Key Verse:
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NKJV
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your [a]good?
Loving God is the beginning of the commandment. Loving your neighbor as yourself will complete circle. Let that circle remain unbroken.
Selah
Where to begin?
Psalm 27:38 NKJV
28 For the Lord loves justice,
And does not forsake His saints;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.
There is something here to take note of. In a minute. Let us at first make mention that today’s lesson begins the Winter 2021 Quarter. The entire session is titled: Justice, Law, History. The first few lessons will focus on justice, the occurrence of which lends a prophetic note to the session based on the fact that the topic of justice, particularly social, economic, and yes, environmental justice have gained a great deal of public attention in the past few years.
We serve a loving God, but if God is love He must be just. Love that is not just is not love. Thankfully, the Bible makes it clear that God most certainly is just and that He will one day bring justice eternally to all of creation. For those of us who believe that God is too slow in visiting justice upon those who oppress, be reminded that love restrains Him. He is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. Be thankful.
Deuteronomy 1:3 NKJV
3 Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them,
The lesson begins as Moses is preparing the children (of the children) of Israel to go into the Promised land under the Leadership of Joshua, the son of Nun. All of the first generation of the Hebrews that left Egypt in the Exodus had died, save Caleb, Joshua, and Moses, and God would not permit Moses to crossover. That first generation died in the wilderness because of their unbelief, it was this second generation that would come into the inheritance promised to Abraham.
The title of the Book of Deuteronomy has meaning. The word ‘Deuteronomy’ means ‘second law’, or ‘second reading’, which is an accurate accounting of its purpose. At God’s direction, Moses brought this second generation of Hebrews to the edge of the Promised Land, but before sending them over, he called them all together for a ‘second reading’ of the law that God had given them at Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai).
I find some kinship to this ‘second generation’ of Hebrews, in that, I was at one time a foreigner to the promises and covenants of God, but someone preached Jesus to me and I too, become an heir to the promises of God through Christ. This second reading of the law put this generation of Israelites under God’s care via covenant relationship. It was important that they understand that they would be under His care as long as they remained true to His commands. With that, let’s get started.
The Lesson
Deuteronomy 5:1-3 NKJV
1 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.
In chapters one through three, Moses recounted the high points of the exodus and subsequent forty-year journey through the wilderness. In that, all of this generation had been born in the wilderness, God wanted to teach some and remind others how great their deliverance from Egypt had been, Egypt, the greatest nation of its day had been crushed by God. The throne had been overturned and Israel walked out of Egypt with their wagons loaded with the wealth of Egypt.
Then Moses recounted the wilderness experience, both the highs and lows. The highs included victories of some of the kings that ruled there. The lows included the rebellion and unbelief of the children of Israel against God.
Beginning in chapter four, Moses began to call the children of Israel to relationship with God. Reverence and obedience head the list, with Moses admonishing them to flee from idolatry and to obey all of the statues that He was about to give them.
Chapter five opens with Moses' command to “Hear!” “Hear, O Israel…” The Hebrew word for ‘hear’ is ‘sh’ma’ pronounced ‘shema’. Sh’ma means “to hear and to do.”, or rather, to hear and obey. Here in this first utterance, Moses enjoins the primary principle of relationship with God, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing, by the Word of God. For the children to hear the record and the commandments given by Moses was for them to connect with God on a personal, intimate level. This declaring of the covenant in their hearing brought them into a place of relationship with God. By Moses’ declaration, they were becoming God’s own children and He was becoming their God. What follows is a repetition of the Ten Commandments given at Mount Horeb. With that repetition is a re-establishment of God’s covenant with His covenant people. It is important to observe that relationship came before the inheritance was given. God is our portion. Here is Moses’ recounting of the commandments:
Deuteronomy 5:5-22 NKJV
5 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 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 [a]bondage.
7 ‘You shall have no other gods [b]before Me.
8 ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 9 you shall not bow[c] down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, [d]visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and [e]keep My commandments.
11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him [f]guiltless who takes His name in vain.
12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to [g]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 the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by 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 has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
17 ‘You shall not murder.
18 ‘You shall not commit adultery.
19 ‘You shall not steal.
20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’
22 “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from 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.
Moving on… toward justice…
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NKJV
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your [a]good?
Love is both a noun and a verb. It is something you do (verb) because of something you feel (noun). We are commanded to love God with all that is within us and to demonstrate our love for Him by obeying Him. In Moses’ day that meant obeying the commandments and the statutes of the Lord. That obedience set the children of Israel apart from the people that surrounded them. The commandments of the Lord made them a peculiar people, holy and consecrated for God’s purposes. And in the end, it worked to their benefit. Beloved, the same is true for us. Those of us who allow the Holy Spirit to lead us are the children of God, or more explicitly, the maturing sons and daughters of God, wielding grace and truth as our banner.
Beloved, justice starts with God and then spreads through us into the earth. How can there be justice in the earth without just people doing just things? If charity begins at home and spreads abroad, so does … justice. We have to be the arbiters of justice in the earth Beloved. It starts here. Micah echoed Moses’ sentiment with these words:
Micah 6:8 NKJV
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love [d]mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
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Deuteronomy 27:1-4 NKJV
1 Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: “Keep all the commandments which I command you today. 2 And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. 3 You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you. 4 Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime.
A signpost serves as a reminder of where you are and offers some insight into your eventual destination. In much that same way, these memorial stones were a reminder of where the children of Israel had entered into the promised land. The stones were whitewashed, painted so that the commandments written on them could be easily distinguished. For Christians, baptism serves as a signpost: an outward sign of an inward change. A personal declaration of what Jesus has done to your heart.
Speaking of the heart, God said that He would replace our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, then He would write His law, His commandment(s) upon them. Doesn’t that sound a little like what happened here? In essence, this ‘painting of the stones’ served as a foretelling of the born again experience: the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that seals us into God’s glorious kingdom.
Deuteronomy 27:5-8 NKJV
5 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. 6 You shall build with [a]whole stones the altar of the Lord your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.”
Why a natural altar? Why not fashion the stones to form an attractive place on which to bring sacrifices? Beloved, any altar that the children of Israel would build was to foreshadow that craggy hillside outside of Jerusalem called Golgatha, where our savior would one day give His life for us. John told us that salvation would not come by the will of the flesh or by the will of man, meaning salvation would not, could not come by human effort. The altar had to be fashioned by unworked stone. The brutality of the cross would not be diminished.
Deuteronomy 27:9-10 NKJV
9 Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 Therefore you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”
“Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the Lord your God!” They were no longer Jacob’s. They didn’t belong to Moses. They were not the possession of Abraham. They were now the sole possession of the God of Heaven. He was their God and they were (and are) His people. Beloved. God is our portion. He is our inheritance. Jesus is all. Let Him be your guide. Remember; love is a noun and a verb.
Selah,
wb
Deuteronomy 6:4 NKJV
4 “Hear, O Israel: [b]The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
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