But our physical life and death wasnt what god was referring to. He says that the lord is giving to them an offer of life or death. Choose life so that you and your children will live. He said to them, i call heaven and earth to witness against you this day. Because god needed a leader or men, who could face the court of the king of the world, survive hardship and take direction. This is the pastor bringing the morning message entitled, the death of moses, the. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the lord your god, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. Moses was chosen by god to deliver the israelites from slavery, but he didnt believe he could do it because he didnt realize he had a special place in gods family. Virtually all secular scholars reject its attribution to moses and date the book much later, between the 7th and 5th centuries bce. A life, kirsch accomplishes the wondrous feat of revealing the real moses, a strikingly modern figure who steps out from behind the facade of sunday. I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse therefore choose life. So moses lays out the choice to the israelites in stark terms. See, i have set before you today life and good, death and evil i call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that i have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. This phrase is a classic example of a merism, a figure of speech that is used frequently in the bible, where.
At a crossroads choose life stonebrook community church. After the death of moses, the leadership of israel fell to joshua deuteronomy 31. The choice he gives is a choice between life and good, and death and evil. This phrase is a classic example of a merism, a figure of speech that is used frequently in the bible, where two parts or elements are used to denote the whole. Our lives are a result of the decisions that we make. I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. The author has broken the story of the life of moses into very segments detail his struggles and ultimate triumph of faith.
Gods admonition to choose life, as we find it in this passage, is defined rather clearly here and within the whole book of deuteronomy. The death of moses is easy, but i have to admit that his subsequent history is not. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today. The setting is moses final sermon, just before his death. Moses our teacher, is the most important prophet in judaism. So choose life, so that you and your descendants may live, 20 and that you may love the lord your. More than threethousand years ago, moses urged the children of israel to choose life. The book of deuteronomy, a farewell speech attributed to moses, combines a number of types of literature, including laws, poems, and narratives. The book of deuteronomy is a series of sermons moses gave to prepare the people for life in the promised land. Moses concludes by pronouncing a blessing upon all the tribes, with the exception of simeon. Throughout this book, moses is giving them his deathbed wisdom.
Why are the circumstances of the death of moses so. The invitation in this speech is for all who have ears to hear a message of inclusion to all people to live in love with god their creator, that all creation might be saved. It is likely that joshua, as moses successor as leader of israel, wrote the account of moses death. However, all of us yes, all of us commit spiritual and emotional suicide every day. Moses died in the land of moab before the children of israel crossed the jordan river to go in to possess the land. Moses had come to the end of his life and in the book of deuteronomy he is preaching to the people and preparing them for entrance into the promised land. This day i call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that i have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Why are the circumstances of the death of moses so mysterious. Moses, in his final charge to the people says i have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse. And im not even going to put it back on my to read queue, because i have no desire. Analysis from the hand of the priestly writer who compiled the various pentateuchal traditions into our five books of the law genesis through deuteronomy, the book of deuteronomyand indeed, the pentateuch as. Moses concludes by solemnly adjuring the people, as he had set before them, in his. Moses urges obedience here, not acceptance, because obedience leads to life and prosperity, while disobedience leads to death. In his farewell address, he challenges them to accept gods offer of life.
Let me give you the things that are established in scripture with a few comments. There are three references in the bible to the death and burial of moses, and each of them contributes to the mystery surrounding the story of the great prophet. I place before you life and death, blessing and curse. In deuteronomy, israel was a crossroads, being called by god to choose life over death and wholeheartedly keep the covenant of god. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the lord. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that god, your god, promised to give your. Moses delivered an oppressed people from bondage, molded them into a renewed nation and received revelation from god with new moral standards and laws. As moses third speech in the book of deuteronomy winds down, our passage calls for a selection. Moses was the great prophet of the old testament deuteronomy 34. He needs to sum up the teaching to which he has devoted his life. This day i call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that i have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. He led gods people out of egypt, received the ten commandments and the. You are sharing with us the services of the first baptist church in dallas. They are in heaven, and no one can go up to get them, then bring them down and explain them to us.
Well, for starters, he was one of gods chosen prophets used greatly in the story of the hebrew nation and christianity. Just like god says, we all have before us the option to choose life or to choose death. A fun way to see how much you know about the bible whilst complementing your bible study. The end of deuteronomy recounts that at an age of one hundred and twenty moses says he is no longer ableallowed to lead the peoples journey and will therefore not be carrying them on to cross the jordan deut 31. And love god, your god, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. A life is jonathan kirschs attempt to depict the historical moses. All of the types of material of the book fit into the ways the book lays out the way of life. God has not chosen to reveal much to us about the circumstances of moses death. The book of deuteronomy is the fifth book of the jewish torah, where it is called devarim heb. The book of moses greatly increases our understanding of enochs life, ministry, and teachings. Moses insists that we are capable of opening our hearts, of choosing life and goodness. Until this very day, the textwhich is written in hebrewhas been carefully preserved by the jewish people. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that i have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. That being said, i didnt complete this book moses by charles swindoll.
The choice of life or death 18 i declare to you today that you will surely perish. Deuteronomymoses loving farewell discourses watchtower. See, i set before you this day life and goodness, and death and evil. Moses eye had not grown dim, and his vital strength had not fled. What does it mean to choose life or to choose death. The best part is how the author then takes each segment and relates it to our lives and shows us how to achieve all that god has for us. Beyond reasonable question, moses wrote deuteronomy very near the end of his life. Deliverance from egypt exodus 118 israel at sinai exodus 19 to leviticus 27 the march toward canaan numbers moses final days deuteronomy. You can choose life and success or death and disaster. Theological and ethical reflections on the book of deuteronomy. Life or deathits your choice sermon by derrick tuper. Free interactive bible quizzes with answers and high score tables. Not just the big decisions, but the small every day decisions.
How did moses write deuteronomy if it records his death. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the. They can choose life and prosperity or they can choose death and. There is not one whit of archeological evidence that the great lawgiver ever lived, but kirsch, a. What are the five books of moses often referred to as torah, especially when in scroll format, the five books of moses are the foundation of judaism. So moses exhorts them throughout this book to choose life and reject their past rebellion. Moses lived to the ripe old age of 120 and even though he was used by god to. And moses clearly tells the israelites, and so us, what he wants us to choose. The speech lays out for israel the options of life and death. Last week i shared these verses in my sermon on living an abundant life. Moses steps to a life of faith by bob saffrin is a very good book. At the climax of moses sermon, he says, so choose life. It should be helpful for you as you do future studies of this nature.
Today i am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. We all know that except for the rare few who are mentally ill, no one proactively chooses physical suicide. The book of exodus says that after crossing the reed sea, moses led the hebrews into the sinai, where they spent 40 years wandering in the wildnerness. Moses concludes by solemnly adjuring the people, as he had set before them, in his proclamation of the law and in his preaching, good and evil, life and death, to choose the former and eschew the latter, to love and serve the lord which is life, and to shun apostasy and disobedience which are death cf. We can choose to have life both eternal life and the fullness of life here and now. Because there is little narrative in deuteronomy, it is one of the least wellknown books in. For moses first 40 years he was raised as a prince of egypt, familiar with court etiquette. The story of moses life begins in the book of exodus and extends through to the book of deuteronomy. The life of moses is an incredibly important epoch in the history of jesus christ. In this session of our fourpart series, choose life, we focus on praying our prodigals home and the lifechanging power of gods word. The book closes with the details of the death of moses. The life of moses outlined below is a basic outline of the course of study we followed this year in the life of moses.
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