Lesson 7 - Deuteronomy 5

[Music] we're now about 80% of the way through the Torah and we have absorbed an enormous about detail and as we begin our study of Deuteronomy chapter five today I want to pause for just a few minutes kind of gather our thoughts to gain a little perspective I want to start by taking a few minutes to draw a picture of some of the foundational premises of Deuteronomy that we are expected to keep in mind at all times when we're studying this great book and Bible in general for that matter first of all the context of Deuteronomy is that the laws being given to Israel originally given at Mount Sinai now they're repeated expounded upon somewhat here in Moab are from God from Yehovah this notion of a set of laws coming from God sounds rather simple and easy for us to accept but just as they're being but one God in existence was a totally new concept to the world and to Israel so it was equally as revolutionary that a God instead of a nation's King would establish the the laws and the rules that governed any particular human society because up to this point in history it was always a human king whose prerogative it was to declare what's right and wrong what was legal what was criminal for Israel the common understanding of the source of societal law was going to change second of all an additional context of Deuteronomy is that those to whom Moses is about to repeat these laws its laws beginning with the first series of ten laws that we title the Ten Commandments these people standing before him they were not present except perhaps if they were very young children at the time when the law was first given almost 40 years earlier because the first generation of the exodus would witness the AH of it all were now dead and gone apparently they had not passed the teaching a but a long as they were supposed to it third of all we noticed that as we move along in the coming chapters some slight variation in how these laws are to be viewed and applied at this point in Israel's journey versus how they're to be viewed and applied 40 years ago at the beginning of their wilderness journey there's some there's some differences and this is because the era of living in portable tents eating the manna that has been rained down from heaven each and every day without fail and then just moving from Oasis to Oasis all of this was essentially coming to an end so Moses had to explain just how Israel was to observe and apply these same laws and commandments since Israel was about to become settled sedentary people and they were gonna stop living as a massive population of wandering better ones now the context of their existence was changing for Israel so Moses had to reframe some things but the reframing at times stayed within the boundaries of the law as given on Mount Sinai this is a great principle that I'm afraid has been lost to us it has been a common practice within Christianity to disregard the circumstances and the timeframe and the cultural norms of the Bible era and rather to say that the words of the Bible have this mystical quality such that the thousands of verses and paragraphs it comprises can be severed away from its historical context and made to stand alone in any era I want to give you a brief example of what I'm getting at here we are today in Florida in the United States the bastion of Western call Western culture we're in the year 21 14 our attention is focused on the controversial Afghanistan war the neverending unrest that revolves around Israel of global financial unrest that's throwing millions out of their jobs and homes and downgraded the lifestyles of millions more Islamic theocratic fascism is attempting to reinsert itself on a global level our economy and our national security dominate our every thought and if one is a Christian fundamentalist your faith is under attack you're now considered a threat to our government's goals your morals are completely out of step with our governments in that with that a popular culture you likely are certain we're in the last days of human history and that what is going on around us is nothing but a playing out of predetermined and in alterable prophetic events nearly one half of our churches now deny the deity of Jesus Christ one-fourth of American churches believe in gay marriage and ordain homosexuals as pastors and bishops violence is increasing at every level of our society to unheard-of levels and what would have been considered x-rated programs in pornography 20 years ago are now common fare on primetime TV American society is primarily english-speaking but increasingly Spanish has become a common second language someone Spanish to become acceptable as an officially sanctioned alternative language as language of the US while others via vanilla insist English remains our one and only common national tongue to do anything else they say would undermine our national social fabric our nation is approximately equally divided between politically liberal and politically conservative minded people but the middle group is all but disappeared this that I've just given you is the historical content in which we live which we're meeting today this is the context from which all of our daily dialogues take place even if we don't realize it this context is unique for our time it's not existed before and it's gonna change as time moves along into what we really don't know the point is that when our president give us a speech or a new book is written about some major event or issue in our era or a preacher speaks to us about how to apply Scripture to our lives if you're an American living in Florida in the year 2014 all that I have just stated about what your current circumstances are is the contextual given for that speech or for that book or for that sermon the speaker or author doesn't need to reiterate all these circumstances that define our era because it's common knowledge we feel it and we face it every day but if one is living in England or Turkey or Mexico or Russia the context is quite different and when a leader of any of those places speaks he or she does so in the context relative to their culture their current circumstances the ones that the things that matter most to them our American context is noted not only largely irrelevant to them it is not even comprehensible to their minds unless they are somehow educated familiarized and brought up-to-date about American values American language American history American interest see it's no different with the Bible that's why I spend so much time reminding you that reality and painting a picture as we go of the geography the language evolution what people were thinking what they were concerned about what certain words and phrases meant to them what the major issues and what the major challenges is the times were for them what was taken for unchallenged common knowledge for them and what was completely unknown to them that is what we're reading but just as it is with us today Society in the days of the Bible at any given moment of time was anything but uniform and monolithic everybody wasn't the same nor were they all living under the same circumstances therefore for example in the New Testament we'll have Paul speaking to pagan Gentiles in one of the new and progressive Roman cities using terms and illustrations that they're familiar with he'll speak to the Gentiles in Greek the language they use but when he ventured back to the Holy Lands he would speak to the unique culture of the Jews and the entirely different Jewish society incalculably separate from the Roman world within the context of their understanding that even varied from the Galilee to Samaria down to Judea so he would speak to the various Jewish groups by the issues and in terms that were of concern to them in Hebrew and in Aramaic the language of the Jews that was living within the Holy Lands had Paul spoken to the Romans using Jewish cultural and religious terms they would have been clueless as to what he was talking about probably offended as well had he spoken to the Holy Land Jews in Roman cultural terms the Jews would have turned their backs and walked away from him or as we read happen not on just a few occasions what a running out of town you see the world does not now it never has consisted of a generic people living in generic societies under generic circumstances speaking of Ajit's speaking using a single generic language although we have many in this world who would like to get to that point rather we can only gain any meaningful information from the biblical texts Old Testament and knew whether it's from Paul or Jesus or Moses when we take it all inside of the historical the cultural context it occurred and then in the ordinary sense it meant at that time we can reapply it to our new global national and local circumstances pardon me therefore since Deuteronomy 5 is primarily a restatement of the original Ten Commandments as given 40 years earlier we want to take careful note that much time has passed an entire generation is died out and the context of life for Israel is substantially different from when it was first declared so it's around 1300 BC and Abraham has been dead for 500 years Moses is only days from his death and a new leader has been ready to replace it he is standing on a hill in Moab he is addressing the younger generation of eager warriors who are about to engage in holy war upon Canaan the law is well-established it's been practiced now for 40 years the priesthood is fully functioning the wilderness Tabernacle is the recognized dwelling place of God on earth joshua has been introduced as Moses's successor Israel is currently a racially mixed nation of about 3 million people consisting of full-blooded Hebrews foreigners of several races who officially joined Israel half-breeds the result of inter marriages with these foreigners and of non Hebrew slaves thousands of aliens camp on the outskirts of the enormous Israelite encampment because these aliens choose to be friends with Israel but they don't want to assume a Hebrew identity and join them as part of a Hebrew nation Moses is speaking to all of these people not just to some even though there are those who are actually hearing his voice but most of them are just the people's representatives the tribal leaders and chieftains who will take what he said to everybody else with that now is our context that's our backdrop let's read Deuteronomy chapter 5 Deuteronomy chapter 5 if you have a complete Jewish Bible at page 202 then Moses called to all Israel and said to them listen Israel so the laws and the rulings which I am announcing in your hearing today so that you will learn them and take care to obey them odd and I our God made a covenant with us at Horeb I tonight did not make this covenant with our fathers but with us with us who are all of us here alive today I don't I spoke with you face to face from the fire on the mountain at that time I stood between Otto and I and you in order to tell you what Otto and I was saying because on account of the fire you were afraid you wouldn't go up to the mountain so he said I'm I deny your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt where you lived as slaves you are to have no other gods before me you are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline you're not to bow down to them you're not to serve them for I I don't I your God am a jealous God punishing the children for the sins of their parents also the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my Commandments you are not to misuse the name of Adonai your God because that and I will not leave unpunished someone who misuses his name observe the day of Shabbat set it apart as Holy as Adonai your God ordered you to do you have six days to labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God on it you are not to do any kind of work not you not your son or daughter not your male or female slave not your ox your donkey any kind of your other livestock not the foreigner staying within sight with you inside the gates to your property so that your male and female servants can rest just as you do you are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Adonai your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm therefore Adonai your God has ordered you to keep the day of Shabbat honor your father and mother is that and I has ordered you to do so that you will live long and have things go well with you in the land I don't know your God is within your land that Adonai your God is giving you do not murder do not commit adultery do not steal do not give false evidence against your neighbour do not covet your neighbor's wife do not covet your neighbor's house his field his mail or female slave his ox is donkey anything that belongs to your neighbor these words add and I spoke to your entire gathering at the mountain from fire cloud and thick mist and a loud voice then it ceased but he wrote them on two stone tablets which he gave to me when you heard the voice coming out of the darkness as the mountain blazed with fire you came to me all the heads of your tribes and your leaders and said here Adonai our God has shown us his glory in his greatness we have heard his voice coming from the fire we have seen today that God does speak with human beings and they stay alive but why should we keep risking death this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of a deny our God any more will die for who is there of all humanity that has heard the voice of the Living God speaking from the fires we have and stayed alive you go near and hear everything from ad and IR God then tell youtell will tell us everything Adonai our God says to you we'll listen to it we'll do it ad and I heard what you were saying when you spoke to me and ad and I said to me I have heard what the people have said when speaking to you and everything they have said is good oh how I wish their hearts would stay like this always that they would fear me that they would obey all my commandments so that it would go well with them and their children forever go tell them to return to their tents but you stand here by me I will tell you all the meats vil the commandments the laws and the rulings which you are to teach them so that they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession therefore you are to be careful to do as Adonai your God has ordered you you are not to deviate either to the right or the left you are to follow the entire way which Adonai your God has ordered you so that you will live things will go well with you and you will have long in the land you're about to possess we find in this chapter that Moses is reestablishing the basis for claiming that he is the sole and unique mediator between God and Israel he's saying bluntly these are the rules that I Moses proclaimed to you but then goes on to make it clear that he is just repeating to them what the Lord told him and what many of them heard his children perhaps I'm a frightening and thundering voice from above Moses is also reestablishing a basis to this new generation for why yellow they is and should be Israel's God and that their loyalty is to be only to Yehovah and the reason that Israel should obey and worship Yahweh is stated in the first commandment that is verse 6 I am Yehovah your God who brought you out land of Egypt now I remind you that while it became the Christian norm over the centuries to ignore the original first commandment I am Yahweh your God and to take the second commandment and break it apart and make two Commandments out of it so that the appearance of 10 and not nine Commandments remains this is a significant error that is much to do with Christianity's historic bent to disinherit the Jewish people of their rightful places God's favorite people it has also led to such an arrogant attitude of the church towards Israel that the very people to whom God's Word was entrusted the Hebrews now feel totally alienated from their own Jewish Messiah they have been thoroughly convinced by Christians that if they should believe upon Yeshua that is tantamount to accepting a Gentile religion validating the church position the Jews have now been rejected by the Lord and replaced with Gentiles and therefore they would be turning their backs on that special position given to them as his said of our people so says Moses the reason that Israel should look to Yahweh and Yahweh alone is because Jehovah and not some other God that rescued Israel from Egypt through never before signs and wonders is the only God they ought to turn to it was him that did it and further it has not been established that it is folly to bow down to other cuts because they don't even really exist they are false gods not in a sense that you hope a is a better God but rather in a sense they're just figments of men's foolish and evil inclinations so that easily so that people easily accept elemental spirits and a myriad of created objects as gods or things that ought to be worshipped we studied the so called Ten Commandments in a great detail when we examined Exodus 20 a long time ago we're not gonna go into detail I'll only highlight the main points or indicate the places where the wording in Deuteronomy 5 differs ever so lightly from Exodus 20 from a panoramic view point we see that the Ten Commandments the 10 guiding principles of the six hundred and three laws that will follow are divided into two obvious groupings the first four Commandments speak of man's obligations to God the remaining six concern relationships among in-between our fellow humans please note something that I hope has become or is becoming apparent nowhere in the Ten Commandments or anywhere in the law for that matter does the issue of salvation as we think about it come up the law simply doesn't deal with it because that was never its purpose or function and despite what you might have been told the Hebrews did not look to the law for salvation because it wasn't there they didn't think it was there so when we see Paul explained that the law is not able to save he was just telling his uninitiated Gentile listeners not to go seek out the law as an alternative to do what only the Messiah can do save and since Christ was a Jew and it was only within the religion and Covenants of the Jews that the advent of a messiah had any meaning at all then it was the natural assumption of converted Gentiles to mimic what the Jews did obey the outward rituals of the law the problem is that Paul knew that if they weren't taught otherwise the Gentiles would naturally mistakenly think that it was all those acts and behaviors that brought them their salvation and what when Paul was saying similar things to the Jews he was simply telling these Hebrews that while obedience to the law is good and righteous and important the Messiah was doing something that obedience to the law could never do it's not that in the New Testament we have a Paul or Jesus or any other writer saying that Christians should be antinomian a 50-cent word meaning anti law against the law rather it was they should take advantage of Christ's ministry of salvation rather than mistakenly assume they had now laid before them option B which is to obey a series of rules and off laws in order to accomplish the same thing well when we come to Christ we don't stop eating food we don't stop learning scripture eating food does not bring us salvation but that doesn't mean eating a bad thing does it make eating antagonistic to salvation learning scripture doesn't earn us salvation but studying the word isn't outdated or does it become unnecessary once we've accepted salvation each of these acts as an ongoing purpose we eat because our physical bodies require the nourishment we read scripture so that once we've been redeemed by faith in Yeshua we give our minds and our souls spiritual nourishment so that we know what our expect response to God's grace and Ferris towards us ought to be Christ says he's the bread of life but no one would seriously take that to mean that a saved people we don't need food anymore he also says that the Torah will be written on our hearts but that in no way means that we're to stop learning God's ways from his written word in the same way when we in faith accept Yeshua as our Savior we don't not turn against the very rules and ordinances that the Lord set up to demonstrate his character and to instruct us on how to live a redeemed life the second commandment is restated in verses 8 through 10 and it makes it clear that Israel is not to attempt to establish a relationship with any other God that's pretty straightforward don't need to comment anymore on that but what I do want to point out is the relationship nature of the covenant of noses Moses between God and man I talked last week about this unscriptural false dichotomy that has been set up in modern Christianity that demands that we see the Old Testament is about the establishment of a legal code and the New Testament as the introduction of grace into the world part and parcel to this typical outlook that the Old Testament was was set up as a dictator king giving out impersonal orders that had to be obeyed or else as opposed to the New Testament that's all about a relationship between God and man that sets up no obligations upon us we've all heard pastors correctly say the Christianity ought not be a religion it ought to be a relationship well that's been true from the beginning it's a fundamental biblical axiom that the covenants between God and man are always relationship based before we get the relationship formula in old testament phrases like I will take you to be my people and I will be your God in Exodus 6-7 Orlov Vic Leviticus 26 12 I will be your God and you shall be my people notice the equation God says this is what I'll be to you and consequently this is what you will be to me and that while God offers this prospect of a harmonious relationship it's up to you to accept it or to reject it that is the very different very definition of a relationship and it is the same basis as to our human marriage vows there are always meant to be a physical and visible illustration of our spiritual and invisible relationship with the Lord that's what marriage is supposed to look like notice that a marriage ceremony the question is always asked to the bride will you take this man to be your husband to the bridegroom will you take this woman to be your wife both sides have to agree freely to enter into this relationship in the case of God establishing that Israel will be his people and in return he will be their God and in the case of human marriage both parties must agree both parties have obligations both parties have legal standing if the Lord only said okay I'll be your God that's it you don't have a choice Israel and Israel was just given no choice at all in the matter then the quid pro quo is missing there's no relationship this is more like the like it is with the gods of the other nations it's just master and servants that's it they don't have a choice if in a marriage ceremony the man declared you're gonna be my wife but the woman has not asked she was to be married to this man there's no relationship this is just subjugation the third commandment is that the Lord's name is not to be misused this may be the most mischaracterized commandment of all this commandment is primarily about one thing not invoking the name of God as surety in an oath that is either false on its face or one that you have no intention of keeping this modern idea of accidental mispronunciation of his formal name as the point of this commandment is just wrong or there were two refrain altogether from saying his holy name that's just scripturally groundless the Talmud makes it clear that the prohibition that the Jews eventually adopted starting about 300 BC of not uttering the holy name of Yahweh had nothing to do with this third commandment nothing rather it came to be considered a matter of proper reverence traditionally now there's various reasons for it stated in the Talmud also when the writings of Philo and Josephus for that matter as to why it came to be considered irreverent to say gods formal name and while there is no single definitive reason stated in general it had to do with the Middle Eastern custom that it was not respectful for a son or a daughter to pronounce their parents especially their father's name by extension it was carried over to the Lord's name because the Lord was recognized as Abba Father the Hebrews Heavenly Father let me state emphatically what I'm telling you is not my opinion it's just simply history recorded in Jewish documents for anyone who has the time or interest to find out and read for yourselves where it all came from now in ancient times the invoking of vows and oaths were common events by definition of our and oath involve the use of name of one god or another if a God's name was invoked or was no oath didn't exist the primary intent of this third commandment is that the Lord's name is not to be invoked carelessly or frivolously when you're making a vow or an oath and in later books of the Old Testament and then even later in New Testament writings advice is given that all in all probably better not to make vows and oaths at all wherever is possible because if a person does invoke your Ovie's name in a bower an oath the Lord fully expects the terms to be completed regardless of the content or the intent and one of the most infamous stories in the Bible is about a fellow named jephta who made his own daughter a burnt sacrifice due to a rash vow he had made to God not expecting that horror as a result by the way it was a vow for which Jeff got approached the Lord and set the terms the Lord didn't ask for that nor does he condone human life as a sacrifice it was a terrible sin when Jeff toss sacrificed his daughter the fourth commandment is to observe the Sabbath day flogged you sufficiently on this matters I'm not going to go to too deep and death and depth on it please note that Sabbath Shabbat is the proper name of a specific day in fact in any good translation the wording is observed the Sabbath day and while that's acceptable it actually misses the market ad because literally it reads observe the Shabbat the point is Shabbat is not just any day it's specific day that the Lord has ordained as holy two things it is biblically defined as the seventh day of the week not the final day of any rolling day seven day period of our choosing nowhere in scripture does it make it any other day further it is the holiness of that day that is the key the Lord has set this particularly day apart from all others and made it holy question this is a biggie who makes something holy can you declare something to be open can you take something ordinary and by the power invested in you make it holy how about your pastor can he make something common into something holy how about your bishop about the Pope of course not making something anything holy lies solely within the province of God we can't choose any day we wish and then by our own authority declared to be holy the Sabbath is far more than a day of rest if it were just a day of physical rest then certainly would not have the holy character that God is assigned to it conversely anytime we take a day off of work for whatever reason that doesn't make that day the Sabbath day the pagan world had days off and the government usually controlled which day that was going to be they had days off to celebrate the winter and summer solstices bad days off to celebrate the inauguration of a new king they had days off to celebrate and worship their numerous gods they had days off to celebrate the end of the harvest season they were arrests days but they weren't the Sabbath the Sabbath is a weekly observance of the miracle of creation now it is rightly quoted the Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath but the point is not that the sole purpose of the Sabbath was for man to be able to have a day off of work it was so man could enjoy and reflect refresh his relationship with God the time off was a was a helpful reminder for man for animal to physically rejuvenate but it was mostly so man could remember what the Lord has done for him done for us by redeeming us by creating everything around us that sustains us it does not do anything for God that we rest it honors God that we reflect upon him and obey Him by observing the day that he has removed from the six common days of the week and set it apart and now is blessed it is special well we've now reviewed Commandments one through four that have to do with God's expectation that we as his worshipers acknowledge his name his nature his identity and his holy day with commandment number five there's a shift to what the Lord demands of human upon human relationships and these will specifically cover the obligation of children to their parents how one is to honor and protect the life person property and reputation of our neighbors in society at large one could reasonably say that these are the humanitarian rules that have been sent down by the Lord the fifth commandment then is to describe our proper relationship to the most important humans in our life because they gave it to us parents just as in Leviticus 19 where the priests are admonished to revere their parents so do the Ten Commandments make it a duty not just among the priestly class but for all who wish to be part of Israel to recognize that among human relationship obligations the ones you have to your parents reigns supreme interestingly this command is usually used to gain the attention of school-aged children when it comes to being obedient to their mothers and their fathers but that isn't how was looked at during the various biblical eras rather this is more about how grown children adult children or to care for their parents when they needed care and about how grown children to continue to show deference to their elders it is interesting that this issue is so high on God's list then a leviticus 19:3 he essentially puts showing proper respect to one's parents as a human societal obligation on the same level as observing Shabbat is an obligation to God for that verse says you shall Revere your father and mother and keep my Sabbath's all smashed together I am Jehovah your God earthly parent heavenly parent they are to be obeyed they're to be honored another interesting subtlety to note is that quite often in Scripture the phrase used to denote one's parents is your mother and father putting the word mother first it's not that the intent is to necessarily put mother of a father rather it is to put mother and father on equal footing in what was a male-dominated society since God does not value one sex above the other neither should a child put the needs of one of his parents above the other they are equal in the Lord's eyes should be treated equal and the child's eyes the rabbi's fully subscribed to this view and much is written in the Talmud to this effect it's also interesting note to note that of all the Ten Commandments this one concerning the instructor to honor one's parents is the only one that promises a reward for everybody who obeys and then interesting a reward it says that if you will honor your parents God will give you a prolonged life on earth and that you will do better you will do well in life you'll have well being shallow God will give you shallow if you honor your parents on earth that's pretty good well the sixth seventh eighth and ninth Commandments are very brief they're all contained in one verse essentially the sixth commandment is the one should not Brett suck Brett suck is Hebrew for murder it does not mean kill one would not go hunting for instance and rut sock a deer murder a deer the purpose for this commandment is very limited in scope and it specifically means a man is not to unjustly kill another human being legal executions are not a concern of this commandment death and battle is not a concern of this commandment even manslaughter in the sense of there not being an intention to kill anybody nor a death as the result of gross negligence none of this is a concern of this commandment the key word here is unjust and by the way legal retribution by executing a person who has committed an unjust killing is expected and demanded by the Lord it's not optional the seventh commandment is the one should not engage in adultery biblical adultery means consenting sexual relations between a married person and another person outside of that marriage very simple it can also mean a wife in that area anyway taking the sight of a man against her husband in a serious disagreement the Middle Eastern societies of this era all generally held extramarital relations to be very that thing and most of these societies punish the perpetrators severely usually with death in reality a law similar to the seventh commandment was quite usual and customary among almost all societies of that era the eighth commandment is that one should not steal this means that exactly the way we think of it today we shouldn't take something from somebody that does be rightfully belong to us a some rabbi said that this commandment included kidnapping the unlawful taking of a human being although that's a little bit of a stretch rather this is about personal property it's about a prohibition against someone having their property unjustly taken away from them the ninth commandment is that one should not bear false witness against another in our modern vocabulary this is referring to perjury it does not generally mean to avoid telling a lie in a conversation rather this is the more about making a false accusation of wrongdoing criminal activity that could lead to a criminal penalty it's not about telling the truth in the court of law that could either acquit the guilty or convict the innocent now the tenth commandment is somewhat unique because while all the others speak of concrete actions and outward behaviors this one says that a person should not covet something that belongs to something else so this is all about a state of mind covet means to have secret designs to make something yours that you have no right to so certainly such a state of mind could eventually manifest itself into a wrong action wrongly going after what is coveted the first thing one is not to covet is your neighbor's wife that is one is not to look in lust upon a married woman and water for your own if you're a male the thing is that is not to be craved or you make plans to do wrongly to acquire it is your neighbor's house this does not mean the dwelling place it means a sense of household the people that form your extended family I've shared with you that it was the common mode of operation and most of the biblical eras at least Old Testament for a clan or a tribe to increase their power and wealth by forcibly taking people entire households of people we had a direct example of this when Jacob's sons did this exact thing when they stayed for a time at GM and they took people and retribution for the rape rape of Jacob's daughter Dinah this dramatically increased the size of jacob's tribe overnight because the Israelites acquired households of people the reiteration of the Ten Commandments is now complete and Moses reminds the people that it was these ten laws that the people heard directly from God with their own ears the 603 laws that came afterward were given to Moses and then he passed them along to the people Moses also reminds the people that God was willing and Moses would have been perfectly happy to continue giving his Torah directly to them from his own divine voice to hear but their fear of the Lord's awesome presence drove them to beg Moses to ask God to stop speaking to them and instead for Moses to behave as their mediator the next couple of verses 25 and 26 adds some interesting information they say that God actually commends Israel for their attitude of preferring Moses to receive the law - they're standing in God's presence and hearing the laws from the Lord this is important because the Lord didn't see Israel as weak or superstitious or unworthy to hear his voice rather he saw their requests to get the laws through Moses as the proper response to his awesomeness and an agreement with God that Moses was his authorized mediator Israel gained a very healthy fear and reverence for Yehovah and as long as they retained it as long as they obey the Torah Commandments then it will go well with you and your children forever now there's a couple of fundamental God principles contained in that rather innocuous statement first the Lord will bless greatly those who determine to show him proper respect and who follow him and obedience and second if that man does have a choice the Lord is not going to force anyone to obey Him or to be forced into service to him generally speaking the Lord does not control a man like a puppet not a man's mind or a man's actions since in verse 27 the people wanted Moses to receive the remainder of the Torah in their stead yo-ho they told Moses to dismiss the people to go home to their tents understand they were not sent away they had asked to be released and they were not put under some kind of house arrest they were not ordered to go and stand those tents while Moses received the law rather than see people were simply permitted to go back to their desert abodes they weren't required to stay there and hear all of God's words and of course along with the instruction for the people to be dismissed Moses was told to remain where he was so that the Lord could finish what he started this portion of Moses addressed to the people ends with the main point of this entire sermon it is that what must be learned and hopefully not repeated from what happened at Mount Sinai and then all misadventures that occurred afterwards that caused the deaths of scores of thousands of Hebrew it is that the Torah that Moses in process and process of teaching to this new generation of Israelites must be followed and obeyed or this new generation it can expect similar consequences as to what their parents received next week we'll get into Deuteronomy chapter 6 please rise [Music] you

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Length: 53min 1sec (3181 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 01 2019