Throwing my graduation cap in the air, my heart and mind were filled with excitement and the anticipation of what lay ahead. Celebrating the end of my studies, I looked forward to the beginning of a new adventure in the working world. With only a loose plan of how to find a job, I moved four states away from my childhood home.

I was excited, yet terrified at the same time. What would the future hold? Would I find success or failure? What would my life after college look like? Even though I had so many questions, the future seemed to hold unlimited possibilities.

Anticipating Change in Deuteronomy

In Deuteronomy, Moses and the Israelites were camped at the banks of the Jordan anticipating what lies ahead of them. For forty years they had lived in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan. It was now time for them to leave the wilderness and enter the land God promised to give to them. It’s likely they were both excited and terrified, wondering what their future would look like, just as I was.

Deuteronomy’s first sentence begins with, “these are the words that Moses spoke.” In Hebrew tradition, Deuteronomy is called the “Book of Words” from the first two words in the Hebrew text – “these words.” We know the book as Deuteronomy for its Greek title in the Septuagint, translated “second law.” It is not another law, but the second recounting of the law that was given throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, thus the second account of the law in the Pentateuch.

With a pastoral heart, Moses aims to prepare the Israelites for the future by reminding them of their past experiences over the last forty years. It was time to put into action the wisdom of the Torah, the law that God gave them at Mount Horeb while in the wilderness.

Torah as Instruction

Although “torah” in Deuteronomy 1:5 is translated “law”, the nuanced meaning of the Hebrew word “torah” is closer to instruction or teaching. Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) law was not legislative as we think of law today. We see law as prescriptive, where the expected response is obedience and conformity. ANE law was viewed as descriptive where comprehension of a principle was expected. The ANE laws contained descriptions of scenarios based on traditional wisdom which were used to judge cases brought before a ruler.

Facing the Future

Have you been on the brink of a new change in your life that left you wondering about the future? Like the Israelites, as we embark on new endeavors, we are called to put into practice all the knowledge and wisdom we have learned in the past about walking in faith under God’s direction. We can reflect on God’s words in the Bible to remind us, teach us, and guide us as we journey through life.

As Paul encouraged Timothy to “continue in what he has learned and firmly believed,” he reminded Timothy that “all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14, 16-17)

Come, consider how God’s word teaches, corrects and trains you for the work set before you today.

References:

Daniel I. Block, Deuteronomy: The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 2012) 25.

John H. Walton & J. Harvey Walton, The Lost World of the Torah (Downers Grove, IL, Inter Varsity Press, 2019) 18-22.