Outline of Deuteronomy History of the Covenant 1

Outline of Deuteronomy • History of the Covenant (1: 1 – 4: 43) • Stipulations of the Covenant (4: 44 – 26: 19) – Moral Law (4: 44 – 11: 32) – Ceremonial Law (12: 1 – 16: 17) – Civil Law (16: 18 – 26: 19) • Ratification of the Covenant (27: 1 – 30: 20) • Leadership Succession Under the Covenant (31: 1 – 34: 20)

Blessing and Curses • Luther said: “just as this chapter is the longest, it is also the easiest; for it contains nothing but a heap of blessings and curses. • Ancient covenants typically included curses on those who broke the covenant. • Earthly blessings not eternal salvation are promised to God’s people as a reward for obeying the voice of God • Verses 1 – 14 outline the blessings…

Blessing and Curses (15 – 68) • After Moses describes the blessings that would result from obeying the voice of the LORD, he depicts in vivid language the PUNISHMENTS for disobedience • Specific SINS are not named, but rather these curses would fall on Israel forsaking the LORD. • There are several general categories of punishments: bodily afflictions, mental anguish, family disruptions, loss of crops, and defeat in war

Blessing and Curses • The ultimate CURSE will be the DESTRUCTION of Israel as a nation (vv 20, 24, 25, 48, 51, 63) • The curses outnumber the blessings FOUR to one ratio. • Moses forcefully details the dreadful consequences of disobeying the voice of Yahweh • These punishments would not be the result of the natural cycles of history. • Moses repeatedly identifies the Lord as the one who sends the cures.

Summary Statement But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. (28: 15)

Examples of curses City and field will be cursed (28: 16) Basket and kneading bowl (28: 17) When you go in and out (28: 19) Confusion, frustration, pestilence, wasting disease, fever, drought, mildew, and destruction (28: 20 – 24) • Defeat by your enemies (28: 25 – 26) • Boils, scabs, and tumors (28: 27 – 28) • •

Removal from the Land And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole your foot, but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes, and languishing soul. (28: 64 – 66)

Pentecost is the Great Reversal

The Covenant Renewed at Moab At Mt. Sinai, Moses had received the covenant promises from the Lord. Now, 40 years later, this covenant is renewed in Moab as the people are about to enter the Promised Land

Moses Farwell Speech = ch. 29 • Here Moses stresses several important truths: the Lord’s gracious care for every Israelite, the responsibility of each person to abide by God’s covenant, and the certainty that anyone who turns away from the LORD will be punished. • Though these are spiritual mysteries, God has revealed what each one of us needs to know for eternal salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

The Covenant Renewed at Moab • A quick RECAP of the last 40 years (29: 2 – 8) • A REMINDER to keep the words of the covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. (29: 9) • A RENEWAL of the covenant will all who make up the next generation both present and those to come (29: 10 -15) • WARNING against idolatry – don’t forget what you have seen and heard so that your heart doesn’t turn away (29: 16 – 19)

MOSES WARNING • Moses issues a strong warning, both to individuals and groups against the sinful worship practices of other nations. • Idol worship is compared to a root that grows into a plant producing fruit of bitter poison. • The sinful action of a few spread poison throughout the entire people. • How does the happen in the church today?

God’s Declaration The LORD will not be willing to forgiven him, but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. (29: 20)

Repentance and Forgiveness As Moses approaches the end of his life he takes time to review the relationship that Israel has with their creator God gives His Law to His people, not as a rigid code, but to set them apart as God’s holy children. However, the children of Israel failed miserably to walk in holiness of life and repeatedly turned their backs of Yahweh and committed idolatry.

Repentance and Forgiveness Moses reminds them (and us) that a relationship with God means a change of heart and a faith rooted deep in HIS love and grace, word and promises, faithfulness and justice. Such faith lives in obedience to the one true God, who gathers and blesses his people.

And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. (Deuteronomy 30: 1 -3)

Choose Life or Death • The Lord’s declaration to his people to choose life is inseparable from His covenant of grace that He established with them. • Israel’s history clearly demonstrates that they spurned the life of God had reserved for them through His grace, pursuing death instead. • Consequently, by rejecting God’s grace, they rejected the length of days God promised to those who love the Lord, walk in His ways, and keep his commands.