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The Story of the Book of Deuteronomy Like You_ve Never Seen Before · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: Imagine standing at the edge of destiny, where one man's
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  final words would echo through eternity. Deuteronomy isn't just another book.
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  It's the pivotal moment that shapes everything. Here Moses delivers
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  humanity's most crucial choice, life or death, blessing or curse.
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  This book predicts Israel's future with shocking accuracy, establishes the
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  foundation for all biblical prophecy, and reveals God's ultimate plan
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  for redemption. Jesus quoted it more than any other book.
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  Kings rose and fell by its words, Nations were born
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  from its promises. What you're about to discover will revolutionize
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  how you see Scripture itself. The future of humanity was
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  decided here in these final speeches of the greatest prophet
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  who ever lived. Are you ready to witness the moment
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  that changed everything? The sun was setting over the wilderness
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  as Moses stood before an enormous crowd. After forty long
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  years of wandering, the people of Israel had finally reached
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  the plains of Moab. They could see the promised land
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  just across the Jordan River, so close they could almost
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  touch it. But Moses knew something they didn't. He would
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  never cross that river with them. In the first chapter
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  of Deuteronomy, verse one, we read that Moses spoke to
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  all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness. This wasn't
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  just another ordinary gathering. This was the moment Moses had
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  been preparing for his entire life. He was one hundred
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  twenty years old, and God had already told him his
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  time was coming to an end. The location was carefully chosen.
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  They were in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peior,
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  near Suf, between Paran and Toefel, Labin, Hazarath, and Daizahab.
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  These weren't random places. Each location held memories of God's
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  faithfulness and Israel's struggles during their journey. Moses looked out
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  at the sea of faces before him. These weren't the
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  same people who had left Egypt forty years earlier. Most
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  of the older generation had died in the wilderness because
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  of their rebellion. Now he was speaking to their children
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  and grandchildren, a new generation who had grown up hearing
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  stories of Egypt, but had never lived as slaves themselves.
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  As Chapter one, verse three tells us, it was the
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  fortieth year in the eleventh month, on the first day
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  of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of
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  Israel according to all that the Lord had given him
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  as commandments to them. The timing was perfect. They had
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  just defeated two powerful kings east of the Jordan, and
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  their confidence was high. It was time for Moses to
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  pass on everything God had taught him. He began to speak,
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  and his voice carried across the vast assembly. These would
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  be his final words to the nation he had led
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  for four decades. Word mattered. Every story he was about
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  to tell would shape how they understood their identity and
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  their future. Moses's mind drifted back to where it all began,
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  Mount Horeb, the Mountain of God. That's where everything changed
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  for Israel. As he recounted in Chapter one, verse six,
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  the Lord, their God spoke to them at Horeb, saying
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  they had dwelt long enough at this mountain. Picture the scene.
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  Israel had been camped at the base of Mount Sinai
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  for almost a year. They had received the Ten Commandments,
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  built the tabernacle, and learned how to worship God properly.
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  But God never intended for them to stay there forever.
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  He had bigger plans. The command was simple and direct,
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  as Moses explained in verses seven and eight, turn and
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  take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amas,
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  to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the
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  mountains and in the lowland, in the south and on
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  the sea shore, to the land of the Canaanites, and
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  to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See,
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  I have set the land before you go in and
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  possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers.
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  This wasn't just a suggestion, was a divine command. God
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  was literally telling them to pack up and move toward
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  their destiny. The land was already theirs by promise. They
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  just had to go and take it. But Moses knew
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  that leading over two million people wasn't a job for
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  one man, so he reminded them how he had told
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  them in verse nine, I cannot alone bear you. The
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  burden was too heavy for one person to carry. He
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  needed help. That's when Moses had set up a system
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  of leadership. He told them to choose wise, understanding and
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  knowledgeable men from their tribes, and he would make them
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  heads over them. As verse thirteen records. They answered and
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  said it was a good thing to do. So, Moses
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  took the heads of their tribes, wise and knowledgeable men,
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  and made them heads over them leaders of thousands, leaders
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  of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers
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  for their tribes. This wasn't just about organization, It was
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  about preparing them for the challenges ahead. He charged these
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  judges in verse seventeen, saying they should not show partiality
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  in judgment, but hear the small as well as the great.
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  They should not be afraid in any man's presence, for
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  the judgment belonged to God. This was serious business. They
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  were representing God's justice to his people. Moses's voice grew
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  heavy as he continued his story. What happened next was
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  one of the most heart breaking moments in Israel's history.
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  They had come so close to entering the Promised Land,
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  but fear destroyed everything. As Moses recounted in Chapter one,
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  verse nineteen, they departed from Horeb and went through all
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  that great and terrible wilderness. When they came to Kadesh Barnaya,
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  Moses told them in verse twenty one that the Lord
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  their God had set the land before them, and they
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  should go up and possess it. As the Lord God
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  of their fathers had spoken to them, they shouldn't fear
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  or be discouraged. But the people weren't satisfied with God's
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  word alone. In verse twenty two, they came near to
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  Moses and said they wanted to send men before them
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  to search out the land and bring back word of
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  the way they should go up and the cities they
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  would come to. The plans seemed reasonable to Moses, so
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  he took twelve men from them, one man from each tribe.
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  These men went up into the mountains and came to
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  the valley of Eshcol and spied it out. They even
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  brought back fruit from the land in their hands, and
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  said in verse twenty five that it was a good
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  land which the Lord their God was giving them. Everything
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  should have gone perfectly. From there. They had proof that
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  the land was good, just as God had promised. But
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  that's when fear took over. The spies came back with
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  terrifying reports. Yes, the land was good, but the people
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  who lived there were strong, and their cities were great
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  and fortified. They had seen the descendants of a knock there,
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  giants who made them feel like grasshoppers. In verse twenty six,
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  Moses sadly recalled that they would not go up, but
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  rebelled against the commandment of the Lord their God. Instead
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  of trusting in God's power, they complained in their tents
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  and said in verse twenty seven that the Lord hated
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  them and had brought them out of the land of
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  Egypt to deliver them into the hand of the Amorites
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  to destroy them. The people's fears spread like wildfire. They
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  asked where they could go up, saying their brethren had
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  discouraged their hearts by reporting that the people were greater
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  and taller than them, the cities were great and fortified
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  up to heaven, and they had seen the sons of
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  the Anachim there. Moses tried to encourage them. In verse
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  twenty nine. He said they should not be terrified or
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  afraid of them. The Lord their God, who went before them,
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  would fight for them, according to all he had done
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  for them in Egypt before their eyes, and in the wilderness,
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  where they had seen how the Lord their God carried
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  them as a man carries his son, in all the
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  way that they went until they came to this place.
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  But it was too late. The damage was done. Even
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  with all these reassurances, verse thirty two tells us that
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  in this thing and they did not believe the Lord,
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  their god. The consequences of that moment of unbelief were
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  swift and severe. Moses's voice carried the weight of forty
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  years of sorrow as he continued the story. God's anger
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  burned against that generation, and he made a solemn oath
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  that would change everything. In verse thirty four, Moses explained
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  that the Lord heard the sound of their words and
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  was angry and swore an oath, saying that certainly none
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  of these men of this evil generation would see that
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  good land which he swore to give to their fathers.
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  Only Caleb would see it, because he had wholly followed
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  the Lord. The Lord was also angry with Moses for
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  their sake, saying in verse thirty seven that he also
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  would not go in there. Instead, Joshua, who stood before him,
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  would go in there, and Moses should encourage him, for
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  he would cause Israel to inherit it. But there was
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  hope for the future. The little ones, who they said
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  would be victims, their children, who to day had no
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  knowledge of good and evil. They would go in there.
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  To them God would give it, and they would possess it.
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  This began the longest time out in human history. As
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  Moses recounted in Chapter two, verse one, they turned and
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  journeyed into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea,
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  as the Lord spoke to him, and they skirted Mountsaier
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  for many days. For nearly four decades, they wandered in circles.
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  It wasn't aimless wandering, though. God was teaching them lessons
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  they couldn't learn any other way. He was preparing a
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  new generation who would trust him completely. In verse seven,
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  Moses reminded them that the Lord their God had blessed
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  them in all the work of their hands. He knew
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  their trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years, the
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  Lord their God had been with them, and they lacked nothing.
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  It was a time of testing, but also a time
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  of provision. God's presence never left them. Their clothes didn't
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  wear out, their feet didn't swell. Every day, mana fell
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  from heaven to feed them. Water flowed from rocks to
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  quench their thirst. The older generation gradually passed away, exactly
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  as God had said they would. It was sad, but
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  it was also necessary. The new generation was watching and learning.
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  They were seeing that God always keeps his word, whether
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  it's a promise or a warning. Moses told them in
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  verse fourteen that the time they took to come from
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  Kadesh Barneya until they crossed over the valley of the
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  Zeith was thirty eight years. But now Moses's tone changed completely.
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  The sadness was replaced with excitement as he told them
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  about their recent victories. After forty years of wandering, God
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  was finally ready to give them some winds. The time
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  of discipline was over and the time of conquest was beginning.
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  As they approached the land of the Amorites, Moses told
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  them in chapter two, verse twenty four that they should rise,
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  take their journey and cross over the river Arnon. God
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  had given into their hand Sihon, the Amorite King of Heshbon,
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  and his land. They should begin to possess it and
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  engage him in battle. This was the moment everything changed.
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  For forty years, they had been told to avoid conflict
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  with other nations. Now God was telling them to fight.
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  It was a sign that their time of waiting was over.
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  Moses sent messengers from the wilderness of Ketamoth to Sihon,
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  King of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying in verse
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  twenty seven that they would like to pass through his
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  land on the highway and would not turn aside to
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  the right hand or to the left. He would sell
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  them food for money that they might eat then and
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  give them water for money that they might drink. They
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  only wanted to pass through on foot. It seemed like
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  a reasonable request. They weren't asking for anything for free.
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  They just wanted safe passage through his territory. But Saihan's
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  heart was hardened by the Lord, as verse thirty explains,
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  because the Lord wanted to deliver him into their hand.
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  Sihan refused their request and came out against them with
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  all his people to fight at Jahaz. But the Lord
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  their God delivered him over to them, and they defeated him,
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  his sons, and all his people. At that time, they
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  took all his cities, and they utterly destroyed the men,
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  women and children of every city. They left none remaining.
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  The victory was complete and total. They only took the
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  livestock as plunder for themselves, and the spoil of the cities,
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  which they took from Aroer, which is on the bank
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  of the river Arnon, and from the city that is
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  in the Ravine. As far as Gilead, there was not
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  one city too strong for them. The Lord their God
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  delivered all to them. But that was just the beginning.
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  Next came an even bigger challenge, Og, King of Bashan.
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  This king was a giant among giants, and his kingdom
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  seemed impossible to conquer. But God had other plans. In
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  Chapter three, verse one, Moses recounted how they turned and
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  went up the road to Bashan. So Og King of Bashan,
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  came out against them. He and all his people to
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  battle at Edre. But the Lord said to Moses in
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  verse two that he should not fear him, for he
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  had delivered him and all his people and his land
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  into his hand. He should do to him as he
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  had done to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt
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  at Heshbon. The battle was even more decisive than the
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  first one. They utterly destroyed them, as verse six explains,
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  they utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city,
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  just as they had done to Sihon, King of Heshbon.
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  But all the live stock and the spoil of the
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  cities they took as booty for themselves. When the dusts settled,
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  they had conquered an enormous territory. They took all his cities.
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  At that time. There was not a city which they
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  did not take from them, sixty cities, all the region
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  of Argob, the Kingdom of Og in Bashan. With these
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  massive victories fresh in every one's memory, it was time
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  to make some important decisions. Moses knew his time was
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  running and there were practical matters that needed to be
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  settled before they crossed the Jordan. The tribes of Reuben
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  and Gad came to Moses with a request. They had
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  large herds of livestock, and the land they had just
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  conquered was perfect for raising cattle. In verse twelve, Moses
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  explained how he gave this land at that time from Afroer,
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  which is by the river Arnun, and half the mountains
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  of Gilead and its cities. He gave to the Rubenites
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  and the Gedites. The rest of Gilead and all Bashan.
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  The kingdom of Og he gave to half the tribe
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  of Manassa. This was prime real estate, some of the
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  best grazing land in the region. But there was one
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  important condition attached to this gift. Moses commanded them at
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  that time, saying in verse eighteen that the Lord their
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  God had given them this land to possess. All who
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  were men of valor should cross over armed before their brethren.
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  The children of Israel. Only their wives, their little ones,
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  and their live stock should stay in the cities which
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  he had given them, until the Lord had given rest
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  to their brethren as to them, and they also possessed
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  the land which the Lord their God was giving them
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  beyond the Jordan. Then each man could return to his
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  possession which Moses had given him. This was a test
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  of their unity as a nation. Even though these tribes
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  had received their inheritance early, they couldn't just settle down
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  and forget about their brothers. They had to help finish
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  the job of conquering the promised land. But Moses also
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  knew that his own role in this story was coming
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  to an end. In verse twenty three, he told them
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  how he pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying
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  in verse twenty five, O, Lord God, you have begun
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  to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand.
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  For what God is there in heaven or on earth,
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  who can do anything like your works and your mighty deeds.
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  Moses desperately wanted to see the promised land. He begged
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  God in verse twenty five, I pray, let me cross
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  over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those
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  pleasant mountains and Lebanon. After everything he had been through
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  with this people, after forty years of leading them through
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  the wilderness, he wanted to see the end of the story.
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  But God's answer was firm and final. The Lord was
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  angry with Moses for their sake and would not listen
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  to him. Instead, God told him in verse twenty seven
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  to go up to the top of Pisgah and lift
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  up his eyes toward the west, the north, the south,
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  and the east. Behold it with his eyes, for he
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  would not cross over this Jordan. The leadership transition was beginning.
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  Moses was commanded to encourage Joshua and strengthen him, for
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  he would go over before this people, and he would
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  cause them to inherit the land which Moses would see.
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  As Moses continued his speech, his focus shifted from the
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  past to the future. He had told them where they
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  had been and what God had done for them. Now
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  he needed to prepare them for what was coming next.
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  The lessons of the wilderness were about to be tested
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  in a whole new way. In chapter four, verse one,
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  Moses's voice became urgent. Now, O Israel, listen to the
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  statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe,
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  that you may live and go in and possess the
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  land which the Lord, God of your fathers is giving you.
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  This wasn't just good advice. It was a matter of
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  life and death. Everything depended on their willingness to obey
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  God's commands completely. Moses warned them in verse two not
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  to add to the word which he commanded them, nor
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  take from it, that they might keep the commandments of
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  the Lord their God which he commanded them. They had
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  already seen what happened when people disobeyed God. Moses reminded
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  them in verse three that their eyes had seen what
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  the Lord did at bal Payor, for the Lord their
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  God destroyed from among them all the men who followed
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  bal of Peor. But those who held fast to the
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  Lord their God were alive, every one of them that day.
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  The contrast couldn't be clearer. Obedience led to life and blessing,
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  Disobedience led to death and destruction. There was no middle
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  ground with God. Moses told them in verse five that
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  he had taught them statutes and judgments, just as the
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  Lord his God commanded him, that they should act according
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  to them in the land which they were going to possess.
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  This wasn't human wisdom, This was divine instruction for how
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  to live successfully in the promised land. He encouraged them
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  in verse six to observe and do them carefully, for
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  this would be their wisdom and their understanding in the
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  sight of the peoples, who would hear all these statutes
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  and say, surely, this great nation is a wise and
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  understanding people. Other nations would be watching them. If they
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  followed God's laws. The whole world would see the difference
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  and be amazed. They would become a living advertisement for
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  the wisdom and goodness of their God. Moses asked them
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  in verse seven, for what great nation is there that
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  has God so near to it as the Lord our
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  God is to us, for whatever reason we may call
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  upon him. No other people in history had ever experienced
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  the kind of relationship with God that Israel enjoyed. And
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  what great nation was there that had such statutes and
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  righteous judgments as all this law which Moses set before
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  them that day God's laws weren't burdensome restrictions. They were
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  the secret to national success and prosperity. But Moses also
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  gave them a sobering warning. He told them in verse
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  nine to take heed to themselves and diligently keep their souls,
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  lest they forget the things their eyes had seen unless
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  they depart from their hearts all the days of their lives.
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  They should teach them to their children and their grandchildren.
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  Before Moses finished this section of his speech, he needed
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  to address some practical matters and remind them of the
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  foundation of their relationship with God. The conquest was coming,
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  but they needed to be prepared for life after the victory.
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  In verse forty one, Moses set apart three cities on
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  the east side of the Jordan toward the rising of
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  the sun, that the man slayer might flee there who
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  kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in time past,
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  and that by fleeing to one of these cities he
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  might live. These cities of refuge were an amazing demonstration
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  of God's mercy. Even in cases of accidental death, there
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  was provision for justice and protection. The cities were bezer
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  in the wilderness on the Plateau for the Reubenites, Ramath
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  and Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for
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  the Monassites. But Moses knew that practical laws meant nothing
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  without a proper understanding of their relationship with God, so
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  he took them back to the beginning, to Mount Horeb,
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  where everything started. In Chapter five, verse two, Moses declared
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  that the Lord, their God, made a covenant with them
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  in Horeb. This was an ancient history. It was the
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  living foundation of their national identity. The Lord didn't make
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  this covenant with their fathers, but with them those who
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  were there alive that day. Moses reminded them that the
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  Lord talked with them face to face on the mountain
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  from the midst of the fire. He stood between the
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  Lord and them at that time to declare to them
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  the word of the Lord, for they were afraid because
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  of the fire and did not go up the mountain.
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  Then Moses repeated the ten commandments in full, exactly as
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  God had spoken them from the mountain. These weren't suggestions
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  or guidelines. They were the fundamental laws that would govern
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  their s society. When Moses finished reciting them, he told
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  them in verse twenty two that these words the Lord
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  spoke to all their assembly in the mountain from the
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  midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness,
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  with a loud voice. And he added no more. He
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  wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them
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  to Moses. The people's response to hearing God's voice directly
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  was immediate and intense. In verse twenty four, they said
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  that the Lord their God had shown them his glory
• 25:36
  and his greatness, and they had heard his voice from
• 25:40
  the midst of the fire. They had seen that day
• 25:43
  that God speaks with man, yet he still lives. But
• 25:48
  they were also terrified. They asked Moses in verse twenty
• 25:53
  five why they should die, for this great fire would
• 25:56
  consume them if they heard the voice of the Lord
• 25:59
  their God, any more than they would die. They begged
• 26:04
  Moses to go near and hear all, that the Lord
• 26:06
  their God might say and speak to them, all that
• 26:10
  the Lord their God would speak to him, and they
• 26:13
  would hear and do it. God was pleased with their response.
• 26:19
  In verse twenty eight, the Lord heard the voice of
• 26:22
  their words when they spoke to Moses, and the Lord
• 26:26
  said to him, I have heard the voice of the
• 26:29
  words of this people which they have spoken to you.
• 26:34
  They are right in all that they have spoken. But
• 26:38
  God also knew their hearts. He continued in verse twenty nine, Oh,
• 26:44
  that they had such a heart in them that they
• 26:46
  would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that
• 26:49
  it might be well with them and with their children forever.
• 26:54
  Moses shifted his tone as he began to speak about
• 26:57
  something deeply personal to every person's standing before him. The
• 27:02
  wilderness years weren't just ancient history. They were the defining
• 27:06
  experience of this generation. Every scar, every lesson, every moment
• 27:12
  of God's provision had shaped who they were. In Chapter eight,
• 27:16
  verse two, Moses told them to remember that the Lord,
• 27:20
  their God led them all the way these forty years
• 27:23
  in the wilderness to humble them and test them, to
• 27:28
  know what was in their heart, whether they would keep
• 27:30
  his commandments or not. This wasn't random suffering, It was
• 27:35
  purposeful training. The testing had been intense and personal. Moses
• 27:41
  explained in verse three that God humbled them, allowed them
• 27:45
  to hunger, and fed them with manna, which they did
• 27:48
  not know, nor did their fathers know, that he might
• 27:52
  make them know that man shall not live by bread alone.
• 27:56
  But man lives by every word that proceeds from the
• 27:59
  mouth of them. The Lord, think about it. An entire
• 28:04
  generation had grown up eating food that fell from the
• 28:06
  sky every morning. They had never planted crops, never harvested grain,
• 28:12
  never baked bread the normal way. God had fed them
• 28:16
  supernaturally for four decades to teach them a simple truth.
• 28:21
  They needed his word more than they needed food. The
• 28:26
  miracles hadn't stopped with food. Moses reminded them in verse
• 28:31
  four that their garments did not wear out on them,
• 28:34
  nor did their feet swell these forty years. Imagine wearing
• 28:39
  the same clothes for forty years and having them look
• 28:42
  brand new every day. Their shoes never got holes, their
• 28:47
  feet never got blisters from walking thousands of miles through
• 28:50
  the desert. But Moses wanted them to understand the deeper
• 28:55
  purpose behind all these miracles. In verse five, he told
• 29:00
  them to know in their heart that as a man
• 29:03
  chastens his son, so the Lord, their God, chastens them.
• 29:08
  This wasn't punishment for punishment's sake. It was a loving
• 29:11
  father preparing his children for their inheritance. The land they
• 29:17
  were about to enter would test them in completely different ways.
• 29:21
  Moses described it in verse seven as a good land,
• 29:26
  a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs
• 29:30
  that flow out of valleys and hills. It was a
• 29:34
  land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees
• 29:37
  and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey. It
• 29:43
  was a land in which they would eat bread without scarcity,
• 29:47
  in which they would lack nothing. But this abundance would
• 29:52
  bring its own dangers. Moses warned them in verse eleven
• 29:56
  to beware that they did not forget the Lord their
• 29:59
  God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his
• 30:04
  statutes which he commanded them that day. As Moses looked
• 30:09
  toward the future, he could see a dangerous trap waiting
• 30:13
  for them. Success had a way of making people forget
• 30:17
  where their strength really came from. He had seen it
• 30:21
  happen before, and he was determined to warn them about it.
• 30:25
  In Chapter nine, verse one, Moses told them to hear,
• 30:30
  oh Israel. They were to cross over the Jordan today
• 30:35
  and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than themselves,
• 30:40
  cities great and fortified up to heaven. The people they
• 30:45
  were about to face weren't weak or defenseless. They were
• 30:49
  powerful and well established. The Anachim were there the same
• 30:54
  giants that had terrified their parents generation. Moses acknowledged in
• 30:59
  verse two that these were a people great and tall,
• 31:03
  the descendants of the Anachim, whom they knew, and of
• 31:07
  whom they heard it said, who can stand before the
• 31:10
  descendants of a knak? But Moses had incredible news for them.
• 31:16
  In verse three. He declared that they should understand today
• 31:19
  that the Lord their God was the one who crossed
• 31:22
  over before them as a consuming fire. He would destroy
• 31:27
  them and bring them down before them, so they would
• 31:30
  drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord
• 31:33
  had said to them. This was the key truth they
• 31:37
  needed to remember. The victory wouldn't come from their own
• 31:41
  strength or skill. God would win the battles for them,
• 31:46
  just as he had done with Sihon and aug But
• 31:50
  Moses knew human nature too well. He warned them in
• 31:54
  verse four not to speak in their heart after the
• 31:57
  Lord their God had cast them out from before them,
• 32:01
  saying that because of their righteousness, the Lord had brought
• 32:04
  them in to possess this land. The truth was exactly
• 32:08
  the opposite. It was because of the wickedness of these nations,
• 32:12
  that the Lord was driving them out from before them.
• 32:16
  Moses was brutally honest with them. In verse five. He
• 32:20
  told them it was not because of their righteousness or
• 32:22
  the uprightness of their heart that they were going in
• 32:25
  to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of
• 32:28
  these nations, that the Lord their God drove them out
• 32:31
  from before them, and that he might fulfill the word
• 32:34
  which the Lord swore to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac
• 32:39
  and Jacob. He wanted to make this crystal clear, so
• 32:42
  he repeated it again in verse six. They should understand
• 32:47
  that the Lord their God was not giving them this
• 32:50
  good land to possess because of their righteousness, for they
• 32:55
  were a stiff necked people. To prove his point, Moses
• 32:59
  reminded them of their track record. He told them in
• 33:03
  verse seven to remember and not forget how they provoked
• 33:06
  the Lord their God to wrath in the wilderness. From
• 33:10
  the day that they departed from the land of Egypt
• 33:13
  until they came to this place, they had been rebellious
• 33:17
  against the Lord. The worst example was what happened at
• 33:20
  Mount Horeb itself. Moses recounted in verse eight how even
• 33:25
  at Horeb they provoked the Lord to wrath, so that
• 33:28
  the Lord was angry enough with them to have destroyed them.
• 33:32
  This was at the very place where they had received
• 33:35
  the ten commandments, and they had immediately broken them by
• 33:39
  making a golden calf. Moses's voice grew softer as he
• 33:44
  remembered one of the most painful moments of his entire life.
• 33:48
  He had gone up on the mountain to receive God's law,
• 33:51
  only to come down and find the people worshiping an idol.
• 33:55
  What happened next showed both the terror of God's judgment
• 33:59
  and the miracle of his mercy. In verse nine, Moses
• 34:03
  explained that when he went up into the mountain to
• 34:05
  receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the Covenant,
• 34:09
  which the Lord made with them, he stayed on the
• 34:12
  mountain forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread
• 34:17
  nor drank water. During this entire time. The Lord delivered
• 34:21
  to him two tablets of stone written with the finger
• 34:24
  of God, and on them were all the words which
• 34:27
  the Lord had spoken to them on the mountain from
• 34:29
  the midst of the fire in the day of the Assembly.
• 34:33
  But when Moses came down from the mountain. What he
• 34:36
  saw broke his heart. Moses told them in verse twelve
• 34:39
  that the Lord said to him to arise and go
• 34:41
  down quickly from there, for their people, whom he brought
• 34:45
  out of Egypt, had acted corruptly. They had turned aside
• 34:49
  quickly from the way which he commanded them, and had
• 34:52
  made themselves a molded image. God's anger was terrifying. In
• 34:58
  verse fourteen, the Lord told Moses to let him alone,
• 35:02
  that he might destroy them and blot out their name
• 35:05
  from under heaven, and he would make of Moses a
• 35:08
  nation mightier and greater than they. But Moses did something incredible.
• 35:14
  Instead of accepting God's offer to make him the father
• 35:17
  of a new nation, he interceded for the people. He
• 35:22
  fell down before the Lord, as at the first forty
• 35:25
  days and forty nights, he neither ate bread nor drank
• 35:29
  water because of all their sin, which they committed in
• 35:33
  doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke
• 35:37
  him to anger. Moses was terrified for them. In verse nineteen,
• 35:44
  he said he was afraid of the anger and hot
• 35:46
  displeasure with which the Lord was angry with them to
• 35:50
  destroy them. But the Lord listened to him. At that time,
• 35:54
  also the prayer worked, God's mercy triumphed over his wrath.
• 36:02
  In Chapter ten, verse one, the Lord told Moses to
• 36:05
  hew two tablets of stone like the first, and come
• 36:08
  up to him on the mountain and make himself an
• 36:11
  ark of wood. God would write on the tablets the
• 36:14
  words that were on the first tablets which Moses broke,
• 36:17
  and he should put them in the ark. Moses did
• 36:20
  exactly as God commanded. He made an ark of acacia wood,
• 36:25
  hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went
• 36:28
  up the mountain with the two tablets in his hand.
• 36:31
  The Lord wrote on the tablets according to the first
• 36:34
  writing the ten commandments which the Lord had spoken to
• 36:37
  them on the mountain from the midst of the fire
• 36:40
  in the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave
• 36:43
  them to Moses. This time there was no golden calf
• 36:47
  waiting at the bottom of the mountain. The tablets safely
• 36:51
  made it into the ark, where verse five tells us
• 36:54
  they remained. As the Lord commanded. Moses's tone became urgent
• 36:59
  as he moved from the past to the future. Everything
• 37:03
  he had told them so far was leading up to
• 37:05
  this moment. The most important choice they would ever make
• 37:10
  as a nation. The stakes couldn't be higher. In Chapter eleven,
• 37:16
  verse one, Moses commanded them to love the Lord their God,
• 37:21
  and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, and his
• 37:26
  commandments always. This wasn't just a suggestion, It was the
• 37:30
  foundation of everything else that would happen to them. Moses
• 37:34
  reminded them that their children hadn't seen what they had seen.
• 37:38
  In verse two, he spoke to those who knew and
• 37:41
  had seen the chastening of the Lord their God, his greatness,
• 37:45
  and his mighty hand and his outstretched arm. They were
• 37:49
  eye witnesses to the greatest miracles in history. They had
• 37:53
  seen his signs and his acts, which he did in
• 37:56
  the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and
• 37:59
  to all his land. They had seen what he did
• 38:03
  to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots,
• 38:07
  how he made the waters of the Red Sea overflow
• 38:10
  them as they pursued after them, and how the Lord
• 38:14
  had destroyed them to this day. They had also seen
• 38:18
  what God did to their own people when they rebelled.
• 38:22
  Moses reminded them in verse six of what he did
• 38:24
  to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son
• 38:28
  of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed
• 38:32
  them up their households, their tents, and all the substance
• 38:35
  that was in their possession in the midst of all Israel.
• 38:39
  With all this evidence before them, Moses laid out the choice.
• 38:43
  In verse eight, he told them that they should keep
• 38:46
  every commandment which he commanded them today, that they might
• 38:49
  be strong and go in and possess the land which
• 38:53
  they crossed over to possess. The land itself was at stake.
• 38:57
  Moses described it in verse ten as not like the
• 39:00
  land of Egypt from which they had come, where they
• 39:03
  sowed their seed and watered it by foot, as a
• 39:06
  vegetable garden. Instead, Verse eleven tells us it was a
• 39:10
  land of hills and valleys, which drank water from the
• 39:14
  rain of heaven. It was a land for which the
• 39:17
  Lord their God cared. The eyes of the Lord their
• 39:21
  God were always on it from the beginning of the
• 39:24
  year to the very end of the year. But this
• 39:27
  blessing came with conditions. In verse thirteen, Moses explained that
• 39:33
  if they carefully obeyed his commandments, which he commanded them
• 39:37
  that day, to love the Lord their God, and serve
• 39:40
  him with all their heart and with all their soul.
• 39:44
  Then he would give them the rain for their land
• 39:46
  in its season, the early rain and the latter rain,
• 39:50
  that they might gather in their grain, their new wine,
• 39:54
  and their oil. The alternative was terrifying. Moses warned them
• 39:59
  in verse sixteen to take heed to themselves, lest their
• 40:03
  heart be deceived, and they turn aside and serve other
• 40:06
  gods and worship them, lest the Lord's anger be aroused
• 40:11
  against them, and he shut up the heavens, so that
• 40:14
  there be no rain, and the land yield no produce,
• 40:18
  and they perish quickly from the good land which the
• 40:21
  Lord was giving them. Moses now addressed a crucial issue
• 40:25
  that would determine how they worshiped God in the Promised Land.
• 40:30
  Up until this point, they had worshiped at the tabernacle
• 40:33
  in the wilderness, but once they entered the land, everything
• 40:38
  would change. In Chapter twelve, verse two, Moses commanded them
• 40:44
  to utterly destroy all the places where the nations which
• 40:48
  they would dispossess, serve their gods, on the high mountains
• 40:52
  and on the hills and under every green tree. These
• 40:56
  pagan worship sights had to be completely eliminated. They were
• 41:00
  to destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, burn their
• 41:04
  wooden images with fire, cut down the carved images of
• 41:08
  their gods, and destroy their names. From that place, the
• 41:12
  contamination of false worship had to be removed entirely, But
• 41:16
  Moses made it clear in verse four that they should
• 41:19
  not worship the Lord their God with such things. God
• 41:24
  had a different plan for how he wanted to be worshiped.
• 41:28
  In verse five, Moses explained that they should seek the
• 41:32
  place where the Lord their God would choose out of
• 41:35
  all their tribes to put his name for his dwelling place,
• 41:40
  and there they should go. This was revolutionary. Instead of
• 41:45
  many worshiped sights scattered throughout the land, there would be
• 41:49
  one central location chosen by God himself. To that place,
• 41:55
  they would bring their burnt offerings, their sacrifices, their tithes,
• 42:00
  the heave offerings of their hands, their vowed offerings, their
• 42:04
  free will offerings, and the first born of their herds
• 42:08
  and flocks. There they would eat before the Lord their God,
• 42:13
  and they would rejoice in all to which they had
• 42:15
  put their hand, they and their households in which the
• 42:19
  Lord their God had blessed them This was completely different
• 42:23
  from how they had been living. Moses told them in
• 42:27
  verse eight that they should not do according to all
• 42:30
  the things that they were doing there that day, every
• 42:33
  man doing whatever was right in his own eyes. In
• 42:37
  the wilderness, worship had been somewhat informal, but in the
• 42:42
  promised Land everything had to be centralized and organized. Moses
• 42:49
  emphasized this point again in verse eleven. Then there would
• 42:53
  be the place where the Lord their God would choose
• 42:56
  to make his name abide. There they would bring all
• 43:00
  that he commanded them, their burnt offerings, their sacrifices, their tithes,
• 43:06
  the heave offerings of their hands, and all their choice
• 43:09
  offerings which they vowed to the Lord. However, Moses made
• 43:13
  it clear that this didn't mean they could only eat
• 43:16
  meat at the central sanctuary. In verse fifteen, he explained
• 43:20
  that they could slaughter and eat meat within all their
• 43:22
  gaits whatever their heart desired, according to the blessing of
• 43:26
  the Lord their God, which he had given them. Both
• 43:30
  the unclean and the clean could eat of it, of
• 43:34
  the gazelle and the deer alike. The key restriction was
• 43:39
  about blood. Moses commanded them in verse sixteen that they
• 43:43
  should not eat the blood, they should pour it on
• 43:46
  the earth like water. This command would be repeated several
• 43:50
  times because it was so important to God. Moses's voice
• 43:55
  grew stern as he addressed one of the greatest dangers
• 43:57
  they would face in the Promised Land. The pagan nations
• 44:01
  around them would try to seduce them away from the
• 44:04
  True God through false prophets, lying signs, and even family pressure.
• 44:10
  In Chapter thirteen, Verse one, Moses warned them that if
• 44:15
  a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arose among them
• 44:19
  and gave them a sign or a wonder, and the
• 44:22
  sign or the wonder came to pass of which he
• 44:25
  spoke to them, saying, let us go after other gods
• 44:30
  which they had not known, and let us serve them,
• 44:34
  they should not listen to the words of that prophet
• 44:37
  or that dreamer of dreams. This was a crucial test.
• 44:42
  Even if some one performed genuine miracles, if they used
• 44:46
  those miracles to lead people away from God, they were
• 44:50
  false prophets. Moses explained in verse three that the Lord
• 44:54
  their God was testing them to know whether they loved
• 44:57
  the Lord their God with all their heart and with
• 45:00
  all their soul. The response to false prophets had to
• 45:04
  be swift and decisive. In verse five, Moses commanded that
• 45:10
  such a prophet or that dreamer of dreams, should be
• 45:13
  put to death, because he had spoken in order to
• 45:17
  turn them away from the Lord their God, who brought
• 45:21
  them out of the land of Egypt and redeemed them
• 45:23
  from the house of bondage, to entice them from the
• 45:27
  way in which the Lord their God commanded them to walk,
• 45:31
  but the temptation to worship other gods might come from
• 45:34
  even closer sources. Moses warned them in verse six that
• 45:38
  if their brother, the son of their mother, their son,
• 45:42
  or their daughter, the wife of their bosom, or their
• 45:45
  friend who was as their own soul, secretly enticed them
• 45:50
  saying let us go and serve other gods which they
• 45:54
  had not known, neither they nor their fathers, they should
• 45:59
  not consent to him or listen to him. The command
• 46:03
  was shocking in its severity. Moses told them in verse
• 46:07
  eight that they should not spare him or conceal him,
• 46:12
  but they should surely kill him. Their hands should be
• 46:15
  first against him to put him to death, and afterward
• 46:19
  the hand of all the people. They should stone him
• 46:22
  with stones until he died. Because he sought to entice
• 46:26
  them away from the Lord their God, who brought them
• 46:29
  out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.
• 46:33
  Even entire cities could become corrupted. Moses warned them in
• 46:38
  verse twelve that if they heard some one say in
• 46:41
  one of their cities, which the Lord their God gave
• 46:44
  them to dwell in, that corrupt men had gone out
• 46:47
  from among them and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying,
• 46:52
  let us go and serve other gods, they should inquire,
• 46:56
  search out and ask diligently if the report turned out
• 47:01
  to be true and certain that such an abomination was
• 47:04
  committed among them. Verse fifteen commanded them to utterly destroy
• 47:08
  that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it
• 47:12
  entirely and all that was in it and its live
• 47:15
  stock with the edge of the sword. Moses now shifted
• 47:18
  to explain how God's people should live differently from the
• 47:21
  nations around them. Their identity as God's children should be
• 47:26
  visible in every aspect of their daily lives, including what
• 47:29
  they ate and how they treated their bodies. In Chapter fourteen,
• 47:34
  verse one, Moses declared that they were children of the
• 47:37
  Lord their God, they should not cut themselves nor shave
• 47:41
  the front of their heads for the dead. The pagan
• 47:45
  nations practiced self mutilation as part of their religious rituals.
• 47:50
  But God's people were called to something higher. The reason
• 47:55
  was simple and powerful. Moses told them in verse too
• 48:00
  that they were a holy people to the Lord, their God,
• 48:04
  and the Lord had chosen them to be a people
• 48:06
  for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who
• 48:09
  were on the face of the earth. This special status
• 48:13
  affected even their diet. Moses commanded them in verse three
• 48:18
  that they should not eat any detestable thing. He then
• 48:22
  gave them a detailed list of which animals they could
• 48:24
  and couldn't eat. The clean animals were specified in verse four,
• 48:30
  the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle,
• 48:35
  the roe deer, the wild goat, the mountain goat, the antelope,
• 48:41
  and the mountain sheep. Among the animals, whatever divided the hoof,
• 48:47
  having the hoof split into two parts and chewed the cut,
• 48:51
  they could eat. But there were important exceptions. Moses listed
• 48:56
  in verse seven that they should not eat the camel,
• 48:59
  the hair, and the rock high racks, for they chew
• 49:03
  the cud, but do not have cloven hoofs, they were
• 49:07
  unclean for them. Also, the swine was unclean because it
• 49:12
  divided the hoof yet did not chew the cud. The
• 49:16
  rules for fish were simpler. In verse nine, Moses said
• 49:21
  they could eat all that had fins and scales, but
• 49:24
  whatever did not have fins and scales they should not eat.
• 49:28
  It was unclean for them. Birds had their own categories.
• 49:33
  Moses told them in verse eleven that they could eat
• 49:36
  all clean birds, but he listed many that were forbidden,
• 49:40
  including the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the red kite,
• 49:45
  the falcon, the kite after their kinds, every raven after
• 49:49
  its kind, the ostrich, the short eared owl, the sea gull,
• 49:54
  and the hawk after their kinds. The reason for these
• 49:58
  dietary laws wasn't explained in detail, but the principle was clear.
• 50:05
  God's people were to be different from everyone else, even
• 50:08
  in the most basic aspects of daily life, like eating.
• 50:13
  Moses concluded this section by explaining God's economic system for
• 50:17
  the Promised Land. This wasn't just about money, It was
• 50:22
  about creating a society where worship was supported and no
• 50:26
  one was left behind. In verse twenty two, Moses commanded
• 50:31
  them to truly tithe all the increase of their grain
• 50:34
  that the field produced year by year. The tithe was
• 50:38
  an optional it was a fundamental part of their covenant
• 50:42
  relationship with God. But this tithe had a specific purpose.
• 50:48
  Moses explained in verse twenty three that they should eat
• 50:52
  before the Lord their God in the place where he
• 50:55
  chose to make his name, abide the tithe of their
• 50:58
  grain and their new wine, and their oil of the
• 51:02
  first born of their herds and their flocks, that they
• 51:07
  might learn to fear the Lord their God always. However,
• 51:13
  Moses recognized that not everyone would live close to the
• 51:16
  central sanctuary. In verse twenty four, he said that if
• 51:21
  the journey was too long for them so that they
• 51:24
  were not able to carry the tithe, or if the
• 51:27
  place where the Lord their God chose to put his
• 51:30
  name was too far from them, when the Lord their
• 51:33
  God had blessed them, then they should exchange it for money.
• 51:39
  This money system was practical and flexible. In verse twenty five,
• 51:45
  Moses told them to take the money in their hand
• 51:47
  and go to the place which the Lord their God chose.
• 51:51
  There they could spend that money for whatever their heart desired,
• 51:56
  for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink for wane.
• 52:00
  Whatever their heart desired, they should eat there before the
• 52:04
  Lord their God, and they should rejoice, they and their household.
• 52:10
  But Moses added an important reminder in verse twenty seven,
• 52:14
  they should not forsake the Levite who was within their gates,
• 52:19
  for he had no part nor inheritance with them. The
• 52:22
  Levites had given up their tribal inheritance to serve in
• 52:25
  the temple, so the other tribes needed to support them.
• 52:30
  Every third year had a special purpose. Moses explained in
• 52:35
  verse twenty eight that at the end of every third
• 52:38
  year and they should bring out the tithe of their
• 52:41
  produce of that year and store it up within their gates.
• 52:46
  This special tithe had a broader purpose to care for
• 52:50
  the most vulnerable members of society. In verse twenty nine,
• 52:55
  Moses explained that the Levite, because he had no portion
• 52:59
  nor inheritance with them, and the stranger, and the fatherless
• 53:03
  and the widow, who were within their gates, could come
• 53:06
  and eat and be satisfied that the Lord their God
• 53:11
  might bless them in all the work of their hand,
• 53:14
  which they did. Moses now turned to one of the
• 53:18
  most revolutionary economic concepts in human history, What he was
• 53:23
  about to propose would seem impossible to most societies, but
• 53:28
  it was part of God's plan to create a nation
• 53:31
  where no one stayed poor forever. In Chapter fifteen, verse one,
• 53:37
  Moses declared that at the end of every seven years,
• 53:41
  they should grant a release of debts. This wasn't just
• 53:45
  a suggestion, It was a divine command that would reshape
• 53:49
  their entire economy. The details were specific and clear. Moses
• 53:56
  explained in verse two that this was the form of
• 53:59
  the release. Every creditor who had lent anything to his
• 54:03
  neighbor should release it. He should not require it of
• 54:07
  his neighbor or his brother, because it was called the
• 54:10
  Lord's release. This rule applied only within their community. In
• 54:16
  verse three, Moses clarified that of a foreigner they could
• 54:20
  require it, but they should give up their claim to
• 54:23
  what was owed by their brother. The principle was simple.
• 54:28
  God's people should take care of each other in ways
• 54:30
  that amazed the world. Moses painted a beautiful picture of
• 54:34
  what this system could accomplish. In verse four, he said
• 54:38
  that there need be no poor among them, for the
• 54:42
  Lord would greatly bless them in the land which the Lord,
• 54:45
  their God was giving them. To possess as an inheritance.
• 54:49
  Imagine a society with no permanent poverty. That was God's
• 54:53
  vision for Israel. But this blessing came with a condition.
• 54:58
  Moses continued in verse five that this would only happen
• 55:01
  if they carefully obeyed the voice of the Lord their God,
• 55:05
  to observe with care all these commandments which he commanded them. Today.
• 55:10
  Moses could see into the future and knew that some
• 55:13
  people would try to get around this law. He warned
• 55:17
  them in verse nine to beware lest there be a
• 55:19
  wicked thought in their heart, saying that the seventh year,
• 55:23
  the year of release, was at hand, and their eye
• 55:27
  be evil against their poor brother, and they give him nothing,
• 55:31
  and he cry out to the Lord against them, and
• 55:34
  it becomes sin among them. Instead, their attitude should be generous.
• 55:40
  Moses commanded them in verse ten to give to him freely,
• 55:45
  and their hearts should not be grieved when they gave
• 55:47
  to him, because for this thing, the Lord their God
• 55:51
  would bless them in all their works and in all
• 55:54
  to which they put their hand. Moses was realistic about
• 55:58
  human nature. In verse eleven, he acknowledged that the poor
• 56:02
  would never cease from the land Therefore, he commanded them
• 56:06
  to open their hand wide to their brother, to their
• 56:09
  poor and their needy in their land. The law also
• 56:13
  addressed Hebrew servants. Moses explained in verse twelve that if
• 56:19
  their brother, a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman, was sold
• 56:23
  to them and served them six years, then in the
• 56:26
  seventh year they should let him go free from them,
• 56:31
  but they shouldn't send him away empty handedness and the
• 56:33
  widow who were within their gates. But Moses also knew
• 56:38
  that festivals alone wouldn't create a just society. They needed
• 56:42
  good judges throughout the land. In verse eighteen, he commanded
• 56:47
  them to appoint judges and officers in all their gates,
• 56:51
  which the Lord their God gave them according to their tribes,
• 56:55
  and they should judge the people with just judgment. The
• 57:00
  standards for justice were absolute. Moses told them in verse
• 57:05
  nineteen that they should not pervert justice. They should not
• 57:09
  show partiality nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds
• 57:13
  the eyes of the wise and twists the words of
• 57:16
  the righteous. The goal was simple but profound. In verse twenty,
• 57:21
  Moses declared that they should follow what was altogether just,
• 57:25
  that they might live and inherit the land which the
• 57:29
  Lord their God was giving them. Moses understood that a
• 57:32
  nation needed clear leadership structure, but he also knew the
• 57:36
  dangers of giving any one too much power. What he
• 57:40
  outlined next would prevent tyranny while ensuring effective government. In
• 57:46
  Chapter seventeen, verse eight, Moses addressed the reality that some
• 57:51
  legal cases would be too difficult for local judges. If
• 57:56
  a matter arose which was too hard for them in
• 57:58
  judgment between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment
• 58:03
  or another, or between one punishment or another, which were
• 58:07
  matters of controversy within their gates, then they should arise
• 58:11
  and go up to the place which the Lord their
• 58:14
  God chose. The highest court would be at the central sanctuary.
• 58:19
  Moses explained in verse nine that they should come to
• 58:22
  the priests, the levites, and to the judge there in
• 58:25
  those days, and inquire of them. They would pronounce upon
• 58:29
  them the sentence of judgment. The authority of this supreme
• 58:34
  court was absolute. In verse ten, Moses commanded that they
• 58:39
  should do according to the sentence which those of that
• 58:43
  place which the Lord chose would pronounce upon them. They
• 58:47
  should observe to do according to all that they informed them.
• 58:51
  But Moses looked even further into the future and saw
• 58:54
  that Israel would eventually want a king, like other nations.
• 58:59
  When that time came, there would be strict rules. In
• 59:04
  Verse fourteen, Moses anticipated that when they came to the
• 59:08
  land which the Lord their God was giving them and
• 59:11
  possessed it and dwelt in it, and said that they
• 59:15
  would set a king over them, like all the nations
• 59:18
  that were around them, they would be allowed to do so. However,
• 59:24
  not just anyone could be king. Moses specified in verse
• 59:28
  fifteen that they could set a king over them whom
• 59:31
  the Lord their God chose. One from among their brethren
• 59:35
  they should set as king over them. They could not
• 59:39
  set a foreigner over them who was not their brother.
• 59:44
  The restrictions on royal power were revolutionary for the ancient world.
• 59:49
  Moses commanded in verse sixteen that the king should not
• 59:52
  multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return
• 59:56
  to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord had said
• 1:00:00
  to them that they should not return that way again.
• 1:00:04
  Personal restraint was also required. In Verse seventeen, Moses said
• 1:00:10
  the king should not multiply wives for himself, lest his
• 1:00:13
  heart turn away, nor should he greatly multiply silver and
• 1:00:17
  gold for himself. Most importantly, the king had to be
• 1:00:22
  subject to God's law. Moses commanded in verse eighteen that
• 1:00:27
  when he sat on the throne of his kingdom, he
• 1:00:29
  should write for himself a copy of this law in
• 1:00:32
  a book from the one before the priests the Levites.
• 1:00:37
  The priests had their own specific role. In Chapter eighteen,
• 1:00:42
  verse one, Moses explained that the priests, the Levites, all
• 1:00:47
  the tribe of Levi, should have no part nor inheritance
• 1:00:50
  with Israel. They should eat the offerings of the Lord
• 1:00:54
  made by fire, and his portion God would provide for them.
• 1:00:59
  In a differentay, Moses said in verse two that they
• 1:01:03
  should have no inheritance among their brethren. The Lord was
• 1:01:07
  their inheritance, as he said to them, the people were
• 1:01:11
  required to support the priests. Moses specified in verse three
• 1:01:15
  that this should be the priest's due from the people.
• 1:01:18
  From those who offered a sacrifice, whether it was bull
• 1:01:22
  or sheep, they should give to the priest the shoulder,
• 1:01:26
  the cheeks, and the stomach. Moses now addressed one of
• 1:01:30
  the most challenging aspects of justice, what to do when
• 1:01:34
  someone accidentally killed another person. The law he was about
• 1:01:39
  to give would revolutionize how societies handled unintentional homicide. In
• 1:01:45
  Chapter nineteen, verse two, Moses commanded that when the Lord
• 1:01:50
  their God had cut off the nations whose land the
• 1:01:53
  Lord their God was giving them, and they dispossessed them
• 1:01:57
  and dwelt in their cities and in their houses, they
• 1:02:01
  should separate three cities for themselves in the midst of
• 1:02:04
  their land which the Lord their God was giving them
• 1:02:07
  to possess. These cities had a specific purpose. Moses explained
• 1:02:13
  in verse three that they should prepare roads for themselves
• 1:02:17
  and divide into three parts the territory of their land
• 1:02:20
  which the Lord their God was giving them to inherit
• 1:02:23
  that any man slayer might flee there. The law was
• 1:02:27
  carefully designed to distinguish between murder and accident. In verse four,
• 1:02:33
  Moses to fined who could use these cities. Whoever killed
• 1:02:37
  his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in time past,
• 1:02:42
  could flee Therein Live Moses gave a specific example in
• 1:02:47
  verse five when a man went to the woods with
• 1:02:50
  his neighbor to cut timber, and his hands swung a
• 1:02:53
  stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and
• 1:02:56
  the head slipped from the handle and struck his neighbor
• 1:02:58
  so that he died. He should flee to one of
• 1:03:01
  these cities and live without these cities. Tragic accidents could
• 1:03:06
  lead to blood feuds. Moses explained in verse six that
• 1:03:11
  otherwise the avenger of blood, while his anger was hot,
• 1:03:15
  might pursue the man slayer and overtake him because the
• 1:03:18
  way was long, and kill him, though he was not
• 1:03:22
  deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim
• 1:03:25
  in time past. But Moses also looked to the future
• 1:03:29
  when Israel would expand. In verse eight, he said that
• 1:03:33
  if the Lord their God enlarged their territory as he
• 1:03:36
  swore to their fathers, and gave them the land which
• 1:03:39
  he promised to give to their fathers, and if they
• 1:03:42
  kept all these commandments and did them which he commanded
• 1:03:46
  them today, to love the Lord their God and to
• 1:03:49
  walk always in his ways, then they should add three
• 1:03:52
  more cities for themselves. Besides these three. However, these cities
• 1:03:58
  weren't meant to protect murderers. Moses was clear in verse
• 1:04:02
  eleven that if any one hated his neighbor, lay in
• 1:04:06
  wait for him, rose against him, and struck him mortally
• 1:04:10
  so that he died, and he fled to one of
• 1:04:13
  these cities, then the elders of his city should send
• 1:04:17
  and bring him from there, and deliver him over to
• 1:04:20
  the hand of the avenger of blood, that he might die.
• 1:04:25
  The protection of innocent life required strict standards of evidence.
• 1:04:30
  Moses established in verse fifteen that one witness should not
• 1:04:34
  rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin
• 1:04:38
  that he committed. By the mouth of two or three witnesses,
• 1:04:42
  the matter should be established. False witnesses were dealt with severely.
• 1:04:49
  Moses commanded in verse eighteen that the judges should make
• 1:04:52
  careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness was a false
• 1:04:57
  witness who had testified falsely against his brother, then they
• 1:05:01
  should do to him as he thought to have done
• 1:05:04
  to his brother. Mean that when they besieged a city
• 1:05:07
  for a long time, while making war against it to
• 1:05:10
  take it, they should not destroy its trees by wielding
• 1:05:14
  an axe against them. If they could eat of them,
• 1:05:18
  they should not cut them down to use in the siege,
• 1:05:23
  for the tree of the field was man's food. Moses
• 1:05:27
  now addressed some of the most difficult situations a society
• 1:05:30
  could face. Crimes without obvious perpetrators and complex family relationships.
• 1:05:37
  The laws he gave would ensure that justice was pursued
• 1:05:40
  even in the most challenging circumstances. In Chapter twenty one,
• 1:05:45
  verse one, Moses dealt with a disturbing scenario. If any
• 1:05:50
  one was found slain lying in the field, in the
• 1:05:53
  land which the Lord their God was giving them to possess,
• 1:05:57
  and it was not known who killed him, then their
• 1:06:00
  elders and judges should go out and measure the distance
• 1:06:04
  from the slain man to the surrounding cities. The community
• 1:06:09
  nearest to the victim had a responsibility. Moses explained in
• 1:06:14
  verse three that the elders of the city nearest to
• 1:06:17
  the slain man should take a heifer which had never
• 1:06:19
  worked and which had not pulled a yoke. The elders
• 1:06:23
  of that city should bring the heifer down to a
• 1:06:25
  valley with flowing water, which was neither plowed nor sown,
• 1:06:29
  and they should break the heifer's neck there in the valley.
• 1:06:33
  This wasn't just a ritual, It was a solemn declaration
• 1:06:37
  of innocence. The priests, the sons of Levi, would come
• 1:06:41
  near in verse five, for the Lord their God had
• 1:06:45
  chosen them to minister to him and to bless in
• 1:06:48
  the name of the Lord. By their word, every controversy
• 1:06:52
  and every assault should be settled. All the elders of
• 1:06:56
  that city nearest to the slain man would wash their
• 1:06:59
  hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.
• 1:07:04
  Then they would answer and say, in verse seven, our
• 1:07:07
  hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes
• 1:07:10
  seen it. The prayer that followed was a plea for mercy.
• 1:07:16
  In verse eight, they would say, provide atonement, o Lord,
• 1:07:21
  for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do
• 1:07:24
  not lay innocent blood to the charge of your people Israel.
• 1:07:29
  An atonement would be provided on their behalf for the blood.
• 1:07:33
  Moses then addressed marriage laws for wartime. In verse ten,
• 1:07:38
  he said that when they went out to war against
• 1:07:40
  their enemies, and the Lord their God delivered them into
• 1:07:43
  their hands, and they took them captive, and they saw
• 1:07:48
  among the captives a beautiful woman and desired her and
• 1:07:52
  would take her for their wife. Then they should bring
• 1:07:55
  her home to their house, but there were specific procedures
• 1:07:59
  to follow. Moses commanded in verse twelve that she should
• 1:08:03
  shave her head and trim her nails. She should put
• 1:08:07
  off the clothes of her captivity, remain in their house,
• 1:08:10
  and mourn her father and her mother. A full month
• 1:08:14
  after that, they could go in to her and be
• 1:08:16
  her husband, and she should be their wife. If the
• 1:08:21
  marriage didn't work out, the woman still had rights. Moses
• 1:08:26
  explained in verse fourteen that if they had no delight
• 1:08:30
  in her, then they should set her free, but they
• 1:08:33
  certainly should not sell her for money. They should not
• 1:08:37
  treat her brutally because they had humbled her. Moses also
• 1:08:42
  addressed inheritance issues in families with multiple wives. In verse fifteen,
• 1:08:48
  he said that if a man had two wives, one
• 1:08:51
  loved and the other unloved, and they had borne him
• 1:08:54
  children both the loved and the unloved, and if the
• 1:08:59
  first born son was of her who was unloved, than
• 1:09:02
  it should be on the day he bequeathed his possessions
• 1:09:05
  to his sons, that he could not bestow first born
• 1:09:09
  status on the son of the loved wife in preference
• 1:09:12
  to the son of the unloved the true first born.
• 1:09:17
  Moses now tackled one of the most painful situations any
• 1:09:20
  parent could face, a child who completely rejected their authority
• 1:09:25
  and became a danger to society. The law he was
• 1:09:29
  about to give would shock modern readers, but it reflected
• 1:09:33
  the seriousness of family order in ancient society. In verse eighteen,
• 1:09:39
  Moses addressed the case of a man who had a
• 1:09:42
  stubborn and rebellious son, who would not obey the voice
• 1:09:46
  of his father or the voice of his mother, and who,
• 1:09:49
  when they had chastened him, would not heed them. This
• 1:09:53
  was an about ordinary childhood misbehavior. This was about a
• 1:09:57
  son who had become completely uncontrollable. The parents couldn't just
• 1:10:01
  handle this privately. Moses commanded in verse nineteen that his
• 1:10:06
  father and his mother should take hold of him and
• 1:10:09
  bring him out to the elders of his city. To
• 1:10:12
  the gate of his city, they would say to the
• 1:10:15
  elders in verse twenty, this son of ours is stubborn
• 1:10:19
  and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is
• 1:10:22
  a glutton and a drunkard. The consequence was severe. Moses
• 1:10:28
  declared in verse twenty one that all the men of
• 1:10:30
  his city should stone him to death with stones, so
• 1:10:34
  they would put away the evil from among them, and
• 1:10:37
  all Israel would hear and fear. Moses also addressed the
• 1:10:41
  treatment of executed criminals in verse twenty two, He said
• 1:10:46
  that if a man had committed a sin deserving of death,
• 1:10:50
  and he was put to death, and they hanged him
• 1:10:53
  on a tree, his body should not remain overnight on
• 1:10:57
  the tree, but they should surely bear him that day,
• 1:11:01
  so that their land would not be defiled, for he
• 1:11:05
  who was hanged was a cursed of God. This showed
• 1:11:09
  respect for human dignity even in death. No matter how
• 1:11:13
  terrible someone's crime had been, they were still created in
• 1:11:17
  God's image, and their body deserved proper treatment. Moses concluded
• 1:11:22
  this section of laws by addressing the everyday situations that
• 1:11:26
  would test their character as a community. These weren't dramatic
• 1:11:30
  cases of murder or rebellion. They were the small choices
• 1:11:35
  that would reveal whether they truly cared about each other.
• 1:11:39
  The principle of looking out for your neighbor started with
• 1:11:41
  the simplest things Moses would later explain in chapter to
• 1:11:46
  both practical and spiritual. In verse seven, Moses explained that
• 1:11:52
  they should surely let the mother go and take the
• 1:11:54
  young for themselves, that it might be well with them,
• 1:11:58
  and that they might prolong their days. This ensured the
• 1:12:02
  species would continue while still allowing them to use what
• 1:12:05
  they needed. Even their buildings had requirements. Moses commanded in
• 1:12:12
  verse eight that when they built a new house, they
• 1:12:15
  should make a parapet for their roof, that they might
• 1:12:18
  not bring guilt of bloodshed on their house if anyone
• 1:12:21
  fell from it. Safety was an optional, it was a
• 1:12:26
  moral obligation. Moses addressed agricultural practices in verses nine through eleven.
• 1:12:34
  They should not sow their vineyard with different kinds of seed,
• 1:12:38
  lest the yield of the seed which they had sown
• 1:12:40
  and the fruit of their vineyard be defiled. They should
• 1:12:44
  not plow with an ox and a donkey together. They
• 1:12:47
  should not wear a garment of different sorts, such as
• 1:12:50
  wool and linen mixed together. Finally, Moses gave them a
• 1:12:56
  distinctive way to remember God's commands. In verse twelve, he
• 1:13:01
  told them to make tassels on the four corners of
• 1:13:04
  the clothing with which they covered themselves. Moses now turned
• 1:13:08
  to laws that would protect the most sacred human relationships.
• 1:13:13
  Marriage was the foundation of their society, and these laws
• 1:13:17
  would insure its integrity and protect the innocent from false
• 1:13:21
  accusations and abuse. The first scenario Moses addressed was tragic
• 1:13:27
  but necessary. In verse thirteen, he spoke of a man
• 1:13:32
  who took a wife, and when he went into her,
• 1:13:35
  he detested her and charged her with shameful conduct and
• 1:13:40
  brought a bad name on her, and said that he
• 1:13:42
  took this woman, and when he came to her, he
• 1:13:46
  found she was not a virgin. This was a serious
• 1:13:49
  accusation that could destroy a woman's life and even lead
• 1:13:52
  to her death. Moses provided a way for families to
• 1:13:56
  defend their daughters. In verse fifteen, he explained that the
• 1:14:01
  father and mother of the young woman should take and
• 1:14:03
  bring out the evidence of the young woman's virginity to
• 1:14:06
  the elders of the city. At the gate, Anne found
• 1:14:09
  a young woman who was a virgin who was not betrothed,
• 1:14:14
  and he seized her and lay with her, and they
• 1:14:17
  were found out. Then the man who lay with her
• 1:14:21
  should give to the young woman's father fifty shekels of silver,
• 1:14:25
  and she should be his wife. Because he had humbled her,
• 1:14:29
  he could not divorce her all his days. Finally, Moses
• 1:14:34
  addressed a situation that violated basic family boundaries. In verse thirty,
• 1:14:41
  he declared that a man should not take his father's
• 1:14:44
  wife nor uncover his father's bed Moses now outlined who
• 1:14:50
  could participate in the Assembly of the Lord and the
• 1:14:54
  standards that would keep their community wholly. These weren't arbitrary rules.
• 1:14:59
  They reflected God's character and the special calling of his people.
• 1:15:04
  In Chapter twenty three, verse one, Moses declared that he
• 1:15:08
  who was emasculated by crushing or mutilation should not enter
• 1:15:12
  the Assembly of the Lord. This wasn't meant to be
• 1:15:15
  cruel to those who had suffered injury, but to distinguish
• 1:15:19
  Israel from pagan cultures that practiced such mutilation in their
• 1:15:23
  religious ceremonies. Children born outside of marriage also faced restrictions.
• 1:15:29
  Moses stated in verse two that one of illegitimate birth
• 1:15:33
  should not enter the Assembly of the Lord even to
• 1:15:36
  the tenth generation. None of his descendants should enter the
• 1:15:40
  Assembly of the Lord. Certain nations were permanently excluded because
• 1:15:44
  of their actions toward Israel. Moses explained in verse three
• 1:15:49
  that an Ammonite or Moabite should not enter the Assembly
• 1:15:52
  of the Lord even to the tenth generation. None of
• 1:15:56
  their descendants should enter the Assembly of the Lord. For
• 1:16:01
  the reason for this exclusion was their hostility. In verse four,
• 1:16:07
  Moses explained that this was because they did not meet
• 1:16:09
  them with bread and water on the road when they
• 1:16:12
  came out of Egypt. And because they hired against them, Balum,
• 1:16:16
  the son of bore from Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse them.
• 1:16:22
  But God had turned their intended curse into blessing. Moses
• 1:16:27
  reminded them in verse five that the Lord their God
• 1:16:30
  would not listen to Balem, but the Lord their God
• 1:16:34
  turned the curse into a blessing for them, because the
• 1:16:37
  Lord their God loved them. The exclusion of these nations
• 1:16:43
  had a purpose. Moses commanded in verse six that they
• 1:16:47
  should not seek their peace nor their prosperity all their
• 1:16:51
  days forever. However, not all foreign nations were treated the
• 1:16:56
  same way. Moses showed mercy to others in verse seven,
• 1:17:01
  saying they should not abhor an Edomite, for he was
• 1:17:04
  their brother. They should not abhor an Egyptian because they
• 1:17:08
  were an alien in his land. Time could heal some wounds.
• 1:17:14
  Moses explained in verse eight that the children of the
• 1:17:17
  third generation born to them could enter the assembly of
• 1:17:20
  the Lord. Moses then turned to maintaining purity during military campaigns.
• 1:17:26
  In verse nine, he told them that when the army
• 1:17:29
  went out against their enemies. They should keep themselves from
• 1:17:32
  every wicked thing. Personal hygiene and cleanliness were part of
• 1:17:37
  spiritual purity. Moses commanded in verse ten that if there
• 1:17:42
  was any man among them who became unclean by some
• 1:17:45
  occurrence in the night, then he should go outside the camp.
• 1:17:50
  He should not come inside the camp. The process for
• 1:17:53
  restoration was specific. In verse eleven, Moses explained that when
• 1:17:59
  evening came, he should wash with water, and when the
• 1:18:03
  sun set he could come into the camp. Even bodily
• 1:18:07
  functions required proper handling. Moses designated in verse twelve that
• 1:18:12
  they should have a place outside the camp where they
• 1:18:14
  could go out among their equipment. They should have an implement.
• 1:18:19
  When they sat down outside, they should dig with it
• 1:18:22
  and turn and cover their refuse. The reason was spiritual
• 1:18:27
  as well as practical. Moses explained in verse fourteen that
• 1:18:31
  the Lord, their God, walked in the midst of their
• 1:18:33
  camp to deliver them and give their enemies over to them. Therefore,
• 1:18:38
  their camp should be wholly, that he might see no
• 1:18:42
  unclean thing among them and turn away from them. Moses
• 1:18:46
  also addressed the treatment of escaped slaves. In verse fifteen,
• 1:18:50
  he commanded that they should not give back to his master,
• 1:18:54
  the slave who had escaped from his master to them.
• 1:18:57
  He should dwell with them in their midst, in the
• 1:18:59
  place which he chose, within one of their gates, where
• 1:19:02
  it seemed best to him. They should not oppress him.
• 1:19:08
  Moses continued with laws that would set Israel apart from
• 1:19:11
  other nations through their treatment of the vulnerable and their
• 1:19:14
  business practices. These weren't just moral suggestions, they were divine
• 1:19:20
  commands that would determine their success or failure as a society.
• 1:19:25
  Strictly forbidden in verse seventeen, Israel or a perverted one
• 1:19:32
  of the sons of Israel. The pagan nations used temple
• 1:19:35
  prostitution as part of their worship, but Israel's worship would
• 1:19:40
  be pure. Moses was even more specific in verse eighteen,
• 1:19:45
  commanding that they should not bring the wages of a
• 1:19:48
  harlot or the price of a dog to the house
• 1:19:51
  of the Lord their God for any vowed offering, for
• 1:19:55
  both of these were an abomination to the Lord their God.
• 1:20:00
  Interest charges within the community were prohibited. Moses commanded in
• 1:20:04
  verse nineteen that they should not charge their brother interest
• 1:20:08
  on money or food was lent for interest. This was revolutionary.
• 1:20:13
  Most ancient societies allowed unlimited, permanent debt divorce regulations. In
• 1:20:19
  verse one, he said that when a man took a
• 1:20:21
  wife and married her, and it happened that she found
• 1:20:24
  no favor in his eyes because he had found some
• 1:20:27
  uncleanness in her, and he wrote her a certificate of divorce,
• 1:20:31
  put it in her hand, and sent her out of
• 1:20:34
  his house, the marriage could end, but there were restrictions
• 1:20:38
  on remarriage. Moses explained in verse four that if she
• 1:20:42
  remarried and that husband also divorced her or died, her
• 1:20:47
  former husband who divorced her could not take her back
• 1:20:50
  to be his wife after she had been defiled, for
• 1:20:54
  that would be an abomination before the lord. Newly weds
• 1:20:58
  needed time to establish their relationship. Moses commanded in verse
• 1:21:03
  five that when a man had taken a new wife,
• 1:21:07
  he should not go out to war or be charged
• 1:21:09
  with any business. He should be free at home one
• 1:21:12
  year and bring happiness to his wife, whom he had taken.
• 1:21:17
  Basic necessities couldn't be taken as collateral for loans. Moses
• 1:21:22
  declared in verse six that no man should take the
• 1:21:25
  lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he took
• 1:21:28
  one's living in pledge, kidnapping carried the death penalty. Moses
• 1:21:35
  commanded in verse seven that if a man was found
• 1:21:37
  kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel,
• 1:21:41
  and mistreated him or sold him, then that kidnapper should die,
• 1:21:46
  and they would put away the evil from among them.
• 1:21:50
  Moses addressed the proper procedures for handling disputes and ensuring
• 1:21:53
  that justice was carried out fairly. These laws would prevent
• 1:21:57
  both excessive punishment and inadequate consequences for wrong doing. Skin
• 1:22:02
  diseases required careful handling by religious authorities. Moses commanded in
• 1:22:08
  verse eight to take heed in an outbreak of leprosy,
• 1:22:12
  that they carefully observed and did according to all that
• 1:22:14
  the priests the Levites would teach them just as he
• 1:22:19
  commanded them, so they should be careful to do. Moses
• 1:22:24
  reminded them of a historical example in verse nine, telling
• 1:22:28
  them to remember what the Lord their God did to
• 1:22:31
  Miriam on the way when they came out of Egypt.
• 1:22:35
  Even Moses's own sister had faced consequences for speaking against him.
• 1:22:40
  When lending to the poor, dignity had to be preserved.
• 1:22:45
  Moses commanded in verse ten that when they lent their
• 1:22:48
  brother anything, they should not go into his house to
• 1:22:51
  get his pledge. They should stand outside, and the man
• 1:22:55
  to whom they lent should bring the pledge out to them.
• 1:23:00
  Special care was required for the destitute. Moses explained in
• 1:23:05
  verse twelve that if the man was poor, they should
• 1:23:08
  not keep his pledge over night. They should certainly restore
• 1:23:12
  the pledge to him again when the sun went down,
• 1:23:15
  that he might sleep in his own garment and bless them,
• 1:23:18
  and it would be righteousness to them before the Lord.
• 1:23:21
  Their god. Workers rights were protected. Moses commanded in verse
• 1:23:27
  fourteen that they should not oppress a hired servant who
• 1:23:30
  was poor and needy, whether one of their brethren or
• 1:23:33
  one of the aliens, who was in their land within
• 1:23:36
  their gates. Payment had to be prompt. In verse fifteen,
• 1:23:42
  Moses declared that each day they should give him his wages,
• 1:23:46
  and not let the sun go down on it, for
• 1:23:49
  he was poor and had set his heart on it,
• 1:23:53
  lest he cry out against them to the Lord, and
• 1:23:55
  it be sinned to them. Individual responsibility was a key principle.
• 1:24:01
  Moses stated in verse sixteen that fathers should not be
• 1:24:04
  put to death for their children, nor should children be
• 1:24:07
  put to death for their fathers. A person should be
• 1:24:11
  put to death for his own sin. Justice had to
• 1:24:14
  be impartial. Moses commanded in verse seventeen that they should
• 1:24:20
  not pervert justice to the stranger or the fatherless, nor
• 1:24:24
  take a widow's garment as a pledge. The motivation for
• 1:24:28
  protecting the vulnerable came from their own history. Moses reminded
• 1:24:34
  them in verse eighteen that they should remember that they
• 1:24:37
  were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord their God redeemed
• 1:24:40
  them from there. Therefore, he commanded them to do this thing.
• 1:24:45
  Even harvesting practices should show care for the poor. Moses
• 1:24:50
  commanded in verse nineteen that when they reaped their harvest
• 1:24:53
  in their field, and for God a sheaf in the field,
• 1:24:56
  they should not go back to get it. It should
• 1:25:00
  be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that
• 1:25:04
  the Lord their God might bless them in all the
• 1:25:07
  work of their hands. Moving to chapter twenty five, Moses
• 1:25:12
  addressed physical punishment. In verse one, he said that if
• 1:25:16
  there was a dispute between men, and they came to court,
• 1:25:20
  that the judges might judge them, and they justified the
• 1:25:23
  righteous and condemned the wicked, then it should be. If
• 1:25:28
  the wicked man deserved to be beaten, that the judge
• 1:25:31
  would cause him to lie down and be beaten in
• 1:25:33
  his presence according to his guilt, with a certain number
• 1:25:37
  of blows. But there were limits to punishment. Moses declared
• 1:25:42
  in verse three that forty blows he could give him,
• 1:25:45
  and no more lest he should exceed this and beat
• 1:25:49
  him with many blows above these, and their brother be
• 1:25:53
  humiliated in their sight. Even working animals deserved consideration. Moses
• 1:26:01
  commanded in verse four that they should not muzzle an
• 1:26:04
  ox while it treaded out the grain. Moses addressed family
• 1:26:08
  obligations in verse five. If brothers dwelt together and one
• 1:26:14
  of them died and had no son, the widow of
• 1:26:18
  the dead man should not be married to a stranger
• 1:26:21
  outside the family. Her husband's brothers should go in to her,
• 1:26:26
  take her as his wife, and perform the duty of
• 1:26:28
  a husband's brother to her. This practice, called leverate marriage,
• 1:26:34
  preserved family lines. Moses explained in verse six that the
• 1:26:39
  first born son, which he bore, would succeed to the
• 1:26:42
  name of his dead brother, that his name might not
• 1:26:45
  be blotted out of Israel. Moses now turned to one
• 1:26:49
  of the most beautiful ceremonies in Israel's religious calendar, the
• 1:26:54
  offering of first fruits. This wasn't just about giving God
• 1:26:58
  the first and best of their harp It was about
• 1:27:01
  remembering their story and declaring their identity as God's chosen people.
• 1:27:07
  In Chapter twenty six, verse one, Moses told them that
• 1:27:12
  when they came into the land which the Lord their
• 1:27:14
  God was giving them as an inheritance, and they possessed
• 1:27:18
  it and dwelt in it, they should take some of
• 1:27:21
  the first of all, the produce of the ground which
• 1:27:25
  they would bring from their land that the Lord their
• 1:27:27
  God was giving them, and put it in a basket,
• 1:27:30
  and go to the place where the Lord their God
• 1:27:33
  chose to make his name abide. The ceremony involved a
• 1:27:36
  formal declaration to the priest. Moses instructed them in verse
• 1:27:41
  three to go to the one who was priest in
• 1:27:43
  those days and say to him that they declared that
• 1:27:46
  day to the Lord their God, that they had come
• 1:27:49
  to the country which the Lord swore to their fathers
• 1:27:51
  to give them. The priest would receive their offering, and
• 1:27:55
  then came the most important part, reciting their history. Moses
• 1:28:01
  told them in verse five that they should answer and say,
• 1:28:03
  before the Lord their God, my father was a Syrian
• 1:28:08
  about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and
• 1:28:12
  dwelt there few in number, and there he became a
• 1:28:16
  nation great, mighty, and populous. The story would continue with
• 1:28:21
  their suffering and deliverance. In verse six, they would say,
• 1:28:26
  but the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard
• 1:28:30
  bondage on us. Then in verse seven, then we cried
• 1:28:35
  out to the Lord, God of our fathers, And the
• 1:28:38
  Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and
• 1:28:41
  our labor and our oppression. The climax of the story
• 1:28:45
  was God's mighty deliverance. In verse eight, they would declare,
• 1:28:50
  So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a
• 1:28:52
  mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror,
• 1:28:56
  and with signs and wonders, and find in verse nine,
• 1:29:02
  he has brought us to this place and has given
• 1:29:05
  us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
• 1:29:10
  The ceremony concluded with gratitude and celebration. Moses told them
• 1:29:15
  in verse ten that they would say, and now behold,
• 1:29:20
  I have brought the first fruits of the land which you,
• 1:29:23
  o Lord, have given me. Then they would set it
• 1:29:27
  before the Lord their God and worship before the Lord
• 1:29:31
  their God. The celebration extended to every one. Moses commanded
• 1:29:37
  in verse eleven that they should rejoice in every good
• 1:29:41
  thing which the Lord their God had given to them
• 1:29:44
  and their house. They and the Levite, and the stranger,
• 1:29:48
  who was among them. Every third year had a special
• 1:29:52
  emphasis on caring for the needy. Moses explained in verse
• 1:29:56
  twelve that when they had finished laying aside all the
• 1:29:59
  tithe of their increase in the third year, the year
• 1:30:02
  of tithing, and had given it to the Levite, the stranger,
• 1:30:06
  the fatherless, and the widow, so that they might eat
• 1:30:10
  within their gates and be filled, then they would say
• 1:30:14
  before the Lord their God the words recorded in verses
• 1:30:17
  thirteen to fifteen. This declaration was a solemn oath of obedience.
• 1:30:23
  They would say in verse thirteen, I have removed the
• 1:30:27
  holy tithe from my house, and also have given them
• 1:30:30
  to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow,
• 1:30:36
  according to all your commandments which you have commanded me.
• 1:30:41
  I have not transgressed your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.
• 1:30:47
  Moses now described one of the most dramatic moments that
• 1:30:50
  awaited Israel in the promised Land, a ceremony that would
• 1:30:55
  literally with the elders of Israel. Commanded the people, saying
• 1:31:00
  that they should keep all the commandments which he commanded
• 1:31:03
  them that day. On the day when they crossed over
• 1:31:06
  the Jordan to the land which the Lord their God
• 1:31:09
  was giving them, they should set up large stones and
• 1:31:13
  whitewash them with lime. These stones would bear an important message.
• 1:31:19
  Moses commanded in verse three that they should write on
• 1:31:22
  them all the words of this law. When they had
• 1:31:24
  crossed over, that they might enter the land which the
• 1:31:28
  Lord their God was giving them, a land flowing with
• 1:31:31
  milk and honey, just as the Lord God of their
• 1:31:35
  fathers promised them. The location was specifically chosen. Moses told
• 1:31:42
  them in verse four that when they had crossed over
• 1:31:44
  the Jordan, they should set up these stones which he
• 1:31:48
  commanded them that day on Mount Ebal, and they should
• 1:31:51
  whitewash them with lime. An altar would also be built there.
• 1:31:58
  Moses commanded in verse five that they should build an
• 1:32:00
  altar to the Lord their God, an altar of stones.
• 1:32:04
  They should not use an iron tool on them. They
• 1:32:07
  should build with whole stones. The altar of the Lord
• 1:32:10
  their God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the
• 1:32:13
  Lord their God. The ceremony would include fellowship offerings and celebration.
• 1:32:19
  Moses told them in verse seven that they should offer
• 1:32:22
  peace offerings and should eat there and rejoice before the
• 1:32:26
  Lord their God. The law would be clearly displayed. Moses
• 1:32:31
  commanded in verse eight that they should write very plainly
• 1:32:34
  on the stones all the words of this law. Then
• 1:32:37
  came the dramatic moment when the nation would be divided.
• 1:32:41
  Moses explained in verse twelve that when they had crossed
• 1:32:44
  over the Jordan, these should stand on Mount gerry Zim
• 1:32:48
  to bless the people. Simeon, Levi, Judah, Isachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.
• 1:32:56
  The other tribes would represent the consequences of disobedi In
• 1:33:01
  verse thirteen, Moses said that these should stand on Mount
• 1:33:05
  Eball to curse Reuben, gad Asher, Zebulen, Dan and Naftali.
• 1:33:13
  The Levites would proclaim a series of curses to which
• 1:33:15
  all the people would respond. Moses began the list in
• 1:33:20
  verse fifteen. Cursed is the one who makes a carved
• 1:33:24
  or molded image an abomination to the Lord, the work
• 1:33:29
  of the hands of the craftsman and sets it up
• 1:33:32
  in secret, and all the people would answer and say amen.
• 1:33:39
  The curses continued through various sins, dishonoring parents in verse sixteen,
• 1:33:44
  moving boundary markers in verse seventeen, misleading the blind in
• 1:33:49
  verse eighteen, perverting justice for vulnerable people in verse nineteen,
• 1:33:54
  and various sexual sins in verses twenty to twenty three.
• 1:33:59
  The Sarahemony concluded with curses against violence and corruption. In
• 1:34:05
  verse twenty four, they would say, cursed is the one
• 1:34:10
  who attacks his neighbors secretly, in verse twenty five, cursed
• 1:34:15
  is the one who takes a bribe to slay an
• 1:34:17
  innocent person, And finally, in verse twenty six, cursed is
• 1:34:23
  the one who does not confirm all the words of
• 1:34:25
  this law by observing them. To each pronouncement, all the
• 1:34:30
  people would say amen. Moses now painted the most vivid
• 1:34:35
  picture of blessing and curse in all of scripture. What
• 1:34:39
  he was about to describe would determine Israel's entire future
• 1:34:43
  and serve as a prophecy that would be fulfilled with
• 1:34:46
  stunning accuracy throughout their history. In chapter twenty eight, verse one,
• 1:34:52
  Moses declared that if they diligently obeyed the voice of
• 1:34:55
  the Lord their God to observe carefully all his commandments
• 1:34:59
  which he commanded them. That day, the Lord their God
• 1:35:03
  would set them high above all nations of the earth.
• 1:35:06
  The blessings would be comprehensive and overwhelming. Moses promised in
• 1:35:11
  verse two that all these blessings would come upon them
• 1:35:14
  and overtake them because they obeyed the voice of the
• 1:35:17
  Lord their God. Moses listed blessing after blessing in verses
• 1:35:22
  three through six. Blessed shall you be in the city,
• 1:35:26
  And blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall
• 1:35:30
  be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground,
• 1:35:34
  and the increase of your herds, the increase of your
• 1:35:37
  cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be
• 1:35:42
  your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be
• 1:35:46
  when you come in, And Blessed shall you be when
• 1:35:49
  you go out. Military victory was promised. In verse seven.
• 1:35:57
  Moses declared that the Lord would cause their enemies who
• 1:36:00
  rose against them to be defeated before their face. They
• 1:36:03
  would come out against them one way and flee before
• 1:36:07
  them seven ways. Economic prosperity would follow. Moses promised in
• 1:36:14
  verse eight that the Lord would command the blessing on
• 1:36:17
  them in their storehouses and in all to which they
• 1:36:20
  set their hand, and he would bless them in the
• 1:36:23
  land which the Lord their God was giving them. Their
• 1:36:28
  identity as God's special people would be recognized world wide.
• 1:36:33
  Moses declared in verse nine that the Lord would establish
• 1:36:36
  them as a holy people to himself, just as he
• 1:36:40
  had sworn to them. If they kept the commandments of
• 1:36:43
  the Lord their God and walked in his ways, international
• 1:36:48
  respect would follow. In verse ten, Moses said that all
• 1:36:53
  peoples of the earth would see that they were called
• 1:36:56
  by the name of the Lord, and they would be
• 1:36:58
  afraid of them. Abundance would characterize every aspect of life.
• 1:37:05
  Moses promised in verse eleven that the Lord. In verse twelve,
• 1:37:09
  Moses declared that the Lord would open to them his
• 1:37:12
  good treasure the heavens, to give the rein to their
• 1:37:16
  land in its season, and to bless all the work
• 1:37:20
  of their hand. They would lend to many nations, but
• 1:37:25
  they would not bark and their officers. All the men
• 1:37:29
  of Israel. This covenant included every one. Moses continued in
• 1:37:35
  verse eleven that their little ones and their wives. Also
• 1:37:39
  the stranger who was in their camp, from the one
• 1:37:41
  who cut their wood to the one who drew their water,
• 1:37:44
  were all included. The purpose was clear. In verse twelve,
• 1:37:50
  Moses explained that they should enter into covenant with the
• 1:37:53
  Lord their God, and into his oath, which the Lord
• 1:37:57
  their God made with them to day, that he might
• 1:38:00
  established them today as a people for himself, and that
• 1:38:04
  he might be God to them, just as he had
• 1:38:07
  spoken to them, and just as he had sworn to
• 1:38:10
  their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But Moses was
• 1:38:14
  thinking beyond the present generation. In verse fourteen, he declared
• 1:38:20
  that he made this covenant and this oath not with
• 1:38:23
  them alone, but with him who stood there with them
• 1:38:27
  that day before the Lord their God, as well as
• 1:38:31
  with him who was not there with them that day.
• 1:38:35
  Moses could see the future, and it frightened him. He
• 1:38:40
  warned them in verse eighteen about the danger of individuals
• 1:38:43
  who might hear the words of this curse and bless
• 1:38:46
  themselves in their heart, saying that they would have peace
• 1:38:51
  even though they followed their own stubborn hearts. The Lord
• 1:38:55
  would not spare such a person the consequences of national
• 1:38:59
  apostle to see would be devastating. Moses prophesied in verse
• 1:39:04
  twenty three that the whole land would be brimstone and
• 1:39:07
  salt and burning. It would not be sown, nor would
• 1:39:12
  it bear, nor would any grass grow there. Like the
• 1:39:15
  overthrow of Sodom and gomorrah Admah and Zeboeem, which the
• 1:39:21
  Lord overthrew in his anger and his wrath. Future generations
• 1:39:26
  would ask why this happened. Moses predicted in verse twenty
• 1:39:31
  four that all nations would say, why has the Lord
• 1:39:34
  done so to this land? What does the heat of
• 1:39:38
  this great anger mean? The answer would be simple and tragic,
• 1:39:43
  As Moses explained in verse twenty five, it was because
• 1:39:47
  they had forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of
• 1:39:50
  their fathers, which he made with them when he brought
• 1:39:54
  them out of the land of Egypt. But Moses wasn't
• 1:39:58
  ending his speech with despair. Even as he predicted Israel's
• 1:40:02
  failure and exile, he also saw something beautiful beyond the judgment,
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  a hope that would sustain them through their darkest hours.
• 1:40:12
  In Chapter thirty, verse one, Moses said that when all
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  these things came upon them, the blessing and the curse
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  which he had set before them, And they called them
• 1:40:24
  to mind among all the nations where the Lord their
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  God drove them, And they returned to the Lord their
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  God and obeyed his voice according to all that he
• 1:40:34
  commanded them. Today they and their children with all their
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  heart and with all their soul. Then something amazing would happen.
• 1:40:44
  God's response to genuine repentance would be immediate and complete.
• 1:40:49
  Moses promised in verse three that the Lord their God
• 1:40:52
  would bring them back from captivity and have compassion on them,
• 1:40:56
  and gather them again from all the nations where the
• 1:40:59
  Lord their God had scattered them. No matter how far
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  they were scattered, God would find them. Moses declared in
• 1:41:06
  verse four that if any of them were driven out
• 1:41:08
  to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord
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  their God would gather them, and from there he would
• 1:41:15
  bring them the restoration would be complete. In verse five,
• 1:41:21
  Moses promised that the Lord their God would bring them
• 1:41:24
  to the land which their fathers possessed, and they would
• 1:41:29
  possess it. He would prosper them and multiply them more
• 1:41:32
  than their fathers. But the greatest miracle would be internal transformation.
• 1:41:40
  Moses prophesied in verse six that the Lord their God
• 1:41:44
  would circumcise their heart and the heart of their descendants
• 1:41:48
  to love the Lord their God with all their heart
• 1:41:51
  and with all their soul, that they might live. The
• 1:41:55
  curses would be transferred to their enemies. Moses declared in
• 1:42:00
  verse seven that the Lord their God would put all
• 1:42:03
  these curses on their enemies and on those who hated them,
• 1:42:06
  who persecuted them. Their obedience would return, along with their prosperity.
• 1:42:13
  Moses promised in verse eight that they would again obey
• 1:42:16
  the voice of the Lord and do all his commandments
• 1:42:19
  which he commanded them. Today, God would bless them abundantly.
• 1:42:26
  In verse nine, Moses said that the Lord their God
• 1:42:30
  would make them abound in all the work of their hand,
• 1:42:34
  in the fruit of their body, in the increase of
• 1:42:37
  their livestock, and in the produce of their land for good,
• 1:42:42
  for the Lord would again rejoice over them for good,
• 1:42:46
  as he rejoiced over their fathers. The condition was sincere repentance.
• 1:42:53
  Moses emphasized in verse ten that this would happen if
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  they obeyed the voice of the Lord their God to
• 1:42:59
  keep his commandments and his statutes which were written in
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  this Book of the law, and if they turned to
• 1:43:04
  the Lord their God with all their heart and with
• 1:43:07
  all their soul. Moses wanted them to understand that this
• 1:43:12
  wasn't impossible. In verse eleven, he told them that this
• 1:43:17
  commandment which he commanded them to day, was not too
• 1:43:20
  mysterious for them, nor was it far off. It wasn't
• 1:43:25
  hidden in heaven or across the sea. Moses explained in
• 1:43:30
  verses twelve to thirteen that it was not in heaven
• 1:43:33
  that they should say