Deuteronomy Instructions Pt. 5
The instructions, the statutes of the Lord, have been given to the people. They know the blessings and curses. Now they have to choose. Life or death; blessings or curses.
Moses is gearing the people up for a renewal of the covenant with the Lord. The fact that they are all still coming to him each morning, to hear God’s words, proves that they want to follow Him. Who wouldn’t! The blessings and curses alone pull the choice to His side of the equation. We are not shown a place where the people cry out in agreement. I have no doubt that it happened though.
I’m wondering if there was anyone in the group that was ‘going through the motions’ instead. Moses clearly stated what would happen to such a person. Was Achan already one such person? He took some of the spoils at Jericho and paid with his life; after Israel was defeated at Ai. Let’ s join the people as they renew their commitment to the Lord’s covenant.
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Many of the people are already waiting at the entrance to the Tabernacle when Moses rises for the morning. He is surprised to find them gathered there when he steps from his tent. Moses had heard some hushed voices while he was still within his tent, but was blown away by how many of the congregation were actually standing there, waiting for his call to begin.
These are the people who had diligently searched their hearts yesterday, after hearing the blessings and curses. There was NO DOUBT that this group would choose life!
Heads turn as Moses drops the door to his tent. Smiles greet him. Not giddy joyful smiles, but sincere committed smiles. Moses can practically read the answer to the question he will pose today on the faces before him.
“Good morning to you all. I must go and observe the sacrifice before we begin today. And you should gather mana for today before it melts away.”
The people look at one another. No one turns to walk away. “My wife is seeing to this task” one of the men present answers Moses. “Then she will join me here.” Several other heads nod in agreement, as they too have made this arrangement.
“Good. ALL need to be present today; including your children. I will conduct my business while we wait for everyone else to gather here.”
The group watches as Moses steps into the courtyard and goes to stand near the altar. Phinehas is tasked with preparing the morning sacrifice today. Moses watches with a reverent heart. This is the time when the people honor the Lord. Moses strives to always make it a solemn and holy occasion. He does not interrupt the process, but he refuses to miss even one day’s worth of observation.
When the sacrifice is burning on the altar, Moses leaves the courtyard and goes back to his customary place of speaking to the people. The size of the crowd confirms to him that ALL the camp has now assembled themselves to hear the words of the Lord. His heart is pleased by their eagerness.
“When we adjourned the last time, you were told to think deeply regarding the words of the Lord and the blessings and curses. Today, you will be called on to make a choice. I believe that many of you are ready this moment to make that choice…”
The people started to stir. They WERE ready; or so they believed.
Moses held up his hand to quiet them before continuing. “The Lord requires me to finish giving you His words before calling for you to make that choice.”
All movement ceases in the crowd. All that remains is a people hanging on Moses’ every word. Moses smiles and then continues.
“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.” (Deuteronomy 29:2-3)
Heads begin to nod throughout the crowd.
“But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.” (Deuteronomy 29:4)
The nodding heads freeze in place and looks of confusion now dot the congregation.
“I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 29:5-6)
Heads again begin nodding with excitement. Even those who were not alive when the people left Egypt, could clearly agree with this miracle of the Lord.
“And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites.” (Deuteronomy 29:7-8)
Even more heads are nodding and a few back slaps take place as those involved in those battles remember the victory of the Lord.
“Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper[c] in all that you do.” (Deuteronomy 29:9)
The people are ready! They want to commit to the Lord NOW, but Moses holds up his hand again. He is not done yet. There is a solemn warning coming that they MUST hear.
“You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.” (Deuteronomy 29:10-15)
“So this is why Moses wanted us to bring our children today” muse some of the people present. “I wonder who is absent” others contemplate. Moses continues. It’s not time yet for their agreement.
“You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations.” (Deuteronomy 29:16-18a)
Moses pauses until he sees that he has everyone’s attention. His voice takes on an edge of steel again.
Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— all the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as they are this day.’” (Deuteronomy 29:18b-28)
Those who had been hoping for a lighter encounter today were disappointed. Yet they realized that it was still up to THEM if these bad things happened. Each was vowing in his heart NOT to be that one who said he could be safe, even if too stubborn to walk in the Lord’s ways.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)
There is a heaviness in the air as the people consider Moses’ last statement. “ALL His words.” NOT an easy task. “What if we fail and wind up scattered to the ends of the earth. What then?”
God knows their hearts and had Moses answer their ‘What If’.
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 30:1-10)
The people begin to hope again. They KNOW there is love beyond their failings. God will forgive. AND welcome them back into His arms.
It’s time. Moses is ready to lay the choice before them. He is confident he knows what they will choose, but the Lord requires that each man have the opportunity to make that choice. To affirm or reject His covenant.
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-20)
“I choose LIFE” is shouted from the middle of the congregation. An instant later another joins in with the same cry. The cry of “I choose LIFE” reverberates against the hills that surround the people and voice after voice joins in the chorus.
Moses’ face nearly glows, like it does when he first leaves the presence of the Lord. “They have made their decision Lord. Hold them to it.”
Moses let the chorus go on for a little while before raising his hand for silence. The people are excited, so it takes a moment before they all take notice and come back to order.
Looking out at the crowd, Moses appears to age before their eyes. He is tired. His work is done.
“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.’ 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. 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. 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. 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.” (Deuteronomy 31:2-5)
A hush falls over the whole congregation. Moses had told them at least twice already that he wouldn’t be going over with them. They had hoped that he would change his mind. But it was not going to happen. They watch silently as Moses summons Joshua to stand before him.
Moses held Joshua’s eyes and spoke directly to his heart. “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. 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.” (Deuteronomy 31:7-8)
Joshua nodded and embraced Moses. Moses then turned him so he could see the people and they could see him.
“Joshua will also be my scribe once more. He will write anew the statutes of the Lord. These are to be presented to the priests and the elders of Israel. ‘At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 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. 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, 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.’” (Deuteronomy 31: 10-13)
“It will be done exactly as the Lord has commanded” said Eleazar to Moses.
Moses nodded and put his hand on Joshua’s shoulder once again. “We have word to do my son.” Then he looked out over the congregation. “Enjoy this day. The day that the Lord has made and that you have committed to following Him with your whole hearts.”
Moses and Joshua made their way to his tent while the assembly broke up. It would be a joyous day for all!
(to be continued)
I know, I used most all of the text in the three chapters. God had important prophecies that needed to be shared. They told exactly what awaited Israel in later years. But the best thing that waited was the forgiveness on the other side of the sin. That applies to us today. Yes. We will fail to meet God’s expectations. We may even place ‘things’ on HIS throne. But once we repent, HE restores our relationship.
Father God, THANK YOU for Your forgiveness. I have it so much more complete than the people of Israel did. I have Your Son, Jesus, who paid for my forgiveness with His life. Those who remained true to You in the days of the Law are counted among the righteous too. You didn’t leave ANY of us without hope.
You are still offering hope today for any who are searching. I pray for all those who are searching that You send someone along side of them who can help them in their search. One that will show the YOU and NO ONE ELSE.
