Deuteronomy
The name Deuteronomy literally means the second law. This book actually gets its title from a mistranslation of the Septuagint which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures of the OT which was translated around 2 or 3 BC. The mistranslation came form Deut 17:18 and was rendered “And he shall write for himself this repetition of the law” In later versions is was correctly translated as “ And he shall write for him a copy of this law” So you see it is not a second law but just restatement of the law with a strong emphasis for the children of Israel to keep the law and to teach it to their children.
Key Words
Remember, obey and covenant
Key Verses
Deuteronomy 5:29 'Oh,
that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all
My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children
forever!
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 "
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the
LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your
God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 "and to keep the commandments of the LORD and
His statutes which I command you today for your good?
Deuteronomy 29: 29
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which
are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may
do all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 30:19 "I
call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that
both you and your descendants may live; 20
"that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and
that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your
days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers,
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
Key phrase
Deuteronomy 6:5 "You
shall love the LORD your God…
Key Chapters 27 – 29
Chapter 27 is the formal
ratification of law of Moses which marks the renewal of the covenant to this
younger generation of Jews who were about to enter into the promise land.
Deuteronomy 27:9 "Take heed and listen, O
We also learn that the
curse of disobedience was to be setup on
Theme and purpose
Deuteronomy is book of remembrance.
Moses who is now 120 years old is reminding this new generations the importance
of obeying Gods law.
Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the LORD your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
This verse also describes
the overall theme of this book. Jesus called this verse the first and great
commandment in Mat.
1. They were taught to
remember
Deuteronomy 8:2
"And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these
forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was
in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 "So He humbled you, allowed
you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your
fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread
alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the
LORD.
2. They were taught to be
obedient and warned against disobedience.
Deuteronomy 11: 26
" Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 "the blessing, if you obey
the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28 "and the curse, if you do
not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way
which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not
known. 29 "Now it shall
be, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which you go to
possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on
Mount Ebal. 30 "Are they
not on the other side of the
once again is Moses. This book records the last words and actions of Moses.
Moses was a very faithful servant to God and even talked to God face to face
which means he talked to him directly. However, Moses fell short of the glory
of God when he struck the rock to bring forth water instead of speaking to the
rock as instructed by God. Because of his disobedience he was not allowed to
enter into the promise land. We learn several things about Moses in the last
chapter.
Deuteronomy 34:1 Then
Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah,
which is across from
We learn that God himself
buried Moses and no one knows where except for God. After Moses died Joshua
took his place but the Bible goes on to say this.
Deuteronomy 34: 10
But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the
LORD knew face to face, 11 in
all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt,
before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, 12 and by all that mighty power
and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
What wonderful tribute to
man who went through a great deal of hardship as a leader and mediator for the
children of
Deuteronomy also shows the love of God.
In this book God reveals
his love by giving a new dimension for law and obedience.
In chapter 1 – 4 we learn
of Gods love in the past, 5-26 we see God love of the present and in 27-34 we
see the assurance of his love for his
people in the future as they enter the promise land. God gives us laws to go by
because he loves and we in turn show that we love God by obeying his commands.
John
1 John 5:3 3 For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
Lets take a look at how Deuteronomy relates to the
other books we have already looked at.
In Genesis the main
thought is man’s choice and his sin
Exodus deals with God’s
deliverance of his people
Leviticus key thought is
holiness and Numbers is guidance and Deuteronomy is obedience.
Deuteronomy makes at
least 259 references to the first 4 books and the rest of the OT makes about
359 references to the book of Deuteronomy. The NT makes around 96 references to
this book. Another interesting thing about this book is that when Jesus was
rebuke the devil with scriptures after his 40 days of fasting he quoted all 3
scriptures from this book.
Now lets take a look at
the basic outline of this book.
1-4 Moses reminds the
children of
5 -26 Moses reminds this
new Generations of all the laws that have to do religion, civil life, social
life and domestic relations. These laws are giving specifically in the way the
children of
27 – 30 The future of
31-34 These chapters
deals with Moses last days on this earth and his charge to Joshua to be the
next leader of these people. We have song of Moses and his farewell blessing to
There are several great
lesson that we learn from the Book of Deuteronomy that we can apply to our
lives today.
1. The first lesson we
learn is the importance of Love. There are many passages that speak of Gods
love for his people. For instance
Deuteronomy 4:37
"And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants
after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty
power,
God has always had a love
for his people and he has always required them to love him back with all their
heart and all their soul. In many places God says, “thou shalt love the Lord
thy God” (11:1, 13, 22; 13:3; 19:9). This same thing is true for us today we
must love God and put him first in our life and take comfort in knowing that he
has always loved us.
2. The second lesson we
learn is the importance of keeping Gods law and teaching it to our children.
Deuteronomy 6:1
"Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and
judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may
observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 "that you may fear the LORD
your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you,
you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your
days may be prolonged. 3
"Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it
may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your
fathers has promised you -- 'a land flowing with milk and honey.' 4 " Hear, O
This something that God
desires all his people to do to keep his commandments and to teach them to your
children. If you fail to teach your children about God you are doing them a
great disservice and are disobeying a direct command from God. Under the NT he
specifically tells us.
Ephesians 6:4 And
you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the
training and admonition of the Lord.
3. The
third lesson we learn is the rewards for obedience and the consequences for
disobedience. In fact no other book contrast obedience and disobedience quit like
Deuteronomy does. Chapter 28 is great example of this. The first part talks
about blessing of obeying.
Deuteronomy 28:1
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD
your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today,
that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 "And all these blessings
shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD
your God: 3 "Blessed shall
you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the
country. 4 "Blessed shall
be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of
your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 5 "Blessed shall be your
basket and your kneading bowl. 6
"Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall
you be when you go out.
It continues on through
verse 14 talking about all the blessing of being obedient to God. But the rest
of the chapter talks about what will happen if they disobedience which by the
way is proof of the inspiration of word of God because this chapter foretells
what happens to the Jews latter on because of their disobedience. Lets take a
look a just a small portion of these verses.
Deuteronomy 28:15 "
But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God,
to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you
today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 "Cursed shall you be
in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. 17 "Cursed shall be your
basket and your kneading bowl. 18
"Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your
land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 19 "Cursed shall you be
when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
This continues on all the
way through verse 68. We learn from verses that there are dire consequences
when it comes to disobeying the commandments of God. The NT warns us over and
over again that we must be obedient to God or we will face the consequences.
James 1:22 22 But be doers of the word, and
not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
2 John 1:9 Whoever
transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.
2 Thessalonians 1:7 when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels, 8 in
flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do
not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day
It very important that we
take the lesson from Deuteronomy to heart and do our best to obey God commands
because we love him with all our heart soul and mind.