In this decision, not deciding results in the bad choice default.

Walk Thru Deuteronomy 11

[photo by adents.com -- check them out]

Deuteronomy Chapter 11: Victory Depends on Studying and Obeying the Commands

Deuteronomy 11:1-32 – Highlights of The Passage and Some Thoughts

I like verse 2 where Moses says, “And know this day that I am not speaking with your sons...” and then verses 7 and 8, “...but your own eyes have seen…You shall, therefore, keep every commandment…”. This spoke to me. Moses was speaking to those sons of Israel that had witnessed firsthand what God had done for them. And he was saying, “Look, regardless of what your sons and daughters believe in now, you are to keep the commandments.”

We need to hear that today as parents and grandparents. It doesn’t matter what our children and grandchildren proclaim or know or believe, we who know what God has done for us, are to keep the commandments. This morning a friend reminded me of another verse in Scripture, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, which says, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” That’s our job no matter how others react. Obey the commandments; follow the traditions.

In verse 10, Moses is describing how the Israelites’ new land is different than the land of Egypt. It drinks water from heaven. God cares for it. His eyes are on it. And He’s always watching it all through the year, not just in the autumn and spring when rains normally fall.

In verse 18, he reminds them to teach these commands to their children, for all the reasons he had repeated earlier.

Then comes verse 26. “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.” Listen to God’s commands and be blessed. Don’t listen and be cursed. Chuck Smith reminds us that “That’s always the way it is. God sets before you the blessing and the curse; it’s your choice.” And he adds, “Now if you go to destruction it isn’t that God sent you there. It’s that you deliberately went there against all of God’s endeavors to keep you from there.”

In verse 29, he tells them that once they enter the land, they are to “place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.” Now, what’s that all about? This is what Smith says about it:

And when they came into the land some of the men were to go up to the top of Mount Gerizim and they were to shout to the people who were in this valley between these two mountains, shout down to them the blessings of the land and the conditions of blessings.

And as these men would shout down, "Blessed be ye in the fields" the people say, "Amen". "And in your cities" "Amen" and they would shout down these blessings. But on Mount Ebal there's another bunch of guys that were shouting the curses that would come to them if they disobeyed. So on Gerizim the blessing was placed and they would shout down to the people in the valley, the people would consent "Amen, Amen". And from Ebal the curses were pronounced and again the consenting "Yes, that's right. That's right, amen, amen. So be it". So that must have been quite an experience.

David Guzik says that this is Moses telling the people (and us) that God wants this “choice” that we have to be shared with all the people. We need to tell then that it’s a choice they have to make. That’s part of sharing the gospel today. That’s what a missionary is all about. The name Gerizim is supposed to be associated with fruitful harvests, and the name Ebal is supposed to be associated with barrenness.

This might well be the earliest reference to sharing the good news.

Wrap-up

Study the commands of God. Obey the commands of God. Share the commands of God and the choice that people have. And be victorious.

If our study in Deuteronomy does nothing else, it has certainly helped me understand how simple and easy God really made it for us all. It is us who have complicated things as we try to replace Him in all matters. My hope is that you too can see the solidness of God’s plan for us.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Can a 120-year-old preacher hold our attention? Absolutely -- if you're Moses and inspired by God Himself.

An Introduction to the Book of Deuteronomy

Today we begin our study of the 5th book of Moses -- Deuteronomy. Each installment of this study helps us find the hidden gems that we otherwise might miss.  Don't miss any of it. Here's an intro to the book itself.

(I am indebted here to the publishers of the New American Standard Bible for the following comments on this, the fifth book of Moses.)

This book consists of a series of farewell messages by Moses, Israel’s 120-year-old leader. I venture to say that is older than anyone reading this right now. It is addressed to those that were quite young when the Israelites left Egypt or who were born during the 40 years of roaming in the wilderness but were now ready to possess the promised land.

There’s a lot of legal detail, but unlike the book of Numbers, the emphasis is on the ordinary people and not the priests. Moses’ key message is “if you don’t want to repeat the mistakes of your parents, obey God”.

The book of Deuteronomy is an adaptation and expansion of much of the original law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. The book is also referred to as the “Book of Remembrance”.

There is controversy over the authorship of the book. But there is sufficient internal (in the book’s content) and external evidence (historical) to support the Mosaic authorship, and that it was not a later account of oral tradition.

It is estimated that the book was written at the end of a 40-year period after the people of Israel left Egypt.  So, it is placed at c. 1405 B.C.

Christ is made reference to in Deuteronomy 18:15 where we read, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like (Moses) from among you (the Israelites), from your countrymen, you shall listen to Him.”

Key Word: Covenant. The book is about the renewal of the covenant established at Mount Sinai and being renewed on the plains of Moab, before the children of Israel take the promised land.

Key Verses: These deal with what the children are expected to do with respect to God as well as that doing so is a matter of life and death.  We will say more about these key verses when we reach these references in our study.

Key Chapter: Chapter 27 – when the formal ratification of the covenant occus which makes Israel “a people for the Lord your God”.

Deuteronomy is divided into three main sermons: 1:1 to 4:3 (a review of the past); 4:4 to 26:19 (a review of the law required for a right relationship with God); and 27:1 to 34:12 (writing the history of Israel in advance).

Stay with us throughout this study. You can sign up to get an email notice when the next installment is published. Just go to the right-hand column on the website page and go the box that says, “Subscribe via Email”, fill in your email, and click “Subscribe”.

Looking forward to studying with you.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Before You Pray for Something, Do Your Homework to See if God Has Already Ruled on the Matter

Numbers Chapter 23: The Oracles of Balaam

Numbers 23:1-30

Day 76. Violent rioting continuing in the U.S. and the President calls for more force to be used. Lockdowns continue in many parts of the world. Curfews are in place in many parts of the U.S. America is more divided than ever before and regrettably, it seems that some kind of civil war may be the outcome. God forbid. We keep studied our Bible, looking for gems as to how we should live. Thank you for the encouraging notes people are leaving me.  Read on. 

The Passage

23 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” ² Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. ³ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a bare hill.

⁴ Now God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.” ⁵ Then the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and you shall speak thus.” ⁶ So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab. ⁷ He took up his ^[a]discourse and said,

“From Aram Balak has brought me,
Moab’s king from the mountains of the East,
‘Come curse Jacob for me,
And come, denounce Israel!’
⁸ “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
⁹ “As I see him from the top of the rocks,
And I look at him from the hills;
Behold, a people who dwells apart,
And will not be reckoned among the nations.
¹⁰ “Who can count the dust of Jacob,
Or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let ^[b]me die the death of the upright,
And let my end be like his!”

¹¹ Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!” ¹² He replied, “Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

¹³ Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴ So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵ And he said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the Lord over there.” ¹⁶ Then the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷ He came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” ¹⁸ Then he took up his ^[c]discourse and said,

“Arise, O Balak, and hear;
Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!
¹⁹ “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
²⁰ “Behold, I have received a command to bless;
When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.
²¹ “He has not observed ^[d]misfortune in Jacob;
Nor has He seen trouble in Israel;
The Lord his God is with him,
And the shout of a king is among them.
²² “God brings them out of Egypt,
He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
²³ “For there is no omen against Jacob,
Nor is there any divination against Israel;
At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob
And to Israel, what God has done!
²⁴ “Behold, a people rises like a lioness,
And as a lion it lifts itself;
It will not lie down until it devours the prey,
And drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!” ²⁶ But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘^[e]Whatever the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”

²⁷ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be ^[f]agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there.” ²⁸ So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the ^[g]wasteland. ²⁹ Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”³⁰ Balak did just as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

Footnotes

a.     Numbers 23:7 Lit parable

b.     Numbers 23:10 Lit my soul

c.     Numbers 23:18 Lit parable

d.     Numbers 23:21 Or iniquity

e.     Numbers 23:26 Lit saying, Whatever

f.      Numbers 23:27 Lit right in the sight of God

g.     Numbers 23:28 Or Jeshimon

Thoughts on the Passage

We observe that Balaam had Balak build altars and arrange for sacrifices to be made. And after that, Balaam went to a “bare hill” and God met him there to tell him what to say to Balak.

In verse 10, we hear Balaam saying to Balak, “I want to die the death of the righteous; and I want my end to be like that of the righteous.”  One commentator says, “anyone who wants to die the death of the righteous must first live the life of the righteous”.  Good point. We all want to die well and be treated well in death. We just aren’t so ready to live righteously. Robert Jamieson says, in so wishing but not living, Balaam is representative of a large class in the world – they “express a wish for the blessedness which Christ has promised to His people but are averse to imitate the mind that was in Him.”

We need to remember that in these attempts of Balak to get Balaam to curse Israel, he is going directly against something that God has already settled – God has blessed Israel to be a blessing, and woe to him who curses Israel.

Matthew Henry has us remember that Balak “pretended to honor the Lord with his sacrifices, and to wait for the answer God would send him; and yet, when it did not prove according to his mind, he forgot God, and flew into a great passion against Balaam.”

In the second message from God to Balak through Balaam (verses 18-24), God rebukes Balak and teaches him about the Divine nature of God – that unlike man, He does not lie or change His mind, that He always performs His word, and that He has all the strength. Furthermore, that He has not observed iniquity or wickedness in His people to warrant a curse. And in verse 22, God says He is like a wild ox on behalf of His people. David Guzik say, “wild ox is translated ‘unicorn’ in the KJV. The Hebrew word here (reem) occurs nine times in the O.T. The idea behind the Hebrew word is either of one horn or a mighty horn. Some think it refers to a rhinoceros, others to a wild ox, or a strong goat. It is not out of the question that a unicorn may be in mind.”

Not being happy with what Balaam tells him, Balak accuses him of actually blessing the Israelites rather than cursing them as he had asked for, and takes him to a second place, hoping things would turn out differently, but they didn’t. Balak now would even settle for Balaam to be neutral rather than bless or curse Israel.  And Balaam replies, “I will tell you whatever the Lord tells me to tell you as I had said.” And Balak takes him to yet a third place and the altars are built, and the offerings made.

Bottom line for me is this: If I am going to ask something of God, I better have done my homework [including studying my Bible] and made sure that I am not asking for something that God has already made a decision about. That’s why perhaps it is always better to attach to each of our petitions to God, the phrase, “nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done”. And then to real be able to accept happily (knowing it was the best option) whatever God’s will was for that matter. As a young lad, I lost many a potential spouse that way. As a young man, I lost many an opportunity to study something different that way. And then, I lost many a promotion or new job opportunities that way. As disappointed as I was, I knew that God’s choice for me – in my work, in my fields of study, and most importantly in my life’s partner – God’s choice for me was always superior.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.