6
As with the word `eternal', so with the word `refuge', it
represents a number of ideas. In Deuteronomy 33:27, the word
is meonah, from a root meaning `to dwell'. This refuge is,
therefore, a dwelling place. The same word is used for the
`dwelling place' of God Himself (Psa. 76:2), and for the `dens'
of wild beasts (Psa. 104:22). In either case, the meaning is the
same. It is a place that provides protection, and where one may
feel secure.
The refuge provided for the people of God is not to be
conceived of in terms of concrete or steel, for immediately
following the opening statement of Deuteronomy 33:27 we read:
`And underneath are the everlasting arms'.
In our own language the word `arms' may have two different
meanings, but there is no ambiguity in Deuteronomy 33:27. The
`everlasting arms' refer, not to armaments but to the arms of the
Lord, once `stretched out' to accomplish the deliverance of
Israel (Deut. 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 9:29; 11:2; 26:8), and now
stretched out in loving support, so that the weary child of God,
forgetting all alarms, thinking not of unkindly steel or rough
concrete, sinks into peaceful and secure rest in the arms of the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. `The God Who is
beforehand is thy refuge'.
2.
`God is our Refuge and Strength' (Psa. 46:1).
After having considered the testimony of Moses, which
provides the title for this booklet, we turn almost instinctively to
the Psalms. There have, of course, been great doctrinal and