A History Lesson

Deuteronomy 5 begins with a history lesson for all the children of Israel. The Bible says:

And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. (Deuteronomy 5:1 KJV)

This wasn’t a message simply for the tribal leaders, nor just for the priests.  This was a repetition of God’s words given on the mount as the people watched in fear a generation earlier in Exodus 20.  Those words bore repeating then, and they bear repeating today.

Moses was going through the statutes and judgments in order that God’s people would learn, keep and do them.  How do we measure up today on those three items?

What have we learned?  Not enough to pass lessons down more than a single generation, if we’re discussing economics. Sometimes the same if we’re discussing religion. Oh, the classes are there – every Sunday in most Christian churches, and often again on Wednesday nights, were attendance drops significantly.

What do we keep? The appearance today is that we keep what we want and toss what is inconvenient.  Paul saw it in that first century, and we see it today:

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 1:25 KJV)

We look upon ecological disasters and call them an ‘inconvenient truth’ while tossing aside the Bible as simply inconvenient, denying it has truth. 

You think not? What part of the Bible is seen as no longer valid? The part we don’t “do”?

Moses was calling upon those who were freed by God to hear the statutes and judgments – and to do them.  Live by them.  He then repeated what we refer to today as the Ten Commandments.  You know, the ones that are illegal to display in portions of the United States, though they are revered by multiple religions. (Would their display constitute the establishment of Judaism?  Or Christianity?  That stretch of the imagination has resulted in lawsuit after lawsuit, hasn’t it? Or is it simply people of faith that must be squelched?)

A lot of people opt out on the very first of the statutes:

Thou shalt have none other gods before me. (Deuteronomy 5:7 KJV)

Once they opt out, they aren’t concerned about graven images, taking names in vain nor remembering special days.  They may, however, have some concerns about the next six, creating secular laws that protect families and personal property, never giving thought to how those laws fit right in to His.

All through the Bible there were men chosen to teach the same lessons over and over again that the people might learn them, and keep, and do them.  It’s available to us for the very same reasons. Will we get a passing grade?