Deuteronomy 1-3; Romans 5

The book starts with Moses standing up to speak to the people.  In 1:5, Moses is described as expounding the law to the people.  Understand that the people are at the border of the Holy Land, ready to cross over the Jordan.  God has stopped them to remind them what is necessary for them to continue, and what is necessary is that they are ready to obey him.


The high points of their early history is touched upon, arriving at the mountain of God, here called Horeb and the appointment of leaders at the various levels of the tribes, from Exodus 19 and 20.  Verse 19 recalls the first time they came to the borders of the promised land, when 12 spies said they couldn't take the lands, thus beginning 40 years of their Exodus. 


2 chronicles the end of the exodus, passing around the land of the Edomites and the Moabites and the Ammonites, peoples who are relatives of the Israelites.  It records their victory over King Sihon and 3 records their victory over King Og, and the distribution of the Promised Land to the east of the Jordan. 


The conclusion of 3 is a reminder to Moses that he too is forbidden, as the entire first generation, of crossing into the Promised Land because of his own sins.


This capsule summary is provided to the people to remind them of what the Lord has done for them.  The law of God is not something that is made up out of nothing.  It is based on the will and the wisdom of the God who brought them out of Egypt and to this new land.  It is the proof, the foundation on which God's law is to be based. 


Romans 5 builds upon the proofs of 4.  Abraham was justified by his faith, so we are too, through the work of Jesus.  The wrath of God for our sins has been justified by Jesus' blood, by his sacrifice in our place.  Running all the way back to Adam and Eve, Paul goes on to explain how death came through Original Sin in the first chapters of Genesis.  That sin and death has been undone and taken off our shoulders by the free gift of God's grace in Jesus Christ.  The sin of Adam we are all convicted of in the passing of God's law.  But again, one man's disobedience led to the fall of humanity, another man's obedience has led to our restoration to God.