A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 1-5 (Part 2)

Deuteronomy 4:32-35—32 “For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? 34 Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.” In the 1800s, Joseph Smith invented a “God” more to his own liking, and this “God” is worshipped by many Mormons across the globe. Temples have been built to him, universities have been built proclaiming to teach about this “God” to many unsuspecting followers. But this “God” is the invention of a man’s imagination—He doesn’t exist, He can do nothing for anyone, and the “gospel” that is offered to the followers of this “God” can save no one, as these worshippers follow a false god who does not exist, and has never existed except in the mind of a money-digging polygamist.

This “God” is one of millions of “Gods” who rule over millions of universes, and had to learn how to be a “God” himself. In what is known as the “King Follett Discourse”, Joseph Smith elaborated on what he believed and taught to be the nature and person of God, how He was once a man and progressed to godhood:

In the sermon, Joseph taught about divine nature and eternal progression. He countered the long-standing theological tradition that treated God as wholly different than humanity. He explained that “if men do not comprehend the character of God they do not comprehend themselves.” He taught that God “was once as one of us” and that “all the spirits that God ever sent into the world” were “susceptible of enlargement,” having the capacity to become like God in the eternities. Joseph also taught that a core part of each person is coeternal with God, comparing this divine core to a ring, without beginning or end. The King Follett sermon was the most direct, public explanation of these doctrines, but it was not the first time they had been introduced. The Book of Mormon and the book of Moses both contain passages that stood at odds with the theological position dominant in Joseph Smith’s day that God is “without body, parts, or passions.” Revelations received by Joseph Smith as early as 1832 taught that spirits existed “in the beginning with God” and that through the power of Jesus Christ’s Atonement, individuals could “receive their inheritance and be made equal with him,” becoming gods. Joseph Smith had elaborated on these revelations in various settings, helping others grasp the implications of his teachings.

(https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/king-follett-discourse?lang=eng)

This speech was based on the famous couplet spoken by Lorenzo Snow, “As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be.”

The Prophet Joseph Smith himself publicly taught the doctrine the following year, 1844, during a funeral sermon of Elder King Follett: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! … It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1938, pp. 345–46.)

(https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1982/02/i-have-a-question/is-president-snows-statement-as-man-now-is-god-once-was-as-god-now-is-man-may-be-accepted-as-official-doctrine?lang=eng)

This is nothing more than self-worship, and goes against the clear teaching of Scripture, that YYHVH alone is God, that nothing and no one can become God, and that “there is none other besides Him.” God did not have to “learn” how to become God, He has always been God. None can become God, for He alone is, was, and always will be God. This was a lesson the people of Israel would have to be reminded of many times throughout their history, and one which many humans today need to be reminded of.

In Deuteronomy 5:1-33, Moses repeats what we call the Ten Commandments, and reminds the people that these are the words of the covenant God made with them, to make them a people of God, set apart to Him, simply for His good pleasure. You will hear many today speak against the doctrine of Sovereign Election—that God chooses those whom He will save—and say that “it’s not fair!” Well, was it “fair” for God to only choose this people to receive His Law and be brought into a covenant with Him? What of the Ammonite, or the Moabite? Would it not have been “fair” for God to tell them His law and how to please Him and how to atone for their sins? Was it “fair” for God to only choose—not all the descendants to Abraham, not all the descendants of Isaac—but only the descendants of Jacob to be His people? For He did not enter into an everlasting covenant with the descendants of Ishmael; He did not enter into an everlasting covenant with the descendants of Esau; He only entered into such a covenant with the descendants of Jacob (Israel), and it was only these with whom He made a covenant that these should be His people.

And this Law that He gave—the Ten Commandments and the other 513 commands—were the rules they were to live by in order to continue to be considered His people. These commands were not burdens, they were not grievous. They were how all people should act in accordance with the holiness and righteousness of God. If someone does not want to obey these commands, they cannot be a child of God. If they want to steal; if they want to murder; if they want to defile their neighbor’s wife; if they want to commit acts of homosexuality, then they cannot be called the people of God. Because these things go against everything He is and that person will not prosper as a child of God. As it says in Deuteronomy 5:32-33—32 “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.” I’ll finish with these words from Matthew Henry—

Seeing God had shown himself so tender of them, and so willing to consider their frame and gratify them in what they desired, and withal so ready to make the best of them, - seeing they themselves had desired to have Moses for their teacher, who was now teaching them, - and seeing they had promised so solemnly, and under the influence of so many good causes and considerations, that they would hear and do, he charges them to walk in all the ways that God had commanded them, assuring them that it would be highly for their advantage to do so. The only way to be happy is to be holy.

Deuteronomy 5:6-22—6 “' I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 7 You shall have no other gods before Me. 8 You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 11 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 12 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. 16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you. 17 You shall not murder. 18 You shall not commit adultery. 19 You shall not steal. 20 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 21 You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.' 22 These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.”

Here we come to the crux of this entire study—the Law and its application to our lives today. Here we have Moses repeating the Ten Words (Ten Commandments) that God gave to him atop Mt. Sinai. These were the terms and conditions of this covenant that God made with the people of Israel. But what of the other 513 commands in the Law? Were the people to keep them too, and if they didn’t, what would happen to the people? And why were these ten given apart from the other 513? And most importantly for us, what do they mean for us today? Are we supposed to keep them? All good questions, so let’s address them.

“What of the other 513 commands in the Law? Were the people to keep them too, and if they didn’t, what would happen to the people? And why were these ten given apart from the other 513?” First, let’s talk about these ten in relation to the entirety of the 613 commandments contained in the Law. The Ten Commandments were given to all the people atop Sinai as the cornerstone of the entire Law. But these Ten Commandments don’t include the commands against homosexuality, bestiality, and incest. The Ten Commandments were the first ten spoken by God to the people, and written by God onto tablets of stone. Moses then brought these tablets down to the people, who said “It is enough! You alone go up and speak with God! We will wait down here! We are frightened by the voice of God.” So Moses went back up Sinai to receive the rest of the Words spoken by God. And what we have as Exodus 20:22-Leviticus 27:34 (with the exception of a few places) was the other 513 commandments, also spoken to Moses by God within that same time frame. So really, all 613 Commandments of the Law were given to Moses upon Mt. Sinai within those 40 days and 40 nights that Moses was at the summit. And the penalties for breaking these commands, which were included with the giving of the commands, were to be carried out against the violators of the commands—whether considering the person unclean until sundown, or cutting the person off from the people, or the death of the perpetrator.

“So why does Moses only mention the Ten Commandments here?” Two reasons. First, these were the only ten that the people heard spoken at the mountain before they got scared of hearing God’s voice, so Moses received the other 513 commandments after he ascended back up the mount. Exodus 21:1—“Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them.” God continued giving His law to Moses even after the people said they did not want to hear the voice of God lest they be consumed (Exodus 20:18-21). The other reason Moses only restated the Ten Commandments was for the sake of time. Do you think it would have behooved Moses to speak the entirety of the book of Leviticus at this time? To again write all the words he wrote in that book? No, it was sufficient for him to only speak and write the words which the people heard, as they could understand the rest when he later wrote Deuteronomy.

“So what does this mean for us today? Are we supposed to keep the entire Law, or just the Ten Commandments?” This is where we need to slow down and let the Scriptures speak. These were the words of the covenant that God made with the people of Israel, the covenant which they broke (Jeremiah 31:32). Once this covenant was broken, God would make a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31). So God began preparing the way for the new and better covenant to come into being. Malachi 3:1—"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts. This is speaking of John the Baptist (see Matthew 3:3). He would announce to the people of Israel that the time of the establishment of the New Covenant was at hand, that God was going to establish a new Way for the people’s sins to be forgiven. John 1:29—“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” No longer would the people have to bring bulls and goats to the temple of God for them to be slaughtered and butchered in a particular way. God was providing His own Lamb, upon whom the sins of all the believing would be laid, and He would take those sins to God for them to be expiated. And in this new covenant, there were not 613 commandments which were to be followed to the letter, but rather only two simple commands. Matthew 22:36-40—36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Whereas the Torah observant Jews were trying to keep the covenant that their fathers had already broken, Jesus was going forth announcing a new covenant which they refused. While the old covenant was mediated by Moses (Galatians 3:19), this new covenant would be mediated by God Himself—the Second Person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24). And just as at the base of Mt. Sinai the people did not want to hear the voice of God lest they be consumed, now they did not want to hear the voice of God because it spoke against them and their inability to uphold the covenant that God made with their fathers.

So Jesus spilt His blood, ushering in the New Covenant. Now, what did this New Covenant say about the Old Covenant? It says that a new and better covenant may be established, that the Old Covenant is ready to be done away with (Hebrews 8:13). Included in that Old Covenant that is being done away with are the commandments contained therein—the Old Testament Law. “So you’re saying this Law was done away with?” Yes, that is what I am saying—but only for those who believe. There are many who are afraid to say that, thinking that saying this will give people carte blanche to act however they want to according to their desires. But let’s discuss this for a minute. First, what else would the apostle Paul mean when he said in Romans 6:14, when he said For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace? His words are clear, that the Law does not hold sway over us as believers in Christ. You are not under law. Plus, when we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, leading us in the ways of righteousness, and convicting us of sin, so that if we do sin our hearts will be heavy and we will go to God and ask for forgiveness, which will be provided to us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Yes, but in Romans 6:14, when Paul uses the word ‘you’, he is writing to believers. We believers are not under law, but what of unbelievers?” The unbeliever is still under that Law, and it will hold him accountable to God. “Explain.” I will. He writes to Timothy in 1^st Timothy 1:9-10—9 Knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. The Law will judge those who continue to commit sin and whose sins are not taken away by the blood of Christ. If your sins have been paid for by Christ, they will not again be brought up before God when you die—You are not under law—the blood of Jesus has taken away those sins, and you will stand righteous and accepted by God  (Psalm 103:12; Micah 7:19). But if Christ’s blood has not washed away one’s sins, and one dies in those sins, how is God to judge that person for those sins? What standard is He to use? He will use His Law. The law is not made for a righteous person, but…for sinners. The sinner, in the New Testament, is one who does not have faith in Christ as His payment for sins. That is who the Law is now for—the one who stands naked and open to God, their sins still clinging to them like refuse, and that person will be judged by His Law.

Paul says in another place, What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions (Galatians 3:19). God gave His Law because of sins. He did not give the Law in order to make people righteous, but rather because people are unrighteous. He gave it to the people of Israel because He chose them, out of all the people in the world. He did not give it to the Edomites. He did not give it to the Amalekites. He did not give it to the Hivites or the Perizzites or the Girgashites. He gave it to the Israelites, not because they were any better than their neighbors, but to show their neighbors how sinful those neighbors were. Moses would tell the people in Deuteronomy 9:4-6—4 “Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you…6 Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.” That must have been a blow to their pride. And this is the effect the Doctrine of Election should have on us. That God chose us, not because we were good enough or righteous enough—for we are neither, at heart—but because we are unrighteous, there being nothing in us that would commend us to God. But we are all, each and every human being, a stiff-necked people that shrink away from God every chance we get.

And it is this Law that shows us so. In our unregenerated state, we want nothing to do with God. We make for ourselves idols that we will desire against and above God. We want what we want, and we will kill and steal and covet until we have it. “But what about people that do not kill and steal?” James 2:10-11—10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. Do they believe in God? No? Then they have created for themselves a God they worship even if they don’t believe they do. They say they do not believe in any gods, but they do. If they believe that the human race is the pinnacle of everything, then they believe that the human race created itself, thus setting up the human race as their god. These are the people that the Law will condemn when they stand before God on the last day.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy (Introduction)

Isaiah 66:7-8—7 “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.” Israel is a unique nation. Never before—and never since—has an entire nation been made from a people group not yet a nation. A group of slaves, which had never been formed into a country, was mad a nation literally overnight. “But what about the United States? They were just a group of colonies that became a nation in the 1700s!” True, but we were a group of colonies. We were organized, set apart and we had borders and a land. The people of Israel had none of that. They were a group of people, slaves in a country that was not their own, they had no land; they only had what they carried with them out of their 430 years of slavery in Egypt. The roots of this nation, and its forming, are contained in the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy.

So now we are finally on to the fifth and final book in the Old Testament Law, or Torah, the Book of Deuteronomy. “Finally” is a curious word. It is usually used by preachers when they get to the last half hour of their sermon. And it’s really not too much different here, as there are 34 chapters in the book of Deuteronomy (we won’t go into much depth with some of these chapters, as we have already covered the ground therein). In Deuteronomy, we see the terms of the covenant God is making with the people of Israel. And this covenant reads much like a suzerainty treaty. I happened to stumble upon the term “suzerainty” this past year, and it certainly applies to the covenant. It is a contract between a nation or power and its vassal, that while the superior nation held power over the vassal, it would also defend the vassal as if the superior nation itself was being attacked. Here are the usual concepts involved in a suzerainty treaty: 

·         The preamble: which identifies the initiator and recipients of the covenant

·         The historical prologue which recounts the past relationship between the parties

·         The stipulations to maintain the treaty

·         The witness(es) to the treaty

·         The Document clause: provisions allowing the writing of the document for future learning and reading

·         The blessings and curses as consequences for choices

(from https://thebiblesays.com/en/tough-topics/suzerain-vassal-treaties) 

And we see each of these in each book of the Pentateuch. 

“The preamble”: God is the initiator of the covenant, as seen in Genesis 15:12-18—12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions…17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram. Normally a covenant is made between two parties, but if you notice, Abram is asleep when God makes this covenant with him. He reestablishes this promise and solidifies His role as their superior in Exodus 20:2—“I am the LORD your God...” He doesn’t simply say that He is the God YHVH, He says “I am YHVH your God”. He is telling them that He will be the God who will go with them and protect them and provide for them. 

“The prologue”: God reminds the people that He is the one who brought them out of slavery. It was not their might or their cunning that ended their 430 years of bondage to Egypt, but it was the mighty hand of God that brought them out. Exodus 20:2—“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” So many times we see this principle laid out (Exodus 29:36; Leviticus 19:36, 22:33, 23:43, 25:38, 25:42, 25:55, 26:13, 26:45; Numbers 15:41, 20:16; Deuteronomy 4:20, 4:37, 5:6, 5:15, 6:12, 6:21, 7:8, 8:14, 13:5, 13:10, 16:1, 20:1, 26:8; Joshua 24:5-7, 17; Judges 2:1, 2:12, 6:8; et. al.). So many times He reminds them that He is the One who has been with them and delivered them, starting with His calling of Abram from Ur of the Chaldees all the way through their grumbling and complaining in the wilderness. 

“The stipulations to maintain the treaty”: He lays out the fact that they would be obliged to keep His commandments if they wanted to remain what God said they would be—a people unique to Him and which belonged to Him. Exodus 19:4-6—4 “'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'” Those stipulations were laid out in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. And we will see the people agree to those terms in Deuteronomy 27:15-26. 

“The witness to the treaty”: The treaty was between God and the people of Israel. But there needed to be a witness, or the treaty would be no good. So who does God call as witnesses of this treaty? His Son? No, He’s the Mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24). Did He call His angels? No. Deuteronomy 30:19—“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.” God made Heaven and Earth to be witnesses of the covenant He was establishing with the people of Israel. “That’s silly! How can clouds and dirt act as witnesses?” Remember, God gives breath to whatever He will, and if He says that Heaven and Earth will be witnesses, then they will be witnesses. We have seen anthropomorphic language used when talking about God, and that same language can be used of inanimate objects. Psalm 96:11-12—11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; 12 let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice. Psalm 114:1-4—1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 2 Judah became His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion. 3 The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs. Habakkuk 2:11—For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the timbers will answer it. John the Baptist told the Pharisees that God could turn stones into sons of Abraham (Matthew 3:9), and Jesus even said that if His followers were quiet, that even the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40). And don’t forget, God even spoke through a donkey (Numbers 22:28-30). 

“The Document clause: provisions allowing the writing of the document for future learning and reading”: It wasn’t enough for this treaty to be written. The people had to be reminded by its reading every so often of its contents and their responsibility to maintain themselves in it. And this dictum was written in Deuteronomy 31:10-13—10 And Moses commanded them, saying: "At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess." Why was it so important for the people to be reminded of the terms of the treaty? Because if they forgot the terms, they were likely to backslide away from the promises they made to God, forget His commandments, and suffer the consequences. Even when Moses was still alive, the people were a stiff-necked and rebellious people. (Apparently, this was neglected by the several kings of Israel and Judah for many years, perhaps decades or even centuries, judging by the high Priest’s and King Josiah’s reaction when a copy of the Law was found in the temple in 2^nd Chronicles 34:14-21). 

Would they be any better after Moses was dead and buried? No. Even Moses realized this. Deuteronomy 31:24-29—24 So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: 26 "Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; 27 for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD, then how much more after my death? 28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands." And it wasn’t long after Moses died, and Joshua led them in taking the land of the promise, that the people forgot the Lord and set their hearts upon worshipping the gods of the Canaanites (compare Joshua 24:17 and Judges 2:11). Centuries later, the kings of Israel and Judah would slowly drift away from worshipping God and would turn again to the pagan idols. 

“The blessings and curses as consequences for choices”: These are all laid out in Deuteronomy, specifically Deuteronomy 27:1-28:68. There are 613 commands in the Law of Moses, with their associated blessings and cursings. And the people were charged with adhering to every jot and tittle of this Law. If they broke one of these commands (apart from the commandments related to murder or sexual sins) they could bring a sacrifice, the priests and Levites could prepare it the proper way, and their sin would be covered. Well, that was good news for the people, since it is rather difficult to remember 613 commandments. On the other hand, it led the people into a lot of trouble. “What’s the point in remembering all the commands if we can just kill a bull or a goat and have our sins forgiven?” This thought process was denounced by God on more than one occasion. Isaiah 1:11-17—11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?" says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. 12 When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? 13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. 14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” And God had enough of it, so He rebuked the people. Yes, the sacrifices were there to atone for the sins of the people, but they were not to replace obedience. And here in Isaiah we see that that is exactly what had happened. The people had allowed the sacrifices to take the place of obedience. They killed calves and kids and observed the New Moons and did all the outward, ritualistic things instead of remembering what it mean to obey God. It was the people’s obedience that God wanted, not rivers of blood and mountains of dead animals. This sentiment was echoed by Isaiah’s contemporary Micah, in Micah 6:6-8—6 With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? In the covenant God made with Israel, He did not bestow blessings on their sacrifices—He bestowed blessings on those who sought to honor Him with their obedience. 

But now, we do not need to remember 613 commands and their blessings and cursings. We only need to remember one thing—to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to remember the forgiveness He purchased on the tree of Calvary. For the former covenant could not make one righteous in the eyes of God (Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:4), it only covered over sins until the time came when those sins were completely done away with (Galatians 3:13). We are now under a new and better covenant, one which will never be changed, and which will bring us into God’s presence if we are faithful to the One who was faithful and just (1^st John 1:9). The first covenant was about the mere outward appearance and washings, but the second is about cleansing the inward man. Hebrews 9:9-12—9 It [the Tabernacle] was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Jesus has entered into the Tabernacle in the Heavens with His own blood, which does not only cover over sins, it takes them away. For how long? FOREVER! 

Now, the names that we have for the first five books of the Bible are different than what they would be in the Hebrew Bible. The titles we have come from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. However, before then, they carried different titles for the Jews, and many Jews today still use these titles today. They are: 

·         Genesis—בְּרֵאשִׁית (Bereshit, “beginning”)

·         Exodus— שְׁמוֹת(Shemot, "names”)

·         Leviticus— וַיִּקְרָא (Vayyiqra, "and He called")

·         Numbers— בְּמִדְבַּר(Bemidbar, “in the wilderness”)

·         Deuteronomy—דְּבָרִים‎ (Devarim, “the words”) 

The title “Deuteronomy”, from the Greek Δευτερονόμιον (Deuteronomion), is the title given to this book in the Greek Septuagint. It means “second Law”. It is the second time we see the Law, thus the title. And because this is the second time Moses is declaring God’s Law to the people, there is much material that has been covered in the previous books, and we will not tread that ground again. 

Chapters 1-30 are three speeches given by Moses. In the first speech (chapters 1-4), Moses recounts the people’s journeys from Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai) to where they were now; in his second speech (chapters 5-26) he expounds on the commands given by God that they should live by; in his third speech (chapters 27-30) he calls the people to remember the covenant YHVH made with them. Chapters 31-33 are referred to as “The Song of Moses”, and chapter 34 tells us of the death of Moses (we will save talk of it until then).

Part 2 next week

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen. 

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 15 (Part 1)

Numbers 15:1-13—1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you have come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving to you, 3 and you make an offering by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or in your appointed feasts, to make a sweet aroma to the LORD, from the herd or the flock, 4 then he who presents his offering to the LORD shall bring a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil; 5 and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering you shall prepare with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb. 6 Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil; 7 and as a drink offering you shall offer one-third of a hin of wine as a sweet aroma to the LORD. 8 And when you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or as a peace offering to the LORD, 9 then shall be offered with the young bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil; 10 and you shall bring as the drink offering half a hin of wine as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD. 11 Thus it shall be done for each young bull, for each ram, or for each lamb or young goat. 12 According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do with everyone according to their number. 13 All who are native-born shall do these things in this manner, in presenting an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.'" 

Here, God is retelling the requirements for sacrifices that were to be prepared when they came into the Promised Land. Let’s define some of the measures which are stated that we do not use today.

·         The ephah. An ephah was a dry measure, used to measure out flour or wheat or barley or similar things. It is equal to about 22 liters of liquid measure, or about 3/5 of a bushel dry measure. (One tenth of an ephah would be the omer, about 2 liters or 2 quarts.)

·         The hin. About 4 liters or one gallon. So a fourth of a hin of oil would be about a quart. 

With these measurements in mind, we can figure out the various measures described in the text. So first, when we see 4 then he who presents his offering to the LORD shall bring a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil; 5 and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering, he is to bring about 2 liters of flour with a quart of oil for the grain offering, with a quart of wine for a drink offering if they were bringing a sheep (or kid of the goats) or livestock. 6 Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil; 7 and as a drink offering you shall offer one-third of a hin of wine they were to mingle 4 quarts of flour with about 1-1/2 quarts of oil for the grain offering with about 1-1/2 quarts of wine for the drink offering. 8 And when you prepare a young bull (a calf) as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or as a peace offering to the LORD, 9 then shall be offered with the young bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil; 10 and you shall bring as the drink offering half a hin of wine, they were to bring 6 quarts of flour with 2 liters of oil for the grain offering, with 2 liters of wine for the drink offering. 

These were meant to show that they were still God’s people. God was not through with the people of Israel, He would still accept their sacrifices and they would still be His, even though they would not enter the Promised Land. Just as it is today. As Paul says in Romans 11:1—I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! Some today say that God is through with Israel, that because they crucified His Messiah, that God has cast them off. How absurd! God made a covenant with Abraham, and reminded the people of Israel that it was an everlasting covenant, and said through the prophet, in Jeremiah 31:35-37—35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): 36 " If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever." 37 Thus says the LORD: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,” says the LORD. One may say “But what of the New Covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31, and again in Hebrews 8:13? Doesn’t this mean that God has done away with them?” What they are really saying is that God lied when He spoke the words of Jeremiah 31:35-37. Rather, He established a New Covenant, just as He said He would. A new and better covenant. One in which the people no longer had to appear with the blood of bulls and goats, but one where God appeared with the blood of His Son, that no longer were His laws written on stone tablets, but in the minds and on the hearts of the people (Jeremiah 31:33). 

“But look at Israel today. They do not follow Christ. In fact, they despise anyone who speaks and preaches in His name!” Do not confuse the physical nation of Israel with the people of Israel. If the New Covenant was with a physical nation, then why did He allow the Romans to destroy the temple in Jerusalem? Why did Jesus say "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here" (John 18:36). And now His kingdom does not reside in one earthly place, but He has set His name on those who put their faith in Christ. And in all actuality, the New Covenant is an improvement on the Old Covenant. But why a New Covenant? One reason for this New Covenant is that the people of Israel, who at one time said “Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1^st Samuel 8:5), later said “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). They had thrown off God as their king (1^st Samuel 8:7), and had bound themselves under an earthly king. This was the natural end of their desire for a king besides God. And it necessitated a New Covenant, since they had broken the Old Covenant time and time again. They thought that they could sin and chase Baal and Ashtaroth, then bring a sacrifice for their sins, and this would please God. But what does Hosea say? Hosea 6:6—“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Hosea 8:13-14—13 “For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them…14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker.” 

And yes, the physical nation of Israel has forgotten the Lord who spilled His blood at Calvary. But that does not mean that God is done with them. Has God cast away His people? Certainly not! Paul was  Hebrew, and in the New Testament, he still calls them God’s people. Why? Because He is not through with them. Otherwise, why did he say in Romans 11:4-5—4 But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Why would God remember the people who broke covenant with Him? Why would He continue with a people who have sinned against Him and shed the blood of bulls and goats to try to please Him? Why would He not just cast them all aside and take to Himself a new people? Because there are some of the descendants of Abraham who do embrace Christ, who do see Him as their Messiah, no matter what their family says. In other words, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 

And that is the message God is conveying in our text in Numbers 15. There were those among the half-million or so people who did not complain, who kept God as the center of their worship, and who did not complain and murmur and grumble. Speaking to Moses, He said “I have pardoned, according to your word” (Numbers 14:20). But because these were included in the crowd of people, they were prohibited from entering Canaan. Except for Caleb the son of Jephuneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. (Numbers 14:30). The people said that their children would be prey in the wilderness (Numbers 14:3), when in fact they would be the ones to see the good land that God had promised. God is not one to forget His promises, like the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to bring His people into a good land. 

Numbers 15:14-16—“‘14 And if a stranger dwells with you, or whoever is among you throughout your generations, and would present an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD, just as you do, so shall he do. 15 One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. 16 One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you.’” To show that those who came up out of Egypt with the people of Israel were not to be counted any differently, and to show that all His people are equal in His sight, He made it known to the people here (as He did in Exodus 12:49) that those who were circumcised in their flesh and were counted as the people of God were to follow the same commands as those who were born descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These were what were called previously the “mixed multitude”, who were of unknown origin but were not of Israelite stock. In other words, they were Gentiles by birth. 

Today, how are those who are Gentiles by birth brought into the Kingdom of God? The same way as the one who is a Jew by birth. By the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:11-14—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation. Do not think that Jews are saved one way and Gentiles another way. For One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you. There is only one way we will live in the presence of our Lord who bought us, whether we be Jew or Gentile. That is through the blood of Jesus, whose blood bought all whom God purposed to come into His Kingdom, no matter what their tribe, tongue, nation, or kindred. All who are His are one, and all who believe are counted as descendants of Abraham. Galatians 3:28-29—28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Do you doubt that? Put that doubt away, for John the Baptist even said the same thing in Matthew 3:9—“Do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” 

“So how is it that those who are Gentiles by birth should be counted as Abraham’s seed?” I’m glad you asked. Even though you didn’t. But you should have. Paul, the Hebrew of Hebrews tells us in Romans 11:24-25—24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. The wild olive tree is the Gentiles, while the cultivated olive tree—the one which God chose and groomed for millennia—are the natural seed of Abraham. And by Christ we of the wild olive tree have been grafted in to the olive tree which God chose and groomed and fertilized from the time of Abraham. And if anyone thinks they are better than the Jews of God’s olive tree, let them think again. Romans 11:20-21—20 Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. As I have said before, and will most likely say again, let us never think better of ourselves than we ought. God did not spare those who were natural descendants of Abraham, for they sinned in slaying the Lord of Glory. Do you think we are any different? Are our sins better than theirs? No, our sins are not better than theirs. All sin is sin. Do not think that God will spare anyone who, although they did not crucify Christ, still hates that name and persecutes those who call on it. 

Numbers 15:17-31 is a reiteration of the sacrifices for the sins committed in ignorance which were covered in Leviticus 4:14-21, you can read more about them HERE.

 

Part 2 next week

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.