In Deuteronomy 32:7, Moses expressed his concern for the dismal events that could unfold after the Israelites enter and settle in the land of Canaan. He warned them forcefully so that they might prevent such events from taking place. Furthermore, he gave them three specific commands: “Remember the days of old,” “Consider the years of all generations,” and “Ask your father.” This surely is a demonstration of God’s fervent love for His chosen people. In drawing their attention to the walk of faith during the “days of old” and the “years of all generations,” Moses hoped that the Israelites, who would soon possess the land of Canaan, would also continue to walk in faith.
Moses declared that God had chosen the Israelites as His heirs even before creation (Deut 32:8-9; Eph 1:4–5) and that the land of Canaan had been prepared as an inheritance for His people (Deut 32:49). Thus, they were to adhere strictly to the three commands in order to fully inherit this land. Today, these three commands are the basic code of conduct for Christians who are journeying toward the kingdom of heaven, the spiritual Canaan.
Chapter 1
The First Command: Remember the Days of Old
1. The “Days of Old” in Light of God’s History of Salvation
The Hebrew term for the days of old is
For Moses, the “days of old” encompass the following events:
1. The fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
2. Cain’s gruesome murder and the unrighteous deeds of his descendants
3. The overflowing sin and wickedness of Noah’s time
4. The construction of the Tower of Babel and man’s hubris
5. The covenant of the torch given to Abraham in Genesis 15
6. Israel’s 430 years of slavery in Egypt
7. The glorious exodus from Egypt
8. The 40 years of trial in the wilderness
God’s commitment to the work of salvation has been steadfast until today despite man’s increasing sins after the fall and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Thus, the “days of old” are the days and years of God’s work marked by His fervent love and tears. The prophet Jeremiah referred to these days as the “ancient paths” and the “good way” (Jer 6:16).
The “good way” is the path of faith through which the messianic promise was fulfilled. It is a path of suffering that requires people of faith to engage in ongoing battles against evil in order to sustain the good and to overcome any affliction that may come along the way (Heb 11:36). Thankfully, this path promises the blessing of peace in the end (Jer 6:16b). This entire path is compressed into the genealogies in the Book of Genesis. In other words, the traces of the events of old, the good way, God’s fervent love, and His tears and zeal have been condensed into the genealogies.
2. Remember
In Hebrew, the term to remember is
The history of the Israelites is, undeniably, full of events that are too shameful to recall. They spent 430 years of slavery in a foreign country (Exod 12:40–41) and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years without having their own land. The 430 years in Egypt were so bitter that the Bible often likens Egypt to an iron furnace (Deut 4:20; 1 Kgs 8:51; Jer 11:4). Through Moses and the other prophets who were sent to the Israelites throughout the ages, God urged the Israelites to remember their detestable years of slavery in Egypt (Exod 13:3, 14; 20:2; Deut 5:6, 15; 6:12; 7:8; 8:14; 13:5, 10; 15:15; 16:12; 24:18; 24:22; Josh 24:17; Judg 6:8; Jer 34:13; Mic 6:4). Moreover, He commanded them to remember how He had allowed them to suffer in the wilderness (Deut 8:2; 9:7). Nations that easily forget their times of suffering are doomed to experience greater suffering in the future.
God did not arbitrarily instruct the Israelites to “remember” without helping them to do so. God established various memorial days so that the “days of old” would be eternally remembered. He also designated various objects as memorials for His people. The noun form of the verb to remember (
First, God instituted memorial days to commemorate great historical events. He instituted the Day of Passover and commanded His people to “celebrate it as a permanent ordinance” (Exod 12:14, 17, 24). Accordingly, the Israelites observed Passover by eating unleavened bread and bitter herbs to commemorate God’s saving work before the exodus when the angel of death passed over their homes and spared their lives (Exod 12:8; Num 9:11).
Exodus 13:16 So it shall serve as a sign on your hand, and as phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.
Besides the Day of Passover, God also commanded the Israelites to observe the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles as reminders of the enormous and wondrous grace of salvation that He had poured upon them throughout their history (Exod 34:22–23; Deut 16:16). Furthermore, God commanded them to keep His Sabbaths holy: “You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations” (Exod 31:13). He also said, “And also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them” (Ezek 20:12, 20).
Second, after He began to intercede in human history, God urged the people to preserve certain objects as memorials. He did this so that they might remember God’s grace, which He had poured out upon them in times of their distress, and give thanks to Him.
The following are some examples of the memorials that appear in the Bible. When 250 leaders of the congregation, along with Korah and his companions, assembled together against Moses and Aaron (Num 16:1–3), the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed them up with their households and all the men who belonged to Korah (Num 16:31–35). Then, Moses was instructed by God to tell Eleazar, “The censers of these men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar ... and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel” (Num 16:36–40).
When the Israelites challenged the authority of Moses and Aaron, God caused Aaron’s rod to bud in order to stop their murmurings. He instructed Moses to place this rod in the Ark of the Covenant to be