Deu 1:35-36 | KingComments | STEP | The reaction of the LORD is in line with the rebellion of the people. Do they refuse to enter the land? The LORD swears in His wrath that no one of that generation will come there. Of the two exceptions, Joshua and Caleb, only Caleb is mentioned here. Joshua occupies a special place. He will succeed Moses as the leader of the people. In Caleb we have an ‘ordinary’ Israelite, someone to whom we can mirror ourselves. His heart is full of the love of God. His name means ‘wholeheartedly’. He has not spoken of a God Who hates. He was convinced of the love and goodness of God to bring His people into the land of promise. In Joshua 14 he refers to his account of the land ( ). Even then he is still full of the land. He knew the pleasure of the LORD and deeply appreciated the inheritance of God. He has taken it in possession, while the others have perished in the wilderness. God’s love was active in his life. He had to go with the people through the wilderness, but in his heart that love worked, by which he persisted in following the LORD with an eye on the goal. Do we belong to the generation of Caleb? That is the case when our heart is directed toward Christ. Just as the heart of Caleb was directed toward the blessing of the land, for us the blessing of the land is Christ Jesus. If our hearts are full of the goodness and love of God through the Holy Spirit, our desire will also be to follow the Lord fully. The Holy Spirit is also called ‘pledge’ ( ). That He is the pledge means that we do not yet possess the inheritance. A pledge is a kind of guarantee provided with a down-payment as an inviolable indication of future receipt of what we do not yet have. The fact that the Holy Spirit is called ‘pledge’ only has to do with the certainty that the rest will follow. As He has been given to us we can already enjoy the inheritance, although we cannot as yet actually take possession of it. The anger of the LORD also came upon Moses for their sake. This is reminiscent of the Lord Jesus Who underwent the anger of God for the sake of His people. Moses does not speak here about his own failure, but about the cause of the anger. It was with the people. This did not happen when the people first reached the border, but only forty years later. Moses is not concerned with chronology, but he connects God’s anger over himself with God’s anger over the people in order to underline the holiness of God’s judgment. Moses points to Joshua as the new leader. Joshua was in his service. Here we see the picture of the Lord Jesus Who sent the Holy Spirit, that He may lead us into all the truth ( ). The Holy Spirit does not lead the old man, but the new man, just as Joshua does not bring the old generation, but the new generation into the land. The new generation is referred to here as “your little ones …, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil”. It is those who will never reach the land by their own power, who depend on the help of others and who are ignorant. They are not informed about the land, but they want to be taught about it and about the conditions for getting there and living in it. So it is with the things that God makes known: He does so to little children, not to those who rely on their minds ( ). The mind of a child is necessary to enjoy the blessings for us in the heavenly places of Christ.

‏ Deuteronomy 1:35-36

The Anger of the LORD

The reaction of the LORD is in line with the rebellion of the people. Do they refuse to enter the land? The LORD swears in His wrath that no one of that generation will come there. Of the two exceptions, Joshua and Caleb, only Caleb is mentioned here. Joshua occupies a special place. He will succeed Moses as the leader of the people. In Caleb we have an ‘ordinary’ Israelite, someone to whom we can mirror ourselves.

His heart is full of the love of God. His name means ‘wholeheartedly’. He has not spoken of a God Who hates. He was convinced of the love and goodness of God to bring His people into the land of promise. In Joshua 14 he refers to his account of the land (Jos 14:7). Even then he is still full of the land. He knew the pleasure of the LORD and deeply appreciated the inheritance of God. He has taken it in possession, while the others have perished in the wilderness.

God’s love was active in his life. He had to go with the people through the wilderness, but in his heart that love worked, by which he persisted in following the LORD with an eye on the goal. Do we belong to the generation of Caleb? That is the case when our heart is directed toward Christ. Just as the heart of Caleb was directed toward the blessing of the land, for us the blessing of the land is Christ Jesus. If our hearts are full of the goodness and love of God through the Holy Spirit, our desire will also be to follow the Lord fully.

The Holy Spirit is also called ‘pledge’ (Eph 1:14). That He is the pledge means that we do not yet possess the inheritance. A pledge is a kind of guarantee provided with a down-payment as an inviolable indication of future receipt of what we do not yet have. The fact that the Holy Spirit is called ‘pledge’ only has to do with the certainty that the rest will follow. As He has been given to us we can already enjoy the inheritance, although we cannot as yet actually take possession of it.

The anger of the LORD also came upon Moses for their sake. This is reminiscent of the Lord Jesus Who underwent the anger of God for the sake of His people. Moses does not speak here about his own failure, but about the cause of the anger. It was with the people. This did not happen when the people first reached the border, but only forty years later. Moses is not concerned with chronology, but he connects God’s anger over himself with God’s anger over the people in order to underline the holiness of God’s judgment.

Moses points to Joshua as the new leader. Joshua was in his service. Here we see the picture of the Lord Jesus Who sent the Holy Spirit, that He may lead us into all the truth (Jn 16:13). The Holy Spirit does not lead the old man, but the new man, just as Joshua does not bring the old generation, but the new generation into the land.

The new generation is referred to here as “your little ones …, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil”. It is those who will never reach the land by their own power, who depend on the help of others and who are ignorant. They are not informed about the land, but they want to be taught about it and about the conditions for getting there and living in it.

So it is with the things that God makes known: He does so to little children, not to those who rely on their minds (Mt 11:25-27). The mind of a child is necessary to enjoy the blessings for us in the heavenly places of Christ.