Leaving Horeb and God's Chosen People

The setting for this lesson is in the days before the people of Israel were to enter the Promised Land. There was an entirely new generation of the people of Israel, and most of them had not experienced many of the miracles or seen the other events described in the previous lessons. The first chapters of the book of Deuteronomy are sermons to the people about all that the Israelites had gone through to get to the point of preparing to enter the Promised Land. It was also a reminder of all that God had done for them.

Leaving Horeb

Moses spoke to all of Israel. He told them that it would be an eleven-day journey from Horeb. God had told him that they had stayed long enough at this mountain. God had also told him that they were now to take possession of the Promised Land. Moses said that leaders had been chosen for them. Moses had also appointed judges to handle matters between them. He recounted how they had sent spies into the land that God had promised them, but some came back and made them afraid.

Because of this, they had refused to go into the land. God had said that He would go before them, but they rebelled. This had made God angry, and God had forced them to wander in the wilderness for forty years. Moses reminded them that they had lacked for nothing in the forty years they had been in the wilderness. They had defeated Sihon, the king of Heshbon, and King Og. The territory beginning at Aroer was given to the Reubenites and the Gadites as well as half the hill country of Gilead along with its cities.

The Mezuzah

The Mezuzah is placed on the doorposts of Jewish homes according to Torah law. It contains the Shema (Jewish statement of faith), which says:

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, ESV®).

Moses Speaks to Israel

Moses said that God had forbidden him to go into the Promised Land; God was angry with Moses because the people would not listen to him. God refused to let Moses go across the Jordan but allowed him to go to Pisgah and see the land. That is when God made Joshua the new leader. Joshua would be the one to take the people into the Promised Land. Moses told the people that they must obey, and he reminded them that they had seen what God had done to those that had worshipped Baal at Peor.

Moses told them about how God had given the people His laws and statutes. Moses said that he had gone up onto the mountain and brought down tablets with the commandments on them. Moses warned the people not to worship idols. If they did so, then they would die. He reminded them that God was merciful. Moses also chose three cities for any person that unintentionally killed another to run to for sanctuary.

Moses reminded the people to follow God's law, and he recited to them the Ten Commandments that he had been given. He reminded the people of Israel that the greatest of all the commandments was to love God. He told the people to teach the commandments and laws to their children. They were instructed to post the Shema on the doorposts of their homes. (See the description of the Shema above.)

Moses told the people that they would defeat many enemies, and God would give these enemies over to them. He instructed the people not to show mercy and to utterly destroy these enemies, making no covenant with them and refusing to intermarry with them. He explained that the Israelites would have to break down the altars of these people and burn their false gods. Moses also said that God would deliver these people to the Israelites, and the Israelites were to make the names of their kings disappear from under heaven. The people of Israel were not to covet the gold and silver of these people but to abhor it, and they were not to bring any of these things into their homes.

Summary

This lesson begins with the people leaving Horeb, where Moses brought all the people together to remind them of all that they had done and all that God had done for them. He told them not to be afraid—that God would deliver the Promised Land to them. When they were set to arrive in the Promised Land, they were ordered to destroy the people that inhabited it. The Israelites were not to worship the false gods in those lands but rather to destroy them.