Introduction
It was a sobering
scene.
Location: The plain of
Moab, near the Jordan River, at the back door of the ‘Promised Land,’ near the
city of Jericho.
Main character: Moses, the aged and
faithful servant of God, was about to give his valedictory speech.
The audience: A large group of
Israelites: the younger generation, who were born in the wilderness (‘the
wilderness generation’).
The challenge: Moses would need
all the God-given communications skills he could muster to reach this younger
group of people who knew no other leader but him. After all, if Ronald Reagan,
John Paul II and Bernie Sanders, all in their 70s, could connect with younger
people, why not God’s anointed prophet? He apparently succeeded.
The setting: It had been 40
years since he led the children of Israel out of Egypt by the power of God. The
journey should have taken more or less 40 days. Yet, due to tempting God 10
times (Numbers 14:22, 24-34), the days turned to years. During these forty
years the generation that left Egypt with Moses (‘the exodus generation’) had
perished in the wilderness; the audience he now faced were their children.
The message; Forty years
earlier, Moses received the Law (Ten Commandments) on Mount Sinai. He shared
God’s standard with the ‘exodus generation. They disobeyed and perished. Now
that they were gone, on the eve of entering the promised land, it was time to
share the Law again with the younger ‘wilderness’ generation.
This sharing of the
Moses’ law a second time is called Deuteronomy. In addition, the events
of Exodus through Numbers are retold. The 10 Commandments are recited and Moses
gives his final address to the nation. Moses reminds Israel of God’s love and
faithfulness and strongly exhorts them to keep God’s law. If they do, manifold
blessings will come and overtake them; if they refuse, then an avalanche of
curses will tumble upon them.
As the book ends,
Moses gets to view the promised land from Mount Nebo, and then dies and is
buried by the LORD. Deuteronomy predicts the rebellion, dispersion, and
ingathering of Israel and speaks of a future prophet like Moses, which, of
course, is Christ.
During the days of
Judean king Josiah, the ‘book of the law’ was discovered in the temple (II
Kings 22:8-10; II Chronicles 34:15-19). This book was Deuteronomy, which
spawned a nation-wide reformation. Centuries later, Jesus Christ successfully
quoted from this book when overcoming the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11; Deuteronomy 8:3; 6:16; 6:13;
10:20). In all this, the goal is to receive the blessings, and avoid the
curses, by obeying the Word of the Lord.
Details of
Deuteronomy
Name: ‘Haddebharim
"The words’ or 1:1 ‘These are the words" also known Mishneh
Hattorah ‘or repeating’ of the law. We get our English name Deuteronomy
from the Septuagint, where it was known as To Deuteronomian Touto.
Author: Moses is the
universally recognised author, including by Christ, the apostles, and the New
Testament. Some later scholars have questioned Mosaic authorship, especially
Chapter 34; could Moses have written about his own death and burial? Yet
throughout the Torah / Pentateuch, it has been estimated that the phrases ‘The
Lord says’ or ‘God says’ is used over 500 times. This first part of Scripture
has an unmistakable ring of divine authority.
Portrait of Christ:
He
is the prophet like unto Moses (18:5). He is also known as the Rock of
Salvation (32:15). As mentioned earlier, Jesus resisted Satan in the wilderness
by quoting from Deuteronomy three times.
Theme: Blessing and Cursing (Deuternomy
28).
Key verses: Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (KJV)
I call heaven and earth to record this day against
you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore
choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20That thou
mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that
thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days:
that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Time Period: Two months. The
first month is Moses and his three sermons. The second month was the 30 days of
mourning for Moses.
Outline of
Deuteronomy
Sermon One
(History): Moses Looks Back 1:1-4:43
12 Spies &
their evil report (1)
Edom, Moab, Ammon,
and the wars against Amorites (2)
War Against Og;
Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe Manasseh settles in Transjordan (3)
Commands of
Obedience & Warning against Disobedience (4)
Sermon Two (Legal):
Moses Gives the Law Again (4:44-26:19)
Ten Commandments
(5)
Israel’s National
Creed (6:4)
Call to Obedience
& Faith (7-11)
Place of worship
& Destruction of Idols (12-13)
Kosher and
un-kosher animals & tithing (14)
Debts cancelled in
jubilee year (15)
High holidays:
Passover, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Tabernacles (16)
Call to Justice
(17)
Priests and Levites
(18)
Sundry laws on
cities of refuge, warfare, murder, firstborn, sexual morality, divorce,
levirate marriage, Amalekites, first-fruits (19-26)
Sermon Three
(Prophesy): Moses Speaks of the Future
Law on Tablets of
Stone - Gerizim is Mount of Blessing and Ebal Mount of Cursing (27)
Blessing and
curses: Obedience brings 14 verses of blessing and disobedience 54 verses of
curses (28)
Covenant renewed in
Moab (29)
The choice: life
and death, blessing and cursing (30)
Joshua succeeds
Moses; Israel will rebel in the future (31)
The Song of Moses
(32)
Moses Blesses
Israel One More Time: The Tribes Mentioned (33)
Moses views the
Promised Land and Dies (34)
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