OT Study: Deuteronomy Pt. 1

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Authorship and setting

Deuteronomy is the 5th and final book of what is called the Pentatuech. It is called Deuteronomy for it is the second telling of the law. The law was first laid out for the 1st generation of Israelites who were delivered from Egypt in the books of Exodus and Leviticus primarily. However, as we saw in Numbers, this first generation was incredibly wicked and unfaithful and all but Moses, Joshua and Caleb perished in the wilderness wanderings.

This second giving of the law was presented to the 2nd generation that God had raised up. Remember that this generation was filled with a desire to honor God, live in holiness and conquer the Promised Land. Before they entered the Land they needed instruction so that they might be able to fully understand the theology of the Law. From Leviticus we saw that the law was a model for how God justly forgives sin and reconciles His people to Himself. Deuteronomy further explains the theology of this model and its ultimate direction for God’s people. Furthermore, it acts as a constitution for the nation of Israel and defines its very destiny.

As has been previously discussed and argued, Moses is the author of this book and is considered to be so by the likes of Peter, Paul and most importantly, Jesus. A careful reading of this book will reveal that this was originally given as a speech meant to explain God’s Law and then produce a response. Today this is what we would call a sermon. It is important that we recognize that this book isn’t just a list of laws, it is a sermon meant to compel a response from God’s people.

Theological Theme

The theological theme of this book is that God prepares the people of Israel to be His nation in the Promised Land by renewing His covenant with them.

Relevance to the Original Hearers

This book is written to establish a worldview for how the nation should live and act in the land. It is arranged around the 10 commandments and it defines the nature of loving God according to His commandments in broad and specific ways. Lastly, the book concludes with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience both of which set the course for the history of the nation of Israel from that day, until this very day and on into the future.

Relevance for Today

Because of Deuteronomy’s impact on our present day situation and on the future, it is important that we develop a deuteronomic worldview as well. Furthermore, it is in Deuteronomy that we find the foundation for how God desires to be loved by His people. Also, it is in Deuteronomy that we find the origin of the promises of the New Covenant, of which we are partakers if we are in Christ.

Overview of Structure

The structure of this book follows what is known as a covenant treaty. This structure can be seen in miniature in . Traditionally, such a treaty was arranged between a ruler/king/master and the people group that he had just conquered. The one making the treaty holds all the authority and power and has the right to establish the rules and regulations for how his people are to live under his reign. This structure is as follows:

Preamble ()

Historical Prologue ()

General Stipulations ()

Specific Stipulations ()

Blessings and Curses ()

Witnesses Set and Covenant Sealed ()

Epilogue: Moses’ Legacy (

Exposition

I. Preamble ()

Main point

The main point of this section is to establish the setting of the covenant.

Exposition

1These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them, 4 after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei.

This covenant treaty begins with Moses as the mediator. He spoke to all Israel the words that the Lord had given him. He was the prophetic link between the Covenant Initiator, YHWH, and the covenant recipients, Israel. This speech, or sermon, from Moses occurred at Moab, east of the Jordan River. They began this journey at Mount Horeb (Sinai) and now they have finally come to the edge of the Promised Land. This journey should have only taken eleven days from Horeb (Mount Sinai) to where they are now, but it has taken Israel 40 years because of their sin. Note that this isn’t just a listing out of God’s specific stipulations. Moses is here intentionally explaining the Law of God. Here the Law of God is explained and exposited for those Israelites before they entered the Promised Land.

II. Historical Prologue ()

Main point

The main point of this section is to recount God’s continued faithfulness to His covenant people. This can be seen in the following structure:

Structure

Organizing the Nation ()

Failure to Conquer ()

Wilderness Wanderings (2:1-15)

Conquering Sihon and Og ()

Moses to Joshua ()

Exhortation to Obey God’s Law ()

Exposition

1. Organizing the Nation ()

5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, 6 “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’ 9 “At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you! 16 And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him.

Moses begins to establish the historical setting of this covenant by looking back at Israel’s time at Sinai when God had instructed them to leave the mountain and begin their journey to the Promised Land. Now that they have arrived, God declares that He has set the land before them. God was faithful to honor the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaaac and Jacob to bring them to the Promised Land of Canaan so that they can possess it. Moreover, God has been faithful to His promise of making the people of Israel a great nation as numerous as the stars of heaven. Because of this massive growth in population, Moses had to appoint heads over each tribe and commanders under them to judge righteously. It is important to understand that from the very beginning, Israel was to be a nation of righteousness and holiness. They were to have judges, and eventually kings, who would uphold God’s holy and righteous standard.

2. Failure to Conquer ()

19 “Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea.

26 “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. 27 And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, 33 who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go. 34 “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, 35 ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’ 37 Even with me the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

In this section Moses summarizes the account of . See how Moses equates the first generation’s unwillingness to enter the Promised Land to not believing the Lord their God. They declared that God brought Israel out of Egypt because He hated them. Their lack of faith completely clouded their knowledge of God. Instead of remembering that God declared that He treasured Israel and brought them up out of Egypt to be His most prized possession, they believed that it was out of hate for them that God delivered them from their slavery.

See here that Moses is reminding the current generation of their parents failure in order to strengthen their faith and trust in God before they go into the Land. They were to hear the encouragement that Moses gave to their parents, “Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you”

3. Wilderness Wanderings (2:1-15)

1“Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord told me. And for many days we traveled around Mount Seir. 2Then the Lord said to me, 3‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward

7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.” ’

14 And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. 15 For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.

Here, Moses summarazises the wilderness wanderings after the sin at Kadesh Barnea. Note that all throughout this time of wandering God blessed Israel’s work and was with Israel so that they lacked nothing. God had every right to annihilate Israel when they rejected Him at Kadesh Barnea and yet He let them live. God had every right to reject His unbelieving people and yet He remained with them and He cared for them and blessed their work. This was meant to encourage the second generation to remember how God preserved them during the wilderness wandering. The hand of the Lord was against their fathers, who all eventually perished; but the hand of the Lord was for them to bless all the work of their hands.

4. Conquering Sihon and Og ()

24‘Rise up, set out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle. 25This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

30 But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day. 31And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’ 32Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33And the Lord our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. 34And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors.

3:1“Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ 3So the Lord our God gave into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we struck him down until he had no survivor left.

Moses then moves on to tell the recent history of the conquest of the second generation east of the Jordan. Note that it was God who declared that Israel was to begin to take possession of the Land. It was God who declared that He would put dread and fear of Israel in the hearts of all their enemies. He will cause a report of Israel’s victories to go out to all the surrounding nations which will cause those nations to tremble and be in anguish. This would have stirred up courage and confidence in the people. They would see that God was the one who was fighting their battles and that He was working to cause their enemies to fear them before the battles even began. Note that Moses makes it clear to Israel that it was the Lord our God who gave Og and Sihon into their hand. In the wilderness God blessed the works of their hands so that they would be provided for. But now, on the edge of the Promised Land, God blessed their hands with victory against their enemies.

5. Moses to Joshua ()

21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. 22 You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’23“And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, 24‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? 25 Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ 26 But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’ 29 So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

Moses concludes his review by recounting the encouragement that he shared with his successor Joshua. The victory of Og and Sihon was to serve as a foretaste for what God would do to all the kingdoms of the Promised Land. Moses declares that Joshua shall note fear them. Why? For it was the Lord their God who fought for them. After witnessing God’s preliminary acts of fighting for Israel, Moses tells of how he was filled with a desire to enter into the promised land to witness the greatness of God’s mighty hand. Moses saw how God displayed His divine power and majesty in Egypt and he longed to see God fight for Israel as they conquered the Promised Land. However, because of his sin, God barred Moses from entering the land and promptly denied his request. However, Moses was allowed to see the Promised Land with His eyes from the top of Pisgah.

6. Exhortation to Obey God’s Law ()

A. Nature of Command (4:1-4)

1“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today.

After recounting God’s work of bringing Israel from Sinai to the plains of Moab at the edge of the Promised Land, Moses begins his opening exhortation. Notice that he begins with “and now”. What has happened in the wilderness has passed, but the lessons that the people learned must serve as a springboard into the action that Moses is calling them to here. Israel must listen to the Law that Moses teaches them and then they must do what the Law demands so that they might live and inherit the Promised Land. Israel must hear and they must do. On top of listening to the Law and doing the Law Israel must not add or subtract from the law as well. This command finds its origin in the sin of Eve. Before falling into sin, remember that Eve both added and subtracted from God’s command to not eat the fruit. Moses then gives his hearers an example from their recent history to illustrate his point. Those who did not listen or do God’s law and committed adultery with the Moabite women at Baal Peor were killed. The people who were alive to hear Moses’ sermon listened to God’s commands and did them.

C. Because of Redemptive Historical Impact (4:5-8)

5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

Israel wasn’t just supposed to listen and do the Law so that they would live and experience God’s promised blessing. If Israel lived out the law they demonstrated wisdom and understanding in the sight of all the surrounding nations. By obeying God they become witnesses of how great their God is compared to the gods of the other nations. Remember from that Israel was to be a kingdom of priests. As a nation, they were to instruct and teach the other nations about God. They were to be a mediator between the other nations and the one true God.

D. Because of God’s Great Authority (4:9-24)

9“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess. 15“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20But the Lordhas taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.

23Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Moses exhorts his hearers to obey carefully and keep their soul diligently. They were to know God’s word and then make it known to their children and generations after that. Israel was to be in a perpetual state of making known God’s Law and God’s works in history to themselves and to their descendants. The temptation was to forget what God had done for them and said to them and instead leave from serving YHWH the one true God and begin to act corruptly and serve carved images. Moses reminds them that their God, whose very voice Israel heard at Sinai is the One true God. He is the God who is accompanied by burning fire, darkness, clouds and gloom. He is the God who speaks to His people even when His form is not visible. This description was given to contrast with the mute and powerless gods of the Canaanites. They must obey and worship Him alone for He is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

F. Because of Certainty of Judgment (4:25-31)

25“When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. 31For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

Moses then warns of the consuming fire of God’s jealous wrath against idolaters. If the future generations of Israel fall into idolatry and do evil in the sight of the Lord, they will be removed from the Promised Land and be utterly destroyed. God will punish such idolatry by exiling Israel so that they are scattered among the peoples. God’s judgement is just. If Israel chooses to worship the idols of foreign nations than it is in these foreign nations that they will serve gods of wood and stone. It is here that we have the foundation of God’s judgement of Israel that is realized several hundreds of years later in the exile and diaspora of Israel and Judah. However, as we see in verse 30, that in the latter days, Israel will return to the Lord in repentance and obey His voice. What is astonishing here is that even before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses prophecies that they will be exiled out of Israel, which happened at the very end of the 6th century B.C. And then in verse 30-31 we see God promising to restore Israel which has not yet been accomplished even until this day. See how God’s act of bringing Israel back to Himself is performed because God is a merciful God and He does not forget the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God will save Israel because He is merciful and He is faithful to accomplish all that He promised.

G. Because of the Greatness of Having God’s Relationship (4:32-40)

32“For ask now of 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 such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. 36Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 39know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

Moses returns to expound on the uniqueness of Israel’s God and their privilege to be His chosen nation. He instructs the people to remember the great works of God in bringing them up out of Egypt and through the wilderness. He calls them to remember when they heard the voice of God and still lived. God revealed Himself to Israel so that they might know that He is God and there is no other besides him. Moreover, God did this out of love for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their offspring whom He chose. Because God has chosen to reveal Himself to His people, His people must know that He is the God in heaven above and on the earth beneath and that there is no other. Because of this truth God’s people must then obey Him and keep His Laws.

H. Preparations for the Telling of the Law (4:41-49)

44 This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel. 45 These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt, 46beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt.

After concluding with his opening argument, Moses takes time to establish the historical setting of his giving of the covenant. Moses established 3 cities of refuge for the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manassah. It is important to remember that this giving of the Law, this sermon, happened in real time and space in history. This wasn’t just a book passed down from generation to generation. This was a message given to the people in the land of Moab, beyond the Jordan, at the very edge of the Promised Land.

Questions for Application

Why is it important that we do not add or subtract from what the Bible says?

Why must we not just listen to God’s word but also do it?

How does the church’s mission to the world relate to Israel’s mission laid out in ?

Israel was called to consider how God had revealed Himself to them by saving them and then speaking to them? Why is it important for us to take the time to consider the works and the word of God as well?

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