21: “Beware Lest Thou Forget the Lord” (Deuteronomy 6–8; 15; 18; 29–30; 34)

Tammy 0:00

I want you to consider the greatest speeches of all time. Now, who immediately came to your mind? Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Lincoln, maybe John F. Kennedy Jr.? Or was it Winston Churchill ,or Sojourner Truth? Or what about Moses? Today's study of the book of Deuteronomy is Moses' final speech, and we will learn why it falls in the category of a speech that has shaped the history of the world.

Welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret Bookshelf Plus Original brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the Come Follow Me lesson for the week and we really dig into the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, just want to make sure you know how to use this podcast. So follow the link that's in our description, and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come Follow Me study, just like my friend, Amy Shepherd Lamb-jav who listens and has such great insights. Hi, Amy.

Now, here's my favorite thing about this study group, is each week we are joined by two of my friends. So it's always a little bit different. And I seriously, I'm so excited about these two. And I know I always say that, for reals, because I have known these two women for a very long time. And I've been trying to get them together for this podcast and they're here and I'm thrilled. And we have a regular Jalyn Peterson. Hey sis.

Jalyn 1:17

What's up?

Tammy 1:18

And then Jalyn, do you wanna help me introduce our next friend? Who is it?

Jalyn 1:21

She's my bestie Michelle Wall.

Michelle 1:23

Eldredge.

Tammy 1:28

Oh. Guess she got married. Helloooo.

Jalyn 1:26

She gets mad when I call her Michelle Wall still.

Michelle 1:30

Okay.

Jalyn 1:31

It's only been how many years?

Michelle 1:33

It's only been 11.

Tammy 1:36

Oh my gosh. Well, Michelle, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Michelle 1:38

I grew up in Washington State, Northwest Washington, north of Seattle. Came to BYU and I work in education. I was a teacher for many years and then administrator and now work for a school district as their Federal Programs Director. So, lots of education in my life and lots of teaching and training. And I got married late in life. And we have one daughter, Gabrielle - Gabby. She's amazing. We love her, too. So

Tammy 2:06

Oh she's an adorable redhead.

Michelle 2:08

She is

Jalyn 2:08

Oh, she's so cute!

Michelle 2:10

She is the cutest thing you've ever seen in your life. She really is.

Tammy 2:14

A shout out to Gabby. I love it. I love it. Okay, well, if you want to know more about my friends, and read their bios and see some fun pictures of them, you can find them in our show notes which are at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. So friends, grab your scriptures, your scripture journal and stuff to mark your Scriptures with, and let's dig in. Okay, I want to know you two. What speech did you think of in my opening question?

Jalyn 2:36

I just watched Brene Brown on the Netflix. So I thought of Teddy Roosevelt. "The Man in the Arena "speech is what I thought.

Tammy 2:43

Oh, great one. I didn't even see that. What about you, Michelle?

Michelle 2:47

I'm gonna go all churchy right away here. But honestly, I thought of President Nelson.

Tammy 2:52

Ooo. Both of you, great answers. Would you ever have considered Moses If I hadn't put him in that group?

Michelle 2:59

No.

Jalyn 3:00

I think every prophet. It seems like when these great men, they're about ready to die, and it's like, what do I teach my sons? What do I pass on to my kids? What do I and we get these, like, where you could distill all of scripture or the whole gospel into that one little speech? And there's a few of those in the scriptures. So I think prophets just come to mind because there are so many of these great speeches in Scripture.

Tammy 3:24

Well, thank you for saying it that way, Julian, because you just perfectly set up the book of Deuteronomy. That is what it is. It's Moses' final speech to his people. In fact, there's three distinct sermons that he's going to give in the book of Deuteronomy. So, here's the breakdown of the word. "Deuteronomy" is two words 'deutero', and 'nomy' or nomos is where it comes from. And Deutero means 2nd, and Nomy means Law. So it means the 2nd law, but it doesn't mean an additional law. It means a repetition of the law. So that's what's happening here in the book of Deuteronomy. In Hebrew, it's the title DEVARIM, which means 'words', and that's how it begins. "These be the words."

Now, here are some fun facts. Moses is the author; Deuteronomy is the book most quoted by Old Testament prophets, and Christ quoted or alluded more from Deuteronomy, than any other Old Testament book except Isaiah and Psalms. So we said earlier that there are three final sermons here found in the book of Deuteronomy, and I'm just going to break them down for you real quick" In Deuteronomy, chapters 1-4 is the 1st sermon - that's the introduction. Then we have the 2nd sermon, which is found in Deuteronomy chapters 5-26. And then the last sermon is in chapters 27-30. And chapters 31-34 are kind of known as The Appendix, so you can kind of just label it that way.

Now, go with me to the Maps section in your scriptures and I want us to look at map #2. Map #2 is going to give us the setting for where Deuteronomy is taking place. And this map is going to be very important for this week and next week. So again, that is in your study helps, or in the back of your Bible, and then you go to Bible maps, and then you hit map #2. And it's Israel's exodus from Egypt, and entry into Canaan. So we are at probably what would look like #17. They are camping on the east side of the Jordan River just outside the promised land. Their 40-year journey was over; the children of Israel, they're standing at the borders of the Promised Land. They're about to enter, but Moses is required to say a farewell because he cannot enter the land of Canaan. And we've learned that last week, because he didn't speak to the rock like the Lord told him, he smote the rock with his staff. And as a result, he and Aaron will not get to enter the land of Canaan, or the Promised Land. So that's really interesting to know.

Now, the book of Deuteronomy is the last of the 5 books of the Torah, or the Books of Moses. And we have been labeling the names of each one of these books in Hebrew. And this is so beautiful to me, because if you have been labeling them in Hebrew, all 5 books say this: "In the beginning," "These are the names", "He the Lord called in the wilderness", and "These are His words".

Michelle 6:06

Oh, I love that.

Tammy 6:08

Isn't that incredible? And tell me why you like that.

Michelle 6:12

I feel like it's Moses's love letter. A lot of times, I think I've read things like this before, and it just feels like maybe retelling the same thing over and over again. And probably because I've really tried very hard to dive deep in the Old Testament this year. Those words connected to that feeling I've been feeling.

Tammy 6:32

Will you share with us why it makes you emotional?

Michelle 6:35

I think because loving the Old Testament is unexpected this year for me. And at Christmastime this year. I just had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to find Him, to hear Him in the Old Testament. And I kept brushing it off, like whatevs. Whatevs, whatevs. I'll do my best. It'll be fine. Carry on with the Book of Mormon in your life kind of feeling. And it was almost a push to know really, you need to find Him. So when you said all of that and thinking that it's Moses' love letter summary to all of that, it just, you know, it's testifying to the prompting I had - to find Him. So just there's peace in that.

Tammy 7:23

Beautifully spoken, Michelle. Thank you so much. When I was looking at how all of these Old Testament books say to us "In the beginning", "These are the names", "He the Lord called in the wilderness", and "These are His words", I was thinking exactly what you said, Michelle, like, what has He been saying to me over the past five months? What has He been saying to me for the past five books that we have studied, because who isn't in a wilderness? We are all in the wilderness. And I love how you just shared, Michelle, you are seeking Christ. And so we have just studied, these are His words to us. And, boy, I would love to know from people who've listened this year so far up to this point, like what have His words been to you, from the first 5 books of Moses? What have you heard Him say personally to you? And thank you, Michelle, for beautifully saying that, and I didn't even prompt you for it. You were so inspired. So thank you.

Okay, that is so great. So great. Wow, that was so great. The spirit, I like that so much, Michelle, you can just feel the spirit. When you spoke, you felt that I felt it, that this has been a real experience for you. And you have found Him.

Michelle 8:27

It really has been powerful in my life.

Tammy 8:29

Thank you so much for your comments, ladies. That was really good. Okay, in the next segment, we're going to begin our study of Moses's final words, or as Michelle said, we're going to begin a study of Moses' love letter to the people, and we'll do that next.

Segment 2 8:41

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Tammy 8:44

Okay, so there's a show right now on television called "Alone". My husband and I love to watch it, because they take 20 contestants - maybe it's not even 20, it might be 10 - and they drop you somewhere in Canada in the mountains and they see who can survive and live the longest. I mean, it blows my mind to see how clever these people are. Right?

Jalyn 9:02

Oh, it's kind of like a Bear Grylls.

Tammy 9:04

But they have their own cameras. They have to film themselves. There's no camera crew that follows them.

Jalyn 9:08

Okay. Okay,

Tammy 9:09

You are solo, on your own.

Jalyn 9:11

No "Survivor", where there's really like a trailer behind.

Tammy 9:13

No, no. This is so crazy scary and you would think, Oh, that person is going to win because they're 'built', and they're outdoorsy, and they they've been training their whole life for this. And they're the first ones out. It's and it's so fun to see who makes it to the end of the show. Because if once you tap out, a helicopter will come in and take you and take you home. And then the person who's lived in the wilderness the longest gets to have all this money, like a million dollars, I think or something crazy like that. But before they go out, they get this class and they're given certain things that they're allowed to have. And they're told how they're supposed to survive in the wilderness, what to watch out for, how they're gonna live, how they're gonna last.

I was thinking about this TV show when I was thinking of like, here's Moses and he's getting the people ready. I'm just gonna give you the last bit of stuff that you're going to need to survive, because once I'm gone, I'm gone. You guys are going to be on your own. And it's going to be hard. I'm imagining how many people might tap out, and who's going to make it to the very end. So let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 6, and we're going to read what Moses has to say to these contestants who are now going to be in the wilderness by themselves without him in just a short little while. So Deuteronomy Chapter 6, of all the things he could have taught them, this is what he has to say. Michelle, will you please read for us Deuteronomy chapter 6, and read verses 4-9 for us.

Michelle 10:27

Deu 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one Lord:

5 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6 "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7 "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8 "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9 "And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates."

Tammy 11:04

Now, here's why I wanted us to read this. Highlight verses 4,5,6, and 7, specifically verses 4, 5, and 6. This is called the SHEMA, I want you to write that to the outside - "Shema prayer," S H E M A. it is a Jewish prayer that is said twice a day, every single day, twice a day. Jews say: "Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord." And then they recite verse 5, and then verse 6. It is the earliest prayer that a child learns. Talk about a speech having the greatest impact on the history of the world! An entire Jewish nation will recite this prayer two times a day. I just think of all the things he could have first said to his people, he's saying to them "Hear O Israel.

Now we have learned this throughout this year, the reason why it's called the Shema prayer is because the first word is 'Hear'. And in Hebrew, that word is Shema. And it doesn't mean just hear, it also means obey. There is no separate word for obey in Hebrew; the word obey and hear are the same. So he's saying, 'Hear and obey, O Israel: the LORD our God is one Lord.'

Now, there's a Hebrew word in verse 5 that's super important to us. As you look at this, it says, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with thy soul, and with my might." I want you to highlight the word 'might', because in Hebrew, it is not just might, it actually is translated as the word ME'OD. M E, and then there's apostrophe, O D. That's how you spell it in Hebrew, ME'OD, which means strength, or muchness, or total capacity.

And I want to teach you a little bit about this word, because it's super important in Scripture. Like, here's a good example: on Noah's ark, in Hebrew, the waters were rising, and they became ME'OD powerful, which means extremely powerful, in Hebrew. Cain, when he killed his brother, he wasn't just angry with his brother before he killed him. He was ME'OD wroth, that's what Genesis 4:5 says. He was very angry. When Saul becomes the king of Israel, he is ME'OD happy, he is very happy. And then here's something kind of cool: in Genesis 20:43 it says that Jacob had increased exceedingly, and he me'od, me'od. That word is used twice in that verse to not just tell us he was rich, but he was super-duper rich, like the most exceedingly rich. So when we read this verse right here, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy ME'OD', how much are we supposed to love Him with?

Super-duper

Michelle 12:42

Super-duper

Tammy 12:43

Yes, like a total capacity with all that you could possibly love him with! Now, how cool is it to think that this is the first prayer a child learns. Wow,

Michelle 13:24

Super cool.

Jalyn 13:48

It's beautiful, yeah.

Tammy 13:53

It's who we love, right? And who we're supposed to love. I want us to kind of just think about this, because as we live our daily lives, I want you to kind of think about, what can we do to love God with a super-duper way, with all of our allness? I mean, Michelle, you have a cute little redhead? How would you teach her to love God with all your me'od, especially when we're in the wilderness? We're in the messy middle of life. What does that look like for us as humans? How do we love Him with all of our me'od?

Michelle 14:23

I don't want to oversimplify that question, but one word that I've been thinking about a lot with studying this is, remember. This prayer that is said daily, in the Jewish custom is a way to remember . You have to do things to help you remember, and so they're sort of simple things like your daily prayer and your daily scripture study. And they seem simple, though we all know those things can be much more difficult than just listing. But they do help you remember. So for me, that's what I have to do is I have to seek to remember, really. Not just remember but to daily seek light and seek, seek remembrance. I can't let it go for a day.

Jalyn 15:09

That's why we do anything we do in the church. It's why we go to church on Sunday. It's why we show up to the temple. It's why we do all of those things, because we're really just calling into remembrance that promise that we've made to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our might. You know, here in the south, it's full of Christian churches, there's so many different churches. And so talking of Christ, and God actually comes up a lot more frequently just in my day-to-day life with these other Christians, they definitely are walking that talk for sure.

Tammy 15:46

Well, that is going to be my challenge to myself this week. That was so great. Jalyn and, Michelle, this idea to remember Him. Well we talk about how the seminary answers work: read your scriptures, say your prayers, go to church, pay your tithing. All of those are in remembrance. All of those remember, remind us of who He is. And I just think this is cool, to talk of them when you're sitting in your house, when you're walking in your way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. I'm going to try and do more of that throughout my week: to talk about Him with my kids and just share stories or my own personal experiences. I think sometimes we unfortunately shy away from sharing spiritual experiences. It's okay for us to share them in sacred settings, and especially with our kids. We'll talk more about that today. But I'm so grateful you shared that.

And here's kind of a cool thing. Michelle, you read this, but I like it in verse 9. "And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and upon thy gates." This prayer is rolled up on a little scroll and it is what is inside of the Mezuzah. And a mezuzah can be a cylindrical, it can be a square, but it's a long rectangle. And then the scroll is inside of it. And then it's sealed shut. And then you glue it or tape it. For me, it's just like a sticky pad and it just sticks on to the outside of your home door. And then every time you walk in the house, you're supposed to touch it to remember. Oh my gosh, Michell, it was so cool - to remember the Shema of prayer. So cool., so thank you.

Jalyn 17:03

So one of "The Real Housewives in New York" (T V show) had a really blinged out one. A Mezuzah. It was pretty awesome.

Tammy 17:10

Sharon gave me one that's silver, like it's fancy.

Jalyn 17:12

Oh, of course Sharon gave you one.

Michelle 17:14

What's it called that they wear on their head for the prayer?

Tammy 17:18

That is verse, that's verse 8, that's the frontlets in the box they tie to their head. That also contains the Shema.

Michelle 17:24

So it's the same thing. It's just on their head when they do their daily prayer and the door when they go in.

Jalyn 17:31

Same with don't they have the leather thing that they bind their hands?

Tammy 17:34

Yep, they bind their hands. So that's verse 8 and 9 is that we read., and so.

Jalyn 17:39

Are we gonna talk about verse 11?

Tammy 17:41

We weren't but we can. Go ahead.

Jalyn 17:44

Well, think about the lives we live now, living in houses full of all good things which, you didn't fill wells you digged, water you drink that you didn't dig the well. Vineyards, olive trees that you didn't plant any of that. We're all here blessed on the backs of those who came before us. And did all that, prepared all of that before us. There were people long before me that started that chain.

Tammy 18:08

Wow, beautiful.

Michelle 18:09

That is beautiful, Jalyn, and I love that. And I really love the follow-up with 12. "Then beware lest thou forget the Lord,"

Jalyn 18:18

Exactly. Remember.

Tammy 18:19

Yes!

Jalyn 18:19

Right. Don't forget Him. And we see that, we read the cycle over and over and over. It's the biggest cycle. I mean, it's everywhere in Scripture, right? Every civilization. It's like, remember, obey, do forget, pride, evolve. I mean, just constant. And I just love that. "Beware lest thou forget."

Tammy 18:24

Wow. It really is about remembering, and so that is so cool. Oh, gosh. Thank you guys. Okay, so throughout our discussion today, we're just going to see how Moses instructs this aspect of muchness and me'od, and remembering and loving God with a total capacity of heart and not forgetting. I mean, isn't that great? Right out of the gates, 'you're gonna be in the wilderness, don't forget.' I think that's so cool. So in the next segment, we're gonna move on to what this looks like when it comes to how we treat others.

Segment 3 19:07

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Tammy 19:09

Do you believe that we are blessed after helping someone in need?

Jalyn 19:14

Usually it's just in the immediate doing of the thing. You know, as young women like, geez, tonight's activity's a service project, we gotta go, you know, we got to go to the rest home and sing, you know, or something like that, where you're just like, I want to skip this one. But then it immediately helps you feel better.

Tammy 19:35

And you think that's a blessing?

Jalyn 19:37

I think that's totally the blessing.

Tammy 19:39

What are your thoughts, Michelle?

Michelle 19:41

Uh, when you asked us to think about that, I sort of thought first thought what Jalyn did, which was, I never feel bad when I've helped somebody, you know. I never come away going Gosh, I wish I wouldn't have followed that prompting, takesies-backsies. I don't, you know. I never think that but I had an experience a long time ago, where I was feeling not so great about life and myself and felt pretty strongly that I needed to ask for opportunities to serve. And I remember being like, I don't want to, like, I don't want to study the Old Testament, you know, like, I don't want to ask for that. What's gonna, what are You going to say that I don't want to do that. But I just decided I'm going to do it. Okay, fine, whatever.

And I came home from work one day and had this really strong feeling to make some soup for a friend of mine. And I remember being like, Um, that's weirdo. Don't just show up with soup on someone's doorstep. And she happened to be my visiting teacher at the time. And I also was like, Well, that's double weirdo because she's MY visiting teacher. And like, that's weirdo totally. And then I had the thought come like, You asked for this, sister - do it. Came home, made the soup. And then I went over to her house, and I stood on her doorstep with soup and just I started bawling. Like, I don't know why I'm here. I just said like, here's some soup. I felt so dumb. So dumb, so insecure. And I really think I was crying, mostly because I was so embarrassed that I was standing there with soup. And you know, she looked at me and she started crying. And she just said, I just had a miscarriage last night. And I'm on the way to the hospital. And I didn't know what to feed my kids for dinner.

Tammy 21:22

Wow.

Michelle 21:24

Yeah. And that one experience changed my whole perspective of service. I look at that as helping for the rest of my life go, just follow it. If it's good, just do and whether you know if you're helping someone or not, or you feel immediate, like, oh, that's why I was there. I think the Lord helped me with that experience, so that for the rest of my life, I would just act on anything good. Just to do it. It's good. Just do.

Tammy 21:53

Wow, I can see how it did; it changed mine, you just sharing that. So thank you for sharing that, Michelle. And Jalyn, thank you. I love how you pointed out that just the good feeling is the blessing. I think we take that for granted sometimes. And I hate it when people say, 'take for granted.' I think it's dumb and I'm like, I don't take things for granted, jerks. I probably do. I mean, you're probably right. I hadn't even considered that. Cuz now how much do we love Deuteronomy chapter 15. Again, we're in the wilderness. And Moses is like, 'It's going to be tough. And remember, here's some advice I'm going to give you to make life a little easier before you go into the land of Canaan. You're going to want to know Deuteronomy 15: 7-9. Jalyn, will you read those verses for us?

Jalyn 22:33

7 "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

8 "But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

9 "Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him not; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee."

Tammy 23:04

We're gonna talk about these verses real quick. So the first thing I want us to do is in verse 7, highlight the word 'poor'. I just love this word in Hebrew, because the word poor in Hebrew is EBYON. And it does mean poor. And it means 'in want or need,' but it also means 'subject to oppression or abuse'. And then we have this beautiful thing with the Lord saying, open your hand wide unto him, not just a little bit, open it wide unto him. And then we get to verse 9, and then He gives a warning: "Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart," We have to highlight 'wicked,' because in Hebrew, the actual translation is 'worthless'. Isn't that interesting? "In thy [worthless ]heart, saying, The Seventh year, the year of release". Now, this is interesting: every 7 years, it is built into the law of Moses, that you are going to forgive everyone, you're going to let it go. But then at the end of verse 9, then He says, 'it be a sin unto thee.' If you can't forgive, if you can't help the poor, it is a sin unto thee.

Michelle 24:10

I think there's a deeper meaning to poor, which you've already shared. It's anxiety, it's depression, it's financial. It's all those that everybody's experiencing something. So that harsh ending of 'and it be a sin', like then, so be part of it, be part of the discussion and helping each other. And I'm one to be very quiet and not talk a lot in those kinds of things. And I think I need to be better to say, oh, yeah, I feel that way too.

Jalyn 24:38

You have to go back to Heavenly Father is forgiving us. Like who are we to withhold that from other people when we are sinners, when we are all in that position at some point? Whether we're, I mean

Are we not all beggars, too?

Exactly, that's the whole thing, like the Savior was willing to do that for me and I can't do this for someone who just wants some food? or whatever, then of course, the sin should be on your head. That you, who have been given much, how can the Lord turn around and bless you if you can't do His bidding here on Earth?

Tammy 25:14

I really liked how you explained that Jalyn. That was so powerful. And I like its connection then to verses 10 and 11. Because then I think it's important to know not only were You told me to help the poor and it's a sin if you don't, look what you get if you do, Jalyn, will you read verses 10 and 11.

Jalyn 25:33

10 "Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee and all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

11 "For the poor shall never cease out of the land:" [boy, isn't that true?] "Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land."

Tammy 25:55

There it is the command for the blessing.

I shalt bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand to do. Like, that's huge.

You will be blessed for doing His work. I mean, here is Moses, in our wilderness, and I feel like I'm being reminded of all the things I need to be doing. So he finishes out this talk, telling them to help the poor. And in the next segment, we're going to learn another new teaching that, by the way, is repeated in all four-standard works, owning its place as the speech that has shaped the history of the world and I can't wait to show you what it is.

Segment 4

Tammy

We're just going to jump into Deuteronomy Chapter 18, because I want to show you and do a cool Scripture chain of what is repeated in all four-standard works. Okay. One of the things we need to remember about Deuteronomy is Moses is doing a retelling of the stories that we've already learned about in Exodus. So we get to Deuteronomy 18. And Moses retells the story about how he's like, 'Hey, remember how I invited you to the mountain with me, and the Lord wanted you to come, but you were too scared? And you're like, No, Moses, you go in place of us. So like, yeah, we do remember that it was scary. There were thunderings lightnings -we thought we were gonna die.' And then he teaches them this really cool thing that's found in verses 18-22. So let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 18. And we are going to read verses 18-22. And we're going to start with Michelle ;we'll each read one verse until we finish the block. We'll go Michelle, Jalyn, and me. And let's read what the Lord had to say ,or what Moses had to teach the people.

Michelle

Deu 18:18 "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

Jalyn

19 "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

Tammy

20 "But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

Michelle

21 "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

Jalyn

22 "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."

Tammy

Let's go back and underline where it says, "I will require it of him". So this is interpreted to mean that we will have to account for our actions here on earth; we will be accountable for the commandments we did keep, and for those we did not keep, and we will be asked to explain ourselves. Now these verses we just read are teaching us about the importance of following a prophet. And in fact, Paul, Nephi ,Moroni, and the Savior Himself all commented on these verses that we just read. So to the outside of these verses, let's start our Scripture chain right here and write: Acts chapter 3:22-23. That's the book of Acts 3:22-23, and we're gonna go there. When we get there, Michelle, will you please read that?

Unknown Speaker

Acts 3:22 "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, 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.

Michelle

23 "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."

Tammy

Excellent, thank you very much. At the end of verse 23, it changed: it doesn't say it'll be required of us. Now it's saying, if you don't follow what the Prophet says, you will be destroyed. So now it's getting a little more serious; He's doubling down on this,. You better do what the prophet asks. Let's do another cross reference. Let's put 1 Nephi 22: 20-21, and I will read that.

20 "And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; he shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people.

21 "And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute judgment in righteousness."

Now, we have that phrase "cut off" instead of "destroyed". And Nephi teaches us who the prophet is, so hold there for a minute and to the outside of that scripture, let's write 3 Nephi 20:23. And 3 Nephi 20, this is the Lord and He is speaking to the Nephites, and He's going to quote the verses we just read, in 3 Nephi 20:23. And Jalyn, will you read that for us when you get there.

Jalyn

3 Ne 20:23 "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."

Tammy

Okay, yeah, ugh. So "required of him", "destroyed", "cut off". Let's do another reference

Jalyn

Jesus saying that, Yes.

Tammy

Yes.

Jalyn

Jesus saying, I am the prophet.

Tammy

Exactly. Very good, Jalyn.

Michelle

I was just going to ask you that, sorry to go back.

Tammy

No, but a back.

Michelle

Then in Deuteronomy before the 18-22 and 15-17 when he's saying, The Lord God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee. I know this is silly, but Prophet is capitalized. Is that identifying Jesus Christ is the prophet coming? Like that's different than kind of what we're talking about right now.

Tammy

Okay, Michelle, that is such a great question. I'm so glad you asked that. The answer is, yes. It is a foreshadowing of an explanation of whose commandments we are to follow, and who will require it of us, and who will cut us off if we don't follow Him. Now listen. Before we despair and feel sad, we do have one more scripture in our Scripture chain. So let's go to Joseph Smith History 1:40. So Joseph Smith History - it's only one chapter - but it's verse 40 that we want to look at. I have used this Scripture chain so many times, it's one of my all-ime favorites. Now, when Moroni came to visit Joseph Smith, when he was young, and Moroni came three times in the night, and he repeated the same three things each time to Joseph Smith. And this is really fascinating: of all the Scriptures He chose to recite to Joseph Smith, he's going to recite this one in verse 40. Go ahead, Jalyn.

Jalyn

JS1:40: "In addition to these, he quoted the 11th chapter of Isaiah, saying that it was about to be fulfilled. He quoted also the third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that prophet was Christ; but the day had not yet come when "they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people," but soon would come."

Tammy

I LOVE that, because for those of us that are worried about people we love, who aren't following Christ or the Prophet, the day hasn't come yet, no one's been cut off. whew! So let's all just take a big deep breath, no one's been cut off. And I think, me growing up, I was a professional cutter-offer. I don't know about you, but I mean, I would see people smoking and I'm like, Telestial World. Too bad for you! I was so good. I really, I may have even prayed, 'God, if you need my help, I can do this. I can find people, I can cut people off, I'm a little bit Sicilian, -a lot of people are dead to me - but boy. Professional cutter-offer right here. And I just think it's amazing: no one's been cut off. So let's all just take a big deep breath, there is still hope and chances for everyone.

But now we're gonna go back into this idea of our Prophet today and the connection to Jesus Christ. And I love this quote by Elder Anderson in 2018. This is when we had the Solemn Assembly where our Prophet today, President Russell M. Nelson was sustained as a prophet, seer, and revelator. And Elder Anderson gave this talk right after it. And here's what he had to say about the Prophet. And Michelle, will you read this quote.

Michelle

"The most important role of the Lord's prophet is to teach us of the Savior and lead us to Him."

Tammy

That's it. That's your litmus test, for if you can believe what the prophet has to say. Now go back to Deuteronomy 18. Because it kind of gave us a litmus test. And I think it's important for us to recognize this: is that if the prophet is leading us to Christ, then he's a prophet. End of story. And I asked you guys to kind of think about this before you came today. And I want to know your thoughts about our Prophet today. How do you know he is a man of God? How do you know, he is a prophet, seer, and revelator?

Michelle

One thing that as you're studying the Old Testament has done for me, is super solidify my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the restoration. Because Joseph Smith could not have just made all these connections up. When we do a Scripture chain that includes scriptures in the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith History that all bring into, it just couldn't have happened that way, you know, it just couldn't have. So that's a side note.

Tammy

That's an awesome side note, I will bear my testimony of that. I will second that 100%.,Michelle. Absolutely.

Michelle

It just happened again, where I just went, It can't be, it just has to be. It like cannot be another way. It's interesting that you referred to that, that quote, actually, that I just read and President Nelson's Solemn Assembly. When President Nelson became or was called to be the Prophet, I remember thinking - I'm worried about what people will think when I say this - I remember thinking, Eh, I don't really connect to him. Not believe, but just sort of not excited, which sounds horrible. So

Tammy

No. It's real. We love that.

Michelle

And it worried me because I was like, bleh, what is this feeling of I don't just feel what who. And I remember before the Solemn Assembly, like really praying, like, I need to know, I want to know, and help me to know. And I will never forget being in our living room and participating in that and just overwhelmingly feeling so calm and so peaceful with like, it's a, this is right, this is good. And just it was nothing like shocking, it just was calm and peace and that's how I know. I asked, and then I felt such peace during that Solemn Assembly and it was forever changing for me really. So

Tammy

Incredible, Michelle. Wow. That is great personal experience, and that you put it to the test. You prayed for it. So cool. Thank you. What about you, Jalyn?

Jalyn

Yeah, for me with President Nelson, it was, I just felt like his whole message right out of the gate was 'you have to develop your own personal testimony with Christ. You need to hear Him.' And this could be me totally putting words, but it probably is. But you know, like It's not the church's job to develop your testimony and teach you every single way that the Lord is going to help you in your personal circumstances. Christ and God are personal to you. And you need to figure out how. And I think for the latter days, there is no better advice than to know I have to be able to do exactly what Michelle did: ask the question and know how I'm going to personally get the answer, and how that's going to come to me. Wow, talk about a man specifically called and chosen for this exact time in the state of the world and the state of things. And so everything we're doing is you've got to develop your personal testimony of Jesus Christ and listen.

Tammy

Absolutely,

Michelle

Yeah. Hear him, right here.

Jalyn

Yeah,

Tammy

Totally, totally. Well, and then this brings up the case, because many people think back to past prophets, and they take umbrage with things that have happened and things that have been said, I highly recommend studying The 14 Fundamentals in Following a Prophet. It is key, I love it. One of those fundamentals is the third one, which is: "The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet." And we have to remember that. There may have been things said that we don't agree with and we don't like, absolutely. We can acknowledge that, and we can move past it, and realize - and I love what you've just said, Jalyn -that the Prophet today is doing what exactly what the prophet is supposed to do, to lead us toward Christ.

And I can't imagine a judgement day when it says, "I will require it of him". The Savior, then saying, 'Why didn't you follow me? Why didn't you do what I asked you to do?' And that's where we are today. We have a prophet who is leading us to Christ, as if the Savior Himself were saying to us, 'Take time in your day to study about me.' When you think of everything the Prophet has said, let God prevail. Can you imagine the Savior saying, Hey, let God prevail. I know the guy real well, and He's gonna do it!' So remember that when the prophet speaks to us, that it is, the prophet is Christ. And there is this beautiful, rich connection.

Jalyn

I love that you say that, because I am one of those people that kind of can look in hindsight. And you and I have had conversations about this to town that we're, we're really kind of enlightening. But it's why this example of Moses not being able to enter into Canaan, but still being a prophet of God, of that we have to allow for men to be human beings as well, and the product of their environment. And so I think it goes a long way to kind of acknowledge that they were people that did the best they could in the situation they were in.

And there's a lot of things fraught with leading a group of people, you know, and in remembrance, and all of that. But that's why I feel so passionate about President Nelson is because he has made such an effort of it is about your individual testimony and the things that our parents in the church, they grew up, the mothers that raised us, you know. What kept you in remembrance was a lot different. And so now it is like, it's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of individual spirit and testimony and loving and inclusion. And it's not about if you just do the list, it's about are you really taking care of the poor? Are you doing, it's not a list.

Tammy

It's me'od!

Jalyn

Exactly. It's me'od.

Tammy

Cuz I’m sitting here thinking like, here's Moses, and it seems so harsh. And his words, sometimes we read these and it seems like out, cut off, you know, you'll be destroyed. But these are Law of Moses people who understand that language. They needed this structure and I'm thinking about past prophets, the people needed that kind of structure. Beautifully put it, Jalyn. We don't need that today, so much as we do, where the Prophet's like, Let God prevail. What does that look like? Spend time, I'm not going to tell you how to do it. We are now, I think we're living this higher law and we're getting closer to Christ coming and we're, it is now becoming so important that we figure it out on our own, rather than having been told how to do it and that is, there's so much beauty in that. We really do have a prophet leading us to Christ because Christ is coming.

Every prophet's been perfect for their time and for whatever reason

Jalyn

100%, I so believe that.

that went down, how it went down, but it's time for like the healing of all that. Because being cut off means cut off from that divine inspiration. There's no way we're going to make it .We are not going to make it through a second coming. We're not going to make it through these latter days if we do not have that anchor.

Tammy

So good, you guys.

Michelle

I feel like it's the word I keep thinking of is internalize, you know. It's internalizing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I keep thinking of, you know, the specifically the Young Women's program and how significantly that has changed in the last many years. And I'm serving there again, and, and I keep reminding myself and those I'm serving with this is for this time, these young women right now today, not what we did seven years ago. How girls camp was seven years ago. Not the personal progress check list seven years ago. And it's, it's a reminder of internalizing the gospel of Jesus Christ and not check-listing the church, right? It's different. And it's, it’s actually, it’s beautiful. I think.

Jalyn

It's beautiful, it needs to be.

Tammy

Excellent discussion. That was so good. That was so good. Okay, so we got to move on. And we're going to discover the next set of teach, I just think it's like, my mind is blown right now. Because here's Moses, he knows he's gonna die and he has to be so strict on this prophet thing, because he's like, you're gonna have more profits, you got to follow them. So moving right along. We're going to discover the next set of teachings that Moses has for the children of Israel ,as I am sure - oh my gosh - I can only imagine they're chomping at the bit to cross that Jordan River. But are their hearts ready? We'll discover that next.

Segment 5

.....

Tammy

So in this next segment, I asked my guests to come prepared for this. We are going to be in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Now, this one's a little bit crazy, because here's Moses, right? The children of Israel ready to cross. I am imagining my impatient, ADD-self going, Alright already, we get it. Can we just cross? Like, is there a pamphlet I can read?

Jalyn

I feel like that's how I was in heaven. Like I didn't really like understand what I was signing up for. Yeah, yeah. Let’s just go already.

Tammy

Oh, classic Tam,

Jalyn

That's fine.

Tammy

No, classic me: I'll wing it. I'll be fine.

Jalyn

I was probably talking to you like, is this done yet? Let's just go.

Tammy

Yeah, probably. I know. I'm not even kidding. I'm like will ya email me that? Unless you teach me something you couldn't send it an email, do not ask me to come to your meeting.

Jalyn

I'm pretty sure.

Tammy

Yeah. So here I am at the river, I'm waiting to cross. I'm like, wrap it up, let's do this. And then, of course, Moses, my ears are gonna perk up because now it's getting real. Because then Moses is like, Alright, well, you might want to know this. There are blessings and cursings for keeping the commandments and not. There are 14 blessings and 54 cursings. So bracket off verses 1-14. Those are strictly the blessings. And then verses 15 to the end, the cursings. So ladies, I want to know what you marked, what are some blessings that stood out? And what are some horrible curse things that stood out?

Michelle

I did love in verse 12. "The Lord shall open and to thee his good treasure." And I just felt like that summarized all of the treasure He has. It's open to you. It's open.

Tammy

Jalyn, did you mark a blessing?

Jalyn

Mine was kind of the same thing of that, that one kind of summed it up - His good treasure.

Tammy

I mean, there's just so many blessings: I'll bless you in bread; I'll bless you in plentyousness; I'll bless you in fruit. I mean, basically, I'll bless you and everything.

Jalyn

Mine's like the enemies. Mine's like the enemies that rise up against you. I'm gonna kshew! Cuz we would love that, like

Tammy

So many blessings for keeping the commandments, but what's he trying to teach with having more cursings? Now let's talk about the cursings. What did you mark? It starts in verse 15. I mean, verse 15, you just have to mark because we've already talked about it.

28:15 "But it shall come to pass, if that wilt not hearken" [or Shema, there it is ] "unto Shema unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee" [there's an 'if', we know we love 'if and then statements'] "then cursed thou shalt be." Here's all the cursings. K go; what'd you mark?

Jalyn

Here's the stuff that's just so horrible, like verse 22: a consumption, a fever, inflammation, extreme burning, blasting with mildew.

Tammy

It's awful!

Jalyn

Yeah. Where's the thing where it's like there's an extreme itch and then again when it gets down into 27. I don't even know what an emerod is.

Michelle

I want to hold up my scriptures and be like, Look at; I only highlighted botch because I was like, that's disgusting.

Jalyn

What a terrible curse. I don't know what an emerod is, but scabs that can't be healed.

Michelle

Oh, no, I don't want any of it.

Tammy

No. Well, you can look down the footnote Yeah, hemorrhoids those are that you're gonna get hemorrhoids.

Jalyn

Oh, that is hemorrhoids. Yes.

Michelle

I'm legally blind without my contacts. And now I'm no double blind because I can't see when I read. But 29 also, I kind of highlighted, like blindness and groping in the dark. And I already hate that feeling when I wake up in the middle of the night and I can't see anything. That made me kind of sickish to be like, Oh, that's already sad. That stuff works.

Jalyn

And then it goes kind of opposite of, you know, what we kind of talked about before of how great it was that we've all benefited off those people that come before us. So here it's saying, You're going to work and build the house and do all of that and you don't get any of it. You don't get to have any of that.

Tammy

I mean, these cursings are awful; they're discouraging, they're scary, they're sad. And if you're listening to this, you kind of feel like there's no hope, more cursings than blessings. And so you leave Deuteronomy 28 feeling a little bit depleted, a little bit devastated. And then I am so appreciative of the covenant in Deuteronomy 29 and 30. So let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 29. Bracket off verses 10-13, and all you need to know is this is where Moses is done reminding them. 'Okay, I know it scared you. So let me just remind you, here's the covenant again'. So he reiterates the covenant in verses 10-13. He reminds them of how good the Lord is, and the promises that He's made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his family, the oath, the covenant, your little ones, everybody.

And now let's turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 30. We're gonna mark a couple of verses here. Because we have to just know that even as bad as the cursings sound, there is always hope, if you choose something specific. So here we go, Deuteronomy chapter 30. I'll call out the verse and I'll just say your name, and she'll read it. This will be great. We're going to highlight a couple of verses in here. So Michelle, will you please read verse 6.

Michelle

30:6 "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."

Tammy

Tell me about that.

Michelle

I just love that last line, "that thou mayest live." It's so beautiful in its message that we know this is the great commandment: to love Him with mucho.

Tammy

me'od. Everything.

Michelle

Right? Me'od, you know. "And that thou mayest live?"" We had a good discussion with Gabby about this this week, just that I asked her, What do you think that means that thou mayest live and she just said, Well, forever and we live in happy. I mean, she was in her 10-year-old definition, it was beautiful.

Tammy

Beautiful. Jalyn, read verse 10,

Jalyn

10 "If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,

Tammy

And let's connect it to verse 16,

16 "In that I command thee this day to love the Lord God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it."

Michelle, verse 19, let's connect it there.

Michelle

19 "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before your life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."

Tammy

And then Jalyn, verse 20.

Jalyn

20 "That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

Tammy

Somewhere in those verses next to 19 or 20, I just want you to write 'John 14:6, and then write in big letters LIFE. And let's go to John chapter 14:6, when it says, "Choose life." I think this is so cool.

John 14:6 "And Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; "

When it says, Choose life, what's it really saying?

Michelle

Choose him. Choose him,

Jalyn

Yeah, choose Christ.

Michelle

Choose Christ. That's exactly the message. If you choose Christ with all your me'od, if you choose Christ, the blessings -I think that's what's so beautiful about 20 now -

Tammy

20 "That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

Like now, here we are, imagine you're at the river, and you're ready to cross. But then you hear this. And this is Moses - he's like, 'choose Christ, no matter what, no matter how hard it gets, and it's going to get hard, or it's going to be tough.' I mean, it's interesting, because, yeah, you've been wandering for 40 years. [And by the way, it only took 11 days. It should have only taken 11 days to get from point A to point B in the wilderness, but they wondered for 40 years,] and you thought that was hard. I'm sure Moses is like, you don't even know. You'll look back and think, just like they used to say, 'couldn't we just go back to Egypt and live? You'll wish you could go back to the days of wandering. Because you guys, you won't even believe what's coming up!'

But I just, his message is chosen Christ. And I think that is the message for us. I want you to think about that. And I want everyone listening to set a goal right now, how will you choose Christ? What are you going to do in your own life to cleave unto Him, to obey His voice, all those things that we've just been encouraged to do in verse 20. And write a goal today of how you're going to choose Christ. And so Moses is getting old. In fact, he is so old, on that same page look at Deuteronomy 31:2. Julian, read that for us.

Jalyn

31"2 "And he said unto them, I am an 120 years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also, the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan."

Tammy

Thank you. There it is, 120 years old, he's sooo old! And so in the next segment, we are going to find out what one last thing he has to say to the children of Israel.

Segment 6

.....

Tammy

All right, you two. Do you have a go-to slogan, like an upbeat saying, something you'd cross stitch on a pillow if you could, that's audience appropriate? I asked them this question earlier in the week, and they were sending me hilarious things. (laughter)

Jalyn

I actually did cross stitch a pillow.

Michelle

I asked my co-workers this. I said, What if I emailed, what would you say I said? And they all said, You tell us to "let it go" all the time. And I was like, Oh, is that good or bad? They're like, Oh, no, that's good. Like, you just say, let it go. It'll be here tomorrow, or

Tammy

it's a good one.

Jalyn

We have kind of a family one because my dad, he always said, "If you'd read, you'd know."

Because like, if ever we asked like, Hey, dad, how do I do that? I don't, it'll tell you right there in that book, because if you'd read, you'd know. So we all kind of like, I don't know if you'd read, you know. A fun way to be dismissive.

Tammy

Parenting 101.

Jalyn

Yeah, there you go. I give it to you.

Tammy

Okay, well, let's read what Moses' "mic drop", or "I have spoken" is. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 31 and it is verses 6 and 7, and it's the same thing twice. We're going to read these two verses, so Michelle, will you read these for us.

31:6 "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Michelle

7 "And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it."

Tammy

There it is. I mean, if you're standing there, and you're about to cross the river, and that's what you hear from the Prophet, what are your thoughts? I

Michelle

I got this. I can do this. You know what else I love there, Tam. I love that, I mean the mic drop is clearly 'be strong and of a good courage.' I also love the phrase "he will not fail thee." It's one thing to say, Be strong, have courage, right? Like that's motivational speaker, basketball coach, volleyball coach, you got this, you can do it, you know, be tough, you got it. But then coupled with "he will not fail thee", it's like, no, really. He's got your back, He's there for you, you know. If you, He is thy life. He's got ya. I love that piece of it connected to the 'Be strong'.

Jalyn

It kind of cracks me up a little bit. Because it's kind of like a parent of, right? Like, you're like, Okay, but I'm gonna tell you, here's all the blessings if you do it, and then I'm just gonna scare you to death by telling you, here's all the bad things. If you don't brush your teeth, they're gonna rot out of your head and you'll die.' You know, like parents use that tactic all the time of like, 'Here's the 54 million things that will go wrong, right? But then he turns around and says, But the Lord is not going to fail you; like you are going to have the strength to do everything we've asked you to do. He's never going to stop helping you try.

Tammy

And it all goes back to how we started. Just talk about Him when you're sitting, when you're walking, when you wake up in the morning. Remember. Just remember him. Choose life. Choose Christ. He will not fail you, He will not forsake you. You got this. And I'm just imagining the sweet Moses, like 'You got this. Now go and be so happy and I wish I could go with you but I can't, but that's okay. You're gonna be fine; I've prepared you as best I can.' And then Moses is like, And now I gotta go. And we're gonna go to that.

So let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 34. So 33 you do want to know this? Because in Deuteronomy, chapter 33, Moses will bless all the tribes of Israel. That's kind of cool, they sort of get this Father's blessing before he leaves. He blesses each tribe, except for you will not find Simeon in here, which is interesting. And some scholars believe that Simeon may have assimilated into the tribe of Judah. So we're not entirely sure, but some people think that. But all the other tribes are given blessings. And then we have Deuteronomy chapter 34. And you want to highlight verses 5 and 6. And here's what it says.

34:5 "So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the Word of the Lord,.

6 "And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeoor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."

Cross reference it with Alma 45"18-19. And if you go to Alma 45:18-19, it's going to teach us that Moses was translated as was Alma, the younger. So taken up into heaven, to do more good work before he can be resurrected, because he's going to have to come back to the Mount of Transfiguration. And then after the Savior's resurrected, Moses will get resurrected. And then he'll return, in Doctrine and Covenants section 110, to restore the keys of gathering. So that is Moses' his life. That is the book of Deuteronomy, and that is the end. Wow. How about that discussion, ladies?

Jalyn

Amazing

Michelle

It was so great.

Jalyn

Yeah.

Tammy

Okay, ladies, so gather your thoughts, and let's share what our takeaway was.

Jalyn

My takeaway for this goes back to, it's the whole repetition and remember. The book of Deuteronomy is the book of repetition. And there's a reason we repeat all these things in the gospels, because we're trying to remember them. And for me, that's the whole purpose and intent is to remember Christ and His atoning sacrifice and, and God's plan for us. And then I loved that whole thing that Michelle said about how we all feel when you're, we're showing up at somebody's house with the proverbial soup. We're all so worried about that moment. Just again, a reminder of you just have to listen to those promptings and be brave enough to act on those so you keep having those opportunities to do good and do better and help everybody else, which is why we're here.

Tammy

Great takeaway, Jalyn. That was awesome. Thank you. Michelle?

Michelle

I have not really studied Deuteronomy. So thank you for that.

Tammy

It was funny, when I asked you to be on it, you're like, Yes, just don't give me a hard one. I'm like, Okay. Deuteronomy, how do you feel about that book? I know, I could have given you Esther or Ruth. But I knew you were up for the task. You're a teacher, you did well.

Michelle

I had to sing the song to like think of where Deuteronomy was. (sings) Genesis, Exodus. Okay, that's where it is. Stand at nothing still, but I loved what you shared time at the beginning about me’od. I love words. And I think that that really struck me with how much me’od would be in my own life. How much am I super-duper investing? And how much attention Am I putting on hearing him? And I love that word. I want to put a sticky on my mirror in the morning that says that. And I it's silly, but I actually loved super-duper like it's super-duper.

Jalyn

Yeah,

Michelle

that resonated with me.

Tammy

That was really cool.

Michelle

It's so literally awe some. It's super-duper. And so I that I, that really struck me and I love that in connection to really the discussion we had on the "He is life." And that's what for me, I need to remember, not all of the things but the most important thing: Remember, He is my life, and He won't fail us. And that's, that's my mic drop - super-duper.

Tammy

Ah, so good, Michelle, so good. Wow. I will say my takeaways were the two moments I really felt the Spirit so strong. It was Michelle, when you talked about what the Old Testament has done for you, when we just ,when we defined what the first 5 books of Moses really say in Hebrew. And when you talked to us about your experience where the Spirit said, Study the Old Testament. And not many people have had that or have dared to study the Old Testament. It's daunting, it seems weird or scary. And your testimony of finding Christ in here was awesome.

And then, Jalyn, when you taught us the higher law of Deuteronomy 18, it could not have gone better. I mean, that is and it was crazy. Because as you were saying the words I was formulating that in my brain: That is right. What is she saying is 100% Right? And it was just this aha, like we all came together. We agreed that that is what it was. And it was so powerful. So thank you both of you for sharing today. This was a great discussion. So I love you both.

Michelle

Love you, ladies. B

Jalyn

Bye, sis, bye guys. Bye.

Tammy

Well, gosh. I cannot wait to hear what your big takeaways are from this episode. Now if you haven't already joined our discussion group on Facebook or Instagram, go do it. Because it's such a great place to share what you're learning. Ask questions as you study and I try to answer anything that you ask throughout the week. And then every week at the end, we always ask for a big takeaway. We post a call on Instagram and Facebook. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson and just let us know what you learned. And I read them all and I just, oh, it's my favorite part of Sunday is just reading what people are learning.

You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode on LDS living.com/sunday on Monday and go there because that's where we're gonna have a link to all the references, as well as this entire transcript, and some really cool gluins, so go check it out. The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus Original, brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall. And today our fabulous study group participants were Jalyn Peterson and Michelle Wall Eldredge. And you can find more information about these ladies at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday.

Our podcast is produced by Katie Lambert and me and edited by Hailey Higham. It is recorded and mixed by Mix at Six Studios and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. We will see you next week. And please remember, You Are God's Favorite.

In fact, when women get married later in life, I say to them, The single most important thing you need to do - and to anyone out there getting married later in life - you listen to me. the single most important thing you're going to need to do is get that Costco card, that Costco card in your name, in your husband's name, whatever it looks like. Because I had done everything; I had done like the driver's license and Social Security, whatever, none of that mattered. I went to Costco, didn't have a card with my name on it and I was so sad. I was so sad. So there you go. There's my topic. There's my tip.