Tuesday 18 November 2025

Psalm 107:17-32

Background
At 18, I moved out of home for the first time, excited but anxious as a new phase of my life began. My parents were supportive, but probably also concerned about how I would cope and how I would behave. Would I remember all that they had taught me and make them proud?

In today’s reading, Moses was speaking to the Israelites before they entered the land God had promised. With eloquent and inspiring words, Moses urged the people to remember all that they had been taught and to be obedient to God. This passage is the conclusion of his sermon on the second of the Ten Commandments: "You shall not make for yourself an idol…" (5.8). We can think of an idol as anything that would take the place of God.

Standing on the edge of a new life, the words of Moses were foundational for the people, helping to forge their national identity and guide their ongoing life. When Deuteronomy was being written, which was over a period of 100 years or more, the words spoke to those now living in the kingdom of Judah, reminding them of the gift of the land and the call to live faithfully to God in it. However, when the Babylonians invaded and led many Israelites into exile, these words would have been experienced very differently. Was their loss of land a judgment for their failure to be obedient to God?

When the Israelites made an idol to worship at Mount Sinai, they experienced God’s judgment. Moses warned the people not to worship other gods and commit the same offence again (vs 25-31). Moses reminded them of the events of the Exodus from Egypt and their dramatic experiences at Mount Sinai (vs 34-36).

By encouraging them to remember the past, Moses urged them to learn from their experiences and live faithfully in the future. For a people later living in exile, these words were a sober reminder of their failure to be faithful and a call for them to turn back to God – "So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other." (v. 39)

To Ponder:

• Are there things that can become ‘idols’ to us today? Can you think of contemporary examples?
• Some Christians interpret natural disasters and conflicts across the world as judgments from God. What is the danger in doing this and is there another way to think about these things?

Prayer
Lord, help me to learn from the past so that I am prepared for the future and can live faithfully with you today. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Kate Cambridge
Kate is a presbyter in the Winchester, Eastleigh and Romsey Circuit. In her free time she enjoys doing laundry (!), spending time with her family and wrestling ball point pens off her miniature poodle.