Quoting Deuteronomy to the Devil

Temptation of Christ, by  Immenraet. 1663. Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.  

It's pretty well-known that when the Devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus answered him by quoting exclusively out of the book of Deuteronomy.

Which was my heads-up that I ought to start paying more attention to Deuteronomy.

So, when Deuteronomy came around in the readings again this year, just before Lent, I tried to pay attention. I listened to Deuteronomy on audiobook, with my browser open to Bible Gateway, so I could quickly look up any passages that caught my attention, keeping them tabbed for later study.

Here are a couple of passages that did catch - and hold - my attention:

A prophet from among your brethren:

"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command." - Deuteronomy 18:15-18

This, of course, is Moses, speaking to the people of Israel, reminding them of the time that they begged the Lord not to speak with them. Sounds weird to our ears, right? Begging not to hear from the Lord?

But: "They have spoken well," says the Lord. What? Sounds so strange to me. But look at what follows, "I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put my words in his mouth . . ."

This is why it sounds strange. Because we live in these latter days, after the incarnation of Christ, in the days when we may approach God, may truly call him Father. Jesus, a prophet from among us. Jesus, God become man.

God made a way for us to be able to bear to hear Him.

Pure mercy and grace.

Rejoice in all that you put your hand unto:

There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.  -Deuteronomy 12:7 

I have nothing profound to say here. It just struck me as beautiful and kind that part of the prescribed worship for God's people was to spend some time feasting before Him and rejoicing in the good work He'd given them to do, and the richness that had come out of that work, because of God's blessing it.

He shall read therein all the days of his life:

“Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel." -Deuteronomy 17:18-20

Here is a mandate for daily devotions if I have ever heard one. If the king of Israel was supposed to keep the Law by him and read it every day that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, shouldn't we, who are so blessed as to have copy after copy in our homes? Rich as kings, we are. We ought to act like kings, too, and study that we not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left.


So that's what I found on my read-through this time. What's your favorite part of Deuteronomy?

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

p.s. I stole the title for this post from Rich Mullins.

Lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you

I'm working on memorizing this passage in Deuteronomy, and thinking a lot about it as a description of normal Christian spiritual growth. (I am becoming very convicted about the end - the part about not bringing abominations into your house. What media am I allowing to have hold over my imagination? TV? books? internet? Hmm.)
The part that's really sticking out to me right now though is verse 22:
And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
It reminds me so much of that scary story Jesus tells in Matthew 12, about the demon who returns to the man he came out of, and finding his home unoccupied, reoccupies it, along with seven more spirits more wicked than itself.

The idea being - and I could be getting this wrong, I haven't studied this, and these are just my beginning thoughts on these verses - that as the Holy Spirit helps you clear out sinful habits in your life, He does it slowly, so that you have time to fill the space left by those sinful habits with virtuous habits.  If He just made you instantly sinless, if He - in the words of Deuteronomy - destroyed all the nations at once - you would be overwhelmed by the emptiness. The beasts of the field would be too numerous for you. Your house would be unoccupied, and who knows what would come to fill it?
Instead, He drives them out little by little, so you have time to grow into the empty space that is left.
BUT.
But don't forget the end of that passage:
But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed.
And I like it even better in the King James, where it says he will destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.
I am fascinated by the juxtaposition of "I will do this slowly, so you are not overwhelmed" and "I will do this absolutely, because My holiness demands it." All at once He is aware of our limitations while being uncompromising about His nature. 

It gives me hope, as I look at my habitual sins, and even more, at my persistent immaturity (which is persistent because of my habitual sins), and am discouraged about how long it takes to get better at this, and dear Lord, will I ever get it right, ever be fit to see your face? to know that on the one hand, He is not unaware of my weakness and on the other, He will settle for nothing less than the absolute removal of all wicked ways from me.
When I am afraid my slow progress means I'm not making any progress, I'm encouraged to think that this is actually the way He wants it to be, because He knows that more would overwhelm me.
When I'm tempted to stop trying, because surely where I am is good enough, I am reminded that He is holy, and that I am not to allow any evil to have any hold over me.
I hope you're encouraged too, as you start another week, to turn your eyes upon Jesus, and to keep following. He won't let you fall, nor will He let you fall behind. Keep going.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell
p.s. Read Jeanne's post from last year on this passage here. She's the one who first got me thinking about this wonderful bit of scripture.