Lesson 72

Deuteronomy 14–26

Introduction

Moses reminded the children of Israel that they were chosen to be a “peculiar” and “holy” people (Deuteronomy 14:2). He reviewed various laws and commandments given to the Israelites, including the commandments to pay tithing, to care for the poor, and to remain separate from spiritually damaging practices. Moses also warned the Israelites about the destruction that would come to the wicked.

Suggestions for Teaching

Deuteronomy 14–15

The Lord commands His people to be holy, to care for the poor, and to remember His blessings

Display or draw on the board a picture of several identical objects and one different object, such as the example shown in the accompanying Mormonad.

Ask students to ponder a time when their beliefs made them different from others.

• Why do you think it might be a good thing to stand out because of your beliefs?

Invite a student to read Deuteronomy 14:1–2 aloud. Ask the class to follow along and look for words or phrases that explain who the Israelites were. You may want to explain that the cutting and self-mutilation rituals mentioned in verse 1 were commonly practiced by people from other nations as part of idol worship (see 1 Kings 18:28) and mourning for the dead (see Jeremiah 16:6–7).

• What words or phrases describe the Lord’s people? (Remind students that in this context the term peculiar means “exclusive, or special” and can refer to a special possession or property [Bible Dictionary, “Peculiar”]. Holy means sacred and devoted to God.)

Explain that the next several chapters of Deuteronomy contain Moses’s review and teaching of many of the Lord’s commandments that, if obeyed, would help make the Israelites peculiar and different from all other nations.

Summarize Deuteronomy 14:3–29 by explaining that Moses reminded the Israelites of what they had been commanded to eat and not eat. He also taught them about using tithing to care for the Levite priests, strangers, the fatherless, and widows.

Explain that Deuteronomy 15 describes another way in which the Israelites were to care for the needy among them. Ask students to read Deuteronomy 15:1–2 silently, looking for what the Israelites were to do every seven years. Invite students to look at verse 1, footnote b, to discover what the term release means (the “pardoning or cancellation of debts”).

• What were the Israelites to do every seven years?

• What kind of attitude would the Israelites need to develop in order to live this commandment?

Explain that as recorded in Deuteronomy 15:4–6, Moses taught that if the Israelites followed this commandment, the Lord would greatly bless the people and prosper their nation financially.

• Why might it have been harder for an Israelite to lend to a neighbor in the seventh year?

Invite several students to take turns reading aloud from Deuteronomy 15:7–9. Ask the class to follow along and look for Moses’s warning and counsel for lending in the seventh year.

• What was Moses’s warning in this situation? What can we learn from verse 9 about refusing to help the poor? (Students may identify a variety of principles, including the following: We sin by refusing to help others in need when we are able to give.)

• Why is it a sin to refuse to help those in need?

• What can a person do if he or she does not have the resources or ability to help those in need? (You may need to explain that even if we are not always personally able to meet others’ needs, we should be able to say in our hearts that we would help if we could [see Mosiah 4:24–25].)

Invite a student to read Deuteronomy 15:10–11 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for what we will experience if we willingly help those in need.

• According to verse 10, what will we experience if we willingly help those in need? (Students may use different words, but they should identify the following principle: If we willingly help those in need, then we will be blessed in all our works.)

• What other needs might a person have besides the need for financial assistance?

• What kinds of opportunities has the Lord given us to help provide for those in need?

Ask students to share a time when they have felt blessed after helping someone in need.

Encourage students to write in their study journals what they will do in the coming week to help someone in need. Remind students that helping those in need is a way to show that we are the Lord’s “peculiar people” (Deuteronomy 14:2).

Summarize the remainder of Deuteronomy 15 by explaining that the Lord commanded the Israelites to release Hebrew servants in their seventh year of service. He also emphasized the sanctity of the firstlings of the Israelites’ herds and flocks.

Deuteronomy 16–19

The Lord instructs His people regarding His commandments and explains the consequences for disobedience

Summarize Deuteronomy 16–19 by explaining that the Lord instructed the Israelites to observe the Passover and two other annual feasts. These feasts would remind the Israelites of the blessings they had received and would receive from the Lord. Moses also reviewed the consequences for Israelites who chose to worship false gods and instructed future Israelite kings to study God’s word daily and lead in His ways. He also warned the Israelites to stay away from sorcery and described the legal processes for those who had killed another person, either accidentally or intentionally.

Deuteronomy 20

The Lord declares punishments on the wicked

Write the word Disease on the board, and ask students the following questions:

• What are some ways in which infectious diseases can be spread?

• What are some ways to keep infectious diseases from spreading?

• How can sin be compared to disease?

Explain that the Lord had designated the promised land as holy, but it had been occupied for hundreds of years by people who refused to obey His commandments. To prevent the Israelites from being contaminated by the wickedness of those people, the Lord gave the Israelites specific instructions as they prepared to enter the promised land.

Summarize Deuteronomy 20:1–15 by explaining that to prepare the Israelites to go forth to conquer the promised land, the Lord told them, “Fear not, … for the Lord your God … goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies” (verses 3–4). The Lord instructed the Israelite armies to first offer each city in the border areas a proclamation of peace in order to give the city’s inhabitants a chance to surrender (see verses 10–11). If this offer was rejected, the Israelite armies were to “besiege,” or surround, the city. When the city fell, the men were to be killed, but the women, children, and flocks were to be preserved (see verses 12–14).

Invite a student to read Deuteronomy 20:16–18 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for what God commanded the Israelite armies to do with the people who occupied cities in the heart of the promised land.

• What were the armies to do with those nations who inhabited the heart of the promised land?

• What word in verse 18 describes behavior that could be seen as a spiritual disease that could have spread among the Israelites?

• What do we learn from verse 18 about why the wicked are sometimes destroyed? (Support students’ answers by writing the following truth on the board: God may destroy the wicked to prevent their sins from spreading to others.)

Write statements of doctrine and principles on the board

When identifying statements of doctrine and principles, state them clearly and simply. Writing truths on the board, or inviting students to record or mark them in their scriptures, can help students understand and remember the importance of these truths. Doing so also reminds students of the focus of the scripture block they are studying.

To help students understand the reason for the Lord’s instruction recorded in Deuteronomy 20:16–18, invite a student to read 1 Nephi 17:33–35 aloud. (Invite students to consider recording this cross-reference next to Deuteronomy 20:16.) Ask students to follow along, looking for phrases that describe the condition of the people who lived in the promised land.

• What phrases describe the condition of the people who lived in the promised land?

• What do you think it means that they were “ripe in iniquity” (verse 35)?

Explain that the people who inhabited the promised land had become spiritually and morally corrupt—like the people in the days of Noah. They participated in acts of perversion, immorality, and even human sacrifice as part of their social and religious practices.

• What does the phrase “this people had rejected every word of God” (verse 35) suggest? (The people had received more than one warning to repent of their sins and had refused to do so.)

• How did the Lord’s instructions to the Israelites to utterly destroy the wicked nations inhabiting the heart of the promised land show His love and concern for the Israelites?

Deuteronomy 21–26

Moses again declares the Lord’s laws to Israel

Summarize Deuteronomy 21–26 by explaining that Moses reminded the Israelites that obeying God’s commandments would help them stay clean and separate from practices that could be spiritually damaging and have severe eternal consequences.

Invite two students to take turns reading aloud from Deuteronomy 26:16–19. Ask the class to follow along, looking for how Israel was to keep the Lord’s commandments. (Point out that the word avouched in verse 17 means declared or testified.)

• What phrases in Deuteronomy 26:16 describe how Israel was to keep God’s commandments?

• According to verses 18–19, what blessings did the Lord declare Israel would receive if they obeyed in this way?

• What can we learn about obedience from this passage? (Students may use different words, but they should identify the following principle: We can be the Lord’s peculiar and holy people if we obey His commandments with all our heart and soul. Write this principle on the board.)

Circle the words heart and soul in the statement on the board.

• What does it mean to obey the Lord’s commandments with all your heart and soul?

• Which commandment could you say you have tried to keep with all your heart and soul? How has the Lord blessed you for your efforts?

Encourage students to choose a commandment they want to better obey with all their heart and soul. Invite students to write a goal in their class notebooks or study journals regarding how they will do so. Encourage students to act on their goal to better keep God’s commandments with all their heart and soul.

Commentary and Background Information

Deuteronomy 14:26. “And thou shalt bestow that money … for strong drink”

The Lord allowed the ancient Israelites to use strong drink.

“The use of wine and other fermented fluids called ‘strong drink’ may surprise latter-day worshippers who are not to use them, but they were permitted in ceremonial exercises in ancient Israel; only excessive or improper use was forbidden (TG, “Drunkenness”; “Temperance”; “Word of Wisdom”). Fermented drinks were not to be used by the priests in service and not by Nazarites at all (Deut. 14:26; Lev. 10:9–11; Num. 6:2–4)” (Ellis T. Rasmussen, A Latter-day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament [1993], 179).

Deuteronomy 15:7–11. “But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him … for his need”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles counseled how to live the Lord’s command to help the needy:

“Down through history, poverty has been one of humankind’s greatest and most widespread challenges. Its obvious toll is usually physical, but the spiritual and emotional damage it can bring may be even more debilitating. In any case, the great Redeemer has issued no more persistent call than for us to join Him in lifting this burden from the people. …

“Given the monumental challenge of addressing inequity in the world, what can one man or woman do? …

“For one thing, we can, as King Benjamin taught, cease withholding our means because we see the poor as having brought their misery upon themselves. Perhaps some have created their own difficulties, but don’t the rest of us do exactly the same thing? Isn’t that why this compassionate ruler asks, ‘Are we not all beggars?’ [Mosiah 4:19.] Don’t we all cry out for help and hope and answers to prayers? Don’t we all beg for forgiveness for mistakes we have made and troubles we have caused? Don’t we all implore that grace will compensate for our weaknesses, that mercy will triumph over justice at least in our case? Little wonder that King Benjamin says we obtain a remission of our sins by pleading to God, who compassionately responds, but we retain a remission of our sins by compassionately responding to the poor who plead to us. …

“… I don’t know exactly how each of you should fulfill your obligation to those who do not or cannot always help themselves. But I know that God knows, and He will help you and guide you in compassionate acts of discipleship if you are conscientiously wanting and praying and looking for ways to keep a commandment He has given us again and again” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Are We Not All Beggars?” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2014, 40, 41).

Deuteronomy 16:1–17. What was the purpose of feasts and festivals?

“Christmas and Easter celebrations aid the followers of Jesus Christ to remember certain great events in Christian history. The festivals which the Lord commanded Israel to keep served a similar purpose. Moses once again reminded his people of the solemn need to observe these festivals in just the way and at just the time the Lord had commanded.

“‘From very early times the Jewish year was punctuated by the great festivals—the “feasts of the Lord”. Some were timed to coincide with the changing seasons, reminding the people of God’s constant provision for them, and providing an opportunity to return to God some token of all that he had given. Others commemorated the great events of Israel’s history, the occasions when in an unmistakable way God had stepped in to deliver his people. All were occasions of wholehearted delight and enjoyment of God’s good gifts, and at the same time sober gatherings to seek his forgiveness and cleansing’ [Philip Budd, “Feasts and Festivals,” Eerdmans’ Handbook to the Bible, ed. David Alexander and Pat Alexander (1973), 180]” (Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel, 3rd ed. [Church Educational System manual, 2003], 221–22).

Deuteronomy 18:15–19. Who is the “Prophet … like unto [Moses]”?

“At least four other scriptures refer to the prophet like unto Moses (see Acts 3:22–23; 1 Nephi 22:21; 3 Nephi 20:23; JS—H 1:40). In each instance these scriptures make it clear that the prophet like unto Moses was the Savior, Jesus Christ. When Jesus visited the Nephites, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, He identified Himself in this way:

“‘Behold, I am he of whom Moses spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people.’ (3 Nephi 20:23.)” (Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel, 3rd ed. [Church Educational System manual, 2003], 226).

Deuteronomy 20. God may destroy the wicked to prevent their sins from spreading to others

“The Lord … doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him” (2 Nephi 26:23–24).

“‘Warfare is … a grim and ugly if necessary matter. The Canaanites against whom Israel waged war were under judicial sentence of death by God. They were spiritually and morally degenerate. Virtually every kind of perversion was a religious act: and large classes of sacred male and female prostitutes were a routine part of the holy places. Thus, God ordered all the Canaanites to be killed (Deut. 2:34; 3:6; 20:16–18; Josh. 11:14), both because they were under God’s death sentence, and to avoid the contamination of Israel’ [Rousas John Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law (1973), 279]” (Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel, 3rd ed. [Church Educational System manual, 2003], 227).

President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency explained how even God’s justice on the wicked is evidence of His love and concern for His children:

“We read again and again in the Bible and in modern scriptures of God’s anger with the wicked and of His acting in His wrath against those who violate His laws. How are anger and wrath evidence of His love? Joseph Smith [1805–44] taught that God ‘institute[d] laws whereby [the spirits that He would send into the world] could have a privilege to advance like himself’ [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 210]. God’s love is so perfect that He lovingly requires us to obey His commandments because He knows that only through obedience to His laws can we become perfect, as He is. For this reason, God’s anger and His wrath are not a contradiction of His love but an evidence of His love” (Dallin H. Oaks, “Love and Law,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2009, 27).

Supplemental Teaching Idea

Deuteronomy 15:7–11. If we willingly help those in need, then we will be blessed in all our works

After asking about opportunities the Lord has given to provide help for those in need, show the Mormon Message “Lift” (9:29), available on LDS.org. In this video, ward members learn the power of selfless service by assisting a woman every day for more than seven years. Invite students to watch for how the ward members were blessed by their service to this woman.

After the video, invite students to share a time when they have felt blessed after helping someone in need.