Deuteronomy 15:12-23 - Rights for Slaves

The releasing if debts applied to slaves as well. Sometimes people object to the use of slavery in Israel. However, compared to other nations the rules on slaves were amazingly liberal. Slaves were to be released in the seventh year, and they were to be given gifts. This was no normal treatment of slaves! And while we get on our high horse about slavery we do well to remember that slavery still exists even in our own country. There are sex slaves, and there is exploitation of migrant workers. You can probably also make a case that we exploit workers in third world countries. Time spent criticising slave conditions in Old Testament Israel would be far better spent learning from the Law and putting our own house in order.

The reason for the command on good treatment of slaves was that Israel had been in slavery herself once, and that God had blessed them.

If a slave liked his owners (in fact the word servant is used here) he could stay with them. Now he would only want this if he was treated well. 

The natural reaction may be that all this "slaves rights" nonsense would be far too costly. God rejects this attitude. They were not to consider it a hardship, and indeed the Lord would bless them.

God's economy works on very different principles to the world's economy, and it results in freedom and prosperity, not slavery and poverty.
The firstborn of their flocks were to be dedicated to the Lord, this was because the Lord had saved the people form the plague of the firstborn in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 15:1-11 - Generosity the key to financial security

We now have a reiteration of the laws on cancelling debts. Debts were to be written off every seven years. In the West we have a society founded on debt, and we can see all to clearly that this is a foundation of sand. 

There would be no need for debt, for the Lord was giving them a good land and would provide richly for them. Debt is a sign of a society that is not looking to God, it is not a sign of a vibrant economy! If we follow the Lord then we will not need to borrow, but will be in a position to lend to others. Moreover, others will not rule over us. The Lord's will is that we should have dominion, not that we should be dominated.

We then see that generosity of heart and action is to be a feature of God's economy. They were to be open-handed towards those who were in trouble. 

We then see what the effects will be. If we are mean and stingy, then the poor will cry out to God and He will hear them, and judge against us. However, if we are generous towards the poor, then the Lord will grant us success.

Generosity is the cornerstone of financial success!

Deuteronomy 14 - Eating and Tithing

Cutting themselves was a practice that the Canaanites followed, hence the prohibition against doing this. Once again we see the importance of not following the ways of the nations they were dispossessing. 

Next there is a repeat of earlier food laws. There does not seem to be any consensus on the precise reasons for the food laws. One thing to note is that "unclean" does not equal "sinful". For see that the eagle is one of the birds they were not allowed to eat, yet in Isaiah 40 it speaks of them soaring on wings like eagles. So eagle is used as a positive symbol there.

The people were to give a tithe of all their crops to the Lord. Taken together with Numbers 18:21-29 it seems that the tithe was given for the Levites to eat. At the harvest time everyone ate some of it, but the rest was set aside for the Levites. So it was only a small fraction that the people as a whole ate.

The reason they were to give the tithe was to teach them to revere the Lord, ie to remind them that it is the Lord who provides all that we have. Tithing is still a good discipline to follow, for it strikes at a fundamental truth. Who is the one who gives us life and all that we need? It it just chance, just us, just the way the universe is? Or are we created and cared for by the Lord? Moreover, just as the tithe then provided for the Levites who served the Lord, it is through the church that God builds His kingdom in the world today. So it is good for us to give. The tithe was also used to provide for the poor (the fatherless and widows).

See the end result, "so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands" (v29). Tithing is an act of faith, and putting faith in God is how we receive the life of God.

Deuteronomy 13 - Worship only the Lord

There are now more warnings against worshipping other gods. We need to understand that the danger in our lives lies only in us choosing to turn away from the Lord and follow false gods. Nothing else can defeat us. This does not mean we will not encounter difficulties, but we will not be defeated if we continue to follow Christ. Whatever circumstances we are facing, the most vital things is that we continue to follow Christ.

Moses here warns them against being taken in by false prophets, even if their prophecies "come true", or even if they do signs and wonders. If someone encourages people to focus on anything or anyone other than Christ they are not to be listened to, no matter how great a sign they perform, or how wonderful a prophecy they give. 

The heart of the matter is whether or not we love God with all our heart. False prophets were to be dealt with most severely. This may seem harsh, but we need to consider what the consequences would be of following the false prophet. It would lead to sexual immorality and exploitation of people, for that is what the other religions of the time indulged in. What we believe matters. All religions are not the same.

Loving God comes above loving even our closest relations. Jesus said the same when He said we must hate our mother and brother compared to our love for Him. Jesus is to be above all else in our lives.

They were to deal severely with any town in Israel that started to turn away from Him.

Deuteronomy 12:8-32 - Eating

Things would change once they entered the Promised Land, and more would be expected of them. When God leads us into a new phase of life often new expectations are put upon us. Things that did not matter before, matter now. 

The Israelites were to offer sacrifices only at the places appointed by God, not just anywhere they chose. Why not anywhere? Well a key part of worship is humbling ourselves before God. The essence of our rebellion was saying we would decided what was right and what was wrong, instead of trusting in God's judgement. Turning back to God means putting ourselves aside and submitting to His wisdom.

The commands the Lord gave involved a large amount of freedom. In fact most of God's command involve vast amounts of freedom, yet our sinful nature makes us focus on the small restrictions.

There is further warning about not seeking to emulate the nations they are taking over from. To do so would only lead them astray.

Deuteronomy 12:1-7 - One way worship

They had to destroy all places of idol worship. Now some may object to this on quaint grounds of destroying cultural heritage, but we need to remember what the cultural heritage was that they were destroying. It was one that sometimes involved child sacrifice, often involved gross sexual immorality. In short is was not something worth preserving. There is only one true God, and it is only by worshipping Him that we can become what we are meant to be.

"You must not worship the Lord your God in their way". The Israelites were not to adopt the ways of the nations, but were only to worship Him in the way that God instructed. The Lord was leading them to live a different life, so that they would be a light to the nations. So it is with us. We have been called to a new life and to a new way of living, and to be light to the world.

They were to bring offerings to God, but it was also a time when they would "eat and rejoice in everything they had put their hand to". The Lord seeks to fill all of our life with His joy.

Deuteronomy 11:16-32 - The Choice

Their success, fruitfulness and prosperity depended entirely upon them following the ways of the Lord. If they turned to other gods they would find that disaster would follow. The same can happen today. Someone can turn to God and find that He makes big changes in their life. Then they start to forget about God and turn to other things, the benefits they have received will soon start to fade away.

So what are we to do to avoid this? One of the most important things is to feed upon the word of God, and to instruct our families in the word of God. The word of God is to be a normal and pervasive part of daily life. The Israelites were instructed to always have the word before them. The Bible is not just for special times, but for all times.

If they did continue with the Lord then they would experience victory, and their enemies would experience terror.

So the people had a choice: follow the Lord and enjoy a victorious life, or follow other gods and suffer the consequences. The same choice is before us today.

Deuteronomy 11:10-15 - Living under new management

The land they were entering was different from the land they had come from. In Egypt the land had to be irrigated in order to yield its crops. The Promised Land was watered by God. Egypt was a land fed by man, the Promised Land was a land cared for by God and watched over by Him. They needed to appreciate the change. 

We too need to appreciate the change in life before and after salvation. Before we knew Christ it was all up to us, we lived in a cruel world. Now we are still in the same world, but we live under God's care. He is watching over every aspect of our lives, He provides for us. When you know Christ life is different.

So in the old world the most important thing was to play by the world's rules, protecting yourself, being ready to lie and be ruthless if need be. But now if we want to prosper in life we need to follow God's ways. Note again the combination of loving and obeying. The Lord is the One who provides for us, so we need to live by His ways.

Deuteronomy 11:1-9 - Growing through victory

Again they are reminded of the primary importance of loving and obeying the Lord. Loving and obeying go together. This is not an Old Testament concept, it is a Biblical concept, for Jesus said "If you love me you will obey my commands" (John 14:15).

The danger was that descendants would not have experienced the things that God had done in Egypt in setting them free, all the plagues that were unleashed against Egypt, what happened at the Red Sea, and the way God disciplined the Israelites in the wilderness.

So what were they to do about this? Observe all His commands. Then they would experience victory in the land, and they would do this by seeing the Lord's power working in and through their lives. 

There is an important principle at work here. We need to remember what has happened in the past, and to learn from it. But we also need to continue to experience the working of the Lord in our lives. At the outset we experience the Lord's working by His saving us from sin, being rescued from situations. We were helpless and were rescued by Him. Now of course we continue to need help to overcome sin, to be forgiven, but we grow and mature by obeying the Lord and then we experience His power in overcoming situations, in winning victories. The Lord is building us up. We might start off as helpless babes, but we are not to remain that way. As it says several times in the New Testament we are to go on to maturity. 

Jesus told us that we would do the things that He did. We may have been helpless and useless sinners when we were saved, but we are not to remain so. The Holy Spirit works in our lives to make us more and more like Jesus, doing the things that He did, and becoming conquerors in life.

Deuteronomy 10:1-22 - Ten Commandments 2nd ed

Having destroyed the first two tablets, Moses had to make the second ones himself! The commandments were the same, but Moses had to pay a price for his temper. Moses also has to make an ark in order to keep the tablets in them. Perhaps God thought He had better do something to ensure their safety!

So Moses went up the mountain again, and came down with the same commandments, this time safely tucked away in the ark. The Lord had not destroyed the people, and it was still Moses' task to lead them into the Promised Land.

Verses 12 and 13 sum up what the Lord's requirements are. To fear Him, to walk in obedience and to love Him with all that we have. The Lord is to be the complete focus of our being. The commands He gives are for our own good, it is not in our interests to disobey them or ignore them.

The Lord is the Lord of all, the creator of all. Even so, He has set His affections on us. We are to circumcise our hearts. The importance of our hearts being right is not a New Testament concept, but one that is found throughout the Old Testament. It is only through the cross and by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to do this.

The Israelites had seen the reality if God's promise, for they had already become very numerous. They were to love the foreigners in their land. People sometimes complain about how harsh some of the Old Testament is, but it is equally amazing how "progressive" or "enlightened" other parts are. 

Deuteronomy 9:7-29 - Determined to save

The Israelites were to remember the good things the Lord had done for them, they also needed to remember the bad things that they had done, and the consequences of them, particularly the Lord's judgement. 

When Moses had gone up the mountain, he dedicated himself to God. He was fasting and received the tablets of stone from the Lord with the ten commandments on them. 

Meanwhile, the people had become corrupt, having made a golden calf. The Lord was willing to destroy the people, and make a new nation out of Moses. Moses too was angry, so angry that he smashed the stone tablets into pieces. He then fasted and prayed to the Lord for another forty days and nights. It was Moses' intercession that saved the people. They needed to remember this. We too need to remember that it is Jesus' intercession for us that saves us. It is only because of Christ that we do not face judgement.

We see here how determined Moses was that God should save this people. How much more is Jesus determined that God should save us? He has paid a much higher price than Moses paid. Jesus is determined to save us. Now we must not take this for granted, we must not think that this means that we can act and live how we like. Just as Moses pleaded with the Israelites to learn from their sins, so we are to learn from ours. Then we will receive the full benefits of the cross.

Deuteronomy 9:1-6 Overcoming fear

The Lord is taking them into a land occupied by nations that were stronger than the Israelites. The Lord leads us into things that we cannot cope with ourselves. We need to get used to the idea that this is the way He works. Now God does not do this in order to make our life difficult, but because we were always created to live in co-operation with God. So what is possible is not dependent upon our strength and ability, but upon our strength and ability together with God's strength and ability. That should put a whole new complexion on things! This is the life that we are meant to lead, and the one that step-by-step the Holy Spirit is teaching us to lead.

In Numbers 13:26-33 the ten spies had said the enemies were too big for the Israelites to defeat. God is echoing these fears here, but the difference is that He will enable them to overcome. Often the Lord does not take away our fears, but promises to enable us overcome them.

Again this is followed by a warning of handling the victory. They are not to put their victory down to their righteousness. It was the wickedness of the inhabitants which was the reason for God defeating them. In fact God reminds them that they are a "stiff-necked" people. Their primary concern should be to deal with their stubbornness.

Deuteronomy 8:6-20 - Coping with success

The land the Lord is bringing them into was a land of abundance. Now all that we see in the Old Testament is a shadow of what is to come. So what does this say about our life in Christ? Should it be one of unadulterated prosperity as some prosperity teaching would have us believe? The answer is yes and no. There are two reasons for the "no" part. One is that we are receiving the fullness of His blessing, we have not received it all yet. Sin still has effect, both in ourselves, in the lives of others, and in the world in general. The second is that as well as being part of the problem, we are also part of the solution. We are called to share in Christ's sufferings. So there are times that we suffer so that others can be set free. However, we need to have a clear idea of where we are going, and we should expect to receive some blessings in this life. If you try and draw up some legalistic list of what we can expect to receive now, and what will come later you will get nowhere. We are in a relationship with God. 

The key time of danger comes not when threats abound, but when we are enjoying victory. For then the deceitfulness of our hearts will tend to lead us to think that we have achieved this victory by our own means and efforts. The Lord does things in our life to show us that we are utterly dependent upon Him, but we need to learn these lessons. 

Now one answer to the problem is never to have any victories, that way you will never be subject to this temptation! And this is the way that much of the church seems to follow. It is not the way we are meant to follow. We need to learn to live in the victory, to follow the Lord at all times, to know that all the good things we have come from Him.

Deuteronomy 8:1-5 - Learning from the Lord

Before entering the people would see the most important thing as being driving out the other people, but what was really important was the condition of their hearts. It is the condition of our hearts that determines whether or not we will receive all that God has for us. 

The people wandered in the desert because of the condition of their hearts, and the purpose of the wanderings was to test their hearts and to humble them. God caused them to hunger, then provided for them from a completely supernatural source, the manna from heaven. This was to show them that "man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God". The word of God is not just "spiritual", it has a concrete real effect in life. The word of God is the most solid thing that there is, the most reliable thing that there is. So we should live our lives according to His word.

Even though the wanderings were a result of their rebellion, the Lord provided for them in all sorts of ways. As well as the food, their clothes did not wear out, nor their feet swell up. So it was tough, but not so it would destroy them, but instead it would teach them. So we are to know that the Lord disciplines us as sons (Hebrews 12:4-18). Sometimes this will seem very difficult, but it is not done to destroy us, but to build us up.

Deuteronomy 7:1-26 - Conquering the land

They were to totally drive out the nations from the land. Now "totally destroying" them may include an element of hyperbole, but we need to look at the reason for the command. These nations and religions they followed were brutal and their religions involved all kinds of immorality, with prostitution playing a big role in many of their rituals. This is why the Israelites were not to have anything to do with them, and to make no compromise with them. For if they did, the influence of these peoples would be to corrupt the Israelites. Israel was to establish itself as a nation living under God's laws, and so become a beacon of light to all other nations. Similarly the church is to demonstrate a new way of  living to the world. The emphasis is on destroying the religion of the peoples they were displacing.

Then Moses reminds the people that the Lord did not chose them because they were more numerous than other nations, but because He loved them and had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Our very existence rests on the fact that God loves us.

So the Lord is the one we should fear. If Israel obeyed the Lord, then she would be secure and prosper. If she did not, then she would not be secure and would suffer disaster. It was as simple as that. For us, we should look to the Lord in all circumstances, for He alone is the source of our salvation.

When looking at the circumstances it may seem impossible. God addresses this issue in the latter part of this chapter. First, they are to remember what God has already done. Then there is the promise of continual help and support. He will continue to deliver them. 

At the same time there is the warning that He will not do this all at once, but little by little. In our own lives we should always look to the Lord. Step by step He will give us victory over situations.

Again, there are stark warnings against having anything to do with the religions of their enemies.

Deuteronomy 6:20-25 - Remember and do

The Israelites were to remember what had happened, where they had come from. None of us exist in a vacuum, the families we are in, the society and nation that we live in have a history and it matters because it affects who we are. 

Notice that in answer to the question "What is the meaning ...", Moses starts by saying where they had come from. The Lord rescuing them from Egypt was the fundamental event in the history of Israel. Jesus told us to take the Lord's Supper in remembrance of Him, declaring his death on the cross. It is the cross that set us free. 

Just as the Lord did wonders in setting the Israelites free from Egypt, He did wonders when He raised Christ from the dead. 

Then we get the reason for the commands, so that they would prosper and enjoy long life. Jesus told us how to live. The Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the paramount example of this, but He did so in many other teachings and parables. We need to pay attention to these if we want to enjoy kingdom life. As Jesus said in the parable of building on the rock, we have a strong foundation only if we do the things He said.

Deuteronomy 6:13-19 - No other gods

The Lord is to be the only one we serve. At the time the nations around Israel had many other gods, and these would be visible in temples and the like. They had to be careful not to follow these gods. Today there are not many "visible gods", though there are other religions. We must not follow other religions. This does not mean we treat people who follow these religions as enemies. As Paul says, our battle is not against flesh and blood. The people who follow Islam or Buddha or whatever are valuable human beings, made in God's image, who Jesus died for. 

While our society may not have visible gods, there are many ways of our secular society that we need to beware of. We are to take the Word of God as the lamp to our feet, showing us the way to go.

The Lord is a jealous God. We must worship only Him, and no other. Now atheists paint this as a negative, sometimes as a sign of God's pettiness (given that atheists say God doesn't exist, they do spend an awful lot of time worrying about His attributes!). This is not so. Why is God jealous and why is it right that He is so? There are many reasons for this, and here are just a few. First we are in a covenant relationship with Him, not a casual relationship. When a man and woman get married they are committed to each other, they must forsake all others. We are in a committed relationship with God, so must do nothing to threaten that relationship. Secondly it is for our good. God is the only One who gives life, He is the only one who saves us. If we turn to any other god or thing then we are doing ourselves harm. It is like a doctor seeing a patient turn to some quack cure, when they know that the medicine they are prescribing is working. The doctor would be angry because of the harm he or she saw the patient doing to themselves. 

Instead, they are to follow the ways of the Lord, and so they would thrust out the enemies from the land. Trusting only in God is for our good.

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 - When

"When the Lord ..." There are a number of points to note in the first few verses. First is the certainty of God's promise, it is "when", not "if". Secondly, as already mentioned in previous posts, God bringing them in did not mean they were passive. They did not board a coach in order to be driven in. They entered as soldiers not tourists. If we are to receive the things that God has promised us we need to enter the land, we need to do the things that God has told us to do. 

You see we are the height of God's creation, we were made to be successful and effective. Sin changed all this, it made us unfruitful, ineffective, and insecure. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to overcome that insecurity. Our faith is active not passive.

Thirdly, the Lord gives them things that they did not work for. We live in a kingdom of abundance. Now I am not talking about any cheap prosperity, but we live in a different kingdom. We are to work for things, there are battles to fight, but God will also give us many things that we have not fought or worked for as well. 

Deuteronomy 6:1-9 - Know the Lord

Once again Moses tells them that the purpose of these laws is that they might enjoy long life, that it might go well with them, and that they will multiply. "As God has promised". When God makes a promise it usually does not mean that we just sit back and wait for it to happen. More often it means that we have something to do, and the promise is that we will be successful in it. God is not in the business of creating a bunch of passive beings, but people "in His own image". We are meant to do stuff.

Moses also tells them to fear the Lord, we too need to fear the Lord. Fearing the Lord means knowing who has the final say in whether we live or die, whether we succeed or fail, how our life will go. We need to know that it is the Lord who has the final word. It is certainly not ourselves, but neither is it the circumstances that face us, or the enemies and opposition that we encounter. We need to discover the joy of fearing the Lord!

The Lord is One. There is only one God, and we need to love Him with everything we have. Notice that Moses then tells them that the commandments are to be on their hearts. It has always been God's intention that His ways are imprinted on our hearts. Remember also that when the Bible speaks of our heart, it usually means both mind and heart in terms of our usage of the word. We are to dwell on the Word of God, meditate on it, study it, ponder it, let it soak into the depths of our being.

Deuteronomy 5:1-33 - The ways of the Lord are good.

The ten commandments are given for a second time. The first is recorded in Exodus 20:1-21 where God spoke from the mountain. Here Moses repeats the commandments. The wording is very similar to that of the original giving of the commandments, so I will not comment further on them here. You can find my comments on the Exodus passage here. 

Moses emphasises that God did not add to these commands, meaning that they are exactly as given by the Lord.

At the time the people were afraid to go near God, so they sent Moses to listen to God. At the time their hearts were inclined towards God, and God laments that this is not always the case. If it was, then it would always go well with them. The whole of human problems arise from our failure to faithfully follow the ways of the Lord.

The commands were given so that the people could live in prosperity. God commands are good, His intentions and plans for all of mankind are good. If we would only follow His ways we would find this to be true.

Deuteronomy 4:32-49 - The Lord is God

Our God is unique, and He does things that no-one else does. Moses calls on the Israelites to consider what God has done, and what they have seen Him do. At no point since He created humans as anything so great happen as when God spoke to the Israelites out of the fire. We should consider the times that God has spoken to us. It is amazing that the Lord of all the universe speaks to each one of us personally. We should appreciate the great privilege that this is.

Then there is the rescue from Egypt, extracting one nation out of another. In Christ an even greater exodus took place. We have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

We need to know that the Lord is unique, that there is no one like Him.

God brought them out for a purpose, to take possession of the land. Likewise He has saved us for a purpose. He did this by His presence and His power. We need to rejoice in both the presence and the power of God. He is Lord of All, of heavens above and the earth below. There is nowhere and no situation that is beyond Him. So we should obey the Lord in all situations and at all times.

Moses then designated the three cities of refuge for the transjordan tribes.

Moses is now about to give them the Law. Note that this comes after he has reminded them of what the Lord has done and who He is. 

Deuteronomy 4:15-31 - No idols

Now they are given a very serious command, they must not worship idols. At the end of his first letter John tells his readers to keep their lives free from idols. We are constantly trying to make an image of God. This is absolutely wrong. God reminds them here that they never saw any form of Him. 

Why is this so serious? It is because we are the image of God, we were created in His image (Genesis 1:26). When God came to earth He came as a man in the form of Jesus Christ. If we make an image we start worshipping the image. In Moses' day we see this in the stone and metal images that people bowed down to. We see it today when churches make an idol out of a system. They may start off with very good intentions, but we always end up serving the system instead of serving God.

We are also warned to worship the stars. Now we might think all this is just for simple pagan folk and we are too sophisticated for this now, but I am not so sure. Recently the BBC showed a series called the Wonders of the Universe by Professor Brian Cox. The series was very good and interesting scientifically, but through it there seemed to be a thread of pantheism. 

Part of the reason for God refusing to let Moses in was to demonstrate the importance of obedience to Him alone. So Moses knows that his command not to make idols is of paramount importance.

Moses seems to know that the people will indeed turn to idols, but he also knows that even if they do, if they repent and turn back to God then the Lord will graciously welcome them back. No matter how far someone has wandered from the Lord, there is always hope if they will repent and turn to Him.

Note that the Bible is clear that idols are worthless and useless. As it says in verse 28, they cannot see or smell. People sometimes think that the Bible is naive, and faith is for naive and simple people. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is only those who know the Lord who are truly wise.

Deuteronomy 4:1-14 - Know the Lord

It was essential for Israel to know and follow the laws of the Lord if they were to take the land and enjoy possession of it. The same applies to us today, we need to know and follow the ways of the Lord. True religion is not about luck charms or anything like that. It is about knowing and following the Lord. Then our own lives will be transformed, and we will be people who transform the lives of others.
They must not add or subtract from it. In the New Testament the church, and Paul in particular, battled against those who sought to add circumcision to what was needed for salvation. Jesus Christ is all that we need.
The people had seen the Lord work amongst them, and they needed to learn from it. We too need to learn from what we see the Lord do, not just to observe it as spectators.
The church is always worrying about being "culturally relevant". It is when we are true to the ways of the Lord that the world will recognise our wisdom and understanding. We need to know the gospel, and to be proud of it.
The Lord is near. The closeness of God is one of the things that marks out Christianity as different from other religions such as Islam. God is near whenever we pray. If we do these things we will be truly blessed.
We need to take care to remember the things that God shows us. It is very easy to forget. We need to continually feed our souls on spiritual food. This means studying the word daily, praying, praising and obeying.

Deuteronomy 3:21-29 - Human

One of the features of the Bible is that the people, especially the "heroes", are very human. After the stiking the rock incident (Numbers 20:1-13) God had told Moses that he would never enter the Promised Land, but would only see it from afar. 

Here we see that Moses acted in obedience since that day, continuing to faithfully lead the Israelites, and preparing Joshua to lead them into the land. Yet Moses still longed to be able to go into the land himself. So he pleaded with God to be allowed to actually go in and see the land. The Lord refused, but let Moses see the land from top of a mountain, and focus on preparing Joshua.

So we see several things here about prayer. First, Moses was bold enough to ask God to be allowed to see the land. God is perfectly capable of dealing with our personalities, our desires, fears and hang-ups. Second, Prayer is not a slot machine, it is a relationship. We can easily fall into one of two traps in prayer. One is to be so vague that we never really ask for anything, or don't really expect God to actually do anything. The other is to focus only on being "specific in prayer". Now there are times to be specific, indeed Moses was specific here, and times when getting a positive answer should be our expectation. At other times it is about God dealing with our hearts and minds.

So the two battles that they had won served as a lesson for Joshua, showing him that God could indeed enable them to defeat their enemies. Moses won these battles so that Joshua could learn from them and win even greater battles in the future. Sometimes we win battles for the benefit of others.

Deuteronomy 3:1-20 - Conquest begins

Another enemy, king Og of Bashan, came out to meet them in battle. The Lord instructed them to be afraid. "Fear not" is one of the most common instructions in the Bible, Jesus said it on several occasions in His resurrection appearances. Often people go through life hoping that nothing will go wrong, and thinking that faith means believing that nothing will go wrong, or difficulties will not be encountered. This is not the case. True faith is knowing that whatever obstacles we encounter, God will enable us to overcome them, or will overcome them for us. 

So Israel did battle with Bashan and beat them. The Israelites plundered the goods of Bashan. Some of the cities were heavily fortified, but they still took these cities. There can be problems that we face that look impregnable, but God can enable us to overcome anything. The key is to fight the right battles at the right time in the right way.

The land they had taken was then allocated to the tribes that had elected not to take land from across the Jordan. However, Moses reminds them that they must still cross the Jordan to join the conquest with the rest of Israel.

Deuteronomy 2:24-37 - Choose Your Battles

Having been told of several nations they were not allowed to do battle with, they are now given a battle to fight. We need discernment in learning what God does and does not want us to do, and the battles He does and does not want us to fight. Two equally wrong approaches are (i) to avoid all conflict; and (ii) to fight everyone and anyone. If we look at Jesus there were several occasions when He avoided conflict, but at others He almost sought it out deliberately.

If we fight battles that God has not chosen we will struggle at best, and probably lose. If we fight the battles that God has chosen we will find that He has prepared the ground. here He says that He will put terror into the the hearts of the enemy. When God tells us to do something it is usually the case that He is either going to do something as well, or has already done something.

Now Moses at first seeks peace with Sihon. He gives him the chance to let the Israelites pass. So even if God has chosen the battle, we do not just go blundering in. 

Sihon refused to see reason and so battle was enjoined. The Lord gave Sihon into their hands. We also see one of several cases indicating complete destruction and killing of the enemy. There are many cases where later reading of Scripture shows that not everyone was literally destroyed, and it may well be that this is just a colloquial term, not indicating literal killing of everyone. This form of statement was common in literature of the time.

Deuteronomy 2:1-23 - Wanderings

We now have an account of the wanderings in the desert. The Israelites did not have the right to just any land, but only the land that God was giving them. In life we will only succeed at the things that God gives us to do, we will not succeed at other things. Now Esau was not favourably disposed to Israel, and did not have a part in her inheritance. Even so, Israel must not mistreat the people of Edom. In fact, they had to pay them properly for the things that they ate and drank. 

During the wanderings the Lord provided for Israel. They needed to learn from this. The fact that the Lord provides for us should affect the way we live. We do not need to, and must not, go beyond what He has commanded. So, just as they had not to take the land of the Edomites, they were not to take the land of the Moabites.

All the fighting men who had refused to go into the Promised Land were now dead. Sometimes the Lord leads us on a journey in order to get rid of wrong attitudes and unbelief in our lives.

Deuteronomy 1 - Setting the scene

The first few verses set the scene. It is forty years since they left Egypt. Moses had led them to defeat some enemies, and now proclaims the Law to them again. It is time to take the land. This is land that the Lord had promised to there forefathers. This happened many hundreds of years ago. God has a very different concept of time than we have, and His promises will always come to pass.

The people had to take steps to take the land. When God gives us something we have to do something as well. In fact it is perhaps better to understand that when God says He will give us something, what it usually means is that God will enable is to take something or do something. God did not make us to be passive people, but to be active. 

Earlier Moses had looked for help with leadership. Too often we are too proud to ask for help when we need it. We would be wise to be more like Moses. The appointed leaders were to institute the teachings of Moses. 

Then they had sent spies into the land, and they came back with a report. They reported that the land was good, but that the it was already occupied. They did not believe they could take the land, so they wandered in the desert for many years.

We get an expanded telling of what was recorded earlier in Numbers. Moses had told them that God would enable them to defeat their enemies, and that He would carry them as a Father cares for his son. The people refused to listen to Moses. God also told Moses to encourage Joshua, for he had faith and would one day lead the people in.

In Numbers we saw how the book was a tale of disaster, here we will see a tale of preparation for success.

So we see that having faith often means believing that God will be with us and will grant us success. Faith is not a case of mind over matter, but of acting in obedience and seeing the glory of the Lord follow.

Deuteronomy - Introduction

Deuteronomy gets its name from the Greek for "second law", and has such a name because it is the second giving of the Law. God had first given the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, it was now forty years later, so the Law was given again, as it was to form the foundation for their lives in Sinai.

Many scholars question the authorship of Moses, but such questioning seems silly. The book quite clearly claims to be written by Moses. Moreover when it speaks of Egypt it speaks in the past tense, but uses the future when speaking of the Promised Land. The nations mentioned are those existent at the time of entry into the Promised Land.

The structure of the book has the nature of a treat, establishing the relationship between God and His people. But it was a treaty based on love, it speaks of circumcision of the heart, and of a father-son relationship between God and His people. So it sets the scene for all that was to come, and it is often quoted in the New Testament.

2 Corinthians 13:1-14 - Remember who you have to answer to

Paul is now very firm with the Corinthians. They must deal with the sin matters in the church. They have had plenty of warnings, now is the time for action, or they must take the consequences. This is the same pattern we find in the Old Testament. God gave Israel many warnings, if she failed to heed these warnings then she would take the consequences.

The cross and resurrection is used as an analogy. Christ died in weakness, but was raised in power. We need to grasp both of these, the weakness and the power. The power that is in Christ would also operate through Paul.

Paul calls on the Corinthians to examine themselves, and to put right anything that needs putting right. Men get involved in all sorts of arguments, but in the end we all have to answer to Christ, and He knows everything and judges perfectly. In the end the key is not whether you can convince men, but whether you can convince God.

Remember who you have you answer to.

Paul closes by urging them to strive for the good things, restoration, peace, and encouragement.  He has left them with a severe message, but if they pay heed to it they will flourish.

2 Corinthians 12:11-21 - No super-apostles

The only reason that Paul indulged in all this "boasting" was because the Corinthians forced him to. They had failed to use proper Christian discernment and were insisting on being impressed by the worldly boasting of the "super apostles". They should have had more sense and effectively told the "super-apostles" where to get off. 

So we have a duty to use Godly discernment. We need to be wise in what we give attention to. If we come under attack as Paul did, we need to use the same wisdom he used. First we need to be patient, then if we are forced to respond, we need to get the attention on to the things that really matter. 

The "super apostles" may also have told them that Paul did not value them as much as other churches. This, along with everything else they said, was complete nonsense. Paul had spent a year and a half with them, and in that time had performed many signs and wonders. The only thing he had not done was take money off them!

Paul would visit them shortly, and he would continue to refuse to be a burden to them in any way. Paul wanted them, not their money. He wanted to be able to present them to Christ as pure and spotless.

Then Paul closes this section by expressing his fears. He worries that wrong attitudes may be abounding in the church. If we start listening to the wrong voices our lives will start going astray. We need to be careful who we listen to.