Deut 8.11 says, “Beware, lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I am commanding you today.” As Israel went through life, they were not to forget the Lord by NOT keeping the commandments. Notice he says if you don’t keep the Torah you have “forgotten” or you never knew the Lord. There is a term for this in the Scriptures and it is called “lawless” (“Nomos” in Greek is the term for the Torah, “Anomos” means no Torah or Torah-less and it is the word used in Matt 7.21-23; 1 John 2.3-4). We are not to diminish the Lord or his word.
Deut 8.12-16 tells us that just as Israel went through trials, they saw the Lord’s hand in it “in the end.” We will see the Lord’s hand in our lives as we look back. The reason he does this with Israel, and with us, is “to confirm his covenant” which he swore to the fathers. That’s why he leads us away from Replacement Theology assemblies most of us have been familiar with. This was so we could learn his commandments and to confirm the covenants. Yehovah is still working the plan out with us.
Deut 8.19-20 tells us that every generation must hear the voice that spoke these commandments, and recognize that voice. If Israel ever forgets the Lord by following other gods, the Lord will surely destroy them like the nations he destroyed before them. When someone says, “Don’t keep the commandments” they are really saying, “Don’t listen to the Lord.” Is that the speech of a servant of God? No, he is spitting on the “shadow” and if you spit on the shadow, you spit on the substance. When asked, “Should we obey the Lord?” they will say, “Yes.” But if you ask them “Should we obey the Torah” then they will say “No, we don’t have to obey that.” That is what “forgetting the Lord” means. And that “voice” in your heart should match the words of the Lord found in the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, the Gospels, and the Epistles.
Leave a Reply