Deuteronomy 6:1-9

“Now these are the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments that I am giving you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey. Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up. You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm and fasten them as symbols on your forehead. Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates.”

— ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭9‬‬

 Deuteronomy is the covenant proper between YHWH and Israel, and when we compare other suzerain-vassal treaties with Deuteronomy, the parallels are obvious. The structure of Deuteronomy follow the treaty very closely. The opening chapters are prologue, establishing the relationship between the two parties, and chapter 6 begins the stipulations/commands.

So again, we can remember from Exodus 20, that yes, we can gain insights from passages like this, but this is not to us (unless we have the land flowing with milk and honey, and we want the blessings and curses at the end of the book. We can’t pick and choose from the book the parts that “apply”.)

The author…and I’m not getting into that debate here…I can assume for now that Moses at least gave the law a second time to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land—how many times this book was edited before its final form, too many thoughts for discussion right now. 

So the author/speaker exhorts Israel to teach these commands to their children/grandchildren. We would want to say because they love YHWH, and they are raising good little followers of the one God, and this is how a godly nation is formed. It could be that they are terrified of being kicked out of the land. They know the cost of disobedience. So there are multiple motivations for teaching the commandments.

The number one command is to love God…and the NET properly notes that this is not emotional. It is covenantal. It is loyalty. It’s more of a choice. With all the mind. Soul = whole being to ancient Jew. 

Results are even introduced here. It will go well for Israel. They prosper, grow in number, gain/keep the land. 

Why should they put the commands all over the place? In front of their eyelids? The doorposts? On their clothes? Seems excessive. I know humans are forgetful, but my soul. These very tangible expressions of putting the Torah everywhere could symbolize memorizing it, and making it second nature in the community. These commands were to be their life and breath. (Because by these commands Israel would live or die…be in the land or in exile).

Jesus obviously quotes this passage with the young ruler. I am no expert in Jesus and John the Baptist being “between covenants,” but we do need to be cautious about assuming Jesus is automatically in the new covenant. Before resurrection, he is still operating  (and more importantly, talking to a nation under) the old covenant. 

But in spite of all that, I would agree (as if my opinion matters), that the most important command is to love God. Perhaps Jesus alters that meaning of love. We would need to study the use of that verse throughout time and how it was understood in NT times. Did Jesus remove it from its covenantal context? Use of OT in NT study.

But that doesn’t mean that I am bound to the rest of Deuteronomy. Or that I need to post verses from Exodus and Deuteronomy on my door or on my clothes. Is it a good idea to have verses around the house? Perhaps. I see many good ones and some out of context. It more matters that families know the meaning of why they have the verses and the truth they represent.

Is it a good idea to teach children and grandchildren? Sure. But not so that it “goes well for us, and the land prospers, and we don’t go into exile.” We can’t carry Old Covenant language into New Covenant practice. It’s simply discipleship at its core.

And the goal is to love God and worship Him, not to fill up a nation of Christian families or win a culture war or preserve a tradition or even obey a command. The goal is to share God’s love with those around us, and it begins at home. And the message may still be rejected, and we have to do a better job at accepting that and bridging gaps that have broken down. 

This is an example of what can make OT teaching difficult.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” And let us not be immoral, as some of them were, and twenty-three thousand died in a single day. And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall. No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

— ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭13‬‬ 

V 13 is great on its own but it makes so much more sense with the whole chapter (and chapters 8-10) in full force. This section covers the Corinthians’ question about food offered to idols. Though Paul’s instructions are similar to the meat/vegetables discussion in Romans 14-15, the conclusion is much more nuanced. He has different advice whether fellow eaters are unbelievers, believers, where you bought the meat, whether you pray over the meat, etc. In sum, meat is meat, and God has given us all things to eat. No problem. It’s pretty much always a matter of conscience. But if the eater is viewing the eating of meat as participating in idolatry, or if eating the meat is causing someone else to participate in idolatry, then it’s a no go. We can see this in the other passages of ch 8-10. This passage uses the children of Israel as an example. 

The fascination here is the use of the OT in the NT. In fact, this is the text that has caused many people to realize that NT authors do weird things with OT texts. The rock was Jesus?!?!?!

All under the cloud: Got it, they followed the cloud by day

All passed through the sea: Red Sea, check

Paul does something by using the word baptism to see the children of Israel identify with Moses as the people of God. He’s making a connection between Moses and Jesus. The old and new covenants. This may be the link between Moses and Jesus, where Moses is a type  type of Jesus, but Jesus always raises the pattern or fulfills it in a better/more complete way.

Spiritual food: manna. Yet, Paul may be linking the food to relying on Jesus for sustenance. I don’t think Paul uses John imagery often (i.e., feeding of 5,000 or “eat my flesh”), but it could be Eucharistic. Especially when seeing eating food offered to idols, or eating the flesh of gods.

Rock was Christ is classic midrash. Paul actually didn’t make this up. There are intertestamental writings that talk about God being the source of sustenance throughout the wilderness. Moses hit the rock for water twice, once at the beginning and end of the wilderness wanderings. Jewish rabbis concluded that it was the same rock, yet, since they must have needed water for the entire time in the wilderness, the rock must have followed them the entire time. Couple this with the verse about water gushing from the well (Num 21:16-18), and God was the source. Paul simply adds that Jesus was the rock that followed them.

Yet, we know that the Israelites took all these blessings for granted. Whether the Moabites (Baalam) or just the simple golden calf, they began to worship idols. And every time they did, it led to destruction. 

We have these stories as examples and for instruction. We have come before the living God. And Paul says the ends of the ages has come. And no one is able to stand on his own. We need to hold each other accountable and help one another endure. No person is an island in faith, and no one can be prideful. We must depend on one another, because we are weak humans.

These temptations (v. 13 finally) are common. The worship of idols has been around since the beginning, and if God’s chosen people were miserable —given all the blessings and up close views of His glory they received—we best be careful of falling into idolatry. 

But God is faithful. Praise God it’s not really up to us. His faithfulness is more stable and secure than ours. Temptation is strong, but He always provides a way to escape. 

The final infinitive is debated. Many translations have purpose/result “so that you can endure it.” I sort of favor the explanatory interpretation. “The way out is enduring it.” It doesn’t really make sense that escaping results in enduring the temptation or I need to escape with the goal of being able to endure it. But the way to escape is to endure the temptation. And God is faithful to see me through it. (And the believing community).

Probably many more details in this passage, but the rest of these chapters help fill in the gaps.

2 Corinthians 3:12-18

 “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective. But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

— ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭18‬‬

Important to remember context of 2 Corinthians, especially this section, where Paul is defending status/mission as apostle. Could go into whole reason why he need to defend this vs attitude/approach in 1 Corinthians. Something has changed.

This passage is commentary on Exodus 34:33-35 where Moses put veil on his face after seeing back of God’s glory. Two key terms: confidence and veil. Paul adds three elements: Israel’s inability to look at Moses’ face, Moses’ diminishing brightness, and why Moses wanted to veil face. Again, Paul is defending his boldness/no need for veil, which all believers can have bc of Spirit. 

Why cover face? 

1. Prevent Israel from seeing fading splendor

2. Conceal temporary nature of OT covenant

3. Demonstrate their sin made them unable to see glory

4. Prevent God’s glory from judging them (from NET). “End” would not be a temporal idea but a goal or movement towards something

5. Prevent Israel from gazing until splendor is gone. This means  covenant would not last

For Paul, ancient Israel is a type for Israel in his day. Hearts are still veiled and unable to comprehend God’s will. In Christ, the veil (from Moses’ face or the one that’s blinding modern Israel) would be taken away).

Lord is Spirit??

Most see this as Jesus = Spirit but maintaining a distinction in function. Others see it as saying Jesus is the source of spiritual life in the new era.

Perhaps a better option is to the article before Lord as going back to YHWH in v. 16. YHWH in the OT, Exod 34:34, is in the present era, the Spirit (vv. 3, 6, 8.) When a person turns to the Spirit, the veil is removed. Just as Moses removed his veil when in the presence of YHWH, the veil which causes unbelief is removed from a heart when turned toward the Spirit. He brings freedom. Freedom from the law, to behold God, to conform to Christ, etc.

This is not a verse to be used out of this context.