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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan.
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Unknown Co-host
And join the Journey.
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Dr. Manny Arango
Family. We used church candy for our new church plant the Garden, and the response blew me and my team away. At our new church plant the Garden, we ran simple invite ads through none other than church candy, and hundreds of people responded. Seriously. People who had never even heard of us, who had never met me or heard me preach. They saw an ad on Facebook or Instagram. They showed up to a launch party or launch team training. Some of them have joined our team. Here's the best part. A good amount of them have started giving and tithing, which means the ads have paid for themselves. Our church plant is growing, and it's because we chose the right partner. We didn't have to figure out marketing strategies or spend hours tinkering with ad settings. Church candy handled it all, and it worked. You might not be planting a church, but if you're a pastor who wants to see more new faces on Sunday. And by the way, I've never met a pastor who doesn't want to see.
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Unknown Co-host
More new faces on Sunday.
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Dr. Manny Arango
It's time to check them out. How about you go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a discovery call, Let their team show you what's possible when the.
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Unknown Co-host
Right people hear about your church family. Welcome to day 134. We got Deuteronomy, chapter 31 and 34. We can say goodbye to Moses.
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Dr. Manny Arango
My man about to die.
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Unknown Co-host
Now I'm just playing. Well, he really is going to die, but, you know, let's not be flipping about it. You know, hey, if you've done the reading, shout out to you. I hope that my commentary on the reading is going to be helpful. If you haven't done the reading, make sure that you do the reading. These episodes are not designed to be a replacement for reading the Bible. This was to help reading the Bible, like, happen easier. Okay, so the entire time we've kind of seen Moses, there's a big context clue. The entire time that we've seen Moses, we've seen him as priest and king. Deuteronomy, chapter 32 is going to actually set Moses up to be a prophet. Okay, so now Moses is going to be prophet, priest and king. And the only other person who's going to be Someone who's going to hold all three of those offices are going to be Jesus. Okay, so prophet, priest, and king. And we're even going to see in this transition of power to Joshua that the text tells us, like, Joshua has the same spirit of Moses. Joshua is operating like Moses, but, nah, not fully. Actually, Joshua is gonna almost take over king, but prophet and priest, not really. And so the high priest is gonna get emphasized even more. And so the high priest and Joshua are both doing a lot of. Of leading. So there's this tension in the text that Joshua's got the spirit of the Lord on him. The people. You can, like, if you. If you're paying attention, there's all these parallels between Moses and Joshua, Moses and Joshua, where the people are obeying Joshua just like they obeyed Moses, even though they didn't really obey Moses. But on a literary level, that is what the text is trying to show you, that Moses has transferred authority and power and spirit to Joshua, that Joshua is a new Moses. But at the same time, there hasn't been a prophet like Moses since Moses is what the text is also going to say. So the. The next Joshua, or. Sorry, the next Moses is not Joshua, but Joshua. Right. The next Moses is not the Joshua that precedes him, but the Joshua in the New Testament, which is going to be Jesus. Okay, so Joshua's name translated would be Jesus. Okay, so, yeah, that's. I was going to, like, try to explain it. I'm like, there's not much explaining to do. Mean Joshua in Hebrew is Jesus. Okay, so. All right, let me kind of like read through a lot of this. We're going to have Deuteronomy, chapter 32 is gonna be a song. It's gonna be a song that's set up as witness. Now what we're gonna see in all these Hittite treaties, and I wish I had time to, like, read this stuff to you, we're gonna find this a lot in these Hittite treaties. Is that these lists of, like, I'm reading this treaty between Marsili and Dupi Tesub. Okay, that's like what I'm looking at on my screen right now. And historical background stipulations, military clauses. And then it's gonna have a summoning of divine witnesses. Whoo. These things are long, guys. Okay. Behold. Let the thousand gods stand by this oath. Let the thousand gods stand by for this oath. Let them observe and listen. Sun God of Heaven. Sun goddess of Arena. Storm God of heaven. Storm God of Hati in Mount Hazy. Storm God of the gatehouse Storm God of the army. Storm God of Halab, Storm God of Zipilanda. Storm God of Narika, Storm God of Lezina, Storm God of the ruined mound, Storm God of Hispah, Storm God of Safina. Sapina, storm God of Sapinua. I mean, guys, it's just on and on and on and on. Teleri, God of Hati, Tutelary God of the field, Moon God, lord of the oath. Habat, queen of Heaven. I mean, it's on. I'm scrolling. And it's just on and on and on. Rivers, springs, great sea, heavens and earth, winds, clouds. Let them be witnesses to this treaty and to the oath. Okay, so you get it. Yahweh has no gods that he can call as witness like that. Like these. These societies actually believe that these gods are real. Yahweh has no God that he can, like, call this. He's not going to call any deities, but he is going to set up this song as witness. Okay, which may seem, like, odd. Like, how can a song be a witness? But what he's going to say is this. The people of Israel are going to forsake me. And when they forsake me, and I chastise them and I discipline them, or I. I forsake them as a response to them forsaking me, they're gonna blame me. And so, Moses, I want you to establish this song that's gonna be Witness, that's going to prove that I am not the one who abandoned them, but they truly are the ones who abandoned me. Deuteronomy 32 functions that way. This song is Witness. In case the people of Israel ever think that Yahweh is the one who forsook them, this song is proof that it was indeed them who forsook Yahweh. So we don't get some long line of pagan witness after pagan witness after pagan witness after pagan witness after this God and that God and, you know, Enlil and Nenlil and Amunki and Amiz. I mean, this is just. This is just God after God after God after God after goddess after goddess after goddess. What we do have is a. Is a poem. So let's kind of get into the song a little bit. We'll move into our nerdy nuggets. Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 8. I actually want to kind of show you guys something. In Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 8 says this. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the People according to the number of the sons of the NIV is going to say sons of Israel. Okay, I want to know what the NRSV is actually going to say for that same verse. It says, when the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods. Okay, so this is not according to the number of the sons of Israel, but the sons of God, which NRG is translating as numbers. Number of the gods. I wanna know what ESV says. It says this. Remember the days of old. Oh, no, no, no. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the people according to the number of the sons of God. Okay, so I just read three different translations. One said sons of Israel, one said sons of God, and one says just the gods. Okay? The actual Hebrew here is the sons of Elohim. And this gets in. This opens up a whole bag of worms. It opens up a whole bag of worms. Because the sons of Elohim could mean the sons of Israel. Okay. And that the tribes of Israel are going to rule over the nations. That's what it could mean. Or it could definitely mean the same sons of God as the sons of God in Genesis chapter six. I'll, like, read that really quick. Okay, let's go to Genesis chapter six. And it says this. When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and the daughters were born in them, the sons of God saw the daughters of man were attractive. They took as their wives any they chose. So this is angels. Okay? These are angels. The sons of God Here in Genesis 6 are angels who take human wives for themselves and they create this super race of giants called the Nephilim. Okay, Deuteronomy chapter 8 is actually. Seems like Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 8 seems like it's actually saying the same thing, but it adds a caveat. Says when the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the people according to the numbers of the sons of God. So that the sons of God almost became principalities and powers over the nations. Okay? That the sons of God here, talking about angelic hosts, became guardian angels over nations. Okay, now that is opening up a whole can of worms. And if you've never heard that interpretation before, then you need to Google a man by the name of Michael Heiser. And you should probably read his book entitled the Unseen Realm. And I promise you, your mind will probably get blown because essentially, Michael Heiser is gonna introduce this idea of the divine council that the sons of God, that God doesn't only have human sons, but he also has angelic sons as well. And obviously Lucifer was one of them. And that really Lucifer is an orphan. And so anyway, there's a lot of teaching on what I would call like the orphan spirit. And this is a massive part if you just want to understand demons, angels, any of that stuff. I think the Unseen Realm by Michael Heisel would be a great start. And this stuff is right here in Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 8. And I just didn't want to skip over it. Okay, this may be one of those passages that you would read and you wouldn't even realize that there's a whole can of worms ready to open right here. But anyway, I wanted to draw that to your attention just kind of as a nerdy nugget for the day. 32, verse 5. We're gonna get callbacks. They have dealt corruptly, crooked and twisted. This is callbacks to the flood. Let's keep moving. 32, verse 43 is gonna be huge. 32, verse 43 is gonna get meditated on by all the prophets. It's gonna say this. Rejoice with him, O heavens. Bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children. Huh? He avenges the blood of his children, takes vengeance on his adversaries. What are you talking about? He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people. People's land. Okay, let's read it in the NIV it says this verse 43, Rejoice you nations with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people. Okay, this is gonna set up. This one verse right here is going to set up a massive theme that Isaiah is gonna pick up what is gonna be called the remnant or the righteous remnant. And Isaiah is gonna take this and run with it and really create this theme called the suffering servant. Okay, this is gonna create a. For he will avenge the blood of his servants. His. Who are these servants? This is going to create this idea that within Israel there's always going to be true Israel, which is a remnant, which is a righteous remnant. There's always this going to be secular Israel that Paul actually talks about. This Paul says that not all Israel is true Israel. Not all people who are circumcised outwardly are also circumcised inwardly. Right? That there's an Israel, there's an ethnic Israel, and there's a true Israel. That what you need to realize that the group that produces the biblical texts are not mainstream Israel. The group that produces the biblical text would be known as the righteous remnant. So you're going to see this when we get into the prophets, really, really clearly, because the prophets are not popular. The prophets are not popular because the prophets are calling people back to what, Deuteronomy? They're calling people back to obeying the law. Because prophecy is not primarily about foretelling the future. It's about forth telling, not telling the future, but telling the truth. And the truth of the matter is that if you've broken the law, you need to return back to the law. Now we're gonna see. As Moses dies and transfers power, we're going to see a duo. Okay, Moses and Joshua almost represent a duo, and they've been doing ministry together for decades. And okay, Moses and Joshua have appeared together since the book of Exodus. Okay, Moses and Joshua. Moses and Joshua. It's actually gonna set up this theme of intergenerational ministry. So the first is Moses and Joshua. The second is gonna be David and Solomon. Okay. The third is gonna be Elijah and Elisha, and then the last is gonna be John the Baptist and Jesus. So by the time we get to the end of the book of Deuteronomy, we're gonna get this big theme of like this transfer of leadership from Moses to Joshua. But the reality is that Moses and Joshua have kind of been a tag team, even more than Moses and Aaron. Like Moses and Joshua, they both come from different generations. Moses is older and Joshua's leader, I mean, younger, but they are working together. And in the same way, David and Solomon, father and son, are kind of like a one, two punch. Like, David buys the land that the temple will be built on, but Solomon is actually the one who builds the temple. Same is true with Elijah and Elisha, that there is a chemistry, camaraderie, a love, a father, son kind of relationship, whether it's spiritual or literal. And this is prefiguring John the Baptist as the forerunner who is the new Elijah, and Jesus as the person who is being forerunner for. Okay, by the way, the temptation narratives are gonna link back to Deuteronomy. As Jesus is in the wilderness, he is going to quote Deuteronomy over and over and over. But let me kind of outline the temptations for you a little bit. So again, it's another nerdy nugget in temptation number one, Jesus has to overcome his desire to eat and that way, he is the new Adam. Here we go. The devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you're the son of God, he said, throw yourself down. Okay? But Jesus said, you know, do not put the Lord your God to the test. Remember, the Bible says this is Yahweh talking to Moses said, israel's tested me these 10 times in the wilderness. Okay? So the fact that Jesus is quoting, saying, I will not put the Lord my God to the test means he's also the new Israel. So as he's in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, facing off with the enemy, he has to become the new and better Adam. He has to become the new and better Israel. And then the last one. Okay, again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give you if you just bow down and worship me. Away from me, Satan. For it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only. This is Jesus being the new king and prophet. All throughout the rest of the story, the kings and the prophets are going to be in this tumultuous relationship with each other. The relationship is designed for accountability. But the kings are going to be wicked. We're gonna see that over and over and over again. And so Jesus not going after fame and glory is actually gonna prove that he is the new, fulfilled, perfect, blameless king and prophet. So he's a new Adam, he's a new Israel, he's a new his new king and prophet family.
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Dr. Manny Arango
The wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or any. Anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times best seller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode.
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Unknown Co-host
Let me kind of go over my timeless truth with you guys. We have a natural human tendency to Blame God for our consequences of our sin. Which seems ridiculous, but it's real and it's true. The song of witness In Deuteronomy, chapter 32 is not just for Israel, but it's actually for us as well. Because in the middle of pain, in the middle of our consequence, we would love it's human nature to blame God and say, why have you forsaken me? It's funny. I was actually counseling someone recently. This really sad story. This. This guy younger than me got diagnosed with hiv, aids, and he got diagnosed with aids, HIV and AIDS because of sexually promiscuous activity. And in the middle of us talking, he's, like, angry at God. Why would God let me get sick with this? I'm young, you know, I mean, I have my whole life ahead of me. I'm only 30. I'm barely 30, you know, I just can't believe God would do this. And there's a part of me that wants to go, you were having. You were having s. You sinned. Like, what are we talking. God didn't do anything. You. You sinned. You sinned against God. How can you be mad at God when you are not blameless here? And there's this natural human tendency to, even in the middle of our sin, still want to blame anyone but us. And so God sets up this song as a witness. He's going to say, I know people, I know humans, but I also know these people. And I know that they're going to be upset. They're going to feel forsaken by me, they're going to feel abandoned by me. And I'm going to set up Deuteronomy 32 as a song and as a witness to remind them that it was not me who forsook you, but it was you who forsook me. And I think that's something that we all have to take to heart. Because it's easy to be mad at God for the consequences of our own sin. And it's easier to hold up a microscope to God and almost interrogate him for the things that he didn't do or that he allowed to happen, instead of holding up a mirror to our own heart and our own soul and our own actions and our own motives and judging ourselves. All right, guys, that's the end of the Book of Deuteronomy. Book of Deuteronomy ends with Moses essentially getting buried. And there's this cool little verse that says, to this day, we don't know where he's buried. Which means that the book of Deuteronomy probably didn't come into its final form like in the time of Moses to this day means that a long time has elapsed from the time where Moses was actually alive, which gets into authorship and a whole other can of worms that I'm not gonna deal with. I'm just open it. I'm gonna open it and let you deal with that anyway. All right, family, that's the entire Torah. We did the first five books of the Bible. I'm proud of you for being on this journey. We did Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That's no small feat. And so tomorrow we turn our face and we get into the book of Joshua. We're gonna cross the Jordan, we're gonna get into the land of Canaan. I think it's gonna be great. I can't wait to study the book of Joshua with you and the rest of the Old Testament. It's going to be good. I'm so proud of you. If you're on a streak, don't break it. We got a couple more books of the Bible, you know what I'm saying? We got to keep doing this. Got 200 and something days to go as we go through the Bible this year. If you're not on a streak, I think today's a good day to start one. All you need is two days and you'll be on a streak. I love you guys like always. I'll see you right here tomorrow as we get into the book of Joshua. I love you. Peace.
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Dr. Manny Arango
Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram at the Bible Department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library, of course sources@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.