Summary: דְּבָרִים, Devarim, "These are the words..." more commonly known as Deuteronomy is my favorite book. Within this mighty tome spoken by Moses are a recap of the law, a recap of the history of there journey to the promised land, blessings, cursings and the Shema. The richness of this book continues to build up (edify) my faith upon every read through. It contains many verses Jesus used in his teaching, including the summation of the law. Here is the set up: it is the cusp of of Moses death, God has said no to his last plea to enter into the promised land, so Moses looks to make his last words a legacy. Here is what I found...
Things I Noticed:
1. We have seen the sons of the Anakim there. (The Anakim were giants of the Nephilim line of the sins reference in Genesis 6:4)
2. The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
3. (Rephaim formerly lived there- but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim- a people great and many, tall as the Anakim.)
4. (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold his bed was a bed of iron...13ft tall by 6ft wide.)
5. Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan... Enough of you; do not speak to me of this matter again. (Even Moses nagging could not change God's mind)
6. Only take care of your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.
7. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
8. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 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. (The Shema)
9. To fear the Lord our God, for our good always.
10. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
9. To fear the Lord our God, for our good always.
10. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
11. Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
12. As a man that disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
13. A people great and tall the sons of Anakim
14. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to posses because your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. (That word stubborn also could be stiffnecked and obstinate.)
15. I command you today, to love the Lord God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. (The first great commandment.)
16. You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes. (Sounds like America.)
17. For every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their Gods, for they even burn there sons and daughters in the fire to their Gods.
18. For the Lord you God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Don't I feel like this at the moment.)
19. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
20. If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.
21. Therefore I command you, "You shall open wife your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land."
22. Freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord God blesses you.
23. Justice and only justice, you shall follow.
24. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.
25. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.
26. If the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken presumptuously.
27. Lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for and inheritance, and so the guilt of blood shed be upon you.
28. A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord God.
29. You shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. (That is God say make a toilet then cover your crap up.)
30. You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.
31. Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say 'Amen.'
32. Cursed anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.
33. The Lord will cause your enemy who rise against you to be defeated before you.
34. The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.
35. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down...if you do not turn aside from any of the words
36. I have led you for forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have note worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.
37.The secret things belong to the Lord our God.
38. There is no God besides me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
39. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.
The Journey has been rough recently. Isaiah never offers soft truths but strong lessons. Maybe as I continue on through this mirky valley Joshua can lighten me up. Just have to remember to be strong and courageous. Till we meet again, Read up, Post up, and Shalom.
12. As a man that disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
13. A people great and tall the sons of Anakim
14. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to posses because your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. (That word stubborn also could be stiffnecked and obstinate.)
15. I command you today, to love the Lord God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. (The first great commandment.)
16. You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes. (Sounds like America.)
17. For every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their Gods, for they even burn there sons and daughters in the fire to their Gods.
18. For the Lord you God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Don't I feel like this at the moment.)
19. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
20. If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.
21. Therefore I command you, "You shall open wife your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land."
22. Freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord God blesses you.
23. Justice and only justice, you shall follow.
24. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.
25. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.
26. If the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken presumptuously.
27. Lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for and inheritance, and so the guilt of blood shed be upon you.
28. A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord God.
29. You shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. (That is God say make a toilet then cover your crap up.)
30. You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.
31. Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say 'Amen.'
32. Cursed anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.
33. The Lord will cause your enemy who rise against you to be defeated before you.
34. The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.
35. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down...if you do not turn aside from any of the words
36. I have led you for forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have note worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.
37.The secret things belong to the Lord our God.
38. There is no God besides me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
39. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.
The Journey has been rough recently. Isaiah never offers soft truths but strong lessons. Maybe as I continue on through this mirky valley Joshua can lighten me up. Just have to remember to be strong and courageous. Till we meet again, Read up, Post up, and Shalom.
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