March 7, 2012 Deuteronomy 28-30, 27

March 7, 2012

Deuteronomy 28-30, 27

 

I have always had a love and special place in my heart for the Jewish people.  They are the chosen people of God and they have been through and apart of so much for centuries.  We are leaving the Mosaic Law and we will now begin to read about this nation and see them begin to grow.  It's almost like they were children when they were taken out of Egypt, children in the desert, and we are going to hit the puberty stage soon J  The Lord wanted to reestablish the Covenant and is ready to let them out to the Promised Land.  He knew what is in this world and reminds His precious children to guard themselves and keep to the Law. 

 

Israel: "The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways." (28:9)  They had this promise from God that went back for generations when it was first promised to Abraham.  They knew God, they saw Him.  All they had to do was obey and follow.  We know they would fall, be ungrateful, and turn to other gods.  We read a prophesy (that we have seen before) that a nation would come and take them away to a far off land, and be utterly destroyed.  The Assyrians and the Babylonians did this as we will later read. 

I have a picture of a Star of David next to 28:64, "Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth, to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known – wood and stone."   The A great Diaspora took place at the end of the first century AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.  Many of the Israelites left and went to other parts of the world.  1000 years later, the Crusades took place and Jerusalem was a city conquered and conquered.  In 1492 the Inquisition began, and the Jews were expelled out of Iberia and many countries after that.  They fled to the newly discovered Americas (where cryrto-judiasm was the only way to survive) and into eastern Europe.  1939 World War II began we all know what happened to Jews.  But there is hope in the Promises that God has made that they will be restored and that they still are His chosen and loved nation. (29:14) 

 

Us: God reveals Himself to us a lot here.  We have seen his Wrath and that He is  a Jealous God.  We have also seen that He keeps His promises and that He is very Loving and Nurturing.  We see His Mercy.  In chapter 30:11 – 19 God reminds us that there is nothing He puts in our lives that is not from Him and gives us nothing we can't handle.  We are to be obedient to His commands and walk in His ways.  This is the choice we all must face in our lives, and we are to "choose life."  I love verse 20 in the NKJV, " love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days."   We must first be listening for His voice in order to obey.  And CLING!!!  I think of a baby animal that clings to its mother.  Divan and I saw monkeys in Costa Rica and this baby just held on to the mother as she climbed on branches, gathered food, and jumped from tree to tree.  If that baby didn't cling, it would have fallen and died.  We must hold on to our Father, our Abba.  He is the only way for life.