Deuteronomy 4:3-6 – You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone
who followed the Baal of Peor, but all of you who held
fast to the Lord your God are still alive today. See,
I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the
land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your
wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will
hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and
understanding people.”
Numbers
25:1-2 – While
Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual
immorality with Moabite women, who invited
them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the
sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.
1
Kings 2:2-4 – “I am
about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to
him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in
the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and
wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your
descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their
heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of
Israel.’
Deuteronomy
30:19-20 – This day
I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before
you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that
you and your children may live and that you
may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold
fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your
fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Proverbs
1:7 – The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
2
Timothy 3:14-15 – But
as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of,
because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from
infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus.
Job
1:1 – In the land of Uz there
lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and
upright; he feared God and
shunned evil.
Job
28:28 – And he said
to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and
to shun evil is understanding.”
Psalm
111:10 – The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who
follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs
eternal praise.
Proverbs
2:1-5 – My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out
for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you
look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
Ecclesiastes
12:13 – Now all has
been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
Ezekiel
5:5 – “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have
set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.
Application:
- ·
Israel’s engagement in the fertility rites of
Baal involved not only the evil of sexual immorality. It was also a breach of
covenant with the Lord, a worship of the gods of the land and a foretaste of
the people’s ruin in the unfolding of their history.
- ·
Walk in obedience to him was a characteristic
expression of Deuteronomy for obedience to covenant obligations.
- ·
When Israel chose the Lord, they chose life.
- ·
Fear of the Lord is a loving reverence for
God that includes submission to His lordship and to the commands of His word.
“Fools” are those who “hate knowledge” and correction of any kind, who are
“quick to quarrel” and “give full vent” to their anger, who are complacent and
who trust in themselves rather than in God.
- ·
Timothy was taught at home by his mother and
grandmother even before he reached the age of five.
- ·
Blameless and upright meant spiritually and
morally upright.
- ·
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom”.
- ·
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom is the classic Old Testament statement concerning the religious basis of
what it means to be wise.
- ·
Knowledge of God involves having a personal
relationship with God and knowing what He is teaching.
- ·
Loving reverence is the foundation of wisdom,
as well as its content and its goal and conclusion.
- ·
God had chosen for His people Israel and for
His earthly temple a place at the crossroads of the continents of Africa, Asia
and Europe so that Israel and what He does for them might be a strong witness
to the nations that He is the one and only God with whom all peoples have to do
and from whom alone come life and blessing.
All Scripture verses taken from NIV
