WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.359 let me open us up in a word of prayer before we begin 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:21.080 our father in heaven lord we pray that you would sanctify us by your word 00:00:21.080 --> 00:00:27.760 your word is truth father we pray that you open our eyes to see wondrous things in your word 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:33.620 lord let the meditations of our hearts and the words of my mouth be acceptable in your sights 00:00:33.620 --> 00:00:41.380 oh lord our rock and iron routine i pray this in your precious son's name amen 00:00:41.380 --> 00:00:53.260 so good morning um please open up your bibles to deuteronomy so today as we conclude our overview 00:00:53.259 --> 00:00:58.939 of the pentateuch we'll encounter one of the greatest transitions in the bible as the people 00:00:58.939 --> 00:01:05.620 of israel prepare to enter into the promised land and by its own admission in the first verse 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:13.019 chapter one moses is the author of this book so why is the book called deuteronomy 00:01:13.019 --> 00:01:20.280 the name comes from the greek for second law oh yeah there's a handout right there 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:27.000 my mr stringenters so why is the book called deuteronomy the name comes from the greek for 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:32.859 second law since the book is a second giving of the law that we've already seen in the pentateuch 00:01:32.859 --> 00:01:40.099 deutero equals seconds and onomy equals law and the name actually comes from a reference in chapter 17 00:01:40.099 --> 00:01:46.379 stating since they didn't have photocopiers back then that when a king sat on his throne 00:01:46.379 --> 00:01:52.539 he would have to word for word write out the book of deuteronomy and that would a serve as his own 00:01:52.539 --> 00:01:58.439 copy of the scriptures for the rest of his life but also be it would teach him how to revere 00:01:58.439 --> 00:02:06.159 yahweh and for him to follow the law as israel's king but this book is a lot more about just the mere 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:14.379 giving the law it's a summary of god's covenant with israel so it's actually a prerequisite to 00:02:14.379 --> 00:02:21.460 understanding what is unfolding for the rest of the bible the authors in the old testament continue to 00:02:21.460 --> 00:02:27.599 come back to this one book more than any other in the pentateuch they continue to come back to 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:34.240 deuteronomy it's the key to understanding joshua and judges first and second samuel first and second 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:42.159 kings and in the new testament deuteronomy is alluded to close to 100 times and in fact jesus 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:47.580 quotes deuteronomy more than any other book in the old testament you know for example you remember 00:02:47.580 --> 00:02:53.620 jesus quotes deuteronomy to satan in the wilderness he says you shall not tempt the lord your god 00:02:53.620 --> 00:02:59.719 and man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of mouth of god 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:05.719 so you get the picture this book is central to the rest of scripture and you can think about it 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:12.639 deuteronomy is like the romans of the old testament so let's talk about the context of deuteronomy in 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:20.020 the pentateuch so the basic story up to deuteronomy has been this god created everything and then all 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:25.960 of creation became cursed and after the curse came the covenant that god made with abraham 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:35.120 and from abraham to moses is about 430 years where god saved his people out of egypt and in exodus we 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:40.460 saw the obligations abraham's descendants were bound to in a new covenant namely the 10 commandments and 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:48.319 the laws in exodus 20 to 24 this covenant called the mosaic covenant was a gracious step forward in 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:54.680 god's redemptive plan it made the people into a nation it revealed god's holy character through his law 00:03:54.680 --> 00:04:00.159 and it established a sacrificial system that prepared the way for christ's atonement on the cross 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:08.360 but it also placed a formal obligation on the nation of israel to be holy as god is holy with the curse 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:14.560 of death if they fell short so it's this mosaic covenant that's being expounded and ratified here in 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:21.960 deuteronomy and after god saves the people from the land of slavery in number four numbers 14 reminiscent 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:26.819 of the garden of the garden in the fall we see the people get cold feet before entering into the 00:04:26.819 --> 00:04:32.279 promised land and they rebel against god accusing him of conspiring to murder them in wilderness 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:40.439 god judges them and tells them only their children will enter the promised land so 40 years later the old 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:47.120 generation dies and deuteronomy begins with these children now adults standing next to the river jordan 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:53.620 about to enter into the promised land in addition god tells moses that he himself will not enter the 00:04:53.620 --> 00:04:58.780 promised land and he will die in the wilderness so here we are at the end of that 40 year period 00:04:58.780 --> 00:05:06.180 on the plains of moab moses knows that he will die shortly and he will he himself will not go with 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:12.780 them into the promised land so moses in deuteronomy is like an old veteran recounting a great war that 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:21.419 happened 40 years ago or he's like an old pastor delivering one final exhortation to his congregation 00:05:21.419 --> 00:05:27.919 or depending on how you view the structure two or three sermons so a sermon series to the people 00:05:27.919 --> 00:05:34.319 that have known him to be their shepherd their entire life and he will not be with them so looking at this 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:39.839 book from the perspective of moses impending death deuteronomy actually is an early catechism 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:48.119 where moses will teach his people how to remain faithful to yahweh in a pluralistic land so since 00:05:48.119 --> 00:05:52.639 it's a catechism that's why you expect to see that famous passage of deuteronomy 6 direct to parents 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:58.919 where it says these words i am commanding you today are upon your hearts you shall teach them 00:05:58.919 --> 00:06:04.859 diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:11.340 way and when you lie down and when you rise tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on 00:06:11.340 --> 00:06:17.580 your foreheads write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates so moses is catechizing 00:06:17.580 --> 00:06:23.540 these parents and in turn they're to catechize their children so with that important context in place 00:06:23.540 --> 00:06:29.600 let's take a look at how the covenant shapes the actual structure of this book so you remember a 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:36.460 covenant is a binding agreement between two parties with terms and conditions covenants are common 00:06:36.460 --> 00:06:42.320 today probably the most well-known covenant is the covenant of marriage when you make vows you're 00:06:42.320 --> 00:06:47.540 entering into a covenant to love honor and cherish your husband or wife until death do us part 00:06:47.540 --> 00:06:54.439 you've entered into a covenant deuteronomy is a different kind of covenant this is a covenant of 00:06:54.439 --> 00:07:01.339 life and death administered by a king to his subjects the king doesn't negotiate over the 00:07:01.339 --> 00:07:07.759 terms of the agreement and scholars tell us that in the ancient near east it was common for kings to 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:13.699 use covenants to guarantee their alliances so normally these terms we laid down in a document following the 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:20.620 five-part formula first the historical context of the covenant second identifying the parties to the 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:29.199 covenant third the stipulations or the terms of the agreement fourth the blessing if the covenant is 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:36.579 followed or the curses if the covenant is broken and lastly provisions for continuing the covenant if 00:07:36.579 --> 00:07:44.199 it's broken so in fact if you turn to the handout which is on the chair there you'll see that deuteronomy 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:50.459 follows the format of a covenant document commonly found in the ancient near east so for the 00:07:50.459 --> 00:07:54.039 rest of our class today we'll walk through this covenant document section by section 00:07:54.039 --> 00:08:01.500 so for the first part we begin with the historical prologue in chapters one to four 00:08:01.500 --> 00:08:08.419 where moses recounts god's past faithfulness to the people and the theme for this section 00:08:08.419 --> 00:08:16.159 is yahweh is the only true god is utterly sovereign and has shown himself to be just and merciful 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:29.040 so the history recounts in chapter one is the same as we saw in the book of numbers 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:38.320 last week in chapter one verse 26 it says yet you would not go up but rebelled against the command of 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:46.180 the lord your god verse 32 the people lack trust in god's power and as a result god refused to let the 00:08:46.180 --> 00:08:54.180 first generation enter the land god was just but god also showed them mercy in chapter two verse seven 00:08:54.180 --> 00:09:01.580 it tells us that god graciously provided by being with the people for 40 years in the desert and they 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:10.060 lacked nothing god showed them mercy and god's absolute sovereignty is why moses is recounting the past 00:09:10.060 --> 00:09:17.020 military victories against king sion and king ab told you originally back in numbers 21 now remember 00:09:17.020 --> 00:09:24.080 the israelites who were shepherds in the land of egypt were again up against a well-trained and well-equipped 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:31.320 army it'd be like if all of us here in this room had some pitchforks and shovels and we're up against the 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:37.020 well-trained army of king leonidas's first spartan warriors from the ancient greek city state of 00:09:37.020 --> 00:09:43.720 sparta humanly speaking there's no way we're ever going to win that fight uh however moses is telling 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:50.080 the people here that it was as easy for god to hand deliver these nations over to you as it is 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:58.320 for me just to hand my keys to you like this moses chapter 4 verse 22 says you shall not fear them 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:05.900 why for it is the lord your god who fights for you it is the lord your god who fights for you 00:10:05.900 --> 00:10:13.060 the battle is the lord he will fight for you so don't be afraid god rules over these nations 00:10:13.060 --> 00:10:23.700 later on god says see now that i even i am he and there is no god besides me i kill and i make alive 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:31.780 i wound and i heal and there is none that can deliver out of my hands god is absolutely sovereign 00:10:31.780 --> 00:10:39.920 and the god this book is about is the only god there is so while we're in this section i want to 00:10:39.920 --> 00:10:45.540 address an objection that many have about this book an atheist like richard dawkins will point to this 00:10:45.540 --> 00:10:51.420 section and say it is actually immoral to believe in the god of the bible since here god is commanding 00:10:51.419 --> 00:10:58.799 genocide so you look in chapter 3 god commands israel to wipe out the people in the land of canaan 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:05.719 men women and children and you know sometimes even mistaken christians will try to put the god of the 00:11:05.719 --> 00:11:10.919 new testament against the god of the old testament saying that christ would never condone such violence 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:19.240 so how do we make sense of what's going on here so first there's a common refrain that's been said 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:25.820 over and over again we must remember what stage of redemptive history we are in israel was a special 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:31.899 political nation that god used to execute his righteous judgment of the surrounding nations 00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:38.620 no such nation exists today and you know this point hit home this week watching the violence on the news 00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:44.320 about the dispute between israel and the palestinians fighting about who has the divine right to the 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:49.400 promised land in the middle east but as jesus explained to the woman in samaria he says woman 00:11:49.400 --> 00:11:56.240 believe me the hour is coming but neither on this mountain nor in jerusalem will you worship the father 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:01.580 you know as christians we know the meeting point between god and man is no longer a place 00:12:01.580 --> 00:12:06.100 whether a reconstructed temple or a geographic area in the middle east 00:12:06.100 --> 00:12:13.000 instead it's the meeting point between god and man is a risen and reigning and soon returning 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:18.360 person the lord jesus christ who will bring new heavens and new earth christians don't need to 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:25.860 travel to jerusalem to commune with god but second let's take a let's take the objection that god of 00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:31.659 the new testament is different than the old testament the new testament does not have any ethical reservations 00:12:31.659 --> 00:12:38.500 about the conquest of the canaanites at all you know in fact jesus name is the greek version 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:46.620 of the hebrew name joshua so think about that god himself wanted the incarnate son of god to have the 00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:52.779 same name as the person who conquered israel's enemies and led the people into the promised land 00:12:52.779 --> 00:13:00.519 so something about joshua what he did tells us something important about jesus and hebrews teaches us that 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:06.720 joshua's conquering was just a shadow of what jesus himself comes to the true and better joshua who 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:13.080 conquered the greatest enemy god's wrath against sin led his people back to the promised land and 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:20.200 secured the long-awaited rest for god's people next let's take up the charge of genocide 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:28.519 and the fact is god is not some racist here race and ethnicity were irrelevant this had everything to do 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:35.820 with idolatry though back in genesis chapter 15 verse 16 when the lord promised to give abraham 00:13:35.820 --> 00:13:42.060 his descendants the land of canaan he said that there would be delay of 400 years because quote 00:13:42.060 --> 00:13:48.379 the iniquity of the amorites is not yet complete and this iniquity is detailed for us actually 00:13:48.379 --> 00:13:55.100 in leviticus 18 the iniquity god is referring to were wicked sexual practices of incest and bestiality 00:13:55.100 --> 00:14:01.200 after saying that god's people must not engage in these things the text reads that god punished the 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:07.740 iniquity and the land vomited out its inhabitants so in some way not only did god but even the land 00:14:07.740 --> 00:14:14.440 itself rejected the people and you remember god gave the canaanites at least 400 years to repent 00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:20.640 and they refused to do so and later on in joshua we learned that the people welcomed rahab an ethnic 00:14:20.640 --> 00:14:27.440 canaanite once she bowed her knee to the god of israel and rahab is included in the hall of faith in hebrews 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:33.980 11 as a as as an example to us and a faith in new testament which doesn't make sense if god hated 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:39.520 ethnic canaanites so to say this is genocide is to not understand what's happening here 00:14:39.520 --> 00:14:47.500 and then finally this judgment of the surrounding nations is a dim picture of the final judgment 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:54.160 for those who refuse to turn from their sins moses was to offer some of these cities terms of surrender 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:59.620 and and realize even offering terms of surrender was another chance for these canines to repent 00:14:59.620 --> 00:15:06.500 and if they didn't accept those terms god will destroy them so let's get getting back to deuteronomy 00:15:06.500 --> 00:15:12.779 the main verse summarizing this entire section is chapter 4 verse 35 which says to you it was shown 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:20.679 that you might know that the lord is god there is no other besides him know therefore today and lay it 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:27.599 to your heart the lord is god in heaven above and on earth beneath there is no other moses continues 00:15:27.599 --> 00:15:34.819 therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments which i command you today that it 00:15:34.819 --> 00:15:41.799 may go well with you and with your children after you that you may prolong your days in the land the lord 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:47.740 your god has given you for all time so that's the history god has been gracious and that's the charge 00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:55.060 therefore follow god alone so what will it look like for the people to obey that charge once they're in god's land 00:15:55.060 --> 00:15:59.680 in the land god tells them by giving them the covenant stipulations in the next section 00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:05.500 so these general stipulations of the covenant begin in chapter 5 and run through chapter 11 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:09.200 so if you turn to chapter 5 you'll see a restatement of the ten commandments 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:19.259 now one of the central aspects of this book is that it helps us to understand the role of the law and of 00:16:19.259 --> 00:16:24.320 grace in our salvation you know some people have said that in the old testament people are saved by works 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:30.860 and in the new by grace but we know that's not true romans 3 makes it clear that salvation has only 00:16:30.860 --> 00:16:37.879 and ever been by grace and we see the relationship laid out in deuteronomy is by grace alone at the heart of 00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:45.980 the ten commandments is a story of love look at chapter 6 verses 4 to 6 hear oh israel the lord 00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:52.820 our god the lord is one you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul 00:16:52.820 --> 00:16:59.200 and with all your might and these words that i command you today shall be on your hearts this is the famous 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:05.000 shema which is the hebrew word for here when jesus was asked what commandment is the most important 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:11.420 of all in mark 12 jesus quotes the shema the most important thing for the israelites to hear 00:17:11.420 --> 00:17:19.339 to shema is that yahweh is one god he is the only god and the proper response to yahweh is the total and 00:17:19.339 --> 00:17:25.859 exclusive worship of his people and this looks like the commandment to be upon their hearts which the 00:17:25.859 --> 00:17:31.039 israelite would have understood the heart to be the mind will emotions everything on the inside of a 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:38.500 person israel was to engage with its covenant god in total exclusive love but and here's the thing 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:44.500 they were to love god because god had loved them first listen to these amazing words about god's 00:17:44.500 --> 00:17:51.220 election or his unilateral love for his people just a chapter later in chapter 7 verses 7 to 8 god says 00:17:51.220 --> 00:17:58.180 this it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the lord set his love on you 00:17:58.180 --> 00:18:05.160 and chose you for you the fewest of all peoples but it is because the because the lord loves you 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:11.160 and is keeping the oath that he swords your fathers that the lord has brought you out with a mighty hand 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:17.019 and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of pharaoh king of egypt god did not love them 00:18:17.019 --> 00:18:23.360 because of anything good within them it was simply because he just loved them their relationship with god 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:28.579 was entirely based on god's grace you know ephesians 1 says the same thing it says blessed be the god 00:18:28.579 --> 00:18:34.179 and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing in the 00:18:34.179 --> 00:18:41.619 heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world so if you're here and you 00:18:41.619 --> 00:18:48.279 love the lord jesus christ now granted our love isn't perfect it falls short but if you love him 00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:56.099 sincerely that's because god has loved you first what an encouragement you love god by first tasting 00:18:56.099 --> 00:19:01.899 that gracious electing love toward us and one other thing to notice about the relationship between law 00:19:01.899 --> 00:19:08.099 and grace here it's important to notice the timing of when the law is given so in deuteronomy chapter 5 00:19:08.099 --> 00:19:15.039 verse 6 god first reminded the people that he saved them from egypt out of the land of slavery before 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:21.099 he revealed his covenant law to them and this is an important pattern that is found throughout the 00:19:21.099 --> 00:19:29.920 bible salvation always comes before obedience put in another way the indicatives in the bible always 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:35.940 come before the imperatives the indicative refers to god's great work of salvation to save his people 00:19:35.940 --> 00:19:43.000 and the imperative refers to the call of obedience to live in light of god's saving work so if you're new 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:48.200 to read the bible this is absolutely essential saint always tries to reverse the order and tell and 00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:54.180 try and try to convince us that obedience leads to salvation but we are justified by faith and faith alone 00:19:54.180 --> 00:19:56.420 now as just like back then 00:19:56.420 --> 00:20:05.480 so another prominent theme in chapters 5 to 11 is moses teaching the israelites about the nature 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:12.000 and danger of idolatry so what comes to mind when you hear the word idolatry 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:21.200 wood carvings statues perhaps moses helps the people to understand the essence of the idolatry and it's 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:29.339 this it's anything that rivals the exclusive worship of yahweh idolatry is inclining our hearts to 00:20:29.339 --> 00:20:35.940 anything before god that's why moses instructs the people to destroy foreign idols in chapter 7 00:20:35.940 --> 00:20:42.320 that idolatry can even look like worshiping our own self-righteousness or our ability to amass wealth 00:20:42.320 --> 00:20:48.160 to never forget god's faithfulness and to remember that idolatry is deadly in chapters 8 through 9 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:57.620 and here moses helps to identify what is counterfeit idolatrous worship that is man-made religion and the 00:20:57.619 --> 00:21:05.799 true worship of the god of israel and and it's this the true god can be heard but he cannot be seen 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:12.500 whereas idols can be seen but they cannot be heard the true god can be heard but he cannot be seen 00:21:12.500 --> 00:21:19.219 whereas idols can be seen but cannot be heard remember the famous shaman chapter 6 is calling 00:21:19.219 --> 00:21:25.539 for the israelites to hear the emphasis is on israelites to hear god's words and it's the same today 00:21:25.539 --> 00:21:32.480 faith comes by hearing in hearing through the word of christ romans will say faith comes by 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:39.359 shemaing so even today hearing the word of god by faith is what we do as christians true worship of 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:46.059 the triune god always emphasizes the priority of the preaching of god's word and the importance for 00:21:46.059 --> 00:21:53.079 christians to hear that preached word the proclamation of the word so it's not some clever idea that someone 00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:58.220 came up with at one point this has always been a defining and distinctive mark of god's people 00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:06.379 the way we're able to know him to love him to believe him are only through his words 00:22:06.379 --> 00:22:11.259 you know it's interesting to notice the means by which god was to be worshipped in deuteronomy 00:22:11.259 --> 00:22:16.619 yes think about it that second commandment the lord clearly forbade the making of any carved images in 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:24.139 any form but in chapter 27 the lord commanded people to get a big stone put plaster all over it 00:22:24.139 --> 00:22:30.799 and then to write the laws on it and display it publicly for everyone to see so it's almost as if 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:37.000 god's law is better at depicting his character than a form than you and i could fashion with your own hands 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.079 and the words that inscribe on the rock help the people to know their god 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:48.039 and moses continues to explain why idolatry is dangerous not only what it is 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:56.500 chapter 4 verse 23 23 says be careful not to forget the covenant of the lord your god that he made with 00:22:56.500 --> 00:23:01.639 you do not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything that the lord your god has forbidden 00:23:01.639 --> 00:23:06.439 for the lord your god is a consuming fire a jealous god 00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:11.860 what does it mean when it says that god is a jealous god you know some people have said that 00:23:11.860 --> 00:23:16.360 they cannot worship the god of the bible when they hear that god is jealous of them 00:23:16.360 --> 00:23:25.279 but is that what this means that god is jealous of us no scripture consistently views god's jealousy 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:31.299 as an aspect of his covenant love for his people that's why in other places like in the book of 00:23:31.299 --> 00:23:38.399 hosea the worship of idols is likened to spiritual adultery provoking god's jealousy and vengeance 00:23:38.399 --> 00:23:42.319 you know john calvin i think hit the nail on the head when he explained it this way 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:48.960 the lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband as he performs all the 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:55.480 offices of a true and faithful husband so he requires love and chastity from us that is we do not 00:23:55.480 --> 00:24:01.380 prosecute ourselves to satan as the pure and chaste her husband is the more grievously he is offended 00:24:01.380 --> 00:24:08.740 when he sees his wife inclining to a rival so like a husband loves his wife god loves his people with 00:24:08.740 --> 00:24:14.500 a jealous love and if you look over the cut the section of the covenant stipulations you see a 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:19.279 critical part of loving god is obeying that first commandment having no other gods than him 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:25.460 so what is idolatry according to the book this book when moses says that the people shall love 00:24:25.460 --> 00:24:30.900 the lord your god with all your hearts in the shema what it ultimately comes down to is what we 00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:39.079 treasure the most the covenant demanded that god was to be enjoyed as the people's supreme treasure 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:44.660 that's what it means to love god john piper i think when let's explain it this way which i think fairly 00:24:44.660 --> 00:24:53.539 summarizes deuteronomy's teaching on this so what is it sin is this the glory of god not honored 00:24:53.539 --> 00:25:02.960 the holiness of god not reverence the greatness of god not admired the power of god not praised the 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:10.759 truth of god not sought the wisdom of god not esteemed the beauty of god not treasured the goodness 00:25:10.759 --> 00:25:19.639 of god not savor the faithfulness of god not trusted the promises of god not believed the commandments of god 00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:25.300 not obeyed the justice of god not respected the wrath of god not feared the grace of god not cherish 00:25:25.300 --> 00:25:33.360 the presence of god not prize the person of god not love that is the nature of sin and idolatry 00:25:33.360 --> 00:25:40.960 god will not share his glory with worthless idols god demanded that israel pursue their highest joy in god 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:49.040 anything less is sin which leads to idolatry so in one of the striking i think verses in this whole book 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:56.639 is later on in chapter 28 verse 47 the people were cursed because quote you did not serve the lord 00:25:56.639 --> 00:26:05.359 your god with joyfulness and gladness of heart you might say well that's not fair we can't control 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:12.039 our emotions how can joyful service be commanded in the covenant the old covenant well god has the right 00:26:12.039 --> 00:26:17.859 to command anything that is right for us to do and i think here is where we begin to see the nature of the 00:26:17.859 --> 00:26:25.979 law in deuteronomy the law was not a to-do list instead the law demanded perfection on the ever on 00:26:25.979 --> 00:26:33.039 everything on the inside of a person romans 8 verse 7 8 says this about the law the mind that is set on 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:39.159 the flesh is hostile to god for it doesn't submit to god's law indeed it cannot and those who are in the 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:46.019 flesh cannot please god i will submit to you that those who are in the flesh cannot find their ultimate 00:26:46.019 --> 00:26:54.060 joy in god they cannot serve him joyfully in light of who yahweh is it is impossible to find our joy in 00:26:54.060 --> 00:27:00.460 god we must revere him savor his attributes his love his power his sovereignty his mercy his holiness 00:27:00.460 --> 00:27:05.900 and let's face it friends the natural person doesn't revere god the natural person resists god 00:27:05.900 --> 00:27:13.080 it's here where i think the law acts as a mirror the more you stare at the law the more you realize 00:27:13.080 --> 00:27:19.080 that something profound must change on the inside of us to really do what the law is telling us to do 00:27:19.080 --> 00:27:26.500 and as we need to be born again we need new hearts which is actually something god says he will give us 00:27:26.500 --> 00:27:33.460 later in this book praise god so what hope is there for lawbreakers to commune with the holy god 00:27:33.460 --> 00:27:38.460 i mean israel we need to look away from the law at this point the sacrifices in the Torah 00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:43.019 i mean the presence of the book of leviticus presupposes that people would break the law 00:27:43.019 --> 00:27:48.759 right i mean they would need to look at the calendar of israel the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat on the 00:27:48.759 --> 00:27:54.700 day of atonement the yearly remembering of the passover lamb the constant sacrifices and offerings of the 00:27:54.700 --> 00:28:00.640 temple later on that mysterious suffering servant of isaiah 53 that would take away the people 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:06.680 god would one day solve the problem of sin through a sacrifice and a pattern is being established 00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:14.620 in the torah for this so with this guiding principle of loving faithfulness and the danger 00:28:14.620 --> 00:28:19.840 of idolatry in place moses then explains a specific stipulation of the covenant for the nation's life 00:28:19.840 --> 00:28:25.840 in the promised land chapters 12 to 26 for the most part you can think of this section as an exposition 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:30.619 of the 10 commandments and you'll see in the back of your handout it shows how the 10 commandments 00:28:30.619 --> 00:28:37.019 correspond to specific stipulations moses starts out with a general principle in chapter 12 verse 1 by 00:28:37.019 --> 00:28:42.799 saying these are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the lord 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:48.839 the god of your fathers has given you to possess all the days that you live on the earth the point of 00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:54.759 these 15 chapters is this that as god's people in god's land they will worship god alone reflect god's 00:28:54.759 --> 00:29:00.980 holiness you represent god's justice but despite this straightforward purpose this is one of the 00:29:00.980 --> 00:29:06.859 hardest sections to interpret as christians why well there are a lot of commands that don't really 00:29:06.859 --> 00:29:14.160 seem to apply to us but for example chapters 12 to 13 talk about how to destroy foreign idols 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:19.359 and the lord's chosen place to worship for people to make their sacrifices and burnt offerings 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:25.759 chapters 14 and onward talk about clean and unclean food tithing lending and borrowing practices national 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:31.679 feasts and the basic structure of israel's government so if you're reading deuteronomy in your devotional 00:29:31.679 --> 00:29:37.079 time this is where you start asking yourself like how am i to make sense of all these laws like what does it 00:29:37.079 --> 00:29:43.859 have to do anything with me and here are some basic points to help us with this section 00:29:43.859 --> 00:29:50.519 first it's helpful to keep in mind the basic structure that these specific stipulations are 00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:56.559 essentially expositions of the 10th commandment so for example the sixth commandment to not murder 00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:01.979 corresponds with chapters 19 so if you turn to chapter 19 there it's distinguishing between 00:30:01.979 --> 00:30:07.959 premeditated murder and what we'd understand as involuntary manslaughter where you unintendedly kill 00:30:07.959 --> 00:30:13.659 someone without a motive there's a law about not moving landmarkers but it's positioned among the 00:30:13.660 --> 00:30:21.380 laws about not murdering may be intended to stress the life and death nature of moving boundary markers 00:30:21.380 --> 00:30:26.980 in an agricultural society so the principle to not murder means positively to seek the good of your 00:30:26.980 --> 00:30:32.380 neighbor and preserve his life by protecting by respecting boundary markers there's a law about 00:30:32.380 --> 00:30:38.920 needing two or three witnesses to establish that someone has committed a crime um so in a way to not 00:30:38.920 --> 00:30:43.640 murder means positively protecting the innocent from being convicted and lastly there's 00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:49.240 the much malign eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth and in the context it's clear this is 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:53.759 referring to what we would say the punishment must fit the crime so there's a proportionality 00:30:53.759 --> 00:31:00.740 requirement in the law in many ways it meant over punishing a crime so when jesus said you've heard it 00:31:00.740 --> 00:31:06.060 said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but i tell you do not resist the evil person if someone 00:31:06.059 --> 00:31:12.740 slaps you on the cheek turn the other cheek as well jesus here is correcting a misapplication of the law 00:31:12.740 --> 00:31:20.480 so the law meant to restrain judicial excessive punishment not justify personal retaliation as some 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:26.159 said in jesus day but seeing how the commandments correspond uh the chapters correspond to the 10 00:31:26.159 --> 00:31:30.500 commandments helps but it doesn't get us all the way there because we don't know how to apply them 00:31:30.500 --> 00:31:38.940 today so here are three suggestions that will help us interpret the laws first every law tells us 00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:46.500 something about the law giver every law contains a principle that tells us something about god himself 00:31:46.500 --> 00:31:54.359 in john chapter 5 verse 39 jesus claims that the old testament bears witness about me 00:31:54.359 --> 00:32:00.699 it's his portrait so to speak so for example in deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 11 it forbids 00:32:00.699 --> 00:32:05.899 the israelites from mixing wool and linen in the same article of clothing to remind them about god's 00:32:05.899 --> 00:32:10.759 holiness and the distinct the nation's distinctness from the world we don't have to obey that law today 00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:16.219 but it does tell us something important about god second we must remember what stage of redemptive 00:32:16.219 --> 00:32:22.779 history we are in as it's been said here god is fulfilling his promise to abraham by establishing 00:32:22.779 --> 00:32:28.579 israel as his special people to set the stage for christ god is here setting israel apart 00:32:28.579 --> 00:32:35.339 and they're the holy nation in which the messiah would descend from so when reading these laws remember 00:32:35.339 --> 00:32:40.839 god is giving these laws to israel in a specific point in history that we are in a different stage 00:32:40.839 --> 00:32:45.619 of redemptive history but it doesn't mean the law is irrelevant the law reveals god's flawless character 00:32:45.619 --> 00:32:51.700 and exposes our need for a savior as martin luther said once the principal purpose of the law in 00:32:51.700 --> 00:32:59.259 theology is to make men not better but worse that is it shows them their sin that by the recognition 00:32:59.259 --> 00:33:06.240 of their sin they may be humbled frightened worn down and so may long for grace and for the blessed 00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:13.779 offspring so here we need a mediator to keep these laws for us jesus said in matthew 5 verse 17 that he 00:33:13.779 --> 00:33:19.160 didn't come to abolish the law and said he came to fulfill it now in one sense he fulfilled it by obeying it 00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:26.400 perfectly and so deuteronomy chapter 27 verse 26 says cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words 00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:32.380 of this law by doing them because jesus was the only one who did them he's the only one not under a curse 00:33:32.380 --> 00:33:38.660 so he's able to die in our place bearing our curse that we may be set free from the curse of the law 00:33:38.660 --> 00:33:43.440 so the law should increase our appreciation of jesus because he kept every one of these laws 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:51.220 and lastly the distinction as tim mentioned a few weeks ago between civil ceremonial and moral laws 00:33:51.220 --> 00:33:56.960 is helpful here the civil laws apply to the political nation of israel to preserve civil order 00:33:56.960 --> 00:34:03.000 and restrain sin the ceremonial laws dealt with israel's temple sacrifices and national feasts 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:08.500 so those were the shadows shadows pointing ahead to christ so they are no longer buying on christians 00:34:08.500 --> 00:34:13.500 for example the law is about clean unclean food like we see in deuteronomy chapter 14 00:34:13.500 --> 00:34:19.679 and the new testament mark 7 acts 10 teach that christians do not need to follow those rules 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:25.579 they are part of the ceremonial law the moral laws however are not limited to an ethnic state 00:34:25.579 --> 00:34:32.420 and are repeated or even amplified in the new testament so like do not murder are valid for christians today 00:34:32.420 --> 00:34:37.880 so although there is some interpretive heavy lifting that is needed may we say with the psalmist 00:34:37.880 --> 00:34:43.619 that blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners 00:34:43.619 --> 00:34:49.900 or sit in the sea of the scoffers but his delight is in the law of the lord and on his law 00:34:49.900 --> 00:34:56.599 who meditates day and night so as we move ahead to the second to last section in chapters 27 to 33 00:34:56.599 --> 00:35:02.160 and the blessings of the cup of the covenant and the curses of the covenant is broken we see that god's 00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:09.019 standards are sky high we learn that life and death are at stake in choosing whether to obey the covenant 00:35:09.019 --> 00:35:16.099 so if israel devotes themselves to wholeheartedly and trust of yahweh then turn to deuteronomy chapter 00:35:16.099 --> 00:35:23.799 28 verse 10 to 11 it says this and the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of 00:35:23.800 --> 00:35:30.440 the lord and they shall be afraid of you and the lord will make you abound in prosperity in the fruit 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:35.340 of your womb and the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground within the lord the lord 00:35:35.340 --> 00:35:43.320 swore your fathers to give you sounds good on the other hand if they are not faithful it is as if 00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:49.960 creation itself will disintegrate and collapse upon them and ominously the list of curses is much 00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:56.800 longer than the list of blessings so some of the some of it reads cursed are you in the field 00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:02.340 cursed are you in the city cursed are you when you come in and when you go out the lord will send on 00:36:02.340 --> 00:36:10.400 you curses confusion frustration wasting disease drought famine the lord will cause you to be defeated 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:16.480 before your enemies the lord will strike you with madness and blindness infusion of minds the greatest 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:24.699 curse of all exile from the promised land listen to chapter 28 verses 36 37 the lord will bring you 00:36:24.699 --> 00:36:30.980 and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known and 00:36:30.980 --> 00:36:36.920 there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone and you shall become a whore a proverb and a byword 00:36:36.920 --> 00:36:42.599 among all the peoples where the lord will lead you away all these curses will come upon you 00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:48.900 they will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you did not obey the lord 00:36:48.900 --> 00:36:51.980 your god and observe the commandments and decrees he gave you 00:36:51.980 --> 00:36:57.179 so if you're listening to moses we'd be quaking right now this isn't for the faint of heart 00:36:57.179 --> 00:37:01.380 now i'd probably collapse you know i'm in the back collapsing because of all the curses that are 00:37:01.380 --> 00:37:05.900 happening here and deuteronomy actually is very realistic about the people's likelihood 00:37:05.900 --> 00:37:11.719 of keeping the demands of the covenant in fact in chapters 29 to 30 moses directly tells the people 00:37:11.719 --> 00:37:17.619 that they will fall short that the reason in chapter 29 verse 4 is that but to this day the lord has 00:37:17.619 --> 00:37:23.599 not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear so the people could only keep the 00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:30.859 covenant if they're given new hearts and only god can do that but the last part of deuteronomy are some 00:37:30.859 --> 00:37:38.459 astounding promises of grace and mercy that give the people some hope god promises restoration for those 00:37:38.460 --> 00:37:45.220 who repent of breaking the covenant and chapter 30 verses 2 to 3 when you return to the lord your god 00:37:45.220 --> 00:37:50.760 you and your children and obey his voice and all that i command you today with all your heart and with 00:37:50.760 --> 00:37:57.099 all your soul then the lord your god will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you and he will gather 00:37:57.099 --> 00:38:02.940 you again from all the peoples where the lord your god has scattered you if only they would repent and 00:38:02.940 --> 00:38:08.740 trust in god's promises so this is a message of hope for those of those of us who feel weighed down 00:38:08.740 --> 00:38:17.079 in our sin and second god promises a new heart to his people and back and back in chapter 10 verse 16 00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:22.860 the lord commanded people to circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn 00:38:22.860 --> 00:38:28.740 he wasn't talking about mere externalities the lord is after inward transformation 00:38:28.739 --> 00:38:35.919 so refreshing news in chapter 30 verse 6 moses declares that even after people go into exile 00:38:35.919 --> 00:38:41.379 for the disobedience the lord your god will circumcise your heart and the heart of your 00:38:41.379 --> 00:38:47.259 offspring so that you will love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul that you may live 00:38:47.259 --> 00:38:55.019 so god does for his people what we are unable to do on our own he will transform their hearts you know 00:38:55.019 --> 00:39:00.659 jesus would tell nicodemus you are israel's teacher yet you don't understand that one must be born again 00:39:00.659 --> 00:39:04.579 from the beginning moses told you that god needs to give the people a new heart 00:39:04.579 --> 00:39:14.179 and naturally our hearts are dead in sin and dead hearts just like dead bodies need to be resurrected to have 00:39:14.179 --> 00:39:19.920 life god needs to sovereignly regenerate a person's heart before anyone can ever choose to follow god 00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:25.860 as ephesians 2 says we were dead in our sins before god made us alive in christ god's spirit 00:39:25.860 --> 00:39:31.680 is the one who changed us so radically that we desire to choose life which is the final plea that 00:39:31.680 --> 00:39:39.559 moses makes in deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19 so as we conclude in chapters 31 to 34 remember this is 00:39:39.559 --> 00:39:45.180 a book of transitions the people now have affirmed god's covenant and now they're preparing to transition 00:39:45.179 --> 00:39:52.179 into the promised land as moses transitions transfers the authority of joshua but in another 00:39:52.179 --> 00:39:57.319 sense though the whole bible is transitioning as the torah the books of moses have come to an end 00:39:57.319 --> 00:40:04.299 so now we wait and see in the next books of history and prophets prophecy exactly how these blessings 00:40:04.299 --> 00:40:10.239 and curses and promises of grace will play out but before that happens god offers a preview 00:40:10.239 --> 00:40:14.799 of their future so that the people will be without excuse when they fail to trust him 00:40:14.800 --> 00:40:20.780 he does this through the song of moses in chapter 32 in fact as you study the old testament it's a 00:40:20.780 --> 00:40:25.200 great chapter to continue to come back to because in many ways it's a sneak preview for the hundreds 00:40:25.200 --> 00:40:30.800 of years that are to come in israel's history in it moses looks ahead to future israel and says this 00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:35.900 you were unmindful of the rock that bore you and you forgot the god who gave you birth 00:40:35.900 --> 00:40:42.940 john edwards's famous sermon sinners in the hands of an angry god preached in infill connecticut is based 00:40:42.940 --> 00:40:48.780 on this section addressed to unfaithful israel in chapters 32 verse 35 where the lord said 00:40:48.780 --> 00:40:55.220 vengeance is mine and recompense for the time when their foot shall slip for the day their day of calamity 00:40:55.220 --> 00:41:02.579 is at hand and their doom comes swiftly unlike some parents god does not make empty threats 00:41:02.579 --> 00:41:06.019 and that is a lesson israel had to learn the hard way in the exile 00:41:06.019 --> 00:41:12.940 but praise the lord israel's unfaithfulness will not be the last word look at deuteronomy chapter 32 00:41:12.940 --> 00:41:19.579 verse 43 after the exile god will avenge the blood of his servants and make atonement for his land and 00:41:19.579 --> 00:41:25.519 people a promise of atonement so the tone here is moses blessed the tribes in chapters 33 00:41:25.519 --> 00:41:31.960 and even as he breathes his last breath in chapters 34 is one of hopeful expectations in trusting god's 00:41:31.960 --> 00:41:38.780 grace god will make all wrongs right god will atone for his people this covenant will not be the last 00:41:38.780 --> 00:41:43.519 a new covenant is coming and that is the hope that propels the rest of the old testament forward 00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:51.079 and so what we see here just in a macro sense is that while mosaic covenant required obedience from the 00:41:51.079 --> 00:41:57.220 people the bedrock gracious disposition toward israel is the covenant that god made with abraham 00:41:57.219 --> 00:42:03.339 which was an unconditional promise of grace so what is deuteronomy is it a covenant works or is 00:42:03.339 --> 00:42:10.439 the covenant of grace well it's both isn't it it's the great riddle of the old testament so and to 00:42:10.439 --> 00:42:14.219 figure out how it all sort of reaches the climax you're gonna have to read the rest of the old and 00:42:14.219 --> 00:42:19.019 new testament um and as we close there's one more thing in the final verses of deuteronomy that should 00:42:19.019 --> 00:42:25.099 strengthen our hope in this covenant making and covenant keeping god first turn back quickly to 00:42:25.099 --> 00:42:32.900 deuteronomy chapters 18 verse 18 in this verse god promises that in the future i will raise up for 00:42:32.900 --> 00:42:39.799 them a prophet like you moses from among their brothers and i will put my words in his mouth and he 00:42:39.799 --> 00:42:47.799 shall speak to them all that i command him so a prophet who speaks only god's words a prophet even greater 00:42:47.799 --> 00:42:55.039 than moses and praise god we know that prophet he is jesus christ the word of god made flesh 00:42:55.039 --> 00:43:02.079 who spoke all that the father gave him to say and confirmed his messages through miracles and 00:43:02.079 --> 00:43:07.679 ultimately the resurrection and just as the great prophet moses was the mediator of the covenant in 00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:14.800 deuteronomy the greater prophet jesus is the mediator of a new covenant by his blood so jesus christ in the 00:43:14.800 --> 00:43:22.039 new covenant takes the mosaic covenant curses in one hand by becoming a curse for us for it is written 00:43:22.039 --> 00:43:30.039 cursed is anyone who curses everyone who is hanged on a tree so in the language of deuteronomy chapter 27 00:43:30.039 --> 00:43:38.659 at the cross the father was saying this to his own son but never said jesus cursed are you because you 00:43:38.659 --> 00:43:45.420 cast a metal image and the father would say amen jesus cursed are you because you've dishonored your 00:43:45.420 --> 00:43:51.780 father and your mother and the father said amen jesus cursed are you because you've led the blind 00:43:51.780 --> 00:43:59.260 astray on the road and the father said amen and jesus cursed are you for withholding justice 00:43:59.260 --> 00:44:08.840 for the foreigner fatherless and the widow and the father said amen jesus bore the weight of the curse for 00:44:08.840 --> 00:44:14.680 you and the new covenant and in the new covenant jesus with his other hand gives the eternal blessings 00:44:14.680 --> 00:44:22.660 that only he deserves forever secured by the resurrection so as second corinthians says for our sake 00:44:22.660 --> 00:44:31.500 he that is the father made him jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in jesus we might become the 00:44:31.500 --> 00:44:38.559 righteousness of god so we see the new covenant is building off jesus keeping the conditions of the 00:44:38.559 --> 00:44:48.019 covenant that god made with moses for his people um so we have about 10 minutes for questions um 00:44:48.019 --> 00:44:52.400 so thank you for staying with me everyone uh people on the zoom if you guys want to 00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:55.199 ask a question in the chat 00:44:55.199 --> 00:45:05.579 there's a lot in this book so yes sorry 00:45:05.579 --> 00:45:16.039 oh yes uh 00:45:16.039 --> 00:45:19.039 the 00:45:19.039 --> 00:45:24.539 where uh chapter 30 verses two to three 00:45:24.539 --> 00:45:33.019 yeah he will restore your fortunes and he will gather you again from the peoples from where you're scattered 00:45:33.019 --> 00:45:35.480 uh 00:45:35.480 --> 00:45:39.480 uh 00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:52.480 in that um i'm sorry i was late uh i was wondering if you uh talked about uh the outline of the covenant 00:45:52.480 --> 00:46:02.480 as we have in deuteronomy compared to the outline of the you know king and uh subject the uh 00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:04.940 uh structures that 00:46:04.940 --> 00:46:08.780 that existed at different times than the ancient near east 00:46:08.780 --> 00:46:12.079 yes yeah i think we may have got to that right before you walked in 00:46:12.079 --> 00:46:12.940 oh okay no it's uh 00:46:12.940 --> 00:46:17.780 but the the covenant document of deuteronomy mirrors what 00:46:17.780 --> 00:46:20.460 the covenant documents look like in the ancient near east 00:46:20.460 --> 00:46:23.079 and it follows the formula that would have existed 00:46:23.079 --> 00:46:26.820 um in the ancient near east and there's five parts 00:46:26.820 --> 00:46:30.120 uh the historical context of the covenant which is chapters one to four 00:46:30.120 --> 00:46:32.559 uh identifying the parties of the covenant 00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:35.340 the stipulations of a term to the agreement 00:46:35.340 --> 00:46:39.360 fourth the blessings of the covenant is followed and the curses of it's broken 00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:42.080 and lastly the provisions for continuing the covenant 00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:45.819 so that kind of follows the outline for deuteronomy 00:46:45.819 --> 00:46:46.480 yep 00:46:46.480 --> 00:46:54.079 um uh some of the you know higher critical uh argument 00:46:54.079 --> 00:47:02.299 uh is that ah this you know isn't historical in the sense that uh 00:47:02.299 --> 00:47:07.960 you know this didn't happen between moses and israel this covenant didn't 00:47:07.960 --> 00:47:14.440 was given by god back around 1200 bc or 1400 bc 00:47:14.440 --> 00:47:19.240 it was uh written later by people who 00:47:19.240 --> 00:47:24.780 you know wanted to invent you know a history and the uh 00:47:24.780 --> 00:47:27.780 faith of the old testament as we have in the bible 00:47:27.780 --> 00:47:34.240 right but the uh the covenant structure that we have here 00:47:34.239 --> 00:47:40.419 doesn't come you know from uh you know 500 bc when 00:47:40.419 --> 00:47:45.339 supposedly these people would have made up uh this story 00:47:45.339 --> 00:47:50.119 no it's the covenant structure that existed back 00:47:50.119 --> 00:47:54.579 you know about 1200 or 1500 bc 00:47:54.579 --> 00:47:58.639 and so yeah it's uh it leads to be 00:47:58.639 --> 00:47:59.579 no it's a great point 00:47:59.579 --> 00:48:07.159 uh a strong argument but the historicity of uh the old testament that happened as it did 00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:11.500 because if they were going to make this up you know they would have had to go to the library 00:48:11.500 --> 00:48:16.259 to find out let's see what would the structure of the covenant have been 00:48:16.259 --> 00:48:19.199 uh a thousand years ago 00:48:19.199 --> 00:48:23.619 yeah um that's a great point let's think to point that out and you know it yeah 00:48:23.619 --> 00:48:28.079 for those who aren't familiar people argue that this book was written way after moses 00:48:28.079 --> 00:48:31.239 like around the king of times king josiah because 00:48:31.239 --> 00:48:37.719 they're already like they're they're trying to make sense of the exile and like king and israel's rebellion 00:48:37.719 --> 00:48:43.519 and so higher critical scholars will say that it was written thousands of years out a thousand years afterwards 00:48:43.519 --> 00:48:51.599 but that's because the higher critical scholars aren't willing to accept that god knows the future 00:48:51.599 --> 00:48:53.579 he knows how this is all going to turn out 00:48:53.579 --> 00:48:56.739 um and so there's certain assumptions that they're making 00:48:56.739 --> 00:49:01.000 when they can't accept mosaic authorship and like you're right matt it's 00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:03.039 the covenant format 00:49:03.039 --> 00:49:07.199 follows exactly what we would expect to see during the time of moses 00:49:07.199 --> 00:49:12.219 so that's why i say i think mosaic and the rest of the scriptures 00:49:12.219 --> 00:49:15.799 um say that moses wrote this book 00:49:15.799 --> 00:49:17.840 i'll go with that 00:49:17.840 --> 00:49:23.620 i'll go with the scriptures on this one 00:49:23.620 --> 00:49:29.740 any questions about some law in there that you're like 00:49:29.740 --> 00:49:35.740 just makes sense of this law in deuteronomy i didn't get into all of them but there's some 00:49:35.740 --> 00:49:39.980 there's some ones in there that are hard to understand 00:49:39.980 --> 00:49:51.360 i got a quick question or comment really 00:49:51.360 --> 00:49:58.240 really yeah yeah just just a footnote on the discussion there about the historicity of deuteronomy 00:49:58.240 --> 00:50:05.440 uh there's a prevailing theory in in academic circles about you know multiple authors 00:50:05.440 --> 00:50:13.380 redacting and changing uh the the law of moses so on and so forth that you guys were referring to 00:50:13.380 --> 00:50:18.019 just just a quick footnote to say simply that there's actually been a lot of recently there's 00:50:18.019 --> 00:50:23.820 been a lot of scholarly pushback on that so um a lot of those arguments just don't hold the water 00:50:23.820 --> 00:50:30.340 they used to 10 years ago even so just i haven't uh if someone wants a source on that we can 00:50:30.340 --> 00:50:35.179 talk about that offline but just just an fyi that's not the compelling theory that it once was 00:50:35.179 --> 00:50:40.119 a few even a decade ago so there it is great thank you 00:50:40.119 --> 00:50:51.000 i just encourage that archaeology and and scholarship always ends up on the side of the bible 00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:55.039 like you know faithful scholarship will affirm what god has been saying 00:50:55.039 --> 00:51:22.860 one of the laws uh that i appreciate is the law that uh a runaway slave is not to be returned uh to his master 00:51:22.860 --> 00:51:32.800 and of course our country has you know this horrible history you know with slavery 00:51:32.800 --> 00:51:41.940 and then uh uh you know we make mistakes like this i make mistakes like this today but uh you know 00:51:41.940 --> 00:51:54.880 arguing i think i think that uh the bible talks slavery you know some christians uh argued 100 300 years ago 00:51:54.880 --> 00:52:07.000 and then totally ignoring uh a law like that which would have you know made you know sort of transformed 00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:16.440 uh our history if in fact the opposing law actually was put into practice in the united states because you had to return 00:52:16.440 --> 00:52:18.940 yeah uh slaves to their mess 00:52:18.940 --> 00:52:24.940 was that first simothy uh passage about not kidnapping someone that may have helped too um 00:52:24.940 --> 00:52:32.599 yeah i think the chat the chattel slavery that we had in this country you know i heard this recently that the miracle 00:52:32.599 --> 00:52:42.440 of the bible is that the slaveholders god is the same god as a slave and like that is such a monumental 00:52:42.440 --> 00:52:47.099 um change in how the slave holding the slave were to relate to each other 00:52:47.099 --> 00:52:55.860 um and you see that in uh in paul's letter so it's like they're brothers now like you're a brother now with 00:52:55.860 --> 00:52:57.760 you know so treat him treat him well 00:52:57.760 --> 00:53:02.559 so uh any further questions and then not all 00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:12.880 okay i mean i mean um father in heaven lord thank you for your word um lord we pray that 00:53:12.880 --> 00:53:20.039 you would sanctify us by sanctify us by your truth lord because your word is truth and in your word we see 00:53:20.039 --> 00:53:25.840 who you are i pray that you give us a greater appetite for your word so that we would commune with you 00:53:25.840 --> 00:53:33.640 um and that we would become more like your son jesus uh who loved the word um because he loved you 00:53:33.640 --> 00:53:35.300 i pray this in jesus name 00:53:35.300 --> 00:53:36.300 amen