S5: Day 61: Deuteronomy 32–34

Hey, this is A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. It's Shelby and Paul, and today we're wrapping up the book of Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. It's pretty exciting. Yeah, yeah, the end of Deuteronomy, yes. So in these last few chapters, we're getting some poetry, which we haven't seen yet in Deuteronomy, which is kind of cool. So we have Moses's song that the Lord commanded him to teach Israel, and then, some blessings for the different tribes of Israel, and then we get Moses' death. Yeah. So it seems like, I know we begin Joshua tomorrow, it seems like we're kind of concluding some things and we're preparing for a new start in the book of Joshua. That'll be exciting to see tomorrow. But focusing on these chapters here today, what did you notice? What's important for us to see? Yeah. So, you know, Moses has been basically the guy for like four straight books, right? And Exodus leading them out of slavery and leading to the wilderness and now giving them, you know, retelling of the law. And so it's really key here in this final chapter, there's this verse that says, no prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, verse 10. And, you know, at the time that this was written, that was true. Yeah. Right. Moses was literally the greatest prophet Israel ever saw. But, you know, we know as Christians that another prophet did come that was greater than Moses and that Jesus And you know the gospel of Matthew in particular kind of has this emphasis through different things that jesus says and does that kind of shows that jesus is the greater moses he the greatest prophet that israel has ever seen and you know israel kind of yearned for this moses-like leadership for many generations and that yearning was answered in the messiah jesus yeah that's super cool okay so as we wrap up Deuteronomy, do you have any just like overall takeaways from the book as a whole? Yeah, that's a great question. There's a lot there. But I think for me, I would really just come back to this idea that God wants our hearts. And even at the time of Israel, he wanted their hearts, right? He wanted them not just to obey him, but to obey him out of love, right? To obey him out of a total posturing of their lives towards him. And it just reminds me that God is so good and he is worthy of my heart's devotion. And there's so many things in life that might try to pull my heart to and fro, but just really coming back to focusing on his love for me that initiated my relationship with him and loving him in response. I see that throughout the entire book. Love that. Okay. I'm going to share my takeaway from the book of Deuteronomy at the end of this episode, but first we're also wrapping up the Pentateuch, these first five books of the Bible and these serve a pretty significant role in scripture So any thoughts as we wrap up the Pentateuch Yeah for sure So you know being able to say you read the Pentateuch that pretty cool just to start off. But, you know, yes, these five books really form the foundation for the entire Old Testament and then later the New Testament. They give us, you know, an introduction to who God is and to who Israel is, which are the two most important figures in salvation history prior to Jesus. We also get introduced to the law, which we've talked a lot about in Deuteronomy, and that obviously is super relevant to the work of Christ and the way that he is the end of the law and the way that his death and resurrection apply the blessings of Israel to us, or at least the blessings of salvation of Israel. And so it's almost hard to overstate how foundational these books are. There were some traditions of Judaism that would even memorize the entire Pentateuch, right? Which that sounds... Can you imagine? I know, that sounds daunting to me, but I can see why they would do it, because these are so foundational, and the law is so essential to who they are as people. And so I think just as Christians for us, I think I'd invite any listeners just to come back to these books, especially once you've finished your read through the whole Bible, come back and read these first five books again. You'll be shocked by how many allusions and how many direct quotes even there are in the in the New Testament and later in the Old Testament that just show how essential these books are And so it kind of one of the most fun parts of having read these first five books how foundational they are that you just see them popping up all throughout the rest of the Bible Yeah It sounds like you inviting people to read the year in the Bible again next year even though we not that far into this year No, I love that. I think my takeaway for the book of Deuteronomy, I've almost seen it like a mirror held up. And in it, I've seen the Israelites struggle with their own faithfulness. And I've seen God calling them to actions and a heart that reflect his love for them and that they're loving and obeying God in return. And that's been a struggle to see myself in that mirror. At the same time, I've seen God's justice and his mercy and his character shining through as well. I think we talked just in the last episode about his patience and long suffering. And so seeing myself, kind of a real view of myself, and then seeing God and his mercy toward me while I'm very aware of my shortcomings and sinfulness is just an eye-opening thing and a thing that causes so much gratitude in my heart. And so for me, my takeaway of Deuteronomy is just gratitude for the Lord's forgiveness for Jesus and for the gospel. So that's a great note to end. Deuteronomy on. And tomorrow we begin Joshua. Scott's going to be here. He hosted Genesis. We're so excited to have him back and to jump into with now Moses' story kind of wrapping up, to jump into a new era with the Israelites. It'll be exciting. All right. We'll see you tomorrow.