A Journey through the Bible with Tiglath

29. Deuteronomy Chapters 8 to 11

We can now, perhaps, begin to hurry along on our momentous journey. In

Chapter 8 to 11 we find Moses addressing the people with great seriousness.

Perhaps, he is aware that his long life is coining to an end, ;and, that he must be

assured that he is leaving his people fully prepared to settle in the Promised Land

with their faith in God intact. He warns them that the land flowing with milk and

honey will give them much higher standards of living than they have enjoyed in the

desert and this may lead them to forget God who has delivered them from slavery

in Egypt.

In the second half of Chapter 8 Moses sets

out, in some detail, how God looked

after the Israelites in the desert. As he says

in verse 18, 'But thou shalt remember the

Lord thy God for it is He that giveth thee

power to get wealth that he may establish

His covenant which he sware unto thy

fathers, as it is this day'. The

Covenant, you will remember, was this - 'I

will be your God, you will be my people'.

GOLDEN TEXT Deut, 8:18.

Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God.

As we read Chapter 9, in some detail, we look back along the way we have

come as Moses retells what happened while he was up Mount Sinai receiving

the Ten Commandments from God. The Israelites rebelled against God and,

under Aaron's leadership worshipped a golden calf. Moses also reminded

them of other rebellions they had made against God's leadership.

In Chapter 10 Moses reminds the people that God had shown them great mercy

in restoring the tablets on which the Ten Commandments had been written and

which Moses broke in anger when he returned from Mount Sinai. A long way

ahead in our journey (St Luke Ch 10 v 27) we shall learn from Christ the two

basic commandments of the Christian faith, namely, 'Thou shalt love the Lord the

God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy strength, and with all

thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

17

Moses said in verse 12 of Chapter 10, 'And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy

God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to love

Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul'. Notice

how much further Christ took the commandment. Chapter 10 ends with praise

for all that God has done for his people.

Chapter 11 continues the theme that the Israelites must obey God and study all

He asks of them as they take over the Promised Land. If they do obey Him then

God will send the first and latter rains to give good crops - corn, wine and oil.

He will also send them grass for their cattle so that they will have plenty of food.

The chapter ends with a warning that the Israelites will be cursed if they do not

obey God but blessed if they do. Verse 31 states, 'For ye shall pass over Jordan

to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall

possess it and dwell therein'.

In the next fourteen chapters of our journey we shall look at the basic laws

enacted to enable the Israelites to change from a wandering peoples to a settled

nation