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Moses recounts God’s powerful acts at the Exodus and at Mount Horeb to show that God is unique among the gods.

When the Israelites live comfortably in Canaan, they and their children will fall into idolatry. Consequently, they will be removed from the land and will worship deceitful gods. Yet, when they genuinely repent, God will restore them because of His compassion.

Alluding to the incident that prevented him from entering Canaan, Moses asks the Israelites to carefully obey God’s laws in order to avoid making any graven image to represent Him. Failure to obey would result in severe punishment because God is a consuming fire.

Moses warns the Israelites against making any idols as a way of worshipping Yahweh. Doing so would reduce the creator (God) to the level of His creatures.

Moses reminds the Israelites of the manifestation of Yahweh’s presence at Mount Horeb (Sinai) where He gave the Ten Commandments, so that the people may always fear Him and transfer His covenantal laws to their children.

Moses commands the Israelites to obey the statutes and judgments he is teaching them in order to correctly reflect their covenant partner, Yahweh, and to represent Him well before the other nations.

Moses urges the Israelites to be loyal to God by reminding them of the incident at Baal—peor where 24000 of them died because of idolatry.

Moses recalls his impassioned plea to God. He pleads with the LORD that he be allowed to enter Canaan with the new generation of Israelites. Although God precludes Moses from entering the Promised Land, He graciously allows him to view the land from afar. Joshua, the successor of Moses, is the one who enjoys the privilege of leading the Israelites to Canaan.

Moses restates his response to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh after he had distributed the land east of Jordan to them. Moses said that he commanded them to help the remaining tribes in conquering the west side of Jordan. Then, he encouraged Joshua to cross over the Jordan with the people.

Moses recalls the distribution of the territory of King Sihon to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the distribution of the territory of Og to the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Moses reminds the Israelites of how they defeated King Sihon and King Og, and captured their territories. With the defeat of Og, the giant race called “Rephaim” was completely gone.

Moses continues the history lesson. Now, he recounts Israel’s victory over King Og of Bashan.

Moses reminds the Israelites of the time when the LORD allowed them to defeat King Sihon and the Amorites in order to occupy their land.

Moses continues his history lesson with a reminder of the LORD hardening the spirit and heart of King Sihon to deliver him into the hands of the Israelites.

Moses reminds the Israelites of the time when God commanded them to confront Sihon in order to take possession of his land.

In recounting Israel’s history up to this point, Moses reminds them of the time when God told them not to molest the Ammonites because, like the Edomites and the Moabites, they are Israel’s kinsmen. Their land was given to them by the LORD.

As Moses continues his history lesson, he reminds the Israelites of God’s command not to molest the Moabites because, like the Edomites, they are Israel’s kinsmen. Their land was allocated to them by the LORD.

Moses continues with Israel’s history and recalls their first act of obedience since they left Horeb. As the Israelites finally decided to obey God’s command to set out for the wilderness, God instructed them to be respectful of the Edomites, their kinsmen. Having given the Edomites their portions, God wanted the Israelites to conquer only what He had promised to give to them.

The story continues. The disobedient Israelites decided to go up and fight with their enemies against the will of God. Consequently, their tentative conquest was unsuccessful and shameful.

Moses continues his history lesson. God judged the first generation of Israelites for covenant violation by precluding them from entering the Promised Land.