Year 1, Week 23, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 23, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Deuteronomy 31-32.

Today’s reading begins the concluding segment of Deuteronomy. The body of the Book is chapters 4-30, which are structured around the Ten Commandments. Deuteronomy 1-3 is mainly a review of Israel’s past, while Deuteronomy 31-34 is mainly a preview of Israel’s future. Deuteronomy 31 first pertains to the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua, but the chapter also pertains to Moses’ charge to the Levites concerning instructing Israel in the Law, and concludes with Moses’ prediction that Israel will tragically rebel against the LORD. Deuteronomy 32 is a song that Moses composed, which includes strong notes of praise to the LORD, but also strong notions of indictment against Israel. Israel was to remember this song and sing it as a means for instruction.

One of the things that struck me in today’s reading was the LORD’s charge to Joshua and the Israelites: “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!” (Psalm 31:24). Moses declares to Israel that he will not be going with them into the Promised Land: “So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.” (Deuteronomy 31:1-2). But the LORD would be going with them: “The LORD your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the LORD has spoken. And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.” (Deuteronomy 31:3-4). Just as the LORD had Israel succeed in destroying Sihon and Og, so He will cause Israel to destroy the inhabitants who were currently living in the Promised Land. As the LORD had done these things through the leadership of Moses, so now He would be doing these things through the leadership of Joshua.

In light of the LORD’s assurance of the outcome of what Israel was to face, Moses charged all of Israel: “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6). Israel was to be strong and courageous. Then Moses turns to Joshua in particular and issues a new identical charge: “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:7-8). The LORD restates the charge to Joshua: “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. I will be with you.” (Deuteronomy 31:23). Neither Joshua nor anyone else in Israel was to give themselves over to fear. Then, as the decision to fear was prohibited, the possibility for fear was to be replaced by the call to “be strong and courageous.”

But the charge to put away fear and to cultivate strength and courage was not self-generated. The call to expel fear and to cultivate strength and courage was rooted in the assurance of God’s promises, power, and presence: “for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you… It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you…for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. I will be with you.” Fear was not necessary; strength and courage was possible because the LORD Himself would go before them and provide them victory, for the LORD is faithful to all of His promises. While Israel needed not to worry in fear and should be strong and full of courage, their real challenge would not be the threat of their enemies but the waywardness of their own heart toward the LORD: "Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 31:12-13). Israel needed only to rightly fear the LORD and obey Him—this, not the inhabitants in the Land, will be their real challenge. Replacing fear with strength and courage is found in their relationship with the LORD. Without the LORD, there is much to be fearful of and not much natively in us by way of real strength and courage. So it is important to redirect our hearts: “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14).

And yet, as clearly as the LORD promised to be with them and not forsake them, Moses predicted Israel’s unfaithfulness and the consequence of their unfaithfulness: “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured.” (Deuteronomy 31:16-17). The subsequent history of Israel will bear witness to this unfaithfulness. Israel will time and again break the Mosaic Covenant, but on the basis of the Abrahamic Covenant, the LORD will provide a Faithful One who will secure the LORD’s presence for His people.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe