Journey

Friday 8^th August

Read Deuteronomy 10

“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. ² I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.’

³ So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiselled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.

⁶ (The Israelites travelled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest. ⁷ From there they travelled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water. ⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. ⁹ That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord your God told them.)

¹⁰ Now I had stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you. ¹¹ ‘Go,’ the Lord said to me, ‘and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.’

¹² And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

¹⁴ To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations – as it is today. ¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. ¹⁹ And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. ²¹ He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. ²² Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.” (NIVUK)

The introductory history of the commandments continues; I see something new as I had never realised that under God’s instruction the tablets and ark were made before Moses went up the mountain the second time; but the focus shifts to the present. Moses identifies the priestly tribe ‘set apart’, the Lord being their inheritance is an insight I had also missed. The implication, the priest’s privileged relationship was far more important than rest in a land.  Moses spent another 40 days and nights in conversation with God and gained confirmation from Him that the journey should continue so that the promise made to Abraham would be fulfilled. So, what does God want of you now: fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve …… (v12-13). These verses include with all your heart and soul, and it seems to me that God is asking for a total commitment of trust and that following His ways will result in what is best (own good). Then Moses reminds the people who the Lord who they are asked to trust is; He owns heaven and earth, He is the one who, in grace, chose Abraham and this nation (there is nothing about earning His choice). He provides for, defends and loves the foreigner.  A clear statement that God’s love is not exclusive but inclusive of all who put their faith in Him, His people are to love the foreigners who are found in their midst, the lost, the marginalised and lonely.  Therefore, fear, serve, hold fast, praise (response of love) this awesome God, the God of gods and Lord of lords who saved you from Egypt and has blessed you. There are a whole lot of ideas in this chapter that reinforce what has come before (possibly an intended summary), the journey of God’s saved people continues; I am also on that journey, once a foreigner but now part of the people of faith who are loved and protected by Him and my heart response is to stand in awe, seeking to service and PRAISE.

Geoff Hinch