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Scripture Reading: Deut. 4:1-40
From Genesis to Revelation, the entire Bible does three things: it manifests God, exposes man, and unveils Christ. Before considering further the matter of a review of the past, I would like to give an additional word on these three functions of the Bible.
First, the Bible shows us what kind of God we have. In the Bible God is manifested as the loving, righteous, and faithful God. Further, in the Bible we see that God is a God who blesses. God's heart is loving, His hand is righteous, His mouth is faithful, and His eyes are mainly for blessing. This is our God.
Second, the Bible exposes man. The Bible is the only book which shows us man's real condition. When we come to the Bible, we see ourselves. The Bible exposes us and shows us that we are nothing, that we have nothing, and that we can do nothing. In other words, we are a zero. Actually, this is what God wants, for He does not want us to be anything in ourselves. This is the reason Paul tells us that he has been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). In His economy, in His plan and divine arrangement, God wants us to be crucified. This means that He wants us to be nullified, to become a zero.
Third, the Bible unveils Christ. Christ is hidden, mysterious, and abstract; no one can know Him. But the Bible unveils Him to us.
We have pointed out that the entire Bible is implied in the book of Deuteronomy. We may also say that Deuteronomy is an extract of the Bible. The Bible as a whole manifests God, exposes man, and unveils Christ, and the book of Deuteronomy, as an extract of the Bible, also manifests God, exposes man, and unveils Christ.
Let us now go on to consider some further matters related to a review of the past.
Deuteronomy 2:1-23 speaks of the wandering from Kadesh-barnea to the crossing over of the brook Zered. Verse 14a says, "The time that we spent in going from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years." Although Kadesh-barnea was the entry into the good land, God commanded the children of Israel to leave that place and to wander in the wilderness for thirty-eight years.
The purpose of these years of wandering was to consume man's flesh and unbelief and to manifest God's mercy and blessing (v. 7). In ourselves we are nothing but flesh and unbelief, which causes us to depart from God. Our flesh and unbelief need to be consumed. It is easy to speak about this, but it takes many years to experience it. For the children of Israel, this took thirty-eight years. On the one hand, these were wasted years; on the other hand, these years were useful in consuming their flesh and unbelief.
In these years God's mercy and blessing were manifested. During the thirty-eight years of wandering in the wilderness, God was very exercised concerning His people. Even though they were unbelieving, He extended His love to them. How did God do this? He did it by showing mercy to them and by blessing them. In the years of wandering, God had mercy on His people and blessed them, even though they were fleshly and full of unbelief.
Because we are so far away from God and because our situation is so poor, God's grace cannot reach us unless He first has mercy upon us. God's mercy extends farther than His grace. We may say that mercy is God's grace reaching farther than grace itself can reach. In other words, when God's grace extends so far that it reaches us where we are, it becomes mercy. Since His mercy has reached us and since we are now under His mercy, God can bless us. If we realize how pitiful our situation is and how great is the distance between us and God, we will pray like this: "Lord, we need Your mercy because our situation is far away from Your grace. Thank You, Lord, that Your mercy can reach us where we are." As those who are now under God's mercy, we should also pray for God's blessing, saying, "Lord, we do not trust in what we can do. Neither do we trust in our labor. Our trust, Lord, is in Your blessing."
During the thirty-eight years of wandering, all the unbelieving ones were consumed. Concerning this, God was patient. Instead of consuming the unbelieving ones all at once, He took thirty-eight years to consume them.
Finally, these thirty-eight years were used by God to produce a new generation for the fulfilling of God's purpose. On the one hand, Moses might have been happy with this new generation; on the other hand, he might have been saddened by the loss of the first generation. God had changed the generation by the way of consuming the old generation. This is a serious matter.
Because Moses had witnessed the consuming of the first generation, he might have sighed deeply as he spoke the words recorded in chapter two. With the exception of Caleb and Joshua, all the fathers had died, and only the sons remained.
In 2:24—3:22 Moses spoke about the defeating of King Sihon and King Og and the taking possession of their lands east of the Jordan. Sihon was the king of Heshbon, and Og was the king of Bashan. It was not a small matter for the children of Israel to defeat these kings and to take possession of their lands. This must have been a joy to Moses.
To defeat King Sihon and King Og was to defeat the two gate guards of the land of Canaan.
After the children of Israel defeated Sihon and Og, they took possession of their lands, which were east of the Jordan. Moses said, "At that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were across the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon" (3:8). This was the beginning of the taking possession of the good land.
The land taken from Sihon and Og was given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh as the firstfruit of the enjoyment of the God-promised good land (3:12-20).
In 3:21 and 22 Moses said, "I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Yours are the eyes that have seen all that Jehovah your God has done to these two kings; so will Jehovah your God do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross over. Do not fear them, for it is Jehovah your God who is fighting for you." This word indicates that the defeating of Sihon and Og and the taking possession of their lands were a security to the victory and possession of the remainder of the God-promised good land.
In 3:23-29 we see that Moses was refused in the matter of entering into the God-promised good land and that Joshua was assigned to bring the people to possess the land as their inheritance.
Moses being refused by God in this matter showed God's righteous governmental administration. In Numbers 20 Moses had made a serious mistake, a mistake which God could not tolerate because it touched His administration. God's governmental administration is righteous, and even though He loved Moses, He could not for this reason fail to exercise His administration. Moses served God faithfully for forty years, but because his mistake involved God's governmental administration, he lost the right to enter into the good land.
The way God dealt with Moses in not allowing him to enter into the good land caused the children of Israel to have more fear of God's righteous dealing. To be sure, God is a loving God, but His love is a perfecting love, not a spoiling love. God's dealing with Moses helped to perfect the children of Israel. They should have learned from this how fearful the righteous God is in His governmental dealings. The punishment Moses suffered was a perfecting to the children of Israel.
In Deuteronomy 4:1-40 we have Moses' hearty advice to the children of Israel. As one who was experienced and who had been disciplined by God, he was qualified to give this advice.
Moses had experienced the seriousness of God's dealing hand. So in giving his hearty advice, he was like an aged, loving father speaking to his beloved children.
Moses charged the children of Israel to keep God's statutes and judgments, especially not to make idols and worship them (vv. 1, 16-19, 23-25, 39).
There is a difference between statutes and judgments. The Old Testament often speaks of God's commandments (laws), statutes, and ordinances. The Ten Commandments are the basic law. Because these commandments are not complete, they are supplemented by the statutes. For this reason, after the commandments in Exodus 20, there is in Exodus 21—23 a record of many statutes, which are the details of the Ten Commandments and which are supplementary to these commandments. These statutes, however, are without judgments. Once a judgment is added to a statute, the statute becomes an ordinance. For instance, one of the Ten Commandments concerns the keeping of the Sabbath (Exo. 20:8-11). The statutes which supplement this commandment give some details as to what can be done on the Sabbath. One statute may speak of travel and another of cooking (Exo. 35:3). Such statutes do not become ordinances unless judgments are added to them. Later we are told that the one who does not keep the Sabbath should be put to death (Exo. 31:14-15). This is not a commandment or a statute but an ordinance with a judgment. Therefore, the commandments are the basic law, the details of the law are the statutes, and the statutes with judgments are ordinances. In Deuteronomy 4 Moses charged the people to keep God's statutes and judgments.
Moses especially charged the children of Israel not to make idols and worship them. God's law concerning idol worship is a commandment, the details of this commandment are statutes, and the addition of judgments causes the statutes to become ordinances.
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that surely you will soon perish from off the land into which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess it; you will not extend your days upon it, but you will be utterly destroyed. And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations to which Jehovah will drive you" (Deut. 4:26-27). Here we see that Moses warned the children of Israel with God's judgment.
Moses not only warned the people with God's judgment but assured them with God's mercy and blessing (vv. 30-31, 40).
Finally, in 4:41-43 Moses set apart three cities of refuge east of Jordan. After the foregoing review of the past, Moses took thought concerning the manslayer who slew his neighbor without intent.
A manslayer could lose the right to live in the good land. Therefore, refuge cities were needed for those who slew others without intent.
"Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, that the manslayer might flee there, who slays his neighbor without intent and did not hate him formerly, and in fleeing to one of these cities might live" (vv. 41-42). This indicates that by fleeing to one of the cities of refuge, the manslayer still had a way to live in the land.
