In the Book of Deuteronomy it is almost as the writer is reviewing the first four books of the Old Testament—Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Leviticus and reforming them into a simpler, more descriptive and organized narrative.
Hear, O Israel, the ceremonies and judgments… learn them, and fulfill them in work. He made not the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and living.
Who are you working for today?
Did God simply want a day off thinking that if we had a day off, He could take a day off?
I am not God. God is God and I may not understand His ways or His thinking.
The Ten Commandments were pretty simple and straight forward… or where they?
- Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God.
- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
- Observe the day of the Sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. The seventh is the day of the Sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God.
- Honor thy father and mother.
- Thou shalt not kill.
- Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
- Thou shalt not steal.
- Thou shalt not steal.
- Thou shalt not covet.
- 10 ???
No. 9 is split into two commandments—Thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s wife—and—Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house—but Scripture also specifies us not covet thy neighbor’s manservant, Thou shalt not covet his maidservant, not his ox, nor his ass nor anything that is his.
Why only neighbor’s wife and house? Isn’t he wife coveting covered in No. 6—Thou shalt not commit adultery? Isn’t ‘anything that is his’ sort of an infinite statement? Could have easily been the Infinite Commandments or at least The Twelve Commandments to match the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the Twelve Disciples.
The children of Israel to Moses: approach thou rather; and hear all things that the Lord our God shall say to thee, and thou shalt speak to us, and we will hear and will do them.
Thou shalt not lie could have easily have been Commandment No. 12.
But you shall walk in the way that the Lord your God hath commanded, that you may live, and it may be well with you, and your days may be long in the land of your possession.
Longevity, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, has its place.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping, and rising.
Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shall swear by his name.
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou tempest him in place of temptation. And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord.
God was destroying other human gods and idols by selecting Israel and destroying others via them. While true and real, this people-to-people warfare can be transitioned to the one-personal-personal level and be utilized to exorcise our human character defects and shortcomings.
The macro people-nations-world scale:
When the Lord thy God… shall have destroyed many nations before thee… seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou, and the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shall utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor show mercy to them. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them… for she will turn away thy son from following Me.
Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the earth… the Lord hath loved you, and hath kept his oath, which he swore to your fathers: and hath brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage. And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, he is a strong and faithful God, keeping his covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments, unto a thousand generations…
He will love thee and multiply thee.
The micro perspective—you, me and that other gal or guy too:
And hath brought you out of a stronghand and redeemed you from the house of bondage—could easily be speaking to recovery from addiction, hurts, habits, hang-ups or any type of dysfunction today.
Forget about curing the world, go cure yourself first!
The Promised Land is promised!
That the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments or no… He has afflicted thee with want… to show that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God… that thou mayest consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord thy God hath trained thee up. That thou shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and fear Him… at the last He had mercy on thee, lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand achieved all these things for me.
We are present and presumed living—what if your Personal Covenant with God, Jesus & The Holy Spirit?
Day 61: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Present & Living—Our Personal Covenant with God, Jesus & The Holy Spirit.
Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Book of Deuteronomy Chapters 5-10
Bible Notes:
This Book is so called Deuteronomy, which means a second law, because it repeats, explains, and expands the Law given on Mount Sinai. It contains three discourses of Moses encouraging the Israelites, who will shortly enter The Promised Land, to observe the Law.
The last four chapters describe the last days and the death of Moses on Mount Nebo in the Land of Moab.
Deuteronomy Chapter 5: Covenant at Horeb; The first three commandments; the last seven commandments; The fear of the Israelites; Reward for obeying God;
Hear, O Israel, the ceremonies and judgments… learn them, and fulfill them in work.
He made not the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and living.
I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God.
- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
- Observe the day of the Sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. The seventh is the day of the Sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God.
- Honor thy father and mother.
- Thou shalt not kill.
- Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
- Thou shalt not steal.
- Thou shalt not steal.
- Thou shalt not covet.
10 ???
Approach thou rather; and hear all things that the Lord our God shall say to thee, and thou shalt speak to us, and we will hear and will do them.
But you shall walk in the way that the Lord your God hath commanded, that you may live, and it may be well with you, and your days may be long in the land of your possession.
Deuteronomy Chapter 6: Exhortation to love God; Warning not to forget God; Reward for pleasing the Lord; Children shall be taught to love God.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping, and rising.
Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shall swear by his name.
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou tempest him in place of temptation. And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord.
Deuteronomy Chapter 7: Fellowship with pagans forbidden; God’s love for the Israelites; Rewards for obedience.
When the Lord thy God… shall have destroyed many nations before thee… seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou, and the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shall utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor show mercy to them. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them… for she will turn away thy son from following Me.
Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the earth… the Lord hath loved you, and hath kept his oath, which he swore to your fathers: and hath brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage. And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, he is a strong and faithful God, keeping his covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments, unto a thousand generations…
He will love thee and multiply thee.
No one shall be barren among you of either sex, neither of men nor cattle…
Thy eye shall not spare them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, lest they be thy ruin.
Thou will not be able to destroy them altogether: lest perhaps the beasts of the earth should increase upon them.
Neither shalt thou bring any thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like it.
Anathema—a person or thing detested or loathed; a person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction; a formal ecclesiastical curse involving excommunication; any imprecation of divine punishment; a curse; execration.
Deuteronomy Chapter 8: God’s mercy recalled; Prophecy of life in the Promised Land.
That the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments or no… He has afflicted thee with want… to show that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God… that thou mayest consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord thy God hath trained thee up. That thou shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and fear Him… at the last He had mercy on thee, lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand achieved all these things for me.
Deuteronomy Chapter 9: Moses warns the Israelites against pride; The molten calf; Other revolts against the Lord; Moses’ prayer.
Whereas these nations are destroyed for their wickedness.
I see that this people is stiffnecked.
The graves of lust you provoked the Lord
But were always rebellious from the day that I begun to know you.
Deuteronomy Chapter 10: God’s mercy in restoring the tablets; Eleazar succeeds Aaron; The tribe of Levi to minister before God; Moses’ forty days in the mount; Requirements of God; God’s great mercy.
And put the tables (of the covenant) in the ark
At that time he separated the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to stand before Him in the ministry, and to bless in his name until this present day.
Wherefore Levi hath no part nor possession with his brethren: because the Lord himself is his possession, as the Lord they God promised him.
Behold heaven is the Lord’s thy God, and the heaven of the heaven, the earth and all things that are therein.
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more.
He doth… loveth the stranger, and giveth him food and rainment. And therefore love strangers, because you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.
In seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt, and behold now the Lord thy God hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven.
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