DEUTERONOMY

At the end of his life, Moses assembles the second generation of Israel, retells them the Law and Israel’s history so far and challenges them to wholeheartedly commit themselves in covenant to this God and his Law.

Moses writes Deuteronomy as the final one of his five books (called Pentateuch) at the end of Israel’s forty years in the wilderness. In the Pentateuch, which is a description of both historical events as well as the Law of God, Moses is repeatedly mentioned to be ‘writing everything down’. The later Biblical writings of both Old and New Testament and Jesus himself refer to the Pentateuch as ‘the books of Moses’, thus establishing him as the author.

Like the other books of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy is a foundational book: It is a summary of all the Law that has gone before, a recapping of God’s history with Israel so far, a clearer revelation of God’s character than all that has gone before and it is God inviting Israel’s second generation to come into covenant with him. It could be said that all of Israel’s later history are footnotes to Deuteronomy. It is the anchor on which everything hinges, it is what Israel will be judged by and what the prophets will try to enforce.

Israel’s first generation (those who saw the Exodus with their own eyes) has died off during the forty wilderness years. The second generation of Israel has come up and has already obediently and successfully conquered Amorite land East of the Jordan. Three tribes have already received their inheritance, land holdings according to their size and need. Israel is now encamped East of the Jordan, in the low lands, opposite Jericho. Moses, knowing he will soon die, assembles Israel to make one final speech, leading the second generation of Israel to commit themselves to a covenant with God. Deuteronomy is the transcript of Moses’ final words to Israel.

Moses first retells God’s history with Israel so far: the deliverance from Egypt, the encounter with God at Sinai, the giving of the Law, the years in the wilderness and the recent successful conquest. Moses recounts major portions of the Law, laws addressing family, economy, health, government, education, communication, arts and religion. He restates civil, moral and religious law.

Moses stresses God’s faithfulness to Israel, choosing it not because of it being special, strong, numerous or virtuous (De 7:7, 9:4), but simply by sovereign divine choice. God loves them and wants to be in continued covenant-relationship with them. He wants to be their God and them to be his people. But in order for a relationship and covenant with the holy, awesome and only God to be possible, Israel needs to commit to worship God alone and to keep his Law. If they do so, if they make God and his character the basis of their lives, if they love him and indeed obey his life-giving law, they will bring on themselves well-being, health, peace, justice, safety and longevity in the promised land.

But the opposite is also true: if they break the covenant, if they reject God and rather turn to idols, if they disobey his law and practice what the nations around them do, they will bring on themselves trouble, lack, famine, poverty, sickness, conflict, injustice, war, death and finally the loss of the promised land.

Moses hold these two options out before Israel, urgently and passionately telling them to choose God rather than other gods, obedience rather than rebellion, life rather than death. God is utterly committed to his covenant, Israel’s response will determine the outcome.

Authorship, Date and Place of Writing

Moses writes Deuteronomy as the final of his five books (called Pentateuch) at the end of Israel’s forty years in the wilderness. In the Pentateuch, which is a description of both historical events as well as the Law of God, Moses is repeatedly mentioned to be writing (Ex 17:14, 24:4, 34:27, Nu 33:2, De 31:14). At the end of his final speech in summary it is said that ‘Moses wrote down this law, and gave it to the priests…and to all the elders of Israel (De 31:9), identifying Moses as author what has gone before. The later Biblical writings of the Old Testament continually refer to the Pentateuch as ‘the Law of Moses’ or the ‘Books of Moses’, thus confirming Moses as the author (Jo 1:7-8, 1 Ki 2:3, 2 Ki 14:6, De 9:11-13, Ez 6:18, Ne 13:1, Ma 4:4). In the same way the New Testament authors and also Jesus himself refer to the Law or quote from the Law identifying Moses as the author (Mt 8:4, 22:24, Mk 1:44, 12:26, Lu 16:29-31, Jn 1:17, 7:19, Ac 3:22, 26:22, Ro 10:19, 1 Co 9:9, 2 Co 3:15).

Deuteronomy is thus written by Moses, in 1406 BC, shortly before his death, while Israel is camping in the plains of Moab. The final chapter describing Moses’ death (De 34) was probably written by Joshua or possibly by a later editor.

The importance of this book for Israel

Deuteronomy is Moses’ final speech to Israel before his death, it is his legacy. It is a summary of the historical events and Law given in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and it is the yet clearest revelation of the character, will and heart of God.

Deuteronomy is the document of God’s covenant with the second generation of Israel. It is an absolutely foundational book, the heart of the Law and the anchor on which all Israel’s history will hang. Some say that the rest of the Old Testament, – Israel’s entire history -, can be understood as ‘footnotes to Deuteronomy‘. Deuteronomy is the heart of God, it is the standard by which he judges, it is the explanation why what happens in history, it is the covenant the prophets will seek to remind Israel of.

Structure of Deuteronomy

Moses uses the format of a Hittite Suzerainty Covenant to write Deuteronomy. A Hittite covenant document had the following parts:

1 Preamble / Title De 1:1-5 Covenant Mediator. Identifying the author of the covenant

2 Historical Prologue De 1:6 Covenant History. events leading to the treaty, relationship

3 General Stipulations De 5 – 11 Covenant life. Form of future relationship, tied to previous

history, purpose of vassal’s obligations to the suzerain

Specific Stipulations De 12 – 26 Laws

4 Blessings & Curses De 27-30 Covenant Ratification. Rewards for vassal if keeping the

covenant. Curses on vassal for breaking it.

5 Deposition De 31:9 / 31:24-26 Covenant Continuity. Deposition in vassal’s sanctuary

Public Reading De 31:10-12, 32 Covenant Continuity. Regular public reading to people

6 Divine Witnesses De 30:19 / 31:19 / 32:1-43 deities are called to witness the treaty

Retelling of History so far Chapters 1-4

Moses retells the story of Israel at Sinai, the anti-climactic refusal of the first generation to conquer the promised land, the wilderness years and the recent history of starting the conquest on the East side of the Jordan.

A very clear distinction is drawn between nations that Israel is to root out (the seven nations, De 7:7) and the other nations which Israel is to respect (Edom, Moab, Ammon). This distinction is significant, for it shows that Israel receiving the land of these seven nations is not based on Israel being called, special or favored, but simply on the seven nations having turned irreversibly evil (De 9:4). Just because Israel is God’s people doesn’t mean they can dispossess any nation they want.

When telling of the conquest Moses shares historical background information on various nations, details which me might think irrelevant, but Moses does not. It also shows that just as God is now giving land to Israel by displacing the seven nations, he has also done that for Moab (displacing the Emim, De 2:9-10), for Edom (displacing the Horites, De 2:12), for Ammon (displacing the Rephaim, De 2:20) and for the Caphtorim (displacing the Avvim, De 2:23). This final example (the Caphtorim) is significant because it shows that God doesn’t do this only for Abrahamitic peoples, but for any people. See also Amos 9:7.

Thus the Pentateuch gives us a wider view on God and his relationship with the nations than we might be familiar with: God wants and commands the creations of different nations (Ge 1:28). He prevents central empires (Ge 11:4). He comforts people by making them into nations (Ge 12:2, 17:20, 21:18). He calls Abraham to be a blessing to all nations (Ge 12:3). He knows the history of every nation (Ex 9:18, De 2:9-12,20,23). He holds all nations accountable according to what they knew (Ge 15:16, Lev 18:24-26, De 9:4, Rom 1:20). He wants Israel to be a model nation with a priestly function to other nations (Ex 19:4-6), an attractive witness that should draw others to God (De 4:5-8). He doesn’t choose Israel because of its righteousness (De 9:4), size or greatness (De 7:7) and holds Israel accountable as he does any nation: if Israel persistently does evil as the seven nations, they also will be ‘vomited out’ (Le 18:24-31). Israel is not meant to be an example of God’s special favor, it is meant to be an example of what God is willing to do for any nation.

The New Testament affirms this view of God’s great plan for all nations: God creates nations, gives them existence, times and boundaries (Acts 17:26). Jesus came for all nations (Mt 28:20) and all nations will be before his throne (Rev 7:9). Salvation is for anyone who believes, just as in the Old Testament God’s law would develop any nation that cares to keep it.

Command to take possession of the land

Close to sixty times in Deuteronomy the theme of ‘possessing the land’ is repeated, often as a command. Why is this repetition so needed? Why so much encouragement concerning something which should be an attractive command anyway? One answer is the sad story of the first generation Israel’s failure to do just that (Nu 13-14). It was Israel’s lack of faith, courage and obedience, fed by months of faithless complaining, that caused them to miss their chance. Moses is preparing the second generation, motivating them to rise to the occasion and to do better than their fathers.

Another reason that this command might be so crucial is that Israel has never owned land before. From Abraham’s time and likely also in Egypt they lead a nomadic or semi-nomadic life-style with shifting land use. For a nomadic people to become a land-owning, farming community is not an easy step, because it demands taking ownership and responsibility for the land. In a nomadic life-style the consequences of the nomad’s actions, the way he uses land and leaves land behind does not directly affect him. It thus breeds irresponsibility and short-term thinking. But land ownership is very different, all consequences fall back on the owner. Land ownership thus encourages responsibility, stewardship, long-term thinking and re-investment. God challenges Israel to stop being nomads. Equally God may challenge us to be more responsible and careful with private assets, but also with public assets like a country’s infrastructure and the environment.

The repeated theme of obedience

In Deuteronomy, more like any other book before, Moses motivates the second generation to wholehearted obedience. Fifty times he challenges them to ‘hear’. Almost eighty times he challenges them to ‘obey the law, keep the commandments, follow God’s way, do God’s will’. On top of that come the almost sixty times he talks about possessing the land (see preceding paragraph), which is one form obedience takes for them right now.

Moses motivates Israel for obedience in various ways:

• He shows them that God doesn’t want blind, slavish obedience, but a wholehearted obedience coming from an understanding of the goodness of God and the inherent goodness of God’s law (De 6:4-5, 10:12, 28:47).

• He shows them that God first set his love on them (De 7:7-8) and has been faithful to them every step of the way. To love him back is an appropriate response to this great God (De 4:5-8).

• He shows them that God’s law is his manual to successful living. God knows reality and he tells Israel what action will lead to which consequence, both in the positive and in the negative. The Law is thus full of ‘if…then’ statements, showing Israel the reality, power and consequences of their choices (see especially De 28 and De 30:15-20).

Roughly half of Deuteronomy is about the Law itself, about information, a description of what God wants, of the required outward action, figuratively said ‘the skeleton’. But the other half of Deuteronomy is about motivation to obey the Law, a description of why God wants this, of the inward attitude, figuratively said ‘the muscle’.

Lists of rules are in a sense simple, motivating to keep them is difficult. If Moses would only focus on the former, he would be the first and foremost Pharisee. Moses knows that outward compliance is better than nothing, but it is not what God really seeks. God seeks the true inward agreeing with God’s ways, the loyalty of the heart. But then again: there is no true inward loyalty without obedience. To love God means to obey God, as John picks up so powerfully in the New Testament (1 John). Obedience is what God can bless. Whoever is obedient is necessarily blessed. The blessing of God is thus no nebulous, mystical affair, neither is it arbitrary favor. Neither is blessing independent of the law itself (as a ‘put on reward’), rather the very laws are commands to do what will result in well-being and peace. The blessing is of God, but it is also inherent in the Law.

Whether as an Old Testament or a New Testament believer, the temptation to default to slavish obedience rather than a son’s true allegiance is ever present. Moses motivates us to understand God’s heart and to respond to it as one of God’s own.

Repeated Theme of the Law

One of the most repeated themes in Deuteronomy (about one hundred and fifty times) is ‘the law, laws, commandments, statutes, ordinances’. Usually it comes in combination with the before mentioned repeated theme of obedience (see preceding paragraph).

It is important to understand that Old Testament Law is in no way in opposition the New Testament teaching. The New Testament maintains rightly that salvation, acceptability in God’s eyes cannot be achieved by keeping the law (Gal 2:16).

This is consistent with the Old Testament witness. It is imperative to realize that God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt, his choosing of Israel as his own people and his offer of a covenant all happen before the Law is ever given (Ex 19:4-6). The obedience to the law, the devotion to God, the commitment to justice in Israel’s social affairs is all a mark of a covenant already made. It is meant to be the thankful obedience in response to the goodness of God and his commandments. Obedience to the law was never meant to be a proud meriting of favor or a proving of one’s righteousness. God knew they would fall short. Tabernacle, priesthood, sacrifices and feasts were ways to stay in connection with this Holy God after all.

The Law doesn’t save, but the Law is an expression of the character of God and the will of God. A righteous God wants just judgment on earth. The Law expresses God’s truths, his principles. The Law safeguards what God has declared valuable (life, humans, marriage, family, possessions, labor, etc). The Law is God’s manual on how to build a nation, not to perfection but towards more justice, well-being and freedom rather than less of it.

When reading the Law we need to look for principle, rather than for minute details, possible loopholes or later added interpretations. For example if God commands that a man must give his wife a certificate of divorce (De 24:1), this is not God condoning divorce, but rather an attempt to limit the damage done by a divorce, for it allowed the woman to remarry. Or if God commands honest measurements of weight and volume (De 25:15-16), do not think cheating in length or quality acceptable. The principle is: justice in trade, importance of faithfulness to the spoken word, commitment to quality, protection of the rights of a neighbor. Or if God says that we have to leave the after-harvest of the field to the poor (De 24:19-22), do not conclude that those who aren’t farmers have no obligation to the poor.

Principles for nation building

In the Pentateuch God gives detailed laws; moral, civil, social and religious laws (Ex 20-23, Leviticus, Nu 1-10, 15, 17-19, 26-36, Deuteronomy). He addresses all domains of society and gives life-giving principles, which is a fascinating study. Here follows an attempt at a short summary, drawn together from all the above mentioned passages (for details please see ‘Domain Bible Study’ on the same website):

Government Authority to appoint government is with the population. Power needs to be pushed down to the lowest level possible. Government’s prime responsibility is justice and lawfulness. Government is accountable to the law. Impartiality and no bribes in the judiciary. Executive and judiciary have to be separated. Sanctity of life has to be maintained by punishing murder and negligent man slaughter. Accidental manslaughter is not worthy of capital punishment. Escalation of violence has to be prevented. Only government can mete out punishments. Government leadership should not run in families. Monarchy is not God’s will.

Economy Ensure protection of private property and ownership as basis of economic development. Value of land, ownership, stewardship, re-investment, development, innovation, self-initiative, effort and skill. Value of human labor, the laborer, time and production capacity. Importance of quality of life by excellent products, availability, affordability. Ensure justice in trade, availability of business loans, safety nets. Debt must be limited in time and amount. Systems to give the poor the chance to provide for themselves must be created. Thankfulness and dependence on God in prosperity. Need for protecting others’ property, restitution, savings and economic growth in the family. No surety for others. No bribes.

Science God’s creation, design and affirmation of the physical world. Creation is lawful as its Maker, natural laws can be expected and found. Population growth drives the need for science, creating a good environment for higher density living. Agriculture is valuable. Bodily needs of humans and animals are legitimate and need to be accommodated by good water supply, nutrition, proper sanitation and hygiene to minimize disease. Observation, monitoring, recording, charting, accounting and administration are godly activities. Efficiency, affordability and accountability of products and services.

Family Sanctity of human life, relationship, marriage and family. Family’s governing order is love and nurture. Safety, belonging, anchoring, example, guidance, encouragement, support and freedom for the new generation coming up. Careful teaching and discipleship of children. Sexual relations only in the protective frame of marriage. Monogamy is God’s highest. Honoring of parents as origin and guardians. Release of children into adult self-responsibility Authority of marriage is with partners choosing each other. New family has priority over former or extended family.

Education God is the source of reality, knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Importance of open mind, willing heart, curiosity, safe environment and encouragement by parents. Real life of the family as prime teaching ground. Multi-generational, hands-on learning.

Communication Importance and power of the spoken word, promises, oaths, contracts, witness. Commitment to truth and reality. Danger of deception, slander and cursing. Sovereignty of human mind: freedom of choice of recipient to empower or not empower an incoming message.

Arts Need for and affirmation of beauty, peace, rest, relaxation and recuperation. Value of work and of rest. Affirmation of all kinds of beauty: aesthetics, movement, touch, sound, taste, expression.

Religion Revelation of God’s holiness and mercy, justice and grace. God as Example, High Priest, Sacrifice, Intercessor, Servant and Lord. Sovereign appointment of workers by God, proven in service to people. Income limited to income of those served. No political power, but influence as voice of conscience and discipler of potential leaders.

Repeated theme of pass down to the next generation

Moses stresses Israel’s need to be proactive and intentional about teaching their children and the upcoming generation to ensure a solid pass-down of the understanding of God’s character, his Law and his history with Israel. The future of the country will hinge on this: ‘You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them‘ (De 11:18-21).

Repeated command to destroy all idols

The Canaanite idolatry was of the worst kind, with ritual prostitution and even child sacrifice. Canaanite idolatry, as well as the resulting evil and injustice in society, was the reason for God judging the seven nations (Lev 18:24-25, De 9:4). When Israel will conquer the land, they will find pillars and poles in every grove, idolatrous temples in every city, shrines on every hill, altars in every village, statues in every house. God tells them to categorically destroy everything: ‘the images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself because you could be ensnared by it, for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction (De 7:24-25). God is a jealous God, and he alone is worthy of human adoration. Idolatry is a blatant dishonoring of God, but also embracing a false reality: these things can’t save. Idolatry is disastrous for we become like the gods we worship (2 Ki 7:14-15, Jer 2:4, Ps 115:3-8). To worship a blood-thirsty fertility god will have dire consequences on how families, human rights and the value of life will be seen in a society.

Repeated theme of addressing the mind

In Deuteronomy Moses challenges his hearers and readers to remember (14x), to take heed (10x), to not forget (9x) and to be diligent (10x). It is this that the first generation of Israel failed at. They saw many of God’s most powerful miracles, like the ten plagues in Egypt, the Red Sea parting or God’s visible presence at Sinai, but as soon as any form of hardship struck, by their faithless words and constant complaints undermined their own courage. Rather than building their faith by paying attention to the daily miracles of provision, they embraced self-pity and nonsensical conclusions. So much so that when the challenge of the conquest came, they fell apart. Moses teaches the second generation to take care of their minds, to actively hold on to truth, to recall real events and to draw right conclusions, building up their own faith and courage. He also calls them to continue that once the promises had fulfilled and they were the experiencing abundance in the promised land: ‘When you have eaten your fill … then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt‘ (De 8:13-14). In an age of ever-present entertainment and constant distraction, to govern our minds well by thankfulness, worship, solitude and remembrance is a continual challenge.

The ceremony Israel is commanded to keep at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim is an example of an enactment that is meant to help remembrance: Half of Israel stands on one mountain and the other half on the other, with the Levites standing in the middle speaking out the curses of De 27, and Israel yelling ‘Amen’ down the mountain.

Finishing well

Moses ends his speech by making a final appeal to the second generation of Israel to come into covenant with God: ‘See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the LORD you God … by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways and observing his commandments, … then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you … But if your heart turns away and you … are led astray to bow down to others gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land … choose life’ (De 30:15-19).

Moses then hands over his leadership role to Joshua, in the presence of all Israel to ensure clear communication and the best possible start for the new leader (De 31:1-8). He also hands the entire written Law (the Pentateuch) to the priests and the elders for careful preservation and seven yearly public reading (De 31:9-13, 24-29).

Moses sings a final song, a national opera. It is a prophetic rendering of Israel’s history, that is meant to be an easily memorized and a tool to remember: Israel will sin, but there is always hope as long as they repent (De 32). He blesses the twelve tribes (De 33) and walks up a mountain (one more time) to meet God permanently. Moses dies, out of full strength (De 34:7), at the Lord’s command and God himself sees to his burial (De 34:6).

Color Coding Suggestions

• who, where, when
• conditional statements, contrasts, connectives
• commands
• emotion, atmosphere

Repeated Themes

• law, rules, commandments, statutes, ordinances, God’s will
• take possession, inheritance, land, divide, allotment
• destroy idols, pillars, groves, shrines
• obey, follow law, walk in his ways, love God <=> disobey break law, pervert ways, idolatry, bow to idols
• blessing <=> curses
• life <=> death
• fertility, health, well being, peace, wealth, <=> fruitlessness, disease, bad state, un-peace, lack & poverty

Historical Background of Deuteronomy

• The Jews call Deuteronomy… “These are the words.” (title according to the first words of the text) or abbreviated simply: “words.”. Deutero means second, again, another copy … onomy means law, covenant

Who wrote?

• Moses, overwhelming consensus in Jewish and Christian tradition

Evidence from the Pentateuch itself

• Exo 17:14    “Then the LORD said to Moses, Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
• Exo 24:4       “And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD.”
• Exo 34:27     “The LORD said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
• Num 33:2     “Moses wrote down their starting points, stage by stage, by command of the LORD…”
• Deu 31:9*     “Then Moses wrote down this law, and gave it to the priests…and to all the elders of Israel.”
• Deu 31:24*   “When Moses had finished writing down in a book the words of this law to the very end…”

Evidence from the Old Testament

• 1 Kin 2:3, 2 Kin 14:6, Dan 9:11-13 Referring to the Pentateuch as the “Law of Moses”
• Eze 6:18, Neh 13:1 Referring to the Pentateuch as the “Books of Moses”
• Mal 4:4           Referring to the Pentateuch as the “Teaching of Moses”

Evidence from the New Testament

• 1 Cor 9:9        Referring to the Pentateuch as the “Law of Moses”
• Mrk 12:26      Referring to the Pentateuch as the “Book of Moses”
• Luk 16:29-31, Act 26;22, 2 Cor 3:15 Referring to the Pentateuch by the metonymy “Moses”
• Jhn 1:17, Jhn 7:19    says “Moses gave the law”
• Mth 8:4, 22:24, Mrk 1:44, Rom 10:19   says “Moses spoke the words of the Lord”

Written to whom?

• 2nd generation Israel, right before conquest, very much to the people, not to priests or Levites in particular
• clearly also future Israel (remembrance, teach children theme)

When written?

• 1406-1405 BC, final year of the wilderness, 40y after Exodus, just before Moses dies, with which Deuteronomy ends (Deu 34)

Written where from?

• Plains of Moab … near the Jordan and Baal-Peor, opposite Jericho, to their East the slopes of Pisgah … Deu 1:1, 29:1, 34:1

Main Characters

Moses

• Deu 18:15, 34:10   prophet
• Deu 34:10               known by God
• Deu 32:3-4              has understanding of God’s character
• Deu 34:9                 spirit of wisdom
• Deu 34:7                 healthy till the end
• Deu 34:7                 servant of the Lord
• Deu 18:15               foreshadowing Jesus … discipling, encouraging Joshua even though he himself is disqualified, humility
• Deu 33                    blessing Israel
• Deu 3:23-26           humility, mentioning God not heeding him
• Deu 3:26, 4:21       blaming Israel for his disobedience, unrepentant?

Joshua

• Deu 31:14-15        commissioned
• Deu 34:9                spirit of wisdom, trusted and obeyed by people
• Num 14:6-10         godly attitude, view, courage, faith
• Exo 33:11              seeker
• Exo 17:9-13           already considered trustworthy, capable, courageous 41 years ago

Eleazar

• third son of Aaron, new high priest

Spiritual Life of Israel

• Just past Baal Peor, atoned for by Phinehas’ zeal (Num 25:11) and their own repentance (Num 25:6).
• Already the second generation have shown obedience and courage (conquest of Amorites, war against Midian) and commitment (Transjordan tribes)

Surrounding Nations              (as for Numbers)

• Edom of Esau: Gen 36:1,9,19 Deu 2:5 > forbidden to conquer, has to be respected > walk around it. Deu 23:7 “do not abhor”
• Midian of Abraham: Gen 25:2 Nu 25:17-18, 31 > not attacked by Israel (not in the way?), teams up with Moab. Is wiped out after Baal Peor by Israel, males killed, looted, enslaved but Israel doesn’t take their land.
• Moab of Lot: Gen 19:36-37, Deu 2:9 God forbids to conquer Moab, has to be respected > walk around, teams up with Midian  to bring in Balaam, has a minor role in Baal Peor?, is not attacked by Israel when Midian is. Deu 23:3-6 Moabite cannot enter assembly because of unkind behavior, Balaam.
• Ammon of Lot: Gen 19:36-37 Deu 2:19, 2:37 > forbidden to conquer, has to be respected. Deu 23:3-6 Ammonite cannot enter assembly because of their unkind behavior. Israel doesn’t attack Ammon, skirts it.
• Canaan of Ham: Gen 9:18 king of Arad utterly destroyed by Israel.
• Amorites Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan > utterly destroyed, land taken for settling

Death list people peoples in the land ch 7

• Hittites ruled Asia Minor (Turkey), original capital , numerous, powerful (probably most powerful people at the time beside Egypt) moved into area 2300 BC, conquered Babylon 1600 BC, first to have iron weapons, offered suzerainty covenants to conquered peoples, worshiped a thousand gods (male storm god, female sun goddess), 1100 BC mainland Greeks conquer their North empire.
• Girgashites interrelated with Caananites, many gods, among them god of light
• Perizzites area that later is allotted to Judah
• Hivites hill land just north of Jerusalem
• Jebusites inhabitants of Jerusalem
• Canaanites West of Jordan, worshiped fertility gods Baal or El, under Egyptian control?, Astarte, Molech
• Amorites (Rephaim) giants, related to Anak, Rephilim (east side of Jordan) … Og, Sihon considered last Rephilim

Importance / Significance of the Book for Israel

• God’s covenant proposal to the 2nd generation, awaiting their answer (what Sinai was to the 1st generation is Plains of Moab to the 2nd generation
• Moses farewell speech: Summary of Exo, Lev, Num and reminder of Israel’s history, constitution. Law, spiritual foundation
• Most clear revelation yet of God’s character, will, desire
• Deuteronomy is like the anchor on which Israel’s later history hangs, history is like footnotes to Deu 28, standard by which God judges … the covenant that prophets will seeks to remind of

Literary Kind

• Mostly prose > literal interpretation
• Deu 32 Moses’ song and Deu 33 Moses’ blessing for Israel > poetry > figurative interpretation

Composition

• Repetition or Repeated themes woven
• if then … flowchart Deu 28

Structure

• Covenant Document (Hittite style), common only in the 14th and 13th century BC. Other Hittite covenants were found engraved on Steles, which also confirms the earlier date for the Exodus confirmed.

Main Ideas

• Moses’ farewell speech, a reminder, teaching or challenge to 2nd generation Israel before his death
• Covenant document between God and 2nd generation Israel
• Israel’s last 40 y history, constitution, law, basis
• Challenge to rise up in faith and obedience to conquer the promised land, to remain faithful to God in it
• Clearest yet revelation of God’s character, will, ways, desire

Main Reasons

• To encourage the 2nd generation to enter and obey covenant with God
• challenge to rise up in faith & obedience to conquer the promised land > to remain faithful to God in the promised land
• to lay down, affirm, re-teach the foundations (history, calling, God’s character, his law, constitution, ways)

STRUCTURE – COVENANT DOCUMENT

Context

• When reading Deuteronomy, it is hard to see a clear structure or progression. Leviticus was topical, Numbers was geographical / chronological, but what is Deuteronomy? It is a bit of a motivational speech with many flash backs.
• For many years scholars puzzled over the apparent lack of structure. This was till certain Hittite Steles were found and translated, which have the same basic structure:
• In Deuteronomy Moses follows a known format of that time: A Hittite Suzerainty Covenant Document Format
• Covenants, treaties between a suzerain (superior) and a vassal (inferior), spelling out the duties and rights of each side.
• Remember: Parity covenant, Suzerainty covenant, promissory Covenant

God using the Covenant format / Special in Deuteronomy

• Deuteronomy’s covenants is a bond between God and men, between the Lord and his chosen people
• It is a covenant of grace, the initiative lies with God alone, God’s free elective grace … The Lord has chosen them Deu 4:37, 7:6, 10:15, 14:2 … not because of Israel’s righteousness Deu 9:4 or impressiveness
• Covenant is initiated in God’s love Deu 10:15 … and demands Israel’s response in obedient love … the central commands of 10 commandments (=love for God and love for men) and the Shema Deu 6:4-5 (= love God with all your heart)
• Though the blessings of obedience to the covenant are also earthly / temporal (long life, security, stability, well-being, health, …) they are meant to be in connection with joy in God “rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God”

Structure

• 1 Preamble / Title                    Deu 1:1-5   Covenant Mediator. Identifying the author of the covenant
• 2 Historical Prologue               Deu 1:6    Covenant History. events leading to and forming the basis of the treaty, previous relationships between parties, gratefulness of vassal
• 3 General Stipulations             Deu 5 – 11 Covenant life. Statement concerning the future relationship, tied to previous history, summarizes purpose of specific stipulations and obligations of vassal to the suzerain
  • Specific Stipulations      Deu 12 – 26
• 4 Blessings & Curses               Deu 27-30   Covenant Ratification. Rewards for vassal if keeping the covenant, curses on vassal for breaking it
• 5 Deposition                              Deu 31:9, 31:24-26    Covenant Continuity.
  • Deposition of a copy in the vassal’s sanctuary
  • Periodic public Reading Deu 31:10-12, 32      > Covenant Continuity
• 6 Divine Witnesses                   Deu 30:19, 31:19, 32:1-43   deities are called to witness the treaty

It seems Moses gave this farewell speech “Deuteronomy” in 3 sermons or addresses

• First         Deu 1:1-4:49           Covenant history
• Second    Deu 5:1-28:68        General stipulations
• Third        Deu 29:1-30:20      Final Appeal, Deposition, Public Reading, Witnesses

HISTORICAL PROLOGUE

Deuteronomy Chapter 1-3         Past history reviewed

• Deu 1:6-8        stayed long enough at this mountain > hill country of the Amorites, Arabah, hill country, Shephela, Negeb, seacoast, Lebanon, as far as Euphrates … take possession … first generation
• Deu 1:9-18     appointment of leaders and judges Exo 18
• Deu 1:19-46   refusal to enter > punishment of 40 years wilderness Num 11-16
• Deu 2:1-8        Edom Num 20:14-21
• Deu 2:8-13      Moab Num 21:10-15
• Deu 2:13-16    last people dying off > right then conquest commanded
• Deu 2:17-25    Conquest of Amorites, Sihon of Heshbon commanded Num 21:21-32
• Deu 2:26-36    Conquest … all (women, children) killed, …livestock taken Num 21:33-35
• Deu 2:36          Ammon
• Deu 3:1-11      Conquest of Amorites, Og, king of Bashan Num 32
• Deu 3:12-17    conquered land given to Reuben, Gad and East Manasseh to settle
• Deu 3:18-22    Moses views Canaan, requests to cross over … But the Lord was angry with me on your account … enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again!
• Why does God not forgive? Why does Moses keep pleading?
  • Maybe the moment God does not anymore maintain his strength as up to now (Deu 34:7), Moses will feel tired, and happy to not go?
  • Maybe God communicates through this the fear of God to Joshua and all Israel?
  • Maybe because Moses keeps saying “because of you”, blaming, not taking responsibility, therefore not repenting, therefore no forgiveness? (Deu 1:37, 3:26, 4:21) … But then again he has a direct rs with God like few ever had > conviction
• Careful with little issues. Careful with blame patterns. Careful to respond to God’s conviction and Spirit.

History of other Nations & Displacement

• A very detailed report on the surrounding nations, on Israel’s relationship with them, on what they did and didn’t do / those nations’ short history
  • Ar now:            Deu 2:9         God has given it to Moab
  • formerly:          Deu 2:10      Emim (Moabite name), a large and numerous people (tall as Anakim, reckoned as Rephaim together with Anakim
  • Seir now:         Deu 2:12,22  God has given it to Edom
  • formerly:          Deu 2:12       Horim, dispossessed and destroyed
  • Amman now:  Deu 2:19       God has given it to Ammon
  • formerly:          Deu 2:20       Rephaim (usual name) = Zamzummin (Ammonite name), strong and numerous, destroyed, dispossessed
  • Gaza now:       Deu 2:23       Caphtorim
  • formerly:          Deu 2:23       Avvim, destroyed
• God seems to be moving around, destroying, dispossessing, resettling regularly
• God does this not just for Israel, he does it for related peoples as well (cousin Edom, far cousin Moab and Ammon)
• God does this also for completely Abraham-unrelated people, here the Caphtorim, who are not even Semites, but come from Ham (?)
• God seems to think other nations’ history important enough to be mentioned here, not just Israels, though that one at length
• Modern Christians often have a reductionist thinking: if it’s not the Gospel, it has no value. God here through Moses includes historical information that we would have considered completely redundant.
  • > Be big minded! Be interested in everything!
  • > Maybe God calls you to write the history of your people

Theme: God and nations – or: is Jihad justified?

Related Scriptures to consider:

• Gen 1:28     multiply & fill the earth > move out, diversify, populate, settle, possess God’s command to move out & diversify > God wants the creation of different nations
• Gen 11:4      tower of Babel, “otherwise we will be scattered” > God ensures the scattering and diversification of nations by language confusion
• God intervenes when his command is disobeyed > nations spreading out Genesis everybody gets to be a nation … as reward or  comfort > God wants nations, celebrates nations
• Gen 12:3     call of Abraham. Blessed to be a blessing to all the families or nations of the earth > God chooses and works with Israel but the goal is to bless all nations
• Exo 9:18     “heaviest hail that has ever fallen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now” > God knows the history of nations
• Act 17:26, Deu 32:8 God allotting existence, time, land, boundaries to peoples … giving rights, taking them back > God giving nations land and existence, but he can also take it back again
• Amo 9:7, Deu 2:9-23 God calling and bringing up Israel from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, the Arameans from Kir > Examples of God moving nations and giving them land
  
• Deu 9:4       “do not say to yourself “It’s because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to occupy this land”, it is rather because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you” > No reason for pride in chosenness. The displacing is for their sin, not because God needs land.
• Gen 15:16    “The measure of sin of the Amorites is not yet full.” > God holds nations accountable, has a relationship with nations
• Lev 18:24-31   the land vomiting out inhabitants who have committed to great abominations and injustice > God will judge nations and terminate their existence if committed too much injustice
• Jos 9         covenant with Gibeonites by trickery. God will still hold Israel accountable to this covenant centuries later (2 Sam 21:1-14) > God holds nations accountable to their covenants with each other
• Mth 28:20    great commission > God wants the gospel preached everywhere and all nations discipled
• Rev 7:9       all nations, tribes, languages worshiping before the throne of the Lamb > final picture of all nations before God in heaven

Repeated Theme: Model Israel … or: Reasons for chosenness

• Deu 7:7     “not because of your size”
• Deu 9:4     “not because of your righteousness”
• Deu 8:5     “as a parent disciplines a child > God disciplines you”
• Deu 4:5-8  “obedience to law > show your wisdom and discernment to nations > what other nation has a God so near, whenever they call? What other nation has laws this just?”
• Calling to be a light, a model, an attractive example to the surrounding nations > call to bless > call to national priesthood representing God to other nations (original calling in Exo 19:4-6)
• Keeping these will exalt Israel, will exalt any nation … it’s not what God is willing to do for Israel, it is what God is willing to do for any nation
• Jews for a good part of history flunked their calling. The chosenness then turns into a deception, a pride, keeping them from truth
• Church today … same challenge: to not receive blessing without giving it … around chosenness and calling: Humility!
• We are called to bless, to give, to care … to be others-centered

Theme: Change of Leadership Moses > Joshua

• Gradual Handover of leadership from Moses to Joshua is described in Deu 3:28, 31:3, 31:7-8, 31:14-23, 34:9
• Important point: who does the leadership NOT go to?
• Not to Moses’ sons, not to Moses’ relatives, is doesn’t even stay in Moses’ tribe. Moses is of Levi, Joshua is of Ephraim (Num 13:8, 13:16)
• Political leadership does not run in families … but here by God’s indication … and by the will of the people (Deu 1:9-15)
• How is Joshua chosen? By God? By himself? … co-working of God’s calling and man’s will

Character Study on Joshua

• Exo 17:8-16     commander of Israel’s troops against Amalek
• Exo 24:13        Moses’ helper, goes up on mountain with Moses, waits outside cloud … 40 days
• Exo 32:13        Joshua waits and is rejoined by Moses > is not present during golden calf
• Exo 33:11        young man, does not depart from the tent of meeting
• Num 11:28      jealous for Moses’ sake about 2 elder who got the Spirit but didn’t come when Moses’ called
• Num 13:16      he is the spy chosen for Ephraim … Hoshea (deliverer) to Joshua (Jehovah is salvation/deliverer
• Num 14 ff       Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit, warned people, do not get killed like other spies, survive the 40 y
• Num 27:18-22 take Joshua, a man in whom is the spirit > stand before Eleazar who shall inquire for him > leader of the whole Israel > announced before all
• Num 32:28      Reuben, Gad and Manasseh accountable to Eleazar and Joshua to send troops for conquest
• Num 34:17      Eleazar and Joshua will divide the land
• Deu 1:38          Moses can’t go, but encourage Joshua, your assistant, he will take Israel into Canaan
• Deu 3:21          Moses charges Joshua to remember victory over Sihon and Og > God will do same to all kingdoms they attack
• Deu 3:28          charge Joshua, encourage & strengthen him > he will cross over at head of Israel, shall secure possession
• Deu 31:7          handover of power in the sight of all Israel
• Deu 31:14       Moses will die, call Joshua, present yourselves at tent. God will commission Joshua > God appears in cloud
• Deu 31:23       God commissions Joshua: be strong & bold, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land, I will be with you
• Deu 34:9         Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him, and Israel obeyed him

Conclusion

• God chooses Joshua, but it seems to be almost a natural conclusion of who he is, has become and has been all along
• Joshua is self-initiative, self-motivated, hardworking, self-chosen … he desires the presence of God, he does not fear and stay away when all stay away, he loves Moses, he loves God, he seeks his presence, he is worried for integrity and rightness of things, he is an able leaders, he inspires the obedience of the troops
• We stress God’s calling … but our response to God may also determine calling … or at least not abort calling.
• Many are called, few are chosen … maybe our response determines the difference
• God does not close doors on willing people … the lack of will or desire is not on God’s side.
• “All get what they really wanted, not all will like it when they get it” C.S. Lewis
• Application … this is a great example of a leadership handover: humility and generosity on Moses side, patience & loyalty on Joshua’s side
• This should be the norm: old leader discipling, investing in, building up and increasingly releasing new leader … new leader humbly serving, increasingly taking ownership, not usurping, loving the former leader, being loyal, appreciative, learning
• We don’t do good handovers … we don’t do overlaps … we only resign a job when we have enough free days to cover till the release … we don’t want to stay once we said we leave … we drop work ethics once we know we’re leaving
• Moses is truly motivated for Israel, the 2nd generation’s faith, success, making it … he will keep working for that goal motivatedly even if he can’t be the one bringing them in … This shows that Moses is motivated properly. We so often: if I can’t lead, I won’t invest, care of work.
• God wants gradual, peaceful leadership handover, old leader discipling and championing the new leaders.
• Moses attitude: disqualified himself but trying to ensure the success of the new leader.
• Moses is motivated by the vision itself (Israel getting the land), not by his role in it.

Repeated Theme: Take possession of the land!                … one form obedience takes

• 59x “take possession” in Deuteronomy … often as command, often as future law or instruction (“when you possess the land”)
• 187x “land” in Deuteronomy
• Clearly a major major theme … why so often? Why so repeated?
• Do not forget the failure of the 1st generation … God works very hard to prepare, build up, encourage and instruct the 2nd generation!
• Motivation is hard work, even for God, even for a task as ‘attractive’ as this one …
• Application? How do I keep up motivation? What to do with unmotivated people?
• Here also the importance of the land, of boundaries, of ownership … why so stressed?
• Earlier:  less population     nomadic   shifting land use      no consequences     felt irresponsibility for land
• Later:    more population   settled       same land                 consequences felt   learn to be responsible
• Example: Kyoto protocol, jhum chash, gypsies, some indigenous in Malaysia, Bangladesh roads
• Transition from nomadic to settled lifestyle > completely different mindset. Forces long-term thinking, true ownership, careful stewardship … it is not easy, not even for God to bring about this shift in thinking!
• Do I have a stewardship mindset? An ownership mindset? A developer’s mindset? A long-term mindset?
• To get something valuable is one thing. To use it right is another. To maintain it well is another.

Repeated Theme: Obedience

• Word count: 10x “obey”, 23x “observe”, 6x “follow”, 39x “keep”… 78x total. If you add “do” and other words, it goes up to about 177x
• Word count: 50x they are told to “hear”
• Again a major, major theme.
• What does God want? > obedience out of love, wholeheartedly, knowing and understanding God’s goodness. Not blind, pouting, slavish obedience:
  • Deu 6:4-5      Shema … “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.”
  • Deu 10:12      “So now, o Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve him with all your heart and all your soul, to keep his commandments.”
  • Deu 11:1        “You shall love the Lord your God, therefore, and keep his charge, his decrees.”
  • Deu 11:13      “If you will only heed this every commandment … loving the Lord your God, serving him with all your heart and with all your soul”
  • Deu 11:22     “If you will diligently observe this entire commandment, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, holding fast to him … then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you … you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves”
  • Deu 13:3        “the Lord you God is testing you to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul”
  • Deu 28:47     “Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything”
  • Deu 30:6       “the Lord will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, in order that you may live”
  • Deu 30:16     “if you obey the commandment, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, observing his commandments > you shall live and become numerous … God will bless you”
  • Deu 30:20     “choose life … loving the Lord your God, obeying him, holding fast to him”
• obedience because God loved us first
  • Deu 7:7         “not because you were more numerous than any people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you – for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out … Know therefore that the Lord is God, the faithful God, who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his command to 1000 generations.”
• obedience > blessing > lasting long in the land
  • Deu 4:40       “keep his statutes for your own well-being and that of your descendants > so that you may long remain in land.”
  • Deu 7:12-13  “if you obey … the Lord will maintain with you the covenant loyalty … he will love you, bless you, multiply you … you shall be the most blessed of peoples”
• Moses motivates Israel for obedience in various ways:
  • He shows them that God doesn’t want blind, slavish obedience, but a wholehearted obedience coming from an understanding of the goodness of God and the inherent goodness of God’s law (Deu 6:4-5, 10:12, 28:47).
  • He shows them that God first set his love on them (Deu 7:7-8) and has been faithful to them every step of the way. To love him back is an appropriate response to this great God (Deu 4:5-8).
  • He shows them that God’s law is his manual to successful living. God knows reality and he tells Israel what action will lead to which consequence, both in the positive and in the negative. The Law is thus full of ‘if…then’ statements, showing Israel the reality, power and consequences of their choices (see especially Deu 28 and Deu 30:15-20).
• Law and motivation
  • Deu is about half … information – what does God want?      easy   skeleton      outward list of rules, law
  • Deu is about half … motivation – why does God want this?  hard   muscle, heart     God-child relationship
  • Lists of rules are simple, motivating to keep them is difficult.
  • If Moses did only Law, he would be the first Pharisee. But Moses knows that outward compliance, though better than disobedience, if not what God seeks.
• God seeks the true inward agreeing with God’s ways, the loyalty of the heart. But then again: there is no true inward loyalty without obedience.
• To love God means to obey God, as John picks up so powerfully in the New Testament (1 John): love = fear = obey = know
• Obedience is what God can bless. Whoever is obedient is necessarily blessed. The blessing of God is thus no nebulous, mystical affair, neither is it arbitrary favor. Neither is blessing independent of the
• law itself (as a ‘put on reward’), rather the very laws are commands to do what will result in well-being and peace. The blessing is of God, but it is also inherent in the Law.
• God / Moses does not just state law and leave it at that, he motivates for obedience.
• Deuteronomy is in this regard different from other law codes of the time (law code of Hammurabi)
• How does he motivate? By his character, by showing the heart behind it, by showing the consequences, by chosenness
• Application: Parenting, Team leadership, my personal devotional life, Youth group

Repeated Theme: Law, Commandment, Ordinance, Statute, Judgment

• Word count: 25x “law”, 96x “commandment”, 29x “statutes”, 32x “judgments” …  182x total
• Repetition: Why did God give the law? What is the law? What is the purpose of the law?
• Gal 3:19         custodian, disciplinarian until Christ comes
• Gal 2:16         law can’t save, can’t produce righteousness
• Mth 5:17-18  Jesus fulfills the law, not a dot of the law will be changed … since God’s character never changes Heb 13:6
• Act 15            new converts don’t have to obey Jewish law
• Actually: We have much misunderstood Israel’s story if we think that their story is “becoming acceptable by keeping law”
• Israel was delivered from Egypt and brought into covenant relationship with God before most law … God’s unilateral action / initiative of grace to them (Exo 1-18) … they didn’t particularly have faith, not much patience and endurance …
• The law in not the prior condition to the covenant in Exodus, really, even though Exo 19:4-6 indeed has a “if then” statement
• having been delivered, saved, brought into relationship, into covenant with God I now need to learn to live according to this God! … this is not so different from New Testament!
• various Pharisees believe in righteousness by law … produces self-righteousness, comparison, pretension, judgmental attitude … if the most serious law keepers missed the Messiah, does this mean the law deceives?
• Basic points:
  • Law = revelation of the will of God what he wants and what he doesn’t want
  • Law = revelation of the character of God it’s because God is just that he demands just dealings between humans … God’s character is the law
  • Law tells us what we should and should not be doing
  • Because we are sinning … the law judges us, catches us, condemns us, for the law says what we should do but don’t do
  • Law = standard, holiness, bar to jump over …
  • Law proves to me, that I do not measure up, my utter failing … the law convinces me, that I’m in trouble, that I need help
  • Law pushes me towards a Savior … “you are in trouble”, “you need help” … it pushes me to accept any straw, any salvation
• Illustrations to show what the Law is and isn’t:
  • Illustration: swimming in the sea, a boat coming at emergency speed, throwing a rescue tyre at me … if I know I’m downing, I will grab it, I will not say: “Why are you disturbing me’, or “oh, I really wanted a red ring”
  • The Law tells me I need salvation, it pushes me towards Jesus … but the law itself has no power to save me.
  • Illustration: door law urges me to go in, but only Jesus is the door to enter
  • Illustration: light law shows my dirtyness, but has no power to clean me up
  • Illustration: diagnosis law shows me where I am sick, but cannot treat me
  • llustration: signpost signpost helps me to know where to go, but has no power to get me there.
  • Illustration: high jump law tells me how high to jump, but has no power to lift me one inch
• Only through Jesus is there salvation, there is no other way, no other door, no working myself up to holiness
• By faith I get into Jesus and then he jumps the high jump
• Then: having being saved, being God’s child – by faith -, being in his kingdom … how does this king wants me to live?
• I still cannot live that life, but with Jesus in my heart and the Holy Spirit at work in me, they fulfill the law in me
• The New Testament does not lower the bar, grace is not in saying: “oh, sin wasn’t that big of a deal, so let’s just forget it” …
• The law comes right out of the character of God, the Law is good, just and eternal (Romans), just as the character of God will never change, the law of God also will not change … how could it?
• So no: the bar doesn’t come down, but Jesus now jumps for me. The life in the Spirit is not the ‘screwed down version’ from the Old Testament, it is the true fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus came to fulfill the law … and fulfill it in me … empower me to actually do it.
  • If I ask: How do I get saved? … the law has no answer
  • If I ask: Who is my God? What does my king like? How then shall I live? … then the law has answers
  • Do not ask of the Law what the Law can’t give. The Law cannot save, never has, never will, never was meant to.
• We must think clearly on this point: what the Law was meant to do and what is was never meant to do. If I confuse this, I will be a Pharisee or a Libertine.
• The law is a revelation of God, a revelation of his character, a revelation of his will, a revelation of his ways
• The law is more a constitution than detailed legal text. The law is not complete in the sense of covering every eventuality and case. It covers enough to show the principle. Do not use the law of the letter and offend the Spirit of the law.
  • Again: if it says to use an honest ephah and hin, that does not mean we can cheat because we use meter and liters
  • Again: if it says to not put a stumbling block before the blind, it does not mean we are allowed to trip a disabled person
  • Again: if it says to leave the after-harvest of your olive tree and vine to the poor, this doesn’t mean that if you farm other crops, you don’t need to care for the poor
• The law conveys principles, a spirit, an attitude … more than a complete set of rules guiding all of human behavior.
• Actually, humans like to make rules, especially to make rules for others of things they naturally keep … to make sure everybody else does as well
• This is how the interpretations of the law in the Talmud, and later in the Mishna came about > Pharisees.
• Jesus always goes against these additions and interpretations … he says that they are human addendums which often undo the actual intent of the law of God.
• Mth 23:23      “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mind, dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.”
• Mat 5:17-18   “Jesus has come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it … until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished”
• What the law is and isn’t … not salvation / not a way to impress God / not a way to earn heaven … but God’s heart and will for human society / principles to live by in justice and harmony and health and well-being

Meditation on God’s character as revealed in the 10 commandments

• 1 Israel, your God is the one God, Maker of heaven and earth, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, the just one, the gracious one, he is worthy and deserving of all worship and all obedience. He is worthy of your life, he alone … you shall have no other Gods before him.
• 2 He is true, he is truth, his truth matches with reality, he is who he is an any other loyalty must be lying and will fail you. Nobody else is really good. Nothing else is good enough, powerful enough, able to carry your life. He is jealous for truth, he is jealous for you … you shall not make yourself an idol.
• 3 He is holy, he is good, his being is the foundation of the universe, his character and name is the foundation of all moral law, his character is the only possible set of values that is not self-contradictory, and the only set that produces life. He is true to his word, true to his name in all things … you shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God.
• 4 He is the God of glory, the God of dignifying work, of work worth doing, or work giving us significance and satisfaction. He is also the God of rest, the God of celebration, of right priorities, desirous of you and your time … remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.
• 5 He is the God of origins, of fatherly love, of motherly nurture, of family, of good roots, of deep anchoring, of a sense of belonging and of safety … honor your father and your mother.
• 6 He is the God of creation, the Creator of all existence, the only Source of life, all existence is through him, in him immense value is bestowed on human life, all life, strong and weak, perfect and imperfect … you shall not murder.
• 7 He is the God of relationship, the God of selflessness, the God of faithfulness, the All-powerful who obeys his own word, the committing God, the vulnerable God, the covenant-keeping God, the loving God, the passionate God … you shall not commit adultery.
• 8 He is the glad Creator of a material universe, the God of bounty, the generous God, the lavish God, the joyful provider, the maintainer, the sustainer, the caring, the Giver of growth, the sustaining God, the Provider-God, the Lord of plenty … you shall not steal.
• 9 He is the trustworthy God, the reliable God, the law-abiding God, the truthful and faithful God whose word stands in all eternity, the true God, the truth speaking God, committed to justice and reality … you shall not bear false witness.
• 10 He is the thankful God, the giving God, the glad Giver, the big-minded, the sacrificial, the releasing God, the content and happy God, rejoicing with others’ joy … you shall not covet.

Repeated theme: take care, watch closely, do not forget, remember

• Word count: 14x “remember”, 9x “forget”, 10x “take heed”, 10x “diligently”
• Deu 4:9             “take care, watch yourselves closely, don’t let them slip from your mind”
• Deu 4:23           “be careful not to forget the covenant that God made with you”
• Deu 5:15            “remember you were a slave in Egypt > keep the Sabbath day”
• Deu 6:12            “take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of slavery”
• Deu 8:11            “take care that you do not forget the Lord by failing to keep his commandments”
• Deu 8:13-14      “eaten your fill … then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt”
• Deu 8:19           “If you forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them > I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish … like the nations that the Lord is destroying before you”
• Deu 15:15        “remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt”
• This was the make or break (actually: break) for the 1st generation. Will they remember Egypt and draw the conclusions?
• This will be the make or break for the 2nd generation when they will face the same Canaan to conquer it.
• This will be the make or break for Israel when they have conquered the land and live in it … whether they will last
• Need and difficulty for mental awareness, wakefulness, mental hygiene …
• Need and difficulty of keeping the big things big, and the small things small
• Battle of the heart and mind for right priorities > spiritual warfare
• We: the most entertained and most distracted generation ever … no ability to concentrate, focus, give importance, give heed, meditate, keep mind still
• How do you do that?
  • Daily quiet time
  • Thanks, praise, worship … to remind ourselves of invisible realities over against invisible realities … of eternal realities over against temporal realities
• In Numbers exactly this was the problem: 1st generation: no awareness > grumbling > unbelief > disobedience / rebellion
• Also 2nd generation …by thanks and praise for past > faith, perspective and obedience for the now > faith and hope for the future
• > Importance of being in Community living as believers … including fellowship, sharing, regular worship and input.
• Religious life helps: feasts, church calendar, special events.
• Memory helps … blue cord on edge of garment, reminders in the house, wearing symbols, bookmarks, doorposts …

Repeated theme: teach your children, pass down knowledge to the next generation

• Deu 6:4-9     “Love God … keep commandments … recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.”
• Deu 6:20     “when your children ask you in time to come, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances … then you shall say to your children, “we were Pharaoh’s slaves … observe … fear God”
• Deu 11:2-3   “Remember today that was not your children (who have not known or seen the discipline of the Lord) … but it is you who must acknowledge his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt …what he did … for it is your own eyes that have seen every great deed that the LORD did.”
• Deu 11:18-21  “You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them.”
• Deu 12:18     freewill offerings … these you shall eat in the presence of the Lord … together with your son and you daughter, your male and female slaves, …
• Moses is right now passing on the revelation, truth about God, his will, his ways, his call, his history to the 2nd generation
• Unless they are instructed in the importance of pass down, all this will fizzle out and be lost within a few generations
• 2 Tim 2:2 … and what you have heard from me though many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well
• Pass down is a true challenge, most revivals, moves of God make it barely into the 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation
  • How many organizations, missions, churches loose their cutting edge within a generation or two.
  • Seen it in many families … children grow up spoiled, get given license the parents never had, aren’t raised on the principles that the parents were raised on.
  • Nations: For example the way modern Swiss people think, could not have created a Switzerland and will no even be able to maintain Switzerland.
• How to successfully pass down? > Difficult! Even God struggles to! Whole Deuteronomy is an attempt at pass down!
  • Constant reminders, symbols, …
  • Constant confession, talking, telling stories, …
  • In all live situations, around all events, concerning all issues, …
  • At feasts, colorful settings, meant to engage a child, meant to create questions, asking
  • Constant mental engagement > discussion, meaning, importance
• Observance (which we preach, command!) versus Meaning (which we focus on less!) … we need to transmit not only content but meaning! If we don’t understand the meaning, we may still obey, our children won’t (if this is all I can give them)

Repeated theme: destroy idols / stay away from idolatry!

• In Joshua 33x the word “gods”.
• Imagine conquering Canaan, wiping out its population, every village you step into has poles and statues and shrines, every house has little altars, every city has major temples, with obscene pictures, … Imagine walking into a country full of this.
• There is a chance that for the Israelites will be fascinated, temptated to keep it for the gold or silver’s sake, maybe for its art … command: destroy all.
• Deu 6:14-15    “Do not follow other gods, and of the gods of the peoples who are all around you, because the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a jealous God. The anger of the Lord your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth.”
• Deu 7:24-25   “He will hand their kings over to you and you shall blot our their name from under heaven, … the images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself because you could be ensnared by it, for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.”
• Deu 8:19-20    “If you forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you will perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
• Deu 11:16-17     “Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshiping them, for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit … you will perish quickly off the good land.”
• Deu 13:2-5        If false prophets / diviners / dream / omens / portents … “if come true and they say: let us follow other gods > you must not heed … those prophets shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord.”
• Deu 13:6-11       “if anyone secretly entices you, even is very own … you must not yield or heed > execute them”
• Deu 13:12-18     “if a whole town has fallen into idolatry > thorough investigations > kill of the whole town, including livestock, burn all spoil in town square as a whole burnt offering. Do not let anything devoted to destruction stick to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger.”
• Deu 30:17-18    “But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are lead astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish, you shall not live long in the land.”
• Why is idolatry so very strictly forbidden / warned against / abhorrent?
  • God is a jealous God, he must be worshiped alone, he is worthy of our whole love, he will not share us with others
  • Like a marriage relationship … exclusive, rightly possessive, can’t serve 2 masters, you can’t love 2 husbands
  • God is our Creator, Redeemer, King … he can command what he wants and demand what he wants, so also this.
• Is God selfish in these commands? Nobody but him? He is God, he can do whatever he likes … sounds selfish
  • What else do you want God to command? The untruth? It is truth, he is God, he is reality … he cannot go outside of reality nor truth … he is the only thing safe to worship
  • Truth also is that nothing but the will of God is good / profitable for human life. He is life, unless we have him we won’t have life … he must recommend to us to choose him, for he is goodness, there is no better thing he could recommend
• We become like the god we worship
  • 2 Kin 17:14-15  “They would not listen but were stubborn … they despised his statutes, and his covenant … they went after false idols and became false; they followed the nations that were around them.”
  • Psa 115:3-8      “idols are … the work of human hands … do not speak, see, hear, smell, feel … Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.”
  • Jer 2:4               “what wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?”
  • If we worship anything less than God, we will model ourselves, be guided by a lesser thing …
  • Caananite gods are arbitrary, immoral, self-absorbed, violent, blood-drinking, whoring … a sad lot, and any society building itself on their basis, behavior, values will descend into similar behavior
  • One reason idolatry is so forbidden is that it will ruin humans, families, and any society spiritually, morally, politically, economically who does so
• Idolatry is not just forbidden for God’s sake, it’s forbidden for our sake: idolatry will lead to immorality, power-worship, arbitrary lawlessness, injustice, violence … it is destructive to human life
• Lawfulness is the honor of a nation, lawlessness is the destruction of a nation.
• Written on Hawaii’s Parliament: ‘The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.’
• Anything in your life that is more important than God is and idol. How do you decide? What do you look to? What do you take security from? Comfort from? Identity from? What runs your emotions? What gets priority over God? What keeps me from obeying? (control? Letting go? Fear? Fear of men? Fear of failure?)
• Anything that makes you not agree with God or not act on his word is an idol
• The higher the angel the fiercer the demon: the higher value a thing has, the more easily it is substituted for God (family, love, relationship, good life, freedom)
• Anything good elevated to an idol in our life stops being good and beneficial, it turns destructive, turn into a demon, the higher, the fiercer … by deifying anything, it’s being eaten up from inside out
  • Example: money elevated over God > loose your soul, loose your ability to enjoy, to see any sense in anything (Switzerland)
  • Example: Reason elevated over God > rationalism > existentialism > irrationalism (Europe)
  • Example: Relationship elevated over God > modern Western relational mess
  • Anything that keeps me from obeying God is an idol … could be something as simple as fear, unbelief, holding on to control

Repeated Theme: the place the Lord your God will choose

• Deu 12:5 … 12:11 … 12:18 … 12:21 … 14:23-25 … 15:20 … 16:2 … 16:6-7 … 16:11 … 16:15 … 16:18 … 17:8 … 26:2 … 31:11, so a very repeated theme.
• Remember Lev 17: no sacrifices anywhere but at the tabernacle … no sacrifices but by Aaronitic priests > central place of worship.
• Remember Lev 23 and Num 28-29 … regular feasts … 3 pilgrimages a year to the tabernacle … celebrating, commemorating, experiencing together …
• God wants a center of spiritual life, the heart of the country’s faith, unity among the tribes, common ground & foundation for the nation
• Tabernacle will first be pitched in Gilgal, later Silo, later Gibeah, later Jerusalem (David)
• Even though this command is so strong, after the conquest the location of the tabernacle seems almost accidental, un-cared for, a topic not raised till David
• Need for common worship, for a common basis, need for the maintenance of the basic values and practices

Repeated Theme: Resident Aliens

• Deu 14:21    “you shall not eat anything that dies of itself … you may sell it to a foreigner.”
• Deu 15:3      “of a foreigner you may exact it (loan back payment), but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you.”
• Deu 17:15     “you may set a king over you … one of your own community … not permitted to put a foreigner over you.”
• Deu 23:20    “on loans to a foreigner you may charge interest, but on loans to another Israelite you may not charge interest.”
• Deu 29:22     “your children or a foreigner will see the devastation of the country.”
• One law for Israelite and the foreigner (Exo 12:49, Lev 24:22, Num 15:16, Num 15:29). Foreigners are welcome, but they need to keep the law of the land. Modern application? Religious freedom how derived then?
• aliens are to be welcomed, accepted, can choose to live among the Israelites … there is one law for the foreigner and the alien … but here there are different standards for hygiene / financial issues for a local or a foreigner
• This needs to be balanced with the ‘destroy all that breathes’. People could join Israel, but it meant a submission under the law, which included a submission to God.
• Modern issues of people in polygamy moving into the West. African Muslims in the West doing female genital mutilation, … Law within the law.

Special Topic – Shema Deu 6:4

• The Jews look to this verse as the summary statement of their faith, similar to the Kalemma of the Muslims (there is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his prophet).
• It was called ‘Shema’ or ‘Sh’ma’, which means ‘listen!’, the first word of the sentence.
• Different Translations try to capture the depth of the sentence:
• “Hear therefore, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone” … “LORD our God is one LORD.” … “the LORD our God, the LORD is one” … “the LORD is our God, the Lord is one.”
• He alone is God. He is the one God. God is one. Other possible translation: God is ‘united’. Elohim in this sentence (God, gods) is a plural … which one would not expect in a sentence like this … a precious hint towards the Trinity.

Special Topic – Remembrance in Prosperity Deu 8

• What are the problems with wealth?
  • Habits of ‘good life’ … habits of luxury … hard to forego later
  • Reliance on / security in wealth … in self … > independence, pride, self-sufficiency
  • Chance of carelessness, waste, laziness, stinginess, control, etc.
• All these are hard to escape, they ‘sneak in the back door’. All these are ‘continuums’:
  • not having to worry daily     > > > carelessness
  • knowing I can meet needs   > > > laziness
  • not having to fight or beg     > > > security in self
  • being able to meet needs     > > > independence
• How to handle the blessing of wealth? What attitude prevents pride?
• How can I get the blessing without falling into the dangers?
• How can I learn to truly ‘handle’ blessing?
• Deu 8:6-10     “Therefore keep the commandments of the LORD by walking in his ways and by fearing him …for he is bringing you into a good land … You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land…”
  • Keep obeying! > Be thankful! > Acknowledge the Giver!
• Deu 8:11-14    “Take care that you do not forget the Lord by failing to keep his commands. When you have eaten … built fine houses … possessions multiplied … then do no exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord”
  • Be aware! Take care! Remind yourself! Remember!
  • Don’t exalt yourself! Acknowledge God!
• Deu 8:17    “Do not say to yourself: “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth” But remember the Lord, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth”
  • No self-security! No self-sufficiency! No independence! No pride! Remember God made it possible
  • Warning: Example of the affluent West turning godless
• How do keep this right attitude? How do I keep myself from sliding? > God’s prevention: First Fruit Laws

First Fruit Laws in Deu 18:4, 26:1-11

• Deu 18:4    “The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him …”
  • Acknowledging God as Giver by giving back the very first portion
  • Giving when I don’t have guarantee of the harvest yet
  • Giving before my needs are met
• Deu 26:1-11 “When you have come into the land … take some of the first fruits of all the fruit of the ground … go to the priest / temple … Declaration of history / God’s grace / how I got the land … together with aliens and Levites celebrate and eat.”
  • Thankfulness, declaration of history, dependence
  • Share! Feast! Enjoy!
• Why give first fruits?
  • Remember & acknowledge the Giver …be aware where it came from
  • Upfront giving back to God … cuts greed and possessiveness
  • Trusting God with further income … trusting God with unmet needs
  • All is God’s, this is only a token … acknowledging his authority
  • Stating my dependence on God … acknowledging my need of him
  • Checking my motivation … evidence of an attitude. No defined amount > heart question
• How could this look today?
  • a new job, a salary increase, a new thing received, an inheritance

Chapter 27 – Practical reminders, stones of remembrance, national event

• Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim … natural half theater with good accoustics
• Drama .. half the tribes up Mount Gerizim (blessing > Simeon, Levi Judah, Issachar, Joseph, Benjamin) and half the tribes up Mount Ebal (curse > Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali) … Levites yelling curses at them, they yelling “Amen” down the mountain!
• What is God’s point?
  • attention catchers, help remembrance & memorization, vivid symbols, multi-sensory experience…
  • Stones of remembrance … Deu 27:2
  • But also: enactment, speaking out, agreeing, loudly … there is something to enactments, to physically do something … Lord’s supper … our bodies and souls and spirits are connected … doing something in the physical does something in the spiritual

Chapter 28 – if … then / Obedience or disobedience flow chart

• Similar to Lev 26 flowchart … though longer and more detailed
                                      if
  disobey                                          obey
  Deu 28:15-68                                Deu 28:1-14
  curses in city, field                       blessed in city, field
  infertility in family / flocks         fertility / multiplication
  pestilence                                     health
  sky like bronze, earth like iron   rains in due season, crops
  enemies winning                          enemies defeated
  confusion of mind                        peace, security
  loss                                                 prosperity
  violence, war, oppression            safety, peace, stability
  dishonor, shame                            all nations will acknowledge
  slavery                                             freedom
  lack, destruction                            abundance, prosperity
  being exiled to other nations       lasting long in the country
  death life
  Curse                                               Blessing
                            >>> if repent >>>

• Please note: Blessing is a concrete thing, even a quite material thing that shows itself in all domains … blessing is to be well-fed, to be in a politically stable nation, to have access to justice, to have secure borders, to have families, to have prosperity, to have health, to have influence …
• Importance of the “if … then”, “cause … effect” > cannot be overstated, completely logic, so hard to grasp
• God belabors this point all throughout the Bible over 880+ times
• We say: “no, but …” > welcome to reality, welcome to God’s real world!
• Quote of C.S. Lewis: “You can jump into the water, or not, but if you jump, you must get wet!”
• Isa 45:18     “the LORD … who created the heavens and formed the earth, he did not create is a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!”
• We could not live in a world that completely random, we could make no sense of it, we would not like it.
• What exactly is a curse, or a blessing? How exactly does a curse of blessing come about?
  • Most people think of is as “sugar bread and whip” … blessing is a random positive God intervention, a reward, an additional set-on thing that has nothing to do with the actual action. I pass the test, I get the reward, but there is no other link between the test and the reward … random rewards, not consequences
  • I suggest that the blessing is directly linked to the obedience, and that the curse is linked to the disobedience
  • Said differently: blessings & curses have also direct cause & effect components.
  • Example: I lie repeatedly > finally nobody trusts me … is this God’s punishment?
  • Example: I commit adultery > my spouse doesn’t trust me, is jealous, and there is un-peace in my house … is this God’s curse on me?
• God wants me blessed, he wants me to do the right things, he knows that only certain behavior will have good fruit, so he commands those behaviors > the law. If I obey those, I will get those positive consequences.
• God doesn’t want me cursed, he doesn’t want me to get hurt, to get the negative consequences, so he forbids the behavior that causes them > the law. If I do not do these, I don’t have to live with those consequences.
• This thing is not good, it will not do me good, that’s why he forbid it!
• God doesn’t forbid anything that is good. God doesn’t want anything that is bad.
  • Example: Deu 28:44 … “foreigners shall lend to you but you shall not lend to them” … if I overspend, am greedy, try to keep up with the Johnsons’, do not do accounting, …
  • Example: Exo 15:26 … “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD … and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians” … plague #5? or sexually transmitted diseases? Or diarrhea?
  • Example: adultery
  • Example: no justice > self-justice, hopelessness, stifling of initiative, loss of investment … instability, poverty
    Example: lawlessness in traffic > traffic snarls … in the end, all are slower.
• Repentance option:
  • This is not an inescapable flowchart … God calls for repentance … God has no pride, accepts any repentance
  • If we go down that drain (Curse), it was our choice and not his …
  • Shame culture: shame is in being found out > therefore always deny, even the obvious > no responsibility taken > no repentance. This cuts us off from grace and the hope of change! … Example: Hansje Cronje, drugs in the bra of the nurse
• Why can’t God bless disobedience? Couldn’t he be that generous?
• Is God not a bit narrow? Can’t he give good to all? Is he selfish in demanding obedience?
• What would happen if God kept blessing (material provision / comforts) disobedient humans?
  • Illustration: spoiled child growing up, having expensive habit, even addictions, not working, … do you keep financing this?
• Reality is a good teacher … a withdrawal of blessing / a experiencing of consequences is meant to be a wake-up call.
• What else will make you listen if you are in this path if not a shaking up?
• Partial judgments, letting people ‘eat their cooking’ can be God’s grace trying to get them unto the repentance and life

Summary

• Curses and blessings are both, an intervention of God, but also an built-in consequence of the behavior
• Deuteronomy becomes like a hinge on which all else turns, it’s the foundation of the law, it’s the covenant, it’s the prediction of all that will happen, it’s the measure the next 1000 years of history will be measured by. It’s foundational … not surprising it is so often quoted in the New Testament
• Application? … learn to love the law … do obey, but understand the good God wants … no sulking obedience to God who has more leverage … > next week’s teaching

Fulfillment of Curses Prophecies Deu 28:49, especially 52-57

• Fulfilled with the Assyrian invasion of 722 BC and the siege of Samaria (2 Kin 6:28).
• Fulfilled with the Babylonian invasion of 586 BC and the siege of Jerusalem (Lam 2:20,22).
• The descriptions also fit the Roman invasions and sieges of AD 70 and AD 135.
• The following points are used to support that it refers to the Roman invasion especially:
  • The invaders are to came from the end of the earth (Deu 28:49); a description more appropriate to Rome than Babylon.
  • Their language would be incomprehensible (Deu 28:49); a statement more true of the Latin tongue than of the Semitic Babylonian.
  • The Jews will be scattered among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other (Deu 28:64); a happening which certainly did not occur at the Babylonian invasion.
  • There is here no suggestion whatever that a remnant will return to Palestine – as happened within a few decades of Nebuchadnezzar’s death.
  • The captive Jews are to be taken in ships to Egypt where they will be a glut on the slave market (Deu 28:68); which again did not happen at the time of the Babylonian conquest, but it fulfilled literally after Jerusalem fell to Titus in AD 70.
  • Josephus: 97,000 Jews were taken prisoner at the fall of Jerusalem, many > Egyptians mines; (Wars of the Jews 6:9)

Chapter 29-30 – Moses’ final challenge and Covenant

• The actual covenant happening description
• Deu 30:15-20 is Moses, having preached his heart out to Israel, making the final pitch, altar call … choose life! please!!!

Chapter 31 – Leadership handover and Covenant continuity

• Deu 31:1-8             Moses handing the reigns to Joshua … in the sight of all Israel
• Deu 31:9-13           Moses writes the law and hands it over to the priests and the elders. Every 7th year, during the Sabbath year, it is to be read during the festival of booths in the place God will choose.
• Law is to be read to men, women, children, aliens … so that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord … and observe diligently all the words of this law, and so that their children who have not know it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord.
• Ensuring national assemblies, hearing and discussing the law together. Ensuring pass down to next generation. Unless there is continual effort or remembrance, they will not be able to hold on to it. Need for pro-active, intentional pass down in families, organizations, nations. It will not happen o its own. Revivals petering out in the 2nd and 3rd generation.
• Deu 31:14-15, 23   Joshua commissioned by God
• Deu 31:16-22         God foresees their idolatry > song to confront them as witness … that very day Moses wrote this song and taught it to the Israelites
• Deu 31:24-29         law book kept besides ark … witnesses called on against them

Chapter 32 – The song of Moses

• Deu 32:1-43     Song … Wisdom style, first a description of God, of Israel blessed, then rebellious, then saved
• Deu 32:44-47   Song sung with Joshua to people … challenge to obey, song as a witness against you
• Imagine being sung to by Moses (soon to die) and new national leader Joshua. Joshua memorized it all, probably so did everyone else … a national song as tool of remembrance / of passing on.

Chapter 33 – Moses’ final blessing on Israel and the 12 tribes

• Deu 33:6        Reuben , blessed to not die out, though his numbers are few … sad for a first born
• Deu 33:7        Judah, prayer for God to give heed, bring him to his people, strengthen his hands, help against adversaries
• Deu 33:8-11   Levi, Exo 32 ordination remembered, teach the law, bring sacrifices, prayer for God to accept the work of his hands
• Deu 33:12       Benjamin, beloved of God, rests in safety
• Deu 33:13-17 Joseph, blessings of the land, calling him head, prince, has majesty, horns, high numbers
• Deu 33:18       Zebulun & Issachar, rejoice for they suck the affluence of the sea, the hidden treasures of the sand
• Deu 33:20-21  Gad, like a lion, commander’s allotment, he exercised the justice of the Lord
• Deu 33:22        Dan like a lion’s whelp, leaping forth from Bashan (?)
• Deu 33:23        Naphtali, sated with favor, possess West and South
• Deu 33:24-25  Asher, most blessed, favorite of brothers, dip foot in oil, your bars are iron, as your days, so your strength
• ?                        Simeon is missing

Chapter 34 – Moses’ death and mourning and eulogy, Joshua’s take over

• Deu 34:1-4  Last thing Moses does is climb a mountain to meet with God (again!) & being shown the promised land
• Deu 34:5     Moses dies ‘at the Lord’s command’ …
• Deu 34:6     God buries Moses in a valley nobody knows … wise thing, wise to record, so no pilgrimages start
• Deu 34:7-8  Moses in full strength till the last day of his 120 years, a grace of God for the task … what a blessing
• Deu 34:9     Focus switches to Joshua, full of the spirit of wisdom, Israel obeys him (good man, good transition)
• Deu 34:10-12 Possibly a later editor’s comment, underscoring the uniqueness of Moses.

Deuteronomy versus Law stated before

• Deuteronomy is a covenant renewal document. Much of the material in the book is restated, but as it is not a complete
  covenant, much is left out which was still relevant.

Similarities in the Law

• Exo 21:1‑11       Deu 15:12‑18
• Exo 23:1             Deu 19:16‑21
• Exo 21:12‑14     Deu 14: 1‑13
• Exo 23:2             Deu 16:18‑20
• Exo 21:16           Deu 24:7
• Exo 23:4f            Deu 22: 1‑ 4
• Exo 22:16           Deu 22:28‑29
• Exo 23:9             Deu 24:17f
• Exo 22:21‑24     Deu 24:17‑22
• Exo 23:10f         Deu 15: 1‑11
• Exo 22:25          Deu 23:19‑20
• Exo 23:12          Deu 15:13‑15
• Exo 22:26f        Deu 24:10‑13
• Exo 23:13         Deu 6:13
• Exo 22:29         Deu 15:19‑23
• Exo 23:14‑17   Deu 16: 1‑17
• Exo 22:31         Deu 15:19‑23
• Exo 23:19a       Deu 26: 2‑10
• Exo 22:31         Deu 14: 3‑21
• Exo 23:19b       Deu 14:21b