Deuteronomy 4:32-49 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 4:32-49. Let’s go!
Deuteronomy 4:32-40 (NIV)
32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?
33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?
34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.
36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire.
37 Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,
38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.
40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.
On verses 32-40: When you think about the biggest blessings you have received in life, were they things you worked hard for and planned for yourself? Or rather were they things that God did and planned long before you ever asked for them or thought about them? I don’t know about you, but for me, the greatest blessings I’ve ever known were things that I didn’t plan for myself or work hard to achieve. Rather, they were gifts of God’s grace.
Why do I mention this? It’s because in Deuteronomy 4:32-34 Moses reminds the Israelites of the “great and awesome deeds” (v34) that God did in their lives, things which they did not work hard for but simply received from God’s loving hand. Then in verse 35 Moses tells them the reason why God gave those gifts: “that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other”.
In other words, whenever God does or allows anything good in your life, He does it for a specific reason: that you would know Him, trust Him, and believe that He alone is God. Much like a guy romantically pursuing a girl, God serves us, gives us gifts and reaches out to us because He loves us, wants us to know His heart for us, and wants to be the One we reach for in return.
It reminds me of a scene in Genesis where Jacob, estranged from his brother Esau, decides that before he meets Esau face to face for the first time in decades, he would send ahead gift after gift to soften Esau’s heart, to let Esau know Jacob’s desire to be reconciled to him.
In a similar way, the reason why God blesses you with gift after gift and grace upon grace is because God wants your heart to be soft toward Him, that you would never forget who He is in your life. All of the good gifts we have ever received are clues pointing us to the Giver.
Deuteronomy 4:41-43 (NIV)
41 Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan,
42 to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if he had unintentionally killed his neighbor without malice aforethought. He could flee into one of these cities and save his life.
43 The cities were these: Bezer in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
On verses 41-43: Verses 41-43 briefly mention three cities east of the Jordan that were designated as cities of refuge. For more on what cities of refuge are, see Numbers 21 and Deuteronomy 19. You can also check out my GAME sharing on cities of refuge here to see how Jesus is like our city of refuge.
Deuteronomy 4:44-49 (NIV)
44 This is the law Moses set before the Israelites.
45 These are the stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt
46 and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.
47 They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.
48 This land extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Siyon (that is, Hermon),
49 and included all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.
On verses 44-49: Here Moses recalls how as the Israelites continued journeying with the Lord, the Lord would expand their territory, allowing them to conquer the lands of two Amorite kings, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan. These lands the Israelites could not conquer on their own, but as they walked with God, God enabled them to take over these territories.
What can we learn from this? As you continue walking with the Lord, He will give you territories to conquer. You might feel that on your own you are not able to conquer those territories, but with God’s help you can.
Father, thank You that from the fullness of Your grace we have all received one blessing after another. May we never take that grace for granted. May we always remember where that grace came from and why it came: it came from You so that we would know You as the one true God, have a relationship with You and share You with others. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
