DEUTERONOMY - WEEK 1
GET EVERYONE TALKING IDEA: What has been the highlight or funnest thing you’ve done over the last two weeks off?
WATCH: Bible Project Video
PART 1
”We’ll start by reading from Moses’ first speech in which he is reminding Israel of the events 40 years prior”
Read Deuteronomy 1:19-35
19 Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea. 20 Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
22 Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”
23 The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. 24 They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol and explored it. 25 Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.”
Rebellion Against the Lord
26 But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. 27 You grumbled in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’”
29 Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”
32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
34 When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: 35 “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, 36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.”
1. What are the Israelites commanded to do?
2. What are the reasons that the Israelites rebel?
3. What does this passage teach us about what God is like?
4. What does this passage teach us about what people are like?
5. When have you seen yourself respond to God in a similar way to the Israelites?
PART 2
”We’ll now jump ahead to where Moses is warning his people to not make the same mistake twice”
Read Deuteronomy 4:1-9
4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.
3 You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.
5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
1. What does Moses say is the benefit of obeying God’s Law?
2. What things would would we be being called to ‘not forget?’
3. What might it look like for us to “Be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart’?
Apply:
We want to be a people who are embedded in the Gospel story….
Two ways that we can be sure to be reminded regularly of the reality of the gospel are 1) spending time with God each day, and 2) prioritising meeting together on Sundays and through the week.. Does anyone have any ideas about how we could be really helping each other to do both of these things well for the final 10 weeks of the year?
Pray in light of this.
Extra Deuteronomy Resources:
https://bibleproject.com/podcast/deuteronomy-q-r/
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/knowing-the-bible-deuteronomy/#week-1-overview
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/deuteronomy/#overview