L esson 2 *October 2–8
(page 14 of Standard Edition)
Moses’ History Lesson
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Deuteronomy 1–3, Exod.
32:29–32, Numbers 14, Eph. 3:10, Gen. 15:1–16, John 14:9.
Memory Text: And they “all ate the same spiritual food, and all
drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock
that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:3,
4, NKJV).
T
hese are the words which Moses spoke” (Deut. 1:1, NKJV). Thus
begins the book of Deuteronomy. And though, yes, Moses and the
presence of Moses dominate the book, from these opening words
to his death in the land of Moab (Deut. 34:5), Deuteronomy (as the
whole Bible) is really about the Lord Jesus. For He is the One who cre-
ated us (Genesis 1, Genesis 2, John 1:1–3), sustains us (Col. 1:15–17,
Heb. 1:3) and redeems us (Isa. 41:14, Titus 2:14). And, in a looser sense
of those words, Deuteronomy reveals how the Lord continued to create,
sustain, and redeem His people at this crucial time in salvation history.
Basically, just as the children of Israel are finally to enter Canaan,
Moses gives them a history lesson, a theme that is repeated all through
the Bible: remember what the Lord has done for you in the past.
This admonition should mean something to us, we who are on the
borders of a better Promised Land: “In reviewing our past history, hav-
ing traveled over every step of advance to our present standing, . . . I
am filled with astonishment, and with confidence in Christ as leader.
We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way
the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.”—Ellen G.
White, Life Sketches, p. 196.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 9.
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S unday October 3
(page 15 of Standard Edition)
The Ministry of Moses
All through the Bible, the presence of Moses is felt. And though he’s
not mentioned until Exodus 2:2, he had written the book of Genesis,
God’s authoritative and foundational story of who we are, how we
got here, why things are as bad as they are and, yet, why we can hope
anyway. Creation, the Fall, the promise of Redemption, the Flood,
Abraham, the gospel—all have their roots in Genesis, and its author
was the prophet Moses. It’s hard to gauge adequately the influence that
this one man, hardly flawless, was nevertheless able to exert for God
because he loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him.
Read Exodus 32:29–32, which records the conversation between the
Lord and Moses after the terrible sin of the golden calf. What
insight does this story give us about the character of Moses and
why, despite whatever flaws he had, the Lord was able to use him
in such a mighty way?
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Even though Moses had nothing to do with the sin, he sought to
intercede for this sinful people, even being willing to lose his own soul
on their behalf. Fascinatingly enough, in Exodus 32:32, when Moses
asks God to “forgive their sin,” the verb actually means “to bear.” Thus,
Moses—understanding the gravity of sin and what it took to atone for
it—asked God indeed to “bear” their sin. And that is because this is the
only way, ultimately, that their sin, any sin, could be forgiven.
Thus, here we have, early in the Bible, a powerful expression of
substitution, in which God Himself, in the person of Jesus, will bear in
Himself the full brunt and penalty of our sin—God’s preordained way
of salvation for humanity while remaining true to the principles of His
government and law.
Indeed, many centuries later Peter would write about Jesus: “who
Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having
died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were
healed” (1 Pet. 2:24, NKJV).
Meanwhile, what we see in this story of Moses and his reaction to
their sin is Moses in the role of intercessor on behalf of a fallen, sinful
people, a precursor to what Jesus also will do for us (see Heb. 7:25).
Willing to lose his own soul for his people? Think more about the
implications of those words. What can we learn from them for
ourselves about what it means truly to love others?
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M onday October 4
(page 16 of Standard Edition)
Fulfilled Prophecy
Despite some of the error that modern science tries to promulgate as
truth (such as that our universe by itself arose from “absolutely nothing” or
that all life on earth arose by chance from simple chemicals), science has
nonetheless given us some astonishing insights into God’s creative power.
The harmony, the balance, the precision of many aspects of the natural
world, even in its fallen state, continue to astound those who study them.
And if God can be so precise with physical things, He certainly will
be precise with spiritual things, as well. Hence, in the opening verses of
Deuteronomy, we can see more of God’s incredible precision.
Read Deuteronomy 1:1–6. What is the prophetic significance of the
fact that Deuteronomy 1:3 talks about the “fortieth year”?
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After the fiasco, when Moses sent spies from Kadesh Barnea to check
out the land, and the people rejected the call to take the land—what hap-
pened? They were told that they would not enter into the Promised Land
as they had hoped. And for how long would they wait before entering?
“ ‘ “According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land,
forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty
years, and you shall know My rejection” ’ ” (Num. 14:34, NKJV).
Hence, Deuteronomy takes up the story of God’s people in the fortieth
year, exactly as God had told them. In other words, God’s prophetic Word
is as trustworthy as God Himself, and what we see here in the opening
verses of Deuteronomy is more evidence of that trustworthiness; that is,
God will do what He says and will do it when He says that He will do it.
Of course, this isn’t the only prophetic time period that was fulfilled
as God had said. Looking back from our vantage point today, we can
find in Daniel 9:24–27, for instance, the time period for Jesus, fulfilled
just as the Lord had said. We can see that the “time and times and half
a time” (Dan. 7:25, NKJV; see also Rev. 12:6, 14; Rev. 13:5) has been
fulfilled in history, as well as in the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14.
And besides the precise time elements, the prophecies of Daniel 2, 7,
and 8, which so precisely and accurately predicted world history, have
given us overwhelming evidence of God’s foreknowledge, control, and
trustworthiness.
We can see that the Lord faithfully fulfilled these past prophecies
just as predicted. Why should this give us confidence that we can
trust Him on the things He said would come that are yet in the
future?
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T uesday October 5
(page 17 of Standard Edition)
A Thousand Times More Numerous
After the long trek in the wilderness, Moses, speaking for the Lord
(he was a prophet, though, indeed, more than a prophet), said: “See, I
have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord
swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them
and their descendants after them” (Deut. 1:8, NKJV).
Notice, however, what comes next.
Read Deuteronomy 1:9–11. What is the significance of these words,
especially in light of the fact that, in a real sense, they were being
punished by God for the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea?
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Here we see another example of the graciousness of God. Even amid
the wilderness wanderings, they were blessed: “ ‘Forty years You sus-
tained them in the wilderness. . . . They lacked nothing; their clothes
did not wear out and their feet did not swell’ ” (Neh. 9:21, NKJV).
And Moses, again showing his love for his people, asked God to
multiply them a thousand more times than God already had done!
Read Deuteronomy 1:12–17. As a direct result of God’s blessing upon
the people, what happened, and what steps did Moses take to deal
with the situation?
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Thus, even when the Lord was so powerfully present among them,
there was the need for organization, for structure, for a system of
accountability. Israel was a qahal, an organized assembly (see Deut.
31:30), a precursor to the New Testament ekklesia, Greek for “church”
(see Matt. 16:18). And though working in a different context, Paul
was never far from his Jewish roots, and in 1 Corinthians 12 we see
him clearly delineating the need for qualified people to assume vari-
ous roles for the proper functioning of the body, just as we see here in
Deuteronomy and the qahal in the wilderness. The church today, as the
qahal back then, needs to be a unified body with people fulfilling vari-
ous roles according to their gifts.
Though we sometimes hear people rail against “organized” religion (what
would they prefer, “disorganized” religion instead?), the Word of God, espe-
cially the New Testament, acknowledges no other kind but an organized one.
21
W ednesday October 6
(page 18 of Standard Edition)
Kadesh Barnea
A specter has been haunting the early parts of the book of
Deuteronomy, the specter of Kadesh Barnea. This unfortunate story,
as we have seen, set the immediate background for the book of
Deuteronomy, and it’s worth taking a closer look at it.
Read Numbers 14. How did the people react to the report of the spies,
and what were the results of their reaction? (See also Deut. 1:20–46.)
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We can derive many important lessons from this story, but one
important lesson, which will appear again in the book, can be found in
Numbers 14, as well.
Read Numbers 14:11–20. Though we see Moses again in the role of
intercessor, what is significant about his line of reasoning with the
Lord regarding why the Lord should not destroy them?
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Think about what Moses was saying to God. If You do this, look at how
You will appear in the eyes of the Egyptians and the other nations in the
area. This point is important because, ultimately, everything that God had
wanted to do with Israel wasn’t just for the sake of Israel; it also was for
humanity as a whole. The nation of Israel was to be a light to the world, a
witness to the ancients about the love and power and salvation found in the
true God and not in the worthless idols that these people had worshiped.
However, as Moses said, If You wipe this people out, then what? The
nations will say: “Because the Lord was not able to bring this people
to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in
the wilderness” (Num. 14:16, NKJV).
In other words, what we see here is a theme found all through the
Bible: the idea that God is to be glorified in His people—that the
glory and goodness and love and power of God are to be revealed in
His church, through what He does through His people. Of course, His
people don’t always make it easy for Him to do this, but ultimately God
will be glorified through His people’s actions on earth.
Read Ephesians 3:10. What is Paul saying here, and how does this
happen? How is the “manifold wisdom” of God made manifest
to the cosmos? What role, if any, do we have as individuals in
bringing this about?
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T hursday October 7
(page 19 of Standard Edition)
The Iniquity of the Amorite
In Deuteronomy 2 and 3, Moses continues to recount Israelite history and
how, with God’s blessing, they routed their enemies; when they were faithful,
God gave them the victory, even over “giants” (Deut. 2:11, 20; Deut. 3:13).
Of course, this brings up the difficult topic, which we must at least
touch on, regarding the destruction of these people. Though the chil-
dren of Israel would often speak peace first to a nation (Deut. 20:10,
11), yet if the people didn’t accept that offer, sometimes the Israelites
would go in and destroy them, including women and children. “ ‘And
the Lord our God delivered him over to us; so we defeated him, his
sons, and all his people. We took all his cities at that time, and we
utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left
none remaining’ ” (Deut. 2:33, 34, NKJV).
Some try to get around this simply by saying that these stories are
not true. However, because we believe that “all Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for cor-
rection, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16, NKJV), that’s
not a viable option for Seventh-day Adventists. Thus, we are left with a
difficult question regarding these incidents.
Read Genesis 15:1–16. What did God say to Abram in Genesis 15:16,
and how does it shed some light on this difficult topic?
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There’s no question that many of these pagan nations were exceed-
ingly brutal and cruel people who justifiably could have faced the
wrath and punishment of God long before then. That’s true, and even
if God waited patiently for them to change their ways, and they didn’t
change—this still doesn’t alter the hard reality about the killing of
everyone, including children. (Of course, probably many more children
were killed in the Flood than were killed by the Israelites.)
The fact is that, for now, given the limited information we have about
the full context of the events, we just need to accept this hard reality
and trust in the goodness of God, which has been revealed in so many
other ways. Faith isn’t just about loving God on a beautiful day in a
pretty forest full of wonderful sights and sounds. It’s also about trusting
in Him despite what we don’t fully understand.
Read 1 Corinthians 10:1–4 and John 14:9. How do these verses,
and many others like them, help us learn to trust in the love,
justice, and goodness of God, even when we see things that seem
hard to square with this understanding of God?
23
F riday October 8
(page 20 of Standard Edition)
Further Thought: Here’s how one scholar seeks to answer the hard
questions about what the Israelites did to some of these nations:
“As Creator of all things and all human beings and as sovereign over
all, God can do anything [He] wants with anyone and be right in doing
so. . . .
“The ways of God are a mystery. Since we will never completely
understand [Him], we might as well relax with the questions in our
minds. Isaiah 55:8–9 offers some consolation.
“According to the biblical picture of the Canaanites, these peoples
were extremely wicked, and their annihilation represented God’s judg-
ment for their sin. The destruction of the Canaanites was neither the
first nor the last time God would do this. The differences between the
Canaanites’ fate and the fate of humanity (except for Noah’s family) as
described in Genesis 6–9 involve scale and agency. . . .
“God never intended for the Israelites to make the policy of herem [the
total destruction] as a general policy toward outsiders. Deuteronomy
7:1 expressly identifies and thereby delimits the target peoples. The
Israelites were not to follow these policies against Aramaeans or
Edomites or Egyptians, or anyone else (cf. Deut. 20:10–18). . . .
“The Canaanites suffered a fate that ultimately all sinners will face:
the judgment of God. . . .
“God’s elimination of the Canaanites was a necessary step in the his-
tory of salvation. . . .
“Although the Canaanites as a whole were targets of God’s judg-
ment, they had at least forty years of advance warning (see Rahab’s
confession in Josh. 2:8–11).”—Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application
Commentary: Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012),
pp. 98, 99.
Discussion Questions:
Think about our understanding of the millennium, in which
we will have a thousand years to have all our questions answered.
How can this understanding help us to learn to trust in God
despite whatever hard questions we have now?
What are some of the ways that God led you in the past that
can help you learn to trust Him for the future? Why is it impor-
tant not to forget how God has worked in our lives?
In class, go over the question at the end of Sunday’s study,
about Moses’ willingness to lose his own soul for the sake of his
people. Is that a right attitude to have? What, if anything, is worth
losing one’s soul over, especially considering what it cost to redeem
it?
24
i n s i d e
Story
My Mother’s Heritage
By Park Yeon-sook
My mother turned to me as she was dying from gallbladder cancer.
“You must go to church,” she said.
Mother had taken me to church every Sabbath since I was a young girl,
but I had stopped attending as I got busy with my shop in Hanam, a suburb
of South Korea’s capital, Seoul. Mother’s words troubled me as I struggled
both to work and raise my son, daughter, and three nephews. I realized that
I could not succeed on my own, and I returned to Jesus.
As my love for Jesus grew, He gave me a heart to care for needy neighbors.
A relative introduced me to Hong Soon-mi. A year after we met, Soon-mi’s
husband was diagnosed with bone-marrow cancer. When I learned that he
couldn’t afford surgery, I set up a donation box on the street outside my
shop. Many people ridiculed me, saying, “Why are you raising money for
someone who isn’t a relative?” But I kept the donation box in place.
On Soon-mi’s birthday, I presented her with a 45-pound (20-kilogram)
bag of rice. “Take this gift from my shop,” I said. She later told me that her
whole family cried when they saw the gift.
Soon-mi didn’t come to church right away. But she read the Adventist
magazines that I gave her and learned that Seventh-day Adventists love Jesus
and people. I put Soon-mi in charge of my shop and provided her with a salary
and daily necessities, such as fruit and rice, for about two years. After that, I
made her the manager of a small restaurant that I ran. A year after beginning
to manage the restaurant, she asked, “Why don’t you invite me to church?”
“Why?” I said. “You know that you are welcome.”
“Then I’ll go,” she said.
After six years of friendship, Soon-mi visited West Hanam Seventh-day
Adventist Church for the first time. Three years later, she became a deacon-
ess, and later her husband and son were baptized.
When I first opened my shop, I was the only Adventist in the neighbor-
hood. Now seven merchants are Adventist. The church has a good reputa-
tion in the area. I thank my mother for giving me a heritage of faith, and I
give all glory to God for using Adventist merchants like me for good.
This mission story illustrates Mission Objective No. 1 of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strate-
gic plan: “To revive the concept of worldwide mission
and sacrifice for mission as a way of life involving not
only pastors but every church member.” Learn more at
IWillGo2020.org. This quarter, your Thirteenth Sabbath
Offering will support two mission projects in South Korea.
Read more about Soon-mi last week.
Provided by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission, which uses Sabbath School
mission offerings to spread the gospel worldwide. Read new stories daily at AdventistMission.org. 25
teachers comments
Key Texts: 1 Corinthians 10:3, 4; Deuteronomy 1:30
Study Focus: Deuteronomy 1–3, Exod. 32:29–32, Numbers 14,
Eph. 3:10, Gen. 15:1–16, John 14:9.
Part I: Overview
According to the covenant structure of the book, Moses’ speech begins
with a “preamble” (Deut. 1:1–5), which has two functions. First, it signals
the nature of the content of the book, as signified by the phrase “these are
the words” (Deut. 1:1, NKJV). These “words” refer not only to the words
of Moses as a prophet and as the leader of Israel, but also to the “words” of
God, His commandments (compare Num. 36:13), which Moses will later
explain (Deut. 1:5), and to God’s action through the events of the history
of salvation. Second, it situates the place and the time of Moses’ last tes-
timony to his people: “on this side of the Jordan” (Deut. 1:1, NKJV), the
Transjordan, facing the Promised Land (Num. 36:13); and “in the fortieth
year” (Deut. 1:3), the last year of Israel’s journey in the wilderness.
Lesson Themes:
Following the “preamble” comes a historical prologue that reviews the his-
torical events from which Moses draws lessons for his people. The themes
of these lessons are the following:
• Remember and hope.
• God fights for you.
• God fulfills His words.
• Grace and justice
Part II: Commentary
Moses’ historical review covers the three main events of the journey
of the Israelites: God’s covenant with His people in Horeb (Deut.
1:6–18), the rebellion of the people at the oasis in Kadesh Barnea
(Deut. 1:19–46), and finally, the conquest of Gilead (Deut. 2:1–3:29).
God Makes a Covenant in Horeb (Deut. 1:6–18).
Horeb is the place of the manifestation of God. Horeb and Sinai refer
to the same place, the mountain where God revealed Himself to Israel
and made a covenant with the people and gave them His law (Exod.
3:1). Moses emphasizes the close, personal bond between Israel and
God, who is called “the Lord our God” (Deut. 1:6), a title that is often
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teachers comments
used in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses reminds his people of God’s
call to move: “ ‘ “you have dwelt long enough at this mountain” ’ ”
(Deut. 1:6, NKJV). As important as this great moment of worship
was, God deemed that it was time to take action. The God of Israel
is not the God of the monasteries. He is not the God of just prayers
and meditation; He also is the God who urges His people to go and
possess the land promised to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
(Deut. 1:8; compare Gen. 12:7). This is why God is called “the Lord
God of your fathers” (Deut. 1:11). This event is, thus, presented as the
fulfillment of God’s Word. This idea is reinforced by Moses’ reference
to the nature of the people, who have now multiplied a thousand times
and become “as the stars of heaven” (Deut. 1:10), a wonder that also
is the result of God’s promise (compare Gen. 15:5; Gen. 22:17). This
task required of the people not only the hard duty to prepare for war
but also the need to organize themselves as a nation; they must provide
themselves with wise (Deut. 1:13) and just judges (Deut. 1:16).
Discussion and Thought Questions: Why is God called the “God of your
fathers”? How important is the remembrance of the fathers in our religion
today? Does this title imply a religion that focuses only on the past? If
not, why not?
The People’s Rebellion at Kadesh Barnea (Deut. 1:19–46)
Moses describes this region as the place “ ‘ “which the Lord our God
is giving us” ’ ” (Deut. 1:20, NKJV). Note the use of a participle that
emphasizes the actuality and certainty of God’s gift. Moses reminds
Israel that in spite of God’s encouragement (Deut. 1:20, 21) and the
assurance that God would fight for them as He did in Egypt (Deut.
1:30; compare Exod. 14:14), the people doubted and were afraid and
refused to take risks (Deut. 1:32). The people made two mistakes.
First, when they sent spies to assess the power of the inhabitants and
saw that the natives of the land were strong giants, they got scared
and refused to go in. Second, when Israel understood that God was
upset because of their lack of faith, they decided to go by themselves
and fight presumptuously against the enemy without God’s support.
As a result, not only did they miss this opportunity to enter the land
immediately, thereby suffering great loss, but God also “ ‘took an
oath’ ” that they would wander through the wilderness for 40 years
(Deut 1:34, NKJV; compare Deut. 2:14). The same phrase “took an
oath” is used to refer to the oath that God swore to their fathers. The
date of the “fortieth year” (Deut. 1:3) is, ironically, another reminder
of God’s fulfillment of His Word. Moses uses all of these events to
remind Israel of God’s promise and to warn his people before crossing
the Jordan that they must learn a lesson from the past in order that
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teachers comments
they might secure their future.
Discussion and Thought Questions: What lesson of faith is contained
in Moses’ repeated words that God “ ‘ “will fight for you” ’ ” (Deut.
1:30, NKJV; compare Exod. 14:14)? How do these words account for
the method of conquest God had in mind for His people? Why did the
Israelites fail when they went to fight by themselves?
The Conquest of Gilead (Deut. 2:1–3:29)
After having spent a long time in Kadesh Barnea, the Israelites,
the people of Israel, turned again northward in the direction of the
Promised Land, but they did not immediately conquer the land. It is
interesting that they first had to pass through peoples and lands not
included in God’s promise to them, such as Edom, Moab, and Ammon,
and therefore they did not confront them. In traveling for 40 years
“through this great wilderness,” they experienced how much God pro-
tected them and cared for them (Deut. 2:7). It is only at the end of the
“rebellious generation” that Israel began the possession of the land.
One by one, the Canaanite enemies were defeated and dispossessed
of their land. Then the Israelites took possession of the land, and the
allocation was organized.
The Problem of the Conquest
The biblical narrative on the conquest of the land focuses essentially on
the victories, without directly dealing with the sensitive and complex
ethical problems that are associated with that process. The biblical text
provides, however, a number of clues and principles to help address this
problem:
• God gives. God is the Owner and Giver of the land. This principle
is affirmed several times (Deut. 1:8, 20, 25, 35). So, not all the land
has been given to the Israelites. God has given some parts of the land
to Edom, as the descendants of Esau (Deut. 2:5), and to Moab and
Ammon, as the descendants of Lot (Deut. 2:9, 19).
• God takes. God did not give the land to the rebellious generation of
Israelites, who wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. Note
that even Moses was not able to enjoy the land because he also failed to
trust the Lord (Deut. 3:27). God took away the land from the Amorites
because they had reached the fullness of their iniquity (Gen. 15:16).
The prevention of the Israelites from entering the land, and their death
in the wilderness, is to be understood as the result of God’s judgment,
as is the destruction or expulsion of the Canaanites from the land.
• God fights. This principle, which is repeated again to Joshua
(Deut. 3:22), suggests that God was, in fact, the intended Author
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teachers comments
of this operation of judgment. Note that judgment, which implies
the eradication of evil, also is an act of grace in behalf of God’s
people.
Eschatological Perspective
Note Ellen White’s eschatological and Messianic application of Abraham’s
prophetic vision of the conquest of the Promised Land in Genesis 15:16–
18: “The voice of God was heard, bidding him [Abraham] not to expect
immediate possession of the Promised Land, and pointing forward to the
sufferings of his posterity before their establishment in Canaan. The plan
of redemption was here opened to him, in the death of Christ, the great
sacrifice, and His coming in glory. Abraham saw also the earth restored
to its Eden beauty, to be given him for an everlasting possession, as the
final and complete fulfillment of the promise.”—Patriarchs and Prophets,
p. 137. (Emphasis supplied.)
Discussion and Thought Questions: Why was it necessary in God’s
broader plan of salvation that the Israelites possess the land of Canaan?
Why is the land of Canaan described in terms reminiscent of the Garden
of Eden? Why does the ideal holiness require the total eradication of
evil?
Part III: Life Application
A wise man said, “Most of my worries never happened.” Why is this
reflection particularly true for the Christian? Suppose you are strug-
gling with a difficult project, and you are worried about it. How does the
promise that “God will fight for you” help you to confront your worries?
Why does faith in the Lord, in fact, relieve your stress and facilitate your
achievement?
Notes
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teachers comments
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