“Next Moshe and the cohanim, who are L’vi’im, spoke to all Israel. They said, “‘Be quiet; and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of Adonai your God. Therefore you are to listen to what Adonai your God says and obey his mitzvot and laws, which I am giving you today.'”-Deuteronomy 27:9-10
Let’s not forget that when Moses was delivering his sermon on Mount Moab, he was speaking to the second generation of Israelites.
The 1st generation of Exodus had already died off.
The 1st generation were those Israelites who were at the age of accountability (meaning old enough to serve in the army) when they left Egypt.
It was this generation who had witnessed the original giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.
And it was this group who had proclaimed out loud in unison that they would obey the conditions of the Torah.
But that group was now long gone as a result of their lack of faith and disobedience to enter into the land when they had the chance to about 40 years earlier.
Therefore, the promise that had originally been given to them transferred over to the 2nd generation who were either not yet born or were just tiny children at the time the Law was given at Sinai.
Now during the time in the wilderness, it is obvious that only parts of the Law were obeyed.
Some parts weren’t obeyed because it was impossible to obey them.
And other parts weren’t obeyed out of choice.
It would seem that male circumcision was one of those parts of the Torah that could have been followed out in the Wilderness but wasn’t.
We know this is true because right after the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered into the Promised Land, a mass circumcision ceremony (ouch!) took place.
This was done because God wanted the new generation to not only hear the Law with their own ears but to personally accept the terms of the Mosaic Covenant.
Again, that is the true meaning of Deuteronomy 27:9 which states…
“Be quiet; and listen, Israel!
Today you have become
the people of Adonai your God.”
For the Hebrew, to become one of the chosen people is to accept the Lord’s covenant.
This is to be the attitude of every Israelite in every generation throughout history to this very day.
Every Hebrew and the convert (those grafted into the commonwealth of Israel) are to harbor the attitude and mindset as though they themselves had personally marched out of Egypt, stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and accepted the covenant as written here in Deuteronomy 27.
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