Nancy: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 100 and 59
these are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the
Israelites while they were in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant
he had made with them at Mount Sinai, Moses summoned all the Israelites and
said to them, you have seen with your own eyes, everything the Lord did in
the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to his whole country.
All the great tests of strength.
The miraculous signs and the amazing wonders, but to this day, the Lord has
not given you minds that understand nor eyes that see nor ears that hear.
For 40 years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes
and sandals did not wear out.
You ate no bread and drank no wine or other alcoholic drink, but
he provided for you so you would know that he's the Lord your God.
When we came here, king Sahan of Heshbon and King OG Abian came out to
fight against us, but we defeated them.
We took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben and Gadd and to the half
tribe of Manassa as their grant of land.
Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will
prosper in everything you do.
All of you tribal leaders, elders, officers, all the men of
Israel are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God.
Your little ones and your wives are with you as well as the
foreigners living among you who chop your wood and carry your water.
You are standing here today to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God.
The Lord is making this covenant, including the curses.
By entering into the covenant today, he will establish you as his people and
confirm that he's your God, just as He promised you and as he swore to your
ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses.
I am making this covenant both with you who stand here today in the
presence of the Lord our God, and also with the future generations
who are not standing here today.
You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled
through the lands of enemy nations.
As we left, you have seen their detestable practices and their idols
made of wood, stone, silver, and gold.
I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you, no man,
woman, clan or tribe will turn away from the Lord our God, to worship
these gods of other nations and so that no root among you bears bitter.
And poisonous fruit.
Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate
themselves thinking, I am safe, even though I am following the
desires of my own stubborn heart.
This would lead to utter ruin.
The Lord will never pardon such people.
Instead, his anger and jealousy will burn against them.
All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will
erase their names from under heaven.
The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel to pour out on
them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this book of instruction.
Then the generations to come.
Both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant
lands will see the devastation of the land and the diseases.
The Lord inflicts on it.
They will exclaim the whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt.
It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing,
not even a blade of grass.
It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, AMA and Zeum, which the
Lord destroyed in his intense anger.
And all the surrounding nations will ask, why has the Lord done this to this land?
Why was he so angry?
The answer will be, this happened because the people of the land abandoned
the covenant that the Lord, the God of their ancestors made with them when he
brought them outta the land of Egypt.
Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before.
Gods that were not from the Lord.
That is why the Lord's anger has burned against this land.
Bringing down on at every curse Recorded in this book, in Great Anger and Fury,
the Lord uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another
land where they still live today.
The Lord, our God has secrets known to no one.
We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable
forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all
the terms of these instructions.
In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I
have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which
the Lord your God has exiled, you take to heart all these instructions.
If at that time you and your children return to the Lord your God, and
if you obey with all your heart and all your soul, all the commands I
have given you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes.
He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the
nations where he has scattered you.
Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the Lord,
your God will gather you from there and bring you back again.
The Lord your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors,
and you will possess that land again.
Then He will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.
The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants so
that you will love him with all your heart and soul, and so you may live the Lord.
Your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on
those who hate and persecute you.
Then you will again obey the Lord and keep all his commands
that I am giving you today.
The Lord your God will then make you successful in everything you do.
He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he'll cause your
fields to produce abundant harvests.
For the Lord will again delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors.
The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep
the commands and decrees written in this book of instruction.
And if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.
This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you
and it is not beyond your reach.
It is not kept in heaven so distant that you must ask who will go up to heaven and
bring it down so we can hear it and obey.
It is not kept beyond the sea so far away that you must ask who
will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey.
No, the message is very close at hand.
It is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.
Now, listen, today I'm giving you a choice between life and death,
between prosperity and disaster.
For I command you this day to love the Lord your God, and to
keep his commands, decrees and regulations by walking in his ways.
If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God
will bless you in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you
are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that
you will certainly be destroyed.
You will not live a long good life in the land.
You are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
Today, I have given you the choice between life and death,
between blessings and curses.
Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make.
Oh, that you would choose life so that you and your descendants might live.
You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him and
committing yourself firmly to him.
This is the key to your life.
If you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land.
The Lord swore to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
When Moses had finished giving these instructions to all the people of
Israel, he said, I am now 120 years old and I am no longer able to lead you.
The Lord has told me you will not cross the Jordan River but the Lord your God
himself will cross over ahead of you.
He will destroy the nation's living there, and you will
take possession of their land.
Joshua will lead you across the river.
Just as the Lord promised, the Lord will destroy the nation's living in the land.
Just as he destroyed Saan and og, the kings of the Amorites.
The Lord will hand over to you the people who live there, and you must
deal with them as I have commanded you.
So be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid and do not panic before them.
For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you.
He will neither fail you nor abandon you.
Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him,
be strong and courageous for you will lead these people into the land that
the Lord swore to their ancestors.
He would give them.
You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land.
Do not be afraid or discouraged.
For the Lord will personally go ahead of you.
He will be with you.
He will neither fail you nor abandon you.
So Moses wrote this entire body of instruction in a book and gave it to the
priests who carried the Ark of the Lord's covenant and to the elders of Israel.
Then Moses gave them this command.
At the end of every seventh year, the year of release during the Festival
of Shelters, you must read this book of instruction to all the people of
Israel when they assemble before the Lord your God, at the place he chooses.
Call them all together, men, women, children, and the
foreigners living in your towns.
So they may hear this book of instruction and learn to fear the
Lord your God, and carefully obey all the terms of these instructions.
Do this so that your children who have not known these instructions will hear them
and will learn to fear the Lord your God.
Do this.
As long as you live in the land, you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
Then the Lord said to Moses, the time has come for you to die.
Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tabernacle so that
I may commission him there.
So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tabernacle.
The Lord appeared to them in a pillar of cloud that stood at
the entrance to the sacred tent.
The Lord said to Moses, you are about to die and join your
ancestors after you are gone.
These people will begin to worship foreign gods, the gods
of the land where they are going.
They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them.
Then my anger will blaze forth against them.
I will abandon them, hiding my face from them, and they will be devoured.
Terrible trouble will come down on them and on that day they will say,
these disasters have come down on us.
Because God is no longer among us at that time, I will hide my face from
them on account of all the evil they commit by worshiping other gods.
So write down the words of this song and teach it to the people of Israel.
Help them learn it.
So it may serve as a witness for me against them.
For, I will bring them into the land.
I swore to give their ancestors a land flowing with milk and honey.
There they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat,
but they will begin to worship other gods.
They will despise me and break my covenant.
And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as
evidence against them for it will never be forgotten by their descendants.
I know the intentions of these people even now before they have entered
the land I swore to give them.
So that very day Moses wrote down the words of the song and
taught it to the Israelites.
Then the Lord commissioned Joshua, son of none.
With these words, be strong and courageous for you must bring the people of Israel
into the land I swore to give them.
I will be with you.
When Moses had finished writing this entire body of instruction in a book,
he gave this command to the Levites who carried the Ark of the Lord's covenant.
Take this book of instruction and place it beside the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord your God.
So it may remain there as a witness against the people of Israel for I know
how rebellious and stubborn you are.
Even now, while I am still alive and I'm here with you, you
have rebelled against the Lord.
How much more rebellious will you be?
After my death now summon all the elders and officials of your tribes so that
I can speak to them directly and call heaven and Earth to witness against them.
I know that after my death, you will become utterly corrupt and will turn from
the way I have commanded you to follow.
In the days to come, disaster will come down on you for you will do what
is evil in the Lord's sight, making him very angry with your actions.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.