Deuteronomy 13:3,4 - Do not listen to the words of that prophet

13:3

If the person is leading people away to worship false gods, then they must be ignored. The accuracy or otherwise of their prophecies is neither here nor there. Worshipping God, and having no other gods is the primary point. Also, the greatest commandment is to worship the Lord with all that we have. As it says here, “The Lord your God is testing you”. So we see that even the false prophet is acting within the sovereignty of God. Now why is “God testing you”? Surely He knows whether or not our faith is genuine? Various reasons can be given. One is that it is for our own benefit. It enables us to know where we truly stand, it also lets others know where we stand. Also, coming through the test can strengthen us.

13:4

“It is the Lord your God you must follow”. God must be above all. So how do we do this practically? We are to keep His commands and obey Him. We should also note that Jesus considered obedience to be of paramount importance, and the true sign of whether or not we love Him. We are to serve Him, so we live our lives to do His will. We are to hold fast to Him. So when faced with extreme pressure we look to God, not to idols, for help.

Hebrews 3:14-16 - We have come to share in Christ

3:14

“We have come to share in Christ”. Christ is the focus of everything. He is the means by which all of God’s plans for mankind are fulfilled. Everything God does is focused on Christ. So we too should be utterly focused on Christ. We may be full of confidence when we first believe, but if we are not careful that initial zeal can wane. So we need to continue to delight in Christ.

3:15

The writer now turns back to the warning, quoting 95:7,8. The readers had heard the voice of the God, they had heard the gospel. It was vital that they believed the gospel and sought to understand it fully, and to live accordingly. They must not harden their hearts. It is a sobering thought that it is possible for us to harden our hearts! 

3:16

We now get the warning that is very similar to that given by Paul in 1 Cor 10:1-13. The Israelites who left Egypt almost all died in the desert. They had experienced release from slavery, they had seen the acts of God, yet they did not believe. Seeing is not believing! They saw and they rebelled against God. We must not do the same.

Deuteronomy 13:1,2 - Let us follow other gods

13:1

In the previous chapter they have been warned against worshipping the gods of other nations, now we get warnings against dangers from within. Woods points out that there is a progression in the chapter from the individual false prophet, to the family, then to a whole town leading people astray. Now we must first note that prophecy throughout the Bible is seen as good, both in the Old and the New Testament. We should also note that not all prophecy is canonical (scriptural). Obviously the prophets like Isaiah, Daniel etc are scripture, but there is much prophecy that we are told about, but not told what was said. One of the prime arguments against prophecy today seems to centre around the assumption that all prophecy is in some sense “canonical”, therefore there cannot be prophecy today, or something along these lines. Now all sensible “charismatics” (I am using the term very broadly to include all who allow for prophecy today, and some may not accept the label) treat prophecy today as subject to Scripture. Of course, there are a fair selection of loony charismatics, but let’s leave them aside. The key message here, as in the New Testament (1 Thes 5:21) is that we are to test everything. This is the mature and Biblical approach to take to prophecy.

13:2

Elsewhere in the Pentacheuch, one of the tests of a prophet is whether or not his or her word comes true! Here we have a deeper test. Here the thing prophesied takes place, i.e. the word proves to be “accurate”. However, the prophet also says “Let us follow other gods”. So the primary test is whether or not the person is leading you to worship God or not. In today’s terms, is it honouring Christ or not.

Hebrews 3:12,13 - Exhort one another every day

3:12

The problem with the Israelites was that they had a sinful and unbelieving heart, and such a heart turns away from God. Trusting God is the only way to have a relationship with Him. Now the same warning applies to us. If we develop an unbelieving heart then we cannot enter His rest. So why the emphasis on rest? When man sinned life suddenly became hard work, this was the judgement upon man’s sin (Gen 3:17-19). Life was not meant to be hard work, and the only way back is through faith.

3:13

Later on in the letter, the writer will warn his readers not to give up meeting together (Heb 10:25). We get one of the reasons why meeting together is so important. One of the main antidotes to the risk of falling away is to encourage and exhort one another. If we isolate ourselves then we get absorbed in our own thoughts and our own thinking can become very distorted. We need the thoughts and inputs of others to keep our thinking straight. If we isolate ourselves then we are far more prone to our hearts being hardened by the “deceitfulness of sin”. “Today” is the day to trust and obey God.

Deuteronomy 12:29-32 - Do not be ensnared to follow them

12:29-31

This section kind of recaps all that has been said, and focuses on the warning. The Lord would give the land to them, cutting off the nations currently inhabiting the place. This was when the danger point would arrive. For then they had to be careful not to be captivated by the gods of the peoples they had displaced. We have an example here of curiosity killing the cat. We have a natural curiosity, and this could have led to the people wanting to know about the gods of the displaced people. It was paramount that Israel did not get involved in any of their practices.  We then get the reason for this, and it is not an arbitrary ruling on God’s part. “They do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates”. And this included sacrificing their children. These pagan religions were not “quaint practices”!

12:32

The chapter finishes with yet another reminder to do all that the Lord commanded, together with a warning not to add or subtract from what God has said. There are dangers in either direction. There are obvious dangers in subtracting from God’s laws, then doing things which are forbidden. There are also dangers in adding to it, for this can then impose unnecessary burdens on people. The rabbis had done this with the Sabbath, and it is a practice that all humans are prone to.

Hebrews 3:10,11 - They shall not enter my rest

3:10

So God was angry with that generation. For “their hearts were always going astray” and “they have not known my ways”. They did not understand the ways of the Lord. In 1 Cor 10:1-13 Paul cites the wilderness experience as a warning to us, and the writer of Hebrews will use this in the same way. Things are different now because of the cross, resurrection and the Holy Spirit, but there are also things that are the same, and it is vital that we believe in the Lord and act upon it.

3:11

“They shall never enter my rest”. When we talk about the Sabbath we tend to think immediately about what we can and cannot do on a Sunday. This is the wrong way to look at it, and Jesus’ attitude to the Sabbath demonstrated this. In Genesis we read that on the seventh day God rested from His creative work. It is a matter of entering God’s rest. This is a peace that comes from being secure in the Lord, knowing that He provides all we need, that we are dependent upon Him. But if a people are not willing to trust the Lord then they cannot enter His rest. Trust in God is the only way in.

Deuteronomy 12:20-28 - Be careful to obey all these words

12:20,21

The Lord provides richly. “When ... you crave meat and say ‘I would like some meat,’ then you may eat as much as you want”. This should make us think carefully about overly austere approaches to life. Now, this is not promoting gluttony and greed, but we do need to be careful in how we think. Also the context here is about the practicalities of dealing with the new fact that the land was quite large. One could not always easily go to the one place of worship. So allowance was made for this fact. God dealt with the practicalities and realities of life.

12:22-25

Neither were there restrictions on meat eating for the ceremonially clean and unclean. Again there is the restriction that they must not eat the blood. Indeed, the not eating of the blood is specifically linked to things going well or badly with them. On this point, it can help us to appreciate the shock that the disciples must have felt when Jesus told them to drink His blood at the Last Supper.

12:26-28

While meat eating was allowed anywhere, this did not mean that anything was allowed everywhere. The consecrated things and the vows were to be dealt with at the place of the Lord’s choosing. Burnt offerings and sacrifices were to be made at the Lord’s altar. Yet again, the promise that obedience of these commands would result in things going well for them.

Hebrews 3:8,9 - Do not harden your hearts

3:8

The time in the wilderness is viewed as a time of rebellion, and of testing. The people rebelled generally by complaining at every opportunity, and most specifically when they refused to go into the Promised Land. Trusting the Lord has to be our default position. Whatever the circumstances that we face, we can trust the Lord, and we must trust the Lord. This goes against our fallen nature, and we need the help of the Holy Spirit in order to do this.

3:9

The people had no excuse. For they had seen what the Lord had done. They had seen how He got them out of Egypt in the first instance. Then they had seen how he made a way for them at the Red Sea, and drowned the Egyptian army. After then there were several occasions where they had seen the miraculous provision of the Lord in terms of water and food. Seeing is not believing! We need a change of heart, we need to be born again.

Deuteronomy 12:15-19 - You shall not eat the blood

12:15,16

The land they were entering was a lot larger than the area they would have occupied at any one time in the desert. Therefore, allowance was made for this. So they were allowed to slaughter animals in any of the towns, and this meat was to be treated as a blessing from the Lord. Moreover, for this situation the question of clean and unclean did not apply to the people. One restriction that did remain was that they were not to eat the blood. More will be said about this later.

12:17-19

However, the tithe of corn, new wine, and olive oil, or the first born of the flocks, or other offerings were not to be eaten in the towns, but only at the Lord’s chosen place. These were to be eaten in the presence of the Lord, with again reference to the whole family, servants and Levites.”You are to rejoice before the Lord in everything you put your hand to”, this is paralleled in Col 3:17 and 3:23. There is a reminder to make sure that they do not neglect the Levites. In the same way we should remember those who work “full-time” for the Lord.

Hebrews 3:6,7 - We are His house

3:6

Christ is also faithful, but He is faithful as a Son over the house, “and we are His house”. Jesus is God, He is Lord over all. Unless we understand Jesus aright then we will understand nothing. Seeing Jesus as a “good man”, as a “great teacher”, even as a “prophet” is not enough. He is all of these things, but He is also much more. So we must “hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory”. How do we “glory” in our hope? Glory has the aspects of splendour and significance (or weight). We see all the splendour in Jesus and what He has done and is doing, and we know that everything rests on Him. Our salvation is dependent upon Him alone, and the future of the world is determined by Him.

3:7

The writer now quotes from Psalm 95:7-11. The Psalm refers back to two main rebellion points in the journey after the Red Sea. One is Ex 17:1-7 when the Israelites complained at the Meribah that there was no water, and this is probably the primary reference. There may also be a reference to the failure to enter the Promised Land at the first time of asking (Num 13). Note the “As the Holy Spirit says”. It is assumed that God was speaking through the Psalms.

Deuteronomy 12:11-14 - You shall rejoice before the Lord

12:11

In the desert they had the tabernacle. In the Promised Land the Lord would choose a place as His dwelling. Note that God chooses how He is to be worshipped. It is up to God, not up to us!  It would be to this place that the people were to bring their tithes and offerings. As well as meaning that they brought them to the place that God had chosen, this was also to stop them taking them to places of idol worship. 

12:12-14

Another verse stressing that worship was to be a joyous time. This included the whole family, and the servants. It also included the Levites, whom we are again reminded had no land allotted to them. They are reminded again not to sacrifice the burnt offerings anywhere else. They may have been tempted to think, “it is still an offering to the Lord, so if we offer it here (where here is not at the Lord’s chosen place) it will still be good”. They were only to make offerings at the Lord’s chosen place. 

Hebrews 3:4,5 - The builder of all things is God

3:4

“For every house is built  by someone, but God is the builder of everything”. The Jews, along with all humanity, had a habit of focusing on the created rather than the creator. Without God there is nothing at all. So why do we have this habit of worshipping the created? It is because when God does stuff, He almost always involves us in doing it. So we see ourselves as active in the process, as indeed we are, and that is the way God planned it, and the way He wanted it to be. So we rightly see ourselves as involved in the process, but easily forget that we are only part of the process, that we are part of what God is doing. As it says in Ps 127, unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers labour in vain. We must labour, but without God we can do nothing (Jn 15:5).

3:5

“Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s house”. Again, the writer makes it clear that he is not denigrating Moses in any way. But it was vital that they rightly understood Moses’ role. He was a servant. Moses also understood that someone greater was coming in the future (Deut 18:15). Moses understood his place in the grand scheme of things, it was the non-believing Jews who did not understand.

Deuteronomy 12:8-10 - You shall not do what is right in your eyes

12:8,9

The situation on the Promised Land would be different from the situation they were presently in. “Everyone doing as they pleased”. It is difficult to accurately interpret this. Elsewhere “everyone doing as they pleased” would imply complete mayhem, and general disobedience, but there were rules, but perhaps they were not as formal as they would be in the Promised Land.

12:10

Things were going to change. They would settle in the land, and it was a land that the Lord was giving to them, and giving it as an inheritance. They would be given rest from their enemies, and they would dwell in safety. While the people could never live up to God’s requirements, the Law does describe what things are meant to be like. And it means that the ultimate destination of God’s plans for us is a place of peace and safety. Also we do receive a foretaste of eternal life now, so there will be times of peace and safety, but they will be temporary, until the Lord returns.

Hebrews 3:2,3 - Who was faithful

3:2

The writer was not denigrating Moses. Moses was “faithful in all God’s house”. Likewise, Jesus was “faithful to the one who appointed Him”. Jesus was appointed by the Father. It was God’s idea that Jesus should be the Messiah, it was not man’s idea. 

3:3

So both Jesus and Moses were faithful to the task assigned to them, though of course Moses did have many faults, and was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because of his main failing. But Jesus is “worthy of greater honour”. Why? Because the builder of the house has greater honour than the house itself. A great house would not be there at all if it were not for the builder. As will shortly become apparent, Moses was part of the house, just as you and I are part of the house. Jesus builds the house.

Deuteronomy 12:3-7 - Tear down their altars

12:3

Some specific elements of idol worship are mentioned: altars, sacred stones and Asherah poles. These were to be broken down and all remnants of the names of idols obliterated. Moses had shown them how to go about this when he dealt with the golden calf.

12:4-6

“You must not worship the Lord your God in their way”. There is a temptation to try and worship God in the way that we used to follow, or on encountering something different to want to “try out” this new way. God decides how He is to be worshipped. The Lord would show them where they were to worship Him, and that was where He was to be worshipped. 

12:7

We can read this verse as a command, which in one sense it is, but we tend to think of “commands” as something we have to do even though we don’t really want to. This was meant to be a joyous time. The family was celebrating the goodness of the Lord, goodness which they had experienced. Perhaps it is a bit like the Sabbath. The Pharisees had turned it into something of an ordeal, whereas Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was meant to be a blessing.

Hebrews 3:1 - You who share in a heavenly calling

3:1

“Therefore, holy brothers ...” What the writer is about to say follows on from all that he has just said, in particular about Jesus having been made the perfect high priest through suffering. The believers had a heavenly calling, as indeed do all believers, including you and me. We are called to look to God, our citizenship is heaven (Phil 3:20). The Jewish background which the readers either had directly (as a result of being Jewish believers), or were deeply aware of (having been Gentile adherents to Judaism in some form or other) meant they were aware of having a greater calling. Under Judaism Moses was the key figure, everything went back to the exodus, and to the Law. Now we are called to “fix our thoughts on Jesus”. He is our apostle and high priest. “Apostle” means sent one, and Jesus was sent by God. John’s gospel majors on this theme. Moses was indeed sent by God, but now one greater than Moses has been sent by the same God. He is also our high priest. This latter feature has been alluded to at the end of chapter 2, and will be explored in much greater depth in this letter.

Deuteronomy 12:1,2 - Be careful to obey

12:1

Now we get clear instructions that there is to be one place of worship, but the chapter starts with yet another reminder that they must be careful to follow the laws and decrees of the Lord. This was a command for all time, “as long as you live in the land”. It was not just a command to get them started, i.e. not just for entering and possessing the land.

12:2

It was vital that they completely destroyed all vestiges of idol worship, the idols themselves and the places of worship. As we know from the rest of the Old Testament, this they failed to do, with even good kings failing to remove the “high places”. There was a peculiar reluctance to completely clear the place of all aspects of idol worship. We need to watch ourselves, for we can expect the same reluctance to completely clear our lives of sin and idols to be there.

Hebrews 2:17,18 - He is able to those who are being tempted

2:17

Jesus came to save men, so He had to become like us. The Son of God being fully human is the only way that things could work. Notice that it says “made like His brothers”. There is a close relationship between our Saviour and us. God saving us is not a dispassionate act, but an act of love towards us. The thought then moves on to the priesthood of Jesus. If Jesus was to be a “faithful high priest in the service of God”, then He had to be made human. Notice that it is in the service of God. Jesus is our high priest and He acts on our behalf, but He does this in the service of God, i.e. to fulfil the plans and purposes of God. The Levitical priests made countless sacrifices, Jesus was the one true sacrifice, something else that will become a major theme of Hebrews. He makes “propitiation” for the sins of the people. He turns away God’s wrath. We are by nature objects of wrath (Eph 2:3), and something needed to be done about this, and this was achieved through the blood of Jesus.

2:18

The thought then moves to the practical day to day help that Jesus can give. Jesus was tempted, and suffered because of it. He also overcame temptation, refusing to give in. Therefore He is able to help us when we are tempted. He is able to do this for two reasons, (i) He was tempted like us; (ii) He did not give in to temptation. Both aspects are absolutely essential.

Deuteronomy 11:27-32 - Be careful to do all the statutes

11:27,28

So the independent man has a choice. If he obeys the Lord’s commands then he will be blessed, all will go well with him. If he disobeys the Lord’s commands then he will be cursed. I have given this definition before, but now is a good time to do so again. A good working definition of “curse” is “God’s judgement on man’s sin”. This definition fits well here, and also with Jesus becoming a curse for us (Gal 3:13), He took upon Himself the judgement that should have been ours. It is interesting that it says here “following other gods, which you have not known”. The people had no reason whatsoever to follow the various idols they bowed down to, and every reason to follow God, yet they chose the idols.

11:29-32

On entering the Promised Land the people were to proclaim these blessings and curses on Mount Gerizim and Ebal, respectively. The trees of Morah were associated with Abraham (Gen 12:6). It is made as clear as it possibly could be that the future well-being of the people was completely dependent upon whether or not they obeyed the Lord. It was that simple, and that difficult.

Hebrews 2:15,16 - It is not angels that He helps

2:15

The Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt. The fear of death holds mankind in slavery. The common human reaction to death is to ignore it, to try not to think about it, but at some point the reality of death stares us in the face and there is no more ignoring it. 

2:16

The writer again brings up the superiority of Jesus to angels and its relevance to us. The Son of God did not come in order to help angels. Rather, He came to help the descendants of Abraham. God had made the promises to Abraham, and that included all people’s of the nations (Gen 12:2,3). In these terms at least, mankind is more important than angels. So to worship angels is foolishness, it does not fit with the reality of how things are in God’s economy.

Deuteronomy 11:25,26 - No one will be able to stand against you

11:25

There would be opposition, but none of the opposition would be able to stand against Israel. But all this was dependent upon them trusting in God alone. For the Lord would put “terror and fear” of them into the land and into the opposing people. Today the church is all too ready to seek to compromise with the world. This is a foolish approach to take. And never ends well. 

11:26

“See I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.” The choice before them is made explicit here. Now we know that Israel failed miserably, and this came as no surprise to God. So what is going on? The fundamental point is that man needs God, and at the heart of our rebellion is that we think we can manage just fine without God. We also think that we are fundamentally good, and that given the right circumstances and guidance we will be OK. Israel demonstrates that this is simply not true. God gave them all the guidance they needed, yet they were unable to keep to God’s ways.

Hebrews 2:13,14 - I will put my trust in Him

2:13

The two quotes here come from Is 8:17 and 8:18, where Isaiah declares that he will put his trust in God, and the outcome is the children that God has given to him. So Jesus put His trust in the Father, enduring all the pain of the cross. The writer is trying to get his readers to look at things through God’s eyes. If we seek to understand salvation through human eyes we will not get very far. It is only God’s approach that makes sense of things.

2:14

Jesus came as a representative human being, as a “pioneer” of the new man (one not tainted by sin). Since “the children share in flesh and blood”, Jesus also came as flesh and blood. He shared in all of our humanity. He did this in order “to destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil”. The devil thought he had got one over God by ensnaring humanity in sin and all that that entails, especially death. Jesus came as the true man, the second Adam, the man who loved and obeyed God perfectly, and had no sin. So He defeated the devil, and the gospel is about making us like Jesus. Now the devil was only allowed to have the power of death because we sinned against God.

Deuteronomy 11:22-24 - If you will be careful to do all this

11:22

Later on there will be a detailed list of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. In this chapter we have a kind of mini-version of that. This verse gives another summary of what is required. We are to love the Lord our God, we are to walk in obedience, and we are to hold fast to Him. Obedience is vital, and Jesus emphasised this aspect as well (John 14:15; 15:10). We also need to hold on to the Lord. When the pressure is on we hold fast to the Lord, not looking for some other source of rescue.

11:23

The reward, or the fruit, of doing these things is that the Lord would drive out all the nations, and “they would dispossess nations larger and stronger than you”. So yet again we see that God does something, and His people also do it. Living a life of trust and obedience makes us greater than we otherwise are.

11:24

“Every place where you set your feet ...” God’s initial command to mankind was to have dominion over the earth. Abraham was told that all nations would be blessed through him. Here there is a more limited extent to this dominion, it is firmly set in the context of the Promised Land. 

Hebrews 2:11,12 - Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers

2:11

Sanctified means “made holy”. Jesus makes us holy, set apart for God. And in Christ we are made holy. “All have the one source” (ESV), or “are of the same family” (NIV). The “source” is best taken as being God. Salvation was God’s idea and purpose. And Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers. Back in Genesis 1 it says we were made in the image of God. Through the cross Jesus makes us like Himself. He sanctifies us.The price of our sin is paid in full, and the Holy Spirit transforms us. It is quite an amazing thought that we are made brothers with Christ.

2:12

The quote comes from Psalm 22. The Psalm starts off with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”, but moves from dereliction to victory, in the same way as the cross does. Jesus sings God’s praise and proclaims the gospel “in the midst of the congregation”, to His brothers.

Deuteronomy 11:17-21 - Lay up these words in your heart

11:17

If they did bow down to idols then the Lord’s anger would burn against them. He would shut the heavens so that it would not rain, and they would no longer have plenty to eat. Eventually they would be ejected from the land. Now we don’t like this sort of verse, and many react to this by ignoring verses like these, or saying they are no longer applicable. This is a very foolish road to take. Now it is true that this is not the sum total of God’s thinking, for He so loved the world that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so that we would have eternal life. But we must take these verse seriously, and the very reason that Christ had to die on the cross for us is that sin is so serious, and that it brings with it God’s judgement upon us.

11:18-21

The matter is very serious, it was absolutely essential for them to obey the Lord. Therefore practical steps had to be taken in order to assist them in staying close to the Lord, and not drifting away. They were to fix the words of the Lord in their hearts and minds (or hearts and soul, ESV). They were to have physical reminders as well. And they were to teach them to their children, so that they too would know what was most important. If they did this then they would live long in the land. But we know that they did not remain faithful to the Lord.

Hebrews 2:10 - Perfect through suffering

2:10

The writer now goes on to explain the essentialness of Jesus’ humanity and His suffering. Both of these were a scandal to the Jewish religious leaders. How could a man be the Son of God, and how could the Messiah suffer? Even worse, how could the Son of God suffer God’s wrath? The writer says that “it was fitting” that the saviour be made perfect through suffering. The first thing to note is that all this is instigated by God, “for whom and by whom all things exist”. That God is the creator of absolutely everything is an underlying assumption throughout Hebrews, and will come to the fore again in chapter 11. Jesus is described as the “founder of their salvation”, or the “pioneer of their salvation”.  Jesus led the way. Jesus was raised from the dead, never to die again, so we will be raised from the dead never to die again. He was raised to glory, so we will be raised to glory. In saying that Jesus was made perfect the writer is not implying that He was in any way imperfect, but that the process of suffering made Him the perfect saviour, everything that needed to be done in order to enable Him to be our saviour was done.

Deuteronomy 11:13-16 - If you will indeed obey my commands

11:13-15

The Lord is the one who provides for the land, therefore the only sensible thing to do is to obey the Lord. We then get a reminder of the greatest commandment, to love Him with all heart and soul.  If they did this, then the Lord would send rain on the land in its season, the crops would then grow, and all the necessary harvest could be gathered in. God would also provide grass for the cattle and other livestock. So they would have all that they needed.

11:16

So it all seems very simple, obey the Lord and all will be well. Yet we know that life is not that simple, and all because of the sin within our hearts. The people would have to be on their guard. As Peter says in 1 Pet 1:13, we need to be alert with minds ready for action. For otherwise we will be enticed away from God. The Israelites would be surrounded by all sorts of gods and idols and would be tempted to bow down to them instead of to the Lord.

Hebrews 2:6-9 - But we do see Jesus

2:6-8 - Part 2

Anyway, leaving that aside, what does the Psalm actually say? First it expresses wonder/ surprise that God is so “mindful” of man. God is extremely interested in mankind, and does care for him. God made us “a little lower than the angels”. At present angels are superior beings to us. Yet we are crowned with glory and honour, and everything will be put under our feet. Everything was made subject to man. This is all inclusive. However, there is a problem, “at present we do not see everything in subjection to him”. This is to put it mildly! At present it seems that the latter part of the verses quoted from the Psalm are simply not true, nothing but poetry.

2:9

What we do see is Jesus. And Jesus is representative of all humanity, this is the federal headship of Jesus. Jesus is what all mankind was meant to be. For a little while Jesus was made lower than the angels. While Jesus was here on earth angels were in some sense more powerful than Jesus (we need to be careful here, for Jesus was still the Son of God, He was still divine.). However, after the cross and resurrection He was “crowned with glory and honour, He was given authority over all things. We are also told that this was “because of the suffering of death”. Jesus was not blessed despite the suffering, but because of the suffering. He needed to suffer in order to enable all humanity to receive the blessings of Ps 8:4-6. He suffered and overcame death for all of us. And this was by the grace of God. It was God’s goodness towards us that allowed Jesus to taste death on our behalf.

Deuteronomy 11:10-12 - Which drinks water from heaven

11:10

The land they were entering was not like Egypt. They needed to understand that things would be different to what they were used to. It is the same in the Christian life. When we are born again all sorts of things change. We are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. It takes us time to learn these things, but we need to get used to the way things now work. We need to be transformed by the renewal of our minds (Rom 12:2). In Egypt everything centred around the Nile, and they irrigated the land to supply it with water. The land was supplied with water by human effort.

11:11,12

The Promised Land would be different. Its geography was very different, and it “drinks rain from heaven”. They would not need to irrigate the land. The Lord cared for the land. This would mean that they would have to live dependent upon the Lord, trusting in Him to send rain. But they could be confident, for the eyes of the Lord were on the land all the time. “He neither sleeps nor slumbers” (Ps 121:4). Living under the Lord’s care is far better than anything else, certainly better than the life we used to lead. However, it takes some getting used to, for God’s plans for our lives are based upon His strength and provision working together with us. Trusting in God is the only way to live in the land.

Hebrews 2:5-8 - What is man that you are mindful of him?

2:5

There is a natural tendency to worship angels, for they are more powerful than we are. It also seems that they are either perfectly angelic or perfectly demonic|! Unlike us where we are a mixture of good and bad. There are instances in the Bible, e.g. in Revelation, of people bowing down to angels, though the angels always told them not to. Here, the writer of Hebrews puts things in an eternal perspective. “It is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come”. Right back in Genesis God gave man the responsibility to look after the world. Sin messed things up, but God’s purposes have not changed. The world to come will be subject to us, not to angels.

2:6-8 - Part 1

The writer now quotes from Psalm 8:4-6, another quote from the Psalms to prove a theological point. NIV has “What is mankind that you are mindful of them”, ESV has “What is man, that you are mindful of him”. NIV has put expressed things in gender-neutral form, and at one level this is fine, for Genesis says that God created us male and female, and we are co-heirs with Christ. However, I think it is better to use the more literal translation, such as given by the ESV. For the original uses the singular, and this fits better with the later reference to Christ fulfilling this promise here. Now Christ is representative of the whole human race, so the point of difference between the ESV approach and NIV approach (of course, there are many other translations that follow one or the other) is not that great. But hopefully this wee discussion here helps us to understand the issues at stake if we use, or overuse, gender neutral translation, there can sometimes be a cost involved.

Deuteronomy 11:8,9 - Keep the whole commandment

11:8

“Observe all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land ...”. When we disobey the Lord it weakens us. It can weaken us spiritually though having a guilty conscience, it can also just weaken us. Spiritual and physical well-being are closely related. Obeying the Lord strengthens us for the tasks He has for us.

11:9

Obedience would strengthen them for the battle entering and possessing the land. It would also enable them to live long in the land. Note that although the Lord was giving them the land, and the only grounds they had for possessing the land was that the Lord was giving it to them, they still had to fight. The fact that this was all based on a past promise did nothing to obviate the need for faith and obedience. 

Hebrews 2:3,4 - How shall we escape

2:3

The Law had to be taken seriously, mediated by angels. The gospel was given by the Son of God, who is infinitely greater than angels. Therefore the gospel has to be taken all the more seriously. To treat the gospel lightly, to fail to appreciate the nature and seriousness of the salvation therein, is a grave danger. Since the gospel is greater than the Law (which is an underlying assumption in Hebrews) then to ignore it is to leave oneself open to dire consequences. We cannot afford to ignore such a great salvation. We should also note that the salvation is great! It is far greater than anything the Law offered, and for us is far greater than we ever imagine. The gospel was announced by the Lord Himself, and was confirmed by the apostles, by those who heard Him.

2:4

God testified to the veracity of the gospel. He did this in the life of Jesus by the “various miracles”, and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, “distributed according to His will”. Now the Jews were forever demanding signs, and Jesus supplied plenty, yet they mostly failed to believe. Miracles in themselves are not sufficient, they do not guarantee faith. That takes a work of the Holy Spirit. Yet God does still use miracles to confirm the message. Likewise the gifts of the Spirit confirmed the message, and these were distributed according to His will. There are those who think the gifts of the Spirit are no longer relevant. I can find no Scriptural justification for this. Moreover, I think it is presumptuous to say they are no longer for today. God distributes His gifts and can do so however, and whenever He choses. Likewise, there are some charismatics who give the impression that we can somehow control who gets gifts. We cannot. We can ask, but God is the One who gives.

Deuteronomy 11:3-7 - What He did

11:3,4

Specific examples are now given, starting with the signs that God enacted against Pharaoh and the people of Egypt. Then the miracle at the Red Sea when the Israelites were enabled to pass through safely, while the Egyptian army was destroyed. 

11:5-7

The signs and miracles continued in the wilderness. God provided food and water for them, and He also judged those who rebelled against Him. The rebellion led by Korah (Num 16) is then mentioned as a specific example, though curiously Korah himself is not named here. The fact that the earth opened up and swallowed the rebels and their households up is mentioned. We sometimes have a tendency to think that the judgement passages in the Old Testament are “just the Old Testament”, implying that God isn’t like that anymore. That is a very dangerous and mistaken approach to take. Jesus spoke often enough about judgement and hell. The judgement passages in the Old Testament demonstrate that God is perfectly willing to execute judgement when the situation demands it. He has not changed.

Hebrews 2:1,2 - We must pay the most careful attention

2:1

One of the threads running through Hebrews is that we must pay “most careful attention” to what we have heard. The danger is that if we do not do this then we might drift away. The writer will shortly expand on why we must pay more careful attention, but the gospel should not be treated lightly. It is far more than “God loves you”. God does indeed love us, but we need to understand the nature and depth of that love. We need to understand the consequences for our lives here and now, and for our lives after death. Having only a casual understanding of the gospel will lead to a drifting away. We can see the reality of this in many denominations, and in the lives of individuals where there was no real appreciation of the nature of the gospel.

2:2

The tradition was that the Law was given to Moses via angels. Was there any truth in this tradition? The writer does not concern himself with this matter, but is ready to accept it, for he is now dealing with something far greater. However, there are several instances in the Old Testament where an angel of the Lord appears, and it is as if God Himself was there. So they may have assumed that since Moses could not actually see God Himself face to face, it must have been mediated via an angel. Whatever the case, the point here is that this Law, assumed to have been mediated by angels, was deadly serious, was binding, and violations of the Law received their just punishment. So the Law had to be taken seriously.

Deuteronomy 11:1,2 - Love the Lord your God

11:1

God has been faithful to His people, despite their unfaithfulness. So they should “love the Lord your God and keep His requirements”. Decrees, laws and commands are then added, though it seems a bit tautologous. However, they are to obey everything that the Lord has told them to obey. 

11:2

This generation had seen many of the things that the Lord had done. Now, all the men twenty and over at the time of the refusal to enter the Promised Land had died in the desert. However, there would be those who were under twenty at the time, and women who had witnessed these things. Future generations would not have seen them directly. So they needed to learn the lessons, and then teach them to their children. Note that it refers to the “discipline of the Lord your God” as well as His majesty and the acts that He performed. They needed to know that rebellion and disobedience would have consequences. The Lord would act. Today we are too often reluctant to talk about sin and God’s judgement upon it. This is not an attitude that we find in the Bible.

Hebrews 1:10-14 - You laid the foundations of the earth

1:10-12

These verses come from Ps 102:25-27. Do notice how much of the theology comes from the Psalms. These verses emphasise the eternal nature of the Son, and His role in creation. In Col 1:16 says that all things were created through Him and for Him. The heavens and the earth are temporal, but Christ is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting. As is said on a number of occasions in the Bible, the world will be rolled up. “They will be changed, there will be  a new heaven and a new earth. But Christ remains the same forever. The characteristics applied to Christ are ones that are applied to God.

1:13

1:13 quotes from Ps 110:1, a generally accepted messianic psalm, and one which will feature again in Hebrews. Ps 110 was also quoted by Jesus (Matt 22:41-46). God invites the Messiah to sit at His right hand, and promises to make all his enemies a footstool. God never says anything like this to angels.

1:14

The writer now describes what angels are, or rather what their role is in God’s economy. It is not just Jesus who has a different role than angels, so do we! For God sends angels as ministering spirits. And they are “sent to serve those who will inherit salvation”. We are the ones who are receiving salvation.

Deuteronomy 10:20-22 - You shall fear the Lord your God

10:20

“You are to fear Yahweh ...” People who do show partiality, who disregard the weak, do so because they are forgetting that there is a judge, that God sees all that they do. So God’s people are to act knowing that God sees everything, and that they will have to give an account to God for their actions. So we are to worship the Lord, and to remain faithful to Him.

10:21,22

“He is your praise”. We are to delight in the Lord. Not in ourselves, nor in any worldly success. The Lord had done many great and awesome works in the sight of the people. They had seen what the Lord had done. Yes they had gone into captivity, back in the time of Joseph and Jacob. At that time seventy men had gone there, but now they were a numerous people. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were being fulfilled. They needed to reflect on what had happened.