Deuteronomy: What I Learned

The hardest one I've written...and I'm still not satisfied

·      The outline and “What I Learned” for Deuteronomy were the hardest I’ve done, because I felt the gravity of it. Think on this scene: “Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, ‘Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.’ And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, ‘Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD which is poured out on us because our fathers have not observed the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book’” (2 Chronicles 34:18-21).

·      Opening with confessions: I confess despair as I plowed through Deuteronomy. I had such high hopes when I started my journey of outlining. My heart’s desire is to inspire others to read the Bible. I hoped an overview or outline would help. But the more I read, the more I felt the importance of all the words (Deuteronomy is Moses’ helpful recap of the Israelites 40 years in the wilderness, delivered before his death, and it serves as a testimony against the nation of Israel for when they fall away), so more and more straight Scripture went into each daily post. But the more words that went into each post, the farther I felt from what I promised. I prayed about this a lot. Whatever this exercise has done for others, it has benefited me and my relationship with Lord and my love for His word. Maybe that is solely what this exercise is all about. I still encourage you to read for yourselves.

·      I understand the repetition now! I’ve been tempted to skim or even been guilty of skimming through repetitive parts in past years. I keep repeating this, but I’m now realizing God’s purpose in repetition bringing understanding. Instructions for Israel’s future king seem applicable to us as well: “[a copy of this law] shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by  carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment” (Deuteronomy 17:19-20a). We need the repetition, reading God’s word all the days of our lives.

·      I understand why the Orthodox Jews commit the Torah (first five books of the Bible) to memory. Stop and reflect on that for a minute. If they can commit the entirety of these five books to memory, can we at least spend the time to read it? It is truly the foundation on which everything else makes sense, including the sufficient atoning sacrifice of our Messiah. I understand why some of my Messianic Jewish friends call themselves, “completed Jews.” Understanding the Torah gives much greater understanding to the New Testament.

o   The question I believe we must ask ourselves as we read the Torah is what still applies to us today? The Law revealed what pleased or displeased God. There were rituals for outward cleanliness and to atone for sin. Obviously, Jesus has atoned for our sin, so sacrifice is no longer necessary. Rituals regarding clean foods are no longer necessary, by Jesus’ declaration. Specific temple rituals are no longer necessary, as we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. Rituals for outer cleanliness are no longer necessary. What is still necessary is all that applies for inner cleanliness, which is a heart to please God. It is incredibly important to know what pleases and displeases Him.

·      God’s patience to develop His plan over the course of history is jaw dropping. He has been merciful to explain it all to us in His Word, if we will just read it.

·      If you have “why?” questions, read Deuteronomy. Answers are in there. Deuteronomy 4, in particular, is a great overview.

·      The first commandment is everything: “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7). Worship of other gods is why God drove out the nations from the land of Canaan and why He is willing to inflict punishment on the nation of Israel. “It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).

·      It was only 11 days, after a year at Mount Sinai where God explained His Law and established the tabernacle, to disobedience. God told the sons of Israel to go up and conquer the promised land of Canaan, and they failed to believe His promise that it could be done. That disobedience caused by lack of faith cost them 38 years.

·      That disobedience after only 11 days is one of many ways history could have been different:

o   Here’s the Garden of Eden, just don’t eat this tree…

o   Go up to the Promised Land, or spend 38 years wandering the desert…

o   "However, there will be no poor among you, since the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, if only you listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today” (Deuteronomy 15:4-5). God knows, however, what we will do: “For the poor will never cease to be in the land” (Deuteronomy 15:11a).

o   Follow my laws and statutes and ordinances, or be exiled to Assyria and Babylon…

·      God is a covenant keeper. His Word is full of if/then choices. He is true to His word. Despite our unfaithfulness, He is still faithful. He knew we would be faithless. He planned all along to send a remedy in His Son. And He has been patient to explain to us in detail in His Word why we need that remedy.

·      Names are confusing, e.g. Mount Sinai = Mount Horeb (www.blueletterbible.org has so many good resources for digging deeper when things get confusing).

·      Timeline after the exodus from Egypt: first year significant for Law and tabernacle; second year significant for lots of rebellion; not much detail given for events after the beginning of the third year (reading both Numbers and Deuteronomy are required to put this timeline together)

o   “In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai” (Exodus 19:1).

o   “Then the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census…” (Numbers 1:1-2a).

o   “Now in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony; and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. So they moved out for the first time according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses” (Numbers 10:11-13).

o   In just three days, the people complained (Numbers 10:33) and Moses declared, “I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me” (Numbers 11:14), so God put His Spirit in 70 elders (Deuteronomy 1:9-18).

o   Aaron and Miriam claimed God spoke through them as well, and God made Miriam leprous for a week (Numbers 12).

o   “It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb [Sinai] by the way of Mount Seir [Edom] to Kadesh-barnea…Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the LORD our God is about to give us. See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed’” (Deuteronomy 1:2, 19-21). Twelve spies were sent to the land and only Caleb and Joshua had confidence that God would allow them to conquer it, so that generation was sentenced to wander in the wilderness (Numbers 14).

o   Korah led a rebellion of 250 men against Moses and over 14,700 died (Numbers 16).

o    “Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month [of the third year, as best I can tell]; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there” (Numbers 20:1-2).

o   Moses and Aaron struck the rock incorrectly and lost the Promised Land for themselves (Numbers 20).

o   “Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the LORD, and died there in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt, on the first day in the fifth month” (Numbers 33:38).

o   Israel set out to go around Edom, the people complained, and Moses had to place a bronze serpent on a staff for the people to look at and live if they were bit by fiery serpents that God had sent (Numbers 21:4-9).

o   “Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them. Moreover the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished” (Deuteronomy 2:14-15).

o   Lands of Sihon, king of the Amorites and Og, king of Bashan were conquered (Numbers 21:21-35).

o   Balaam prophesied at request of Balak, king of Moab (Numbers 22-24).

o   Israel joined Moab and Midian in sacrifice to their gods and God’s resulting plague killed 25,000 (Numbers 25).

o   Census of the new generation (Numbers 26).

o   God told Moses he would die before the sons of Israel enter the Promised Land, and, with God’s permission and blessing, he commissioned Joshua in his place (Numbers 27:15-23).

o   Midian slaughtered for leading Israel astray in the sacrifice to their gods (Numbers 31).

o   Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe of Manasseh settled Gilead and Bashan (Numbers 32)

o   Moses gave his last instructions (basically, the book of Deuteronomy) in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho (Numbers 36:13): “In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the LORD had commanded him to give to them… Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law" (Deuteronomy 1:3-5).

·      Lands given to descendants of Abraham that Israel was not allowed to provoke or conquer:

o   Edom (Esau)

o   Moab (Lot)

o   Ammon (Lot)

·      Lands conquered east of the Jordan: land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and land of Og, king of Bashan (Canaanite lands). Remember the Canaanites were descendants of Noah’s son Ham, who was cursed for sinning against his father. Abraham was a descendant of Shem. There appears to be mercy from God for relatives of Abraham, unless they reject that mercy and turn on their relatives (e.g. the Amalekites, Midianites).

o   Resulted in Gilead and Bashan being land inheritance of Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe of Manasseh, east of Jordan.

o   These victories were meant to be confidence boosters to the sons of Israel and Joshua, their leader appointed in Moses’ stead: “I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you’” (Deuteronomy 3:21-22).

·      Israel’s history was so that God could teach them what to expect.

o   Regarding their sacrifice to Baal with Moab and Midian, which occurred after the disobedient generation had died (meaning 25,000 of the new generation died because of this sin): “Your eyes have seen what the LORD has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from among you. But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you” (Deuteronomy 4:3-4).

·      Some very familiar scriptural word combinations first appear in Deuteronomy:

o   “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). Moses used the admonition to “be strong and courageous” three times in Deuteronomy, and then it appears ten more times in the Old Testament.

·      Things I noticed that I had never noticed before:

o   It’s not just us that refer to them as the “Ten Commandments.” This name is used three times: Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13, Deuteronomy 10:4.

o   Moses made the ark of the covenant before he went up on the mountain to receive the ten commandments the second time (Deuteronomy 10).

o   Food did not make one unclean—food itself was unclean (Deuteronomy 14)

·      “Why?” answers

o   Unique setting aside of the nation of Israel: “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:5-8). “Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him. Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time” (Deuteronomy 4:32-40). “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).

o   Graven images forbidden: “So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire [when He gave the Ten Commandments], so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:15-19).

o   Why God spoke with Moses alone: The people feared they would die if they heard the voice of God any longer. God’s response: “Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29).

o   Why God spoke through prophets after Moses: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ The LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well. I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).

o   Why the Law? “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart….When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the LORD our God commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. Moreover, the LORD showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6,20-25).

o   Why the wandering in the wilderness: “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son” (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).

o   Why the driving out of the nations in the land of Canaan: “Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Deuteronomy 9:4-5).

o   Why kill the Canaanites: “so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 20:18).

o   Why no spiritism? “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so” (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).

·      Prophecy proclaimed, which history has proved fulfilled:

o   Disobedience, dispersion, and regathering of Israel: “When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you. There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them” (Deuteronomy 4:25-31). Deuteronomy 30 expands on this concept (written in its entirety in the outline).

·      It’s not too hard: “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it” (Deuteronomy 34:11-14).

·      Witness of Moses: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).