Today’s passage is about Moses’ last addresses to his people Israel. These last addresses concern three things; first Moses’ life ends here east of Jordan River and it necessitates a change in leadership. Second, Israel has an enormous task to cross the Jordan River and to conquer the land of God’s blessing and how they are to go about it. The third one is a concern on how Israel will keep up with the Law of Covenant since Moses, the direct mediator with the LORD, would not be with them anymore.
As for a leader, Moses introduces the LORD as their new commander in chief whom they must relate with by trust in his works and his words. As for conquering the land, Israel must follow the Lord by faith led by Joshua. Keeping up with the Law is by singing a song of God’s mighty work and by reciting the Law every seven years during the festival of Booth. His address ends with the most troubling issue, forthcoming of Israel’s rebellion and their sufferings under the Covenant curse. By calling the heavens and the earth as witnesses for God’s righteousness in His judgment, Moses ends his message with a strong demand for a repentance, signifying a repentance as the ultimate purpose of the law.
A. God wants a change of leadership (1-2).
1 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 "I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, 'You shall not cross the Jordan.'
Having completed the teaching and ratification of the Law of Covenant to Israel, now he is ready to go as God directed. He will die soon on this side, the East of the Jordan River. He is a hundred and twenty years old and physically weak and no longer able to lead Israel. It is reasonable to think that he is at the final stage of his life. As his age catch up with his physical strength, naturally he was weak and loses his ability to lead the way. But here is something more to it, the will of God.
When Moses pleaded with the LORD that he might be able to take his steps on the other side of the Jordan River, God strongly rejected that request:
25 Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan-- that fine hill country and Lebanon." 26 But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. "That is enough," the LORD said. "Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. (Deut 3)
God was angry because of his weakness in leadership at Meribah. The point of His rebuke was clear. Moses did not honor God enough before Israel (Num 20:12). According to Moses’ request, if God was willing, He could have Moses lead the nation into the land of God’s blessing, which he was so eager to do. But God definitely rejected that request, saying “you shall not cross the Jordan”. The reason is clear. He needed another kind of leader, particularly in regard to leading the nation to conquer the land. This is also a subtle allusion that God is making it a new era. Obviously, it will be new for they are getting into the land of God’s blessing. Also, it is a new era because God Himself will lead as their direct commander in chief. Till this time, whatever they were to relate with the Lord, it was through Moses, a man like themselves and to whom they can easily be related in all matters of life. But now they are to relate with him by faith only for He is the one who is invisible and yet had demonstrated His authority, power, and love for them.
As his departure was becoming an imminent reality, he had to do two things; first, he must introduce a new leader and also he must give them a teaching necessary for them to stay in God’s blessing.
B. Moses introduces God as their new leader and gives a directive on how to follow Him. (3-8)
Moses did not say that Joshua will take his place in leading the nation. Instead, he said this to his people;
3 The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said.
Moses is introducing God, their LORD, as the new leader for the oncoming wars to conquer the Promised Land. We find many times of the phrase that indicates God’s leading since they left Egypt. But only four times out of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we find the phrase ‘God himself will do something’ four times (Deut 3:22; 9:3; 31:3, 8). Moses says all these in the context of Israel crossing the Jordan River to conquer the land, for which he could not be a leader. In the foreseeing vacuum of leadership, such saying strongly indicates that Moses is introducing God as their ‘NEW’ leader or asking Israel that they are to take the LORD as their leader in place of himself. This understanding is further enforced by not introducing Joshua as their leader but simply describing what Joshua will do, going ahead of them. In other words, Israel must take God as their commander in chief not only as a nation but also as individuals. Till this time, Moses was the mediator between God and Israel. They could not forget how fearful it was to face Him face to face through the experience at Horeb. But now putting this behind, and having had so intimate relationship with Him for forty years in the wilderness, they must directly relate with Him as their commander in chief. What does this tell us? a) The period between the Exodus to the present time here at Moab is the time of knowing each other and building a trust between them. b) God felt that what He had revealed to them, all the works and the Law of Covenant were sufficient proof for them to trust YHWH as their Lord. Or, c) it was the time of training as His people and now that training is over and they must move on to the actual practice of their trust.
[Introduction of God as their leader and Israel had to take the Lord as their Leader is further in line with these passages: 1) 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him (Deut 18).—denying that Joshua is replacing the role of Moses. 2) During the period of judges, 25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit (Judges 21)—implicitly saying that God is their King. 3) 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king (1 Sam 8).—saying that God has been their king, the Leader, having no other intermediary]
Now having introduced the leader, their God YHWH (LORD), Moses teaches how to follow the Leader.
Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said. 4 And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5 The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. (3b-5)
To follow the NEW Leader LORD is to remember and count on what the Leader, LORD, said and did. The LORD did defeat the two kings and said that He would deliver the enemies into their hands. By counting on what the LORD did and said, what they had to do?
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Moses was commanding them that Israel must anchor their trust in the Lord by taking God as their leader as He has done and said. What does this mean? This is the faith that trusts in what God did to the two kings of East of the Jordan River and in what God said, “3 The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land.(3)” For those who take their Lord as their leader and trust Him, the only thing that they need is to exercise their faith by being strong and courageous. Since God, their LORD, has set everything, has prepared everything for victory, and God Himself will cross the Jordan River ahead of them, they are just to be strong and courageous and move forward. They must not be afraid or not be terrified for what they see. So being strong and courageous is the hallmark of faith. Then how can we characterize this faith? First, that faith is the faith that put aside all human mediator as the source of strength and power, like Moses or Joshua. Instead, that faith directly anchors their trust in the LORD, the God of creation, the heaven and the earth. Second, that faith is to line up with the one who has and displays such faith as Joshua (2 Thess 3:7). Third, that faith is the faith that acts based on what the Leader, God, said (James 2:26). Fourth, that faith is the faith that dares not to fear all else, even the fierce enemies.
Who is the best example? Moses introduced Joshua. Moses had Joshua stand in front of the people and presented him as their foreman for this task.
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
In commanding Joshua, Moses said again that the Lord Himself would go before him and he was to follow the Lord by faith. Here again, as he said to Israel, Moses commanded Joshua, “Be strong and courageous”. He must be strong and courageous since he must go with these people into the land and he must divide the land among them. Actually, God chose Joshua to lead Israel after Moses. He demonstrated his faith long before; when he fought against Amalekites and when the twelve leaders returned after exploration of the Promised Land.
Numbers 14:6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, … 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them."
While the entire crowd was caught with fear and doubt, Joshua expresses his faith in the Lord by saying, “if the Lord is pleased with us”, and “do not afraid of the people of the land”. In other words, Joshua had a firm confidence that God is pleased with him. His faith is revealed more concretely in v9c “But the Lord is with us…” This is the exact fact that Moses wanted to convey to Israel when he said: “LORD your God Himself will cross over ahead of you (31:3)”. In Joshua, God found the faith that he wanted to see and wanted all to follow such man as the end of forty years of training was drawing near. So God chose that man, a man of faith! From this point on God is the Leader and Joshua is the foreman to follow that leader by faith. All must follow after Joshua (1 Cor 11:1).
C. They must hear the Law and learn to fear the LORD your God. (9-14).
The next concern Moses had was how to help them to fear the Lord so that they might stay in God’s blessing. Moses wrote down this book of the Law and gave it to the Levitical priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant and to all the elders of Israel. These Levitical priests are the ones whose job is to care for the Ark. This Law, what Moses taught from ch 4-30, must be handled and cared for with an equal weight with the Ark of the Covenant. This is because it is a part of the Covenant. Also, this must be available at hand to the leaders so that they might teach people. What are they to do with the Law? Moses commanded this to them:
"At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing.
They are to bring out the Law and read it to all the people of Israel including women, children, and foreigners every seventh year. The purpose is that they can listen and learn to fear the LORD and follow carefully all the words of this Law. This has to be done at a specific time and on a specific occasion. First, it is to be on every seventh year, the year when people are to cancel the debt. People are to cancel debt to each other. But for the Lord, it is a canceling debt of sin. Whatever sins they committed during the past seven years, knowingly or unknowingly, might be known by refreshing of the law in their hearts and must be done away with as God prescribed in the Law. Then, they might be able to start new in the Lord’s blessing. Otherwise, someone may begin with the old sin unresolved and the life of such a man might be led to God’s punishment. Here is a strong sense of necessity to repeat this again and again. This is a keen understanding of the weakness in the flesh. Our nature is liable and vulnerable to all kinds of the temptation of the world. Their hearts must be subjected to the power of the Law, again and again, to be pure enough to be with the Lord. Even though they experienced the curses and blessing repeatedly, yet fundamentally the essence of their character will not be changed by the law because of the incorrigible nature of men under the power of sin. As far as changing the nature of man's heart is a concern, the Law and its enforcement is totally helpless. Until that change comes about, they are to be reminded of the Law every seventh year with the reenactment of the life in the wilderness. This is a must if they are to stay in the Land of God’s blessing for their LORD is in their midst and God would not put up with ungodliness for long.
Second, it must be done during the festival of Tabernacles. The festival of Tabernacles comes on the seventh month. This is the time of harvest of the crops of the year, seeing the abundance of God’s blessing. God noted that the life in abundance will make them vulnerable to apostasy (20b). Also during this Festival, they are to build a booth in the field and stay there for seven days to commemorate the forty years of wilderness life. The life in the wilderness is the time Israel spent solely with the Lord. At this time, the full force of the law of Covenant was in force as their Lord was in their midst. The result is remarkable; all those who did not trust the Lord died during this period. Actually, God gave them away to the power of death before they get to the Land of God’s promise. On the other hand, the rest experienced God’s wonderful provision and protection under a harsh environment. In other words, at this time they learned what it means to be blessed according to the Law of Covenant and what it means to suffer God’s curse according to the Law of Covenant. In this way, the life in the wilderness makes the Law stands out either for blessing or for a curse. By reading the Law and hearing it, they must learn to fear the Lord. In this way, the full power or authority of the Law is fully felt to the depth of their hearts. Only then, there will come a need for remedies for ‘cancelling the debt of sin’.
Third, all those living in the land of God’s blessing must hear the Law and learn to fear the Lord.
12 Assemble the people-- men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns-- so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. 13 Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."
If they are to stay in the Land of God’s blessing for generations to come, then all those that are in the land must hear the Law including children and foreigners. If the success of staying in God’s blessing hinges on how every member keeps up with the Law, then no one should fall out of learning the Law. According to the human development studies, it is said that by the age of six, pretty much human character is set. This means that we have to teach our children the word of the Lord even from the age when we begin to communicate. It may be as low as the age one. Also within the perimeters of our home, we must be able to communicate the message of God so that all members of a household must be keenly aware of God’s Covenant for blessing and curse.
Now, Moses is going away, what would happen to them? Will or can they bind their hearts to the Law faithfully?
D. God teaches that the word and spirit of the Law must be living in their hearts. (14-22).
God told Moses and Joshua to present themselves at the tent of meeting for the purpose of commissioning Joshua. When both came and presented them at the tent of meeting, God warned Moses and Joshua of the forthcoming unbelief of Israel;
16 And the LORD said to Moses: "You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.
After the death of Moses, Israel will prostitute themselves to the foreign gods. The implication is that while Moses was among them, he held tightly Israel under the Law and prevented them from such apostasy as he mediated Israel’s failure at Mt. Horeb. But Moses, the right hand of God, will be gone and they will soon become left unsupervised and would follow other gods. It will be heartbreaking if Israel would forsake him and break the Covenant with the LORD. Nevertheless, it was all too clear that Israel has not changed since what they did in the Mt. Horeb. When Moses went up to meet the Lord on that mountain for forty days, at the foot of the mountain Israel came together said that they thought Moses disappeared for good and made an idol in the name of the Lord. In less than forty days, they lost their trust in Moses and God. They discarded all that they saw and knew of Moses as well as the Lord. In order to fill this vacuum created by the absence of the visible object of relationship, they created an idol, golden calf. One says that seeing is believing signifying how hard it is to believe without seeing. When they did see, they could not believe what is not there. This is the true nature of Israel, which God characterized as ‘stiff-necked’. Seeing such stubbornness still living in them, God prophesied with certainty that they will rebel in coming ages. Then what would God do?
17 And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, 'Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?' 18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.
Though Israel’s unbelief is yet in the future, God did not say this in a hypothetical term. Instead, God said of it as a sure thing to come. God is looking forward to the future when Israel will be fully redeemed as God’s people. To do so, God has to deal with their ‘stiff-necked’ heart that resists trusting the Lord. God will subject them fully to the Covenant curse and they would suffer greatly. Under such suffering, they would question the trustfulness of their LORD, saying “Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?” The Covenant condition is this: Israel is to keep up with the Law and God is to protect and bless Israel. When they get into an intense suffering, the first question is if God is with them or not. If we rephrase this; “Is God keeping His covenant with us or not?” Or “Is God doing His job as our Lord?” These sayings are direct offenses to God’s commitment to the Covenant, which He initiated and formulated the details of the law in His will on behalf of building His people. This is a direct attack on God’s love and His almighty power. Against that love, they would raise questions, “has God dumped the Covenant? Is he so unreliable and untrustworthy?” To such erroneous narration of their predicament, God must present a firm evidence to refute such unsubstantiated charge against Him. What is the witness on behalf of the Lord? That is the Law based on the works that God did for Israel from the inception of her life as God’s chosen. It is at the side of the Ark and available any time to confer all matters of the Covenant! The Law of the Covenant will clearly point to the wrong of people for their failure to keep up with the Law and God is fully justified in subjecting them under such punishments. What does the Law say? The Law will testify, “The Lord is just and worthy in His judgment on us! Our suffering is not His fault but ours! The problem is not in Him but in us!” In this way, the Law will serve Israel to come back to the senses accorded with the Law of Covenant. At the same time, the law of the Covenant impounding upon Israel will serve the world as well. How Israel narrate their suffering will totally different from how the people of the world would narrate their suffering.
These are the questions and doubts raised by many people of the world. If God is good and almighty, why does he let the world suffer so much? Why does he let evils go rampant? This is incompatible to the existence of God of Almighty power and all goodness! But Israel, in which God’s mighty power and grace had made indelible marks, would be now under the similar suffering as the world or that is far worse than the sufferings of the people of the world. For those who come back to the Lord, the Law of Covenant will narrate their suffering according to God’s justice and holiness as well as God’s love and hope for her. But what about those who do not know or have the Law of the Covenant? This would be a serious problem for the Lord. God had to find a way to prevent this to happen. What’s God’s remedy for this problem?
19 "Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them. 20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. 21 And when many disasters and calamities come on them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath." 22 So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.
We will study this song next week. The key theme of this song is that Israel’s sin provoked God’s punishment and He is just in doing so, and also that His unchanging justice and love will be proven in coming days as He restores Israel to His blessing as she comes back to the Lord.
Through this song, God teaches how to look at the suffering they are going through. All sufferings must be understood according to the Law of Covenant. In this is God’s sovereign justice as the Holy and Almighty God. This purpose of this justice is not to condemn them for good but to bring them back in repentance. This comes from His eager desire and plans to bring His people to eternal blessing in His kingdom. Through this song, God is asking his people to stay put with the Lord even when they are under such an intense suffering. Simply God is hoping and demanding their faith through all sufferings in life, which is an inevitable course of their life under the Law. This principle must be the key narrative of all mishaps of life. All other narratives on human tragedy must be rejected. In order not to entertain many narratives of the world, the godly narrative of life must be lived and their hearts must be attuned to this principle all the time. How can this be possible? That is to sing a song day and day out! “God is just and right. He is unchanging in his love and promise despite of the wrongs and mistake and weakness. All suffering is neither a proof of God’s injustice nor a proof of God’s unloving heart. All the more so, a suffering is never a mark of God’s abandonment of us as His children.” This is the step to bring men built in the sin-stricken body or encased in the stiff-neckedness of their hearts to the kingdom of God. God said that in order to relate with him as His children, burnt offering is a must.
Exodus 20:24 "'Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. (Exo 20:24 NIV)
The body in sin or the stiff-necked heart must be done away with as one offers his burnt offering to the Lord. Only then, he can offer the fellowship offering. So the only the door to honor the Lord is to offer oneself as the burnt offering, burning entire body up to the Lord. Paul called it ‘a living sacrifice’ (Rom 11). How can one come to this far? It is only through the law of Covenant. The Law of Covenant must be living and be upheld in the hearts of His people so as to lift up the glory and holiness of the Lord of Almighty.
God directed Moses to follow through this command to write a song. But it was also important for Joshua as well. He had to understand what kind of people he was to lead. At Kadesh-Barnea, he stood tall in faith among the twelve, and among the entire leaders and peoples of Israel. This was what he was to deal with. Then how? God teaches how in His commission of Joshua; Be strong and courageous
E. Joshua, the model of faith (23)
23 The LORD gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: "Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you."
Moses gave the same command to his people and then to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous”. Likewise, the LORD commands Joshua to be strong and courageous. This command was given at the time of his commission to lead and this was the only command given to him. This implies that this is Joshua’s lifelong and the theme in relating to the Lord and in carrying out his mission as a leader. Joshua’s tenure as God’s servant begins with the conquering of the land of God’s promise and ends when Israel finishes conquering the land. In the book of Joshua, the phrase, ‘be strong and courageous’ are repeated 6 times (more than any other books). What does this tell us? From this point on the entire nation must move with the faith in the LORD, the new commander in action. So Joshua must be the primes example of that faith. His primary attention is not the crowd, not the enemies, but the Commander, the LORD, and His word. Simply this command is for them to take God as the sole and direct commander for their lives. In this strength and courage is an inseparable bond of relationship in trust with the Lord. The LORD is with US, in his command and in his real presence in our action! The catchword is ‘be strong and courageous’! No other words reflect the faith best than these two words. So it is not strange that the coward is the first on the list of those who would be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur (Rev 21:8).
God wanted him to follow the LORD and become the model of that faith by being strong and courageous. What does this tell us? Thought the purpose of the Law is to make one holy, the ultimate purpose of the Law is to plant faith. From this point on whenever the phrase ‘be strong and courageous’ is called for, the caller is demanding faith (Dan 9:10; Hag 2:4; 1 Cor 16:13; Eph 6:10). Also invariably, faith expresses itself with strength and courage in lieu of strong oppositions and obstacles.
F. The Law of Covenant shall handle the stiff-necked nature of man (24-30).
The Law was written and was put beside the Ark of Covenant. ** How can one’s mind and heart be attuned to this principle? Or, how could the world see the sufferings of life God’s way? The stiff-necked nature is not just in Israel but in all human being. This is the culprit that rejected God as the authority. As God deals with the stiff-necked nature of Israel with the hope of giving his blessing, God unveils His utmost plan to save the people of the world who suffer the same predicament as Israel.
First, stiff-necked nature of Israel is the culprit of rebellion. Though Moses blessings are recorded in ch 33, actually this paragraph is the last of his last speech to Israel. In his last speech, he dealt with the character or nature that persisted in them as the cause of rebellion. The mediator of the Law, or the one who knew the Lord of holiness better than anyone, Moses, saw this as the lasting and greatest concern for the wellbeing of his people.
27 For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die!
They are rebellious and stiff-necked: the word ‘stiff-necked’ is first mentioned in Exodus 32:9: "I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people.” God used this word to denote a specific character that is not willing to accept God as their Lord even after seeing God’s power and authority as the Lord of heaven and earth and even after hearing loudly with the glory and power at the Mt Horeb to which they were so fearful of. Such weakness was revealed soon after such an overwhelming experience. In less than 40 days after hearing the Word of God, they dropped or smeared God’s word and made an idol, golden calf. They stayed within their thought and did not accept God’s word or did not retain it in their heart. At that time when Moses went up and they were all alone without Moses and without seeing God, they turned back to their own ideas and understandings—believe and accept only what they see and what they have in the frame of their minds.
God used this again (Exodus 33:3 “Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way. “) to point out the character that is so stubborn or resistant to change despite of God’s much efforts. In his plea to the Lord, Moses recognized the stiff-necked character as the stumbling block for the Lord’s effort to go along with Israel (34:9). In other words, ‘the stiff-neckedness’ is neither acceptable nor compatible with the Lord of Almighty. Nevertheless, God put off His judgment out of His grace and patience, and said this,
Exodus 32:33 The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." (Exo 32:33 NIV)
For now, God will endure in patience. But when the time comes, God will punish them. Was this character changed after such an intense training in the life with the Lord in the desert life for forty years? God pointed out that that character is still as large among them:
Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deu 9:6 NIV)
God will surely have to deal with it if He wanted to have a life-long relationship with Israel. How will He? It is well revealed to Moses when the Lord passed by Moses.
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." (Exo 34:6-7 NIV)
Second, this character/nature will continue through generations and eventually will bear a rebellion. Moses saw how they rebelled at the Mt. Horeb by making a golden calf. He also saw this as the most stumbling block for them to enter the land of God’s promise and yet God decided to carry them to the land of blessing by His grace, Moses saw with a certainty what was coming
29 For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD and arouse his anger by what your hands have made."
That the stiff-necked nature sitting in the depth of their being was with them and is still living unresolved and will surely come to surface by rebellion against the Lord. Actually, this nature came when the serpent said to Eve, "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:5 NIV) and she and her husband entertained this word in their hearts. The way how to think is more explicitly revealed in Deut 29:19
When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way," they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. (Deu 29:19 NIV)
NAS interprets more precisely how such person goes about;
Deuteronomy 29:19 "And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, 'I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.' (Deu 29:19 NAS)
How one responds to the word of God’s curse will determine his fate. This is a flamboyant expression of one’s autonomy and will to manage his life no matter how God impose his power upon the earth. When one continues his life with such a mindset, God’s will is clear as Moses said, “the Lord will never be willing to forgive them (29:20”) and “blot out their names from under heaven (29:20)” As long as this nature or character remains in their hearts, God will judge such man eternally. Only it will be a matter of time for them to suffer God’s punishment and to be thrown out of the land of God’s blessing, leading to eternal destruction. To live in the Land of God’s blessing forever would be an impossible dream. How then should or could be handled?
Third, God will handle such ‘stubbornness’ only through the Law of Covenant and only the full force of the Law of Covenant can handle it. Immediately after the fall, God punished man to be under the power of death (Gen 3:18-19). The punishment was none other than putting the man back to what he was from his beginning. As long as they remain as they are in flesh, they will live in the stiff-necked character. But In his grace, God came and introduced the law, the full radiance of God’s holiness and His spirit. For the first time in human history, Israel, to whom God revealed this with such a clarity and concreteness, began to see themselves in the eyes of the holiness. God will impose the full force of Covenant Curse on those who persist in their own good will. Nevertheless, the heart that rejects God’s authority and His solemn glory as the LORD of the heavens and the earth will remain unrelenting. Who will be more tenacious or resilient? Man’s sin in stiff-neckedness or God’s patience and enduring will? But God will be patient and patient. He will be enduring wickedness, unbelieving, and stiff-necked heart so long, while putting off the ultimate judgment on those who rebel. He does because He is love and because of His faithfulness to His promise.
Fourth, God will punish their rebellion of the stiff-necked heart until He sees their respect and honor in repentance. What is God’s hope in subjecting His people under the full extent of curse under the covenant? It is to buy the repentance from their inmost hearts. Only repentance opens a door to honor God as the Lord of Holiness and righteousness. Then would they repent? It all depends on how they narrate their intense sufferings. Is it God’s abandonment for being their God? Or is it God’s lack of love or inability to keep His covenant? Or is it simply his powerlessness against evil?
Fifth, His people must narrate their sufferings according to the Law of Covenant. Since God freed Israel and chose her as His, God never left them, never neglected them, and never abandoned them. Rather as they suffered more, God suffered along with them. But the narration of their suffering from the world is totally different. It is Lord’s weakness, His wrong, and His abandonment. Under this narration, they will be forced to cut off their trust with the Lord and terminate their relationship for good, which God afraid and hate to see. So it is critical to have a right and proper narration of that suffering. For this, God calls for witnesses that testify that it is not their God but they themselves who violated the Law of Covenant because of their failure and inability to keep up with the Lord, in His holiness and glory. This final judiciary verdict is based on the Covenant between God and Israel. Who is going to be the judge between God and Israel who accuses God of his neglect?
28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them.
Here God calls the heavens and the earth as a witness and the judge of this dispute. Here the heavens and the earth are not a living being. But the heavens and the earth saw what God did for Israel that is the works of God in history from the exodus to this time as the door to the land of God’s blessing. This history is filled with the works that speak of God’s mighty power, God’s love, God patience and God’s hope for Israel (in this regard, the five books of Moses and its footing on history is paramount, particularly exodus and eisodus events). In other words, the works God did under the full view of the heavens and the earth will testify that it was not God but Israel who violate the Covenant. Israel must accept that they are wrong and they cannot keep up with God of Holiness out of their own will and strength. Simply they are to repent and return to the Lord believing God’s grace.
There will be a long and hard trail along with much travail for one to get to the point of full and unreserved repentance. Also, no one can reach to this point without the help of the law of Covenant for we all have ‘stiff-neckedness’ in the depth of our being.
Moses as well as God was looking forward that time, the time of repentance honoring God’s righteous judgment and admitting their sin and unworthiness under the power of sin and looking up to the Lord of grace and holiness for help. This is what the provider of the law, Moses, saw as the ultimate ending, and purpose of the law. In this regard, what Moses said was right;
Deuteronomy 30:15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees, and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. (Deu 30:15 NIV)
Also God’s loving and enduring character is fully revealed through the Law of Covenant as he had said (Exo 34:6-7), “"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”
May the Lord of holiness and glory bless you richly through the Law of Covenant as well!
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