Bible Reading Challenge Blog

I hope the words from vs.3 sound familiar.  Turn to Matthew 4 and you will find Jesus tempted in the wilderness, keep in mind Jesus is in the wilderness.  Who else is in the wilderness right about now?  The people of Israel.  Satan tempts Jesus with putting an idea into his mind about changing stones to bread.   Jesus quotes these verses in Deuteronomy to Satan in order to show the ordeal that the people of Israel had been through, and he wasn’t about to throw that away.  

We also find the reason why God put the people of Israel in the wilderness to wander.  Look at vs.2: “In order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.”  We know that it is not this generation walks into the promised land, their children do.  But God has provided for the people of Israel and had thought of every detail.  Even the minute detail of swollen feet was considered as we read that the feet of the people of Israel did not swell after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  God pays attention to the details.  

But ultimately we read one of the common threads and themes that runs through Scripture.  We cannot cease giving God the glory.  We cannot take the glory of God’s actions upon ourselves.  If you look at vs.17 there is a warning to thinking that we are the ones who brought this wealth upon ourselves.  “Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power and wealth.”  If you forget this and start to worship other idols, including the idol of yourself, we read that we will surely perish.  

God wants to make sure that we do not worship other gods and that we are not beholden to idols that other people worship.  So we have here an indication as to why God chose the people of God, as the people of God.  Look at vs.8 where we read that the people of  God were chosen because: “the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors.”  So there are two reasons why God has chosen us: 1) God loves us, and 2) God keeps His promises.

As a result of these two things he commands that we be faithful to him as He is to us.  But look at vs.12 which really places this all into perspective.  “If you heed these ordinances…the Lord your God will maintain with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to you ancestors.”  The verses go on and state that God will love us, bless us, multiply us.  So the primary two reasons why God chose us is that God loves us and keeps  his promises.  If we keep  God’s commandments then we will reap the benefits of God’s love, God’s blessing, and the promise of fruitfulness in all things.

It seems to me that we have a pretty good deal with God.  

This might be one of the most recited Old Testament passages.  It is called the Shema which means in Hebrew: to hear, or to listen.  It is taken from the first words of vs.4 in this chapter which starts: Hear, O Israel.  This command is given by God to the people of Israel that they are to teach these commandments to their children so that they would know the history of who they are in relationship to being the children of God.  The history of the people of Israel is so crucial to being a child of God and to understanding why they were promised this land flowing with milk and honey (vs.3).  

What do you know about your family history?  What do you know about the history of your parents and your ancestors that has shaped you and formed you?  I’ll never forget being told that my middle name was a prestigious Scottish name, Kelton.  We got to Edinburgh and went to the castle there where there are books with all of the most prestigious names in Scottish history.  Kelton was not there.  The reply from my parents was: Yeah, we aren’t really sure where that name came from.  So I have that going for me.

But if you look at vs.20 and you see that so much of this chapter is geared to teaching your children well, it ought to remind us of the importance of ensuring that the faith that we have is passed on to the generations to come.  This is a song that might go along with this thought.

Here we find ourselves reading the ten commandments.  We saw them first in Exodus 20 and they are pretty much the same.  It is interesting how in some denominations the 10 commandments are numbered differently.  Often we like to read into intent when we see this, but I just think historically they have been interpreted differently.

I have always been interested in seeing how we observe the Sabbath.  In Israel it is very, very obvious when it is the Sabbath.  You can see the deserted streets, you can ride on the elevators that stop on every floor, you can notice that people are taking that day as an opportunity to live out their covenant with their Lord.  What about us?  Most of us would take this day, our Sunday, to go to church.  But how do we really observe the Sabbath?  I say not well.   Probably the reason why we don’t follow it as we should is simply because it isn’t convenient.  But what if murdering all of a sudden became convenient?  I know, I know, that is so extreme, but we do have to think why we don’t follow one of the ten commandments and we have discarded it for no real understandable reason.

When we continue along in this chapter post commandments we read how the people of Israel asked if Moses would be the one who would approach the Lord for they were afraid of Him.  But then they ask him to repeat everything and then we read this line in vs.27: “And we will listen and do it.”  That really didn’t happen much, but Moses does command the people to teach these commandments to their children.  We are getting close to the Shema.  More on that later…

There is a lot in this chapter so let’s try to break it down.  You still need to look at the map that I included in the last blog.  Moses speaks about the 10 commandments and how God gave them to Moses, but especially how the people were witnesses to the presence of God.  Moses asks the following questions in verses 32 and following: have you ever seen a god who takes personal  interest in His people like our God?  Moses describes how God is actively and tangibly a part of the life of the people of Israel and revealed Himself to them throughout history.  Who  has a God like that?  Only the God of Israel is like what is described in history.

Moses goes from the handing down of the ten commandments to describing how and why he will not be able to enter the promised land because the people of Israel made God mad.  Moses tells the people of Israel that they better keep the commandments of the Lord or else the Lord will let the people live their lives on their own.

Then we take a left turn as we describe sanctuary cities.   And you thought sanctuary cities were a 21st century invention!  Nope, they have been around for a while and Moses was the one who instituted them.  I wonder if that makes things look a little differently than what we had thought in the past.  

You can’t really understand what is happening here in Deuteronomy without at least a map to track all the people that the Israelites slaughtered.  Remember, that when it speaks about Mount  Hermon it is located in the northernmost portion of the map, so right up above to where the kingdom of Bashan is located.  I hope that as you read these accounts you are able to track and trace where the  Israelites under Moses are going. 

Notice that Moses went as far as the Jabbok River, or the Jabbok crossing and from there had to stop for the Lord promised that Joshua would enter no matter how much Moses beseeched the Lord to be able to cross over, he did not allow him.  That Jabbok river crossing we went to and we find that it is the actual border between Jordan and Israel.  This year, unlike past years, the Jordan was flooded and was quite wide at that point, where in past years it would take not much to cross, just a few strides.  

I love the detail of the iron bed of King Og which must have been quite a site.  The bed according to the measurements given was 13 feet long and close to 6 feet wide.  Now that is quite a bed!

As I walked by the welcome desk one of you who was following the 90 Day Challenge said to me: “Boy, there sure is a lot of killing in the Bible.”  I responded: “Good thing Jesus came along.”  There is a lot of killing in the Bible including as vs. 34 states: “we utterly destroyed men, women and children.  We left not a single survivor.”  This is incredibly thorough and a very tough read.

So when I hear that Islam is a religion of violence and that Muslims only have one purpose and that is to hurt and kill and take over, I have to pause and ask: “Have you read Deuteronomy lately?”  Our own Scripture contains passages that are really hard to read.  So how do we come to terms with this?  As I said before: “Good thing Jesus came along.”  Jesus showed us a new way of life which is counter-intuitive and counter-cultural.  We are to turn the other cheek.  We are to give our jacket to the one who is looking to rob us.  We are to return good for evil.  Not exactly the words of a politician, but very much the words of a Savior.

I found it interesting that the first few places God told Moses: “Do not attack these people, don’t take  their land.”  That is until he gets to the Amorites when he allows Moses to battle with them and take their land.  But then one of the people that Moses was going to pass by, didn’t let him pass by, so Moses had to destroy them with the Lord’s approval.  I have a feeling this is going to be a long book of the Bible to get through.  

Welcome to  Deuteronomy.  We begin the book of Deuteronomy with Moses who gives an account of what has already taken place in Exodus.  There is a common  misconception that Moses was  the author of the first five books of the Bible, what we call the Pentateuch.  The first verse of Deuteronomy tells us that these are the words of Moses.  He picks the story up about the Israelites from the time that the people asked for leaders who could decide disputes among them.  We find in Exodus that it was Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, who made the suggestion, but here Moses gives credit to the people for coming up with that idea.  You can see that scene play itself out in Exodus 18.

Moses also retells the story of how they sent spies into the land and they came back with stories of plenty, but the people were terrified of the “giants” who lived in the land.  As a result they refused to follow God’s command to go into the land and take it over.  So God punished them and only chose Joshua, all the children, and Caleb who was faithful to the Lord, to be the ones to enter the promised land after 40 years.  

It is interesting how in this account Moses is depicted as being punished not for his own sin, a sin which he did commit as we find in Numbers 20:9-13 where God tells Moses that he will not bring the people into the land because he embellished the commands of the Lord.  Moses here in Deuteronomy presents himself as a bit of a martyr who is being punished as a direct result of the sins of Israel, not his own.  You see in vs.37 where Moses after recounting the sins of the people of Israel says: “even with me the Lord was angry”.  Basically, on account of your sin, I somehow inherited your sin and I was punished by osmosis.  Okay, those are my words, but that is pretty much what he said.  

Dear FPC family and friends,

So we begin again another 90 Day Challenge as we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of Easter season.  It may not seem like a time to launch ourselves into some of the historical books of the Bible as well as a few minor prophets, but that is exactly what we are doing next.  Over this study we will be seeing the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges,  and the prophets Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Haggai.  Each one takes place in a specific time and place and so some history will be needed to supplement the readings.

My prayer is that Scripture will come alive for us as Jesus is alive and resurrected.  While the person of Jesus may seem very far removed from a Joel, you will find in this prophet a call that one day our sons and our daughters will be filled with the Holy Spirit.  This harbinger of Pentecost will bring us to today where we see the Holy Spirit alive and well  in the church.

I pray that you will be enriched by your time in Scripture and that it will edify your walk with our resurrected Jesus.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Bob

Israel Day 9

“לשנה הבאה בירושלים”

“Next year Jerusalem!