Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 13:  Uncompromising Loyalty To God Collin Leong. July 5th, 2026 (v1-18) Punishment of Apostates (v1-3) "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, and saying to you: 'Let us go after other gods' - which you have not known - 'and let us server them,' you shall not listen to the words of the prophet or dreamer, for the LORD is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." Exp: Satan can perform counterfeit miracles or empower false prophets to do so. But these are not true acts of divine power; they are deceptive signs permitted by God as a test of loyalty.  In Exodus 7:11-12, Pharaoh’s magicians replicated some of Moses’ signs (turning rods into serpents, turning water into blood).  Matthew 24:24 – Jesus warns that false Christs and false prophets will show “great signs and wonders” to deceive, if...

Deuteronomy 12:  Proper Worship Of God Collin Leong. July 3rd, 2026  (v1-28)  The Lord’s Chosen Place of Worship (v1-3) "These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations who you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hill and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place." Exp:  Asherim is t he plural of Asherah . It can mean multiple poles, shrines, or sacred objects dedicated to her. They symbolized the goddess’s presence and were central to fertility worship , usually placed beside Baal altars.  Similar phrases from Moses had been said before will be repeated again in i...

Deuteronomy 11: Internalizing God’s Word Collin Leong. June 30, 2026 (v1-32) Love and Serve The LORD (v1-4) "You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have known or seen it), the discipline of the LORD, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, his signs and his deeds that He did in Egypt to Pharoah, and to all his land, and what he did to the army, to their horses and chariots, how He made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day," Exp: Moses reminds them of what happened in Exodus chapters 7-12, and 14 as evidence that their God is mighty and the miracles that He did in Egypt. (v5-7) "and what He did to your in the wilderness, until you came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth ...

Deuteronomy 10: Circumcise Your Heart Before God Collin Leong. June 29, 2026 (v1-11) New Tablets of Stone (v1-3) "At that time the LORD said to me: "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.' So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. " Exp: The instructions for making the ark of acacia wood to hold the testimony (the tablets), was given when Moses went up  in the Sinai mountain at the first time (Exodus 25:10-16). He was supposed to put the first tablets into the ark. But he broke it on the way down. So this time, God told him to make the ark before he goes up the second time (Exodus 34:1–4)  (v4-5) "And He wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the 10 commandments that the LO...

Deuteronomy 9:  Salvation and Blessing are by God’s Grace Collin Leong. June 27, 2026 (v1-12) Not Because of Righteousness (v1-3) "Hear, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?' Know therefore today that He who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD you God. Hi will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you." Exp: The word "today" in v1 does not necessarily mean literally that day. But in Hebrew usage, the phrase “today” (הַיּוֹם, hayom ) often carries a rhetorical or urgent sense rather than a strict calendar timestamp.  Moses said the battle will be led and won by God.  (v4-5) "Do not say in your heart, after the LO...