Deuteronomy 9
9:1—10:11 This part of Moses’ speech rehearses the sins of the Israelites at Horeb (cf. Ex. 32).
9:2 the Anakim. Moses remembered the people’s shock when they heard the original report of the 12 spies concerning the size, strength, and number of the inhabitants of Canaan (Num. 13:26—14:6). Therefore, he emphasized that from a purely military and human point of view, their victory was impossible. The fear of the spies and the people focused on the Anakim, a tall, strong people who lived in the land of Canaan (see note on 1:28).
9:3 a consuming fire. The Lord was pictured as a fire which burned everything in its path. So the Lord would go over into Canaan and exterminate Canaanites. destroy them quickly. Israel was to be the human agent of the Lord’s destruction of the Canaanites. The military strength of the Canaanites would be destroyed quickly (see Josh. 6:1—11:23), though the complete subjugation of the Land would take time (see 7:22; Josh. 13:1).
9:4 Because of my righteousness. Three times in vv. 4–6, Moses emphasized that the victory was not because of Israel’s goodness, but was entirely the work of God. It was the wickedness of the Canaanites that led to their expulsion from the land (cf. Rom. 10:6).
9:6 a stiff-necked people. Lit. “hard of neck.” A figurative expression for the stubborn, intractable, obdurate, and unbending attitude of Israel. In vv. 7–29, Moses illustrated Israel’s rebellious attitude and actions toward the Lord.
9:7 Remember! Moses challenged Israel to call to mind the long history of their stubbornness and provocation of God which had extended from the time of the Exodus from Egypt for 40 years until the present moment on the Plains of Moab.
9:10 the finger of God. God Himself had written the Ten Commandments on the two tablets of stone at Mt. Sinai (see Ex. 31:18).
9:14 blot out their name from under heaven. God threatened to destroy the people of Israel so completely that He pictured it as an obliteration of all memory of them from the world of men. This threat was taken by Moses as an invitation to intercede for the children of Israel (Num. 14:11–19).
9:19 Cf. Heb. 12:21.
9:20 I prayed for Aaron. Moses interceded on behalf of Aaron, on whom the immediate responsibility for the Israelites’ sin of the golden calf rested. Aaron had thus incurred the wrath of God, and his life was in danger (see Ex. 32:1–6). This is the only verse in the Pentateuch which specifically states that Moses prayed for Aaron.
9:22 Taberah…Massah…Kibroth Hattaavah. These 3 places were all associated with Israel’s rebellion against the Lord. Taberah, “burning”, was where the people had complained of their misfortunes (Num. 11:1–3). At Massah, “testing,” they had found fault with everything and in presumption had put God to the test (Ex. 17:1–7). At Kibroth Hattaavah, “graves of craving,” the people had again incurred God’s anger by complaining about their food (Num. 11:31–35).
9:23 Kadesh Barnea. There they sinned by both lack of faith in God and disobedience (cf. Num. 13, 14).
9:24 You have been rebellious against the LORD. Moses concluded that his dealings with Israel as God’s mediator had been one of continual rebellion on Israel’s part, which led to his intercession (vv. 25–29).
9:28 the land from which You brought us. Moses’ prayer of intercession to the Lord on behalf of Israel appealed to the Lord to forgive His people because the Egyptians could have interpreted God’s destruction of Israel as His inability to fulfill His promise and His hate for His people.
Deuteronomy 10
10:1–3 two tablets of stone like the first. God had listened to Moses’ intercession and dealt mercifully with the Israelites who had broken the covenant by rewriting the Ten Commandments on two tablets prepared for that purpose by Moses. The second tablets were made of the same material and were the same size as the first.
10:1 an ark of wood. This refers to the ark of the covenant. Moses telescoped the events in these verses. Later, at the construction of the ark of the covenant, Moses placed the two new stone tablets within that ark (see Ex. 37:1–9).
10:6–9 These verses show that the priesthood of Aaron and service of the Levites were restored after the incident of the golden calf.
10:6 Moserah, where Aaron died. Aaron was not killed at Sinai, but lived until the 40th year of the Exodus, which shows the effectiveness of Moses’ intercession before the Lord (cf. Num. 20:22–29; 33:38, 39). After Aaron’s death, the priestly ministry continued in the appointment of Eleazar. Moserah is the district in which Mt. Hor stands, on which Aaron died (cf. Num. 20:27, 28; 33:38).
10:8 At that time. This refers to the time that Israel was at Mt. Sinai.
10:9 no portion. The family of Levi received no inheritance in the land of Canaan (see Num. 18:20, 24).
10:10, 11 Because of Moses’ intercession, not because of their righteousness, the Israelites were encamped on the banks of the Jordan, ready to enter the Promised Land.
10:12, 13 what does the LORD your God require of you…? This rhetorical question led into Moses’ statement of the 5 basic requirements that God expected of His people (cf. Mic. 6:8): 1) to fear the LORD your God. To hold God in awe and submit to Him; 2) to walk in all His ways. To conduct life in accordance with the will of God; 3) to love Him. To choose to set one’s affections on the Lord and on Him alone; 4) to serve the LORD your God. To have the worship of the Lord as the central focus of life; 5) to keep the commandments of the LORD. To obey the requirements the Lord had imposed.
10:14, 15 God, with the same sovereignty by which He controls all things, had chosen the patriarchs and the nation of Israel to be His special people.
10:16 Therefore circumcise…your heart. Moses called the Israelites to cut away all the sin in their hearts, as the circumcision surgery cut away the skin. This would leave them with a clean relationship to God (cf. 30:6; Lev. 26:40, 41; Jer. 4:4; 9:25; Rom. 2:29). See note on Jer. 4:4.
10:18 He administers justice. The sovereign, authoritative God is also impartial (v. 17), as seen in His concern for the orphan, the widow, and the alien (cf. Lev. 19:9–18; James 1:27).
10:20 to Him you shall hold fast. The verb means “to stick to,” “to cling to,” or “to hold onto.” As a husband is to be united to his wife (Gen. 2:24), so Israel was to cling intimately to her God.
10:22 seventy persons. See Ex. 1:5. One of the great and awesome things God had done for Israel was multiplying the 70 people who went to Egypt into a nation of over two million people.
Deuteronomy 11
11:2 your children. Moses distinguished between the adults and the children in his audience. The adults were those who had seen the Exodus from Egypt as children and had experienced the Lord’s discipline in the wilderness. It was to these adults that Moses could say, “your eyes have seen every great act of the Lord which He did” (v. 7). It was that specially blessed generation of adults that were called to pass on the teaching of what they had learned to their children (v. 19).
11:6 Dathan and Abiram. These two sons of Eliab, of the tribe of Reuben, had rebelled against the authority of Moses, the Lord’s chosen leader. The basis of their complaint was that Moses had brought Israel out of Egypt, a fertile and prosperous land, and not brought them into Canaan. Because of their rebellion against Moses, God had judged them by having the earth open and swallow them up (see Num. 16:12–14, 25–27, 31–33). God’s judgment of their rebellion was spoken of here by Moses in the context of his contrast between the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan (vv. 10–12).
11:10, 11 the land which you go to possess. The land of Canaan was different from Egypt. The land of Egypt depended upon the Nile River for its fertility. By contrast, the land of Canaan depended upon the rains that came from heaven for its fertility.
11:10 watered it by foot. Probably a reference to carrying water to each garden or the practice of indenting the ground with foot-dug channels through which irrigating water would flow.
11:13 Cf. 6:5.
11:14 I will give you the rain for your land. Since the land of Canaan
was dependent upon the rainfall for its fertility, God promised in response to Israel’s obedience to give them the rain necessary for that fertility (vv. 16, 17). the early rain and the latter rain. The early rain was the autumn rain from Oct. to Jan. The latter rain was the spring rain which came through Mar./Apr.
11:18–21 For the children and all subsequent generations, God’s great acts had not been seen “with their own eyes,” as had been the case for that first generation. God’s acts were to be “seen” for them in the Word of Scripture. It was to be in Moses’ words that the acts of God would be put before the eyes of their children. The first priority, therefore, was given to Scripture as the means of teaching the law and grace of God (cf. 6:6–9).
11:24 Every place…your foot treads. In response to the obedience of Israel (vv. 22, 23), the Lord promised to give to Israel all of the land they personally traversed to the extent of the boundaries that He had given. This same promise was repeated in Josh. 1:3–5. Had Israel obeyed God faithfully, her boundaries would have been enlarged to fulfill the promise made to Abraham (Gen. 15:18). But because of Israel’s disobedience, the complete promise of the whole land still remains, to be fulfilled in the future kingdom of Messiah (cf. Ezek. 36:8–38).
11:26–32 As a final motive for driving home the importance of obedience and trust in God, Moses gave instruction for a ceremony which the people were to carry out when they entered the Land. They were to read the blessings and the curses of the covenant on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal (see 27:1–14) as they actually would do later (Josh. 8:30–35).
Deuteronomy 12
12:1—26:19 Having delineated the general principles of Israel’s relationship with the Lord (5:1–11:32), Moses then explained specific laws that would help the people subordinate every area of their lives to the Lord. These instructions were given for Israel “to observe in the land” (12:1).
Deut. 12:1
Israel’s Calendar
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Abib/Nisan
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 1/7
Modern Equivalent: March/April
Characteristics: Latter Rains; Barley Harvest
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Ziv/Iyyar
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 2/8
Modern Equivalent: April/May
Characteristics: Dry Season Begins
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Sivan
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 3/9
Modern Equivalent: May/June
Characteristics: Wheat Harvest; Early Figs
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Tammuz
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 4/10
Modern Equivalent: June/July
Characteristics: Hot Season; Grape Harvest
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Ab
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 5/11
Modern Equivalent: July/August
Characteristics: Olive Harvest
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Elul
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 6/12
Modern Equivalent: August/September
Characteristics: Dates, Summer Figs
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Ethanim/Tishri
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 7/1
Modern Equivalent: September/October
Characteristics: Former Rains; Plowing Time
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Bul/Heshvan
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 8/2
Modern Equivalent: October/November
Characteristics: Rains; Wheat, Barley Sown
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Chislev
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 9/3
Modern Equivalent: November/December
Characteristics: Winter Begins
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Tebeth
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 10/4
Modern Equivalent: December/January
Characteristics: Rains
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Shebat
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 11/5
Modern Equivalent: January/February
Characteristics: Almond Trees Blossom
Month Pre-/Post-Exilic: Adar
Of Year Sacred/Civil: 12/6
Modern Equivalent: February/March
Characteristics: Latter Rains Begin; Citrus Harvest
12:1—16:17 The first specific instructions that Moses gives deal with the public worship of the Lord by Israel as they come into the Land.
12:1–32 Moses begins by repeating his instructions concerning what to do with the false worship centers after Israel had taken possession of the land of the Canaanites (see 7:1–6). They were to destroy them completely.
12:2 the high mountains…hills…every green tree. The Canaanite sanctuaries to be destroyed were located in places believed to have particular religious significance. The mountain or hill was thought to be the home of a god and by ascending the mountain, the worshiper was in some symbolic sense closer to the deity. Certain trees were considered to be sacred and symbolized fertility, a dominant theme in Canaanite religion.
12:3 their altars,…pillars,…wooden images…carved images. These were elements of Canaanite worship, which included human sacrifice (v. 31). If they remained, the people might mix the worship of God with those places (v. 4).
12:5 the place where the LORD your God chooses. Cf. vv. 11, 18, 21. Various places of worship were chosen after the people settled in Canaan, such as Mt. Ebal (27:1–8; Josh. 8:30–35), Shechem (Josh. 24:1–28) and Shiloh (Josh. 18:1), which was the center of worship through the period of Judges (Judg. 21:19). The tabernacle, the Lord’s dwelling place, was located in Canaan, where the Lord chose to dwell. The central importance of the tabernacle was in direct contrast to the multiple places (see v. 2) where the Canaanites practiced their worship of idols. Eventually, the tabernacle was brought to Jerusalem by David (cf. 2 Sam. 6:12–19).
12:6 See notes on Lev. 1–7 for descriptions of these various ceremonies.
12:7 eat…rejoice. Some of the offerings were shared by the priests, Levites, and the worshipers (cf. Lev. 7:15–18). The worship of God was to be holy and reverent, yet full of joy.
12:8 every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes. There seems to have been some laxity in the offering of the sacrifices in the wilderness which was not to be allowed when Israel came into the Promised Land. This self-centered attitude became a major problem in the time of Judges (cf. Judg. 17:6; 21:25).
12:15 slaughter…within all your gates. While sacrificial offerings were brought to the appointed centers for worship as well as the central sanctuary, the killing and eating of meat for regular eating could be engaged in anywhere. The only restriction on eating nonsacrificial meat was the prohibition of the blood and the fat.
12:17–19 All sacrifices and offerings had to be brought to the place chosen by God.
12:21 If the place…is too far. Moses envisioned the enlarging of the borders of Israel according to God’s promise. This meant that people would live further and further away from the central sanctuary. Except for sacrificial animals, all others could be slaughtered and eaten close to home.
12:23 the blood is the life. See Gen. 9:4–6 and Lev. 17:10–14. The blood symbolized life. By refraining from eating blood, the Israelite demonstrated respect for life and ultimately for the Creator of life. Blood, representing life, was the ransom price for sins. So blood was sacred and not to be consumed by the people. This relates to atonement in Lev. 16; Heb. 9:12–14; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; 1 John 1:7.
12:29, 30 Cf. 2 Cor. 6:14—7:1, where Paul gives a similar exhortation.
12:31 they burn even their sons and daughters. One of the detestable practices of Canaanite worship was the burning of their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to Molech (cf. Lev. 18:21; 20:2–5; 1 Kin. 11:7; 2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 32:35).
12:32 you shall not add…nor take away. See note on 4:2.
Deuteronomy 13
13:1–18 After the general prohibition of involvement in Canaanite worship (12:29–31), Moses discussed 3 ways in which the temptation to idolatry was likely to come to Israel: 1) through a false prophet (vv. 1–5); 2) through a family member (vv. 6–11); or 3) t
hrough apostates in some Canaanite city (vv. 12–18).
13:2 the sign or the wonder comes to pass. Miraculous signs alone were never meant to be a test of truth (cf. Pharaoh’s magicians in Ex. 7–10). A prophet or a dreamer’s prediction may come true, but if his message contradicted God’s commands, the people were to trust God and His Word rather than such experience. Let us go after other gods. The explicit temptation was to renounce allegiance to the Lord and go after other gods. The result of this apostasy would be the serving of these false gods by worshiping them, which would be in direct contradiction to the first commandment (5:7).
13:3 the LORD your God is testing you. God, in His sovereignty, allowed the false prophets to entice the people to apostasy to test the true disposition of the hearts of the Israelites. And while the temptation was dangerous, the overcoming of that temptation would strengthen the people in their love for God and obedience to His commandments. Cf. 6:5.
13:5 put away the evil from your midst. The object of the severe penalty was not only the punishment of the evildoer, but also the preservation of the community. Paul must have had this text in mind when he gave a similar command to the Corinthian church (cf. 1 Cor. 5:13; also Deut. 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21; 24:7).
Deut. 13:5
The Death Penalty
Crime Scripture Reference
1. Premeditated Murder Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:12-14, 22, 23
2. Kidnapping Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7
3. Striking or Cursing Parents Exodus 21:15; Leviticus 20:9; Proverbs 20:20; Matthew 15:4; Mark 7:10
4. Magic and Divination Exodus 22:18
5. Bestiality Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 20:15, 16
6. Sacrificing to False Gods Exodus 22:20
7. Profaning the Sabbath Exodus 35:2; Numbers 15:32-36
8. Offering Human Sacrifice Leviticus 20:2
9. Adultery Leviticus 20:10-21; Deuteronomy 22:22
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