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Deuteronomy 5-6: The Ten Commandments (Again?)

About This Episode

In this passage, Moses recites the Ten Commandments for the second time. Is this just repetition, or is something deeper happening here? Why does God give us commands? How can we keep God's commands? What does it mean to write God's commands on our hearts? What is the connection between our righteousness and obeying the Law?

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Deuteronomy 5–6: The Ten Commandments (Again)

Show Notes

David Bowden and Seth Stewart open this episode of the Spoken Gospel podcast from opposite coasts—David in California and Seth in Kansas—ready to dig into Deuteronomy 5 and 6. The conversation kicks off with a playful exchange about déjà vu, which turns out to be the perfect entry point into the big question driving this episode: Why does the Bible repeat the Ten Commandments almost word for word?

Why Does God Repeat the Ten Commandments?

The repetition of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5 is one of the rare instances in Scripture where an event is retold with this level of detail. The only comparable parallel is the four Gospel accounts of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That connection is not accidental. The rescue of Israel from Egypt functions as the gospel story of the Old Testament—God delivering his people from physical enslavement—just as the death and resurrection of Jesus delivers us from spiritual enslavement. Both stories are repeated because they are God's revelations that save us from evil.

The reason for the repetition in Deuteronomy is that the original generation who heard the commandments at Sinai died in the wilderness throughout the book of Numbers. Moses makes this explicit in Deuteronomy 5:3 when he says the covenant was not made with "our fathers" but with the current generation—people who were babies, young children, and teenagers when God first spoke from the mountain. They would not have grasped the gravity of that moment. So the commandments are being repeated because this younger generation is the intended recipient of the covenant. It is their initiation into the covenant as they prepare to enter the Promised Land.

The passage also carries a visceral, generational weight. Deuteronomy 5:9 warns that the consequences of disobedience fall on the third and fourth generations. A parent standing in that crowd, perhaps someone who was 19 years old when the wilderness wandering began and is now nearly 60, could literally look at their grown children and grandchildren and feel the stakes of obedience and forgetfulness in their bones. They had watched their own parents die in the wilderness. They did not want that fate for their descendants.

What Changed Between Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5

Rather than walking through each commandment again, the episode focuses on the differences between the Exodus 20 version and the Deuteronomy 5 version. The most striking change is in the fourth commandment, the Sabbath. In Exodus 20:11, the motivation for keeping the Sabbath is grounded in creation: God made the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. In Deuteronomy 5:15, the motivation shifts to deliverance: "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day."

These are not contradictory reasons but complementary ones. The first motivation points forward to Eden—press on toward the rest God designed from the beginning. The second motivation points backward to rescue—you used to be slaves who never had a day off, but now you are free, so rest and remember that freedom. Rather than needing to choose between the two, the episode suggests we should marvel that God is gracious enough to give us two motivations for one command. For those who trust in Jesus, the Gospel deepens both motivations. Jesus has earned our acceptance, approval, and righteousness through his life, death, and resurrection. We do not have to run at a frenetic pace trying to earn the approval of God, our families, our careers, or even the numbing comfort of entertainment. We can rest for the first time because we are approved and accepted by the God of the universe.

The fifth commandment also receives an addition. In Exodus 20, the promise attached to honoring your father and mother is simply long life in the land. In Deuteronomy 5:16, it expands: "that it may go well with you in the land." This doubling of promise points toward what life in the new creation will look like—family relationships healed, perfect forgiveness for past wrongs, peace between parents and children. The coveting commandment is also restructured. In Deuteronomy, the prohibition against coveting your neighbor's wife is separated from the prohibition against coveting his property, which scholars note may be an intentional clarification that wives are not to be understood as possessions.

The Terrifying Power of God's Voice

After the commandments are restated, Moses retells what happened after God spoke. In Deuteronomy 5:24–26, the people of Israel recognized something terrifying: they had heard the voice of God and were still alive. They understood implicitly that a sinful human being in the presence of a holy God should not survive that encounter. God confirmed their instinct—they were right to be afraid.

This stands in sharp contrast to how many people casually think about hearing from God today. There is an entire cultural expectation that God should speak to us constantly and comfortably. But throughout the Old Testament, the voice of God carries the weight of judgment. Isaiah 11:4 says God will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. The voice of God is not merely comforting communication—it is the verbal issuing of an absolute standard that reveals where everyone stands. The analogy of a police officer is helpful here: even when you are doing nothing wrong, the mere presence of someone who embodies the law makes you nervous.

When the Ten Commandments were spoken over Israel, the people knew they had not lived up to the standard. They should have died. And yet they did not, because God showed grace and long-suffering even in the moment of judgment. This tension runs all the way through Scripture to Revelation 19:15, where Jesus returns and a sword comes out of his mouth. If all Jesus did at his return was speak the Ten Commandments, every person would know in that instant whether they were guilty—and everyone would be. But for those who have placed their trust in Jesus, that sword will not pierce them. It will vindicate them. It will cut Sin off of them. As Jesus said in John 6:63, "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." Out of the same mouth comes both judgment and life, both death and resurrection.

The Shema and the Heart of Deuteronomy

Chapter 6 introduces one of the most famous passages in all of Scripture—the Shema: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). This prayer became the foundational creed of Judaism and is still recited by Jews around the world today.

The Hebrew word translated "one" does not simply mean "alone" or "singular." It carries the connotation of unity—the same word used in Genesis 2 when Adam and Eve become "one flesh." A husband and wife are not one person, but they are one unit. This means the Shema actually provides a framework for understanding the trinity rather than undermining it. If God were simply singular, there would be no need to assert his oneness. But the Torah has already introduced the word of God, the spirit of God, multiple divine names and attributes, and even a heavenly council. In the ancient polytheistic world Israel came from in Egypt, the temptation was to assign each attribute of God to a separate deity. The Shema insists that all of these attributes belong to one unified God.

The Shema also captures the moral theology of the entire book of Deuteronomy: hear, love, obey. You hear from God what he has done for you and what he requires. That hearing creates love in your heart. That love leads to obedience. The passage goes on to instruct parents to write these commands everywhere—on the doorposts of their houses, on their foreheads, on their hands—and to teach them diligently to their children. Orthodox Jews still practice this literally through the mezuzah on the doorpost and phylacteries worn during prayer. But the goal was never merely external. Deuteronomy 6:6 says, "These words that I command you today shall be on your heart." The external repetition was meant to work its way inward. And yet later in the book, Moses will reveal that Israel's heart is hard and uncircumcised. The prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah will pick up this thread and declare that what Israel truly needs is a new heart—one on which God himself writes his law.

The Danger of Forgetting in a Land of Plenty

The real threat in Deuteronomy 6 is not primarily disobedience but forgetfulness. Moses warns that when Israel enters the Promised Land and inherits great cities they did not build, houses full of good things they did not fill, cisterns they did not dig, and vineyards they did not plant, they will be tempted to forget the God who provided it all (Deuteronomy 6:10–12). Comfort and abundance would make them feel self-sufficient, as though they no longer needed God.

This warning resonates deeply for anyone living in a Western context where basic needs are easily met. It also connects to Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler, who had checked off every moral box and had all his material needs covered, so he felt no need for a traveling teacher from Nazareth. Jesus cut to the heart of the issue by telling him to sell everything—because only then would the young man feel his dependence on God again. Proverbs 30 echoes the same concern: "Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I forget you." The gaining of wealth and abundance was the very thing that precipitated Israel's idolatry throughout the rest of the Old Testament, and it is the reason so much of Jesus' teaching and the book of James speak so intensely about the spiritual dangers of riches.

The episode draws a vivid illustration from C.S. Lewis's The Silver Chair, in which Aslan gives Jill Pole four signs to repeat every morning and every evening—an echo of Deuteronomy 6. She forgets, and when a witch tries to convince her that Aslan is not real, she has no defenses. The same pattern threatens anyone who stops rehearsing the story of God's rescue. Without constant repetition, we begin to believe that God is just a projection, that our abundance is self-made, and that we have no need for a deliverer.

Five Reasons to Obey

The episode closes with Deuteronomy 6:23–25, which provides five reasons for obedience. First, because God rescued us. Every command is grounded in the prior reality that God delivered his people out of Egypt before he ever asked anything of them. God's rescue precedes and produces obedience, not the other way around—and this is the thing both Israel and the church are most prone to forget. Second, so that we might properly fear God, maintaining a healthy awareness that his word carries the authority to judge. Third, for our good. God's commands are not oppressive restrictions but the owner's manual for human flourishing. We were not designed for the psychological trauma of murder, the anxiety of deception, or the brokenness of grief. When we obey, we are inviting the goodness of the new creation back into our present experience. Fourth, for our life. These commands lead ultimately to eternal life with God in the new heavens and the new earth, not because we earn our way there but because the life God offers is the life these commands describe. And fifth, for our righteousness. This is not the legal righteousness Jesus earns for us on the cross, nor the inherent righteousness of God himself, but what might be called lived righteousness—the justice and goodness we actually do in the world. God's commands are good news because they mean our efforts matter. The world can actually be changed when the people of God obey the commands of God. His Kingdom comes in part through us.

Transcript

Intro: [gentle music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. This is our attempt to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture. We believe every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is about Jesus, and this podcast is our experiment to publicly test that belief. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you for joining us. We're really excited, uh, to talk to you today. Uh, we are in-

Seth: Deja vu

David: ... I'm in, I'm in, I'm in California, out here.

Seth: I'm in Kansas.

David: And you're in Kansas.

Seth: Cool.

David: And technology is bringing us together, which is pretty great.

Seth: It is.

David: And, uh, we're gonna be in Deuteronomy 5 and 6 today.

Seth: Which, you know-

David: Uh, and you said deja vu, didn't you?

Seth: Like, a lot like deja vu. I had a moment the other day where I was convinced, like, I have actually been here before.

David: [laughs]

Seth: No, no, no, I have dreamed this. I have ha- I had a dream of this exact scenario, but I don't think it was real. [laughs]

David: No?

Seth: No. [laughs]

David: I've had those definitely. But I, I have had deja vu, like, I get deja vu pretty often, like, where I'm like, "I've definitely lived this before, thought this before, seen this before, felt this before." And every time I do, here's my theory-

Seth: What?

David: You wanna hear my deja vu theory?

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: It has nothing to do with Deuteronomy. [laughs]

Seth: Here's my deja vu theory. Continue.

David: Here's my deja vu theory. It is that when we experience deja vu, we are stumbling in to, um, a glimpse of the foreknowledge of God-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... that this, this existed in the mind of God in eternity past, and we're now walking into it. And so in a sense, in the mind of God, I have been here before. [laughs]

Seth: There, uh, uh, that could be true. [laughs]

David: It's definitely not true-

Seth: There-

David: ... but that's my theory. [laughs]

Seth: There's a, there's a scientific explanation for de- deja vu. Have you heard it before?

David: Oh, okay. I don't think so.

Seth: Where, where it's basically, like, normally you see something with your eyes, and it just, like, goes right to that center of the brain that processes that and, like, kinda interprets it. So essentially, deja vu is when there's just a interruption between what your eyes are seeing or you're hearing and the connection with that particular part of the brain. So there's just an interruption or something happens where it just disassociates, so you actually experience it twice.

David: Oh.

Seth: Once visually, and second, like, at a mental level, like, in your brain. I was like, "Man."

David: That's weird.

Seth: It's fascinating.

David: Okay, so is deja vu what's happening here?

Seth: Exactly. [laughs]

David: Is this, this, like, we've been here before, or is this different, and how?

Seth: So we're, we're going back in, and we're g- about to hear the entire Ten Commandments again spoken to this new generation of-

David: Right

Seth: ... Israel. So I was thinking about this. There's actually... I was trying to... I was hard-pressed to think of another time where so many details are the same of s- a story or an event in scripture besides this, and, like, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and his life.

David: Hmm.

Seth: Like, I was, 'cause I was like, the, the, the Red Sea is told again poetically over and over again.

David: Right, yep.

Seth: But you don't have, like, 10 rules-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... like, an entire sermon verbatim repeated-

David: Right

Seth: ... like this, or, or any, like, account like this repeated anywhere else, besides the gospels, right? Like-

David: Totally. Yeah. No, I, no, I think you're absolutely right. Yeah. And I think that's-

Seth: So-

David: ... actually really intentional. [laughs]

Seth: So why, so then why? Like-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... I was trying to process through, like, why would that be, this the only other real event of scripture repeated like this?

David: Yeah. Well, I mean, 'cause what is the basis of the Ten Commandments? You know, 'cause we've talked about the Ten Commandments in a, in a past episode when we were in Exodus 20, and, um, what we looked at there is, and it, and it pops up here as well in, uh, chapter 5, Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 6, the very first commandment, or the grounding of the Ten Commandments, there's two, two schools of thought there, it doesn't matter which one you are, the fact remains the same. This is the first part of the Ten Commandments, and it's in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." And so therefore, [laughs] in a sense, do these 10 things. And even i- we're gonna look later, in chapter 6, is that, um, the, the, the rescue of God and the commands of God cannot be separated from one another. And so these commandments are intricately woven into the rescue of God's people from Egypt and the bringing of God's people into the promised land, and the meeting of God's people at Sinai. So all of this rescue story, the deliverance story of Israel-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... um, i- is tied up in these Ten Commandments. And so what I like, I mean, I think what, what we should call this is this is the gospel story of the Old Testament.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, the rescue of Egypt, the rescue-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... of Israel from Egypt is the gospel of the Old Testament.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so what happens in the New Testament is we get the new gospel, right, which is the full one.

Seth: Yes.

David: We're rescued not from physical, um, enslavement, but spiritual enslavement, and that is what we repeat over and over and over again now.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yep.

Seth: And becau- and there, I think that the, there's a tighter link potentially, at least in the way the old covenant's set up, between deliverance and commands than is hap- it happens in the New Testament. Like, commands, commands, imperatives, obedience is central to the new covenant under Christ, but there's a much tighter link between God has rescued you, now do these 10 things, you know, d- these 613-

David: Hmm

Seth: ... these 613 laws, right?

David: Right.

Seth: Or am I kind of, like-

David: I mean, maybe, but I think when you read the epistles, and even when you read, you know, Jesus' own words, he seems to link, uh, his actions and our actions together. So he'll say, like-

Seth: Right, right

David: ... "I am going to go and suffer at the hands of the chief priests and the Pharisees, therefore-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you will suffer and be persecuted." And then you look at, like-

Seth: Right

David: ... John, it's like, love because he first loved, right?

Seth: Right. I don't even agree-

David: Or like 2 Corinthians 5-

Seth: ... or into this

David: ... like, give.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: You know, give because-

Seth: I don't need to-

David: ... he gave his life.

Seth: I don't need to try to make too tight a connection here. What we're seeing here is a repetition of the revelation of God- ... in the Old Testament in a recounting of his victory over the Egyptians, in the same way that the gospels are both a re- like, our victory over sin and a revelation of God. These two things are repeated because they are God's revelations that save us from evil. Like-

David: Yes

Seth: ... that's what's happening here.

David: Yes, absolutely.

Seth: That's why they're both some of the only re- stories repeated in the entire Old Testament, because we're d- looking into the gospel.

David: Yes.

Seth: Okay.

David: And I think, and I think it's something we said back in the Exodus 20 podcast, but it, it must be repeated here, is that we cannot separate the grounds of God's commandments from God's commandments themselves. In other words, we cannot separate God's rescue for us and his requirements of us. Like, we have to put those together because if we don't, we become legalists [laughs] we-

Seth: Yep

David: ... because we just end up trying to obey the commandments to get the rescue, right?

Seth: Right, yes.

David: We try to follow the requirements to get the rescue instead of being rescued, which then leads us into the requirements. [laughs]

Seth: Yes, that's a-

David: So-

Seth: ... really important-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... point to make. So here, let me ask this question.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So I have a category for the reason there are four different accounts of Jesus's life, death, burial, and resurrection, but why do I need two different accounts of this one? 'Cause it see- this one seems a little bit different. Um, why do we have two different accounts of the Ten Commandments being told to us?

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: One to the older generation-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... one to the new generation.

David: It's a, it's a good question. Uh, and like I think, l- let's, let's read the f- the chap- verse one of, of chapter five here. So Moses says, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Uh, not with our fathers did the Lord make this co- covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today." So he's throwing us back to Exodus and Numbers, and he's, he's telling us, like, when God stood up there on the mountain and made a covenant, we're, we're learning now that this covenant was not actually made with our fathers, the ones who died throughout the book of Numbers-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... who were rebellious. This covenant was with you.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: But, you know, a lot of these, uh, people were tiny kids, babies, young teenagers, and so they would not have gotten to grasp the gravity of-

Seth: Got it

David: ... what happened in, at Sinai when God originally gave these Ten Commandments. And so it's being repeated to them because they are actually the intended recipients of it.

Seth: Got it. Yeah.

David: And so it's their initiation into the covenant. So that's why it's being repeated here. It's, it's a very intentional passing of the covenant to this younger generation who will enter the Promised Land in the next book.

Seth: Fascin- I was even thinking as I was reading verse nine, when it gets into the actual commandments, it says, "I, the Lord, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers to the children to the third and fourth generations."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So right now Moses speaking to the second generation. The first generation passed, the second generation is now alive, and they're currently teaching the third generation. So if they fail to obey these commandments, the third generation, their children, will bear the, bear the consequences of it. Maybe that's too tight of a link to draw.

David: I think, I think so. I think-

Seth: 'Cause you, you mentioned multiple times there's a broader point being here, like God's-

David: Yes

Seth: ... mercy extends for thousands of generations.

David: Yes.

Seth: But I could imagine being a dad in that moment-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... looking at my six-year-old son and say, a- and hearing-

David: Yep

Seth: ... the third and fourth generations.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, I could imagine thinking, "Oh, my s- my son and my grandson need to remember this, and I have a responsibility to do that. I can look at them right now."

David: Definitely. Yeah.

Seth: Does that make sense? Yeah. So I was like-

David: Well, definitely, especially if you were like, "I, I got, I had to watch my parents die in the wilderness. I don't want my son to have to go through the same thing. That was horrendous and very difficult, and, you know, all the suffering that came from that. I want, I want my son to have a home. I want to be settled. I, you know, I want him to have a good life." And so I could definitely see them looking at their kids while hearing this and being like, "Hold on. I'm having deja vu now, but-

Seth: Right

David: ... from the other side." [laughs] Yeah.

Seth: Yeah, and it means, and they could even be looking at their grandkids, 'cause you could've been, as long as-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... you weren't 20.

David: Yep.

Seth: So you have a 19-year-old survive-

David: Yep

Seth: ... the whole thing and-

David: Right

Seth: ... be 59.

David: Be almost, yeah, be almost 60, yep.

Seth: So you could ha- you could potentially be looking at both your grown children and their-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... grandchildren-

David: Right

Seth: ... and your grandchildren and say, "Okay, like I must-

David: Third and fourth generation

Seth: ... the third and fourth generation-

David: [laughs] There they are

Seth: ... right there. Like-

David: Yep

Seth: ... I must obey. I must teach them if they are to experience the good news of the gospel, that God will rescue us and give us into this land."

David: Right.

Seth: Anyway.

David: Totally.

Seth: I was like, that put-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... put some, like, flesh on that for me.

David: Yes, absolutely. And so, um, uh, I mean, I, I don't... What do you want, how do you wanna handle the Ten Commandments this time? 'Cause we went through them-

Seth: Right

David: ... one by one in Exodus 10, or Exodus 20 in the last podcast, so I, I don't think we should do that again here.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Um-

Seth: So you guys can go back and listen-

David: Yep

Seth: ... to, um, our Exodus, uh, 20 podcast. We have two of them on all the Ten Commands. We kinda just go through them one by one and ask the question, what do they tell us about God?

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: What do they tell us about Jesus? So I think maybe the thing we should do here is, like, okay, we've noticed that this is for a new audience, for a second-

David: Right

Seth: ... generation. Um, and really the or, the intended recipients of that first promise, like that first covenant. Like, that's what Moses-

David: Right

Seth: ... said right here.

David: Yep.

Seth: So maybe let's concentrate on what's different about the th- way these things are structured and phrased than the first, the first round.

David: Okay. Yeah, go for it.

Seth: So-

David: What's the difference?

Seth: So the first difference is actually in the fourth commandment, the observance of the Sabbath day.

David: Okay.

Seth: And it says this: "Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh is the Sabbath day to the Lord." And essentially it's verbatim the same, talking about it's a Sabbath day for your servants and your donkeys and whatever else, but verse 15 is what's different. You, and the reason that you do this, verse 15, "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day." So this is different from Exodus 20.

David: Mm.

Seth: Exodus 20, do you have Exodus 20 pulled up by any chance?

David: I don't, no.

Seth: Uh, I will look it up and just continue to talk like this so there's no dead air.

David: [laughs] But you're s-

Seth: Uh-

David: But you're s- but you're saying that, like, the, th- th- that this you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt isn't in the original- Or in the, in the first telling of the Ten Commandments?

Seth: It's not. It says-

David: Oh, crazy

Seth: ... in the first telling, the first telling of the Ten Commandments is this, verse 10 of Exodus 20, "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. On it you shall not do any work because in six days the Lord made heaven and Earth and the sea-

David: Oh

Seth: ... and all that's in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

David: So he grounded it in the creation account the first time-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and then he grounded it in their deliverance from Egypt in the second account.

Seth: Yes.

David: What... Why? [laughs]

Seth: I, I've been trying to figure that out as well because I, I mean, he- they'd been, been saved from Egypt back in Exodus 20, so it would-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... have made sense to do it then. Um-

David: Totally

Seth: ... and we talked about even back then is like how like if they're headed towards the new Eden-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... it makes sense that God's appealing to the old Eden. Like God made-

David: Right

Seth: ... the Earth in seven days.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: We're gonna go see that Sabbath day Edenic rest when we get there. So like that made-

David: Right

Seth: ... sense to us. But maybe all we just need to say here is like we just get two different motivations to do-

David: Totally

Seth: ... one of, one of God's commands. Like-

David: Yes

Seth: ... let's press on to hopefully one day receive the Eden that we hope for, but also-

David: Right

Seth: ... let's go and because God has saved us, because we have been rescued, let's rest.

David: We can rest in that rescue.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: We u- used to be slaves. We used to never have a day off, but now we do.

David: Mm. Mm.

Seth: We are freed from slavery, so let us make sure that we rest and remember that we've been freed from slavery.

David: So good. I love that. I, I wanna just... We don't have to go in depth, but like that's just, that bears repeating more explicitly to how it ties to the gospel 'cause that's just such good news-

Seth: Yes. Do it

David: ... that, that we-

Seth: Do it

David: ... have, like all the whole world is enslaved to this idea that I will only be right with myself, my conscience, my family, um, a deity, um, a, a moral responsibility to mankind, whatever your standard is, um, my online gaming community. [laughs] I mean, it can be anything.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, I will only be okay in those arenas, whatever they are for you personally, um, if I work hard enough, if I do enough, if I'm good enough, if I achieve enough, and that can look different. That can look like moral, um, fiber. It can look like, um, uh, you know, workplace aptitude.

Seth: It could-

David: It, it can look like religious observance

Seth: ... it could even look like just binging Netflix. Like-

David: Totally, yep

Seth: ... even though that doesn't sound like work, like you're trying to... There's this implicit understanding like, "Well, if I watch Netflix enough, I won't be as sad anymore." You know?

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, like there-

David: Totally. I'll have, I'll entertain myself into joy. Yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so, and yet when the gospel comes to us and we believe that Jesus has earned for us the acceptance, the approval, the righteousness, the goodness, the fulfillment, uh, that we are constantly trying to earn in this life, and he's just earned it for us in his life, death, and resurrection, and credits it to us, we can just rest for the first time in our lives and stop running at such a frenetic pace and say, "I am approved. I am accepted. I am okay with the God of the universe."

Seth: Right.

David: And in that, you can rest.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And yet from that, from that rest, you're then sent out into the world to-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... follow the other Ten Commandments, [laughs] you know? Um-

Seth: Yeah, another way to say, another... Maybe just to borrow the ru- the words of Deuteronomy is like, uh, you should remember that you were a slave to Netflix-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... and your pa- and your parents' expectations and your own expectations and career performance. But the Lord brought you out of those things by his mighty hand and his outstretched arms on the cross. Therefore-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the Lord your God has commanded you to rest from your efforts.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, you can rest and trust him. Like, pray that God's kingdom would come. [laughs] Like, that's, that's-

David: Totally

Seth: ... the, the heart of that prayer. Yeah.

David: So beautiful. Wow. I like that too that there's w- you know, it might not be necessary to go why is this grounding of motivation different than the one in Exodus 20. It might just be enough to say like, how gracious is God to give us two motivations for one command. [laughs] Like, how cool.

Seth: That's exactly right.

David: I love that. Okay. So what are, what are some other differences that you, you were, you were talking about?

Seth: Uh, the next difference is in the next command, so honor your father and mother. And so as we said in the fir- the first, uh, time we did this, like there's a separation here. So the first four commandments are relate- related to our relationship with God.

David: Yeah.

Seth: The last six are our relationship with other people. So the first one is honor your father and mother. So Exodus 20 says this, uh, "Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." End of, end of sentence.

David: Oh, that's it. Okay.

Seth: That's it. Verse six, here in Deuteronomy it says, "Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you," so that's, that's, uh, an addition, "that your days may be long in the land, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you."

David: Mm.

Seth: So we get a doubling down of... We actually get a reminder that the Lord has already commanded us to, to honor our father and mother-

David: Right

Seth: ... and the addition that it may go well with us in the land.

David: Yeah. So it's not only that we're-

Seth: Sorry

David: ... that we're, uh, we get to live in the land, but it's that it's gonna go well as we're living in the land. [laughs]

Seth: Yes.

David: So it's like a double-

Seth: I think-

David: ... reminder and a double promise. Yeah.

Seth: It is. And I think too, like, like the first, uh, command of Exodus 20, it's supposed to point us to Eden. Like, as we obey, as we live in ri- relationship with our parents, as we take care of them as they get older, as we actually get to experience Eden, like it will go well with us.

David: Mm.

Seth: Like, there will be goodness in the land. Like, the... It's as we go forth and multiply and have multiple children and they take care of us at the end of our life, like this is the way Eden is supposed to work.

David: Mm.

Seth: Caring for one another, honoring one another. It will go well for, for us there.

David: Right. Okay. So I think what you're saying then, if I could put this in New Testament language, it would be to say that, um, in Heaven, the new Heavens and the new Earth, uh, one of the reasons why it will go so well for us in that land is that everyone will be acting the Ten Commandments out perfectly towards one another. And there will be no pain. There will be no, like, no-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... yes, because God is superintending things and changing things in a miraculous way.

Seth: And some of the most pain- and some of the most painful relationships we have in our life are the ones with our parents. And-

David: Mm.

Seth: Right? Like-

David: Yeah, definitely

Seth: ... like, the new heavens and the new earth, honoring of the father and mother will happen perfectly.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Perfect forgiveness will happen for past wrongs and past abuses. Like, perfect repentance will happen. Like, there will be peace between family members.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Things will go well for us there. Yeah.

David: That's good. That's good. Are there other differences?

Seth: The only difference is in, other difference is in, um, the coveting of the, in the coveting commands.

David: Oh, yeah.

Seth: And ac- in, in Deuteronomy, all the scholars point to it and say, "That's actually two commands here, not just one." Uh, it's not meant to be read as two necessarily, but it, it's, the way that it's written is just changed.

David: Okay.

Seth: And, and besides that weird grammatical thing, really the only thing it, it does is it adds things to it. So it's not just your neighbor's house, but it's his field, and his male servant, and his female servant, and his ox, and his donkey, and anything that is your neighbor's. So in Exodus 20, uh, it's a little bit more compact. Uh, it doesn't mention some of the things it mentions there. So that's all that, that's different. So-

David: Oh, and so what are the two commands? What's the grammatical thing with the two commands? I've not heard of that.

Seth: Well, here it's-

David: Is it, uh-

Seth: ... and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, period. And you shall not covet your neighbor's house, or his field, or his male servant. So there seems to be a separation between-

David: Oh

Seth: ... coveting the wife-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... and coveting his things. Uh, but really they are both subsumed. And the idea here, commentators will point out, it might just be a way to make sure that people understand that women are not property.

David: Mm.

Seth: If you read Exodus 20, it could sound like, uh-

David: Oh, yes

Seth: ... the wife is just a piece of property like a servant, or an ox, or anything else. So they say that maybe one of the reasons why it's separated out this way is to make sure that husbands know that wives are not property.

David: Mm.

Seth: Uh, but the command is the same.

David: Yeah.

Seth: You shouldn't lust after your neighbor's wife or desire any of his things. Like, don't do that. [laughs]

David: Yeah. That's, that's helpful. Um, I'll, I'll say one thing about coveting, uh, as we kind of end the Ten Commandments here, they'll look at a- as they are here in, uh, Deuteronomy 5. So, um, I think, a- and, and, and, and scholars in the Jewish tradition have talked about how coveting is at the bottom of every sin. Um, I think in, in Christian circles, I've often heard, like, pride is the root of all sin, [laughs] you know?

Seth: Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: Uh, which is, which is really, can be a subset of coveting. But, you know, in the Jewish mind, coveting was the subset of all sin, which is why it ends the Ten Commandments.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: So at the front of the Ten Commandments, you have that God has delivered you, and at the end of the Ten Commandments, it's, um, don't try to deliver yourself by going and, and trying to get everything for yourself, by wanting more than you have. Um, and because that was the sin of Eve in the garden-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that God had already given her the commands that, that he wanted for her to have, and she coveted, uh, more knowledge, so she took the tree. Um, and that happens. Uh, people then use the law that way, that they, they try to-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... they covet, they covet the life that the law, um, offers them, and so they, they try to y- you know, maliciously use it. And so, um-

Seth: Well, it makes me think of Deuteronomy 6, when it talks-

David: Okay

Seth: ... it kind of says, "Here's what's gonna happen when you go into the, the land." It says, "When you go into the land, there's gonna be great cities and good city that you did not build, houses full of good things that you did not fill-

David: Mm

Seth: ... cisterns that you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. And when you've eaten or full, take care not to forget the Lord." So I mean, I think what you're saying here is, part of what you're saying is like, the desire, like coveting something that you don't have, um, is really a distrust in God's ability to provide for you.

David: Yes.

Seth: And they're about to walk into a land where everything is provided for them.

David: Yes.

Seth: So don't do that. [laughs] Like, don't covet. God's gonna give you all that you need.

David: Yeah. That is 100% it. And, uh, and so for us in the gospel, like, Jesus has earned for us all of our righteousness. He has promised us an eternal reward. And so we don't have to look at our obedience to him as something that we're trying to earn, you know, more of. Um, and, and we don't have to look around us at the material goods, uh, of, of this world and say like, "Man, if I had that," or, "Oh, that-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... would really make me happy." Because we-

Seth: Or you can even be more concrete and draw even straighter line. We, we could talk about the immaterial thing, which we need to, because-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... ultimately we will get all that we need by relationship with Jesus in heaven, spiritually, new heavens, new earth, physically. But what does Jesus also say? Pray and ask for your daily bread. Like-

David: Right. Yeah

Seth: ... in the gospel, we actually do have a promise from our savior that he will meet the needs that we have.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And that's, I always get s- hesitant by that, by that promise, because, like, I know people that don't have everything that they, they need.

David: Totally.

Seth: Right? Like, I know a lot of people who are in poverty. I've visited villages that don't have running water. So like, what does that, what does it mean for Jesus to promise daily bread? Is it only spiritual? I actually don't think so, though. I think God really is saying, like, "Look at the, look at the sparrows. Aren't they clothed? Uh, don't they eat?"

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: "Aren't the c- aren't the flowers of the field clothed more beautifully than the kings of Solomon?" I think in the gospel, because of Jesus, he is actually bringing physical provision for his people. In a, maybe not, not abundance, not, not like necessarily wealth, but like our daily bread, the things that we most need, he will always provide.

David: Hmm.

Seth: What do you think?

David: Yeah, it's good. No, I think, I think that's good. And I think, uh, I think it's a promise that, that we can, that we, we can lean on. And I think people like you and I tend to shy away from those kinds of promises because of the harm we've seen from maybe, like, the name it and claim it, or health and wealth thing, where it's like-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... you know, a- a- but we don't wanna then over-spiritualize everything, where God doesn't care about our physical needs. [laughs] That, you know, that would be to do damage to what God promises in his word and what Jesus said. So, uh, no, I think it's good. I think it's a good reminder. So-

Seth: Why shouldn't we covet?

David: Yeah.

Seth: Because God has promised to meet our da- give us our daily bread-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... just like he gave the Israelites in the wilderness manna to eat. Like, God will give us our daily physical bread, the things we need. And as you were saying in the beginning, because he will ultimately give us the life we need in him. And that should satisfy us on the days we're hungry as well. [gentle music]

David: Okay, so then after the Ten Commandments are repeated, then we get a narrative retelling of what happened after the Ten Commandments, um, back in Exodus.

Seth: Yep.

David: And, um, this is, this is a part I wanted to, I wanted to hone in on. So chapter five verse 24, uh, and this is Moses quoting the people of Israel's, like, forefathers that are now dead.

Seth: Okay.

David: He says, "And you said, 'Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live.'" And, uh, this- they, they are understanding something implicitly it seems, that when God speaks to a human and a human is-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in God's presence, he, he shouldn't be alive anymore. [laughs]

Seth: In the next verse-

David: That should-

Seth: ... if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, we shall die.

David: Yeah. And then God-

Seth: For who is there of all flesh-

David: Right, and then God ends up-

Seth: ... could live?

David: ... confirming that. He ends up saying, like, "You spoke right." Like, that totally would have happened.

Seth: You know, I- it's so opposite to how I see the world or think about God's communication to me, or even, like, the whole series of books, Jesus Calling. Like, the whole-

David: Oh, yeah

Seth: ... point of the book is God's speaking all the time directly to you.

David: Hmm.

Seth: And I've never once thought, "You know what? That should, that should be a little scary." You know what I mean? Like-

David: A little scarier

Seth: ... I've never-

David: Yeah, totally

Seth: ... had a sense of, like, um, like, [laughs] this, this might actually not be what I wa- [laughs] want, you know?

David: [laughs] Yep.

Seth: So-

David: That's really funny. Yep

Seth: ... let's talk about that. Like, for a sec- like, we like, how can we then properly understand the fear that we should have at God's voice, but at the same time, hopefully expect God's voice? 'Cause I think both those things-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... should be true, right? So let's-

David: Definitely

Seth: ... given, given the fear, what should we be seeing here that we're normally missing when we think about hearing God's voice?

David: Well, I mean, yeah, I think one thing that you mentioned is, uh, we need to understand the voice of God as something that is powerful, and that, that i- implicitly in God's voice comes, um, uh, comes judgment. Uh, and, like, that's not always-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in God's, God's voice, but, um, it's a common metaphor throughout the Old Testament that the voice of the Lord comes and judges the nations. And so, um, if-

Seth: It's like, and it's, like, part of God's voice. You can't separate, like, the authoritative-

David: Yes

Seth: ... like, jud- it's kinda like whenever you're, like, just see a police officer.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: He just embodies a- the law.

David: Right.

Seth: And so you automatically get nervous even if you're doing nothing wrong. Like-

David: Right. [laughs]

Seth: ... whenever I see a police officer on the side of the road, I automatically slow down, even though if I know I set my, you know, cruise control below the speed limit.

David: Right.

Seth: 'Cause I'm like, he embodies the law, and it's scary to like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... come up next to something that embodies-

David: Right

Seth: ... things that can judge me or give me a ticket for something. [laughs]

David: To- totally. And so, like, um, Isaiah 11:4 says, um, that God will strike the world with the rod of His mouth, and it's talking about this day of the Lord, that He will come-

Seth: Mm

David: ... and He will judge all nations. How? Because He will speak to them, and He will- His word will come and judge them, and they will perish. And so-

Seth: So there's this-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... kind of biblical theology, like, when something comes out of the Lord's mouth, it's like this absolute standard-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... that, like, judges the, like, it, it is the embodiment or the, the verbal issuing of actual judgment.

David: That's right. Yep.

Seth: Not, like, necessarily just, like, punishment, but just, like, judging what is good and what is right. And every- when it's spoken, everybody knows whether, what side of the road they're on, whether-

David: That's right

Seth: ... they've been keeping the speed limit or not. Okay.

David: That's right. And so if you think about the Ten Commandments then coming to the people of Israel, and they're, and the spoken standard is coming-

Seth: Mm

David: ... across them, and they know they haven't lived up to it, they should have died. Like, they were speeding. [laughs]

Seth: Right.

David: They were doing far worse than that. They had just-

Seth: Right

David: ... built, they, you know, they would go on and build an idol, you know? [laughs] Like-

Seth: That's wh-

David: ... they had fallen short of the standard.

Seth: That's one thing we haven't done when we got through the Ten Commandments is just kinda sit under the weight of them for a second.

David: Totally. Yeah.

Seth: Like, okay, have I had a god before me?

David: Yes. Constantly.

Seth: You know, it's like I've never-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... uh, I've, like, uh, I've never actually thought about, like, okay, let's not study it. Let's imagine a king with the ability to-

David: Hmm

Seth: ... to kill me, to-

David: Yep

Seth: ... for treason, start listing these laws, and I have to process, like, have I actually lived up to these things? [laughs]

David: Right. Yeah.

Seth: Like, I think I would be s- like, right now, if, like, Donald Trump read these to me, because he's currently our president, and if he read these things to me, I'd be like, "I don't know if I actually have done these things in a way that would prevent me from going to jail."

David: Right.

Seth: You know what I mean?

David: Yeah.

Seth: So I-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... I haven't thought, I haven't read them that way in a long time.

David: No, I don't think I have either. And it's, uh, yeah, it's, it, it's one of those things that's like, man, we just heard God tell us all these things to do, and we should have died. Why, why aren't we dead right now? [laughs] Like, we, like, we did not live up to this. And, and so, and so God is showing there even His grace and mercy and long-suffering to forgive the iniquities of thousands of generations, which is what he says here in this passage, and he said back in Exodus 34, um, whenever he proclaimed his name to Moses. And so, like, th- like, God is showing his grace by setting a standard and yet not judging those who fall short of that standard right then and there, that they have-

Seth: Hmm

David: ... heard the voice of God and yet did not die. But there is a time coming that the prophets predict, like from Isaiah 11:4, that God will come and judge the whole earth with the rod of His mouth. And we read then in Revelation 19:15 that this day-

Seth: The sword coming out of Jesus's mouth

David: ... the sword coming out of Jesus' mouth.

Seth: Oh.

David: This is when Jesus returns, he will judge the world. And, like, even in John, Jesus said, like, "God is not gonna judge the world. He's giving-

Seth: Do you think-

David: ... me the right to judge the world"

Seth: ... when he comes, he will just be speaking the Ten Commandments? Like-

David: Dude, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.

Seth: 'Cause I mean, like, imagine that. We n- we ha- I have this image in my head with Jesus with the sword in his mouth, 'cause it's kind of a crazy image, and I know-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... it means judgment, but what i- like, just imagine if- Jesus came back, and all he did was speak the Ten Commandments. And then everyone who lived up to them or not would know in that moment whether they were guilty.

David: Right.

Seth: And that-

David: And everyone would be guilty.

Seth: And everyone would be guilty.

David: Yep.

Seth: Like, oh, man.

David: Yeah.

Seth: I haven't thought about, I haven't thought about that much power and consequence behind the Ten Commandments.

David: Totally.

Seth: Ex- except maybe, like, those crazy, like, evangelists that, like, go out in the streets like, "Have you lied this week?"

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: Like, did you, did-

David: Then you're going to hell, yeah.

Seth: Then you're going to hell. Like, I've heard that version-

David: Definitely

Seth: ... which has never been helpful.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But this is actually-

David: I was trained in that version. [laughs]

Seth: But this is actually helping me redeem some of those kind of things I think are kinda crazy, like, for me devotionally. Like, I should, like, consider the consequences-

David: Yes

Seth: ... of being judged by God's word.

David: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, and, and so but there's another side to this, too. So Jesus comes back. He will speak his word, m- maybe even the Ten Commandments. The whole world will know that they are under condemnation, and yet also in that moment, those who have already put their faith in Jesus, that sword will not be piercing for them. It will be vindicating for them.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It will not cut them. It will cut sin off of them. Like, it's a, it's amazing. Um, and so because God's word does not just bring judgment and death. It also brings life. So in John 6:63, Jesus says that, "It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." And so God has, Jesus spent time with his disciples speaking to them, teaching them, and then in John 20:22, he breathes out of his mouth the spirit and life.

Seth: Mm-hmm, yeah.

David: And the Holy Spirit comes to them, and it gives them life. And so for those of us who have faith in Jesus, when he opens his mouth to give us his words, it's not death to us. It is life to us. And so it's, it's both things that come out of God's mouth.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And, and what is, what is, what are we gonna hear in Deuteronomy later? "I have now set before you life and death, blessing and curse."

Seth: Yeah.

David: How? By speaking, by speaking commands.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so God is coming and saying, "Here are the commands. They are-

Seth: And how-

David: "... either life or death to you."

Seth: And how in both situations, both in Mount Sinai and the New Testament, are we both get to hear the voice of God, hear the commands of God, be, uh, be spared by Moses-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... the one who stands between the people of God and the top of the mountain burning in fire. And in the New Testament, it is Jesus, the truer and better Moses, who when God's decree comes even more, like, when Jesus is judged on the cross, the clouds come. Like, that is-

David: Yes

Seth: ... judgment. If God did not spare His Son from judgment-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... how is he gonna spare any of us?

David: Right.

Seth: That should be fearful to us, say, we should look at that and say, "That might happen to us unless Jesus is also Moses going before, interceding before God and being our go-between."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful. So anyway, I just love that whole voice of the Lord motif through this passage. Um, I think it's really beautiful. Um, so let's kind of, let's now, let's turn our attention to chapter six and see what's going on there. [gentle music] Okay, so in, in chapter six, we get, um, what is really one of the most famous parts of Deuteronomy, right?

Seth: Yeah, the Shema.

David: The Shema, which is the Hebrew word for hear.

Seth: Yep, hear.

David: Yep.

Seth: Hear and obey.

David: Hear.

Seth: Mm.

David: And so, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." So you've probably heard that before.

Seth: Yep.

David: And this became a central prayer for the people of Israel. Even today, Jews all around the world still pray this prayer.

Seth: It's kinda like the, uh, Nicene or Apostles' Creed for-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... Judaism, isn't it? It's like-

David: Yep, totally

Seth: ... it's the statement of Orthodox Jewish belief.

David: Yep, God is one, and we should obey Him.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so, yeah.

Seth: And love Him.

David: And love Him, yes.

Seth: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

David: And, uh, and, and that, and, and really, that is, it does, it is the crux on which Deuteronomy, uh, kind of turns because it's, it's the, the combination of hearing, loving, and obeying. Those should all go together. You should hear from the Lord what He's done for you, what He commands of you. That should create love in your heart for Him. That should lead you to obedience. That's the-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the, the moral, the moral theology of Deuteronomy is summed up-

Seth: So-

David: ... in the Shema

Seth: ... let's ask a question as a Christian of this text then for just a second. So this is the foundational text for, for Judaism, Judia- uh, monotheism. Like, they don't believe in a trinity or Jesus.

David: Correct.

Seth: So they would see this, this whole exercise of seeing Jesus in the Shema as, um, actually a violation of the text. The Lord is one.

David: Right. Correct.

Seth: So how have Christians understood this throughout history? Or maybe just, like, are, are we justified in seeing, are we still allowed to think about a trinity because it says this, is kind of the question.

David: [laughs]

Seth: But I think it's important.

David: I think, yeah, I think that we, uh, we actually have more reason to believe in the trinity because of this passage because if God was-

Seth: I was not expecting that. Okay. [laughs]

David: If, if God wasn't one, why would you need to point it out? You know what I mean? Like-

Seth: Yeah, 'cause I, w- why would I say, "I am Seth, and I am one" [laughs] like-

David: You're like, "Wait, hold on. I, I hadn't thought that you were more than one before."

Seth: "Was there a question of-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... about that?" [laughs] Yeah.

David: Right, but we've already, in the Torah, we've already met the word of God, the voice of God. We've met the spirit of God. We, you know, we've met the heavenly council of God, and so there's all these things happening, and we're like-

Seth: We've also heard, like, lots of different names for God, like God as-

David: Yes

Seth: ... healer or provider or-

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is he, he's the I Am, but he's also, his name is Jealous, and his name is also Long Suffering, and-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... what? Who, who are you? I'm, I'm, I'm all these things, but I am one.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yep.

Seth: And in that time period, the temptation would be just to label each one of those attributes of God as its own god, right?

David: Correct.

Seth: Is that kind of right?

David: Yes.

Seth: So like, oh, the, the fear of God is Symbolized by this figure, and the justice of God is this figure, and the-

David: Yes

Seth: ... beauty of God is this figure. Got it. Okay.

David: Yep, yep, because they were, they came from a polytheistic background in Egypt, and so this monotheistic, um-

Seth: Got it

David: ... proclamation is very important. Yep. Absolutely.

Seth: Which makes sense, 'cause the one thing I do know about this word is that word one is not so much like alone or-

David: Mm

Seth: ... one in isolation. It's actually, like, unity. Like, it's, that's the more co- the connotation behind it. So much so that whenever in Genesis 2, Adam and Eve become one flesh-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... the same word one there is the same word one here. It's not so much that there's a, um, just a oneness or a singularity. It's actually that there's a united nature to what-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... what's being talked about. All the attributes of God are in one being.

David: Right. We don't say that a husband and wife are now one person, and they, they have, you know, that they are completely-

Seth: That's right

David: ... indivisible.

Seth: Right.

David: Uh, but we also understand them as one unit.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so yeah, totally. That's a good-

Seth: For tax purposes

David: ... that's a good picture. Yeah, for tax purposes. [laughs]

Seth: [laughs]

David: Uh, okay. So then you get these amazing commands, uh, about how are they, as, as people going into this new land, how are they going to continue to obey and remember God's commandments and, and the story of their deliverance. And the, the answer is that they should just take the commands they, they've just heard, and write them all over their house. You know, like, put them on the doorposts and scrawl them on the walls. You know, write it on your forehead if you have to.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Just make sure you encounter this word everywhere.

Seth: Which some streams in Judaism have done. They have the-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... what's it ca- oh, what's the word? The-

David: Ah, dang it. I knew you were gonna ask that.

Seth: Uh, I, I, like, I looked it up too.

David: You have one. Don't you have one?

Seth: Um, no. I ha- I had a mezuzah, which is what-

David: Oh

Seth: ... they put on the doorpost of the house in, inside.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So today, if you go to a Jewish home, they'll have a mezuzah on the door, and inside should be a scroll that either has the Shema on it, or a section of the Old Test- the Torah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Or maybe the whole Torah, depending on the size or the type.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And so they are supposed to see it every time they walk in the door, and what they'll do is they'll kiss it and they'll t- kiss their hand.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: They'll touch the mezuzah. Uh, that's, ah, I know it's not the nephilim. I don't know why that's the word that's coming to mind.

David: [laughs]

Seth: But, but it begins with, like, a T-S. And anyway, if you go to, like, Orthodox Jewish spaces, they'll have these, like, leather straps that wrap around their arms-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and a little box on their forehead, and they-

David: Right

Seth: ... they all contain the Shema or a portion of the law.

David: That's not the phil- philecter- philectery

Seth: Philactery.

David: Philectery.

Seth: Philactery?

David: Philactery? I don't re- I don't know how to pronounce it.

Seth: Hmm.

David: But yeah, that's something like that, right?

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: The box. Yeah.

Seth: That's, that's exactly right. And so if you see them, that's actually what they're doing. They're trying to obey this command as-

David: Yes

Seth: ... literally as possible. They have the law of God on their hands, on their forehead, and on the doorposts-

David: Right

Seth: ... of their home.

David: And so what's amazing with the biblical story then is what God does here i, i- throughout the, the biblical narrative, and we see promises of it in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, is that he's not gonna just come and write his law on your forehead or on your house.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: He's actually going to inscribe it on your heart.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And that way you will actually be able to obey it. So it's, it's like-

Seth: Hmm

David: ... try, try all these external ways to obey the law, and what's gonna happen? You're still gonna fail. [laughs] You-

Seth: Well, and I'm assuming the point here is that you write them on your forehead and your doorpost and your hands, and you teach them to your children in the hopes that they-

David: They would make their way to the heart

Seth: ... they would make their way to the heart. And I mean, that's the way we teach our children, right?

David: Yes. Yep.

Seth: Like, we know that we can't... Like, by virtue of my parental fiat, my son is not gonna become a believer in Jesus.

David: Right.

Seth: But what I do is I repeat the story of the gospel. I tell him the commands of Jesus. I remind him of the Ten Commandments. When he's mean to his sister, I say, I tell him, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Like, when he's mean to his mother, "Honor your mother." Like, I-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... I put that constantly before him because I know if I don't, one, he'll forget.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And two, he won't actually grow up to have them inscribed-

David: Right

Seth: ... on his heart at all.

David: Right.

Seth: So I'm assuming the heart here is that by repeating, they would get to the heart, right?

David: Yes.

Seth: That's-

David: That was absolutely the goal. Yeah, you shall love-

Seth: Right

David: ... the Lord your God with all your heart.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so the whole idea was repeat these until they, they, they work their way into the heart. I mean, it's why David probably reflecting on this passage or a similar one said, "I have hidden your words in my heart-"

Seth: Verse-

David: "... that I might not sin against you."

Seth: Even verse six right here, "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart."

David: There it is.

Seth: The whole point of these external, uh, ways in which you remember the law is to place them on your heart.

David: Right.

Seth: What you're getting at is the fact that ultimately, later in the Book of Deuteronomy, uh, Moses will actually say, "God is not in your heart." [laughs] Yep.

David: Right. He's gonna say, he's gonna say, "You have a hard, uncircumcised heart because God has not softened it or uncir- or circumcised it yet."

Seth: So later on in the Book of Deuteronomy, we get this kind of ominous tone where it's like all this repetition will actually be for nothing.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Um, and the prophets will pick that up as well and say, like, "All of Israel has an uncircumcised heart. We need our hearts to be softened. We need new hearts if we're gonna-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... obey God's laws properly." Uh-

David: Yeah, and I think it's important to say that it's not because they tried to repeat them over and over again, and it didn't work. Like, this would have worked. [laughs]

Seth: Yes.

David: But they did not obey this command. They did not repeat the stories to their children. They did not put them on their walls and, and, and on their foreheads. They, they, they didn't-

Seth: No

David: ... it, the law did not make its way to their heart 'cause they-

Seth: Because-

David: ... immediately started breaking the law. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah, and so the, the real fear, the real boogeyman in this passage is not disobedience but forgetfulness. I mean, it is-

David: Yes

Seth: ... disobedience, but it's forgetfulness.

David: Yeah. Forgetfulness first, because he says, "You're gonna go into this land, and there's gonna be houses you did not bui- build and vineyards you did not plant. You're gonna be... It, it's just gonna be so good. You're gonna move into a suburban neighborhood."

Seth: Yeah. [laughs] You-

David: "And when you do, and you're super comfy-

Seth: Or a revitalized downtown like New York. [laughs]

David: ... or revitalized downtown, whatever. "You're, you're going to forget me because you won't... You, you'll feel like you don't need me anymore because all your needs are gonna be met." And so it's like we, w- as Westerners, we can definitely relate to that because our needs are met, you know, very easily. And, and, and it's easy to forget our need of God whenever we have our needs met by ourselves so easily for s- for so many people. Um- And, and it's, it's much different if you are in a hand-to-mouth society or nomadic society like Israel-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... was at this time. Your needs were-

Seth: Yeah, God's saying-

David: ... always very evident. [laughs]

Seth: God's gonna s- say, "Oh, you've been wandering the wilderness for 40 years, and you're about to have everything handed to you. And if you don't, in that place of wealth, remind yourself of my commandments, you'll forget them."

David: Mm-hmm. Right.

Seth: And which makes sense of why so much of Jesus' polemics, Book of James, speaks so, um, intensely about wealth. Like, the forgetfulness of the people of Israel was the idolatry of the people of Israel was precipitated by the gaining of wealth.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, or this an abundance of things. I think even Proverbs picks up on this language, uh, when, in Proverbs 30 when it says, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I forget you."

David: Right.

Seth: Uh, "Don't give me so much that I for- would forget you." Uh, so there's this danger to wealth that would bring us to, like, forget who God is.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So we always need to repeat God's commands constantly, otherwise we'll forget.

David: Yep. Why-

Seth: Have you ever read The Silver Chair? Oh, anyway, what were you gonna say?

David: Oh. Well, I was gonna say one more thing about that, was-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... was it's like the, you know, I think of the rich, young ruler with Jesus too here, because-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you know, he was, he was rich, and Jes- and he was like, "What do I need to do to it to get eternal life?" And he's like, "Obey these, these commandments we've been reading." And he's like, "Yeah, I've... Yeah, yeah, I did that." And he's like, "Okay, so do you not need anything? You feel like... Uh, it just feels like you, you, you've got it all figured out." And so Jesus gets to it, the heart of the problem, and he says, "Sell all your possessions." And he's like, "Uh, but then I would need something," you know? [laughs] And then-

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah

David: ... it's just, it's impossible for him. He's forgotten his dependence on God because he not only had all his moral categories checked off, he also had all his needs cared for, so he didn't need this traveling teacher.

Seth: Yeah.

David: He didn't need God. Anyway, just thought of that.

Seth: Right. No, it's, it's not-

David: So Silver Ch- do, you were talking about The Silver Chair?

Seth: Well, yeah. Well, in, uh, C.S. Lewis, he ba- uh, the opening of the book is Aslan speaks to, uh, Jill Pole and gives her-

David: And this is-

Seth: ... four signs

David: ... but for those who don't know, this is in the, the series The Chronicles of Narnia.

Seth: Right. Did I not say that?

David: Right.

Seth: Chronicles of Narnia.

David: I don't think so. Yep.

Seth: Excellent. And so this one book, she gives, he gives Jill Pole four signs she's supposed to remember, say every time she wakes up, every time she goes to bed, and repeat them as she's walking on her way. So it's like, it's a version of-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... Deuteronomy 6. And what she ends up doing is forgetting.

David: Mm.

Seth: Uh, she forgets to, to do that practice. And so there's this moment that comes when she gets trapped by this in- this witch, um, and she, who's also a serpent, so like, all this, like, demonic imagery. And this witch con- tries to convince her that Aslan's not real, that God isn't out for... Like, that Aslan is this God figure, it's like he's-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... not real. He's just something that you've made up. And it's... Oh, I, I'm gonna just read a little bit, 'cause I have it open in front of me, and it's so brilliant. He said, "The witch shook her head and said, 'I see,' she said, 'That we, that we should do no better than your...'" Oh, shoot. I shouldn't do this, because now I've, don't even know where [laughs] the book is.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Anyway, the whole point, she, like, tries to subvert all of her expectations. She said, like, "There's no such thing as a lion."

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: "You think Aslan's a lion? Oh, what you probably saw was my cat in the corner-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... and just imagined a bigger and better cat." So I can imagine something similar happening to the people of Israel-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... where they say, "Oh, you know, I probably just made up God."

David: Right.

Seth: "It was a projection of my desire for a father I didn't have."

David: Yeah.

Seth: "Or it's my idea that that's where all wealth comes from, when actually all that really is is the wealth and abundance I see around me." Which is exactly what Israel does.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: They worship the cre- the creation-

David: Right

Seth: ... and the creature rather than the creator who lives forever.

David: Wow. It's so good.

Seth: But anyway, C.S. Lewis is brilliant. If you wanna, if you wanna read it, you should read The Silver Chair because-

David: So good

Seth: ... so good.

David: Man, okay. Last thing that we have to talk about here is the reasons for o- obeying the law, um, because God, God gives those, and I think it's really interesting. Uh-

Seth: Yeah, yeah. Verse 23

David: Yeah.

Seth: Uh, "And he brought us out from there," Egypt, "that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes." And then here's the reasons, "To fear the Lord our God for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us if we're careful to do the commands before the Lord our God."

David: Mm-hmm. So four things, right? What are they?

Seth: Or we, uh, why do we obey these commands? Because we've been rescued out of Egypt.

David: Yep.

Seth: Uh, in order to fear God properly, for our good, for our life, and for righteousness. Five reasons.

David: So five. Five reasons.

Seth: Five reasons.

David: We've been rescued so we might fear the Lord, for our good, for our righteousness. Oh, wait, I missed one.

Seth: For our good, for our life, and for our righteousness.

David: For our life and for our righteousness. Wow. So why do we obey? First and foremost, we've talked about this already, it's because we've been rescued.

Seth: Yes.

David: Uh, even before this, what led us into this is, um, he's talking about, you know, go and talk to your, your children and repeat these commands to them. And when they say, "What, what's the deal with these commandments? Why do we follow them, and why do we observe these different feasts and everything?" You're to say to them, "Because we were slaves in Egypt and God rescued us."

Seth: Yeah.

David: "And then he gave us these commands." And so it's funny that the, that we've talked about how God's rescue leads us into his requirements-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... but then it's also the other way, where his requirements should remind us of his rescue, you know?

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so it's, it's just cool. So anyway, it- it, because God saved us-

Seth: And of all the things that people will forget, what Israel forgot and what Christians forget, it's that God's rescue and love precedes his commands. Like-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... God has died for us, he's rescued us out of Egypt, and because we are rescued, we now obey.

David: Right. Yes.

Seth: And we are always co- like, we think we're gonna get the other... We forget that it's the other way around constantly.

David: Yep.

Seth: So this is why we need to remind ourselves, because we are programmed, uh, to think that it's our actions, our efforts that will get God to rescue us.

David: Yes.

Seth: That's not the case.

David: Not the case. It's so good. And so that's the first reason. The second reason is God gave these commands, uh, so that we might fear him, and we've kind of talked about that, where it's like if we remember everything that God actually requires of us as humans, we will constantly go, "Oh, no, I have not lived up to that." Like- He is powerful, he is going to speak, and I will be under judgment. But then what, what gets to happen? You get to remind yourself of the rescue.

Seth: Right.

David: That Jesus has given you, um, a-

Seth: Think about-

David: ... a way out of your judgment

Seth: ... think about somebody on parole. Like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... you've committed a crime, now you're out on a limited basis, and if you-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... do anything wrong again, you'll be back in prison, and you have a meeting with your parole officer once a month to make sure that you haven't broken any laws. So, like, there's a, an appropriate fear of the law for somebody on p- parole.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so there's a sense, like, when we have the law and an authority in the back of our mind saying, like, "Do not break these things, otherwise you come under punishment," like, that's the fear that's being talked about here. That's a healthy fear to follow the law, right? Like it's-

David: Yeah, I think the only, the only, the only, like, nuance I'd want to give to that is I think that living our lives in Christ like we're on parole is, is not helpful [laughs] at all-

Seth: No, but-

David: ... because we're free. We're free from condemnation

Seth: We are free.

David: There is no condemnation.

Seth: But it is good to fear God.

David: Yes.

Seth: That's what-

David: Absolutely

Seth: ... we said la- that's what we said last week, and even here.

David: Yep.

Seth: It is good to fear-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... have an appropriate respect for the embodiment of God's law in his Son, Jesus.

David: Yes.

Seth: So there is a sense that we should have an abiding sense that the law will... We will be hol- held accountable to law, and we should seek to do it, because if we not, we'll be held accountable to it. Does that make sense?

David: That's right. Definitely, yep.

Seth: The, the fear of punishment, the fear of retribution or a fear of, like, discipline should motivate us towards obedience.

David: Yes. Okay, and then the-

Seth: Right

David: ... third one is it's for our good. I love this one.

Seth: So good.

David: Why, why obey the law? Why, why do the things that the Bible requires? It's not because they're oppressive. It's not because you're trying to earn something. It's because it's good for you. It's like a multivitamin.

Seth: You were designed, you were designed this way.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: God made you so that you wouldn't have to deal with the intense psychological trauma that comes from killing somebody. Like, God has-

David: Oh my gosh, yeah

Seth: ... made you in such a way that you work best when you obey his commands. You were made to be the man of one wife.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So your world will look better when you live that way. [laughs] Like-

David: Yes

Seth: ... you were designed not to lie.

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, you were not designed to c- like, to deal with all the anxiety that comes from pr- uh, all that comes from, like, making sure that nobody found out the truth. Like, you weren't designed for that.

David: Totally. Yeah, and-

Seth: Whenever-

David: Yeah. It's so good

Seth: ... whenever Eric and I were in counseling after, like, we lost our son, one of the-

David: Mm, yeah

Seth: ... most helpful things that we heard was, like, "You were not designed for grief."

David: Mm.

Seth: Like, you were not designed for the brokenness that you experience.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, when you obey God's law, when you are inviting the new creation back in, and you experience in the life the goodness that was supposed to be ours in Eden.

David: Mm-hmm. It's for our good. The commands-

Seth: It's for our good

David: ... are for our good, and they're for our life.

Seth: Which-

David: And so, which we've, we've talked about, that, that these commands are not only for our good, they actually lead to life. They lead to eternal life. Like, for the-

Seth: They lead to the new-

David: For-

Seth: ... the new lands, yeah

David: ... the new land.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: Yeah, for, for the Israelites it would be this new land in Canaan. For us, it's eternal life with God forever. And it's not a works-based righteousness where you are earning your way into that, but it, it gives life, these commands, and, and it will be our life, like we talked about. In the new heavens and new earth, we will live these commandments out. They will be life to us. They will be our very existence. Um, and then number five, they are righteousness for us. And man, I'm in Romans right now-

Seth: Okay

David: ... for Spoken Gospel stuff. I'm r- working on the introduction-

Seth: We're all about this

David: ... to Romans, and it's all about righteousness. And so-

Seth: Boy

David: ... it just feels like-

Seth: So what does it mean, then, for us to obey? So if we've already been given a good standing, G- Christ's own righteousness by our trust in him, that's already happened.

David: Yep.

Seth: We've already been rescued from sin. What does it mean after the fact to do good works for more righteousness? [laughs]

David: [laughs] So, so what happens in Romans is that, that... So there's three kinds of righteousness. One is God's righteousness, which is-

Seth: Okay

David: ... his faithfulness, that God is... He, he shows his righteousness to us by being faithful to us.

Seth: Yep.

David: That he is good even when we're not, that he's-

Seth: Yep

David: ... faithful when we're faithless. The second kind of righteousness is the righteousness Jesus earns for us on the cross, that he declares us justified, legally righteous before the Father, despite the sins that we've committed to break his, these laws here.

Seth: Okay.

David: But then there's a third kind of righteousness that you learn about more towards the end of, uh, Romans, like Romans 8 and on, and that is the kind of righteousness that is lived righteousness, that we are actually becoming-

Seth: Mm

David: ... righteous people who do the right things, who actually live, um, as if we are justified, and that we aren't-

Seth: Are

David: ... under condemnation. We live as people who are good. And so it, it moves from-

Seth: So there's a righteousness-

David: ... faith to faith. Yeah

Seth: ... there's a righteousness that comes from God. Or the, the-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... there's a righteousness that God is just by virtue of being God himself.

David: Yep, he is righteousness.

Seth: There's a, the ri- there's a righteousness that Jesus gives to us.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And there's also a righteousness that we continue in as we live, like, that we actually commit. We commit righteousness. We commit-

David: That's right

Seth: ... uh, anot- another word for righteousness is just justice. Like, we-

David: Yep

Seth: ... commit and do justice. Like, we-

David: That's right

Seth: ... do what is right.

David: Yep, so how can we do right in this world? How can we be good people in this world? How can we be righteous? We obey the Ten Commandments.

Seth: We obey the commandments, yeah.

David: We do these. They are righteousness for us. Uh, it doesn't mean that they earn our righteousness for us. That was earned in, in Christ, but they are our righteousness in that we live them out and act justly in this world, so-

Seth: And even here in the Old Testament-

David: You know

Seth: ... we should be aware that he's not saying if you are righteous enough, then you'll get into the Promised Land.

David: Right, yep.

Seth: The reason they were getting into the Promised Land was because God delivered them out of the land of Egypt and was gonna provide victory in battle for them once they got there.

David: Yep.

Seth: Like, all the i- initiatory entering into the Promised Land saving action was on God's end.

David: Yes.

Seth: What they're, he's talking about here really is that third category of righteousness.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: The good and the justice that we can do. And that should be good news to us. Like-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... God's commands should be good news because it means that you and I can actually do good in the world. Like, the world can actually-

David: Yep

Seth: ... be changed-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... by our efforts. Like, that's a real piece of good news. Like-

David: Yes, it is

Seth: ... but so, like, 'cause I think I, I can be tend towards hopelessness, right?

David: Mm-hmm. Yes.

Seth: Like, what I do doesn't matter.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, justice won't actually reign.

David: Mm.

Seth: But if you trust in Jesus, that is false. Like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... God's kingdom comes in part through us.

David: Yep, when we obey his commands.

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah. I love that. That's good. It's also good news to me when I get to hear your daughter, like, cooing in the-

Seth: Cooing in the background

David: ... cooing in the background. It's so powerful.

Seth: She woke up halfway through the podcast, so I just-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... threw her on the ground right next to me.

David: Threw her on the ground. [laughs]

Seth: Well, you know, just placed her gently-

David: Laid her gently on the ground

Seth: ... laid her gently on the ground.

David: [laughs]

Seth: And she just...

David: Oh, that's awesome. Well, this has been great. Um, well, we'll, uh, we'll pick up with, um, talking about God's chosen-ness of his people next week, which will be really interesting, why God chose Israel and what that means for us. That-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that will be very intense, so I'm excited. So anyway-

Seth: It'll be great

David: ... thank, thank you, guys, for listening. This is, this has been-

Seth: Thank you guys so much.

David: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.

Seth: If you guys like our podcast, please make sure to rate us on iTunes. We literally read all the comments, and-

David: We do. We love them

Seth: ... th- we do. We text them back and forth to each other.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Please leave us a comment to, like, encourage us, and especially if you want more people to hear about Jesus in all scripture-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... because your comments and your likes are how more people hear about Jesus.

David: Yeah, and, uh, you can get all of our free resources at spokengospel.com. Uh, we just love you guys. Thank you for listening.

Seth: Thank you.

David: And, uh, we'll see you next week. [upbeat music]

Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a non-profit dedicated to creating free gospel-centered media that speaks the gospel out of every corner of scripture. So to join us in our mission and view our resources, we invite you to visit spokengospel.com. [upbeat music]

Related Resources

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Deuteronomy 5–6: The Ten Commandments (Again)

Show Notes

Why Does God Repeat the Ten Commandments?

What Changed Between Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5

The Terrifying Power of God's Voice

The Shema and the Heart of Deuteronomy

The Danger of Forgetting in a Land of Plenty

Five Reasons to Obey

Related Resources

Introduction to Deuteronomy

View our devotional on Deuteronomy: 1-3

Ready to study a different book?

Listen to the Deuteronomy 1-3: Introduction podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 4: Why Obey the Law podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 5-6: The Ten Commandments (Again?) podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 7-9: Chosen People podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 10-11: Heart Circumcision podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 12-14: Israel's Distinctiveness podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 15-16: The Sabbatical Year podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 17-18: Judges, Kings, and Prophets podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 19-21: Innocent Blood and Holy War podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 22-25: Miscellaneous Laws podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 26-30: Blessing and Curse podcast

Listen to the Deuteronomy 31-34: Song of Moses podcast