The whole book of Deuteronomy is telling the story of a people that made a deal with God. They made promises to serve him according to the way that he wanted to be served. Deuteronomy laid out all the wonderful things that would happen to them if they were obedient and kept their promises. It also laid out what would happen if they did not keep their promise. It was pretty harsh too. They would lose their country; their enemies would take their identity and they would be tossed into slavery and the curse that they were under would visit their children’s children and so on until they decided to follow every rule of worship and to follow every step that God had given them to live by. Damn! That was a pretty cruel God they were working with! God knows everything past, present and future. My question is, since God knew from the very beginning that these people, that Moses led out of Egypt, would not be able to live up to their promises. It appears to me that the God of the Hebrew Israelites made plans to wipe them all out long before they completely understood what they were getting into. Damn! What kind of God makes a deal with you; that he knows you cannot keep? From that point on you are cursed, your children are cursed and so on. The Hebrew Israelites accepted a curse on themselves? That did not settle very well with me at all! I was not capable of accepting a curse on myself or my children. I figured they could be cursed if that is what they wanted to do, but as for me and mine, we were free of that shit! Hell, if I did not allow Jesus to control my life, I certainly was not going to allow his father to control my life with all this legalism! All these laws to keep! Ha! I did not mind the Ten Commandments. That was easy commo... ... middle of paper ... ...out. They took their chairs in the front of the congregation then Elijah came out, dressed head to toe in white. He had a white Rasta tam on his head and he had a full, thick beard. He was also as tall as Gabriel, maybe even taller. Elijah walked to the podium and he walked like he had the power of Moses with him! He had a very commanding presence! Elijah sat his books down on the podium, and he asked Nadia to sing before he delivered the message. He took a seat. Nadia stepped to the mic. The girl was crazy as hell, but one thing for sure, no one could take away the fact that this nutty girl could sing her little ass off. She was not the usual powerhouse gospel singer like Tramaine Hawkins or Yolanda Adams, but she had a smooth, alto voice that brought the crowd to silence. I absolutely adored her singing skills. I come from a very musically gifted family. I know
Adam and Eve were expected to stay innocent but once Eve took a bite of the apple on the forbidden tree, we were seen as sinners and by default our children had to carry that with them. This self-inflicted pain was not manipulated by him but rather recognized and accepted as part of life once we chose to neglect his expectations. Many times we see that pain affects our lives in a negative manner and the atheist would assume that God should alleviate if not eliminate the pain since he is all powerful, good and knowing. Yet by intruding our lives in such a manner, He would be violating the birth given right of free-will. We will no longer have the ability to choose our pathway or learn from our mistakes because God has predestined our
From this portion of scripture, we can see that God will not force His sovereign will on one who is determined to have a hardened heart and refuses to accept His mercy. This is also evident in the case with Pharaoh whereby God forced Pharaoh to do what was already in his heart, therefore, forfeiting his opportunity to be redeemed.
God's treatment towards his creations is highlighted with contempt and disappointment many times throughout Genesis. In the beginning God creates Adam and his many companions, giving his creations free reign over the Garden of Eden, and in return asking them to not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge, later on however it is one of God's own creations, the serpent, who coerces man and woman to break God's word and eat from the tree of knowledge. Surely enough all parties are punished, with man and woman banished from the Garden and forced to toil upon the land for sustenance (New Oxford Annotated Bible, Gen. 2.7-3.19). The story of the Garden of Eden serves to demonstrate two major reoccurring themes in Genesis, God's creations failing his convictions, and his subsequent punishin...
In the short story, “The Old Testament: Genesis,” the Lord God had forbidden Adam from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat….” (“Genesis” 54). Adam followed the rules, but however the woman that the Lord God created was tricked by the serpent. “Ye shall not surely die...” (“Genesis” 55). This was stated by the serpent, who tricked the woman into eating from the tree. When the serpent told the woman that she would not die, which made her want to eat from the tree more. The woman knew that she was not going to die, so she didn’t listen to what the Lord God told Adam. By being disobedient to Lord God, Adam and the woman had to face consequences. “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thy shalt bring forth children…” (“Genesis” 55). The Lord God punished the woman and Adam, because they did not listen to his command. This connects to our society today, because many people who are forbidden from doing something follow the rules until that one person tell them something different to break the rule. While breaking this rule, that person will most likely face ...
God always shows love- He showed his love for the Israelites by defeating the Egyptian. In the Exodus 14 the Bible explains how Pharaoh tried to recapture the Israelites. Pharaoh prepared 600 men with him and chased after the Israelites in the wilderness. The Lord saved the Israelites by splitting the Red Sea, and allowing them to cross on dry land. However, the Lord showed his power by closing the Red Sea around the
Once they lost hope and faith they began to become disobedient by creating and serving other gods. They looked to other deities and fail to recall the specific and all around one of the most important rule that was given to them. Because of their disregard of rules they were punished. The simple fact that they were so quick to build not one but many other gods because they were tired of waiting on Moses to come back from talking to God, shows how they really struggled with
An instructive and stirring string of verses, this passage from the Bible holds great relevance not only for the Ancient Israelites to whom it was spoken, but also acts as a herald to Christians today. This passage forms part of Moses great oration; his instructive teaching, advice and counsel narrated to the second generation of Israelites who required redirection before moving forward into what God had for them. Similarly, it is also relevant for all Christians as we remember what our faithful, loving and powerful God has done in the past, and what he requires of us to move forward.
Bible Gateway Passage: Deuteronomy 12:31 - English Standard Version." Bible Gateway. Accessed April 16, 2014.
Cain and Able both carried the name of their Father, Adam. Both men had a choice to make with how they would represent their lineage. You can either be bound by the curses or you can choose to serve God and overcome them. One, Able, chose to give God his best while Cain did not. Their hearts served as their representative to
... She asks that his wife be "more miserable by the death of him / Than I am made by my young lord and thee" (1:2:27-28). The fact that she marries Richard suggests that her curse is somewhat false. Perhaps she intentionally imposes a lenient punishment for his wife, one that she has already suffered, knowing that she might become his wife.
Cindy Pereyra The Pentateuch Dr. Luther 5 May 2014 Deuteronomy Study Assignment 1. Read Deuteronomy 16:18-20. a. Describe the requirements of judges in Israel based on this passage. In this passage, the requirements of judges in Israel are shown. The people are told to appoint judges and officers for themselves in all the towns that the Lord is giving to them according to their tribes.
Moses is the speaker now, and he says that God made a covenant with them at Horeb. Additionally, he says that last time they would not go up the mountain because they were afraid of the fire. Then, Moses repeats the Decalogue to the Israelites, and he explains that they were written on two stone tablets. Here the third commandment differs from Exodus. Instead of Remember the Sabbath, it states “Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you.” (Deut 5:12). In comparison, observe has a more commanding connotation. Furthermore, at the end of the first line of the commandment the text adds as “your God commanded you” (Deut. 5:12,). This sets a more domineering tone and implies that the Israelites will not follow unless commanded. Another key distinction occurs when the texts are describing why one must follow the Sabbath commandment. The text reminds the Israelites that they were once slaves in Egypt and that “God brought [them] out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut 5:15). Here God is guilt-tripping the Israelites into following the Sabbath by reminding them of what God did for them in their relationship. Thus, it seems that in Deuteronomy God is attempting to invoke fear in order to convince the Israelites to follow. Nonetheless, Deuteronomy is not only based on the Israelites following God out of fear. It also states that they will change their reasoning to aspire to be similar to God, like Exodus. For instance, when asked what would they tell their children when asked why they follow the Decalogue, they should say that if we follow it “as he has commanded us, we will be in the right.” (Deut 6:25). This indicates that after they followed out of fear that they changed their reasoning to be aspirational. Moses concludes with how they should follow the commandments
Some argue that God allows the destruction of countries to occur out of hate towards mankind. This argument possesses some truth. However, God warrants the downfall of nations not because of His hate of people, but because of His intolerance towards their sinful actions. If God allowed nations to continue on in their iniquities without any kind of repercussions, then no one would fear Him. People would embrace sin and reject the Lord. God maintains His supremacy over man through punishment of the wicked. Nevertheless, God does not always destroy the unrighteous immediately and without warning. The Old Testament records a profuse amount of situations in which the Lord sends a messenger to admonish sinful nations and to alert them of the impending condemnation. Whether or not they accepted the warning and turned...
After Joshua’s death and the death of “that whole generation”, the next generation “knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). Because this new generation was consistently unfaithful to the covenant that God made with them in Deuteronomy, God was furious. He says in Judges 2:20-22, “Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers did.” This is a perfect example of the Deuteronomic History emphasis of Torah obedience, which this module defines as “for ancient Israel to enjoy God’s good gift of the land, the ancient Israelites were expected to be faithful to the covenant that God established with them….” Since the Israelites were not faithful to the covenant, God made their lives extremely difficult by repeatedly subjecting them to serve unjust kings in the land that was mean...
Even though God saw people as evil, he wanted to show his grace. He wanted to separate certain people in the world as His chosen people. “He wanted a chosen people: 1. To whom He might entrust the Holy Scriptures. 2. To be His witness to the other nations. 3. Through whom the promised Messiah could come” (Mears 47). This covenant is made between God and Abram. This covenant marks the beginning history of Israel, God’s chosen people.