Lecture 25.docx

The last, and in some ways most important of the interpretive issues of Deuteronomy, is the discussion of the covenant or covenants, because two are mentioned, in Deuteronomy chapter 29. Now remember our earlier discussion, that I see the first verse of Deuteronomy 29 introducing narratively. what i...

The last, and in some ways most important of the interpretive issues of Deuteronomy, is the discussion of the covenant or covenants, because two are mentioned, in Deuteronomy chapter 29. Now remember our earlier discussion, that I see the first verse of Deuteronomy 29 introducing narratively. what is spoken of by Moses in this third speech in 29 through the end of chapter 30. Again I believe these are introductory words. Verse 1, these are the words of the covenants, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab. besides or in addition to the covenant which he made with them at Horeb. Now that second covenant, the covenant made at Horeb, that's the place of agreement. That is the Mosaic Covenant, the covenant made at Horeb, made at Sinai. So what is this second covenant? And the predominant position today is, it is, since this is a covenant renewal document, this is a remaking, this is a re-establishing of the Mosaic covenant made with first generation Israel at Sinai. This covenant is now remade, renewed, reestablished with second generation Israel on the plains of Moab. This is, as you can see, the Sinaitic covenant. And you've got some good names. Merrill, even Grisanti, EBC2, Kylan Dalich. But before we ever got into this discussion, wait a minute, didn't they hold your position on the speeches? Yes, they did. Alright, so this is and has been traditionally the classic position. However, for those who traditionally have taken the dispensational position, that there is a distinction between the church and Israel, and that distinction will work itself out ultimately in God having a program during this age for Jew and Gentile in the church and then in the future reestablishing a work with Israel. This has been viewed as a further covenant. associated with the Abrahamic Covenant. This has been referred to as the Palestinian Covenant. And this, let me give you this understanding, that the Abrahamic Covenant, God promises to Abraham a people, a nation, that will reside in a land ultimately under a king. And so they would see the national aspect of that promise related to the Mosaic and only to the New Covenants that God made with Israel as a nation. Now this covenant is A further enhancement, it is a covenant which supports the Abrahamic covenant, and to that nation I will give this land. And they emphasize that in chapter 29 and 30, chapter 29 is Israel being dispossessed of the land. So 29, 22, in generations to come your sons will rise up after you. The foreigner who comes from a distant land when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases which the Lord has afflicted it, that is the land will say, all its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and productive and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adama and Zeboiain. which the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath. And the nation shall say, Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger? So the consequence of their disobedience to the Mosaic Covenant is going to be their removal from the land. And on the basis of their repentance and restoration, Then in verse 4 of chapter 30, if your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there he will bring you back, and the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed and you shall possess it, and he will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. So this covenant is about Israel losing the land and then... being restored to that land in the future. That's why it's called the Palestinian Covenant, it's about the land. It's a follow-up covenant which enhances the promise given to Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant that to your seed I will give this land. Now your seed will be a nation, and your seed will receive this land, and of course ultimately as a nation. there will be a king ruling over them, and so the third covenant which is supposed to then be a subservient covenant to the Abrahamic will be the Davidic, which we will see when we get to 2 Samuel chapter 7. So as we think in terms of orthodox evangelicalism, of the last 150 years or so, this This basically has been the debate on whether chapter 29 and 30 is a restatement, a renewal of the Mosaic covenant, or whether it is a new and distinct covenant, the Palestinian covenant, which is more related to the Abrahamic covenant than to the Mosaic covenant. Of course that's my problem with the Palestinian covenant, which is it is given within the context of Deuteronomy where Moses has just completed his explanation and exhortations to Israel based upon the Mosaic Covenant. And interestingly, in Deuteronomy 29, whatever else you have to say, whatever this other covenant is, it is in some way defined in the Mosaic Covenant. with the Mosaic Covenant, not with the Abrahamic Covenant. You say, well, why do you say that? Well, going back to 29.1 of Deuteronomy, this is a covenant besides, or in addition to the covenant which he made with them at Horeb. Now let's go back to Genesis chapter 26. In Genesis 26 we see the same Hebrew term used. Genesis 26. in a event. A famine. Genesis 26.1. Now there was a famine in the land. Now this famine is after Abraham has died. It is a famine while now Isaac is in the land. There was a famine in the land besides the previous famine that occurred in the days of Abraham. It's almost like the Holy Spirit knew that years, centuries down the road that liberals would arise saying that this is a mistake that they found and had this. This story about a famine where the patriarch left the land or didn't leave the land, and they couldn't make heads or tails so they decided to put it in two places. But it was really the same, it wasn't even the same famine, literally. It's the tradition of a famine that has now had two stories associated with it and so both have made it in the way of the Bible. It's almost like the Holy Spirit knew exactly how liberals would think and so almost answers the question, is this the same famine as took place in Genesis chapter 12? No, it's not the same famine. It's a famine besides or in addition to the previous famine. If you don't believe that, that's the famine that occurred in the days of Abraham. And when that famine occurred in the days of Abraham... Abraham had left the land and gone to Egypt. What what do we see here for Isaac? So there's family of the land. So Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelek the king of the Philistines. So he is moving from from where he was in Hebron and he is moving to the southeast to Gerar to the land of the Philistines. east. But verse 2 in Amazeth that was not his final destination. He is moving southeast from Hebron and if you continue to move southeast through Gerar where are you going to come? To Egypt. What did Abraham done? Famine in the land he had gone to Egypt. Famine in the land during Isaac's day he is on his way toward Egypt. But in Gerar the Lord appeared to him and said... do not go down to Egypt stay in the land of which I shall tell you sojourn in this land and I'll bless you in your seed etc and I'll multiply your seed because of the promise I made Abraham and by the way Abraham was a lawkeeper before the law was ever given now is this the same famine and the answer is no is it very closely associated with the famine of Genesis 12 and the answer is yes the famine in this land is very much like the famine which had previously occurred so much so that Isaac is tempted to respond to that famine in exactly the same way as his father Abraham had So you can't say, well, you know, the previous famine, that was a famine where God withheld the rain. Of course, what other kind of famine is there to produce that? But it could be, okay, but this is a famine where the locusts come in and eat everything. I mean, ultimately, it doesn't make any difference what the circumstances were. There is no food. So this could be mixing apples and oranges, but there's no warrant for that within the text. It seems as though the text is saying, look, the same kind of phenomena that happened in Abraham is now happening again, with the result that Isaac's response is very much like Abraham's, if not stopped, by the Lord's coming directly and speaking to him. And of course then you ask the question, so why did the Lord come and directly speak to Abraham? And I can't answer that question. The Lord's will. The Lord's sovereign. He wanted Abraham in Egypt. He doesn't come and stop him. He does want Isaac to go, so he does. But there is famine and another famine. Now do you see the parallel when you get to 29.1 of Deuteronomy? Covenant just as Genesis 26 speaks about a later famine that is like unto a previous famine we have a later covenant which is like unto a previous covenant. But is it the same covenant? The answer is... No, it might be closely associated with it, but it's not the same covenant. Now, Craig and McCombsville both get to chapter 30 and say, this covenant sure sounds like the New Covenant. The only reason they know that is because they've already read Jeremiah and Ezekiel. There's nothing inherent within, you know, within the Torah itself at this point would say this is the New Covenant. But they talk about Israel's repentance. They'll return to the Lord and obey Him with all their heart and soul. God will restore them from captivity, bring them back from the farthest parts of the earth back to the land. God will circumcise their hearts. that will result in their loving the Lord their God with all their heart and soul That will bring them to obedience that will result in prosperity as they obey the Lord they say oh you read chapter 30 verses 1 to 10 and You've read Jeremiah 31 Ezekiel 36 and 37 and we'll talk about those passion we get there this sure sounds like the new covenant so these days blend the two that that this covenant is both the Sinaitic and the new covenant now brothers of exegesis means anything The covenant singular made with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the previous covenant made at Horeb, you can't say God made a covenant and that covenant is covenants. Now there is a very close connection between these two covenants. In fact, what God says about this new covenant is related to the old covenant. But when the new covenant is going to be introduced, Jeremiah is going to be in the context of its comparison and contrast with the old covenant. The old covenant will be spoken of as Jeremiah speaks about the new covenant. So to have this be the new covenant and yet the old covenant being spoken of within that covenant. Now again I realize I have read beyond the Torah. And like all of us I've got to be very very careful that I'm finding what I'm finding within the Torah and not what is spoken of later. Because the... Later prophets could have misinterpreted the Torah. Now I don't believe being in errant scripture. They have. But I've got to divorce myself as much from that at this point and say What is being said in Deuteronomy and why? Now going back Chapter 28 ends as I said open-ended and Moses has explained the Sinaitic stipulations and now their specific application to second-generation Israel as they go in the land. Oh, I don't don't walk out here saying I don't see any connection in Deuteronomy between what Moses says in Deuteronomy and the Sinaitic Covenant. I see a lot of connection in chapters 5 through 28 where Moses summoned all Israel 5-1. Hear the statues and the ordinances which I am speaking in your hearing. You may learn them and observe them carefully. The Lord your God made a covenant with us at Horeb, etc. etc. Now I want to speak about that covenant and I want to exhort you to have a heart that is right with God, that understands your priority to make God preeminent and follow what he has said, you to be a faithful covenant loyal partner with Yahweh. And this is what it means, it means obeying the statutes and the judgments which he is giving to you today for your good. And if you do you'll be blessed, if not you'll be cursed. Deuteronomy chapter 28 comes to an end with no narrative conclusion. Well will they or won't they? Well we worry God they won't because they don't have a heart to obey me, with the emphasis upon the curses in chapter 27 and 28. So it seems as though yes it's going to be the curses they experience. and now before he gets to speak about what God is going to do under this other covenant that is made by what I've not entered into by what God can make a covenant Genesis chapter fifteen and the experience the results of that covenant can be far in the future But Deuteronomy 29 is affirming that in light of God's knowledge, which will become historical reality predicted by Moses, seen in the former prophets, that Israel is certainly going to disobey and experience the curses of the Old Covenant. That God has already made, pledged himself to the fact that there is going to be a new covenant with Israel that is going to bring to pass. What did not take place under the old covenant? So these are the words of the covenant. Another covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make for the sons of Israel in the land of Moab. And this covenant is going to be explained in chapters 29 and 30. Is in addition to, is very similar to The covenant made at Horeb, but is a different covenant. And in the end it's going to have a different result. Well why this other covenants? Because chapters 29 verses 2 to 28, because of Israel's disobedience to the previous covenant that God has given to them. Chapter 9 verses 2 through 28 answers that open-ended and what's Israel's response going to be? To Moses' explanation and pleading with them to keep the covenant Sinai. Well, this new covenant, this other covenant that Moses makes begins on a note of Israel's failure to obey the old covenant and the old covenant is disobeyed because verse 4 the Lord has not given Israel yet a heart to know nor eyes to see nor ears to hear And until Israel's heart changes, just as they have not been properly able to relate and respond to the previous covenant, they will not respond yet to this covenant either. There's more that's got to take place. So in verse 9 when he says, Keep the words of this covenant to do them that you may prosper in all that you do, it seems at this point that he is reiterating again within this context, the Lord has not yet given you a heart, to know nor eyes to see nor ears to hear, that you're no longer able to keep the words of the covenants that God had previously given. The Mosaic Covenant that you may prosper. Now, basically what Chapter 29 is saying is the old covenant is not the answer. You need this other covenant. and a covenant that it was potentially possible, verses 10 to 13, to enter into that very day, because this is the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel. Now it's not with you alone that I'm making this covenant this oath. This is possible for any future generation of Israel to enter into. But it will not take place in the immediate future, because you're going to go into the land and you are going to, verse 19, when he hears the words of this curse, he will both say, I peace, though I walk, and the stubbornness of my heart, in order to destroy the water of the land with the dry, the Lord shall never be willing to forgive him. So again, there's still the heart. Your heart-heartedness is not going to allow you to respond. Therefore you're going to commit all these abominations, and you're going to commit all these abominations bragging, blessing your heart that this is this is exactly what you can do and get away with. Rather the Lord is going to bring his judgments upon you so much so. That you're going to be dispersed from the land just as he has promised. Then interestingly between chapters 29 and 30 you have this interlude statement. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. The things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever. That we may observe all the words of this law. Within this context, what are the secret things? And the secret things at this point, I believe, are those realities that stand between Israel scattering among the nations, until finally God gives them a changed heart. That will be foundational to their restoration in the future. The things revealed belong to us and our sons forever, that we may observe the works of this law. That all Israel has in the time between the scattering and the restoration is just what God has revealed about the past and your future. lack of heart change in the future when God is going to change your heart. And he hasn't spoken about history in the meantime. Maybe it is my dispensationalism coming out of this point, but those secret things are the whole church age. And all Israel can do is reflect upon the past and know I need a heart change and look to the future. God will change my heart. cry for that change of heart that they may observe the words of the Mosaic Statues. The Mosaic Statues just lead them. Oh, I guess I've read too much from the New Testament too. Could it be that the law is acting as a schoolmaster to lead them to a Messiah? But at this point, these were secret things. And God will fill in some details later. And then in chapters 30 verses 1 to 10, I go along at this point with Craig and McConville, I believe here that we are talking about new covenant realities. In fact, that is the other covenant that was made. You stand before Israel today, understand you do not have a changed heart. If you go in. In hard-heartedness, you're going to commit abominations, the curses are going to come upon you. Look to the future and realize God is going to ultimately restore you, changing your heart. Therefore, based upon this covenant today, take God's word, act in faith. And really what verses 10 through 20 are really saying is call for God to give you that new heart even now. Notice verse 15, see I set before you today life and good, death and calamity. And that I command you to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, keep his commandments, to the statutes as judgment that you may live. and multiply, and that the Lord may bless you in the land where you're entering to possess it. And that can't change until, well, 29, 4, tied in with 30, verse 6, until God does what? They've got to plead for a changed heart, a circumcised heart. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey... but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them. I declare to you today that you shall perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse." And that's not just chapter 28, that is also, I have set before you another covenant. Call upon God to change your heart. That as I go into the land, I cannot go in under the Mosaic covenant because the Mosaic covenant, because of my lack of heart change, will only bring judgment, will only bring the curse. I need to respond to this other covenant. And today may that future be where my heart is changed. And so I set before you the blessing and the curse. Choose life in order you may live you and your seed by loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice. And again what this other covenant said in Israel, that can only come with a changed heart. And you do not yet have a changed heart. You need in faith to ask Yahweh for the changed heart. And again, chapter 30 ends with no narrative. What was Israel's response? Well, can I put it this way, this covenant fell on deaf ears because chapter 31, Moses has to talk about the fact, okay, you're going to go in, my words are going to go with you, Joshua's going to lead you. And just as you rebelled unto me when I was present with you, you're even going to be more rebellious when you get in the land. And all these curses are going to come upon you. In fact, I'm going to give you your national anthem, my song, in chapter 32, which is, you know, this is amazing. I mean, this is Israel's song to sing, generation to generation. And they're going to talk about the fact of how worthless and how disobedient they are, and how God has rightfully brought all his judgments upon them. But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He forsook God who made him, scoring the rock of his salvation. They made him jealous of strange gods. With abominations they provoked them to anger. They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did and did not drag. You neglected the rock who beget you and forgot the God who gave you birth. And because of that, God has brought his judgments upon you and scattered you. And now he's going to bring his judgment upon the nations to where you've gone. And the anthem ends at that point. Okay, play ball. Time for the game to begin. Now you've got to realize, this is Israel's national anthem. They're going to sing again and again, generation to generation. This is why Moses gave it to them, to keep reminding them. It was not God's unfaithfulness but ours that have brought all this calamity upon us. And blessing will not come until the end of the days when God finally brings his judgment upon the nations, upon his adversaries and Israel's adversaries, and finally will restore the people. And only at that point, chapter 33, do you have the blessings that are given to the individual tribes when they come into the land in that final restoration. Now you can say, well, you've misread Deuteronomy. Well, if I have, I think Paul has as well. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Verse 5, for Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the law should live by that righteousness. If you're going to base your righteousness upon practicing the law, you've got to take the mosaic statutes, you've got to take the mosaic legislation and live by it. But the righteousness which comes out of faith speaks thus. Huh? And he quotes from Deuteronomy 30. Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring the Messiah down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith, in Deuteronomy chapter 30, which we are preaching. What Paul is saying is the same call for a changed heart. that will bring God's redemption and restoration that comes out of faith is the same message I preach and that preach, that message Moses also preached in Deuteronomy chapter 30 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus' Lord and believe in your heart that God raised them from the dead you shall be saved for with the heart man believes to righteousness with the mouth he confesses to salvation for the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed and that's Isaiah 28 now Deuteronomy for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all abounding and richest for all who call upon him for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved but notice again the importance of the heart It's in the heart that a man believes. It's in the heart that a man has changed that goes to his lips and to his life. And this, says Paul, was the message that Moses was giving to Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 30. Now I only say that to try to bolster that my understanding is the same. As poles. So what is the Covenant's the other covenants? of Deuteronomy 29 and 30 the covenant which God made with Israel on the plains of Moab as a guarantee He will enter into this covenant with Israel in the future. They will experience in the future and that future is at the end of the age Under the Messiah when he comes I think this other covenant is the new covenant and by the way you say exactly how many commentators I've given to you agree with me zero I'm actually have to say this gentleman I'm a lonely voice even on the faculty we talked about the covenants the other covenant of Deuteronomy 29 and 30 all my friends leave me depart taking position either A B or C Even had a friend say, hey, I found someone who agrees with you on D. Well, I'm listed here, of course, but I am still convinced that this other covenant that Israel could have potentially ended into on the plains of Moab, but didn't. That's why there's no narrative at the end of this either. Why now the narrative picks up and answers Chapter 28 and not Chapter 30? And to a certain extent you'll have to wait until we get to the latter prophets to see if you agree with me or not. At this time, at this point we'll just call it exactly what I've called it in the notes as another covenant. It's like the Mosaic covenant, but it's not the Mosaic covenant. And you'll have to say from later scripture what is the other covenant which is like the Mosaic covenant, but not the Mosaic covenant. that embodies within it Israel's failure under the Mosaic covenant, but now moves and changes Israel's heart, which changes Israel's circumstances and what is predicted to take place in the future. And why can't it be predicted to take place in the future? Because God has guaranteed it through the covenant he made in chapter 29, verse 1 of Deuteronomy. Amen. All right questions to be continued obviously can't answer more now but to be continued In verse 10 chapter 29 he says all of your standing today before the Lord Then he says leaders tribes elders officials men of Israel your children your wives and the foreigners in your camp So he's identified everybody that's there so you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God Which assumes they have not yet entered into this covenant in verse 14, I am making this covenant in this oath not only with you, all those we just identified, but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord. Who are these others he's referring to? And we haven't even got to the end to those who aren't standing here. Right. So who is he referring to there? Further generations. I mean this is the guarantee that the future generation... can come under the provisions of this other covenant. I see that with those who are not here today. I understand that to be future ones, but those who he says are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord, as if those who are standing with them are different from the ones that are standing there. Now, what I'm saying at this point is, is that, okay, this covenant is available both to you and to future generations. You today and those in the future. Interesting. Good stuff. Well, I give it for your godly contemplation. I mean what is not debated today is the fact that Moses makes it very clear. I mean, I have not said anything you will not read, and from chapter 5 all the way through, you know, chapter 30, God has made it very, very clear. And then by implication. That Israel needs a changed heart, that changed heart will not come under the old covenant. So they're going to go into the land, chapter 31, and fail. The note of Israel's failure, I think, is now well, you know, well seen by exegetes. Not a person I've recommended to you doesn't see that. And... And that in some way or another, God is already predicting. Whether you're a Palestinian, whether you're a Sinaitic covenant only person, or a Sinaitic and New Covenant here, but in some way there is going to be a restoration of Israel in the future. Now, is that a national restoration, is a spiritual restoration that takes place in the church? I mean, these are New Testament issues. And I'm not obviously going to say that everybody sees. The whole Bible coming together in the same way, but it's very interesting. That as I said there there's a movement even to mean even even Merrill strongly as he argues for the Sinaitic Covenant says I have to admit you get to chapter 30 verses one to ten and there certainly are new covenant themes that start to come here. I can't explain how it enters in to renewal of the Sinaitic Covenant. But it's certainly here. I mean the prediction. You know seems to be what the what The Old and New Testament, I'm going to say, isn't coming upon the New Covenant for this to take place. Even those who hold to the Palestinian covenant, I think today would say yes, and tied into the land is a change of heart. I just see the predominance of being land, not heart. I would say, have you read Deuteronomy? I think the predominance is heart before land, not land, and then heart. It's just a matter of degree at that point. But I do not deny the fact there aren't obviously land overtones here. You're going into the land and God is going to scatter you from the land. He's going to restore you to Himself and restore you to the land in the future. So I'm not discounting the fact land doesn't have. a role to play here but seems to me that it's more important not land but your heart. Your heart which is not yet able to obey and your heart in the future will be circumcised so that you will obey. That's the distinction, that's the difference. Change heart, now your relationship with the land will be changed as well. Well, as we've said, you know, to be continued. Let me just say at the end, preaching Deuteronomy, it's one of the most overlooked portions of the Old Testament. It is Moses' exposition. Again, I think you'll find the first 11 chapters of Deuteronomy fairly easy to preach. Now, chapters 12 to 28 are another story. I think even 29 to 34 have, as you unravel it and wherever you land, you know, exegetically I think you'll find these final six chapters also fairly easy. And if you'll take to heart what we said about the law, about not being legislation for Christians, legislation which educates Christians, I think you'll find your easiest place to start preaching the law is also with Deuteronomy as well. Therefore, I would say outside of Genesis, if I should take to heart what we talked about preaching narrative, I think you'll find as far as discourse, as far as speech is concerned, the easiest part of Torah to preach is Deuteronomy. So. I would say rather than getting caught up in all of the sacrifices of Leviticus, I don't know why it is about seminary men that they finish the Old Testament and think, I'll really show that I can preach by doing Leviticus. Well, don't go there and fail. Because if you fail in your first Old Testament exposition, you'll probably never get your people to come back to another Old Testament series. So as far as Torah is concerned, I would say give thought to beginning at the end with Deuteronomy. I'll just say this as a personal testimony. I've never preached through Deuteronomy verse by verse, but I've done Deuteronomy a number of times in adult Bible classes, and I've had this again and again. I can't believe there's so much in the Old Testament that is so pertinent. To me, you've heard my basic position. It's about them that educates us. It's not correctly to us as believers. But I have had people say, just having some lessons on Deuteronomy, just changing my whole perspective toward the law in the Old Testament. So I give it to you for your godly contemplation. And Dr. Gorsani has his elective on Deuteronomy that he only deals with about four of the highlight chapters of being exegetical. But if you think about it, you'd like to preach the Old Testament sometime, give thought about taking Deuteronomy and delving in a little more deeply into it and preparing yourself for exposition of this book. And I wouldn't say it's the first book you should preach. But sometime in those beginning years when you want to start to expose your people to the Old Testament, I would certainly say Deuteronomy is a portion of the Old Testament that just begs for you to preach it.