Deuteronomy 32-34
Moses Sings His Swansong
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Psalm 32:1-5 Name It and Claim It
The Providence of God
1Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Application
Name it and claim it. Name the sin and claim God's forgiveness (so we can have fellowship with Him and others walking in the light).
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don't tell the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Prayer
Gracious Holy God, thank You for wanting fellowship with me, and making it so simple to accept Your provision for my sin so I can walk in Your presence. Amen.
Proverbs 8:22-36 Foundational Wisdom
22 “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old. 23 Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth, 26 before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world. 27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.
32 “And now, O sons, listen to me:
blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it. 34 Blessed is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the LORD, 36 but he who fails to find me injures himself;
all who hate me love death.”
Application
Daily seek and apply God's wisdom to your life (as in every day) having His word determine your objectives for work, play, relationships, etc.
Prayer
My Creator and God, thanks that You make available to me the secrets of the universe, so I can live wisely and experience Your favor and blessing; don't ever let me become dumb and deceived in the way I live, and head down the drain to death. Amen.
Deuteronomy 32-34 Moses Sings His Swansong
These are the last three chapters of the last book of Moses, a man of God without equal. If you were God, what would you want his final words to the people to be? God had Moses write a song, so the words would be remembered. Understand the lyrics and the message God wants His people to not get out of their heads.
Deuteronomy 32 Moses Sings A Rock Song
The Song of Moses
1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. 2 May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb. 3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
ascribe greatness to our God!
4 “The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he. 5 They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
they are a crooked and twisted generation. 6 Do you thus repay the LORD,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you? 7 Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God. 9 But the LORD's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
10 “He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions, 12 the LORD alone guided him,
no foreign god was with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock. 14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.
15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. 16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded. 18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 “The LORD saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. 20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness. 21 They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 “‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
I will spend my arrows on them; 24 they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of things that crawl in the dust. 25 Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs. 26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
I will wipe them from human memory,”
27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the LORD who did all this.”’
28 “For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is no understanding in them. 29 If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern their latter end! 30 How could one have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had given them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock;
our enemies are by themselves. 32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter; 33 their wine is the poison of serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.
34 “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries? 35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’ 36 For the LORD will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, bond or free. 37 Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge, 38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them be your protection!
39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever, 41 if I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me. 42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’
43 “Rejoice with him, O heavens;
bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
and cleanses his people's land.”
44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses' Death Foretold
48 That very day the LORD spoke to Moses, 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”Question
Do you view God's words as your life, or just some transient meaningless fluff (32:47)? What do your actions say?
Application
God wants His people to keep mindful of the devastating judgment awaiting the disobedient, because it will occur. You've been warned.
Prayer
God of justice and faithfulness, thanks for Your grace and patience, Your blessings and warnings of judgment. May I fully and wholeheartedly follow You, and be found faithful. Amen.
Deuteronomy 33 Tribal Blessings and Happiness
The Majesty of God
1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2 He said,“The LORD came from Sinai
and dawned from Seir upon us;
he shone forth from Mount Paran;
he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,
with flaming fire at his right hand. 3 Yes, he loved his people,
all his holy ones were in his hand;
so they followed in your steps,
receiving direction from you, 4 when Moses commanded us a law,
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. 5 Thus the LORD became king in Jeshurun,
when the heads of the people were gathered,
all the tribes of Israel together.
The Blessings of the Twelve Tribes
6 “Let Reuben live, and not die,
but let his men be few.”
7 And this he said of Judah:
“Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah,
and bring him in to his people.
With your hands contend for him,
and be a help against his adversaries.”
8 And of Levi he said,
“Give to Levi your Thummim,
and your Urim to your godly one,
whom you tested at Massah,
with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah; 9 who said of his father and mother,
‘I regard them not’;
he disowned his brothers
and ignored his children.
For they observed your word
and kept your covenant. 10 They shall teach Jacob your rules
and Israel your law;
they shall put incense before you
and whole burnt offerings on your altar. 11 Bless, O LORD, his substance,
and accept the work of his hands;
crush the loins of his adversaries,
of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”
12 Of Benjamin he said,
“The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety.
The High God surrounds him all day long,
and dwells between his shoulders.”
13 And of Joseph he said,
“Blessed by the LORD be his land,
with the choicest gifts of heaven above,
and of the deep that crouches beneath, 14 with the choicest fruits of the sun
and the rich yield of the months, 15 with the finest produce of the ancient mountains
and the abundance of the everlasting hills, 16 with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness
and the favor of him who dwells in the bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers. 17 A firstborn bull—he has majesty,
and his horns are the horns of a wild ox;
with them he shall gore the peoples,
all of them, to the ends of the earth;
they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”
18 And of Zebulun he said,
“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and Issachar, in your tents. 19 They shall call peoples to their mountain;
there they offer right sacrifices;
for they draw from the abundance of the seas
and the hidden treasures of the sand.”
20 And of Gad he said,
“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!
Gad crouches like a lion;
he tears off arm and scalp. 21 He chose the best of the land for himself,
for there a commander's portion was reserved;
and he came with the heads of the people,
with Israel he executed the justice of the LORD,
and his judgments for Israel.”
22 And of Dan he said,
“Dan is a lion's cub
that leaps from Bashan.”
23 And of Naphtali he said,
“O Naphtali, sated with favor,
and full of the blessing of the LORD,
possess the lake and the south.”
24 And of Asher he said,
“Most blessed of sons be Asher;
let him be the favorite of his brothers,
and let him dip his foot in oil. 25 Your bars shall be iron and bronze,
and as your days, so shall your strength be.
The Excellence of Israel
26 “There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
who rides through the heavens to your help,
through the skies in his majesty. 27 The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
And he thrust out the enemy before you
and said, ‘Destroy.’ 28 So Israel lived in safety,
Jacob lived alone,
in a land of grain and wine,
whose heavens drop down dew. 29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,
a people saved by the LORD,
the shield of your help,
and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come fawning to you,
and you shall tread upon their backs.”
Application
The best way to the best blessings is to know and go God's way.
Prayer
God who loves and blesses His people with innumerable delights, may my chief delight be to dwell with You. Amen.
Deuteronomy 34 R.I.P. Moses (until the Kingdom)
The Death of Moses
1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 And the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, 6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8 And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. 9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. 10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.Question
If Moses could do it over again, would he have struck or spoke to the rock?
Application
In order to live with no regrets, we need to live according to God's revealed will.
Prayer
Eternal God, there is none like You, tender in love, and terrifying in judgment. May I dwell obediently and dependently with You all of my days, to serve Your purposes and experience Your best plans for me. Amen.
Digging Deeper
God in a nutshell: God is awesome in blessing and terrifying in judging, justly fulfilling His promises to do what our responses to His revelation warrant. He uses people to bring about His will in glorifying Himself above all gods (demons). He graciously bears with their failings, forgiving and training them, even though He is tempted to give up on them. He clearly lays out His doable expectations in ways we can understand, because He not only requires our understanding and performance, but sanctions us for failing to know and obey. (“What about 'speak to the rock' did you not understand, Moses?”) He is knowable, and desires an intimate relation with His creatures, and is clearly involved in their lives.
Us in a nutshell: We are given the choice to obey or disobey God's revelation and experience corresponding consequences. Knowing and following God's law sets apart God's people from the rest of the earth, so He can distinctly bless them, and it can be seen that He is blessing them because of their holiness. We have the option to give God grief or glory. If we give Him grief, we can expect the same back. If we give Him glory, we can expect the same back. Those who don't experience God at work in their lives need to reason out why He has hidden His face from them (Hint: It probably has something to do with rebellion and sin).
Where to go for more
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