Deuteronomy Study Volume One: From the Most Remarkable Book of Deuteronomy 4-6: THE RULES FOR DETERMINACY and CONTINGENCY By J. Michael Strawn

Posted On February 3, 2020

Deuteronomy Study Volume One:

From the Most Remarkable Book of Deuteronomy 4-6:

THE RULES FOR DETERMINACY and CONTINGENCY

By J. Michael Strawn

FIRST: THE URGENT DISCOURSE ON CONTINGENCY. #1. The entire created cosmos is CONTINGENT (dependent) upon the REALITY OF GOD and THE POWER OF GOD. #2. This is stipulated by Genesis 1-3; echoed many times in the Bible; John 1:1-5 is exemplary. “All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being”, John 1:3. #3. ABSOLUTE DETERMINACY (the overarching power of God) is the single factor that makes all temporal realities CONTINGENT (dependent). #4.  This necessarily means that every human being who has ever existed in time and materiality or ever will exist in this dimension is equally CONTINGENT (dependent). #5. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah”, Deuteronomy 6:16. The same event was reiterated in Psalm 95:7-11; “When your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work”, v.9. The writer of the Book of Hebrews 3:7-11, reissued the same warning to believers in Christ. “…Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness”, v.7, 8. #6. The circumstances involved and from which these several warnings come were recorded in Exodus 17:1-7; at a place called “Rephidim”. The situation was tense, troubling and desperate. #7. “…there was no water for the people to drink”, v.1. #7. “Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water that we may drink’. And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me! Why do you test the Lord'”, v.2. #.8. The people of Israel made an expected and understandable human response to those historical conditions. “But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst'”, v.3. #9. The problem: The Israelites were reacting to the circumstances on the FOUNDATION OF THEIR OWN CONTINGENCE (their dependence upon nature).

SECOND: THE URGENT DISCOURSE ON CONTINGENCY. #1. The Almighty was displeased with the thought, speech and behavior of His newly freed people from slavery. He determined to rename the place where they showed such faithlessness “Massah” (testing)  and “Meribah” (to quarrel) signaling the significance of their error, Exodus 17:7. #2. Every person in the camp was CONTINGENT upon water and food. The Lord had put them in a compromising circumstance; it was purposeful. Their CONTINGENCY remained in place! #3. How then did the people “test” the Lord?  Answer: They had disregarded the DETERMINACY OF THE POWER OF GOD. Repeatedly those people had seen the DETERMINACY of the Lord over every temporal obstacle. But they did not trust in it! #4. Israel, in the desert, was always fixed upon their CONTINGENCE. That explains their behavior at the Red Sea, (Exodus 13, 14), certain of their demise. But they did not die. Identical behavior surfaced again at Kedesh-Barnea, (Numbers 13, 14); where they turned back on the day of battle! #5. Recorded evidence declares unequivocally that the desert generation habitually responded to personal circumstances upon the foundation of their natural limitations. In other words their CONTINGENCY. #6. THAT IS A VIOLATION OF THE TERMS OF BIBLICAL BELIEF. Throughout the REVEALED MANIFOLD (the Bible), the will of God, the word of God and the power of God were always DETERMINANT OVER HUMAN CONTINGENCE. #7. This is precisely how David defeated Goliath and put the Philistines to flight and defeat, 1 Samuel 17. David elevated the DETERMINACY OF GOD ABOVE HIS OWN PERSONAL CONTINGENCE. #8. Abrahamic Faith is predicated upon that same premise, Genesis 22. THIS IS THE TRUE and UNFAILING MARK OF BIBLICAL FAITH.

THIRD: THE URGENT DISCOURSE ON CONTINGENCY. #1. The universe and everything and everyone in it exists in THE STATE OF CONTINGENCY. One cannot live without food and water. One cannot live for long in very taxing historical conditions and or clinical conditions. #2. We have limitations, to exceed those material, physical limits usually sets the conditions for trouble, even death. We all know that that is the case. #3. Deuteronomy 4-6 and other references from the Bible teach us about BIBLICAL BELIEF and the change of PERSPECTIVE that it generates. Wherever BIBLICAL BELIEF is put into evidence in the Scripture, a persistent principle is exposed. #4. PEOPLE OF FUNCTIONAL BIBLICAL FAITH ALWAYS DEFY PERSONAL CONTINGENCY. That is what David did as he walked into the Valley of Elah to (1Samuel 17) to confront “Goliath, from Gath”, v4. David was outmatched in every category of combat by the giant. In other words David took courage, put all trust in God and determined, in his heart and mind TO DEFY HIS OWN CONTINGENCY. #5. The Israelites at “Rephidim” (Exodus 17; Psalm 95; Hebrews 3) were still saddled with PERSONAL CONTINGENCY. But at that moment and in that place, no attempt was made TO DEFY THEIR OWN PERSONAL CONTINGENCE. #6. They put the Almighty to the “test”. That should not have happened. So when faced with one’s CONTINGENCY (dependence) do we DEFY THAT CONTINGENCY OR EXERCISE BELIEF and TRUST IN THE REVEALED PROMISES OF GOD? #7. Throughout the Bible, the DEFIANCE OF HUMAN CONTINGENCY is presented as the extension of true belief. What was behind the surface action at Rephidim? #8. RATIONALISM, NATURALISM, EMPIRICISM, HUMAN LIVED EXPERIENCE, COMMON SENSE, all yield immediately to the reality of personal CONTINGENCY. And that precisely unfolded at that moment in time.

FOURTH: THE URGENT DISCOURSE ON CONTINGENCY. #1. Every example in the Bible demonstrates the same GENERALIZATION: HUMAN PERSONAL CONTINGENCY IS DISCONTINUOUS FROM OUTCOMES. #2. At Rephidim the entire collective was compromised by the historical conditions; no water, dehydration for men and beasts. CONTINGENCY was staring them in the face! This corresponds to the clinical experience where disturbing diagnoses are received. Frightening thoughts sweep in  at jet speed. The future, one is apt to think, is held hostage to personal CONTINGENCY. #3. Yet, biblical examples always demonstrate that PERSONAL CONTINGENCY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OUTCOMES. #4. Outcomes are DISCONTINUOUS FROM CONTINGENCY. How can this be believed and trusted in the temporal order? Answer: Because in the wake of full trust in God, the Almighty promises to exercise DETERMINACY OVER OUTCOMES. #5. David was still possessed and charged with HUMAN PERSONAL CONTINGENCY, 1 Samuel 17. On his own and in unaided combat Goliath held the leverage. #6. But David’s CONTINGENCY did not lead to the outcome. At Rephidim the Israelites, still CONTINGENT upon water and thirsty did not perish, nor did their animals. CONTINGENCY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OUTCOME. #7. “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel”, Exodus 17:6. #and. Our PERSONAL CONTINGENCY REMAINS, but our trust in all the exigencies of life is in the Lord and not in the PRACTICAL REALITY OF CONTINGENCY.

FIFTH: THE URGENT DISCOURSE ON CONTINGENCY. #1. Because the Israelites, at Rephidim put the Lord to the test, by supplanting the DETERMINACY OF GOD FOR PERSONAL CONTINGENCY, they displeased the Lord. They made a habit of this faithlessness. It surfaced again at Kedesh-Barnes after the 40 day reconnaissance mission of the 12 spies. The reaction of the majority at that time was purely founded on the conviction that PERSONAL CONTINGENCY INEXORABLY LEADS TO DEFEAT, DEATH and RUIN. #2. In consequence, the Israelites refused battle with the Canaanites. A last ditch appeal was put forward to the people. “Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them”, Numbers 14:9. #3. If the Lord “…is with us…, then that means that ABSOLUTE DETERMINACY REIGNS OVER STILL RESIDENT PERSONAL CONTINGENCY. Otherwise, the Israelites were correct in their assessment; it would have been impossible. #4. In the target biblical text of Deuteronomy 4-6, the Lord was preparing the nation for their possession of the land of promise. It was in that text that the Almighty, again, lays open THE RULES FOR DETERMINACY and HUMAN CONTINGENCY. #5. The passage makes it patently clear that the presence of Israel in the land, ever surrounded by mortal enemies, was their CONTINGENCE upon the God who brought them out of slavery. #6. “Now, O Lord, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your father’s, is giving you”, Deuteronomy 4:1.

SIXTH: THE URGENT DISCOURSE ON CONTINGENCY. #1. No hypothetical circumstance: A man suffers with a significant health event. In short sequence, one professional after another enters the man’s room and in one way or another reports that the patient’s PERSONAL CONTINGENCY keeps going up. Things are getting worse. #2. The principal understanding is that the man’s CONTINGENCY must inevitably lead to unwanted and disastrous outcomes. #3. “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you”, 4:1. #4. Moses stipulates a very counterintuitive idea for believers: PERSONAL CONTINGENCY DOES NOT DETERMINE OUTCOMES. And that regardless of historical conditions. #5. The Israelites were too few and too ill equipped to launch a determinant invasion of Canaan. It was beyond their reach and at Kadesh-Barnea, was beyond their expectations, Numbers 13, 14. #6. Hannah (1 Samuel 1) was barren and yet her PERSONAL CONTINGENCY was overruled by the DETERMINACY OF GOD. CONTINGENCY DOES NOT DETERMINE OUTCOMES. #7. David gives the same testimony, 1 Samuel 17; Psalm 23. Joseph (Genesis 30-50) spent several years in very distressing circumstances in Egypt, demonstrably enforcing his PERSONAL CONTINGENCY. Paul and Silas, arrested and jailed in Philippi (Acts 16), suffered their CONTINGENCY. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah suffered through their PERSONAL CONTINGENCY in Babylon, Daniel 1-3, 6. Lazarus grew more infirmed and then he died, John 11. #8. What shall one conclude except this: THE GOD OF DETERMINACY USES OUR PERSONAL CONTINGENCY FOR HIS OWN PURPOSES. #9. The Bible is replete with just such compelling examples of PERSONAL CONTINGENCY used by the Almighty as prelude to SUPERNATURAL REDEMPTION. #10. Biblical teaching is overwhelming; PERSONAL CONTINGENCY DOES NOT DETERMINE OUTCOMES. How magnificent is the Lord our God!

THE TEXT. PART 1: “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you”, 4:1. #2. Immediately Moses enunciated a significant truth regarding the conquest of the land of Canaan. The “statutes”, “judgments” had NO DIRECT military relation to the then CAMPAIGN OF VIOLENCE against the Canaanites. But they did  have the POWER TO PLEASE “…the God of your fathers”. #3. Moses instructed the people that there were SUPERNATURAL and SPIRITUAL PRE-CONDITIONS to the forthcoming series of battles called THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. To “…take possession of the land…” is CONTINGENT upon the power of God. #4. Moses pointedly taught the Israelites that THE PRE-CONDITIONS WERE SPIRITUAL and NOT MATERIAL, PHYSICAL NOR MILITARY. All of that is unquestionably COUNTERINTUITIVE. Battles are not fought on such IMMATERIAL GROUNDS. To think that they are is QUITE IRRATIONAL to some. The great leader, by his language, led the people beyond RATIONAL CONCERNS. Moses told the people that they must break through what we may call THE RATIONAL LIMIT. #5. The is so because the FOUNDATION UPON WHICH EVERYTHING DEPENDED WAS THE REVEALED RULES FOR UNDERSTANDING ABSOLUTE DETERMINACY and HUMAN CONTINGENCY. #6. Not to be missed is the QUALIFYING FACTOR OF HUMAN PERSONAL OBEDIENCE. The word of God must be “perform(ed)” in time (materiality reality), life, situation, circumstance, events and states of being. #7. The revealed truth, therefore, signals the reader about an UNEXPECTED DIMENSION. #8. OBEDIENCE TO THE “STATUTES” and “JUDGMENTS” CHANGES THE ENTIRE FABRIC OF ALL and THEREFORE OF EVERY PERSONAL SITUATION, CIRCUMSTANCE, EVENT and STATE OF BEING.

THE TEXT. PART 2: “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you”, 4:2. #3. Moses is insistent. The word of God is, at least, two things: IRREDUCIBLE (“not take away”) and NOT TO BE AUGMENTED (“not add to”). #4. The word of God is always FIXED BY GOD FOREVER. It is a PREDETERMINED LANGUAGE MANIFOLD and ABSOLUTE. #5. This means that OBEDIENCE is CONTINGENT (dependent) upon the UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE OF THE WORD OF GOD. And the word is PREDETERMINED and ABSOLUTE. #6. This is immediately instructive. The people of God, that is every individual, must consecrate themselves to the pursuit of revealed truth. There is a difference between pursuing truth and pursuing “community”. They are not the same. #7. “Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord God has destroyed them from among you”, (Numbers 25:1-9) 4:3. #8. The word of God is not subject to human rationalization. The word of God is never CONTINGENT UPON HUMAN INTELLIGENCE NOR ITS WISDOM. #9. The appearance of the word of God (revelation) generalizes to something about the relation of God–>to men. #10. God is DETERMINANT–>men are CONTINGENT; Eternity is DETERMINANT–>time is CONTINGENT; DETERMINACY OF THE POWER OF GOD–>addresses the CONTINGENCY of personal circumstance. #11. THE RULES OF DETERMINACY and CONTINGENCY FORM THE PRIME CONNECTIVE BETWEEN THE TWO WORLDS.

THE TEXT. PART 3: “But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you”, 4:4. #2. The Almighty had demonstrated in time and space that He had direct power over the life and death of every individual. Men are strictly CONTINGENT upon God and not just CONTINGENT upon material conditions. #3. THE ULTIMATE FACT IN THE COSMOS is not force, not man, not time, not history, not materiality; IT IS GOD. The word of God is THE HIGHEST FORM OF OBJECTIVITY available to mankind, in general. Believers are to take it that way! #4. This is so because the DETERMINANT LANGUAGE MANIFOLD comes from the Creator of all things who is outside of the natural system. Consequently, the word of God is IMMUTABLE from the Lord’s point of view. HUMANISM is effectively eliminated from consideration in any situation or circumstance! #5. Since the word of God is IMMUTABLE and DETERMINANT, then, it is A CLOSED SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION. As a SUPERNATURAL CLOSED SYSTEM, all worldly ideas are excluded! Revelation has no obligation to the world. #6. This being the case, then, what demands does this impose upon the understanding of Scripture.? #7. It means that THE REVEALED CLOSED SYSTEM OF MEANING–>CONDUCES TO REVEALED CLOSED SYSTEM OF REASONING; applying to all temporal cases, situations, circumstances, events and historical conditions. #8. INTERPRETATION makes the Scripture an OPEN SYSTEM. And that is what is wrong with it! This text teaches CLOSED SYSTEM COMPREHENSION, identified as GENERALIZATION.

THE TEXT. PART 4: The PRACTICE OF GENERALIZATION from Scripture–>to temporal existence must constitute CLOSED SYSTEM COMPREHENSION OF THE ETERNAL REALITY and OF THE TEMPORAL ORDER AS WELL. This was Moses’ point. #2. And that leads to a strategic recognition:  BIBLICAL BELIEF IS A CLOSED SYSTEM OF THOUGHT, SPEECH and BEHAVIOR. #3. If this is so, then, the universe of facts is treated as downstream from the invisible “Lord your God” and His “statutes” and “judgments”. All of the Canaanite military potential was to be considered as IRRELEVANT. #4. There is the issue of EPISTEMOLOGY here (ways of knowing). People living in the SEA OF HISTORICAL CONDITIONS, inherently accept a point of belief: THE MOST RELIABLE WAY OF KNOWING (epistemology) IS HUMAN LIVED PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. #5. Experience is not just a pursuit of preferred material circumstances; it is most especially an epistemology. Moses teaches us that REVELATION intervenes in the thought world of the believer and BREAKS THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF EXPERIENCE. #6. In order for the Israelites to conquer Canaan, OBEDIENCE to the word of God was all that was necessary! #7. The MEANING of this is startling! IF ONE TRUSTS IN THE WORD OF GOD, THERE IS NO DIRECT RELATION BETWEEN MATERIAL FACTS–>and OUTCOMES. #8. The preconditions for possessing the Promised Land were never material, physical nor temporal. THE PRECONDITIONS WERE SPIRITUAL and ONLY SPIRITUAL.#9. THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF EXPERIENCE, holding that material facts–>determine outcomes is the source of considerable and paralyzing fear, anxiety and faithlessness. #10. HUMAN LIVED EXPERIENCE ALWAYS OBSCURES THE GREATER REALITY. It reinforces the natural idea that our CONTINGENCY–>directly leads to material outcomes; while suppressing THE DETERMINACY OF GOD in our affairs. UNBELIEF.

THE TEXT. PART 5: “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it”, 4:5. #2. The individual Israelite was to be a carrier of and an executor of the word of God in the land of Promise. They were to pursue DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE LANGUAGE OF GOD. #3. “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people”, 4:6. #4. Here is the direct command to PUSH REVEALED IDEAS into circumstances and situations, all of which are RELATIVE to the word of God. That behavior conduces to the astonishing truth that the Land of Canaan was, therefore, relative to people of faith! #5. The only real environment with which we need to be concerned is the SPIRITUAL ENVIRONMENT. #6. The Lord’s purpose was for His people, in that pagan land, to ELEVATE SUPERNATURAL IDEAS and BEHAVIORS ABOVE  HUMAN CIVILIZATION. God was building A SUPERNATURAL HUMAN CIVILIZATION; backed by the word of God and the power of God. #7. “For what great nation is there that had a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him?”, 4:7. ISREAL WAS TO BE THE EMPIRE OF THE SPIRIT. #8. The “statutes”, “judgments”, “wisdom”, “understanding”, were all SUPERNATURAL ASSETS. This was the source of the real wealth and security  of the nation. #9. Israel, as a people, had a choice: Establish the foundation of the country upon their RELATION TO GOD or upon WORLD MAGNITUDES.  #10. The “statutes and judgments”, “the whole law”, were “righteous” (4:8); an other worldly, non-worldly phenomenon! #11. There was no indebtedness to human psychology, sociology, experience, human wisdom nor human perception.

THE TEXT. PART 6: Chapter 4:5-8 permit the reader to think in terms of PANELS OF INSTRUCTION. PANEL #1: MAN IS RELATIVE TO GOD; ALWAYS and ONLY, v5. PANEL #2: CIRCUMSTANCES and SITUATIONS ARE STRICTLY RELATIVE TO GOD, v.5. These first two panels establish the point at which THE PERSON MEETS THE CIRCUMSTANCE. To take the land and then remain in it, one must hold to this BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF REALITY. PANEL #3: THE CAUSAL ENVIRONMENT IS SPIRITUAL, NOT TEMPORAL, v.6. And thus the material, the natural are eclipsed. PANEL #4: GOD IS BUILDING A SUPERNATURAL CIVILIZATION OF MEN, v.7. This eternally conceived civilization will and must be built on SPIRITUAL MAGNITUDES and NOT WORLD MAGNITUDES. PANEL #5: THERE IS THE SUPERNATURAL PHENOMENON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, v.8. A rhetorical question is formulated. “Or what great nation is there that had statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today”, v.8. The supernatural phenomenon of righteousness has no debt to psychology, sociology, human wisdom nor to human perception. Righteousness is the stipulated relation of God to those of belief and trust in Him. Subsequent generations are to be taught these PANELS OF TRUTH and they are to execute them in all historical conditions.  SUPERNATURAL REALITY IS ABSOLUTE; TEMPORAL REALITY IS RELATIVE TO IT.

THE TEXT. PART 7: “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons”, 4:9. #2. THE REVEALED PRECONDITIONS FOR THE CONQUEST and FOR STAYING IN THE LAND were to be perpetuated in time across all succeeding generations. #3. The priority is THE CONDITION OF SOUL; requiring a CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF VULNERABILITY. #4. Hence, the word of God establishes priorities, levels of importance, for men in time and materiality. Awareness of the importance of relation to God is THE PRECONDITION for life in the land of promise. #5. Inexorably (impossible to stop) this leads to the factor of THRESHOLDS. And the CAUSAL THRESHOLDS ARE SPIRITUAL, ABSOLUTE and LINGUISTIC. #6. In the land of Canaan, one must choose daily on which side of THE SPIRITUAL THRESHOLD one will stand. In consequence, THE SPIRITUAL THRESHOLDS must be guarded, maintained, respected and appreciated. The reason: SPIRITUAL THRESHOLDS do not permit the AMALGAMATION WITH PAGAN IDEAS; which always convey false thought, speech and behavior. #7. FALSE CONTINUITIES are to be broken. The “sons” and “grandsons”, that is, GENERATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, is to be by priority, spiritual. #8. This means that every believer is to be A WALKING THRESHOLD OF REVEALED TRUTH in any situation, circumstance, event and or state of being. And this regardless of historical positionality!

THE TEXT. PART 8: “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children”, 4:10. #2. There are PRECONDITIONS FOR OBEDIENCE. The people of God must take hold of all that they learned from the Almighty. A conceivable time can come when the CONTINUITY OF OBEDIENCE would lapse into the mist of the past. Israel would fail in their calling. #3. Without careful attention they would forget the terms of the word of God; living as if the revelation never existed! THE RETURN TO PAGANISM. #4. “The Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice”, 4:12. #5. Although the “the mountain burned with fire” and there was “darkness, cloud and thick gloom” (v.11), “no form” was demonstrated. The people of God had been confronted by CATEGORICAL INVISIBILITY. #6. Implied in that DIVINE PRESENTATION is that CATEGORICAL INVISIBILITY is impenetrable by men in the temporal circumstance. Therefore, the only reliable EPISTEMOLOGY (way of knowing) IS REVELATION. #7. There, then, is the foundation for “perform(ance)” (v.14) in the land of Canaan. The Lord is THE PRECONDITION for revelation and the word of God is THE PRECONDITION for obedience which is our response to the material temporal universe. #8. That SPIRITUAL CONTINUUM is causal upon time and the material. #9. The REVEALED EPISTEMOLOGY is the PRECONDITION for THE ONLY TRUE COSMOLOGY ( the way the universe is). #10. Under those terms God holds ABSOLUTE DETERMINACY and Everything else amounts SURFACE CONDITIONS.

THE TEXT. PART 9: Deuteronomy 4:9-14 describes THE SUPERNATURAL COSMOLOGY bearing down on every particle of the universe, on every individual and his/her performance in time, on all the contrary ideas of men. Each of us is subject to this INVISIBLE YET QUITE REAL REVEALED COSMOLOGY. #2. It is this COSMOLOGY that puts the SPIRITUAL THRESHOLDS in place. Beyond all of that, THE SUPERNATURAL REVEALED COSMOLOGY is always putting pressure upon believers in time and materiality. #3. These SPIRITUAL REALITIES situate believers in every condition,situation, circumstance and state of being. #4. TRUE COSMOLOGY coordinates our thinking about the universe and all historical conditions with which we must contend. #5. The miracles, to which Moses refers in Deuteronomy, the Red Sea, the trek through Sinai, the TEN COMMANDMENTS, were intended to PROJECT THE TRUE COSMOLOGY. #6. “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is the TEN COMMANDMENTS, 4:13. #7. It is not enough to think doctrinally, factually; believers must THINK COSMOLOGICALLY. We may call this COSMOLOGICAL REASONING. This form of reasoning is independent from the universe of facts. #8. Accordingly, generalization from the word of God transcends human opinion, tradition, human wisdom, the personal past and education. Children must be taught such COSMOLOGICAL THINKING.

THE TEXT. PART 10: “So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female”, 4:15, 16. #2. Israel in the land of Canaan was expected to and compelled to function on the foundation of revelation and not speculation. This commandment forbade establishing any governing icon. No image is competent to capture the REALITY OF GOD. #3. Moses insists that only the REVEALED LANGUAGE MANIFOLD is competent to stabilize and hold the will of God. MEANING is the product of the word of God. #4. IDOLATRY
is the RATIONALIZATION OF THE IDEA OF GOD. Wherein men map subjective ideas on to a chosen image purporting to represent the invisible causation. #5. Deuteronomy, on the other hand, teaches a truth that is still considered, by many, to be unacceptably radical. Which is this: THE REVEALED LANGUAGE MANIFOLD OF GOD and ITS MEANING IS TO BE MAPPED ON TO THE OBJECTIVE WORLD. #6. IDOLATRY is the attempt to take over and subvert the REVEALED COSMOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. #7. “And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven”, 4:19. #8. SPIRITUAL SUBVERSION IS THE ISSUE. It is the centrality of HUMANISM that inevitably subverts spiritual states of being. #9. The people of Israel were instructed by Moses as is the contemporary church as well, to adhere to their literal state of being before the Almighty.

THE TEXT. PART 11: “Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance”, 4:21. #2. Under the terms of THE BIBLICAL COSMOLOGY THE ANGER OF GOD IS A FUNCTIONING FACTOR IN TIME, HISTORY and MATERIALITY. #3. The fear of God—>is relative to THE ANGER OF GOD. The true and actual existential threat in the world is THE ANGER OF GOD, not the world of enemies. #4. Anybody, everybody is open to and subject to this ABSOLUTE THREAT. “But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession”, 4:20. #5. PHARAOH of Egypt did not understand THE DETERMINACY OF GOD nor did he grasp THE CONTINGENCY of the “iron furnace”. THE DETERMINACY OF GOD, often expresses itself in THE ANGER OF GOD. #6. Moses admonishes believers in God and His word, regardless of circumstance, to relativize thought, speech and behavior to THE ANGER OF GOD. No one is immune, not even Moses, 4:22.  #7. The “iron furnace(s)” that we experience in this world are, by comparison, relative to THE ABSOLUTE DETERMINACY OF GOD. “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire”, 4:24. #8. The Almighty has THE POWERS OF LIQUIDATION.

THE TEXT. PART 12: Trust in God is PURE RELATIVIZATION. Material reality is fundamentally relative to Eternal Reality. This kind of RELATIVIZATION is much more than an observation; it is an act of the will. #2. The miracles of God, like those attested to in Deuteronomy, are proof of this generalization. #3. The generalization of the practice of RELATIVIZATION is just that; it is NOT THEORY. Generalization from the word of God to temporal experience governs the appearance of REVEALED MEANING in the temporal order of things. #4. Trust in God means the practice of the full RELATIVIZATION of all things temporal, human, material, natural. #5. What, then, is it that Moses wants the people of Israel to grasp about the IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD? In other words, there are PRIMARY CAUSAL PROPOSITIONS, like “TRUST IN GOD”; “ALL THINGS YIELD TO THE DETERMINACY OF GOD”. #6. And then, there are DEPENDENT PROPOSITIONS. Like “THE RED SEA IS AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION”; “SINAI IS THE ANVIL UPON WHICH WE SHALL BE TESTED”; “THE IRON FURNACE IS BEYOND OUR CONTROL”. #7. Such propositions are CONTINGENT upon the extension of PRIMARY CAUSAL PROPOSITIONS IN TIME and MATERIALITY. #8. The word of God mediated through Moses is the instrument to teach us that all BIBLICAL PROPOSITIONS must be understood as PRIMARY CAUSAL PROPOSITIONS. In consequence, it follows, that they directly affect CONTINGENT PROPOSITIONS. #9. Moses warns that any inversions of these two kinds of propositions terminates in disaster! #10. It is common practice among many of the people of God to invert the relation of these two kinds of propositions. CONTINGENT PROPOSITIONS overrule THE PRIMARY. And that inversion becomes THE READING OF THE BIBLE.

PART 13: THE BEGINNING OF DIMINISHMENT: PRELUDE TO CATASTROPHE—>PRELUDE TO DESTRUCTION. “When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger…”, 4:25. #2. Do this and WATCH OUT! The ANGER OF GOD once activated signals the Lord’s response to the downward direction of and collapse of godly culture. #3. The promise from THE DETERMINANT GOD is this: “…you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed”, 4:26. #4. The warning is do not forget, ever, that you are CONTINGENT before God. Never dismiss from your minds that THE DETERMINACY OF GOD can support and protect and provide for you, or that it can be turned against you! #5. No individual Israelite was to forget nor rationalize away the SUPERNATURAL PRECONDITIONS for being in and remaining in the land of Canaan! #6. THE DETERMINACY OF GOD would give Israel the land and it could take it from them under certain conditions. #7. ABSOLUTE CATASTROPHE is always possible and it can loiter over the well-being of Israel if the people defect from THE RULES FOR DETERMINACY and CONTINGENCY. #8. But, in any case, their future would be SUPERNATURALLY fixed and or truncated. “The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you”, 4:27. #9. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE IN THOSE DAYS AS IT IS IN THESE DAYS TO ESCAPE THE RULES OF DETERMINACY and CONTINGENCY.

THE TEXT. PART 14: “There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell”, 4:28. #2. To believe that there exists any clear distinction between men and idols is to indulge in a FALSE DISCONTINUITY. For there is NO DISCONTINUITY between man the inventor of the idol and the idol itself. They are, in fact, one piece. #3. Moses intends to say that the Israelites will risk being abandoned by God. And that in a very dangerous world. #4. Every Israelite has the responsibility to maintain the predetermined relation to the Almighty. This is to be done in the lee of the word of God, which teaches that this IMMATERIAL FACTOR IS ALL TOGETHER DETERMINANT. #5.  The immaterial, that is to say, the spiritual is advanced above and beyond all things temporal; albeit hard for people to believe. #6. This teaching affects the THEORY OF SIN. Sin interrupts the relation between God and men in time. A  disastrous state of affairs. #7. The people of God cannot afford such an interruption in the relation to THE GOD OF DETERMINACY. #8. Just there, is the beginning of DIMINISHMENT. Rationalism holds that material conditions determine outcomes. According to this text, that is a FALSE CONTINUITY. #9. Moses calls for a REVISED RATIONALITY. A way of reasoning revised by revelation, the fear of God, trust in God and obedience. #10. Rationalism is a way of reasoning contested by THE RULES FOR DETERMINACY and CONTINGENCY.

THE TEXT. PART 15: This text appeals to the people of God to never allow for the apostasy that Moses saw materializing over time. “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul”, 4:29. #2. The way back to God, inexorably, demands A SPIRITUAL REVISED RATIONALITY. This pursuit is a full venture of the “heart” and “soul”. The core of the individual must be committed. #3. Apostasy of this category could have been avoided if the fathers had taught their “children and children’s children” (4:25) in regard to what could have been, should have been, their INHERITED AGENDA. #4. Deuteronomy requires a SPIRITUAL REVISED RATIONALITY to be constantly in development. Spiritual PROTECTION OF THE INNER MAN IS THE PRIORITY and THAT WOULD AFFECT THE OUTER MAN. #5. “When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice”, 4:30. #6. Israel, because they departed from THE RULES OF DETERMINACY and CONTINGENCY, were to suffer A CIVILIZATIONAL COLLAPSE. Many THEORIES OF SUCH SOCIAL COLLAPSE have been put forward by historians, but none addresses this catastrophe as does DEUTERONOMY. #7. Its truth is unsurpassed: VIOLATE THE LAWS OF GOD and THE ALMIGHTY WILL FORCE DETERMINACY UPON YOU. #8. The practice of DIMINISHING GOD leads to SUPERNATURAL DIMINISHMENT OF THE NATION.

PART 16: In this world, all of us are awash in two irretrievable factors. The most important of which is the DETERMINACY OF GOD and subsequently HUMAN PERSONAL CONTINGENCY. “When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice”, 4:30. #2. The preconditions for life on earth are all spiritual and not physical, material nor tangible. Moses makes it clear that defection from the words of God is the harbinger for exacerbated difficulties in survival; a low common denominator of existence. #3. However, human existence is not CONTINGENT merely upon man’s control of nature but upon the will of God. #4. Israel would, eventually, turn away from THE REVEALED PRECONDITIONS for their wellbeing. The people thought  to “progress” beyond a REVEALED SPIRITUALITY. #5. Subsequent generations, not having been thoroughly grounded in THE DETERMINACY OF GOD, would be unable to capture any PRACTICAL VALUE in their religion. Apparently, to them, SPIRITUAL REALITY made no significant contribution to the state of being of Israel. #6. Alternatives were substituted for REVELATION. MATERIALISM, NATURALISM, BIOLOGISM, RATIONALISM would leverage the word of God. #7. Trust in the Almighty would inevitably be surrendered to a DESTRUCTIVE HUMANISM. #8. A worldly term, “METANARRATIVE” (a singular authoritative way of understanding), is simply a personal prejudice and without “truth”. #9. But Moses reports that there is a REVEALED METANARRATIVE. Disregarding it is lethal! Deuteronomy 4-6 tells us that HUMANISM is an insufficient base for understanding the personal and collective circumstance. #9. And there is a way back. “For the Lord your God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them”, 4:31.

THE TEXT. PART 17: This world is a setting wherein two kinds of facts are in a state of contention. There are the material facts of temporal existence. The hard material things of this created order; and those,  contested by SPIRITUAL REALITY that must be treated as facts themselves. #2. “Indeed ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?, 4:32. #3. What, then is this “Great thing”? IT IS THE SEPARATION FROM EGYPT OF THE ISRAELITES BY FORCE. THE DETERMINACY OF GOD always overlords the CONTINGENT WORLD OF MATERIAL FACTS. “Or has a god tried to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”, 4;34. #4. This SEPARATION BY FORCE is documented proof of the SUPREMACY OF THE DETERMINACY OF GOD IN HISTORY. The power of God was in contact with temporal magnitudes (one set of facts) and  that encounter had only one inevitable outcome! #5. THE DETERMINACY OF GOD (another set of facts) was irresistible by the Egyptians and specific geographic obstacles. This means that history is passive, inert before the Almighty. #6. The issue at point here is POWER. Up to that time there had been NO HISTORICAL PRECEDENT of such DETERMINANT ACTIONS, v.32. Therefore, history is passive. The SEPARATION FROM EGYPT BY SUPERNATURAL FORCE was by eternal purpose, eternal design and by SUPERNATURAL VIOLENCE against the Egyptians. Meaning: The human generated history of the Egyptian Empire was always subject to the purpose of and the power of God.

PART 18: “To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him”, 4:35. #2. THE EGYPTIAN CATASTROPHE was an example and only an example of the reach of ABSOLUTE DYNAMICS. God had the power to generate a very SPECIFIC HISTORY. #3. ABSOLUTE RULES (which are immaterial) dictate RESULTANT OUTCOMES; and that, in any category of distress. #4. HISTORICISM (the idea that time has its own laws) is a complete human fabrication. The writer Virginia Woolf once said, ‘People are the product of historical conditions’. #5. “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?”, 4:33. #6. The “voice of God” breaks into time, life, nature and history; Moses’ point. What a concept for those of us living today! The word of God is PRE-HISTORY. Not just reflected in history, but is PRE-HISTORY. Everything and everyone in the TIME CONTINUUM is strictly CONTINGENT upon THE DETERMINACY OF GOD. #7. The ensuing history of Israel in Canaan had to be understood in the light of this fact. It cannot be rescinded by human doubt nor recalcitrance.

THE TEXT. PART 19: “trials”, “signs”, “wonders”, “war”, a “mighty hand”, an “outstretched arm”, “great terrors” 4:34), are ABSOLUTE DYNAMICS. The word of God generated A HISTORY OF SEPARATION. The Pharaoh of Egypt was recalcitrant in the appearance of THE DETERMINACY OF GOD. His terms for acceptable history were at odds with those of the Almighty. #2. “Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire”, 4:36. #3. The Israelites were to GENERALIZE from all of that, that God is the only God and there is no other. A singular mind is the DETERMINANT FORCE behind temporal events. #4. THE VOICE OF GOD PRECEDES HISTORY. Revelation precedes time. ABSOLUTE ABSTRACTIONS precede personal behavior. They must of necessity (it can be no other way) precede nature. #5. Deuteronomy insists that the word of God precedes the universe. A conclusory generalization: Believers, in every time reference, must turn history, personal and collective, over to THE ABSOLUTE DYNAMICS. #6. THE COROLLARY: We are to turn personal circumstances, situations, events, historical conditions and states of being over to THE DETERMINACY OF ABSOLUTE DYNAMICS. #7. Belief in the REVEALED PROPOSITIONS IS THE PRECONDITION FOR DELIVERANCE, REDEMPTION and SALVATION. #8. One’s personal experience on the earth is all that we have to offer to “THE LORD OUR GOD”. Nothing else is an acceptable sacrifice!

PART 20: “driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today”, 4:38. #2. THE DETERMINACY OF GOD (ABSOLUTE DYNAMICS) overruled the superiority of “greater and mightier nations”. Those enemy nations ran into ABSOLUTE DYNAMICS and were done for. #3. The RULE: THE DETERMINACY OF GOD TRUMPS ALL HISTORICAL CONDITIONS. Faith and belief are to be consciously linked to these ABSOLUTE PROPOSITIONS that Moses delivered. #4. “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other”, 4:39. #5. God—>and causation are inextricably linked in this text. The source of causation is not temporal nor material; it is spiritual. In other words the immaterial spirit exercises complete DETERMINACY over time and materiality. #6. The Israelites were to “take it to your heart”; they were to believe it. And such belief requires a corresponding compliance of thought, speech and behavior. #7. “So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time”, 4:40. #8. The word of God and obedience to it are the preconditions—>for resultant temporal consequences! #9. THIS IS THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF HISTORICAL DISPLACEMENT. Deuteronomy is about ABSOLUTE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. #10. Israel had to know their true case before THE DETERMINACY OF GOD, in order to take the land and stay in possession of it!

THE TEXT. PART 21: “Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east”…”Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau…Ramoth in Gilead…Golan In Bashan…”, 4:41, 43. #2. The purpose of those cities of refuge was to protect certain persons from THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN VAGARY (unexpected, sudden change in personal behavior). #3. “that a manslayer  might flee there, who unintentionally slew his neighbor without having enmity toward him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live”, 4:42. #4. In reference here is the BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE OF MAN. Men are spiritually fallen. Men are often possessed of inordinate passion, emotion, anger, hatred, vengeance, in other words, sin. #5. Should a death occur by accident, involving a second party, then the second party was advised to flee to the cities of protection. The availability of refuge, enforced by the word of God, SUPPRESSED THE DANGERS OF HUMAN VAGARY. #6. Animosities generated could provide a convenient opportunity for revenge upon the slayer. #7. The LAWS OF GOD function in two ways. The Law (revelation) DETERMINES PERSONAL GUILT and yet it also DETERMINES INNOCENCE. #8. The cities of refuge provided life for the “manslayer” and they served as a symbol of the PREFERRED STATUS BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY: PERSONAL INNOCENCE. #9. Human passions generated by the flesh stand as ever present enemies of PERSONAL INNOCENCE. In the throes of anger, malice, desire, INNOCENCE can run a good second. #10. Generalization: IN ALL CONDITIONS, CIRCUMSTANCES, EVENTS and STATES OF BEING, THE PRESERVATION OF PERSONAL INNOCENCE IS THE OPTIMAL PRIORITY.

THE TEXT. PART 22: “Now this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel; these are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out from Egypt”, 4:44, 45. #2. SETTING THE LAW before the congregation of Israel was the equivalent of stipulating that the people of God and their wellbeing was not founded upon NATURE, MATERIALITY NOR HUMAN WISDOM. The true FOUNDATION was God, His will, His word, His power. #3. In other words, THE PRECONDITIONS for Israel were always and only SPIRITUAL. There was no natural reason for the people of Israel to exist in the first place, Genesis 12. #4. The force of SPIRITUAL PRECONDITIONS is THE CONSTANT in the universe. It mattered not if the surrounding nations did not concur; they would fall subject to this constant. #5. “across the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites…Israel defeated…They took possession of…Bashan…from Aroer…with all the Arabah…”,4:46-49. SPIRITUAL PRECONDITIONS were the only explanation for these serial victories. #6. The trans-Jordan had been overwhelmed by A WAVE OF ABSOLUTE POWER. Those people had been swept away by SPIRITUAL PRECONDITIONS. #7. Moses used language to generate mental BATTLE MAPS. Peculiar to these battle maps is that their ORIENTATION was from Israel outward. Israel was the POINT OF ORIENTATION. Israel was the instrument of the ONLY GOD. Ultimately, the true POINT OF ORIENTATION IS GOD. #8. In these Mosaic words and on the plains of Moab we hear A RECITAL OF THE RULES OF SUPERNATURAL DETERMINACY and TEMPORAL CONTINGENCY. #9. These are the rules by which we must all live.

THE TEXT. PART 23: “Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully”, 5:1. #2. In effect, Deuteronomy proclaims an inarguable truth. THERE IS A SPIRITUAL RIVER OF RULES FLOWING INTO TIME, SITUATION, CIRCUMSTANCE and STATES OF BEING. #3. What then,  is the importance of these RULES? Answer: If those RULES are “learn(ed)” and “observ(ed)” they will produce stipulated biblical outcomes! This would constitute a PLENARY (complete) CLOSED SYSTEM. Nothing gets in to that system to disturb it. “Learn(ing) and “care(ful(ly) “observ(ance)” effectively CLOSE THE SYSTEM to outside influences. #4. THE SUPERNATURAL RIVER OF RULES is not in contradiction to the grace of God; but, is in the service of such grace and is its extension into time and materiality. #5. The Jews, over time, reclassified the word of God from being DETERMINANT PRECONDITIONS—>into a  meaningless and legalistic abstract system. #6. These RULES OF DETERMINACY exert a demand upon personal reasoning. In the universe,  ORDER revolves around the ARRANGEMENT between ANTECEDENTS—>and SUBSEQUENTS. This ARRANGEMENT describes the relation of God—>to time. #7. Men are always in the subsequent positionality. Israel was to learn and carefully observe “the statutes and the ordinances”. The antecedent to every circumstance is God and the word of God. The subsequent is personal obedience to RULES OF DETERMINACY. #8. Israel, as are we, was in the ONLY POSSIBLE HUMAN RELATION TO GOD: COMPLETE CONTINGENCY UPON THE ALMIGHTY.

THE TEXT. PART 24: “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb”, 4:2. #2. Revelation, the word of God, the Bible constitute THE GRAMMATICAL ORDINANCE OF THE UNIVERSE. Here are THE RULES FOR THOUGHT, SPEECH and BEHAVIOR in time, history and materiality. #3. Correspondingly, then, these RULES override the dictates of human reason, human wisdom, experience and personal fears. #4. Necessarily, therefore, HUMAN COGNITION (how to acquire knowledge and to consciously shape language) is not a free range chicken! Reasoning is not independent of the revealed “statutes and ordinances”. #5. BIBLICAL REASONING sets apart Israel from the rest of mankind. No one thinks within this REVEALED REGIME OF COGNITION unless he/she has been taught by God! #6. Israel, at that point, on the plains of Moab and all true persons of belief today have minds governed by THE SUPERNATURAL GRAMMATICAL ORDINANCE. This puts them at variance with the rest of the political, cultural, sociological and psychological world! #7. The children of Israel were to grow up within the REVEALED COGNITIVE REGIME; a way of thinking the world considers to be alien to nature and to human reason. That was to be even more important than their material heritage. #8. Living by faith in God and in the word of God is, indeed, an alien form of reasoning and behavior. For it, assuredly, is not of this world! #9. However, if one “learns” and “carefully observes” “the statutes and ordinances”, then an IRREVOCABLE CAUSE—>TO EFFECT TAKES HOLD. #10. The word of God is causal—>with human understanding as effect!

PART 25: THE SUPERNATURAL  GRAMMATICAL ORDINANCE WAS PUSHED INTO TIME and MATERIALITY. #2. “The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire”, 5:4. #3. An ADVENT(an arrival) had been arranged between the Almighty and the congregation of Israel. From the MOMENT OF THE ADVENT OF THE LAW OF ABSOLUTE DETERMINACY and TEMPORAL CONTINGENCY, what one previously thought was irrelevant. No one could go on as they had done, before the ADVENT. #4. The people of God would have had to learn and observe THE SUPERNATURAL GRAMMATICAL ORDINANCE in order to displace OTHER HUMAN STRUCTURES OF UNDERSTANDING. #5. THE SUPERNATURAL GRAMMATICAL ORDINANCE encloses the mind, the body, the soul and the temporal setting of the believer. It was all-inclusive. On the plains of Moab and “from the midst of the fire” the word of God was declared into the temporal order. #6. The ADVENT of the word of God, on that day, had a formidable PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT: FEAR. The voice of God projected from the fire represented the consuming power of the Almighty! And it was a big fire. #7. “while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,”, 5:5. #8. Moses was the mediator not the author. Mediation does not, cannot change the authority, the power, nor the demands of the word of God. #9. The people of Israel were not looking for meaning. Meaning had overtaken them and “at that time”. #10. THE MOUNTAIN OF THE TALKING FIRE must have been a sensorial overload! The God of the Bible is a “consuming fire”, Hebrews 12:25-29. He is the frontier of His people, their protector, their judge and provider. #11. The impression was made. HE IS INHERENTLY DANGEROUS.

PART 26: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me”, 5:6, 7. #2. The SINGLE CAUSATION of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt was invisible. This commandment requires a CORRELATIVE COMPREHENSION OF REALITY. #3. The meaning of reality stretches the meaning of language use. In other words, TRUE REALITY PROVIDES A GOVERNING GRAMMAR (RULES) FOR THOUGHT, SPEECH and BEHAVIOR. #4. Language use itself shall not be allowed to determine what reality is or is not. That is the substance of the command. #5. Moses enjoins upon the Israelites this very demanding ordinance. Nothing empiric, tangible, measurable nor commensurable fomented the escape from slavery. It was God alone. #6. The imagination of darkened minds would, in the future, conceive of “other gods” as causal of Israel’s freedom. In order to control the  unruly nature of the human mind the Almighty put an irrevocable commandment: THIS LAW REGARDING THE USE OF LANGUAGE. #7. The language of this ordinance forced its grammar (its rules) on to the language of generations of Israelites. Thereby the Law would corroborate or correct the thought content of the Israelite mind! Certainly this was a CONSTANT, linking one generation to the next. #8. Implicit in this LAW is the understanding that OUR LANGUAGE USE IS NECESSITATED (under spiritual pressure). #9. Our use of language must catch up to ETERNAL REALITY. We dare not lag behind. The faithlessness of future generations would be an exemplification of not bringing human representational capacity up to the standard of God; the sole source of DETERMINACY.

THE TEXT. PART 27. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth”, 5:8. #2. Idolatry is a human convention that pursues
a collective consensus. It is the overt attempt at developing OVER-DETERMINACY. This is the idea of multiple causations in the universe. #3. Moses strictly enjoined upon the Israelites the truth of A SINGULAR CAUSATION FOR ALL THINGS TEMPORAL. This commandment overrules the mythology of multiple causation. #4. This PROBLEM OF OVER-DETERMINACY had a firm grip upon the Israelites’ reasoning from before the start of the Exodus. Belief in multiple causation explains their behavior at the Red Sea, in Sinai and at Rephidim (Exodus 17). OVER-DETERMINACY clarifies their refusal of battle after the 40 day reconnaissance of Canaan (Numbers 14). #5. To them, God was not THE SINGULAR CAUSATION OF ALL THINGS. No. There were other causations. Natural, social, military, political, experiential, etc. #6. OVER-DETERMINACY IS A FORM OF IDOLATRY. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I the Lord, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me”, 5:9. #7. Moses warns the people away from the IDOLATRY OF OVER-DETERMINACY. The SINGULAR CAUSATION, will under idolatrous practices exert penalties. #8. OVER-DETERMINACY is firmly embedded in the contemporary churches. SINGULAR CAUSATION is a thing of the past, it is believed. Today one must be realistic, pragmatic, must rely on common sense. All rationalistic terms rooted in the IDOLATRY OF OVER-DETERMINACY. #9. But the Lord favors those who trust in GOD, THE SINGULAR CAUSATION. “but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments”, 5:10.

THE TEXT. PART 28: The great leader of God’s people is unyielding in his insistence on obedience to word of God as the expression of the DETERMINACY OF THE ALMIGHTY. #2. There must be no attempt to set up, inaugurate, establish a rival SYMBOLIC SYSTEM to the revelation of God. SYMBOLS ARE THE ONLY MECHANISM BY WHICH MEANING CAN BE UNDERSTOOD and CONVEYED. #3. If God is greater than His word, then, He is certainly greater than what men can think. Any RIVAL IDOLATROUS SYMBOLIC SYSTEM will deny SINGULAR CAUSATION and will inherently propose, if not proclaim a DOCTRINE OF OVER-DETERMINACY. #4. Human generated symbolism cannot capture the truth, the essence nor the reality of “the Lord God”, 5:9. #5. Unless God reveals HIMSELF, no knowledge of Him can be had. Deuteronomy stipulates that human speculation cannot ever lead to the truth of God. This means that any reasoning not found to be resting upon the word of God is misleading. #6. The NATURE OF GOD IS BEYOND time, space, circumstance, human conception and human estimation. #7. Israel provides an example of how it is that men typically come to prefer trust in multiple causation rather the trust in God, THE SINGULAR CAUSATION. #8. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO UNIQUELY TRUST IN THE LORD WHILE IN THE GRIP OF OVER-DETERMINACY.

PART 29: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain”, 5:11. #2. The “name” of God signals a presence; THE PRESENCE. Formative, determinant, active and here. #3. PROPER REVEALED USE of the name of God implies RULES FOR BIBLICAL SYMBOLISM in general. BIBLICAL SYMBOLISM is the chosen mediation between God and men in time. Such symbolism must be respected and more than that. Its integrity must be protected! Misuse of the name or of any other symbol deletes its significance. And that is not permitted! #4. Taking the name of the Lord in vain, is to break the established connection, unity or index between SPIRITUAL REALITY—>and the symbol. That is a sin and punishable in time and in eternity. #5. BIBLICAL REVEALED SYMBOLISM holds the power of presenting, to men in time, the HIERARCHY OF REALITY. A hierarchy running from the DETERMINACY OF GOD—>to the contingency of people and things in time. #6. This is precisely how we comprehend ourselves in the presence of God. This HIERARCHY OR PYRAMID OF REALITIES is our way out the common or mundane and into the knowledge of the eternal kingdom. #7. Because of this,  no one should dare or presume to break the meaning and holiness of the relation between God—>and the revealed symbols, just like the “name” of the Lord. #8. Every believer is obliged to defend the name of God. One does this out of the sense of reverence for the actuality behind the name and out of fear of His dismissal!

PART 30: “Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you”, 5:12. #2. Time is not homogeneous. There are discrete particles of time. And these reserved for special meaning. Time becomes the manifestation of the will of God. #3. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God…”, 5:13, 14. Part of time is devoted to temporal affairs and there is another part consecrated to the FUNCTION OF MEMORIAL. These particles of chronology are distinct but connected. #4. “…in it you shall not do any work…”, 5:14. It was a day of rest. Dedicated to memorializing THE DAY OF DETERMINACY, when Israel went free from slavery, 5:15. #5. The CREATION SEQUENCE, as well, was memorialized by the sabbath. A moment in chronology wherein the DETERMINACY OF GOD and THE CONTINGENCY OF THE TEMPORAL WORLD WAS REFLECTED, Exodus 20:8-11. #6. The big message is that chronology is relative to God, THE SINGULAR CAUSATION of all things. Time, the phenomenon and chronology (the order of occurrence) confirm that there is a SPIRITUAL CONTINUUM running from the eternal determinant—>to the temporal contingent. #7. Chronology is contexted by a greater reality. It is a vehicle for supernatural purpose. #8. The sabbath is a SUPERNATURAL ARRANGEMENT OF CHRONOLOGY. Every seven days, believers practice the conscious act of remembering, contemplating, considering the supreme causality behind the universe and history. #9. In essence, “the sabbath” is an honoring of THE MIRACULOUS POWER OF CREATION and REDEMPTION.

PART 31: “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you”, 5:16. #2. Everything temporal has an ORIGIN. The relation between one and his/her parents is founded upon (1)the ordinance of the Almighty and (2)reflection upon PERSONAL ORIGIN. #3. The ORIGIN OF ALL THINGS IS GOD (ABSOLUTE CAUSATION). Parents represent the POWER OF DETERMINACY which GIVES the miracle of being; as in the phrase, “…the land which the Lord your God gives you”. #4. Honoring “…father…and your mother…” is identical to recognizing PREVIOUS DETERMINACY. Being given an ORIGIN implies the CONTINGENCY of that which is an effect. #5. The family was intended, by the Almighty, to be a COSMOLOGY (a picture of how the universe is). Children defer to and honor father and mother as their LOCUS OF ORIGIN. #6. As this stabilized belief is practiced by the family so develops, then, the stability of the nation. The family represents a CONTINUUM OF DETERMINACY. All things begin with ABSOLUTE DETERMINACY—>making the universe—>and children contingent, being downstream from God. #7. Proper response to this SUPERNATURAL ARRANGEMENT is respect and honor for all previous causation. No child is self-explanatory; nor is the universe; nor is the Israelite possession of the land of Canaan. Self-explanation (evolution)is a meaningless term in a world governed by PRECEDING DETERMINACY—>andSUCCEEDING CONTINGENCY. #8. Our personal contingency and submission to its significance has specific temporal consequences. #9. “…that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you”. #10. We are ever in the CONTINUUM OF DETERMINACY and forever dependent upon His benevolence!

PART 32: “You shall not murder”, 5:17. #2. The commands of the Lord God are absolute. These ordinances are not subject to human rationalization. The words of God do not hold that possibility. There were no exceptions to the voice of Jehovah! #3. How is murder defined and understood? Murder is the taking of a human life by fiat of human will at any point after conception. #4. Among other things this commandment means that human life is not the possession of the state, the community, the society, the culture. #5. Nor, in the final sense is the unborn strictly the possession of the mother. #6. LIFE BELONGS, FINALLY and IRREVOCABLY TO THE GIVER. Therefore, human life, at any temporal stage, is subject to the RULES OF THE DETERMINACY OF GOD. #7. This fact of human existence overrules abortion (post conception murder), euthanasia and the more familiar forms of murder for passion or for personal gain. #8. Israel was to be a people who protected and nurtured human life. #9. Significant implications and generalizations flow from this commandment. HUMAN BEHAVIOR NOT ONLY OBEYS THIS COMMANDMENT. THERE COMES THE EXPECTATION THAT BEHAVIOR WILL SUPPORT THE WORD OF GOD.  #10. Social engineering is thereby expunged from serious consideration. All the commandments of God are to be believed, espoused, pushed into personal experience and they are to be supported by the capabilities of human behavior! #11. In the fluid of human circumstances and one asks, “What should I do?”, the answer is: SUPPORT THE REVEALED WILL OF GOD.

THE TEXT. PART 33: “You shall not commit adultery”, 5:18. #2. No assault upon marital relations is permitted by God. FIDELITY in marriage is stipulated and required. #3. Along with marriage and its sexual aspects come obligations, limitations, eternal laws, morality, responsibility, accountability and repercussions. #4. This necessarily generalizes to specific recognitions. MARRIAGE IS A TRIADIC (3 parts/tripartite) STRUCTURE. IT CONSISTS OF A MAN, A WOMAN and THE GOD OF DETERMINACY. #5. In consequence, an assault upon marriage is, as well, an assault upon the determinacy of God. #6. Homosexual marriage is no marriage at all; not in the eyes of the Almighty. Such things are not permitted under Heaven. #7. A further recognition is that the true foundation of marriage is not love nor emotion. The more exact and persistent foundation is REVEALED TRUTH, THE WILL OF GOD and THE PERSONAL DUTY THAT COMES WITH IT. #8. Marriage between a man and woman is a symbol of something much greater. It represents the GREATER RELATION BETWEEN THE GOD OF ALL DETERMINACY and BELIEVERS IN THE TEMPORAL ORDER (Ephesians 5, 6). #9. The protection of revealed symbolism and its integrity is the priority. But that priority has dramatic effects upon marriage , having been enfolded into the symbolism! #10. It is, therefore, a grave and dangerous sin to “…commit adultery”. Today, as always, the BIBLICAL SYMBOL OF MARRIAGE is under attack; and that in the interests of personal gratification!

THE TEXT. PART 34: “You shall not steal”, 5:19. #2. The right and true arbiter of ownership is the God of DETERMINACY. No other corpus, legal, cultural, social nor traditional can determine and fix ownership. #3. Israelites were prohibited from assuming ownership of something by the powers of appropriation! #4. All the commandments of God presume that the Almighty is the ever present witness to all human affairs. #5. Beyond that truth, looms the revealed fact that God is the immediate owner of all things temporal, all things created. #6. To “steal” is to wrongly DISPOSSESS another of what rightly belongs to him. The POWER OF APPROPRIATION DOES NOT NECESSARILY SIGNIFY THE RIGHT OF POSSESSION #7. This commandment must apply to governments, organizations and to persons equally. Because of the Revealed Rules of Determinacy and Contingency, the Almighty reserves the right to REGULATE THE INTERACTIONS OF MANKIND. #8. Consequently, there is fundamental factor to be considered in all and every interaction between men, women and groupings . And that is the determinant presence, power and revealed will of God. #9. By the terms of the Commandments, God writes Himself into every interaction, exchange and relation! #10. These Commandments expose to us the depth of the sensitivity regarding human relations of the Lord God of Determinacy.

THE TEXT. PART 35: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”, 5:20. #2. This is another sin grounded in gratuitous self-interests. Benefits to the self maybe multivariate, but that is irrelevant in the face of this commandment. #3. To falsely IMPLICATE another in wrongdoing requires some, at least, minimal premeditation. #4. FALSE REPRESENTATIONS are the substance of bearing false witness. The Lord drew a line in the sand. Israelites were forbidden to ever delve into the machinations of false representations. #5. In the contemporary, the legitimate pursuit of  journalism has been greatly corrupted by the sin of bearing false witness! #6. Violations of this law of God, inherently, involve the minds of others. The reasoning of those who hear the purposeful FALSE REPRESENTATIONS could be redirected, biased and corrupted. So, those others themselves would be corrupted by what they hear, yet cannot disprove. #7. No human institutions, of whatever kind, can survive the practice of false representations. Trust becomes an eventual casualty of lies, unchecked assumptions and premeditated falsehoods. #8.  Social cohesion will be dissipated resting on The substructure of false ideas. #9. Israel, in the then, and the church, in the now, were obliged to cherish the TRUTH and to despise the lying nature of false representations. #10. Minds can be polluted and corrupted by the ingenuity of “bearing false witness”.