Learning how to receive Heaven’s mercy (Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22)

God forgives us for our screwups when we turn back from them (i.e., repent). What must we then do? Forgive others. That includes those in the Body of Messiah who we think have “lied” to us about the Sabbath’s being changed, Day of Atonement’s being abolished, New Moon’s being nailed to the cross or the Torah’s being abrogated. Those who taught us these things may have been misled themselves or had misunderstood or misinterpreted teachings. Our job is to forgive.

That’s a key lesson Moshe (Moses) had for the second generation of Israel, who had to grow up outside the Promised Land because of the failings of the first generation in trusting every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The Torah reading דברים Devarim (“words,” Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22) is the beginning of Moshe’s address near the end of his life, spanning most all the book.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:18:23 — 44.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

““For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”
Matthew 6:14–15 NASB

The opening chapters recount a selection of key events in the history of Israel’s journey from Mount Sinai to the Land and back again nearly four decades later. The soundtrack for this should be a dirge rather than a rousing patriotic score, because Moshe recounted the series of failings that demonstrated why Israel didn’t respond to God’s grace via bread from Heaven and water from the Rock with trust in the Holy One’s promises.

“‘The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ “But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.’”
Deuteronomy 1:30–33 NASB

Moshe recounted the widely communicated victories over Sihon of Amor and Og of Bashan and judgment on all those inhabitants while leaving the descendants of Eysav (Esau) and Lot alone in Seir and Moab, respectively, even though their paganism and inhospitality were as egregious as those of the surrounding nations. The difference was the promises made to Eysav and Lot about their legacy, as will be revealed in the next Torah reading, Va’etchanan:

“’The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt’.”
Deuteronomy 7:7–8 NASB