1/10/24

My parents forgot my 30th birthday. They were in the process of moving from Tennessee back to Alabama and in the chaos of the move, they just forgot. There’s usually an obvious reminder (besides me constantly dropping hints); my birthday typically falls during Holy Week. For example, this year my birthday falls on Maundy Thursday (did you see how easily I slipped that hint in? Genius! How could anyone forget?). And, by the way,  March 31 is the most common day for Easter to be celebrated. But in 1992 Easter was on April 19, so they didn’t have that reminder. I understood, but still . . . my 30th? 

I promise you, they never forgot my birthday again! 

If you’re reading the Bible with us this year (and I hope you are!) you’re reading one of the most important books in the Old Testament: the book of Deuteronomy.

Why? Because it’s the foundation for everything that follows. 

Deuteronomy records the last words Moses speaks to the Israelistes, preparing them to cross over the Jordan, to take the Promised Land and to  keep the Land once they’ve taken it. Moses sums up the story of the wilderness journey and reminds them of the rules and ordinances God expects them to keep as his people.  Deuteronomy comes from a Greek word meaning “second law” or “repeated law.”

Moses tells them the key to not losing the Promised Land is to remember the land is a gift from the Lord. Over and over Moses stresses that they must not forget what God did for them and that they must remember to keep his covenant. As you read Deuteronomy, watch for the repeated words “forget” (28 times)  and “remember” (15 times). 

As God’s people, keeping God’s Law meant they would live differently than the nations around them. Every aspect of their lives was shaped by the fact that they were the people of the Lord God who brought them out of Egypt and gave them the Promised Land. Their calendar, their conversation, the way they spent their money, their personal relationships, the way they worshiped, and Whom they worshiped . . . everything was shaped by their unique relationship with God.

In fact, Moses told them in ch. 6 that in time to come their children would ask them, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?” In other words, “Why do we live the way we live?” In Hebrew that’s called the halakhah, “the way we behave” or more literally, “the way we walk.” 

And the answer? You might expect it to be something like, “Because I told you to,” but that’s not the answer. Nor is it because that way of living was healthy or made them prosperous (both of which were true). No. The answer was a story:

 “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household. He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors. Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our lasting good, so as to keep us alive, as is now the case. If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, we will be in the right” (Deut. 6:21-25).

Why do we live the way we live? Because of our story. In Hebrew, the word is haggadah, which means “the telling.” 

What is the meaning of the halakhah? The haggadah. Why do we live the way we live? Because of our story. God delivered us from slavery,  gave us this land and therefore we obey his commands.

And notice, in the telling, the story is told as if it had happened to that generation. By the time Moses commands it, the first generation who physically left slavery and physically crossed over the Red Sea had all died out. This was the second generation telling the third generation . . . but they were telling it as if they had experienced it themselves. “We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” Not our ancestors, but “we.” Us. 

Through their calendar and through their worship, they were constantly reminded of all that God did for them. 

I’ll write a little more about this next week, but for now let me close by saying it is the same for us as believers. Our Christian calendar, our weekly cycle of worship, our Bible reading, our private time we spend with God keeps us reminded of the great act of love God showed us by sending Jesus. As we’ll hear on February 4 from John 3, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Or maybe you memorized the King James Version, like I did when I was young, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

And the way we respond to the love of God is also in the way we live: Loving God . . . loving others.