also known as
The Fifth Book of Moses

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Introduction

The First Book of Moses was Genesis. It dealt with events occurring before the time of Moses. The Fifth Book of Moses – his final one – is Deuteronomy. The name “Deuteronomy” means “second law” or “repeated law.” This refers to the fact that the content of this book is a second look at all that had happened under Moses’ leadership of the nation – that is, what happened in the second, third, and fourth books of Moses. He is, in effect, reviewing his experiences, as well as the Law that the Lord taught him, with his fellow Hebrews. To give a sense of the scope of this review, consider the following milestones of their time together.

• Exodus 3 – Moses encounters the burning bush in the wilderness of Sinai and receives the divine call to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land of Canaan..
• Exodus 5 – Moses and his brother Aaron go before Pharaoh for the first time to demand, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness’.” It would take ten plagues, including the death of his firstborn son before Pharaoh would concede.
• Exodus 14 – Israel passes safely through the Red Sea, followed by Pharaoh and his army, including 600 select chariots, who are drowned in it.
• Exodus 20 – Moses receives the Ten Commandments engraved in stone on Mount Sinai.
• Exodus 25-40 – The tabernacle is constructed, interrupted by the fiasco with the golden calf.
• Leviticus 1-27 – The Lord gives Moses extensive and very detailed instruction for priests, Levites, and the Israelites to follow as a nation.
• Numbers 1-12 – Moses takes a census of the people and receives additional instructions from God. The totality of these instructions would come to be called “the Law of Moses. The people grumble about the inconveniences they were experiencing on the journey.
• Numbers 13-14 – When the spies that Moses sent to scout Canaan returned with a negative report about the Israelites’ prospects for victory, the Israelites wanted to appoint a different leader and return to Egypt. God then judged them unworthy to enter the promised land and sentenced them to 40 years in the wilderness before the nation could enter.
• Numbers 15-36 – The remainder of the book of Numbers contains more instructions for the people plus accounts of various things that happened to them during those 40 years in the wilderness.

While the book of Deuteronomy has some material that is not found in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, it is essentially a collection of speeches by Moses given near the end of his 120-year-long life about the things that he and the nation experienced, as well as instructions (collectively called the Law) that he and the nation were given, during the times recorded in those three books. As each of the four Gospels complements the others, so Deuteronomy complements the second, third, and fourth books of Moses.

To summarize all that I’ve said above with an illustration, picture a man reading a passage from the Bible and then preaching on it. Moses is the preacher, Exodus through Numbers is the text from which he is preaching, and Deuteronomy is his sermon.

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Deuteronomy 1

Israel’s History after the Exodus

Deut 1:1 – The expression “across the Jordan” speaks of the area east of the Jordan River – not part of Canaan. It is also called Gilead or the Transjordan. This is the area where Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh requested to settle. Moses is speaking all the words of Deuteronomy in the last months of his life from this location. Once he dies, Joshua will lead the Israelites westward across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan to conquer and take possession of it.

Deut 1:2 – “Horeb” is another name for “Sinai.”

Deut 1:3 – This is the 40th year that Israel has been out of Egypt and the 120th year of Moses‘ life.

Deut 1:4 – Moses first recorded Israel’s defeat of Sihon and Og in Num 21:21-35.

Deut 1:5 – When Moses says “this law,” he is referring to what came to be called “the Law of Moses.” This is the totality of all the laws gave to Moses for the nation of Israel to follow – all found in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. And portions of this law are repeated and reinforced in Deuteronomy.

Deut 1:6 – “Horeb” is another name for “Sinai.”

Deut 1:9-18 – Moses is here referring to when his father-in-law advised him to appoint subordinate leaders to help him lead the people, first recorded in Ex 18:13-27.

Deut 1:19-46 – Moses is here revisiting the pivotal event that occurred on their journey from Egypt to Canaan. It was first recorded in Num 13-14. This was this incident that delayed their entrance into the promised land by an entire generation – 40 years.

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Deuteronomy 2

Deut 2:1 – As to the 40 years in the wilderness, which was the result of God’s judgment against Israel’s unbelief regarding the spies’ report, Moses describes it as they “turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea” and “circled Mount Seir for many days.” Well, that’s one way of putting it.

Deut 2:2-3 – This is God’s signal that the time of wandering around in a circle have come to an end. Specifically, when He says, “Now turn north” everyone knew that they would now headed to the promised land. It would still take them a couple of years to get there, but they were finally moving in the right direction and in something closer to a straight line.

Dealing with Relatives

Moses is now going to describe interactions that Israel had with Edom, Moab, and Ammon – nations which can all trace their ancestry back to Abraham’s family. They were not Canaanite nations and God wanted Israel to honor that distinction. The Canaanites were being judged for their many sins; other nations would have their own judgments according to God’s timing. (God judges all the nations, though it is not Jesus, of course, who is doing the judging – Jesus Christ Is God).

Dealing with Edom

Deut 2:4-7 – Edom was the nation descended from Esau – Jacob’s fraternal twin brother. The two were first mentioned in Gen 25:24-26 when they were born. Their father was Isaac, and their grandfather was Abraham.

Dealing with Moab

Deut 2:8-15 – The Moabites were descendants of Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew. Moab and Ben-ammi (Ammon) were Lot’s sons, and they were first mentioned in Gen 19:36-38. They were born in the aftermath of Sodom’s destruction.

Dealing with Ammon

Deut 2:16-23 – See note above on Moab.

From Dealing with Relatives to Defeating Canaanites

Sihon (mentioned in this chapter) and Og (mentioned in the next chapter) are notable figures because they are the first Canaanite kings against whom the Israelites faced off. Therefore, Israel’s victories over them were particularly noteworthy. Both kings are referred to as Amorites rather than Canaanites. However, the term “Amorite” was used as either a synonym for “Canaanite” or else a subset of “Canaanite.” Either way, therefore, Sihon and Og were Canaanites. That said, their respective territories were not part of the land of Canaan per se. Rather, their lands were east of the Jordan River. This is why God initially had Israel request passage from Sihon rather than just attacking him. The story of their conquest was first told by Moses in Num 21:21-35, and was briefly referenced in Deut 1:4. Because it was Canaanites who were being defeated, these two victories became “signature” events for the Israelites and are recalled as such in the books of Joshua, 1 Kings, Nehemiah, and Psalms. See also how Moses saw these two victories as indicative of more to come in what he says in Deut 3:21-22

Defeating Sihon King of the Amorites

Deut 2:24-37 – This incident was first recorded in Num 21:21-32.

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Deuteronomy 3

Defeating Og King of Bashan

Deut 3:1-7 – This incident was first recorded in Num 21:33-35.

The Lands of Sihon and Og Are Apportioned to the Two and a Half Tribes

Deut 3:8-17

Attention Turns to Crossing the Jordan into Canaan

Deut 3:18-22 – Moses reminds the two and a half tribes of their promise to fight west of the Jordan for the sake of their fellow Israelites (Num 32, especially verses 16-19 and 25-27 and 31-32).

Deut 4:23-29 – Moses pleads for a chance to cross the Jordan River into Canaan, but the Lord insists that this honor will go to Joshua.

Deut 3:28 – Joshua is a type of Christ, because he was chosen to finish the job that Moses started (Jn 1:17). #FJOT

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Deuteronomy 4

Israel Urged to Obey God’s Law

Deut 4:1 – Israel’s key to success in taking the land of Canaan was faithfulness to the laws which God had given them through Moses. Likewise, our success in dwelling successfully on the earth is faithfulness to laws which Jesus gives us. He is our Moses…and our Joshua! #FJOT, Types of Christ

Deut 4:2 – Moses will reinforce this point in Deut 12:32. And the apostle John writes an exhortation very much like it at the end of the book of Revelation (Rev 22:18-19).

Deut 4:3-4 – The event to which Moses is referring – the sin of Peor – is first recorded in Num 25.

Deut 4:5-8 – Notwithstanding how many biblically illiterate people – and some biblically literate ones – look down on Old Testament morals these days, notice how the law the Lord gave through Moses is extolled in this passage with no apparent concern that anyone would feel differently! All through the Israelite journey from Egypt to Canaan, we see the people more than willing to complain – about water, about food, about leadership. They show no hesitation to express disapproval of what Moses or God were doing. Yet they do not complain about the law. They saw the wisdom of it. We should think about that.

Deut 4:9 – Note that one generation had the responsibility to teach Moses’ law to the next generation. We have seen firsthand what happens in America when parents fail to teach the Bible to their children.

Deut 4:21-24 – Moses is remembering how he disappointed the Lord at Meribah (Num 20).

Deut 4:35 – “He is God; there is no other besides Him” is echoed in Is 45:21 and then amplified in Mark 12:32.

Deut 4:41-43 – Moses here designates three of the six cities of refuge, the concept having been introduced in Num 35:6-34 and mentioned again in Deut 19:1-13 and Josh 20:1-6. The remaining three cities are named in Josh 20:7-9.

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Deuteronomy 5

The Ten Commandments Repeated

Deut 5:2 – “Horeb” is another name for “Sinai.”

Deut 5:6-21 – Moses first listed the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. See BSN notes there. See also BSN: The Ten Commandments.

Moses Was the Mediator and Intercessor between God and the People

Deut 5:22-27 – The people were frightened at the display coming forth from Mount Sinai as Moses was meeting with God to receive the Ten Commandments. They begged that Moses continue to be their intermediary.

Deut 5:28-33 – Moses accepted his role as mediator and intercessor. All this was, of course, to pave the way for Jesus. That is, Moses was acting as a type of Jesus Christ.

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Deuteronomy 6

Obey God and Prosper

Deut 6:1-3 – Notice that Moses wants his exhortations to affect “you and your son and your grandson.” We as men must read the Bible with this focus in mind. We want our sons to go farther with God in life than we have. We need to have strong shoulders so our children can stand on them. Therefore, we must be reading and putting the Bible into practice not just for our own sakes, but for the sakes of our children and grandchildren. If we do so, then we can reasonably hope that we will “multiply greatly” which has been God’s intent from the beginning.

Gen 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Gen 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

We are not merely to grow, but also to have dominion over the earth. It is not the case that the earth is to have dominion over us. The earth exists for our sakes; it’s not the other way around.

As the Israelites were to heed Moses, so we are to heed Jesus. (Moses is a type of Christ.)

Deut 6:4-5 – When asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus quoted this verse (Mk 12:28-34). And He paired it with what He called the second greatest commandment: Lev 19:18. As the apostle John said…

1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

This is the genius of Jesus on display. When asked what was the greatest commandment, surely most of us would have picked one of the Ten, or else we’d have said, “They’re all equally important.” But Jesus picks the greatest from Deuteronomy and the second greatest from the bowels from one of the most difficult OT books to read – Leviticus, specifically Lev 19:18. By His Spirit, we can see that His greatest commandment effectively summarized the first half of the Ten and His second greatest commandment the second half. For an extensive explanation of why I say this, see the book The Ten Commandments According to Jesus.

Deut 6:6-9 – Notice that Moses does not direct men to delegate the teaching of the word of God to their wives or that they should outsource the task to a synagogue or church. Rather, Moses is making clear that it is the man’s duty to teach the word of God to his family – beginning with himself. Jesus did not alter this. Moses was just preparing the way for Him (Types of Christ).

Deut 6:10-15 – Moses tells the nation what will lead to success and what will lead to disaster. This is a pattern for every nation today – only that it is Jesus who is now God over the nations. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He’s the head of families and the head of nations. Yes, He can be ignored…but that will bring about disastrous results as we see it having in America today.

When America was humble before the Lord, as it was at its founding, the Lord exalted it; and when it became proud, and even took pride in pride, it set itself on a path to disaster. One of the least pious of America’s founding fathers understood that all nations rose and fall based on their regard for the ways of the God of the Bible and said so at the Constitutional Convention on Thursday, June 28, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And his statement was kept in the minutes thereof.

I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without [H]is notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without [H]is aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that “except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without [H]is concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall be become a reproach and a bye word down to future age. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.

benjamin franklin (1706-1790)

These days, even our most pious government leaders – if we even have any left – seem to have forgotten this basic lesson of government. When an American leader even begins to speak the way Franklin did, he is hounded by jackals.

Deut 6:16-19 – The incident at Massah to which Moses is referring is recorded in Ex 17:1-7. It happened not long after Israel had come through the Red Sea (Ex 14-15).

Deut 6:20-25 – Again, Moses speaks of the relationship between a father and son and how much it is to be focused on God and His ways.

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Deuteronomy 7

Warnings

Deut 7:1-6 – For more on these nations, see BSN The Canaanites. ***** Moses makes clear that the Israelites must not seek a pluralistic society with these nations of Canaan for it would only lead to the downfall of Israel. We actually see this happen as the history of the Israelites in Canaan proceeds, most notably in the life of Solomon who married many foreign women and, as a consequence, fell away from the Lord over time. ***** There is so much to learn in Israel’s history for every nation these days. In its time, Israel was God’s nation, but we live in the eternal age and every nation should be following God…just as Jesus said:

 Matt 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…

People talk about America being a Christian nation, and, indeed, it was a Christian nation at its founding and for a long time thereafter. But this did not make America “exceptional.” Every nation should be a Christian nation – that is, submitted to the One who died for all its citizens. This kind of talk drives secular people mad – in more ways than one. But this caterwauling is of the devil’s design and we must not capitulate to it.

Deut 7:7-11 – Moses wants to make sure the Israelites know that they do not deserve to inherit the land of Canaan, nor is it theirs by reason of their size and power. On the contrary, the only basis on which Israel could take over Canaan would be the power of God, exercised on their behalf based on the promises of God.

Promises of God

Deut 7:12-15 – The promises of God to the faithful that Moses outlines are great! But the promises we have are even greater!! For we don’t serve the the mediator of the first covenant (Moses), but rather the mediator of the second (Jesus). (Moses is a type of Christ.)

Heb 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

No wonder Peter called the promises of the new covenant “precious and magnificent.”

2 Pet 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Deut 7:16 – Key to experiencing the fulfillment of these precious and magnificent promises is to not become like the pagan nations. Moses stresses this over and over. And yet the history of Israel will show that succeeding generations did not heed him. We are supposed to learn from this, just as it says in the New Testament:

Rom 15:4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

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1 Cor 10:6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.

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1 Cor 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction…

Deut 7:17-26 – Moses reminds his fellow Israelites of all the things the Lord did to get them out of enslavement to Egypt (Ex 5-15). If the Lord could help Israel when it was as defenseless as it was against their Egyptian masters, how much more He could help them defeat any nation who came against them in the future. (He would demonstrate this dramatically when Israel had its first battle in the land of Canaan over the city of Jericho.)

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Deuteronomy 8

God’s Gracious Dealings

Any American paying attention to what is going on in America today should read Deut 8 and recognize what has happened to our country. We have exchanged the humility America had at its founding for the pride of America coming out of World War II. We have rejected in our time the Christ who was treasured in the time of the founders. Let us take recognize the signs of the times and take heed:

1 Chr 12:32 Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do…

Deut 8:3 – Jesus quoted this verse when He was tempted by the devil as He was fasting in the wilderness for forty days just before He began His public ministry.

Matt 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
Matt 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'”

Jesus could say “It is written” about anything in the Old Testament, but, because of Him, we get to say “It is written” about anything in the Old Testament and anything in the New Testament! No wonder He said,

John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

Every decent father wants his sons to outdo him.

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Deuteronomy 9

Israel Provoked God

Deut 9:1-3 – From a natural point of view, the Canaanites were a formidable force – more than strong enough to repel an invasion by Israel. But this is why Moses is reminding the Israelites that the Lord will be with them in the invasion of Canaan as He was with them in their exodus from Egypt. In making this point, Moses describes God “as a consuming fire.” That is, God’s power would so work through the Israelites that it would be as if He was going before them as a fire. The apostle Paul used this exact same metaphorical expression in his letter to the Hebrews.

Heb 12:28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
Heb 12:29 for our God is a consuming fire.

To understand the Bible, we have to be able to discern between literal speech and figurative speech. This is not some special skill that requires a seminary degree. It is something we all do every day all day with people around us. When someone says, “That conference speaker was on fire this morning,” no one pictures the guy literally on fire. But if someone says, “A fire erupted at this morning’s conference,” we might think the person is speaking literally. We have to use judgment, and sometimes we have to ask questions. The words “fire” and “water” are used from one end of the Bible to the other – both literally and figuratively. For some reason, lots of people seem only willing to take the word fire literally when they read it in the Bible. That’s how they come up with strange doctrines like people experiencing physical fire for an eternity, instead of recognizing that God’s judgments are taking place all around us while we are on earth. For an extended discussion on the subject of fire as a metaphor for God’s judgment, see the BSN note on Num 31:21-24. For more on judgment, see the short essay Judgment Is upon Us.

Deut 9:4-5 – The Israelites never seemed to get this all-important point. The Canaanites were not losing their land because of the righteousness of the Israelites. The Canaanites had sinned – frequently and flagrantly for many, many years. This was why they were having to forfeit their land. Israel would be given this land because of promises previously made to the Israelites’ ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A nation’s unrighteousness is what causes it to have to give up it’s land; the righteousness or unrighteousness of the conquering nation is beside the point. This was critical for Israel to understand, because without obedience to God’s law, they, too, would one day have to give up possession of this same land. America was not formed because of the righteousness of the colonists; rather, it was because of the sinfulness of the native nations. Now that we who are the descendants of those who inherited central North America have become frequent and flagrant sinners before God ourselves, we are on the verge of being dispossessed by the land.

Deut 9:6-21 – In order to sensitize the Israelites to just how likely it was that they would give way to stubbornness, Moses gives them examples of just how stubborn they had already been. He reminds them that when the Lord was going to the trouble of giving them a set of commandments engraved in stone, they were fashioning an idol of Him as if He was best symbolized by a calf made of gold (Ex 32).

Deut 9:22 – The incident at Taberah is recorded in Num 11:1-9, and the one at Kibroth-Hattaavah in Num 11:31-35. Both were provoked by the grumbling of the Israelites described in Num 11:1-9.

Deut 9:23 – Next Moses reminds the people of how they sided with the ten spies who had been intimidated by their scouting trip to Canaan.

Deut 9:24 – Moses sums up his indictment of the Israelites for past behavior with this stern rebuke.

Deut 9:25-29 – Moses goes on to describe the necessity and intensity of his intercession for Israel (Ex 32-33).

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Deuteronomy 10

The Tablets Rewritten

Deut 10:1-11 – Moses continues his review of Israel’s misdeeds with a reminder of how his intercession and God’s forgiveness led to God providing for a second set of stone tablets to replace the ones Moses had thrown down in anger when he learned about the golden calf. Thus it was the collaboration of Moses and God that got Israel back on the track to Canaan and fulfillment of the Lord’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – not the upstanding behavior of the Israelites.

Deut 10:12-16 – Based on his review of Israel’s misbehavior, Moses exhorts the Israelites to spare no effort in seeking to serve the Lord going forward. He tells the Israelites to “circumcise” their “hearts” in a foreshadowing of the new covenant which would be all about the reformation of the human heart. As Paul would write:

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

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2 Cor 3:2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
2 Cor 3:3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Deut 10:17-21 – Moses here turns Israel’s attention away from themselves for a moment to focus on the greatness of the God whom they have been called to represent Him to the world. We likewise, even when in the process of identifying and removing sin in our own lives, should focus more on the Lord’s goodness than on our sinfulness.

Deut 10:20 –  Moses uses the same word for “cling” here that he will use below in Deut 13:4. The prophet Jeremiah also uses this word – in both 2 Kings 18:6 and Jer 13:11. We are not supposed to the keep the Lord at arm’s length; we are supposed to cling to Him.

Deut 10:21 – Moses reminds the people that though their menfolk alone number over half a million, the entire “nation” only amounted to 70 when they first migrated to Egypt (Ex 1). (Numbers have meaning as they are compared – for an elaboration on this point, see the BSN Introduction to the book of Numbers.)

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Deuteronomy 11

Rewards of Obedience

Deut 11:1-7 – In this paragraph, Moses is reminding the Israelites of things the Lord has done for them in their migration from slavery in Egypt to the conquest of Canaan which they are about to undertake.

• Deut 11:2-3 – the plagues on Egypt, recorded first in Ex 7-12.
• Deut 11:4 – the drowning of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, recorded first in Ex 14-15.
• Deut 11:5 – various events, first recorded at various places of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
• Deut 11:6 – the rebellion of Korah, first recorded in Num 16.

Moses’ point is that the Israelites have seen God work on their behalf. Therefore, they need to acknowledge that, if they will keep the law He has given them through Moses, they will experience similar supernatural help in all their endeavors in the promised land – whether military or agricultural.

We, likewise, must remind our children of the things Jesus has done for our respective families so that they can know that as He has helped us in the past so He will help us in the future…IF…we follow Him.

Deut 11:8-12 – The contrast between life in Egypt and life in the promised land is to be great. Similarly, the contrast between a life lived for self and a life lived for Christ will be great. Just living the same old life while claiming a Christian identity is not a change worth making. On the contrary, it’s counterproductive for everyone concerned.

Deut 11:13-17 – God has blessings to bestow for obedience and curses to send for disobedience. Both were spelled out in detail in Lev 26, and will be spelled out in even greater detail in Deut 28. This blessing-or-curse dynamic which can be called a kindness-and-severity dynamic – is at work in the new covenant as well, where the stakes are much greater.

Rom 11:22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

God is not indifferent to our fate: He greatly prefers to show us kindness. But He must be just and impartial as well as kind. Otherwise, He denies Himself.

Deut 11:18-25 – Moses emphasizes the necessity of parents training their children. We can see firsthand in America today what happens when an otherwise godly generation does not teach the next generation to be godly.

Deut 11:26-32 – As for blessings and curses, see note on Deut 11:13-17 above. ***** As for Moses’ instruction regarding Mount Gerazim and Mount Ebal, Joshua has the nation act on this in Josh 8:30-35.

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Deuteronomy 12

Laws of the Place – not Places – of Worship in Canaan

Deut 12:1-7 – Moses tells Israel not to preserve any of the places of worship set up by the Canaanites because they were all set up to worship false gods. Instead, the one true God was to be worshiped in one place. Though “Jerusalem” is not mentioned by name, that is the place ultimately anticipated by this paragraph. That won’t happen until about 400 years later, in the time of King David. Between now and then, Shiloh is the place where the ark of the covenant will primarily be kept (Josh 18:1). Wherever that ark was, that was where Israel’s worship was to take place – just as wherever the tabernacle was moved in the wilderness was where Israel’s worship took place.

In the new covenant, the physical place of worship no longer matters. Jesus made this clear when the woman at the well in Samaria asked Him about the proper place for worship in their time.

John 4:20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”
John 4:21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
John 4:22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
John 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The old covenant was about establishing a unique nation in preparation for its Messiah. Once Messiah came, the unique nation was no longer needed. There would be no need or desire for a unique nation in the day of Messiah because all the nations would be His. He would receive them as an inheritance from God.

Ps 2:8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

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Heb 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
Heb 1:2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things…

And this inheritance of the nations Jesus was to receive is the basis upon which He  instructed His apostles to take His message to all the nations.

Matt 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…

Identifying what continues from the old covenant into the new and distinguishing it from what becomes obsolete and does not continue forward is essential for our salvation from evil in this world. Jesus is the only One who has sufficient wisdom to guide us in making the distinctions. The New Testament documents that wisdom, and Jesus’ Holy Spirit builds on it in our hearts. And some of it is trial and error. Jesus is the worthy spokesman of God who shows us the way.

Jer 15:19 Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“If you return, then I will restore you–
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become My spokesman.
They for their part may turn to you,
But as for you, you must not turn to them.

Jesus did not turn to humanity; humanity must turn to Him. That is, Jesus did not become a sinner like us; on the contrary, we must become righteous like Him.

Deut 12:8-12 – The “rest” about which Moses speaks here is that which was granted through Joshua as Israel took possession of the promised land; and we will read about how that rest was achieved in the book that bears his name. However, this rest only foreshadowed the much greater rest that would come through the new covenant and the much greater Joshua whom we call Messiah (Christ). (Both Moses and Joshua are types of Messiah.) Here’s what the apostle Paul said about “rest” in the New Testament.

Heb 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.
Heb 4:9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
Heb 4:11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

The “rest” to be found in the new covenant is rest of the soul. No greater rest can be sought or found. It was promised by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 6:16) but is fulfilled only in the greatest prophet of all (Deut 18:15): Jesus. 

Matt 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
Matt 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The all caps is Jesus quoting Jeremiah (Jer 6:16). Jesus made clear that rest of the soul was more important than any other kind of rest when He said:

Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
Mark 8:37 “For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

People only want to gain the world because they think it will bring rest to their souls, even if they don’t use that exact language. If gaining even the whole world will not guarantee rest for a man’s soul, how could his attaining anything in the world short of that guarantee such rest? Jesus offers a direct path to rest for the soul. That’s the “paradise” the thief on the cross experienced in Jesus’ approving presence.

Luke 23:42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
Luke 23:43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

To sum up, the old covenant gave a physical rest in a physical place; the new covenant gives rest of the soul in any place or circumstance. Again, Paul speaks of this rest, but using different words in different letters.

Phil 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

***

Phil 4:11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
Phil 4:12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

***

2 Thess 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!

Deut 12:28 – Men, we MUST teach our children the inheritance we have received in Jesus Christ and Bible! Woe to us if we do not. We must not be like Hezekiah!

Is 39:5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts,
Is 39:6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.
Is 39:7 ‘And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.'”
Is 39:8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “For there will be peace and truth in my days.”

Hezekiah did good as king…but his taking comfort in deliverance from an evil that would fall on his children is a blemish on his record just as Bathsheba was a blemish on David’s record (2 Sam 11).

Deut 12:31 – Do we not see right before our eyes fellow Americans who do not cling to Jesus and the Bible “burning their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods”?

Deut 12:32 – Moses is here reinforcing a point he made in Deut 4:2. It gets made even more emphatically on the New Testament’s last page (Rev 22:18-19).

***

Deuteronomy 13

Other Gods?

The common refrain of this chapter is Moses’ exhortation to refuse any and every invitation to follow “other gods.” The translators have broken down the chapter for us into three exhortations (paragraphs), each making the same fundamental point: DO NOT FOLLOW OTHER GODS!

Deut 13:1-5

Deut 13:4 – Moses uses the same word for “cling” here that he used making essentially the same point in Deut 10:20. Jeremiah uses this same Hebrew word in 2 Kings 18:6 and Jer 13:11.

Deut 13:6-11

Deut 13:12-18

When reading the Bible, we are, of course, always seeking to understand how it applies to our times. How then do we apply the exhortation to not follow other gods in the context of 21st-century secularism? Secularism is the agreement among human beings to not bring God into our discussions except in very limited times and places. Therefore, in a climate of secularism, it would seem that the admonition to not follow other gods would seem to have no application at all since people aren’t talking about gods. But “god” is just a word meaning a being superior to human beings, and “God” is just a word meaning “THE supreme being.” Irrespective of the words used, secularism disallows acknowledgment of any being or beings superior to human beings. This leaves human beings as superior to all other beings, as supreme over them. In other words, in a secular context, human beings are the supreme beings. Therefore, in secularism “other gods” equates to “other people.” And, therefore, we apply Moses’ admonition in this way: “Do not follow human beings other than Jesus.”

When people ask me to accept transgenderism, abortion, LGBTQIA+ lifestyles, unilateral divorce on demand, critical race theory, diversity, equity, inclusion, and so on, I say, “I don’t know who you get your teaching from, but I get mine from Jesus Christ and His teachings are in the Bible. I can’t accept your teacher if he’s contradicting Jesus Christ and the Bible.”

2 Tim 3:14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
2 Tim 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2 Tim 3:17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

The secularists want to say that it’s not fair for me to quote 2 Tim 3:14-17 because that’s bringing religion into a secular environment. My answer is, “Leave religion out of it if you want. Jesus was a human being just as Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Alfred Kinsey, and John Money were human beings; you follow your guy, and I’ll follow mine.”

For more thoughts on secularism, see the essay What’s Wrong with Secularism?

***

Deuteronomy 14

Moses repeats in this chapter instructions he has given in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.

Be a Holy Nation

Deut 14:1-2 – See Ex 19:5-6 and Lev 11:44-45; 21:5-6.

Eat Kosher

Deut 14:3-21 – See Lev 11.

Deut 14:21b – A similar warning is found in Ex 23:19b and 34:26b. Spiritually speaking, I take this to be a warning against quoting the Bible in a harsh or angry way. Consider the NT references to the OT as “milk” – 1 Cor 3:2; Heb 5:12, 13; 1 Pet 2:1-3.

Tithe and Worship

Deut 14:22-29 – See Leviticus 27:30-33 and Num 18:8-32, especially 21-29.

***

Deuteronomy 15

As in the previous chapter, Moses is repeating details of God’s law (“the Law of Moses”) to the people.

The Sabbatical Year

Deut 15:1-18 – See Ex 23:10-11 and Lev 25:1-7.

The Firstborn

Deut 15:19-23 – See Ex 12:12, 29; 13:2, 15 and Num 18:15-18.

***

Deuteronomy 16

The Feasts of Passover, Weeks, and Booths

For more on these and other feasts prescribed by the Law of Moses, see BSN Israel’s Feasts.

Passover

Deut 16:1-8

Weeks

Deut 16:9-12

Booths

Deut 16:13-15

The Place for Worship, and the Places for Justice

Deut 16:16-17 – What distinguished the three feasts listed above from all the others that Moses instituted was that these three required male attendance at “the place which the Lord chooses.” This phrase or some variation of it, occurs six times in this chapter. It was mentioned at least once in the instructions about each of the three feasts, and here it is being mentioned for the sixth time. Moses did not want the point to be lost on the Israelites.

The tabernacle, by its very design, was mobile in nature. Wherever the Israelites traveled in the wilderness for forty years, the tabernacle remained at its center. Once Israel entered the Canaan and took possession of the land, the people would spread out – making travel to the tabernacle an issue (though a manageable one), which it had not been before. The tabernacle stayed in Shiloh for most of the roughly 400 years that passed before David and Solomon built the permanent temple in Jerusalem. After Solomon, when the kingdom split in two, the northern kingdom did not want its citizens to travel to the temple in Jerusalem anymore. Nonetheless, Jerusalem would remain the place for lawful celebration of these three feasts until the time of Christ. Through Christ, the “place” of celebration would be rendered an obsolete concept. In this regard, see the BSN notes on Deut 12:1-7 above.

Deut 16:18-20 – While the worship associated with Israel’s feasts was to take place in a specific location, justice was to take place everywhere in Israel. Moses will expand on this point in the next chapter.

Deut 16:21-22 – The Canaanites worshiped their idols all over the place. There was no discipline. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Israel was to establish something different in the world: worship prescribed by the one being worshiped rather than being a DIY project of the worshiper. Even today, though the new covenant gives us a very different way to worship from animal sacrifice, the point of the Bible is to tell us how God wants to be worshiped – not to leave the matter to our own imaginations.

***

Deuteronomy 17

The Administration of Justice

Having mentioned the importance of justice near the end of the previous chapter (Deut 16:18-20), Moses now elaborates on the subject.

Deut 17:6 – This instruction for reaching a just decision in death penalty cases becomes a principle applied much more broadly. See BSN Two or Three Witnesses as well as the BSN note on Deut 19:15 below.

The Priests

Deut 17:8-13 – Knowing that some cases would be challenging to decide, the Lord had given the priesthood to Israel as a resource to act on His behalf in settling those difficult cases. That is, the priests and Levites were not just given to help administer the system of animal sacrifice that God had prescribed through the Law of Moses, but also to be sources of wise counsel for difficult decisions. Presumably, the priests and Levites would acquire the required wisdom not through their bloodline, but mainly through their greater access to the word of God. That is, the only written word of God in those days was the five books written by Moses. The priests and Levites, because of their familial and occupational relationship with Moses, and because they would be distributed throughout Israel, would be natural intermediaries between God and the people for decision-making purposes.

A King

Deut 17:14-17 – Moses was the closest thing the Israelites had to a king up to this time. Joshua, a military commander, would take his place. For roughly the next 400 years, God would raise up judges – like Ehud, Gideon, and Samson – to lead armed resistance against Israel’s enemies. Unlike Moses, neither Joshua nor the judges received laws for Israel to follow. They just acted in a military role – Joshua offensively, and the judges defensively.

Deut 17:18-20 – Having described the qualifications for a king of Israel, Moses now lays down what the king must do. This stipulation will surely distinguish Israel’s kings from the kings of all the other nations, for no other nations would have the written word of God.

#FJOT Israel would have many kings before Messiah’s time to be king came. But He was the king who would matter…because He would not only be king of Israel, He would also be King of the Universe.

***

Deuteronomy 18

In this chapter, Moses speaks about three distinct categories of people – Levites, spiritists, and prophets.

• Levites were to be supported.
• Spiritists were to be rejected.
• Prophets were to be tested – and the true ones followed.

Portion of the Levites

Deut 18:1-8 – Levites were descendants of the tribe of Levi, the third son of Jacob. At this time, there were about 23,000 male Levites from one month old and upward.

Forbidden Practices and Practitioners

Deut 18:9-14 – The categories of forbidden practitioners were many and probably not limited to those named. (Perversion can take an infinite number of forms.) The Israelites would find many of these charlatans among the Canaanites, and were to reject them all.

• “anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire”
• “one who uses divination,” “a diviner”
• “one who practices witchcraft”
• “one who interprets omens”
• “a sorcerer”
• “one who casts a spell”
• “medium”
• “a spiritist”
• “one who calls up the dead”

What all these forbidden practitioners listed above have in common is that they claim to interact with the spiritual realm but without regard to God. Of course, all these prohibitions continue for us today, and even include prohibition of any voice claiming to speak for God without regard to Jesus Christ.

Prophets and How to Test Them

Deut 18:15-22 – The acid test for a prophet was whether or not his prophecy came true. The difference between a true and false prophet is seen vividly in the interchange between Jeremiah and Hananiah in Jer 28 – a true prophet and a false one. Jeremiah had said that Babylon’s dominance of Israel would last seventy years, but Hananiah prophesied that it would only be two years (Jer 28). Even Jeremiah initially held some hope, however slight, that Hananiah was right because Jeremiah sought Israel’s welfare…but Hananiah wasn’t, and Israel remained in subjection to Babylon for seventy years just as Jeremiah had said.

Jesus prophesied that Israel would be destroyed within a generation (Mt 24:1-2, 34). It was – with the burning of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The validation of His prophecy over Jerusalem as true was a clear indication that He was a true prophet of God – the greatest of them all, by far.

Deut 18:15 – #FJOT While this statement (and the repetition of it in verse 18) applied to every true prophet who came after Moses, it applied most of all to Messiah. After all, He was the first one God ever literally “raised up.” Also see related BSN notes on this verse in the introductory notes to Mt 5 and at Lk 7:16.

In this regard, see how Deut 18:15 is alluded to in the notes on Deut 34 (especially verse 10) below.

***

Deuteronomy 19

Cities of Refuge

Deut 19:1-13 – Moses previously addressed this subject in Num 35:6-34. See also BSN notes on that passage. The first three of the six cities were named in Deut 4:41-43. All six are named in Josh 20:7-9 after a review of the concept in Josh 20:1-6.

Administering Justice

Deut 19:14 – People get hung up today on whether or not the Bible teaches capitalism. And there’s confusion when people define capitalism differently. What is much simpler and easier to support is that the Bible teaches private property rights. What a man owns is his, and to take it from him without just cause is stealing. Totalitarian governments – no matter how euphemistically they’re named – steal from people.

Deut 19:15 – Moses previously declared this rule with respect to capital punishment (Deut 17:6), but here he expands it to apply to “any iniquity or any sin.” See also BSN Two or Three Witnesses.

Deut 19:16-20 – Human relations could be dramatically improved if we were to apply this principle of justice in America today. That is, if it can be proven that someone has accused someone else falsely, then the false accuser should receive the punishment he sought for the person he falsely accused. Not only would this discourage false accusers, it would encourage everyone else that justice ultimately prevails. Americans are discouraged these days because so many injustices are never addressed. In due time, God will deal justly with regard to all the injustices that men have overlooked.

Deut 19:21 – Moses previously stated this principle in Ex 21:23-25 and Lev 24:17-21. People often quote it today as if it is a call for vengeance; on the contrary, it is a call for “Let the punishment fit the crime.” ***** Another point of confusion arises when “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” is contrasted with Jesus’ rule to “turn the other cheek” as if He was contradicting Moses. Rather, what’s going on is that Moses was giving rules for a nation and Jesus was giving rules for the human heart. A nation that doesn’t punish crime is going to get a lot more of it. I can forgive someone for stealing my car, but I’m way out of bounds if I refuse to accept restoration of the vehicle or demand that the thief not be put in jail. Loving my neighbors requires that I support a system of justice; crimes harm more people than just the direct victim. Thus it was not the case here that Jesus was overruling Moses, but rather that the two were speaking to different realms.

***

Deuteronomy 20

Rules of Military Engagement

Deut 20:1-20 – This is a great set of principles for any nation’s military to follow. May every nation conduct its warfare in this way. (Remember that Israel was a nation set apart for God, but in this eternal age all nations are His – Matt 28:18-20 and Psalm 2.)

***

Deuteronomy 21

Dealing with Unknown Corpses

Deut 21:1-9 – Moses instructs the people about what to do if they come across a corpse they don’t recognize. I wonder if this made him recall the Egyptian corpse he tried to hide in Ex 2:11-14?

Dealing with Unusual Family Situations

Deut 21:10-14 – I assume this regulation is speaking of warfare with enemies other than the Canaanites because intermarriage with the Canaanites was forbidden (Deut 7:1-3). In any case, this regulation seems unsavory to us, but that is because we’ve been exposed to the ethics of Jesus for 2,000 years. Back then, such a regulation was probably a vast improvement over the “rape and pillage” ethic that characterized pagan societies.

Deut 21:15-17 – Moses probably couldn’t pass on this instruction from the Lord without thinking about Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah who were the first four sons of Jacob – but all by the “unloved” Leah (Gen 29:31). The first three forfeited the rights of the firstborn by their flagrant sins – Reuben in the case of his father’s concubine Bilhah (Gen 35:21-22), and Simeon and Levi in the case of their vengeance for their sister Dinah (Gen 34:25-21). Because of those forfeitures, the right of the firstborn fell to Judah – the fourth child. Thus Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. Jesus was, of course, a descendant of David who was a descendant of Judah. #FJOT Of course, Judah had sins, too, but he showed a pattern of repentance when confronted with them. This the first three sons did not do.

Dealing with the Corpse of a Hanged Man

Deut 21:18-21 – #FJOT It’s doubtful that any Israelite, except possibly Moses, thought that this verse would one day apply to the prophet about whom Moses spoke in Deut 18:15. Jews did not expect their Messiah to suffer; they expected Him to conquer. Of course, we now know that Messiah did both.

***

Deuteronomy 22

Miscellaneous Laws

Deut 22:1-12 – Some of these laws make perfect sense to us; others leave us scratching our heads. We should try to be as smart as a cow who, I’m told, is smart enough to eat the hay and spit out the sticks. After all, we are not ancient Jews who are called to follow Moses; rather, we are modern men who are called to follow Jesus Christ.

Deut 22:1-4 – Even in modern times, this principle beats “Finders, keepers” by a mile. We’re ready to practice it and teach it to children without prodding. 

Deut 22:5 – Some things never change.

Deut 22:6-7 – Respect for motherhood is a sign of a culture that is not dying.

Deut 22:8 – This is like building a fence around a pool – that is, it’s the thoughtful thing to do.

Deut 22:9-12 – I do not know enough about farming or sewing to properly appreciate these rules. 

Laws Re: Marriage and Adultery

Deut 22:13-21 – This was an option Joseph could have exercised with regard to Mary’s situation if he had not been as humble and believing as she was.

Deut 22:22 – The first sign that the religious leaders who brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus for judgment were up to no good was that they didn’t bring the man as well. After all, the account in John 8:1-11 says that they told Jesus she had been “caught in adultery, in the very act.” Obviously, someone was being let off the hook.

Deut 22:23-29 – The implicit reality upon which these rules are based is that men are stronger than women and must be held to account if they abuse that power. That principle goes way beyond these rules.

Deut 22:30 – This reminds us of the situation in Corinth (1 Cor 5).

***

Deuteronomy 23

Persons Excluded from the Assembly

Deut 23:3-6 – Moses records the story of Balaam in Num 22-24 and his death in Num 31:8.

Deut 23:7-8 – “Edom” was another name for Esau, Jacob’s brother (Gen 25:30).

Deut 23:12-14 – This is a reminder that we are made in the Lord’s image for, at least in this case, we are repulsed by the same sights that repulse Him. We see the same sort of logic in the prophet Malachi’s writing.

Mal 1:6 “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
Mal 1:7 “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is to be despised.’
Mal 1:8 “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the LORD of hosts.
Mal 1:9 “But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the LORD of hosts.
Mal 1:10 “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you.
Mal 1:11 “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.
Mal 1:12 “But you are profaning it, in that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’
Mal 1:13 “You also say, ‘My, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the LORD of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?” says the LORD.
Mal 1:14 “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,” says the LORD of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations.”

In Malachi’s time, people were giving gifts to God that no human would want. We have been told from the beginning that we are made in God’s image (Gen 1:26-27), so we ought not act like He is indifferent to things that matter to humans. On the contrary, He wired His sensibilities into us. This was affirmed in the most emphatic way when He came to earth as a man. Therefore, we may know that we can please Him by performing for Him what we would otherwise perform only for people. This is why Jesus said:

Matt 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

And it’s why the apostle John said:

John 12:43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

Deut 23:15-16 – What Paul wrote in his letter to Philemon demonstrated that Paul did not feel bound by the Law of Moses – at least not by this part of it.

Deut 23:17-18 – The Law of Moses spells out a lot of things you wouldn’t think needed spelling out. Conversely, it doesn’t explain everything we would like explained. Thus we have all the more reason to be glad we are under the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21; Gal 6:2) and not the law of Moses.

Deut 23:19-20 – I wish I knew more about levels of inflation in ancient times because that has a lot to do with the subject of interest, and therefore the degree of cost/benefit associated with an absence of interest.

Deut 23:21-23 – This attitude toward vows shows up in multiple Old Testament passages, but by the time of Jesus the concept had been perverted so that it allowed people to renege on vows if they weren’t uttered or written in a particular way. Jesus threw all that out the window by declaring that a promise is a vow even if you don’t call it a promise or a vow. This is the way Jesus put it:

Matt 5:33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’
Matt 5:34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
Matt 5:35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.
Matt 5:36 “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
Matt 5:37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

***

Matt 23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’
Matt 23:17 “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
Matt 23:18 “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’
Matt 23:19 “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
Matt 23:20 “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
Matt 23:21 “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it.
Matt 23:22 “And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

We should make good all the words that come out of our mouths – not just some of them.

It’s worth repeating over and over that we are not under the Law of Moses; we are under the law of Christ. The Law of Moses was never intended for anyone except Jews – and, more specifically, only those Jews who lived between the time of Moses and the time of Christ. It’s not that we should take a vow or swear an oath; it’s that every word we speak should be as if we had just put our right hand on the Bible and said, “I swear to the the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” In other words, we should only speak truth.

Eph 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

Deut 23:24 – The principle underlying this verse and the next one is self-evident to reasonable people.

Deut 23:25 – This verse shows us that when Jesus’ disciples were picking heads of grain in the fields to eat (Mt 12:1-7; Mk 2:23-28; Lk 6:1-5), they were doing something the Law of Moses explicitly authorized them to do.

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Deuteronomy 24

The Law of Moses Re: Divorce

Deut 24:1-4 – This is one of the OT passages to which Jesus and His opponents were referring when they discussed the subject of divorce. Here is one such example of such a New Testament discussion.

Matt 19:3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
Matt 19:4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,
Matt 19:5 and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’?
Matt 19:6 “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
Matt 19:7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?”
Matt 19:8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

Jesus was quoting Gen 2:24 and the Pharisees were quoting this passage from Deuteronomy (Deut 24:1-4). Moses was the author of both passages, yet there was tension between them. Everyone knew this, which was why the Pharisees brought the subject up with Jesus. The Pharisees and Sadducees always sought to ask Jesus questions that were controversial with people so that no matter which way He answered, it would split His supporters. This gambit never worked though, because Jesus never stumbled over difficult questions. Rather, he resolved them in ways that no one ever expected. The Pharisees never imagined that Moses could have commanded something that God didn’t want, but Jesus explains that Moses’ law only applied to hardened hearts. The law of Christ, which was vastly superior to the Law of Moses, was saved until a time when men’s hearts could be softened by the crucifixion of Messiah. If a man’s heart cannot be softened by the thought of Jesus hanging on the cross for him, his heart is hard indeed.

It is fair to assume that Jesus would have taken the same approach if He had been asked about the tension between Gen 2:24 and Dt 21:15-17 (a regulation seeming to support polygamy). The genius of Jesus was that He could read the Old Testament and distinguish between which parts were eternal in nature and which were only temporary. As for Jesus Himself, His words do not have an expiration date.

Mark 13:31 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

The Law of Moses Re: Miscellaneous Subjects

Deut 24:8-9 – The incident involving Miriam is recorded in Num 12.

Num 24:14-15 – Sure, there are plenty of provisions in the Law of Moses that seem completely antiquated in the modern age…but this one sure doesn’t. On the contrary, it may even be more appropriate to pay without delay anyone performing manual labor these days. Such men deserve our respect and appreciation, not our indifference – much less, our contempt.

Num 24:16 – This is another principle that continues to make sense no matter what age we live in, and yet it is being violated today with impunity. One of the most blatant examples is the insistence that descendants – and distant ones at that – of slaveowners should have to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves. But it’s even worse than that, because it does not have to be proven that a person is actually descended from slaveowners – it is just assumed based on skin pigmentation.

Deut 24:17-18 – Since the Israelites – as slaves – were weak while in Egypt, they have all the more reason to not be hard-hearted toward the weak.

Deut 24:19-22 – Such guidance was most helpful in fostering generosity in an agricultural society; we should always seek to find equally practical ways to make it easy for people to show generosity in a technological age.

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Deuteronomy 25

The Law of Moses Re: Miscellaneous Subjects

Deut 25:3 – This provision in Moses’ law helps explain the following reference by Paul.

2 Cor 11:23 Are they servants of Christ?–I speak as if insane–I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
2 Cor 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.
2 Cor 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.

Without a knowledge of Deut 25:3, the number “39” might seem strange in 2 Cor 11:24. Of course, the way Deut 25:3 is worded, it actually would allow “40,” but the mentality that chooses 39 as the limit for a law like that is the same mentality that spells God “G-d” so as not to take a chance of “taking the Lord’s name in vain” (the third of the Ten Commandments, recorded in Ex 20:7 and Deut 5:11). The idea was that if you didn’t spell out God, it would count at taking His name in vain. This mentality sought to “put fences” around the commandments so that one could “not even get close to breaking them.” But such a mentality ignores the admonition found in this and other books of the Bible:

Deut 4:2 “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

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Deut 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

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Prov 30:6 Do not add to His words
Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

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Rev 22:18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;
Rev 22:19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

We don’t need to improve on God’s commandments; we just need to keep them. Of course, we are not subject to the commandments of Moses; rather, we are subject to the commandments of Christ (1 Cor 9:21; Gal 6:2). But we shouldn’t try to put fences around the commandments of Christ either.

Deut 25:4 – This verse demonstrates why, even though we are not subject to the Law of Moses, we don’t throw it away. Consider how Paul uses it in the New Testament.

1 Tim 5:17 The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
1 Tim 5:18 For the Scripture says, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

Thus Paul sees this verse about an ox in Deuteronomy as illustrating a principle that justifies financial support for ministers of the gospel in New Testament times. He goes even farther in his first letter to Corinth:

1 Cor 9:3 My defense to those who examine me is this:
1 Cor 9:4 Do we not have a right to eat and drink?
1 Cor 9:5 Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
1 Cor 9:6 Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working?
1 Cor 9:7 Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?
1 Cor 9:8 I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things?
1 Cor 9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He?
1 Cor 9:10 Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.
1 Cor 9:11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

When I said “go farther,” I was referring to what Paul says in verse 9 here: “God is not concerned about oxen, is He?” This demonstrates why we don’t throw out the Law of Moses. It’s because we can never tell when God might open our eyes to the way a verse speaks to some larger reality that we need to understand. Therefore, yes, let’s go to the parts of the Bible we don’t understand less frequently than we go to the parts we can understand – but let’s never completely parts of the Bible we don’t yet understand.

Deut 25:5-10 – You may recognize this passage because the Sadducees quoted from it in the synoptic Gospels when they were trying to present Jesus with what they considered an unresolvable dilemma about resurrection (Mt 22:23-33; Mk 12:18-27; Lk 20:27-40). This passage from Deuteronomy is also alluded to in Ruth 4 when Boaz is wanting to marry the widow Ruth. Actually, this practice, like many in the Law of Moses, finds its origin in the practices of the patriarchs whose lives were recorded in the book of Genesis. To be specific, Judah had three sons and when the first one died leaving a widow, Judah instructed the second born son to marry her and raise up children in the firstborn’s name (Gen 38). The plot thickens after that, but the point for us is that this practice that Moses prescribed existed well before his time. The same could be said of circumcision, for it, too, was part of the Law of Moses but was first practiced well before that time by Abraham.

Deut 25:11-12 – “No hitting below the belt” is a good rule, and it applies to anyone who gets involved in the fight.

Deut 25:13-16 – The principle involved here will make its way into the book of Proverbs, which was written about 500 years later.

Prov 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD,
But a just weight is His delight.

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Prov 16:11 A just balance and scales belong to the LORD;
All the weights of the bag are His concern.

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Prov 20:10 Differing weights and differing measures,
Both of them are abominable to the LORD.

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Prov 20:23 Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD,
And a false scale is not good.

The point of these proverbs, of course, is that we should have one standard of judgment to apply in a matter and not apply different standards to different people. Awareness of this principle was widespread when I was growing up. I’m not saying it was universally practiced; I’m just saying it was not a foreign concept. But it has become a foreign concept in 21st-century American society. People routinely have one set of rules for their friends and a different set for their enemies. Laws get enforced against enemies of the state, and are ignored when it comes to political allies. Equality under the law as an American principle has become nothing but a memory, and an increasingly faint one at that. Repentance and renewal begins with judging others only if I’ve first judged myself according to the standard with which I’m going to judge them. I don’t get to go easy on myself and my allies.

Matt 7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
Matt 7:2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
Matt 7:3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Matt 7:4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?
Matt 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

God is the ultimate judge of all things. And, therefore, our judgments will be judged. All of them.

Eccl 12:13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
Eccl 12:14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Deut 25:17-19 – The event involving the Amalekites to which Moses is referring is recorded in Ex 17:8-16.

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Deuteronomy 26

The First Fruits

Deut 26:1-11 – We are used to thinking about first fruits as having to do with what comes out of the ground: in a word, agriculture. Over time, our minds can become numbed to the miracle of food coming out of the ground. It’s pretty amazing when you look at it with a fresh set of eyes. And all the more so when you consider that the cause was a seed… a seed that bears no physical resemblance to the fruit or the branches from which it hangs. I could go on, but you get the point: that something good comes out of the ground should turn our hearts and minds toward our Creator, for no one else could make such a thing happen. Neither could it happen without design as the theory of evolution absurdly claims.

In the new covenant – that is, the kingdom of God – when we think about what comes out of the ground, we think about Jesus who was the first to rise from the dead, the first to come out of the ground. The apostles taught that the first fruits of agriculture were a type or shadow of Messiah (Christ).

1 Cor 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

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1 Cor 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming,

The very term “first fruits” implies that there is more to come. And just as the first fruits of any harvest is a sign that there is more fruit to come, so the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was a sign that more were to come…and the apostles spoke of this follow-on fruit, too.

James 1:18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

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1 Cor 16:15 Now I urge you, brethren (you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints),
1 Cor 16:16 that you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

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Rev 14:4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.

God gets His full harvest, but “each in his order”: Christ, then believers, then unbelievers when they die. (Everyone Is Going to Heaven)

The Tithes

Deut 26:12-15 – A “tithe” is a “tenth.” It’s nice round number, and easy to figure in your head. A tithe is like “first fruits” because a tithe is the first tenth, which goes to God. How do we give it to God? By giving it to “the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow” of our age. When I say “of our age” I’m talking about translating these biblical terms into our vernacular. Such a translation results in our giving to ministers of the gospel, and to the weak and poor in our time. Though literal “strangers, orphans, and widows” may be among the “weak and poor in our time,” the latter is certainly not limited to the former.

The Nation

Deut 26:16-19 – Israel was the first Messianic (Christian) nation, but it was not to be the last. It died – that is, it was planted as seed in the ground – in 70 AD, and from it other Messianic (Christian) nations have sprung, including England and America. In fact, at the root of Western Civilization is Jesus Christ (Messiah).

Ps 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

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Prov 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.

In biblical times, Israel was the only nation consecrated to the one true God. But the coming of the kingdom of God through its Messiah meant that every nation could – and should – be consecrated to God. Consider what God prophesied to the Messiah in the second Psalm:

Ps 2:8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

And consider what Messiah told His apostles to do with those nations:

Matt 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Matt 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Matt 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Nations do not need to have identical forms of government to be consecrated to the Lord. They only need the same Lord.

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In Deut 27-30, Moses is writing about the covenant between God and His people Israel – explaining how faithfulness to the covenant will bring blessings to the nation and unfaithfulness to the covenant will bring curses on the nation. We gain value from these four chapters not by reading them literally as if we were under that old covenant. Rather, we gain value by reading them in the light of the new covenant which we have through Jesus Christ. To help you gain the most value, please read the BSN notes on Blessings and Curses (including the linked notes on “Kindness and Severity.”)

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Deuteronomy 27

A Ceremony to Remember

Deut 27:1-13 – Moses is prescribing a ceremony to help the Israelites remember all the commandments that he has passed on to them from the Lord. They are to choose two prominent mountains (Gerazim and Ebal, by name) in the promised land, and there coat large stones with lime and write upon those stones the commandments God has given them. Further, leaders are to pronounce the blessings that will come upon the nation if it is obedient to the covenant and the curses to come if it is disobedient. Are we today to do likewise? You’d better believe it! But which two mountains? And how do we find enough large stones to write all the words of the Bible when there are over 700,000 of them? Not to mention all that lime!

We do not need two mountains, large stones, or any lime. There are Bibles everywhere! They’re even accessible by our phones which we take everywhere we go. We can have such a ceremony every day – even more than once a day – by reading the Bible as a family. The root cause of America’s decline from the biblical Christian culture it had at the beginning is the failure of one or more generations to teach the next. The blame for this can be laid more specifically at the feet of men because we are responsible for our families. The only way out of this mess we have on our hands is repentance. If parents do not pass on their faith to their children, what god are their children going to grow up to serve.

Specific Curses

Deut 27:14-26 – What Moses has given here is just a small sample of the things we can do to bring curses on ourselves.

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If you haven’t already, please read the note about Deut 27-30 that appears just before Deut 27 above.

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Deuteronomy 28

This chapter builds upon what Moses wrote about the blessings and curses associated withe the covenant in Lev 26.

Blessings

Deut 28:1-14

Curses

Deut 28:15-68

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If you haven’t already, please read the note about Deut 27-30 that appears just before Deut 27 above.

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Deuteronomy 29

Deut 29:29 – Not everything in the Bible has been revealed to us, but what has been revealed is what we will follow. And as He reveals more to us, we will follow that, too. But we do not have to wait until we understand everything in the Bible before we are responsible for acting on the parts we do understand. I will never fail God because of the things in the Bible I don’t understand; I will only fail God by not acting on the things in the Bible I do understand.

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If you haven’t already, please read the note about Deut 27-30 that appears just before Deut 27 above.

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Deuteronomy 30

Restoration Promised

Deut 30:1-14 – God foresees our waywardness and, in His kindness, gives us instruction about what to do when we come to our senses. The prodigal son (Luke 15) did not know just how good things would be for him back home if he’d only return until he actually did return. We, however, are being told in advance just how good things will be if we get back to Jesus.

Choose Life

Deut 30:15-20 – Every day, we get to make this choice.

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Deuteronomy 31

Moses Begins His Farewell

Deut 31:2 – Moses spent his first forty years in Egypt, the next forty in Midian, and the last forty wandering through the desert that lies between Egypt and the promised land. ***** Moses lost his chance to enter Canaan when he lost his composure at the waters of Meribah (Num 20:2-13).

Deut 31:3 – #FJOT That Moses got the people so far, but that it took Joshua to get them all the way foreshadowed how Moses could teach people about God up to a point, but it took Jesus to fully understand Him. Joshua is a type of Christ in both name and role.

Deut 31:4 – Israel’s defeat of Sihon and Og is mentioned more than half a dozen times in the Old Testament, but it was first recorded in Num 21:21-35.

Deut 31:5-6 – Moses assures the people that the Lord will be with them as they enter Canaan to conquer it. This reality will be demonstrated to them dramatically in the battle of Jericho (Josh 6).

Deut 31:7-8 – Moses gives this direction to Joshua in the presence of the people to confirm in their minds that 1) Moses is passing the baton, and 2) he is passing it to Joshua and no one else. Moses knew firsthand the trouble that would arise if there was any question about who was in charge. In similar fashion, children need to understand the authority structure of the family and when, say, the firstborn is delegated certain rights and responsibilities of leadership.

Deut 31:9-13 – Moses committed all that the Lord had told him to writing and he gave instructions about how knowledge of that law was to be spread within the nation and to succeeding generations. We today are so much better equipped to teach our families the written word of God, what with Bibles everywhere and all. We have no excuse not to do it. When I say “we,” I am referring to men, standing with their wives, as priests for the children in the place of the priests and Levites.

Israel’s Apostasy

Deut 31:14-22 – The Lord describes to Moses how Israel will prosper, but will then, as a consequence, become prideful rather than grateful, and, as a consequence, fall away from the Lord. The Lord wants Moses to make this point in a “song” (poem, lyrical discourse, etc.), which we will read in the next chapter.

Deut 31:23 – Moses commissions Joshua, as he did in Deut 31:7-8. Moses knows firsthand the encouragement that Joshua needs in order to accept and thereafter fulfill his leadership responsibilities. Likewise, there are many exhortations to men in the Bible about leading their families, for we, too, need repeated encouragement to accept and fulfill the great responsibilities laid upon us. To be responsible for the care and nurture of a wife and children is the greatest mission a mortal man could have. The only reason Jesus didn’t accept this mission on earth is because He was given the assignment to save the world – a job for which no one else was qualified and which demanded all of His attention.

Deut 31:24-30 – Moses is delivering the Lord’s message in writing to the care of the Levites for the benefit of the entire nation, including all future generations of that nation. He will then deliver that same message orally (in the next chapter).

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Deuteronomy 32

The Song of Moses

This is a very sober, even somber, warning to the people. As we continue reading through the Old Testament we’ll see that succeeding generations did not take this warning sufficiently to heart.

Deut 32:1-43 – Moses uses poetic language, which is why this discourse is called a “song.” See BSN note on Deut 33:1-29 below for more on poetic language.

Deut 32:15 – “Jeshurun” is a poetic term for Israel (Jacob). Moses also uses it twice in the “blessing” he gives Israel in the next chapter (Deut 33:5, 26).

Moses Punctuates His Message

Deut 32:44-47 – As Moses emphasized to Israel the life-giving nature of the written and oral word he was delivering to them, so we men must emphasize to our respective families the life-giving nature of the Bible. Only we must not wait to deliver this message when we die, but must find fresh ways to deliver it every day. As Paul said to Timothy,

1 Tim 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

Moses Gets His Glimpse of Canaan

Deut 32:48-52 – This experience that the Lord gave Moses was first recorded in Num 27:12-14.

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Deuteronomy 33

The Blessing of Moses

Deut 33:1-29 – The previous chapter (“The Song of Moses”) was a warning for Israel to heed. In this chapter, Israel gets to see Moses’ hopes for them. Moses delivers both his “song” and his “blessing” in lyrical – that is, poetic or elevated – speech. This sort of speech is common to ancient biblical prophecy. Its primary benefit was to make the prophets’ words more memorable, which was very practical in time where writing was expensive and literacy was limited.

The blessing of Moses in this chapter can be compared to the one Jacob gave in Gen 49. The main difference is that Jacob was speaking directly to the twelve ancestors while Moses was speaking to their descendants. Ussher’s Chronology pegs Jacob’s blessing as being spoken in 1689, and Moses’ in 1451. Presumably, Jacob’s blessing – like many things in the book of Genesis – was passed down through the generations by oral tradition. Ancient generations had more highly-developed memory capacity than we do because they didn’t have all the technology on which we’ve come to rely. Just as calculators becoming commonplace have caused us to stop memorizing multiplication tables, so copiers and tape recorders have caused us to stop memorizing words. Therefore, our memory muscles have atrophied. Thus we tend to underestimate ancient abilities to preserve knowledge through memory and oral transmission.

Deut 33:5 – See BSN note on Deut 32:15 above.

Deut 33:26 – See BSN note on Deut 32:15 above.

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Deuteronomy 34

Deut 34:1-12 – It seems likely that Joshua wrote this last chapter of Deuteronomy (especially from verse 5 on) and thus it should be considered, in tandem with Josh 1, as the linkage between the two books. The writing style of the two chapters matches and reading them together is a seamless experience. Moreover, the respect and affection for Moses that comes through in Deuteronomy 34 is all the more understandable if it came from his understudy. If this is true, it would make verse 10 all the more understandable and appreciated since it would be Joshua making clear that he was not the prophet about whom Moses had prophesied in Deut 18:15 – but only a foreshadowing of Him.

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