Don't Forget!

8.29.21 Deuteronomy 4:1–9 (EHV)

1 So now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I am teaching you, and carry them out so that you may live and so that you may enter the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving to you and take possession of it. 2 Do not add to the word that I am commanding you, and do not subtract from it, so that you keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you. . . . 6 Keep them and put them into practice, because in this way your wisdom and your understanding will be recognized by all the people who hear about all these statutes; and they will say, “This great nation is certainly a wise and understanding people,” 7 because what other great nation is there that has a god as close to it as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on him? 8 What other great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances as righteous as this entire law that I am presenting to you today? 9 But guard yourselves and guard your whole being diligently, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen and so that those things do not disappear from your heart all the rest of the days of your life. Make them known to your children and to your children’s children.

This is a nice text that happened to fall on the day before school starts, with an emphasis on EDUCATION. It is Moses’ farewell speech on the brink of the Promised Land. Deuteronomy is Hebrew for “second giving of the teaching.” Moses started by recounting with the Israelites all of the MIRACLES it took to get the Israelites to this spot, how He split the Red Sea and how He made it so their shoes didn’t wear out. He hovered over them in a pillar of cloud and fire. There was NO WAY they would have been rescued from slavery were it not by the miraculous works of God.

If you read through the back end of Deuteronomy you will also see all kinds of regulations about how to deal with murderers and perverts, dietary laws, specific trading practices, how to make sure you keep yourself clean from disease and sickness, and so many other regulations. God especially wanted to look after the slaves and the needy. He ends with an exhortation to make sure to educate your children and your children’s children in the ways of the LORD so they didn’t forget where they came from and who their LORD was and how He wanted them to live their lives.

It starts, however, with YOU. He said, guard yourselves and guard your whole being diligently, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen. The word in the Hebrew for “diligently” is ????? (mi-ode). It also can mean “exceedingly.” In other words, don’t just guard yourself a little, guard yourself a lot. Make sure you know this stuff WELL. Study it regularly. Make it so well known that you CAN’T forget it. It becomes second nature to you.

If you think about it, shouldn’t you know the difference between Moses and Elijah? Wouldn’t it be good to know the days of Creation and how God created the world out of nothing? You should know about the Babylonian Captivity and why it happened. You should know the prophecies of Isaiah. It is a part of history that God has revealed to us by divine inspiration. That’s part of what memorization and repetition is for. You should be able to complete the Ten Commandments easily. First Commandment, “You shall have . . .” What does this mean? We should fear . . . The wages of sin . . God so loved . . . Do you know the rest?

There are several reasons listed in this text why God wanted them to know and remember their history. Today’s text skips verses 3-5. I wish they were left in. God reminded the Israelites of what happened to the men who IGNORED what the LORD said about adultery and worshiping other gods. Right when they were on the brink of entering into the Promised Land, a bunch of men were seduced by Baal temple prostitutes at Peor to have sexual relations with them. As a result, God had absolutely NO mercy on them. He told the faithful and repentant Israelites to put them to death, and impale them on poles in broad daylight. (Numbers 25:4) There are multiple times in the Old Testament that God had to remind His people that He was not to be trifled with or taken lightly. Just because He was patient and kind didn’t mean that He was a pushover. He still hates sin. It makes Him angry when we arrogantly rebel against Him and blatantly do what we know is wrong.