Like releasing a long held breath. I have finished Deuteronomy. And after all the build up and drama, the recounting of miracles and the work of God’s hand, the ending is more than a little depressing.
My recap, for those of you who have yet to venture all the way through this particular account:
Moses begins with a bit of an overlap, recounting the arrival at the edge of the Promised Land. The sending out of spies, the fear of the people, the anger of God and the punishment of wandering until an entire generation passed away. He touches on the wandering period, the blessings and directions of God. He relates the more recent history, the defeat of kings on the edge of the Jordan and the preparations to cross. But he is not allowed to go. He will be gathered to God before that happens. Then comes the retelling of the laws. It starts with a command from Moses to obey, to not add to or subtract from the law that God has given them. Interspersed in the recounting of the Law are stories from the time of wandering, the gifting of the tablets, the rebellion of the people. It is laid out and worded in a way to humble the people, to make them aware of their insignificance. In chapter 10, after a recounting of the carving out of the second set of tablets, comes some direction. And I think it is laid out in a specific way on purpose. Israel is first extolled to fear the Lord. Then they are charged to love and obey God. From there to chapter 26, the law is recounted in detail. What follows are curses and blessings for Israel and the people they are to vanquish. Moses follows this with an urgent and serious plea for the people to listen and to do as they have been commanded, to turn to God so that they may live and prosper and be blessed. He even says “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach…the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it” (30:11,14). Next, God has Moses set Joshua apart, presenting him to the people as their next leader. Then, this man who has journeyed with these people for 40 years sits down and writes the law out.
Now, this is where things get interesting. At least I think so. I have to wonder if, as he was writing out the law to these “stiff-necked people,” Moses thought that maybe they had learned their lesson. They were on the tail end of 40 years of desert life, eating only manna day after day (which was, by all accounts, perfectly nutritious and delicious), having survived snakes and rebellion that ended with the earth opening and swallowing a group of men. So many displays of God’s might and power. And after recounting the blessings that were promised if they obeyed, I can’t help but think that Moses was hopeful that this people would finally see the light! Which is why the next part of the story feel so shocking and blunt. God calls Moses and Joshua to himself and basically says “Sorry, boys, but they are going to fall away and be terrible and lose it all.” I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad for Moses. He had spent his life leading these people and pleading for them and doing his best to get through their thick skulls. And now, after 40 years of the drama, he was told by God that this lousy group of people was going to go the way of their sin. All this basically right before he dies. What an ending. Without the promise of heaven, all that would be pretty depressing. This is the point at which Moses writes his song. And you should read it, if you have time. It’s most of chapter 32. It is a long message to Israel. And it is in this song that I found something both familiar and foreign.
In verse 35, the oft quoted passage “it is mine to avenge; I will repay” is originally found. That is the familiar part. The unfamiliar, at least to me, was that this was not spoken to Israel about their enemies or people who would wrong them, it was spoken TO them. It was directed at Israel by God. It is the end of a lengthy diatribe against the nation. It is a judgement on a people who know God and yet still choose to forsake His love for the folly of sin and idolatry. This passage is repeated twice in the New Testament: by Paul in Romans, and in Hebrews. In Romans it is used the way I have always heard it, as a warning against revenge. But Hebrews is a little closer to the original, probably given the audience would have had an understanding and knowledge of Moses’ account. And I think it is a stark warning to us, especially considering we have the whole of the Bible to read and learn. What good is the Old Testament history if we cannot see the mistakes of Israel and try to avoid them?
Hebrews is one of my favourite letters. And chapter 10 has some pretty fierce and awesome imagery. “How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said ‘it is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”(29-31) After reading Deuteronomy, this is a little more terrifying. And that isn’t a bad thing. It is so easy to see God as loving and caring and gracious, because he is. But it is also important to remember that He is vengeful.
I want my children to have a healthy fear of me so that they take what I say seriously. They need to know what punishment and consequences are so they know that I am not to be crossed. It is how I teach my kids respect for and obedience to authority. There are rules in the world that must be followed and they won’t learn that unless I teach them. It is the same with God. I need to remember to have a healthy fear of the might of God. I need that in order to take all he says seriously and with the utmost respect. My relationship with Him needs some healthy fear so that my trust and intimacy increases. My children come to me and trust me because I have set clear boundaries and consequences if those boundaries are crossed. They trust me to interpret the world for them because they do not have enough knowledge and understanding to do that for themselves. I, in turn, have the same trust and expectation of God. And I am growing in the understanding that what He reveals is done in his time and for his purposes and for my good. Just like my children. Without a fear of the Lord we can have no understanding of what he has revealed of himself. Fear is an understanding of God’s immeasurable power. And a recognition that He will exercise that power in the same loving way I do with my children. It is motivation to obey. And I need to cling to that fear, because the second I let go of it I am in grave danger of repeating the pattern of Israel. And for that, the punishment is greater for the knowledge I have received. This is why Israel is called first to fear God. This is why we are called to fear God. Not to strong arm us into obedience, but to reconcile our hearts to the realities that walk hand in hand with disobedience.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deut. 29:29)
faith from the stove 