Week 13, March 23–29: Deuteronomy 14–34; Psalms 37–41

• Sun      Mar 23 Deut. 14–16    Ps. 37
• Mon     Mar 24 Deut. 17–19    Ps. 38
• Tue      Mar 25 Deut. 20–22    Ps. 39
• Wed     Mar 26 Deut. 23–25    Ps. 40
• Thu      Mar 27 Deut. 26–28    Ps. 41
• Fri        Mar 28 Deut. 29–31   
• Sat       Mar 29 Deut. 32–34   

As we continue through this part of Deuteronomy, it may be helpful to reiterate some principles we thought about in relation to the Leviticus reading a few weeks ago. These are some of the ways the laws of the Pentateuch are instructive and profitable as God’s inspired word to us as Christians. (2 Tim. 3:16–17)

First, they reveal God’s character. They show us who God is—his holiness and justice, his love and grace. For instance, several times we are told something is an abomination to God. In Deuteronomy 27:15, for example, it says, “Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD.” For the Israelites, for the nations around them, and for us today as well, the laws of the Pentateuch reveal God’s character—who he is, what he loves, and what he hates. These laws don’t apply to us in the same way they did to the Israelites, but like the Israelites, we are to meditate on God’s word and instructions, including the Pentateuch’s story and laws. As we do, we grow in our knowledge of our holy and loving God.

Second, the laws of the Pentateuch are instructive for us because they help us see what kind of life is pleasing to God. Again, we don’t live under the law the way the Israelites did. We are under the New Covenant and not accountable to keep the specific laws in the way the Israelites were. Still, however, the principles underlying those laws still hold true today. God has not changed and the things he commanded are based on principles rooted in his unchanging character. We can look to the laws in Deuteronomy as windows into the eternal principles they are grounded in, as helpful guides for how to live a wise, godly life as Christians.

Just one example to illustrate this: This week we read that they were to build parapets, or railings, on their roofs when they build houses in the Land (Deut. 22:8). The principle underlying this law is that human life, made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27), is to be valued. They were instructed to protect life by building a railing to keep people from falling off the roof. While our roofs may not be the kind that would have parapets, it is still just as important for us today to value human life and to take measures to act in accordance with that principle.

God’s commands in Deuteronomy help us better understand the principles for loving God and living in a way that pleases him. As you read through these chapters, be thinking about how the laws reveal God’s character and guide is in principles for living a godly life.

And the third and most important value the law provides for us today is that it points ahead to Jesus. The law presents a standard for holy living, and this standard is ultimately impossible to fulfill without God’s grace and help. The law requires holiness. If there’s one thing that comes through clearly in the Pentateuch, in the OT as a whole, and throughout all of humanity’s history, it is that no one can live up to the righteous requirements of the law. In this way, the law looks forward to something better. Deuteronomy points to the one who hung on a tree and bore the curse of sin in our place. (Deut. 21:23)

Our reading in Deuteronomy, and the Pentateuch, wraps up this week. In some ways, it may seem the message Moses is trying to communicate in this first section of Scripture is contrary to the message of the gospel. It appears to teach that we can and must earn the Lord's favor by obeying his laws perfectly. God, through Moses, has been giving the Israelites laws, added to the other stipulations given earlier in the Pentateuch (in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers). The people were instructed to keep these laws diligently; if they do, they will receive God’s blessings and enjoy a prosperous life in the Promised Land. However, by the time we get to the end of Deuteronomy, we read what is ahead for the Israelites, and it is not good news.

As Moses brings to a close all he has been saying in Deuteronomy and in the whole of the Pentateuch, we see a bleak future in store for Israel. Chapter 28 catalogs all the horrible things that will come upon them if they disobey God’s commands, and as we will see in our reading of the rest of the OT, these are the exact things they will eventually experience. Then Deuteronomy 29–31 include predictions of Israel’s future, most of which are quite pessimistic. We see this most clearly in the Lord’s words to Moses in Deut. 31:16–18:

“Behold, you are about to lie down with our fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land they are entering, and they will forsake me and break m covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide my face in that today because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.” (Deut. 31:16–18)

Nevertheless, even in the context of this gloomy forecast, Deuteronomy also includes a bright glimmer of hope. There is a way for God’s people to enjoy his presence and blessing, beyond their failure to keep the commandments of the Old Covenant.

A New Covenant is coming!

God says if they return to him, he will restore their fortunes and have mercy on them. He will gather them to himself from where they have been scattered in exile. He himself will circumcise their heart and they will obey the Lord and turn to him with all their heart and with all their soul. (Deut. 30:1–10). This is the promise of the New Covenant, a promise that is reiterated and expounded upon throughout the rest of the Old Testament (Jer. 31:31–34: 32:37–41; Ezek. 36:22–32; 37:24–28).

The Old Covenant was the covenant God made with the people of Israel, which we have been reading about in the Pentateuch. But the Old Covenant is not the same as the Old Testament. The message of Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch, and the whole Old Testament is that the Old Covenant was not ultimately going to work; it wasn’t going to produce in God’s people the righteous requirements of the law that are. They would not achieve the holiness of a holy God. The Old Covenant laws God gave to Moses and the Israelites were gracious gifts to them, but they were temporary, never given with the expectation that the Israelites would be able to keep them perfectly. A new and better covenant was always the plan. The Old Testament anticipates the New Covenant.

And praise God the New Covenant has come. When we read the Old Testament, we can read it with joy that Christ has come, and his blood is the blood of the New Covenant (Luke 22:20). As Christians, we have been made new and we are being made new. Through the saving work of Christ and the sanctifying work of the Spirit, God has given his people the new, circumcised hearts we read of in Deuteronomy. Just as the Old Testament promised, the Old Covenant has been done away with, and the New Covenant has come (Heb. 8:6–13; 9:15).