Day #73

Sermon - Audio
Deut 8-10 - Audio
Deut 8-10 - Daily Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

This is a continuation of Moses really long speech that started in chapter 1. Though it is Moses speaking, he is “expounding on the 'torah' (hebrew)” that God had given him (Deut 1.5).

Deuteronomy 8

Two themes become obvious in chapter 8. First, the distinction between remembering and forgetting and second the distinction between the promised land and the wilderness. Strangely, the two themes are not matched up as you might expect. Instead of the wilderness being the place where God is forgotten, it is the place where God's presence is most obvious. In fact, it is in the promised land that Moses warns the people that they will become forgetful.

vs 1 God's commands are for the Israelite's own good. They are not arbitrary commands imposed on them merely as a burden to follow. Instead, God desires human flourishing for all people—of course part of what it means to be human is to be in relationship with God. We can't really be fully human without Him.

Vs 3: This is the famous verse that Jesus uses in his response to Satan's temptations in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. Satan prods Jesus to prove that he is the “Son of God.” From Matthew: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Jesus is clearly following his own advice: he knows his Torah inside and out. Be encouraged in your disciplined reading of the Bible this year. Reading God's word is like food and is a useful tool in times of trouble.

vs 4: God sustained his people in the wilderness in a miraculous way. He kept their clothes from wearing out and their feet from becoming sore.

vs 10-11 Here the people are warned that with “wealth” and “prosperity” comes the temptation to forget the commands of the LORD. Jesus too warns about the spiritual blindness that can come from wealth in Matthew 6.19-24 by inserting a discussion of the eyes between two passages about money: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth...but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness...No one can serve two masters...you cannot serve both God and Money.”

I'm sure you have heard plenty of sermons on money, so I will not preach here.

Vs 15: For those of you in your own wilderness right now (perhaps Christmas is full of painful memories, perhaps you or loved ones are sick. there are countless examples of suffering we endure), read this verse as encouragement. God will lead you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He will bring you water out of a hard rock.

For those of you who have already passed through a wilderness, take a moment to REMEMBER what God has done for you.

vs 17-20 This is the the point at which the two themes of remember/forget and wilderness/promised land come to their climax in the form of a stern warning. They are warned not to think it is “my hands” that have made me prosperous. The wealth has flowed from God's hand because of his blessing. Even the ability to produce wealth has come from God (vs 18). And now the warning to the Israelites: “If you ever forget the Lord your God...you will surely be destroyed (vs19).”

Deuteronomy 9

vs 1-3 The Israelites do not face adversity alone. God goes ahead of them. Just as he goes with you.

Vs 3 Notice this description of God: God is like a “consuming fire.” This description of God occurs in other places in the Bible as well: Hebrews 12.29 is a direct reference. To better understand this, it is helpful to keep in mind how precious metal is refined. The fire burns away all the impurities. As unsettling as this may be, it is not only God's enemies who pass through the fire, but his people as well. In 1 Corinthians 3.12-15, Paul says “If ANYONE builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done. If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire [in the verse before Paul reminds them that their foundation is Jesus Christ].” Paul talks about two categories of material here: the flammable kind (wood, hay, straw) and the inflammable kind (gold, silver, precious stones).

Vs 4-6 This is a profound example of God's grace in the Old Testament. “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land.” It has to do with 2 things 1) God is using the Israelites as his tool to root out wickedness 2) because of God's promises made to them.

In a way, both of these reasons relate to us. Most obvious: the promises of eternal life (living out the Kingdom of God) made to us in Jesus Christ. Less obvious: God's promise to root out evil has become personal for Christians: he promises to root out the evil within ourselves (recall the passage from 1 Corinthians).

Compare this passage to Ephesians 2.1-10 in the New Testament, which is more directly aimed at us. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air... Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.... For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Like this passage, Paul makes the point that God did choose you because of anything you did to deserve it. It is all about God's grace. This passage also resembles Ephesians 2 in that after making that point, the people are reminded of their sinful past: “You are a stiff-necked people (vs 6).”

vs 7-29 A continuation of the statement “stiff-necked people.” God provides specific examples of the people's sin “from the day you left Egypt until now.” The two largest examples of rebellion here are the incident of the golden calf and their doubt at the border of Canaan (at Kadesh Barnea).

Deuteronomy 10

vs 1-11This selection picks back up the story of the golden calf. Notice that instead of a chronological telling of Israel's rebellion, Moses recalls their history theologically (historically speaking, they received the new tablets before their stay at Kadesh Barnea). Instead, Moses first tells about 2 examples of the people's rebellion (chapter 9) and then God's gracious treatment in the aftermath of that rebellion. The new tablets to replace the old ones. And in verse 11 a renewed command in the present begins a new chapter in their national history: “Go...and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”

vs 12-13 These verses recall the more famous passage in Deuteronomy 6.5 and what Jesus' calls the greatest commandment “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, an with all your strength.” This passage shows that “respect” (fear) and obedience are intimately connected with love.

Vs 14-22 This is one of my favorite passages in all of Deuteronomy (which is one of my favorite books in the Bible). First, we see that although God is ruler over the whole universe (stars, galaxies) and although we might be small and insignificant, God has set his affection on us—his people. Given this overwhelming act of love, the Israelites are called to transformation: do not be stiff-necked any longer. The line “circumcise your hearts” gets to the center of the matter of physical circumcision. We see even in the Old Testament that circumcision is not about the outward physical act, it is about the heart (Paul talks about this at length in many of his letters).

Verses 17-22 shows us the other thing that makes YHVH (the LORD) unique and worthy to be praised (along with him being creator/ruler of the universe). “he defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing (vs. 18).” This theme is of course all over the Bible (as we have already seen).

Psalm 113 is an example where the ideas of “God as ruler” and “God as Defender” come together. “Praise the Lord... [why?] The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens...He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy form the ash heap; he causes them to be seated with princes.”