MONDAY 07 February 2022 “Farewell begins” Deuteronomy 1-4

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Good Monday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,

Farewell speeches can be among the most powerful, impactful, unforgettable of all the words spoken by a person in their entire life, would you agree? The bedside words spoken by someone shortly before their death. The retirement words of someone leaving a long and faithful career. The final words spoken by parents sending their kids off to College or Military service. I wonder what ‘farewell’ words have been most impactful in your life journey?

We’ve been following the life of Moses for several weeks, and today we come to the Bible book of Deuteronomy. Did you know this entire book is a compilation of Moses’ farewell messages to the Israelite people? I left you yesterday with Moses responding to a radical request of the Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad and 1/2 the tribe of Manasseh. They had large flocks and herds of animals, and the Jordan river valley where they had camped had lush pasture land, as compared to the desert where they’d been roaming for 40 years. They requested Moses to allow them to remain in this land, east of the Jordan. Their request would separate the people of Israel for the first time in history, with 2 1/2 tribes settling the land east of the Jordan and 9 1/2 tribes entering the land of God’s promise, Canaan, on the west side of the Jordan river. Moses had reluctantly agreed.

Immediately prior to this remarkable request, God had informed Moses that it was time to select a new leader for the people, for Moses would NOT be leading the people across the Jordan into Canaan. God named Joshua to be Moses successor, and thus the work of leadership transition began. Deuteronomy is the story of that transition. Most of this book is Moses’ record of his farewell speeches, recounting for the people what he felt was important for them to remember as they prepared to enter & conquer this land, that God had promised to Abraham their ancestor, 500 years before. The Deuteronomy record begins with this: “In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them. East of the Jordan river, in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound the law…” (Deut. 1:3)

The New Testament gives us several examples of Jesus sitting on a hillside, speaking to thousands of people. Matthew chapters 5,6,7 are one example, often called Jesus’ ‘sermon on the mount’. If you’ve visited Israel, you’ve likely gone to that place, sat on that hillside, maybe even spoken, and been amazed at the incredible acoustics in that natural amphitheater place. I believe it was very similar for Moses. With the foothills of the mountains just east of the Jordan river, Moses had a great amphitheater from which to speak to thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of the Hebrews without a microphone. No one knew the story of these people better than Moses. No one knew God better than Moses, and no one had walked a path in between God and these people like Moses had walked these past 40 years. So, let’s sit beside Moses for a moment, looking out at this huge throng of humanity…

No one in the crowd is older than age 60, except Moses, who is about 120 years old, and Joshua and Caleb who are perhaps around 75 or 80 years old, or so. Why is no one older than 60? Because 40 years before all these people now before Moses younger than age 60, had been age 20 and younger then. They had been the young adults and kids when God rescued these Hebrews out of their slavery in Egypt. They had watched their parents splatter the blood of the Passover Lamb on their doorposts that night, in obedience to Moses’ warning that an angel of death, sent by God, would be coming through Egypt and any home without blood on the doorframe would experience the death of their firstborn son. Every home! With the wailing of Egypt behind them, the Hebrew adults fled their slavery, taking their children and babies with them. For those kids who understood, I imagine they fled saying over and over to their parents… “Thank you, oh thank you for trusting God and doing what He told you to do. Had you not been obedient we’d be wailing, for there would be death in our family too!”

They had clung to the hands of the parents and grandparents, as they followed a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day, the sign of God’s Presence with them, leading them away from bondage. They fled through a water tunnel God opened in the Red Sea, and then watched as God crashed those walls of water down on Pharaoh’s army. They were free. Finally and fully free from centuries of Egyptian slavery!

God led them to Mount Sinai, where they spent almost a year learning about God, and learning about the relationship God wanted with them, His people. But these people standing before Moses this day were not the adults who had fled Egypt and spent a year at Sinai… these before Moses were the children and grandchildren of those Hebrew slaves who had fled Egypt that night! And Moses wanted them to remember WHY! “The LORD our God said to us, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance to the hill country of the Amorites…I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers – to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and to their descendants after them.’ (Deut. 1:6-8)

I can see Moses raising his arm and pointing at this huge gathering of people when he said “and to their descendants after them”. Perhaps Moses even added… THAT’s YOU, ALL OF YOU! May I ask, have your parents or grandparents ever told you of promises they received from God that would be fulfilled in your generation? Have you received promises from God which you now understand will find fulfillment in the generations which follow you? How do you pass those promises along, from generation to generation, so each generation understands and lives with a sense of anticipation of what God will do in their lives?

Moses’ old eyes ran all across the huge throng before him. No one older than age 60, and a great number of young people and teens age 40 and younger. That younger generation had been born while their parents wandered the desert. They had never seen or set foot in Egypt. All the slavery stories were for them, only that… stories from an older generation. These young ones were a generation who had lived the curse of doubt and rejection of God by their grandparents. I wonder how often their parents and grandparents had explained why they were born in the desert? Moses said to the people gathered that day… “It takes 11 days to go from Horeb (Sinai) to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.” 11 days! Only 11 days… and that was 40 years ago! Oh my, the price of saying NO to God!!!

Kadesh Barnea… just the sound of that name sent shivers down the spine of all who stood before Moses that day. Many clenched their fists and shook their heads in anger and regret. Kadesh Barnea was the place of tragedy, the place from which scouts were sent in to explore the wonderful land that now this generation can see, by looking across the Jordan river… right there! But when the scouts returned and gave a frightening report, at that place, Kadesh Barnea, the parents and grandparents of this young generation… adults who had experienced the power of God in the miracles in Egypt, miracles beyond anything we can imagine… they grew fearful and said NO to God! God then turned them back into the desert, closed the door to Canaan, and a 40 year death march began.

This event was so significant, that even though these young Hebrews, standing before Moses that day, didn’t want to hear about it anymore, they instead wanted to focus on what was ahead of them, awaiting them on the other side of the Jordan river…. oh no, Moses went back through the story again, in such detail it takes three chapters in Deuteronomy to recount what Moses said to them that day. WHY? Because there is great danger in forgetting our mistakes. There’s especially danger when we ignore or intentionally bury our mistakes deep in our memories, so deep we have to work hard to find them. Have you learned why burying your past mistakes is so dangerous? We learn best in the painful consequences… of our own mistakes or those we watch in the lives of those we love, isn’t that right? What lessons have you learned that way my friends?

So Moses concludes this first message with these words of warning: “Be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember…”(Deut. 4:9,10)

Over these next few days we’re going to look closely at Moses’ farewell messages, oh my there is so much that will help us, especially help as we try to help our kids and grandkids.

For today, let’s pause right here and ask ourselves a few important life questions?

1. Who is your Moses?

Someone who knows God better than you, and has a long history of God work in their life, that they can share the stories with you which might teach you some really important life lessons?

2. Do you or does your family have a place like Kadesh Barnea?

A place where you said NO to God and the consequences have been significant in your life or your family? What lessons does God want you to learn about that place and those events?

3. Is there a ‘promised land’ in your future?

In the journey you are living, is God refining you, changing you more and more into the person HE has designed you to be? Do you have a little sense of the story God is wanting to write with your life, the impact God is wanting to accomplish in our world through your life?

Here’s a song to help you contemplate those questions,

Today’s Scripture is Deuteronomy 1-4.

Choose below to read or listen.

Deuteronomy 1

Deuteronomy 2

Deuteronomy 3

Deuteronomy 4

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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