Published: March 31, 2024 | Speaker: D. Aaron Wells | Series: Deuteronomy - The Law Is Good, If One Uses It Lawfully 1 - Part 13 | Scripture: Deuteronomy 4:44-5:6
Transcript
View Full Transcript →
0:03
well welcome along to the law is good if one uses it lawfully session 13 so we we actually will we'll enter what is Moses second discourse this is
0:16
the the majority of of Deuteronomy and it's probably the hardest to read so as always the detailed treatment of a few verses is is meant on my part to give
0:28
you a better understanding of how to read the whole invariably you will do so on your own and I found that uh the main body of Deuteronomy is very hard to keep
0:41
together in any sort of overarching structure once you're in the middle of it it feels like a bunch of disjointed things and I say this having had that
0:52
experience you know three times or so uh on my on my own um so I want to talk today a little bit about what what is that governing
1:02
structure and how do you find that uh is it there or am I forcing it um hopefully spoiler alert I'm not forcing it um but
1:13
how do we read the rest of it U clearly so starting from the beginning with the the ending in mind and also by the time we get to the end not losing the beginning um so if you turn with me I
1:25
need to actually grab my Bible excuse me forgot to put it up here um to Deuteronomy 4 which is the the introduction uh we had an
1:36
introduction to the first discourse in Deuteronomy 1 which we covered in detail and we'll cover some of the same uh literary markers and cultural markers in that in this introduction but we can
1:48
cover it in a much shorter fashion because we've already done the detailed study that uh is in that first introduction so there's an introduction in Deuteronomy 1 to the first discourse uh and this introduction is similar
1:59
starting at verse 44 of chapter 4 this is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel these are the testimonies the statutes and the rules
2:10
which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite bate peor in the land of seon the king of the amorites who lived at heshbon
2:22
whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt and they took possession of his land and the land of OG the king of bosan the two kings of the amorites who lived to the
2:34
east beyond the Jordan from arare which is on the edge of the Valley of the arnone as far as Mount Sirion that is Hermon together with all the arabah on
2:46
the east side of the Jordan as far as the sea of the arabah under the slopes of pija so as I said this introduction
2:56
parallels the introduction to the first discourse and it gives gives us a a really nice illustration of a pattern that occurs in Deuteronomy several times and actually helps us tie together the
3:07
governing structure of Deuteronomy so if you look back at chapter 1 verse 5 um you'll see a a a couple of phrases that are real important so it says beyond the
3:18
Jordan in the land of Moab Moses undertook to explain this law saying etc etc and then it goes on uh in the first
3:29
discourse and he doesn't actually expound uh a law at all um he expounds their history so that should stand out to us
3:40
is hang on he undertook to ex uh
4:00
law okay and then uh back at we just read uh in chapter 4:
4:30
law he never did explain this this law this is it this second discourse is what he undertook to explain to them uh on the plains of Moab this kind of thing where you get some sort of summary and an explanation
4:43
of what will follow even a conclusion uh and then later it picks up with the actual details of what this was talking about is a very very common
4:53
structure I've not only found in in Deuteronomy at very important spots but also in the narrative so in Samuel Kings you'll often have a narration that feels
5:04
out of order or is even accused of being out of order by academics but is in fact a full-throated abstract you know beginning middle and end and then you
5:14
get the details of what happened possibly over several of our chapters but doesn't that indicate how how integral the history is to the doctr it
5:27
it absolutely does and and uh and the similarities between these introductions are picking up on that exact thing yes I'm not saying that we can somehow skip
5:37
the first discourse you can't um he started with that um but that rather we're picking up on a connection here a linguistic connection that's going to be important for Discerning a governing
5:47
structure uh in Deuteronomy so might as well pick it up here since we're here at it um so a a a word or phrase will be used in a summary fashion sometime
5:58
before the full explanation is given okay uh another great example of that and these are actually much closer together is in chapter 5:31 um the 10 words having been or he
6:10
rather having related that the 10 words were spoken from Heaven by God the people have begged him not to hear anymore uh and he says and Yahweh heard your words when you spoke to me and said
6:22
to me I have heard the words of this people which they have spoken to you they are right in all they have spoken oh that they had a mind such as this all always to fear me and keep all my Commandments that it might go well with
6:33
them and with their sons forever go and say to them return to your tents but you stand here by me and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and
6:43
the rules that you shall teach them that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess so that's
6:54
531 okay okay I'll just put um the statutes as a standin for that that whole that whole phrase
7:08
okay and then if you look down in um in chapter 6 verse one uh now so you have I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules and then it
7:19
says now this is the Commandment the statutes and the
7:39
know the statutes Etc okay giving us the the distinct impression that all that God spoke to him on on the mountain is going to be then laid out in detail and expounded in in what follows okay and and that I read
7:51
in your hearing a couple weeks ago uh at least all the way to the beginning of chapter 12 uh and really even farther on um to the end of the discourse so the
8:02
the remainder of the discourse is going to be defined by this summary that Yahweh heard your words he told me let them go but you stand here by me and I will teach you the Commandments that you
8:12
are to teach the people for their doing them and then the phrasing is very similar Moses said okay now this is it okay this is an important literary marker just hold that in your brains for a moment another thing to notice in this
8:24
uh in this introduction uh is just a brief look at what he is doing geographically we we looked in detail at the geography uh concerning the first introduction uh we don't have to rehash
8:36
all of that but a couple notes I want to make the first is that the first introduction chronicled a brief Journey from Mount Horeb by the way of Mount seir to cadesh Bara and was then
8:48
prefaced by a Loca a list of locations in the wilderness on the way okay concluding that beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab Moses undertook to explain
10:02
um and then it concludes with a list of locations delineating the land already conquered so the the introductions are are formally very similar they kind of uh one runs down the other one runs back
10:13
up yes you may mention of this a week or so ago about how this the generation that fell in the wilderness is now forgotten right and
10:23
and in the Old Testament from here on out I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt I am the Lord who brought you Egypt so it's as if the coming out of Egypt and the going into the land is now
10:34
connected right and everything that went in between is forgotten because they're not supposed to follow the example of that generation that fell well exactly right so the the old gener the the
10:45
geography at least in the geography yet the old generation has been collapsed out of the narrative okay and terms of his historiography the the situation is
10:56
the same the first introduction stipulates that the foll words were spoken by Moses subsequent to the defeat of seon and O but then focuses on the history of the old generation and how
11:07
they came to be cut off he the second introduction here excises that old generation completely okay even going so far as to say that seon and OG were
11:18
defeated by the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt okay and far from being a chronological mistake on Moses part this is a shift in historiography that intentionally sets up what's to to
11:29
follow the new generation are the people of God in the wilderness with Yahweh in their midst and the recipients of his law okay and so that when he begins to
11:40
expound this law down in uh chapter 5: two he says Yahweh Our God made a covenant with us in Horeb not with our
11:50
fathers did Yahweh make this Covenant but with us who are all of us here alive today now I should say as a matter of fairness that many uh commentary helps
12:02
say that not with our fathers he is intending Abraham Isaac and Jacob that there were a portion of the congregation that were at the mountain to hear yahweh's voice and that when he says not
12:15
with our fathers he's not speaking of the old generation but rather speaking of Abraham Isaac and Jacob um I disagree and I'll explain why um before I do uh
12:26
one further note regarding the the geography and the history of the text um I I did take rather the rather bold leap of saying that a few of the explanatory
12:36
statements in Moses first discourse I believe are added later as a necessary explanation for people that were centuries removed from it in order that they might better understand it there is
12:47
a parallel actually an opposite statement here in this introduction that helps undergird uh that that point that I was making um so the parenthetical
12:58
notation in in verse uh 48 uh from arare which is on the edge of the Valley of the arnone as far as Mount serion that
13:09
is Hermon this is a an opposite to the uh notation made in chapter 3:9 um Moses is speaking so we took the
13:20
land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the amorites who were beyond the Jordan from The Valley of the arnone to Mount Hermon the sidonians call serion while the amorites call it
13:33
seir so you can see that they're quite similar and they actually refer to the exact same geographical location the two are functional opposites um they're the
13:45
excuse me the one um so the one this is uh chapter uh chapter 3 verse 3 verse 9 and again I'm I'm assuming that I'm
13:56
right here in the way I'm describing this okay so says Hermon this is quotes is around what Moses says and then the the explanatory
14:15
um serion this is this is for later okay and then in 4 verse 48 the
14:26
48 the introduction written later says excuse me says it was Mount serion and then has to
14:36
clarify that's clarify that's Heron okay so these these two are pointing in completely opposite directions from from one another this is
14:49
an explanatory note in the middle of Moses words this is an explanatory note that needs to be put in there in something that was written presumably
14:59
not by Moses or at least is not part of the discourse proper in other words their functional opposites okay there the the introductions are obviously
15:11
added subsequent to Moses speech at some point okay and the the ex I'm saying the explanatory note here is also added on the one hand Moses own identification of
15:22
Mount Hermon needed some backward-looking clarification okay since Hermon was evidently not a name by which the mountain was universally known later on okay on the other hand this one okay the
15:34
introductory paragraph written later on by and for the later audience would naturally use the common name for the mountain which is here okay and need to
15:46
clarify that it was indeed the same as the Mount Hermon mentioned by
15:57
Moses why do The New American Standard say it's an alter alterate spelling um it it seems or an alternate vocalization of serion I have a footnote in the footnote of the ESV says
16:08
cal8 it's seal so it's even more confusing oh I see yeah and in the ESV there that that seone is in the footnote
16:19
uh in in those cases I take it to be an alternate vocalization or from a different witness possibly from the septu as a as a trans literation I do
16:30
not know the answer to that
16:40
um thank you so serion is a serc designation okay that would be like from the Samaritan penit or something along or is are those related okay um okay I I think that one
16:51
way or another the point is the same that there's a clarification going on here that point opposite ways the main point being that I I just note it to say
17:02
that I'm not out on totally thin ice by saying that this was a a clarification added later that's all also remember that when I said that there were clarifications added later I'm trying to
17:13
point to what the not only the immediate audience but what would be a very important later audience of of Moses words Moses is
17:24
speaking on the cusp of where they will not have any further Revelation from God and there will come a time when the people of Israel will need his need his words acutely um and these things help
17:37
us with us with that the the importance of this I think is shown in in the the 19th cental 19th century liberal attack on the
17:49
historicity of scripture yes these place names do names do disappear over time that has happened across the world right still happen today where names are changed expect
18:02
guilty and generations later you know the liberal scholar says well you know clearly the Bible is not historically accurate right because this particular place it doesn't exist yes and what
18:14
they're doing is just find that no it doesn't exist but it did exist yes we forget places quickly yes as generations and remember they moved into an area
18:25
that was already occupied I mean it says in the explanatory note in in chapter 3 the sidonians call it this so they they they adopted their gods why not their
18:35
place names um so in any case the the reason we go over these things as I you know as I explained when we were going over them in detail the reason we go
18:45
over these things is because ridiculous theories like the documentary hypothesis pick up on details like this rightly point out that there's something interesting going on here and then make
18:57
big giant conclusion that really don't follow from the data so I'm wanting to make sure we address the data and uh explain it according to uh what we find
19:08
in scripture and according to frankly plain reason um rather than um goodness going completely off the rails anyway that's not even our main contextual challenge for this morning so
19:20
I I want to move on to what is really our main challenge is that is the trajectory of Moses second discourse it's this huge body of text you will lose yourself in it um how do you avoid losing yourself in
19:31
it I found this interesting article uh on a Blog at the Times of Israel by an academic in Israel named Dina Rock uh called the real message of Mount gazim
19:41
and mount Abal um I just want to point out before I before I read what she had to say because I thought it was it was really good and it and it really did I don't know it's helpful to see
19:53
someone else say what what you're almost afraid to say so the children of Israel heard the the law Mo uh the voice of Yahweh
20:03
from from Mount Si okay and then they were to go over the Jordan okay and have a a a covenant ceremony of some stripe
20:16
in which they were to stand on mounts gazim and mount Abal and repeat the blessings and the curses which Moses will give them in Deuteronomy so from Mount this is like this is like my um
20:30
this is like my sight section of time uh okay if you have any familiarity with civil engineering um okay and this is
20:42
this is this is Jordan okay this this is effectively their trajectory okay the law Spoken Here by God the law Spoken Here by them
20:54
okay so listen to what she says because I think this is great hjg Podge that precise academic term is the first that used to come to my mind when thinking of
21:05
the book of Deuteronomy it didn't bother me that this was so in fact it seemed almost fitting after all this was Moses goodbye speech to the people to whom he had been utterly devoted for the last 40
21:17
Years of course it's a jumble of reminiscences of their most memorable times veiled reprimands concerned cautions not to fall prey to the idol worship of their soon to be neighbors
21:29
and insistent reminders to punctiliously observe the Divine Commandments that he had bequeathed to them just as a parents last goodbye as they drop their child off at a college is often a hodgepodge
21:41
of Recollections of fond memories advice and admonishments about everything ranging from laundry to finances caution against the influences of the campus culture and please to maintain
21:52
commitment to the values they've imparted to them the last 20 years all in no particular
22:04
order okay and and frankly if you look through the Section headings of uh many of your English translations I would commend to you just a brief look at whatever is printed above chapter 22 and following um in your translations um
22:17
these are you know the the section headings are just intended to give some sense of the content of what is to follow in the next few paragraphs right so but if you look in your translation of Deuteronomy it'll show that the use
22:30
of various laws or miscellaneous laws is extensive in the latter half of Deuteronomy which I I find to be a travesty okay but even when the section
22:43
headings signal a collection of topically related laws and they do so rightly not with various or miscellaneous when taken together these
22:53
section headings are going to leave you with very little in the way of a sense of organization for the whole District course it wasn't disjointed it wasn't spoken at different times it spoken at one time and they chop it up uh for you
23:05
so how do we make sense of this and how do we recognize a governing structure in Moses second discourse without trying to take a shape and shoehorn it in too because that's the other ditch we fall
23:17
into the one is that it's a hodg podge and the other is we've just rammed it into a a governing structure that it doesn't really have and we then lose
23:28
something of the message that way as well we lose something when we view it as a hodgepodge and we also view it when we lose something of it when we try to duct tape it um so M Rock here goes on
23:39
to say that it was not until and I'm summarizing because it's a longer article but um she goes on to say that it was not until she realized the similarities both in textuality and importance between the Covenant ceremony
23:52
at Mount siai and the instructions for Covenant ceremony at mounts gazim and Abal that she began to recognize a governing structure in Moses second discourse uh she says first and foremost
24:05
Mount SII has the identical structure of a description of the awe inspiring event followed by a seemingly excuse me followed by seemingly random detailed
24:15
laws finally followed by another description of the ritual ceremony clearly what strikes us as bizarre namely the insertion of halakic minutia
24:26
in the midst of majestic all inspiring Divine human covenants is the torah's norm would you mind before I go on giving a brief definition of halakah
24:38
because she says halakic minutia and I don't feel adequate to give a proper definition halakah is the outworking the moral practical
24:49
principles by which Torah is put into light okay so halak became the realm of the rabbis okay so it is it is the is the the outworking of the law in life
25:02
okay and principles for that outworking okay um and of course manuia meaning just detailed details um and and much of and what she's talking about is much of the
25:13
sort of back half of the second discourse are little law sections so he had what I read to you in your hearing through chapter 11 was big law sections
25:24
okay a big big Exposition on God's law where there's also plenty of little law sections okay minutia um she's saying that she she is identifying okay what
25:37
strikes us as as bizarre is that those little law sections will be peppered in among big things uh but yet she finds that to be the torah's norm notice her
25:48
use of the word seemingly random in what I read um in in future sessions uh we will seek to develop the connections among these IC minutia as she calls them
26:01
um so seemingly random seems right and also her suggestion that the in leaving of large and small sayings underscores their relative importance in other words
26:12
there's nothing relegated to the rear or to an appendix the little law sections are not just the back um but they actually belong in the main body and so are peppered throughout um that seems on
26:24
the right track to me it does present a challenge to us because we do like to read things big and little in order of importance we like the main body and then uh a few stipulations in the back
26:35
we like this okay and she's saying that no it's big sections little little little big section little little little and and so on and so forth and maybe within the big section A few a few uh
26:47
excurses on on little things okay she's saying this is really what Deuteronomy looks like and this presents a challenge to us because it's not the way we communicate I would argue that the big
26:59
interpers with little is how people live okay you don't live your life you do all the big things and then the little things that's how you break something down and think about it if you really want to dive into the weeds but you live
27:12
some days it's all little things and other weeks you're dealing with one major problem and so it's it's laws for life the way people live life yeah so in
27:23
in saying how how shall we live before our God in the land this is the way you need to hear it um I think grasping that is you stated it very well in a
27:34
principled fashion grasping that when reading it at the at the level of the text is is fairly hard for us Jesus employs a similar
27:45
structure he uses Parables so and they're interspersed in the midst of what would be yes those Parables or as Ariel is saying those
27:57
parables bringing it home where the people live and I think the same thing with that mintia this this is what this means to you in your tent you
28:08
particularly see this well laid out in Matthew um in I guess I say in particular uh the other gospels show that that is the case but Matthew has been noted for its clear structure in
28:20
that respect um yeah so that so the Lord Jesus communicated in this exact same way hopefully studying this helps us study his own teachings in the days of
28:30
his flesh his flesh um and so as far as where she found this relationship this actually emerges To Us
28:41
by use of that literary marker I was talking about from earlier um if you look at the end of chapter 11 again which which I read to you
28:52
before um you have see I am said today before you a blessing and a curse the blessing if you
29:02
obey the Commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you today and the curse if you do not obey the Commandments of Yahweh your God but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today to go
29:13
after other gods that you have not known and when Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it you shall set the blessing on Mount gazim and the curse on
29:25
Mount Abal are they not beyond the Jordan west of the road toward the going down of the Sun in the land of the canites who live in the arabah opposite gilgal beside the oak of Mor for you are
29:37
to cross over the Jordan and go in and take possession of that land Yahweh your God is giving you and when you possess it and live in it you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules I
29:47
am setting before you today these are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that Yahweh the god of your fathers has given you to possess possess all the
29:59
days you live on the earth do you hear it okay we got the executive summary of what's to follow which has to do with the statutes and the rules that you will
30:10
repeat here and then he goes on at the beginning of your chapter 12 these are the statutes and rules you shall be careful to do in the land at the level of doing which is why the minutia enters
30:22
here uh in force okay so that literary marker this business same thing here and and similar in what in what I just read
30:33
helps us to identify that governing structure as as having majorly to do with two two double mountains okay um
30:43
and I say Double Mountain how many times did Moses go up siai twice twice okay Moses went up the same mountain twice they will go up two mountains so what's the governing
30:55
structure then Deuteronomy om 5-28 the main body of Deuteronomy is one discourse in three major parts just like the first discourse was okay beginning with the speaking of the law by Yahweh
31:07
on Mount Si and ending with the script for speaking of the blessings and cursings of the law by the people on Mount gazim and abbal it follows a very similar General arrangement to the first
31:18
discourse so the first discourse if you remember okay uh had a three-part structure one was one was a a discourse
31:29
on on the past Allah the old generation and their and their unbelief okay and then it moved to their present in other words the events that
31:40
had just happened this is seon and O in other words the evidence that they were wrong okay that they had just seen
31:51
with their eyes and then a future charge to the sons of Israel that they not forsake the word of their God and His presence
32:02
when he has so Faithfully dealt with them okay the the second discourse follows a very similar arrangement in
32:12
Deuteronomy 5-1 Moses expounds upon the speaking of the law by Yahweh on Mount SII okay so this is 5- 11 this is the the
32:31
law at Sinai which is in their past okay and was and was the old generation's hearing okay but they're they're getting excised okay through to their unfolding history beginning at mounts gazim and
32:43
eal so they are here and they are soon going over and this will be one of the immediate things that they do uh in the land so I am logging uh chapters 12- 26
32:57
the these are the statutes okay that you shall do when you go over
33:11
as I'm saying just the law for going in okay um sorry about the scroll there all right so this is in their present these are the things you need to know now you already heard this SP this is this is
33:21
the law of your past this is the law for the present for the going in and then finally uh 27 and
33:33
28 uh the the charge from mounts gazim and eal so the charge
33:44
will be I mean he's going to give them what they are to what they are to say but the charge will be spoken by them to Future Generations themselves and future
33:54
Generations in the land so again similar structure uh there and any questions about about this I I don't say that this is like
34:07
that I'm 100% that this is exactly the way Moses thought about arranging it but I have not found that there is a I have not found a better and I appreciate this
34:19
Jew's uh musings on this because as I read it and I really read these sections over and over and over again trying to figure out what what was the governing
34:30
structure and mount gazim and a ball kept popping out at me so it was nice to find her uh article there to to help confirm that and I really do think that
34:41
the trajectory from the mountains is what's governing uh those things I think it's important to keep in mind that Moses knew that he was not going to be there right I think that's a very sign
34:53
of all the det that he
35:15
okay right and it and it it doesn't need to be any it doesn't need to be forced at all this does jump out at you um so let's um so let's move in a little
35:28
bit because these are these are great things to know and see um but but we want to hear uh the teaching and also verify by what Moses says that what I'm
35:39
observing in the introduction and in the governing structure is is indeed they that they follow from one another um so uh chapter 5 verse one and Moses
35:50
summoned all Israel and said to them hear o Israel the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today and you shall learn them and be careful
36:00
to do them Yahweh Our God made a covenant with us in HB not with our fathers did Yahweh make this Covenant but with us who are all of us here alive
36:12
today Yahweh spoke with you face to face at the mountain out of the midst of the fire while I stood between Yahweh and you at that time to declare to you the
36:22
word of Yahweh for you were afraid because of the fire and you did not go up in into the mountain he said I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of
36:32
the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery so Moses Begins by recasting the history of Israel and I think the writer of the introduction was picking up on
36:43
this okay which is why it's worded the way it's worded he beginning at Mount SII as the new generation's history they who are here alive today I want you to
36:54
notice that phrase the entire responsib ility okay as well as the blessings of God's law are brought into all Israel in the present because the new generation
37:05
they who are here alive today are all Israel okay not with your fathers not with our fathers rather did Yahweh make this Covenant but with us the spiritual
37:16
reality is explained by the excising of the old generation from The Narrative entirely and and we need to note and this is partly why I disagree that that our fathers is talking about Abra abam
37:27
and Isaac and Jacob um is because the new generation was already comprised in its majority of people who were not even born when Yahweh spoke to the congregation of the Wilderness it simply stands to reason that most of them were
37:38
not there nevertheless Moses is insistent that it was not with their fathers but with us who are all of us here alive today this calls back um a
37:49
phrase that was in Deuteronomy 4 in in the third part of the first discourse where he says um your eyes have seen what Yahweh did at Bal peor
38:01
and remember at Bal peor copious amounts of Israelites died because of their idolatry and their sin with the women of Moab okay you your eyes have seen what
38:12
Yahweh did at Baal peor for Yahweh your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of peor but you who held fast to Yahweh your God are all
38:26
alive today so the phrase prising is very similar okay and drawing a connection an identity between Those whom Yahweh made this Covenant with that he's about to expound and those who held fast to
38:38
Yahweh your God the clear implication is that the recipients of the word of God are those who receive it by faith for those who fell in the wilderness fell because of unbelief this is something
38:49
that if you've read Hebrews and and we've certainly talked enough about the uh about Hebrews uh should come out to you very clearly secondly the uh the word of um though
39:02
there are notable differences um which we will discuss so the the the 10 words that he is he's going to recount for them uh
39:12
are substantially the same uh and even in detailed fashion the same as what is written down in Exodus 20 there are a few differences which are very important
39:23
which will both will will which we'll trace and do as is done in Leviticus when you see parallel sections uh to find a good bit of the meaning in the differences Moses did that on purpose
39:35
why did he do that but the substantial and detailed similarity between the two recountings of the 10 words really underscores this reality that Moses is explaining in that this is one law this
39:47
is not a change in the Covenant or the law for the new generation it's the same uh in like fashion Deuteronomy 10 will illustrate that there's no change in PRI priesthood because of Aaron's death
39:59
there's a little Point made there but this is one law and no change in law yahwe spoke with you face to face is an historical statement at least for a
40:11
third of the congregation or so as well as the as well as a spiritual statement it is the template for all Israel to yet to come and some of the differences we
40:22
observe in the 10 words are going to be part of this spiritual reality that this is the template for all Israel Yet to Come All Israel in their future
40:32
Generations that rise up will be able to say as Yahweh Our God commanded you okay and will be able to say Yahweh spoke with you face to face okay um it will
40:45
not always be true of course that some of the assembly had actually heard the voice and saw the fire uh but these people about to enter the land stand for all of their descendants as a witness
40:55
and will definitely stand for all of their descendants as a witness here uh which is a Ministry which their fathers the old generation uh have already been demonstrated to have failed in um most
41:08
of Israel throughout time will be as the majority of their assembly are right here on the plains of Moab and that they did not actually witness the Mountain of God nevertheless Moses is insistent
41:20
Yahweh spoke to you okay the things that Israel saw in the wilderness are not brought to remembrance by going back to the mountain nor by direct
41:32
depiction okay but by means of hearing the word of God at the place where he made his name to dwell um the the Tabernacle itself is more and more
41:44
unfolding to me as a as a um picture of the of the mountain okay as as a not a direct depiction but a metaphorical depiction of Mount SII um that that is
41:57
where God made his name to dwell and there it goes with them they are to hear the word of God at the place where he made his name to dwell they will see through the hearing I was just G to ask
42:08
maybe it's not a question you want to answer today okay is there a parallel to the the ability of the Israelites to say God spoke to us face to face and you
42:20
know today's Easter we're celebrating that Christ is risen and yet we've never seen him physically and were by witnesses that he did rise and we say in
42:33
faith that we see him yes I I think so I think that's the that's the argument that Hebrews is making concerning I do think it's an argument that ultimately
42:45
um uh applies to scripture even if the argument is not directly made about scripture uh this is in Hebrews 2 the beginning where he says that that he
42:56
that uh it was spoken at first by the Lord and then given to us by those who saw and heard while God also bore witness from heaven with signs and wonders and gifts of the Spirit given
43:07
according to his will he's he's laying out that same trajectory which is God spoke from heaven and and the one who saw it spoke it to us and and now and it
43:18
was verified by signs and wonders and that's the word in which we live I I think the writer of Hebrews is saying that ex the that exact same thing that
43:28
that you're saying um there's another passage in the in the New Testament that I think is very helpful to look at uh it's in Matthew 22 um it's when the the Sadducees come
43:41
to the Lord and give him their gacha question uh about the resurrection okay um and if you're familiar with that they they have a gacha question and it's about seven men
43:52
who all have the same woman but she has no children by them and who's who will she be uh the resurrection you should read it with a smirk on your face who shall she be at the
44:03
resurrection for they all had her verse 29 but Jesus answered them you are
44:13
wrong because you know neither the scripture nor the power of God for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven and as for the resurrection of the
44:24
Dead have you not read what was said to you by God I am the god of Abraham the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob he is
44:35
not the god of the dead but of the living okay and when the crowd heard it they were astonished at his teaching but why should we be surprised we're going to do a proper study of Deuteronomy it
44:47
should not surprise us these words of the Lord seeing as Moses declared that what the old generation heard was spoken to you out of the midst of the fire to the new generation similarly Jesus
44:58
declares that what God spoke to Moses at the Burning Bush was spoken to those who sat in Moses seat conversely if they would not listen to Moses and the prophets then they
45:09
would not listen if one rose from the dead the hearing of the word of God Is by faith um this this argument is made in in just beautiful fashion Again by
45:20
Hebrews from chapter 4: 1-3 while the promise of entering his rest still stands let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it
45:30
for good news came to us just as to them but the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not United by faith with those who listened
45:41
for we who have believed enter that rest and then further in his argument in chapter 11 Faith then is the Assurance of things hoped for the conviction of
45:54
Things Not Seen for by it the people of old received their Commendation by faith we understand that the Universe was created by the word of God so that what
46:05
is seen was not made out of things that are visible so in other words not having seen it but by the hearing of it with faith is how we see
46:16
it and it and furthermore the identity of the people of God as the sons of God is also by faith throughout all generations okay
46:27
having heard what we've heard from Deuteronomy thus far I'll close uh with uh a a passage from the Apostle John and hopefully you can hear this
46:37
with um renewed interest and renewed
46:53
one and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory Glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth John bore
47:03
witness about him and cried out this was he of whom I said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me and from his fullness we have all
47:16
received Grace upon Grace for the law was given through Moses Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ no one has ever seen God the only God who is at the
47:28
father's side has explained him and who is he saying this to those who were who believed in his name right whom he gave
47:38
the right to be children of God born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God in
47:48
other words born by faith let's close in prayer father we thank you for this your word we ask that you would renew our
47:59
understanding please grant us understanding as we go forward into studying the dictates of your law we ask that you would give us eyes eyes and ears of Faith to hear it uh and please
48:11
grant us discernment that we may rightly rightly apply it and say with the psalmist how I love your law that it is my meditation all the day and yet not
48:23
even think of falling into the Trap of those who would uh style themselves teachers of the law and make shipwreck of faith we ask that you would give us a heart of Faith towards your law help us
48:34
to understand it uh that we may keep it we ask this in Jesus name