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Revelation

Daily Reader for Day 67: Deuteronomy 29 - 31


by Dave Moore

We’re nearing the end of Moses’ speeches that fill the book of Deuteronomy, and once again all Israel is called together to reaffirm the LORD’s covenant with them.  We’ve seen this many times, and there is no variation in the pattern today.  Israel is reminded of the LORD’s faithfulness to them, called to fidelity, and reminded of what would happen should they succeed or fail.   

Most contracts, or covenants, require some sort of witness, someone who will vouch for your ability to follow through on the agreement.  Many of you have probably signed for a loan that required a cosigner – someone who was actually taking financial responsibility for your ability to fulfill your commitment. 

This is what’s going on at the end of chapter 30 when Moses calls “…heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.  Therefore choose life...”  Should Israel fail in its obligations – and the end of chapter 31 shows that God is sure of it – nature itself will rise up against it.  You’ve heard this language often and here it’s codified: heaven and earth are not slaves to Israel, but will rebel against her when she turns away from the Creator. 

Pay attention to the commissioning of Joshua in chapter 31.  Moses’ concerns are beyond the question of succession.  He knows better than anyone that leading Israel is not about personal charisma or physical might, but about trust in, and faithfulness to, the LORD.  His words to both the people and their next leader will echo forward as they cross the Jordan:

“Be strong and courageous…It is the LORD who goes before you.  He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Our verse for this week is Galatians 3:29: And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Deuteronomy 29 through 31.  Now let’s read it!

Deuteronomy 29 - 31

These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. Moses called to all Israel, and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that Jehovah did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But Jehovah has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day. I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your sandals have not grown old on your feet. You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am Jehovah your God. When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we struck them. We took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. All of you stand today in the presence of Jehovah your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water, that you may enter into the covenant of Jehovah your God, and into his oath, which Jehovah your God makes with you today, that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he spoke to you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither do I make this covenant and this oath with you only, but with those who stand here with us today before Jehovah our God, and also with those who are not here with us today (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the middle of the nations through which you passed; and you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were among them); lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison; and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, "I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart," to destroy the moist with the dry. Jehovah will not pardon him, but then Jehovah's anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Jehovah will blot out his name from under the sky. Jehovah will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law. The generation to come--your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land--will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Jehovah has made it sick, that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn't produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath. Even all the nations will say, "Why has Jehovah done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?" Then men will say, "Because they abandoned the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they didn't know and that he had not given to them. Therefore Jehovah's anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book. Jehovah rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today." The secret things belong to Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where Jehovah your God has driven you, and return to Jehovah your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that then Jehovah your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where Jehovah your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there Jehovah your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. Jehovah your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers. Jehovah your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Jehovah your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. You shall return and obey Jehovah's voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today. Jehovah your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for Jehovah will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers, if you will obey Jehovah your God's voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant. It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will go over the sea for us, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?" But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil. For I command you today to love Jehovah your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Jehovah your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them, I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants, to love Jehovah your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. He said to them, "I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. Jehovah has said to me, 'You shall not go over this Jordan.' Jehovah your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as Jehovah has spoken. Jehovah will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. Jehovah will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid or scared of them, for Jehovah your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you." Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which Jehovah has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it. Jehovah himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged." Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of Jehovah's covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths, when all Israel has come to appear before Jehovah your God in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigners who are within your gates, that they may hear, learn, fear Jehovah your God, and observe to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to fear Jehovah your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it." Jehovah said to Moses, "Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him." Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting. Jehovah appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent's door. Jehovah said to Moses, "Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, 'Haven't these evils come on us because our God is not among us?' I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods. "Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I promised them." So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them. I will be with you." When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of Jehovah's covenant, saying, "Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of Jehovah your God's covenant, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Jehovah. How much more after my death? Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn away from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in Jehovah's sight, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands." Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.

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You Can Read the Bible is supported by Bellefield Presbyterian Church and blessed with its wonderful volunteers, including: Dave Moore, Jose David Aguilar Posada, Meagan Carter, Fiona Carter, Tanya Carter, Greg Burdette, Madeline Kulp, Andie Young, Justin Ray, Gary Liberati, Maureen Hinchman, Ken MacLeod, John Dolan, Roberto Cantillo, Charlei George, Josh Brown, Jeanne Griffith, Zachary Fritts, Dan Hinchman, Sophia Young, Lynette MacLeod, Gladys Cantillo, Grace Watson, Marianne Seah, Ian MacLeod, Liz Zimmerman, August Hall, Paza Boyd, Kristin Horner, Daniel Young, Paul Griffoen, Ben Moore, Meredith Carter, Bob Willson, Rosie Wagoner, Nick Bersin, Rhonda Hall, Helen Dolby, Emily Moore, Rick Zimmerman, Matt Jones, Kiana Jones, Jane Carter, Marilyn Long, Renee Hairston, Heather Weaver, Carol Williams, Anita Woolley, Andrew Thorpe, Emily Wenz, Matt Carter, and many others.

A special note of thanks to Dave Moore, the Moore family, Maureen Hinchman, the Hinchman family, Jose Posada, the Posada family, and to the Carter family. This would not have happened without your unwavering efforts, sacrifice, and support! Thank you!

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