Preparing for Departure

Notes:

Recently Heather and I met with a lawyer to talk about our will…

Strange to talk about…

Preparing for death.

Discussing, what IS the best way to set up a will?

What do you want to be executed after you die?

Moses is putting preparing for his death, and he’s making sure he’s doing so in a neat and tidy way.

Expected at the beginning of the book, is now for real.

3 Things:

Legal Language

Structure of the Text

Content within the Text

1. Encouraging the Whole Lot

2. Commissioning Leadership

3. Delegating Law

4. Penning Lyrics

Application of the Text

Structure of the Text:

Breakdown of this passage: Explain what Moses is doing:

Story of Meeting with my Grandma:

A few months before my grandma Benjamins passed away, 4 out of 5 of us siblings went to visit her at Shalom Manner: an assistant living…

One of my favourite memories of my grandma. Bouncing off all four of us memories… most of which was about my mom, some stories I’ve never even heard before!

She would look to my sister and chat, and then look over to my brother or my other brother.

I imagine Moses doing something similar here…

Turns to the people, to Joshua, to the Levites, back to Joshua, then the Lord speaks…

Just this intimate conversation of Moses looking around and preparing for his departure.

Breakdown:

NOT scientific: Pulled from the ESV, not the Hebrew. But it’s close

Whole Lot=6 verses (154)

Leadership: 2 verses (183 words)

Levites: 4 verses (352 words)

Leadership: 2 verses

Lyrics: 7 verses (291 words) (w/ ch.32=1,359)

Leadership: 1 verse

Levites: 5 verses

First Slide:

Dance between 3 main things: Leadership, Law, and Lyrics…

We’re going to get into this dance when we get to the content.

But I just want you to see the breakdown of the verses in this way.

Second Slide: Total Verses

Fairly close number of verses dedicated…

Third Slide: Total Words (in English!)

What’s surprising to me is that there’s so much dedicated to this song… And we’ll get into this…

Fourth Slide: Chapters 31-32

When you the entirety of Chapters 31-32, you’ll see how the lyrics of this song offset the focus.

Priority for Moses in this Departure is this Song.

Commentary: “The Chosen’s National Anthem”

Now let’s get into the Content of each of these players in Moses’ Departure

Content of Chapters 31-32

1. Encouraging the Whole Lot

So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. 4 And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

About to go on a military campaign.

About to lose limbs, ligaments, and lives. It’s going to messy and bloody.

This is not battle for the weary or the faint of heart…

But remember… vs. 4: “The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og… The Lord will give them over to you…”

The Lord is on your side, and so “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread… for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. HE WILL NOT LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU.”

So as Moses goes off to pass along to Glory, he takes time to encourage the whole lot, a LEGION of soldiers.

2. Commissioning Leadership

An army needs a leader on the ground: Joshua

Moses turns his attention to Joshua

General to a Captain: It’s time for you to get out and do this!

Encouragement: Be strong and courageous

Moses Speaking:

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Transfer of leadership=super important transition in the Bible.

Moses the Prophet to Joshua the Military Man

Joshua would usher in the victory of God’s People as they March into the Land of Canaan.

…

Later in our Passage, The Lord prepares for his Servant’s Death…

The Lord Speaking:

14 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 15 And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

Moses and Joshua are together:

But the whole focus and attention of their time together is the Lord telling Moses that the people will fail, they will turn away from following him, go after other gods.

God commissions Moses to write a song.

We’ll get into more detail about this song in a bit, but for now, it’s just important to recognize that the Lord basically tells Moses, with Joshua listening in, that this whole military campaign will ultimately be a failure and that the people will be a failure.

After the Lord speaks to Moses, the Lord then commissions Joshua

23 And the Lord commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. I will be with you.”

I imagine what that would have been like for Joshua.

“So Joshua, I’ll be with you, be strong and courageous. Just know that the people you lead will be a total failure. They will forsake me and break my covenant.”

It’s like reading a will, and rather than receive an inheritance, you’ve been told, “Yeah, you’ve inherited a bunch of credit card debt and you’ll be stuck with this debt the rest of your life.”

“But hey, be bold and courageous!”

So Moses and the Lord prepare for Moses’ departure by giving Israel leadership.

Now we turn towards the Levites and the delegation of the Law…

2 Sections:

Delegation of the Law

9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do 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 that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

First time Moses is a SCRIBE. Up to this point, he is a preacher.

But now he write the Law down.

He hands it to the Priests. Joshua=Entrusted to be the Military Commander.

Priest=given their greatest weapon in this battle: THE LAW!

Prophet and Priests.

Moses=Prophet and Priest.

Read every 7 Years

Keep the word in front of you…

Chapter ends by Moses going back to the Levites

24 When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, 25 Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 26 “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. 27 For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

Talking to Grandma Benjamins:

Not the way we had expected it.

My grandmother couldn’t hear me or even recognize me, and my one congregant looked at me as if I was a complete stranger. Little did I know at the time that this lady suffered from dementia, but I left there going, what’s going on??

Now, Moses is obviously not struggle with dementia, but it is remains very confusing. Like, his farewell started off so strong and encouraging: Be bold and courageous!

Then we have this one liner to Joshua: “Be strong and courageous, I will be with you.” YOU=SINGULAR!

And then we get the rest of this final speech:

Witness #1: Law

Levites, take the law, put it by the ark.

WHY? The Law will serve as my witness that you are rebellious and stubborn people. “Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD: How much more after my death!?”

Witness #2: Heaven and Earth

Deuteronomy 31:28 “28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.”

Moses predicts, after he dies, God’s people will “act corruptly, and turn aside from God’s way.”

Ends: “In the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the word of your hands.”

Penning some Lyrics

16 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. 17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.

19 “Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. 20 For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. 21 And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” 22 So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

Moses spends so much of his energy penning this song!

Point #1: Sandwiched in between the calling of Joshua and the commissioning of Joshua

But again, Joshua is just standing there while the Lord tells Moses that the people Joshua will lead will fail.

And so rather than first commission Joshua, the Lord commissions Moses to write a song!

Keep Joshua’s expectations fairly low.

Point #2: We have a Third Witness

Law is a witness

Heaven and Earth are witnesses

And not these lyrics serve as a witness

WHY?

verse 21: “This song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in their mouths of their offspring).

verse 22: So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel

Point #3: What’s the Song about?

vv. 1-14:

4  “The Rock, his work is perfect,

for all his ways are justice.

A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,

just and upright is he.

5  They have dealt corruptly with him;

they are no longer his children because they are blemished;

they are a crooked and twisted generation.

6  Do you thus repay the Lord,

you foolish and senseless people?

Is not he your father, who created you,

who made you and established you?

Much of the Content is a retelling of what God did for them.

10  “He found him in a desert land,

and in the howling waste of the wilderness;

he encircled him, he cared for him,

he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11  Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,

that flutters over its young,

spreading out its wings, catching them,

bearing them on its pinions,

12  the Lord alone guided him,

no foreign god was with him.

Transition

vv. 15: “But you grew fat, stout, and sleak. He forsook God…”

Punishment because of Idolatry

Purpose of Punishment:

v. 39: “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me.”

So Moses takes these lyrics and he makes Israel memorize them!

Song: “Israel’s National Anthem”

National anthems: Meant to puff us up! Make us proud of our heritage.

Imagine at the Olympics…

Gold Medal Winner comes from some made up country: Worstland

“Wostland ain’t all that and a bunch of chocolates in a box.

They’re disloyal, mean, and smell like sox.”

Worstland is made up of the Worst…

It’s shocking that we even came in First.”

This is sort of their national anthem!

Instead, it admit apostasy and idolatrous prostitution.

It admits their future is doomed.

Nonetheless, Moses made sure Israel would know it!

May this song forever be your earworm!

Earworm Example:

“I’m so blessed, I’m so blessed… Got this feeling inside my chest, no it doesn’t matter about the rest, if I’m with you, Lord, I’m so blessed.”

“National Anthem of Israel”

“I’m so cursed, I’m so cursed… When I see God I go in reverse , I’m just waiting to get in a hurst, if I’m without you, Lord, I’m so cursed…”

4. Hope in the Lyrics is in the Lord

The HOPE in these lyrics is not our condition… It’s the Lord’s

Three Witnesses: The Earth. The Song. The Law.

God’s People’s Behavior:

First vow.

Pastors Job: How to die Well

How did Jesus leave us as the second Mediator?

YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES!!

Application

Can’t depend on leadership

The Law will become a Curse and will be a witness to you

The Lyric will be your witness your not good enough

Heaven and Earth, and

Leadership: Sure fire failure. After Joshua, no one will be commissioned

Law: Witness: You’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

Lyric: Your destined to fail.