Calvary Road Baptist Church
“A SURVEY OF SATANIC & DEMONIC WARFARE IN DEUTERONOMY”
Deuteronomy
Our survey of Satanic and demonic threats, spiritual warfare in the Bible, brings us to the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, the fifth of the five books of Moses identified as the Pentateuch. As the name suggests, Deuteronomy contains a restatement of the Ten Commandments and Mosaic Covenant requirements as a prerequisite to secure God’s blessings. But there is so much more, as you will discover.
Herbert Lockyer says about the book of Deuteronomy,
It was the book used by Christ for Satan’s defeat.
(Compare Matthew 4:4 with Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:10 with Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 4:7 with Deuteronomy 6:16. Our Lord quoted it in the days of His childhood, youth and manhood.)
It is the book that stoutly condemns Spiritism (Deut. 18:9-14).
A necromancer is a seeker after the dead, a medium. Spiritism is Satan’s great counterfeit of the day.
It is the book which declares the overthrow of Satan’s power.
Satan has power over death (Heb. 2:14).
Satan contended with Michael over Moses’ dead body (Jude 9).
God buried Moses and preserved him, thereby defying Satan (Deut. 34:6; Matt. 17:3).
Satan desired possession of the body because likely he:-
Foreknew its resurrection.
That Moses would probably be one of the two witnesses (Rev. 11); so to possess his body would mean to frustrate God’s purpose in the last days.
It is the book that insists upon the full obedience of God’s people.
The obedience and holiness of the redeemed occasion the devil’s hatred.[1]
Here is a portion of what Jeffrey H. Tigay writes in The JPS Torah Commentary on Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy has two Hebrew names. The popular name, Sefer Devarim, is short for (Sefer) ve-’elleh ha-devarim, “The Book of ‘These are the words,’” a name based on the ancient practice of naming books after their key opening word or phrase. A second name, Mishneh Torah, “the Repetition of the Torah,” appears frequently in rabbinic literature. Philo and the Septuagint used its Greek translation, Deuteronomion, whence it came to the Latin Vulgate and then to English as “Deuteronomy.” Ironically, this name stems from a misunderstanding of Deuteronomy 17:18, where the phrase first appears but actually means “a copy of the Teaching.” Nevertheless, it is an apt designation for the book, which recapitulates the teachings of Genesis through Numbers.
Deuteronomy regularly refers to itself as “this Teaching” (sefer ha-torah ha-zo’t) and “this book of Teaching” (sefer ha-torah ha-zeh ), but it seems to use these phrases as generic designations rather than formal titles. Perhaps closest to a title is “the Teaching of Moses” (torat mosheh, found in Josh. 8:32; 2 Kings 23:25; Mal. 3:22).[2]
I think you will find Jeffrey Tigay’s overview of Deuteronomy quite helpful:
The Character and Structure of the Book
In form, Deuteronomy consists of farewell discourses and poems that Moses delivered to Israel in the last weeks of his life, and brief narratives about his final activities: commissioning Joshua as his successor, writing down the discourses, and Moses’ death.
Deuteronomy may be outlined as follows (the discourses and poems are represented in italics):
I. Heading (1:1-5)
II. Prologue: First Discourse (1:6-4:43)
A. Retrospective: The journey from Horeb to Moab (1:6-3:29)
B. Exhortation to observe God’s laws (4:1-40)
C. Appendix: Selection of asylum cities (4:41-43)
III. Second Discourse: The covenant made in Moab (4:44-chap. 28)
A. Heading (4:44-49)
B. Prologue: The theophany and covenant at Horeb (5)
C. Preamble to the laws given in Moab (6:1-11:30)
D. The laws given in Moab (11:31-26:15)
E. Conclusion to the laws (26:16-28:68)
1. Mutual commitments between God and Israel (26:16-19)
2. Digression: Ceremonies to reaffirm the covenant upon entering the promised land (27)
3. Promises and warnings consequent upon fulfilling or violating the covenant (28:1-68)
F. Subscription (28:69) [29.1][3]
IV. Third Discourse: Exhortations to observe the covenant made in Moab (29-30)
V. Epilogue: Moses’ last days (31-34)
A. Moses’ preparations of Israel for the future (31-32)
1. Preparatory acts (31)
2. Moses’ poem (32:1-43)
3. God’s final instructions to Moses (32:44-52)
B. Moses’ farewell blessings of Israel (33)
C. Moses’ death (34)
The Main Themes of Deuteronomy
Several themes are unique to Deuteronomy, or receive greater emphasis in it than in any other book of the Torah.
Monotheism. The fundamental principle underlying Deuteronomy is monotheism. The Lord (YHVH), God of Israel, is not only “the God of gods and the Lord of lords” (10:17), but the only true God (the “living God,” 5:23). Of course, the preceding books of the Torah also recognize only Him as God, but they concentrate on prohibiting Israel from worshiping other gods, not on refuting belief in their existence (see Excursus 6). It is Deuteronomy that first states explicitly that no other god exists and demonstrates that point, showing that the Lord alone has performed deeds that prove divinity (4:32-40; c; 3:24). Deuteronomy also gives one of the only explanations in the Torah for the prohibition of idols (4:9-20; see Comment to 4:15-18).
An aspect of Deuteronomy’s monotheism is its teaching that Israel’s God guides the history of all peoples. He defeated Israel’s enemies and overpowered mighty Egypt, which stood helplessly by as He removed Israel from its control. He gave Israel’s neighbors the lands, too, and enabled them to defeat the earlier inhabitants (2:20-23). It was He who determined that other peoples should worship other “gods” (4:19).
Loyalty to the Lord. The main theme of Deuteronomy is the ardent and exclusive loyalty that Israel owes the Lord, as expressed in 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is Our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Moses constantly exhorts Israel to worship the Lord alone and to shun pagan occult practices. No other book demands such a vehement campaign to prevent Israelites from worshiping other gods: it prescribes execution for Israelites who do so, or even advocate doing so; it requires the destruction of the native Canaanites to prevent them from influencing Israel to adopt their gods and abhorrent practices, such as ritual murder; and it warns that worshiping other gods will lead to Israel’s destruction and exile. In times of war, as a corollary of loyalty, Israel must trust God completely and face the enemy without hesitation.
The concept of God. The Lord is a just and caring God, giver of just laws (4:8), who “shows no favor and takes no bribe, but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing” (10:18). He is faithful, keeping His commitments (7:8-9; 32:4).
In striking contrast to the earlier books of the Torah, particularly those parts reflecting the priestly viewpoint, Deuteronomy emphasizes God’s transcendence. He is near to Israel (4:7), but only in a spiritual sense, since He is not physically present on earth. While passages in Exodus describe the sanctuary as God’s dwelling, Deuteronomy speaks of Him as dwelling in heaven (26:15); only His name dwells in the sanctuary (e. g., 12:5). Exodus 25 conceives of the Ark, which contains the Tablets of the Covenant, as God’s footstool, and the cherubs above it as His throne where He is present when speaking with Moses; whereas Deuteronomy describes the Ark as only a chest for the Tablets (10:1-2): And in retelling episodes from Numbers that describe God as travelling with Israel above the Ark, Deuteronomy omits references to the Ark so as not to localize Him (1:33,42). Deuteronomy generally avoids reference to God’s kavod, the term used in the earlier books to refer to His physical Presence. In describing the theophany at Horeb where, according to Exodus, God came down onto the mountain (Exod. 19:11,18,19), Deuteronomy carefully emphasizes that God spoke from heaven; only his fire, from which His voice was heard, was present on earth (Deut. 4:36).
Deuteronomy also describes God in less physical terms than do the earlier books of the Torah. In the Decalogue it eliminates the statement of Exodus 20:11 that God rested on the seventh day; it states instead that the purpose of the Sabbath is to enable servants to rest, and adds a reminder that God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt (Deut. 5:14-15). But avoidance of physical anthropomorphism does not mean that Deuteronomy conceives of the Lord as impassive. To Deuteronomy, as to the Bible as a whole, He is a feeling God. He is “drawn in love” to Israel (7:7; 10:15) and is merciful (4:31). Yet He also becomes angry at sin (7:4; 29:26; 31:17) and “jealous,” like a burning fire, in defense of His claim to Israel’s sole allegiance (4:24; 5:9; 6:15).
Covenant. All the books of the Torah use the metaphor of “covenant”' (berit) to describe the relationship between God and Israel. Deuteronomy emphasizes this metaphor so frequently that it was later referred to as “the Book of the Covenant.” In fact, Deuteronomy refers to several covenants. The first, which established the original relationship between God and Israel, is the covenant He made on oath to Israel’s ancestors to give their descendants the promised land and make them a large, prosperous, secure and victorious nation because of the ancestors’ loyal obedience to Him; in this sense, “covenant” means promise. “Covenant” refers also to the compact between God and Israel, consisting of the stipulations required by God, Israel’s promise to obey them, and God’s promise to reward obedience and punish disobedience. Covenant in this sense establishes God as Israel’s sovereign and serves as the basis for the relationship between them. Deuteronomy describes three such obligatory covenants that are essentially affirmations of the same agreement. The first consists of the stipulations God presented to Israel in the Decalogue at Horeb (Sinai) (5:6-18). Because Israel was too frightened by the theophany to hear God present the remaining stipulations, God communicated them only to Moses (5:19-6:3), who transmitted them to the people forty years later in Moab, shortly before his death. Moses then reconfirmed the Horeb covenant with a second one covering these additional stipulations (these stipulations are the laws presented in chaps. 12-26, introduced by chaps. 5-11 and sanctioned by the promises and warnings in chap. 28). Chapter 27 ordains that this covenant be affirmed a third time, as soon as Israel enters the promised land, in a covenant ceremony to be performed at Mounts Ebal and Gerizim.
The covenant relationship between God and Israel is summed up concisely in 26:16-19, a passage which shows that the covenant metaphor, which is rooted in the political and legal spheres, implies that the relationship between God and Israel is not a purely emotional or spiritual association, but one that also entails specific obligations that were mutually agreed upon and have consequences.
The background of the covenant metaphor has been richly illuminated by modern scholarship. God’s promissory covenant with the patriarchs is comparable to ancient Near Eastern promissory covenants in which a king grants land or some other gift to a servant and his descendants, unconditionally and in perpetuity, in recognition of the servant’s past loyal service. The perpetual, unconditional character of such grants underlies the assurances that even if Israel betrays God and is exiled, He will restore them if they repent of their sins “because He will not forget the covenant which He made on oath with [their] fathers” (4:29-31; 30:1-10). The obligatory compact between God and Israel resembles vassal treaties in which the king of a superpower takes the king of a smaller state as his vassal and stipulates the terms of their relationship, demanding future loyalty. God, in this metaphor, becomes Israel’s suzerain and Israel His vassal. The very logic of Israel’s obligation to worship YHVH alone, because He alone freed Israel from Egypt, is the logic of the treaty in which the suzerain’s demand for the vassal’s exclusive loyalty is based on his past benefactions to the vassal, often his delivering them from enemies. Deuteronomy shows numerous similarities to the form and wording of such treaties, as in the requirement that Israel love the Lord with all her heart, keep His words constantly in mind, and instruct her children about the terms of the covenant and the duty of following it. Invocation of heaven and earth as witnesses (4:26; 30:19; 31:28) is common in treaties, and the blessings and curses in chapter 28 are very similar to series of blessings and curses that invoke divine rewards and punishments to sanction compliance with treaties. The provisions for depositing the Tablets of the Covenant in the Ark, and the Teaching next to the Ark, and reading the Teaching every seven years (31:10-12,25-26) are comparable to provisions requiring the vassal to deposit the treaty in a sanctuary and read it periodically as a reminder of its terms.
The suzerain-vassal treaty is not a completely adequate model for the biblical covenant metaphor since it belongs to the realm of international relations, creating a relationship between a foreign sovereign and his subjects. Such treaties are concerned only with the vassal’s loyalty to the suzerain and are comparable to those provisions of God’s covenant with Israel that deal with worship and loyalty to Him. They do not provide a model for God’s concern for justice and human welfare as expressed in His legislation concerning Israel’s internal relations, the social laws and moral regulations that make up so much of biblical law. The model for such legislation is the king giving instructions to s own people, such as we find in various ancient Near Eastern law collections and instructions to royal officials. Possibly, the proximate model of the covenant in which God became Israel’s king was a “royal covenant”' in which a people accepted a human king who legislated for every sphere of its life.
Deuteronomy does not limit itself to the covenant metaphor to describe Israel’s relationship with God. It uses the metaphor of father and child to explain the nature of God’s creation and guidance of Israel (8:5; 32:6,18) and Israel’s obligations to Him (14:1), and to characterize Israel’s rebellion as unfilial conduct (32:5-6,18-20). It also draws terms from the vocabulary of marriage and adoption because the covenant creates a familylike relationship between Israel and God (see Comments to 5:7; 26:17; 29:12; 32:6). Finally, it describes Israel as God’s inheritance to express His sovereignty over them and His attachment to them (4:20; 32:9).
Love. Deuteronomy emphasizes that the bond between God and Israel is not merely legal, but spiritual and emotional as well. It reminds Israel of God’s love for her and calls on her to love and revere Him with all her heart, soul, and might, devoting her entire being to Him. It conceives of a relationship so intense that it can be described in terms normally used of romantic love: God was “drawn in His love for Israel’s ancestors” (10:15) and Israel is to “hold fast to Him (4:4; 10:20; 11:22).
Israel. Israel owes her very existence to God, who created her, redeemed her from Egypt, guided her safely through the wilderness, fights Israel’s wars, and will give Israel her land. God chose Israel for a special relationship with Him. As a nation, Israel is a polity headed by God who gives it laws through His spokesman Moses and will send future instructions through other prophets (18:15-22): As God’s children, all Israelites are brothers with mutual obligations to care for each other. They are sacrosanct to God and must shun all conduct that is incompatible with that status. They are God’s “treasured people.” In return for their service, God promises to make them the most successful and preeminent of peoples.
This relationship is not conceived in chauvinistic terms. Moses points out that Israel’s election by God was no sign of merit. Indeed, Israel had been rebellious for as long as Moses knew her. Rather, God chose Israel because of His love for her ancestors. Election is indeed a privilege, but one granted so that Israel would learn God’s ways and follow them. Fulfilling this obligation is a precondition for Israel’s well-being. As God explains in Genesis 18:19, “I have singled [Abraham] out that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right, in order that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.” The responsibility imposed by election is also expressed in Amos 3:2, where God declares to Israel: “You alone have I singled out of all the families of the earth - That is why I will call you to account for all your iniquities.”
Israel and the nations. Deuteronomy teaches that because of Israel’s election for God’s service, only she worships the true God. Other nations worship His subordinates or insubstantial idols. Since God Himself assigned the other nations their objects of worship, Deuteronomy does not consider it sinful for them to worship those objects. But it does consider the Canaanites’ religion sinful because of the abominable rituals they perform on behalf of their deities, especially child sacrifice. For these sins, God will destroy the Canaanites and give their land to Israel. As Ruler of all peoples, God also gave Israel’s Transjordanian neighbors their lands and cautioned Israel that it has no right to those lands. Deuteronomy envisages friendly relations with most other nations. It values their good opinion (4:6). It expects foreigners to visit and trade with Israel, and permits most (including escaped slaves) to settle in Israel, marry Israelites, and eventually to join the popular Assembly (21:10-14; 23:27). Members of a few nations are denied this privilege, temporarily or permanently, because of unfriendly actions toward Israel in the past. Like the rest of the Torah, Deuteronomy grants resident aliens equal protection under civil law and extends the benefits of many religious laws to them, such as Sabbath rest. But it does not require Israelites to grant them interest-free loans or remit their debts in the seventh year; financial sacrifices of that nature are obligatory only toward fellow Israelites.
The Land. All of Deuteronomy looks toward Israel’s life in the promised land. The land of Israel, the focus of God’s promises to the patriarchs, is His ultimate gift to their descendants. It is the place where God’s laws are to be carried out and where a society pursuing justice and righteousness (4:5-8) and living in harmony with God (7:12-13) can be established. Deuteronomy’s praise of the land is unstinting: it is a land oozing milk and honey, abundant in natural and man-made resources, and under God’s constant supervision (6:3,10-11; 8:7-9; 11:9-12). But Deuteronomy regularly iterates that possession of the land is conditional: Israel must obey God in order to occupy it successfully (4:1), to enjoy its bounty (7:12-16), and to retain possession of it (11:21). Disobedience delayed possession (chap. 1) and may later bring expulsion (e. g., 4:25-27), and only repentance and a return to obedience can lead to restoration (30:1-10).
Law. As noted, Israel’s welfare depends on maintaining a society governed by God’s social and religious laws, as presented in chapters 12-26. These laws are a divine gift to Israel, unsurpassed in their justice and their ability to secure God’s closeness (4:5-8). It is the responsibility of society to enforce the laws - failing that, God will. Nevertheless, the laws are to be observed not because of a social compact among the people, or out of good citizenship, or as an authoritarian imposition from above, but because they are just and right, and because of feelings of gratitude and moral obligation toward their Author, who chose Israel and redeemed her (6:20-25), and, finally, because Israel accepted His laws and covenant freely (5:24; 26:17). To Deuteronomy, then, the laws require not only obedience, but also the proper attitude.
The laws presented in Deuteronomy - indeed, the laws of the Torah as a whole - are not a complete, systematic code that could have sufficed to govern the entire life of ancient Israel. Certain areas of life, such as commercial transactions, civil damages, and marriage, are mentioned barely or not at all. One gains the impression that only a part of the existing laws have been selected, perhaps to illustrate certain ideal principles of social justice and religious devotion. Even in the topics that are covered, practical details of how the law was to be applied are rarely spelled out. Deuteronomy in particular, perhaps keeping its general audience in mind, devotes more attention to the basic provisions of its laws than to their practical details. The latter must have been provided by custom, by an interpretive tradition developed by courts (17:8-12), as in postbiblical times, and perhaps by administrative agencies.
Centralization of Sacrificial Worship. Unique in Deuteronomy’s laws is the rule that sacrificial worship may take place only in a single sanctuary. This law transfers virtually all important activities that were previously performed at sanctuaries throughout: the country-sacrifice, festivals, rites of purification, and certain judicial activities-to the central sanctuary in the religious capital. The reason behind it has been debated for centuries. Apparently, Deuteronomy perceived worship at multiple sites as inherently: pagan.
Desacralization. The limitation of sacrificial worship to a single place would inevitably remove a sacral dimension from the life of most Israelites. Most people lived far from the Temple and could not visit it often. They would have to forgo certain purificatory rites and regular sacrificing. The need to permit secular slaughter eliminated the sacral dimension of meat meals (12:15-16,20-22). These consequences of the law do not seem to have been viewed by Deuteronomy as undesirable; to the contrary, they give every indication of having been one of its aims. This is suggested by the fact that even where Deuteronomy might have shown solicitude for the sacral it does not do so. It discourages people from making vows, which usually involved sacrificing (23:23). It requires the entire people to visit the Temple for the spiritual experiences it offers (14:23), but it no longer regards the Temple as the abode of God, and it contains no laws enjoining the public to revere it or guard its purity, such as we find in the priestly literature. It drastically diminishes the financial support of the Temple by taking the tithes and firstlings - the old mainstays of; the Temple staff - away from the clergy and letting the laity consume them (14:22-29). Military laws are also much desacralized, with the priests’ role reduced to an encouraging speech before battle (20:2).
This trend in Deuteronomy has sometimes been termed “secularization,” but this term can be misleading if it is understood to mean antireligious. Deuteronomy is a profoundly religious book that seeks unceasingly to teach love and reverence for God to every Israelite and to encourage rituals which have that effect. Deuteronomy’s aim is to spiritualize religion by freeing it from excessive dependence on sacrifice and priesthood.
Intellectual orientation. Deuteronomy has a pronounced intellectual orientation. This is shown at the outset as Moses begins to “expound” the Teaching (1:5) and from his frequent description of himself as “teaching” the laws (4:1,5). All Israelites must learn the Teaching and teach it to their children (4:9; 6:7,20-25; u:19). The book must be read to the entire nation publicly every seven years (31:11-13) and the king must make a personal copy to study from (17:18-19). Moses urges Israel to obey God’s laws because “that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples” (4:6). The book regularly refers to what Israel learned from personal experience. Deuteronomy regards moral and spiritual qualities, especially those required for leadership, as forms of wisdom. It often express this viewpoint when it paraphrases passages from the other books of the Torah: thus Moses imbues Joshua with wisdom (34:9; according to Num. 27:18-20 he imbued him with authority); the chiefs had to be “wise, discerning, and experienced” (1:13; according to Exod. 18:11 they were to be capable, Godfearing, and honest); and according to 16:19 judges must reject bribes because “bribes blind the eyes of the discerning” (lit., “wise”; according to Exod. 23:8, “bribes blind the clear-sighted”).
As M. Weinfeld has shown, this intellectual orientation points unmistakably to Wisdom Literature as one of the main influences on Deuteronomy’s ideas and values, and indeed, this influence is visible throughout the book. The phraseology of the book has many contacts with Wisdom Literature. Certain of its teachings have nearly verbatim counterparts in Wisdom Literature, such as the exhortations against partiality in judgment (1:17), moving a neighbor’s landmark (19:14), having dishonest weights (25:13-16), and delaying payment of vows (23:22).
Humanitarianism. The Torah’s humanitarianism is most fully developed in Deuteronomy’s legislation and exhortations on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged: debtors, indentured servants, escaped slaves, resident aliens, orphans, widows and Levites, as well as animals and even convicted criminals. Humanitarian rules of this sort are found in all of the Pentateuchal laws, but they are most extensive in Deuteronomy. Characteristically, 10:19 cites the duty to treat aliens lovingly among Israel’s duties to God, in the same context as loving and serving God Himself. As is done elsewhere in the Torah, Deuteronomy explains that humanitarian duties toward the disadvantaged are based on Israel’s similar experience in the past (10:19; 15:15; 24:18,22).
Style. The most notable feature of Deuteronomy’s style is its exhortatory, didactic, sermonic character. Whether recalling past events, presenting theological arguments, or proclaiming laws, Moses’ style is not that of the historical narrative, theological treatise, or legal code. He constantly goes beyond the immediate subject to point out its religious and ethical implications and to appeal for faith and obedience. When he recalls the Exodus and the events at Horeb (Sinai), he does so in order to show that these events prove that the Lord is the only true God and that Israel should therefore obey His laws and shun false gods (4:9-20,32-40). When he recounts the journey from Horeb to the promised land, it is only to point out that Israel’s faithlessness caused an entire generation to perish in the wilderness (1:1-46). When he mentions how God fed Israel with manna, it is to show that God controls nature and can make anything He chooses nourishing, for which reason Israel should always obey Him (8:1-6). It is this use of historical events that gives Moses’ addresses their sermonic character: the events serve as the premises on which he bases messages. In Deuteronomy these events play the same role that biblical verses do in the midrashic sermons of talmudic times.
Underlying this style is the realization that people must be persuaded to obey the laws, especially those that require self-sacrifice, and those that are not so much laws as ethical exhortations, such as 15:7-11. Therefore, Moses regularly explains the laws and their reasons so as to secure Israel’s willing and understanding compliance. At times, he devotes as much attention to explaining and justifying the laws as he does to presenting their particulars. Fully fifty percent of the laws in Deuteronomy are accompanied by clauses that explain the laws or motivate people to obey them by showing their logic, justice, or consequences. It is these aspects of the book that are reflected in the description of Moses as “expounding” the Teaching (1:5) and “instructing” (that is, “teaching,” not merely “commanding”) Israel to observe the laws (4:1,5).
As befits Moses’ purpose, Deuteronomy has adopted a rhetorical style well suited to oral presentation. Its sentences are long and flowing. They are marked by assonance, key words, and stereotyped expressions, all valued features of oral presentation. Themes are repeated frequently, a practice that enables listeners in a large audience to catch everything that is said. Even the laws are lucid and free of technical details, intelligible to all ranks of the people. And instead of adopting the impersonal style typical of law codes, Deuteronomy, more than any other book in the Torah, addresses the laws directly to people.
Deuteronomy’s stereotyped expressions are closely tied to its main themes. Examples, are “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul”; “the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day”; “the LORD freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand) and an outstretched arm”; “a land :flowing with milk and honey”; “the site which the LORD) your God will choose to establish His name”; “do what is right (or evil) in the sight of the LORD”; “bless you in all your undertakings”; “sweep out evil from your midst”; “other gods (whom you have not experienced)”; and “abhorrent to the LORD.”[4]
For lack of time, I will not attend to every reference to spiritual conflict found in each of the main portions of the book. Your search of the terms graven images, gods, and idols in Deuteronomy will reveal Moses’ emphasis on the threats he warned the people about. In the time we have, consider this matter in the four parts of Deuteronomy:
First, MOSES’ SERMON FOUND IN DEUTERONOMY 1.6-4.34.
The Israelites are near the end of their wilderness wanderings. Only three adults remain alive who experienced the Exodus; Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. Only Joshua and Caleb will be permitted to enter the Promised Land. This first of Moses’ final sermons to the people he had led for forty years was devoted to a review of their journey from Mount Sinai to Moab, on the East side of the Dead Sea, encouraging them to obey God’s laws, and ending with comments about the three cities of refuge on the East side of the Jordan River.
In Deuteronomy chapter four, Moses warns the people about graven images, likenesses of anything, and gods that are the works of men’s hands. He also forcefully declared to them the invisibility, the jealousy, and the uniqueness of the God of Israel.
What was the not so implied meaning Moses conveyed to the people? That God is invisible, so He is not well-served by any visible likeness. That God is jealous, so He is not amenable to anything competing for the affections of His people. And that God is unique and utterly unlike the false gods of the nations, so do not use them to understand Him.
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
21 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:
22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
25 When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
38 To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
Next, MOSES’ SERMON FOUND IN DEUTERONOMY 4.44-29.1.
This long sermon addresses many issues, including a declaration of the parties in the Mosaic Covenant, a restatement of the Ten Commandments, a reminder of God’s glory atop Mount Sinai the fact that they heard the voice of God and did not die. Most of the sermon dealt with transmitting to the people the remaining laws they were to live by, reminding them of their mutual commitment between God and Israel, and the promises and warnings for fulfilling or violating the covenant.
Mention is made early on in this sermon of false gods, graven images, and likeness of living things:
Deuteronomy 5.2-9:
2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
Thus, this is not the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This subsequent covenant administered the relationship that was to exist between the God of Israel and the people of Israel who stood before Moses that day, as well as their heirs until it was fulfilled.
Deuteronomy 6.14-16:
14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
15 (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
The prohibitions are explicit. God is jealous, and He gets angry. Don’t even think about going after the gods of the nations which are around you.
In Deuteronomy 7.1-5, Moses spoke to them about the danger of intermarriage and turning away from God to serve other gods. In verses 16-20, the people were directed to remember what God did to Pharaoh, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the stretched-out arm, whereby the LORD their God brought them out of Egypt.
There are many more such passages in fourteen of the next nineteen chapters, with Moses warning and explaining, again and again, to avoid false gods, graven images, and the other matters related to demon-inspired subversion and temptation of the people. This second of Moses’ sermons is saturated with comments about spiritual danger and the threats posed by not being vigilant of one’s relationship with God.
Third, MOSES’ SERMON FOUND IN DEUTERONOMY 29-30.
On the occasion of this final and shortest sermon by Moses in Deuteronomy, the covenant is reconfirmed and the people are exhorted to faithfulness before crossing over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Yet, even in this brief discourse, Moses once more reminds and warns the people about the spiritual threats they faced.
Deuteronomy 29.14-28:
14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:
16 (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;
17 And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)
18 Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
20 The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
21 And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:
22 So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it;
23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
24 Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
25 Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:
26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:
27 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
28 And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.
Their abominations, their idols, your turning away, “the LORD will not spare him,” “the anger of the LORD,” and “his jealousy” are mentioned. Yet the children of Israel did what they were warned not to do, and the LORD responded precisely the way He said He would. Be it the pagans and their idolatry or the Israelites and their apostasy, those who sin against God bring God’s judgment down on themselves.
To Conclude, THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT FINAL PASSAGE IN DEUTERONOMY 31-34.
Chapters 31-32 feature Moses’ preparation for Israel’s future. Of particular interest to us is Moses’ poem in Deuteronomy 32.1-43. From verse 12 to 39, we find Moses’ dire warning of spiritual danger and the consequences of unfaithfulness to the only true God:
12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
Moses bids the people farewell in chapter 33, and the record of his death is found in chapter 34.
Have you read enough history to know how shocked people were when the communists of the Bolshevik revolution did what they said they would do and their brutality amazed their victims and the onlookers of that day? Millions perished in fulfilling their stated goals and objectives, and yet people were amazed they did what they promised to do.
Have you read enough history to know how shocked people were when Adolf Hitler showed himself to be the anti-Semitic despot he gave every indication he would be in his book, Mein Kampf? Millions perished in the attempt to fulfill his stated goals and objectives, and yet people were amazed that he did what he said he would do.
But it did not begin with Karl Marx, V. I. Lenin, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, or Adolf Hitler. Though they were surprisingly honest about their wicked goals and objectives, they only demonstrate how naive and gullible people are when they are told, in a straightforward manner, what someone’s stated goals and objectives are.
It began with God, the holy One of Israel. “God, that cannot lie,” has ever and always been honest and forthright about His attributes and His long-term intentions. Not only is He real, genuine, original, and unique, He is also moral as opposed to the immorality of His enemies, Satan, and the demons who oppose His purpose, His plan, and His people.
By moral, I refer to God’s attributes of holiness, righteousness, goodness, truth, mercy, grace, and love. What God predicts, will come to pass. What God purposes, will be fulfilled. And what God promises, He will do. God told His people not to turn away from Him, or He would visit them with judgment. They did not listen. They turned away from Him, and He visited them with judgment.
But had He not done that with Adam and Eve? Had He not done that with the world before the Flood? Had He not done that with the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel? Had He not done that with the Egyptians?
Could it be that the Devil and the demons, the malevolent liars they have been since their rebellion against God, have learned something from God’s dealings with His people? Could it be that the demon-inspired despots of this world have learned from their spirit-masters that they can lie about everything? But if they tell the truth about the great wickedness they will attempt, their intended victims will not listen.
People did not listen to Hitler, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, or Mao when they told the truth. But neither did the people listen to God, and He always tells the truth. Are we discovering that human beings are so twisted by sinfulness, so distorted in their thinking by the perverse thinking that results from prevailing sin, that the only thing lost people will not believe is the truth?
God spoke the truth. He only speaks the truth. The truth He gave to Moses was, in turn, spoken by Moses to the people. Yet they did not listen. Is it a reach to conclude that Satan and the demons will traffic mostly in lies, but will occasionally advance the truth because they know sinners will believe lies and will not believe the truth?
Deuteronomy is full of dire threats and warnings about the consequences of disobeying God and the threat to the nation posed by idolatry, graven images, and dabbling in the supernatural. This is war. The demonic adversaries are intelligent, experienced, dangerous, and successful. Yet few recognize the threat.
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[1] Herbert Lockyer, The Gospel In The Pentateuch, (Chicago: The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 1939), pages 113-114.
[2] Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy - The JPS Torah Commentary, (Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 1996), page xi.
[3] [29.1] address of verse in English Bibles.
[4] Tigay, pages xii-xix
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