LESSON 7 • Living the Life: The Challenge of Deuteronomy

OPEN

They had waited for this moment for a long, long time. The time has come for the fulfillment of a promise, literally made several hundred years earlier. Can’t you see them on the side of the Jordan, toeing the river, chomping at the bit? Abram’s children stand ready for the conquest, ready to storm Jericho and Ai, Libnah and Lachish. Someone is humming: “To Canaan’s land I’m on my way…”

Moses himself will not go along, but must leave the people here, on the threshold of Canaan. It is a sign of the importance of the gift about to be given that he will be allowed only to see it…everything in the land will be new, a different experience. Even the leader that God will work with will be new. There will be no illusion that Moses is the one giving the land, as there may have been with the water. It is God who gives this gift. But the land is not only a gift, but a temptress as well; the God that gives it knows that it is in the land that he will be forgotten.

And so before the crossing, Moses has one last duty to perform, the giving of one last sermon here on the banks of Jordan. 

“DON’T FORGET!” sums up the sermon nicely. Moses wants the people first and foremost to remember. To remember the promise, to remember the one who has promised, Moses wants them to remember. He calls them to remember the power of God that set them free from Egypt, the power that now binds them to covenant. He wants them to remember the fierce love of God that brought them to the land, the fierce love that demands faithfulness now. He wants them to remember how they have provoked the Lord in the past, and to be certain that unfaithfulness in the future will lead to death. 

He also will warn them that there is a danger in the land of believing that they have earned it, or won it themselves. The land offers the potential for self-satisfaction, the illusion of self-sufficiency. In chapters eight and nine Moses reminds them that the land is given to them as a gift, and to punish the disobedient people who presently live in it. He doesn’t want the gift to eclipse the giver, or the relationship that the gift comes out of. 

Deuteronomy is certainly a book of consequences. It is here that Moses spells out exactly what would happen to Israel if she chose to be unfaithful to the covenant, and the kind of life she might expect if she was faithful. “See I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (30:15-20)

DIG

Reading Deuteronomy may at first seem tedious, a second turn through the law. But it can be a very enjoyable book, if we’re looking for the right kinds of things. First of all remember the perspective that this is the last set of warnings and instructions before the people enter Canaan, where they will be built into a nation. So the instructions here describe the kind of community that God is seeking to build…certainly something useful for us! Here within this account of God’s covenant the kinds of things that are important: concern for each other, a commitment to justice and doing the right thing, the maintenance of the proper relationships between parents and children, husbands and wives. Some of the laws may seem trivial, but treat those laws like puzzles. What do they have to see about the kinds of things that are important to God? What is the root of each law? Deuteronomy reminds the people of where they have come from, and shows them how to live in the land they are about to receive. 

Also, hear in Deuteronomy the clear teaching that our actions have consequences. “Be not deceived, a man reaps what he sows” is one of the central messages here, set out in the lists of blessings and curses. Israel cannot possess the land and live however she wishes. She is obligated by the gift and her own covenant. God’s patience will be tested over and over again, but in the end his word will be proven true. Disobedience will bring much pain and death to Israel, and the good that she does always brings more life. God takes the covenant seriously, and his people might as well know it before they take a step in the land of Canaan. They are fairly warned, you see. Read Deuteronomy with an eye to the future, as it demonstrates the certainty of God’s word. 

REFLECT

With such a warning, why do you think Israel still forgot the law, with its stated importance for their survival? 

Do you believe in Consequences? Are such consequences absolute? 

What kinds of gifts has God given us that are like the land? 

What kind of legacy do you think Moses wanted to leave with the people? 

Why do you think it was important in this book to remind God’s people of:
• Their disobedience?
• God’s power?
• Their obligations?


The book also contains much praise for God. How does the praise in the book function for the purpose of the book? 

The book also contains a heavy grace theme, even if it seems unlikely. How does this book, which is heavy with the law, teach us about grace?