Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: Moses warns Israel to obey God and follow in His ways, to tear down the high places and destroy all the altars in the promised land, and not to turn aside to other gods so that they will be blessed in the land.
Moses tells Israel to keep God's commandments always and reminds them of all God has done for them, with the warning of how the earth swallowed up the sons of Reuben. He says that whereas in Egypt they sowed their seed to grow vegetables, the land God is giving for them is a land for which the Lord Himself cares for and watches over. He says if they earnestly obey God's commandments to love God and serve Him with all their heart and soul, then God will give them "the early rain and the latter rain" so they may gather their grain, new wine, and oil and eat and be filled with their livestocks. But they must "take heed to [themselves]" lest their hearts be deceived and they turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, and the Lord's anger be aroused against them and He "shut up the heavens so that there is no rain and the land yields no produce, and [they] perish quickly from the good land that the Lord is giving [them]." They are to "lay up these words... in [their] heart and in [their] soul and bind them as a sign on [their] hand, and they shall be as frontlets between [their] eyes." They must teach them to their children, speaking of them "when [they] sit in your house, when [they] walk by the way, when [they] lie down and when [they] rise up." They must write them on the doorposts of their houses and on their gates so that their days and their children's days will be "multiplied like the days of the heavens above the earth." If they carefully keep all these commandments, that is, to love the Lord and walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out the nations before them, and they will "dispossess greater and mightier nations than [themselves]," and "every place on which the soul of [their] foot treads will be [theirs].... No man will be able to stand against [them]," and the nations will fear them. Moses says that the Lord has said, "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse, the blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you this day and the curse if you do not obey." He also tells them to bless Mt. Grizim (where those who are blessed will be) and curse Mt. Ebal (which will be for those who break God's law.)
Again, he tells them that they must utterly destroy the high places where the people worship their gods, on the mountains, hills, and under every green tree. They must destroy their altars and break their pillars and burn their wooden images with fire. They must cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names. They are to worship the Lord in a place He chooses and not in that place. Then, they should take their offerings, sacrifices, tithes, heave, vow, and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of the herds and flocks and eat before the Lord and rejoice in all they have done and how God has blessed them. They must not do "whatever is right in [their] own eyes" when they enter the promised land, as they have done in the wilderness. But when they are dwelling in the land, and the Lord gives them rest from their enemies so that they dwell in safety, the Lord will choose a place to make His name abide, and they must bring to God all that He commands them. They are to rejoice before the Lord with their sons and daughters and servants and the Levites, since the Levites have no inheritance in Israel (the Lord is their portion.) The Lord says that all men, clean or unclean, may eat any (clean) animal they choose, except for the blood. But they are not to eat the tithe. Again, He tells them to rejoice. He tells them never to forsake the Levites in their land. He says again that they may eat however much meat they desire (focusing on the gazelle and the deer.) They may not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, but must pour it on the ground. If they do what is right in the Lord's sight, it will go well for them and their children after them. (Commands are given twice for emphasis, it appears.) The Lord (through Moses) warns them not to be ensnared by the nations' gods or to inquire of them or worship the Lord in the same way they have worshipped their gods, because they have done "every abomination to the Lord which He hates" to their gods, even sacrificing their own children to them. They are not to add to or take away from the Lord's commandments.
If a prophet or "dreamer of dreams" arises among them, even if the sign or wonder they give comes to pass, telling them to go after other gods, they are not to listen, because the Lord is testing them to see whether they love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul. That prophet or "dreamer" must be put to death because he has tried to turn them against their God. They are to "put away the evil from their midst." If their own brother, son, daughter, wife, or even their soulmate friend (in so many words) secretly entices them to serve other gods, they are not to listen or to even pity them or to conceal or spare them, but they must kill them starting with their own hand first, and then the hand of all the people. They are to be stoned with stones so all Israel will see and fear and not do such wickedness again. If they hear someone in one of the cities saying that corrupt men have arisen to tell the people to serve other gods, they are to find out whether it is true, and if it is, to kill the inhabitants of the city with the sword, not leaving anyone or any animal alive, but to burn the entire city with all its plunder, never to be rebuilt, so that the Lord's anger will be appeased and He will show them mercy and have compassion on them and multiply them as He swore to their fathers, because they listened and obeyed the Lord their God, to do what is right in His sight.
Thoughts/Discussion Questions:
In the Psalms, we are told that if we meditate on God's Word day and night, we will be blessed in all we do. God's commands are for our good; He knows our propensity to forget. Everything in this world and in our natural sight is set against us, so we must continually be filled with God's Word and set it before our eyes if we are to live by faith, which is the only way to please Him.