Teach Me The Bible
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Teach Me The Bible
Deuteronomy (Chapter 5)
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Deuteronomy 5 records Moses restating the Ten Commandments to Israel before they enter the Promised Land. These commands reveal God’s holy standard and provide the foundation for understanding Israel’s history of obedience and idolatry. The law shows that God’s people need a heart that truly fears Him, as outward promises alone are not enough. The commandments call Israel to reflect God’s character in truth, worship, and relationships, showing that bearing His name means faithfully representing Him before the world.
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SPEAKER_01:Hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today. We are continuing on in our series in the book of Deuteronomy. We finished chapter four last time. We're heading in to chapter five. Moses has already uh tipped his cards that he's not real confident in what uh in their ability to be more faithful than their fathers. But uh we're gonna uh again turn the page over in chapter five and and see uh what he says to Israel in the wilderness here. So, doc, if you want to carry it away and we'll we'll chat about it.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, this ought to be a really familiar chapter for us. It may not be the familiar address, but but certainly the content ought to be familiar to many. It's uh the Ten Commandments uh given in Exodus chapter 20, repeat it here. And um, so we pick it up in chapter 5, verse 1. Then Moses uh called, a translate uh New American Standard translates summoned all of Israel and said to them, Hero Israel. And uh that this is um there's a few times in the book of Deuteronomy where this is this phrase is used, yeah, Shema Israel, Hero Israel. Um we're familiar with it in the next chapter, chapter six, verse four, which we call the Shema, but it's actually an address that's used uh you know a few times in the book of Deuteronomy. But here, O Israel, the uh the uh the statutes and the ordinances which I am uh speaking to you or or saying to you today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully, observe or guard them to do them. That's really literally the the how it uh how it reads. Uh the Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. He did not make a covenant with our fathers. That's interesting. He did that this is the uh you know, this is a new covenant. This is the Mosaic covenant, this isn't the Abrahamic covenant, right, but the Mosaic covenant. Um, and the covenant deals with the land, it deals with their taking the land if they're obedient to follow the Lord and follow his ways, then they will take the land. But if they don't, then they won't. And so um people often talk about conditionality, you know, is it the conditional conduct covenant, unconditional covenant? It was the Abrahamic covenant, conditional, unconditional, and you get all of this, right, this discussion, um, which becomes a bit of a moot point because by the time we get to the end of Deuteronomy, Moses says what's going to happen. There's conditions to going into the land and um there are conditions for them being in the land, but the Lord will ensure that they will eventually yeah, they they have a new heart so that they can meet the conditions so that they're gonna divine what we mean by conditional. Yeah, yeah. So it's an interesting discussion. It's one that was uh is often debated. I remember when I was in one of my dissertation, uh uh, I think it was my comprehensive exams. Um, Elliot Johnson was in there with uh with Gordon Johnston, and they've had this ongoing debate for a long time. And uh so Gordon Johnston, Dr. Johnston asked me what I thought, and and Elliot interrupted him, Elliot Johnson, so it's Johnson and Johnston. So Johnson interrupts and says, Well, I don't think that, you know, and then they argue for about 30 minutes. So I wasn't, you know, gonna stop them with their discussion. Yeah, yeah. Let them uh you know discuss the the nature of uh they were actually talking about Genesis uh 15 and the Abrahamic covenant, the conditionality of it in Genesis 17. But anyway, but uh here um the the Lord is setting conditions on their taking the land and their ability to stay in the land. Uh but he's also going to give them a new heart, and we're gonna learn this later in the book of Deuteronomy, right, so that they can keep the land. So uh so anyway, the Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us and with all of us alive here today. Uh the Lord spoke to you face to face from the mountain in the midst of the fire, and I was standing uh between you uh and the Lord, and um and you were you were afraid. Uh you know, I was standing between you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up to the mountain. He said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Uh you shall have no other gods before me. Now this is going to be pretty central to uh to this whole discussion, the whole book, Israel's whole history. Um, and it's going to play a part in the Ten Commands, uh a pretty big part. Um when we get to chapter six, the Shema, um, you know, hero is where the Lord is our God, the Lord, and you know, it's debated. The Lord is one, you know, in some kind of a Trinitarian view, three and one type of thing, or the Lord alone. Um, the rest of the chapter, and of course the whole book, is that the Lord is our God, the Lord alone, not the gods of Egypt, not the gods that you're going into that are going to be in the land, you're to utterly destroy them. Uh if you don't destroy the people, uh, then they will cause you to follow their gods, and then the Lord is a jealous God, and he will his anger will burn against you and he will cause you to perish from the land yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Throughout this entire book, sermon, whatever it is, that's pretty much the gist of it. Oh, yeah. Don't go after other gods. There's one God, the name is the Lord. Absolutely. Um it's interesting too. You know, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. That's what they said about the golden cap. They said, This is the God who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, right? Yeah. He's demonstrated no, it's it's the Lord, it's the Lord.
Dr. David Klingler:And it's going to tie right into the next uh the next verse and the commands you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol. Uh anything in the likeness of what is in heaven above or on earth beneath, or what is in the under the water underneath the earth. You shall not worship them, you shall not serve them, for I, the Lord, uh I'm your God, and I'm a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generation, of those who hate me, but showing loving kindness to the thousands, to those who love me and keep my commands. Um there's some Exodus thirty-four language in here. But let's go back to the uh you shall make no uh idol for yourself. Um what is in the the likeness of uh that in heaven above or on the earth beneath. Um Israel was created, it mankind was created uh to be an image bearer. Um they were not to create things, uh you know, make images, uh, you know, idols, gods to serve. They were to be the image of the invisible God. That's what they were uh created to do, mankind was created to do. Um and so the Lord your God, he's revealed himself, and you're not to make an image in the form of something that he created, right, and then call it God. That's exactly what they did.
SPEAKER_01:That's exactly what they did.
Dr. David Klingler:At the uh with the golden calf.
SPEAKER_01:And especially things that never bore the image.
Dr. David Klingler:Absolutely. Right, yeah, that's right, absolutely. Um there's interesting um parallel, and you know, well, you can get into some of this discussion when you do some ancient recent background stuff, and you go into the uh into their temple and into their what they what we would call the holy place, and um you know they they would have a idol in the in there. Um but uh in um in Israel's tabernacle temple, there was no idol. There was the living God was there. And so there's interesting parallels there. But so you're not to serve them, you're not to worship them. Um for the Lord your God is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generation, to those who hate me. There's several points in um Deuteronomy, in the law, where if you are inclined to reject supernatural prophecy, then you will conclude that this book, these books, were written after the exile. And this is one example that uh that Israel was going to be removed from the land um, you know, for 70 years, uh you know, how many generations is that? You know, there's if you take a generation to be 20 years, then it's third or fourth generation, and this would fit the bill here. But showing loving kindness to the thousands, to those who love me and keep my commands. Uh when we fast forward in Israel's history, they're going to rebel against the Lord, Jeremiah 29, familiar passage, 29.11. But in 29, 1 through 10, uh, the pronouncement of judgment comes down uh through Jeremiah the prophet that Israel is going to be kicked out of the land for 70 years, uh third and fourth generation, um, until they repent. And that picks up in Daniel chapter 9. So again, all of these verses that we're finding in the book of Deuteronomy, they're gonna have a kind of a life of their own. They're gonna play out in Israel's history. So this is really core to our understanding of the of the Bible and our understanding of uh of Israel's history and then how the story ends, how it relates to us, and so um verse 11 you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, or literally, you shall not uh lift up the name of the Lord your God. Uh, and then there's this uh this phrase that they translate in vain. It's actually um it's it's used uh throughout the the scriptures to be like falsehood. Um we see it in a bunch of a bunch of passages where um where it ties to um like in Exodus chapter 23, uh you shall not bear a false report. You shall not lift up a hearing of same word here, uh hearing of Shabbat, a hearing of of falsehood, uh a statement of falsehood. Uh you shall not lift up your hand with the wicked man uh to be a witness of they translate malicious witness, say a witness of Hamas, a witness of evil. Wow, of violence. Um and the the point here, and it's the point that was made at the end of chapter four um of Deuteronomy was you you don't add to, you don't take away, you don't ascribe to the Lord things he's not doing, you don't take away uh from the things that he is doing, you don't say he is like the other gods when he's not, you don't make images like him, which don't reflect him. Um in chapter 13, if a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and says something about the Lord that's not true, you're not to listen to that. Wow, yeah. So there's so many connections here.
SPEAKER_01:So taking that literally, translating that literally would really help us make sense of what's being said here because we often, you know, this is we're no strangers to this command, right? Don't take the name of the Lord in vain. But we've kind of made that, you know, don't use the Lord's name as a curse word or something, whatever we mean by that. But you're saying it it specifically has to do with ascribing falsehood to the Lord's name or saying, Thus says the Lord, when he didn't say it.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, chapter uh five here a little later, down a little later uh in chapter five, verse, verse twenty, uh you're gonna have you shall not bear false witness. That's the same word. You shall not um uh you shall not answer your companion, your neighbor, um uh with a witness of falsehood. Yeah, you know, you you don't you don't do that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Um uh you're you're not to bring your worthless idols, worthless offerings. That's uh in Isaiah chapter one. And um woe to those who drag iniqu uh iniquity and cords of falsehood. So it's more of a of a falsehood. Yeah. Um that's really interesting. You know, and and or false witness or something like that. Uh in Isaiah 59, um they trust in confusion and they speak falsehood. They conceive mischief and they bring forth iniquity. Talking about uh, you know, these these ones who um, you know, these these wicked ones who who don't follow the word of the Lord, they call you know light, darkness, good, evil. And so they're saying that the Lord's saying something's good when it's not. This is this is um, you know, it's not that Israel was getting kicked out of land because, as you said, they were, you know, speaking a curse word with the name of the Lord. No, it was it was they were ascribing to him things that he didn't do, and this is what the false prophet's doing, right? Uh and so the penalty for that in Deuteronomy 13 of being a false prophet is death.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:You're just stone him to death.
SPEAKER_01:Um, you're not to do these things, you're not to so that I mean that vein, what you're saying, is really gonna tie together a lot of things Moses is gonna say in this book of false prophets and things like that, and it it really helps to string the all the sermon together, really.
Dr. David Klingler:It sure does. Yeah, yeah, it it sure does. And and so um, you know, you're not to say the Lord is like the other gods, he is totally different, yeah, and you're to be totally different, and it's gonna tie together. So um, so you don't give false report um against the Lord, you don't speak falsely uh against the Lord, you don't speak falsely against your brother, yeah, right? It goes hand in hand, right? So um what is to be modeled with the Lord is what to be lived out with the brother. That that's the that's gonna be the point all the way through here. And and in the Ten Commands, you've got these commands that um you know that are in relation to the Lord and then relation to the brother, and that and so they do tie together. Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God has uh commanded you. Let's go back just for a second. So uh I want to make this point so that it's this isn't just a list of commands, it is a list of commands for Israel to do, but it's also a list of commands, uh, as is all of Deuteronomy, that you're to keep in the forefront of your mind as you interpret the books that are following. So that when Israel is doing the things like the golden calf, yeah, you're supposed to recognize this is not good.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
Dr. David Klingler:Um when we get over to uh later uh stories, th uh, maybe we can um this is in Judges chapter 17. There was a man in the whole country of Ephraim whose name was Micah, and his mother um he said to his mother, the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken uh from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me, I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son by the Lord. So he's she's blessing the Lord for taking her stuff. And then uh he then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, I wholly dedicate the silver from the hand of the Lord to my son to make a graven image and a molten image. Therefore, uh I will return them to you. And uh and so, you know, Deuteronomy, uh you know, later in Deuteronomy, when you make a vow to the Lord, you'll be sure to keep it. Um she makes a vow to break the ten commands to make a graven image, and then she goes back on the command, yeah, uh on the the vow uh by taking only 200 pieces of silver and giving it to the silver smith so that he makes the graven image. So it she would have been better to go back, you know, she's creating a mess for herself, and you know, and so so my point is that you'll hear these story these commands in the stories. Now, the the you know, the writer of the book of Judges is not saying, and that's bad, right? Made a graven image, and that's bad. No, you're supposed to know because you know the commands. That's why we call this the Deuteronomic History. Uh the books that follow the book of Deuteronomy are to be interpreted in light of the law. So these aren't just ten commands for us to put in the county courthouse. Uh these are commands that are going to guide our understanding, interpretation of how uh how Israel is to live them out, and and and they do reflect the character of the Lord. And you so you'll see many of them, um, in fact, um most of them repeated in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely.
Dr. David Klingler:Um but the you know the Sabbath day is one that's not uh not repeated as a command in the epistle. Now, you know, there's debate about that. We actually uh serve the Lord, we we observe the first day of the week, not the last day. So we as Christians observe resurrection day, not Sabbath day. Right. But uh but the point here uh is in verse uh chapter five, verse uh verse thirteen six days you are to labor and to do all your work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath uh of the Lord your God. You shall do no work on, not you, not your sons, not your daughters, your male servants, female servants, your animals, ox, donkey, cattle, foreigner, the one who lives with you, uh, you know, male, female servants, that they may rest with you. Uh and uh and now this this Shabbat uh is rest, the Sabbath day Shabbat, but that they may Nuak, that they may Noah rest with you. Um this whole story is looking for this one who's going to bring ultimate rest. This goes back to to Genesis chapter five, and Lamak has a son, names him Noah rest, saying, This is the one who will give us comfort.
SPEAKER_01:The rest that was in the garden, yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:And so this was a day to observe, uh, to observe the rest, and uh and it was uh it was coming, it was looking for symbols. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Um you will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of uh there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day, honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged, that you may go in and take the land which uh the Lord your God is giving to you. Now let's make a point here about uh you know about Bible interpretation and and and how often we will get uh you know, there's books written in some of the books here on these shelves if you're watching this, as you know, problem passages, difficult passages, uh Bible contradictions, that type of thing. And and um, you know, in in chapter uh fourteen of Luke, uh Jesus says some very interesting things that I think often go um unnoticed or not pointed out, but he says in chapter 14, verse 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Well, he also says in the book of Matthew, you've heard it said, you were to, you know, you love the Lord and you know, pray for your brother, love your brother. But I say you're to love your enemy. Well, no, wait a second. Uh, are they to love their father and mother, honor their father and mother? Paul is in Ephesians is going to command, children, honor your father and mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise. He's going to go back and quote uh this uh law, the command in Deuteronomy chapter five. So which one is it? But but Jesus is saying, no, you have to hate your own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, even your own life, you cannot be my disciple. Well, this is why you have to understand why the author is saying what he's saying. Why is why is the author quoting Jesus saying this? And so what's happening in the in the gospel of Luke is that uh that these Pharisees thought that they were getting into the kingdom simply because they were children of Abraham, because they're they had the right DNA, they had the right genealogy. Uh, and Jesus is saying, no, no, that's not it. Right now, let's go back to honor your father and mother. Uh and um you know, the in chapter six next time, we're going to uh hear Moses instruct the parents uh to teach the children, you're to teach these commands so that they're on the heart of the children. Um so what is it? Well, what if the fathers are teaching uh the children, if the mothers are teaching the children the way of the Lord, then they will live long in the land. It will go tove, it will go well for them, um uh and uh they will live long in the land. How long? Forever, right? Right? Um, eternal life. This is what this whole story is doing.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
Dr. David Klingler:But if you reject the teaching of your parents, father, mother, and passed down, then then you won't. And so you honor your father and mother. Now, what if your your father, your mother doesn't teach the way of the Lord? What if they add to it? What if they bear false witness against the Lord? If they take the Lord's name in vain, well, they're to be killed. Um, you know, I I find it interesting that people will say in um in America, you know, we we say, well, we're a you know, the Bible is uh is the backdrop for the for the Constitution. I'm saying, really? Um can you are you free to say anything religiously? Is it you know, we argue for over freedom of religion, you know, the uh are you free to have your own view of the Lord? Well, not in Israel. Yeah, you have freedom of speech, not in Israel. Not in Israel, not in you know, not according to Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_01:That if you say the wrong thing, get stoned.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, you you're not allowed to speak against the Lord.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, right.
Dr. David Klingler:And if you do, um then it doesn't go well for you. If you have a if you're a child and you rebel against the teaching of your parents, if you're a a rebellious child, uh you're taken down to the elders and uh and you were you were stoned to death. And so this was this was not um, you know, they weren't big on the uh you know the the bill of rights. Yeah, sure. The ten amendments, they were big on the ten commandments.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. Well they have a they have a pretty heavy responsibility on their shoulders, right? To represent the Lord to all the nations. And so that's that's something they ought to take very seriously.
Dr. David Klingler:Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So so the the Luke passage is is you know, what they're doing is they're throwing banquets, they're throwing wedding banquets, and they're inviting all their friends. And he's saying, Don't do that. Yeah. Um, and so there's a lot there.
SPEAKER_01:So well, could you assume in the context of Luke that because Israel's an apostasy in this time in their history, that what the father and mother are teaching is falsehood. And so that thus they need to reject the father and the mother, and they need to come out and embrace the word of the Lord.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, and there there's there's quite a bit there. So if if that's of interest to you, go listen to our Luke uh our Luke podcast. But we're you know, they're in Luke chapter 14, and and all of the wedding imagery, all of the banquet imagery, all of the kingdom imagery, uh, and they've been invited, they've been collect, they've been called, they just reject the invitation. And so now the uh the they've because they value you know the teaching of their parents of the Pharisees of the tradition, absolutely, uh, and they're not rejecting it and following the Lord, uh, then they're not going to enter into the kingdom and the gospel uh good news of the king is going to go out to the diaspora, and then ultimately to the Gentiles. And so so that's kind of the trajectory that's in the book of Luke. But but if you take just take those verses in isolation, honor your father and mother, unless you hate your father and mother, you can't be my disciple. You say, Well, which is it? Is Jesus disagreeing with Moses?
SPEAKER_03:Right.
Dr. David Klingler:Well, if you have just Jesus disagreeing with Moses, yeah, um Jesus and John seems to think that Moses spoke of him. And and you get into all kinds of problems. And so this is why it's so important that we understand all of the scriptures, not just verses in isolation and trying to run through a filter of our of our systematic theology.
SPEAKER_01:But so Moses is kind of setting the ideal that parents, the father and the mother, would teach the words of the Lord, and therefore, as you said, to honor your father and mother is to keep the commands that they're passing to you.
Dr. David Klingler:Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. Chapter uh five, verse 17. Uh you you shall not they translate it murder, it's a good translation. Um, but it's not always translated murder. It's uh, you know, they they will translate it differently um throughout the English Bible. Manslayer is uh, you know, so manslaughter is uh you know, unintentional killing and an intentional killing. Well, uh, which is it? Well, um there are going to be cities set up in uh in the law where the man uh uh who has killed his neighbor, companion unintentionally can flee. Uh and uh the case will be heard at the city gate by the elders and they'll decide if it was with intentionality or not. And yeah, um, but here you shall not murder, you shall not kill, you shall not um you know you know destroy image bearers. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um so on on that note, you know, one of the one of the questions that I get quite a bit um is how do we relate this command to in the same book, you know, the command to go into Canaan and to to to kill everybody in the land and stuff like that. What's the difference between what is said here and what is happening over there?
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, the the um the the problem that we're going to run into is is the the the problem that you're you're bringing up. Um how can you have on the one hand, here in just a couple chapters, chapter seven, uh utterly destroy the Amorite, Hittite, Canaanite, Jebusite.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh if it breathes, kill it, man, woman, child, kill them all. Uh, how do you square that with this command, you shall not murder? Um the logic uh in the discussion around image and image bearer, uh if you don't um understand the progress of the story, uh then you're you're going to uh to to mess this up. How can you get in chapter 13? Uh if a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and speaks against the Lord, you're to stone him to death. Well, how does that square with your you're not to that's right, not to kill? Well, um there is only one path to life, and it's this path. Uh and so image is important. And there's going to be two two image-bearing types in this story. Um, there's one that's you're looking for this one that was going to come onto the scene to be the image of the invisible God, but Israel was commanded to follow the ways of the Lord. They were to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, they were to represent him to the peoples. Um, and of course, they're not going to do it.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
Dr. David Klingler:Um, but that doesn't change uh the the fact that they were called to do that. Right. Um in the end of the story, you're going to have those who bear the mark of the beast. Uh the they are image, they're imaging the wrong side, yeah, and they're going to be destroyed. Right. Um so the logic goes something like this. Um does God kill? And you're if you miss if you if if you're in the dis this discussion with uh Salem and Demut, those are the words for image and likeness. And you say, well, everyone's made in God's image and God's likeness, well, then you can't ever kill for anything because they're yeah, and so how do you square that with the command to do it, which comes from the Lord? Uh how do you square with the flood? Um the consuming fire. Yeah, the consuming fire. So so God is wiping out people who are rebelling against him. Israel, if they rebel against him, the wilderness, uh, he will cause them to perish from the land. He will cause them to be destroyed. Um He sent serpents, yeah, fiery serpents, you know. Yeah, plagues, all of this stuff. Uh he is so you can't say, well, he's not the source of it. Um, he is the source of it. Um and so that's gonna become a problem. Yeah, you're gonna have a big problem with Jesus returning in Revelation 19.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh he becomes you know the chief slayer.
SPEAKER_01:Blood on the robes and everything.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, he becomes the chief slayer of the wicked.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh and so shred the wine, Press. So you're gonna you're gonna run into all kinds of uh of problems. Um the problem that the story is going to present is that all are worthy of death, and your only cover, uh I'm using that word intentionally, your only covering is faith in this one who's coming, who will not only be the covering, uh, the um uh the atonement, the atonement, the covering one, but will take away sin.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh and so uh but in Israel, um your sins uh were covered by the sacrificial system, um, and you were not to kill your brother, you were not to kill the image bearer. Yeah. Um what's gonna progress in this story, and how do we go from love your brother to love your enemy? Is that the brother is uh who God has made all these promises to rebel against the Lord, and Moses is gonna write this. He's gonna say, Look, you're gonna reject the Lord, reject the rocky for salvation, you're gonna go after foreign gods, he's gonna cause you to perish, uh, he's gonna kick you out of the land. Then when you you see your strength is gone, then he will restore you, then he will give you a new heart. Yeah, the conditions of the law will be met, uh, and you will be brought back into the land with a new heart and a new spirit, which is purchased through this one. That's the whole story, right? And so if you take a verse in isolation, um, it's like taking a statement in a movie in isolation, yeah, and you don't orient it with the progress of the plot, then you're going to get yourselves in yeah, you're going to get yourself in theological trouble, and you're going to say there's these contradictions and we can understand it. Yeah, right, right.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and all this. And well, I think about to like, for example, King David, you know, no problem killing Goliath, the Philistine. Yeah. But won't put a finger on Saul. No, right. There's other things going on there. He's the Lord's anointed and things like that. But still, it doesn't change it doesn't change the command. Yeah, exactly. So um, you know, it plays out like you said, if you understand the development of what's happened from Genesis and these these, I don't know, sides or teams or whatever you want to call it, um that then then this makes no sense.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, there's yeah, but but if you have the two two teams, the two sides.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly.
Dr. David Klingler:Um uh and you're gonna get this all the way through. You shall not commit murder, you shall not steal. Well, they're they go in and there to take all the stuff from the people.
SPEAKER_01:They plunder, yeah.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh and uh and then give it to the Lord for the to build the temple. Okay, so the Lord can take their stuff. You know, you're gonna get in all kinds of these uh tied into knots. All right. But you shall not commit adultery. Um the there are three relations that I can see, and there maybe more, but certainly three clear ones uh that are describing Israel's relation to the Lord. It's it's a covenant relation of husband and wife, Baal, right? Um, although I was a Baal to them, a husband to them is how it's translated in Jeremiah 31. Um, so there's a husband and wife relationship. Uh Israel, you know, is the the the wife, yeah, uh, and the Lord was the husband. There's the master servant. Uh some translate Baal, Baal that way as although I was a master to them, but but nonetheless, master servant.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, certainly Israel's called servant.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah, and Israel was to be uh avad, a servant of the Lord. Uh man was to serve the the Lord. Um and so you have you know the master uh servant, um, and then uh the father and sons. Sons I have reared, but they have rebelled against me. So all of these relations, father, son, husband, wife, master, servant, all these relations in Israel are to reflect Israel's relationship with the Lord, right? And so you don't go after God's just like you don't go after other mates, other, you know, you don't commit adultery. Yeah, that's good. And um, you know, and so the the zone, the the harlot, uh, so the the the here the adultery or the zone, the harlot, the uh the harlot will not go unpunished. Yeah, right. Yeah um you shall not steal, um you know you don't take from your your brother. In fact, uh the very opposite, you're to lend to him sufficient for all that he lacks. Uh we're gonna get into this later in Deuteronomy chapter 15. Um you lend to him, uh, and then there's a seventh year, the year of uh where all of the debt is forgiven, uh, and it becomes his, right? So not only do you not steal from him, but you're to amply provide for your brother to care for the poor, the widow, the orphan orphan, the widow, the alien in the land. You shall not bear false witness, you shall not speak falsehood against the Lord, 511, and you shall not speak falsehood against your neighbor, against your your brother. Uh you shall not uh covet your neighbor's wife, uh, you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servants, his female servants, his ox, his donkey, anything that belongs to your neighbor. Um, this is a Sermon on the Mount. Uh and coveting is not a problem with uh the eyes. All right, Jesus is going to say this in the Sermon on the Mount. If your eye causes you to stumble, cut it out. Um, but if your hand causes you to steal, cut it off. Um but the problem with stealing isn't, you know, a rogue hand that just goes and grabs stuff. Or uh blind people can covet. Yeah. Right. So it's not a problem with your eyes, it's a problem with your heart. Coveting is a problem of the heart. Uh and so you're not to do it. You're to care for, yeah, love, protect, look out for your brother's wife, your brother's stuff. You're not to covet it and desire it for yourself. Uh, and so this goes uh back to you shall not steal.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
Dr. David Klingler:Quite the opposite. But you're not to covet his stuff, you're not to desire his stuff, but you're to be his protector. Yeah, you're to be your brother's keeper. This goes back to Cain and Abel, right?
SPEAKER_01:So you're saying Jesus isn't changing the law.
Dr. David Klingler:No, not at all.
SPEAKER_01:He's saying it exactly as it was written.
Dr. David Klingler:Came to fulfill it. Every jot and tittle, every um smallest letter and smallest stroke uh of a letter in Hebrew. Uh, and so all of this is to reveal the Lord's love, care, character for them, and their love for the Lord, and their love for their brother. How they love the Lord is how they're to love their brother. Uh, and so Moses continues, verse 22, these words. The Lord spoke to all the assembly in the mountain from the midst of the fire, with a cloud and a thick gloom, with a great voice, and he added, No more, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone, and gave them to me. And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and all your elders, and you said, Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his great glory, his uh his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire, and we have seen today that the Lord speaks with man, yet he lives. Of course, he speaks with Moses. Now, um reflect back, you've got some places where um Miriam and Aaron say, you know, hey, we've spoken with the Lord too. And the Lord says, No, no, just Moses, face to face with Moses.
SPEAKER_03:That's right.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh, and so uh back earlier in this chapter it says, Well, the Lord spoke uh face to face with you. Well, he spoke face to face with Moses, and Moses relayed those words to Israel. Um and so Moses has has spoken with uh with Israel. Uh he has given him the this great command. Uh now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. For there is uh for who is there of all flesh? You've heard the voice of a good living God and uh speaking from the midst of the fire and lived. Go near and hear all that the Lord says and speak to us, what the Lord speaks to you, and and we'll hear it and we will do it. Well, of course they're not going to do it, right? But nonetheless, this is what has happened. This is uh recounting back to the book of Exodus. And uh so the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of the people which they have spoken to you, they have done well in all that they have spoken. Oh, that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear me and keep all my uh commandments always, that it may go well with them and with their sons forever. We're gonna get in Deuteronomy chapter 29, uh, I believe it's verse four. Uh, that the Lord has not yet given uh Israel eyes to see, ears to hear, or a heart to know. Um and so they're not gonna do it.
unknown:No.
Dr. David Klingler:Um so there's there's conditionality to their taking the land and keeping the land, they have to follow the ways of the Lord. The problem is they can't do it, they're gonna need a new heart.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
Dr. David Klingler:Uh, and this is Jesus' point in the Sermon on the Mount. That if your eye causes you to stumble, cut it out. If your hand causes you to steal, cut it off. But if your heart causes you to stumble, to lust, to to covet, cut it out. Circumcise your hearts, you need a new heart. And and this is the discussion that's even back here in chapter five. And so all of this is tying together.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, absolutely.
Dr. David Klingler:Um go and say to them, the uh Lord continues, return to your tents. But as for you, stand here by me, and I will speak uh to you all the commandments and all the statutes and all the judgments, and you shall teach them, and they shall observe it in all the land which I am giving them to possess. And you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside from it to the right or to the left, and you shall uh walk in all your ways in which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, that it may go well with you, that you may prolong your days in into the land and take possession of it. And a point that uh that I think uh should always be made is that Israel doesn't do we pointed out this yesterday our sermon um Israel didn't do army training. And you know the the key to them going in and taking the land, utterly destroying the enemy, uh eradicating the false gods uh from the land was not because of you know they could march in straight lines, they could, you know, shoot their rifles really well or shoot their bows and arrows or throw their spears or sling their rod. That wasn't it. It was that they were not to depart from the word of the Lord to the right or the left. And if they if they didn't, if they kept the commands, then the Lord fought for them. Exactly and you'll see this all the way through the conquest, right? They're gonna go in and the Lord's gonna fight on their behalf. But if they don't follow the word of the Lord, if they do depart from the instruction, then there's nothing they can do.
SPEAKER_01:There's no there's no Kedish Barneo was a very good example of that.
Dr. David Klingler:Yeah there's no army big enough. They couldn't build their city walls tall enough to protect them to flight.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah yeah that's it and so we're gonna hear this in in Deuteronomy chapter 28 the blessings and curses um if if you're disobedient against the Lord and you go make deals with the devil, you go make deals with foreign kings and foreign gods, like Israel's gonna do with the Assyrians Nothing will deliver you from my yeah says the Lord it is I who wound and I who heal I who put to death and I who give life oh that they had a heart in them that would fear me all their days.
Dr. David Klingler:And it's easy for us to you know kind of make fun of them and go, what do they do? As we read it you know look at what we do. Oh yeah we do the same thing we do the same things we fear men uh and we don't fear the Lord and uh we put our trust in men we don't put our trust in the Lord and uh we live for present circumstances not for uh eternal ones yeah and uh and so you know the human condition is still just as sick as it's ever been yeah you look at this they start out strong they fear the Lord the Lord says they did good oh that they would always do it but it's just like our New Year's rev resolutions right we start we're gonna we're gonna do it as the yeah today's the the the 5th of January uh when we're recording this and uh yeah fall apart pretty quick well i've I've so given up on like yeah I'm gonna do yeah I'm not gonna do it I didn't even follow through on making the resolution I I considered it but you know that's how short my uh you know my desires and intentions are but but but it's exactly right right and so so Israel's instruction uh through Moses was you shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you that you may live and that you may that it may go tove with you and that that language that you may live have life and it may go well with you this was the path to eternal life Paul's going to say in Galatians explained to Israel that the law was not a means of righteousness it you weren't righteous because you kept the law right it was a tutor to the righteous one it was a tutor to righteousness yeah that's uh and righteousness always and only came through faith yes right yes uh and so uh the sacrificial system was there so that they were able to keep the law because they were going to fail right um you know so they were never going to be a perfect image but that that's what the law was there uh was there for Dr. Bayless used to tell us the law was written for one man uh one man could keep it yeah and that was the point uh that it was a tutor to show Israel that they didn't have this character they didn't have the heart they didn't have the eyes to see ears to hear a heart to know but they needed it so they need to keep looking for this one that's exactly right that's exactly right and uh and so this story is looking for this promised one abra uh you know Abraham saw my day and rejoiced Jesus says uh Moses wrote of me uh and uh and so there's nothing really new here uh but uh when you're reading the ten commands and and you know we list the ten commands and um and you know try to live by them or whatever it is that we're we're doing but don't forget that these commands are also the interpretive you know kind of code yeah uh for you to understand what's happening in Israel as they go into the land they're going to depart from it to the right or to the left. Um so when we get to Joshua chapter one be strong and courageous do not depart from this law to the right or to the left joshua is just repeating the same things that Moses yeah has uh has said and of course Israel it takes them like 10 seconds to depart it's not to the right or to the left.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly and so next time we'll pick it up in chapter six and we'll uh we'll be in a very familiar passage for some uh the Shema the Shema very good well hopefully I mean we're only five chapters in but hopefully you're seeing how jammed packed Deuteronomy is with stuff you need to know absolutely to understand this story on a much uh uh in a much better way and so uh continue to join us we're gonna continue to to pull this apart in as much detail as necessary to understand it and so hopefully um you're benefiting from this and you'll continue with us and so we'll see you next time for chapter six.
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