Alrighty Almighty!
Today we begin the final and last book of God’s Torah!!!
It’s been a heck of an exciting journey to get to this point in our studies, hasn’t it?!
I can personally testify that my faith has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years and I really feel like HASHEM has blessed me in so many ways…
….including sending me on a trip to Israel and connecting me with so many like-minded believers ALL OVER THE WORLD…
….due to my being faithful to continue to blog through His Word.
Let’s get started by having a quick review of the major Scripture events we’ve encountered thus far in Scripture.
So far…
-We have witnessed the CREATION of the world and mankind starting with Adam and Eve.
-We have also witnessed the DESTRUCTION of the world by a flood that drowned every human being on earth except Noah and his family (only 8 people).
-After the flood, since the people of the world again became wicked, we saw how God chose and set apart a special group of people to be holy unto Himself. Once this special election occurred, the world became divided into two distinct groups: the Israelites and the gentiles.
-We saw the Lord enter into a Covenant with Abraham that promised him a son from his own loins whose descendants would grow to become the Hebrew people and that this special nation would be given a special land they would call their own forever.
-We saw how Egypt first warmly welcomed Israel but then became hostile towards them to the point of enslaving them for over 400 years…until HASHEM rescued them by destroying Egypt through a series of supernatural plagues, an event we call the Exodus.
-After the Exodus, we saw how the Lord entered into a Second Covenant given through Moses at Mount Sinai with the people of Israel. This Second Covenant was comprised of civil, religious and moral instructions and rules that were to be perfectly obeyed without question. This TORAH from God reflected the purity, truth and patterns as already established in heaven itself. It is important to note that God gave the Law to Israel AFTER He saved them by His unconditional Grace.
-Finally, we witnessed how God separated the Tribe of Levi from among the tribes of Israel to be His priests and servants and the protectors of His Holiness and Purity on earth.
Now, before we begin our text study of Deuteronomy (we’ve still got a couple of more intro posts to go), there’s something really important you’ve got to understand.
Israel was NOT chosen because of any special merit on their part.
Nor were they chosen because they were an exceptionally intelligent, strong or moral race.
So why were they chosen?
The truth is the Scriptures don’t give us one singular or specific reason why God elected and separated Israel to be His specially chosen people.
Later on we’ll read that God’s special election of Israel was connected to the promises He made to the three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Yet that’s still a very fuzzy reason.
We’ll revisit this topic later on.
Lets move on.
What was Israel’s situation at this point in the very beginning of Deuteronomy?
At this time, Israel is standing on the eastern bank of the Jordan River in Moab about a stone’s throw away from Jericho.
Although they are on the cusp of inheriting the land of Canaan, they are still a people without a country.
Before the Israelites step foot inside the Promised Land, Moses has an important message he must deliver to them.
It is this message that forms the basis of what Deuteronomy is all about.
It is commonly assumed that Deuteronomy is just a repeat or a summary of the first four books of the Torah.
This assumption is FALSE.
Deuteronomy is NOT a review or an abbreviated summary of all that came before it.
We’ll talk about this the next time we meet.
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