Deuteronomy 3:24: “Oh, Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness.”

 

This is truly an amazing statement to be made by Moses.  The Book of Deuteronomy is really three sermons that Moses delivered to the people of Israel just before they entered the promised land.  The first sermon rehashes the 40 years it took for the people of Israel to move from Egypt to the place where they were presently at. It ends by encouraging the people to follow the law of God.  The second sermon stresses the importance of worshipping the One God and following His laws if they wish to dwell in the land He has given them.  The third sermon is a word of encouragement.  If the people of Israel should prove unfaithful and lose their land, God will restore them if they repent.

 

Perhaps in these three sermons we can understand what Moses meant when he said that God was just beginning to show his greatness.  I mean who could have understood the greatness of God better than Moses.  He stood before Pharaoh and watched as God made a fool of Pharoah with His great miracles.  He watched the greatness of God’s ability to part the Red Sea allowing the people of Israel to escape and then close the sea up on their enemies. Moses saw a miracle every day for forty years as God faithfully sent manna from heaven, and gave them water from a rock.  He witnessed the healing miracles when people were bitten by poisonous snakes and just by looking at a brass serpent were instantly healed. After forty years of this Moses is now saying that God is just beginning to show His greatness?

 

The word used for beginning  is hachalot which is found in a Hithpael form. In other words it is reflexive.  It is generally accepted that this word comes from the root word halal which means to pierce, wound, slay.  There is an obscure use where it is rendered as beginning. Even if we were to use this obscure rendering, how do you make it reflexive?  You would have to say that God caused Himself to begin.  To me it seems translators were trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

 

Hachiloth (beginning) could also come from the root word halah which means to adorn oneself, make oneself beautiful. I believe this fit’s the context much better.  Rather than saying: “Oh Lord God you have begun to show your servant your greatness,” you could say: “Oh Lord God you have adorned yourself by showing your servant your greatness.”

 

After Israel spent  forty years of wandering in the wilderness under the judgment of God for not trusting Him and obeying Him, God is now ready to lead His people, a new generation, into the promised land.  Would God not want to adorn Himself as a new bride welcoming his people to their new home?

 

What I find more interesting is the word greatness.  The question comes to mind, “What type of greatness is Moses talking about?”   There are many types of greatness; there is greatness in kindness, strength, beauty, splendor, kingship, etc.  Just  how is God adorning Himself in a greatness that Moses and the Children of Israel has not yet seen?

 

The sages looked at the word greatness and found it came from the root word gadol which is spelled Gimmel, Daleth and Lamed.  This could be divided into two words,  Gimel  and  Daleth Lamed and can be read gimel dal.  This would mean Granting kindness (Gimel) to the poor (Dal).    Thus, this greatness is a granting of kindness to the poor both in a material sense and spiritual sense.

 

The people of Israel were essential homeless, wandering the wilderness for forty years, depending upon God to feed them (manna) and clothe them (clothes that never wore out).  They were dirt poor and now God was ready to adorn Himself and give them a home, a land flowing with milk and honey, giving them freedom to grow and prepare their own food, make their own clothes. God was a husband to the people of Israel, providing and caring for them.  Now it was time for God to be their bride, time for the people to use the gifts God had given them to build a great nation where they could show off their Bride to the world and truly glorify His Name.

 

Ever feel like you have been wandering in the wilderness?   God has been providing every little detail, you have been depending upon Him for daily miracles to just survive?  Maybe the journey is about to end, maybe God is adorning Himself to be your bride, where you can enter the promise land and show off your Bride to the world and truly glorify His Name.

 

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