ISSL Reflections December 5 2021 Deuteronomy 5:1b–3; 10:12–13; 27:1–10 Post 1

I.
Moses tells the assembled people,
“Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the Lord your God.”

As you read these passages, what do you find that makes one “… become the people of the Lord your God.”

II.
Deuteronomy 5:1-3 (NRSV)

Moses convened all Israel, and said to them:

Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. Not with our ancestors did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (NRSV)

So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.

Deuteronomy 27:1-10 (NRSV)

Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today. On the day that you cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster. You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. So when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster. And you shall build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool. You must build the altar of the Lord your God of unhewn stones. Then offer up burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, make sacrifices of well-being, and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God. You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very clearly.

Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the Lord your God. Therefore obey the Lord your God, observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today.

III.
What stands out to you about a people becoming “people of the Lord”?

  • Hearing the commandments
  • Learning the statues and ordinances
  • Observing the law faithfully
  • Fearing God, walking with God, loving God, serving God
  • Writing the law where it can be seen clearly
  • Building altars
  • Giving offerings to God

What holds your attention?

IV.
What words do you use to speak of becoming “people of God”?

What can you name in your experience that has led you to wanting (or not wanting) to become one of the “people of God”?

Charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}


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