Seder 133 Sermon: Deuteronomy 1---Moses' Rebuke

 In Jewish tradition the book of Devarim (a.k.a. Deuteronomy) is often described as Moses' final rebuke of the children of Israel.  The places listed in Deuteronomy 1:1 are associated with the nation's failures during the Exodus years, as laid out in the Targums.  There is implicit rebuke in verse 2, which notes that Israel spent 38 years on an 11-day journey.  

We have a tendency to view rebuke as a negative thing.  But in a sermon at Church of the Messiah on February 4, 2023, Kyle Kettering explained that rebuke can also be viewed positively, as encouragement that points to better results in the future.  A person who rebukes you is one who cares enough about you to do so and feels you are worth the time and effort. 

The book of Proverbs says that responding positively to rebuke is a characateristic of the wise.  "A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool," we read in Proverbs 17:10.  Ecclesiastes 7:5 adds, "It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools."

Kyle passed along some interesting Jewish traditions about rebuke.  One said there was a reason that Israel was blessed by an enemy (Balaam) and rebuked by a friend (Moses), rather than the other way around.  Blessings from an enemy and rebukes from a friend are recognized as genuine, while blessings from a friend and rebukes from an enemy may not be taken seriously.

Another tradition says that the nations rebuked Israel after the rescue of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace.  "You have a God like this, so why did you worship idols?" they wanted to know.  

Kyle reviewed the principle of rebuke in Lev 19:17 and the procedure for Chistian conflict resolution in Matthew 18:15-17.  He listed several purposes of rebuke:

• It can turn a brother away from error.
• It can create unity and harmony.
• It can take spiritual life to a new level.
• It can merit a reward---Proverbs 24:25.

He also talked about how to properly give rebuke, based on Matthew 18.  

Seder 133: Deuteronomy 1---Learning from History

 In the book of Deuteronomy Moses preaches his final sermons to the people of Israel at the end of the fortieth year of the Exodus.  Commentator Daniel I. Block calls this book "the gospel according to Moses."  It is a book often quoted by both Jesus and Paul.  

Deuteronomy belongs to a couple of different genres.  It is a farewell address, with Chapter 33 paralleling Jacob's blessings to his children in Genesis 49.  Jesus' upper room discourse (John 13-16)  is a New Testament farewell address.

Deuteronomy is also a document of covenant renewal, with a structure similar to ancient Hittite suzerain-vassal treaties.  At the end of the 40 years in the wilderness, it is time for the children of the Exodus generation to embrace the covenant for themselves.  The members of the new generation were either young children, or not yet born, when the covenant was ratiifed at Mt Sinai.  

In addressing this generation of Israelites, Moses highlights a few key lessons from the first 39 years of the nation's journey.  First he recalls when they left Mt Horeb (a.k.a. Mt Sinai) in the second month of the second year of the Exodus.  At that point God charged them to go and conquer the Promised Land, whose borders had the potential to extend all the way from the Nile to the Euphrates as they carried out their mission to bless all nations (vv 6-8).

By that point they had grown from an extended family to a small nation, too big for Moses to govern on his own (see Ex 18; Num 11), as God carried out his promise to give Abraham many descendants.  Moses needed a group of godly assistants to serve as judges under him then, and the same thing would be true in the Promised Land.

The Israelites were just a few weeks' journey from their destination when they left Mt Horeb, and Moses had encouraged them to take courage and carry out their mission (vv 19-21).  At that point Moses was asked to send a group of men to scout out the land (v 22).  Such a strategy certainly was not necessary, but it had the potential to get the Israelites excited about the land they would be invading.  (For more discussion, see my post on Numbers 13.)   

The fact-finding trip ended up revealing that the Israelites were not ready to conquer the land.  Instead they would remain in the wilderness for another 38 years, until all who had been counted in the military census of Numbers 1, except Joshua and Caleb, had died (Num 14:29).  

This episode in Israel's history continued to haunt Moses 40 years later.  The sequence of events begun by Israel's rebellion eventually led to Moses himself losing a chance to enter the Promised Land (Deut 1:37).   

Seder 133: Psalm 56---Trusting in God in a Time of Trial

 The superscription associates Psalm 56 with David at a time "when the Philistines seized him in Gath."  (Psalm 34 has a similar setting.) 1 Sam 21 records that David, in flight from King Saul, at one point escaped briefly to Gath.  However, David was soon recognized as the Israelite leader who had killed Goliath, so after feigning madness, he fled Gath as well (1 Sam 21:10-22:1).  

Whatever the original setting, the psalmist is feeling constant pressure.  He uses the phrase "all day long" three times (vv 1,2,5).  

He realizes, though, that his oppressors are only human beings, and he can place his trust in the King of the Universe (vv 3-4).  He praises God's Word (v 4), which declares God's love and faithfulness to his people.  

Verses 10-11 echo verses 3 and 4.  There is parallelism in verse 10:  "In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise."  The midrash on Psalm 56 suggests that in the first clause, which uses "Elohim" for God, the psalmist is praising God's justice; while in the second clause, which uses YHWH for God, he is praising God's mercy as expressed in Ex 34:6-7.  

Certainly in this psalm he is asking for God to mercifully deliver him from his trial.  He is also asking that God's justice be applied to his oppressors (v 7).  He is confident that God is keeping track of everything that is happening and will make things right.  Verse 8 contains the striking image of a bottle in which all his tears are collected, an image related to God's book in which everything is recorded (Ps 139:16).  

He is confident that God will deliver him and looks forward to giving a public sacrifice of thanksgiving when that has occurred (vv 12-13).