Deuteronomy Explained

​He says, see, I've set before you today life and good, death and evil in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, and to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

This summarizes everything of the heart of God and of the mind of God for his people, and we will find that there is so much joy, abundant life and blessing if we stay true to the covenant of God and the, commandments that he gives to us.

Hello and welcome to the You Can Learn the Bible Podcast where we summarize complete Bible books in single episodes. I am Bodie Quirk from YouCanLearnthBible.com here as always with Joey Rozek, Lead Pastor of Living Springs Fellowship in New Jersey. Joey, how are you today my friend?

Brother Bodie, I'm doing great. I'm thankful. Thankful for God's faithfulness and his goodness in my life. And, as always blessed to be able to discuss the word of God diving into Scripture with you and bringing out the beautiful treasure chest that is in every book of the Bible. And so

What a treat. This, this thing we get to do together is right.

Absolutely. Absolutely, and every book that we get to hit on is divinely inspired by God and has a role in God's meta narrative, the big picture of the Bible.

And today we're hitting on the last book of the Torah, the Pentateuch. And we're hitting on Deuteronomy.

That's right.

Deuteronomy Explained today, Bodie. So you ready for this? You

Yeah, I'm so ready. This is a treasure, and if people can get how important this book is from this episode, then I will consider this a major win because this is a super important book. They're all important, they're all a part of the canon of Scripture, but this one has a unique place and I'm excited to talk about it today, Joey with you, so,

just our usual reminder that you can watch us on YouTube if you would like, we record this via video as well as audio in the podcast app, which you're probably listening to right now. And so we wanna do whatever we can to equip you. And so the goal of this episode is in a short time, explain Deuteronomy in such a way where you feel equipped and inspired to go into it. So I'm ready to dive right in. Joey,

as you know, we use a seven part framework, which we feel like really is the best way that we can in a short time, give you what you need. And so the framework includes the essentials of the book, where it fits in the storyline of scripture, some of the major themes and ideas, the structure, what it teaches us about God, what it teaches us about ourselves, what it offers our Christian lives, and as well as some of our favorite things. Those are kind of the main parts of our seven part framework.

So why don't we start, Joey with number one. And so we always like to sit down and just make sure we cover our bases first, the essentials. So when it comes to Deuteronomy, let me throw this question to you. What do we need to know first if we want to study the book of Deuteronomy well from the get go?

Well, I think it's important that we recognize this is the last book of the first five books of the Bible that Moses himself wrote down as a way of showing the uniqueness of Yahweh as opposed to all the other pagan gods and ways in which people were living life on the earth. We've progressed in our timeline, so this book was written a little later, around 1407 to 1406 BC roughly, basically at the end of their wilderness journey.

The interesting thing about this particular book is, I think actually given to us in the name Deuteronomy, comes from two Greek words, "deuteros", which is second, and "nomos" , which means "law". Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law, and it's important because this is the generation of people, Bodie, who had already left Egypt. The first generation had left Egypt and then of course they had children. They were wondering in the wilderness for 40 years, this next generation is now the adults and they're gonna be the ones going into the promised land.

And so, since Moses forfeited his right and the first generation was gonna perish in this wilderness, this book reiterates the importance of making sure God's people have the right heart as they enter into the land of promise. And of course, what is the best way to have a right heart before God?

Well, the answer to that question, Bodie, is by knowing what God's word says. And so another name for this book is "Hada Barim", which is the word. Debar. Debar is the word for "word" in Hebrew, and we see that the opening words of this book, the words "Dabarim", is what is gonna be reiterated. All throughout this book. We are gonna hear the words of God, Bodie, in this book, his people.

Yep. Yep. So that is such a good way for us to put ourselves in the place of the original audience. So we know that the Torah is ending, we're at a big turning point in the story of Scripture, aren't we, Joey, because like you said, 40 years in the Bible represents a generation, one generation has passed, the one that was brought out of Egypt.

Now, the new one has to be equipped. So they are located right at where the book of Numbers ended.

And so if you remember the book of numbers, they traveled from Mount Sinai to a place called Kadesh Barnea, but then they ended at the plains of Moab on the east side of the Jordan River, preparing to enter the land of Canaan. And so Deuteronomy is, it's kind of like an unpacking of the commandments given in Exodus, but what's beautiful about Deuteronomy is we get so much of the heart and the essence, don't we, Joey, of what the law of God truly means. Normally, when we open a book, in these episodes, we like reading some of the very first verses.

Deuteronomy, however, we're actually gonna do the first verses of chapter four, and I'm gonna have Joey, if you wouldn't mind read these. Why start in chapter four rather than in chapter one?

Well, yeah. The first three chapters of Deuteronomy are looking backwards to what has already ended, as we saw in the book of Numbers, and so really we're picking up now on these words that we're about to read in Deuteronomy chapter four, they set the tone of the whole book because they call our attention to God's authority over our lives, God's laws and commandments.

And so here's what it says. Deuteronomy chapter four in the opening verses says, "And now O Israel. Listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you and do them that you may live. Obedience always goes with blessing, you see? And go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers is giving you.

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, that I command you. So those are the opening verses, and I think it really does set the tone, doesn't it, Bodie?

It does, it does. So if you're wondering what happens in chapters one through three, we are gonna get there in a second when we walk through the structure of this book together. But it's important to know, again, this is a book of preparation. Numbers was very much a book of journeying to the location we're at, and Joshua is going to be another book of journeying into this land that was promised hundreds of years ago. But we have to get what Moses wants in the book of Deuteronomy first before we do that.

So that's a little bit on the essentials. Let's talk about, just again, we've talked about it a little bit, if, where does it fit on the storyline? This is Moses's final address before entering Canaan.

Now Moses, as Joey already mentioned, himself doesn't enter, but the people do. So just recalling that they have just ended a time of traveling, military victories and defeats, Moses is gonna review all of this in the first part of the book, the leadership that Joshua is now gonna be the new leader, not himself. But really it's the preparation, it's the readiness of this new generation, which says that even though the previous generation forfeited their rights because of their unbelief, God has not forfeited them. Which is always an encouragement to me when I sin and when I fall short, God through Christ has a commitment to me that is as strong as his love of His Son.

But this book, Joey, introduces us to some major biblical themes, and I would almost wager to say the themes and ideas in this book are some of the most important in Scripture, of course, all scripture's important, but let's talk about this next one.

What are some of the concepts, the major biblical ideas that get introduced to us in the book of Deuteronomy?

Yes. Well, there's a lot of great biblical concepts in this book, one of them is Love. You started to talk about that, love is actually used 21 times in this book and it really shows us that the very God of love that reveals himself to us is the God that we're coming into covenant with, remember, this is all about covenant relationship.

But what's unique about this covenant relationship is declared in what we're gonna see later on called the "Shema", and it's the fact that God is one.

God is one. He's unique, he's supreme, he's over all, and he's above all. And so the, they're gonna see a theme of that in the book. We're gonna see the theme, of course, of the entering into the land or the possessing of the land of promise. We're going to see the theme of sanctuary worship as a centerpiece of the life of Israel worshiping God, and understanding how to keep yourself in a right relationship with God.

And then of course that means you have to resist, if you say yes to God, you say no to what defies God or what competes with him. So we resist any and all idolatry, and that is something we as Christians have to do all the time today. If we're gonna say yes to God, we say no to the things that will hold us back from serving him or slow us down or hinder that fellowship.

We're gonna see how God is a God of holiness, and so, we're gonna see his laws that govern the people in justice, fairness, and compassion. And we're also gonna continue to see the constant theme that obedience leads to blessing and disobey obedience leads to cursing. So we're gonna see the future blessings and the present blessings that are available for Israel.

And as I already mentioned, God's covenant love because I wanna go back to that, Bodie, because one of the things that we see in this book is that everything God commands is for our benefit. Everything God tells us to do is actually what is helpful for others. You know, you'll never find a single verse in the Bible where God says to do this, and we discover actually, God, you are wrong on this, this is not good.

God's laws are holy, the problem is people are not, and so we need God to govern us, and it's God's love that motivates us to do the right things. And if we love God, then we show our love by our obedience, which of course, Jesus will say later on, if you love me, keep my commandments.

So, um,

Which is the opposite default in our culture, isn't it? We think that we shouldn't have to obey rules. Rules are the opposite of what it means to be loving, but in fact, in the Bible, we find out that God's rules, his ways. Are the very expression of his love for us and the best version of life for us come through obedience to the ways, but it feels very backwards to so many people, but this book really is gonna deal with a lot of that.

And one more thing, Bodie, what is important to say about themes and ideas is that when we think about the idea of reiterating something, you know, Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law, it also brings up the humanity that we have that we forget things. We need reiteration, we need reminders. We need to get back to the truth that sets us free. They're already a free people. Remember, they left the bondage of Egypt. But remember, a lot of their bondage is still in their heart. Egypt, remember,

is still trapped inside of them, or the

right?

of man.

And so we need to be reminded of truth. We need to be reminded of what is good. This is why we are gonna be exhorted in this book, to teach these things to our children regularly and to remind ourselves of these things continually. The structure of this book's gonna help us, cuz we're gonna go through this as we hit the different

it is. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm so glad you said that because we're gonna see that theme of reminding so commonly through this book.

So as we now go into number four, which is the structure, we're actually going to approach four, five, and six together. Now, what I mean by that is we're gonna take this book, we're gonna introduce the structure to you, and with each section through the structure, we wanna ask the same questions.

What does this section teach us about God? And what does this section offer our Christian life? And hopefully we can prepare you to read it, but really to see some the beautiful things that each section offers.

So let me introduce the book of Deuteronomy and how we've broken it down, because there's a little bit of a bookend feature to Deuteronomy that you might not know about. So let me just walk through this really quickly. So the first section is chapters one through three, and it's a look backward.

It's essentially, it's a review of the book of Numbers. There's a similar section at the very end, which looks forward, and that is now that they've reviewed and he's gone through the reiteration of the law, which are the middle sections, he's gonna look forward. So if you just remember that the beginning is looking back, that's chapters one through three, the end 31 through 34 is looking forward.

But the real heart of the book is what I wanna have Joey talk about the middle three sections from chapter four down to chapter 30. So we have looking backward is the first section, Joey, what is the second section? And just take us through the rest of the structure.

So the second section, these middle chapters, which are the real meat and bones of this book, really gets into God's law. So the general law of God for all of us. We're gonna see the 10 Commandments repeated. So Exodus 20 gave us the 10 Commandments. Deuteronomy chapter five also gives us the 10 Commandments with a couple slight variations in how it's introduced and reiterated.

We're gonna see the way in which, as a community of people need to be governed by God with very specific guidelines. So we're gonna get some nuanced teachings in the law, and then of course, it all culminates, Bodie, in this section of what we call in chapters 27 to 30, the covenant blessings and cursing.

So you have chapters four through 11 is the general Law of God. Chapters 12 through 26 is the governing of God's community. Chapters 27 to 30 reiterates that there's blessing when you obey and there is cursing when you don't. As I like to say, when you follow God's yeses, God always blesses. When you don't follow God rightly and you choose to do your own thing, well the Bible says there is a way that seems right to man, but it's end is the way of death. And we see this is a really important teaching all throughout scripture that we keep ourself in alignment with God.

Yep. Yep. So let's walk through the book. Let's start with the first section, looking backward, chapters one through three.

So here we have a summary of the key events. So we read the, we started the episode by reading the first verses of chapter four, which is really the beginning of our next section, but that's not where Deuteronomy starts.

Moses really wants them to remember. So there's a couple key things we want you to get from this first section, these first chapters, which essentially is a great review of the book of Numbers. The first is we wanna remember God's providence. God is the reason why they are where they are. Moses does not want them to forget that.

He's the one that is faithfully led them, but this has not been an easy road. There have been major victories and challenges along the way, but also God is the one who is called the leaders to lead this group. So particularly there was Moses, and now we're gonna start to see the transition into Joshua, aren't we, Joey?

And so, but it's not just that, it's the elders that are appointed. So why does Moses start this book with the review, and what do we need to make sure we don't miss in these first three chapters?

Well, I think that by reviewing what God has already done, it reminds us of the character of God and the fact that God doesn't change. You know, he, he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. And by remembering God's providence and how he was faithfully leading them, this gives them reassurance. To be able to trust him in the days ahead.

And so I think it's really important that the book begins with a past look in order to remember the faithfulness of God's character. We're also gonna see, remember God has already given them victories over some of the challenges and s skirmishes they had both within themselves and with the outward people who they, had some wars with. And so we get to see that God was faithful in those battles. God was able to give them victory.

And then we see that God has ultimately been leading as the head over his people. But Moses was their leader. Moses was the one that took them out of bondage in Egypt, and now we see that there's a new leader leading God's people and it's Joshua. Really, this transition is starting to be seen clearly in the book of Deuteronomy, and so we have the recalling of divine leadership.

So these are, all of these lessons are going to reiterate why we gotta keep our eyes on God and follow his commandments carefully I like to put it this way, the commandments, right? Our commands were meant to keep commandment, you know? So we wanna stay true to what God . Commands and what God says, again, there's blessing in obedience, Bodie.

Mm-hmm. There is, and that's the thing. If we really trust God, it makes it far easier to do what he asks us to do. But if the commandments are abstracted from what we know about God's heart and motives and character, well now we're not really gonna be sure if we wanna obey them or not. That's why knowing God and knowing his commandments, go together, which is what this book helps us see.

so, section number one is a look backward, chapters one through three. I think we've got that down. Let's now get into the book.

So the next section are chapters four through 11, which we call the General Law of God. And here we really get to see Moses unpacking the 10 Commandments and the essence of the Commandments in really in a way we haven't seen yet at all in the Bible.

This is a really special section. So Joey, what do we need to look for? What's going on in chapters four through 11? This section on the general law of God? Why do we even need to review the Commandments and what is so important about this section? Cuz oh man, there's a lot here. Isn't there?

There is so much in these particular chapters. You know, it's, it's probably worthwhile to say that, the book of Deuteronomy is quoted in the New Testament 45 times. In fact, in 17 books of the whole Bible, Deuteronomy gets mentioned, so it's even reiterated in other parts of the Old Testament as well.

But Deuteronomy in these early chapters is showing us the greatness of God. It's showing us how unique He is, how he is unparalleled, how he is holy. In fact, there's some beautiful descriptions in these early chapters about God, and how he alone is above all things. We learned that he is God, the faithful God who keeps his covenant and mercy for a thousand generations.

In Deuteronomy seven, nine. We learn, I love this one Bodie, in chapter 10, verse 17. It says, for the Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of lords. The great God mighty and awesome who shows no partiality and takes no bribes. You know, basically he is a faithful God.

He's administering justice, he is loving the stranger, and so we see some really important aspects here, chapter five, which gives us the 10 Commandments as a whole, is followed by something that is so beautiful called the "Shema", which is this beautiful passage that we're gonna look at in just a moment here that reiterates and it's really kind of a heartbeat of the nation of Israel.

It says in Deuteronomy chapter six, and I think that that verse three is the first time where the word comes up. "Shema" means here in Hebrew, and in verse three it says, therefore, "Hear O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.

And then we come to this verse that's very well known, verse four. It's actually written inside of the "mezuasas", the little slanted pieces that are often over the doors of houses, of Jewish homes. It's even in the phylacteries, which is the boxes that some of the Jewish people would literally bind on their foreheads.

And if you say, why do they do that? Because they took these verses so literal. Look at what we read here. It says "Hear, oh, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house. When you walk by the way, when you lie down. And when you rise, you shall bind them. There you go. As a sign on your hand, and they shall be as the frontlets between your eyes and you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates".

So these verses were so important, Bodie, that not only was it supposed to be in their heart, but I think some Jewish people, and whether they were supposed to do this or not, literally began to do this outwardly by literally strapping leather strands around their arms, around their forehead, and putting these verses on top of their bodies.

But the idea more importantly, was to express the spirit of this to God's people because these chapters, Bodie, are reiterating how important it is that we live by every word that precedes from the mouth of God. Now, that might sound familiar to some of you. Why? Because it's what Jesus quoted when he was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days.

And Jesus fasted during that time. Satan shows up trying to tempt Jesus to get him to move outside of the will of God, to come under his authority, but Jesus doesn't come under Satan's authority. Why? Because he submits to God, resists devil, and the devil flees from him, and did you know that the three Scriptures that Jesus quotes from when he's tempted by Satan is actually found in Deuteronomy chapter eight. He's actually quoting from this book, this important section that we're in right now. He's declaring the word of God. And so each of the temptations that Satan gives, which reiterates the temptation in the Garden of Eden, when Eve was even tempted by the serpent, the devil.

We discover that the devil tried to get eve to sin by the lust of the eyes, less of the flesh, the pride of life, even though there was no sinful nature in Adam and Eve at that time, we see that he would do the same thing with Jesus who also had no sinful nature and that Jesus passed the test where Adam and failed.

Jesus passes the test where the children of Israel fail in their wilderness, and he quotes scripture saying, it is written, it is written, it is written, quoting three different passages from Deuteronomy eight. Isn't that awesome, Bodie? The word of God is that powerful, even for Jesus, who is the word that was made flesh.

Well, and it shows how Jesus was the completion of all that had come before. He did not appear randomly and make these bold claims about himself. He claimed to fulfill that which was still unfulfilled.

So Joey said that between four and five is a review of the commandments, but don't forget, check this out, what. The first and greatest commandment? Have no other gods before me. So if you have that major commandment in your mind and you start to read chapter 6, 7, 8, 9, all the way through 11, all of those chapters are a beautiful unfolding of what it means to have no other gods before Yahweh, before the supreme true Lord of heaven and earth.

So chapter eight is Not Forgetting the Lord, which is the major theme of that chapter, and it's the one thing Jesus does successfully, in his temptation that the children of Israel, as you mentioned, and Adam and Eve do not. So it's so beautiful to see Jesus living out the commandments fully, completely, he fulfills the law, it's so beautiful. So just keep in mind, the reason why it goes up to number 11 is because chapter six through 11 are a beautiful unpacking of what it means to have no other gods before me, and all the beautiful nuance of that. That's what's so cool about Deuteronomy. It's just like the 10 Commandments pro, right?

It's like the full extended version of the 10 Commandments that we got in a little bit in the Book of Exodus. Now we really get to see Moses' full unpacking for the people. Anything else shall, before we leave part two chapters four through 11 that you want to throw out? There's just so much that we could probably say, but we gotta keep moving. So

Yes. I'll just say a couple quick, just last comments is that, for all of you parents out there, and for those of you that are still living at home with your parents, it is so important that you recognize this really encapsulated the spiritual heritage of training your children in the ways of the Lord.

To train children, you have to model truth. You have to be able to teach the truth, and you also have to keep reiterating it and following through when there is disobedience or obedience. And this is really what the essence of the general law of God is showing us here. In these particular chapters, and I think as you rightly said, Bodie, the first commandment, you shall have no other gods before me, do you know that if you ever break any of the other commandments, you have to break that one first anyway?

Because the moment I choose to do something like lying, or you lust or you steal or you covet, it's because God is no longer in the place in your life where he should be, and so by putting something else above God makes our heart turn to idolatrous ways, and to rebellious practices. So I think that's just really important in the essence of what these chapters are teaching us, and even as Christians today, when we read these texts of Scripture, we can see how important these principles remain for us

true. So true. Yep. So just keep that in mind as you read up through chapter 11. Okay. So now we're at part three.

So we looked back in chapters one through three. We talked about the general law of God, which is the supremacy of God, him being one, him being holy. We really focused on unpacking that now in chapters 12 through 26, we're gonna do the second part of the law, which is how we treat one another.

So we call this governing God's community. So here, this is the biggest section of all of 'em. So what do we need to see in these chapters? Well, it basically what happens is Moses goes to all of the segments of life, and he applies godly wisdom to it.

So he talks about the role of the sanctuary and because at that time there were these things called high places, which were idols placed throughout the land they were about to go in and inherit that were false gods. And so the sanctuary was the place where they were to go to worship the true God, and they were to avoid and even destroy all the other high places cuz they were false locations of a false God that doesn't exist.

So worship was so important. That's in chapter 12. There's warnings against false prophets in this section. Now remember, all of this is God's community. There's also. Sabbath keeping and feasts, human authority, human life, and, and it goes through, there's a number of sections here, but again, the goal is this is how God's covenant people live with one another in the way that God through Moses wants them to live.

But as Joey already said, it's for their blessing. It's for their benefit. If we could get one thing from this book, it is that the Law of God is perfect, converting the soul, it makes us the best version of ourselves and we so often think that it hinders us from really having the best life. So Joey, what we haven't even looked at the, the second part, we're only up here through chapter 21 on this particular slide, because this is such a big section, why does Moses spend so much time going through each of these segments of community life?

Well, the rest of the Bible reminds us about the purpose of God's law. You coded from Psalm 19 verse seven, that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. We learn from the other places of the New Testament, but with the law cannot actually save us. The reason why the law is so perfect in converting the soul is it's a mirror that shows us our imperfections.

And most of those imperfections come with a love of self. We are selfish by nature since the fall of man. So all of these specific guidelines as we look now of governing God's community in chapters 12 to 26, uh, whether it's problems with idolatry or false teachings. Whether we're treating people wrongfully, and we gotta go back to remembering, the important teachings and where we came from.

What's really important is that since the law of God is reflecting our own selfishness, we are driven to God to get our lives in alignment with Him, and so that's why worship becomes so important. If we're actually making much of God, if we are truly keeping as Christians, Jesus in the center or for Israel, keeping God in the center of their lives, then what's gonna happen is you're not gonna be self-focused, you're gonna do what's beneficial to others, as we mentioned, and everything about the community of God's people was to draw them together in unity.

That's why the Passover is reiterated there in, uh, I believe it's chapter 16. The way that they would spend their money wisely and make sure that it wasn't selfish. They were tithing, they were making sure that debts were properly canceled out, people were following through with their word, they were actually discerning what they were hearing. If it was true with God's Commandments or not, so they had to discern between false prophets and true prophets, and so, chapter 13 gives us some really important testings about if what you're hearing is really from God, then it's gonna come to pass.

People can't just say, thus, say it the Lord and say anything they wanna say after that. It has to be true with his character. It has to be consistent with what's already been revealed. And if you're gonna predict something in the. It better come to pass or else they took great measures to stone their false prophets. Chapter 18 gives a prophetic verse about the coming prophet. It's a messianic passage and it's found in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15 about the coming prophet.

And it says this, the Lord your God will raise up for you a. Like me, Moses is saying from among you, from your brothers, and it is to him that you shall listen. It is him that you shall hear. Does that sound familiar? God actually speaks this verse in the gospel of John. When he says, hear him, this is the prophet God, from heaven points out that this is a prophetic passage and this passage is quoted in the Gospels

Jesus uses it, the Jewish people needed to hear this because when Jesus showed up, he was this prophet that everybody needed to listen to and hear. That would be raised up from among the brethren according to the Messianic line that would run through David later on and eventually get to Jesus. So I think this is a key verse to point our attention to because if we're gonna hear the word of God, you better hear the son of God, who is the word that was made flesh and who dwelt among us.

I love it. Yeah. And I just love how the more we do the first one, the easier all of this becomes. If you love God, you're gonna naturally love other people who bear his image. But if you get the first one wrong, then it just keeping the second ones. It's just human outward behavior, but it doesn't come from a transformed heart.

And I think what I love about Deuteronomy more than anything is how it gets to the heart of the law, not just the behavior of the law. But the behavior does matter and the segments of life that matter.

So it talks about feasts, it talks about things like human authority. We don't wanna spend too much time.

You could read this all in chapters 12 through 26 is all about governing God's community. But there are things that are called out,

marriage and adultery, sexuality is important. And then from chapter 23, kind of to the end of this section, it's just. A variety of different laws that, that human life is made up for.

But the goal here that Moses wants them to see is if they keep God as first, now we have a framework by which to treat one another. And so that's really all I kind of wanna make sure that we get from governing God's community, cuz if we just get the behavior but not the heart and not the God who is supreme over all, then we're just gonna be religious, aren't we?

But if we love God first, then our godly behavior is gonna be a natural outflow of our love for Him. You know, which is why Jesus summarized all the commandments, right? Didn't he, Joey with love, God and love other people, which I think we get to see in both of these sections beautifully. So, anything else you wanna say? Because I'm ready to go to our next section If you are.

Yeah. Let's go to the next section.

Okay, cool.

So just to review chapters one through three, looked back, chapters four through 11 were about the supremacy, the general Law of God, chapters 12 through 26. We're all about the community, how do we treat one another?

Now, Joey, we're in section 4 . Chapters 27 through 30. Covenant blessings and curses. So now that we've reviewed, loving God and loving our neighbor, now we have this very cool section on re the reminders and the warnings about the law. Let's look at this. What do we need to know, about this section, chapters 27 through 30. What do our leader, our readers, or listeners, need to know about covenant blessings and curses? And why does Moses remind them at this, at this point in the book?

Well, when we hit these final kind of chapters as toward the end of Deuteronomy, we're coming to the place where God has to then reiterate to his people how the culmination of our obedience is going to be a life of blessing. If you remember all the way back in the Garden of Eden, God says, of all the trees in the garden, you may freely eat.

And he had already blessed everything on the earth. Everything was good and everything was blessed. And so just keeping your heart in alignment with God meant living in the blessings. So he brings us back since so much has happened in the fall of man and the bondage in Egypt, and now they've been wandering in this wilderness and they're about to enter the Promised Land, the land of blessing, the land, that is flowing with milk and honey.

It would make sense that God would say at the end of all of this, that keeping all these commandments is gonna bring you into blessing. And when we say the word blessing, what we're saying is God's favor. We're saying this is where God's image is stamped on God's people, and we can see the glory of God in his people.

When we say curses, what we're saying is this is outside of God's will. This is where blessing is removed. And death comes in, disease comes in, destruction comes in. So God is gonna give them some very stern warnings that if you don't stay true to God's holy commandments, you're going to see the destruction internally and completely for the covenant people of God.

Why not? Because God doesn't keep his covenant, but because we reap what we sow. If we sow to the flesh, we will of the flesh reap corruption. But if we sow to the spirit, we will of the spirit reap everlasting life. So you really see the reiteration of this. I personally love Deuteronomy chapter 30, Bodie, as one of my favorite chapters in this book, because when you get to Deuteronomy 30, verse 11, it says, for this commandment, which I command you today, it's not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.

It's not in heaven that you should say. Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it, nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it. But verse 14, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Romans chapter 10, Paul the apostle, picks up on this and says the same things. Why we have to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead to be saved because there's this connection with our mouth and our hearts.

And then verse 15,

he says, see, I've set before you today life and good, death and evil in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, and to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that you may live and multiply. And the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

This summarizes everything of the heart of God and of the mind of God for his people, and we will find that there is so much joy, abundant life and blessing if we stay true to the covenant of God and the, commandments that he gives to us.

I love it. I love it. Yep. But it's just so important to know blessings and cursings come with obedience, not just belief. We can believe and not obey, and that's not enough. Or we can obey and not believe, and then it just becomes religion, but both together provide the beautiful covenant life that we have entered into with the Lord and with one another.

So there's a covenant renewal ceremony at the end. So there's the warnings, the people recommit to the Lord, and so now we're ending our fourth of five sections, which is really the wrap up of the unpacking of the law.

And now that was chapters 27 through 30, covenant Blessings and Cursings. And we come now to the final section of Deuteronomy,

which as I said in the beginning is now looking forward. Now that the people have been prepared of and reminded of what the law is, why it is, who gave it to them, why it matters, now they're ready. Now they're gonna start to look forward into the land of Canaan. So just a couple things that we want to know that are about to happen in the final section. Chapters 31 through 34.

I'll start, Joey, jump in with anything you want to add. But essentially this is where Moses dies and it's very symbolic because Moses is a symbol of the law. The law cannot take you to the promised land. It can only show you your need for someone who can. So Joshua is going to take leadership here, which Joshua's gonna be in a lot of ways, a symbol of Jesus down the road.

But this is the end of the Torah, isn't it, Joey? The Torah, the first five books of the Bible, or the Pentateuch. Is ending right here. Moses dies, and so talk about some of the things that we find, the beautiful things that we find in these final chapters of Deuteronomy 31 through 34 as we wrap up.

Well, you set that up beautifully for the thoughts that I had, Bodie, because Joshua in Hebrew means God is salvation. Yeshua, Jesus has the same name that comes from Joshua, and as you rightly said, the law can't take us over into the blessings. It can only lead us to the person who does. This is where Joshua becomes a beautiful type of Jesus.

Jesus says, I didn't come to destroy the law in the prophets, but to fulfill. Here we see the fulfillment of the promise through Joshua as he leads God's people into the crossing of the river Jordan. And then into possessing the land. I think it's appropriate that we have this song of Moses because the song declares what God has done already.

It proclaims the fact that the Lord had led them out of Egypt, that he did the wonderful leading in providing for them in the wilderness. It speaks about how the Lord's portion is his people, and Jacob is the place of his inheritance in this song. It's a beautiful song. I encourage you to read it on your own.

There in chapter 32. Then of course there is the death of Moses, which I think is very symbolic too, Bodie because in a sense, we are gonna be dead to the law and alive in Christ, we're gonna see that the law always kills, but grace gives more and more abundantly life, and so God kind of takes care of the law and it's kind of mysterious.

God buries Moses. Isn't that interesting? He's the only man. In the whole of the Bible that God himself sort of buried in the ground. I think there's a picture there of how God deals with the law in that. And then Joshua emerges as this what looks like a military leader. He rises to kind of lead God's people into battle in the Promised land.

Because remember, the Promised land is not a picture of heaven, it's the picture of victorious life in the Spirit, and so there's battles to fight. And so Joshua's gonna show us how to do that as we read through the next book, the Book of Joshua. But the book of Deuteronomy ends with the blessings with the song of Moses, Moses' death, and this mysterious burial by God and Joshua, the picture and type of Jesus who's about to lead us into victory and possession in the promised.

This is a major turning point in the Bible right now because everything is gonna change from here forward, isn't it, Joey? Well, once we get to our next book, the book of Joshua, we're gonna see lots of new and different stuff happen. So let's review.

Okay, so we looked backward when we started. We talked about the general law of God, his character, his nature. We talked about governing God's community. We talked about the covenant blessings and curses, and that we just looked forward into Canaan, and that's what we're gonna do in our next episode.

But number seven is, Any favorite things, Joey, that we have, what do we personally love? Anything that we haven't said yet? Personally, I love how important this is to the New Testament authors. That's one. But I also love how so much of God's heart and character is displayed in this book. It shows his faithfulness, it shows his judgment. It shows how we are treasured, but we are not, essential and meaning that God doesn't need us in any way, but he invites us. So much of the heart of God for me is revealed in Deuteronomy, which is why I feel like we need to be in this book. We need to read it because to do so is to get your spirit near and dear to the heart and the attributes and the character of God. What do you love about Deuteronomy? And then wrap us up.

Yeah, that was beautiful. Bodie. You know, I love that Deuteronomy is a reiteration of God's love and a reiteration of God's truth and how Jesus came full of grace, and full of truth. I think it's interesting that the prophets quote from this book more than any other, and that Jesus quotes from this book more than any of the other previous four books of the Torah of the, Pentateuch.

So you have this book being an anchor book that many go back to, and something that we didn't hit on that I actually do love about this book is in Deuteronomy chapter 17, we have the principles that should govern even a king when he is ruling, cuz we're gonna have a whole era of kings that we're gonna look at later on.

And isn't it interesting, Bodie that we see, it's in Deuteronomy chapter 17, in verses 14 down to 18 really, where you kind of have the reiteration of what can bring a person away from the blessings of God. And there were three areas that were hit on, three areas that were sort of warnings that you never wanna fall into, which is multiplying wives for yourself, where lust and adultery has been a downfall for so many leaders.

It talks about not multiplying riches for yourself, just the love of money is a route to all kinds of evil. And it also talks about how you should not multiply chariots, this idea of needing power and position, and prestige. And so the three biggest downfalls of spiritual leaders is reiterated in this book in Deuteronomy 17, but in verse 18 is the key, and it sums up the whole book, one last time.

Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 18 says, and it also shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests and the Levites. Writing down scripture, meditating scripture. Keeping the word of God central in your heart and in your life, and in your community, in your home, and with your children if you are leading a family.

The Bible is truly the heartbeat of keeping us in the blessings of God. We need to know the word of God to let it dwell in us richly to meditate on it day and night. Then we shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water who produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever we do shall prosper. That's what I love about this book.

Which is why friends Joey and I have devoted our lives to helping you understand the word of God. There is just nothing better on the planet because it unpacks who God is, that was awesome Joey. Thank you so much for summing that up.

So that's our structure. We talked about the essentials, the storyline, some of the themes, we walked through the different sections of the book, which we hoped were helpful, talked about some of our favorite things, and we're closing the book on the Torah, aren't we now, Joey? And we're gonna open up a whole new section in episode 12

when we go to the book of Joshua, cuz now there's no more preparation needed. We're entering the land and we're gonna see what happens, how God is continually faithful to his covenant, how man continually falls and flounders themselves. But how God is always faithful and friends. God is faithful to you regardless of your past, your background, your story.

Because if you are in Christ, you are a new creation. So as Joey said, keep your heart and your focus and your family in the word of God, and we too, will receive and experience the covenant blessings of being one with the God of heaven and earth. Joey, any final thoughts?

Well, it's all summed up in love. We are to love God with all that we are. We're to love our neighbor as ourself. And when you really think about that, you realize it's not about you. It's just not about you. Deuteronomy is reiterating that the meaning of life is never gonna be found if you focus on yourself.

We have to focus on God and we have to focus outward to others. Love does not seek its own. So if you're gonna truly walk in love out there, for all of you who are listening, you've gotta get your eyes off yourself, love God and love people. It's gonna free you from a life of selfishness and depression. The blessing is when you've put your eyes on the Lord and his people, and you seek to be a blessing to others. Amen.

Amen. Amen. We hope this was helpful and, we are so excited that you continue to join us on this journey because again, we truly believe that you can learn the Bible. Friends, we are excited to see you in our next episode for Joshua Explained. Until then, stay in the word, stay in prayer, and may the Lord richly bless you, and then in the name of Christ.

Amen.

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