I would say that with the completion of Deuteronomy Chapter 4, we will have progressed about 80% of the way through the Torah.
So good job folks!!!
However, before we move any further, I want to quickly review three fundamental premises that serve as the backdrop for the whole Book of Deuteronomy.
We should keep these foundational premises at the forefront of our minds when not only studying Deuteronomy but the Bible in general.
They are as follows:
THE WHOLE CONTEXT OF DEUTERONOMY IS THAT THE LAWS BEING GIVEN TO ISRAEL ARE COMING FROM THE ALMIGHTY HIMSELF!
This might not seem like news to us but trust me the idea of there being only one God in existence and that this one God would choose one nation unto Himself and give that nation a set of laws and rules to live by was a revolutionary and mind-blowing concept of gargantuan proportions to all the peoples at this time including Israel.
Up until this point in history, it was always a human king who decided what was right and wrong and who established the laws that governed how the citizens in a kingdom should live.
However, with the revelation at Sina, Israel’s understanding concerning the SOURCE of their society’s laws was changed forever and for all time.
THE MAJORITY OF MOSES’ AUDIENCE HERE IN DEUTERONOMY WAS NOT PRESENT WHEN THE LAW WAS FIRST GIVEN ABOUT 40 YEARS EARLIER
Again, Moses is addressing only the second generation here in Deuteronomy.
The first generation had all but died out.
And unless members of the second generation were very young children when the Law was first given at Sinai, this is the first time those now listening to Moses are hearing these teachings.
The point is kind of moot however because if you were a very young child, you would not have remembered nor understood what was happening the first time the law was given at Sinai anyway.
Hence, the reality is that this was really the first time everyone now standing in front of Moses were getting a full repeat hearing of God’s Laws.
THERE WILL BE VARIATION IN HOW THESE LAWS WILL BE APPLIED FROM NOW ON COMPARED TO HOW THEY WERE APPLIED AT THE BEGINNING OF ISRAEL’S WILDERNESS JOURNEY
This makes sense.
The period of living in portable tents, eating Manna rained down daily from heaven, and moving from one water source to another was about to come to an end.
Moses in his speech here has to take this into account and explain since Israel will now be transformed from a population of wandering Bedouins to a settled people, there are going to be slight differences in how some of God’s instructions will be applied moving forward.
This is actually a major mistake I see the Christian church make.
They have this tendency to completely divorce the words of the Bible from the circumstances, timeframe and cultural norms of the Biblical era and think that the words of Scripture carry some kind of mystical quality that can interpreted outside of the historical context and be valid in any time period.
Ummm….NO!
You always have to take the historical context into consideration.
For example, when our President gives an address to the American people or a new book comes up addressing some major event currently taking place in our society, the president or writer of the book doesn’t provide a full-blown explanation of every major circumstance that defines our era, right?
It’s not necessary because it’s common knowledge (or should be) to the target audience.
For instance, if I say 9/11, most people understand exactly what I’m talking about with just those two words.
I don’t have to go into details and say that was the infamous day when four airplanes were hijacked by terrorists and flown into the world trade center etcetera.
The exact same situation applies to Scripture, in many cases the author assumes its audience is familiar with certain terms, ideas and events.
However, we who are now reading Scripture thousands of years later and obviously were not on the direct receiving end of Moses’ speech or the warnings of the prophets are in a different position.
Since we didn’t live in that historical period, as good students of Scripture, it is our job to go back and find out exactly what Moses or another ancient Biblical figure meant within the historical context of which he was speaking.
That’s one reason why this blog exists.
Because there are so many people out there who try to read the New Testament with little to zero understanding of the Torah…
…this is only going to lead to misguided doctrines and false teachings because the New Testament authors assumed its audience possessed a strong understanding of Torah.
We’re going to talk about this a little more in my next post because it’s so important.
Sent you a message in FB
Thanks! Corrected!!!