The Song of Moses: 

1) Highlights the characteristics of God – “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” 

2) Predicts future rebellion – “They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods… They sacrificed to demons, not to God…Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you.” 

3) Warns of future consequences –  “I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them. They shall be wasted with hunger, devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction… The sword shall destroy outside; there shall be terror within.”

4) Shows God’s grace to His people – “For the Lord will judge His people and have compassion on His servants… Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal… Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.” One day, later in the story, the Gentiles will also partake of the Lord’s blessing and promises and rejoice together with the Jews (Romans 11:11-31).

In Moses’s last recorded words before he dies, he elevates the book of the law – “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.” Just as the book of the law was life for the Israelites, God’s word is life-giving to us today! 

We end the reading with Moses’ Psalm 90, the oldest Psalm, where Moses says, “So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Moses knows that wisdom comes from the Lord and His word, and without that wisdom we will waste away our lives. When we come to the Kingdom Era, King David will say something similar – “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered–how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath” (Psalm 39:4-5). And right before King David dies, guess what his final instructions are going to be to his son Solomon? David, like Moses, will elevate the book of the law before his death – “I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn” (2 Kings 2:2-3).

Moses finishes the prayer by saying, “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us.” Later in the story, Paul will say that we are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Moses, David, and Paul all know the importance of living intentional lives devoted to the Lord. Our days are numbered, and we are to be wise with how we use our time, talents, and treasures to build God’s Kingdom. 

Tomorrow Moses dies, we exit the Exodus Era, and jump into the Conquest Era, so keep reading! (Deuteronomy 31:30-32:52)

Today Moses continues to encourage the Israelites to be obedient to the Lord. He recalls God’s faithfulness when He brought them out of Egypt and provided for them these forty years in the wilderness. He reminds them how He overtook their enemies, Sihon and Og, and gave their land to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. However, Moses says if the people disobey the Lord, then He will bring curses upon the land and uproot the people into another land. 

Then Moses interrupts the call to obedience by saying – “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words.” Later in the story, the Lord will say – “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways… For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). No man can fully understand God’s ways, but He has provided us with what we need to know regarding salvation and following Him through His word in the Bible.

God knows that once the people are settled in the promised land they are going to turn their backs on Him and worship foreign gods. Then the Lord’s anger will blaze against His people and He will allow them to be devoured by their enemies. So Moses tells the Israelites that after they rebel against the Lord and are sent to foreign lands, “it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live… For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul… For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off… But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.” 

Moses is saying that it is not too mysterious for them to know how to follow the Lord; God has told them, but it will require their obedience to His word. Therefore, Moses calls the people to choose life by obeying the Lord – “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.” The Lord knows that no one can do this perfectly; that is why He established the sacrificial system to atone for the sins of the people and point them to the Savior to come. Our salvation is not based on our obedience; our salvation is based on our faith in the Lord. However, there are always consequences for disobedience. The Lord desires for His people to walk in obedience to His word and to repent when we disobey Him. 

The psalmist will later say, “The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). In order to ensure that the people will remember His Law, Moses commands that every seven years the law shall be read in the hearing of all of Israel. In addition, the Lord instructs Moses to “write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. When I brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant… for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.” God knows the hearts of the people, and He knows they are going to turn from Him. However, the Lord is still on a pursuit to save them by sending His Son, the Savior, and establishing a new covenant with the people through Him. We see Moses’ anticipation of the coming Savior and the new covenant as he says, “Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.” But one day God will!

Paul will later say that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The Lord is going to create a new covenant with His people through His Son, Jesus Christ. And under the new covenant, Jesus will serve as the Mediator between the Lord and the people. After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, He will send the Holy Spirit upon the ones who believe in Him, who will give them a new heart and all sins will be washed away under the blood of Jesus – “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds… Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:16–17 from Jeremiah 31:31-34). 

But before that day arrives, Moses writes a song for the children of Israel to exhort them to obedience and to warn them of the dangers of disobedience. Then the Lord inaugurates Joshua as the new leader of Israel and tells him, “Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.” 

Tomorrow we will read the song Moses wrote to the children of Israel, so keep reading. (Deuteronomy 29:2-31:29)

The Lord is constantly telling His people to remember what He has done for them. Today He says when they come into the land flowing with milk and honey, He wants them to remember how He rescued them out of Egypt. So He tells them to gather the first of the produce and bring it to the priest and do what? Tell the story of the Bible! “My father was a Syrian [Jacob], about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers… He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’; and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.”

Paul is later going to refer to Jesus Christ as the firstfruits – “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus will be the firstfruits of our resurrection, giving us assurance that those who trust in Him will also rise from the dead. And it is no coincidence that Jesus will rise from the dead on the day of the Feast of Firstfruits; the day after the Sabbath following the Passover when Jesus will be crucified. Like the Israelites are to remember how the Lord saved them out of Egypt and provided for them, we are to remember how the Lord is saving us and providing for us through His Son, Jesus. God is sending His Son, the Savior, as He promised in the beginning of this story (Genesis 3:15) to die for us and rise from the grave, giving us assurance that we too can have eternal life through Him. 

And what does remembering do? It leads to worship and thanksgiving. Moses commands the Israelites when they cross the Jordan to write a copy of the book of the law and place it on Mount Ebal so that the word of God is constantly before the people. Then he gives further instructions for the ceremony of blessings on Mount Gerizim and curses on Mount Ebal, as we first read about in Deuteronomy 11:26-32. This ceremony will take place in Shechem where the Lord first promised the land to Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 12:6-7). 

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:”

• “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.”
• “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.”
• “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.”
• “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”

“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:”

• “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.”
• “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.”
• “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.”
• “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.”

“The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.”

Moses warns the people that if they continue in their disobedience, their circumstances will become so dire that they will eat their own children; and this is exactly what we will see happen down the road in the story. The people are going to turn their backs on the Lord and engage in all sorts of sexual sin and idolatry, and this horrific thing, women eating their children, will occur (2 Kings 6:26-30).

However, Joshua will make every effort to point the people toward the Lord during the conquest of the promised land. Once the Israelites are settled in the land, Joshua will bring the people back to Shechem to renew the covenant of the Lord with them (Joshua 24). The Conquest Era begins in a few more days, so keep reading! (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:1)

God’s heart for the outcast, broken-hearted, and unloved shines in today’s reading. He shows care for slave women, unloved wives with firstborn sons, wives falsely accused by their husbands, brothers with lost items, women who were raped, runaway slaves, poor servants, strangers, fatherless, widows, and so forth. These people might not be seen by society, but God sees them, loves them, protects them, and will take vengeance on anyone mistreating them.

The Lord calls His people to protect the outcast and to remember that they too were once outcasts who were saved by grace. Therefore, His people should extend the same grace the Lord showed them to others:

• “You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.”
• “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.”

The Lord also gives instructions regarding levirate marriages, which means if a married man dies without a child, his widow would marry the brother-in-law, and the first son born from the brother-in-law would be considered an heir of the widow’s deceased husband. With the story of Judah, we saw that Judah did not obey the levirate law with his widowed daughter-in-law Tamar (Genesis 38). However, later in the story we will meet a descendant of Judah’s, Boaz, who will abide by the levirate law with a young lady named Ruth, who comes to glean from his field. We will learn more about Boaz and Ruth when we reach the Judges Era.

Today’s reading ends with Moses reminding the Israelites of how the Amalekites attacked them when they came out of Egypt – “Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.” Later, in the Kingdom Era, we will see the downfall of a king due to his disobedience with the Lord’s orders against the Amalekites. And during the Return Era, we will meet a descendant of the Amalekites, Haman, who is set on destroying God’s people, which illustrates that there are always long lasting consequences to disobeying the Lord.

Tomorrow Moses gives the Israelites instructions for a corporate ceremony they will perform when they cross the Jordan into the promised land. Keep reading. (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19)

The Lord is fair and just and desires for His people to be fair and just, putting away all evil. So Moses tells the people, once they settle in the promised land, “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

The Lord says when the Israelites come into the land and say, “‘l will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses.” Nothing surprises God. He already knows that the day is coming when the Israelites are going to reject Him and desire to be ruled by man. Therefore the Lord gives the Israelites five rules for a king:

1) Can’t be a foreigner

2) Can’t multiply horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt for horses 

3) Can’t have multiple wives 

4) Can’t multiply silver and gold for himself

5) Must write a copy of the book of the law for himself and read it all the days of his life

Why does the Lord require the king to write his own copy of the book of the law and read it all the days of his life? “That he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.”

When we get to the Kingdom Era we will discover that none of the kings will obey all five of these rules. However, the perfect King is coming; “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). The Lord spoke to Moses of this coming King, the Messiah, in today’s reading – “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.”

But first in this story, the Israelites have to conquer the promised land, which is going to involve many battles. Therefore, Moses says, “Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”

We have several more days reading instructions from Moses, and then the conquest begins! Keep reading. (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)

God will put people and situations in your path to test you and your trust in Him. We saw this in the life Abraham, and now the Lord is explaining a way He tests the Israelites – “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.”

We have all heard the saying “be careful of the company you keep.” As Proverbs 13:20 says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” We see today how serious the Lord is concerning the company we keep – “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers… you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” God is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 6:15) and does not want His people to be lured into idolatry because He knows it will lead to their destruction. 

The Lord tells His people that there will always be people who are poor living in the land. Therefore, He instructs them to give to the poor – “You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’”

Then Moses restates instructions regarding diet, tithing, the Sabbatical Year, and the three annual feasts; Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles, which we read about earlier in Exodus and Leviticus. 

The Israelites loan to one another with the understanding that in the seventh year the debts will be released and slaves will be set free as instructed by the Lord. Moses says “the Lord will greatly bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.” However, while citing the curses that will come with disobedience, Moses is going to say that if the Israelites disobey the Lord, they will be scattered among all people – “And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul” (Deuteronomy 28:65). 

We will see the Lord’s people scattered amongst the nations later in the story because of their disobedience. But next up in tomorrow’s reading, the Lord provides the Israelites with guidelines for a king. God knows that the day is coming when the Israelites are going to reject Him and ask for a king to rule over them like the people around them. Therefore, the Lord is preparing the Israelites for that day because God always provides what we need before we even know we have a need. However, there is more to happen in this story before we get to the Kingdom Era, so keep reading. (Deuteronomy 13:1-16:17)

Moses says to the people, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.” Physical circumcision is a sign of the covenant the Lord made with His people, as He first told Abraham (Genesis 17). God is interested in people’s hearts, and circumcision of the heart means a heart totally devoted to the Lord. Later in the story, the prophet Jeremiah will tell the people to “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 4:4). Then in the New Testament, Paul will say, “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (Romans 2:28-29). Paul is teaching that the Holy Spirit changes the heart, not the law. Only the Lord can change hearts. Before Jesus ascends to heaven, He will say, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). The Helper He is referring to is the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul will write to the new believers, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:8-10).

When the Holy Spirit fills the Lord’s people they will become the temple where God’s spirit dwells (1 Corinthians 3:6), but until that day arrives, the Lord is telling His people that there is only one place to worship Him – “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord… Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.” 

The Lord warns the Israelites not to worship like the nations whose land they are going to possess. – “You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”

God expects His people to worship Him the way He instructs and in the place He will choose. The Lord will select Shiloh as the place to worship Him when the Israelites settle into the promised land during the Conquest Era and before the temple is built in Jerusalem during the Kingdom Era. However, during the Kingdom Era, one of the kings will disobey the Lord and worship false gods on the high places, resulting in the downfall of the kingdom and bringing us to the Divided Kingdom Era. But first, the Israelites still have to conquer the land, so keep reading. (Deuteronomy 10:1-12:32)

The Lord desires for His people to know His story, pass it on to others, and to walk in obedience as His image bearers. Moses says to Israel, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Today we see three truths regarding elevating God’s word, obeying His word, and remembering Him. 

1. Know His story and pass it down – “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates… When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there.’”
2. Be holy and set apart – Moses tells the Israelites not to make covenants with the people around them, not to intermarry with the people around them, and not to worship their false gods. “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt… Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments… Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.”
3. Remember the faithful God and His word – “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Then God warns his people to be careful when they enter the new land and get all fat and happy that they don’t forget Him. God knows how we tend to neglect Him when things are going well for us. This is why He says to Israel, “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

There is nothing that Israel did to deserve this land. The conquest of the promised land will solely be an act of the Lord on behalf of His chosen people and a punishment to the wicked ones walking outside of the presence of the Lord and His commandments – “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.” It is by God’s grace that the Israelites are going to receive the promised land. 

We end the reading with Moses recalling the epic fail with the golden calf in the wilderness. Have the children of Israel learned from their past mistakes? Will pride come with battle success and the new land? Will they forget the Lord? Keep reading to find out. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9:29)

Moses pleaded with the Lord to let him “cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan.” However, the Lord responded – “Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. But command Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see.”

Then Moses gives three key instructions to Israel:

1. Obey the Lord – “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” The Lord is calling His people to walk in such a way that those around them will be drawn into His presence. 
2. Teach your children the statutes and righteous judgments of the law – “And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb… So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.”
3. Do not fall into idolatry – “Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” But the Lord knows His people will not be faithful. Therefore, Moses says when they enter the promised land, they will forget the Lord, and begin worshiping false gods, “you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.” And this is exactly what will happen. The people will turn their backs on the Lord; thus the Lord will turn them over to their enemies. However, the Lord does not leave His people without hope – “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

Moses reminds Israel that there is only one God and restates the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, instructing them to “be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.” 

More from Moses to the children of Israel tomorrow, so keep reading. (Deuteronomy 3:21-5:33)