This week, we shall continue with
the study of the Book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.
Words of Moses (the exhortation)—Their history of rebellion:
As the Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land, Moses reminds them that all is of grace and it has nothing to do with their righteousness; in fact they have been a rebellious and stiff-necked people since they left Egypt until their arrival at the plains of Moab (9:7). In particular, Moses reminds them of their sin at Horeb, at the giving of the Ten Commandments (9:1-21), and now he also cites other proofs of their rebellion:
(1) Which four incidents does Moses cite as proofs of their rebellion? (vv. 22-23)
(2) What happened at Taberah (Taberah means burning.)? (Num. 11:1-3)
(3) What does this incident highlight about their wickedness?
(4) What happened at Massah (Massah means testing.)? (Exod. 17:1-7)
(5) What does this incident highlight about their wickedness?
(6) What happened at Kibroth Hattaavah (The name means graves of craving.)? (Num. 11:31-35)
(7) What does this incident highlight?
(8) Of the many incidents of rebellion, why does Moses highlight these three incidents?
(9) We have already considered earlier their rebellion at Kadesh Barnea which caused them their forty years of wandering in the desert (Deut. 1:19-40).
a. What conclusion does Moses draw from all these incidents? (v. 24)
b. Should there be any hope for the people of God? Should Moses not be discouraged?
(10) In summarizing all these incidents of rebellion, Moses goes back to the incident at Horeb and reminds the people of his intercession on their behalf. (vv. 25-29)
a. At their rebellion, how discouraged was the Lord? (v. 25)
b. Moses now shares how he interceded for the people: How did he address the Lord? Why? (v. 26)
c. What is the importance of pointing out twice that these people, as stubborn and wicked as they were, were God’s people and God’s inheritance, and that He had redeemed them by His great power and mighty hand? (vv. 26, 29)
d. Why did he ask the Lord to remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? (v. 27)
e. What would happen to the reputation of the Lord should He destroy His people at this time? (v. 28)
f. What should the Israelites learn from this intercession?
g. How may we learn from Moses’ intercession?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Words of Moses (the exhortation)—Remembering Horeb (continued)
In his continued sermon to urge the people to serve and love God whole-heartedly, Moses, in this chapter, concludes his reminder of their wickedness at Horeb and God’s forgiveness:
(1) Forgiveness and continuation of the covenant (vv. 1-5)
a. What does the rewriting of the Ten Commandments on the new stone tablets represent?
b. What does the command of making the ark of covenant represent? (Exod. 25:22; Num. 17:4)
c. What is the importance of putting the stone tablets in the ark? (2 Chr. 6:11)
(2) An Insertion (vv. 6-9): The example of Horeb is interrupted by the mentioning of the following:
a. Aaron: When was his name last mentioned? (9:20)
b. Did the Lord destroy him right away?
c. Was his death the end of the (high) priesthood? (v. 6)
d. Aid to the priesthood is now provided through the choosing of the tribe of Levites: What are their duties? (v. 8)
e. Now they are able to enter into the Promised Land: The Levites, in fact, are not to share in the land — Is it a blessing or a curse? (v. 9) Why?
f. What is the point Moses wants to make through this insertion?
(3) The moral of the example of Horeb (vv. 10-13)
a. After the rebellion of the people, was Moses’ experience (of another 40 days and nights) before the Lord any different from the previous time? (v. 10)
b. What does this signify? (vv. 10-11)
c. What should Israel do in view of God’s grace of forgiveness? (vv. 12-13)
(4) The mighty and awesome God (vv. 14-22) — In addition to an affirmation of God’s grace, Moses also reminds them of the awesomeness of their God:
a. How does Moses contrast the two apparent contradicting sides of God? (vv. 14-15)
b. Are they indeed contradicting? Why or why not?
c. What then should they do? (v. 16)
d. What is meant by the circumcision of the heart? (see Rom. 2:25-29)
e. The character of the great, mighty and awesome God (vv. 17-19):
- How is He compared to other gods and lords? (v. 17)
- In what ways is He upright? (v. 17b)? What is the implication to His people?
- How does He show His compassion toward the fatherless, widow and foreigners? (v. 18)
- What do the fatherless, widows and foreigners have in common?
- How may we emulate God’s character today, especially to the foreigners (i.e. the immigrants)?
f. The proper response, therefore, is to worship Him as their only God (vv. 20-22). This is expressed in the following ways:
- Fearing Him: How may vv. 14 and 17 cause them (or us) to fear Him?
- Serving Him: With what might the people of Moses’ time associate the serving of the Lord? What about you? What is the true meaning of serving the Lord?
- Holding fast to Him: To what or whom might we hold instead?
- Taking oaths in His name: While Jesus teaches us not to swear at all (Matt. 5:34), what then is the implication of this command by Moses?
- Praising Him (i.e. not anyone else):
1. What is the reason given here? (v. 21)
2. What is the proof right before their eyes? (Compare Exod. 1:1-5; with Exod. 12:37)
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Words of Moses (the exhortation)—continued exhortation to obedience:
(1) Importance of personal experience (vv. 1-7)
a. Why does Moses emphasize that they, and not their children, are the ones who saw and experienced both God’s discipline and mighty work? (vv. 2, 7)
b. In so doing, what in particular does Moses cite as examples of “the great things the Lord has done”? (vv. 3-4)
c. What does Moses cite as examples of God’s discipline? (vv. 5-6)
d. What then should they do given that these were what they saw with their own eyes? (v. 7)
e. How important then is our personal experience in faith to our obedience to the Lord?
f. Do personal experiences guarantee our obedience to the Lord? Why or why not?
(2) Conditions of blessings (vv. 8-15)
a. How different is the land of Canaan from that of Egypt in terms of landscape and methods of cultivation? (vv. 10-11)
b. From a human perspective, would one rather depend on irrigation done by one's labor or on the weather?
c. Why then does God make such a dependency on nature a blessing? (v. 12)
d. How is such a blessing tied to obedience? (vv. 8, 13-15)
e. Which then is the kind of condition you would want to live in? Why?
f. What important lesson(s) can we learn from this exhortation by Moses?
(3) The flip side of blessings (vv. 16-17)
a. What will happen if they will not obey the Lord and turn to other gods? (vv. 8, 16-17)
b. Given the tremendous blessings promised and the curses threatened, should it not be a given that the people would obey the Lord and not turn away from Him? Why or why not?
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Words of Moses—This concludes the section on exhortation, before launching into specific laws and decrees (from chapter 12 onward).
(1) Vv. 18-21 acts like an “inclusio” of the message of exhortation by repeating the words of 6:6-8 and 6:2.
a. What do the two almost identical passages emphasize?
b. Why does Moses choose to repeat it as a conclusion to his exhortation to obey the commands of the Lord?
c. What is the promise given for the obeying of this message in chapter 6? (6:2)
d. How does this promise (reiterated in 11:21) reflect God’s desire for them?
(2) Further encouragement to obey God and His commands (vv. 22-25)
a. What is the first promise given? (v. 23)
b. How does it address their original greatest concern? (Num. 13:31-33)
c. What is the second promise? (v. 24)
d. What is the added emphasis in this reiteration of territory compared to 1:7-8?
e. What is the third promise? (v. 25)
f. What is the added emphasis in this reiteration compared to 2:25 and 7:23-24?
(3) Blessings and curses to be proclaimed at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal in the future (vv. 26-32): The details of the blessings and curses are fully pronounced by Moses in chapters 27-28 and proclaimed by Joshua at the two stipulated mountains (Jos. 8:30-35).
a. Why does Moses end this section of exhortation by mentioning the presence of blessings and curses?
b. What are the respective bases of blessings and curses? (vv. 27-28)
c. What is the importance of having them proclaimed once again at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal in the future?
d. Should the promise of blessings and the threat of curses be the basis of their obedience to “all the decrees and laws” (v. 32)
e. Why then would God through Moses pronounce these blessings and curses?
f. What then should be the basis of our obedience to the words of God? (Jn. 14:21-24; 2 Cor. 5:14a)
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Specific Legislations—Worship only in designated place (I):
(1) Before the Israelites entered into the Promised Land, where did they worship the Lord? (Exod. 33:7-11; Lev. 1:3; 8:4; 17:4-5)
(2) As Moses begins reiterating some of the specific laws, what is the first command he gives? (vv. 1-3)
(3) What is the intention? (v. 3b)
(4) Apart from the complete elimination of the names of other gods in the land, what is the next command? (v. 4)
(5) Based on the
command that the people not worship the Lord “in their way” (v. 4), consider these questions:
a. What is the specific instruction given in vv. 5-7?
b. What might be the significance of ensuring that all the people would only worship the Lord through the bringing of sacrifices to one only place, even (or rather, especially) when they are spread across the land? (Note the first command just given.)
c. How will this prevent the people in worshipping in the “way” of the pagans?
d. What might be the application of this teaching to us today?
(6) What is implied by the words of Moses in v. 8, against the background of fixing a location for worship upon their entrance into the Promised Land?
(7) What then is the significance of having “reached the resting place and the inheritance of the Lord” with regard to not “doing as they see fit”? (v. 9) Why should it make a difference?
(8) In reiterating this command to go only to the designated place to present offerings and sacrifices (vv. 10-12), one more element is added and that concerns the Levites:
a. Who are the Levites?
b. What do they depend on for their livelihood as they devote their lives to serve at the Tabernacle exclusively?
c. If the people choose to present their offerings wherever they please, what impact will it have on the Levites?
d. What might be the message for today’s believers if they choose to hop from church to church?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
Upon the conquest of the Promised Land, the Tabernacle was set up at Shiloh (Jos. 18:1; Jer. 7:12) until David set up a tent for the Ark of the Covenant upon Zion in the city of Jerusalem, and erected an altar for sacrifice there (2 Sam. 6:17; 1 Chr. 16:1). Eventually the Tabernacle was replaced by the temple on the threshing floor of Araunah in Jerusalem as directed by the prophet Gad (2 Sam. 24:18; 1 Chr. 21:18, 29-31).
Specific Legislations—Worship only in designated place (II)
After laying down strict prohibitions of worshipping at any place other than the designated place (i.e. the Tabernacle), Moses seeks to clarify with the following commands when they are in the Promised Land:
(1) Eating of meat not offered to the Lord (vv. 15-16)
a. In the eating of meat of animals not meant for offering, is the ceremonial cleanness of the eater immaterial (i.e. does it matter)? (v. 15)
b. What is one rule that still applies in the eating of any animals? (v. 16)
(2) Why is it imperative that they do not eat anything (whether meat or grain), which is meant to be offered to the Lord, in their own towns? (vv. 17-19)
(3) Why does Moses feel the need to make such a reiteration, especially in summarizing it again in vv. 20-21?
a. What is the reason that under no circumstances can blood be eaten? (v. 23)
b. How does this prohibition show God’s attitude toward all lives, human or otherwise?
(4) The treatment of the blood of sacrificed animals is reiterated in vv. 26-28:
a. Why must all consecrated things for sacrifice to the Lord be clean animals and birds? (Genesis 8:20)
b. How should their blood be treated? Why?
c. Why is such treatment so important for them to observe strictly?
(5) Be different from the pagan nations (vv. 29-31)
a. How wicked are the nations they are going to drive out? (v. 31)
b. Why does Moses use the word “hate” to describe God’s attitude toward their detestable practices?
c. Which of their detestable practices is cited here? (v. 31b)
d. Why are the people prohibited to even enquire of the ways of how these nations served their gods? (v. 30)
e. What might be the reason for the repeated emphasis on the prohibition of eating blood of animals in this section?
(6) Why does Moses end this section of the law with the command of not adding to or subtracting from this stipulation? (v. 32)
(7) What might be the reason or motive for the people to add or subtract from the law?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
It is important to bear in mind that “in ancient religion the two acts (to slaughter and to sacrifice) were inseparable. But now that sacrifice at local shrines has been abolished, some mechanism must be established to enable the Israelites to eat meat even then they cannot come to the central place of worship. What follows are innovative regulations for the practice that the rabbis called shehitat hulin, ‘secular slaughter’” (The Five Books of Moses, 943).
Specific Legislations—Dealing with people who lead them to worship other gods:
(1) Dealing with prophets who lead them to worship other gods(vv. 1-5):
a. Should the ability to perform signs and wonders be the basis of testing if a prophet is from God? Why or why not? (v. 1; Exod. 7:11-12; Matt. 24:24)
b. Should the fulfillment of prophecies be enough proof? Why or why not? (v. 2)
c. What then is the ultimate basis of proof to discern if a prophet is from God or not? (v. 4)
d. How may we apply these principles today?
e. What should they do with false prophets? Why? (v. 5)
(2) Dealing with loved ones who entice them to worship other gods (vv. 6-11):
a. What might be the reason one follows their loved ones to worship gods other than the Lord?
b. What does the law require them to do even if the enticer is one of their loved ones? (v. 9)
c. What impact would it have when they are “the first in putting them to death”? (v. 9)
d. Do you think you could follow this command if you were one of the Israelites? Why or why not?
(3) Dealing with a town of apostasy in Israel (vv. 12-18)
a. What should they do upon hearing a report of apostasy in one of Israel’s towns? (v. 14)
b. What should they do to the town if the report is true? (v. 15)
c. What are they to do with the plunder of that town? (vv. 16-17) What does it signify?
(4) Why does the Lord impose such a harsh and severe punishment on all who entice His people to serve other gods?
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?