In Deuteronomy 4:9-14, Moses exhorts this generation of Israelites about to enter the Promised Land to guard their souls with the greatest of diligence, that they must not forget all that they have seen, and that they must instill in their children who God is and what He has done. Moses especially wanted them to recall that day when they, as young children, gathered with their parents at Mount Horeb, where God summoned them into His presence and spoke to them His covenantal demands, encapsulated in the Ten Commandments. God’s purpose was for them to hear His words and then to obey them, from a healthy, reverential fear of God all the days of their lives.
After the Exodus, the people of Israel drew near to God at the foot of Mt. Horeb, a terrifying scene that Moses described as best he could: ” the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.” Amidst all the natural phenomena taking place, there was no visible image of God. Rather, a voice spoke to them from the midst of the fire, the divine voice of God declaring to them His covenant for them to perform, divinely writing His commands on 2 tablets of stone. The 2 identical tablets signified the terms of the covenant. God would be faithful to them, but would they be faithful to Him? Would they be a people of the Word, worshiping God in spirit and in truth?
At Mt. Horeb, Moses instructed the first generation in the statutes and rules of God (which ultimately, they rejected). Now, right before his death, Moses would teach this new generation of Israelites who would indeed go into Canaan the same unchanging statutes and rules of God. And he would teach them for the purpose of doing God’s ways in the land He had given them to possess.
You can listen to this teaching on Deuteronomy 4:9-14 by clicking on the following link: Lest You Forget
