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Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Deuteronomy 5-7.
Moses is now into his second sermon. He is intent upon reminding Israel of the things that God has instructed them on Sinai, and to persuade them from turning back on some of their past offenses.
I particularly loved this:
"The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession..."I think I am going to stop right there, and dwell on these words throughout the day.
Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Deuteronomy 3-4.
In the first three chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses has recounted the incredible forty year journey of these people.
In chapter four, Moses turns to direct exhortation with the words, " And now, Oh Israel, listen..."
Moses desires two things:
In his exhortation, Moses wants the people to understand three things:
We are witnessing the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. These chosen ones all came from Abraham's seed.
Our task is to understand the infinite beauty of being chosen by God. Can there be any greater privilege?
If we begin to understand this, then we too must understand Moses' exhortations, and apply them to our own lives. Not from fear of a terrible angry God, but from a grateful heart towards a Father who has chosen us, set us apart, and desires nothing but to lavish his love upon us.
Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Deuteronomy 1-2.
The book of Deuteronomy is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It is essentially a series of sermons, and a restating of the Law by Moses to the people of Israel before they enter into their Promised Land.
I enjoyed this explanation from the ESV Study Bible Notes:
"The book of Deuteronomy could be subtitled “farewell instructions for a nation.” Two major events form the substance of Deuteronomy: (1) the long speech that Moses delivers, effecting a renewal of the covenant, and (2) the passing of the leadership from Moses to Joshua, thereby making the book a succession narrative. The book thus forms the final volume in the biography of Moses, which begins with his birth in Exodus 2 and ends with his death in Deuteronomy 34.
Like the preceding books of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy mingles narrative with instructions and laws by which God wanted his covenant people to live. Deuteronomy differs from the preceding books because it is cast as a farewell discourse in which Moses is speaking to the nation. The repeated formula in the preceding three books is “the Lord spoke to Moses,” but in Deuteronomy the rhetorical stance is that Moses speaks to the people. Because the law-giving is phrased as Moses' words to his nation, the effect is that of an extended exhortation to covenant faithfulness. Moses makes a passionate appeal to his followers as they are about to enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy contains less narrative material than the three preceding books, but occasionally the speeches of Moses are placed into their narrative context. Late in the book, two formal discourses are cast in poetic form (the “Song of Moses,” 31:30–32:47; and Moses' pronouncement of blessing on the nation, 32:48–33:29).
It is likely that the literary form of the suzerainty treaty of the ancient Near East lurks in the background. In a suzerainty treaty, a king or suzerain rehearsed what he had done for his nation and stipulated what he required in response. There is also an incipient note of anticipation, as it is understood that the instructions are given to a people on the verge of setting up a utopia—a good society governed by identifiable institutions and practices—in a promised land."
The Hebrew name for this book of Deuteronomy is Debarim; lit., “The words”. I, for one, intend to listen in rapt attention to what this great prophet of God has to say to Israel, and work hard to learn how I might apply these instructions to my life.
Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Numbers 35-36.
The very last word in the book of Numbers is: Jericho. To the right is a Google Map with the Jordan River and the modern city of Jericho.
In my mind, I try to image a million Israelites camped to the right of the river, set to make the city of Jericho their first confrontation.
Before considering where we are going, I thought it important that we take a bird's eye view of where we have traveled in this book of Numbers.
This from the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology:
"The theological pattern which emerges in Numbers, i.e. harmony between God and Israel, followed by unbelief and disobedience, followed by God’s judgment, followed by God once again working graciously with Israel to fulfil his promises to them, repeats itself over a much longer time frame in the subsequent history of Israel. Samuel and Kings, and Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zephaniah tell a story of harmony followed by disobedience and then judgment; Isaiah 40–66, Ezekiel 24–48 and Haggai, and Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah tell of how God did not abandon his people but once again began to pursue his purpose of blessing them. So the theological themes of Numbers are attested throughout the OT.Both Matthew (4:1–11) and Luke (4:1–13) saw a parallel between Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness and Israel’s forty years in the desert. The temptations Jesus faced were almost identical, relating to food, protection and idolatry. But Jesus did not give in to the temptations. His replies to the devil were quotations from Deuteronomy, which originally referred to the wilderness experience recorded in Numbers. Jesus was the new Israel who succeeded where the old Israel failed (Wenham [1981], p. 51)."
What a journey this has been. I am looking forward to Moses' last words in the book of Deuteronomy, which we will begin tomorrow.
Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Numbers 33-34.
I wonder what the mood of the Israelite camp is as they are parked at the Jordan awaiting God's instructions to move forward.
Two and one-half of the tribes have been given their land possession east of the Jordan, and are perhaps busying themselves in settlement.
Meanwhile, all twelve of the tribes understand that these lands are not vacant. God has required:
"When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. 53 And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it." (Numbers 33:51-53)
Even though they have just witnessed a miraculous victory over the Midianites, without the loss of one man, are they afraid of what might lie beyond the Jordan?
For forty years, God has provided a physical presence with his chosen people in the form of the cloud. Do they believe? Will they obey God's explicit commands when they cross this most famous river?
There are pagans living in these lands who perform the most disgusting of rituals, and worship false gods. The One True God intends to cleanse the land and make it holy. Will Israel obey?
The book of Deuteronomy stands before our view of Israel's entry of the Promised Land. Think of Mel Gibson, as William Wallace, riding his horse before the troops and giving them his famous speech before they attack their oppressors.
That is exactly the book of Deuteronomy. Moses will deliver a series of speeches, and recount for Israel where God has brought them, and how they are to live as God's chosen people in this their Promised Land.
All Israel needs to do is obey God. Will they? Better yet, will we?
Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Numbers 31-32.
Our fallen nature detests judgment.
I see it displayed all the time as I have interacted with various people over the past year on this website over sensitive issues.
It is very common for people to say, "who are you to judge?"
First of all, I don't judge, and I am not the judge.
When we get to the book of Joshua, we are going to see God's judgment, vengeance, and holy wrath in great display.
Here, with the destruction of these Midianites, we are for the first time graphically introduced to God's vengeance, and the subsequent division of the spoils of war.
The natural mind recoils at such a thing, and perhaps even the milk-fed Christian is likely to join the chorus.
We must remember that God's holy word to us is a story of redemption, a love story, a story of God saving his chosen from the second death.
God has taken Israel as his bride, and through Balaam's suggestion, the Midianites had caused the Israelites to "whore" after other gods.
Therefore, here we see God's retribution in the complete, and total destruction of these people from the face of the earth.
God desires that we understand his character. Here, we see that a part of his character is to have vengeance against, and to utterly destroy those opposed to him.
Our nature's tendency is to question God's actions. But we must push back on this inner rebellion against God, and instead ask the Holy Spirit to instruct us.
God is sovereign...right? God is the Creator of all...right? Then it is wrong for us to question him in any way.
I am not suggesting that these things are simple, and easily digested. I am, however, suggesting that this is where we put down our milk, and begin to ask God for meat, and to give us the ability to understand.
In coming chapters, we are going to see God utterly destroy whole civilizations, and we must make our first desire to understand God's character, rather than succumbing to our temptation to wag our self-righteous fingers in his face.
From the New Bible Commentary:
"The wrath and vengeance of God are offensive ideas to many modern people, largely because they assume that God’s wrath and vengeance is irrational, capricious, out–of–control. But Scripture teaches that God’s wrath is revealed against man’s sin (Rom. 1:18), and, ‘vengeance is mine, I will repay’ says the Lord (Rom. 12:19; (AV KJV)). His wrath and ‘vengeance’ manifest his righteous indignation, and are not the result of bad temper."
If someone were to attack my bride, I would put forth every effort to kill them. God has chosen a bride (his church), and we should be thankful that our Husband will defend us, and slay those who would desire to slay us (his church/bride).
Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Numbers 28-30.
As we read Israel's instructions for the sacrifice, convocations, and Sabbath, I wonder if my life exhibits a proper reverence for God's holiness.
I understand that Messiah fulfilled the Law, and therefore perfectly replaced the sacrificial system, but I wonder about God's desire for Sabbath?
Am I keeping God's desired Sabbath?
No, I am not talking about a particular day of the week. I also understand the Christian celebration of the "Lord's Day" on Sunday.
I wonder if I am keeping God's desire for a Sabbath in my life? Do I set aside a day that is a pleasing aroma to him?
No, I understand what Christ said about the Sabbath, and his chastising of the Pharisee's.
But, is there a special holy part of my week set aside to provide a pleasing aroma to God?
I am pretty confident that I need to improve this part of my life.
How about you? How do you bring a pleasing aroma to God on Sabbath? I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
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