DEUTERONOMY Succession
Purpose:
Written to remind the Israelites of what God has done for them and to encouragement them to rededicate their lives to him.
Author:
Moses about 1407 BC for the new generation entering the promised land to remind them of what God has done and encourage them to rededicate their lives to him.
Background/Themes
Story
The book of Deuteronomy opens with Israel camped east of the Jordon River in the Arabah in the land of Moab. Just before the people crossed the river into the promised land, Moses delivered an inspirational speech indicating how they were to live.
Moses has just stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights and third time and then returned with two stone tablets and a wooden chest, in which the 10 commandments were placed. The tablets were still in the ark about 500 years later when Solomon put in his newly built temple.
Themes
Deuteronomy is a powerful book on succession as it reflects how we are to think, how we are to focus, and how God looks at life and our responsibility on this journey on earth. What better glimpse than on the precipice of the Israelites entering The Promise Land.
The message of Deuteronomy: remember how God has expressed kindness in your life, and then commit yourself anew to trust, love, and obey him.
Curious Facts
The ark last appears in Israelites history during the reign of Josiah, about 300 years after Solomon.
Israel left Egypt and stayed at Mount Sinai for a year, where they entered into a covenant with God. Despite this of early-in-the-Journey time they struggled in their journey of doubt and willfulness in the face of many challenges. The consequence was that the entire original generation of Exodus was disqualified from entering the Promise Land. Not one, including Moses.
Kingdom Builder Teachings
Moses was the quintessential Kingdom Builder. He was the only person who ever spoke with God face to face (Exodus 33:11). He was called Israel’s greatest prophet.
God used Moses through his obedience. He was a man of slow speech (he stuttered) who reluctantly but obediently followed God call to lead his people out of Egypt. In Deuteronomy are Moses’ final words of life in the form of speeches to the new generation of Israelites before they enter the promise land.
Key Words
What God did
Deuteronomy 1:13 - Governance
Deuteronomy 1:17 - Favoritism
Deuteronomy 4:29 - Seek
Principles for Living
Deuteronomy 5:1-2 - Blueprint
Deuteronomy 5:6-21 - Commandments
Deuteronomy 5:7 - Honor
Deuteronomy 6:1 - Self Sufficiency
Deuteronomy 6:5 - God’s Word
Deuteronomy 6:12 - Loyalty
Deuteronomy 7:8 - Generational Promise
Deuteronomy 7:9 - Generational Covenant
Deuteronomy 8:1 - Obedience
Deuteronomy 8:2 - Discipline
Deuteronomy 8:3 - Insatiable
Deuteronomy 8:4 - Quiet Blessings
Deuteronomy 8:18 ESV - Wealth
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 - Discipleship
Deuteronomy 10:16 - Stubborn
Deuteronomy 10:18 - The Poor
Deuteronomy 11:8-9 - Blessings
Deuteronomy 11:12 - New Economy
Deuteronomy 11:18 - Bind God’s Word
Deuteronomy 11:22 - Accountable
Deuteronomy 11:26 - Harsh Laws
Deuteronomy 14:28, 15:1 - System
Deuteronomy 14:29 - Generosity Blessing
Deuteronomy 15:4-5 - Poor No More
Deuteronomy 15:10 - Giving
Deuteronomy 16:19 - Good Judgment
Deuteronomy 20:4 - Marketplace Battlefield
Deuteronomy 24:14 - Wages
Deuteronomy 24:19 - The Poor
Deuteronomy 27:17 NLT - Cheating
Deuteronomy 28:7 - Protection
Deuteronomy 28:12 - Blessings
Deuteronomy 28:15 - Curses
Call for Commitment
Deuteronomy 29:9 - Covenant
Key Words
Deuteronomy 29:18 - Poison
Deuteronomy 29:29 - Secrets
Deuteronomy 30:6 - Condition of Heart
Deuteronomy 30:15 - Choices
Deuteronomy 30:16 - Prosperity
Deuteronomy 31:23 - Successor
Succession
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 - Greatness/Praise
Deuteronomy 32:10 - Apple
Deuteronomy 32:45-46 - Generational Promise
Deuteronomy 33:1 - Tribes’ Blessing
Deuteronomy 34:4 - Mission Complete
Deuteronomy 34:7 - Moses’ Death
Deuteronomy 34:9 - Joshua’s Anointment
Deuteronomy 34:12 - Gift of Speech
Governance
Favoritism
Deuteronomy 1:13
“Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes and I will set them over you.”
Deuteronomy 1:17
Deuteronomy 4:29
“Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it. ”
Moses identified some of the inner qualities of good leaders:
1. Wisdom
2. Understanding
3. Respect
God cares about justice for all.
Deuteronomy 5:1-2
“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
God has chosen us, His people, we must chose him. Seek and you will find, but do so with devotion—this is what He promises.
“Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.”
God gave Moses and his people at Mt. Sinai his covenant (Exodus 19:20). He gave them a comprehensive blueprint that stated how he wanted them to live.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Commandments
Deuteronomy 5:6-21
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery...You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.”
Kingdom Builders understand God laid down these 10 laws as foundation to our moral code.
Honor MC Deuteronomy 5:6-21
Self Sufficiency
Deuteronomy 6:1
“You shall have no other Gods before me” Then, Moses warns: “Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.
“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
We thrive when we most depend on His strength through faith not on our self sufficiency.
God’s Word
Deuteronomy 6:5
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
God commanded the Israelites to teach their children his ways. They were to use ritual, instruction, and memorization to make sure their children understood God’s principles and passed them to the next generation.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Loyalty Deuteronomy 6:12
Generational Promise Deuteronomy 7:8
“Be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
Generational Covenant
Deuteronomy 7:9
“Rather, it is simple that the Lord loves you, and He was keeping the oath He had sworn to your ancestors. ”
Stay true to the goodness of God by remembering what he has done. Do not forget our blessings from God. Ingratitude breaks relationship with the Provider.
God’s promises transcend time and generations.
Obedience Deuteronomy 8:1
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”
God is faithful through a thousand generations.
“Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. ”
We are to obey God’s commandments with: our heart, our will, our mind, our body, our finances, our future. Obedience and disobedience carry inevitable consequences in this life and the next.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Discipline Deuteronomy 8:2-5
“Remember how the Lord God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”
Moses would often remind the Israelites that God uses hardship to shape their character.
Insatiable Deuteronomy 8:3 “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Real satisfaction can only come from total commitment to God and living by his words, The Word of God.
Quiet Blessings
Deuteronomy 8:4
“Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.”
The Israelites failed to take notice that for in the 40 years of wandering in the desert, their clothes did not wear out and their feet didn’t swell. Wealth
Deuteronomy 8:18 ESV
“You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives him the power to get wealth.”
The Hebrew word for wealth in this verse means ‘power, riches, substance, a force of men.’ As a faithful Kingdom Builder, it is very liberating to realize that The Lord “gives us the power to get wealth.”
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Discipleship
Stubborn
Deuteronomy 10:12-13
The Poor
Deuteronomy 10:16
“What does the Lord your God require of you? Only to walk in His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul...for your own well being.”
What does God expect of us? Respect, follow, love, serve, and obey.
This is the call of obedience.
Blessings
Deuteronomy 10:18
“Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiffed necked any longer.”
Concentrate on his real requirements for following Him: Respect, Follow, Love, Serve, Obey.
Deuteronomy 11:8
“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.”
God cares deeply for every human being on the earth. His heart breaks for the widows, children and poor, when their needs are unmet.
“Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
The blessings of obedience for keeping God’s commandments: Receive the Land of Promise.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Blessings
Deuteronomy 11:9
New Economy
Deuteronomy 11:12
“And so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
The blessings of obedience for keeping God’s commandments: Live there forever for generations to come.
Bind God’s Word
Deuteronomy 11:18
“A land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.”
God was establishing a new economic system called the Kingdom Economy.
Accountable Deuteronomy 11:22
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.”
Moses’ final speeches on earth make one thing clear: Study God’s words.
“If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow— to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to hold fast to him.”
Elders, priests, and kings were all under the authority of the covenant laws. God would enforce these laws by sending prophets to keep them accountable. In contrast, Israel’s neighbors, considered their kings as divine and above all laws.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Harsh Laws Deuteronomy 11:26
“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.”
These laws, between God and Israel, were given to Israel to set it apart from their neighbors.
System Deuteronomy 14:28-15:1
Generosity Blessing
Deuteronomy 14:29
“At end of every three years, bring all the titles of that year’s produce and store it in your towns.
At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. ”
The Bible supports an organized system of caring for the poor.
“The fatherless and the widows who live within your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand. ”
We are to be generous. God blesses our generosity. Poor No More Deuteronomy 15:4
“However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you [if you obey these commands]”
God has blessed you so that you will be a generous blessing to others. His leaders must never forget the poor.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Giving Deuteronomy 15:10
Good Judgment
Deuteronomy 15:10
“Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. ”
The Bible supports an organized system of caring for the poor. God told his people to use their tithe every third year for those who were helpless, hungry, or poor.
“Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of wise and twists the words of innocent.” It requires a life time of deliberating on the Lord’s ways of wisdom to discern choices at the crossroads.
Marketplace Battlefield MC
Wages
Deuteronomy 20:4
Deuteronomy 24:14
“For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
God is the always with us, in peace and in battle. We must dare to be bold for His Kingdom.
“Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns” We are to treat all people fairly, all the time and everywhere.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
The Poor Deuteronomy 24:19
Cheating
Deuteronomy 27:17 NLT
“When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ”
Throughout the Old Testament God told his people to treat the poor with justice. Powerless and poverty stricken people should provoke our hearts; we are never to forget the poor.
Protection Deuteronomy
28:7
“‘Cursed is anyone who steals property from a neighbor by moving a boundary marker.’ And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’”
Boundaries are to be respected, whether regarding land or relationships. This was about allotting the territories for each tribe.
Blessings
Deuteronomy 28:12
“The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.”
Every leader can relate to the image ‘enemies from, seemingly, every direction’. Message: Trust God has your back and in control. You are his agent.
“The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.”
Blessings take many shapes and sizes, but they always flow when we are obedient. This is a promise from God’s word.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Curses Deuteronomy
28:15
Covenant
Poison
Deuteronomy
29:9
“However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you. ”
“Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.”
God warns us to stay away from dangerous actions. The natural law of his universe makes it clear that wrong doing towards God or others has tragic consequences.
Secrets
Deuteronomy
29:18
Deuteronomy
29:29
“Make sure...no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.”
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
God’s covenant with his people can be summed in two sentences:
1. Love God with all your heart, soul and strength.
2. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
When one turns from the Lord, bad things happen. Poison seeps into the community causing bitterness between people.
God has not told us everything about this universe and how it operates but he has told us enough for us to know it is under his control and that he is a trustworthy, all-knowing, God.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Condition of Heart
Deuteronomy 30:6
“The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. ”
It wasn’t the distance that stood between the Israelites and the promised land; it was the condition of their heart. God used their “experiences in the desert” to prepare them to live in obedience.
Choices
Prosperity
Deuteronomy 30:15
“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.”
Our choices make a difference. Choosing to follow God’s ways benefit us and our relationships with others. Choosing to abandon God’s ways brings harm.
Successor
Deuteronomy 30:16
Deuteronomy 31:23
“For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord...will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”
“The Lord gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.”
We are to listen. We are to respond in obedience to God’s commands.
God’s promise to Joshua: He will with him as he enters the Promise Land. But, he must be courageous and strong.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Greatness/ Praise Deuteronomy 32:3-4
“I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”
Moses mixed up his delivery of God word with great oration, prophetic utterances and mighty songs.
Apple Deuteronomy 32:10
Generational Promise
Deuteronomy 32:45-46
“He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye.”
God gave favor to Joshua.
Tribes’ Blessing
Deuteronomy 33:1
“When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.”
“This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced on the Israelites before his death.”
Moses’ wisdom transcended generations in this declaration that we must apply the words and teachings of scripture and pass them on to our families and others.
Moses’ was the greatest prophet of all time is finishing his third and final speech of Deuteronomy.
Key Word Scripture Verse Insight
Mission Complete Deuteronomy 34:4
“Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”
I imagine God whispering to Moses, in the first moments of his first glimpse of the promise land, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Moses’ Death Deuteronomy 34:7
Joshua’s Anointment
Deuteronomy 34:9
“Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.”
He was a purposeful leader who never lost his enthusiasm or energy to pursue his mission.
Gift of Speech Deuteronomy 34:12
“Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.”
This is an anointing: the laying of hands and the filling of the Spirit.
“For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”
Moses had the gift of speaking with knowledge. From a “slow of speech” shepherd to a national leader and powerful orator.
Memory Cards
Memory Cards
Memory Cards
Memory Cards
