Deuteronomy—Remembrance of the Covenant

Key Verses: Deuteronomy 10:12-13

Themes to Track: Remembrance, God’s character and nature, obedience to the covenant (and the results of obedience), following the commandments of God

A couple years ago I was living in Montana at the Youth With a Mission base where I was doing the School of Biblical Studies. I was very blessed to be living on one of the nicest YWAM bases in the country. Because the base runs several schools and has more than one hundred staff, it not only has three big dorm buildings to house students and several staff, but also includes a small neighborhood of houses for many staff families to live in. It so happened that during my school, the base finished paying off all of the houses on its land—a huge accomplishment for a missions base whose finances cannot be thrown around this way and that.

As a way of recognizing and celebrating the faithfulness and provision of God, we had a party … a BIG party. It started in the morning and lasted the entire day. There was lots (and lots) of good food, games, worship music, and more—all as a way of remembering the goodness of the Lord who had opened His hand and poured out many blessings on the base.

Deuteronomy is a book of remembrance, calling on the people of Israel to remember and act upon the mercy and faithfulness of their God by observing His commandments and serving no other gods.

After a tiring forty-year journey through the wilderness, the Israelites are right on the edge of the Promised Land, getting ready to go in and take possession of the land of Canaan that God had promised to them hundreds of years earlier in His covenant with Abraham (see Genesis 12:1-9). Moses is about to die (remember that God banned Moses from entering into the Promised Land in Numbers 20:2-13 for an act of mistrust in Him), and Deuteronomy is his “last words” to the Israelites, his last chance to say all that he wants to say to them as their leader and spiritual guide.

The Israelites are about to move forward into new lives in the Promised Land, but if they want the best results, they first need to look backward. Over and over and over in the book we see Moses repeating the word remember. Remember the covenant. Remember that God brought you out of Egypt. Remember the results of obedience and disobedience. Remember to serve God only and love Him with all your hearts. Remember the commandments of the Lord and obey them. Remember where you came from and where God has brought you to. Remember the things He provided for you in the wilderness. Remember what God spoke to you and how He disciplined you.

But not only are the Israelites to remember these things—they are to pass them down to their children so that future generations of Israelites will not fall prey to abandoning the God who has chosen them and loved them.

The first four chapters of the book serve as a “historical prologue”, in which Moses takes the Israelites on a trip down memory lane, back to those testing days in the wilderness. Moses makes it a point to clearly show that when the Israelites obeyed the commands of God, things went well for them. However, when they chose not to heed God’s instructions, they faced the consequences. Moses reminds them in 4:3,4, “You have seen for yourselves what the LORD did with regard to the Baal of Peor—how the LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, while those of you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today.” (If you don’t remember this story, see Numbers 25.)

The Israelites, who are now about to enter the Promised Land under strict command to conquer the peoples and land there, need this stark reminder that they will only be victorious if they do things God’s way. There is no other strategy to follow from which they will come out winners.

In chapters 5-11, Moses goes through many general stipulations for the Israelites, including the Ten Commandments and a very important command in 6:5 that Jesus will later declare to be the greatest command of all: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

Chapters 5-11 easily begin to sound repetitive, as Moses advises the people over and over again to remember and obey God’s commandments, serve God only, and pass everything down to their children. It’s easy to read these chapters and say, “Ok, Moses, you’ve said that about ten times now!” But looking at it from a different perspective, we see a truly sincere and loving heart of a leader who was fully aware that God had entrusted these people to him. He did not take his calling from God to be a spiritual father and guide of the Israelites lightly. Moses had a genuine concern for their welfare and wanted God’s blessings to be poured out on them. Thus, he takes the time to drill these things into the Israelites’ hearts and minds, rather than say, “Have a great time over in the Promised Land! Oh, and don’t forget to follow God’s commandments over there. See ya!”

Moses gets more specific in chapters 12-26, repeating many of the laws that the Israelites have been taught before. The laws in these chapters can be divided up into eight different categories:

1.  worship (ex: their worship is to be different than other nations, 12:2-7)
2.  leadership (ex: instructions regarding a king, 17:14-20)
3.  daily life (ex: it’s okay to “sample” your neighbor’s crops, but not to the point where you’re lazily stealing, 23:24,25)
4.  business life (ex: don’t charge interest on a loan to another Israelite, 23:19,20)
5.  legal practices (ex: if an issue arises that is too hard to settle within a town, take it to the judges and Levitical priests, 17:8-13)
6.  family life (ex: commands about marriage, adultery, and sex, 22:1-30)
7.  care for others (ex: if you see your neighbor’s donkey fallen on the road, help it up, 22:4)
8.  warfare (ex: instructions regarding conquest in the Promised Land, 20:1-20)

Finally, after fifteen chapters of instructions, Moses leaves the Israelites with a choice. They have to make a daily choice as to whether or not they are going to be faithful and obedient to their Father. In chapters 27 and 28, Moses bluntly lays out two sets of consequences, depending on whether they choose obedience or disobedience. Note that Moses only spends fourteen verses on blessings and fifty-four verses on curses. Again we see Moses’ sincere heart of spiritual concern for the Israelites as their leader—he does not want them to walk into the Promised Land without being fully aware of what faces them if they choose to disobey.

In the final chapters, Moses brings things to a close. In one final plea with the Israelites, Moses says, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live” (30:19). Life or death. The Israelites are left with a choice that Moses cannot make for them.

We too have a choice we must make on a daily basis. Although we are no longer under the blessings and curses of the Old Covenant, 1 Peter 1:14,15 commands, “Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct.” Paul said it well in Ephesians 4:1: “I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”

As a new year begins, I challenge you to look back on previous years and remember. Remember specific ways that God has been faithful to you in provision, relationships, wisdom, timing, health, and making Himself known to you. Take some time to thank God, and then record a few on an index card, putting it in a place where you will see it often.

Further, I challenge you to remember the things that God has taught you—how He has convicted you, challenged you, and encouraged you. Look back and remind yourself of habits or pastimes that distracted you from God or took priority above Him. Remember what God spoke to you through His word and how He challenged you to live it out. Take some time to commit these things to God and ask Him to continue to mold you into His likeness.