Page 121 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

God’s goal would never vary. After giving them his blessings, he did not want them to become proud
and say, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me (8:17).” The root
and beginning of sin is this failure to thank God (Rom. 1:21), inevitably leading to death and destruction.
Now Moses reminds them of the golden calf incident. He is not moving on to the second commandment
yet. He has called them to remember God over and over (8:2, 14, 18, 19). Part of their remembering
includes this incident of forgetting him (9:7) and the consequences to those who forgot (9:19-21). Moses
includes reference to similar incidents at Massah and Kadesh Barnea and to their basic rebellious nature
(9:22-24). A second set of stone tablets had been made. They were placed in the ark to be carried with
Israel everywhere (10:1-9), a portable reminder of God’s presence among them.

Finally he calls this present generation to “fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love
him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s
commands and decrees (10:12-13).” He calls them to “circumcise” their hearts and “be stiff-necked no
longer” (10:16), all because of God’s love for them (10:15, 18) and his awesome power (10:17, 22). The
call becomes a drumbeat as Moses ends this address.

“Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements… (11:1).”
“Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today (v. 8).”
“So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you – to love the LORD (v. 13).”
“If you carefully observe the commandments I am giving you – to love the LORD (v. 22).”
“Be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today (v. 32).”

From our future standpoint, we know of Israel’s repeated failures. They were unable to keep God’s law
or treasure him. Once again we are reminded of God’s design through the Old Covenant. The sinful
human heart responds to the law by producing more sin. These life-giving commandments brought
death. The law is, of course, good and perfect, but humans cannot follow it. God’s design in that day, as
with us today, is to push his people to his Son. “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to
death? Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 7:25).”

Perhaps the most tell-tale sentence in this section is the
command, “Circumcise your hearts (10:16).” The initial point is
clear. Obedience begins in the core of a person’s being. But
how does one carry out such an operation? The language is a
metaphor, certainly, yet the metaphor is designed to
communicate the impossibility of the command. Can a person
operating in the physical realm open his own chest cavity and
fix a problem with his heart? Impossible! Then how can a
person operating in the spiritual realm change his spiritual
heart? Fig. 78: Open Heart Surgery

The call did not end with Moses. Jeremiah spoke to the people of his day just as forcefully. “Circumcise
yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my
wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done – burn with no one to quench it
(Jer. 4:4).” History tells us of the predictable result in the day of Jeremiah as the nation was carried off to
Babylon for seventy years of captivity.

Not until Jesus ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of all who would
believe in him could this command be obeyed. “In him [Christ] you were also circumcised with a

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