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One-sentence summary: The Lord reminds Israel of God's deliverance and faithfulness during their journey and of their rebellion, he tells them to possess the land the Lord is giving them, and he warns them not to forget the Lord and to worship Him only once they possess the land and are blessed.
Moses tells the people that they must be careful to follow every commandment given by God so that they may "live and multiply" and "possess the land." They must remember how the Lord led them the whole 40 years in the wilderness to humble and test them and "know what was in [their] heart, whether [they] would keep His commandments or not." Moses says that God allowed them to hunger and fed them with manna so that they would know that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." He reminds them that their garments never ran out in 40 years, and that they should know that just "as a man chastens His son, so the Lord... chastens [Israel]." They must fear the Lord and walk in His ways, because God is bringing them into a good land with brooks of water, with fountains and springs, valleys and hills, wheat, barley, and vines, and fig trees and pomegranates... a land of olive oil and honey in which they will "eat bread without scarcity" and "lack nothing" (also a land full of copper.) However, he warns (again), after they are satisfied in the land, they must bless the Lord and not forget Him by failing to keep His commandments. After they have built beautiful houses for themselves and their flocks multiply and their silver and gold and all they have is multiplied, when "their hearts are lifted up," they must not forget the Lord their God, how He brought them out of bondage and led them through the "terrible wilderness," a wilderness with drought and snakes and scorpions. They must remember how He gave them water and food "to humble and test [them]" and to "do [them] good in the end." They should not say in their hearts that their own power and hands have gained them wealth, but they must instead remember that it is God "who gives [them] power to get wealth" so that He may establish His covenant with them. If they forget the Lord and follow and serve and worship other gods, Moses testifies, they will "surely perish" just as the nations the Lord is destroying before them.
Moses then tells them to cross over the Jordan that day to "dispossess nations greater and mightier than [they]," cities "fortified unto heaven, a people great and tall." He says it is the Lord who will destroy the people and bring them out before them, and that they will overcome them quickly. He warns them not to think that all this will be because of their own righteousness, it is because of the wickedness of the nations that the Lord is driving them out, and also so that He can fulfill His promise to their fathers. Moses says they are a "stiff-necked people" and that they must not forget how they provoked God to wrath in the wilderness the entire time they were in there. Moses reminds them how He spoke to God for 40 days and nights without food and water and how God Himself wrote the ten commandments on tablets of stone to give to the people, which God had also spoken to the people from the fire on the mountain. He tells them how the Lord warned Him what the people were doing (worshipping the calf) while he was on the mountain and how God called them a stiff-necked people and wanted to destroy them. Moses tells the story from his perspective and how he was so angry at the sight of the people in revelry at the bottom of the mountain that he threw the tablets on the ground and broke them and fell down before the Lord, again neither eating bread or water because of the sin of Israel. Moses tells them that he feared the Lord's anger against them, but the Lord listened to him and did not destroy the people. He also says the Lord would have destroyed Aaron, but Moses prayed for him, too. He talks of how he burned and crushed the calf into dust, then threw it into the brook and forced the people to drink the water. He also reminds them how they rebelled against God in not believing or obeying Him to possess the land the first time. Moses says they have been rebellious ever since he knew them. Again, Moses says he prostrated himself before the Lord 40 days and 40 nights, pleading with Him again not to destroy the people. Moses tells Israel how the Lord commanded him to bring Him another two tablets and return to the mountain and also to make an ark to put the tablets in. He says the Lord then spoke to him and told him to tell the people to possess the land. He asks Israel what the Lord requires of them but to "fear the Lord [their] God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord [their] God with all [their] heart and with all [their] soul and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes.. for [their] good." He says the highest heavens, the earth, and all that is in it belong to the Lord and that the Lord delighted only in their fathers and loved them and chose their descendants above all people groups. Therefore, he tells them, to circumcise their hearts and "be stiff-necked no longer" because the Lord their God is "God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore, love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." They are to fear and serve God and hold fast to Him. He is "their praise and their God Who has done for them these great and awesome things which their eyes have seen." He reminds them how fathers went up to Egypt as 70 persons, but now, they are "as the stars of heaven in multitude."
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Warnings are helpful to us, and should be welcomed. Israel's story is repeated many times to us and to them as a warning.