Day 67: Exhortations and cautions

Moses continues his pep talk.

Rewards for obedience
Deuteronomy 7:12-26
Exhortations and cautions
Deuteronomy 8:1-20
Success not due to worthiness
Deuteronomy 9:1-6
Moses reminds the Israelites of God’s mercies
Deuteronomy 9:7-29
Moses tells how he made the new stone tablets
Deuteronomy 10:1-11
Moses’ exhortation to obedience
Deuteronomy 10:12-22

Like a manager before a football game, Moses stands before his people and says, “Now remember everything I’ve told you.” To the people reading these words hundreds of years later, when they had been carried into exile, it would have sounded like a huge “I told you so” from beyond the grave. All the warnings of what would happen to them are here, they will be destroyed if they do not trust God. But also there are some lovely passages about God’s grace and goodness. “To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations.” (10:14-15)
Here are some of the flashes of God’s immense goodness and love, which are important to set against the parts that I have found so hard to take elsewhere.