AS NUMERIOUS AS THE STARS IN THE SKY
In Deuteronomy Chapter 10 we encounter a great moment in time that most people simply read about and then just pass right over the words; without even stopping to notice. It is a moment of great historical significance, a moment that Israel had longed to see. This major miracle happens at the very end of the chapter.
THE LAST SPEECH OF MOSES
When we first begin to read Chapter ten; Moses is still talking to Israel as they are about to go into the Promised Land.
There is a lot to say!
He knows it will be his last address to them. Moses is reminding them of their great and awesome history.
The scriptures record that Moses recalls the time God told him to chisel out two stone tablets to replace the ones that were broken and to come back up to the mountain. He was also to make a wooden ark. There; God had Moses to write on the stone those same words that were on the first tablets which were broken. Then God told Moses to put them into the ark. Moses did all of this. He is reminding the people of the importance of every step of this process.
The Israelites traveled on after that from the wells of Bene-Jaakan to Moserah. It was there that Aaron died and was buried. Eleazar (Aaron’s son) took his place as High Priest.
Then the Israelites traveled to Gudgodah, then on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water. The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry The Ark of The Covenant. They were to minister and to pronounce God’s blessings over the people. Moses reminds them of this fact too.
TWO FORTY DAY PERIODS OF TIME
It is important to remember how Moses stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights, receiving the commandments.
This happened twice, first in the time period that annually leads up from Passover to Pentecost, then again in the Fall during the days of Elul leading up to The Ten Days of Awe. Forth days plus ten days make up each annual time period.
Now we observe the first forty days as a reminder to examine our lives against the commandments of God. It is a time to repent of our individual sins, from Passover to Pentecost, when God blesses us with the gift of His Spirit living within us.
The second forty day period; contains the days of Elul leading to the Ten Days of Awe that happen every Fall. These days remind us to examine ourselves against these commandments God gave to us. We must remember to repent as a nation; after the Feast of Trumpets and before The Day of Atonement.
GOD IS WATCHING US
As I write we are inside the season of Elul. Many articles of this blog have turned toward the state of national repentance for the nations of the earth.
God is watching us today just as he was watching those old Israelites that were about to cross over the Jordan.
We too, are at a crossroads in our nation. Know that we must return to God and return to living out His commandments and His ways of life. It is essential for our soul. This is essential for our future life in eternity with God.
STAY FOCUSED ON GOD’S WAYS
The people of Israel were reminded by God and Moses to stay focused in the new land of promise.
We, the people of America, must learn how to stay focused on God’s ways for our own God-given land of promise too.
We must learn and teach our children “the fear of the Lord.”
THE FEAR OF THE LORD
Deuteronomy Chapter Ten spells out what God has asked of all of us.
We can read about it in verses 17: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
Moses goes on to mention that everything belongs to God; but he has set his affection on the ancestors of Israel and loved them and chosen them and their descendants above all nations.
We are reminded that God will defend the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and love the foreigners.
For forty years the people had seen the awesome way that God performed His ways. Now – they must remember.
TIME FOR FULFILLMENT OF THE COVENANT
And the last thing that Moses mentions in Chapter Ten of Deuteronomy is something very significant.
Remember the promise that God gave to Abraham?
There on the banks of the Jordan; the time of fulfillment had arrived.
For Moses looked out on the people of the nation of Israel and saw that God had made them as numerous as the stars in the sky!