I don’t know whether he would even recognize his input, much less approve how far I’ve adapted his ideas, in structuring this lesson, but I owe a lot to Ben S. in deepening what appears in the manual while still sticking to the purpose as stated there. If you aren’t a regular reader of Benjamin the Scribe (that link is to Lesson 17), you would benefit from becoming one.
Lesson 17: “Beware Lest Thou Forget”
Deuteronomy
Purpose: To encourage class members to (1) remember the Lord and the covenants they have made with him and (2) create an environment that will help them do so.
LESSON DEVELOPMENT
1. Moses gives instructions to the Israelites to help them remember their covenants.
2. Moses counsels the Israelites to obey God’s commandments and remember Him.
3. Moses counsels the Israelites to be mindful of the Rock of their salvation (Jesus Christ).
[1. “Write them upon the posts of thy house.”
2. “He will not forsake thee.”
3. Withstanding the negative influences of others.
4. “They shall not appear before the Lord empty.”
5. “No man knoweth of his sepulchre.”
Attention Activity
[Start a chart on the board, with the numbers 1 through 4 written down the left edge. As class members supply the terms wanted, fill them in briefly, leaving room on the right side to add scriptural citations. The purpose is to focus the class and the exercise must be done quickly: If class members cannot come up with all the answers wanted, supply them yourself before attention lags. Refer back to this table throughout lesson, pointing to the elements as the discussion brings them up, writing key scriptural citations next to the terms, etc.]
When you make a legal contract – for buying land or selling widgets, or for work to be performed, or any other kind of promise made by the force of law – the contract has several elements, elements that are common to all contracts. For instance, the contract names the parties involved: the buyer and seller, or the employer and employee, or whoever else is affected by the contract. What other elements make up the contract?
1. parties
2. terms [description of property to be sold or work to be performed; cost; due dates, etc.]
3. outcome [what will be done when the terms are met; what will be done if the parties fail to perform as required]
4. signatures/witnesses
The ancient Israelites traced their beginning as a nation to the date Moses gave them the law he had received from God. For them, the law was a contract between God and Israel – the law of Moses had all the elements that we recognize as necessary to a contract.
The book of Deuteronomy reviews the contract that God and Israel made at Sinai. It is set out as a sermon, or a series of sermons, given by Moses to the Israelites, at the river Jordan, just before Moses dies and the Israelites cross the river to begin their conquest of the Holy Land. Moses reviews the way the Lord gave the law to Israel; he reviews the actual details of the law; he reminds the people of the blessings they will receive from keeping the law, and the destruction that will come to them if they break the law; and finally calling on the children of Israel to keep the law, and calling on heaven and earth to witness their covenant with God.
Scriptural Discussion
Let’s begin by reading how Moses identifies the parties to the contract:
Deuteronomy 5:1-3
1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3 The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
Wait a minute! Moses is speaking at the end of his ministry, 40 years after leading the Israelites out of Egypt and receiving the law on Sinai. The Israelites have wandered in the desert all those years specifically so that the first rebellious generation can pass away and so a new generation – almost none of which had been born at the time of the giving of the law – could enter the Promised Land.
What does Moses mean by this statement?
How often does reenactment of something enter into our religious life? How does reenacting something from the past, in these religious rituals, make those past events relevant to us? [Elicit discussion about baptism, sacrament, and perhaps temple covenants, that put us under the same obligations as the people who were actually there, and make us heirs to the same blessings.]
Just as Moses brought the younger generation of Israelites into the covenants that had been made with their parents, our accepting the terms of covenants made by God with his children throughout history brings us into a covenant with him. So [pointing to “parties” on the chart on the board], the covenant is between God, and his people, whether they were at Sinai, or at the Jordan, or in latter-day Israel.
Moses then rehearses for the Israelites the Ten Commandments, and reminds them that they sent him, Moses, up to Sinai again, to speak with the Lord and get his full law and commandments for them. The Lord gave Moses that law.
Deuteronomy 5:32-33
32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
So the Lord has made himself party to the covenant, and Moses reminds the people that he, Moses, then returned to the Israelites and made them a party to the covenant.
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
2 That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Some observant Jews obey these words so literally that when they pray, they wear small boxes on their arms and on their foreheads, and fasten other tiny containers on their doorframes, which contain bits of parchment with parts of the law written upon them. As Latter-day Saints, what do we do – literally or figuratively – that fulfills this commandment to remember and teach the word of God?
These are typical practices associated with the Latter-day Saints as a whole. Now I want to ask a question, but not for public discussion, only for personal reflection: What do you do, personally, to bring yourself within the covenant by remembering and teaching and talking about the word of God? Do you do these things individually, or do you generally fall back on being a member of a family or a congregation that does these things without really engaging in them yourself?
After this introduction, the book of Deuteronomy is a sermon, or a series of sermons, on various parts of the law. We don’t often read long passages of Deuteronomy in Church settings – so much of it has to do with laws that were done away with when Christ came: laws concerning clean and unclean animals, laws dealing with murder and sexual immorality, and so on. I’d like us to share the experience of reading one entire chapter. This chapter will refer to people and events that most of us will not understand without the help of a good commentary – let’s just glide over those lines today without struggling to understand them. Even so, much of it will be easily understood, and we’ll recognize that some parts of the law have not changed between Moses’s time and our own. As we read, watch for these elements of the covenant: What are the terms that God expects the Israelites to meet? What blessings does he promise for those who do keep this part of the covenant? What are the consequences for breaking this part of the covenant?
Deuteronomy 11
1 Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.
2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,
3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;
4 And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day;
5 And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;
6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:
7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.
8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;
9 And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
12 A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
17 And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
23 Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.
25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.
26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:
28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
29 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.
30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?
31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.
32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.
So often we speak of the Jehovah of the Old Testament as a harsh god, one to be feared and appeased, even. Does he sound like a harsh god in this chapter?
What are the terms of the covenant, mentioned in this chapter? That is, what does the Lord instruct the Israelites to do?
Keep the commandments (v. 8)
Not be deceived, or serve other gods (v. 16)
Teach the commandments to the rising generation (v. 19)
etc.
What does the Lord promise to do if the Israelites keep their side of the covenant?
Prolong your days in the land (v. 9)
Make the land productive (v. 13-15)
Prevail over enemies (v. 23-25)
What consequences will there be for failing to keep the covenant?
The land will not be productive (v. 17)
The promised blessings will not come to pass
As the sermons of Deuteronomy draw to a close, Moses reminds the Israelites – both those who are living in that day and those who will come later – that they have entered into a covenant with God.
Deuteronomy 29: 10-15
10 Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,
11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:
12 That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day:
13 That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:
He calls on them to agree to the covenant – to sign the contract, in modern terms – and calls on heaven and earth as witnesses to the Israelites acceptance of the covenant.
Deuteronomy 30: 15-20
15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Conclusion
A lot of the details of God’s dealings with his children have changed over the millennia – the law of animal sacrifice given to Adam was fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ; dietary laws, and rules governing agriculture, and other parts of the law of Moses have not been carried forward out of the culture where they were given; policies and procedures and programs have been given and adapted and withdrawn as the needs of the Church have changed. But among the many details that have not changed, is the pattern of making and keeping covenants:
God gives a law and calls on us to keep it. He tells us what blessings will come through obedience, and warns us of the consequences of disobedience. We are given the opportunity to accept the covenant with God – through speaking a word, or bowing a head, or raising a right hand – or through reenacting the covenant-making of the past, by being baptized, or partaking of the sacrament, or engaging in the temple ritual. The Lord, who cannot lie and will not break his promises, always keeps his side of the covenant. The only real variable is us – will we keep the covenant, and teach it to our children?-