Deuteronomy 9:13-29
English Standard Version

The Golden Calf
13 “Furthermore, the LORD said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. 14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ 15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also. 20 And the LORD was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.

22 “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. 23 And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. 24 You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

​25 “So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you. 26 And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O LORD God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, 28 lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” 29 For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

Moses recounts for the people their rebellions starting with the Golden Calf at Mount Sinai, right after they had made a covenant to the LORD to be careful to do all that was in the Law before they had ever seen it, and the LORD told them they would break the covenant, and the LORD even sent Moses back down before he got started to remind them to be careful to not break the covenant they were given orally by Moses (Moses tried to tell God that was unnecessary because they had just sworn to it, but God told him to do it anyways because He knew what was going to happen), and it was not even forty days that they let Moses be on the mountain with God before they assumed him dead and that the LORD had killed him and they had Aaron help them make a golden calf that they said was the LORD that led them out of Egypt, breaking the second commandment and they engaged in all kinds of pagan practices and sexual sins to "worship" this god they had created engaging in even more sin.

The LORD's anger burned hot against them in a visible form so that the whole mountain was on fire, and Moses too became angry with the people and broke the stone tablets that the LORD had just carved out for him.  The LORD tested Moses saying that He would destroy all the people and make a great nation out of Moses and his family instead, but Moses knew that that LORD must fulfill His covenant that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to each of the sons of Israel--including Judah from whom the Messiah was promised to come.

Moses interceded for the people and specifically for Aaron, and the LORD did not immediately kill them, but they were judged by their wandering in the wilderness for forty years and all of them fell dead there save Joshua and Caleb.  Moses mentions the rebellion that brought about that judgment next when the ten spies brought back the bad report and the whole nation rioted and was ready to kill Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb and they were ready to choose their own leader to take them back to Egypt.  Then the LORD told them they would not enter the Promised Land, just like they had said--they would all die in the wilderness--and when He told them to turn around to head towards the Red Sea they once again rebelled and tried to go up in their own strength to defeat the Canaanites and were defeated.  The total time they spent in the wilderness from the time of the first Passover to the time they finally came back to take the Trans-Jorden area and were ready to enter the Promised Land was the forty years that the LORD had promised.

Moses' ministry was one of intercession for the people that God would not simply destroy them for their sin, but that the people that He had chosen for His possession might be forgiven and that they would be allowed to continue to exist for the sake of the covenant and as a testimony of who God is to the nations.  For if the LORD destroyed them all, then they nations would say that the LORD was not good and simply brought them out of Egypt to kill them in the wilderness, making false promises to them about deliverance and a Promised Land.  There are some that claim that we as Christians are clinging to a false hope of heaven and the cross and that the LORD cannot provide such a redemption or salvation and cannot deliver His people to the Promised Land of the New Heaven and the New Earth--these people believe that all there is for us here and now is pain and suffering and death.  But we know that we can believe in the eternal covenant that the LORD made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that it was a covenant meant for all the peoples when the LORD said to Abraham, "Through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed."  We know that God's Name and reputation are on the line, and it is for His good pleasure that He has chosen to redeem an undeserving people to Himself and to change them into the likeness of His own Son and bring them near to Him by adoption so that we might call Him "Abba, Father."  May we live lives that are consistent with the new nature that we have been given through Christ so that we will love the Law and obey it and not be rebellious people that prove that we were never changed like this generation of Israelites did--having a "Passover" or "Red Sea" experience was not enough to change them and neither is having a "salvation experience" or "baptism" enough to guarantee someone's salvation if they were never changed from the inside out through the regeneration that comes from God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 9:1-12
English Standard Version

Not Because of Righteousness
9 “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3 Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

4 “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. 7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. 8 Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

The LORD promises to go before His people and drive out the people from before them--the people that the original generation once said would be impossible to defeat because the sons of Anak were giants and the spies were but like grasshoppers in their sight.  The problem that Joshua and Caleb tried to tell the people at that time is they were making the wrong comparison, for it is the sons of Anak that are like grasshoppers to God.  God says He is an all-consuming fire and would go forth before them to destroy and subdue the enemies of the people and that He would do so quickly, though not so quickly that it would put the people in a dangerous position from the wild animals like we read earlier.

Now even though the LORD has made their inheritance of this land conditional on their obedience and adherence to the Law, the LORD warns them not to get self-righteous and haughty and imagine that the victory they are being given is somehow earned.  No, it is still by grace alone, through faith alone, to the glory of God alone, just like we read of our salvation in Ephesians 2:8-9.  God knows exactly who they are--a stubborn and stiff-necked people much like their fathers--and they deserve judgment every bit as much as their fathers did because they too will rebel against God and break the covenant early and often--especially as it comes to sexual sin and idolatry.

No, it is because of the wickedness of these Canaanite nations that He is dispossessing them (a warning to the Israelites that they too might be dispossessed if they become as wicked as these Canaanites) and for the sake of the Name of the LORD that He will be faithful to fulfill the covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  There is no man, let alone a whole group of people, that could ever deserve to have such a covenant made with them.  None of use deserve God's grace and we likewise had better not claim that there was something special about us that made God choose us when He took us who were dead in our trespasses and sins and made us alive in Christ.

Moses reminds the people that early on, while he was receiving the Law on Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai), the people were "playing" and making and worshiping idols and made God so angry that He was ready to destroy them.  This is when God told those people they would not enter the Land and He would not go up with them because if He did, He would consume them along the way and that they should just try to make their own way and go on without Him.  The people refused to move from that spot until the LORD moved to lead them, but the LORD did bring plagues on the people for their rebellion and we see that just because these people had a "salvation experience" of Passover and crossing through the Red Sea on dry ground did not change their hearts.  They appeared from all indications to be dead on the inside and they would end up being just as wicked as the Canaanites if God allowed them to possesses the Land.  How do I know that?  Because I've read the book of Judges (we'll see a good summary of how quickly they disobey God in chapters 1 and 2).  Moses seems to know by knowledge the LORD has given him what is coming and he's trying to warn the people to take a different path, but the people refuse to believe that they will ever fall into that kind of sin like their fathers did.  They will be different.  Or will they?  Will they too quickly turn aside from the commands of the LORD almost as soon as they promise to be careful to obey everything in them just like their fathers did? They will, just like all of us do, which is why we must be glad that the LORD's salvation does not depend on our righteousness, but on the righteousness of Christ alone.

Deuteronomy 8
English Standard Version

Remember the LORD Your God
8 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

11 “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

Once again, the covenant and obedience to the Law is connected to remember who God is and what He has done.  They will only receive the blessings God wants to give them if they remain the people God wants them to be, and they that means walking in humility and obedience before the LORD.  Why was it such a big deal that these Israelites not become like any of the other nations?  Is it simply that God doesn't want to judge "His children" or is there something more to it?  I posit there is something much larger going on here, and it's not about Mount Sinai, but out Mount Calvary.  The lineage of the Messiah needed to be preserved and the very first gospel seed that we heard preached to us in Genesis 3:14-15 and we are expectant to see the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 12 and Genesis 15. but it is Genesis 22 that gave us a glimpse of the gospel to come.  "On the mountain of the LORD, it will be provided" and on that day He was called Jehovah Jireh, the LORD Our Provider.  See, we know who He is and what He is up to by remembering what He has said and what He has done.  How terrible it would be if the people stopped remembering this and the promise was fulfilled, but they didn't see it happen because they no longer expected it to happen?  That's basically what we see happen in the Gospels.

So now we see one of the verses that Jesus quoted to the devil during His temptation in Matthew 4.  "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every world the comes from the mouth of the LORD."  (verse 3b).  This is why God said that He gave them manna every day in the wilderness, to teach them that they need to depend on Him and His Word more than they need to depend on bread to feed them.  This is not the only miraculous provision that He made for them as He lead them by pillar of cloud and pillar of fire for forty years.  Their clothes and sandals never wore out, and their feet did not get swollen during the journey.  We see that even though they were under a time of judgment the LORD gave them good health and let those of this rebellious generation die off in such a way that another generation rose up to take their place and their descendants were not completely cut off from the earth, for that would have possibly eliminated the lineage of king David from whom the Messiah would one day come.

The LORD brought them through all these hard times and provided for them so that when He brought them into a land full of abundance and resources that, hopefully, they would remember to thank Him for every good and perfect gift that He had given to them, both then and now.  We know that's not what typically happens for us though.  Our memories are short-lived and when we live in prosperity we turn inward and focus on ourselves and how great we must be to live in such a great land with great resources, and we begin to worship ourselves and the gods that we create.

God says that we can remember who He is and partially remember what He's up to by keeping His entire Law--I don't think He's just referring to the Ten Commandments here, but I think this is everything that is going to be spelled out in the book of Deuteronomy and that we saw spelled out in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers as well.  The way in which God commanded the people to live and worship was all a reflection of who He was and what He had made them to be and the Law is there to show us a picture of the gospel and get them ready for the person and work of Jesus (the Savior) the Christ (the Messiah--the Anointed One of God who is the rightful King of Heaven and Earth).  God promises that He will provide everything necessary for their obedience--the animals they would need for all the sacrifices and the gold and silver for their tithes and their crops that they would need for their grain offerings and offerings of firstfruits.  All of this belonged to the LORD anyways, and if they would be obedient to give themselves to the LORD and demonstrate that by giving generously in their tithes and offerings as well as taking care of the poor and destitute among them, then God would pour out so much abundance on them that they would not have room to contain it all.  But the people will fail to obey the Sabbath, and they will fail to let the land rest.  They will fail to give justice to the poor and destitute (like the widow and orphan) and they will try to offer the LORD inferior sacrifices imagining that they can keep the best for themselves, but the LORD knows and we are told in the prophets that it would be like they had money bags that had a hole in the bottom of them and the money poured out as fast or faster than they could put it in.

The LORD wanted them to specifically remember the time in Numbers 21, which Jesus will point back to when He talks to Nicodemus, "Just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up."  God tells them to remember this exact moment of rebellion as something they should not want to repeat, but it is also this exact moment that they need to remember to remember the LORD's salvation when they do repeat such open rebellion again.  There would not be a "cheap grace" that cost nothing, but it would cost God everything.  It is not something where we simply just say the magic words, but we have to look at our sin elevated up for all to see and say, "Yes, that's what I did, and I deserve to die for it, but Jesus took my place."  We must believe in the "great exchange" by faith that "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21).

He is the got that brought water from the Rock for them, and we are told what we are to learn from this in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4.


1 Corinthians 10:1-4
English Standard Version
Warning Against Idolatry
10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

If we recall, there were two times that the people got water from the rock.  Once in the beginning of their journey and Moses was told to strike the rock with the staff of God which would symbolize how Jesus was going to die to provide the everlasting life we needed, but after that Moses was only supposed to speak/prophecy to the rock and the water was to pour out from it, but Jesus only needed to die once to pour out eternal, abundant life for all who believe.  Now, Moses messed this up by getting angry and striking the rock again, but we can still see what God intended here--to show the people that Jesus is the Rock once smitten for our salvation and that, "Jesus died once and once for all."  Never again would He need to die and all of the blessings would continue to pour forth from that one event.

The LORD specifically warns His people before they cross over into the Promised Land to not become haughty and forget Him when things get good and not to become like the other nations--following after false gods and worshiping idols.  If they do, they will receive the curses of the Law and not the blessings, for the LORD will not let the wicked go unpunished, even if they imagine themselves to be His children, yet He also provided grace to all peoples, since all of us were at one time His enemies.  He is the one that changes our nature and identities and calls us His children made in the likeness of His Son--if we are not made into the likeness of His Son, then we are not His children.

Deuteronomy 7
English Standard Version

A Chosen People
7 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But 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.

6 “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

12 “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16 And you shall consume all the peoples that the LORD your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
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17 “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ 18 you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 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. 20 Moreover, the LORD your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. 21 You shall not be in dread of them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. 22 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. 23 But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 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. 25 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. 26 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.

We have talked about "being" preceding "doing' when it comes to God's commandments or the "indicative" preceding the "imperative."  We see that again here, though we have already seen some of the "imperatives," they are not separated from the "indicatives."  God's goal with giving the Old Covenant Law to His people was to give them a mirror by which they could check themselves to see if they being who they were supposed to be by checking if they were doing the kinds of things consistent with the new nature that He wanted them to have.  It is the same way with the gospel and it is why we are told in the New Testament, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

The nation of Israel was not a people, but God made them a nation in a single day during the Passover.  He led them through the wilderness and spoke to them as He had never spoke to anyone else at Mount Sinai, and now He is leading them into the Promised Land to have victory over seven strong people groups (Canaanite clans) that Israel would never expect to defeat any one of them on their own, but the LORD will defeat all of them.

They are to be careful to make no covenant with any of these people (they will get deceived by one people group later, but for the most part, they keep this commandment).  The LORD commanded that all these evil peoples be completely destroyed and He expressly forbid the people from intermarrying with these Canaanite women (the people didn't do so good at obeying this commandments and exactly what the LORD said would happen happened.  These women led their husbands and children into idolatry and the LORD's anger burned against His people for becoming like the Canaanites).  He specifically tells the people to destroy all the altars and high places that have been built to the false gods of the Canaanites--don't leave any trace of their false religion.  If only they had listened to this, because we'll see that these false religions and false gods plagued the people for the rest of the Old Testament.

Why are they to do these things?  Because the LORD had chosen Israel as His people from among the nations.  (Like a man that chooses HIs bride).  There was nothing about Israel that made the LORD choose them, but it was simply for His good pleasure that He made something out of nothing--which is what He has been doing from the very beginning, for this brings Him much glory.  He does the same with us today when He takes us who were dead in our trespasses and sins and makes us alive in Christ, transforming us into the image of the Son of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.  So then no one can look at the transformation that happened and praise us for the change we have made in our own lives, but it is clear that this is a miracle on the level of the Resurrection because dead people don't suddenly become alive.  Our story is much the same as the nation of Israel here, but where they went through a physical Exodus, the Church experiences this spiritually and we are awaiting a different kind of Promised Land (see the end of the book of Revelation).

The LORD had bought His people with a price and they were redeemed by the blood of a Passover Lamb (symbolic of the Lamb of God that would come to be the Redeemer of the world one day).  The LORD emphasizes that He is a covenant keeper and His love is great towards those who love Him and keep His commandments (there's that connection again between loving God and obeying God.  We cannot say we love God and be in rebellion against Him, nor can we love God apart from being obedient to His commands.  If we made up our own way to love God, we have made a different kind of God that we worship and we are also practicing a kind of idolatry.  This Law will reveal the hearts of the people--who loves God and who hates Him.  He will bless the one who loves Him, but He will judge the one who hates Him to his face and destroy such wicked people.  We normally don't like to think about God's vengeance or wrath as we only want to talk about God's grace and mercy, but one day, Jesus will come as the Conquering King and will annihilate all of His enemies.

The people would also experience material blessings for their obedience.  The land would be fruitful for them, they would be safe from disease and pestilence, they would not need to fear the wild animals, and there would be peace and tranquility in their lands.  The plagues that fell on Egypt would fall on those who hate Israel (again see the book of Revelation where this literally happens), but these plagues will not fall on those who love the LORD.  The LORD also promised them not just a fruitful harvest of grain, grapes/wine, and oil, but also fruitfulness of the womb of the Israelite people and of their herds, but the LORD will make barren the land, people, and livestock if the people are in rebellion against Him and begin to serve the gods and goddesses of the Canaanites.

​Once again the LORD comes back to the fact that this task is too much for the people of Israel to do in their own power.  They must let the LORD fight their battles for them, just like He had done with the nation of Egypt, the world's premiere power at the time, as well as the Amorite kinds that the LORD had already given over to the people on this side of the Jordan River.  The LORD tells the people that He will not give them this victory in a single day, but that it will come little by little so that the wild beasts would not grow out of control and overwhelm the nation of Israel.  The LORD knows His perfect timing and knows what is best for us even when we want to be impatient and have everything handed to us right now.

The LORD promised to send hornets among the Canaanites as a plague to drive them out of their land, and we'll see the people of Jericho mention this later and they will already have heard of all the great ways in which the LORD has fought for the nation of Israel and led them through the wilderness and there would be fear and dread in the hearts of the Canaanites as the Israelites approached them (though at the same time they were stubborn and rebellious and refused to worship the LORD or give Him glory).

The LORD would deliver all these nations and all their kinds into the hands of the Israelites, and they were to be careful to destroy all the idols, even though they may be made of precious metals--they were not to covet these objects of pagan worship, but were devote all of them to destruction by fire.  None of these objects are to be brought into anyone's house and all the people are to see things as detestable to them and the LORD (probably safe to say "an abomination" here).  Is that the way we feel about the things that are idols in our culture?  Do we keep them out of our houses?  Do we detest these things that try to steal glory and honor from the one True and Living God who will be the Righteous Judge of the Living and the Dead? We must have a say about what we do and don't allow in our homes and make it clear as we'll see Joshua charge the people at the end of his life:


Joshua 24:15
English Standard Version
15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Deuteronomy 6
English Standard Version

The Greatest Commandment
6 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you-- 15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised.

20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’

You may be familiar with some of these verses from the New Testament when Jesus is challenged asking Him what is The Greatest Commandment and He answers by quoting verse 5.  The second greatest commandment is found in Leviticus 19:18.  We'll find Jesus quote from the book of Deuteronomy on several important occasions, including during His temptation in the wilderness after His baptism.

Let's back up though to why Moses is retelling the Law to them, which we see at the beginning of the chapter.  The people are to make sure that they and their children and all future generations fear the LORD and obey His commandments (these two ideas are related quite often).  Only then will they experience God's blessings and not His curses (as we'll see later in the book of Deuteronomy.

For the Jewish people, verses 4-5 are a single commandments and verse 5 is not quoted without verse 4.  This is called the Shema and it is recited often by the Jewish people and is kept in phylacteries that they would wear on their foreheads and would attach to their doorposts to remind them to always say the Shema when they come in and go out of their houses (taking verses 8 and 9 quite literally).

They are warned not to forget the good things that God had done for them and to fear the LORD and worship Him only because He is a jealous God and will not let idolatry or worship of other gods go unpunished.  He will destroy those who engage in such practices, just as He did the generation that fell in the wilderness for their idolatry and rebellion.

God also says that their continued military victories will be contingent on their continued obedience.  If they disobey the Law, then they will not be successful, for the LORD must fight their battles for them.  We'll see this with the sin at Ai in the book of Joshua.

Lastly, God told the people through Moses that the Law was never to be separated from the story of their redemption.  They were to tell their children that the meaning of the LORD's laws and statutes is that the LORD through many powerful signs and wonders freed them from Pharaoh out of slavery in Egypt, so that He might fulfill the covenant that He had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Only then were they to demand obedience, because He is worthy of our worship and our obedience because He alone is the LORD and He alone is our Redeemer and our Savior.

Deuteronomy 5
English Standard Version

The Ten Commandments
5 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “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. 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Not with our fathers did the LORD make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 4 The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, 5 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:

6 “‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

7 “‘You shall have no other gods before me.

8 “‘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. 9 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, 10 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

11 “‘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.

12 “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave 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.

16 “‘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.

17 “‘You shall not murder.

18 “‘And you shall not commit adultery.

19 “‘And you shall not steal.

20 “‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

21 “‘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.’

22 “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. 24 And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

​28 “And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! 30 Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ 32 You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

We probably all feel that we know that Ten Commandments pretty well, and most people if quizzed can name at least half of them--there are a few that they forget though because they are not emphasized by our culture anymore.  Moses takes time to not only give the commands, but to remind the people that they must be careful to do all of them if they would like to receive the blessings of the covenant, and that this was not a covenant that the LORD even made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that it was a covenant that needed a mediator--someone to stand between the people and God, and that mediator of this "Old Covenant" as we call it today was Moses.

We like to skip over the "indicative" statements and go straight to the "imperative" statements, but the Jewish people understand verse 6 tp be part of the first commandment along with verse 7.  It is only because of how God redeemed the people and made them into something new that these imperative statements come.  We can summarize the Law as "Be the people that I have made you to be."  The New Covenant is not really that different other than the gospel has been more fully revealed, and this idea of regeneration has been made more clear to us, but we should know that we have no chance to obey even these Ten Commandments on our own, let alone the hundreds of additional commandments that we find in the books of Genesis-Deuteronomy.

Which is the hardest for you and do you imagine as a "little" sin?  Do you not recall that all of these sins were guilty of the death penalty?  This is the list of high crimes and misdemeanors for which there was usually no sacrifice that could be offered because these are all willful, rebellious choices that we make to worship false gods, to make idols, to blaspheme the name of the LORD, to break the Sabbath (the days that the LORD has made holy), to be dishonoring and disobedient to parents (rebellious to the authority we have been put under), to take another man's life (outside of war, capital punishment, or certain types of self defense...even involuntary manslaughter is going to have a price associated with it in the Law, and even unjust war that sheds innocent blood would be judged by God), committing adultery or any other kind of sexual sin that corrupts God's covenant of marriage and distorts the gospel that is supposed to be displayed through that covenant, stealing anything that doesn't belong to you (including getting paid for time that you did not work or not giving it your full effort), giving any false testimony (while we normally think of this as any kind of lying and should, the specific focus here was any testimony that would be used in court to convict someone else and deprive them of life, making you a murderer, or property, making you a thief--you're just using the court to do your dirty work for you.  This is a prohibition against an unjust legal system), and finally do not covet (oh, how much of an issue we have with covetousness today, and this is probably the one commandment out of the list that people "forget" most of the time because our culture here in the United States is a culture of greed and self-centeredness that teaches everyone from a young age to covet that which the LORD has not given to them--someone else's talent or gifting, "I wish I could sing like that" is not so much a compliment to the singer as it is a slight against the LORD for saying, "I am not happy with the way that you made me."  "I would be happy if I had (fill in the blank)."  That's a lie..  Look at 1 Timothy 6 for some teaching from Paul on this.  His teaching can be summarized by 1 Timothy 6:6, "But godliness with contentment is great gain."

Moses makes sure the people remember that these are not his own words or just some arbitrary rules that their parents made up.  These are the the very words of God that He spoke like He had never spoken before.  They are to listen to the words the LORD has spoken which makes me think of how the Father said of the Son (who is also called the Word), "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him." (at the Mount of Transfiguration).

The people were afraid of the way in which the LORD revealed Himself, but this holy fear was not bad.  It would lead to right knowledge of who God was and what He commanded, and they should be careful to listen to all He had to say and to obey it.  The "fear of the LORD" is connected to obedience and to the LORD's holiness, but it is not correct to tell the unsaved that they should not fear God, for even "His people" here learned to have a holy fear of Him and to not approach Him any way they wanted to and to draw near with the purpose of hearing from Him, but not to draw so close that they forgot their place and His place.  We should still have reverence when we approach the LORD, but we have an even better relationship where the LORD has told us that we can now "boldly approach the throne of grace" because of what Jesus has done and that we can cry out "Abba, Father" ("Daddy") and He will hear us.  We still do not come to Him any way we want--we only come through the blood of Jesus--but we can now approach Him in a way that we never could before, because we no longer have to come to Him by the blood of bulls and goats covering temporary atonement for our sin, but we come through the blood of Jesus who has made permanent atonement for our sin, guilt, and shame, paid the debt in full, and has made us into His own image so that when the Father looks on us, He sees His Son, and how could the Father refuse the Son?

These Commandments were never meant to save anyone.  They instead were there to teach us who God is and about His nature and character and for Him to establish His Law and Order among His people.  If we are truly the people God wants to make us to be, then we will do the things that God wants us to do (we see this connection in nearly all of the New Testament starting with The Sermon on the Mount and going through the book of Revelation

Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it, and to fulfill it on our behalf so that we might receive all the blessings of the Law and He might take on all the curses of the Law.  The Law is not bad--it is a reflection of God's holiness and righteousness, but what is bad is our legalism that thinks that somehow the Law gives us a pat to make our own way to God outside of Jesus.  Even the Law is all about Jesus when Jesus went through all the Law and the Prophets with the disciples on The Road to Emmaus, so then there is still much that we can learn about Jesus from the Law (and the entire Old Testament).  We too should be careful to know these commandments and do all that is in them because we too should be God's covenant people marked by His name and led by  His presence, and one of the ways that we show the world who God is and that the redemption and salvation that He has provided is real is that we have changed hearts, not because we try to change our actions of our own will, but because He has changed our heart, our nature and our identity.  He will write this Law on our hearts and He will cause us to love His Law and the rest of His Word.  If we do not keep His commandments, then we do not love Him, and we do not belong to Him.  (See John 14:15 and John 3:36).  Obedience is tied to true faith by Jesus and His apostles.

Deuteronomy 4:44-49
English Standard Version

Introduction to the Law
44 This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel. 45 These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt, 46 beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. 47 And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; 48 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion (that is, Hermon), 49 together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

Notice that the author speaks as if they are already in the Promised Land, probably because the author knows he is writing to future generations that will be living in the Promised Land and they will have already crossed that impossible obstacle of the Jordan River.  They will have to look back to the other side to remember this day and these words that were said by Moses.

This is the land, called the Trans-Jordan, that the LORD miraculously gave them had belonged to the people of King Og and King Bashan, the two Amorite kings that the LORD had given into the hands of the Israelites and in whose lands the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

From this place, Moses will remind the people of the entire Law before they enter the land and will make them swear by its blessings and curses that they will be careful to do all that is written in it for all their days and that they will be careful to teach all these things to all of their children and future generations.  This is the last sermon he would ever preach to the people and this is what he chose to say to them.  If you were a dying man, what would be the last sermon you would speak?  Would it be the Law and instructing those who had been under your authority to be careful to do all written in it, or would it be something else?  Which book of the Bible might you use to give your last sermon and prepare the people to go on without you and transition to their new leadership?  No matter what you would do, this is the message these people needed to hear in this place at this time, and perhaps it is the message that some of us still need to hear today.