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Bible Study: Deuteronomy 33-34

Torah

This week ends the study through the books of Moses.  Next week we will begin in Genesis.  I pray to continue this comment each week until a whole year is completed.

This week I want to focus an amazing statement in Deuteronomy 34.  It is recorded in verse 7.

“Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.”

The normal process of aging evidently had not impacted Moses according to this statement.  It is appropriate to ask the question, why was this so?  What had happened in Moses’ years that had such an effect?  Had he secretly found the “fountain of youth” and drank of its water”?

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Bible Study: Deuteronomy 32

Torah

This week section of the Bible includes what is called the “Song of Moses”.  In this “song”, Moses recounts the past and predicts Israel’s future.  In last week’s section we discussed how God spoke directly about Israel’s unfaithfulness and coming dispersion into the nations.  Moses repeated the same prediction.  It would be almost 800 years before this prophecy concerning dispersion was fulfilled.  Today we have the advantage of the insight provided by history and realize that the entire prophecy has been, for the most part, fulfilled.  

In the “Song of Moses” he again foresees the future fate of his people.

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Bible Study: Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

Torah

In this Torah section, Moses rehearses the encounter between God and Israel at Mt. Sinai. Here we learn about the intent of God concerning the commandments. If Israel obeyed His commandments, it would make them “wise”. They would prosper and live long lives in the land that He was giving to them.

God declared,

“You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

It appears to me that both Israel and the Church have ignored this commandment. In Israel, the Oral Tradition evolved as an interpretative body of work of the commandments. This was eventually written in the form of the Mishnah. Commentaries were added to the Mishnah to form the Talmud. For all practical purposes, these added to the commandments by being more restrictive than the original commandments. 

In Christianity, it is acceptable to simply ignore any commandment which does not fit into Christian theology. One of the best examples of this is Shabbat. The Shabbat as well as others of the Lord’s festivals (Leviticus 23:37) are ignored and new festivals have been developed in their place.

The commandments define a lifestyle which is pleasing to the Lord. We might call it a “Biblical Lifestyle”. In Israel this would be seen as a “Torah Lifestyle”. Christianity denies the use of the word “Torah”, so it would be called a “Biblical Lifestyle”. God declared that this is wisdom. 

“So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” (Deuteronomy 4:6) 

In the animal kingdom, the creatures act for their own survival and well-being. This is classified as instinct. I believe what we call instinct is God speaking directly to animals. This process is confused in mankind due to the confusion introduced at the time of the fall. This confusing communication comes from the evil one who challenges every commandment given by God. The Torah becomes our “instinct”. As we live lives in the pattern of Torah, we appear to be wise because we are following the pattern defined by God consistent with His original design for human existence. There is a multiplication of knowledge today, but wisdom is a rare commodity.

At Mt. Sinai, Israel was fearful due to the awesome presence of the Lord on the mountain. Each heard God speak what we call the “ten commandments”. I believe that they each experienced the same phenomena later experienced by Elijah at this same place – the small, silent voice of the Lord. As a result, they feared for their survival and asked Moses to interact directly with the Lord on their behalf. Moses assumed the position of Messiah, effectively interacting with God on behalf of the people. He was a Messiah.

All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” (Exodus 20:18-19)

God heard their request and declared that they had done well.

“The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.” (Deuteronomy 5:28)

Finally, one of my favorite activities is to speculate about the nature of heaven. 

“And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens; darkness, cloud and thick gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form – only a voice.” (Deuteronomy 4:11-12) 

“Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.” (Deuteronomy 4:36)

If we think of heaven as a multi-dimensional universe distinct from the space-time continuum, then this event reveals a coupling of these two universes at Mt. Sinai. Note the term, “to the very heart of heaven”. This means something like “deep within the region of heaven”. Israel experienced this at Mt. Sinai and recorded it. Please see my book “Israel – God’s Interdimensional Portal” (available at Amazon) for more development of this subject.

Bible Study: Numbers 4-7

Torah

This section of the Bible lists the duties of the Levites.  Each family of the tribe of Levi had distinct responsibilities concerning the tabernacle.   The sons of Kohath transported the holy objects from the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.  The sons of Gershon transported the curtains and coverings for the tent of meeting.  Finally, the sons of Merari transported the structural elements of the tabernacle.  The Levites were numbered from one month of age through their lifetime, i.e., they belonged to the Lord for their entire life.  Their years of active service were from 30 years until 50 years of age.

Included in this portion of the Bible is the so-called “Aaronic Blessing”.

Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

The Lord bless you, and keep you;

The Lord make His face shine on you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace. (Numbers 6:23-26)

In this way, the priest “put” the name of the Lord in the sons of Israel, and God promised to bless them.

So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them. (Numbers 6:27)

One of the more obscure subjects included is this portion of the Bible is that of special vows that one could make to dedicate himself/herself to the Lord for a period of time.  Such a vow required that the person abstain from anything that would alter their minds, i.e., no strong drink, no wine, no grapes, not even raisins.  They were prohibited from altering the appearance that God gave to them, i.e., they didn’t cut their hair and I assume harm their beards in any way.  Finally, they were strictly prohibited from going near any dead person.  This should speak to a generation that insists on altering the way that God has created them.

Normally, vows were made for a specific period of time.  Some vows were lifelong.  The judge, Samson, was a lifelong Nazirite.  I am intrigued with the events surrounding the announcement of the birth of Samson.  His mother and father encountered an individual whom they assumed to be just another Israeli, but, instead, he was an angelic messenger from the Lord.  After delivering his message to the parents-to-be, Manoah, the father, prepared a burnt offering to the Lord.  The angel ascending in the flame of the offering into heaven.  Manoah and his wife fell to their faces as they realized that they had just experienced an awesome supernatural event.  This event is one of the numerous accounts of beings that are transported from space-time directly into the heavenly realm.  These events occurred within a relatively small geographical area of Israel.  (See my book “Israel – God’s Interdimensional Portal).

The interaction between God and Moses is very unusual.  

Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.”  (Exodus 33:10)

Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him.  (Numbers 7:89)

We believe that all Scripture are inspired by God and therefore profitable for revelation of the person and purpose of the Lord.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.  (II Timothy 3:16-17)

Yet the obvious intimate interaction of Moses with the Lord should signal to every believer the awesome significance of those books of the Bible attributed to Moses. They go beyond teaching to testimony.