Deuteronomy Instructions Pt 6

Moses has finished reviewing the Law with the people but there are a couple more instructions that God has for them. Admonitions in a song and blessings for the tribes.

These are going to be the last words of Moses to the people of Israel. And they speak of the future to come. It’s not at all rosy but it holds promise. A promise of future restoration, even after a great fall. Let’s join in as Moses gives the people the final words that the Lord will speak through him. Words that they will carry forever.

♥ ♦ ♥

The night of celebration is over. The people are committed today to follow in the Lord’s ways; at least for today. Moses went to sleep that night knowing two things: it wouldn’t last, and he was nearing his last. He awoke the next morning still knowing those two things.

Moses steps from his tent and is almost surprised to see that no one has gathered this morning. He hadn’t called for them to return this morning. It is a quiet morning for him. He isn’t rushed by the need to return to the people waiting for him. He enjoys his short walk to the Tabernacle where he goes in and watches the morning sacrifice.

“Each day is precious my Lord. Thank You for allowing me another day to simply rest in Your presence as the sacrifice is offered.”

Once the sacrifice began to burn on the altar, the Lord spoke 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.” (Deuteronomy 31:14)

Joshua was never far off from Moses theses days. He had been an ever-present help from the time they entered the wilderness until now. They had penned all the Law together last night. Moses looks up and over to where Joshua is standing. He stretches his hand toward Joshua as a father reaching for the hand of his son. Joshua immediately responds and comes to stand beside Moses.

“It is nearly time, my son. The Lord has summoned us together into the Tent of Meeting. He will commission you Himself this day.”

Joshua’s eyes brighten. It was an honor to be chosen to lead the people by Moses. Joshua would have been content with the ‘installment process’ he had already received before the people. But, GOD HIMSELF would seal His choice in His very presence! “I am ready, my Abba” Joshua said with a bowed head.

Moses leads the way to the Tent of Meeting. Before entering it, they stop and wash their faces, hands and feet in the bronze basin. Moses then parts the curtain and walks in with Joshua following in his wake.

The moment the curtain falls back in place, the pillar of cloud fills the doorway behind them and also the Tent itself. Joshua and Moses are bathed in the Lord’s presence.

The Lord first speaks 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. 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?’ 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.

“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. 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. 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.” (Deuteronomy 31:16-21)

Joshua hears the Lord’s words about the people turning from him. His heart aches for them. All he can do though is help Moses write the song which the Lord has put in his heart.

God then turns His attention to Joshua. The Lord spoke directly to Joshua.

“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.” (Deuteronomy 31:23)

This was the first time Joshua had experienced this. All the previous messages came through Moses or Aaron. Today, he hears the Lord as one ‘friend’ to another.

After the Lord spoke to Joshua, the pillar of cloud lifted from the doorway. Moses and Joshua exited the tent and went directly to Moses’ tent. Here, the two of them wrote down the song that the Lord had given Moses and put the finishing touches on the book of the Law.

“It’s time” Moses says to Joshua, once his pen rests again on the table.

Joshua’s heart is torn. He is excited about what God is about to do next, but he also knows that Moses’ death is imminent. All the ‘if only’ ideas would not make this judgment from the Lord go away. Besides that, if Moses did go into the land, when would the people be ready to release him? Would they put their trust in Moses instead of the Lord? It was time for them to let go; and for Joshua too.

The two men leave Moses’ tent and walk back over to the Tabernacle. Eleazar was in the courtyard ministering to a couple. He had just completed offering the required sacrifice for their first-born son. It was a joyous time for the group. When they look up and see Moses and Joshua watching them, their curiosity wars with their fear. They were curious to know what Moses wanted with Eleazar; for he surely didn’t want their attention. And they were afraid that Moses would have another heavy pronouncement. Out of respect, the couple, carrying their child, step away and let Moses and Joshua approach.

Moses smiles over at the couple and they smile back. Moses wonders for just a moment how many generations it would be before the Lord’s words of the people turning away from Him would be. “Surely not during his generation” Moses thinks as he looks at the new babe.

After a moment, Moses turns his attention back to Eleazar. In Joshua’s hands rest the scroll with the Law recorded on it. Phinehas sees Moses and Joshua approach his Abba and comes over to join them. Once all four men are assembled, Moses finally speaks.

“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. 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!” (Deuteronomy 31:26-27)

Eleazar and Phinehas look stricken. How could Moses believe they would turn against the Lord? But they knew in their own hearts that he spoke the truth. They didn’t like the idea, but they KNEW that Moses only spoke what the Lord gave him.

Phinehas reached out to receive the scroll from Joshua. Once it was passed between the two of them, Moses called for an assembly.

“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. 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.” (Deuteronomy 31:28-29)

Eleazar was the first to move off to retrieve the silver trumpet. They would only need the one today, as they were not calling for a full assembly. Moses, Joshua, Eleazar and Phinehas moved to the place where Moses addressed the people. Eleazar put the trumpet to his lips and blew the signal. He then handed it to Phinehas, who quickly put it back where it belonged.

The elders and leaders begin assembling before Moses and those standing with him. Once the full complement has gathered, Moses addresses them.

“The Lord has given me a song. He has commanded that you ALL learn it and pass it down from generation to generation. It speaks of what is to come, of how Israel WILL one day turn her back on the Lord. And it speaks of His forgiveness and restoration. Hear now the words of the Lord.”

With that, Moses launched into the song:

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
ascribe greatness to our God!

“The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
they are a crooked and twisted generation.
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?
Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.

“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.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
the Lord alone guided him,
no foreign god was with him.
He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.

“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore^[e] you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

“The Lord saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

“‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
I will spend my arrows on them;
they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
I will wipe them from human memory,”
had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the Lord who did all this.”’

“For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is no understanding in them.
If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern their latter end!
How could one have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the Lord had given them up?
For their rock is not as our Rock;
our enemies are by themselves.
For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter;
their wine is the poison of serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.

“‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’
For the Lord will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, bond or free.
Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them be your protection!

“‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever,
if I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’

“Rejoice with him, O heavens;
bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
and cleanses his people’s land.

(Deuteronomy 32:1-43)

When he had finished the song, he and Joshua had recited for the people, he looked out at the leaders gathered before him. He fixed them with eyes as flint and spoke with steel in his voice. “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:46-47)

The people vowed to both Moses and Joshua that they would teach the song to the people.

Moses straightened his shoulders and looked out at the people once more. “I have one final gift to give to the people. I am about to die. Before I go, I will perform the act of an Abba. I will bless ‘my’ children.”

The people stood deathly silent as Moses pronounced a blessing over each of the tribes.

“The Lord came from Sinai
and dawned from Seir upon us;
he shone forth from Mount Paran;
he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,
with flaming fire at his right hand.
Yes, he loved his people,
all his holy ones were in his hand;
so they followed in your steps,
receiving direction from you,
when Moses commanded us a law,
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
Thus the Lord became king in Jeshurun,
when the heads of the people were gathered,
all the tribes of Israel together.

“Let Reuben live, and not die,
but let his men be few.”

And this he said of Judah:

“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,
and bring him in to his people.
With your hands contend for him,
and be a help against his adversaries.”

And of Levi he said,

“Give to Levi your Thummim,
and your Urim to your godly one,
whom you tested at Massah,
with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;
who said of his father and mother,
‘I regard them not’;
he disowned his brothers
and ignored his children.
For they observed your word
and kept your covenant.
They shall teach Jacob your rules
and Israel your law;
they shall put incense before you
and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
Bless, O Lord, his substance,
and accept the work of his hands;
crush the loins of his adversaries,
of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”

Of Benjamin he said,

“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety.
The High God surrounds him all day long,
and dwells between his shoulders.”

And of Joseph he said,

“Blessed by the Lord be his land,
with the choicest gifts of heaven above,^[j]
and of the deep that crouches beneath,
with the choicest fruits of the sun
and the rich yield of the months,
with the finest produce of the ancient mountains
and the abundance of the everlasting hills,
with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness
and the favor of him who dwells in the bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.
A firstborn bull—he has majesty,
and his horns are the horns of a wild ox;
with them he shall gore the peoples,
all of them, to the ends of the earth;
they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

And of Zebulun he said,

“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and Issachar, in your tents.
They shall call peoples to their mountain;
there they offer right sacrifices;
for they draw from the abundance of the seas
and the hidden treasures of the sand.”

And of Gad he said,

“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!
Gad crouches like a lion;
he tears off arm and scalp.
He chose the best of the land for himself,
for there a commander’s portion was reserved;
and he came with the heads of the people,
with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord,
and his judgments for Israel.”

And of Dan he said,

“Dan is a lion’s cub
that leaps from Bashan.”

And of Naphtali he said,

“O Naphtali, sated with favor,
and full of the blessing of the Lord,
possess the lake and the south.”

And of Asher he said,

“Most blessed of sons be Asher;
let him be the favorite of his brothers,
and let him dip his foot in oil.
Your bars shall be iron and bronze,
and as your days, so shall your strength be.

“There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
who rides through the heavens to your help,
through the skies in his majesty.
The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
And he thrust out the enemy before you
and said, ‘Destroy.’
So Israel lived in safety,
Jacob lived alone,
in a land of grain and wine,
whose heavens drop down dew.
Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,
a people saved by the Lord,
the shield of your help,
and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come fawning to you,
and you shall tread upon their backs.”

(Deuteronomy 33:2-29)

After this blessing, Moses released the people. He is spent. He goes to his tent and sits down. As he sat, the Lord spoke to him again.

(to be continued)

Again, there are whole chapters included here because the words are important. These words were what Israel would hold fast to in her darkest times. I would venture to guess that t hey still hold fast to them today. I have no doubt that they recited them during the time of the Holocaust. The song doesn’t speak specifically of those days, but we KNOW that God hasn’t lost sight of even one of His children; even the wayward ones.

Father God, thank You for the promise of a good future. I know that the future YOU have prepared for me is BEYOND good! That future includes seeing You face-to-face. That alone is MORE than I deserve! I trust You to take me through each day before that final one too. I’m in Your hands Lord. I am Your child. Teach me Your ways.

I wonder what the ‘blessing’ over me would look like. I remember one time when You spoke through another and said that I would be a peacemaker. My mom immediately lost confidence in that person because of my personality at the time. But You have brought that prophecy to pass; at least in many instances. THANK YOU for that! The calming of my ‘fire’. I still get frustrated and angry, but NOTHING like I used to do. And that is YOUR doing. What still lies ahead for me Lord? I have a few questions about my direction that I will hold for a more private place.