Deuteronomy (Chapter 6)

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage: Deuteronomy 6
• 0:57 Singular And Plural: Who Is “You”?
• 5:06 Long Life And The Story’s Plot
• 6:46 The Shema: One Lord, Whole-Life Love
• 12:04 Law On The Heart: Talk And Teach
• 17:09 Signs, Marks, And True Obedience
• 23:18 Blessing, Satisfaction, And Forgetting God
• 27:47 Jealous God And Real Fear

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

If you're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast, our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachmethebible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 0:27

Hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. We are walking through our series in the book of Deuteronomy. So today we are picking up where we left off in chapter six, the famous Shema chapter. So we're going to get into what that means and how it all fits uh in this book that we've been walking through so far. So I got Dr. David Klingler with me as always. Uh he's going to be our guide today. So, Doc, you want to pick us up chapter six, verse one, and uh guide us through this section.

Dr. David Klingler: 0:57

Yeah, one of the things right off the bat that we probably need to state, and this will really apply to all of the Bible, is that um here it says, now this is the commandment, the statutes, the judgments, which the Lord your God has commanded uh to teach you. Uh and um the Lord your God to teach you, those are plural, uh to do in the land where you are plural, passing over to possess it. Um in order that you, singular, may fear the Lord your God, singular, uh to guard all his uh you know, to to keep, to guard all his uh commandments and and all that, all his his statutes, commandments, which I am commanding you today for your life. Uh again, singular. So the question is why is it going from plural to singular? Uh some will say uh that um that in verse three it says Hero Israel, um you know, oh Israel, you should listen, you should uh you know, should listen and guard do. Uh and so because Israel is singular, then uh they say, well, that's the that's it. It's singular in verse three. Could be. Um but I don't think that's what's uh what's going on. I think that the it's the it's the singular and the corporate. You know, the corporate is made up of a bunch of individuals, and the individual individually was to do it. You're gonna see this reflected in the law uh that Israel uh was to live long in the land if the kings, priests, prophets, judges, individuals did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. If they didn't, then they as a nation would be removed, right? And so it was um, you know, it's kind of like the the church and the members, you know. Um and you'll see this all the way through the Bible. Unfortunately, in English, we we when we say you, it's not clear if it's singular or plural. Uh unless you're in Texas or somewhere in the the y'all version, yeah, the y'all version or the you guys or something like that, or you ins or however you you might say that, you know, sometimes in the area you live, there's a way to uh say plural, but but anyway, so um so I think that that that's what's going on. So that this is an instruction to the individuals, individual fathers in particular. In light of, yeah, in light of the uh because when your sons and your grandsons ask you in time, say that's all singular. Yeah. So it's not you know, may I I guess it could be your son's Israel, your grandson's Israel, but uh I don't think that uh that fits. Uh and so anyway, so this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments, which I am comm uh the Lord you is commanding you, the Lord your God is commanding you to teach you to do in the land which you are crossing over there to possess it. That's a literal you know translation of verse one, in order that, or so that you might fear the Lord your God. So so the reason why these statutes, commandments, ordinances, these orders are given was so that Israel uh would fear, fear the Lord your God, that your son, your grandson might fear the Lord your God to keep all the statutes, its commandments, which I'm commanding you, all the days of your life, so that your days may be long. Um you know, they they translate so that your days may be prolonged. It's the sense somehow it's like uh if you obey the Lord, you'll you'll live to be, you know, 120 or whatever, right?

SPEAKER_01: 4:33

Right.

Dr. David Klingler: 4:34

Um it didn't work for Abel. It's not gonna work for Jesus, for Paul, for you know, so what is the uh, you know, and then of course, this, you know, obey your father and mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise. Paul's gonna quote that over in Ephesians. Um this is where I always say you have to go back to the plot. To the story, you have to go back to the whole story. This is not a story on how to live a long and prosperous life today.

SPEAKER_02: 5:05

Right.

Dr. David Klingler: 5:06

It is a story about how to live a long and prosperous life for eternity. And uh and so the instruction to Israel is to keep the commands and the ordinances, yes, uh, in order that they know the story. And and we'll we'll get to that here in just a minute. So, anyway, so that your your son, your grandson might fear the Lord your God, keep all his statutes, his commandments, which I am commanding you, all of the days of your life, so that your days may be long. O Israel, you should listen and be careful, uh, that it may go to go well with you, and you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord your God has promised your fathers in a land flowing with milk and honey. Verse four. And this is the uh Shema, Hero Israel, and of course, uh as we've said, this phrase is going to show up, I believe, three times uh in uh uh in the book of in the book of Deuteronomy. It's in it's in five, one, it's in six, four, it's in nine-one. Uh again in twenty verse three. So I guess four times it's gonna show up here.

SPEAKER_02: 6:05

Okay.

Dr. David Klingler: 6:05

Uh, Hero Israel. The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. That's how we translate it, New American Standard. Or um the question is, what does it mean the Lord is one, or maybe the Lord alone? And I think the context of this passage makes it clear that they were to not follow other gods. It's gonna flow right into chapter seven, and we're gonna be in chapter six, in chapter seven today. Um uh so that you love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, uh, and with all of your they translate it with all of your uh might, all of your strength. It is uh it's our our word uh it's everything that you have. It's uh it's exceedingly is really what it means. Yeah, all of your exceedingly everything and everything you've got everything you got and every place that you have it, that's you're to love the Lord your God. Um and you shall teach them diligently. Uh interesting uh word here. Uh um you shall teach them diligently. You shall it's a it's an engraving word, uh like inscribe, engrave interesting on the hearts of your sons. Uh it it kind of summons the picture of a hardened heart, right? Yeah. Your hardened heart, but you're to uh circumcise your heart, you're to you know whittle them you know like a stone.

SPEAKER_01: 7:26

Yeah. So paired with verse six, that really paints that.

Dr. David Klingler: 7:30

Yeah, that's exactly right. Um and so you shall teach them diligently, uh or or inscribe them on the hearts of your sons, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up, and and of course you look at those instances, and that's that's all the time.

SPEAKER_01: 7:49

I mean, you know, and by the way, that's kind of that comes back in the story later on. Jeremiah 31, I believe, is that correct? Yeah, it's inscribing the law on the hearts and yeah, Deuteronomy chapter 30 is gonna be the kind of the placeholder there. Right.

Dr. David Klingler: 8:04

Um, Jesus is going to, as we talked about, I think last time, uh, use this in the Sermon on the Mount. You know, if your eye causes you to stumble, cut it out. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. But if your heart causes you to stumble, yeah, you need to circumcise your heart.

SPEAKER_01: 8:16

It's all the same sort of imagery that's going on there.

Dr. David Klingler: 8:19

It uh it really is. Um you know, the um you shall talk the other thing that that's going to we talk about Deuteronomy chapter 30. Uh in Deuteronomy chapter 30, you know, so kind of a you know a uh uh a foreshadowing here of what of what's coming. But in Deuteronomy chapter 30, uh you're gonna have the blessings and the curses, and then the Lord's gonna say, When all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, and you call them to mind in the land where the Lord your God has banished you, and you return to the Lord, then he will circumcise your heart and the heart of your sons, right? Uh but then in verse 11 he says, for this commandment, this is chapter 30, verse 11, this commandment is not too difficult for you, nor is it uh out of reach, right? Uh the word is very near you, it's gonna go down, he's gonna say, you know, it's not in heaven, it's not in some foreign nation. But the Lord is very near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart, right? That which fills the heart comes out of the mouth. And so this was the this was the command. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart, and you shall speak of them, right? So so that which fills the heart comes out of the out of the mouth. Um you'll get this uh same language in Romans, right? If you uh believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. Mouth, it's it's the same thing. It's not like you gotta do both, you gotta check both those boxes, right?

SPEAKER_01: 9:40

Right.

Dr. David Klingler: 9:40

You know, could a could a mute person you know be saved? Of course, right. Um you know, so it's believe in your heart. So so that which fills the heart comes out of the mouth. And and so it when does it come out of the mouth? At what point? Well, all the time is the point here. So because these commands, these laws were to be written on the the Israelites' heart, uh, they were to speak of them when they sit, when they walk, when they lie down, when they rise up. Uh, I'm reminded of uh of Psalm 1, right? Remember Psalm 1. Uh happy is the man, or blessed is the man who does not walk uh in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the uh the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, right? So there's your walk and stand and sit. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. It's all the time, right? Uh, you know, so in contrast to sitting um uh in the seat of the scoffer or standing in the path of the sinner or walking in the council of the wicked, uh in Shema, you're supposed to speak of these things all the time. Uh so you were to talk of them when you sit, uh when you walk, when you lie down, when you rise up. You're to bind them as a sign on your hand and uh as a frontal on your forehead. I I I often think about this sign thing, and this is kind of a just a uh reflection. It's it's the word oat. Um uh it the first time this shows up in the Bible, they translate it mark. Um uh you might hear where I'm headed here, you know. So back in Genesis chapter four. Uh the mark uh on um you know the the mark on Cain. Um but then later in the story you're gonna get this mark or sign um on the forehead, um the the you know on the the hand or whatever of the you know the mark of the beast, the sign of the beast. Right. Well here uh the this this is to be a sign on your hand and uh be frontals on your forehead. I I think that what's it's not literal, of course Israel takes this as literal, I don't think um it should be as as much as uh everything you put your hand to, everything you think about. This is uh you know, shall be on your heart, uh, you know, yeah, I think that all the time. Yeah. Everything you do, everything you say. Yeah, this is this is the uh so so when you know and that you shall write them as uh on the doorpost of your house and on your gates, right? Uh can you do it literally? Sure. Is it a good reminder? Of course. Uh is it just to do that and then that's it, right? You right, you you do your exercise in the morning or you know, twice a day or whatever it is, and you put your sign on your fireplace, you know, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and there you go, right? No, no, no, that's you know it's better to not have the sign and do it than to have the sign and not.

SPEAKER_01: 12:38

That's sort of gonna be a lot of Israel's problem, right? They're gonna do the external signs all often, that's right, but the heart's not there. That's right. And so that's you're already getting this prefiguring of the diagnostic that's gonna be show up all the way through the old test.

Dr. David Klingler: 12:51

And uh, Deuteronomy 29, the Lord has not given you eyes to see, yeah, ears to hear, or heart to know.

SPEAKER_01: 12:56

And so they're gonna bring the sacrifices, but their hearts are far from him, you know. And so they need a new heart. Exactly. Exactly.

Dr. David Klingler: 13:02

Um, I give you a new heart and a new spirit, and that's what they need. This is the new covenant. I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. Yep. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand. You know, so Jeremiah 31, passage that you mentioned. Uh so that's exactly where this is is headed. Yep. Uh and it will come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, and to give you they translated great and splendid cities. Um, great and good cities, which you did not build. Um remember back to Cain building cities and making his name great. Right. Uh, but these are cities that these are great and good cities, which they did not build, and and houses uh filled with all good, uh, which you didn't fill, and hewn historn, uh hewn cisterns, which you didn't dig, and vineyards and olive trees, which you didn't plant, and you eat and are satisfied. Hold on to that language, that eat and are satisfied language, that's kind of covenant blessing language. Exactly. You'll hear it in uh the book of Ruth, uh, after Ruth had ate and was satisfied. Uh in New Testament circles and New Testament stories, it's Jesus feeding of the 4,000, the feeding of the 5,000 when they have ate and are satisfied. And this was uh intentionally put there by the gospel writers uh to remind Israel uh of you know these passages where Israel was to eat and be satisfied. Uh then guard yourself, they translate it, watch yourself, guard yourself that you do not forget the Lord your God, uh forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall fear the Lord. So um you don't fear other gods, you don't serve other gods, you don't worship other gods, you fear uh only the Lord, you shall worship him, you shall swear by his name. Uh you shall not walk or uh follow after uh other gods, gods of the peoples who are around you. For the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous god, otherwise the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will wipe you off the face of the land, off the face of the ground.

SPEAKER_01: 15:10

Didn't get more explicit.

Dr. David Klingler: 15:11

No, uh it doesn't. And um uh so has the Lord set his affection upon Israel? Yes. Will he wipe them off the planet? Yes. And if you don't have the discipline of the Lord in your definition of love, right, uh, and I think that there's a boy, there's a whole sermon series that we could uh we could um we could go down that trail. Uh you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Um you you uh follow the Lord uh and you don't put him to the Nassau to the test as you did at Masa. It's the place of testing where they tested the Lord. But you should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, his testimonies, his statutes, which he has commanded you, and you shall do what is good uh in the eyes of the Lord. That's all through the scriptures, that it may go tove with you. You go, you do what's tove in the eyes of the Lord, good in the eyes of the Lord, that it may go good tove with you, that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to your fathers by driving out the enemies before you as the Lord has spoken. Now, uh remember, uh go back to the book of Deuteronomy, and where are all of these ites coming from? Whose side are they on? You know, the Amorites, Hittites, Canaanites, Jebusites, all the ice, they're uh they're on the wrong side of this equation, they're serving uh gods that aren't the creator God, um, they're not the Lord. Uh, and um this is part of Satan's deceit and plan to deceive uh the descendants of Eve to follow him, to serve him, and to serve gods other than the Lord. And if you do it, you will be wiped off the map. And these people have done it. And so now Israel is going to be the instrument to wipe them off the map. Yeah, um, but if Israel is deceived by them, we're gonna see this in the next chapter. Um, and how is that gonna happen? By intermarrying. Uh, you know, that that's the warning in in chapter seven. And you've seen that back in the in the flood story, yeah. In the in the Noah story. Uh so this is not any new plan by Satan. It's it's old as the hills, uh uh, you know, almost literally as old as the hills, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 17:30

Again, like kind of like we said last time, you know, just keeping the plot moving forward is is incredibly important here to interpreting these things, relating it back to the story that we began in Genesis. Yep, absolutely all the time.

Dr. David Klingler: 17:45

Because man was created to be an image bearer uh and to serve the Lord and to worship him and to follow him, because he's the one who gives life. And if you reject him and go after other gods, gods in whom there is no life, uh, and you start to worship the created rather than the creator, then the creator will wipe you off the map. And this is what and so this is the warning for Israel to not join in what they're doing, their wickedness and their evil. Yes, good. And so when we get to the conquest, just to flash forward to to the book of Joshua and the uh and the the conquest, there's all kinds of you know concern and fretting over well the Lord is sanctioning um you know the mass, you know, killing of um uh you know the penalty of sin is death, right? And they've earned it and they've followed gods in whom there is no salvation. Uh and uh you know again, this is this is the plot, right? And so I think in our culture, um in the church uh we want God to uh esteem um what we like, uh, agree with us, right, right, validate us, um, love what we love, right? Uh oh God would never judge me, right? Uh he affirms me in all of my evil and in all of my sin, and it's okay because the Lord loves me. Um well let's go back to what we just said. Um, the Lord has set his affection on Israel, yeah, and he will wipe them off the map. Yes, right? Uh and so you better fear the Lord your God.

SPEAKER_02: 19:23

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler: 19:23

Um, and and this isn't just Old Testament, this isn't just just conquest. This is uh, you know, the writer of Hebrews reminds the readers of this that that the Lord disciplines those he loves. And so it's a terrifying thing to fall in the hands of a uh of a awesome God.

SPEAKER_02: 19:38

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler: 19:38

Uh and uh and so we have lowered fear of the Lord to mean something other than fear, you know, like you know, kind of re reverence or respect, you know, like you respect your aging grandfather who's old and decrepit and you know sits in his wheelchair with a blanket over his over his lap. You know, you you you know, bless you, you respect him. That is not this God. Uh this God will wipe you off the map. He is not like any other God. Right. And so Israel was to not be like any other people. That was the point. And so when your sons ask you in time, saying, What do these testimonies, these statutes, these judgments, which the Lord uh has commanded you, what then you will say to your son, you tell him the story, right? You know, you can go back to Deuteronomy or Genesis chapter 15, and you tell them about Abraham and Abraham saying, How will I know that I will possess this land? And since I have no heir, no seed, and the promise of Messiah coming uh through Israel, and and this uh uh this promise of possession of the land in 400 years and the uh in slavery and the bring bought bring brought you tell them this story, right? So the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. It is a constant reminder and story that's to continue in Israel's history. Um moreover, the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before your uh our eyes against uh against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. And he brought us out of uh there in order to bring us and to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. And of course, there's a reason for that, so that all the nations would be blessed, blessed through this God. If you're gonna go serve other gods, there's no blessing there, right? And so these are not mutually exclusive, right? Um, he brought us out of there in order to bring us in and to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. So the Lord commanded us to observe all of these statutes and to fear the Lord our God always for our they translate it survival, it's for our lives. It's so that we would live as it is today, to this day. Uh it will be righteousness for us. Um uh, you know, how is uh one made righteous? Well, uh through through faith, these were actions of faith. You were to follow the faith of the patriarchs, uh, and their actions that followed their faith, right? And you are to do it as well. And so when we get to Leviticus, or when you know, when you go to our Leviticus, and of course we're uh recording Leviticus, uh, you'll see that all of the instruction for the commands comes right out of the law and right out of the story.

SPEAKER_01: 22:13

Exactly.

Dr. David Klingler: 22:14

Right. And so they were to to you know offer the sacrifices, the burnt offerings, the you know, the grain offerings, all of it, because that's what the patriarchs did, which were acts of faith. So you're righteous through faith always.

SPEAKER_01: 22:26

Yeah, and that can get twisted pretty quick. If you lose the plot of the story, this verse could throw you off pretty quickly. Absolutely. Because in the New Testament, we're saying righteousness is not based on the law. Well, Moses is saying that that's it not inconsistent with what Moses is saying here, if you follow the plot.

Dr. David Klingler: 22:44

Yeah, or the prophets, right? So you were to believe uh in the sacrificial system followed faith. Uh, but faith without obedience, faith without the the you know, um doing what's right in the eyes of the Lord renders your sacrifices useless. Exactly. Yeah, uh, and you know, and so that's gonna be you know the prophets' charge against Israel, right? It's gonna be a very big topic conversation. You know, they're going to um treat their brothers with partiality, uh, with bribery. Um, you know, they're going to be blinded by by greed. Uh they're going to call evil good and good evil and do it in the name of the Lord.

SPEAKER_02: 23:25

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler: 23:26

Right? Uh, and and you'll see this in the New Testament, right? In um in the book of James.

SPEAKER_02: 23:31

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler: 23:32

Um, you know, these folks are claiming that they're blessed of the Lord because they keep the law, and James is gonna say, Well, how's that how's that orphans and widows ministry going? You know, which which is gonna come right out of Deuteronomy chapter 10 here in a couple um couple podcasts uh as we move forward. It comes right out of Deuteronomy chapter 10. And so uh there's a lot here uh that uh you know that that is in chapter six. You know, we you know, uh maybe we can just skip a rock across chapter seven and then pick it up next time. We're getting a little bit bit long here, but but you know, um but uh you know there's no break here because when the Lord your God brings you into the land which you're entering to possess, and he clears away uh the nations before you, uh when he clears away the nations before you, right? This is not something that how they were to clear the nations was to follow the law, and then the Lord would fight on their behalf.

SPEAKER_02: 24:23

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler: 24:24

Um, the Lord would cause the plagues of Egypt to be on the nations. But if Israel rebelled against the Lord and does what he they're gonna be warned against doing here, then those plagues are gonna come back to them. And we're gonna see this in Deuteronomy 28 and yeah uh in Deuteronomy chapter 30.

SPEAKER_01: 24:38

Hence you should fear the Lord.

Dr. David Klingler: 24:40

Yeah, then he'll wipe you out, and that wipe you off the face of the land will be repeated again over there in Deuteronomy chapter 20 in the in the curses section. So so when he clears the way before you, the Hittites, the Gergashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you. And we're gonna hear these names again and again and again throughout the story. Uh the Hivites, Israel is going to go into the land in Joshua chapter nine and immediately um make a deal uh with the group of Hivites, the Gibeonites, um make a vow to not wipe them off, uh, you know, which is probably yeah, it's gonna be problematic of here, problematic of Deuteronomy chapter 20. Uh the Jebusites, it's the city of Jebus. The the the Jebusites live in Jebus, that's Jerusalem, right? Uh we're gonna be in uh in Judges uh 17, 18, 19, and uh and you know the city of Jebes is gonna show up again, and and there's still Jebusites living in Jebus. And you're going, what are we doing? You know, uh and so you already know Moses is already telling Israel where this is gonna go, but but I want to get to this intermarrying part. So the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them and you utterly destroy them. This is the you know, this is the utterly destroying language here. This is the harem language, right? Uh and this is gonna come up in the Rahab story. Um, and things under the ban. We're gonna call under the band, you know, utterly destroy them under the band. Uh, you shall make no covenant with them, you shall show them no favor. Well, it's just every verse. I mean, you could cite passage after passage after passage where this instruction is going to be relevant. You shall not intermarry with them. This is Israel's great sin throughout their whole it's not because intermarrying is a problem, it's because what intermarrying produces.

SPEAKER_01: 26:36

Right. Um, you know you have to follow a logical path here.

Dr. David Klingler: 26:40

Ruth isn't a problem because Ruth is a Moabite.

SPEAKER_01: 26:43

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler: 26:43

In fact, Ruth finds herself in the Messianic line.

SPEAKER_01: 26:46

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler: 26:47

Rahab finds herself in the messianic line. Tamar finds herself in the messianic line. All of these are foreign women. Um, but they're women of faith. It's not the intermarrying isn't the problem. It is what the intermarrying produces. Interteam marrying, really, isn't it? That's exactly right. And and what will happen. And so you shall not intermarry with them, you shall not give their daughters to your sons, nor take their sons, uh, take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons from following me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will quick quickly destroy you. That's the problem. Right. Uh, and so here's what you're to do to them. You're to smash down their altars, smash down their sacred pillars, hew down their asherine, burn down their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people, you are a separate people. Just as the Lord is nothing like the gods of the nations, so you are to be nothing like the peoples of the nations. That's the point.

SPEAKER_02: 27:45

That's right.

Dr. David Klingler: 27:46

Uh for the Lord uh uh for for you are holy people, the Lord your God, for he has chosen you to be a people for his own possession. That language, his own possession people, runs throughout all of scriptures and it never changes. Uh, and so we will pick it that back up next time. Yeah, we can skip that rock across the whole of the Old Testament, all of the New Testament, and the Lord will keep his promises uh to his people Israel, right? You're gonna see it in uh Romans, you'll see it in Revelation, you'll see it uh throughout all of the story, right? And so what we can't do, uh this is again why we have to stay with the plot of the story, uh, because you can't interrupt the plot or not be cognizant of the plot development of the story. Use your systematic theology and go in and change the terms, change the yeah, change the the words that you don't like to fix your theology or or match your theology. That's not acceptable, right? Uh, and so that people of uh, you know, that that Israel is to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. We'll pick that up next time. Um because they were fewest of all the peoples. We'll pick this up next time as well. So just want to give a kind of a foretaste of what we're gonna be doing next time. Um other uh places, you know, uh, you know, we're just gonna talk about Israel's great numbers and Israel is going to Egypt is going to fear um Israel because of their great numbers. No, the point here is when this promise began, it began with a promise to Abraham and then to Isaac and then to Jacob. Uh they were not a great nation, they were just individuals, right? Right, because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers and brought you out of the mighty uh out by a mighty hand out of Egypt. This is Genesis chapter 15. Uh, and so we'll pick all that up next time uh in chapter seven. But there's just so much here. Again, we keep having these uh you know uh 45-minute you know podcasts for one chapter, but this is why Deuteronomy is so key to your understanding of the Bible. If you don't know Deuteronomy, um, then you will not make sense of the scriptures. Yeah, absolutely. And you'll just have your systematic theology.

SPEAKER_01: 30:05

You know, I think sometimes it's helpful too to end in the middle of a chapter, just keep everybody on their toes, just to remind us that there is no chapter divisions in the original. That's right. This is one big sermon that's being preached to Israel, and so it could be really helpful to end it where we do. But yeah, we'll pick up here in the in the middle of of chapter seven next time, uh, where we left off. And I think one of the things that just stood out is just these definitions that we have to carry through from the plot of the story, whether that's eternal life, long life, you know, people for his own possession, these kinds of things, these can be helpful things to write down and and to have definitions to look back on because we're we're so tempted to change the definitions later on in the story, like you said, with our systematic theology. But not even be aware of it. Exactly. Right, and so just to have these things stay consistent through the story helps so much in our later interpretation and later passages. Absolutely. So hang on to those in whatever means you can you know, sear these repeated words and phrases in your mind and and keep them consistent in the story.

Dr. David Klingler: 31:14

The the choices are either the same words used in the same context mean the same thing all the way through the story in reference to the same people and the same plan, or they don't. And if they don't, then what do they mean? What are the rules here? Well, then you don't begin with the scriptures to get your theology, you begin with John Calvin or Martin Luther or Lewis Barry Chaber, whoever it is, whoever Lewis Burkell, whoever theologian uh you want to go to to find your theology or whatever pastor that you follow. Uh and the question then, of course, is well, where did they get their theology?

SPEAKER_01: 31:51

Good.

Dr. David Klingler: 31:51

Well, they got it from someone else who got it from so do we follow what men say or do we go back and we see if these things are so? We follow the plot. Do we commend the you know, you know, the Brians were commended. Should we be like that? And you say, well, you just what does that mean? You go back and take a verse out of context and make sure that it fits with your systematic theology? I don't I don't think that's what was ever going on. Right. Uh, and so that's my problem with theology. Not that theology is bad, yeah, but our theology has to follow our Bible. That's good. Right. And so we have to know the Bible first so that we can evaluate our theology and maybe change it when necessary.

SPEAKER_01: 32:27

Very good. All right. Well, so just your weekly reminder uh don't lose the story, don't lose the plot, keep it going. And uh, we will see you next time uh for the rest of chapter seven at least.

SPEAKER_00: 32:40

So even for more resources, visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store. You can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the Word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.