Deuteronomy - Lesson 7

It's a delight to be back with you again and to share in the gospel according to Moses. Yesterday, or in our previous sessions, we discussed the Gospel of Grace in the first four chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy, which is Moses’ first address. In chapter 4, we shifted gears from historical recollections to, well, they're still historical recollections when they go back farther, but now he is really preaching. So, watch yourselves, lest you forget the history. 

And in this chapter, we have three climactic moments in Israel's experience of the grace of God. Verses 1 to 8 of chapter 4 you have the Grace of God in Torah. Verses 9 through 31, you have the Grace of God in Covenant. And now we're talking about the climax, the greatest grace of all, the Grace of God in Salvation and we want to rediscover that. Deuteronomy is a very special book, calling God's people to celebrate His grace and demonstrate covenant love for Him with action that glorifies His name. 

And back to the screen to remind ourselves where we are in the plot of the book. We are at the end of Moses’ first address here where that red bar is. This is the climax. Some would say this is the tail end. No, it's the opposite, actually. It is the climax of this address. And you can tell Moses is getting really excited, for this is the foundation of everything. We were slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out. And that's where we are now. 

Geographically we remind ourselves that the Israelites are parked on the east side of the Jordan River in the plains of Moab right here, and Moses is coming to the end of his first of four addresses, pastoral addresses, we should say farewell addresses. He has gathered his congregation for one last series of meetings so that he might remind them of the grace of God in their past and they might commit themselves to Him. 

In this one, we're talking about the grace of God in salvation. God's people are a privileged people; they've been graciously redeemed and set apart as His special treasure, His holy covenant people. 

So, let's look at the text first. “Now inquire concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created human beings on the earth; inquire from one end of heaven to the other, whether a great event like this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 

“Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? Or has any god ever dared to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation by daring acts, by signs and wonders, and war, and a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great acts of terror, all of which Yahweh did for your sake in Egypt before your very eyes? 

“You were shown these things that you might know that Yahweh is God; there is no other besides Him. 

“From heaven He let you hear His voice so he might discipline you, and on earth He let you see His great fire, so He could speak to you, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. 

“And grounded in His love for your ancestors, He chose their descendants after them and personally brought them out of Egypt with a great show of force, that He might drive out before you greater and more powerful than you and give you their land as your grant, as it is today. 

“Therefore, know today, keep it firmly in mind that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 

“So listen to the ordinances and commands that I command you today, and it will go well for you and your descendants after you, and your time will be long in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you for all time.” This is the word of the Lord. 

The Grace of Salvation. This is a very deliberately structured text. We can see the plot, or trace the plot, something like this. He begins with a historical lesson. “Ask now, has anything like this ever happened?” verses 32 to 34. 

Then you have a theology lesson, “This happened that you might know that Yahweh is God, there is no other.” 

Then you have a second part to the historical lesson. The history actually goes further back than the exodus, and he takes us back to the ancestors whom God called, verses 37 to 38. 

And then he reiterates the theology lesson, “This He did that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no other.” 

And then finally, he concludes with a practical lesson. 

You see immediately this is prophetic preaching at its finest. This is homiletically so profound and so rhetorically effective. He knows exactly what he's doing here. And once you start looking at these texts with these sorts of lenses, you see that this is not just a bunch of gibberish thrown together. Moses is a preacher of the first order, and you see it here in the last part of his first sermon. 

So, what I propose to do now is to collapse the two history lessons into one, versus 32 to 34 and then 36 to 38; and then we'll collapse the two summary theological lessons; and then we'll talk about the practical lesson that comes at the end. So, we have three parts to our discussion of this text: the history lesson, theology lesson, and the practical lesson. So what? Well, let's go to the history lesson. 

Part I: “Inquire concerning the days that are past, that were before you since the day that God created humans on the earth. Inquire from one end of the heaven to the other whether a great event like this has ever happened.” Well, what he is doing here? He is inviting his hearers to do post-doctoral, exhaustive research. Go to all the libraries in the world and see if there are any parallels to what you've experienced. Has any people ever heard the voice of God speaking? So, this is the academic challenge. Has any great event like this ever happened? 

But there's more. Has anybody ever heard about anything like this? That is, do you find anything like this in the mythology or in the legends or in the fairy tales? Has anybody ever imagined something like this? And of course, these are all rhetorical questions which call for a negative. Of course not, I've never heard of anything like this. 

But then the third question - now he gets more specific, Has any people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire and survived to tell about it? Now we're beyond the act of salvation. Now we're at Sinai. They have experienced God there. 

And finally, Has any god ever dared to do what Israel's God has done? Now NIV and other translations soften what's actually happened here with attempted to do. No, no, no, no. This is much stronger than attempted to and with the possibility of failure. He dared to do this. And here it is. “Has any god ever dared to go and take another nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by daring acts, by signs and wonders?” Gods don't do that. Gods stay in their own turf. They don't go to another god’s territory and claim out of that territory a group of people for himself. They say where they belong. 

There are a couple of things about this that we should also add. Not only do they stay where they belong, they are primarily interested in turf, not in people. The mythologies of the other countries and the theologies of the country, this covenant triangle we've been looking at - god as the patron; the land, as the territory; and the people, as the devotees of the god - that's everywhere. It's everywhere. 

But in the other nations around Israel, the primary interest of the deity is always in the land, the land. They don't care who occupies that land, so long as when they're in that land, they serve him. So that when you're in Babylon, Marduk is the God of Babylon. And so, the original inhabitants of that region worshiped Marduk. And then the Chaldeans, Arameans folks, Nebuchadnezzar comes from the Chaldean outsiders. They moved in, they took over. They worshiped Marduk. And then the Persians come. They worship Marduk, that's all Marduk cares about. He doesn't care about the people. In Israel, it is the opposite. God was first connected to a people and then He secondarily gives them the gift of land. The point is the human population. 

Well, here and in this instance, what He did is He invaded. God went to Egypt, and out of Egypt He snatched a handful of people and said, You are no longer slaves of Pharaoh. You are my ébed im, servant. Exactly the same word, but they're not slaves of Yahweh, they are vassals, privileged vassals, of Yahweh. That's what He was doing here. 

Well, now what he does here, in reviewing what God has done, you will notice he uses seven expressions. Has any God dared to take for Himself a nation from the midst of another by daring acts, signs, and wonders, war, mighty hand, outstretched arm, great acts of terror. 

What has God done? Daring acts. The word here is to test, massâ, testing acts, that is, challenging the rulers of the land. Let's see if you can stop me. And He moves into Egypt. Pharaoh can’t stop Him. But if you read the Exodus narratives in a couple of places, it says specifically He fought, He defeated the gods of Egypt. The gods of Egypt couldn't keep Him at bay. With daring acts, He invaded their land. 

With miraculous signs, ōtōt, these are attesting signs. When Moses doubted the people would ever listen to him, God said to him, Well, what's that? What's that in your hand? A staff? Throw it on the ground. And it turns into a serpent. Put your hand in your shirt and it turns leprosy. Pours water on the ground, turns to blood. Three signs; attesting, proving, signs of a true prophet. Well, here, these are miraculous signs pointing to Yahweh’s identity. 

And then wonders, portents, awesome deeds, that draw attention to the greatness of the one acting. 

Then there is war. And of course, we know the climactic battle happened when they crossed the Red Sea and God called the waters back and they drowned all of Pharaoh's armies. But again, as I said before, this is not only war against Pharaoh, whom the people viewed as god. In Egypt, they viewed their king as the god. And the king certainly viewed himself as a deity. But it's also the gods, the real gods up in heaven; He challenged them and He defeated them in battle. 

And then you have His strong hand and His outstretched arm. It's very interesting that these two expressions - strong hand and outstretched arm - happen regularly in context where Egypt is involved. And our good friend Jim Hoffmeier has done some great work on this. And Ezekiel in chapter 29 has an entire oracle of judgment against Egypt in which He says, I will break the arm of Pharaoh. And the word arm and hand are all over that short little text. 

Well, here, when we're dealing with Egypt, God beats the Egyptians at their own game. And we realize that when you look at the Egyptian iconography of how they portray their pharaohs, here's one, the Narmer Palette. Notice the pharaoh's arm raised, the raised arm. And typically, they're grabbing the pathetic captive with one hand and with the other one, they’re beating him. The strong hand and the outstretched arm. It's there. It's everywhere in Egyptian iconography, in little plates, engraved plates like that. Ramses II. Merneptah. They all do this. 

That's what God has done. He has beat them at their own game with His own outstretched arm and His strong hand, He has defeated those who held Israel captive. I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, the slave house. And that's what He did. That's number six. 

Which leads to one more: His awesome deeds, môrā’îm gᵊdõlîm. These are the great big things that make those who watch say, Whoa! This is Steven Spielberg outplayed to the nth degree. Wow. How did they do that? Awesome deeds. This is a climactic moment and it's very Egyptian in its character. We call this local coloring. When prophets speak about or to particular cultures and nations, they tend to adopt the language that's appropriate for those folks. And of course, these people have just come out of Egypt and they will have seen the reliefs, Ramses II, whatever. They will have seen the reliefs in Egypt of these outstretched arms and strong hands. And God says, I beat them all. That's what it took. This wasn't child's play. Mighty acts of war to defeat the enemy. That's the historical lesson. Well, that’s the first part of the historical lesson. 

But then he takes their history back even farther. Well, in Part II, he speaks about Sinai, which is a sequel to Egypt, “From heaven He let you hear His voice so He might discipline you and on earth He let you see His fire.” We talked about this at the beginning of chapter 4 in verse 12 and 13, where they saw the fire. But then he takes the history back further. The history of His saving grace goes back long before the exodus, verse 37, “Grounded in His love for your ancestors, He chose their descendants after them and personally brought them out of Egypt,” literally - with his face - “with a great show of force that He might drive out before you nations greater and more powerful than you and give their land to you as it is about to happen today.” Well, name another circumstance in all of any history where this has happened. 

Now, typically our translations have that verse 37 is simply because He loved your fathers. But we need to understand that the Hebrew word in Deuteronomy is always an action word. It's not just a disposition, it's just not an attitude. It's not just rosy, pink foam or whatever. It's not a romantic word. It is covenant commitment demonstrated in action in the interest of the person. 

Grounded in love for the ancestors. How does God prove He loved the ancestors? By choosing their descendants and personally bringing them out of Egypt with a great show. Well, the ancestors are long gone, you know, so they're not the ones watching this. But on the other hand, the readers are hearing this. God's covenant commitment to His people began way back there with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It's now 400 years earlier, but this is the proof of His love for them then. This is the proof. He’s about to give them the land too, which is in fulfillment of the promise to the ancestors as their grant. 

Well, this is the first occurrence of the word love in Deuteronomy, so you might as well make a few more comments about it here. In Hebrew, ‘ãhav occurs in various forms 22 times in Deuteronomy and there's a wide range of meanings. When used theologically and socio-politically, the word is an action. Covenant commitment demonstrated in action in the interests of the other person. 

There's a Hebrew scholar, Abraham Malamat, that has got a couple of essays on this word, and they're very good. And he argues this Hebrew word should never be translated into English with a single English word. Ãhav is not just love. It's always demonstrated love. It's always action; it's not just words; it's not just disposition. So, you'll hear me repeat this over and over again. Deuteronomy is the gospel of love. And we alluded the other day to John 3:16, which is Exhibit A for what this means. God demonstrated His covenant commitment to the world, kosmos, by giving Jesus, His one and only Son. It's an active word. 

Yahweh demonstrated covenant love for the ancestors here, the patriarchs, by choosing their descendants for a special covenant relationship with Himself and as His agents of grace to the world, by bringing them out of Egypt, by defeating their enemies before them, and giving them the land of Canaan as their grant. This is all proof of His covenant commitment to the ancestors. This is the Gospel according to Moses. It is grounded and rooted in God's love. 

Well, and now he's at the end of the last one, giving them the land of Canaan as their grant. Your translations always have that as their heritage or inheritance. That is so misleading. Oh, it is passed on from generation to generation, but how does Israel get it in the first place? In our world, inheritance means that which you get when your father or mother pass away and they distribute among the children of the family. That's inheritance. It presupposes the death of the owner. 

It doesn't work here. God didn't die. No, this is feudal vocabulary, not inheritance vocabulary. God is the Lord of the manor. The land of Palestine is the estate that He grants to Israel as their reward for service to Him or anticipation of future service. That's the relationship between God and the land. It's His land, but He gives it to his vassals, His agents, that they might farm it for Him, to the praise of His glory. And that's how this word works in the book of Deuteronomy. 

There are places where Moses says, The Levites have the Lord as their grant. The same word. Well, it cannot mean inheritance. Yes, it is a hereditary ownership, you know, as you move from generation, but in its origin, it is not that. Nobody has died here. He is the living God who has given this. 

Well, then you come to Moses’ theological point. What is the point of all this? Was God just having fun? Was this HIs day in the sandbox? Actually not. It is a theological point. He says it twice, “You were shown these things, so you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no other besides Him.” And He proved it by taking on the strongest gods known on earth, the Egyptians. He didn't wait until the Egyptians were weak. Here's my opportunity now I can get my people out. But according to even a lot of evangelicals these days, He took them out of Egypt at the strength of their power, not when they were weak. And the interesting thing is He brings them to the land of Canaan, not at a time of Canaanites’ weakness. We'll see this in chapter seven. They are strong. They're mighty with fortresses to the heavens. God doesn't wait for a weak moment. Ah, now is My chance. No. He beats them all at the game to demonstrate that He alone is God. There is no other besides Him. 

And notice He has a name. This is how He has introduced Himself to His people. It's why He had told Moses in Exodus chapter 3. The people will ask, What's the name of the one who sent you? We don't know Him. And He said, I will be who I will be. And now we discover He is Yahweh, the One who has demonstrated His character in salvation. 

Second. (That's verse 35 “You are shown these things that you might know that Yahweh is God.”) The second verse is the same as the first, only a little bit louder and a little bit, not worse, but more forceful. “Therefore, know today, keep it firmly in mind,” don't forget it, “that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” And guess what? We are not just serving a petty little deity who owns a little piece of property. We are serving the One who is Creator of all things and owner of the cosmos. 

That reminds me of the story of Jonah, where he's sleeping down in the bottom of a boat. And this horrific storm has come up and the sailors on board, they're all Phoenicians, they are offering sacrifices to their gods, undoubtedly the god of the sea, who they think is really angry with them. And they have to go and wake up Jonah, what are you doing here? Sleeping. Everybody's dying and you're sleeping? Shame on you. Well, and then they ask, Who are you? Whom do you serve and what's your country? And he says, I am a Hebrew; I serve Yahweh, the creator of heaven and earth. And then the sailors really get frightened. Now they realize they're not just fighting the sea god. They're fighting the god of the universe. And it raises the stakes even higher. Well, here,”Know He is Yahweh in heaven above and on the earth below.” There is no place where Yahweh doesn't reign as God. 

Well, did the Israelites get this point? Well, we do have some evidence. Remember, in Exodus chapter 18, they come back and Moses’ father-in-law meets them. They're back at Sinai. This is Midian, this is where Jethro lives. And “Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things Yahweh” remember he's a Midianite. Yahweh is not his god, as far as we know; he's a Midianite. He was excited to hear the “good things Yahweh had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians” (there's that hand) “he said, ‘Praise be to Yahweh,’” there's a Midianite talking, “’who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians” there it is “and of Pharaoh. Who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now, I know that Yahweh is greater than all other gods, for He did this to those who treated Israel so arrogantly.’” He got the point. That was the point. 

Or Moses’ confession in Numbers chapter 13. He lists the names of all of the scouts. They're not spies. The scouts that Moses sent out, he lists them. And then at the end, he adds a little parenthetical comment. Oh, by the way, Moses called Hoshea, the son of Nun, Joshua. We talked about this briefly in an earlier session. Hoshea means, simply “he saves,” assuming it's a god. And this is a common form of expression throughout the ancient world where gods are perceived as saviors. But you fill in that blank with whoever is your god or who whoever you attribute your salvation to. And now Moses says, in the light of the exodus, we cannot call him Hoshea anymore because Egyptians could have people named the same thing. Canaanites could name their kids Hoshea. He saves, the God saves. For us, there's only one God. And his name is Joshua, Yahweh saves. 

Or Rehab. She is a Canaanite and this is now 40 years after, you know, they've died in the desert. But the memory among the Canaanites is alive. She says, “I know that Yahweh has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We've heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea.” That's 40 years ago, but is still talking about it. “When you came up out of Egypt and what you did to Sihon and Og.” That was just two weeks ago. “The two kings of the Amorites, east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone's courage failed because of you for Yahweh your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” She got it. She got it. And she's a Canaanite. We'll have more to say about her when we get to chapter 7. 

That was the point. God's actions on Israel's behalf had a primary point of revelation - that Israel may know who Yahweh is, that the Egyptians may know who Yahweh is, and that the whole world may know who Yahweh is. The word's getting out. The question is, will the Israelites get the point? Well, this is a new generation standing in front of Moses. And as long as he's talking, he has a very hopeful disposition toward this group. You're better than your parents were who died in the desert. 

Well, and then, of course, good preaching always ends with not only, so what theologically, but so what, in Francis Schaffer's terms, how then should we live? If we are the objects of God's gracious salvation what difference does that make? And here you have it. “So, listen to the ordinances and commands that I charge you today, and it will go well for you and your descendants after you, and your time will be long in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.” That's the glorious promise. 

But notice the condition. It's always conditional. The promises to Abraham were conditional: because Abraham kept my Torahs, he kept my laws, and he didn't even have any of them but he was still faithful to them. He embodied covenant righteousness as defined in Deuteronomy. Therefore, God is transferring the promise to his son, Isaac. Because that's conditionality. Well, if they “listen to the ordinances and the commands that I charge you, it'll go well for you.” This is the key to health, happiness and success. It is indeed. And he will spell out in great detail what ‘it will go well for you,’ what that means in the blessings and the curses of chapters. We'll see them already in chapter 6 and in chapter 8, and in chapter 11, and then ultimately 28. 

Well, this is anything but legalism. Did you get that? God did not call Israel to keep the commandments. That was not the purpose of His election. Despite what our Jewish friends say, that is what they say. God called us to keep the commandments and perhaps in the context of keeping the commandments, we'll figure Him out. It's the other way around. God called them to Himself. Personally. And the progression is always this way in Deuteronomy. Revelation yields theology, which yields ethics. Covenantal ethics arises out of a theology which arises out of history. Or you want to be even more practical: experience leads to theology, which leads to ethics. That's what we have going in. 

Well, what's the significance of this text and in the broader picture? For the structure of the book this is at the end of the first address. He's sending them back home to their tents for the night. It's late. It's been a long day. And he's been lecturing for 7 hours and you're tired. Go to bed. But what does he want them to be singing about as they leave the church service? Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. (Singing) Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me Thy great salvation so rich and free. That's the point. This is where it started for Israel in God's gracious election. 

And of course, for biblical theology this is profoundly significant. The law is always a response to grace. Always. Well, it isn't always, but in biblical terms, it always is. It's always the response to grace. God acts graciously to undeserving people. If they're deserving, it's not grace. He acts graciously to undeserving people and they respond joyfully with obedience to whatever their suzerain says. 

And when He starts revealing His will, their disposition, the right disposition, is not like what our disposition was when we were teenagers resisting our parental authority and our parents asked us to do something. Why did you ask me? Can't David do it? My younger brother? Why do you ask me? Yeah. Or why do you ask me to work so hard? No, no, no, no, no. The response of faith is never that. The response of faith is always in light of all that You've done, is this all You ask of us? Where would we be if it weren't for Your grace? We would be in Egypt making bricks without straw and just blending into the population, if we survived in any form at all. We would become Egyptians and then our identity would be gone. We are who we are exclusively by the grace of God. This is the consistent, and of course, for us. 

Let me give you a Christian version of this text. I've paraphrased it now using Christian vocabulary. This is our story. Chris Wright is quite right when he says that this is paradigmatic for the individual and collective experience of salvation. In Matthew 1:21, “You shall call His name Jesus.” Not because He’s a new Joshua. Joshua is not a type of Christ; Joshua was not a savior. Joshua is nowhere in this story. Joshua's name doesn't speak about Joshua. It's not a commentary on him. If anything, the Canaanites needed salvation from him; he's the aggressor. No, it's not about Joshua. It's about Yahweh. He is the savior. Joshua's name points to Yahweh. 

And now in Matthew 1, “You shall call His name Jesus, yᵊhôšûa’, for he will save,” (that is Exodus language), “His people,” (that's a covenant language), “from their sins.” This is the first time in the Bible you have this vocabulary, Exodus vocabulary, with reference to sin. First time. Not once in the First Testament Is anybody saved from sin. There are a couple of places where it comes close, but they use a different word. It's not sin; saved from your abominations or something like that, or the effects of sin. But here sin is the object of the preposition. Save you from your sins. That's what this is about. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Yahweh alone. Jesus is Yahweh. 

Ask now - and I'm using the vocabulary. Don't read it on the screen. Just listen. - “Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of the heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 

“Did any people ever encounter their gods directly, as you have encountered Him, and still live? Or has any god ever dared to invade the kingdom of darkness and take for Himself a people from the midst of that kingdom by trials, and signs, and wonders, and war, and a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which Jesus Christ your God has done for you on the cross before your eyes? 

“To you it was shown that you might know that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, God; there is no other besides Him. 

“Out of the heavens He came as the divine word, that he might reveal the Father to you, and on earth, He revealed His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of hesed ve emet, grace and truth. 

“And because he loved the ancestors and chose their spiritual offspring after them and brought you out of the kingdom of darkness by His great power, disarming the rulers and authorities and putting them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him” (from Colossians) “in order to grant us an inheritance”, this is klēronomia, inheritance. It's the same language. We need to rethink that Greek usage as well, “since we have been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the council of His will.” 

“Know therefore today, and fix it on your heart that Jesus Christ is Yahweh. He is God in heaven, above and on the earth beneath. There is no other.” That's the theology lesson. 

Here's the practical lesson, “Therefore walk in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ, Yahweh, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy and giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” 

This is the story. This is the gospel, and we've never seen it before. It's right there on the surface if our eyes will but open to see what's there. The end. 

Student Comment/Question: So, when you talked about God being concerned about people rather than land, it seems like that fits with the geography because they didn't have an empire. They just had a small piece of ground that wasn't really dominating anything. And yet because of, especially with the covenant of Abraham, they were supposed to be a blessing to all people. Because everybody had to come and see how they would worship. And so, by seeing that they were an influence, even though they didn't dominate any empires or anything. 

Dr. Block: Well, and of course, geographically, the location of the promised land, that's scarcely accidental. It's at the crossroads of three continents. By way of the sea, it's Europe. By way of the desert, it's Asia. And by way of the coastline, it's down to Africa. This is intentional that the light of the gospel of grace might go everywhere. Yes. 

Student: Yeah. And it works the same with us too, because God's not interested in our material possessions or anything like that. He's interested in how we can be an influence to people in our sphere of contact, 

Dr. Block: And we'll see this over again in the book. In that context, the well-being of people is tightly tied to material well-being that the world may know what a difference grace makes. And so is the point of Israel's flourishing in the midst of the nations - it’s not for Israel to flourish. It's not about Israel. It's that the world may know that I am Yahweh, and this is a picture of the Eden to which God is calling His cosmos ultimately. And that was the mission. We will have time to talk about that. 

Student: Well, And when you talked about the recounting of what God did, I think sometimes we get familiar with the story so it becomes common. Oh, yeah, we know that these things happened. And yet for the people that were involved to think of that, they went through it not knowing what the end would be. We know the end. We know the end. And so, they went through it the first time knowing that. Yeah, but then how important it was for Moses. You know, multiple times in this book to remind them. That it's important for us to remember also. 

Dr. Block: Exactly. And of course, this is why when you get to the New Testament, the only ritual that is prescribed for Christians universally is the communion. Take, eat, this is My body given for you that you might remember. Don't forget, we are not self-made. We are not part of the kingdom because we've earned it, we qualified. No, we didn't. It is only the blood of Christ that makes it possible. Yeah. This is the New Covenant in My blood. My life for you. It is all grace. Mm hmm.