Survey of Deuteronomy
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Introduction
Introduction
The book of Deuteronomy that on the surface may seem like an unnecessary read on the surface (δευτερω/νομοσ) but not so.
The book of Deuteronomy proves to be an interesting read for a number of reason.
One is because of the challenges that it seeks to overcome.
Moses is trying to prepare a generation to succeed where their ancestors failed.
On top of that it is going to prove more difficult than before.
This new generation is going to have to conquer the land without Moses.
What this means is that a large focus of the book is recording Moses’ perspective thus far.
Throughout the book there is a special emphasis on what Moses has to say on various matters.
Up to this focus the Torah has been really about what God has to say
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
1 Then Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,
1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
And yet, now:
1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab.
It is not to say that that it is in anyway less inspired than the rest!
We can read of countless prophets that are told by Yahweh that he will put his words in their mouths. That is special. Not ideas in head. Thoughts in brain. Feelings in gut, No. Words in mouth. Exactly what the Lord wants said is exactly whats going to be said.
But when God puts words in peoples mouth they still say those words with a particular accent.
So, there are certain characters throughout the Bible that sort of have a gruffs style about them: Think Peter. God puts his words in Peter’s mouth when something gruff needs to be said.
Think of his sermon in Acts 2. Therefore let all the house of Israel know that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.
This is not an isolated occurance rather, God always uses the style of authors for his glory.
In the book of Deuteronomy, then, Moses style and his pragmatism, his bluntness, even his humility, really shines through and for that reason it is worth the read.
It is Moses commentary of the events of the exodus and the wandering. For that it is worth the read
Commentaries by the author of a book are always treasures. This is a commentary by the author of a portion of the greatest book ever written, can give us a better understanding on what the author intended in the earlier part of the story.
5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,
If there is any man more qualified to preach an expository sermon on the Torah, I cannot think of one!
Another reason perhaps to read is because of the content of the book.
We discussed how Moses is preparing a new generation who are going to have to face challenges the previous one did not have to face. We discussed how Moses is about to die. And what we see in Deuteronomy this really gives him clarity and the focus wherewithal to deliver a convincing plea for the Israelites to remain faithful to Yahweh. That is what the book is all about.
9 “So you shall keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
Perhaps a theme verse.
The entire book of deuteronomy is Moses obligating Israel, the people he has cared for and tended for lo these 40 years, to remain faithful to Yahweh in his absence.
As we get to the end it is a real tear jerker, it is such a beautiful book.
Weve talked at length about all the different reasons one might study Deuteronomy so lets all dive in together.
Now, we all know that there are three speeches in Deuteronomy.
And all take place on the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan, across from Jericho, at the end of Israel’s 40-year journey.
Commentators traditionally suggest that the three speeches serve as the divisions for the book, thats how its organized. Id like to suggest a slightly different way that seems to be in my mind more fair to Moses’ focus.
For the purposes of our lesson we will divide up the book in this way.
Chapters 1-11 (Section 1) we will sum up with Deuteronomy 8:3 “3 “And He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.”
Chapters 12-28 (section 2) we will sum up with Deuteronomy 6:16 16 “You shall not put Yahweh your God to the test” Althout doesnt come from second section it seems to be the point.
Chapters 29-34 we will sum up with Deuteronomy 5:7 “7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.”
You will see why by the end of this lesson.
It is with this framework built and with this groundwork layed that we can open up to the first pages of deuteronomy.
Section 1: Man Shall Not Live By Bread Alone
Section 1: Man Shall Not Live By Bread Alone
1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab.
2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.
3 Now it happened, in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that Yahweh had commanded him to give to them,
4 after he had struck down Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,
Negative Reinforcement in chapter 1
Negative Reinforcement in chapter 1
In the first section Moses expounds upon the need for total reliance on the word of God.
As we get into the text we can see exactly how he does it.
He starts with a historical account of Israel history beginning at Mt. Sinai and he will take us on an adventure that will ultimately bring us to the spot Israel is standing in currently
Now, the Holy Spirit is not prone to long pointless anecdotal dissertation on boring history, and neither is Moses. Thus, we ought not treat it this way. There is order in the oration.
He is not merely giving Israel a reminder of history or writing these things down so future generations can come back and make a simple time line of these events, but rather he is trying to make a point? Well what point is that?
As we begin to open up Moses’ first speech we see some repeating patterns
There is special emphasis on words: the Hebrew word for word is used in various forms 36 times.
There is great intentionality and great focus both on the commands of Yahweh, the responses of the people and the outcome of their compliance or else defiance.
Moses starts out by reminding them of the times where they rebelled against Yahweh:
He reminds them how God commanded them to go up and take the land at Kadesh-Barnea
6 “Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
19 “Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and fearsome wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as Yahweh our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
Moses then highlights Israel’s response.
First of the faithless who did not heed God’s word:
26 “Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God;
29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread, nor fear them.
30 ‘Yahweh your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31 and in the wilderness where you saw how Yahweh your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’
32 “But for all this, you did not believe Yahweh your God,
Then of those who did:
36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed Yahweh fully.’
And then the consequences
35 ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,
I find this word choice particularly interesting: Notice in vs. 32 that it says they did not believe Yahweh your God, in vs. 35 I think Moses shows a punishment fits the crime. What is the act of disbelief? If belief is the conviction of things not seen then unbelief is just the opposite: refusing to see the things unseen.
This is what Israel did thus the text says: God will not allow them to see the land.
And so, what we have in this first little story is s a demonstration of what happens when you are faithful to God’s commands and what happens when you are not: for the 10 unbelieving spies, they were cursed never to see the land. For Caleb, he was blessed, he would be 1/2 spies to be rewarded for heeding the voice of Yahweh.
And this demonstration continues to be shown throughout the first speech:
Moses reminds the people beginning in verse 41 about the people who were cursed even further for not heeding Yahweh’s voice.
There were those among the congregation who decided to go up into the Land anyway, not willing to submit to God’s instructive discipline. He reminds them of the consequences of their actions:
44 “And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out to meet you and pursued you as bees do and crushed you from Seir to Hormah.
45 “Then you returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.
They went up into the land without permission from the word of the Lord, Thus Yahweh did not bless them.
In no uncertain terms, the first chapter paints a bleak picture of the reality of living life contrary to the command of Yahweh.
Moses, as if to hammer the last nail into the coffin, reminds the people of when even he, the mediator of the Old covenant refused to Obey Yahweh in the matter of speaking to the rock.
37 “Yahweh was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there.
Positive reinforcement in chapter 2.
Positive reinforcement in chapter 2.
As we come in to chapter 2 we see a shift in tone.
Whereas chapter 1 showed us that the outcome of violating God’s law could only be bad, chapters 2-3 show us that the outcome of following Yahweh’s word can only be good!
In the first few verses Moses retells how God had commanded them not to provoke Edom.
Moses retells of their obedience in this matter in vs. 8, and the consequence in verse
7 “For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.” ’
In the latter part chapter 2 there are some other instances brought up of how God has been faithful to people who were faithful to him.
Moses reminds the people in verse 19 how God had commanded them not to harass the sons of Ammon because the sons of Lot were to possess that Land.
Now as these various instances of God’s promise keeping are mentioned, you can almost imagine whats going through the mind of an Israelite:
God has been faithful in every particular. He has done just as he said he would.
God has even been faithful in keeping his promises to people who are no longer living and thus are no longer able to hold him to his word.
What this Israelite would hopefully be thinking then is: “My, How Yahweh is faithful to me, I will choose to be faithful to him.”
The most obvious culmination of God’s faithfulness to this point takes place in chapter 3.
He reminds them of How Yahweh of hosts helped them in conquering Og, king of Bashan, the two kings of the Ammorites, and how he allowed them to take the land from Aroer to half the hill country of Gilead.
The Moral of the Story
The Moral of the Story
The obvious point then is handed to us in the latter part of the first section
Good things happen when you allow the word of God to be your guide, Bad things happen when you forsake it.
What then is the obvious conclusion?
2 “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I am commanding you.
Why?
3 “Your eyes have seen what Yahweh has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who walked after Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from among you.
4 “But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you.
Guys Ive made it real simple! You who followed my voice, every last one of you are hear today!
I am ready to bless you all you have to do is receive my blessings by placing your complete trust in me and in my word.
He wants Israel’s entirety!
4 “Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one!
5 “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and 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 phylacteries between your eyes.
3 “And He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.
He wants a people so dependent on him. He wants a people that will only accept that which comes from the Lord and nothing else! Moses makes the point in Deuteronomy 8 that basically what he did in the wilderness was feed you out of his hand.
And he did so so that the only source that you would accept your nourishment from was from his hand
He wants you totally reliant on him.
What Moses does in the first speech is show Israel that the only stable thing to trust in is that which proceeds out of the Mouth of God. That alone should be their nourishment.
Section 2: You Shall Not Put the Lord Your God to the Test
Section 2: You Shall Not Put the Lord Your God to the Test
The first and second speeches of deuteronomy compliment each other wonderfully.
Moses has established the need for trust in God and continues to bear that out
Section 3
Section 3
Application
Application
We are called to participate with Christ in embodying a more perfect Spiritual Israel. We do this in three ways
Letting what sustains us ultimately be the word of God, by being fed ultimately out of Yahweh’s hand
Trusting God, not testing him. When we come to something strange in scripture, realize that it is us who has the conflict and never God
Have no other god’s before Him. Because the blessngs and curses
Conclusion
Conclusion
Introduction
Introduction
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command His angels concerning You’;
and
‘On their hands they will bear You up,
Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;
9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”
11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
The book of Matthew has a unique way of tying Jesus to his Jewish roots that the other gospels don’t seem to explore
You’ll remember that it starts off with a genealogy that expounds about his rich ancestry and firmly establishes his davidic heritage and thus his right to Israel’s throne.
You’ll remember the visit of the angel in 1:18, where the angel comes to Jospeh and tells him that the name of the child his betrothed is pregnant with shall be Jesus. A name which means Yahweh saved, and he quotes from teh prophet Isaiah 7:14. And points to the arrival of the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promises.
In chapter 2, as Herod gathers all of the scholars of the law, he asks them where the king of the Jews was prophesied to be born (he asks them because he was frightened of the possibility of Jesus leading a revolt against his throne) and the passa from Micah regarding the place of Jesus birth is quoted
As we move along through the rest of chapter 2 and in to chapter 3 it seems that every story in some form or another either alludes to, or quotes a passage from the hebrew Bible.
Matthew wants no confusion in the minds of his readers: Jesus is the one who fulfills all of the pictures of the Old Law.
And Matthew, guided by the holy spirit, does this particularly masterfully with the story of Jesus’ temptations.
We come to Matthew 4 hot of the heels of Jesus baptism, the first announcement of the arrival of God’s beloved son.
I can only imagine that you’d really have to be there to see how special this moment truly was.
As Jesus comes up out of the river Jordan a voice out of heaven proclaims that “This is my beloved Son.”
Now, perhaps we need to stop and appreciate this proclomation a little bit more.
The passage quoted here comes from Genesis 22:2
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
This was a passage heavily studied in the first century. The scholars of the day called it the Akedah (the binding of Isaac)
One thing in particular that was thought about and reflected was how self-giving Isaac was in this sacrifice. This was the point that they believed the story revolved around, they were impressed with the level of sacrifice Isaac was willing to make for His father.
And I think its fair to say when they hear a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son, they can almost expect a new self-giving, self sacrificial son to give himself to His father.
And this is the picture that is announced at Jesus baptism. Here is the new Isaac.
It truly is a glorious scene.
And its a scene that seems almost to be interrupted by Matthew 4:1
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
There are many oddities about this verse.
Here is this servant, whom we have just learned about, being led up BY THE SPIRIT into the wilderness to be tempted by the DEVIL.
But as we read through the story we are relieved and even emboldened to place further trust in this character. As the servant faces the various trials by the tempter, he is shown to continue to be God’s faithful servant.
The devil comes at him, tempting him to break his fast and he responds in just the way the faithful servant ought.
With the word of God:
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”
The takes him upto the pinnacle of the temple and dares himm to throw himself off. Jesus responds in just the way God’s beloved son ought.
“Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’”
One last time, the devil takes him up to a very high mountain and tells Jesus that if he falls down and worships him then he will give him teh kingdoms of the world. And PLOT TWIST! Jesus bows down and relents to worship the devil… but no, Jesus responds in just the way a sacrificial servant ought.
“Go Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Serve Him only.’”
And then our story ends.
Taking a step back, this story can seem like a sort of strange tangential monologue the inspired writer rabbit holes off to. Right after in vv. 12-17 Jesus begins his ministry: It would make a ton of sense in our mind to go straight from Jesus’ baptism to the beginning of his ministry.
But of course, we, being respecters of the Holy Spirit and his message, cannot draw that conclusion.
That leaves us then with the question. What point does this story serve?
Well, in this story I beleive another grand & glorious picture is painted here.
There are several references back to Old Testament Passages here?
Notice Jesus is led by the Spirit to the wilderness after being baptized. Are there any other characters led by God into a wilderness after being Baptized?
Notice Jesus is tempted for 40 days. Are there any other characters in scripture tempted for a 40 time period?
I believe what this text shows us is the arrival of a second Israel.
But I think what we are shown in this passage is a far greater sort of Israel.
Notice that all of the passages Jesus quotes are from Deuteronomy
And I want you to notice specefically what kind of passages these are within Deuteronomy
1 “The entire commandment that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers.
2 “And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
3 “And He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.
In this passage Moses reminds them about the Manna. Remember Israel did not handle the manna very well, so Moses has to come back to then and say, well heres what you were supposed to learn. Because they disobeyed, they kept God from teaching them a very important lesson. They neglected to see God’s provision for them and to further trust him in it.
The next passage Jesus quotes has much the same context
16 “You shall not put Yahweh your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.
At Massah is where in Exodus 17 the people complained about the water. They failed to trust God and rather tested him.
Again the third passage is one Israel likewise failed in.
Deuteronomy 6:13
This statement is said with the failure in midian in view
It is interesting to me that all three of these passages are condemnatory statements
