First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

Scientists search for natural laws and governments enact civil

laws, but the greatest body of divine law ever given to man is

summed up by Moses in this book. Moses underlines the seriousness

and importance of Deuteronomy several times. He says that all

the words in it are "no trifling matter for you, but rather your

very life" (32:47; also 4:1,3-4; 4:40). Indeed, with this book Moses

confronts all with life and death, exhorting all to choose life

(30:15,19-20). The life-span of individual Jewish people and

their protection from deportation and exile, their physical

health, prosperity, the well-being of their children, the esteem

of their nation in the eyes of the world (4:6-8), and their good

fortune in every aspect of life, even longevity of life (11:21),

even life itself, all hinged on their attention and obedience to

the words of this book. But what is true of them is also true for

everyone else, even for us who read the Bible and look to the G-d

of Israel for our salvation.

Moses and the people are poised just outside the territorial

borders of Israel, encamped at Moab (29:1), an ancient kingdom

east of the Dead Sea in what is today the modern country of

Jordan. Visualize their position. Look at a map. They are across

from Jericho, on the opposite side of the Jordan River. Moses is

now near death, one hundred and twenty years old (34:7), writing

and teaching the people his last hymn, depositing with the

kohanim and zekenim his last writings (31:9), laying hands on his

successor to leadership, Joshua (3:28; also 31:7-8; also 34:9), preaching

his last sermon, expounding and reinterpreting the Law that G-d

gave at Mt. Sinai (Horeb) in the context of a renewal of the

contractual agreement (covenant) between Israel and G-d as a new

generation prepares to obey the Law in holiness and actually go

in and take the Holy Land. Deut. 4:44-49 sets the scene for the

whole book which Moses delivered as a sermon in Moab. When

Moses led the people of Israel to the threshold of the Promised

Land, he encountered, near the point where the Jordan runs into

the Dead Sea, Sihon king of the Amorites. This is in territory

that today belongs to the country of Jordan. Also, to the north,

in the area of Bashan, which includes the famous (formerly,

before the 1967 Six Day War, Syrian) Golan Heights, the army of

Moses encountered another famous Amorite king, the king of

Bashan, the giant Og (see 3:11). G-d authorized Moses to conduct

a holy war against these wicked peoples and put them under CHEREM

("destruction," see 7:26, that is, devoting them to G-d). This means

that their destruction was necessary at that

particular time because they stood in the way of G-d's plan to

save the world by means of a holy land and a holy nation of

kohanim. For if at this early period the Hebrew nation was

corrupted by the heathen peoples occupying the Holy Land, there

would be no hope of reaching the other nations through the Jewish

people. This process of a necessary and just war had been

waiting since Abraham's time (Gen. 15:16) and G-d had Moses

actually begin the process to give Joshua and the others "on the

job training" in how to continue it (see 3:21-22; also 7:1-6,17-26;

also 12:2-5, 29-31; also 20:1-20). Og and Sihon and what G-d does to them

are a preview of how the L-rd will fight for Joshua and the rest

of Israel's G-d-ordained leaders in the years ahead--3:21-22.

The same G-d who fights against Pharaoh and Og and Sihon will

fight against the heathen occupiers of the Holy Land--7:l8. (At

the Second Coming (Dan 7:13-14; also Zech 14), Moshiach Adoneinu, having made kaparah for HaAm HaZiknei HaMa'aminim HaMeshichiyim on Nisan 14, 3793 (33 C.E.), will fight against the

heathen occupiers of the whole world.)

Destroying idols (a task Moses knows they won't carry out

completely--31:27) in the Holy Land is on the top of the list of

statutes and ordinances that they must diligently observe in the

land. In Deut. 12 we have the laws that will become Israel's own

eviction notice (see 28:15-68) when they don't obey them and have to go into the

Golus (Exile) (Jeremiah chapter 25).

Almost the whole book is a sermon, and the fact that, 38 years

before, the previous generation had been commanded to go in and

take the Holy Land by force and had nevertheless rebelliously

(9:23) and faithlessly disobeyed G-d is the chilling reality

giving such a dramatic setting to Moses' sermon. All of these

rebellious parents are now dead, having eventually perished in

the wilderness wanderings, inspite of Moses' intercessions

(9:18-29; also 10:10-11). The question for decision (30:19) is

whether their children, this new generation of adults alive at

the time of the end of Moses' ministry, will repeat the mistakes

of their parents and die, or whether they will obey the Torah and

in holiness take the Holy Land and live to worship the L-rd there

in His Holy Dwelling (12:11-26; also 14:23-25; also 15:20; also 16:2-16;

also 17:8-10; also 18:6; also 26:2; also 31:11).

"You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us

according to our own desires, for you have not yet come into the

rest and the possession that the L-rd your G-d is giving you"

(12:8-9). Each generation has an opportunity to obey G-d and go

in and destroy idols and possess what G-d has prepared for it.

This is true of all omanim l'ma'an Yisroel (artists for Israel),

but we should also be warned that the only time the word

artisan/craftsman [CHARASH] is used in Deuteronomy, it is used of

one who prostituted his talent to make an idol for himself

(27:15). Maggidim, as they use the arts in ministry, should

remember that the Word is preeminent and that the prophet is one

set apart from the people who remains before the L-rd to get His

Word for the L-rd's flock (5:27-28).

It is important to know who the Hittites were (see Gen. 23:3).

They were a people whose kings had written contracts (covenants) and treaties

with the nations (like Syria) who became their vassals (dependent

states). We know from scholars like M.G. Kline that a vassal

state was granted certain rights in return for loyalty and

obedience to the Hittite king, just as the land-use rights to the

Holy Land were granted to the chosen people by their Holy King,

the L-rd G-d. The covenant that G-d gave Moses at Mt. Sinai is

similar in literary form to the sort of covenant or treaty that a

Hittite king made with his Syrian vassal, including: a preamble

in which the Sovereign identifies Himself (Deut. 1:1-5); a

historical prologue in which the Sovereign rehearses all His past

benefits (Deut. 1:6-4:49); a "stipulations" section listing the

covenant requirements imposed on the vassal (Deut. 5:1-26:19); a

"covenant ratification" section including a provision for treaty

renewal and specifically listing the covenant sanctions in terms

of the kinds of curses and blessings that will encourage

compliance (27:1-28:63); and, finally, succession arrangements

for continuance of the covenant (see 31:1-34:1 where

Joshua/Yehoshua (Aramaic=Yeshua see Neh 8:17) is designated as Moses' successor and also see

18:15-19 where the Moshiach and the prophetic tradition leading

to Moshiach's coming point together to Moses' ultimate successor,

the New Yehoshua, the Moshiach--Isaiah 49:8). But it is

important to remember that the above, often alluded to by

scholars, is not the whole story. More than merely copying the

form of an existing treaty, G-d, as a free act of grace, set

Israel "in His love," and then He laid out certain commandments

by which Isael was warned to "keep yourselves in the love of God"

(Yehuda 21) and "continue in my covenant" (KJV Hebrews 8:9; also Ac 2:42).

The specific divine directive was to go into the land and rid it

of all idols (Deut. 7:5-6) just as the Great Commission of the

Brit Chadasha was to go into all the world and preach the Besuras

Hageulah (Mt 28:19-20), which included the covenant mikveh mayim tevilah of Moshiach.

Around the 13th or 14th centuries (during roughly the same

timespan as the life of Moses) these Hittite kings gave their

Syrian vassals written covenants similar to the kinds of treaties

we see in Exodus and Deuteronomy (notice the Aseret HaDibros

[the Ten Commandments] 5:6-21). This is a powerful argument that

Moses is the primary author responsible for the writing of these

books of the Bible. Those who deny Mosaic authorship discount

the facticity of 5:3, which is like depriving 1 Cor. 15 of the

eye-witness testimony of Shliach Sha'ul and the other Shluchim

that undergirds the truth credentials of the Besuras Hageulah

(see 11:7).

The Babylonian Exile and the Exile of 70 C.E. and every

"holocaust" that Israel has endured can be understood only in

terms of the Deuteronomy sanctions. The repeated pattern of

national sin and rebellion against the prophetic preaching of the

Torah of Moses followed by the invasion of foreign armies, siege,

exile, deportation, repentance in the diaspora, divine favor, and

return to the Holy Land can only be understood in terms of the

covenant blessings and curses such as are listed in Deuteronomy.

(Against those who read Anti-Semitism into 28:37, see Zechariah 1:15

is an important tempering Scripture here, for there is no

one-for-one relationship between Israel's sin and her punishment

at the hands of the nations.) However, like a tenant being

evicted from his apartment because he broke the rental contract

or covenant with the Landlord, so Israel has definitely been

evicted more than once to show the nations that the G-d of Israel

is the true G-d and means business when He commands Israel and

all nations to repent and believe in Him. Also, as far as

believers are concerned, when Shliach Sha'ul read Deuteronomy, he

made spiritualized applications along these lines to the covenant

communities he set in order (compare I Cor. 9:9 and Deut. 25:4;

and compare 1 Cor. 11:27-32 and Deut. 28:15f) and warned the members that

sinning might get them evicted by means of sickness and death

from the Moshiach's Tish. We need to understand the covenant

aspect of our faith, the covenant we entered at Moshiach's mikveh mayim, so that our disobedience and faithlessness

does not get us evicted from the place of blessing G-d intends

for our lives.

Israel is described in this covenant as a divinely set apart

people intended to enjoy a privileged relationship to their L-rd

(see 1:30-31; also 32:6,9), one that is permitted by G-d as fulfillment

of His promises to the patriarchs (7:8; also 29:12-13; 4:21), but

requires obedience to all the covenant stipulations (from the

heart, not merely legalistically), including transmitting the

teaching to each generation's children. This trans-generational

holy requirement is accomplished by constant teaching, example,

and pedagogical aids designed to indelibly etch on the memory and

the heart of young and old alike, and, not only this but also

consciously quarantining the nation, the family, and

impressionable minds from the heathen world (6:4-7:6). But the

most important stipulation of the covenant is also a gift:

hitkhadeshut [that is, regeneration] (10:16; also 30:6; see also Lev. 26:40-41;

also Jer. 4:4; also 9:25; also Rom. 2:29). (The Moshiach is surprised that

Nicodemus could be a ruler in Israel and not understand this--see

Yochanan 3:3-10--and that the Pharisees could turn the law into a

bewildering maze of legalisms and thereby lose this teaching of hitkhadeshut along with love and justice

and compassion). Salvation and right standing before G-d,

according to the authoritative message of Moses, does not come

through herculean feats of legalistic observance (30:11-13) nor

through merit based on humanly-derived righteousness (7:7; also 8:14;

also 9:4-7) but through loving, loyal, obedient faith in the word of

G-d (30:14,20; also 6:4-5,13,16; also 8:3; also 10:12; also 11:1,13,22) which,

according to Moses, necessitated love of the neighbor as well

(10:19). As far as human merit before G-d is concerned, even

Moses fell short and needed G-d's unmerited favor (grace) and mercy

(32:48-52). Nevertheless, G-d's mitzvot must be obeyed

(28:1,58-59), and the antinomian who lawlessly ignores G-d's

commandments does not love G-d (19:9; also 30:16 also 1Yn 5:3). Moreover, how one

responds to false doctrine is a test of one's true love of G-d

(13:3). Yet ultimately, loving G-d is impossible without

hitkhadeshut [regeneration] (30:6).

Deut. 1:39 says "your children who do not yet know good from

bad." Luke chapter 2:42f shows Yehoshua as a boy who was ready to

reach the age of moral accountability called in Hebrew Bar

Mitzvah. If you think children's ministry is not especially

important, underline the word children everytime it occurs in

chapter 6.

Chapter 1:16 can be applied to the modern community of believers

in this way: don't have cronies or cliques or favorites or you

will destroy justice and equity in the house of the L-rd's

people.

Chapter 1:29-33 is the Besuras Hageulah according to Moses that

was rejected at Kadesh-barnea (that fateful turning point of

unbelief) when the 10 spies gave the evil report. Every

generation has an opportunity to obey the L-rd and to follow Him

and to gain new ground for the Kingdom of G-d, or else to

hesitate, shrink back, and be lost. Every generation is put to a

test and a trial--either to march ahead in faith and take some

ground, for G-d or to rebel and "grumble in your tents" (1:27)

and die with a faithless hardened heart in the wilderness. If

even Moses, great though he was, fell short of the L-rd's holy

expectations and was punitively replaced, how much more should we

be careful to obey G-d's Word (3:25-28).

We don't take away from G-d's Word (4:2). Scripture interprets

Scripture. We worship G-d only at the divinely acceptable

mitzbe'ach and before the appointed kohen that He promises to

show us (by His canonical prophets and we know from

all the prophetic puzzle finally filled in that the ultimate

mitzbe'ach and kohen is Yehoshua on the Etz Chayim. Beware of

syncretism caused by adding to the canon (4:2; also 12:29-32; also 13:1;

also Prov. 30:6). Beware of syncretistic pseudo-Jewish religion, adding to and

subtracting from the Torah (Moshiach Yehoshua is subtracted and

an autonomous-from-Moshiach's-tree-of-life

pseudo-wisdom is added and pursued as in Gen. 3:6).

Why we study through the Word every year is clear from 4:9; also 5:1.

Not to do so is to adversely affect our children (5:29).

Example: a couple takes their children to religious services, but

do not personally study the Word with them and disciple them; the

children grow up and marry nominal believers and suffer the

tragedy of divorce. Note: the next generation of children are

consequently the victims of broken homes. Do you see from this

example how the sins of the grandparents affect their

grandchildren? Could this not have been avoided if each

generation had been taught the Torah in the power of the Ruach

Hakodesh? Live in the Word! Don't let the thoughts of the L-rd

out of your mind or out of your heart? (6:7)

The unregenerate man can only obey the Bible legalistically since

he lacks the Ruach Hakodesh's power to rise to the law's higher

moral challenges and since he does not have the prophet's insight

into higher obedience in holy love. However, those who do not

grapple with the Law (thoughtlessly setting up a too sharp

antithesis between Law and Grace), are those who may choose an

easy and cheap, lawless "grace" that is more antinomian ignorance

than holy reverence for G-d's Biblically defined will. We are

not under the Law's penalty but we are not free from the Law's

moral severity. "Under (the dispensation of) Grace" means under

an even more severe morality, not an amoral lawlessness (see Rom.

6:1-14). Moreover, as Jewish people put there faith in Moshiach

Yehoshua, G-d does not intend for them to turn traitor to the

Sinai Covenant and its mitzvot. That would be cheap grace indeed!

In 7:12f concrete physical blessings including healing are

promised to the obedient. G-d also promises He is going to get

His victory among the heathen (7:24). That is the basis on which

we can attempt great things for G-d.

One reason G-d doesn't always answer our prayers quickly is given

in 8:2-3.

Deut. 12:28 warns against following other gods who have not

proved themselves to you. How did the true G-d prove himself? By

two Exoduses, one from the first death with Moses as the leader

(see the magnificent description in Exodus 14:15-31); the other

from the second death with Yehoshua as the leader. Also, the

true G-d has proved Himself by power encounters such as in

Numbers 17 and 1 Kings 18. This is why the gifts of the Ruach

Hakodesh must not be neglected today: power encounter is still

needed to defeat the idols of the heathen and show that Yehoshua

alone is Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu.

Look at Navi in 18:15. This section foretells the prophet like

Moses that G-d will raise up in the Promised Land. Isaiah

49:9-10 speaks apocalyptically of the Moshiach as a New Moses.

The immediate (not final) fulfillment of this Deut. 18:15

prophecy is Joshua (whose Aramaic/Hebrew name is Yeshua/Yehoshua

-- see Nehemiah 8:17 in the Hebrew Bible). Joshua is a type of

Moshiach because he is an agent of chesed to the Gentile Rahab

but of cherem damnation to the seven wicked nations trodding down

the Holy Land: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites,

Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. The rabbis likened David to

Moses, and since David's house will bring Moshiach the Lawgiver

(Isaiah 42:4), we should not be surprised that Moses says another

prophet is coming "like me (Moses)," and the first prophet to come after

Moses (Yehoshua/Yeshua son of Nun) has the same name as Moshiach Yehoshua/Yeshua

Look at 19:15. The people of G-d, the local kahal assembly

called out for eschatological salvation, is at least two

witnesses according to Matt. 18:20. Note Moses and Aaron going

before Pharaoh, Joshua and Caleb entering the Promised Land, the

Kohen Gadol Yehoshua/Joshua and Zerubbabel returning from the

Exile to build the Second Beis Hamikdash, Yochanan and Shliach

Kefa rushing into the empty tomb at the end of the Besuras

Hageulah of Yochanan. Yehoshua sent the 70 out in

two's, which meant that he sent out 35 tiny Brit Chadasha

kehillot, and Shliach Sha'ul and Barnabus were themselves a Brit

Chadasha kehillah as they together planted many house Brit

Chadasha kehillot in the first emissary journey of Moshiach's

shlichut. More Brit Chadasha kehillot could be planted if this

fact were appreciated and people did not "despise the day of

small things" (Zech. 4:10) as they planted new works for the

L-rd.

Deut. 22:5 tells why we have to have a dress code.

Read 22:15. Modern parents are often promiscuously irresponsible

in the matter of protecting their children's sexual purity. See

7:3-6.

Grace brings a marvelous "exception to the rule" in Deut. 23:3

for Ruth the Moabitess.

Deut. 27:26 emphasizes that the Law does not justify or clear of

guilt but brings everyone condemned to Moshiach needing salvation

(Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:19), for indeed Moses testifies that

everyone whose actions "do not elevate the words of this law" is

pursued by the law's curses. So from this verse (27:26) we see

the universal need for salvation from the curse of the law (Gen.

6:5; I Kings 8:46; Eccles. 7:20; Prov.20:9; Ps. 53:3; Ps 14:3;

Isa. 53:6; also 64:6; Mic. 7:2; Rom. 3:23; Gal. 3:22;

I Yochanan 1:8; also 5:19). Further, we see that the whole reason the

Moshiach was accounted cursed and struck down by G-d (Isa. 53:4;

Deut. 21:23) was in order to make kapporah for us and redeem us

from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13). For the legal demands of

the Law entail curses (Deut. 27:l-26; also 28:15-68) and these stand

against us and pursue us as part of the burning wrath of an

offended Holy G-d until the record is erased, the sin is expiated

(removed), and the penalty is set aside in the kapporah (Col.

2:14). And ultimately the curse on mankind is universal, not

limited to those who receive the Torah, but pursuing all the race

of Adam (see the curse section in Gen. 3:14-19) who forfeit

Chayei Olam (Eternal Life) (Gen. 3:22-24) without regeneration

(Deut. 10:16; also 30:6).

DEUTERONOMY

10:16

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more

stiffnecked (stubborn).

30:6

And the L-rd thy G-d will circumcise thine heart, and the heart

of thy seed (descendants), to love the L-rd thy G-d with all

thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

DEUTERONOMY 18:15-19

18:15

The L-rd thy G-d will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst

of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall listen;

18:16

According to all that thou desiredst of the L-rd thy G-d in Horeb

(Sinai) in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again

the voice of the L-rd my G-d, neither let me see this great fire

any more, that I die not.

18:17

And the L-rd said unto me, They have well spoken that which they

have spoken.

18:18

I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like

unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak

unto them all that I shall command him.

18:19

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not listen unto my

words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.