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Teach Me The Bible
Deuteronomy (Chapters 1-3)
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In Deuteronomy 1–3, Moses recounts Israel’s wilderness failure caused by fear of man rather than fear of the Lord. Though God went before them and promised victory, Israel did not trust Him. This episode calls God’s people to obedience, faith over fear, and trust in the promises of God.
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SPEAKER_02:Hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Today we are starting in chapter one of Deuteronomy. Hopefully you watched the overview last time and you're excited to get in and you're convinced that Deuteronomy is the most important book, that you have to know it, right? That you need to know this book and that you will be greatly enriched in your understanding of this story by knowing it. And so uh we're gonna start jumping into the details and we're gonna start uh pulling it apart a little bit, see if we can understand a little more of what's going on in this book. So here we go, chapter one, Deuteronomy.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, we're gonna jump right in. Um let's start by covering some things that if you're uh aware of Old Testament studies or if you've been around the world of Bible study or Old Testament scholarship much at all, you'll hear a lot about Deuteronomy, a lot about dating and authorship, and all there's all kinds of stuff going on there. One of the things that gets discussed quite a bit is the structure of Deuteronomy. And you know, we didn't cover this, we didn't talk about this a whole lot in our overview, but um, but the the reason why I'm bringing it up is whatever template, if you bring a template to the text, whatever it is, um that's inevitably what you're gonna get from the text. Yeah, and um and so uh is this book to be understood uh in light of some ancient Near Eastern treaty? If it is, then these first few chapters become you know a historical prelude and you know it's just to rehearse what happened. Um then you turn to chapter five and you get the you know the the commands and then you know the um you know the the Ten Commandments, what we call the great commands, and then the you know the subordinate uh orders and then uh you know the the blessings and cursings, the calling of the witnesses and all that stuff. Yeah. Um that's that's fine if you want to do that, knock yourself out.
SPEAKER_02:And and just to be clear, what people are trying this the template that people are bringing to the text is an ancient Near Eastern treaty, basically, right? That that's generally what the what the view is in scholarship.
Dr. David Klingler:Well, and they're trying to debate which ancient Near Eastern treaty, right? Is it an early one? Um, you know, so conservative scholars try to argue for a Hittite treaty that's in the background and more during the time of Moses, or is this a later treaty and other scholars, more more critical, liberal scholars who reject Mosaic authorship to have a much later date. Yeah, have a later date. Yeah. Um but um but anytime you have an agreement between two parties ever to buy a house, anything, there's a contract, yeah. A handshake, an agreement. I mean, you you have someone had to be first to say, hey, I'll sell you this if you give me that, or I'll give you this if you give me that. And they say, okay, well, um, what happens if you know but I'll pay you tomorrow, right? You know, it's like uh you know, like we when we were kids, we used to watch uh Popeye and uh Wimpy.
SPEAKER_02:Uh Wimpy. I don't I don't know. That's old stuff.
Dr. David Klingler:Well, it was it was this guy, whatever it was. I don't remember the guy. I think it was Wimpy, but but he he would always want to buy a hamburger, but you never can never pay for it. I'll gladly you know pay for you, pay for it tomorrow. And and so the question is okay, what happens if you don't pay for the hamburger? What happens if you don't um keep it? If you go back, yeah, if you then there's these these you know judgments, curses, there's you know, there's consequences for it. Yeah, which you've willingly agreed to.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh and then you've got witnesses and all that.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Um so so this is just common sense, you know, to debate the age or you know, because none of these ancient Near Eastern treaties fit exactly what's going on in Deuteronomy. Right. Um clearly there is a covenant relationship between Israel and the Lord.
unknown:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:And Moses has been.
SPEAKER_02:And so therefore, there's similarities between these things. Yeah, any time. In the sense that there's an agreement. And yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, I mean, you you can see this in uh in marriage, right? In the marriages in the Old Testament, you know, the you know, the father you know agrees to give his daughter to this husband, and there's gonna be an exchange, and yeah, so so this is in my mind, it's a bunch of nonsense.
SPEAKER_02:Um, it's just people trying to come up with stuff to argue their point and write dissertations and do scholarship and other words, we don't necessarily need to be aware of these ancient documents to understand what Deuteronomy is.
Dr. David Klingler:What you do need to be aware of is is the story up until this point.
SPEAKER_02:Amen.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh, and and so my question when I come to Deuteronomy chapter one is you know uh the the title, you know, these are the words which Moses spoke to all of Israel in the crossing of the Jordan. Okay, why does Moses choose these words? Of all the things that Moses could have said, why does he say this? Why these commands, why does he rehearse this specific history? Yeah, he doesn't rehearse all of Israel's history, he doesn't spend hardly any time in the Exodus. Yeah, he kind of glosses it. He he goes over it.
SPEAKER_02:No time in the in in Genesis.
Dr. David Klingler:No, no, he he just goes straight to from uh the defeat of Sihon the king of the Amorites. And uh and so he you know he he spends a little bit of uh explanation of the Exodus, but then he goes straight to Numbers chapter 13 and Kaddish uh Kadesh Barnea. Why? Well, uh because he is saying, look, basically we could sum up, and and Moses does right here in the first chapter. He says, Look, uh, I know how y'all are gonna do. It's not gonna go well, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Um, and so don't be like your parents. Well, and you're gonna be able to be, yeah. And you're gonna be.
SPEAKER_02:That's right.
Dr. David Klingler:So I'm just telling you right now, right? You're going, you know, you're gonna fail. Don't. But you will, right? But you will. I like that. Uh and uh, you know, and so so the the rehearsal of how we got to this point, Moses is emphasizing the Lord's faithfulness, Israel's lack of faithfulness, uh, and warning them as they go in.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and remember, these are his parting words to them. He's not going with them. Yes, and so whenever they're extra concerned about this.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, whenever you're trying to figure out what uh you know what's the point of the book, yeah, um, go to the end. Now here's the other thing that's gonna happen, and we're gonna talk about uh all of these things. But if we go all the way to the end, go to Deuteronomy 34. Since then, no prophet has ridden uh has arisen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, for all of the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of uh Egypt against Pharaoh and all his servants and all of his land, for all the mighty power, for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all of Israel. Okay, I hear this quite a bit. Uh well, you know, the prophets that come after Moses, you know, they're the we're gonna talk about uh looking for a greater prophet, a Deuteronomy 18, verses 15 through 18, greater prophet. And and that's not talking about Jesus, that says the critic. It's talking about, you know, Joshua, the next one, the next one. Okay, well, can you not read that what it says, uh, both in Numbers chapter 12, uh, when Miriam and Aaron rise up against Moses and say, you know, the Lord spoken to us too. The Lord's answer is, You're nothing like Moses. Moses, I speak face to face. After this, I will speak uh in dreams and visions.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh, then when you go to Joshua chapter 1, um and it says, It came about after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord. Um the the the language that the servant of the Lord there is the uh uh Evid Adonai, the the the ser the the Evid Yahweh, the the servant of the Lord, uh that the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of Noon, uh the assistant of Moses. They translate it servant of Moses, but but it's not the same Evid word, right? It's a uh it's a like minister or something like that. The guy who went and got Moses's coffee, right? It's the it's the secretary. The secretary. Could you go get my coffee? Um I we're we're at work here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um no disrespect to secretaries.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, and so to say that well, mo well, Joshua is yeah like mo look, Joshua 1-1 makes explicit the end of Deuteronomy makes explicit.
SPEAKER_02:And everything he performs, though it it's sort of like Moses, but it's it's noticeably lesser.
Dr. David Klingler:Oh yeah, yeah. And and so no in no way is Joshua being presented as greater as anything like Moses. And you know what's uh what's interesting is when you get over uh to the New Testament and you say, well, where where would we go to find a passage where uh we would find all of the faithful people right in the uh in the old testament, and we would go to Hebrews chapter 11. Well, who is interestingly missing from this story, right? You go it goes through Noah, goes through Abraham and Sarah, uh it goes down uh through this story, uh, goes through Jacob, goes through Moses, uh and um and then after Moses, it doesn't go to Joshua. Good point. It goes to Rahab.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and Joshua is mentioned in Hebrews, but only in the sense that he didn't bring rest.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So the faithful one, um, according to the writer of Hebrews, is is Rahab the harlot. Yeah. Not uh not Joshua.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, good point.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh and then it goes on to Gideon and Barak and Samson, and you're going, okay, now wait a second. We're skipping Joshua. This is weird. Why are we skipping Joshua? Right? So so we need to just put that on the table right away and say, okay, look, what's so it goes back to the beginning question? What's the function of the words that Moses has chosen to instruct warn Israel as they're going to take the land?
unknown:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:So in chapters one through four, uh, there is a you know, kind of Moses rehearsing, you know, how we got to this point, how um the second generation has gotten to this point. He really doesn't spend much time on the first generation other than to say they rebelled and God wiped them out.
SPEAKER_02:This this nice summary kind of helps you interpret what's going on in Numbers to an extent.
Dr. David Klingler:Well, it it does. And and you always have these examples in the Bible of, you know, uh I call them corrective passages, right? Uh in case you can't read, yeah, right. If you didn't come to the conclusions Moses coming to right here. Yeah, and and and this happens all the time. Um here's the analogy. I was talking with one uh uh you know, one I won't mention his name, but another uh professor, and they were saying that, well, you know, there's there's different readings, right? Um and I'm going, okay.
SPEAKER_02:But there's only one right reading.
Dr. David Klingler:You ever watched a movie? Yeah, yeah. You know, and now uh and and the this this analogy has a point. If you watch a movie and you don't take into account, if you don't watch the the scenes of the movie in order, and you don't understand the setting, and then the problem that's introduced into the setting, and then the rest of the movie is directly addressing that problem, then uh then you may be tempted to interpret each scene in isolation. And you would come up with all kinds of weird interpretations.
SPEAKER_02:Everybody'd have their own.
Dr. David Klingler:Right. And and you'd say, well, that's an interpretation. Well, it's not the right one.
unknown:Right.
Dr. David Klingler:So where we go wrong, always, it seems to me, in the Bible, uh, is that we don't pay attention to the ongoing nature of the story that is set in Genesis 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_02:It's the guide rails by which we interpret all this stuff.
Dr. David Klingler:Well, it's narrative literature, right? And so um and so why do we keep insisting on narrative literature? Because that um in uh in Hebrew grammar, uh there is a construction that is screaming out narrative literature, narrative literature, narrative literature, yeah, narrative literature. You know, um it'd be like um the opening line of any story saying, okay, this is a story, read it as a story, right? It's that explicit, yeah, right? This is not a poem. Even if there's a poem or poetry in the narrative, it is contained inside of the narrative, right?
SPEAKER_02:Right.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh and so the narrative structure is what begins it. And that narrative structure goes from Genesis all the way um to the land to Numbers. Uh, and now we've got this pause uh where they are opposite Jericho. Moses is not entering into the land. There's a reason why. Go read the story.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh, and um and so now Moses is going to speak these last words to Israel, and it's these last words that are gonna guide all of Israel's history, yeah. And uh and all of the prophets that are gonna come after Moses, they have to agree with Moses. And we mentioned this in our introduction. Uh, and so the question for chapter one, um, really one through four, but chapter one in particular is why is Moses including this language, this story, of all the things that he could have said to these people in his final charge, why does he say what he says? Um, and uh and so that's where we pick it up. These are the words which Moses spoke to all of Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah, opposite of Suf, between Paran and Tefel, uh and Laban and Hazarot and Diz Azov. Now, um, just a note here, sometimes uh in uh in Hebrew and all the way through uh through the Bible, uh Hebrew words, names have meaning. Uh, and so sometimes we translate, sometimes we transliterate, and we'll try to continue to point that out as we go along. But it's eleven days from Horov to the way of the Mount Seir in Kadesh Barnea. Uh it's an eleven-day journey from Horav by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. So why did it take him forty years? Right? Read numbers. You know. Um in the uh 40th year on the day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to all the children of Israel, according to all that the Lord commanded him to give to them, after uh he had defeated, after he had defeated Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashrod. So he defeated, right? Across the Jordan in the land of Moab. Moses Moses undertook to um, they they translate this, it's interesting little translation, to expound on the law. It's um uh it's uh uh you know, of course, this is a word that we've we've ran uh ran into. Um uh it's uh he he to see the law. It's uh um the the the God who sees. You remember it back to the the God who sees. Um uh beer. Uh but anyway, and and so uh Moses uh is going to explain the the law, and he says, The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, You have stayed long enough on this mountain. Turn and set your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and uh to all the neighbors of the Arabah, to the hill country and the lowland and the Negev and uh and the great river Euphrates. I have set before you all the land, go in and possess it, which I swore to your uh to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to their seed, to their descendants after them. And I spoke to you through uh and I spoke to you. I, Moses, spoke to you, Israel, at that time, saying, I cannot bear uh the burden of you, right? I cannot uh there's that carry uh again, that uh saat uh word that we um Alex and I were talking about that actually last night. Um uh I cannot bear the burden of you uh alone. So um uh so the Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you're like the stars of the heaven. Um this goes back to the promises that were given to uh to the patriarchs. May the Lord your God, God of your fathers, increase you a thousand fold and bless you, just he's as he's promised you. How can I alone bear the load of the burden of of you know you your burden and your strife? You know, y'all are wearing me out. So choose wise and discerning uh uh and experienced men from all the tribes, and you answer and said it's a good thing. And so so he set these uh tribes. Now, why is he why is he rehearsing this part where I, you know, we set these heads over you, experienced men, appointed them over you, leaders. Uh, and I charged them at that time, verse 16, saying, you know, hear the cases of your you know of your men, and yeah, and don't show partiality in judgment. Now, this is a reminder of what he said to them, and this is what he's going to repeat to the officers he's going to leave in charge after he's gone. They're gonna judge the people to the priest, to the judges, uh, to the prophets, and to the kings. They are to judge without partiality, otherwise, uh, the Lord's gonna wipe you out.
unknown:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:So you shall show no partiality in judgments, you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man. Well, that's how that's been a big deal. Yeah, that's been a problem. Yeah, uh, it was a problem with Abraham, it was a problem with Isaac, it was a problem with Jacob, and it's been a problem with the first generation.
SPEAKER_02:Uh, they didn't fear the Lord, which is probably why he started out with all the kings he's defeated, right? Oh, absolutely. Because we can do this, we don't need to fear these guys. I can do this, I don't think you can. That's fair. Yes, I can do it. Yep.
Dr. David Klingler:Um, you know, we're you know, Caleb can do it, right? Um you? Uh not so much.
SPEAKER_02:Joshua's suspect. Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Only if you will not depart from this law, and you will.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
Dr. David Klingler:And only if you don't utterly destroy, and you won't. You'll you'll you'll intermarry with him. I know you will, right? He's gonna tell them this is what they're gonna do, right? Uh and so um you know, I I'll have uh students and folks ask, well what if Israel would have believed? Well then every prophet in the old testament was wrong. Right.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:And um you know the are are you saying that they could they couldn't? Yes, that's what I'm saying. Um think about uh the analogy of um you know is there any um can you not kill somebody? Oh of course. Um can you not hate someone in your heart? Well, in theory, but do you why because it's hardwired into you, yeah. Uh and this hardwired in sin nature uh to do what's right in your own eyes was granted by Adam and passed down, right uh, and so there is only one, you know, the the story is looking for who will come and fix it. And so you know, so so we tend to get you know all out of whack in our theology uh as uh we you know but it but if you don't have the what happened at the very beginning of the story, right? Uh then you're you're going to get into these think people are inherently good and yeah, all kinds of theological uh problems. And you know, and then then you're gonna debate you know Paul in Romans chapter five. And I'm going, you're not debating Paul and Paul's words in Romans chapter five. Yeah, your problem is with the fall and with you know the gardens is telling, yeah. Right? Uh and so it's all true or it's none of it's true. Paul's not coming up with anything new, he's working from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_02:Anyway, very good.
Dr. David Klingler:And so um uh and so they were to judge without partiality, they were to hear the small and the great, they were not to fear man, that's gonna be a problem. Uh, for the judgment is God's judgment. The case is not too hard for you. Uh if if it is, then you're to bring it to me and I'll hear it. And I commanded you at that time uh to do all these things, and then we set out from Horov and off we went. And and I said to you, You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord your uh our God is about to give to us. See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you go and take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. And don't fear and don't be dismayed. You're gonna hear that in Joshua. Again, we quoted in Joshua, but it's not Joshua's words, right? Do not fear, do not be dismayed.
SPEAKER_02:Don't, you know, don't fear the don't feel yeah, don't fear the people and the nations. That's pretty much what he's telling them, right? Yeah. Yeah. You're going in there, don't fear them. That's what they did at Kaddish Barnea. They went in, they feared them.
Dr. David Klingler:Exactly. And you know, and I love these, these, some of these conquest stories where uh we're gonna, when we get to it, um, the Lord's gonna say, okay, here's the battle plan, right? Um, we're gonna select just a few of you. Um, you're not gonna have any weapons, right? You're gonna have a clay plot and a uh, you know, and a lantern, and you're gonna, you know, you're gonna blow a horn and break the clay plot, and you're gonna watch them all destroy each other. You know, the Lord's gonna rain down judgment from heaven, and y'all are gonna do nothing. Yeah, so that you know that the victory is the Lord's and it's not you. You're not doing it, right? And uh so you're gonna see this all the way, all the way through. You only see it though if you don't read an individual passage in light of your theology, yes, but you read the scene, you hear the scene, you watch the scene in the movie in accordance with the developing plot. It makes perfect sense then, right? And so this isn't like, well, there's different ways to read the Bible and it all makes sense. No, there's only one way to read the Bible and it makes sense, and then there's a bunch of ways to read the Bible that it doesn't make sense, but you can make it say what you want, right? And this goes back to our discussion about the template. Whatever template you put on is what you will get out of it, right? Yes, uh, and so our job is to account for all of the parts, and the only way to account for all the parts is to regard it for what it is uh as a unified narrative. Yes, and and so we've got to read it as such. Absolutely. Anyway, so uh so the you know he explains go take the land and don't fear uh the people. Um then all of you approached me and said, Let us send men before us, that way they may search out the land for us, right? So this he's Moses is saying, This wasn't my idea, this was your idea, right? This was your plan. Uh and uh and so the thing pleased me, and I took 12 of your men. You see, he's he I'm the good guy here. You're the bad guys, y'all are the ones that have blown this, and y'all are the reason I'm not going in, right? I mean, this is how he's basically going to set this thing up. Uh each man, one man from each tribe, and they turned and they went up to the whole country and they came to the valley of uh uh Xkol and spied it out, and and uh they took some fruit of the land and brought it back, and they said it's a good land. Uh but you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, and you grumbled in your tents and said, Because the Lord hates us and brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Uh, this is going to sound an awful lot. I mean, they they've been grumbling like this the whole time. Okay. Immediately. Oh, yeah. Since they crossed the Jordan. Yeah, they come out, Exodus, uh, and immediately. Uh yeah, right. I mean, yeah, the the water has not sealed up behind them yet. We got a dream. Yeah, we it would have been better for us to stay in Egypt. Yeah. Well, it's gonna sound a whole lot like Joshua. Yeah, it would have been better for us to stay on the other side of the Jordan than to come over here and get wiped out. And so, you know, Joshua's gonna prove himself not to be the the the greater Moses for the yeah.
SPEAKER_02:By the way, though, that's why they got wiped out or they got sent back into the wilderness for 40 years. Because they said it would have been better for us to die in the wilderness than to go in and get slaughtered in the land. The Lord says, I will grant you your request. Good luck to that. I'll let you wander in the wilderness and die there. Yeah, yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:And then they say, Well, no, okay, no, no, now oh well, we'll go fight. Uh well, no, you won't. Too late. You if you go fight, you'll all die. That's right. And so anyway, so they rebelled, they grumbled against the Lord, uh, and um uh and he brought us up out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites and to destroy us. And where can we go? Our brethren have made our hearts melt. Saying, now hold on to that, made our hearts melt, right? Because um somebody's heart's gonna melt, right? Um uh the people are bigger and taller than we are, and the cities are large and fortified. That is exactly what uh Rahab's gonna say. It's what the Amorites are gonna say. Our hearts melted within us when we saw what happened, right? How the Lord your God fought on your behalf. It was literally flipped on its head. It absolutely was. Uh they were supposed to fear the Lord, not fear men. Uh the nations are fearing the God of Israel, and Israel is fearing the people of the nations. That that's all messed up, right? Uh, and so the Lord your God goes on your behalf, he will himself fight on your behalf, just as he did in Egypt before your eyes. He didn't lift up a finger to come out of Egypt. The Lord did it all. In the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son. Uh hold on to that, because that's gonna be the language of Deuteronomy chapter 32, uh, in that story, and all the way which you walked until you came to this place. But for all of 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, uh, in fire by uh night and cloud by day to show you the way which you should go. Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and he was angry and took an oath, saying, Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers, except for Caleb. He shall see it. Um, and uh and to him and to his sons I will give the land which uh he set his foot on, because he followed the Lord. And the Lord was angry with me. Notice who he leaves out here. He leaves out Joshua in this uh little explanation there. The Lord was angry with me also on account of you, saying, You won't even enter the land. Joshua, the son of Nun, who stands, uh he will enter, but you won't, right? So Joshua's gonna replace Moses and uh encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit the land. And we're gonna see how Joshua does. This is gonna set up the Joshua uh story, the Joshua book. Moreover, your little ones, whom you said would become prey, and your sons, uh, who have to this day had no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there and will give it to them, and they shall possess it. Right? So these And they're the ones hearing this sermon. That's right. They're the ones who now they've got to make a determination. Are they gonna follow the Lord, fear the Lord, or fear people, and it's going to be immediate that they're going to fear the people, not uh fear the Lord. They're not gonna follow the command of the Lord. Um, and um, and so if you just skip from here and you go read uh Judges chapter one and judges chapter two, you'll you'll see how it goes. Yes, all right. What Moses says is going to happen is exactly what has happened. Each one of the tribes has failed to take the land, and so um the people of the land will become a snare to them, and so they will be kicked out of the land. And so, you know, what Moses says in Deuteronomy, yes, uh, chapters 28 through 32 is gonna come to pass and kick into effect. So anyway, uh so then you said to me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will indeed go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us. This is in 141. And every man of you girded on his weapons of war and regarded it as easy to go up the hill. And the Lord said, Don't don't let him fight. Uh, do not go up nor fight. I'm not among you, I'm not with you. Otherwise, you will be defeated before your enemies. So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Sounds familiar. Uh, I like how when we get to Joshua chapter one, uh, the the ironic statement that Israel says, just as we we follow Moses, so we will follow you. Run, Joshua. Yeah, Joshua said, Yeah, then I'm out, right? If he had any brain in his head, always said, Yeah, then I'm not interested in this gig, right? Uh and um and uh so um so I spoke to you, uh, but you would not listen. Instead, you rebelled against the command of the Lord and acted presumptuously. Uh hold on to that uh acted presumptuously language. That's gonna be language that's gonna show up throughout all of the scriptures, and and we have a whole lot of uh debate about uh what that means. You you you have willfully rejected and and gone against the known and revealed word of the Lord. Uh and you went up into the hill country, the Amorites who lived in the hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and crushed you from Seir to uh Khorma. Uh then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you because you acted presumptuously. Uh so uh you reminded uh so you remained in Kadesh many days, uh, and uh were spent so so all the way through chapter one, he has kind of rehearsed that first generation. Uh chapter two, then he's going to uh say, then we uh turn and we set out for the wilderness for the way of the Red Sea, and the Lord uh spoke to me uh and it uh circled Mount Seir for many days, and the Lord spoke to me, saying, You have circled this mountain long enough. Right? So so there's there's you know quite a bit of detail that is just skipped over right there. Why is why is he skipping over all of that detail? Um and um uh and um you you know you've circled them out long enough, turn north uh and command the people, saying, You shall pass through the territory of your brothers, the sons of Esau. Who's that? Go back and read. Yeah, uh go back and read the Genesis story, who live in Seir. Um and and they will be afraid of you, so be very careful, do not provoke them, uh, for I will not give you any of their land. Yeah, even as uh the footstep, because I've given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall buy food from them with money, so that you may eat, uh, and you shall uh also purchase water from them with money uh that you shall uh that you may drink. For the Lord your God has uh has blessed you and all that you have done, and have uh uh he has known your your wanderings through the great wilderness, yet forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked for a thing. So we pass beyond our brothers, the sons of Esau. Why is he re you know recording this? He says, Then you're not to harass uh Moab. This is in uh verses nine through fifteen, and and leave Ammon alone. Um all of this was recorded back in Genesis, back in the the early uh stories, right? With Lot and Lot and the stories of Lot and Esau. So uh if you don't know um the Genesis story, and if you just stop in the Genesis story and view it as uh pericopes or scenes, and you interpret the scene in isolation and you don't keep going, yes, uh, then you will inevitably misinterpret it. Right. Why uh is uh the Lord given this land to Esau? Why has Ammon and Moab, why are these lands off not part of what you are to uh to conquer? Well, yeah, this is it tells the backstory of why that's the case in the book of Genesis.
SPEAKER_02:Um does it have to do, I'm I'm kind of curious, does it have to do with uh each of their relationship to Abraham in particular? Because you got Lot, his relationship with Abraham, Esau, a son, you know, same even with Ishmael, you know. So what what's your thoughts on that?
Dr. David Klingler:Well, it explains it's explains why these people have this land and it was received to them from the Lord. Yeah, for sure. Uh it was allotted to them by the Lord. And so so it's setting the stage for what is what's Israel's boundaries.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and what's the yeah, what's their relationship to these specific nations? Yeah, and and and you know they don't have the same relationship with Esau and Edom that they do with Canaan. Correct.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, yeah, exactly right. Yeah. Uh and so um, so then when we get to chapter uh, you know, so so that uh the the Edom and Moab and Ammon, those are the you know, the the brother, you know, and the double portion, you know, there's a double portion explanation there with Esau. But anyway, so so there's a lot uh there, and this is all recorded back in Genesis and back in the uh you know in the early story to explain why it is that when they take the land, yeah, right, uh, or remind them of of the backstory, so that this is not your land. So do what I'm telling you to do. Yes, right? When you you know, they have not yet encountered um the first generation has not encountered Esau or Ammon or Moab yet. The second generation, according uh, you know, to to to Moses, you know, he says, Look, this is what this is what we said, and and so here we go, right? Yeah, and so this is why part of the reason why uh I suspect uh that that the the the story Torah uh I'm I'm sure it was told before, but Moses is giving this to the second generation as they enter the land to know what they're supposed to do and why they're supposed to do it. Yeah, yeah. Uh and so we pick it up in chapter two, verse 24. Arise, set out, and pass through.
SPEAKER_02:So so reader, you know, go back and read uh these passages and then go back to the Genesis uh Well, you know what's what's also interesting in this section is that uh notice Esau um he's conquering these you know Anakim and all these guys, the the very ones that the very ones that I think Israel are gonna be afraid of. Oh yeah. That that's that's sort of ironic, right? You got Esau who's out there, he had no p problem taking possession of Seir way back when. Right. And I think these are the same guys that that's yeah, the Anakim, who are also called the Rephaim. These are the guys that Abraham defeated, right?
Dr. David Klingler:Interestingly, in the in in the you know the Rephaim, uh I I believe several times in the uh Septuagint they're referred to as the giants.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, they're the the Gygantas, the big the big bad guys that Abraham beat. So so Abraham beat him, Esau beat him, but you're scared of them.
Dr. David Klingler:Exactly right. Yeah, irony of ironies, right?
SPEAKER_02:Right.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh you're also being introduced to some of the cities that are going to play on play later. So uh so whenever you're reading in a story and authors include events, details in this scene in the story that seem to not be relevant, don't interpret, keep watching the movie. Yeah, right. That's right. If the author is telling you, if the narrator, the director, the producer, or whoever it is, is is showing you this, pay attention because it's going to come back around. Absolutely. Uh you're going to see it again, right? Um and so all of these names are going to show back up uh in the narrative. Uh and uh so then uh in chapter uh rest of chapter uh two and chapter three, he rehearses the conquest of uh of Sion, the the the conquering of um uh of Zion. Arise, set forth, pass through the valley of Arnon. Look, I have given Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand, and take possession of it, and contend with him in battle. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens who hear the report of you, and they will tremble and be in anguish of you. They're going to fear you and fear your God, you don't fear them, and fear their gods, right? Uh and so I sent messengers into the wilderness and and uh said, Let me pass through, and um and I will travel uh on the highway, I will not turn aside to the right or left, uh you will sell me food for money that I may eat, and and um uh just as the sons of Esau did, but but the king was not willing to let us pass through, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand as today, as it is to this day. Well, that's what happened in the past. So the Lord hardened his heart, and and there they go. And the Lord said to me, See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you, begin to occupy it, that you may possess the land. Then Sion, with all of his people, came out to meet us in battle at uh at Yahaz, at Jehaz. And the Lord our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him with all the sons of all the people. So we captured all the cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men and the women uh and children of every city. We left no survivors. Hold on to that. Uh this is going to be the instruction.
SPEAKER_02:This is like the training ground for what they're going to do.
Dr. David Klingler:For what's going to be said here. In Deuteronomy chapter 20, in Deuteronomy chapter 7, lest you intermarry with them. You're going to get into the Joshua stories and they're going to say, We utterly destroyed everyone. And no one went into the city, except for the people that went into the city. Oh, wait a second. Right.
SPEAKER_02:And then judges, they intermarry.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, and they intermarry with them, and the the the angel says, This is why. This is what's going to happen. Told you. Yeah, exactly right. Right. And so if the Lord doesn't intervene, now you know, you may be wondering, now, why go down this trail? Um, you know, it there's a lot of questions here, but let me just jump to the end. In Numbers, uh, or in uh Deuteronomy chapter 29, uh, you're gonna have this verse that ought to stick into your head, and we will definitely emphasize it when we get there. But um Deuteronomy 29, yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. And I have led you uh for forty years in the wilderness, your clothes have not worn out, your sandals have not worn out on your feet, you have not uh eaten bread, nor drank strong drink or wine, in order that you may know that I am the Lord your God. Uh the Lord has not yet given you eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to know. Um, you're gonna hear this in Isaiah chapter six, you're gonna hear this in the gospels. That's right. And this is Israel's problem, right? Consistent. Uh and so uh so so there's some even in the gospels, yeah. Jesus comes on the scene, same thing. He's gonna quote Isaiah 6, and but there is a day coming when the Lord will cause the eyes of Israel to be open, he'll cause their eyes to see, their ears to hear, their hearts to know. Uh Peter is going to quote this, lest you see with your eyes, hear with your ears, repent and return, and I heal you. But blessed are your eyes because they see your you know, Matthew chapter 13. Uh, this is gonna be this is the language of the Bible repeated over and over and over, right? And so the Lord has hardened King's uh uh the sion's heart. He does the same uh also to uh Og, the king of uh of Bashan, uh, and um we smote them until there was no survivors left. We captured all their cities at that time, and there was not a city which we did not take. Sixty cities, all the regions you know, you're gonna live in cities that you didn't build, uh houses you didn't build, and and and all of it. And all the cities of the fortified and high walls and gates and bars, besides all the great and many uh unwalled cities, we utterly destroyed them. Uh, and uh as we did with Sy uh Sihon, the king of Heshbon, I'm in chapter three, verse six now. Utterly destroyed the men, the women, the children of every city. And we took all the animals and all the spoil and all the cities, uh, as they were our booty. Thus we shall take the land at the time of the hand of the two kings. And uh and so this is uh you know the instruction and this this land was given as a possession uh to you know the two and a half tribes to the uh to uh Manasseh. Now uh uh we're gonna be introduced to some of these characters that are going to come later. Okay. And I want to skip down uh so that this this land uh east of the Jordan was given uh to Reuben, the Reubenites, to the Gadites, um uh, and uh to um uh the half tribe of Manasseh. Right. Uh your wives, your little ones, your livestock. Um uh you know uh so so the the Moses is going to command these tribes who have taken their land to join their brothers to go conquer the land uh for their brothers, and when that land is conquered, then they return back to the uh east of the Jordan. And so I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So the Lord your God shall do to the kingdoms which you're about to cross over. Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the one who is fighting for you. Mark those words, and don't ever forget them. Um I also pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, O Lord, you have begun to show your servant the greatness of your strong hand, for what God is there in heaven or on earth that can do the great and mighty works, uh, acts uh as you. Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon. But the Lord was angry with me because of you.
SPEAKER_03:He just speaks that in the right.
Dr. David Klingler:And he wouldn't listen to me. And the Lord said, Enough, uh, speak no more of this matter, go up to the top. So he goes up to the top of this mountain there, and and um uh and he's overlooking the land. He says, Uh, you know, let your eyes look north and south uh and to the east uh and see for your eyes, but you shall not cross over uh the the Jordan, but charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, right? For he shall go across at uh as the head of this people and shall give them the inheritance of the land which you will see. So we remained there in the valley opposite Beth Pa'or, uh Beth Pa'or. Um uh this is where uh you played the harlot with Baal Pa'or. You you y'all uh played the harlot with them. Uh and so uh so we'll pick it up next time in chapter four. We'll pick it up in chapter four. Uh it's a lot of uh good stuff there uh where Moses is going to basically explain what's going to happen to Israel in chapter four, and then he's gonna detail it out, right?
SPEAKER_02:Uh and so really chapter four in light of one through three, this is what you're to do.
Dr. David Klingler:And you won't. And you won't. Yeah, that's right. And you won't, right? Uh he won't fail you, he won't destroy you, but but you will rebel against the Lord. Yes. Uh, and so don't do it, but you will, and so off you go, right? Uh and so But there is hope in this book. There's a lot of well, there's a lot of uh there's a lot of reality that's gonna be set forth in this book. Uh and the hope is pretty far off. Yes. Um, you know, uh one of my old friends and professors, uh Dr. Ken Hanna, uh he uh used to have, he had several great sayings, but one of them that I always really appreciated was he would say, uh, you know what a pessimist is, don't you? And I'd say, No, what's that? He says, a pessimist is an optimist who's been assaulted by reality. That so much applies to Moses, right? Moses would like to be an optimist, but he's been assaulted uh from the second that he was chosen, right? Are you judge over us? Are you gonna kill us too? Are you judge over us, you know? Um, you know, leave us alone, stop making it hard for us, you're making us, you know, make more bricks, you know. Well, we should have stayed on the other side. They've been complaining from the get-go, right? And so Moses would like to be optimistic, but uh uh, but he has been assaulted by reality from the second that he was appointed until this point. And he says, I know how you are, uh that you y'all are no different than your parents, and so I know how it's gonna go.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:And um, and so off uh off he sends them. Uh and uh but he does explain what's going to happen in their uh near future, but also in their distant future when they're going to be restored. And so uh and so Deuteronomy 28, 29, uh 30, 31, 32, those are going to be key chapters for how the story is going to continue. And then uh the instruction uh is the ethic, the morality of how you judge Israel, uh, and then when it comes to pass, and it will, because Moses is the great prophet. Uh, if a prophet disagrees with Moses, you don't listen to them. Yes, and there is still a future hope for Israel. Absolutely. Now, just some closing words on that statement. Um, this comes back to uh to how we are to regard the scriptures. Um either it is all true or none of it's true. Do we get to change words? Do we get to change the history in a story? Uh in any story, uh the setting of the story, Genesis 1-2, uh, is interrupted by a problem, Genesis chapter 3. The command uh that the Lord or the uh the desire, stated desire of the Lord, let us make man in our image and our likeness, let him rule. Um, and this is going to play out with all of these promises that are given to a people Israel, you're not allowed to change the nature of the problem to have a different ending, right? The problem has to be solved in the story. Or it's not a unified narrative. And so what's ironic to me is some of the people who are, I think, doing some of the best job of trying to articulate the Bible and God's redemptive history as a story change the ending to a different ending. And I think that's that's really a problem. And I think that the reason they do that is not because of anything in the Bible, but because of what their certain uh strain of you know theological uh you know ancestors have.
SPEAKER_02:Essentially, they leave a lot of problems unresolved in the narrative.
Dr. David Klingler:Oh, sure. Well, sure, and uh and now it's starting to fall apart, right? Yeah, um, you know, and so uh so either the Bible is to be understood in a plain way all the way through, or um or you have to make sense of it with your theology, and yeah, and you start to get into some real allegorical interpretations, and that's gonna take you into all kinds of different places. And and church history has dealt with this for quite a while. So our approach uh is to say um track the story and see where the story leads, and then see how the story corresponds to history. Yeah, and so that's where we're going in the book of Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's helpful. Okay, we're through chapters one through three. We're gonna pick up next time with chapter four. So we'll hope that you'll continue to join us for that. We'll see you next time.
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