This week, we shall continue with
the study of the Book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.
Words of Moses (the Law)—Moses’ Mediatory Role at Horeb:
(1) Moses said, “He [God] added nothing more” to the two stone tablets (i.e. the
Ten Commandments) (v. 22). Consider then the following:
a. What did he mean?
b. What about the rest of the commands that God continued to give Moses (v. 31)?
c. If they are not “additions” to the Ten Commandments, what are they?
(2) Since the leaders acknowledge that “a person can live even if God speaks with them” (v. 24) and since they did survive this time, why would they think they would die if they continued to stay there to hear the voice of God? (v. 26)
(3) Do you think theirs was a healthy kind of fear? Why or why not?
(4) What was their suggestion? (v. 27)
(5) What do you think was behind such a suggestion?
(6) Did they not fear that Moses would die? Why or why not? (See Exod. 32:1)
(7) What was God’s response to their request? (v. 28)
(8) What was God hoping would result from their fear? (v. 29)
(9) Did it turn out just as God had hoped for? Why or why not?
(10) What can we learn about the true meaning of the “fear of the Lord”?
(11) As Moses was prepared to reiterate “all the command, decrees and laws” to them for the final time, what did he exhort them to do and what reason did he give? (Vv. 32-33)
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Words of Moses (the Law)—The Greatest Commandment:
vv. 1-3—The Preface
(1) As a preface to his reiteration of the laws, what did Moses emphasize as the purposes of giving them these “commands, decrees and laws” (vv. 2-3)
(2) What then are your purposes in reading these laws of the Lord (and for that matter, the Bible)? (You may wish to consult Ps. 19:7-11; 2 Tim. 3:15-17)
vv. 4-9—The Shema (see Note below)
(3) V. 4 is deemed “the fundamental truth of Israel’s religion” (Craigie quoting from Driver (NICOT, 168)): The literal translation can be rendered, “Yahweh our God, Yahweh (is) one”. The exact phrase is repeated in Zechariah 14:9. Scholars have two different interpretations:
- He is the one and only God (NICOT, 169); ora. Which interpretation do you think is meant by v. 4 or both? Why?
b. What is the implication of each interpretation?
(4) V. 5 is called “the fundamental duty” of Israel (and all humankind).
a. Do you agree? Why or why not?
b. What is meant by “love”?
c. What is meant by “heart”?
d. What is meant by “soul”?
e. What is meant by “strength”?
f. What is meant by “all”?
g. What does the combination of heart, soul and strength indicate?
h. How might you keep this particular commandment?
i. In what context did Jesus quote this Commandment and why? (Matt. 22:37-40)
(5) As Jesus refers to this as the Greatest of all Commandments, they are to keep the commandments in their hearts and to impress them on their children (vv. 6-9)
a. When and where should they talk about it? (v. 7)
b. Where should they tie them? (v. 8)
c. Where should they write them? (v. 9)
d. What is the idea behind the instructions in vv. 7-9?
e. Do you think these are meant to be literally carried out? Why or why not?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“Shema Yisrael” (or “Hear, [O] Israel”) are the first two words of a section of the Torah, and is the title (sometimes shortened to simply Shema) of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and its twice-daily recitation as a mitzvah (religious commandment). It is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words, and for parents to teach their children to say it before they go to sleep at night.
The Words of Moses—The Importance of Keeping the Laws
(1) A reminder not to forget about the Lord (vv. 10-12)
a. What did Moses remind the people of so that they would not forget the Lord?
b. Would the fact that they would be inheriting houses, wells, vineyards and olive groves that they did not build make it easier or harder for them to forget it was God who gave them all these blessings? Why or why not?
c. What do you think is the key to not forgetting the Lord?
(2) Conditions of success in claiming the Promised Land (vv. 13-19)
a. Which of the Ten Commandments did Moses remind them to keep in vv. 13-14?
b. What if they fail to keep such Commandments? (v. 15)
c. Which incident did Moses remind them of in urging them not to test the Lord? (Exod. 17:1-7) Why did Moses cite this event in particular?
d. What condition(s) did Moses give concerning the fulfillment of God’s promise of giving them the Promised Land? (vv. 18-19)
(3) Teaching future generations (vv. 20-25)
a. What do you think might be the greatest challenge of ensuring future generations in following our footsteps of faith?
b. What in essence was Moses telling them to do? (vv. 21-23)
c. How may you learn from Moses’ advice in teaching our next generation?
d. Based on the Law, how could one achieve “righteousness”? (v. 25)
- Is it possible? (Rom. 3:20)
- What then is their ultimate basis of righteousness? (Rom. 1:17)
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Words of Moses—Dealing with Nations within the Promised Land (I)
(1) What are the nations they were to drive out of the Promised Land? (v. 1)
(2) How many are there?
(3) What are they to do to them? (v. 2)
(4) What particular prohibition is commanded concerning the peoples of these nations? (v. 3)
(5) What are the reasons given? (v. 4)
(6) These instructions are obviously aimed to prevent them from breaching the first part of the Ten Commandments: (vv. 5-6)
a. What are they to do in eliminating the temptation of idol worship? (v. 5)
b. What are the reasons given? (v. 6)
c. In what ways are they also true to us, NT believers? (1 Pet. 2:9)
d. What then should we do to eliminate temptations that could lead us astray as well?
(7) Reminding them of the reason for choosing them (vv. 7-11)
a. What is not the reason? (v. 7)
b. What is the reason? (v. 8)
c. How did God honor His promise? (v. 8b)
d. What then is the emphasis of His choosing?
e. How might you apply all of the above to you?
f. How then should they respond to such love of God? (v. 9)
g. How then should you respond to such love of God?
h. What if they do not respond to such love of God with love? (v. 10)
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Words of Moses—Dealing with Nations within the Promised Land (II)
(1) The promise of blessings (vv. 12-16)
a. What are the blessings promised by the Lord? List them one by one. (vv. 13-15)
b. What is the condition attached to these blessings? (v. 12)
c. In asking them to pay attention and to follow, why is the total destruction of “all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you” singled out? (v. 16)
(2) The encouragement (vv. 17-21)
a. What are the people afraid of? (v. 17) Is their fear valid? (v. 1)
b. Why then should they not be afraid? (vv. 18-21; note that “hornet” might be used metaphorically to refer to “panic”; see Exod. 23:27-28; Jos. 24:12)
c. Do you think these words of encouragement would alleviate their fear? Do they alleviate your fear?
(3) The promise of possessing the land (vv. 22-26)
a. Why would God not drive out those nations all at once? (v.22)
b. Apart from the practical reason given, what, in your opinion, might be the benefits of having to drive out their enemies “little by little”?
c. What spiritual lessons might you learn from the above?
d. In commanding the Israelites to destroy these nations:
- What are they to do with the images of the idols?
- Why are they not to bring them into their house based on their value (due to their gold and silver content)? (v. 25-26)
- Since this is the case, should we keep images of idols as displays in our houses, not for worship but for ornamental purposes because of their value (whether made of gold, silver or jade)?
(4) What are these nations that they are to destroy completely? (v. 1)
(5) How many are they? (See Acts 13:19 as well) Why does the Lord make mention of them specifically?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Words of Moses—Exhortation to “Follow Every Command”:
(1) What is the importance of following every command? (v. 1)
(2) In order to help them follow God’s commands, Moses urges them to “remember” (vv. 2-5).
a. Which experiences are they to remember?
b. What is their experience in the wilderness marked by? (v. 2)
c. Of the many tests that they had experienced in the wilderness, which particular one does Moses cite? (v. 3)
d. In what way were they humbled by that experience? (v. 3a)
e. Yet, what have they learned from that particular experience? (v. 3b)
f. Apart from humbling tests, what was the other thing that marked their forty years in the wilderness? (v. 4)
g. What should they have learned from this other thing that marked their wilderness experience?
h. What was God’s ultimate purpose in making them go through the forty years in the wilderness? (v. 5)
i. Pause and reflect: Which of the above reflects your own journey of faith as well?
(3) The beautiful Promised Land (vv. 6-9): Time and again the Promised Land is described as “a land flowing with milk and honey” and a “beautiful land” (e.g. Ezek. 20:15)
a. What kind of a land is depicted in v. 7?
b. What kind of a land is depicted in v. 8?
c. What kind of a land is depicted in v. 9a?
d. What kind of a land is depicted in v. 9b?
e. By comparison:
- Where were they before their forty years in the wilderness and what kind of people were they?
- Who were they before Joseph brought them to Egypt? (Exod. 1:1-5)
f. What then should they do given the tremendous grace of God? (v. 6)
g. Who and where were you before you came to Christ?
h. If God had not chosen you as His child. Who and where will you be?
(4) Guarding against the temptation of prosperity in the Promised Land (vv. 10-20)
a. What kinds of prosperity does Moses foresee that they would experience in the Promised Land? (vv. 12-13)
b. What temptations can prosperity bring? (vv. 14 and17)
c. What, in particular, does Moses again seek to point out about their wilderness experience in order to remind them to remember the Lord their God? (vv. 14a-16)
d. How does v. 18 speak to those who think it is by their own effort that they have achieved their success in life?
(5) What is the solemn warning that Moses gives them in spite of all the blessings they would enjoy from God? (vv. 19-20) Why?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Words of Moses—Who the Israelites Truly are:
(1) The formidable foes (vv. 1-3)
a. By reminding them of the formidable strength of their enemies, is Moses not affirming their fear?
b. Why then would he do that?
c. What does Moses draw their attention to in spite of their formidable foes?
d. Did he not say earlier that God would drive them out “little by little”? (7:22) Why then does he now say that they will annihilate their foes “quickly”? (v. 3)
(2) What is the reason why God would choose to drive out the nations and give their lands to them? (v. 5)
(3) Who really are the Israelites? (vv. 6-7) Why is it important for Moses to point this out?
(4) Which particular incident does Moses use as proof? (vv. 8-21)
a. Of all the incidents of rebellion, why does Moses choose to highlight this one? (v. 8)
b. What was the occasion? (vv. 9-11)
c. How important was that occasion for the people and the nation of Israel? (Note what the two tablets are called in vv. 9, 11 and e.g. in Exod. 32:15.)
d. What might be the significance that the two tablets were “inscribed by the finger of God” (9:10)
e. The making of idols is evil enough. How does the timing of making the golden calf speak to the “stiff-necked” nature of the people? (v. 13)
f. What did the Lord desire to do at that moment? (v. 14)
g. Instead of seizing this opportunity to elevate himself (v. 14b), what did Moses do and why? (vv. 18-19)
h. Can you recall the moving part of Moses’ intercession that he, somehow, has omitted in this recount? (see Exod. 32:31-32) Why did Moses do that?
i. What was the result of Moses’ intercession? (v. 19b)
(5) In your opinion, what are the lessons these Israelites should have learned from this incident?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?