Tag: wilderness

Posted in theology

What was “The Wilderness” like?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

As a Bible times Jewish person, talk of “the wilderness” struck fear into their heart. It was the place their ancestors wandered, thirsty and grumbling. It was where predators lurked, from the large such as hyenas and jackals and wolves, to the small, such as scorpions and snakes. It as where there was no shade from the relentless heat and sun, where thieves hid out, and where there was no food or safety.

It was where Jesus was tempted.

It was also where John the Baptist lived and preached.

It was where they went walking after a day’s journey to hear John the Baptist and perhaps to be baptized, and have their heart’s hope ignited that the Messiah was finally arriving.

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“Because of its lack of water and good routes, the Judean wilderness has been (mostly) uninhabited throughout history. Consequently it was an ideal place for those seeking refuge from enemies or retreat from the world. When on the run from King Saul, David hid in various places in the Judean wilderness (the Wilderness[es] of Ziph, Maon, and En Gedi are part of the Judean Wilderness). John the Baptist preached here, and it was likely that this was the wilderness where Jesus was tempted.” Source Bibleplaces.com.

It is hard for me to imagine people today walking for a whole day over rough terrain, stones in sandals, in the blazing heat, to hear preaching. But back then they did. They came in droves to “the wilderness” to hear John the Baptist.

And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. (Mark 1:5).

Big Bend National Park TX. EPrata photo

Then when Jesus came, he was led by the Spirit to “the wilderness” and there he stayed 40 days, being continually tempted at all points by satan. No food, no water, nothing except “beasts,” as Mark and only Mark, notes in Mark 1:13. What were these beasts?

Vincent’s Commentary says the region abounded in boars, jackals, wolves, foxes, leopards, hyenas, etc.

Yikes.

For Israel the dry, mostly uninhabited desert engendered fear and awe. It could be described like the original chaos prior to creation (Deut. 32:10; Jer. 4:23–26). Israel was able to go through the desert because God led them (Deut. 1:19). Its animal inhabitants caused even more fear—snakes and scorpions (Deut. 8:15); wild donkeys (Jer. 2:24). The desert lay waste without humans or rain (Job 38:26; Jer. 2:6). The desert was a “terrifying land” (Isa. 21:1 NASB). The only expectation for a person in the wilderness was death by starvation (Exod. 16:3). God’s judgment could turn a city into desert (Jer. 4:26), but His grace could turn the wilderness into a garden (Isa. 41:17–20). In the NT the desert was the place of John the Baptist’s ministry (Luke 1:80; 3:4) and where demon-possession drove a man (Luke 8:29). The crowds forced Jesus into the unpopulated desert to preach (Mark 1:45). Jesus took His disciples there to rest (Mark 6:31) Source- Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

I kept wondering, did the beasts recognize Jesus?

And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. (Mark 1:13 NASB1995)

The wilderness of Judea. source Logos

Our pastor said that the inclusion of beasts in the verse but then the immediate mention of angels ministering to Jesus, likely means that a contrast is intended. Beasts opposing Jesus while Angels were helping Him.

But the beasts got me thinking of all the times God used beasts in His plan.

Beasts as used in the Bible, especially the New Testament, could be an animal that is domesticated or wild. Sacrificial or useful. Beast is sometimes used as a metaphor for a brutish nature or wicked men. Then there is THE Beast of Revelation, AKA the Antichrist. He is the man with the most brutish & wicked nature of all.

God sent the animals to the ark two by two – Genesis 7:15
God used ravens to feed Elijah – 1 Kings 17:6.
He used bears to kill the mockers – 2 Kings 2:23-24.
God closed the lion’s mouths so they would not eat Daniel in the lion’s den – Daniel 6:22.
God used Aaron to make frogs come up over the land of Egypt – Exodus 8:5-6. Same with gnats – Exodus 8:17
He used a great fish to swallow Jonah and then to spit Jonah up onto dry land – Jonah 1:17
He used a donkey to speak to Balaam – Numbers 22:28

God is sovereign over all the animals. Though the manner in which the angels were ministering to Jesus in his wilderness temptation period is not described, perhaps it was the angels who protected Jesus from the beasts while He was occupied with fasting and praying.

I was wondering if the beasts recognized Jesus in the wilderness, because Balaam’s donkey did. Numbers 22:27.

It is interesting to think of the wilderness as the place of spiritual desert. Devoid of flourishing truth, a wasteland, as the pagans who do not know Jesus are wandering in. Jesus fed the 4,000 in the desolate place east of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 8:1–9).

The wilderness was not only a setting, a location, a real place. David hid there. Jesus was tempted there. John The Baptist baptized there.

Big Bend, Texas. EPrata photo

But the wilderness is also a metaphor.

In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the wilderness has many functions. It is a place of actual barrenness and hunger, and also spiritual drought. It’s a source of nourishment from God (water and manna), but also a place where truth was preached and the seekers were nourished with that truth. It’s a location for God’s testing of His people and of Jesus too. It is the place of the backdrop for their transformation.

The People traveled through 6 actual wildernesses; Shur, Etham, Sin, Sinai, Paran, and Zin. When people today say they are having a rocky time, they may say they are metaphorically going through a “wilderness experience.”

Soon there will be no wilderness, no desert, no beasts. All will be green and healthy and flourishing. There will be no barrenness, no lack and no want. No place where dangers lurk and no place where truth isn’t present.No place of testing, for the testing will have been done and the inhabitants have passed- thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy
You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;
You greatly enrich it;
The stream of God is full of water;
You prepare their grain, for so You prepare the earth.
10You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth.
11You have crowned the year with Your goodness,
And Your paths drip with fatness.
12The pastures of the wilderness drip,
And the hills encircle themselves with rejoicing.
13The meadows are clothed with flocks
And the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

Psalm 65:9-13

Posted in theology

What if the Lord said, “Go and serve in the least populated place”?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

What if you were going to plant a church or start a ministry or were called to go somewhere, but it was the LEAST populated place in the entire area? Like, the people who lived there are widely dispersed and the whole place thin with people? Would you go? Would you trust that this was a call from God? Or would your trust in Him be tested?

I was reading Matthew 3 yesterday and the chapter opens like this:

Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mathew 3:1).

I always had focused on the ‘repent’ part because I love that anytime I read it. But this time I focused on the ‘wilderness’ part. I started asking questions.

When you read your Bible, do you ask questions? I find that’s the best way for me to dig in. I also like to put in place in my mind the locations and distances. Maybe that’s because I love maps. Anyway, I asked myself, ‘Wut? Wait, where IS this wilderness? What does it look like? How far is it from Jerusalem? What is its history?’ Like that.

The wilderness referred to here is John The Baptist’s father’s birthplace. It is where Zacharias and Elizabeth lived and where Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth when Mary was found with child. (Luke 1:39). It was remote and thinly populated – but not totally devoid of people.

Barnes’ Notes says of the ‘Wilderness’:

     "In the wilderness of Judea - This country was situated along the Jordan and the Dead Sea, to the east of Jerusalem. The word translated "wilderness"...was a mountainous, rough, and thinly settled country, covered to some considerable extent with forests and rocks, and better suited for pasture than for tilling. There were inhabitants in those places, and even villages, but they were the comparatively unsettled portions of the country, 1 Samuel 25:1-2. In the time of Joshua there were six cities in what was then called a wilderness, Joshua 15:61-62."

The wilderness was the where David fled to take refuge from Saul; we just read in Matthew 3 that John the Baptist prepared for his mission here; and it was here that Jesus suffered His temptation. The area was west of the Dead Sea extending all the way up to just east of Jerusalem. There was little pasture. Much of it was desert and rocky. It was said that to travel there one must travel at least through 3 to 5 hours with no hope of water. Where John the Baptist preached was about a day’s journey from Jerusalem. The place where the Bible records the Baptism of Jesus was where the Jordan River empties into the northern tip of the Dead Sea, likely about five miles north of the Dead Sea and a little more than six miles southeast of the city of Jericho.

Map from Bible History, free use. Location is D13 on map.

And yet…many flocked to hear this preacher…this prophet. God had not sent a prophet for 400 years, not since Malachi. The people were intrigued and hopeful. Baptisms were increasing. (Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. Matthew 3:5-6). The Pharisees and Sadducees must have been curious as to this new ‘thing’ happening. Who was John the Baptist? Why was he in the wilderness and not properly in Jerusalem? They went to check him out. They got an earful!

John the Baptist called them a brood of vipers and reminded them of the wrath to come. This must have surprised the religious leaders, because they believed that simply having been born into the genealogy of Abraham kept them from any judgment. But, it was not so. They must have thought, ‘I traveled all the way to the wilderness and all I got was this lousy t-shirt and yelled at’.

When you read the Bible, it helps to picture what is happening. These events are real and actually took place with real people in real time. Make a movie in your head. Feel the searing Palestinian sun, the rocky terrain crunching under your sandaled feet, hot thirst in your throat, weary from a day of walking, then seeing this strange, wild man wearing camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, preaching in total Holy Spirit power. Remember, John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit since birth (Luke 1:15). Quite a scene

It was a strange place for God to choose to open His mouth after 400 years. But as Matthew Henry said of this verse,

No place is so remote as to shut us out from the visits of Divine grace. ~Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, Matthew 3:1

The Lord plants where He will plant. Desert wilderness? No problem. Corinth, the most immoral city in Asia? Not an issue. Remote jungle of Ecuador? He’s got this. He will plant the seed of the Gospel in hearts of stone, and He makes them grow and thrive into sanctified flesh set apart for His glory. We serve a great and amazing God.