BibleProject | One Story That Leads to Jesusનમૂનો

The last, rather grim, part of Moses’ speech focused on the people who died during the wilderness journey, the generation set free from Egyptian enslavement. God delivered them and invited them into a new life with him, but they turned away in rebellion. Moses reminds the new generation that turning from God is also turning toward death.

Now Moses sets the choice between life and death before the people once more. He wants them to listen to Yahweh and know that Yahweh listens to them. As you’ll learn in the video, listening involves more than merely hearing God’s words. It includes an active response that aligns with God’s instruction.

In today’s reading, Moses reminds the Israelites that their love for Yahweh begins by listening to the Ten Commandments. He says that people who choose to give their wholehearted allegiance to Yahweh alone will enjoy the blessings of Eden: abundance and fertility in a lush garden land. However, turning from Yahweh to trust other gods or anything else will bring ruinous exile and death.

Moses warns the people that trusting idols will be little more than trading the infinitely powerful rescuer Yahweh for lifeless blocks of wood and stone. When the Israelites fall into danger and call out to Yahweh, he will hear them and rescue them.

Reflection Questions

• Meditate on Moses’ call to ancient Israelites to avoid any kind of idol. We may not bow down to blocks of wood, but we often spend time and resources in service to things we believe can give us life. What are those things, or idols, in your world?
• Compare the restatement of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5 to their first appearance in Exodus 20. What differences do you notice? Why do you think these new emphases appear here?