Deuteronomy Instructions Pt. 1
Moses is beginning his instructions to the people. He will be revisiting ALL the statutes that the Lord has given them. And reminding them of the price of ignoring Him.
There is MUCH that Moses will be going over with the people. I have no idea how long this took, but he didn’t stop until the job was done. NO WAY can I cover it all again. At least not in story form. So, we will hit the highlights. I don’t know how long that will take us either. I do know that we will start with his admonition to stay true to the Lord and end with God’s promises of “Blessings or Curses” for their actions. The final piece will be witnessing Moses actually pass the mantle to Joshua by going up the mountain. Let’s set off and see where the Lord takes us on this journey.
♥ ♦ ♥
Morning dawns and the people are once again assembled, without having to be called. Moses hears them as they gather while he is watching the morning sacrifice. He spent yesterday evening in the Tent of Meeting with the Lord, asking for His strength to revive the people’s spirits to follow the Lord. “This is the generation that You promised would inherit the Land. Give them wisdom and hearts turned toward You.”
Once the sacrifice is burning on the altar, Moses, Joshua, and Eleazar move to the entrance to the Tabernacle. Here is where Moses will go over the statutes that the Lord has given them.
“I know that these statutes were given while you were still children. They were given to your parents. But they are just as righteous today as they were the first day they were handed down by the Lord. They are to be for ALL generations. You will teach them to your children and they to their children after them, and so on from then. Write them in your hearts, on you hands, and on your doorposts. DO NOT let them pass away.”
Moses looks out at the people. “They are ready” he says within his spirit to the Lord. Then he begins to instruct them.
“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. You 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.” (Deuteronomy 4:1-2)
Moses moved on to put the fear of God into the people. They KNEW His wrath, but needed a reminder. With eyes like flint, he continued.
“Your 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. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today.” (Deuteronomy 4:3-4) Moses raises his hands high above his head in praise for the lives standing before him. Those who chose to follow the Lord.
After a moment, Moses continues. “While we were at Horeb, the Lord spoke to you from the mountain that burned with fire. He called you to covenant with Him. He promised to be your God, if you would be His people. You agreed and pledged your lives to Him. You were afraid to hear directly from him and asked me to bring you His words. He agreed to this and I have done as so.”
Moses pauses; making certain that all the people are still attending to his words. He wants this next part to be COMPLETELY clear to the people. It is of vital importance.
“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, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. And 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.” (Deuteronomy 4:15-19)
Heads nod throughout the congregation. Many of them are old enough to recall the golden calf that their fathers had Aaron make for them. They knew the cost of that sin.
“Take 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. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:23-24) Moses eyes burn into the eye with intensity as he reminds the congregation.
“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. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or 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? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.” (Deuteronomy 4:32-35) Moses points towards the heavens and then the Tent of Meeting.
“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:
“‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“‘You shall have no other gods before me.
“”You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“‘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.
“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave[c] in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
“‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
“‘You shall not murder.
“‘And you shall not commit adultery.
“‘And you shall not steal.
“‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’” (Deuteronomy 5:1-22)
Moses points to the Tent of Meeting again. “These same statutes that the Lord spoke to you face to face, out of the fire, He inscribed in stone for you. These are in the Ark of the Covenant.”
Moses spreads his arms wide to encompass all the people. “You are a chosen people. The beginning of the fulfillment of a promise that the Lord made to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. You are going in to possess the land that He swore to give to your fathers. And when you possess it, He will drive out the inhabitants before you. You will live in cities that you did not make, drink from cisterns that you did not dig, and eat from fields and vineyards that you did not plant.”
“DO NOT take their gods as your own! When you come into the land and drive out the people, ‘thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.’ (Deuteronomy 7:5)”
“If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.” (Deuteronomy 7:17-26)
Moses sees the determination rising in the people. He can almost smell their faith from where he stands. “This is enough for today” he hears in his spirit. “Let them ponder this for now.”
“Return to your tents and think of the things the Lord has shared with you today. We will continue again tomorrow.”
After the people begin to break up and go their own way, Joshua moves to Moses’ side. “I will be certain to lead the people in the statutes of the Lord.”
“I know you will my son. I pray they will follow.” Moses lays a hand on Joshua’s shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze before turning and heading into the Tent of Meeting. He is tired and needs to refresh himself by being in the presence of the Lord.
Joshua follows at a discrete distance; to be available should Moses need anything.
(to be continued)
There are SO MANY powerful words that Moses speaks to the people. At this point, they boil down to “Be faithful to the Lord and He will be faithful to you” and “Heed His instructions.” God is trying to make certain that they are ready for what comes next; including meeting the other nations in battle.
Father God, I PRAY I’m not leaving out important points that are central to Your words to the people. I PRAY that the words shared reach into hearts today as well. You are STILL faithful and STILL calling for Your people to walk in Your ways. Help me walk in them ALWAYS Lord.
