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Wednesday 10/14/26
Thru the Bible: Old Testament Review – Deuteronomy Part 2
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Thru the Bible: Old Testament Review – Deuteronomy Part 2
Overview of Deuteronomy Pt. 2
Last week in our overview of Deuteronomy we covered Deut. 1, 3, 7 & 20 – Who the 7 nations were Israel was to kill all of and what 2 kings they conquered during their wanderings.
These were important overviews due to the impact they have on doctrines being espoused by many in the church today which have three problems with them:
- They are not factually correct
- They exist to explain away something inconsistent with pre-conceived ideas regarding God, His ways, His justice and mercy and His covenants with mankind
- They require things to be embraced as empirically true which are not clearly, and unambiguously taught in scripture without forcing assumptions into various texts.
This week we are going to finish out the book of Deuteronomy beginning with chapter 2 where we see this pattern of God taking land from one nation and giving that land to another nation. I think most Christians, if they think about it at all, assume God’s giving Israel, the land of Canaan by promise, was something unique in human history which He only did for them because they were His people. But that is not true, which we are about to read.
Turn to Deuteronomy 2:4 and keep your finger there so we can turn to it quickly.
Now to be certain, God gave this particular land, this specific geographically rich land to the Israelites for additional reasons beyond the reasons He does this for every nation. Nevertheless, the miracle of taking a land from one nation to give it to another is something God has been doing since the beginning. It is one of the reasons He told Adam and Eve, then Noah to multiply and cover the earth. Then He forced the issue at the Tower of Babel.
Paul explains why in Acts 17 which we have covered many times and I will read that before we read our passage in Deuteronomy 2. You can follow along if you wish, it’s in Acts 17:22-31,
“(22) Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said:
“Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. (23) For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD
Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
(24) The God Who made the world and everything in it–He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. (25) Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.
(26) From one man He has made every nation of men to live all over the earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live, (27) so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. (28) For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
(29) Being God’s offspring, then, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.
(30) “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to REPENT, (31) because He has set a day on which He is going to JUDGE THE WORLD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
So as we have covered many times, God takes personal responsibility for giving land to nations. He owns the fact that their time to seek Him while in possession of that land is limited and predetermined. If they fail to seek God, it is a sin since Paul referred to this ignorance of not seeking God something which God is now calling upon all nations to repent of before He comes and judges the world in righteousness.
This is seen later in Moses’ command to the 2nd generation before they took the land in Deuteronomy 8:19-20,
“(19) If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will perish. (20) Like the nations the LORD is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the LORD your God.”
Also Deuteronomy 9:4,
“(4) When the LORD your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The LORD brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ Instead, the LORD will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.”
So with that in mind let’s now read where God tells Moses to begin their trek through the wilderness and what people to leave alone and why in Deuteronomy 2:4-22,
“(4) Command the people:
You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir.
They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful. (5) Don’t fight with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even an inch of it, because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.
(6) You may purchase food from them with silver, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink. (7) For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness.
The LORD your God has been with you this past 40 years, and you have lacked nothing.’ (8) “So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion–geber.
We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab. (9) The LORD said to me,
‘Show no hostility toward Moab, and do not provoke them to battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.'”
(10) The Emim, a great and numerous people as tall as the Anakim, had previously lived there. (11) They were also regarded as Rephaim, like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.
(12) The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession the LORD gave them.
(13) “The LORD said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley. (14) The time we spent traveling from Kadesh–barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was 38 years until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
(15) Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they had all perished.
(16) “When all the fighting men had died among the people, (17) the LORD spoke to me,
(18) ‘Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. (19) When you get close to the Ammonites, don’t show any hostility to them or fight with them, for I will not give you any of the Ammonites‘ land as a possession; I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.'”
(20) This too used to be regarded as the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived there previously, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummim, (21) a great and numerous people, tall as the Anakim. The LORD destroyed the Rephaim at the advance of the Ammonites, so that they drove them out and settled in their place.
(22) This was just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites before them; they drove them out and have lived in their place until now.”
The word “destroyed” literally means “to overcome” them and drive them out. So while many no doubt died, it did not eliminate an entire people group. It only displaced them and made them nomadic.
In Deuteronomy 3 we see the land of Og, King of Bashan was conquered during the wilderness wanderings and given to the 2½ tribes of Reuben, Gad and the ½ tribe of Manasseh under the strict conditions that the fighting men continue with them and not return to that land to join their families until they had helped their brethren from the other tribes to take the lands that fell to them by lot. We read about the completion of that in Joshua 22.
This is also the chapter where Moses, in a greatly condensed account, revealed to the second generation how God got angry with him and denied entrance into the promised land.
Deuteronomy 3:23-29,
“(23) At that time I begged the LORD:
(24) Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like Yours?
(25) Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.
(26) “But the LORD was angry with me on account of you and would not listen to me. The LORD said to me, ‘That’s enough! Do not speak to Me again about this matter. (27) Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
(28) But commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.’ (29) So we stayed in the valley facing Beth-peor.”
In Deuteronomy 6 we get the Shema and further encouragement to keep the law or God will wipe them out.
Deuteronomy 6:4-15,
“(4) Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.
(5) Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
(6) These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.
(7) Repeat them to your children.
Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
(8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.
(9) Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
(10) “When the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give you–a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, (11) houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, wells dug that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant–and when you eat and are satisfied, (12) be careful not to forget the LORD Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
(13) Fear the LORD your God, worship Him, and take your oaths in His name.
(14) Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you, (15) for the LORD your God, Who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise, the LORD your God will become angry with you and wipe you off the face of the earth.”
In Deuteronomy 7 Moses tells this 2nd generation that when they enter the Promised Land they are to destroy the 7 nations that are there.
Now I want to slightly amend something I said last week in response to a question Pam asked.
The command was to utterly destroy the 7 nations, but Israel failed to do that completely. We see in Joshua that they allowed themselves to get tricked into a treaty with the people of Gibeon and later in Judges we see several remnants of people from these 7 nations which were left alive, some of which were brought into slavery to Israel.
So the command and the follow through were not the same.
Additionally, there is a difference between texts that mention driving out the inhabitants of Canaan and those that command total destruction and in the end it is distinguished largely through literary style.
The following points illustrate the several ways these words can be understood within various contexts:
- Ancient Near Eastern Idiom: Many scholars note that military and historical texts from the ancient Near East frequently used sweeping, totalizing language (“killed them all,” “left none remaining”) as standard idiom to describe a decisive military victory rather than a literal, 100% mathematical extermination.
- Coexistence in the Text: This is supported by the fact that the Bible immediately and continuously notes elsewhere that specific people groups—and entire cities of Canaanites—were not actually killed off, and continued to live in the land (e.g., Judges 1:28, Joshua 17:12–13).
- Driving Out (Dispossession): Passages like Deuteronomy 6 and Exodus emphasize displacing, expelling, or driving the nations out of the territory so Israel could settle there without adopting their religious practices.
- Total Destruction (Judgment): Passages commanding no mercy (such as Deuteronomy 7:1–2 or Joshua) frame the action as a specific, divine judgment against deep moral corruption, such as child sacrifice, ritual prostitution, and extreme violence, after a stated period of patience (e.g., the 400 years noted in Genesis 15:16 and theological commentary).
- The Intermarriage Paradox: Commands warning Israel not to intermarry with the Canaanites or adopt their customs only make practical sense if some population remained, aligning with the reality that complete eradication was neither the universal expectation nor the historical outcome.
Deuteronomy 11:18-32,
“(18) Impress these words of Mine on your hearts and souls, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads.
(19) Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
(20) Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, (21) so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your fathers.
(22) For if you carefully observe every one of these commands I am giving you to follow–to love the LORD your God, walk in all His ways, and remain faithful to Him– (23) the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than you are.
(24) Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. (25) No one will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, as He has promised you.
(26) “Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse: (27) there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of the LORD your God I am giving you today, (28) and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the LORD your God, and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.
(29) When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.
(30) Aren’t these mountains across the Jordan, beyond the western road in the land of the Canaanites, who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, near the oaks of Moreh?
(31) For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you possess it and settle in it, (32) be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances I set before you today.”
In chapter 18 Moses explains that he will be replaced by another prophet and that prophet by yet another throughout their generations BECAUSE they did not want God to speak to them directly. This reinforces that this way of interaction with God was NOT God’s first choice, but something God honored as a request of Israel.
Deuteronomy 18:15-22,
“(15) The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.
(16) This is what you requested from the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said,
‘Let us not continue to hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die!’
(17) Then the LORD said to me,
‘They have spoken well. (18) I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
(19) I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to My words that he speaks in My name.
(20) But the prophet who dares to speak in My name a message I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods–that prophet must die.’
(21) You may say to yourself,
‘How can we recognize a message the LORD has not spoken?’
(22) When a prophet speaks in the LORD’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”
Deut. 27-28 mentions the Blessing and the curses which we will not cover until we get to Joshua.
Deuteronomy 29:10-22 God alters the covenant He’d made initially with Israel with this 2nd generation by emphasizing certain parts as well as adding a few details.
What He emphasizes is the need for obedience and not allowing the bitter root turning one’s heart away from God to worship other gods. This would defile them and cause God to judge the land for their sakes. Additionally God includes in the provisions of the covenant future generations as well as foreign camp laborers (such as woodcutters and water-carriers) into the covenant community.
Additionally, Moses points out a sobering reality: even after 40 years of wilderness provision, “to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4).
Without specifically mentioning it, this sets the stage for looking forward to a deeper, inner transformation God will accomplish in yet another and future covenant. It is an unspoken foreshadowing of the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36, where God will circumcise the heart and bring righteousness by faith through the Messiah.
In Chapter 30 Moses comes full circle to the blessings and cursings of chapters 27-28 and says that if they disobeyed and brought judgment upon themselves, if while they are in captivity or exile to other nations they,
“…come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, (2) and you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am giving you today, (3) then He will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
(4) Even if your exiles are at the ends of the earth, He will gather you and bring you back from there. (5) The LORD your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than He did your fathers.
THIS is where Solomon got the prayer he prayed at the dedication of the temple and which Christians often attempt to use to influence politics found in 2 Chronicles 7-8.
“(6) The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live. (7) The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you.
(8) Then you will again obey Him and follow all His commands I am giving you today. (9) The LORD your God will make you prosper abundantly in all the work of your hands with children, the offspring of your livestock, and your soil’s produce. Indeed, the LORD will again delight in your prosperity, as He delighted in that of your fathers, (10) when you obey the LORD your God by keeping His commands and statutes that are written in this book of the law and return to Him with all your heart and all your soul.
(11) “This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach. (12) It is not in heaven, so that you have to ask,
‘Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’
(13) And it is not across the sea, so that you have to ask,
‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’
(14) But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.
(15) See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. (16) For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
(17) But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are led astray to bow down to other gods and worship them, (18) I tell you today that you will certainly perish and will not live long in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan.
(19) I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.
Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, (20) love the LORD your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the LORD swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Then in Deuteronomy 31, Moses explained that he was not 120 years old and was not allowed to enter the land with them but must now inaugurated Joshua in his place to lead them into the land and cause them to possess it.
Moses wrote down “This Law” and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the Ark of the Covenant and all the Elders of Israel.
He commanded that it be read to the whole assembly every 7 years to EVERYONE old and young, male and female, including the resident strangers among them.
Moses brought Joshua before the tent of meeting where God appears in a pillar of cloud and God commissioned Joshua unto the work of leadership appointed to him in Moses’ place.
Then God told them that Israel would betray Him and serve other gods, so He wanted Moses to record the words of a song for Israel which would testify against them on that day.
Deuteronomy 31:19,
“Therefore write down this song for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the Israelites.”
Deuteronomy 31:24-30,
“(24) When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word of this law, (25) he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the LORD’s covenant,
(26) “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.
(27) For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are rebelling against the LORD now, while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after I am dead!
28) Assemble all your tribal elders and officers before me, so that I may speak these words directly to them and call heaven and earth as witnesses against them. (29) For I know that after my death you will become completely corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. Disaster will come to you in the future, because you will do what is evil in the LORD’s sight, infuriating Him with what your hands have made.”
(30) Then Moses recited aloud every single word of this song to the entire assembly of Israel:”
The song covers Israel’s future unfaithfulness to God and the terrible consequences. Though much of what it says happens throughout their stay in the Promised Land in small expressions, it is only fully realized when they go into Babylonian captivity and are never really a full people again even until the coming of Messiah.
It is also in this song that Moses states one of the phrases we used to take out of context for years back in our Word of Faith days and which I dare say the great majority of Christians still misquote and misuse. It is in Deuteronomy 32:28-30, and says,
“Israel is a nation lacking sense with no understanding at all. (29) If only they were wise, they would figure it out; they would understand their fate.
(30) How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?”
Far from being a promise of conquering their enemies, it is a verse confirming that God will hand them over to their enemies and remove His protection from them so that 1 of their enemies will be enough to overcome 1,000 Israelites.
Now we have a precedent which this passage pretty well set for us which I believe we can lean on and it support the weight. The wording used implies something eminent or at least swift or sudden WHEN it comes. Both are implied.
In Deuteronomy 32 God addresses the future unfaithfulness of His people and His turning them over to the nations, but in verse 32 He seems to turn His attention to the nations He’d turned them over to and pronounce “swift judgement” on them.
But as it played out it seems as if the time of Israel’s judgment is experienced little by little throughout their time in the Promised Land but culminates in all that happens from the Babylonian captivity onward until the coming of Christ the Messiah. And while each land that brought them into exile or bondage did receive judgment on some level it seems that the complete fulfillment of all God says in this chapter may still be put off until the great tribulation and the war Christ makes before establishing His Millennial kingdom.
Key points which are in favor of this understanding:
- Moses frames the song as a “latter days” warning (Deuteronomy 31:29), and verse 35 says the nations’ calamity comes “in due time,” so the timing isn’t tied to one moment in time or event in history.
- Verses 26-27 show God restraining total destruction so the nations won’t boast, “Our hand is high.” That is the charge against them: they took credit for what God ordained.
- Verse 36 says God vindicates His people when their power is gone, so the turning point comes at Israel’s lowest ebb.
How the rest of Scripture treats it:
- Judgment on the nations is layered. Assyria (Isaiah 10:12-15) and Babylon (Jeremiah 25:12; Dan 5) fell for their pride, but some prophecies about them describe more than happened at that moment. Isaiah 13:19-20 and Jeremiah 51:62-64 describe permanent desolation, and Obadiah 15 says the day of the LORD is near “upon all the heathen.”
- Israel’s dispersion didn’t end at the first coming. Luke 21:20-24 has Jerusalem trodden down until “the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,” and Romans 11:25-27 ties Israel’s deliverance to the end of that period.
- The New Testament keeps drawing on this chapter, both for the present age and for the end. Paul uses verse 35 in Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30 (which also applies it to God’s own people), and uses verse 43 in Romans 15:10 for the Gentiles.
- The end-time echoes are strong. Revelation 15:3 has the saints singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Revelation 14:18-20 has the “ripe” grapes of the earth thrown into the winepress, which echoes the “grapes of gall” of Deuteronomy 32:32-33. Revelation 19:2 says God “avenged the blood of his servants,” almost word for word Deuteronomy 32:43, and 19:11-21 shows Christ coming in judgment. Isaiah 63:1-6, Joel 3 and Zechariah 12-14 all describe the nations judged at Israel’s deliverance.
- Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-2 in Luke 4:18-19 and stopped before “the day of vengeance of our God,” which suggests that part waits.
Assessment: The best-supported reading is partial judgments through history, then a final consummation at Christ’s return. Regarding this much, scripture is explicit!
That having been said, nothing specioficially labels Deuteronomy 32 as a “tribulation text” – not specifically.
Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1 do pair a time of unparalleled distress for Jacob with deliverance, which matches verse 36. Placing the tribulation before the return and a thousand-year kingdom after it depends on how you read Revelation 19-20.
Scholarly consensus in reputable Christian circles which reveal broad agreement:
- The song of Moses is almost like the claims of a plaintiff in a covenant lawsuit, if you will, that moves from apostasy to judgment through the nations, then to divine restraint and vindication.
- Its horizon extends past Israel’s historical exile, and verse 43 includes the Gentiles.
- It is poetic and telescoping rather than a precise chronology of empires.
Where consensus divides:
- Dispensational and many historic premillennialists read it much as you do: partial fulfillment through history, final fulfillment in the Tribulation and Christ’s return, then the Millennium, with national Israel restored (Romans 11:26).
- Amillennialists and many postmillennialists read it as already and not yet. Judgment on Israel came through the exile and AD 70, and the Gentile in-gathering fulfills verse 43. The final vengeance comes at one Second Coming with no separate millennial phase. “All Israel” is usually understood as the elect of Jew and Gentile together, or as Jewish elect saved throughout the age.
- Preterists locate much of the fulfillment in AD 70 and the fall of Rome.
- Dating also matters. Evangelical commentators generally accept a Mosaic-era origin, so the song is a real prophecy. Many critical scholars date it later and read it as reflecting history rather than predicting it.
Bottom line: This represents a mainstream, exegetically credible premillennial reading, but it isn’t the consensus of all reputable Christian scholarship. The near-consensus is that the song is partly fulfilled and consummated at Christ’s return. The real disagreement is whether that consummation involves a distinct future Tribulation and Millennium.
So the precedent this sets is that while it has been anywhere from 3,200-3,400 years since the settling of the tribes in the Promised Land until now, there still has not been the final judgment of those nations and the text spoke of swift judgment. Now this without a doubt carries a notion of suddenness WHEN it comes, but it also implies that the judgment is not tarrying. This has profound implications for those who largely believe in Preteristic fulfillment of the national promises to Israel in 70AD due to the prophetic language using words of imminent judgment. If what God said to Israel 3,200-3,400 years ago has not yet been fulfilled, then we get a better clarification for what swift can mean!
We only have chapters 33-34 remaining, but there are some interesting things in those chapters which I want to spend a moment on which would take us well later than I feel we should go tonight. So we will wrap those chapters of Deuteronomy up next week on our way into the book of Joshua.
