Thoughts

Introduction to Deuteronomy

The children of Israel are on the threshold of entering into the Promised Land. God has led them in the wilderness for 40 years, not because it took that long to walk from Egypt to this place, but because of their rebellion. God told them that generation would never enter the Promised Land.

But now there is a new generation. All of the old generation was dead, and God was about to fulfill His promise to give the Promised Land to this generation.

But because of Moses’ disobedience at Meribah, God told him he would not enter the Promised Land, either. 

So Moses spoke to all Israel when they were about to cross over into Canaan, the Promised Land.

The word “Deuteronomy” means “second law”. And this book is a sermon, or series of messages from God through Moses to Israel. We must remember that none of this generation was old enough to remember when God gave the tablets of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, also called Mount Horeb. So Deuteronomy is a second giving of the Law, because God wanted this new generation to follow His commands. He did not want them to fail as their parents had. 

And God knew that Moses would not be there to lead them, so He directed Moses to remind them of how God had delivered them from their captivity in Egypt, and what happened in the 40 years since that miraculous event. And He wanted to remind them, or perhaps for some of them, teach them for the first time, of God’s Laws.

We humans have short memories. We need to be reminded again and again. When we look back at history, that fact seems evident. I’ll go into no detail here, but what we are living through right now is proof of it. Just about 75 years ago, World War II was fought, and facism was beat back by forces for freedom. And now, facism is making a comeback, using another name…socialism, democratic socialism, woke-ism, etc. 

How could this be happening? After the war, the cry was, “Never again!”. But here we are. This is happening because my generation, shamefully, neglected to remind the next generation of the lessons learned.

God, through Moses, reminded the generation about to enter Canaan, the lessons learned. And more than that, Deuteronomy was and is a book for all generations. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy three times when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. 

“Deuteronomy is one of the greatest books of the Old Testament. Its influence on the domestic and personal religion of all ages has not been surpassed by any other book in the Bible. It is quoted over eighty times in the New Testament and thus it belongs to a small group of four Old Testament books [the others being Genesis, Psalms, and Isaiah] to which the early Christians made frequent reference.” (Dr. David Thompson)

Encouragement

Over and over again, as we read how God directed them to take new portions of the Promised Land, God told them through Moses, “See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

In other words, they are told, “God has already won. He has given you the victory. Don’t be afraid, don’t be discouraged.”

Beloved, are you afraid? Are you discouraged? Is there a battle in your life that seems to have you defeated? Something that you cannot get victory over? If you have put your faith in Jesus, then you have everything you need to claim victory. Jesus defeated sin and death because of his death on the cross and resurrection on the third day. If you belong to Jesus, the chains of sin are broken. You are no longer a slave to it. Leave it behind, as the children of Israel left the wilderness behind when they entered the Promised Land. Don’t look back! Look ahead. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the fulfillment of the promise of a new life. You have only to claim it. 

“See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1 NLT, Ch. 2 GWT, Ch. 3 NIV

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