Do what I say-Not what I do: Deuteronomy 1-3

Deuteronomy 1-3

There is joy and grief when you see your children doing and saying things that they learned from you as their parent. Like the endearing little girl talking on her play cell phone, animatedly using her hands and speaking gibberish with the same intonations her mother uses, or the little boy walking around in his fathers oversized shoes.  Then there are the teenagers saying your exact words back to you in an argument to prove that you are a tyrant and your only goal is to take away their freedom and make them miserable. As parents these children  will begin to understand the heartbreak and joy of modeling life for someone else. All the while you are still figuring life out  yourself, and your own struggle to keep the good things your parents taught you, while losing the bad continues. We want to spare our children the pain that we caused in our own life through bad choices, because we love them.
 In Deuteronomy 1-3 Moses is having  "the talk", with the younger Israelites before they enter the land that God had promised Abraham back in Genesis 12. He recaps for them the years from Mt Sinai until now, as they stand in Moab ready to enter conquer the land. His goal in this book, which is one long speech to is remind them to not do what their parents did. Their parents died in the desert because they did not listen to God. They listened to the 10 spies tell takes of giants and did not take the land when He told them to. They gave in to fear and did not trust God. Over and over Moses tells this new generation "Do not be afraid, God will go before you", Trust Him and Obey Him".  Moses and Aaron die as part of the older generation and are not allowed to enter the land. Moses passes leadership on to Joshua. Joshua will lead the Israelites to conquer the land.

TIDBITS FROM DEUTERONOMY: 

  • This book is one long speech
  • Deuteronomy means "these are the words of", in Hebrew
  • This book tells what has gone before this time, to prepare the Israelites for what is to come
  • chapters 1-4 is a history lessons from Mt Sinai to their present location in Moab, ready to cross the Jordan and enter the promised land
  • The message to the young generation (the kids of those who have died wandering the wilderness; Listen so that you will live
  • 4-29 tells them what they are to listen to (God's law), God says I am with you, I am for you
  • Deuteronomy 6:4-6New International Version (NIV)Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
  • Deuteronomy ends with the death and burial of Moses
  • There are some prophetic passages in Deuteronomy
    • Deuteronomy 17:14New International Version (NIV)
      14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”
    • Deuteronomy 18:15-19New International Version (NIV)
      15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
      17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.
    • Deuteronomy 34:10New International Version (NIV)
      10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,..............
    •  YET!!!!!

DIG DEEPER: Read Deuteronomy 1-3

Watch for the phrase : Do not be afraid
Notice as well the phrase in chapter 1 "you were as numerous as the stars of the heaven, the read Genesis 12:1-5

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+1-3&version=NIV



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