1 These are the words of the covenant, which YAHAVAH commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
2 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that YAHAVAH did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;
3 The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:
4 Yet YAHAVAH hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
And this opens us up to an important, confusing, difficult to parse subject found in scripture – which we will come back to next week at the start of our study.
From verse 5 -9, YAHAVAH reminds them of how He has blessed them (which is a good mindset to bear about in life when we get down isn’t it?) because life can bring us down into some pretty miserable places.
Yesterday morning I got here about 4 and was surprised to see a welcomed sight from our recent past – Richards parked car – running parallel to the building.
I laughed out-loud because in my mind, I caught him.
See in the past, Richard will pull into our parking area after a night of too much sauce and finding him here in the early morning was not unusual – in the past.
But if you have been with us for any amount of time you will know that Richard, who has been around for at least a decade, dropped off the map.
I mean literally – no communication with anyone.
Several people had tried to call and contact him without success. We thought he was dead, sent police to do a welfare check, NOTHING. Absolute silence to all inquiries.
His car more beat up, the window now cracked and he was inside reclined in the drivers seat.
I approached the window and knocked on it, laughing hard because I was both overjoyed to see him and humored by the fact that I was able to actually catch him, unsuspecting and he had no escape.
His eyes broke open slowly and he rolled down his window and laughing I said, “Richard Richard Richard – what they hell is up, man?”
His body was still operating by the refreshments he consumed the night before.
“Hey, Shawn,” he said.
I said, “No seriously, what is going on, man? We have all worried about you, prayed for you . . . “
He explained a string of bad luck that had fallen upon him over the year, including the loss of an entire inheritance he expected because his relatives spent it all, the death of a niece, losing his job at the U and having gone to Cedar City.
When he finished with, “so that’s it,” I responded with, “I’m really sorry man, but I gotta be straight – none of that explains why you disappeared after years of weekly fellowship, did not answer dozen of calls from Dave, Kathy Maggie, me or others? I mean, you totally dropped off the face of the earth and would not talk to anyone? I wondered if you were angry at the Adams Road thing and my handling of it?”
He said, “Naww, nothing like that. I just had to get away from everything. All of it. Everyone.”
I repeated, “but why?”
And he said, “I was pissed.”
I probed deeper, “At what?”
And after a pause he said,
“At everything.”
I told him I understood, that we would love to see him again, and I offered help with anything he needs. He declined but before walking away, I said, “And how is your heart with God?”
He said, “Oh, he and I are fine.”
I said, “so good to hear.”
And I walked away reminded that we are all, to some extent, the walking wounded, bearing about trials, worries and woes, hidden and known, which will wear us down, break us and how kindness, and mercy, and love for all people is the go-to for every moment of every day while retaining a mindset of all He has blessed us with.
That is what Richard did because after I asked about He and God he added,
“Things are actually really good and He has blessed me a lot inspite of stuff – so, no, we are good.”
That kind of faith just blows my mind.
So then from 10 through 23 YAHAVAH
addresses, yet again, the fact that they will be blessed if they follow Him along with a number of other subtext points.
But at verse 23 we read, in the face of their disobedience, something interesting as it says
23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which YAHAVAH overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
Relative to the entire biblical account we have another reference here to brimstone, salt and burning, which serve to destroy the ground, agriculture, trees and grass – which we saw in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah earlier but is also tied to the Great and Dreadful day of the Lord.
Frankly, this description here in Deuteronomy was more fulfilled in the last destruction of the Jews by the Romans in 70AD than what they experienced in the first destruction at the hand of the Babylonians as our secular histories echo at that time that the whole land was laid waste, deserted by its inhabitants, and made a den of thieves because it was brought to desolation by repeated returns of wars.
Adding salt to this wound (no pun intended) this destruction appears to have continued after 70 AD out until the time of Adrian, when Julius Severus made sure complete devastation of that whole country happened.
So all the way back here in Deuteronomy we also read at verse 24 where it says
24 Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath YAHAVAH done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
25 Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of YAHAVAH God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:
26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:
27 And the anger of YAHAVAH was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
28 And YAHAVAH rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.
Our scriptural expert Grady pointed out that some scholars believe that Deuteronomy is believed to have been edited many years later and that the line, “as it is this day,” is believed to prove that all the curses did land on them as promised as this was an edit done after their first captivity.
CHAPTER 30 opens with
30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither YAHAVAH thy God hath driven thee,
2 And shalt return unto YAHAVAH thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
3 That then YAHAVAH thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither YAHAVAH thy God hath scattered thee.
4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will YAHAVAH thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
5 And YAHAVAH thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
6 And YAHAVAH thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love YAHAVAH thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
7 And YAHAVAH thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
8 And thou shalt return and obey the voice of YAHAVAH, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.
So, the big question is? Did this happen?
The answer is found in Daniel chapter nine which is so important to understanding so much about the timing of YAHAVAH working with and through the Nation we have to just read the whole thing.
I am not going to explain it – I think Grady should do a teaching on this chapter but just to whet our ears to prepare us with some pre-conditioning, let’s read what it says. Ready?
Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Because of time let’s shift gears and go back to Deuteronomy 30 verse 11 which we find application in Romans as YAHAVAH says
11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
Going to Romans 10 verses 1 we see the real meaning of these verses as Paul writes, citing them
Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
And then Paul goes back to where we are in Deuteronomy and sites the passages we just read, saying, to start it off
5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, “That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 In that I command thee this day to love YAHAVAH thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and YAHAVAH thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love YAHAVAH thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which YAHAVAH sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
In chapter 31, we begin to see the end of Moses, as he writes,
1 And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.
2 And he said unto them, “I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also YAHAVAH hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
3 YAHAVAH thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as YAHAVAH hath said.
Then jump to verse 7 where we now read,
7 And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which YAHAVAH hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.
8 And YAHAVAH, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of YAHAVAH, and unto all the elders of Israel.
Then in verses 10-13 Moses gives instructions on the seven year release, and at verse 14 we read
14 And YAHAVAH said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.
15 And YAHAVAH appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.
16 And YAHAVAH said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither 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 befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.
And at verse 19-
19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it 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 sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.
21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.
23 And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.
24 And it came to pass, 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, which bare the ark of the covenant of YAHAVAH, saying,
Now, before we read this, note the absolute prophetic nature of what he is about to say as he says,
26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of YAHAVAH your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
So take this second reiteration of everything and add it to the first Ketubah contract YAHAVAH made in giving the first ten words that are IN the ark and add it to the outside of it.
Why?
27 For (Moses writes) “I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against YAHAVAH; and how much more after my death?
28 Gather unto 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 record against them.
29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of YAHAVAH, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.
Then chapter 32 presents the Song of Moses which accounts for verse 1-43.
I mean, that is a damn long song, right?
You may not know this but there are at least three songs that Moses wrote.
One was sung after the crossing of the Red Sea (found in Exodus 15), one is recorded in Psalm 90, and the last was what is written here in Deuteronomy 32.
As his time on earth drew to a close, Moses tied up several loose ends by following God’s instructions and one of these instructions was Moses was told to write a song, commonly called “The Song of Moses,” and teach it to the people.
YAHAVAH required the Israelites to learn the Song of Moses in anticipation of their future apostasy in the Promised Land.
YAHAVAH knew that, despite His blessings, Israel would turn their backs on Him and follow other gods, bringing divine judgment.
When that happened, the song they had learned generations earlier would “be a witness against them.”
There is a famous and documented story about a man named Robert Robinson who, when he was just 23 wrote a hymn called, Come thou fount of every Blessing for the Church of Christ.
It is a hymn about our propensity of believers to wander which was a subject close to this man as he had times in his life where he, as a believer, wandered, even to the point where he derided scripture.
One day when he was much older, he was riding in a stagecoach, traveling through the English countryside and a woman sitting near him in the coach was reading a book of hymns and humming them to herself, while saying the words at times.
She turned to the stranger Robinson beside her, held the hymnbook out to him, and asked him if he had ever heard that particular number.
Robinson was silent for a moment, and then burst into tears, saying to her, and I quote,
“Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago. I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings that I had then.”
And while a gifted preacher, and a talented writer and theologian, he was personally unstable, mpulsive, eccentric, and one whose heart often strayed from the Lord.
Like the Nation did. Like we a prone to do. But God, ever faithful especially when we are weak, reminded Robinson through his own song, that He was there, always there.
I am not going to read the Song of Moses but it had both a prophetic purpose (it predicted the nation’s falling away) and a didactic purpose (it taught the faithfulness of God and the consequences of sin).
Deuteronomy 32:44 says that Joshua aided Moses in the recitation of this inspired song. The same day that Israel learned the Song of Moses, God directed Moses to climb Mt. Nebo, where Moses would be laid to rest (verses 48–50).
Four times YAHAVAH is called “the Rock” in the song reminding the Nation that the false God’s they pursued were unstable by comparison.
The last words of the Song of Moses are a promise that God will “make atonement for his land and people,”which is more than a significant promise, because the atonement for God’s people is none other than the sacrifice of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.
It is interesting that in Revelation, chapter 15 opens with John saying
Revelation 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
These passages prove the application of Revelation to all of True Israel and having completion in that day to them.
I want to take a moment to do something we don’t typically do and that is sing a hymn.
This one is particularly hard for me because it speaks so closely to my own heart but I do it humbly before Him and you.
May we use it as a emotional encouragement , an homage to the unconditional finished work of our God and King, reminding us of His constant unfailing goodness irrespective of our wandering ways.
SING COME THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING
(PLAY MUSIC)
Come Thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love
Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here by Thy great help I’ve come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
(Precious blood)
Oh, that day when freed from sinning
I shall see Thy lovely face
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace
Come my Lord, no longer tarry
Take my ransomed soul away
Send Thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless days
Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Here’s my heart
Oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Wrapping up Chapter 32 up we read at verse 48
48 And YAHAVAH spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:
51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.
And we will continue on with the wrap up of Deuteronomy next week.
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