“Now, Israel, listen to the laws and rulings I am teaching you, in order to follow them, so that you will live; then you will go in and take possession of the land that Adonai, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”-Deuteronomy 4:1
Right out of the gate from the very first verse of Deuteronomy Chapter Four, Moses proclaims the singular most important point to his young audience of Israelites who are on the verge of taking the Promised Land.
And that point is this…
OBEY ALL THESE LAWS GIVEN ON MOUNT SINAI…“SO THAT YOU MAY LIVE”!
That’s right folks.
Moses is equating obedience to the commandments as life itself!!!
And all the great kings of Israel unequivocally underscored this point.
King David in the first Psalm he penned said this…
“How blessed are those
who reject the advice of the wicked,
don’t stand on the way of sinners
or sit where scoffers sit!
Their delight
is in Adonai’s Torah;
on his Torah they meditate
day and night”
-Psalms 1:1-2
King Solomon (the son of King David) said this…
“Whoever keeps the commandments keeps their life,
but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.”
-Proverbs 19:16
And the Messiah Yeshua said this…
Yeshua answered,
“It is written:
‘Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.'”
-Matthew 4:4
Did you catch that folks?
Yeshua said man shall live “ON EVERY WORD”.
Not just some words whenever you feel like it.
There ain’t no two ways about it.
The Israelites strongly believed that obedience to the Torah brought SHALOM.
And when I say SHALOM, I don’t just mean the single-word definition of “peace” but well being in all of its aspects…
…whether it be a long life, good relationships or financial well-being.
Moses is urging the Israelites for their own sakes to be obedient as if their very lives depended on it…because it did.
In my last article, I pointed out how God’s instructions weren’t some abstract instructions that were formed in a vacuum but were actually connected to actual and specific historical events.
Nowhere can this be proven to be more true than in the idea that obedience to God’s commands equals life.
Why can I say that with such conviction?
Simple.
We have several recorded instances during Israel’s time in the wilderness when rebellion brought death to those who rebelled…
…whether it be the man who was executed for gathering sticks on the sabbath…
…or Nadav and Avihu who God burned alive for their transgression while serving at the Tabernacle.
Here’s another interesting fact to consider.
It had only been 38 years since the first generation of Israelites declined to enter Canaan.
When that happened,God decreed that no man of the age of accountability would live long enough to enter the Promised Land.
When we run the numbers, that means that at a time when the Hebrews normally lived well past their seventies…
….no one older than 59 to 60 years old was currently living among the Israelites as they prepared for battle.
Here’s what we’ve got to understand.
Rebellion brought premature death to the first generation of Israelites.
Some may have died instantly and others may have had a lingering death.
Yet all died much earlier than the average lifespan for that era.
Do you know what this means?
This means that when Moses said “listen to the laws and rulings I am teaching you, in order to follow them, so that you will live”, he wasn’t making some hyper-spiritualized statement about obedience only being good for the life in the hereafter.
No, he was letting the people know that their own past history was undeniable proof that to obey God is life and to rebel against Him is death.
Therefore, whatever you do, make sure and choose obedience…
…SO THAT YOU MAY LIVE…
…in this life and the life after.
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