Deuteronomy (Chapters 8-9)

Deuteronomy 8–9 warns Israel not to forget the Lord as they enter prosperity in the Promised Land. God humbled them in the wilderness to teach that life comes from His word, not from bread alone. Moses reminds them they were not chosen because of their righteousness, but because of God’s covenant faithfulness. These chapters show that obedience and rebellion affect the whole community, calling God’s people to remember His grace, reject pride, and remain faithful to Him.

Transcript

Mission And Series Setup

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 teachme the Bible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.

Deuteronomy 8 Overview

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. We are continuing our series in the book of Deuteronomy. So today we pick up where we left off at the beginning of chapter eight. We've been walking through these first seven chapters in quite a bit of detail, and we'll continue to uh try to point out the detail and significance of the remaining book. And so uh Doc, uh I've got chapter eight, verse one, if you want to pick up there and lead us on. We'd be great.

Singular And Plural Pronouns Explained

Dr. David Klingler 0:56

Yeah, what we've been talking about all the way through, and this always causes me to kind of think about these things deeply, and and you see this in the New Testament as well. We we mentioned this before back when we were in Deuteronomy chapter six. But it is this back and forth between the singular and plural use, both in the verbs and in the pronouns, right? And so all the commandments which I'm commanding you, singular, this uh today, y'all shall guard to do them.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Wow.

Dr. David Klingler 1:28

Um and so there's uh there's a couple of of uh possibilities here. Uh one is um that I'm not particularly fond of, but you know, it's that you these were different traditions, different sources. Been spliced together, been spliced together, yeah. Like kind of like a dealing a deck of cards. You had the singular group and a plural group, and you just kind of shuffle them all together categorically.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Yeah, the editor didn't take great care and yeah, apparently, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 2:00

If if there was an editor that they couldn't uh you know, couldn't put it together, uh it's not that hard to change the pronouns, right? Um the better, you know, another solution is to say, well, whenever it's singular, and and we'll see this down in chapter nine, um, hero Israel, um you know, y'all, you know, it's not y'all, you are crossing over you singular. Um and so the pronoun goes with Israel, Israel, singular, pronoun, singular. And and you'll hear that kind of argument made quite a bit. Um and and certainly in 9 1, Hero Israel, you are crossing over this day, talking to this this nation. But in the midst of of that, um, you know, like when we go back just to the end of chapter chapter 8, um you know, we pick it up in in verse uh you know verse 18. Uh, but you singular shall uh remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you, they translate this power to make wealth. We'll talk about this in a minute. The strength uh to do Hail. Uh you know, strength to do the the Hail of Boaz and Ruth. It's a character strength.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Your greatness of character.

Individual Duty And Corporate Consequence

Dr. David Klingler 3:27

Um in order that so that he may confirm his covenant uh which he made with your fathers, and that's singular as well. It shall come about that if you forget, singular, the Lord your God, and you walk after other gods, then y'all, uh and and y'all go serve them and y'all bow down to them, then y'all will perish, right? And so, you know, you say, Well, what's the relationship between the the singular and the plural? And I think the best uh explanation is that the corporate commands or the singular commands were to be carried out corporately, and the corporate commands carried all the way down to the individual, right? And we're gonna see this when we get into um you know to some individual uh laws, like in Deuteronomy 13, where if a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among among you, um and he gives you a prophecy and tells you to go after other gods, you're not to listen to him. Uh in fact, your hand shall be the first uh to to rise up against him. Um and um you know, and and so uh if a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you, and you you would think uh that um you know the the their that would be plural, it's not, it's singular. Um if you individually encounter a prophet or dreamer of dreams, and what he prophesies comes true concerning that which he spoke to you, singular, uh saying, Let us go after other gods whom y'all, plural, have not known. See, it goes back and forth, uh, which your people have not known. You singular will not listen to that uh, you know, that prophet or dreamer of dreams. Uh, and then it goes uh to the Lord your God. And so it was the individual's job to protect the corporate proclamation, profession, word. And I I really you know, I think that that's by far the best explanation. Um, so all of these commandments which uh you know which I, Moses, and commanding you, singular uh today, uh y'all, y'all will you know, you'll you'll shamar them, you'll you'll guard the to do them uh so that uh y'all may live long in the land and go in and possess the land which uh your uh the Lord the Lord swore to Y'all's forefathers. You singular shall remember it, all the way in which the Lord uh your God read led you. So this is individual, you know, the the individual who is in the second generation, his parents perished in the land uh in the wilderness. Uh, and so they're to remember how individually the Lord has led them in the wilderness for 40 years to humble you, singular, uh, to test you singular, that you may uh to know that uh what was in your singular heart, whether you singular would keep the commandments or not. All of this is he humbled you singular, he let you go hungry, singular, he fed you singular, uh, with manna, uh, which uh you know your fathers did not know. And and again, there you would expect your plural, but it's it's singular, fathers, that uh he might know um might uh so that you might understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. That's a verse that we're familiar with in Jesus' temptation. Um your clothes didn't wear out, your feet didn't swell. Thus you were to know in your hearts or in your heart that the Lord your God is disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

unknown 7:13

Wow.

Dr. David Klingler 7:14

We could go over to uh this runs all throughout the Old Testament. Uh disciplines, um, you know, and we we think of and we've we've mentioned this in the past, but it always bears repeating that uh that the discipline here is you know it's it's to train as a child. Child training, yeah. Um just as a man disciplines his son, and this is going to be quoted over there in in Hebrews, chapter end of chapter uh 11 into chapter 12. Uh, therefore you shall com keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him. Uh, for the Lord your God is bringing you into a land, a land of brooks and water and fountains and springs, flowing forth with valleys and hills, uh, has wheat and barley and vines. See, see, it's gonna be a land of plenty. You'll eat without scarcity, uh, you won't lack anything. Uh the stones uh are iron, and out of the hills you can dig copper. Um, and so um so you remember this when you get in there. Uh because when you have eaten and are satisfied and blessed the Lord your God for the good land which he's given you, beware that you do not forget the Lord your God uh by keeping his commandments, his orchard, his ordinances, his statutes, which I am commanding you today. Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived there, and when your herds and your flocks, you know, you're over there and you you've got all the stuff, your heart will become proud, and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

This is prophetic in many ways. It's all in what's gonna happen.

Dr. David Klingler 8:47

Yeah, this is what they're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

They're gonna grow fat.

Dr. David Klingler 8:49

But they've been complaining the whole time. That's right. Right. And so all the way through the you know, the wilderness wanderings. I mean, the the reason they're stuck in the wilderness is because they complained and they wouldn't do what the Lord told them to do.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 9:01

And so this was training ground for them. You won't do it, then you'll be disciplined severely for it.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Yes.

Dr. David Klingler 9:08

Uh, you know, so it's gonna lead way to the Deuteronomy 28 blessings and curses. If you're obedient, you'll be blessed in the land. If you're disobedient, you'll be kicked out of the land, and you're gonna experience the same things, you know, the lack of plenty and all that that you uh had in the wilderness.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

This is sort of gonna set up to the you know, that's the cycles that we see going on in the judges. Sure. You know, once the Lord relents and and they start having plenty again, then they forget the Lord, and it just goes over and over and over and over.

Manna, Discipline, And True Dependence

Dr. David Klingler 9:39

In every in every book. So the question then becomes you know, this is a covenant which the Lord your God is making with you. Well, is he making it with just this generation or is it with the sons after them? Yeah. And we get into these discussions, interpretive discussions, and and uh you and I have talked about this and others. You know, we'll get into a you know a book like uh Ruth or a book like Jonah or or a prophetic book. How are you to interpret what's going on there? The book of Judges, you know, you're talking about the cycles of sin. You know, Israel goes after foreign gods, they're judged for it, um, they cry out to the Lord, they repent, they cry out to the Lord, the Lord uh hears their cry, he raises up a deliverer, um, he delivers them, and then they rejoice because of the deliverance, then they go right back to it, right? And so these are the cycles that you get all the way through Israel's history. Um, even in a book like Jonah, which we don't traditionally think about as you know a book of cycles, but uh, but it is, right? And so if the same judgment is pronounced to someone else, to uh Nineveh or to sailors on a boat, I was gonna say, yeah, uh, they repent. Yeah. And the Lord relents, and then they worship the Lord for his mercy. But Israel doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

They repent quickly, too. Oh, yes, at least literarily, that's what's absolutely yeah, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 11:06

But Jonah doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Yeah, no.

Prosperity’s Danger And Forgetting God

Dr. David Klingler 11:08

Uh Jonah, and Hosea is going to comment on this, he is uh, you know, uh Ephraim, Jo uh Israel, has become Cayona like Jonah. That they don't repent. Yeah, you know, and and this, of course, is Israel's problem. And so uh when they get into the land and they think that they're the ones doing it, they're the ones that are, you know, either they've gained, you know, some kind of a um status before the Lord, they're more righteous than the other peoples, or whatever it may be, uh your heart becomes proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, or you reframe what he's like, you restate what he's like. This is gonna be a problem throughout Israel's history. Uh, it's not just going after other gods, but it's remaking the Lord like the other gods, or remaking the Lord as you would want him to be, not what he is. And you'll get that in the book of Job. And so uh and so there's so much here um that is relevant to the interpretation of the Bible. Uh and either you take it as a whole or you just interpret it individually, however you want, and that of course starts to fall apart and contradiction starts to creep in everywhere. Absolutely. And so um, you know, so so you know, they're not to forget that the Lord is the one who brought them through the wilderness, all the fiery serpents, the scorpions, the uh, you know, the thirsty, yeah, the thirsty ground where there was no water, he brought water uh out of the flint of the uh the rock of flint uh in the wilderness to fed he fed you manna, which your fathers didn't know, to humble you, to test you, to do good for you in the end. I I like uh that you know, of course, that we always talk about uh to do good for you uh in the after times, right? Uh at the end of this story. Otherwise, you may say in your heart, my power and my strength uh has uh you know has made for me this Hayel. And this Hayel, they're translating this wealth. Uh, and as we've talked about, um I don't think that's the you know, it it the you know, the the word really uh is is power or strength. Strength, yeah. Um and so the you know it I'm the one doing it, right? It's not because the Lord is doing it on my behalf, I'm doing it. Um you know, and of course this is going to go to Israel's command, uh, you know, do not hold multiply horses, wives, or riches. You're not strong in the land because you're making treaties with foreign nations, or because you have more horses to go out to battle than the other uh people, um, uh, you know, or because you have more more gold or whatever it is. It's because the Lord is operating on your behalf. Yeah. And the reason he's operating on your behalf is because you're following the commands. If you don't follow the commands, you're on your own.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

That would be a good example of this.

Dr. David Klingler 14:03

Yeah, it's worse than being on your own. Yeah, because now the Lord's against you.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Yeah, no, it's real bad.

Dr. David Klingler 14:08

Right. And so, you know, as we talked about last time, the the the uh great Joshua question to the captain of the Lord of hosts, are you for us or against us? And and again, that that is the wrong question. The question is, is Israel for or against the Lord? And it's that clear, there's no middle ground. Yeah, uh, if you're not following the commands, you're against the Lord. Yeah, uh, and he's gonna wipe you out.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 14:31

And so uh don't say in your hearts because of your your power or your strength that the Lord is giving me this this strength, this strength to you know, to do all the all all the things. And and it, you know, certainly the the blessing that's going to come from the land, they could misinterpret. But you shall remember the Lord your God. It is he who is giving you power to make hail, he is giving you the the the strength to make you know, to do, to, to, to follow him. And it's all coming from the covenant, which the next statement says that that he may confirm his covenant, which he swore with your fathers to this day. It will come about that if you forget the Lord uh your God and you go after other gods and you serve them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Uh, if you individually forget the Lord your God, your individual God, and you individually walk and go after other gods uh and um uh and uh serve them and bow down to them, uh then here's what's gonna happen. I testify to you that y'all will quickly perish.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Wow.

Dr. David Klingler 15:46

The whole nation, right? So it's very much dependent upon individuals for the corporate. Yeah. Um, you know, and and so where does the you know, kind of the seesaw, where does the what percentage of the people you have to have where it goes the other way? I I don't know, but you don't you don't want to find out. For sure. Uh if you're Israel, you definitely don't want to find out. Uh you see your brother going after foreign gods, well, not only is it going to affect him, it's going to affect you as well and all the nation, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Because y'all collectively bear the name of the Lord. And you carry the seed, those are big deal.

Blessings, Curses, And Judges’ Cycles

Dr. David Klingler 16:22

That's exactly right. Yep. Uh so the Lord will make you perish because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, because y'all plural didn't listen to the voice of the Lord, Lord Y'all's plural God. Uh, and so the way that y'all plural listen to the voice of the Lord Y'all's God is individually. Right? Um, this reminds me of you know, kind of the oh gosh, Colossians, Ephesians, these corporate commands that are given uh to the church, but are to be lived out, fleshed out individually by individual believers. As individual believers do it, uh the body of church uh of Christ does it, when the body of Christ does it, yeah, then uh Christ is well represented by the church. Um we have this in uh propensity, um persuasion to think that it's just an individual faith. See, it's just my faith. I was reading this last week in uh uh some church fathers, uh apostolic fathers, and I believe it was in the Clement of Rome's letter to the Corinthians, um, about how much damage the Corinthian church had done to the witness of Christ. The the overall body of Christ. Overall body of Christ. Yeah, wow because of their individual rebellion. Yeah. And we don't take that into account, and and you see it here in Israel uh as well. And so so we continue into chapter nine. Uh hero Israel, uh you so hero Israel, you singular, uh, are passing over uh the Jordan today to go in and possess nations greater and mightier than you, with great and cities, uh great uh cities fortified to heaven. Um these great uh these great cities, that's an interesting uh we've talked about this a bit, but that great cities, there's there's all kinds of the great city language began back there in chapter 10, early in Genesis. Yeah, and it's going to go all the way through Nineveh, the the great city, Babylon, great city, Jerusalem at the end of the story, I think, is you know, it's called the Great City. Uh, who kills the prophets and crucified the Lord at not so great? Quite ironic. Yeah, yeah. Uh in uh in in the book of Jonah, we mentioned Jonah earlier. Uh it talks about the the great uh Nineveh, the great city. Yeah, uh, great city, and then there's this phrase, they translate it exceedingly great city, uh, but literally it's great city to uh to to Elohim, to God, to God or to the gods, you know. So so what which is it? And of course you have to, I think, bring in your um you know, kind of your understanding of the story. I think it's a great city to the gods, yeah. Um and the peoples of that city are crying out to the Lord, repenting to the Lord. Same thing that's happening uh on the boat in the book of Jonah. Sailors crying out each man to his God, and yeah, it doesn't work, doesn't work, and you know, and this this sea is storming and walking, and they're throwing the stuff over the ocean. She's thinking about giving up. Yeah, the ship's thinking about breaking up, and meanwhile, Jonah's sleeping, and they go down there and say, Hey, what are you doing sleep? And he says, Oh, the Lord's trying to kill me, and you're just gonna get caught in the crossfire, you know. What should we do? Well, you're throwing the wrong thing overboard, throw me overboard, right? They're going, No, no, we we wouldn't do that. Well, finally they do, um, because they've cried out, each man to his God. They're crying out and it doesn't work. Um, but now they've cried out to the Lord, and he hears and he relents, and he causes the storm to be stilled, and now they're praising the Lord. Um, uh, and so in some sense, uh, they're praising the Lord because of the Lord's judgment upon Jonah, uh, which they witnessed. Yeah. And uh and so again, Israel's going to be a testimony to the nations, whether they're obedient or disobedient.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Exactly.

Remaking God Versus Knowing God

Dr. David Klingler 20:23

But anyway, they're gonna go in and uh they're gonna see these great and great cities fortified to heaven and a people, great and tall, the sons of the the Anakim, and they've shown up earlier in the story, uh, who you know and of whom you've heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak? Uh therefore, know today that it is the Lord your God who's crossing over before you, and he's a consuming fire. You don't have to worry about him. The Lord's gonna go. So the question is demonstrated this, you know, do you trust in the Lord or not? Yeah, he will destroy them and he will subdue them before you, so that you drive them out um and um and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you. Um don't say in your heart when when the Lord has driven them out, it's because of my righteousness, it's not because of your righteousness, you're going in to take the land. See, so so there's one thing that well, there's several things that that the wilderness wanderings have shown Israel. They're not righteous. Um, you know, they're not blessed because they're so righteous, they're being disciplined severely in the wilderness. Don't forget it, lest you want to see it again. Absolutely. Like it's like when uh when the parent says, Don't make me get come back there, you know, don't make me get up again, you know. And so um, you know, so this is the warning. Um, don't say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you it's because of my righteousness that He's brought me in to possess the land. It's because of the wickedness of the nations that the Lord is dispersed dispossessing them before you. It's not for your righteousness, it's not for your uprightness of heart because you've clearly shown that you don't have. Habit that you're going in to possess the land. But it is because of the wickedness of the nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. You remember Moses has pleaded this case repeatedly. The Lord said, Look, I'm these people are a rebellious people that you, Moses, brought out of that land. I'm going to kill them all and I'll just start over with you. And the Lord, you know, Moses says, You can't do it.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Remember Abraham.

Dr. David Klingler 22:27

You remember your covenant.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Yeah.

From Wilderness To Nations’ Witness

Dr. David Klingler 22:30

And of course, the reader is to hear Moses' words and to remember that covenant as well. So know then, it is not because of your righteousness, the Lord has given you the land to possess, for you're a stubborn people. Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord uh your God to wrath in the wilderness. He's gonna chronicle. So again, if if if you didn't get this in reading Numbers, Moses is gonna repeat it for you, right? Uh you provoked the Lord your God to wrath uh in the wilderness. From the day that you left Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Um at Horeb, you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was angry, uh, so that he would have destroyed you. And I went up to the mountain, and I received the stone tablets and uh the tablets of covenant, which the Lord made with you, and I remained up there for uh on the mountain for 40 days and forty nights, and I didn't eat uh bread or drink water. And the Lord gave me the stone tablets, and and you were down there, you know, making a mess, you know, go making the golden calf. And uh and so the Lord said to me, Arise, go quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They're not my people, they're yours. And Moses says, You're not giving you not putting them on my you know uh they have acted corruptly, they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them, and they have made a molten calf for themselves. The Lord further uh spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, indeed, they are a stubborn people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under the heaven, and I will make you a nation mightier and greater than they are. And of course, all this goes back to the book of Numbers. And so I turned and came down from the mountain while the well, you know, also Exodus and Numbers, uh, while the mountain was burning with fire and the two covenants, and I, you know, I threw them, and I I saw that indeed you had sinned, and you had made for yourselves a molten calf, and turned aside from following the Lord, and so I took hold of the two tablets, I threw them and smashed them before your eyes, and I fell down before the Lord, as at first for forty days and forty nights, I eat neither bread nor water, because of your sin which you have committed in doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger uh and of the hot displeasure. That's the burning rage, you know. This fire. Yeah, which the Lord your God uh was wrathful against you in order to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me that time also, right? So this is you're you're learning what Moses's function, you know. Moses is actually you know doing his job until he's gonna say, All right, I've had enough. You're right, Lord, wipe them out, you know. And then the Lord's gonna remove it. Yeah, then the Lord's gonna remove Moses, right? His job was to stand in essence between Israel and the Lord to uh to be a mediator. The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. And again, you're seeing this mediator position for Moses, even between Aaron, and you're reminded of the Numbers 12 story of Aaron and Miriam. And hey, you know, we're special too. And of course, also stand back, Moses. Watch this, you know. And um, and I took uh your sinful thing and the calf which you made, and I burned it with fire, and I crushed it and grinded it into very fine dust, and I threw it into the brook uh that came down from the mountain. And again, at Taborah and at Masa, and I mean he's just chronicling all these places where you, Israel, have provoked provoked the Lord to wrath. And the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, said, Go up and take the land, and you rebelled, you wouldn't do it, and neither did you believe or listen to his voice. And uh, and so you've been a rebellious people against the Lord from the first day that I knew you.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

He's not going easy on him in this sermon.

Dr. David Klingler 26:28

No, he's not, yeah. This is not a uh you know, how to keep people in your uh you know, in your congregation sermon.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 26:36

So I fell down before the Lord for 40 days and for 40 nights, uh, which I uh did because the Lord said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, uh, O Lord, do not destroy this people, even your inheritance or your possession, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants. And this always goes back to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. Paul's gonna do the same thing. You know, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable on account of the fathers. He's he's gonna refer to the same thing over there in Romans chapter 11. Um, so do not look at the stubbornness of this people or of the wickedness of their sin. Otherwise, the land uh which you brought us uh may say, uh, you know, the people in the land, otherwise the land which you brought uh us may say, because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land, which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he brought them out uh out of Egypt to slay them in the wilderness. Yet they are your people. It's like this um hot potato, right, between Moses and the Lord. Moses, though, your people, you better go deal with them. The Lord says, Moses, like, Lord, let me remind you, they're your people, they're your possession.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

That's right.

Dr. David Klingler 27:51

They're your promises, your covenant, which you made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

It was your power that you delivered, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 27:58

Um, don't ever forget, you know, don't ever forget that, Israel. And so uh they are your people, your inheritance, or your possession, whom you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm. Uh and you know, and so we'll pick this up uh um next time. But in chapter 10, he's just gonna keep keep continuing the story. So Moses is in Deuteronomy, he's just gonna continue with the story. He you know, he cut the you know the stone tablets and and uh you know just reaffirmed what the Lord had said um all the way uh you know through this this story. And again, it is a constant reminder to Israel uh individually to keep the commands so that they benefit corporately. Um and uh and and so it's to remind them what not to do.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

I mean, to remind them of their rebelliousness and what that looked like in the wilderness and and uh what to avoid.

Crossing Over And The Great Cities

Dr. David Klingler 28:50

Yeah, and of course we don't uh you know we don't have a prideful heart or think that you know the Lord we're special and the Lord chose us because we're more righteous than the others. So it's the same evil, wicked condition of the heart uh that we have as well. But yeah, you know, but this is so informative to watch not only Moses' warning to Israel, but Israel's blatant disrebellion uh of it. And of course we can look at it and say, well, look how disobedient they were. But as those words are lingering in the air, uh let you know, let them come back into your ears and reflect on them and reflect on our heart because we do the same thing. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Uh and so uh so it's you can't forget that the the the rest of the nations are over there building towers to gods and sure and doing what's good and right in their own eyes too, and and they're gonna be driven out because of their wickedness. So it's not just yeah, we're focused in on Israel and their sin and their rebellion, but yeah, don't lose the fact that everybody else is on a different team.

Dr. David Klingler 29:52

Yeah, and and you know what what's um you know, you you get this, you know, over there in Romans, uh, I'm just re reminded of this, you know, Romans uh end of uh of Romans, and it just um you know Paul's talking about this stumbling stone, and uh and then he uh goes in and explains that not all Israel is Israel because not all Israel believed. Um and um and the uh then he goes to this this you know the first piece. If the first uh piece of dough is holy, the lump is holy, if the root is holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you being the wife, uh the wild olive being grafted in among them. And we talk so often again about uh the corporate employee, and and here he's talking about the Gentiles being grafted in because of Israel's disobedience, and so you would expect this to be a corporate plural you, but it's not, right? If some of the branches were broken off, and you singularly, being the wild olive, were grafted in among them and become partakers with the rich root of the olive tree, you do not be arrogant against the branches. And again, this is a singular command. But if you singular are arrogant, it is not you singular who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say, right? And again, singular. The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in, quite right, right? Uh, and so we have this same propensity to be prideful and arrogant and and think that we're something special, and you know, um but uh there's a pretty serious warning in there, right? Yeah, quite right. They were broken off from belief, but you stand firm in your faith and do not be conceited but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you either. Not y'all, but you, right? And so don't be don't be arrogant. Um behold then the kindness and severity of God to those who fail severity, but to you, again, singular, God's kindness. If you continue in his kindness, otherwise you, singular, will be cut off. We we need to wrestle with these passages, and you know, and and people will talk about you know eternal security and can you lose your salvation? I'm like, well, I'm not interested in finding out.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

There's some pretty concerning passages around that. Yeah, there are.

Not Your Righteousness But God’s Covenant

Dr. David Klingler 32:25

Yeah, yeah, there are, and so so theologically, uh, you know, we can you know pigeonhole and categorize these things, but but the stern warning, yeah, all the way through uh is uh is just that it's a stern warning and and uh and we ought not desire to find out uh the discipline of the Lord. And and so when we get over to a passage like a Hebrews chapter 12, uh it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You don't want you don't want his discipline. So this is Israel's warning. Yeah uh I'm warning you, don't go down this trail. If you do, fear um because he's a consuming fire and he'll wipe you singular and y'all corporately off the land. Yeah. And so um it's a it's a warning that needs to be heeded.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Fear of the Lord. So if you're if you're still questioning what the fear of the Lord means, or shouldn't be at this point. It's been pretty clear that they are to that that the fear of the Lord is to be the the beginning of how they begin their obedience of the Lord. Otherwise, he will wipe them off the face of the map. Yep. Yep, awesome. Well, I thank you so much again for walking us through these last two chapters. We'll continue uh to press on and uh understand the details of this book because as we've said, uh you've got to understand it if you want any shot of understanding the rest of this story. So lean in, continue to learn with us, and we will see you next time as we pick up in chapter 10.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

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