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From Eternity Past
When God bids His children go forward, Satan tempts them to
displease the Lord by hesitation and delay. He seeks to kindle strife,
murmuring, or unbelief, and thus deprive them of the blessings God
desires to bestow. God’s servants should be minutemen. Any delay on
their part gives time for Satan to work to defeat them.
The Edomites were descendants of Abraham and Isaac. For the
sake of these His servants, God had given them Mount Seir for a
possession. They were not to be disturbed unless by their sins they
should place themselves beyond His mercy. The Hebrews were to
utterly destroy the inhabitants of Canaan, who had filled up the measure
of their iniquity; but the Edomites were still probationers and were to
be mercifully dealt with. God manifests compassion before He inflicts
judgments.
The Israelites were forbidden either then or at any future time to
revenge the affront given them in the refusal of passage through the
land. They must not expect to possess any part of the land of Edom.
God had promised them a goodly inheritance, but they were not to
feel that they alone had rights in the earth and seek to crowd out all
others. They were to beware of doing the Edomites injustice. They
were to trade with them, promptly paying for all they received. As an
encouragement to trust in God and obey His word, they were reminded,
“The Lord thy God hath blessed thee; ... thou hast lacked nothing.”
They had a God rich in resources. They should exemplify the principle,
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Had they passed through Edom as God had purposed, the passage
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would have proved a blessing to the inhabitants of the land to become
acquainted with God’s people and His worship and to witness how
the God of Jacob prospered those who loved and feared Him. But all
this the unbelief of Israel had prevented. Again they must traverse the
desert and quench their thirst from the miraculous spring, which, had
they but trusted in Him, they would no longer have needed.
Aaron Dies in Moses’ Arms
Accordingly the hosts of Israel again made their way over the
sterile wastes that seemed even more dreary after a glimpse of the
green spots among the hills and valleys of Edom. From the mountain
range overlooking this gloomy desert rises Mount Hor, whose summit