Deuteronomy 3:29
VA’NEI’SHEV BA’GEI’EE MOOL BEIT PEOR
So we abode in the valley opposite Beth-Peor
GEI’EE is a valley with high walls. Peor is a mountain on the east of Jordan, the place where Balaam sought to curse Israel but God would not permit it. There was a pagan deity that the nations worshipped there. The word “peor” means “a wide expanse, a gorge, a large gap.” The “house” of the site perhaps indicated the location of the pagan cult associated with it. But God cleansed that place by the presence of Moses after the judgment on Balaam and Balak. God will cleanse the locations of your life through victory over temptation.
Here was where Moses’ journey ended. So, the people stayed there with him until Moses ordained Joshua, finished his days, and then passed from the earthly scene. God buried Moses so that the children of Israel could not find his body and therefore could not build a cult around him.
How easily humanity gathers around power to worship it. We cannot permit ourselves to worship anything or anyone but God. If it were not for the fact that Jesus is actually God-Incarnate, it would be idolatry to worship him. Peter refused worship. (Acts 10:25-26) But Jesus received worship. (John 9:35-38) Every knee will bow to Jesus at the Great Judgment of souls. (Philippians 2:10)
As we wrote in an earlier devotion, it was because Moses smote the rock instead of speaking to it that he was forbidden to enter the land of promise. The people stirred him up to anger and through presumption he broke type: smiting the Rock was a type of the Crucifixion of Messiah. Messiah has died once, for all time, as the Atoning Sacrifice for sin. His dying cannot not be repeated. (Hebrews 9:24-28)
Let Moses’ story teach us: We are not to presume on God’s patience; we are to remain humble, even in the wake of great successes, one after another, in our lives. It is Christ who is to be honored. All we are bond-servants learning to be sons and daughters of God for eternal purposes.
Take courage. Our LORD knows all things. There is a time for us in this world. We will finish our calling. Therefore, do not dread the day of your valley. It is not the closing of a door but the opening into heaven for you. (2 Timothy 4:6; 2 Peter 1:12-15)
