• : Deuteronomy Chapters
  • 23
  • :9-19
  • 26
  • :16-19
  • 27,
  • 31,
  • 34
  • Cleanliness & Law against Usury
  • "Special/Chosen" people
  • The Law is inscribed on stones
  • Curses of the Law are pronounced
  • Joshua officially appointed
  • Prophecy of Israel's Rebellion
  • Moses dies
  • Key Verses and Themes
  • Chapter 23
  • Usury:
  • Deut. Deut. 23:19

The Lord instructs against charging interest on loans.

  • Chapter 26
  • Special/Chosen people:
  • Deut. 26:18

The Israelites are referred to as a “special people” to God.

See discussion questions.

  • Chapter 27 & 31

See discussion questions.

  • Chapter 34
  • Abraham's Promise:
  • Deut. 34:4

5 books of the Bible later, and we are still on this promise!

References to the New Testament & our Church practices

  • Usury

Luke 6:35

Christ Jesus says the same, but this includes not reminding constantly of a kindness done. Good works must be free gifts.

  • Discussion Questions
  • Deuteronomy 23

What are some of the laws being outlined here?

V. 9-11:

A man who has a nocturnal emission (which is unclean, we skipped this), needs to be put outside the camp, and wash before coming back.

  • V. 12-14:
  • Saying

”cover your poop”.

The Lord is in your Presence (i.e. Ark), so recognize that and be outwardly clean. The Lord is even teaching mankind outwardly cleanliness which is good for his body and health. But if God demands outwardly cleanliness, how much more inwardly? And the refuse (“waste”) that comes from within is sin; therefore put it outside the camp so that inside you, and the Church, is clean.

V.15-16:

The runaway slave is us, being sinners running away from the devil. The Church needs to shelter those people, because Christ did not turn us away as a race who was running away from its master the devil. So never have a “look whose here” attitude in Church; the Church is a hospital to turn sick sinners into the healthy and holy.

V.17

: Straightforward. Pagan worship at the time often included temple prostitutes, so God forbids such.

V.18

: To teach that almsgiving or offerings gained unjustly or sinfully are not acceptable to God. Purity of the gift matches purity of the gifter.

V.19

: Explains that usury was forbidden because it crushed the poor and contradicted love. He says Christians especially must never enrich themselves by exploiting others: “What is given for relief must not become a net of greed.”

Also see the NT reference section regarding Usury.

Deuteronomy 26

The Israelites are referred to as God’s special people, and we have all heard the term that the Jews/Israelites are “God’s chosen people”. Do you think this still applies today?

Think about what modern Judaism believes. Anyone who is

  • religiously
  • Jewish (because Jewish is an

ethnicity

too) in today’s age believes that the Messiah, the Christ, has not come yet. If we do some math, that means that they do not believe or accept that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

With that in mind, ask yourself the question again. No, right? So yes, in the Old Testament, that is before Christ, the “Jews” were a chosen people of God, because through them was the Law, prophets, and eventually the Messiah came from their race. However, they were never a chosen race based on their power nor numbers, i.e.

Deut. 7:7-8

, and genetically they are quite different now than they were back then for many factors.

So who are God’s chosen people now, if He has any? It’s quite simple; it’s Christians. A religious Jew, to practice Judaism, denies Jesus as the Christ. It’s that simple. No one who denies Christ can be God’s chosen person.

Luke 10:16. & John 15:23.

  • Deuteronomy 27

What is going in this chapter?

The law is commanded to be inscribed on stones when they cross into the promised land.

Then Moses announced a series of curses to the people atop the mountain, followed by them saying amen.

Why do they say “amen” after the curses?

Amen translates to “so be it” or "it is true" from Hebrew, so when you say amen after a prayer, you are agreeing with that prayer and saying to let it be, and the same applies to these curses. The Israelites are saying to these curses, which are to happen to those flagrantly breaking the law, that “so be it”. In simple terms, they are agreeing.

Think about how we say amen after each blessing given by the priest during the end of raza during Lent or a Feast Day. It’s the same concept.

  • Deuteronomy 31

Who are Sihon and Og?

They were kings of one of the people in Canaan, the Amorites, who were defeated by the Israelites after their 40 years of wandering ended.

What does Moses tell Joshua?

To be brave and have courage, and that he will lead the Israelites into the promised land. He finishes by reminding him that the Lord “is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed”.

When is the Law to be publicly read in its entirety?

Every 7 years, during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Why is the Law read every 7 years?

“That they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess”

  • This Week's Study

Review Weeks 7-9 for a short exam and game review on Deuteronomy!