Hello everyone
I am nearly finished with my study of the book of Deuteronomy. As I neared the end I found something that I found very encouraging. I will share with you. The end of Deuteronomy is Moses' farewell to the people of Israel. He blesses each tribe and then at the end of Deuteronomy 33 concludes by talking about God. I want to focus on just one part of Moses' depiction of God, in 33:26. It says:
"There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,
who rides across the heavens to help you
and on the clouds in his majesty."
To understand this, we have have understand the term "Jeshurun." I was unfamiliar with it. Turns out, it is only mentioned four times in the Bible, three of which are at the end of Deuteronomy. (Deut. 32:15, 33:5, 33:26 and Isaiah 44:2) After checking several sources, the consensus seemed to be that Jeshurun is a poetic term for Israel, and it means "the upright ones." Based on that idea, one could conclude then that Our God is willing to ride across the heavens to come to the aid of His upright people who are in need. This is very encouraging to me, as I see that God doesn't just sit still in heaven to supply His help, but comes all the way across the sky to be with me when I need Him. His concern for the upright leads Him to want to be there with them.
This passage also made me curious, wondering "What does God ride as He comes across the heavens?" The context indicates that He may be riding some kind of majestic cloud. Other scriptures, however, show that God has other means of transportation. There are other verses that indicate that God rides on clouds (like Isa. 19:1) Ps. 18:10 says that God flies on a cherub. My favorite, however, comes from Habakkuk 3:8 which says Gods travels on "chariots of salvation." (NASV) Whatever God shows up in, it is bound to be glorious.
It is pretty cool to consider how God might ride, but for me, the really amazing part of this passage is that God is emotionally invested in us to travel to where we are to meet our need. That's a pretty encouraging thought.
Tom
