Tag: Deuteronomy 30

Categories
Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 29–30: Keep, do, prosper. It’s not as hard as we make it

Choosing life over death seems like an easy choice, but it can be hard for some people. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matt. 26:41; Mark 14:38).

In Moses’ third address to the second generation of Israel post-Egypt, recorded in Torah reading נִצָּבִים Nitzavim (“standing,” Deut. 29:9–30:20), he tells them (and us) they have a choice between life and death. He implores us to choose life.

We are also told that the Torah isn’t difficult, if it’s in your heart and in your mouth. Men make it difficult, but God doesn’t.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 29:9–31:30: Hungry to get close to God?

An Eastern chipmunk from Bas-Saint-Laurent, Province de Québec, Canada, stuffing its face full of seeds. (Photo by Gilles Gonthier via Wikipedia Commons under Creative Commons license.)

We don’t have to go to Heaven ourselves to learn God’s Law; we don’t have to die to keep it. God’s Law is so close to us, we can taste it. That’s a key lesson in the dual Torah reading נִצָּבִים Nitzavim (“standing,” Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20) and וַיֵּלֶךְ Vayelech (“he went,” Deuteronomy 31:1–30).

The book of Deuteronomy applies to us, regardless of where we come from, whether we are born Israelites or grafted into Israel (Romans 11).

Categories
Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 30-31: Prelude to the Song of Moshe

A Prelude to the Song of Moses: "God's love is not co-dependent or enabling. He will not enable His children to sin.

Revelation fortells of a time when those who trust completely in God and aren’t fooled by the beast, his image and the number of his name will sing “the song of Moses” and “the song of the Lamb” (Rev. 15:2–4).

We know of the “song of the Lamb” from Revelation 5. There’s the “song of Moshe” in Exodus 15 just after God saves Israel and destroys the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. There’s also another “song” of Moshe in Deuteronomy 32, and understanding it helps us understand apostle Paul’s terms “under [the] law” and “under grace.”

Categories
Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 30: Bringing the nations near God so they can ‘choose life’

Studies in Torah

The Law of the LORD, or Torah, is as difficult to follow and indecipherable as we make it — simply, choose the lifestyle that leads to life. The LORD over time aligns our emotions, desires and reason in that direction.