Deuteronomy

Sovereignty in History

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: 31-110

Genre: Talk

Track: 031

Dictation Name: RR187R31

Location/Venue:

Year: 1993

Let us worship God. There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry ‘Abba Father’. Let us pray.

Almighty God our Heavenly Father we rejoice that at the end of the year we know that all our ways have been of Thee. That Thou art Thee that dost use all things, to bring forth good, to bring forth our growth in Thee and our prosperity in Thee. Give us grace therefore to view all things, the past present and future as Thy gift to us, as Thy purpose to us, that we might in and through all things become stronger in Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.

Our scripture is from Deuteronomy 9:1-6 and our subject: Sovereignty in History. Deuteronomy 9:1-6.

“Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!

3 Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.

4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee.

5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff necked people.”

When men lose interest in the study of history very often the reason is that they have first of all lost interest in the study of the Bible. The bible tells us that history is totally governed by God and cannot be understood apart from Him. Prior to the knowledge of the bible by the nations there was no historiography. There were instead only chronicles, registers of the kings and their successors and to boast of their achievements. What some have called history in a non-Christian world, for example, Herodotus, is simply a collection of curious facts. No purpose, no direction, no meaning. The other histories of Greece, so called, were simply reconstructions of what the past according to the ideas of the circle around [unknown] should have been like. The Bible is the first account of history. In the 1950s an unknown young Russian writing anonymously wrote a novel challenging Marxism. In the course of his novel he wrote and I quote:

“The court is in session. It is in session throughout the world, and not only [unknown] unmasked by the city prosecutor but all of us, however many we may be are being daily, nightly, tried and questioned. This is called history.” Unquote.

More than history it is God. Our text therefore cannot be seen simply as an ancient Hebrew document. Records of antiquity cite victories, not defeats. They flatter but they do not criticize. The text does not give us the opinion that the Hebrews had of themselves, of course. In fact, God sums up His indictment in verse six by calling them a stiff necked people. James Moffat renders this ‘for you are an obstinate race’. This is God’s opinion, not mans, even though it comes through Moses. H. Wheeler Robinson cited Driver with regards to this description. And Driver wrote and I quote:

“The figure underlying the expression is of course the unyielding neck of an obstinate intractable animal.” Unquote.

Now this is not the kind of writing the nations have ever made of themselves.

According to Lewis Goldberg there is a contrast in these six verses between God’s majestic power and man’s puny pretentious righteousness. Men are marked by spiritual shortsightedness. God stresses that history is not determined by man but by himself. Whatever the apparent outcome all history fulfills God’s sovereign purpose. For either the godly or the ungodly to imagine otherwise is a sin and a delusion. Then second, and specifically for God’s people to claim the victory is to forsake God. No righteousness, strength or merit on their part is the primary or even real cause of the victory. It is always God’s grace and sovereign purpose. God’s people may well be the more righteous by far but for them to see this as determinative is to shift the power and the government of history from God to man. Any goodness in them is by comparison to someone else, not by comparison to God’s standard. In verse three God is identified as a consuming fire and God is repeatedly so described in the Bible. The few examples:

In Exodus 3:2: “And the angel of the Lord came unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed.”

In Exodus 24:17: “And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.”

Deuteronomy 4:36: “Out of heaven he made Thee to hear His voice that He might instruct Thee and upon earth. He showed thee His great fire and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.”

And Hebrews 12:29: “For our God is a consuming fire.”

In verses four through six the key word is righteousness or justice. The governing force in history is not man’s justice but Gods. God’s justice governs all of history and God in His patience allows injustice often to develop its full implications before God moves against it. God allows evil to develop into maturity so that even the ungodly cry out against what they began by calling their good. God therefore in these verses specifically rejects the chosen people’s idea of justice. It is His will, not mans that shall be done.

Israel must never say as we are told in 8:17: “My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this well.” We must never see ourselves as the determining force in history nor in our own lives. The reason for this judgment on Canaan is Canaan’s depravity and Israel is the beneficiary of this judgment therefore speak not in thine heart saying for mine righteousness or justice, the Lord hath brought me to possess the land. But for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. The attitude condemned here is Phariseeism. The religious faith that finally condemned Israel and many nations since then…it marks us to a great extent today. As Snyder observed, it is native to fallen humanity to feel self-righteous, to feel that they are better than others in terms of their own nature. Moses repeatedly uses the term this day’ or ‘today’ as in verse three. This is a stress on immediacy; God’s word is not an academic matter for discussion on general terms. It is an urgent, an immediate word for today. God says hear me now, this moment and always. God tells Israel that in their own way they are no better than the Canaanites who they will soon destroy. God’s favor to them is due to His covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are not a determining consideration in God’s sight. God knows them better than they know themselves and he describes them as a stubborn and perverse people. God warns Israel three times in these verses that the gift of the land was an act of grace. First he tells them that even though they will triumph it will not be due to their righteousness or their merits. It was an act of judgment by God.

Second, God was given them this victory for reasons going back a few centuries to their forefathers and to God’s promise to them. The history of the moment involves Gods purposes going back to creation and looking ahead to all eternity. The narrowness of our vision and time span does not determine the extent of God’s concern and actions. What God is doing now, in our day, has reference to things beyond our memory and looking ahead to all time and into eternity. Then third, God does not allow Israel to see that in spite of these things they have some merit on their side, some claim to a reward. God calls them a stubborn and perverse people. He stresses His grace to an undeserving people. As Craigy points out and I quote:

“The gift of the land could not be a reward for righteousness it was a gift of God’s graciousness. On the other hand the continuing possession of the land by the Israelites would certainly have been contingent upon their obedience. Disobedience to the covenant would lead to forfeiting the land. And the Israelites would join the Canaanites as ex-residents.” Unquote.

This makes plain what all scripture teaches, namely, that our salvation is by God’s sovereign and atoning grace. That our sanctification as well as our continuing place in His providential care depends on our obedience to His law word. Those who are antinomian say in effect that they will receive from God but they will not obey Him. God at one point a few centuries later reminded the Hebrews that He could tomorrow if He chose call the Ethiopians and make them His chosen people. He did not say that to flatter them. Joseph Parkers comment on Moses’ words here is very good and I quote:

“He told the people in crossing Jordan and undertaking a severe task that God is He who goeth over before Thee. Having told Israel that the encountering people were great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou heard ‘who can stand before the children of Anak’, he said remember or understand, grasp the theology of the case, God is at the head of the army and the Anakims are before Him as the grasshoppers of the earth. Moses insists upon Israel having a right theology, not a science, not merely formulated opinion but a distinct living grasp of the thought that God is and as a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Unquote.

In other words, simply believing is not enough. Our faith must be a constantly determining and dominating force in our lives. Moreover, God prepares the way for His people and success is due to God, not to persons. From beginning to end Deuteronomy emphasizes the unmerited grace of God as the only source of salvation for men or nations. Those who see salvation by laws basic to the Old Testament are spiritually blind. From one end of the Bible it is grace. God’s preparation of Israel for the conquest was therefore to stress the sovereignty of His grace. They had to see the theological issue clearly. They then had a duty to express their gratitude in obedience. Let us pray.

Our Father we know that Thou art work among the nations. That however bleak the world around is seems to us Thou art moving in and through it to accomplish Thy predestined purpose. Open our eyes to the majesty of Thy being. To the glory of Thy purpose, that we may realize that because Thou art on the throne the end result of these things that we see shall be altogether good, altogether just, altogether holy. Teach us the way that we should go, to do our work, to trust in Thee and to know that all our tomorrows are as bright as Thy promises. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

[Question] I think the most mysterious part about God’s grace is that it’s unpredictable.

[Rushdoony] Yes, it’s sovereign grace. It doesn’t follow rules that man creates. And this is one reason why the reformed faith is resented by a great many people; they’ve called attention to precisely that. God should follow rules they believe, that man can lay down. That man can chart, that man can predict. And it makes the God of Scripture very offensive to them that He doesn’t allow Himself to be governed according to man’s reason.

It’s a very interesting point because a recent study makes clear to what extent this was the basic issue in the whole Reformation. Even before the reformers knew what it was. And that one reason for the iconoclasm of the people and the reformation was their apprehension of this issue. Now Luther was horrified at the smashing of images. Luther was not alone; others such as Calvin strongly opposed it. And yet the people immediately took to it with an intensity. At first Carl [unknown] was blamed by Luther for inciting the people to it but it was more than that, the people took to it almost spontaneously because they suddenly had grasped a fact shortly before Luther began his teaching, that the fanaticism which with they regarded the images had reached an all-time high. In fact, research is indicating that in the century especially half-century preceding the Reformation there was an emphasis on pilgrimages, on relics, and on images far exceeding anything that had been known previously throughout the Middle Ages.

So it was the most popular manifestation of religion when Luther began. And what the Reformers themselves did not fully grasp according to most recent scholarship is that the people may not have understood all the ramifications of what Luther and Calvin taught but this they grasped: You worship either something made or something which is beyond man. Totally beyond man. And when the common people who could not read, whose faith was a very simple one got that point they bewildered the leaders of the Reformation with the intensity which with they went after all images and relics. And the interesting part that is coming to light in some of the research is the Catholic Church recognized that much of this was traceable to [unknown] who stayed within the church and became a cardinal. And they resented the fact that he had started this. And he was bewildered by what he had started. I think the fact that comes through so strongly to me on this is that we fail to appreciate how the very ordinary people of history may not grasp the philosophical theological implications in the language of scholars but how intuitively they have often grasped the issues more clearly and more vividly. Yes?

[Question] We’re living in an age of symbols and images now, do you suppose that sort of reaction might recur?

[Rushdoony] That is a thought that is coming to my mind. The state today has made itself into the great icon. And I’m beginning to wonder what’s going to happen when the people in the street realize that they’ve been worshipping a false God. I think we could see some very explosive things, very explosive. Because that intuitive grasp has been downplayed by all the academicians of our time but it is a real force in history and this book on the iconoclasm of the Reformation has certainly brought that out. And the interesting thing that this book does not bring out is that it had its impact within Catholicism. Yes?

[Question] Well their intuition was proper but was their actions appropriate?

[Rushdoony] Well, that’s another question and I would say it was not. That Calvin was right when he said these things are bad if we see them as objects of worship. If we see them as objects of art and of beauty then it’s another question. And Luther more or less took that same attitude although he was equivocal about some aspects of it. Are there any further questions?

Well if not let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. What a certainty of Thy government and of Thy justice, Thy righteousness. Give us grace day by day to put our entire trust in Thee. Thou knowest Lord how great our weakness is and how in our sin we often wish we could tinker with the works of the future. Have mercy upon us oh Lord and give us grace and patience. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, Bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.