Deuteronomy 2:1 – 4:9 Bible Teaching

Okay – Chapter 2 Highlights and focuses as Moses tells the history and provides some detail on the Nations engagements with other peoples.

At verse 5 Moses recites what YAHAVAH says to them about Mt Seir, saying,

5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

Its interesting but because this is our narrative as followers of Christ we tend to forget that YAHAVAH loves the world – all of them – so much do He sent His Son to redeem and reconcile us all.

We are fortunate to have come to the truth in this life and to walk in relationship with His directly but tend to err on the side of entitlement to Him and His love.

Here, God tells the Nation not to meddle with Esau or the Edomites for a few reasons –

He would not give them their land not so much as a foot of it, because
He gave that area (Mt. Seir) to Esau as an inheritance.
Again, we are most fortunate of all people to know and receive what we might call the total narrative of YAHAVAH’s work on earth through His Son, but this should not in our minds mean we look down upon, condemn or be critical of the way other peoples, cultures and nations worship and pursue EHim.

In fulfillment, we all have the Spirit of God within us, and some – due to culture, geography, family, conditioning – discover YAHAVAH (by and through the Spirit of His Son) in other expressions.

We tend to say, “no no no – if its NOT directly acknowledging Yeshua as Lord and Savior then it is a lie that leads to burning hell forever.

If you are inclined that way have at it. I see things a bit differently. As a confirmed Yeshuan, sold out in faith and attempting to operate by agape love among all people, I personally see the other approaches as lacking in some ways in the lives of those who follow them – like Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Muslims.

But standing on the Victory of Christ and all souls being brought back into the presence of God via His spirit, I step back from condemnation and realize we have no idea who are really His and who are not.

The response, therefore is, agape lovee for everyone, in His name and cause, until they too, arrive at the same conclusions about how and through whom God saved the world.

From verse 8 to 25 Moses covers-

Travels and travel instructions from YAHAVAH and in that Moses reminds them that they were never wanting, and He mentions giants in the lands which went by several different names including:
Emims
Akiams
Rapheams
And Zuzummims

Which are probably all the same types of giants but from different lands or peoples.

And then at verse 25 Moses writes,

25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

As a principle I think that there are parallels in the lives of believers today but not in the physical sense as it was with the Nation of Israel.

Instead, I am of the opinion that genuine believers, personally, if they are willing, automatically serve to bring fear in the hearts of those who reject the faith outright and of those who live by other less authentic standards.

It’s a funny thing but when you are uncompromising in your allegiance to God, when you refuse to play the games of men and you are never caught nor can be caught in deception or inauthentic expressions, people of the Dark do NOT want to be in your company.

They have all sorts of subtle tells that show their discomfort but I see it as entirely spiritual and based on the Dark coming face to face with the Light of Christ indwelling.

Of course, its not a great way to keep friends around or to get invited to the parties, but the type we are presented with here by Moses and the Nation is interesting in its modern application.

That said, we don’t want to be feared nor rejected because we are brash and outspoken and opinionated in the faith, that ostracization is justified.

But we do want to try and walk in the Light so openly that true Darkness will reveal itself and flee from our company.

At verse 30 we are hit square in the face with a passage that seems to support Reformed doctrine as Moses wrote:

30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for YAHAVAH thy ELOHYM hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

There are at least seven instances where YAHAVAH states that He was the one who hardened Pharaohs heart against the Nation.

In the Book of Joshua we will also read in
Joshua 11:19

There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle.
20 For it was of YAHAVAH to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Isaiah penned the following in Isaiah 63:17

O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Much earlier Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 6:10 a prayer to YAHAVAH, saying

Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

Which lends to the biblical concept that the Living God would blind people, make them deaf and to not understand with their heart, so that they would not convert nor be healed.

Without going into a whole theological presentation, which is very easy to do and to take up sides in an effort to try and box God in, I would suggest that

The Scripture is replete with passages that support the notion that the Living God could, did and would harden hearts and that He would also soften others.
These passages, of which we have covered a few, lean into the notion of election and predestination and admittedly, there are passages that tend to suggest this to be so.
That said, James makes it clear that
James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

Is there a difference between God tempting man or hardening his heart to do evil or is this just semantics and word play to dance around a tough topic?

I would suggest that if God could harden the heart of a person to not do His will, and that since sin is to disobey the will of God, then to harden a heart that might choose otherwise is synonymous with tempting us to sin.

Therefore, I see the solution in the sun example which when shining on some ground it makes the soil soft and when shining on other ground it make the ground hard.

And that all human beings, facing the shining Light of God causes them to soften their hearts toward Him or to harden them and therefore the instances of Him hardening is akin to Him only enhancing what is already in the willful heart of the individual involved.

What Isaiah just prayed was echoed by Yeshua when He was on earth as we read Him say in John 12:34

The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?
35 Then Yeshua said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
8 That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
I39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
41 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

Did God harden some clay hearts in scripture? Absolutely. Does He today? I am sure God can do anything today to bring about His ultimate desires, but I place a heavy emphasis on His adoration for given human beings freewill and that His interventions are often a matter of Him working with what is already in existence.

Paul said some powerful and easy to misinterpret words in Romans 9 beginning at verse 1 when he wrote,

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

But all of this is in accordance with His grand plan for the world and for all people, meted out and executed with Him hardening and softening both Jew and Gentile in that day according to their own propensities – in that day – and to bring about the solution for all through His Son thereafter!

Okay –

From verse 31 to 37 (or the end of the chapter) Moses retells of more journeys and dealings with other groups and how they destroyed the men, women and the little ones.

CHAPTER 3 then opens up with more of the same, with God telling them not to fear Sihon, King of the Amorites and how He delivered them into their hands.

Verse five through ten describes the Amorite cities as “great” with “high walls” but that this did not stop the Israelites from overwhelming them completely.

At verse 11 of chapter 3 however we read an interesting aside, as Moses writes,

11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.

What is this referring to and why? Og was the last king of the Amorites; his kingdom appears to have taken its name from the hill of Bashan; the country has been since called Batanaea.

He was a remnant of giants that once roamed the land.

Then Moses adds, “His bedstead was-of iron.” Iron was probably used partly for its strength and durability and mentioned because it was necessary to hold the body of the giant and because the bedstand was probably taken in a battle, we read the question, “Is it not in Rabbath, of the children of Ammon?”

I mention this because it is frankly just odd, but an insight into some of the more mundane but typical things that would exist in an ancient society like that one.

Finally, the fact that Moses adds that the bed was “nine cubits was the length and four cubits the breadth means the bed was one cubit longer than the giant Og and if a cubit was 18 inches long as some maintain, then calculations made Og twelve feet tall!

That’s a giant!

Fearing sounding ridiculous, some scholars changes the cubit ratios but even then OG winds up being 9 feet tall.

A final reason I mention this is to show how far some Jewish scholars have gone to mythologize Og and other giants.
For instance, in the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, speaking on Numbers 21:33-35, he said,

“Og having observed that the camp of the Israelites extended six miles, he went and tore up a mountain six miles in its base, and put it on his head, and carried it towards the camp, that he might throw it on the Israelites and destroy them; but the word of the Lord prepared a worm, which bored a hole in the mountain over his head, so that it fell down upon his shoulders: at the same time his teeth growing out in all directions, stuck into the mountain, so that he could not cast it off his head. Moses, (who was himself ten cubits high,) seeing Og thus entangled, took an axe ten cubits long, and having leaped ten cubits in height, struck Og on the ankle bone, so that he fell and was slain.”

I’m serious.

Even the Talmud says that OG was several miles high!

So, hearing this, we might understand why Moses was inspired to include these bed dimensions in the text.

Okay then, recall how Gad and Reuban came to Moses and asked to take land suitable for their herds of cattle outside of the Promised Land and Moses said okay but only after they joined the Nation in Canaan when it came to going to war with its inhabitants.

Well, verse 12-21 of chapter 3 tells us who owned that land before and how it was later distributed to the Gad, Reuban and Manassa and how Moses demanded that the males of these tribe enter in with their other tribes to go to war.

In verse 22 of chapter 3 Moses reminds the Nation how YAHAVAH had fought for them, and then in a moment of Psalmic praise, Moses writes at verse 24

24 O YAHAVAH ELOHIYM, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what elohiym is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?

We remember back in Exodus reading,

Exodus 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O YAHAVAH among the elohiyms? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

In 1st Kings 8:23 we will read

And he said, YAHAVAH elohiym of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:

And in 1st Chronicles 16:25 we will read

For great is YAHAVAH, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

Again, in Psalm 86:8 we read

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.
9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.

I hope to contribute somehow to the Glorification of His real Name on the earth. In fact, I am not sure the full glory of His work on earth can be attained until His name is said, name and known.

There is a VERY important logic behind this and it is located in all the passages I just read. What is it?

The biblical fact that there are gods many and spirits many in this world and it seems that knowing the actual name of God – at least as close as we can get – it vital to our direct communications with Him.

I am not suggesting that there is some magic power in this or demand – God hears and knows our hearts, but if there are numerous gods in the cosmos, I would guess that there are numerous names of them too and I cannot help but think that His stated desire to have His name known is meaningful, even purposeful.

I know the way we work as people. New things we cling to because of tradition take time to change because we sometimes feel reserved, embarrassed, fearful of mockery or of appearing to be overly zealous.

But I have come to believe appealing to His real name, instead of the name supplied to us by others – especially the Masoretic text – actually MEANS something and at least serves to distinguish Him from all other gods.

YAHAVAH.
YAHAVAH.
YAHAVAH.

Moses has suffered greatly and this prayer found in verses 24-25 is certainly heartfelt and he adds,

25 I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.

Is this not our hearts? To see the fruit of our labors? To experience some earthly indication of our efforts?

How does YAHAVAH respond? Like He responded to Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and even His own Son who on earth saw little progress as Moses adds the particulars of his situation, saying at verse 26

26 But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.

And God add-

27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.

At verse 29 Moses concludes the chapter with

29 So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor.

CHAPTER 4 opens with a passage that says

Deuteronomy 4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

Moses will repeat this in chapter 8 and say

Deuteronomy 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

It appears that when YAHAVAH first offered His wishes to the Nation they could be summarized in the Ten Words, which we remember are:

I am YAHAVAH thy Elohiym have no other elohiyms before me.

When that was not enough, YAHAVAH started adding statutes, commands, and judgments, creating the fullness of the Law over time and these directives all came from His mouth, meaning, He spoke them.

This directive opens us up to the Old Testament principle which reiterates the notion of doing the will of YAHAVAH and living, which equates to going in and possessing the Land which YAHAVAH their God had given them.

Obviously, the principle is clear to us today as we too, (believers) MUST do the will of YAHAVAH (appropriate to our day and age) in order to?

That’s right, in order to go in and possessing the land (the spiritual kingdom, I suggest) that He has promised and prepared for us.
Listen – genuine believers, according to the text, MUST do what He commands and there is no getting around every individual making the choice to comply or not IF they want to enter into His rest, here and in the hearafter.

What is the difference, however, between what YAHAVAH commanded the Nation which we are reading about in that day and what YAHAVAH commands all people to do ever since?

Before we embark on answering this lets consider what Moses adds to verse one, saying, at verse 2,

4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of YAHAVAH your elohiym which I command you.

Eight chapters later Moses will reiterate this directive and say

Deuteronomy 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Joshua will also write in

Joshua 1:7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

And of course, we remember what John the Revelator wrote in the last chapter of Revelation, saying

22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Honestly speaking, these warning are speaking not to the whole of the Bible but to the Law and the Revelation themselves.

But from all of this I would suggest an important perspective today –

That it was incumbent on believers in that day, and on believers today, to
a. Do all that YAHAVAH says or said to be blessed and to enter in and receive what He promised them/us;
b. That they nor we are to add or take away from the commands in any way, and
c. That to enter in to what He promises and has prepared these are non-negotiables.

For them, it was to do all that He said, spake and not to add nor take from it. But according to Peter in Acts, nobody was able to perform it, so while His words and laws, judgments and statutes WERE prescribed, they were unable and therefore we see that His Spoken Words could not be entirely kept BUT He made a way for them to fix their failures – and that was through the sacrificial laws in the tabernacle through the Levitical Priests He assigned them.

The principle remains true today for our entering into the Promised place and this includes our NOT adding nor taking away from what He has demanded – in any way.

And of course, we know that the Words He spoke relative to us have a two-fold meaning, don’t they?

First, there is the fact that we too live by Every Word Spoken as they became flesh and dwelled among us.

This principle is proven by the context of the passages in Hebrews 4:11-13 where we read,

Hebrews 4:11 Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

So we too, looking to the Word of God made flesh, do not add nor take away from Him nor His incarnation, looking to Him alone as the author and finisher of our faith and laboring, in and through this means and this means alone, to enter into His established rest here and beyond.

The second more literal words that His Son, the Word made flesh, gave to which we are not to add nor take away from are the simple commands to walk by faith and choose to love, as He gave commandment, and to not add nor take away from these.

And in these ways we have the fulfillment of His every command.

We will stop here.