Stand up against ‘spiritual gravity’ — aka ‘the flesh’ (Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22)

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How can a God who ordered the deaths of young and old be good and just?

“We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city. “But all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty.”

Deuteronomy 3:6–7 NASB

This verse at the beginning of the Torah reading דברים Devarim (“words,” Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22) is one of those tough texts in the Bible to explain to non-believers. How is it a good thing to kill the men, women and children and only allow the animals to survive?

One point is that for God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, death is not the end for a human being. If you believe in God, you believe in resurrection and we have the Bible as a record of God’s reassurance that all the humans on earth will be resurrected and brought back to life. For Him the death of a person is not permanent.

We are taught that children are malleable and that regardless of how they are indoctrinated to evil, that they can be deprogrammed, but sadly that is not always the case.

God had removed the children of Israel from an oppressive culture, a culture that did not treat human life as sacred and He did not intent to insert them a culture that was even more repulsive and oppressive than Egypt.

We know from sad experience that child soldiers, for example, are often more vicious and bloodthirsty than the adults who trained them. We have seen this in the past with groups Hitler Youth. And in our current times, the Taliban and ISIS create child soldiers who are more bloodthirsty and lacking in empathy for human life than the adults. They have a very difficult time returning to civilian life after being trained to indiscriminately taking life.

All cultures are not equal. A culture as depraved and bloodthirsty as the Amorites could not be allowed to perpetuated their evil to future generations. God wanted a clean slate for His people to inhabit. He did not want His people exposed to such abominations like human sacrifice and sexual violence masquerading as divine worship. Their culture was rotten from the top to the bottom.

God had told Abraham that there would be a time when the sins of the Amorite tribes would be so egregious that the land would vomit them out. Now, in Deuteronomy, we see that this is the time when the land is ready to vomit the Amorites out.

Don’t fall for giants of persuasion

When we read about the giants, it’s an important lesson for us today.
We instinctually gravitate to leaders who are taller than average people, who are naturally assertive and who have a loud booming resonating voice. Their gravitas can be hypnotizing, but we have to step back and be careful when we listen to those who presume to exercise authority over us. We have to exercise discernment to understand who is speaking with genuine authority and holy boldness vs. those who speak with false authority and unholy boldness. We need to be wary of those leaders who abuse their authority, but we can’t know where the line between the legitimate use of authority and the abuse of authority falls without a knowledge of the Law.

We need to ask for discernment so we can know if someone is speaking from heaven, from their own words or if they are speaking words from HaSatan.
There’s a difference between obedience vs. trust. We have to be changed from the inside first, then our actions and words need to follow after the heart. We have to check what is being said with the Word of God.

We don’t want to be swept up or swept away with false teachings. When we “go up” we are going towards heaven and away from the realm of the world, while when we “go down” we are simply going with the flow of gravity and moving away from heaven and towards the world.

We have to resist simply following what tickles the ears and check everything against what we have been taught by Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus).

When we read through Deuteronomy, we should think about and reflect on restoration and reformation.

A well of insight into the Torah

“Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying…”

Deuteronomy 1:5 NASB

The Hebrew word translated here as “expound” is בֵּאֵ֛ר beʾer (H874). A similarly spelled word בְּאֵר beʾēr (H875), which means well or pit¹Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Accordance electronic edition, version 4.5. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. https://accordance.bible/link/read/BDB_Complete#3078.

Thus, Moses was drawing up the Law for the next generation like one draws up water from a cistern or a well. Moses is catching the high points of the journey in the wilderness as well as the Law itself that He has spent 40 years teaching them in the wilderness.

Why are the historical accounts in Deuteronomy and Numbers slightly different in details?

The historical recollection in Deuteronomy is a more merciful version. Moses is summarizing their history and telling them the primary lessons they should retain from their history and getting to the heart of what they had experienced. This might be why Deuteronomy is the most quoted book of the Torah.

They went from Egypt to the Mountain and then to the Promised Land. Each of these was a transition from slavery to freedom. Do we acknowledge that we were in the house of bondage. We were given freedom from bondage, by who? Do we acknowledge the One who freed us from sin and bondage?

God gave them food, water and protection from disease, wild animals and creatures. They also got a taste of what would happen if God withdrew His protection when the snakes and plagues came into the camp.

Are we free, or are we in chains?

If those in Cuba out in the streets waving the U.S. flag can see that the ideals of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution lead to more freedom, not less, how much more of a message of freedom do we have as ambassadors of the Author of the “Law of Freedom” (James 1:23–25; 2:10–13)?

These writings are important, they are inspiration and aspirational even as our county did not fully live up to them from the beginning. Is the law cancelled just because people don’t follow the law? Apostle Paul addressed that fallacy extensively  (Romans 2–3).

Tisha b’Av (9th of Av): Memorials of the ‘abomination of desolation’

Tisha b’Av (the ninth day of the fifth month, called Av, is July 17–18 this year) is the annual memorial of the destruction of the first and second temples. The three Shabbats around that anniversary and the 40 days leading up to Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement) are a time of introspection. But really the entire festival cycle gives us an opportunity of introspection and remembrance. The point of pilgrimage is to come full circle to God’s appointment. It’s a part of a general returning and a cycle of life with God.

• Festivals: יומים טובים yomim tovim = good days
• Festival: חג khag/chag (plural, khaggim/chaggim)
  • A verb form is חָגַג khagag (Strong’s lexicon No. 2287), which the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon defines as make pilgrimage, keep a pilgrim-feast (Ex. 5:1; 12:14; 23:14; Lev. 23:39; Num. 29:12; Psa. 42:5; Nah. 2:1; Zech. 14:16).
  • Example: 1Sam. 30:16: Khagag here should be translated as dancing, as feasting would be redundant with preceding words meaning eating and drinking.
  • Example: Psa. 107:27 uses a form of חגג with נוּעַ nua’ (H5128), meaning to shake, to wander, in describing drunk-like behavior.

A possible root meaning of khag that incorporates making pilgrimages, dancing and reeling is traced from חוּג khug (H2328 and H2329), a verb the Brown Driver Briggs lexicon defines as draw round, make a circle (Job 26:10, using the form חג khag; Isa. 40:22; Prov. 8:27; Job 22:14; Sir. 43:12).

Move forward, rather than going in circles

Most of the book of Deuteronomy is about the “why” of the Torah. Why are these rules important? The practice of these laws help us develop us develop holiness and realign ourselves away from the this world and towards the heavenly world.

We find our mission statement here:

• Shema: Deuteronomy 6:4ff
• Love your neighbor as yourself: Leviticus 19:18
• Being known by our fruits: Matthew 7:16
• “Deeds of the flesh” vs. “fruits of the Spirit”: Galatians 5:19–25
• The New Covenant: Jeremiah 31:31–34; Ezekiel 36:25–26
• “This is eternal life, that they may know You”: John 17:3 (cp. John 6:40)

This second generation has to ask themselves if they are willing to move forward in a way that their parents were not willing to move.

Summary: Tammy