Session 1 : Introduction to Deuteronomy.

These are notes from an invited speaker from Capernwray, Terry Cowland
Why read Deuteronomy?

1) Deuteronomy is one of the books most often quoted in the New Testament. For example, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy to refute the devil’s temptations (Matthew 4), Sermon on the Mount.

2) Deuteronomy records this “second law”—namely Moses’s series of sermons in which he restated God’s commands originally given to the Israelites some forty years earlier in Exodus and Leviticus. The book offers a restatement of the Law for a new generation, rather than a mere copy of what had gone before.

3) Deuteronomy is a highly influential book. The continuation of Israel’s history (Joshua—Kings) is written mostly from its perspective, so much so that the history portion has been called Deuteronomic History. Isaiah and Jeremiah are heavily influenced by this book.

Resources for leaders

A quick clip as introduction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt1KJvZ4uUc

A longer Outline http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoH6W3aAxTc

If you want to hear all of Deuteronomy http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Deut.1 (about 3 hrs 30 m) Or listen to 6 chapters each week for 6 weeks. The speaker on the audio recordings is Ajith Fernando. You can also watch him on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEKIVrqHPgI

Session 2: Loving God

Resource: http://zippingot.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/ajith-fernandos-talks-on-deuteronomy-at.html

Skill: Word study of the words “obey”, “fear”, “hear”, “being careful” and “heart”.

Ice breaker:  Print out this picture of a tree and the people in it. Suppose the tree represents God. Which person are you on the tree and why? Begin and end with prayer.

Deuteronomy 6
These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,  so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.  Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

1) Why were the Israelites asked to obey the commands of God? (Background: Before this point the Israelites were not a nation. When they entered the promise land, they had to learn to live together and govern themselves. Many of these promises were for building a strong foundation for growing a nation). If you built a city online, in Sims or Minecraft would you put in perimeters on how people can behave, why and what would you put in?

2) What do you think fear means? In Hebrew: Shema. Do you see that God needs to be constantly appeased so that he is not angry with us?

3) What do you think hearing is important? Why do think the Israelities had to hear the Shema so often? Do you regularly listen to anything as often? What and why?

4) What are we asked to be careful about? How do we go about being careful? Give examples.

5) What does it mean to love God with heart, soul and strength? In Hebrew the heart is http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/heart/.

6) How do you stay connected to God?

Session 3: Loving God’s Word

Resource:  http://zippingot.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/deuteronomy-66-9-loving-gods-word-slc.html

http://manuscriptbiblestudy.com/bs-helps/

Ice breaker: Watch Youtube Mike LeFleur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMPyMb8b4sI#t=139

Begin and end with prayer

Skills: Manuscript bible study:  Notice there are no verses and chapters in the original bible so they have been taken out. Space is provided for people to write questions and observations.

Print out this for colouring

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on yourchildren.Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,  houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,  be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.  Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and hisanger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not put theLord your God to the test as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said. In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of thestipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” tell him: “We wereslaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household.  But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

1. Observation : Colour repeated words, circle contrast, underline connectors or time markers. Answer the questions: Who, What, Where and How?  Write down your questions.

2. Interpretation : What comes next? Ask why is that thing there?

3. Application: How does this relate to your head (what have you learnt?), heart (what moves you to change? Confess? Ask for help?), hands (what should you do?) feet (where should you be?) 

Session 4: Loving God’s People

Resource: http://zippingot.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/deuteronomy-9-loving-gods-people.html

Ice breaker: Draw yourself, explain why you draw yourself that way. Draw the person you are learning to love. Explain your drawing.

Skill: Swedish Bible Study Method : What stands out-shines, question, application, share.

Print out  http://www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Swedish-Method-FIG.pdf

Explain how to fill out the sheet from Deuteronomy 9

Deuteronomy 9

Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. ² The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” ³ But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

⁴ After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. ⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ⁶ Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

The Golden Calf

⁷ Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord. ⁸ At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. ¹⁰ The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

¹¹ At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! ¹⁴ Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

¹⁵ So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. ¹⁶ When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

¹⁸ Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. ¹⁹ I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me. ²⁰ And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. ²¹ Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.

²² You also made the Lord angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah.

²³ And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, “Go up and take possession of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust him or obey him. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.

²⁵ I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights because the Lord had said he would destroy you. ²⁶ I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’ ²⁹ But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”

Session 5: Loving the Poor

Resources: http://zippingot.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/loving-needy-deuteronomy-24.html

Ice breaker: Have each person in the group go around and say two things about themselves. One should be the truth and one should be a lie. Have the rest of the group try to determine which one is the lie and which one is the truth.

Skills: Scripture interpret scripture. How do we glean general principles from Old Testament law?

Questions

1. What do you think these laws meant to the Israelites?

Identify the historical and literary context of the specific law in question. Were the Israelites on the bank of the Jordan preparing to enter the land (Deuteronomy) when the law was given, or were they at Mount Sinai soon after the Exodus (Exodus, Leviticus)? Was the law given in response to a specific situation that had arisen, or was the command describing requirements for Israel after they moved into the Promised Land? What other laws are in the immediate context? Is there a connection between them? How did this particular law relate to the Old Covenant? Did it govern how people were to approach God? Did it govern how they were to relate to each other? Did it relate to agriculture or commerce? Was it specifically related to life in the Promised Land? What did this specific law mean for the Old Testament audience? (Listen to Ajith for specific answers)

2. How do we bridge the gap between the initial audience and today’s audience? Are there universal principles from the text? Are there New Testament teachings that relate to these principles?

Christians are not under the Old Covenant, and their sins are covered by the death of Christ. Also because they have direct access to God through Jesus Christ, they no longer need human priests as mediators. Use examples for Ajith’s stories to explain how this can be done.

3. How can you as students love the poor today? How can you make a difference after you graduate? An idea of a project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jSBW0BOPqM

Deuteronomy 24

24 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, ² and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, ³ and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, ⁴ then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵ If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

⁶ Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.

⁷ If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.

⁸ In cases of defiling skin diseases,^[a] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them. ⁹ Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge. ¹¹ Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. ¹² If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. ¹³ Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.

¹⁴ Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. ¹⁵ Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

¹⁶ Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.

¹⁷ Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

¹⁹ When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

Session 6: Sum Up the book of Deuteronomy (invite a couple of students to share)

Icebreaker: The book of Deuteronomy ends with Moses’ song. Get everyone to share their favourite song and explain why it is their favourite.

1. What verses/ stories/ laws stood out for you from this book?

2. What did you learn from this 6 weeks?

3. How has it changed your prayer?

4. Has it changed your relationship to/ view of God?

5. Get everyone a picture of the tree and ask them to explain if they have moved.