20140104 Saturday, January 4 2014
Deuteronomy 11: Israel In Arabia

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children"

The 1888 map below shows the Sinai Peninsula at its center. Note that the Sinai is correctly labeled as "Arabia Petraea." Some people (most of whom have a very short-sighted view of "history" - that doesn't extend much before their own lifetimes) have incorrectly assumed that Paul's statement about "Mount Sinai in Arabia" (Galatians 4:25 KJV) meant that Mount Sinai is in what is today known as Saudi Arabia (which is far east of the Sinai) - a nation that has existed in name only since the 1920s. Saudi Arabia (named after the House of Saud, the ruling royal family of "Saudi" Arabia) is in only a part of Arabia.

In ancient times, "Arabia" was composed of three major sections. The Sinai Peninsula was, and still is, within those parameters:

Arabia Felix, a large area between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

Arabia Deserta, the el-Badieh or "Great Wilderness," from which the nomadic tribes of this region derive their name, the "Bedaween," or "Bedouin."

Arabia Petraea, the Rocky Arabia, named for its rocky mountains and stony plains.

In modern times, Arabia is composed of 3 general territorial designations. The Sinai Peninsula was, and still is, within those parameters:

Arabia Proper, or the Arabian Peninsula.

Northern Arabia, or the Arabian Desert.

Western Arabia, including the Sinai Peninsula and the Desert of Petra.

As its name plainly says, Mount Sinai is in the Sinai Peninsula, not in Saudi Arabia, as falsely claimed by a few quack "archaeologists" (none of whom have any genuine degree in archaeology) and carnival hucksters to peddle their Bible-contradicting "big new discovery" books and videos in the present day.

During the four centuries before the Exodus, "Israel" had grown from a man, formerly known as Jacob (see Genesis 32: The Origin Of Israel), to a family, the "Israelites" (see Genesis 46: The First Census Of Israel), to a nation of over a million people (see Exodus 1: I Will There Make Of Thee A Great Nation and Numbers 1: The First Sinai Census).

From Egypt, Israel entered Arabia, the Sinai Peninsula section of Arabia, and journeyed southward to Mount Sinai (see Exodus 19: Arrival At Mount Sinai and Exodus 20: The Ten Commandments). From there, they moved northward through the Sinai Peninsula section of Arabia (see Numbers 10: North To The Promised Land) until they arrived at the Negev Desert, which is today the southern boundary area of Israel (see The Negev Of Israel). They could have entered the Promised Land then, at only about fourteen months after the Exodus (see Numbers 13: The Exploration Of The Promised Land). When the adults of the Exodus refused to enter the Promised Land, the LORD turned them around and had them wander for forty years until the entire adult rebel generation had died off in Arabia - the Sinai Peninsula section of Arabia (see Numbers 14: Why 40 Years In The Sinai? and Deuteronomy 2: The Israelite Wanderland). But "your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness" - the children and grandchildren of the adults of the Exodus were the Israel that entered the Promised Land.

"14:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 14:27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. 14:28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 14:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, 14:30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 14:31 But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. 14:32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 14:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 14:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. 14:35 I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die." (Numbers 14:26-35 KJV)

The Book of Deuteronomy was written to the children and grandchildren of the Exodus - forty years after their parents and grandparents refused to enter the Promised Land (see Deuteronomy 1: Why A Book Of Deuteronomy In The Bible?).

"11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. 11:2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, 11:3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 11:4 And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day; 11:5 And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; 11:6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel: 11:7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did." (Deuteronomy 11:1-7 KJV)

The later generation had the same rights and responsibilities as their rebel elders. It was also up to them to choose life, or death - by deciding whether they were going to be winners, by following and obeying the LORD, or loser rebels whose bones were left scattered through the Sinai of Arabia (see Deuteronomy 8: Live Long and Prosper).

"11:8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; 11:9 And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 11:10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11:11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 11:12 A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

11:13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 11:14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 11:15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 11:17 And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. 11:18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 11:19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 11:20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 11:21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth." (Deuteronomy 11:8-21 KJV)

The LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) made the same offer, and the same warning, as He did to Israel on the day that they left Egypt: "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God."

"11:22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 11:23 Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 11:24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. 11:25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

11:26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 11:27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: 11:28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 11:29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 11:30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? 11:31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. 11:32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day." (Deuteronomy 11:22-32 KJV)

Fact Finder: How did the other children of Abraham inherit their homelands in Arabia?
See Abraham's Seed: From The Nile To The Euphrates