Today, we turn to the fifth and final book of the Pentateuch: Deuteronomy. The name means “second Law” in Greek, and signifies Moses’ second giving of the Law to the people of Israel. As we would expect, much of Deuteronomy repeats information we have already received in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, but we will also read of laws and experiences unique to the record of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 1 rehearses the forty year history of Israel’s wilderness wanderings in one chapter. At the beginning we’re told it ought to have taken eleven days to make the journey that took forty years. We’re told of Moses appointing leaders for the tribes, and judges to help him. We’re also told of the Israelites’ rebellion against God by failing to enter the Promised Land, because the majority of the scouts who went into spy out the land reported the people were too great for them to defeat. We already know all this from the previous books of the Pentateuch, but repetition is the mother of learning. Deuteronomy 2 rehearses more of the wanderings through the wilderness and recounts the victory over Sihon, the King of Hesbon. Deuteronomy 3 retells the accounts of Israel’s victory over Og, and the division of the land east of the Jordan River. It offers us some new information regarding Moses being told he could not enter the Promised Land. Moses tells us he pleaded with God to let him enter, but God’s mind would not be changed. I have always felt bad for Moses, because he endured so much as Israel’s leader, but he didn’t get to be part of entering the Promised Land. Imagine leading a group of people for forty years, when the mission ought to have taken two weeks. Imagine at the end of that lengthy and often discouraging time being told, “You have made it to the doorway of the ‘prize,’ but you can’t pass through.” I understand God’s decision to show the people how important His glory is, by not letting Moses usurp it without consequence. Even so, I feel bad for Moses, who led so long and so well, but in the end came up 50 yards short of the finish line.
In John 15, Jesus offers an analogy of how closely connected we must be to Him. He tells us He is the “vine” and we are the “branches.” In the analogy, the vine is the source of all growth, all health, and all strength. He tells us as long as we abide or remain in Him we will “bear fruit.” I have always loved this analogy, because it reminds us of two vital truths: 1) It’s all about Jesus. He is the one who gets the glory for every good thing we do. We will only do good things as we stay connected to Him; and 2) Jesus expects us to bear fruit. Some have said Jesus only expects us to be “faithful” not “successful.” We are to do our best and that’s all that’s necessary. Here we find Jesus not only calling us to be faithful, but to be “fruitful.” He does care about our “success.” Success can be defined in many ways by the world, but for Jesus success is defined as staying connected to Him, and by doing so to produce fruit. That fruit will include our own growth as His followers, and seeing others come to know Him through our interaction in their lives.
Jesus continued the image by adding that we are His friends, not His servants. We demonstrate that friendship by loving one another. He tells us greater love has no one than to lay down our life for our friends. In less than twenty-four hours, Jesus would be laying down His life for them, so His words ring true.
Finally, Jesus tells the disciples they will be hated by the world, and they ought to understand that, because the world first hated Him. If they hated Jesus, who was perfect, they would certainly hate us for representing Him, albeit imperfectly. As we follow Jesus and represent Him in the world, we must expect times when we will be rejected. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit to strengthen us for such times and in such times!