You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
2 For it
shall be, that, as a wandering [nadad] bird [`owph] cast out [shalach] of the
nest [qen], so the daughters [bath] of Moab [Mow'ab] shall be
at the fords [ma`abar] of Arnon ['Arnown]. KJV-Interlinear
2 Then,
like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings, The daughters of Moab will be at the
fords of the Arnon. NASB
The wandering bird, is the idea that is presented in Prov. 27:8, wherein the bird is driven away from its nest due to the destruction of the nest, and therefore has nowhere to go.
And so too, the people or citizens, which are here referred to as the daughters of Moab, will have seen their homes and neighborhoods totally destroyed and therefore they have nowhere to go.
And their first thought naturally, is to run and get away.
In Moab, there is only desert to the south and east, and the destruction of Israel is occurring to the west, so the natural direction of escape it to the north, where the Arnon River is located.
The Arnon River is the northern border of Moab, between Moab and Ammon.
The word for Arnon means to shout to cry out in celebration and joy, as one would do if escape seems imminent and certain.
However, we have already seen that their best course of action is to turn to God, not to some geological boundary.
We have already studied how their lives were spent without paying the proper due tribute to the King of Israel.
That tribute refers not to money, but to their commitment to their daily spiritual lives, by
first believing in Christ, then
second by confessing on a regular basis in order to get themselves into fellowship, then
third by committing to a daily study of the scriptures, then
fourth by learning as a result of that daily study, then
fifth acquiring an understanding of what they learn, then
sixth by applying what they learn to their daily lives, and then
seventh repeating this process over and over, again and again every day of their lives.
But this they did not do. And even in the face of imminent danger and destruction, they turn to a border for escape, and not to Christ, who is the one and only legitimate King of Israel.
Israel symbolically represents the nation of God, made up of believers who are the people of God, and simultaneously the children and family of God. We simply refer to ourselves as Christians or believers in Christ.
The fords of the Arnon, are shallow or narrow portions of the river wherein passage across the river is much easier, than trying to cross where the water is deep or running swift.
But to escape from Moab into another country which is not Israel, is like jumping from the pan into the fire. It is no better, and actually will be much worse.
These chapters hold the content of the prophecies of the final days of history, as we have already established in our prior studies.
In those end days, Moab, which we are studying now, represents the peripheral regions outside of Israel, who do not want to get involved, but likewise do not try to help Israel, but would prefer to profit from the persecutions against Israel.
These events will occur in the Tribulation, which is still a future time. We already know that our current dispensation will end with the Rapture, and then the Tribulation will begin. The Tribulation will last only seven years as the entire world will collapse into near total destruction during that short time.
Those people will be anti-God and anti-doctrine. Their only way out of the destruction will be to commit themselves to God through Christ by means of their daily studies. But they won’t. Instead they will be overwhelmed by the final destruction of history and will run to a river that leads to nowhere.
This is the same option that people throughout history, have always had. Turn to Christ or be destroyed by means of your own foolish decisions.
But unfortunately most people pretend to turn to Christ, and really prefer their own lifestyle, and as the Moabites will do in that future time, people now run to many alternate paths through life, paths that lead to nowhere.
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