“A Homeland for Wandering Arameans”
Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11
3-9-2025
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. When I was at the Seminary, one of my professors told us that we should regularly repeat the line from verse 5 of our Old Testament reading: “A wandering Aramean was my father.” What he was jokingly trying to tell us is that the average Pastor ends up moving around a lot. That was certainly true in the first part of my ministry. In a 5-year period I uprooted my family 4 different times. The last of those moves was when I accepted a call here to Iowa. We moved one more time after that, when we built our current home south of Marcus. As it stands right now, Gayleen and I have lived in Iowa longer than anywhere else in our lives. And I can honestly tell you it’s really nice staying put in one place for 27 years. So even though my moving days are over, that business of being a “wandering Aramean” resonates with me. Now, I realize that some of you have lived in the same place for your whole life. And yet, in a spiritual sense, God wants us all to adopt that mind set of being a “wandering Aramean.” How so? Well, if we look at what Moses was instructing the Israelites to do, it’ll make sense.
When Moses spoke these words, Israel was standing on the verge of entering Canaan. Soon, they would go in and take possession of the land which God had promised to Abraham and his descendants. It was a land described as “flowing with milk and honey." It was a place where they would finally be able to settle down and sink their roots in deep. No more moving from place to place. Their wandering days were almost over. That sounded awfully good to these folks because starting with their ancestor Abraham all the way down to them, their family history was that of truly being wanderers.
Here’s a brief summary of their wandering ancestry: When God called Abraham, he was living in an area north of Israel called Paddan-Aram. Then, one day, the Lord told him to pack up and move south to the land of Canaan, which he did by faith. Even though God said He would give this land to Abraham and his descendants, he never really settled down in one place. Instead of building houses and a city to claim as their own, Abraham and his family lived as nomads in tents. He wandered from place to place. It’s interesting, though, that when it was time for his son Isaac to get married, Abraham sent his servant back up to his relatives in Paddan-Aram to find him an Aramean young lady to wed. The servant brought back Rebekah who became Isaac’s wife. Strangely enough, instead of settling down in one place, Isaac followed in his father’s footsteps and lived as a nomad. His home was a tent and they moved regularly with their herds of animals. Eventually, Rebekah gave birth to twin sons, Jacob and Esau.
It’s a long story which we won’t go into right now, but Jacob ended up being the one that God’s promise would be passed on through. When it was time for him to find a wife, guess where Isaac and Rebekah sent him? Yep. Back up north to their relatives in Paddan-Aram. Jacob went to his uncle Laban and ended up marrying two of his daughters, which is also a story for another day. Anyway, Jacob worked for his uncle for a total of 20 years taking care of his herds of sheep and goats. You know what that means, don’t you? He had to wander as he shepherded the animals under his care. So, quite literally, he was a wandering Aramean for 2 decades; living in tents, moving from here to there, while herding those animals to new pasture and watering holes. Eventually, it was time for him to move his wives and children back to the land of Canaan where his parents and brother lived. I’ll give you 2 guesses how he lived there in the Promise Land and your first one doesn’t count. Yes, He was still a nomad herdsman, which meant he was a wanderer.
For several generations the Israelite ancestors could definitely be described as wanderers. But as our text tells us, Jacob’s family didn’t stay put in the land of Canaan. Due to a famine, they went down to Egypt, still working as herdsmen. The Egyptians eventually made them their slaves which lasted nearly 430 years. That’s a long time to spend in one place, but even so, it wasn’t their homeland. Then God sent Moses and through the 10 plagues He forced Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free. They headed back home through the desert to Canaan. Along the way they sinned against God and had to be corrected. But when they got to the border of the Promise Land, they majorly rebelled against the Lord. And their punishment was? To wander some more in the desert. For 40 years to be exact. And you can be sure that during that time they continually longed for a permanent home.
Now, they were standing on the brink of finally getting what they longed for and God gave them a ceremony which was to serve as a reminder. When they settled in the land and built houses and cities, they were to remember their ancestral past. The first-fruits offering was to show their gratitude for the homeland God had given them. Along with that yearly ritual they were to rehearse the many years of wandering in the past. It was meant to teach them a deeper lesson, which was that they were to continue living as wanderers here on earth—spiritual wanderers, that is. Even though they may live in the same location for the rest of their lives, they were to remember that this earth was not their permanent home. God had a better, everlasting homeland waiting for them in heaven because this earthly home was destined to pass away. So, whenever they were tempted to get too attached to this sinful world, they were to remember that they were still spiritual wandering Arameans.
There’s something else I should point out about this business of being “a wandering Aramean.” The Hebrew word translated as “wandering” actually comes from a root word that can mean “to perish or to be destroyed.” Which makes sense when you think about it. A nomad doesn’t store up a crop in a grain bin. They live from hand to mouth. They’re constantly having to move to find new pasture and new sources of water. They have to wander. If they don’t, their animals die, and so will they. But when we apply this spiritually, it makes even more sense.
Although the people of Israel had taken possession and settled down in the land of Canaan, they were still supposed to recite this history that their ancestors were “wandering Arameans.” Why? It’s because God wanted them to realize that they had been lost wanderers who were perishing until God led them into the Promise Land where they could have a permanent home. But this gift of a homeland here on earth was meant to foreshadow an even greater spiritual truth for them, which is also a spiritual truth for us to learn. Due to our sinfulness, we were perishing. In fact, everything in this world is perishing because of sin. Nothing is permanent—not our homes and certainly not our lives. And so, our hearts wander without ever really being able to settle down. Our souls search for nourishment and refreshment, but the sustenance of this world doesn’t last very long. We move from here to there but it’s always only a temporary and empty satisfaction. Spiritually we are wandering, “perishing” Arameans. That is, until God changes things.
That’s why Jesus began His ministry by going out to be tempted by the devil. When He went into that wilderness, He wasn’t wandering aimlessly. No, He was led there by the Holy Spirit so that He could do battle with Satan and defeat his lies with the Word of God. Jesus didn’t aimlessly wander to the cross where He suffered and died. No, He was willingly led there on His mission to save us from perishing in our sins. John 3:16 reminds us that God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son, so that whoever believes in Him “should not perish” but have eternal life. Now, through faith in the Savior and trusting in Him, our wandering days are over. We don’t have to search like spiritual nomads for sustenance for our souls. Through His Word and Sacrament, God gives us His heavenly food which keeps us spiritually alive as we journey through life in this sinful world.
Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that even though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had received God’s promise of a homeland in Canaan, they still lived as wanderers because they “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Verse 13) And the write to the Hebrews goes on to say that they were looking forward to a more permanent homeland where they could live in God’s blessing and peace. And that’s how we, their spiritual descendants, are supposed to live also. Just like the Israelites, the Lord wants us to remember that earth is not our permanent home. So don’t get too attached to it. Don’t fall in love with it. Don’t get caught up in the sinful things of this world which will lead you to wander aimlessly away from God. Rather, living by faith, be led by the Holy Spirit. Live as God’s chosen people in a foreign land. Remember that your real homeland is in heaven. There you have a place prepared for you where you can sink your roots deep and live forever with the Lord. May God keep us faithful as we await the day when He’ll take us to our permanent homeland in heaven. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!