Strong and Courageous

Deuteronomy 31-32

            Taken together, chapters 31 and 32 can seem a little inconsistent. On the one hand, Joshua is told to be strong and courageous—no less than three times in chapter 31! On the other hand, the song of chapter 32 warns of the dire consequences when Israel becomes strong and starts to trust in her own strength. How are God’s people to live?

            First, we are not to trust our own strength and resources. We’ve seen this a number of times already, as, for instance, in chapter 18, when the king was not supposed to accumulate horses. Horses were a measure of military power, and Israel’s king was supposed to rely on the Lord to deliver. We’ll see examples of this in the books of Judges and Samuel.

            But relying on the Lord does not mean that we are to be fearful and quaking. It takes a different kind of strength to trust the Lord, especially when your strength seems insufficient. Can you imagine the knot in Joshua’s stomach when his only weapon against the walls of Jericho was a set of trumpets? That takes courage, too. I’m reminded of scene in the last Harry Potter book, where Harry walks through the Forbidden Forest alone, approaching his own death. (Apparently, J.K. Rowling is a Christian, and the echoes of the story of Jesus approaching His own death are pretty strong.)

            I have come to look at Ephesians 6 differently than I did was I was young. Ephesians 6 contains the famous passage about putting on the whole armor of God. It’s a very martial image, very military. But I’ve come to realize that all the armor is defensive, and the only weapon assigned is the sword, which is the Word of God. Then there’s this sentence: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). We’re not called to charge the field, to engage the enemy, to cast him down. No, we are called (twice) to stand. Consider this from Exodus 14:13-14, “Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” You need only be still. The Lord has got this.

            Strong and courageous, not in our own strength, but in the Lord’s.

God Keeps His Promises

Deuteronomy 30

            The other day, I railed quite a bit about Deuteronomy 28 with all of its covenantal curses. I suppose Deuteronomy 30 is the counterpoint to that because it is a promise of restoration. The Lord will always be faithful to His promises. All those times in Exodus and Numbers, when the Lord was on His last nerve with Israel, when He threatened to destroy them and start over with Moses, Moses reminded the Lord, “You promised.” I suspect that those instances, it was more of a test for Moses than a serious proposal for the Lord. He keeps His promises. It’s His hallmark. Israel might (and, in actuality, did) face exile for her unfaithfulness, but the Lord will (and did) preserve a remnant so that His promise of salvation through Abraham’s descendants would be fulfilled.

            The wrath of God is real, and we do well to take Him seriously when He demands and threatens. However, I find great comfort in Lamentations 3: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness… ³¹ For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. ³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. ³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone (vv. 22-23, 32-33).

A Tangent

Deuteronomy 29

            I’m going on a bit of a tangent today, but I think it’s helpful to understand one of the ways that a passage like Deuteronomy 29 is misunderstood and misused. Sometimes American Christians read this chapter and apply it as if the Lord was making His covenant with the United States. They read about national judgments—disaster on a watered land and calamities—and they read verse 25, “It is because the people abandoned the Lord.” They conclude, “That’s what’s happening to the US!” and their prescription is a widespread return to the Lord.

            There are a couple of problems with that view from a historical perspective. For example, although the US has historically been a country with a population that predominantly identifies as Christian, there are some real questions about what that actually means. I forget the exact numbers but something like 70% of Americans still identify as Christians, while only about 25% of Americans are actually in church any given weekend. If you claim to be a follower of Jesus but don’t engage the most basic practice of the faith, there’s some real question about your self-identification. I’m not sure there ever was widespread dedication to the Lord to return to.

            Another historical problem is seeing the problems of today as the worst in history. The problem there is that that view usually sees US history through the lens of a supposed golden era, usually in the 1940s and 1950s, but social upheaval, political turmoil, and economic displacement are woven into US history from before the founding of the republic. I’m not sure today’s calamities are that much different from yesterday’s.

            Now, of course, one could say a lot more on all of these topics. I don’t want to minimize today’s upheavals. I just want to introduce a certain amount of perspective to these conversations.

            The real problem, though, is not historical but theological: The Lord is explicitly renewing His covenant with OT Israel. Israel was the people in whom He had embedded His promise of a Savior. Israel needed to stay loyal, holy, free from idolatry so that that promise could set down roots, grow, thrive, and produce the fruit that is the Messiah. As Paul puts it in Romans 9:4-5, “Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” And, as I have said over and over in this blog, this covenant, this Mosaic covenant, was fulfilled in the work of Jesus and therefore is no longer binding (cf. Galatian 3-4).

            So, how would a contemporary Christian appropriately bring Deuteronomy 29 forward? How shall we understand its implications for us? The Church is the correct successor for OT Israel, not any nation of the world. So, in order to understand this chapter, we have to see the Church’s call to faithfulness, and we would have to see that, when churches fall on hard times, they should reflect hard on whether they have been loyal to the Lord and His words.

            Again, there’s a lot more that could be said, but I thought it was at least important to say what I’ve said.

Blessings and Curses

Deuteronomy 28

            Woof. That’s a hard chapter. I struggle because the blessings for faithfulness occupy 14 verses, but the curses for unfaithfulness take up the remaining 54, and the curses are listed in excruciating detail. If I had presented this as a sermon in seminary, my preaching professors would have flunked me. They would have said my balance of Law and Gospel was way off. Last month, I had a chance to preach (through an interpreter) to the students at the seminary in the Dominican Republic, and I told them to concentrate on preaching the Gospel. I told them the Law was easy, but the Law can’t save. I had Paul on my side. “For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law” (Galatians 3:21). “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

            I suppose it is helpful to be reminded once again that this passage is about Israel’s obedience under the covenant of Moses, which is a covenant of the law, based on obedience, on performance, and under which Israel lived for a time until her purpose, namely, the coming of the Messiah, was fulfilled. The covenant of Abraham, which Paul says is that one that really matters in terms of God’s plans for humanity, is a covenant of grace, which leads us to Christ (Galatians 3:16). In that light, we can appreciate how this phase of Israel’s existence was ushered in by the Exodus and so we can appreciate how the Lord threatens to bring Egypt’s plagues on Israel is she proves faithless. In that light, we can appreciate that the promise of the land is only necessary until the Messiah comes and we can appreciate the glimmer of hope is that Israel will be greatly reduced and exiled, but that the possibility exists she will come home. We actually see this as Israel’s history plays out. This mighty people peaks with David, but then it’s one loss after another until finally 10 of the tribes disappear from history altogether. Then, the exile of the remaining tribes and the tiny remnant that returns so that the Lord can fulfill His promise of a Savior (Isaiah 6:13).

            We can appreciate the lessons: that God’s wrath is terrifying, that He will keep His promises, that He has kept His promise of a Savior. But for all of that, I still find this a hard chapter.

Renewal at Ebal and Gerizim

Deuteronomy 27

            Deuteronomy 27-30 give credence to the theory that Deuteronomy is just an extended covenantal document. There’s an historical preamble (1-4), a statement of general stipulations (4-11), more specific stipulations (12-26), and now a ratification ceremony focusing on the blessings if the vassal is faithful and curses if they are not.

            Israel is supposed to set up a standing stone as a testimony of the covenant they are agreeing to. (See picture of a similar stone of Assyrian origin.) Then Moses stipulates how the ratification ceremony is supposed to go: half of the Israel on Mt. Ebal, the other half of Mt. Gerizim, the Levites in the middle reciting the curses of covenant unfaithfulness to the people. (In the picture, Gerizim is on the left and Ebal is on the right.)

            I suspect I’ll say this several times this week, but it’s important to understand: these blessings and curses are attached to the Mosaic covenant, which, as St. Paul argues in Galatians 4, was specifically for Old Testament Israel until such a time as the Lord fulfilled the Abrahamic covenant by sending the One who would be a blessing for all the nations of the earth, namely, Jesus. Now that Jesus is come we are not bound the Mosaic covenant.

            That’s not to say there’s no value here. Our Baptism is a sort of covenantal form and often at the Vigil of Easter (which Divine Savior celebrates as part of its sunrise service) we do a Baptismal renewal. It’s not the same “if-then” format as Deuteronomy, and it’s not filled with curses. But it does say: here’s what God gave in Baptism. Do you still value the gift? Will you live as one who has received such a gift (cf. Ephesians 4:1)? And we don’t need to wait for Easter to do it. The Small Catechism’s section on Daily Prayers is essentially about reminding yourself of God’s baptismal blessing every day, beginning and ending the day with the sign of the cross and the baptismal formula, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Wrapping Up the Laws

Deuteronomy 24-26

            Friday and Saturday’s readings mark the last of the laws! Yay! We still have some hard things to deal with in Deuteronomy, but this is the last of Moses’ legislation. Let me highlight three things for the end of this week.

            First, in Friday’s reading we read again about the Lord’s concern for marriage. The first thing to note is that Jesus’ interpretation (Matthew 19), that divorce is only allowed for sexual immorality is pretty close to the original command. Moses says a man can divorce a woman when “he finds something indecent in her,” but the word for indecency usually means “nakedness.” Although the later rabbis took a pretty broad view of reasons a man could divorce his wife, Moses seems to have something narrower in mind.

            Pastorally, I find the whole conversation convicting. In our era, we tolerate divorce for a lot of reasons. Now, to be fair, the New Testament adds an element and allows divorce for “malicious desertion,” which offers more cases in which divorce is allowed. (I can’t think of the reference right off hand, but it might be in 2 Corinthians.) For example, a lot of pastors consider spousal abuse justified grounds for divorce, because the abuser has, in some way, deserted the marriage. Still, reading Moses reminds me that marriage is sacred and it makes me wonder if the Church treats it so in our day…

            The second thing I’d highlight is also in Friday’s reading and that is the repeated concern for the poor and the marginalized—leaving some of the crop behind for the poor, refusing to take a pledge that would hurt the poor, letting the poor retain their dignity by not entering their houses to demand a pledge. We’ve seen it before in these laws, but it bears repeating: the poor are a cause for compassion, not scorn.

            Finally, let me just direct your attention to the “tithe speech” in chapter 26. When they bring their tithes in, they rehearse their history—from Jacob, the wandering Aramean, to the slavery in Egypt, to the Exodus and Conquest. I think this is of a piece with Paul’s statement that the Lord loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7) Maybe we should train ourselves when we make our offerings to recount the same thing: “My father, Adam, was banished from God’s presence, but the Lord had mercy and sent His Son to die for me. He has blessed me spiritually and materially, and now I bring my offering to Him.”

More Laws

Deuteronomy 22-23

            I don’t know about you, but I’ve had about enough of laws!

            What can we say that we haven’t said? There’s concern here for Israel being a holy society, one uniquely dedicated to the Lord. Therefore, some things that we would consider ‘normal’ can make you unclean and exclude you at least temporarily from the assembly. There is a concern for wholeness. Therefore, anything that suggests that something is less than whole is excluded. There is a concern for justice. Therefore, there are regulations that are meant to protect the innocent or the falsely accused.

            The lesson from all of this is that the Church is also supposed to be holy, distinctive, and uniquely dedicated to the Lord. Therefore, the New Testament is filled with exhortations to sexual purity, to well-regulated mouths, to generosity, and to the right use of power.

            Ultimately, these laws draw us to Jesus, who alone does all things well. He is faithful and obedient to His Father, even to death. Ironically, His death—undeserved though it is—makes Him unclean; His cry of dereliction, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” demonstrates how completely cut off He was, not just from the assembly, but from God Himself. His resurrection demonstrates His restoration, His vindication; His resurrection is, at least in part, a demonstration that His was, indeed, innocent of all charges.

Warfare and a Hidden Gem

Deuteronomy 20-21

            Moses’ regulations about warfare make me smile. He starts with a familiar argument: you’re not doing the fighting; the Lord is. We heard that all the way back in Exodus 15:14 at the crossing of the Red Sea, when Moses told the people, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” In chapter 17, the eventual king was forbidden from developing his army (no horses!). And, in the second paragraph of chapter 20, the commanders are told to dismiss all sorts of people: those with new houses, new vineyards, new wives, even those who are just plain scared. Can you imagine a general today making similar allowances?

            Why does all this make me smile? Because the Lord is going to give victory, not the army. The story of Gideon is coming up in Judges 6-7. Gideon raises an army of 32,000 men, and the Lord says, “Too many. You’ll just take the credit for your own strength.” 22,000 men are dismissed, and the Lord says, “Still too many,” and the army is winnowed down to 300. 300 Israelites against 135,000 (Judges 8:10)! There can be no doubt the Lord gives victory.

            I wish that was as easy to believe as it is write. I know that I constantly rely on my own strength, my own insight. There’s a tension there: how much are we supposed to take responsibility; how much are we supposed to let God be God. I remember many years ago a church I served was talking about a building program. The original plan was way out of our price range and there were a few voices who said we should just go ahead and trust God. But that felt wildly irresponsible, a sort of “Don’t put the Lord your God to the test” kind of moment (Deuteronomy 6:16). (We ended up doing most of the project but in, I think, two phases.) On the other hand, the Lord says in Malachi 3:10, “Test me in this!” Jesus sends His disciples out without staff, bag, bread, or money in Luke 9; but in Luke 22 He tells them, “He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one” (verse 16). So, I think we have to find a balance. We shouldn’t just go charging into something, blindly thinking, “God will take care of it.” (I suppose part of the problem is we can’t always be 100% sure our plans are what the Lord intends.) Nor should we be paralyzed with fear thinking, “I haven’t got the resources—material, emotional, or spiritual—to deal with this.” I know that for myself, the temptation is to rely too much on myself and my resources. So, for me, the challenge of a passage like this is to stop trusting my abilities and to start trusting the Lord and His Word. Other people may have exactly the opposite challenge. It’s a lot to think about.

            Now for something completely different. At the end of chapter 21, there’s a little verse tucked in. The NIV simply labels it, “Various Laws.” The verse says, “Anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse” (21:23), and it’s in a little section on dealing with the dead bodies of those who have been executed. It’s pretty easy to overlook, except that St. Paul makes it integral to his understanding of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole” (Galatians 3:13). A couple of things: you have to be impressed with St. Paul’s knowledge of the Old Testament that this little verse stood out to him, and we have to be aware that the Gospel is always lurking around, not just in the obviously messianic passages of the Bible, but in places like Deuteronomy 21:23 as well. A Facebook friend likes to say, “On every page of the Old Testament write this, ‘These are the Scriptures that testify of me [Jesus]’ (John 5:39). 

Kings and Prophets

Deuteronomy 17-19

            Yesterday, I completely forgot about chapter 17, and its discussion of kings is prophetic (literally!). It takes until 1 Samuel 8, but the Israelites say almost exactly what the Lord said they would say. In 1 Samuel, the request for a king is expressly a rejection of the Lord’s reign over Israel. So, here in Deuteronomy we don’t have permission for a king or even an expectation that having a king is a natural and good thing. No, here in Deuteronomy we have the Lord getting ahead of the curve and saying, “At least get this kind of king.” He is to be an Israelite, not a foreigner. (I didn’t look very closely, but this might be the only qualification the kings of Israel always met; I don’t know that they ever had a non-Israelite king.) He’s not to have horses, because horses in this era would be the modern equivalent of tanks: they were animals of war, used to pull chariots—and Israel was supposed to trust the Lord for military victory. (Solomon had 12,000 horses…). He’s not to have many wives (David had 8 named wives, and Solomon had 700, probably mostly for political purposes, but still…). And he is to be an ardent student of the law (but right from the first, Saul often took matters into his own hands instead of following the Lord’s words.)

            Kingship in Israel never lived up to what the Lord required in Deuteronomy. Never, that is, until Israel’s true king, Jesus, appeared. Of course, He didn’t reign in Jerusalem. Frankly, He didn’t reign like that at all. The crowds acclaimed Him king on Palm Sunday, but His kingship became a source of mockery by the end of the week when He hung on a cross with the sign, “King of the Jews,” above Him. Still, the descendant of David, and the Son of God from eternity? Here’s the King Israel was waiting for and here’s the King we still pay homage to.

            Another significant office is mentioned in chapter 18, namely, the office of prophet. Israel is to listen to the words that the Lord has given them. His words—what we call the Bible—are their source of confidence and authority. If ever they need guidance, they are to turn to what God has said. If ever they need a fresh word from God, they aren’t supposed to look for it in the usual ways: no divination, no sorcery, no reading omens. No, if they ever need a fresh word, the Lord will send a prophet, one who speaks God’s words and only God’s words, who is loyal to the Lord and only to the Lord.

            Israel had plenty of people who claimed to be prophets and many of them were false prophets. Jeremiah is particularly full of them, and Jeremiah himself is particularly hard on them. They speak messages based on their own wisdom and insight and try to pass them off as the words of the Lord, and they will pay the price of their presumption.

            It’s an important office for two reasons. First, the Old Testament office of prophet is most like the New Testament office of pastor. Pastors are called by God to deliver His words. It is a blessed calling, to be sure. But woe to that pastor who strays from the words of God and preaches from his own wisdom! Christians should expect their pastors to preach exclusively from the Word of God and hold them to account if they don’t.

            Second, Jesus was (and is) ultimately the prophet like Moses. He was the one who spoke the words of eternal life (John 6:68). He was the full revelation of the Father. If we want to know what God thinks of us, look no further than Jesus.

Holidays, Again

Deuteronomy 16

            We have read about Israel’s three great holidays several times now. Two things really stood out to me this time around. First, when Moses lays the festivals this time, it is after he has talked about Israel’s one place of worship (ch. 12). So, a new wrinkle this time is that these festivals have to be celebrated wherever the Lord places His name, that is, wherever the Tabernacle is (or later, in Jerusalem). Second, in the case of two of the holidays, Moses explicitly calls for joy (vv. 11, 14).

            I was thinking about how inconvenient these holidays would be for Israel. They have to travel across the country. At its very largest, Israel encompassed maybe 400 miles north to south, but for the vast majority of its history it was more like 120 miles north to south. Almost no one was more than 60 miles from Jerusalem. That made it about a 3-day walk. 6 days of travel, 7 days there, 3 times a year. Israel would have to more than a month in these three festivals. That’s not counting weekly Sabbath obligations, too. Religion was supposed to be a dominant feature of Israel’s life!

            Yet, at the same time, Moses tries to tamp down the obligation/burden aspect of the thing and He underscores the celebration aspect. For Moses, it’s less, “We must go,” and more, “We get to go!”

            I understand that we live very different lives than ancient Israel did. I understand that they were an agrarian society and that farm life, especially if you’re crop farming, has a different pace than working in a factory or an office. Still, you have to wonder about contemporary American Christians, many of whom look at simple church attendance as an obligation or even a burden. “I guess we better go to church this week…” I remember a story my wife told me year’s ago. A child in one of her classes had a bad week behaviorally, and she told my wife that her mother was going to make her go to church because she had been naughty…

            Whatever happened to, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1)?

            And why would we rejoice to go to the house of the Lord. Each.and.every.week! Well, because God shows up there. Each.and.every.week! Because He appears there with gifts of mercy and grace and comfort and forgiveness. Each.and.every.week! Because God’s people are there. Each.and.every.week! Because it’s a cause for rejoicing. Each.and.every.week! It would be good if we, as contemporary American Christians, escape from the sense of obligation and could embrace the joy of being where God has placed His name—each and every week!

Generosity

Deuteronomy 13-15

            Moses commands the Israelites to set aside a tenth of all that their fields and herds produce each year. The tithe had been mentioned in Leviticus 27 and Numbers 18, where the tithe is holy to the Lord and for the support of the Levites, who will not receive an apportionment of land in the settlement. In Deuteronomy a new wrinkle is added, namely, that the people will learn to revere the Lord their God who provides for them.

            Now, the tithe belongs to the law of Moses and is one of those things to which Christians are no longer obligated. But the New Testament does retain the idea of firstfruits (in the New Testament, the church is the firstfruits of a greater harvest) and St. Paul instructs God’s people to give in proportion to how they have been blessed. When I teach stewardship, I say that a firstfruits offering is an act of faith. “I will give to the Lord off the top, because I trust He will continue to bless me with more than enough.” And I teach that the tithe, while not required in the new covenant, is a handy rule-of-thumb.

            I note, too, that the command to tithe is also tied to the Sabbath year, in which slaves were freed. Moses points out that the Lord is giving a good land, so there is no need for anyone to be poor (15:4). But he also says, “There will always be poor” (15:11). It seems that then as now sometimes poverty has as much to do with poor choices as with lack of opportunity. (You want to be careful with those kinds of generalizations, of course.) The larger point of the section, though, is the call for generosity, “Don’t be hardhearted or tightfisted, but openhanded” (15:7-8).

            This call for generosity underscores the point I made above about our offerings. Generosity is the underlying virtue—whether in the way we give to the Lord or in the way we deal with each other. And generosity begins in the heart with the way that we think about others. In terms of our gifts to the Lord, Paul writes, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Notice the rationale: God loves a cheerful giver, one who finds blessing in sharing and giving. In terms of others, I like to teach that generosity of spirit matters. We often look on those in need with suspicion. “Are they really in need? Are they trying to trick me? Are they trying to take advantage of me?” I had an experience early in my professional career where I bought a sob-story only to find out later that the need wasn’t a need at all and that there was a well-known group of people who made it a habit of asking churches for money. That experience really soured me, and, unfortunately, really made me suspicious. Yet the Lord looks on us in our (spiritual) need and shows mercy even though we don’t deserve it. So, part of our challenge is to learn to look on our neighbors with kindness and openness.

            There’s more to think about, too. Not every gift is a helpful gift. When our team was preparing to go to the Dominican Republic, we had to read about toxic charity, gifts that end up creating unhealthy and unhelpful dependencies. So sometimes we do look on things with generosity, but other considerations have to hold us back. It all gets very complicated…

            But to put things in their simplest terms, these chapters teach us to be generous in our approach to the Lord and to our neighbors.

Where the Lord Will Place His Name

Deuteronomy 11-12

            I want to talk about Israel’s one place of worship, but first I have to address something that I don’t have a good answer for: in chapter 11:1-7, why does the Lord insist that this generation of Israelites saw all the Lord’s mighty deeds? Every Israelite of the Exodus generation was condemned to die in the wilderness because they refused to enter the land. (See Numbers 14:20-23.) Every indication is that Deuteronomy takes place after the 40 years in the wilderness, which that whole generation should be gone. Here’s the best I can come up with: the Lord’s curse fell on the fighting men, that is, those who were counted for military service in Numbers and who would have all been at least 20 years old. So, the generation that is being addressed here would have been 19 and under at the Exodus and is now between 40 and 60 years old. Everyone under 40 would not have witnessed these things. I don’t know how important that it, but it was bothering me…

            On to Israel’s place of worship. Throughout chapter 12, Moses insists that Israel is to present their offerings and sacrifices only at the tabernacle. This will make Israel’s worship unlike the worship of the Canaanites around her, because the Canaanites worship all over the place—“all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree.” In some ways, this seems strange: the God of Israel claims to be the God of heaven and earth, a God who is not bound by any boundaries, a God who is omnipresent. This stands in sharp contrast to the views of the pagans, who understood their gods as linked to specific places. The God of Israel never gives up His claim to lordship over the whole earth, but He does specify a single place of worship.

            There are a number of things to learn from this. First, Israel didn’t worship willy-nilly, in any way they wanted. The Lord had been very specific about the ways they should come before Him. Second, the Canaanites imagined that the important thing was what they did; they saw themselves as key actors in their worship. But Israel understood that the Lord was chief actor: they made sacrifices, yes, but the Lord was the one who forgave and blessed. Their sacrifices were not buying the blessing of their God; they were the means by which God was blessing them.

            Israel’s worship was indeed a blueprint for Christian worship, the key difference being that Jesus is the final and all-availing sacrifice, so that our worship is “bloodless.” But we, too, worship in a specific way. Acts 2:42 describes it as being ‘devoted to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.’ Acts 2:42 is what we call a chiasm, which means that the two middle terms repeat the same idea. So, Christian worship centers on the Word of God applied in the sermon (the apostles’ teaching), prayer, and the Lord’s Supper (the breaking of bread). (The fellowship here does not mean getting together for fun, but it’s a specific word, koinonia, which the New Testament mostly uses in reference to the Lord’s Supper.) And we, too, recognize that, while God is present everywhere, He is present in a different, gracious way in our gathering; that gathering is the place that He has promised to be present to forgive and to save.

Not Your Righteousness

Deuteronomy 9-10

            Israel is not supposed to let success go to her head. Three times in Deuteronomy 9:4-6, Moses repeats, “It’s not because of your righteousness.” This is of a piece with chapter 7, “The Lord didn’t set His affection on you because you were more numerous.” In fact, God’s choice of Israel was pure grace, “without any merit or worthiness,” as the Catechism puts it.

            It’s a warning for contemporary Christians today, too. It’s pretty easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “God loves me and has brought me into His family. I must be special.” The reality is all humans are born in original sin, without any merit or worthiness. When God calls us out of the death of sin into new life, it’s not because we are different or better or because He saw some special potential in us. No, it’s always grace; pure, undeserved favor; a gift.

            The proof for Israel is the list of ways that they had angered their God. The proof for us is honest reflection on our own sin, the ways that we have grumbled, our own personal golden calves.

            The season we have just come out of puts these things right in front of us. I was moved to tears a number of times singing the hymns on Good Friday. They lead us to recognize that our sins put Jesus on the cross, but even more His mercy put Him on the cross, so great is His love even for the most unworthy.

The Past is Proof

Deuteronomy 7-8

            There’s an underlying logic in these chapters. Moses points back to the Lord’s past faithfulness as proof of His ability and His desire to be faithful in the future. Should the Israelites fear that they cannot conquer the peoples in the land God promised, Moses reminds them of what the Lord did to the Egyptians, and even more powerful people. Should they fear that the Lord will not provide for them, Moses reminds them what the Lord did those forty years in the wilderness, in which their clothes did not wear out and He took care of them “in that thirsty and waterless land” (8:15).

            God’s past faithfulness is proof of His current and future love for us, too. Our spiritual experience is a lot like Israel’s. Israel looked back to the Exodus as proof of God’s love, and we look back to the death and resurrection of the Son of God for that same proof. Our faith stands on this reasoning: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). That God will ‘give us all things’ should not be read as some kind of promised of earthly bliss; Paul said earlier in Romans that we learn to rejoice in our sufferings, and he said in this same chapter of Romans, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). No, the “all things” is focused in the gift of eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth. Which makes God’s past faithfulness all the more important. The Christian life is marked by the cross, and we do suffer all sorts of woes, and we have our fears that the Lord cannot do what He promised, at which point we say, “But if He gave us that (namely, His own Son), surely He can and will give us these other things, too.” The Lord’s past faithfulness is proof of His current and future love.

Today and Into the Next Generation

Deuteronomy 6

            Two concerns dominate Deuteronomy 6. First is covenant loyalty. The Israelites are to remember the Lord their God, to love Him with heart, soul, and strength, to honor Him in all things. In practice, Israel did this by reciting verses 4-5 morning and evening. These verses, called the Shema, from the Hebrew for “hear,” were their creed, their confession of faith, and their prayer.

            We Christians are a Gospel people. We are not bound by the laws of Moses, and we have tremendous freedom. But I sometimes wonder about some things. For instance, Jews recite the Shema twice a day (at least they used) and Muslims pray various set prayers five times a day. I wonder if Christians would benefit from a more structured approach to prayer. Our Catechism actually does quite a nice job with a brief order of morning prayer (Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Morning Prayer, and reflection on the 10 Commandments), meal prayers (Lord’s Prayer and a meal prayer before eating, and Lord’s Prayer and a prayer of thanksgiving after eating), and a brief order of evening prayer (Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Evening Prayer) before going to bed. I worry sometimes that our emphasis on praying “from the heart,” “just talking to God,” actually hurts our discipline of prayer. I wonder if we’d do better with some structure and order and learning some set prayers.

            Anyway, Israel had their confession, their Shema, their constant reminder of who their God was and what they owed to Him. Jesus Himself identified verse 5, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” as the first and greatest commandment.

            The second thing that dominates this chapter is the concern for the next generation. I have a sign on the wall of my office. It’s one of my ministry guidelines, one of the fundamental things I try to always keep before me: “The best gift we can give a child is a spiritually thriving parent.” There is no more critical role a parent plays than forming the faith of their children. My sister is fond of saying, “A child should not remember the first time they came to church.” By that, she means that church should be so much a part of the child’s life that it’s just normal; it’s what they’ve always done. Add to that dedicated prayer time as I outlined above. Add to that reading children’s Bibles along with Dr. Seuss. Add to that age-appropriate Bibles as they grow up. (I’ve become a big fan of The Action Bible, the Bible in graphic novel form, for early readers, and the NIrV, a simplified Bible, for maturing readers.) Add to that parents who talk about the week’s sermon or Sunday school lesson at home. That’s what Moses is getting at when he says, “Impress them on your children. Talk about them at home and on the road. Tie them to your hands and foreheads.” In this way, the next generation receives the gifts of God and learns to value them, too.

The Ten Commandments, Again

Deuteronomy 5

            Moses recounts the giving of the 10 Commandments. Three things stand out to me.

            First, in verse 3, Moses says that the Lord did not make the covenant with their ancestors. Probably he means that the Lord didn’t make the covenant with their ancestors only. That is to say, the covenant binds Israel through many generations—until the promise is fulfilled. To be part of Israel is to be part of that covenant. In the same way, to be part of the Church is to be bound by what the Lord says. (Just this morning, I stumbled on an article online, “The 40 Reasons I’m No Longer an Evangelical Christian,” in which the author listed a bunch of things he doesn’t believe anymore. I’m pretty open to these kinds of critiques, because I think they highlight weaknesses in how Bible-believing Christians cast their message. However, my thought this morning was, “Your problem isn’t with the Church; it’s with the New Testament”—a point the author happily conceded later in the piece. We’re simply not allowed to pick and choose which parts of the Lord’s words we like and which parts we don’t like.)

            Second, there’s a notable change in the 3^rd Commandment. In Exodus 20, the command to observe the Sabbath was embedded in God’s creative work. “In six days, the Lord created the heavens and the earth, and He rested on the seventh day. You, too, rest on the seventh day” (Exodus 20:8-11). Here the Sabbath is embedded in Israel’s former slavery. The Israelites’ history is mired in brutal work for the Egyptians. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that the Lord saved them from that. I like how some concepts in the Bible are multivalent, that is they can be understood in multiple ways. The Sabbath can be understood both in terms of creation and in terms of the exodus out of Egypt. Similarly, Jesus’ death can be understood against the background of the Passover, in which case we preach about freedom and release, or against the background of the Day of Atonement, in which case we preach about forgiveness and propitiation.

            Finally, it struck me again today how unique Israel’s experience of God was. Just like yesterday, when Moses had wondered, “What other nation has a God like ours?” so today, Moses recounts the Israelites’ experience, that they had seen God in His fiery glory and heard His words. Much later in Israel’s history, this sense of their own uniqueness led to a complete misunderstanding of their purpose. By Jesus’ day, they had largely forgotten that they were to be a blessing to all the peoples and were largely focused on their own uniqueness, that they were God’s favorite people. The lesson remains for the Church today: to learn to rejoice in the nearness of our God in Word and Sacrament and yet never to lose sight of the fact that we are called to invite all sorts of people into that presence with us.

The First Pep Talk

Deuteronomy 4

            Having briefly recounted Israel’s history, Moses turns his attention to encouraging them to faithfulness. In this chapter we hear several themes that will come back frequently in Deuteronomy: hearing the Lord, taking possession of the land, possessing that land depending on Israel’s obedience. I’d encourage you to flip back to Monday’s blog post, “Introducing Deuteronomy,” to be refreshed on how to read that sort of language. The Sinaitic covenant was for Israel and its promise was staying in the land. Toward the end of the chapter (vv. 25-31) we see this dynamic: idolatry will see them removed from the land; repentance will see them restored; in all cases, the Lord will provide a remnant because He will keep His promise to send a Savior through Israel.

            There are a couple other interesting points in chapter 4. First, there is the statement in verses 7-8 about how unique Israel is, especially in her relationship with her God. Israel’s God is near and has given them “such righteous decrees.” It’s an idea that will come up several times in Deuteronomy and which the New Testament will also apply to the Church. Among the many things that set Christianity apart from the other great world religions is the nature of our God, who is near to us, who understands us and is concerned for us, whose primary characteristic is His mercy. The gods of other religions are either far away (the technical language is “transcendent” rather than “immanent”) or they are arbitrary and uncaring or both.

            Second, there is the insistence that Israel’s God is unseen. In our day, that seems less controversial, because two of Christianity’s main competitors—Judaism and Islam—also reject images of their gods. But in the ancient world, the visual representation of the idol was exactly the thing that put one in the presence of that god. (1500 years after the exodus, the Romans would accuse both Jews and Christians of atheism, because they had statues of their gods and to a Roman an invisible god was no god at all.) Further setting Christianity apart, we confess that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. In the incarnation, He has revealed Himself by taking on human flesh.

Moses Excluded from Promised Land

Deuteronomy 3

            A couple of things stood out for me in the last portion of chapter 3, when Moses recounts his exclusion from inheriting the promised land

            The first thing I noted was Moses’ bitterness, how he blames his loss on the Israelites, “because of you the Lord was angry with me.” Moses is only human and we shouldn’t expect perfection from him, but it is stunning that he doesn’t—at this moment, at least—take any responsibility for his own disobedience. He’s only human, and that means he’s just like us. Something I notice is how hard it is to take responsibility for our own mistakes and failures. Even our apologies are marked by it, “I’m sorry, but…” But there were extenuating circumstances, but I didn’t mean to, but you made me do it. A true confession owns the sin humbly and contritely.

            The other thing that stood out was Moses’ deep sense of loss at not being able to enter the promised land. He had given 40 years of his life to God’s project, but he would not see the successful ending of it. I think that’s a common experience. We invest ourselves in all sorts of things at work, in our families, and we run out of time. When I left my last church, we had just launched a number of new initiatives, not least of which was a new approach to confirmation, and it was wrenching to know that I wouldn’t see them through to fruition. I think the book of Hebrews. After a long listing of Old Testament figures who had lived by faith, the writer says, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised” (Heb 11:39). That’s the hard part of living by faith: in this life we may never see what that Lord has been up to, we may never see how He will work out all things for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28). Still Hebrews goes on and says that this is so “since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Heb. 11:29).

            A couple of weeks ago, I dropped the word eschatologically on this blog. Eschatology is the study of the last things, and to think eschatologically means to think with Christ’s return, the resurrection of the dead, and the final restoration in the forefront of our minds. If in this life we live only ever in the shadow of the cross, if we don’t see how the Lord will work things out, if we wonder why we aren’t blessed and suffer loss, eschatological thinking reminds us that the Lord isn’t done with us yet, that even should we die in our troubles He’s not done with us yet. Eschatological thinking is thinking by faith, in God’s timeframe, with confidence that God is ultimately faithful. And that confidence is grounded in what the Lord has already done, namely, giving His Son into death for us and for our restoration. He has been faithful, and He will be faithful, in His time and in His way.

God’s Other Promises

Deuteronomy 2

            Have you ever had an event coming up and found yourself praying for good weather—sunshine, perfect temperature, the works? Have you ever stopped to consider that that same day a farmer might be praying for rain or for heat for his crops? What about a sporting event? Ever prayed for victory? What if the other guy is praying for victory too? (That one is something that irks me in sports: if you’re going to say, “God gave us victory,” you’d better be ready to say, “God gave us the loss,” too.) My point is simply this: the Lord listens to the prayers of all His people, and He has made promises to them, too. Sometimes what you want may conflict with what they need.

            I was thinking about that today as I read the several restrictions the Lord put on Israel: do not make war against Edom, Esau’s descendants; make sure to pay them for food and water. Do not make war against Moab; they are Lot’s descendants. Do not provoke the Ammonites; they also are Lot’s descendants. And the Lord had made promises to Esau and to Lot and to their descendants. Israel wasn’t the only people to whom the Lord was loyal; He kept all His promises.

            Now, as it happened, the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites did not return the favor. In the book of Judges, both the Ammonites and the Moabites oppressed the people of Israel. And there was bad blood between Israel and Edom for centuries. (The book of Obadiah has the Edomites’ betrayal of Israel as its major theme.) Still, at this juncture, the Lord honors His promises to their forefathers and He honors the blood ties that define these peoples.

            So what does that have to do with us? Consider the opening illustration: praying for just the right weather for our event assumes we’re the only ones God’s concerned about. Listen to the church’s prayers and we pray for seasonable, maybe even favorable, weather, but we leave the specifics to the Lord. In the matter of sports, we pray for sportsmanship and safety for both teams. There’s a certain humility in our prayer that says, “Father, I know what I want, but you know what I and everyone else needs. You have plans and purposes I know nothing about. So, here is my request, but your will be done.”

Introducing Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 1

            The title Deuteronomy literally means “second law.” The whole book is set in the land of Moab, just east of the Jordan River, where Moses gives what I like to call a pep talk. He retells Israel’s history, reminding them both of God’s goodness and their failures. He reiterates many of the laws that we have already heard. And he encourages them to faithfulness to those laws and to the Lord who gave them.

            Because a major theme of Deuteronomy is obedience, this is a good place to remind ourselves of the two covenants that Israel lived under: the covenant with Abraham and the covenant associated with Moses. Paul describes how we are supposed to understand the relationship between these two in Galatians 3-4. The covenant of Moses was the lesser of the two covenants. It was given specifically to Israel as a sort of guardian until the promise of the Savior was fulfilled, and it was conditional in nature: “Obey, and I will bless you and keep you in your land.” The covenant with Abraham was the greater of the two, having been given first, and being unconditional, simply the Lord’s promise that He would bless Abraham and all the peoples of the earth through him.

            Keeping these covenant straight is necessary and important because getting Deuteronomy wrong will lead to all sorts of bad beliefs. This book is a hotspot for passages that, if not understood correctly, will lead a person into all sorts of trouble. Deuteronomy, if not understood as Israel’s book, will lead us to think that God is very much into the quid pro quo, that He blesses you if you’re obedient and that He punishes you if you’re not. It’s a book that can be misused by the Joel Osteens and Joyce Meyers and the televangelists of the world. It’s a book that can lead you to think that your troubles are all because your faith isn’t strong enough and that if you had a stronger faith you’d be happy, healthy, and wise all the time. So, this distinction of the covenants and understanding them correctly is hugely important for understanding Deuteronomy and understanding our own life before God.

            Today’s reading, Deuteronomy 1, sees Moses retelling Israel’s story for a new generation. He tells of the command to set out from Mt. Sinai and of the appointment of leaders (very similar to Exodus 18). Then he reminds them of the rebellion by which they refused to take the land the Lord had promised. We have to remember that in Deuteronomy Moses is not speaking to the generation that rebelled but to that generation’s children. It is both a history lesson, “This is why we’re here,” and a warning, “The Lord doesn’t put up with that nonsense.” Moses’ line, “The little ones that you said would be taken captive will be the ones to enter the land,” (v. 39) reminds Moses’ listeners, “You now have the Lord’s promise.” And it’s the promises of God that give every generation of believers hope! In that promise, they will inherit the land.