I was reminded that as I write these articles, overviews really, that we can come to God’s word simply to know things. I don’t want to lose my aim in walking through these texts with you each month. My aim being that as we engage reading the Bible, we would encounter God Himself. The Bible doesn’t contain God’s word, it IS God’s word. He has revealed it to us graciously so that we would know Him personally. May you be able to say, “I have come to know God more.” As we continue, we enter Deuteronomy. Moses wants to remind and encourage God’s people as these are his parting words before his death.
Deuteronomy: [ doo-tuh-ron-uh-mee ] noun --- means “second law”; the fifth book of the Pentateuch, containing a second statement of the Mosaic law.
The author of this book is Moses, including the collection of his sermons to Israel just before they crossed the Jordan around the year 1406. “These are the words that Moses spoke…” (1:1). Someone else (Joshua, perhaps) may have written the last chapter.
OVERVIEW: While the meaning of Deuteronomy means second law and gives that information in the text, this book is much more. The book offers a restatement of the Law for a new generation, yet Moses has more to say than simply to give a copy of the law. Years have passed ensuring that the majority of the previous generation, which grumbled and complained, rebelled against God when the Law was given, had passed away. This multitude to which Moses is speaking had not experienced the miracle at the Red Sea or heard the law given at Sinai. They were about to enter a new land with many dangers and temptations. The book of Deuteronomy was given to remind them of God’s law and God’s power.
The Israelites are commanded to remember four things: God’s faithfulness, God’s holiness, God’s blessings, and God’s warnings. The first three chapters recap the trip from Egypt to their current location, Moab. Chapter 4 is a call to obedience, to be faithful to the God who was faithful to them.
Chapters 5 through 26 are a repetition of the Law. The Ten Commandments, the laws concerning sacrifices and specials days, and the rest of the laws are given to the new generation. Blessings and curses are given based on action. The theme of blessing and cursing is continued in chapters 27-30. This portion of the book ends with God’s desire for His people found in what He recommends: “choose life” (30:19). In the final chapters, Moses encourages the people; commissions his replacement, Joshua; records a song; and gives a final blessing to each of the tribes of Israel. Chapter 34 relates the circumstances of Moses’ death as he climbed Mt. Pisgah, where the Lord showed him the Promised Land. At 120 years old, but still with good eyesight and the strength of youth, Moses died in the presence of the Lord. The book of Deuteronomy ends with a short obituary on Moses, the great leader and prophet of Israel.
SO WHAT? This text is a reminder that the God of Israel was unique. While polytheism abounded during this time, Israel worshipped one God, Yahweh. Their God was totally unique; there was none other like Him among all the “gods” of the nations surrounding them. Deuteronomy 6:4 summarizes this belief in the Shema, the basic confession of faith in Judaism even today. “Hear, O Israel! The LORD [Yahweh] is our God, the LORD [Yahweh] is one!”
Unlike the unconditional covenant God made with Abraham, the covenant between Yahweh and Israel was bilateral—a two-way street. God would keep His promise to bless the nation if the people remained faithful. The adult Israelites were too young to have participated in the first covenant ceremony at Mount Sinai. Therefore, Moses reviewed the Law at the doorstep to the Promised Land, urging this new generation to re-covenant with Yahweh, to recommit themselves to His ways. The necessity of keeping perfectly the Mosaic Law and the impossibility of doing so was a foreshadow to the need for inward transformation which would be done by God and for God. The endless sacrifices necessary to atone for the sins of the people—who continually broke the Law—would find their fulfillment in the final “once for all” sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:10). Because of His atoning work on the cross, we would need no further sacrifices for sin, but to trust in the Lamb who was slain for our salvation. In addition, God’s choosing of the Israelites as His special people foreshadows His choosing of those who would believe in Christ (1 Peter 2:9). In this text, we must think on the implication of living out our faith. Although we are no longer under the Old Testament law, we are still responsible to submit to the will of God in our lives. Simple obedience brings blessing, and sin has its own consequences.
Next month, we will look at the Book of Joshua – who records the culmination of Israel’s journey to the Promised Land. Joshua portrays the Lord as their general, the One who would lead His people in victorious battle if they would trust and obey.
