There are many valleys spoken of in Scripture, some of which give us divine instruction in regard to the ways of God. Some bring before us the sorrows of God’s people, and of such was the valley where God’s servant Moses was buried; others bring before us the triumphs of God’s people, such as the valley of Siddim where Abraham was victorious over the confederate kings who had taken Lot captive. The land of Israel had many valleys, even as Moses told Israel, “For the land, whither thou goest into possess it, is not as the land of Egypt…it is a land of hills and valleys…the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it” (Deut. 11:10–12). Most of the valleys we shall consider are in the land of Canaan, or have to do with it.
The Valley of Achor
Immediately after Israel had seen God’s power manifested on their behalf in the overthrow of Jericho, there was the defeat at the hands of the men of Ai, a very small city. God had not been consulted about the assault on Ai, and, in addition, there had been a very grave act of disobedience in regard to the spoils of Jericho which, if the Lord had been enquired of, Joshua would have learned of sooner, and Israel would have been spared the humiliation of the defeat by the men of Ai. Israel had sinned, for one of their number had disobeyed the command of the Lord, and taken of the accursed thing. Achan had coveted the gold, silver and Babylonish garment that he had seen among the spoils, and had taken it for himself. It may have seemed a very little thing to Achan, but it was very serious in the eyes of the Lord.
When Achan had been taken by lot, and confessed to his sin, he was taken to the valley of Achor, and stoned to death. The divine judgment brought before the people the enormity of sin against God, and the lesson was not for them only, but also for us in this day. The professing church that has heaped to itself riches, and clothed itself with a Babylonish garment, will soon receive from the hand of God His solemn judgment. Laodicea proudly boasted, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:17); and “Babylon the great” with all her acquired riches will soon be brought down under the fierce judgment of a holy and righteous God (Rev. 17:4-5; 18:16–24).
Yet this same valley of judgment will be to Israel “a door of hope” (Hosea 2:15), for the day is coming when Israel will be restored to the land, and the Lord will “speak comfortably unto her…and she shall sing” in the very place where once God’s judgment fell. Isaiah also writes of that day of blessing for Israel, saying, “And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me” (Isa. 65:10). All trace of the judgment will have gone in that day, and Israel will be richly blessed of God.
The Valley of Elah
The great victory of David over Goliath in the valley of Elah (1 Sam. 17) represents to us the infinitely greater triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ over all His foes and ours. Out from the obscurity of Bethlehem came God’s man to defeat him who had terrorised the people of God, and at whose presence they fled away. It seemed as if there was no one who could prevail against this powerful foe, whose mighty weapons were unmatched in Israel. When David came forward to meet the foe he did not come in his own strength, nor did he come with weapons with which Goliath was acquainted, for he said, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” (verse 45).
Having brought down the mighty foe with a stone and with a sling, David took the giant’s own sword and slew him with it. So it was with the Lord Jesus. Entering into death, being crucified in weakness, through death he destroyed “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,” and it was to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15). The very weapon the devil had used to keep men in fear, death, was used to the saint of God the confidence that David had in God in the face of the mighty foe, but also brings to our remembrance the wondrous triumph of the Lord Jesus over the enemy of God’s people.
The Valley of Baca
The Psalmist found God’s presence a pleasant place, and his soul longed to be found in His courts. He also spoke of the blessedness of the man who found his strength in God, and in whose heart were God’s ways. Such cannot escape the sorrows that are common to men, for they too must pass through “the valley of Baca,” the vale of tears, which at some time or another is the lot of all. Yet there is a very great difference in the experiences of the one whose trust is in God and those who do not trust Him, in times of sorrow.
In the valley of weeping the believer turns to the God of all comfort, and the Father of mercies, and finds true and divine consolation. The spirit passes through the trial in the company of the Lord who ministers comfort, yet it is also lifted above the trial into the rest and peace of His own presence. Of these things the man of this world knows nothing, but in times of sorrow the valley of Baca becomes a well, a means of refreshment and blessing from God, “the rain also” filling the pools. The very exercise of soul through which the sorrow causes the believer to pass makes the pools that God fills with blessing from His heavenly resources (Ps. 84:6).
The Valley of Eshcol
When Moses sent the spies to report on the promised land, he said to them, “be of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land,” and in response to this charge, when they came to the brook of Eshcol, which runs through the valley, they “cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs” (Num. 13:20–24). On returning from their mission they showed to the congregation the fruit of the land, and said to Moses, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it” (verses 26, 27).
While passing through the wilderness, Israel were able to anticipate what God had given them as they viewed the fruits of the land that flowed with milk and honey. God has likewise given to the saints of this day to anticipate what belongs to the heavenly land. We have our inheritance in Christ, and the Holy Spirit is “the earnest of our inheritance” (Eph. 1:14), and He gives us to foretaste the fruits of the heavenly land to which we are passing on, and where we soon shall enjoy all that God has given us in association with His own Son in the heavenly paradise.
The Valley of Vision
“The burden of the valley of vision” (Isa. 22:1) brings before us the deep sorrows of Israel on account of their rebellion against God, but it also brings to our notice the One in whom God has placed His confidence, and to whom He has given authority to accomplish all His will. Eliakim the son of Hilkiah is brought before us as a type of the coming Christ, of whom it is said prophetically, “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon His shoulder; so He shall open, and none shall shut; and He shall shut, and none shall open” (verse 22). Revelation 3:7 clearly shows that this Scripture brings Christ before us, and not only for Israel, but also for the saints of this day.
Christ is also the “nail in a sure place” (verse 23), the One who, in resurrection, shall bear all the glory. First He must enter into death, for the “Nail…in the sure place” was removed and cut down when first He came, but the day is surely coming when all the glory shall be seen hanging upon Him, “all the glory of His fathers house,” and every one, from the least to the greatest, will be found relying upon Him who once was rejected and crucified.
As the risen One we see Him today with the glory in heaven, but having all the authority to shut and open as it pleases Him, and He has set before His saints an open door, which no man can shut (Rev. 3:8). This door sets before us all the treasures of God in Christ, but also leads us out into testimony for Him. We go in to behold all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are connected with the glorified Christ, to see all His “unsearchable riches,” and go out to testify of Him in this world where He is still rejected.
The Valley of Dry Bones
It is not the resurrection of the body that is taught in Ezekiel 37, though the One who gives life to the dry bones in this chapter is the One who on earth said, “the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29). After the dry bones come together and flesh and skin come upon them, and life is given to them, the Lord says to the prophet, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel” (verse 11).
Israel as a nation will be brought back to the land, rising as from the dead, from their graves among the nations in which they were scattered in the judgment of God. Already we have seen a partial revival of Israel, not the work of God, but the fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah 18, where they are brought back under the protection of the “land shadowing with wings.” When God brings back His people it will be to deliver them from the hands of all their foes, and to establish them in the kingdom of Messiah. Before that blessed recovery Israel will have to pass through much sorrow.
The Valley of Decision
If Israel has to pass through much sorrow and trouble before they are finally established in the land under Messiah, on the ground of the new covenant, based on the blood of Jesus, the nations also will have to pass through times of stress and judgment. Something of this is brought before us in Joel 3, where the nations are called upon to gather together, and they are seen as “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:11–14). It is harvest time, the wickedness of the nations being great, and the day of the Lord near Egypt is to be a desolation, “and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness.”
The Lord will deal with the nations, and will bring rich and abiding blessing to His people Israel, for “in that day, the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters…Judah shall dwell for ever and Jerusalem from generation to generation, for I will cleanse their blood…for the Lord dwells in Zion.” It is Israel’s last end that is before the prophet of the Lord, and great indeed will be the blessing.
We do not have in this prophecy the final blessing of the nations, but if the valley of decision proclaims the judgment of the heathen, this will also make way for the blessing of the nations, the answer of God to His promise to Abraham, “and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3); and “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18). When Christ reigns there will not only be blessing for Israel, but also for the nations of the earth.
R. 11.5.68
See 14.01.71