Deuteronomy
Memory Verse: “The Lord your God is a faithful God.” Deuteronomy 7:9
Facts
about Deuteronomy
Author: Moses
Key
people:
Moses, Joshua
Written
to:
Date
written:
about 1407/6 B.C.
Purpose: To remind the people of
what God has done and encourage them to rededicate
their lives to him.
Location: Old Testament
Overview
Lesson
#1: Deuteronomy 1:20-23a, 25-28,29a-34,35 3:23-26, 4:31
We learn about
God,
Character
Lesson
#2: Deuteronomy 5:1-13, 16-20 6:7,20-25 Commitment to God and his truth
cannot be taken for granted. Each
person must respond afresh to God’s call.
Lesson
#3: Deuteronomy 12:2-5, 8-12
13:1-4, 26:16-19 Knowing what
God requires
isn’t enough. It must become part of your everyday life.
Lesson
#4 Deuteronomy 29:1-6, 16-18 Footnotes for 30:11-14 Our Choices make
a difference.
Lesson
#5: Deuteronomy 31: 9-13
(The meaning of teaching.) It is important to pass
on God’s truth in our traditions
to future generations.
Lesson #1: We learn about God’s character. Moses’ First
address.
1:
21-23
“The Lord our God had
directed us. We were on the border of
the Promised Land. The Lord God has
given us this land. Go and possess it as
he told us to. Don’t even doubt!
But they replied, ‘First
let’s send our spies to discover the best route to enter, and decide which
cities we should capture first.’ This
seemed like a good idea, so the spies went into the promised land.”
1:
25b-29
“One look was enough to
convince us that it was indeed a good land the Lord our God had given us. But, the people refused to go in, and
rebelled against the Lord’s command.
They murmured and complained in their tents and said, ‘The Lord must
hate us, bringing us here from
Moses said,’ Don’t be
afraid. The Lord God is your leader, and
He will fight for you with his mighty miracles.’
1:34-36
“The Lord heard their
complaining and was very angry. He vowed
that not one person in that entire generation would live to see the good land
he promised their fathers – except Caleb who had followed the Lord
completely.
The people continued the
wanderings.”
3:23-26
“Moses prayed to God, ‘Please
let me cross over into the Promised Land – the good land beyond the
4:1,
2
“O Israel, listen carefully
to these laws I teach you, and obey them if you want to live and enter into and
possess the land given you by the Lord
God of your ancestors. Do not add
or subtract from these; just obey them because they come from the Lord your
God.”
4:31
“The Lord your God is
merciful, he will not abandon you, destroy you, nor forget the promises He has
made to your ancestors.”
Questions:
1. Who directed the people of
2. Where were the people at the beginning of
this passage? (On the border of the
promised land.)
3.
What did Moses tell them to do? (Go and possess the land. Don’t even doubt!)
4. What did the people do? (Doubted!
Sent spies into the land to see what the people
were like.)
5. What law of God’s did they
break? (Obedience)
6. What did Moses tell them and
why? (Don’t be afraid, the Lord your God
will fight
for you with His mighty miracles.)
7. The Lord heard their complaints. What was His reaction? (Anger, the people were
not allowed into the promised land and had to
continue to wander.)
8. What was Moses’ prayer to
God? (Please let me cross over into the
promised land.)
9. What was God’s answer and why? (No. He was angry because of the people’s
behavior of complaining and not obeying.)
10.
What have you learned about God’s character?
(You must obey. God does
punish.
God is merciful. He will not abandon you or forget His
promises to His people.)
10. Can you make your own
rules? Why or why not? (Let them discuss the passage and
consequences for breaking God’s rules. How does this
apply to them today?)
Summary: Moses reviewed the mighty acts of God for the
nation of
Lesson #2 Principles for Godly living. Moses’ First Address.
Listed
below are the laws Moses issued to the people of
5:1,
5:b -13
“Listen carefully now to all
these laws God had given you; learn them, and be sure to obey them! This is
what He said, ‘I am Jehovah who rescued you from slavery in
You must never use my name
to make a vow you don’t intend to keep.
I will not overlook that.
Keep the Sabbath day
holy. Work the other six days.”
5:16
– 20
“Honor your father and
mother (remember this is the commandment of the Lord your God.)
You must not murder.
You must not commit
adultery.
You must not steal.
You must not tell lies.
These are the laws that God
wrote out on two tablets and gave to me.”
6:7
“You must teach your
children to obey God.”
6:
20-25
“In the years to come when your
son asks you, ‘what is the purpose of these laws which the Lord has given us?’
you must tell him, ’We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, and the Lord brought us
out of Egypt with great power and mighty miracles – with terrible blows against
Egypt and Pharaoh and all his people. We saw it all with our own eyes. He has commanded us to obey all of these laws
and to reverence him so that he can preserve us alive as he has until now. For it always goes well with us when we obey
all the laws of he Lord our God.
Ways
we show our obedience to God
We
obey God’s commandments with our heart - by loving him more than any
relationship, activity, achievement or possession.
We
obey God’s commandments with our will - by committing ourselves completely to
him.
We obey
God’s commandments with our mind - by seeking to know him and his Word, so his
principles and values form the foundation of all we think and do.
We
obey God’s commandments with our body - by recognizing that our strengths
and talents are given to us by God to be
used for pleasure and fulfillment according to his rules, not ours.
We
obey God’s commandments with our future - by deciding to make service to God
and man the main purpose of our life’s work.
Questions:
1. This is a review
question. Why did Moses have two sets
of the tablets with the Ten
Commandments on them? (Moses destroyed
the first set after he came down from the
mountain and found the people worshipping
the golden calf.)
2. How was God Merciful to
these people. (He gave them another set of
tablets and led
them to the promised land.)
3. Why didn’t God let the people go into the
promised land at this time? (They
didn’t
obey him.
(They sent spies into the land and they didn’t go in.)
3. What are the ways we can obey
God’s commandments?) With our heart by
loving
him totally, with our will by committing ourselves
completely to him, with our mind by seeking to know Him and his word, with out
body by recognizing our strengths and talents and by our future, by making our
service to God and man the main purpose of our life’s work.)
4.
Discuss things they can do in their everyday lives to fulfill these commandments.
Summary: God is merciful to us,
never leaving our sides as long as we continue to obey His commandments.
Lesson #3: Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20. Knowing what God requires is not enough. It
must become part of your everyday life.
An
explanation of God’s love: We must put God’s word into action, making it part
of our lives. God’s faithful and patient
love is portrayed more often than his punishment. God shows his love by being faithful to his
people and his promises. In response,
God desires love from the heart and not mere legalistic adherence to his law.
Importance
of knowing God’s Love: God’s love forms
the foundation for our trust in him. We
trust him because he loves us. God’s
love should form the basis for your attitude toward justice and the rights of
others.
There
were proper laws for worship. (Remember Jesus had not come to earth and so the
only worship and being forgiven was by following God’s law of worship.)
12:2-5
“You must destroy all the
heathen altars wherever you find them, high in the mountains, up in the hills,
or under the trees. Leave nothing even
to remind you of them! You must not make
sacrifices to your God just anywhere, as the heathen do to their gods. Rather, you must build a sanctuary for Him at
a place He Himself will select as His home.”
12:
8-12
“You will no longer go your
own way as you do now, everyone doing whatever he thinks is right, ( for these
laws don’t go into effect until you arrive in the place of rest the Lord will
give to you.) But when you cross the
Jordan River and live in the Promised Land, and the Lord gives you rest and
keeps you safe from all your enemies, then you must bring all your burnt
sacrifices and other offerings to his sanctuary, the place he will choose as
his home. You shall rejoice there before
the Lord with your sons and daughters and servants; and remember to invite the
Levites to feast with you, for they have no land of their own.”
13:1-4
“If there is a prophet among
you, or one who claims to foretell and future by dreams, and if his predictions
come true but he says, ‘Come, let us worship the gods of the other nations,’
don’t listen to him. For the Lord is
testing you to find out whether or not you really love him with all your heart
and soul.”
26:16-19
“You must wholeheartedly
obey all of these commandments and ordinances which the Lord you God is giving
you today. You have declared today that
he is your God and you have promised to obey and keep his laws and ordinances,
and to heed all he tells you to do. And
the Lord has declared today that you are his very own people, just as he promised,
and that you must obey all of his laws.
If you do, he will make you greater than any other nation, allowing you
to receive praise, honor and renown; and to attain this honor and renown, you
must be a holy people to the Lord your God, as He requires.”
Questions:
1. How does God show His love
to us? (God shows His love by being
faithful to His people and keeping His promises.)
2. What people is God referring
to? (The Israelis, remember we are in
the Old Testament. Today God keeps His
promises to all of His people.)
3. Where are these people right now that God is
referring to? (About to enter the
4. Why did God want the people
to destroy all heathen altars? (God
didn’t want anything left to remind them of other gods.)
5. When do these laws go into
effect? (When they cross the
6. When they come to this
Promised Land, what will God do for them?
(God will give them rest and keep them safe from their enemies.)
7. In return, what must they do
for God? Remember Jesus hasn’t come to
earth. (They must bring burnt sacrifices
and other offerings to His sanctuary, the place He will choose as His Home.)
8. Why does God continue to
test them? (God continues to test them
to find out if they love Him with all of their heart and soul.)
9. How do you think God tests
you today? (Let them discuss ways they
think they are being tested. Gossip,
being friendly to a new student, cheating on test etc.)
Summary: God is always faithful to
His people, but He does continue to test their faithfulness to Him.
Lesson #4: Our Choices make a difference. Deut. 29:1-6, 16-18
(Footnotes 30: 11-14.)
God
reminded His people that in order to ratify His agreement they must choose the
path of obedience. Personal choice to
obey could bring benefits to their lives; rebellion would bring severe
calamity.
Call
for commitment to God: Moses’ Third Address to the people.
29:1-6
“It was on the plains if
29:
16-18
“Surely you remember how we
lived in the
*Footnotes
30:11-14. God has called us to follow
his commandments, while reminding us that his laws are not too difficult to
follow. Have you ever said you would
obey God if you knew what he wanted?
Have you ever complained that obedience is too difficult for a mere
human? These are unacceptable
excuses. God’s laws are written in the
Bible and are clearly evident in the world around us. Obeying them is reasonable, sensible and
beneficial. The most difficult part of
obeying God’s laws is simply deciding to do so!
Questions:
1. For the third time Moses
called the people together. Why? (He was reminding them
of what they’d seen.
He restated the covenant that God had made with His people.)
2. What had the people
seen? (They had seen the great plagues
and miracles God had
brought on Pharaoh and his people.)
3. How long had they been
wandering in the desert? (They had
wandered for forty years.)
4. While they had been in the
desert what had God provided for them.
(God provided clothes that didn’t wear out, shoes that didn’t wear out
along with daily food.)
5. Why hadn’t God let them
settle down and grow grain for bread and grapes to eat? (God wanted the people to realize that it was
the Lord their God who had been caring for them.)
6. God gave a final warning
about turning away from Him. What was
it? (A root would be planted that grew
bitter and poisonous fruit.)
7. Think about the first time
Moses left the people and went into the mountain. When he came back what had the people
done? (The people had melted down their
gold jewelry and molted it into a golden calf.
They were worshipping the calf.)
8. Discuss why it is so easy to
break God’s laws. Ideas; trying to be popular, going along with the
crowd, talking back to your parents,
(not honoring your parents) etc.
Our choices make a difference. Choosing to follow God produces good results
in our lives and in our relationships with others. Choosing to abandon God’s ways brings harm to
ourselves and others.
Summary: You have choices. You can
choose to obey God’s laws or not to obey God’s laws. Both have consequences. The choices are yours.
Lesson #5: Deuteronomy 30:
9-13. It is important to pass on God’s
truths in our traditions to future generations.
Explanation
of teaching.
God
commanded the Israelites to teach their children His ways. They were to use ritual, instruction and
memorization to make sure their children understood God’s principles and passed
them on to the next generation.
31:9-13
“Then Moses wrote out the
laws he had already delivered to the people and gave them to the priests, the
sons of Levi, who carried the
‘Call them all together’,
the Lord instructed, ‘men, women, children, foreigners living among you to hear
the laws of God and to learn His will, so that you will reverence the Lord your
God and obey His laws. Do this so that
your little children who have not known these laws will hear them and learn how
to revere the Lord your God as long as you live in the Promised Land.”
Summary
of Moses.
Moses
was 120 years old when he died. Moses
was the only person who ever spoke with God face to face. He was called
It
is important to pass on God’s truth in our traditions to future
generations. But God desires that His
truth be in our Hearts and minds and not merely in our traditions.
Questions:
1. God commanded the Israelites
to teach their children His ways. How
were they to do
this? (They were to use ritual - such as Lord’s
supper- instruction and memorization.)
2. Who did Moses give then laws
to? (Moses gave the laws to the priests,
and sons of
Levi.)
3. What was special about the
sons of Levi? (They carried the sacred
ark.)
4. How often were they commanded to read these
laws? (They were to be read every
seventh year.)
5. Where were they to be read
and who was to hear them? (They were to
be read at the Festival of Tabernacles when all
6. What was special about Moses? (Moses was the only person who ever spoke
with God face to face.)
7. How do we learn about God’s
law today? (We have our churches which
provide Sunday school classes, our Brave Heart groups where we learn about the
bible and God’s Commandments, we have bibles to read and music. We have T.V. programs.
Talk about how much easier it is today to learn
about God’s word. Discuss ways they can
share God’s word with their friends.
Talk about what their behavior tells about them.
Summary; It is the responsibility of the elders to make
sure the next generation know God’s laws and the consequences of not following
them.
*All
scripture was taken from Life Application Bible, The Living Bible (1988).
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Youth for Christ/USA,
Posted 1.9.09
