Day 61: Deuteronomy 31, 32, 33 and 34

Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said (Deuteronomy 34:5).

Congratulations on reading through the Pentateuch – the Books of Moses. Although nowhere in these five books is it claimed that all these words were penned by Moses; for some the tradition alone is enough reason for fisticuffs with anyone who might dare suggest that perhaps Moses didn’t write them. Most scholars would agree that these books are the product of multiple oral traditions and, once written down, subject to several revisions before coming to their final form sometime in the sixth century BC.

So how did Moses report the details of his own death? Regarding the above verse there are basically three schools of thought: 1) Moses knew he was going to die and wrote these paragraphs prophetically; 2) Moses wrote the rest of the Pentateuch and someone else scribbled these few verses at the end; or 3) what I said in the preceding paragraph.

Whether or not Moses wrote these books should in no way impact our relationship with God. The authoritative Word of God is not threatened by asking questions. God can take it. He has big shoulders. The Bible can take it. How could I stake my life, both abundant and eternal, on it, if it couldn’t?

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Flip through the five books of Moses and this one book of Tim, reminiscing over what you’ve read, and ask God to remind you of any lessons he’s taught you so far.

Day 60: Deuteronomy 28, 29 and 30

Love the Lord your God, ...walk in his ways, and . . . keep his commands, decrees and laws (NIV 1984, Deuteronomy 30:16).

Chapter 30 is where the Deuteronomic Covenant comes to a head. The basic idea is that those who do right will be blessed while those who do wrong will be cursed. The rewards for compliance and the consequences for disobedience have been spelled out, and Moses asks for a decision: Choose life (v. 19).

It would be easy to suppose that Moses’ words in verse 16 are ordered in an arbitrary manner. In math it would be called the commutative property: a + b = b + a. That works with addition, but not in growing a relationship with God. The sequence in which Moses’ words are delivered is by no means coincidental, but deliberate. Legalism begins with summoning up the strength to keep a list of rules (commands, decrees and laws), thinking this is how we walk in God’s ways, and that somehow through this we’ll learn to love him. Holiness, on the other hand, begins with a heartfelt love for God, which can only be satisfied by walking with him. And if we walk with him, keeping his commands, decrees and laws will come naturally.

So what sounds better: struggling to follow a list of rules and regulations and seeing how far that gets you? Or falling in love with God and seeing where that leads?

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Think about times you’ve tried to start with following the rules, and times when you’ve let your love for God determine your choices. Which works better?

Day 59: Deuteronomy 25, 26 and 27

My father was a wandering Aramean (Deuteronomy 26:5).

In the waning days of their desert experience, the Israelites were anticipating how things would be different once they were settled in Canaan. Once they had taken the land, and moved into houses they had not built, and harvested gardens they had not planted, they were to bring the first fruits of the harvest to the priest as a tithe belonging to God. They were to speak these words: My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer . . . So the Lord brought us out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 26:5-8).

They were being reminded that while enjoying the blessings of God they should never forget their humble beginnings and how far God had brought them.

My grandfather was a poor man working oil leases, coal mines and railroads (whatever work he could find) in Western Pennsylvania. My father, brought up during the Great Depression, dropped out of high school so he could go to work and help support the family. I thank the Lord my kids are looking ahead to college degrees and anticipating all that life has waiting for them.

May we never forget our roots and with God’s help, how far we’ve come.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Where are your roots? How far has God brought you? Reflect on your heritage and thank him for it. And for how far he’s brought you.

Day 58: Deuteronomy 22, 23 and 24

If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him (NIV 1984, Deuteronomy 22:1).

There is a popular philosophy that can be summed up like this: Look out for #1. This sounds more like an advertisement for natural selection than it does the basis for an ethical system. The biblical writers take a different tack.

The writer of Deuteronomy records God’s admonition that rather than selfishly looking after our own interests, we are to care for our brothers and sisters. Our brother’s sheep that wanders away is our responsibility to return, even if no one’s looking. We are not to hide behind plausible deniability, but to do the right thing.

It goes on to say if we find an ox running loose and don’t know who owns it; we are to take it home, feed and care for it until we find out who it does belong to, and then return it. Although it might be easier to ignore the animal, more advantageous to take it as our own, or more tasty to enjoy a barbecue; that’s not the proper response for one who claims to be a follower of Christ.

I can’t remember the last time I came upon a wandering sheep or ox. So how does this apply to a 21^st century inhabitant of a major metropolitan area? Jesus put it this way: Do to others what you would have them do to you (Matthew 7:12).

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Pray for the Holy Spirit to show you opportunities to do the right thing today and all this week.

Day 57: Deuteronomy 19, 20 and 21

Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too (Deuteronomy 20:8).

Have you ever been spooked by a rumor? Most of the things we worry about never happen, and of those that do, almost none end up being as bad as we feared.

In Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first inaugural address, as the nation was sinking into the Great Depression, he uttered these words: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Those words have been repeated over and over, because of their simple profundity and for the comfort and assurance they afford.

Fear is contagious. Israel’s leadership didn’t want fear infecting the ranks of its volunteer army, so anxiety was a legitimate reason for being sent home. Better to lose one fearful soul than have panic spread to everyone else.

Fear can derail not only a nation’s (or an army’s) forward momentum; it can do the same to a church. So can negativity – one of fear’s byproducts. That’s why it’s so important to speak positively. A careless word can do a lot of damage.

For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control (NET, 2 Timothy 1:7). That means fear doesn’t get to tell us what to do. May our words, and the attitudes from which they are spawned, always move us forward and never hold us back.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

How can you encourage those around you? Make a point of doing just that. Put it in your calendar.

Day 56: Deuteronomy 16, 17 and 18

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you (Deuteronomy 18:15).

Moses’ life and ministry were coming to a close. He had led the people of Israel for forty years, confronting Pharaoh on behalf of his enslaved brothers and sisters, serving as the agent through whom God gave the Law to his people, and interceding for the nation. Now his work was almost finished. He would soon transfer leadership to Joshua.

The people must have been wondering, “Who will speak to God on our behalf? How will God communicate with us now that Moses is leaving us?” God reassures Moses, and Moses reassures the people: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him (18:15).

Although this role would be temporarily fulfilled by Joshua, Moses was not speaking about one specific person. Samuel Rolles Driver (1846-1914), Anglican Divine and Hebrew scholar, writes that Moses was referring to a permanent office rather than a particular individual [7]. As the need came up, God would raise up a prophet who would speak to the people on his behalf.

In the first century, the writer of Matthew went to great lengths to identify Jesus with Moses (Herod’s order to kill the baby boys, the Sermon on the Mount) and reveal that Moses-like prophet as none other than Jesus Christ himself.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Has God prompted someone to speak into your life? What are they saying?

Day 55: Deuteronomy 13, 14 and 15

There should be no poor among you (NIV 1984, Deuteronomy 15:4).

As noted earlier, our nation’s capital is full of homeless people. They make their beds at Union Station and near the White House (both obviously major tourist destinations). Every once in awhile, especially before a significant event, the Capital Police will push the poor out of these more visible locations, and relocate them elsewhere. After all, it doesn’t look good for the most prosperous nation in the world to have street people huddled beneath dirty blankets in front of tourists and TV cameras.

Chapter 15 speaks about the Sabbath year for cancelling debts. There should be no poor among you. It’s not the poor this passage is aimed at, but those with plenty. Deuteronomy does not blame the have-nots for their lot in life. It charges those with much to care for those with little. Do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need (Deuteronomy 15:7,8).

Why are so many Christians quick to quote Paul: The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but slow to quote Jesus: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me (Matthew 25:45)?

This section reminds me of Proverbs 19:17. If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord – and he will repay you! (NLT).

TODAY’S MEDITATION

How can you connect with the poor, and share with them from the blessings God has given you?

Day 54: Deuteronomy 10, 11 and 12

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? (Deuteronomy 10:12).

One thing I like about Deuteronomy is how it encapsulates the entire 40 year wilderness experience into 34 readable chapters. When reading Exodus through Numbers (especially Leviticus), it’s easy to think God is all about rules and regulations, but Deuteronomy distills it down to what’s really important: What does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? (Deuteronomy 10:12,13).

And did you catch that last part? …for your own good? That’s important for us to remember.

Israel’s neighbors were envious of its laws. The Law was seen as a sign of favor by Israel’s God, that he loved his people enough to give them boundaries in which to walk – a path leading to his blessing and kindness.

God created us to live in loving relationship with him and with people. When left to our own devices, we often abuse our freedoms and end up hurting other people, sometimes to the point of damaging those relationships – even unintentionally. But obeying God’s laws preserves and even restores them.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Have you ever damaged a relationship by neglecting God’s ways? Was it worth it? Are there relationships you need to mend this week?

Day 53: Deuteronomy 7, 8 and 9

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you (Deuteronomy 8:10).

The Israelites would soon inhabit a land to which their only connection was DNA, albeit generations removed. Although they had never set foot in Canaan, their ancestors were buried there, and Abraham had legally purchased property there ensuring an inheritance for his children and his children’s children in perpetuity.

The houses in which they would live, and the vineyards from which they would harvest, were not of their own making. Others had labored to build the cities and plant the gardens. Moses didn’t want his followers to take these things for granted. He wanted them to give credit where credit was due, and to express their thankfulness to God.

Because of the economic downturn beginning the second decade of the 21^st century, those of us with jobs are perhaps more aware of how much we have for which to be thankful than any time in recent history. But things are bound to improve – they always do. And when we are all breathing a little easier, and not constantly wondering if ours will be the next job lost, let’s think back on this difficult time, enjoy what we have, and remember to thank God for all the good things in our lives.

In fact, let’s pause to say, Thank You, right now.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

For what or for whom do you need to give thanks today? Show your gratitude (and at the same time encourage someone else) by sharing how you’ve been blessed.

Day 52: Deuteronomy 4, 5 and 6

If from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him (Deuteronomy 4:29).

We started the year with the premise that these writings came to their final form during the Babylonian exile. I asked you to put yourself in the place of a Jewish expatriate. Things haven’t been particularly rough in Babylon; you’ve settled down, raised a family, and been relatively prosperous – but inside you is a longing for home. The faraway look in your parents’ eyes when speaking of Jerusalem has made you vow to return there if you ever get the chance.

Now there are rumors that your fantasy may soon become reality. Whoever wants may return to Judah with the new king’s blessing. To prepare, the priests have been reading stories from Israel’s beginnings – stories of enslavement and escape, temptation and failure, desert wanderings and battles of conquest.

These stories explain why Judah was exiled seventy years ago. It was her unwillingness to obey the first commandment: You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3). But these stories also include a promise: Even if you’ve been scattered among the nations, …seek the Lord your God, [and] you will find him.

It was a reminder that Yahweh would not be trifled with, and a promise that Israel would not be forgotten. You vow that if you ever see Jerusalem you will not make the same mistakes as did your parents and grandparents.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Are there lessons you should be learning from your mistakes? …from the mistakes of others?

Day 51: Deuteronomy 1, 2 and 3

It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road (Deuteronomy 1:2).

Just a parenthetical note, that’s all. Apparently common knowledge – It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road. It was from Kadesh Barnea, the southern entrance to Canaan, the spies were dispatched to survey the Promised Land. It was at Kadesh Barnea the people balked at going in and taking what was rightfully theirs.

It takes stamina, determination and careful planning to squeeze an eleven-day journey into forty years.

The people who followed Moses out of Egypt were not prepared to follow him into Canaan – not once the cold reality of battle and hardship pierced the fog of their naïve expectations. They were slaves, not soldiers, and they needed to grow up if they were ever to claim their inheritance.

There may be times in our lives when it seems things are taking longer than they should, when we take inventory of our lives and insist we should have come further and accomplished more. Rather than becoming frustrated, those are the times we need to remember that God alone knows how far we’ve really traveled and the battles we’ve fought to get from where we were to where we are now.

The straight-line distance from where we started to where we end up may not tell the whole story of how far we’ve come.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Acknowledge God’s presence in your journey, and thank him for bringing you this far.

Day 61: Deuteronomy 31, 32, 33 and 34

Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. (Deuteronomy 34:5)

Congratulations on reading through the Pentateuch - the Books of Moses. Although nowhere in these five books is it claimed that all these words were penned by Moses, because they are called the Books of Moses there are those who would fight anyone who suggested that maybe Moses didn't write them. Most scholars would agree that these books are the product of several oral traditions and, once written down, subject to several revisions before coming to their final form sometime in the 6th century B.C.

So how did Moses report the details of his own death? Regarding the above verse there are basically three schools of thought. 1) Moses knew he was going to die and wrote these paragraphs prophetically; 2) Moses wrote the rest of the Pentateuch and someone else scribbled these few verses at the end; or 3) what I said in the preceding paragraph.

The idea that Moses wrote these books is merely a matter of tradition, and in no way does it impact our relationship with God either way. The authoritative word of God is not threatened by asking questions. God can take it. He has big shoulders. The Bible can take it. How could I stake my life, both abundant and eternal, on it, if it couldn’t?

You’ve reached a milestone. You've read the Pentateuch; most people have not. You're the expert now, so what do you think?

Day 60: Deuteronomy 28, 29 and 30

Love the Lord your God, ...walk in his ways, and . . . keep his commands, decrees and laws. (Deuteronomy 30:16)

Chapter 30 is where the Deuteronomic Covenant comes to a head. The basic idea is that those who do right will be blessed while those who do wrong will be cursed. The rewards for compliance and the consequences for disobedience have been spelled out, and Moses asks for a decision. Choose life.

It would be easy to suppose that Moses’ words in verse 16 are ordered in an arbitrary manner. In math it would be called the commutative property: a + b = b + a. That works with addition, but not in growing a relationship with God. The sequence in which Moses’ words are delivered is by no means coincidental, but deliberate. Legalism begins with summoning up the strength to keep a list of rules (commands, decrees and laws), thinking this is how we walk in God's ways, and that somehow through this we'll learn to love him. Holiness, on the other hand, begins with a heartfelt love for God, which can only be satisfied by walking with him. And if we walk with him, keeping his commands, decrees and laws will come naturally.

So what sounds better: struggling to follow a list of rules and regulations and seeing how far that gets you? Or falling in love with God and seeing where that leads?

What will you choose?

Day 59: Deuteronomy 25, 26 and 27

My father was a wandering Aramean. (Deuteronomy 26:5)

In the waning days of their desert experience, the Israelites were anticipating how things would be different once they were settled in Canaan. Once they had taken the land, and moved in to houses they had not built, and harvested gardens they had not planted, they were to bring the first fruits of the harvest to the priest as a tithe belonging to God. They were to speak these words: My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Eqyptians mistreated us and made us suffer . . . So the Lord brought us out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 26:5-8).

They were being reminded that while enjoying the blessings of God they should never forget their humble beginnings and how far God had brought them.

My grandfather was a poor man working oil leases, coal mines and railroads (whatever work he could find) in Western Pennsylvania. My father, brought up during the Great Depression, dropped out of high school so he could go to work and help support the family. I thank the Lord my kids are looking ahead to college degrees and anticipating all that life has waiting for them.

May we never forget our roots and with God's help, how far we've come.

Where are your roots? How far has God brought you?

Day 58: Deuteronomy 22, 23 and 24

If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. (Deuteronomy 22:1)

There is a popular philosophy that can be summed up like this: Look out for #1. This sounds more like an advertisement for natural selection than it does the basis for an ethical system. The biblical writers take a different tack.

The writer of Deuteronomy records God’s admonition that rather than selfishly looking after our own interests, we are to care for our brothers and sisters. Our brother’s sheep that wanders away is our responsibility to return, even if no one’s looking. We are not to hide behind plausible deniability, but to do the right thing.

It goes on to say if we find an ox running loose and don’t know who owns it; we are to take it home, feed and care for it until we find out who it does belong to, and then return it. Although it might be easier to ignore the animal, or more advantageous to take it as our own, that’s not the way for one who claims a relationship with God.

I can’t remember the last time I came upon a wandering sheep or ox. So how does this apply to a 21^st century inhabitant of a major metropolitan area? Jesus put it this way: Do to others what you would have them do to you (Matthew 7:12).

Seen any wandering oxen lately?

Day 57: Deuteronomy 19, 20 and 21

Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his brothers will not become disheartened too. (Deuteronomy 20:8)

Have you ever been spooked by a rumor? Most of the things we worry about never happen, and of those that do, almost none end up being as bad as we feared.

In Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first inaugural address, as the nation was sinking into the Great Depression, he uttered these words: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Those words have been repeated over and over, because of their profundity and for the comfort and assurance they afford.

Fear is contagious. Israel’s leadership didn’t want fear infecting the ranks of its volunteer army, so anxiety was a legitimate reason for being sent home. Better to lose one fearful soul than have panic spread to everyone else.

Fear can derail not only a nation’s (or an army’s) forward momentum; it can do the same to a church. So can negativity – one of fear’s byproducts. That’s why it’s so important to speak positively. A careless word can do a lot of damage.

For he has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). That means fear doesn’t get to tell us what to do. May our words, and the attitudes from which they are spawned, always move us forward and never hold us back.

Are your words an encouragement to those around you?

Day 56: Deuteronomy 16, 17 and 18

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. (Deuteronomy 18:15)

Moses’ life and ministry were coming to a close. He had led the people of Israel for forty years, confronting Pharaoh on behalf of his enslaved brothers and sisters, serving as the agent through which God gave the Law to his people, and interceding for the nation. Now his work was almost finished. He would soon transfer leadership to Joshua.

The people must have been wondering, Who will speak to God on our behalf? How will God communicate with us now that Moses is leaving us? God reassures Moses, and Moses reassures the people: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him (18:15).

Although this role would be temporarily fulfilled by Joshua, Moses was not speaking about one specific person. Samuel Rolles Driver (1846-1914), Anglican Divine and Hebrew scholar, writes that Moses was referring to a permanent office rather than a particular individual [1]. As the need came up, God would raise up a prophet who would speak to the people on his behalf.

In the first century, the writer of Matthew went to great lengths to identify Jesus with Moses (Herod’s order to kill the baby boys, the Sermon on the Mount) and reveal that Moses-like prophet as none other than Jesus Christ himself.

Is there someone speaking into your life on God's behalf?

[1] S. R. Driver. Deuteronomy. “The International Critical Commentary.” (Edinburgh, T & T Clark, n.d.), 227.

Day 55: Deueteronomy 13, 14 and 15

There should be no poor among you. (Deuteronomy 15:4)

Our nation’s capital is full of homeless people. They make their beds at Union Station and near the White House (both obviously major tourist destinations). Every once in awhile, especially before a significant event, the Capital Police will push the poor out of these more visible locations, and relocate them elsewhere. After all, it doesn’t look good for the most prosperous nation in the world to have street people huddled beneath dirty blankets in front of tourists and TV cameras.

Chapter 15 speaks about the Sabbath year for cancelling debts. There should be no poor among you. It's not the poor this passage is aimed at, but those with plenty. Deuteronomy does not blame the have-nots for their lot in life. It charges those with much to care for those with little. Do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs (Deuteronomy 15:7,8).

Why are so many Christians quick to quote Paul: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but slow to quote Jesus: “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25:45)?

This section reminds me of Proverbs 19:17 - If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord - and he will repay you!

When’s the last time you looked the other way rather than connecting with the poor?

Day 54: Deuteronomy 10, 11 and 12

And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? (Deuteronomy 10:12)

One thing I like about Deuteronomy is how it encapsulates the entire 40 year wilderness experience into 34 readable chapters. When reading Exodus through Numbers (especially Leviticus), it's easy to think God is all about rules and regulations, but Deuteronomy boils it down to what's really important: What does the Lord ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? (Deuteronomy 10:12,13)

And did you catch that last part? For your own good? That's important for us to remember.

Israel’s neighbors were envious of its laws. The Law was seen as a sign of favor by Israel’s God, that he loved his people enough to give them boundaries in which to walk – a path leading to his blessing and kindness.

God created us to live in loving relationship with him and with people. When left to our own devices, we often abuse our freedoms and end up hurting other people, sometimes to the point of damaging those relationships – even unintentionally. But obeying God's laws preserves and even restores them.

Have you ever damaged a relationship by neglecting God’s laws? Was it worth it?

Day 53: Deuteronomy 7, 8 and 9

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. (Deuteronomy 8:10)

The Israelites would soon be inhabiting a land to which they were connected only by DNA. Although they had never set foot in Canaan, their ancestors were buried there, and Abraham had legally purchased property therein ensuring an inheritance for his children and his children's children in perpetuity.

The houses in which they would live and the vineyards from which they would harvest were not of their own making. Others had labored to build the cities and plant the gardens. Moses didn't want his followers to take these things for granted. He wanted them to give credit where credit was due, and to express their thankfulness to God.

During this economic downturn beginning the second decade of the 21st century, those of us with jobs are perhaps more aware of how much we have to be thankful for than any time in recent history. But things are bound to improve – they always do. And when we are all breathing a little easier, and not constantly wondering if ours will be the next job lost, let's think back on this difficult time, be thankful for what we have, and remember to thank God for all the good things in our lives.

In fact, let's pause to say, Thank You, right now.

For what or for whom do you need to give thanks today?