DEUTERONOMY Lesson 1 – Introduction Today we begin a study of the final, the fifth, book of Torah, the book of Deuteronomy. We have come a long way, have we not? To this point in Torah we have seen the creation of the world and of mankind, the destruction of…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 2 – Chapter 1 Last week we looked at an introduction to Deuteronomy in order to give us some context for studying it. But, make no mistake: the foundation for correctly interpreting this fifth book of the Torah are the previous four books; each builds upon the other.…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 3 – Chapters 1 and 2 The last time we met I established a principle for the over-all context of Deuteronomy that I’m going to remind you of form time-to-time: it is that Deuteronomy should be looked at as more of a sermon from Moses than as a…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 4 – Chapters 2, 3, and 4 We continue this week in Deuteronomy chapter 2. And we’ll begin with the instruction of verse 24 for Israel to commence the occupation of the Land of Canaan; or put in another way to fire the first volley in Yehoveh’s Holy…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 5 – Chapter 4 Last week we ended by studying the Shema, which is perhaps the central tenet of the Hebrew faith. The Shema (which is a combination of a prayer and a statement of fact and faith) actually occurs a couple of chapters ahead of where we…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 6 – Chapter 4 Continued Let’s continue our study of Deuteronomy chapter 4; my personal choice as perhaps one of the 10 most critical and central chapters in all the Bible for understanding the God of Israel, His attributes and character, the principles that under gird ALL of…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 7 – Chapter 5 We are now about 80% of the way through the Torah and we have absorbed an enormous amount of detail. As we begin our study of Deuteronomy chapter 5 today let’s pause for just a few minutes to sort of gather our thoughts and…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 8 – Chapter 6 Although we’ve already spoken of it a bit, the focus of Deuteronomy chapter 6 centers on verses 4-9 and especially verses 4 and 5. Verses 4 and 5 are considered so important to the faith of Yehoveh worship that it has been given a…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 9 – Chapter 6 Continued I’d like to ask you for your attention and patience today because the first half of this lesson is significantly different than the last, and the last half deals with one of the more challenging messages I’ve had the privilege to present. One…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 10 – Chapters 6 and 7 We’ll finish up chapter 6 and move into chapter 7 in our study of Deuteronomy today. Last week we took another look at the Shema , the Hear O Israel, that is both the spiritual and national credo of the Hebrew people……..and…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 11 – Chapters 8 and 9 In the Jewish Publication Society Torah Commentary, the eminent Bible scholar Jeffry Tigay makes this outstanding observation regarding the opening words of Deuteronomy chapter 8. He says: “Since his message is that Israel should always remember its dependence on God, it is…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 12 – Chapters 9 and 10 We’ll continue today in Deuteronomy chapter 9. Allow me to remind you that Deuteronomy is essentially a sermon by Moses, and so I have been (and will continue) to present Deuteronomy to you in a similar form. It is a reality of…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 13 – Chapters 10 and 11 Last week we ended in the midst of our study of Deuteronomy 10 by discussing this rhetorical but powerful question asked by Moses as he stood on a hilltop in Moab addressing the chosen people: “And, now, O Israel, what does the…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 14 – Chapter 12 This is one of those weeks that we’re going to move along carefully and deliberately because there are some vital spiritual principles to be extracted from even the first couple of verses of Deuteronomy 12. Chapters 1-11 of Deuteronomy were in essence the introduction…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 15 – Chapter 12 Continued In order that a platform was established for understanding Deuteronomy chapter 12 and the next several chapters as well, we spent some time examining a handful of the basic God- principles contained within chapter 12. The first principle is the one of the…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 16 – Chapter 12 Conclusion Last week we concluded with the section of Deuteronomy 12 in which the Lord has just made a very popular decision: the Israelites can now eat all the meat they want and it does not have to be a limited portion left over…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 17 – Chapters 13 and 14 Today we take up Deuteronomy chapter 13. Chapter 12 dealt with the Lord’s command for Israel to uproot and destroy every vestige of the Canaanite mystery religions that were present in the Land of Promise. Israel was to make no compromises nor…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 18 – Chapter 14 Last week we ended part way through Deuteronomy chapter 14; and we spent most of our time discussing the God-principle of the purpose of the human will. During that discussion I told you that the purpose for the human will is to make moral…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 19 – Chapter 15 Deuteronomy 15 continues with the Lord’s laws concerning helping the poor and the disadvantaged. God’s character is such that He places the needs of the poor as a high priority; but He also places the responsibility of caring for the poor on the shoulders…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 20 – Chapter 16 Deuteronomy chapter 16 is a rather expansive portion of the 5 th book of Torah that begins with describing the 3 major Pilgrimage festivals, then moves into discussing the requirements and expectations of the civil and governmental leaders, and finally renews instructions concerning proper…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 21 – Chapter 16 Continued Last week we ended by discussing some fascinating details about Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, respectively called Pesach and Matza in Hebrew. We’re going to continue that today and won’t fully finish Deuteronomy 16 until next time. There are a couple…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 22 – Chapters 16 and 17 We’ve spent the last two lessons in Deuteronomy 16 looking very carefully at some esoteric but clearly important aspects of the Feasts of the Lord, especially the ones that involved the requirement of pilgrimage to the Tabernacle/Temple. Since it is a long…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 23 – Chapters 17 and 18 We were discussing the section of Deuteronomy 17 that dealt with God’s boundaries and limitations on Israel’s civil and religious authorities. And one of the chief principles is that in God’s economy there is NO separation of church and state (so to…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 24 – Chapters 19 and 20 We finished chapter 18 last week which completed the section of Deuteronomy that described the 4 main types of human governmental authorities that God ordained to rule over Israel: kings, prophets, judges, and priests. As we begin chapter 19 today we enter…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 25 – Chapter 20 We began Deuteronomy chapter 20 last weekend but ended at verse 9. Tonight’s lesson is one of the more difficult ones because the over arching subject is Holy War and I hope you understand that Holy War is a war started by God at…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 26 – Chapter 21 Today we begin Deuteronomy chapter 21, and this chapter begins with a very odd ritual that Jewish Rabbis and ancient Hebrew sages have had a hard time explaining. Christian scholars don’t even bother to try. We’ll explore that ritual and see what sense we…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 27 – Chapter 21 Continued We’ll continue this week with Deuteronomy 21. Last time we discussed chapter 21 verses 1-9 and the subject was unsolved murder. As we saw however, this was set in the far larger context of bloodguilt. Bloodguilt occurs when one or more of God’s…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 28 – Chapter 22 As we open our Bibles today to Deuteronomy 22, I recall thinking as I was preparing this lesson: “How am I ever going to find the words to explain the profound and far reaching impact of these laws of God to modern day Believers?”…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 29 – Chapter 22 Continued We began Deuteronomy chapter 22 last week and will continue it today. The first part of the chapter address a series of laws on what the apostle James calls “true religion”, meaning the proper spiritual attitude that a disciple of the God of…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 30 – Chapter 23 Deuteronomy Chapter 22 took the concept of adultery to a new level and explains it in the motif of “illicit mixtures”. While we tend to think of adultery in purely sexual terms in reality to commit adultery is to take anything pure or clean…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 31 – Chapter 23 Continued We concluded last week after discussing only the first couple of verses of Deuteronomy chapter 23, and there is so much here in this chapter that we still won’t finish it today. Rabbi Baruch recently published a superb article on our TorahClass.com website…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 32 – Chapters 23 and 24 We’ll finish up Deuteronomy 23 today and move into chapter 24. The last verses of chapter 23 that we looked at were 18 and 19, the matter of the prostitutes who worked for a pagan Temple as a supposedly holy profession simply…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 33 – Chapter 24 We got a little way into Deuteronomy chapter 24 last time and we’ll continue with that today. We ended by discussing an inscrutable truth of the Bible that is not always easy to recognize: the progression of patterns from the time of the Creation…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 34 – Chapter 25 This week we start Deuteronomy chapter 25; and in these verses are 5 laws about humanitarian and social concerns, followed by an instruction that Israeli’s are to always remember what the Amalekites did to them and to despise them for it (and to eventually…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 35 – Chapters 25 and 26 Last week we ended our discussion of Deuteronomy chapter 25 with some laws that revolve around God’s principle of fundamental fairness among one another. Those laws were given in the context of a wife who intervened in a fight her husband was…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 36 – Chapters 26 and 27 We started Deuteronomy chapter 26 last week and we’ll finish that this week and get well into chapter 27. Chapter 26 began a 4-chapter section that marks the end of a kind of lengthy review and reminder of the Law as given…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 37 – Chapter 27 Last time we met we were part way into a new section of Deuteronomy that covers from chapters 26 – 30; and what makes this section substantially different than the previous 14 chapters is that the nature of the sermon being given by Moses…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 38 – Chapter 28 Deuteronomy chapter 28 is the mid-point of this special 4-chapter section of Deuteronomy that runs from chapters 26 through 30. These chapters are among the most studied and revered by the Hebrew Sages and Rabbis, for the meaning and impact of these passages is…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 39 – Chapter 28 Continued We began the very long chapter 28 of Deuteronomy last week and we’ll finish it up this week. Settle in and get comfortable, because we have a great deal to accomplish tonight. The first section that was verses 1 – 14 entail a…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 40 – Chapter 29 Last week we finished up examining the long list of threats in Deuteronomy 28 that God made on Israel should they violate the terms of the Mosaic Covenant. These threats are called curses and some are of the most extreme nature. In fact chapter…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 41 – Chapters 29 and 30 We continue today in our study of Deuteronomy 29 whereby Moses is presenting the curses and the blessings of the Law in summary form. All of Israel is present, even the foreigners who have joined up with Israel, for this sermon of…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 42 – Chapter 31 Before we get into Deuteronomy chapter 31 I would like to take a few minutes to discuss something interesting about the chapter that we just completed, Deuteronomy 30. Turn your Bibles to the opening verses of Deuteronomy chapter 30. CJB Deuteronomy 30:1 “When the…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 43 – Chapter 31 Continued As we near the completion of the book of Deuteronomy, we are witnessing the transition of Israel’s leadership from Moses to Joshua. In chapter 31 we see the actual consecration ceremony of Joshua and of the Lord calling Moses and Joshua to the…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 44 – Chapter 32 Last week was essentially a preparation for what we’ll study today. We ended the lesson by briefly discussing the history of the means by which the Bible that is in use today came about including its progression from the beginning books of Moses (called…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 45 – Chapter 32 Continued Last week we began our study of this so-called Song of Moses that forms the basis for Deuteronomy chapter 32. This work is very deep; it explains principles that are practical and prophetic, revealed and mysterious. It explains matters in a duality (meaning…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 46 – Chapter 32 Continued 2 It has always been the chief purpose of Torah Class to demonstrate that far from the Old Testament being abolished or irrelevant, rather it is alive, vital to our understanding of God and His plan, and contemporary to our day. No section…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 47 – Chapter 32 Conclusion As we continue in this Song of Moses of Deuteronomy chapter 32 I want to begin as we did last week in summarizing a couple of divine principles that have been a work-in-progress since the book of Genesis. These principles are at the…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 48 – Chapter 33 We are quickly approaching the end of our in-depth study of the first 5 books of the Bible. I am sure that many of you have now fully grasped just how important to our faith in Christ that it is to set its foundation…

DEUTERONOMY Lesson 49 – Chapters 33 and 34 ( End of Book) This week we complete our nearly 5- year long journey through the Torah. After we complete the Torah we will begin the book of Joshua. Part of the reason for proceeding this way is because Joshua is often…