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Deuteronomy 30-31
Choose Life Or Die
Psalm 31:15-24 Refuge and Reward
15.My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.16.Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your hesed/loyal covenantal love.17.Let me not be disappointed, Yahweh, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol.18.Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.19.Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!20.In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.21.Praise be to Yahweh, for he has shown me his marvelous hesed/loyal covenantal love in a strong city.22.As for me, I said in my haste, "I am cut off from before your eyes." Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.23.Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.24.Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in Yahweh."
Observation
31:15-24.David calls upon God to save him from the oppression of his enemies, because they look like they will do him in. He appeals on the basis of God's hesed and his fear and trust of God. He praises God for the goodness He has stored up to pour out upon those who are faithful to Him, at just the right time.
Application
Take refuge in God, and trust in His goodness; He will not disappoint those who are loyal to Him.
Prayer
Great God, I praise You for being my refuge and help; for being loyal to Your promises; for providing what is good, so I can trust You completely. Thanks. Amen.
Proverbs 8:20-21 Wealth of Wisdom
20.I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice;21.That I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries.“Observation
8:20-21.Wisdom not only leads to temporal wealth but also eternal righteousness. Wisdom promises to fill the treasuries of those who love her and walk with her. What's not to like? So often people forsake the ways of wisdom and righteousness in the pursuit of temporal honor and gain, winding up with neither, nor enduring righteousness. Silly people; who told you to do that?
Application
Walk in the paths of wisdom, righteousness, and justice, and they'll lead to your pot of gold.
Prayer
Lord, teach me to love your ways and walk in them, so that I may receive all the blessings You have planned for me. Thanks. Amen.
Deuteronomy 30-31 Choose Life Or Die
There are just two chapters today to give you time to focus and digest. They are the climax of the book, the last words of Moses. (Musical types might argue for the Song of Moses in the next chapter.) There is an extended section on getting a new heart under Digging Deeper. Be asking yourself: “What did God want and expect the people to do?”
Deuteronomy 30 Change of Heart
1.When all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations, where Yahweh your God has driven you,2.and shall return to Yahweh your God, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul;3.that then Yahweh your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, where Yahweh your God has scattered you.4.If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there will Yahweh your God gather you, and from there he will bring you back:5.and Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.6.Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.7.Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.8.You shall return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all his commandments which I command you this day.9.Yahweh your God will make you abundant/plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good: for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers;10.if you shall obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.11.For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.12.It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?"13.Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?"14.But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.
15.Behold, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil;16.in that I command you this day to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it.17.But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;18.I denounce to you this day, that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land, where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it.
19.I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore CHOOSE LIFE, that you may live, you and your seed;20.to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Observations
30:1.Note that God expected Israel to reap both the blessings and curses based upon their obedience. When they chose to obey, they'd be blessed. When they chose to disobey, they'd be cursed. When in the process of being cursed/disciplined, they recalled what God had promised, and returned to Him, He would graciously return to them. (Read Romans 11 if you don't know it.)
30:6.
After they recall these words and return to God, then He will circumcise (make sensitive) their hearts. In Dt 10:16 “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.” the people had the responsibility to do this. Ditto in Jer 4:4. However in Jer 32:39, again after they repent and return, He will regather and give them a new heart. See New Covenant under Digging Deeper (below).
30:10.
Just like these were the conditions for blessing before Israel was disciplined, so they are the conditions after they return from being disciplined.
30:11-14.
Anyone who says God gave the law to show people they couldn't keep it must not have these verses in their Bible.
30:15-20.
It should be clear to all but the most hardened of heart, that God gives people a choice, and implores them to choose correctly. Their consequences are dependent upon their actions. I implore you to understand these two chapters, the climax of the law, especially this paragraph. Life and death are covenantal terms. In covenantal terminology, “to live” is to exercise dominion under the terms of a covenant; “to die” is to be deprived of dominion under the terms of a covenant. An Ancient Near East text reads something like: “...he was an unfaithful vassal so I 'put him to death' and led him captive in chains to my capital city, where he served out the rest of his days in my dungeon.” A suzerain (greater power) deposed a vassal (lesser power) of a position or rulership, and the term used was “to slay, or put to death,” yet the guy is still alive in the dungeon. This is similar to Adam and Eve being told they would die in the day they ate the forbidden fruit, yet they are still living and playing hide 'n seek with God. What Adam and Eve and the unfaithful vassal lost was dominion, or the right to rule. Adam and Eve were deprived of glory/rulership (discovered they were naked because their glory departed. See Genesis 3 post). The unfaithful vassal was also “killed” under the terms of the covenant. Israel would not be top nation (deposed) if they were unfaithful. Unfaithful servants in the NT don't rule with Christ either. Way before Spock said “Live long and prosper” God gave Israel the choice to experience that blessing through faithful obedience.
Heaven and earth are the witnesses of God giving Israel the choice, because they would be around a long time, to testify to the words God spoke to the nation.
Question
Are the choices you're making going to result in God's blessing or discipline?
Application
In the words of God though Moses: 14 But the word is very near to you, and in your heart, that you may do it. 19 therefore CHOOSE LIFE, that you may live, 20 to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life,
Prayer
God, I accept your offer of life; may I live it abundantly as a result of Your blessings; may I also be careful to love, obey, and cling to You all my days. Thanks for making this possible. Amen.
Deuteronomy 31 Be Strong and Courageous
1.Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.2.He said to them, "I am one hundred twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: and Yahweh has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’3.Yahweh your God, he will go over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua shall go over before you, as Yahweh has spoken.4.Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land; whom he destroyed.5.Yahweh will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you.6.Be strong and courageous, don’t be afraid, nor be scared of them: for Yahweh your God, he it is who does go with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you."7.Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous: for you shall go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it.8.Yahweh, he it is who does go before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you: don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed."9.Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.10.Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tents,11.when all Israel has come to appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.12.Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your foreigner who is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;13.and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it."14.Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, your days approach that you must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him." Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.15.Yahweh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud: and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent.16.Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.17.Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’18.I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they shall have worked, in that they are turned to other gods.19."Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.20.For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then will they turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.21.It shall happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their intentions which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I swore."
22.So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.23.He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them: and I will be with you."24.It happened, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,25.that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying,26."Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.27.For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against Yahweh; and how much more after my death?28.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.29.For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days; because you will do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands."30.Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.
Observations
31:1-8.Note the emphasis on God, as the basis of not fearing. God would not forsake them if they wouldn't forsake Him. However, if they forsook God (31:16-17), He would forsake them. Although God would deliver the nations to Israel, He still had a job for them to do (31:5)
31:10.
God's major means to bring about blessing (Plan A) in the lives of His people is His word. They were to read/hear it, sing it, keep in their lives and in the Ark. Plan B is disastrous consequences, evils and troubles for forsaking Him, to help folks come to the awareness that God was not in their midst. In their sin, God appeals to their reason: If God seems far away, guess who moved?
31:16-21.
God's grace is so obvious in giving Israel the land and blessing them in it as a result of their initial obedience, even though He knew they would forsake Him as soon as life got comfy. His same grace disciplines them so they might turn back.
31:29.
Moses is getting a little curmudgeonly in his old age. In order for someone to be blessed they had to follow and obey God. In order to rebel and corrupt themselves, and turn aside, they had to have been first following God. The evil will happen to them because of their choice to do wrong. God did not ordain their obedience nor disobedience, just the consequences that would come from exercising their will correctly or incorrectly.
Application
The key to exercising one's will correctly in choosing obedience is to simply follow what God said in 31:12 - “hear, that they may learn, and fear the LORD God, and observe to do all the words of this law.” If you don't feed on the word every day, you'll fail to walk in way of life.
Prayer
Lord of my life, keep my head and heart in Your words, and my feet on the path to life. Amen.
Digging Deeper
Getting a New Heart
30:6 After God's chosen yet cursed/disciplined people (who had experienced blessing as a group and were now experiencing cursing as a group - 30:1) recall His promises and return to God, and obey wholeheartedly (30:2) then He will circumcise their hearts. That's after they decide to do things God's way, and actually do it wholeheartedly.
A circumcised heart is one that is sensitive to God. Remember that the heart is where values reside and decisions are made. The fool has no room for God's law in the decision-making process, preferring to live independently of His revelation (independence is the essence of sin).
God's people are given the responsibility to circumcise their own hearts.
Earlier in the book they were given this command:
Dt 10:12 “Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 to keep the commandments of Yahweh, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?16 “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.”
The people had the responsibility to do this.Later in their history, in Jeremiah 4:4, they are told to return to God and circumcise themselves, in order to avoid God's wrath and exile:“
Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”
So how does one circumcise their heart and make it tender towards God? Keep reading.
However, in the future, according to Jeremiah 31:33, again after they repent and return, He will regather and put His law in their hearts. This is part of the New Covenant that God will make with the regathered Israel.
Jer 31:31 31 "Indeed, a time is coming," says the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them," says the LORD. 33 "But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land," says the LORD. "I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people. 34 "People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me," says the LORD. "For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done."(NET)
Jeremiah 32 goes on to indicate that when the law is in their hearts there is no room for competing values (v39), and it results in fearing God so they won't sin (cf. Proverbs on fearing God and wisdom).
Jer 32:37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.(NIV)
The Prophet Ezekiel also speaks of the reversal of the earned curses and return to the land, with promise of a different heart. The new heart is tender toward God, rather than stony, with single intent, resulting in the kind of obedience that allows God to have an intimate relationship with them. Note the addition of a different spirit as well. Both Ezek 11:18 and 11:19 start with a “waw consecutive” in Hebrew, indicating a sequence of events, correctly translated as “and” or “then”. Some translations obscure it or omit it. After they repent (Dt 30:1) and God regathers and they remove the idols THEN God will give a new heart. God will destroy those whose hearts are devoted to the idols and who don't remove them (11:21). So God doesn't give the blessing of the covenant to everyone, only those who obey. So not every returning Israelite would have the right heart. Notice also that the giving of a new heart is dependent upon obedience, not the other way around. Again, the hallmark of having a circumcised/sensitive heart with the law written on it, is obedience.
Ezek 11:12 Then (after being judged) you will know that I am the LORD, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the standards/customs of the nations around you!'"18 “And they will return to it (the land) and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19 And I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be carefulto keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (NIV)
Ezek 36:26 I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.
So how do you get a new heart? You don't have to wait for God to regather Israel in the land. Write the law on it yourself, by purposefully obeying it, and ingraining it in your value system. Check out the following verses to see the do-ability of the task. See Joshua 1:7-8 (in a couple of posts) for more.
Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let your heart keep my commandments: 3 Let not hesed/loyal love and truth/faithfulness forsake you: bind them around your neck; write them upon the table of your heart:
Proverbs 4:1 My son, keep my words. Store up my commandments within you. 2 Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
Psalm 37:31 The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
Psalm 40:8 I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart."
Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Isaiah 51:7 "Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; don’t fear the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their insults.
Romans 7:22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,
2 Corinthians 3:3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
God in a nutshell:
God wants an intimate relationship with people so He can bless them and be praised and glorified. He gives them a choice to get blessed or cursed. He graciously gives good things to His people, knowing that some will choose to forsake Him. He graciously gives bad things to His disobedient people knowing that some will choose to repent and return. In the process He displays His multifaceted character. He gives His word, and incentives to keep in guiding the wills and actions of His people.
Us in a nutshell:
We receive blessing or cursing entirely dependent upon our response to Truth (God's word). If we obey (good choice), life gets good, and we are tempted to ease up on our pursuit of God (bad choice). God appeals to our mind/reason through the word (30:1) to get us to repent (change mind) when sinning. If we are reaping negative consequences, we can choose to reverse them by our obedience (but scars will remain).