July 10, 2026 - Deuteronomy 11 & Psalm 132

We read Deuteronomy 11 and Psalm 132, then slow down to connect God’s call to obedience with real-life outcomes for Israel, such as rain, famine, and the daily work of remembering his word. We also trace Psalm 132’s promises from David to the Messiah, showing how the “lamp” for God’s anointed points us to Jesus and lasting hope. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. 

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Readings

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word lighting away. I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Friday, July 10th, 2026. Listen intently to God's written word. Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 11 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_01 0:28

11. You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. And consider today, since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it, consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all his land, and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day, and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them in the midst of all of Israel. For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did. You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are entering to take possession of, it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the Lord your God cares for, the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I commanded you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil, and he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you. You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and you shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you will lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. Every place on which the sole of your foot tread shall be yours, your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates to the western sea. No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you. See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known. And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Abel. Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road toward the going down of the sun in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Morah? For you are to cross over the Jordan to go and to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.

Psalm 132 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Psalm 132. Remember, O Lord, in David's favor all the hardships he endured, how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the mighty one of Jacob, I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. Behold, we have heard of it in Ethratha. We found it in the fields of Jahar. Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. The Lord swore to David a sure oath, from which he will not turn back. One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne. For the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling place. This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions, I will satisfy her poor with bread, her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy. There I will make a horn to sprout for David. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

The book

Deuteronomy As Pregame Coaching

SPEAKER_01 6:30

of Deuteronomy, Tyler, reminds me of playing football in the South. Now, specifically, it reminds me of my sophomore year of high school. I played for a brand new school in the area. It was actually the first year that the school was open, that the city had built it, and it was a brand new school, brand new football team, brand new program. It was called New Manchester High School. And I forget even what our mascot was. I think we're the Wildcats, the New Manchester Wildcats. But I remember my coach was a classic Southern coach. Always sounded like he had a water spit in his mouth. You know what I'm talking about? Kind of slightly overweight. Okay. He was a backer coach, right? He was a linebacker coach. So kind of hard nose, love the game, just a southern guy through and through. And I remember every every game, every home game, or really every game, he would make us all kind of circle up around him and take a knee. And uh we'd do a couple things. One of the things that we would do that thought was interesting is that we would say the Lord's Prayer before the game. That's how you knew we were in the South. Okay. Okay. Most of the team was not Christians, but we would say the Lord's Prayer, just kind of a southern ritual there. But then he would kind of give us the game plan. He would remind us of the things and the keys to the game, the focuses, what we need to know, what we need to remember, what we need to focus on in order to see success as a team, and success and ultimately see victory. Now that's essentially what we're doing here. Moses, now I'm just thinking about Moses being a southern football coach, but Moses is kind of calling the nation of Israel to surround him, if you will, before the game. They're all taking a knee, and he's giving them the instructions and the keys to the game. He's saying you need to remember who God is. And so there's really kind of three main movements of Deuteronomy. The first is what we've been reading, uh, just a lot of different speeches from Moses, uh, basically just a lot of different encouragements. You need to remember these things. And then the center section is going to be the specific laws. So if we're going to use the analogy of the football coach, it's basically all the playbook, right? Remember this play, remember this action, remember this formation, remember all these things. Do them exactly as we practice, don't deviate from the plan. Uh, and then it is bookend again with more speeches from Moses. And so that's kind of the shape of Deuteronomy. So if that helps you, I know some of you are like, ugh, sports, uh, but if that helps you at all, that's that's how I think about Deuteronomy is I think of my southern football coach making me take a knee, telling me what I need to remember and what I need to focus on in order to win the game. And that's what Moses is trying to do. And I remember, and even if we're gonna stretch this analogy, the coach never played in the game, right? He stood on the sideline, he encouraged Moses never gets to Moses never crosses the Jordan. Uh, but he's nevertheless focusing on the game plan. Remember the plays, remember what we talked about, don't deviate from the plan, remember who God is, trust the coach in this in this whole analogy. And that's what we continue to see here in chapter 11 before we transition to really a central body of commandments that are reiterated from Leviticus, and there's some new ones as well. Uh, but we're gonna talk about the the tabernacle again, we're gonna talk about uh the the sacrifices, we're gonna talk about a lot of the things that we've already talked about.

Blessing And Curse Explained

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Uh but in chapter 11 specifically, there's this whole idea of blessings and curses. Uh, we see that in verse 26. See, I'm setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing if you obey the commandments and a curse if you disobey. And so there's more reminders of the character of God. There's more reminders of even looking back to what God accomplished through their deliverance from the Egyptians with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. You've seen that language. Hopefully, that's familiar to you by now throughout Deuteronomy and Numbers and Leviticus, really, since Exodus. That's been a repeated refrain. Uh, and of course, you're going to continue to see in this chapter the theme of obedience, even beginning in verse one. You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.

Ruth And Famine As Discipline

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Now, one thing, this is sort of tangential, but I thought this was interesting. Uh, one thing that I wanted to connect to something that you've been going through on Sunday nights, Tyler, is the book of Ruth. The reason I want to connect that is because in verse 16 and 17, it's talking about the rain and the crops and the grains and the wine and the oil, and it says verse 16, take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit. So we're talking about a famine. We're talking about a lack of rain that leads to a lack of a lack of crops. It's a drought. Now, how does that connect to Ruth specifically, Tyler?

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Well, I'm thinking the the connection to Ruth is here. The the famine in the land has has uh been lifted. There's the the breadbasket of Bethlehem is is opened up again, and the the barley harvest is on the way and at this time. Uh Naomi is hearing of this uh shortly after. Um her husband and her daughters uh are are widowed. They're they're her sons both die, her husband dies, and she's going back, returning back to the homeland from uh from a foreign land. They left they left in the midst of the famine. In the mid looking for food, they're they're chasing after um food supply, yeah, and they're leaving home, and they uh they they find themselves in Moab. And in Moab, her sons marry foreign wives, who uh one at in the story, one returns back to her foreign gods, and and one, Ruth, is saying, Your God is my God, your people, my people. I'm gonna serve you. I'm gonna go back with you, uh Naomi, and I'm gonna return to your homeland. And uh the relation there.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

The whole backdrop of the story of Ruth, this is why I'm connecting here to Deuteronomy 11, is verses 16 and 17 played out. So the back so the story of Ruth takes place during the period of the judges, where everyone is doing right in their own eyes, and this family, I forget the father's name, but I know the sons, Malon, Kileon, and then Naomi, and then her husband, they all move to Moab, they go to a different land because there's famine in Israel. Now, famine and a lack of rain and a lack of fruit and a lack of harvest is a sign in the Bible of God's judgment. And of course, if there was ever a period of time where Israel was worthy of God's judgment, it was the period of the judges. So the story of Ruth takes place in the midst of that reality of judgment. And of course, it begins with them hearing about grain returning, the barley harvest, things like that, that the famine has lifted. So you can think of it as God's judgment has lifted from the nation of Israel. They're going back, they're seeking the blessing of the grain. And of course, that's where uh Naomi and Ruth's Ruth specifically bumps into Boaz, seemingly coincidentally, but we know providentially. And uh, so that's just a free sort of connection that we see there. Uh, but verses 16 and 17 set the stage for that because God tells them when you go into this land, if you obey me, it's gonna go well, you're gonna be blessed. If you disobey, the rain's gonna dry up, the crops are not gonna grow, you're not gonna get fruit from the ground, famine's gonna mark your land as a act of discipline. And of course, in the book of Judges, we see that exact thing play out. And we have this whole story of the story in the book of Ruth, where that happens in that period and it's connected to the barley harvest and and things like that. So, just as a reminder, think of Deuteronomy as a whole. It's a silly analogy, I know, uh, but as the football coach, Josiah's football coach in high school, uh, making us all take a knee, telling us what we need to know right before we get into the game, so that we we have top of mind the instructions that are going to hopefully be most beneficial to us. That's Moses' role. He's the coach. He's not gonna get into the game, he's not gonna cross the Jordan River, he's not gonna make it into the land. Of course, at the end of Deuteronomy, Moses actually dies. Um, but nevertheless, he's saying, focus, focus, focus. Think about who God is, remember what he has done, remember the commandments that he has given you, remember his rules, be careful to keep them, circumcise your heart, as it talked about in chapter 10. And uh, we see that again, of course, here in chapter 11, with the focus on obedience that leads to blessing and disobedience that leads to curse.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

As

David’s Desire For God’s Dwelling

SPEAKER_00 15:24

we think about the the judges period and who's everyone who's doing right in their own eyes, we transition over to our psalm for today, where uh Israel did have a king, did have a ruler, someone to lead them. It wasn't just um everyone living as as they would, they'd be living under uh under the law of the king, um, and also under the law of of Moses. And our focus here is on David's heart and his desire as we reference back to 2 Samuel chapter 7, where David is desiring a permanent place for God to dwell, a place for the ark to rest, a house of rest for the ark. And verses 1 through 7 nod back to 2 Samuel uh chapter 7, and we think about the the heart of David and the desire that he has to pursue the Lord and to honor him uh with his life and his desires, uh reflect what it is um that that we see here with Moses. Remember, follow, obey, don't stray, don't don't turn aside. And that's what we see here in uh Psalm 132 with some uh messianic references as well. PJ,

Psalm 132 And The Messiah

SPEAKER_00 16:36

you were talking before we started recording about these references. Um, can you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Well, yeah, we even have references that are picked up in Hebrews. If you remember uh Hebrews chapter one that talks about Jesus being the son, the son that's connected to the Davidic covenant. Um, that's even referenced here in verse 11. One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. And Hebrews says that son is Jesus. He is the son of David that will sit on the throne. Um, and he says, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne. For the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling place. Now, Zion can be representative of Jerusalem, or it can be representative of just really heaven, or God's dwelling place. Um, so there's there's this sense of God will dwell with his people, or there will be a son from the line of David that will dwell in Zion, his dwelling place. Um, and it says in verse 14, This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions, I will satisfy her poor with bread, her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy. There I will make a horn to sprout for David. That horn, of course, is messianic. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed, his enemies I will clothe with my sh with with shame, but on him his crown will shine. So this is all kind of forward-looking uh to the day where there would be this messianic figure, Jesus himself, that would come from the lining lineage of David, who would sit on David's throne, who would rule from Zion, and uh that is partially fulfilled in Jesus' first coming. Uh, but we expect and we wait expectantly for that to be fully fulfilled and realized upon Jesus' second coming. So that's just an interesting thing to note here.

Closing And Where To Find Us

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible reading podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible sv.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.