Moses tells the people to remember that it was not their children who witnessed the power and majesty of God both in Egypt and in the desert, but they themselves. The miracles and wonders God has performed are not just hearsay or second hand stories, they have happened before their very eyes. Their children will surely see miracles of their own, but the exodus and all that has happened in the desert belong to them. That's their story, and no one can take that away from them. It's easy to hear amazing testimonies and forget that we have incredible experiences of our own, but then we do ourselves and God a disservice. We should give thanks for and celebrate God's work in the lives of others, but it's also really important that we don't forget or diminish the wonderful things he does in our own lives.
Next Moses talks some more about love and obedience. There's nothing new here - he even uses some of the same phrases he used just a few chapters earlier - but this time it occurred to me that there is a tendency to separate the two, associating obedience with the Old Testament and love with the New Testament. Sadly, that means we miss just how much love there is in the Old Testament. God has been a god of love right from the very beginning. Unfortunately, this separation also means we sometimes forget that the New Testament also calls for obedience, but we're missing something here as well. In our relationship with God, the two cannot be separated. We obey God because we love Him, and as we obey Him we draw closer to Him and grow to love Him more.
Moses tells the people that he is setting before them a blessing and a curse - a blessing if they obey and a curse if they don't. As I've said before, I'm not entirely sure I believe that God ever blessed or cursed people depending on how well-behaved they were - if that were true, bad things would never have happened to good people, and the wicked would never have prospered - but the point is that the Israelites had a choice. They could choose to obey or they could choose to disboey. Whatever they did, it was by their own free will. God will show us our options, and He knows which one He would rather us take, but He will never force us to do anything. He loves and respects us enough to give us that freedom. And that in itself can be both a blessing and a curse.
Now Moses moves on to talk about worship, and again he instructs the people to destroy all of the places of worship belonging to the nations they dispossess. It may sound like the Israelites had never heard of religious tolerance, but I don't think this is about persecution. The Israelites were told to destroy the idols and the altars after they had driven the people from the land, when they were no longer going to be using them anyway. So it seems this wasn't about preventing the other nations from following their religions, it was about making sure the Israelites didn't follow them too. We too must be careful of the influences around us and guard our hearts so we are not tempted to stray away from God, but at the same we must always be respectful of other faiths. Free will includes the freedom to worship whoever and however we choose, so if someone chooses not to worship God, that is their right. God gave them that right, and it is not for us to take it away. All we have to do is be open in talking about Him so that people know they have that choice to make.
Moses also tells them that once they have settled in their new land, God will select for Himself a dwelling-place, and it is to that place that they must bring all of their offerings and sacrifices. This section is headed "The One Place of Worship" in my Bible, but I think that's slightly misleading. There is nothing here that says the people can't pray to or praise God wherever they choose, only that offerings and sacrifices must be made in a specific place. This isn't about putting restrictions on worship, or tying God down to one particular spot. It's about discipline and commitment. God wanted His people to make the effort to go and see Him. Maybe He also wanted His dwelling-place to be a point of contact for the whole community, bringing them together to share in worship and fellowship. It's like going to church. We can read our Bibles and talk to God and worship Him in any number of ways wherever and whenever we want, but we still get out of bed every Sunday morning and go to church because, among other things, we know it's important that we make that effort and engage in a kind of worship we can't do alone and meet with other Christians.
Finally, we have another warning about worshipping other gods. God knows how easily we are tempted and distracted, so He's using Moses to really drive this point home. The essence of this section is that anybody who worships other gods and tries to induce others to do the same must be put to death. Moses makes it quite clear that that applies even to family members, because our loyalty is to God first. As I have explained before, the death penalty does not stand, but the fact that it was ever given for this crime shows just how serious it is. It may not always be deliberate, but our words and actions have an impact on others, and so we must be aware of that and seek always to be an influence for good. Or you might say an influence for God. That doesn't mean forcing people to do what we believe is right, it means encouraging them to make good decisions and striving to set a good example.
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