Latter Days' Hope

 As we know, Moshe ministered to Israel mainly during the time spent in the wilderness.   YHVH had made it known that this was a period in which His people were to be taught and learn obedience to His commandments, statutes and ordinances, but not without the Almighty’s grace.  The Children of Israel did not lack anything; food, water, or shelter, and neither did their clothes and shoes wear out during the forty-year journey.  In the course of their sojourn in the desert they were to be a testimony and a witness to the surrounding nations, of the One who had redeemed them and brought them out of the bondage of Egypt.  However, in spite of the grace, their hearts remained hard and their necks stiff towards Elohim.

 

Therefore, shortly before entering the land, Moshe delivered a very disturbing message to the people.  He revealed to them that YHVH had not yet given them a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear (ref. Deut. 29:4); and then predicted that they would break covenant with Elohim once in the land that He was about to give them.  Consequently, they were not going to live long in the land, but be cast out and scattered amongst the peoples.  But in spite of this harsh forecast, he did not leave them without hope. In the latter days, Moshe added, they would return to YHVH their Elohim and listen to His voice (ref. Deut. 4:25-30).  

 

Of all the curses which resulted in Israel’s disobedience, the severest is to be living outside the land.  To be exiled amongst the other nations is like being back in the wilderness again, which the Bible calls the “wilderness of the peoples”.  As we know from history, Moshe’s predictions came to pass, and in 722 BC the Northern Kingdom of the House of Israel was taken by the Assyrians to the northern regions of Assyria and later, in 556 BC, their brethren, the House of Judah, met the same fate in the Babylonian exile. 

 

In the days of the prophet Ezekiel (590-560 BC) the elders of the Northern Kingdom approached Ezekiel, who was amongst them on a divine mission, and inquired if they could come back to the land.  YHVH refused to answer them, other than to remind them of the abominations of their fathers, and admonishing them to forsake their ancestral ways.  It was bad enough that they had rebelled in the wilderness, but once entering the land they had committed even worse offences (see Ez. 20:27-31).  Now, in the “galut” (diaspora or exile), they were inquiring when they could return to the land.

 

Thankfully YHVH informed them that even though they had wanted to be like the other nations, serving wood and stone and playing the harlot, He would not allow them to carry on living in this manner: “Surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you… I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am YHVH” (Ezekiel 20: 34-38).

 

Although this seemed like good news to those elders, it was not to be that generation that was destined to return. However, according to the above word of Elohim it was to be the latter day generation that would have this hope. “With an outstretched hand and fury poured out” does not sound like much fun, but it will happen.