simply go by faith without questioning Him. Verse fifty-two continues, Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: When they got to the Promised Land mthey were to drive out the inhabitants and destroy all their idols. This will already be accomplished for us when we get to Heaven. Verse fifty-three states, And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. God said they were to dispossess the people there and then dwell there because God had given them the land. There will be no other gods in heaven, nor people who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Verse fifty-four adds, And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. God told Moses that the land was to be distributed fairly and by His plan. Wherever we might be in Heaven one day, it will be where God put us. Verse fifty-five continues, But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. God said if they did not drive out the people living there that they would be a continual problem for them. We cannot drive out all the people who would cause us problems from the world today, but as Christians, we need to keep them from setting up camp in our fellowship of believers. Verse fifty-six concludes, Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them. God then said if the people of Isreal did not do as He commanded them to do to the inhabitants of the land, then He would do to the Israelites as He had intended to do to the people in the land. Professing to be a follower of Christ without really putting our faith in Him will one day lead to our everlasting separation from God. If we truly put our faith in Jesus Christ, we must do our best to drive sinful things out of our life.
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