Prostitute Themselves

Deuteronomy 31:15-16 – Then the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent. And the Lord said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.

Exodus 34:15 – “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.

Deuteronomy 4:25-26 – After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.

1 Kings 18:18 – “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.

Jeremiah 2:13 – “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jeremiah 19:4 – For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

Application:

• ·         Prostitute themselves was a metaphor widely used in the Old Testament to refer to Israel’s unfaithfulness to her covenant Lord, who, according to a related metaphor, had become Israel’s “husband” when He established His special covenant with her.
• ·         The pattern of the Israelites’ rebellion, resulting in expulsion from the land, and then their repentance, leading to restoration to the land, is prominent in Deuteronomy.
• ·         The source of Israel’s trouble was not Elijah or even the drought, but Ahab’s breach of covenant loyalty.
• ·         Idols, like broken cisterns, will always fail their worshipers; by contrast, God provides life abundant and unfailing.
• ·         “Filled this place with the blood of the innocent” was the blood of godly people, specifically as shed by wicked King Manasseh.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Joshua

Deuteronomy 31:13-14 – Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” The Lord said to Moses, “Now the day of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

Joshua 1:2,5,7 – “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites…No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you…“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Application:

• ·         “Land I am about to give to them” was a central theme of the Pentateuch.
• ·         God was with Joshua to direct, sustain and assure success.
• ·         Success was not guaranteed unconditionally.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Fear The Lord

Deuteronomy 31:12 – Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 4:10 – Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

Haggai 1:12 – Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

Malachi 3:16 – Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.

Genesis 20:11 – Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’

Application:

• ·         The divine call to Israel to remember the Lord’s past redemptive acts—especially how He delivered them from slavery in Egypt—is a common theme in Deuteronomy and is summarized: “Remember the days of old”.
• ·         Fear the Lord means showing reverence, respect and obedience.
• ·         “Those who feared the Lord” were those who had not given way to doubts and cynicism.
• ·         Fear of God was a conventional phrase equivalent to “true religion”. “Fear” in this phrase has the sense of reverential trust in God and commitment to His revealed will.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Every Seven Years

Deuteronomy 31:7-11 – Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing.

Genesis 28:15 – I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Deuteronomy 15:4-5 – However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.

Application:

• ·         Unlike the gods of pagan religions, in which the gods were merely local deities who gave protection only within their own territories, the one true God assured Jacob that He would always be with him wherever he went.
• ·         There need be no poor people among you because of the Lord’s reward for obedience and because of the Sabbath-year arrangement. This “year for canceling debts” gave Israelites who had experienced economic reverses a way to gain release from indebtedness and so, in a measure, a way to equalize wealth.
• ·         Reading the law to the Israelites was one of the main duties of the priests.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

No Longer Able To Lead

Deuteronomy 31:1-6 – Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said. And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Numbers 20:11 – Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

Joshua 1:5,7,18 – No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you…“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go…Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

Jeremiah 1:8 – Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

Genesis 28:15 – I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Matthew 28:19-20 – Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Psalm 94:14 – For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.

Application:

• ·         In his rage Moses disobeyed the Lord’s instruction to speak to the rock.
• ·         “Be strong and courageous” was the Lord’s exhortation, often through His servants, to the people of Israel, to Joshua, to Solomon and to Hezekiah’s military officers.
• ·         The people’s words of encouragement to Joshua echo and reinforce those from the Lord.
• ·         The Lord does not promise that Jeremiah will not be persecuted or imprisoned but that no serious physical harm will come to him.
• ·         Unlike the gods of pagan religions, in which the gods were merely local deities who gave protection only within their own territories, the one true God assured Jacob that He would always be with him wherever he went.
• ·         Matthew ends with the reassuring and empowering words of Him who came to earth to be “God with us”.
• ·         The Lord will not abandon the powerless among His people to the injustice of their oppressors.
• ·         Success was not guaranteed unconditionally.
• ·         God was with Joshua to direct, sustain and assure success.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

The Lord Is Your Life

Deuteronomy 30:17-20 – But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 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.

Isaiah 1:2 – Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

Deuteronomy 6:5 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 4:1 – Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.

Deuteronomy 8:3 – He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

Leviticus 18:5 – Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.

John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Application:

• ·         The prophet calls on the heavens and the earth to testify to the truth of God’s accusation against Israel and the rightness of His judgment—since they were witnesses of His covenant.
• ·         When the Israelites chose the Lord, they chose life. “All the words of this law” are said to be their “life”. The law, the Lord and life are bound together. “Life” in this context refers to all that makes life rich, full and productive—as God created it to be.
• ·         Primarily in view here is the love shown by a subject to a king. To love King Yahweh is to be His loyal and obedient servant. Love for God and neighbor is built on the love that the Lord has for His people and on His identification with them. Such love is to be total, involving one’s whole being.
• ·         God’s call to His people to hear and obey is a frequent theme in Deuteronomy and elsewhere in the Old Testament.
• ·         Bread sustains but does not guarantee life, which is God’s gift to those who trust in and live by His word: His commands and promises.
• ·         Light often symbolizes well-being or life and salvation.
• ·         The law was the way of life for the redeemed, not a way of salvation for the lost.
• ·         A thief’s interest is in himself. Christ’s interest is in His sheep, whom He enables to have life to the full.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Love...Keep

Deuteronomy 30:16 – For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

Deuteronomy 6:5 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 4:1 – Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.

Deuteronomy 11:1 – Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.

Application:

• ·         Primarily in view here is the love shown by a subject to a king. To love King Yahweh is to be His loyal and obedient servant. Love for God and neighbor is built on the love that the Lord has for His people and on His identification with them. Such love is to be total, involving one’s whole being.
• ·         God’s call to His people to hear and obey is a frequent theme in Deuteronomy and elsewhere in the Old Testament.
• ·         Love and obedience are frequently linked in Scripture.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV