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Whew!  Feels like we’re flying through the Bible now, doesn’t it?  Can you believe that we’re 1/4 of the way through the Bible already?  And you probably looked at this book at one time and thought, “I could never read a book that big!”  Well, good job!  You’re on your way, and probably changing a little along the way as God penetrates your heart with His Word!

So on to this week’s blog…

David & Bathsheba!  A true romance of Biblical proportions!  This story couldn’t have been written any better if it had been written by Hollywood itself!  Romance, power, passion, love, intrigue… at least that’s how it’s been portrayed to us.

However, the story of love and romance couldn’t be farther from the truth!  Sadly, the story is much darker than this and really isn’t about Bathsheba at all…it’s about David and Uriah the Hittite.

What I’m about to describe will probably be shocking to you.  In fact, you may think I’ve gone off the deep end when you hear it, but bear with me and follow the story.  The ancient Hebrews understood what we’ve misunderstood for decades or more.  Perhaps it’s our Western way of thinking or our obsession with romance novels and love stories, but many of us have a picture of David & Bathsheba that could only have been made up by Hollywood, because it’s not what the Bible describes.

Ready?

David raped Bathsheba.

You didn’t misread that.  David raped her.  This was no story of love at first sight, romance and mystery.  This was rape.  Let me explain what the Scriptures make clear…

2Samuel 11 opens with, “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army.”  Immediately an ancient Hebrew reading this story would be wondering, “What’s wrong with David?  Why didn’t he go out with the army as he should have done?”

This first line should signal to us that something is wrong.  The king is not acting like a king right now.  Verse 2 describes David as walking around on the roof.  In the original Hebrew it is clear that David is looking for something wrong to do!  This isn’t as clear in English, but the Hebrew is unmistakable.

In verse 4 we read, “Then David sent messengers to get her…”, but the Hebrew puts it this way, “And David sent messengers, and took her“.  This verb of taking (he took her) is clear in the Hebrew that he took her by force.  It doesn’t describe love or romance.  Had David wanted her to be his wife it would have said something to the affect of, “he took her to be his wife,” but it doesn’t.  It simply says, “he took her”.

Ok.  Take a deep breath.  I remember what was going through my head when I first learned this.  Hopefully I’ve earned some level of trust with you by now, but this teaching may be straining your ability to trust me.  How can this be?  So unless I can read the ancient Hebrew text I can’t really understand what the Bible says?!?  What if David (still currently my pastor, but that remains to be seen) is twisting the Scriptures?  It clearly doesn’t appear to say to me what he is saying it says.

I understand and if this was the only evidence in Scripture to explain what really happened I’d be more reluctant to point it out.  Thankfully it is not.  You don’t have to know Hebrew to see that rape is really what happened here.  You only need to keep reading and watching the context.  Even in English this will become blatantly clear.  Just follow me a little further…

Remember I said that this story really isn’t about Bathsheba at all, but it’s about David and Uriah the Hittite?  Watch the descriptions of these two men and their actions as you reread the story.

Bathsheba informs David that she’s pregnant (2 Sam 11:5).  Uh oh.  David wasn’t counting on this.  So what does he do?  He sends for Uriah (which meant Uriah had to leave the fighting and return to Jerusalem, to David in the palace) and asks him how the war is going.  He then sends him home to his wife, Bathsheba, and also sends a gift after him.  It’s probably the messenger attempting to deliver the gift who witnesses what is reported to David next.  “Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.” (2Sam 11:6-9)

When David is informed and asks Uriah why he didn’t go to his home, here’s his reply, “The ark (which represents God’s presence) and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men (David’s men) are camped in the open country.  How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife?  As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” (2Sam 11:11 with notes in parentheses added by me).

Uriah is a man of great integrity!

What kind of character has David exhibited so far?

• He’s home when he should be with his men in battle.

• He’s been walking about looking for something evil to do.

• He sees Bathsheba, the wife of another man, summons her to the palace, rapes her and sends her home.

• When he learns that she’s pregnant David attempts to trick her husband into thinking the child is his own by sending him to his home to make love to his wife.

Uriah’s explanation to David basically points out that God (the ark), Israel, Judah, Joab and all of David’s men are all where they should be.  Only David is where he shouldn’t be.

When this first attempt at deception fails for David, he redoubles his efforts.  The next night he has Uriah come feast with him at the palace where he purposely gets Uriah drunk before sending him home thinking Uriah would surely sleep with his wife if he’s drunk and not thinking clearly.

This attempt fails as well.  By now the reader should be seeing the stark contrast between the deep character of Uriah the Hittite and the absolute depravity of David, Israel’s King!

When David realizes that he cannot break the integrity of this great man, his actions get even more sinister.  Now, instead of trying to break Uriah’s integrity, he writes Uriah’s death sentence and asks Uriah to deliver it to his commander, Joab, counting on Uriah’s integrity not to read the order while on his way!

He also is counting on the integrity of his general, Joab, to carry out what has to be seen as a wicked order.  Joab does obey and Uriah is killed in battle.

At this point David is probably thinking that he’s gotten away with his evil deed(s), finally.  That is, until he’s called on the carpet by Nathan the prophet.  I love Nathan’s exclamation, “You are the man!”  Only this isn’t a positive declaration.

As Nathan rebukes David and points out his wickedness, and the fact that none of his deeds were hidden from God, he begins to predict the destruction that David’s deeds will bring.

“Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you.  Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.  You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.” (2Sam 12:11-12)

Here’s where even the English translations make clear that David raped Bathsheba, as we see how this prediction plays out in the lives of David’s sons.

First of all, Nathan says God will give David’s wives to one who is close to him.  David did this same thing.  Uriah was literally David’s neighbor (David could see Bathsheba from the roof of his palace) and, perhaps more importantly, Uriah was one of David’s Mighty Men (2Sam 23:39).

Of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Israel’s army, there was an inner circle of 30 men (or 37), David’s Mighty Men; warriors known for their bravery and valor in fighting for Israel and Israel’s King.  No doubt, David knew who Uriah was as soon as it was reported to him that Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

God says that what David did in secret He will do in broad daylight before all Israel.  The very first instance of this punishment being carried out is in the very next chapter (13) where we read that David’s son, Amnon, rapes his half-sister, Tamar, David’s daughter.  Tamar pleads with Amnon saying he should marry her, so this will not be a disgrace to each of them; that King David would not refuse to allow them to be married.  Amnon refuses, and being stronger than Tamar, he rapes her.

David’s son Absalom, Tamar’s brother and Amnon’s half-brother, later takes revenge on Amnon and kills him (2Sam 13:28-29).  Later in his rebellion against David, Absalom pitched a tent on the roof of David’s palace and, “slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.” (2Sam 16:22)

What David did in secret, taking the wife of one close to him, raping her (sleeping with another’s wife) and thinking he got away with it, is played out for all of Israel to see.

You see, this story really isn’t about Bathsheba (not to lessen the devastation of her being raped by the king).  The story is really the stark contrast of a common man of great integrity, Uriah, with a “great” man of uncommon depravity, King David of Israel.

The ancient Hebrews understood this as we’ll see later in 1Kings 15:5 where it’s recorded for us, “For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life – except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”

This is not a love story of David and Bathsheba, but a tragic story of contrasting character between David and Uriah the Hittite.

David, a man after God’s own heart, was after all, a man.  Flawed like the rest of us, much of his life should be emulated by us, but David wasn’t perfect.  He just whole-heartedly served a perfect God.

David’s repentance is no more clear than in the psalm that he wrote as he cried out to God, Psalm 51.  Read it for more insight.

I can imagine that this blog, more than any of the others, may have your mind spinning with questions.  Fire away.  That’s why we’re here…

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So we went from reading one book, such as Genesis, over a 2+ week time frame, to reading one book, such as Joshua, in 1 week, to now reading one book, Ruth, in ONE DAY!

We’ve also covered a LOT of ground in 1Samuel in only 6 days (up through chapter 20)… so there’s a lot to summarize, but before we get too far into the story of 1Samuel, a few notes on the structure of the Bible…

Notice how this book, 1Samuel, often referred to as “first Samuel” has a number 1 before it?  It’s followed by 2Samuel.  You may be familiar with similar numbering of books in the New Testament as well.  So there needs to be some clarification as to what these numbers mean.

In the Old Testament when we encounter a book with a number before it, such as 1Samuel, the number represents the number of the scroll on which it was written.  Particularly in OT times, writings were done on scrolls and when those scrolls became too large, such as with a lengthy book like Samuel, the scribes would stop when the scroll was large and continue the story on another scroll.

SO… 1Samuel and 2Samuel are, in fact, ONE BOOK!  They are one story written on two different scrolls, kind of like Volume 1 and Volume 2.  This is the same with 1Kings & 2Kings (really just one book called Kings), etc.  In fact the Hebrew Bible does not separate them into 1Samuel and 2Samuel, because they recognize them as one written work.

However, in the New Testament when we encounter a number preceding a book, such as 1Timothy, we are encountering a unique written document.  In these cases they are letters.  We aren’t very creative in how we distinguish them, so each letter we find from Paul to Timothy we simply give a number; hence, 1Timothy and 2Timothy.  These are two independent letters, not one written document.  Understand?

Now, let’s step back and look at the flow of the Old Testament so far.  I mentioned last week that the story of the line of promise is always maintained throughout the Scriptures.  That explains the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38 and, partly, Ruth here after Judges, but before 1Samuel.  Ruth begins with the phrase, “In the days when the judges ruled…” clearly indicating that it belongs right alongside the book of Judges.  We know these were dark times, as Judges ends with the phrase, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”

Hmm… No King…  Dark times…  Now the book of Ruth, which begins, with the ominous time of the judges and ends with the genealogy of David, arguably Israel’s greatest king… until Jesus, that is.  Hey, Jesus is in the line of David!

So the end of Ruth signals for us that a king is coming and in 1Samuel we meet him.  In Deuteronomy 17 we read God’s instructions for Israel’s future king.  He says, “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses.” (Deut 17:14-15a)

So once again God demonstrates that He knows all things.  He knows Israel will ask for a king.  In fact He even knows the manner in which they will ask.  1Samuel tells the story of this first kingly selection (and the second one as well).

However, asking for a king, in fact demanding one, was NOT a God-honoring thing to do.  Samuel, Israel’s last judge is appalled at Israel’s request and, in great distress, prays to God.  God assures him that, “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.  As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.  Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” (1Sam 8:7b-9)

Even after Samuel warns them, Israel’s reply is, “No!…We want a king over us.  Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” (1Samuel 8:19b-20)  God used to fill this role, and He should fill this role, but they were turning away from Him as they had always done.

So God provided for them a man that a wayward people would immediately recognize as “king-material,” a man who “was a head taller than any of the others.”  Samuel described him to Israel saying, “There is no one like him among all the people.”  Naturally, they fully embraced him as their king. (1Samuel 10:23-24)

King Saul, however, was not the kind of man God would have ideally chosen.  In fact, He had another in mind; a man after His own heart, David. (1Samuel 13:14)

When Saul gets impatient waiting for Samuel to arrive before fighting the Philistines, he takes matters into his own hands and sacrifices a burnt offering to the Lord (which was Samuel’s job, not Saul’s).  Samuel arrives to inform Saul that his disobedience has resulted in God deciding to give his kingdom to another, one after His own heart. (1Samuel 13)

So… does sacrifice please God?

In chapter 15 we see Saul disobey God again, this time by not completely wiping out the Amalekites, but capturing their king alive along with the best of the sheep and cattle to make a sacrifice to the LORD.

Is this really what God instructed him to do?

Samuel’s answer to him needs to be remembered by us all:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” (1Samuel 15:22)

It has ALWAYS been about the heart with God.

King David will remind us of this later in Psalm 51 where, in deep broken-hearted repentance, he says to God,

“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” (Psalm 51:16-17)

So… God sets out to guide Samuel in His selection of David as Israel’s next king.  Notice the instruction He gives Samuel as Samuel keeps failing to recognize the man after God’s own heart.  God tells Samuel,

“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him (David’s brother Eliab).  The Lord does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1Samuel 16:7)

Remember in 1Samuel 10 how Saul was admired for being a head taller than any of the others?  Even Samuel sees him as a striking example and describes him saying, “There is no one like him among all the people.”

How often have you & I judged others by their appearance?

How often have you & I been tempted to “do things” for God forgetting that it’s your HEART that He wants more than all?

So the people wanted, “a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”  (1Samuel 8:20)  However we see David boldly declaring to the giant, Goliath (and maybe to Israel at the same time),

“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.” (1Samuel 17:47)

David understood that it is God who leads, God who fights, God who delivers, God who is in control.  We are to be obedient, we are to engage in the battle, but only as He instructs, with faith and with courage and giving Him all the Glory!

Man, how I want more of my days to be lived as David (in these instances) and less of them lived as Saul.

How about you?

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Here come da’ Judge!  Here come da’ Judge!  Well, God predicted it would happen and we’re seeing it unfold here again in the book of Judges.

Israel is quickly forgetting God, turning away from Him and spiraling down into destruction.  As they insist on disobeying Him He allows them to suffer the consequences of the curse He predicted.  While He once was leading them and fighting for them, He is now opposing and resisting them.  He is allowing them to suffer the consequences of their disobedience (sounds like Romans 1, doesn’t it?).

The book of Judges opens with this description…

“Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them.  They were in great distress.”

“Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.  Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them…Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.  But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them.  They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.” Judges 2:15-19

What plays out over 21 chapters are the stories of 12 judges who are raised up to judge (or lead) Israel.  Even though they are rescued from their troubles they always end up rebelling even more.  The book ends with the words, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Judges 21:25

In fact, the reality that Israel had no king is mentioned four times near the end of Judges (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; and 21:25).  This suggests perhaps that if Israel had a king things would have been better.

This leads us to the book of Ruth (today’s reading) which seems almost like an interruption in the story.  Judges ends with the words, “In those days Israel had no king,” and 1Samuel begins the story of Israel selecting her first king.  So why Ruth and why here?

Remember how the story of Judah and Tamar (Gen 38) seemed to interrupt the story of Joseph in Genesis?  This story was necessary to preserve the story of the line of promise.  The Promised One was coming through the line of Judah,

“The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his…” (Genesis 49:10)

Judah and Tamar are in the line of Jesus (Matthew 1:3a) and we pointed out last week that the Jericho prostitute, Rahab, was also in the line of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).  We’ll read today how Ruth, a Moabite, demonstrates true faithfulness and becomes the great-grandmother of King David (also in the line of Jesus – Matthew 1:5).

So the story of the promise of God is carried through, even in the midst of stories that spell out nothing but tragedy as we see Israel consistently going their own way and forsaking God.

As we approach Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday this weekend, I can’t help but be reminded of how the story of Israel is really the story of our lives.

How often have we insisted on going our own way?  Of doing our own thing?  Demanding that He bless us?

Are we really so different from them?

Without the continuing line of promise being played out in our history could any of us stand?  Would any of us have any hope?

May you have a blessed Easter this year, thinking about and being thankful for a God who loves us with a love that is beyond our comprehension…and a Son who gave of Himself and was obedient to death, even death on a cross, that you and I could have a renewed relationship with Him… and proclaim Him to others.

Happy Easter!

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Wow, what a week!  After Genesis – Deuteronomy we’ve actually read an entire book in only 7 days (Joshua)!  How can we summarize an entire book in one blog?  Well we’ll give it a shot.  In fact, an overview like this can bring clarity to what we’re reading, particularly when we go back and reread the book in the future.

The book of Joshua opens with God assuring Joshua that He will never leave him or forsake him (Joshua 1:5b) and telling him to be, “strong and courageous“.  In fact I counted at least 4 times in chapter one where God tells Joshua to be, “strong and courageous” (vv. 6, 7, 9 & 18) and it’s not the last time we hear this encouragement.  God also tells him in chapter one to, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (v. 9)

Have you ever considered that following God might be a frightening thing to do?  What might I have to give up?  What might people say?  What might they do?

God promises us, not just Joshua, to never leave us or forsake us.  He also instructs us to be strong and courageous as we follow Him, to do so with all our hearts, and to trust Him.  His instruction to Joshua to, “Keep this Book of the Law…” is also an instruction to us.

How can we keep it on our lips?

How can we meditate on it day and night?

How can we do everything written in it?

 

Daily Bible reading, memorization and practice will allow us to follow Him this way.  Reading gets us familiar with His Word.  Memorization allows us to be “studying” or meditating on it even when it is not in our hands.  If we read and memorize we can begin to put into practice what it says remembering that He will never leave us and never forsake us.  Be strong and courageous!

In chapter two we learn from a prostitute (one who is later found to be in the line of Jesus – Matthew 1:5) that God’s fame is known the world over.  The world is watching and they can see that, “the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:11b emphasis mine)

The opening half or more of the book describes the divisions of the land among the tribes of Israel and the plan for cities of refuge, as instructed by Moses.  The land is being conquered just as Moses instructed and Joshua is carrying out.

As the eastern tribes return home (Ruben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh) to the land east of the Jordan River, Joshua praises them for their obedience and instructs them to, “be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you:  to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Joshua 22:5)

Sound familiar?  It’s almost like a commissioning, isn’t it?

As the tribes to the west of the Jordan are ready to settle down, near the end of Joshua’s life, Joshua renews the covenant with them yet again.  Notice that the text describes Joshua as very old (Joshua 23:1-2) at this point.  This conquering of the Promised Land took time.  It did not happen overnight.

In this covenant renewal Joshua points out that they now live on land they did not toil for, in cities they did not build and they eat from vineyards and olive groves that they did not plant (24:13).  God described this back in Deut 6:10-11 as He described the land that He would give them.

Now Joshua once again pleads with them to follow God with complete devotion and a singleness of purpose.  Notice in 24:14 and 24:23 he tells them to throw away the foreign gods that are among you.  They still had them!!!  Almost as if exasperated Joshua tells them, “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (24:15)

The people emphatically respond that they will serve the LORD (24:16-18; 21).  The book records that they followed through on their commitment (24:31), at least this generation did.

Unfortunately we read yesterday, in the opening chapters of Judges, that the next generation of Israelites did not obey the LORD (Judges 2:10-13) and we begin to see the fulfillment of all the curses that God had described to them in Deuteronomy 28 and that Joshua had reiterated before he passed on.

Do you think we will ever learn?

Your turn!

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“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  These words begin the greatest story ever told; a story that still has an ending yet to come.

In Moses day, near the end of his life, he and all of Israel had been a part of the most incredible drama ever to be played out in our history.  Each character had a mix of good days and bad days.  Some were more good than bad, while others were seemingly tragic from start to finish.

Had the invention of modern cinema been around in their day they may very well have seen a trailer of the next installment of The Bible!  Have you ever seen a movie that you knew was only Part 1?  Having not read the book you viewed the trailer (or preview) of Part 2, but couldn’t completely imagine how it would play out.  You’d have to be patient and wait for its release to see it for yourself.  Chances are it doesn’t play out exactly as you imagine, but if it is in the style of most modern stories, all the good things get wrapped up in the end and the story concludes in an amazing way.

The story which begins, “In the beginning, God created…” has left some people to ask, “Why?”

• Why did He create us?
• Did He know we would reject Him?
• Did He know He would grieve that He had made us?
• Did our sin surprise Him and He’d have to form a plan B?
• Why even give us a choice to sin if He knew we’d take it?

Why…indeed.  Some have attempted to explain that God didn’t know we would reject Him and that Jesus was His way of fixing the problem we created.  In fact, we sometimes even describe the Gospel that way.

Was Jesus really God’s, “Uh oh!  I better do something” resolution?  Well…no.  God knew what would happen even before He created the world.  God always knows what will happen before it plays out.

As we get into the New Testament later this year we’ll explore the passages that explain Jesus’ timelessness, but what about here?  What about within the pages of the Torah, the Pentateuch, the first 5 books?  Does God know even here what will happen soon?  Later in the OT?  Even in the NT?

Deueronomy 17 describes what a king should and shouldn’t be like.  In fact the mere reality that Israel would request a king was sinful (see 1Samuel 8), but God knows they will.  He says in Deut 17:1 “When you…say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us.’”  He knows they will.

This chapter describes not only what a king should do, but what he should not do.  Tragically we’ll see when we read through the life of Solomon, that at the end of his life his reign could be described very accurately by listing the do nots of Deuteronomy 17.  God knows.

Jumping ahead a little, how about the blessings & curses for obedience & disobedience listed in Deuteronomy 28?  Did you notice that the descriptions of the curses, what will happen as a consequence of disobedience, are nearly 4X longer than the descriptions for the blessings?  Why do you think that is?

He (through Moses) begins chapter 29 with this amazing statement, “Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.  With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders.  But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.” (vv. 2-4).

Jesus will make similar statements in the Gospels.  Why?  For us it doesn’t always seem to make sense.  But the chapter ends with, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God” (v. 29a).  God knows the beginning and the end (and all points in between) and He is putting something together.

After this long list of curses and consequences in chapter 30 God describes how He will welcome them back into relationship with Him when they repent and return to Him with all their hearts.  He says, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” (v. 6).

Moses finishes his plee with Israel by describing these blessings and curses as life and death.  He concludes by exclaiming, “choose life!” (v. 19), but God reveals to him in Deuteronomy 31:16, “these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering.  They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.”  God knows.

“When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant.” (v. 20).  God knows.

In the hymn that God commands Moses to teach the Israelites as a testimony against them for when they actually do turn away, He tells them that He will make them (Israel), “envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.” (v. 32:21).  Paul identifies these people as the Gentiles (in other words all those who are not Israel…in other words, us!) in Romans 10:19.

But Moses declares to Israel near the end of Deut 32, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.  They are not just idle words for you – they are your life.  By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” (vv. 46-47).  God knows.

God knows what we will do… more importantly He knows what He will do.

What will you do?

Have you wandered away from Him?  In your actions?  In your attitude?  In your heart?

He longs for you to return to Him.  He will renew your heart so that you can, “love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” (30:6b).

Choose life!

…your turn.

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