The End of the Scroll
I write this morning in the midst of Rosh Hashanah - the beginning of a new year for the Jewish people. This week also marks the end of my blogging project. Spending this year in Torah has been a blessing to me personally, and it has kept me mindful of Israel in her distress. The Oct. 7 attack fell on Simchat Torah, the last of the High Holy Days. Simchat Torah supposed to be day of joy and dancing in celebration of Torah. The last words of Deuteronomy are read on that day, and the scroll is rolled back up to the beginning. But it feels like the year has not ended. The war rages on. If there is any correspondence between this new year and the war in Israel, it seems to mark a new stage of conflict with Iran. Only the LORD knows there this bloodshed will lead. We must pray and trust Him with the future.
Just as the Jewish new year begins with unfinished conflict in Israel, my blogging will end in the middle of Deuteronomy. I did not make it to the end of the scroll in time. Honestly, I have no regrets about this. I took my time in Numbers because I found the Holy Spirit emphasizing some personal applications which took time to digest. I will never again think of Numbers as boring book!
Even so, I am sad to end this blog without finishing Deuteronomy, for I know it is equally rich. I must move on in my writing, if not my reading, for I have a long trip to Europe coming up. I also hope to finish the book I am writing with my father this winter. So here are some parting thoughts on the last book of Torah – fitting, I think, for perilous days.
I mentioned in an earlier post that Rabbi Sacks views Deuteronomy through the lens of ancient covenants. Like other ancient covenant, Deuteronomy begins with a summation of historical events, makes a clear statement of terms, and ends with a litany of blessings and curses invoked on those who keep or break the covenant. Of course, Deuteronomy is unique because the covenant it records is a covenant between God and a people! The book also holds a unique place in Torah because it is profoundly prophetic.
The closing chapters or Deuteronomy are among the most beautiful and terrifying in scripture. Moses sings a song, written by God Himself, describing YHWH’s tender affections for the people He has chosen. The LORD goes on to say that Israel will betray Him; she will turn after idols, and He in turn will punish her harshly until she repents and returns. Then the LORD will raise up another prophet, like Moses, with the words of God in his mouth.
It is no wonder, I think, that Jesus quotes Deuteronomy more than any other book of Torah, for He is the fulfillment of that prophecy. Nor is it a surprise that the people of Jesus’ day were fascinated with the book of Deuteronomy, for they saw themselves in its prophecy. The Israelites living under Roman rule were clearly “a planting of the LORD.” Their forefathers had been saved from captivity, purged of their idolatry and returned to the promised land against all hope. Thus even fishermen in Galilee kept the words of the scroll on their lips, hoping that Messiah might come in their day. And so He did.
I knew this history when I began reading Deuteronomy. What surprised me was the funny feeling which made my guts squirm in middle of Deuteronomy – the historical part. I wondered if the prophecy in the scroll applied not only to Israel, but to the Church, at least in a mystical sense? Are we not grafted into Israel? Should not her story prove a pattern, in some way, to our own? Here are the parts which made me squirm.
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. – Deut 8:2-3
“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.
“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
“Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. – Deut. 9: 1-6
Here are some questions I will be pondering in the year to come – some thoughts we as Christians might consider:
Are we not also living in a wilderness of sorts? We have been called out of slavery, but we are not yet living in our Father’s House. We do not yet see Jesus in His glory. Tears still stain our faces. The Church Fathers saw the Exodus story as a pattern of salvation. We have been delivered from the chains of sin. We have passed through the waters of baptism. We have been blessed with the fire of the Holy Spirit, which appeared as little pillars over the apostles’ heads. Yet we are not yet in the Promised Land.
For now, our hearts are being tested to see if we will obey all the LORD has commanded. How are we doing? Are we lusting after the flesh pots of our slavery? Are we cowering before the giants in the land? Do we believe the LORD will fight for us, or do we shrink in fear before our battles?
I think these questions are important, not just for the internal battles every believer faces, but for our collective destiny as the People of God. Our Messiah will come again, just as He promised. And there will be a battle on that day. Granted, we do not know what that battle will look like – but our LORD is a consuming fire. Kings will cry out in terror. The earth itself will shake. Old things will pass away, and something entirely new will come.
In that day, we must remember that it is “not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
We do not know what the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord will look like, or when it will come – but we know that it’s coming is certain. We know that the word of the LORD will not be shaken. We know that God will keep the oath that he swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore, we would do well to eat the bread of affliction in patient hope. We would do well to live on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We would do well to look out enemy in the eye without fear, for “our God is a consuming fire.”
My friend Pat Bailey, who was a generation older than I, once told me something I have pondered in my heart. She said that right before the great charismatic renewal of the 1970’s swept through the nation, many churches began studying the Old Testament, and especially Torah, with special zeal. She believed that studying Deuteronomy was directly related to the revival the Church experienced in that time.
I cannot see from the perspective of heaven. I do not know if Pat was right or not. I rather expect the next revival to look different than the one we experienced fifty years ago. Perhaps it will rest on events currently unfolding in Israel. I do not know whether that is right, but I am convinced that reading Deuteronomy strengthens the heart! It is both sobering and full of hope. It is an excellent reminder that the New Covenant is inextricably tied to the oath God made to Abraham. It is a call to remember that the He loves us as he loves Israel, not because of our righteousness but because of His choosing. He has crowned us with the glory of His laws. He has called us to walk in His ways. He will come again to claim us for His own, and He will fight for us because He is a consuming fire!