deuteronomy 7-8

The LORD reveals something astonishing about Himself in today’s reading, that we have only seen hints of previouslyt:

Deu 7:1-11
1A: Deu 7:1a, YHVH brings Israel into the Land;
1B: Deu 7:1b-2, YHVH delivers the seven nations to be utterly destroyed;
1C: Deu 7:3-5, Preserve the worship of YHVH by abhorring their idols;
1D: Deu 7:6, Israel is YHVH’s holy people and special treasured possession;
CENTRAL AXIS: Deu 7:7-8a, YHVH set His love on Israel;
2D: Deu 7:8b, Israel is His therefore He redeemed them from Egypt;
2C: Deu 7:9, YHVH is God;
2B: Deu 7:10, YHVH repays those who hate Him to their face to destroy them;
2A: Deu 7:11, Israel shall keep the commandment, statutes and judgments of YHVH.

Our God has set His love on Israel! His people are His! They not only belong to Him, but they are His special treasured possession. Now this is the One who created all of the heavens and the earth. The vastness of the universe belongs to Him. He has myriads upon myriads of angels who serve Him and sing His praise all day long. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. But out of everything that belongs to Him, and that is everything, He has one thing which is His special treasured possession above all: His people!

Do you have one thing which is your special treasured possession above all other things? God has given us treasures that we treasure in our hearts, so that we will begin to know and understand how greatly He treasures His people!

The love He feels for His people is not a passive love, either. He is passionately in love with His people – that is why He is jealous over the affections of our heart, that they should be set on Him (Deu 6:15)! He is the jealous husband of Num 5, whose zeal for his wife is aroused if her affections have strayed from him. In fact, the covenant which the LORD made with Israel on Sinai is a marriage covenant (Jer 31:32).

Male and female, marriage and family, parents and children, these things were God’s idea. I believe He did it this way to give us something we could experience ourselves, and so understand the depth of the love and commitment He has for His people, when He reveals Himself as our husband, and father. The depth of that love, that is what is so astonishing!

For further study: These two chapters are again full of explanation of why it is so important for God’s people to keep God’s commandments. Find all the places (most phrases begin with “that”) and mark them. Repetition is a teaching tool of Scripture! Is it possible that our Father is trying to be clearly understood, why it is so important to Him that we obey Him? He is like the father who is trying to diligently impress upon his three- year- old that he must look before going into the street! A child’s obedience to his papa is a matter of life and death sometimes, as it is in the spiritual as well as the natural.

Finding Messiah: There is another chiastic structure in today’s reading which reveals Messiah, which runs from Deu 8:1-18. One of the pairs is Deu 8:3b-4, provision in the wilderness of the word which proceeds from the mouth of the LORD, and Deu 8:15b, provision in the wilderness of water from the rock. The LORD’s provision in the wilderness for His people, is Messiah Yeshua – He is the Word which proceeds from the mouth of the LORD, full of grace and truth (Joh 1:14). He is the water from the rock (1 Cor 10:4). He is bread from heaven (Joh 6:32-35), and living water (Joh 4:13-14)!

For further reading:
ahab, the Father’s love
Deu 7:1-11, a chosen people
Deu 7:7, set His love upon

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