Now, onto summarizing the various chapters in Deuteronomy. This all took place in the land of Gilead, which is described many times as “across from Jericho”, it being across the Jordan River from the city of Jericho in the land of Canaan. And like Leviticus, does not speak of any transit of the people across the river, as Moses was forbidden from entering the Promised Land by God (Numbers 20:12). The people of Israel were not yet a nation in Genesis, they came out from Egypt in Exodus, then camped at the foot of Mount Sinai (Mt. Horeb) in Leviticus, moved through the wilderness in Numbers, and will now finalize their part of the covenant in Deuteronomy.
In chapters 1-4, Moses relates to the people their history since coming out of Egypt, and how God led them out “with a mighty hand and outstretched arm”. This is anthropomorphic language, to help the people reckon the power of God in ways they could understand. For God does not have a form or a body as we have (Deuteronomy 4:14; John 4:24). And he warns them that this being the case, they should take care not to attribute a form to Him as they did in Exodus 32, and make for themselves any graven image of either Him or the stars or the sun or the moon. Deuteronomy 4:14-19—14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess. 15 Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. 19 And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. This is a principle that is taken up by the Apostle Paul when he warns the church at Rome that it is fools who turn the worship of God into the worship of corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things (Romans 1:21-32).
Moses begins his exposition on the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:6-21, repeating the words spoken to him by God in Exodus 20:2-17. He reminds the people that this specific covenant was made with this specific group of people, and not with Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. “But what about the covenant God made with Abram?” That was a different covenant. In that one, God promised that Abram’s seed would live in the land of Canaan and would make his descendants as numerous as the dust of the Earth (Genesis 12:7, 13:14-16). This covenant was different. This covenant established the people as His people. This covenant could be thought of as a reworking of the Abrahamic Covenant, in not only giving the people a land, but also showing the people how to live as people of God, and the punishments that would befall any who abrogated those terms.
In chapter 6 Moses iterates how the people should remember these statutes, telling them to 7 teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:7-9). “How were they supposed to fit all the words Moses would speak on something that could fit between their eyes?” These commands are not to be taken as literal, but that they should have these in mind wherever they are, whether in their house or outside their house when a visitor comes, they should be on their mind always, and they should be taught to the children diligently and constantly—they should be, in other words, all over the hearts of the people. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is a very important passage to the Jew, it is called the “Shema” (she-MA). This title comes from the Hebrew, from the first word of verse 4, שׁמע (shema, “hear”)—4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” It is a verse that has been misused by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and others who deny the deity of Christ. They claim that this verse proves that there is but one God (which is true), and what we Christians refer to as the other two Person of the Trinity (The Son and the Holy Spirit) are not God, but are separate from God. We will delve into the mistakes this view presents when we get there.
In chapter 7 Moses tells the people how they are to deal with the pagan nations they will come in contact with—The Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Let’s talk a little about these nations and where they were located. The Hittites were a rather large nation, located in what was known as Anatolia, and what would later be known as Asia Minor—and is now called Turkey—and the northern part of the Levant (modern-day Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan). The name of their land was Hatti, and their capital was Hatussa (modern-day Bogazkale, Turkey). The Amorites we have already discussed in Numbers 21, with Og and Bashan. The Canaanites were, of course, those who dwelt in the land of Canaan, the land that God promised the people. They were descended from Canaan, son of Ham who disgraced his father Noah. The Perizzites and Hivites also lived in the land of Canaan, but were not so much a nation as they were a people-group. The Jebusites inhabited the city of Jebus, which would later be conquered by King David and renamed Jerusalem (1st Chronicles 11:4). Moses instructs the people to wipe out all the people and peoples in the land, to not allow themselves to be tempted to worship their idols, and to show no mercy in destroying them. Deuteronomy 7:5, 16, 23-26—5 “But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire…16 Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the LORD your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you…23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed. 24 And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. 26 Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.” They were not to repeat the sin they committed with the Moabites at Ba'al-Peor in Numbers 25. They were to cut off any remnant of idol worship so they could remain pure in their worship of YHVH.
In Deuteronomy 8, Moses warns the people about keeping the Law of God, and that as they grow as a nation, and their goods multiply, they should not forget the reason their goods and their gold and their silver multiply. It is not because of their smarts or their cunning or their business acumen. Deuteronomy 8:11-17—11 “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end—17 then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'” This is a lesson they would forget in later centuries, when they would oppress the poor, the widow and the fatherless and God would cause the nations of Judah and Israel to be taken into exile. They forgot God, they became greedy for the wealth they had obtained, and they only wanted to obtain more. This attitude was influenced by their wicked kings, of whom we will read about.
Deuteronomy 9 continues this thought, only now talking about the people’s attitude when they drive out the nations living in the land. It starts with telling the people that they will encounter, and drive out, the very people whom the 10 spies were scared of in Numbers 13—the Anakites. These were descendants of the giant Anak, and the cowardly spies said they felt like grasshoppers compared to them and therefore tries to convince the people to return to their slavery in Egypt. Deuteronomy 9:1-2—1 “Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, 'Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?'” Yeah, they knew of the Anakites. They were afraid of them before, but now they would actually meet them in battle, and God told them through Moses that they would defeat them. And why would they defeat them? Was it because they were mightier or more righteous than the Anakites? No, for they were certainly not righteous, even if they were not as evil as the Anakites. Deuteronomy 9:6—“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.” Rather, God Himself will destroy these people because of the unrighteousness of the Anakites. Moses then uses the next chapter and a half to remind the people of their rebellion against God, reminding them of why God has decided to destroy these pagans.
In Deuteronomy 11, Moses commands the people to not only hear the commandments of the Lord, but to remember them, to put them everywhere that they can see them and commit them not only to their memory but also to their heart, that they may do them and be blessed, lest they not do them and suffer the cursings. For they are going into an arid land, one which depends on the rain for water, and there are no rivers in it for irrigation. They will be completely dependent on God for the water they will need to survive. Deuteronomy 11:10-11—10 “For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; 11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven” They would be completely dependent on God for their survival, as we are even this day. Water is good and necessary, but it must come in the right amount. Not enough and the people die of thirst; too much and everything they own could be swept away. The rain that falls in the proper amount is from God, and He sends what is necessary for life to continue. Matthew 5:45—“He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” The birds of the air and the lilies of the field do not worry about how God will provide for them. They simply use what God provides for their survival as we should do, and as Moses told the people they should do. Deuteronomy 11:13-15—13 “And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.”
Problem was, this group was made up of human beings. And we humans don’t like to follow a bunch of rules; we would rather do our own thing. And sometimes we need to be reminded of the consequences of our wrong decision making. Which is what Moses does here. He reminds the people that not only will God bless their obedience, but will also punish them when they disobey. Deuteronomy 11:26-28—26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.” Again, this prediction would prove true in 587BC, when the kings of Judah went whoring after pagan gods, and God said “Enough!” and raised up the Babylonians against them and they were taken into exile and Jerusalem as sacked (we would see it again in 70AD when Jerusalem was ravished by Rome).
Part 4 next week
