Burunche’s Blog

Deuteronomy 31 The Charge

1-2 Moses went on and addressed these words to all Israel. He said, “I’m 120 years old today. I can’t get about as I used to. And God told me, ‘You’re not going to cross this Jordan River.’

3-5 “God, your God, will cross the river ahead of you and destroy the nations in your path so that you may oust them. (And Joshua will cross the river before you, as God said he would.) God will give the nations the same treatment he gave the kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, and their land; he’ll destroy them. God will hand the nations over to you, and you’ll treat them exactly as I have commanded you.

6 “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”

7-8 Then Moses summoned Joshua. He said to him with all Israel watching, “Be strong. Take courage. You will enter the land with this people, this land that God promised their ancestors that he’d give them. You will make them the proud possessors of it. God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.”

* * *

Moses knows his time is short. Moses feels as if the last few grains of sand are draining from the top to the bottom of a divine hour glass. Facing eternity, Moses is bending all his efforts to teach the Israelites one last time, hoping and praying that they are listening and will take these teachings to heart. But Moses is a prophet and has led these people for forty years; he has few illusions left. The Israelites are a mixed bunch of people. There are those who are passionately devout and willing to follow God’s commands. Then there are those who are moderately devout, as long as following God’s commands doesn’t inconvenience them. And then there are the rest of the bunch, many of whom have hauled small statues all the way from Egypt, even though God has expressly forbidden idolatry. That last group frightens Moses, for he knows full well that when faced with opposition, the idolaters will turn and flee at the first opportunity.

Now Joshua must assume leadership, and Moses knows the challenges he will face. That’s why Moses is urging Joshua to be strong and take courage. Joshua will need strength and courage and faith before he’s through.

9-13 Moses wrote out this Revelation and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the Chest of the Covenant of God, and to all the leaders of Israel. And he gave these orders: “At the end of every seven years, the Year-All-Debts-Are-Canceled, during the pilgrim Festival of Booths when everyone in Israel comes to appear in the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates, read out this Revelation to all Israel, with everyone listening. Gather the people together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living among you—so they can listen well, so they may learn to live in holy awe before God, your God, and diligently keep everything in this Revelation. And do this so that their children, who don’t yet know all this, will also listen and learn to live in holy awe before God, your God, for as long as you live on the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.”

God repeatedly warns His people to study His commandments and teach them to their children; otherwise, the Israelites are only one generation away from losing their identity as God’s chosen people.

14-15 God spoke to Moses: “You are about to die. So call Joshua. Meet me in the Tent of Meeting so that I can commission him.”

So Moses and Joshua went and stationed themselves in the Tent of Meeting. God appeared in the Tent in a Pillar of Cloud. The Cloud was near the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

16-18 God spoke to Moses: “You’re about to die and be buried with your ancestors. You’ll no sooner be in the grave than this people will be up and lusting after the foreign gods of this country that they are entering. They will abandon me and violate my Covenant that I’ve made with them. I’ll get angry, oh so angry! I’ll walk off and leave them on their own, won’t so much as look back at them. Then many calamities and disasters will devastate them because they are defenseless. They’ll say, ‘Isn’t it because our God wasn’t here that all this evil has come upon us?’ But I’ll stay out of their lives, keep looking the other way because of all their evil: they took up with other gods!

19-21 “But for right now, copy down this song and teach the People of Israel to sing it by heart. They’ll have it then as my witness against them. When I bring them into the land that I promised to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they eat and become full and get fat and then begin fooling around with other gods and worshiping them, and then things start falling apart, many terrible things happening, this song will be there with them as a witness to who they are and what went wrong. Their children won’t forget this song; they’ll be singing it. Don’t think I don’t know what they are already scheming to do, and they’re not even in the land yet, this land I promised them.”

22 So Moses wrote down this song that very day and taught it to the People of Israel.

23 Then God commanded Joshua son of Nun saying, “Be strong. Take courage. You will lead the People of Israel into the land I promised to give them. And I’ll be right there with you.”

24-26 After Moses had finished writing down the words of this Revelation in a book, right down to the last word, he ordered the Levites who were responsible for carrying the Chest of the Covenant of God, saying, “Take this Book of Revelation and place it alongside the Chest of the Covenant of God, your God. Keep it there as a witness.

27-29 “I know what rebels you are, how stubborn and willful you can be. Even today, while I’m still alive and present with you, you’re rebellious against God. How much worse when I’ve died! So gather the leaders of the tribes and the officials here. I have something I need to say directly to them with Heaven and Earth as witnesses. I know that after I die you’re going to make a mess of things, abandoning the way I commanded, inviting all kinds of evil consequences in the days ahead. You’re determined to do evil in defiance of God—I know you are—deliberately provoking his anger by what you do.”

30 So with everyone in Israel gathered and listening, Moses taught them the words of this song, from start to finish.”

Forty years! For forty years Moses has led the Israelites and now God is informing both Moses and Joshua that as soon as the Israelites begin to prosper, they will sink into gross idolatry. What must Moses be thinking as he sees the future? And yet, Moses and Joshua must both be faithful. Moses is to teach the Israelites a song that will stand as a witness against them. Joshua is to lead the Israelites, faithless as many of them are, and to conquer Canaan. What must these two men be thinking?

Hard work does not guarantee great results. We can serve faithfully, only to have charlatans come in, spoiling the work of decades. We can watch golden moments, windows of physical and spiritual opportunity, evaporate. We are not responsible for other people’s choices, but we are responsible to remain faithful and to follow God’s commands. It’s shocking and amazing that a group of people who have witnessed divine manifestations on a daily basis can remain so faithless; however, the Israelites have taken God for granted. Even though God has warned the Israelites that He has not chosen them because they were so gifted or attractive but because He wants to make something of them. Meanwhile, the Israelites are still strutting around, basking in the glow of being special.

Moses is nearing the end of his ministry, and he must complete his teaching and then die without ever entering the Promised Land. While we might think God is being unduly harsh, we must remember that God is holding Moses to the highest standard possible, and that Moses agrees with this penalty. Eventually, Moses will enter the Promised Land when Elijah and he join with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Until then, Moses must teach and then die, leaving us an example of extreme faithfulness. Sometimes, people will try to use aging as an excuse for slacking off spiritually; however, we should look at Moses. Here’s this 120-year-old man giving everything he’s got to teach a recalcitrant bunch of people one last time. May all of us be as faithful as Moses so at the end of our lives we can say that we have given God our very best efforts!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to remain faithful, even unto death. We ask this in the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 30 Description of Israelites in Exile

1-5 “Here’s what will happen. While you’re out among the nations where God has dispersed you and the blessings and curses come in just the way I have set them before you, and you and your children take them seriously and come back to God, your God, and obey him with your whole heart and soul according to everything that I command you today, God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered. No matter how far away you end up, God, your God, will get you out of there and bring you back to the land your ancestors once possessed. It will be yours again. He will give you a good life and make you more numerous than your ancestors.”

During the mid-and late-nineteenth century, the Zionist movement sprang up, partially as a response to waves of anti-Semitism in central Europe and Russia. Zionism sought to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine with as many Jews and as few Arabs as possible. The Zionists based their claims on Biblical evidence. Early Zionist settlers in Palestine suffered. There were swamps, deserts, and religious persecution. The British government veered back and forth in its loyalties to Jews and Arabs. Finally, in 1948 the State of Israel declared its independence, after which a war immediately broke out. But Israel prevailed. Many Jews from around the globe came to Israel as a result of the horrors of the concentration camps. Many more came to build up a Jewish state. Today, Israel continues to face many enemies but has led in technology, dry land farming techniques, and a host of other areas.

6-7 God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live. God, your God, will put all these curses on your enemies who hated you and were out to get you.

8-9 And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God, keeping all his commandments that I’m commanding you today. God, your God, will outdo himself in making things go well for you: you’ll have babies, get calves, grow crops, and enjoy an all-around good life. Yes, God will start enjoying you again, making things go well for you just as he enjoyed doing it for your ancestors.

10 But only if you listen obediently to God, your God, and keep the commandments and regulations written in this Book of Revelation. Nothing halfhearted here; you must return to God, your God, totally, heart and soul, holding nothing back.

Are all the Jews in Israel devout worshipers? Far from it! There are many secular Jews, many Jews who are observant but not extreme, and then many ultra-conservative Jewish believers. But generally, there are large numbers of Israelis who observe the commands of Moses.

11-14 This commandment that I’m commanding you today isn’t too much for you, it’s not out of your reach. It’s not on a high mountain—you don’t have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it’s not across the ocean—you don’t have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!

Forget Nike! Millenia before Nike came out with this slogan, God was already adjuring the Israelites to “Just do it!”  God values sacrifice far more than any kind of material wealth. Remember that Jesus commended the widow who put two small coins into the temple offering box, for she was giving everything she had.

15-18 “Look at what I’ve done for you today: I’ve placed in front of you Life and Good, Death and Evil. And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess. But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won’t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.”

All of these warnings came to pass. When the Israelites got so far from God that there was no return, He moved the Assyrians and the Babylonians to attack Israel, slaughtering many and carrying others away to their lands. Before that happened, sieges brought starvation and even cannibalism. Those who had worshiped idols were dragged off to pagan nations in chains where those idols were the main religion. Faced with the results of their failures, many did repent and turn back to God.

19-20 I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Moses is desperate! Even though Moses is speaking the words God has commanded him to speak, Moses is also pleading with his people. Moses is fully aware of the idols, the charms, the secret rituals his people have been carrying out when they think nobody is looking. As a prophet, Moses can already see what might happen, and the vision is horrific. Moses is not merely repeating God’s message; he is warning people and begging them to obey. These words are those of a 120-year-old man who has witnessed history and who knows how vital it is for the Israelites to keep God’s covenant. After all, Moses has only failed to obey once in his walk with God and that failure has cost him the opportunity to enter the Promised Land.

We read these warnings and wonder why anybody in their right mind could possibly refuse to follow God’s commands. But people are deceived because they first deceive themselves, convincing themselves that their sin is really not too bad. Nobody wakes up one morning and proclaims, “WOW! I think I’ll worship an idol today!” Our idols are different-we worship work, possessions, social standing, and our personal goals. More than a century ago, James Russell Lowell had it correct:

For a cap and bells our lives we pay,
Bubbles we earn with a whole soul’s tasking:
‘Tis heaven alone that is given away,
‘Tis only God may be had for the asking.

  C.T. Studd, the founder of the WEC Mission, had this to say: “Only one life-twill soon be past. Only what’s done for God will last.”

Once more, it’s all about choices. Will we follow God or our own whims? Choose wisely.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to follow You whole-heartedly without compromise. Help us to be true to You, no matter what. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 29 

“These are the terms of the Covenant that God commanded Moses to make with the People of Israel in the land of Moab, renewing the Covenant he made with them at Horeb.”

God is about to renew His covenant with the Israelites. This renewal is necessary because those who made the original covenant at Mount Sinai have died in the Wilderness. What is a covenant and how does it differ from a contract?

Covenants and contracts are both legal agreements, but they serve different purposes and have distinct characteristics.

Covenant:

• A covenant is a formal agreement or promise in a deed or contract that requires one party to do or refrain from doing certain actions.
• Commonly found in real estate, covenants can restrict land use or impose obligations on property owners.
• They are often enforceable in equity, meaning a party can seek specific performance or injunctions rather than just monetary damages.

Contract:

• A contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more parties that creates mutual obligations enforceable by law.
• Contracts can cover a wide range of agreements, including sales, services, and employment.
• They typically require an offer, acceptance, consideration (something of value exchanged), and mutual intent to create a legal obligation.

Key Differences:

• Nature: Covenants often relate to property and land use, while contracts can pertain to various transactions.
• Enforcement: Covenants may be enforced in equity, whereas contracts are generally enforced through legal remedies.
• Parties Involved: Covenants usually involve property owners and may bind future owners, while contracts involve specific parties at the time of agreement.

Understanding these distinctions helps clarify the legal implications and enforceability of each type of agreement.

Covenants have a moral effect while contracts are legally binding. How will God take His people to court, or how will the Israelites sue God? Covenants are formal agreements or promises in a deed or contract that require one party to do or refrain from doing certain actions.

Moses Blesses Israel on the Plains of Moab

2-4 “Moses called all Israel together and said, You’ve seen with your own eyes everything that God did in Egypt to Pharaoh and his servants, and to the land itself—the massive trials to which you were eyewitnesses, the great signs and miracle-wonders. But God didn’t give you an understanding heart or perceptive eyes or attentive ears until right now, this very day.

5-6 I took you through the wilderness for forty years and through all that time the clothes on your backs didn’t wear out, the sandals on your feet didn’t wear out, and you lived well without bread and wine and beer, proving to you that I am in fact God, your God.

7-8 When you arrived here in this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan met us primed for war but we beat them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”

Wow! Not only has God fed and watered 2.4 million people in the midst of a wilderness but their clothing and their shoes have not worn out in 40 years. One pastor’s wife once told me that God also did this same miracle for her husband and her when they were beginning ministry and were penniless. God is Lord over everything, including our closets. And God has allowed the Israelites to conquer Og, one of the remaining giants, giving his land and that of King Sihon to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh because the grazing is so good.

“9 Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.” At this point, there are guys standing in the back of the crowd thinking, “Duh! As if we would EVER stray from this Covenant.” Too bad those men are wrong.

10-13 You are all standing here today in the Presence of God, your God—the heads of your tribes, your leaders, your officials, all Israel: your babies, your wives, the resident foreigners in your camps who fetch your firewood and water—ready to cross over into the solemnly sworn Covenant that God, your God, is making with you today, the Covenant that this day confirms that you are his people and he is God, your God, just as he promised you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14-21 I’m not making this Covenant and its oath with you alone. I am making it with you who are standing here today in the Presence of God, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today. You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels. You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods. Don’t let down your guard lest even now, today, someone—man or woman, clan or tribe—gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you, a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, “I’ll live just the way I please, thank you,” and ends up ruining life for everybody. God won’t let him off the hook. God’s anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him. God will delete his name from the records. God will separate him out from all the tribes of Israel for special punishment, according to all the curses of the Covenant written in this Book of Revelation.

22-23 The next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a far country, will be appalled when they see the widespread devastation, how God made the whole land sick. They’ll see a fire-blackened wasteland of brimstone and salt flats, nothing planted, nothing growing, not so much as a blade of grass anywhere—like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God overthrew in fiery rage.

24 All the nations will ask, “Why did God do this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?”

25-28 Your children will answer, “Because they abandoned the Covenant of the God of their ancestors that he made with them after he got them out of Egypt; they went off and worshiped other gods, submitted to gods they’d never heard of before, gods they had no business dealing with. So God’s anger erupted against that land and all the curses written in this book came down on it. God, furiously angry, pulled them, roots and all, out of their land and dumped them in another country, as you can see.”

29 God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.

Once more, God is warning His people: Keep this Covenant and all will be well. Fail to keep the Covenant and terrible consequences will happen. Notice the threats: God will reduce fertile fields to barren desert, like the area around Sodom and Gomorrah. When Lot chose to live in Sodom, it was because the area around Sodom was so lush that Genesis 13:10-11 describes the plain of the Jordan resembling the Garden of Eden. Once God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, there was only devastation. Finally, God continues to put His people on notice that they are responsible for teaching these things to succeeding generations, lest the Israelites fall into sin and be carried off from the land God has given them.

A covenant is the most serious kind of agreement imaginable, for it carries moral weight that cannot be argued away. God wants to covenant with each one of us so that we will be committed to Him forever. This is no time for joking; we have no idea how much of our lives might be left. Today is the day of salvation, if you will only commit yourself to serving God forever. What will you lose in the process? Despair. What will you gain? Eternal life. The choice is yours; choose wisely.

PRAYER; Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we give ourselves to You, trusting that You will help us to make this gift complete. Please help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

15-19 Here’s what will happen if you don’t obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep all the commandments and guidelines that I’m commanding you today. All these curses will come down hard on you:

God’s curse in the city, God’s curse in the country; God’s curse on your basket and bread bowl; God’s curse on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks. God’s curse in your coming in, God’s curse in your going out.

20 God will send The Curse, The Confusion, The Contrariness down on everything you try to do until you’ve been destroyed and there’s nothing left of you—all because of your evil pursuits that led you to abandon me.

21 God will infect you with The Disease, wiping you right off the land that you’re going in to possess. 22 God will set consumption and fever and rash and seizures and dehydration and blight and jaundice on you. They’ll hunt you down until they kill you.

23-24 The sky over your head will become an iron roof, the ground under your feet, a slab of concrete. From out of the skies God will rain ash and dust down on you until you suffocate.

25-26 God will defeat you by enemy attack. You’ll come at your enemies on one road and run away on seven roads. All the kingdoms of Earth will see you as a horror. Carrion birds and animals will boldly feast on your dead body with no one to chase them away.

27-29 God will hit you hard with the boils of Egypt, hemorrhoids, scabs, and an incurable itch. He’ll make you go crazy and blind and senile. You’ll grope around in the middle of the day like a blind person feeling his way through a lifetime of darkness; you’ll never get to where you’re going. Not a day will go by that you’re not abused and robbed. And no one is going to help you.

30-31 You’ll get engaged to a woman and another man will take her for his mistress; you’ll build a house and never live in it; you’ll plant a garden and never eat so much as a carrot; you’ll watch your ox get butchered and not get a single steak from it; your donkey will be stolen from in front of you and you’ll never see it again; your sheep will be sent off to your enemies and no one will lift a hand to help you.

32-34 Your sons and daughters will be shipped off to foreigners; you’ll wear your eyes out looking vainly for them, helpless to do a thing. Your crops and everything you work for will be eaten and used by foreigners; you’ll spend the rest of your lives abused and knocked around. What you see will drive you crazy.

35 God will hit you with painful boils on your knees and legs and no healing or relief from head to foot.

36-37 God will lead you and the king you set over you to a country neither you nor your ancestors have heard of; there you’ll worship other gods, no-gods of wood and stone. Among all the peoples where God will take you, you’ll be treated as a lesson or a proverb—a horror!

38-42 You’ll plant sacks and sacks of seed in the field but get almost nothing—the grasshoppers will devour it. You’ll plant and hoe and prune vineyards but won’t drink or put up any wine—the worms will devour them. You’ll have groves of olive trees everywhere, but you’ll have no oil to rub on your face or hands—the olives will have fallen off. You’ll have sons and daughters but they won’t be yours for long—they’ll go off to captivity. Locusts will take over all your trees and crops.

43-44 The foreigner who lives among you will climb the ladder, higher and higher, while you go deeper and deeper into the hole. He’ll lend to you; you won’t lend to him. He’ll be the head; you’ll be the tail.

45-46 All these curses are going to come on you. They’re going to hunt you down and get you until there’s nothing left of you because you didn’t obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep his commandments and guidelines that I commanded you. The curses will serve as signposts, warnings to your children ever after.

47-48 Because you didn’t serve God, your God, out of the joy and goodness of your heart in the great abundance, you’ll have to serve your enemies whom God will send against you. Life will be famine and drought, rags and wretchedness; then he’ll put an iron yoke on your neck until he’s destroyed you.

48-52 Yes, God will raise up a faraway nation against you, swooping down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you can’t understand, a mean-faced people, cruel to grandmothers and babies alike. They’ll ravage the young of your animals and the crops from your fields until you’re destroyed. They’ll leave nothing behind: no grain, no wine, no oil, no calves, no lambs—and finally, no you. They’ll lay siege to you while you’re huddled behind your town gates. They’ll knock those high, proud walls flat, those walls behind which you felt so safe. They’ll lay siege to your fortified cities all over the country, this country that God, your God, has given you.

53-55 And you’ll end up cannibalizing your own sons and daughters that God, your God, has given you. When the suffering from the siege gets extreme, you’re going to eat your own babies. The most gentle and caring man among you will turn hard, his eye evil, against his own brother, his cherished wife, and even the rest of his children who are still alive, refusing to share with them a scrap of meat from the cannibal child-stew he is eating. He’s lost everything, even his humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns.

56-57 And the most gentle and caring woman among you, a woman who wouldn’t step on a wildflower, will turn hard, her eye evil, against her cherished husband, against her son, against her daughter, against even the afterbirth of her newborn infants; she plans to eat them in secret—she does eat them!—because she has lost everything, even her humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns.

58-61 If you don’t diligently keep all the words of this Revelation written in this book, living in holy awe before This Name glorious and terrible, God, your God, then God will pound you with catastrophes, you and your children, huge interminable catastrophes, hideous interminable illnesses. He’ll bring back and stick you with every old Egyptian malady that once terrorized you. And yes, every disease and catastrophe imaginable—things not even written in the Book of this Revelation—God will bring on you until you’re destroyed.

62 Because you didn’t listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, you’ll be left with a few pitiful stragglers in place of the dazzling stars-in-the-heavens multitude you had become.

63-66 And this is how things will end up: Just as God once enjoyed you, took pleasure in making life good for you, giving you many children, so God will enjoy getting rid of you, clearing you off the Earth. He’ll weed you out of the very soil that you are entering in to possess. He’ll scatter you to the four winds, from one end of the Earth to the other. You’ll worship all kinds of other gods, gods neither you nor your parents ever heard of, wood and stone no-gods. But you won’t find a home there, you’ll not be able to settle down. God will give you a restless heart, longing eyes, a homesick soul. You will live in constant jeopardy, terrified of every shadow, never knowing what you’ll meet around the next corner.

67 In the morning you’ll say, “I wish it were evening.” In the evening you’ll say, “I wish it were morning.” Afraid, terrorized at what’s coming next, afraid of the unknown, because of the sights you’ve witnessed.

68 God will ship you back to Egypt by a road I promised you’d never see again. There you’ll offer yourselves for sale, both men and women, as slaves to your enemies. And not a buyer to be found.”

WOW! When God begins cursing, He doesn’t mess around! What’s absolutely tragic is that eventually, all these curses come true. The Israelites make a promising start, but then descend into idolatry and fertility rites. The Northern Kingdom is founded on a fake religion while Judah struggles on, sometimes more faithful and sometimes less. But read far enough in the Books of Kings, Chronicles, Jeremiah, and other prophets, and you realize that every one of these chastisements eventually comes true, including the curses of cannibalism and exile to foreign lands.

What goes wrong? The Israelites rebel against God. Oh, they don’t just wake up some morning and say, “I think I’ll rebel today.” No, the Israelites slip away gradually, despite warnings from numerous prophets. Despite Moses adjuring the Israelites to teach their children and grandchildren, despite the commands for kings to write out their own copies of the Books of Moses and to study them daily, despite every bit of advice and every warning, the Israelites just keep sliding further and further away from God, reducing celebrations in the temple to mechanical rituals. Even the priests and Levites fail to remain holy.

In 1977, Paul Simon wrote a sad tune called “Slip Sliding Away.” The chorus could apply to the Israelites.
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

The Israelites just kept slip sliding away from God until He had no choice but to cause these curses to begin working on them. What about us? Are we trying to become closer to God each day, or are we taking God for granted in hopes that He’ll give us a pass for being good moral people?

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to love You more and to draw closer to you each day than we did the day before.  In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 28

28 1-6 If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:

God’s blessing inside the city, God’s blessing in the country; God’s blessing on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds,
the lambs of your flocks.
God’s blessing on your basket and bread bowl; God’s blessing in your coming in, God’s blessing in your going out.

7 God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They’ll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads.

8 God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he’ll bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you.

9 God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God, your God, and live the way he has shown you.

10 All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of God and hold you in respectful awe.

11-14 God will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you. God will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan. God will make you the head, not the tail; you’ll always be the top dog, never the underdog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you today. Don’t swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods.

“My momma DROWNED all her dumb kids!” When I was in pediatric surgery training in Memphis Tennessee, one of my professors who was from the deep South used to say this when a situation was so obvious that nobody should have drawn a wrong conclusion. Look at the fantastic promises God is making: blessings without number wherever the Israelites are living, good health for families and animals, bountiful harvests, economic prosperity-the list is endless.

BUT there are conditions: “If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God… God will make you the head, not the tail; you’ll always be the top dog, never the underdog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you today. Don’t swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods.”

Even as Moses is pronouncing these commands, there are likely guys standing in the back, trying to figure out ways to avoid them and remain blessed. In the beginning, God keeps His promises and these blessings do fall on the Israelites. But it takes practically no time at all before God’s people pull out the idols left over from Egypt and wander off to explore the wonders of Canaanite fertility cults. After all, why not? Is God really watching them THAT closely? Of course, the answer is yes, God is watching and keeping track of those who obey and those who don’t. Tomorrow we will consider the results of spiritual rebellion; however, the question for us now is this: Were these blessings only limited to the ancient Israelites?

God doesn’t play favorites and when we honor Him, he will also honor us. Sometimes believers feel that somehow God “owes” them-“God, I’ve been faithful so You should do ____ for me! I’m claiming the blessings of Deuteronomy 28!” God is not a machine nor is He stupid. He who has created the human heart knows us better than we do ourselves. Many times, our “faithfulness” is superficial while God is looking for those who will serve Him whole-heartedly. I have heard pastors teach these verses in a “name it and claim it” fashion-again, using God’s Holy Word to manipulate Him. Galatians 6:7-8 tells us, “Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.”

God’s Word is seamless with no inconsistencies between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The key to God’s blessings is obedience and a willingness to receive God’s Will, no matter what happens. As I write these words, I am sitting with an ankle brace on my left ankle. Here we have lots of motorcycles and Motokings. A Motoking is a small wagon attached to a motorcycle, and Motokings have become one of the most popular means of transporting goods and people in northern Ghana. The problem is that the drivers frequently are careless and thoughtless, speeding along public paths with no regard for pedestrians, bicycle riders, or even larger vehicles. Fed up with these traffic menaces, someone in our village blocked a public path using a log; unfortunately, I found that log with my bicycle and fell, injuring my left ankle. Once I incurred a small injury, those who had placed the log realized that this was a lousy idea and that it could have resulted in tragedy and death for motorcycle riders and disgrace or worse for them. Now I am confined to non-weight-bearing and an ankle brace for six weeks, but I am sure that God will use this time for His purposes and His glory. And I thank God continuously that nobody was badly injured because of my small accident.

May God help each of us, so that we will obey Him because of His great mercy and love!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, thank You that Your promises are forever if only we will obey. But help us to remember that we must be prepared to receive bad things as well as good things, realizing that nothing can come to us except through Your Hand. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.   

Deuteronomy 27 

1-3 Moses commanded the leaders of Israel and charged the people: Keep every commandment that I command you today. On the day you cross the Jordan into the land that God, your God, is giving you, erect large stones and coat them with plaster. As soon as you cross over the river, write on the stones all the words of this Revelation so that you’ll enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, that land flowing with milk and honey that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised you.

4-7 So when you’ve crossed the Jordan, erect these stones on Mount Ebal. Then coat them with plaster. Build an Altar of stones for God, your God, there on the mountain. Don’t use an iron tool on the stones; build the Altar to God, your God, with uncut stones and offer your Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it to God, your God. When you sacrifice your Peace-Offerings you will also eat them there, rejoicing in the Presence of God, your God.

8 Write all the words of this Revelation on the stones. Incise them sharply.

God knows that His people have short memories! So as soon as the Israelites cross the Jordan, God wants them to erect large stones, plaster them, and incise His commands on them. Then the Israelites are to erect an altar with uncut stones and offer whole burnt offerings on that altar. The last thing God wants is for His people to start building pagan altars with images of the sun, the moon, stars, or pagan deities, hence the injunction to use uncut stones.

9-10 Moses and the Levitical priests addressed all Israel: Quiet. Listen obediently, Israel. This very day you have become the people of God, your God. Listen to the Voice of God, your God. Keep his commandments and regulations that I’m commanding you today.

11-13 That day Moses commanded: After you’ve crossed the Jordan, these tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these will stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

Half the Israelites are to stand on Mount Gerizim and pronounce blessings while the other half are to stand on Mount Ebal, pronouncing curses.

14-26 The Levites, acting as spokesmen and speaking loudly, will address Israel:

God’s curse on anyone who carves or casts a god-image—an abomination to God made by a craftsman—and sets it up in secret. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who demeans a parent. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who misdirects a blind man on the road. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who interferes with justice due the foreigner, orphan, or widow. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who has sex with his father’s wife; he has violated the woman who belongs to his father. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who has sex with an animal. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who has sex with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who has sex with his mother-in-law. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who kills his neighbor in secret. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

God’s curse on whoever does not give substance to the words of this Revelation by living them. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

Wow! Look at the list of curses! Creating false gods, demeaning parents, moving boundaries, misdirecting the blind, interfering with justice for the vulnerable, having sex with his father’s wife, having sex with animals, committing incest, killing neighbors in secret, taking bribes to murder, refusing to live these revelations.

The Israelites have come out of Egypt, where all kinds of sex, incest, idolatry, and other deplorable acts have been common. God doesn’t want anybody to copy the Egyptians or the Canaanites. God does want His people to realize that they MUST live holy lives if they are to enjoy His blessings.

We look at this list and think, “Oh, we would never do such things!” But what about violent video games and videos? What about online pornography? Sadly, even viewing such things once or twice may lead to addiction to online pornography. One pastor friend became a victim of this addiction, eventually dying from cancer. Did that addiction weaken his immune system?

May God help us so that we will follow hard after Him, not getting distracted or addicted.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to lead lives of holiness. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.  

Deuteronomy 26

26 1-5 Once you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance and take it over and settle down, you are to take some of all the firstfruits of what you grow in the land that God, your God, is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place God, your God, sets apart for you to worship him. At that time, go to the priest who is there and say, “I announce to God, your God, today that I have entered the land that God promised our ancestors that he’d give to us.” The priest will take the basket from you and place it on the Altar of God, your God. And there in the Presence of God, your God, you will recite:

5-10     A wandering Aramean was my father, he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon they became a great nation, mighty and many. The Egyptians abused and battered us, in a cruel and savage slavery. We cried out to God, the God-of-Our-Fathers: He listened to our voice, he saw our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight. And God took us out of Egypt with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great, with signs and miracle-wonders. And he brought us to this place, gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. So here I am. I’ve brought the firstfruits of what I’ve grown on this ground you gave me, O God.

10-11 Then place it in the Presence of God, your God. Bow low in the Presence of God, your God. And rejoice! Celebrate all the good things that God, your God, has given you and your family; you and the Levite and the foreigner who lives with you.

* * *

God wants His people to celebrate, and nothing is more exciting than the first fruits from a harvest. Will this be it? Will there be more? Here God encourages His people that as long as they are faithful to present their first fruits, He will be faithful to increase their harvest and to care for them.

12-14 Every third year, the year of the tithe, give a tenth of your produce to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that they may eat their fill in your cities. And then, in the Presence of God, your God, say this: I have brought the sacred share, I’ve given it to the Levite, foreigner, orphan, and widow. What you commanded, I’ve done. I haven’t detoured around your commands, I haven’t forgotten a single one. I haven’t eaten from the sacred share while mourning, I haven’t removed any of it while ritually unclean, I haven’t used it in funeral feasts. I have listened obediently to the Voice of God, my God, I have lived the way you commanded me.

15 Look down from your holy house in Heaven!  Bless your people Israel and the ground you gave us,
    just as you promised our ancestors you would, this land flowing with milk and honey.

* * *

Look at the vows worshipers must make: “I have brought the sacred share, I’ve given it to the Levite, foreigner, orphan, and widow. What you commanded, I’ve done. I haven’t detoured around your commands, I haven’t forgotten a single one. I haven’t eaten from the sacred share while mourning, I haven’t removed any of it while ritually unclean, I haven’t used it in funeral feasts. I have listened obediently to the Voice of God, my God, I have lived the way you commanded me.”

Obviously, there will be people who will not bring the sacred share or who will refuse to give it to the Levite, foreigner, orphan, and widow. Some people will try to sneak by eating the sacred share while mourning or ritually unclean, or by using it for funeral feasts. The Israelites have come from Egypt with its death-centered culture, and they are about to enter Canaan, where many tribes have all kinds of weird practices surrounding death.

16-17 “This very day God, your God, commands you to follow these rules and regulations, to live them out with everything you have in you. You’ve renewed your vows today that God is your God, that you’ll live the way he shows you; do what he tells you in the rules, regulations, and commandments; and listen obediently to him.

18-19 And today God has reaffirmed that you are dearly held treasure just as he promised, a people entrusted with keeping his commandments, a people set high above all other nations that he’s made, high in praise, fame, and honor: you’re a people holy to God, your God. That’s what he has promised.”

* * *

God wants His people to realize that if they obey Him, He will cherish them, protecting them, and blessing them. “Dearly held treasure, a people set high above all other nations, high in praise, fame, and honor, holy to God. WOW! What a wonderful blessing! You would think that with such assurances, the Israelites would never stray from God again. We wish that it would always be like that!

What does God want for us as His children? God wants the same things for us. God wants us to be a dearly held treasure, a people set high above all other nations, high in praise, fame, and honor, holy to God. Why wait? Why not say “Yes” to God!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, please help us to remember the holy calling You have placed on our lives. Help us to live lives of holiness. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 25

25 1-3 “When men have a legal dispute, let them go to court; the judges will decide between them, declaring one innocent and the other guilty. If the guilty one deserves punishment, the judge will have him lay himself down before him and lashed as many times as his crime deserves, but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.” It’s not surprising that someone would send his legal opponent to court, but why the limit on punishment? Judges were to mete out punishments up to but not to exceed 40 lashes. God wants malefactors to be punished but also wants judges to mix mercy with justice. Other tribes might allow someone to be beaten until he died or collapsed from blood loss.

4 “Don’t muzzle an ox while it is threshing.” Again, God wants His people to be kind, not only to oxen but also to those driving the oxen. How terrible for someone to handle food or grain without being allowed to sample it!

5-6 “When brothers are living together and one of them dies without having had a son, the widow of the dead brother shall not marry a stranger from outside the family; her husband’s brother is to come to her and marry her and do the brother-in-law’s duty by her. The first son that she bears shall be named after her dead husband so his name won’t die out in Israel.

7-10 But if the brother doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the leaders at the city gate and say, “My brother-in-law refuses to keep his brother’s name alive in Israel; he won’t agree to do the brother-in-law’s duty by me.” Then the leaders will call for the brother and confront him. If he stands there defiant and says, “I don’t want her,” his sister-in-law is to pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and say, “This is what happens to the man who refuses to build up the family of his brother—his name in Israel will be Family-No-Sandal.”

For the Israelites, inheritance is of paramount importance; therefore, it is necessary for someone to father children to preserve a family line. But when a man refuses to carry out that duty, the spurned woman can report him to city authorities. The implication is that the man will certainly father more children with this woman; therefore, he should not hesitate to father a child to carry on his brother’s name.

This custom has continued in Africa to the present day, but what if the brother hates the woman who has come to him after losing her husband? Years ago, a lady came in with a scalp laceration after her husband had tried to kill her by hitting her with a cook pot. The staff and I warned her that she needed to leave that living situation; unfortunately, the man’s father, a local chief, begged her to remain with them so that the family would not lose face. Sadly, one week later, the man succeeded in killing the woman and wound up in prison as a murderer.

11-12 “When two men are in a fight and the wife of the one man, trying to rescue her husband, grabs the genitals of the man hitting him, you are to cut off her hand. Show no pity.” This warning was to ensure that women would not get involved in men’s fights.

13-16 “Don’t carry around with you two weights, one heavy and the other light, and don’t keep two measures at hand, one large and the other small. Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God, your God, is giving you. Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God, your God—all this corruption in business deals!” God hates cheaters! It’s ridiculous to try to fool people since God is always watching and He knows whether or not you are honest.

17-19 “Don’t forget what Amalek did to you on the road after you left Egypt, how he attacked you when you were tired, barely able to put one foot in front of another, mercilessly cut off your stragglers, and had no regard for God. When God, your God, gives you rest from all the enemies that surround you in the inheritance-land God, your God, is giving you to possess, you are to wipe the name of Amalek from off the Earth. Don’t forget!”

God keeps the books, and the Amalekites find themselves on the wrong side! Joshua fought the Amalekites and Moses had to sit on a large stone while Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands so that the Israelites would keep winning. But there were Amalekites who were not involved in that battle and now God is ordering the Israelites to finish the job.

This chapter is a mixed bag of orders. God is using Moses to give commands to the Israelites before Moses dies. God warns women to avoid fights between men, lest they accidentally grab the opponents’ genitals. Again, God demonstrates His compassion for animals, spurned women, and cheated customers. God also limits the punishments judges can order so anyone being punished won’t be reduced to the level of an animal.

The question for us is this: How do we regard the manner in which we treat those around us? God is compassionate, but are we? God wants us to reflect His Nature.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to be compassionate to all around us, both animals and people. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 24 God’s Miscellaneous Commands

1-4 Teaching on Divorce: “Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please him. Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house. 2 When she leaves his house, she is free to marry another man. 3 But if the second husband also turns against her, writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away, or if he dies, 4 the first husband may not marry her again, for she has been defiled. That would be detestable to the Lord. You must not bring guilt upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession.”

Want a red-hot argument among Evangelical Christians? Just mention the word “divorce” and stand back while people take sides and throw verbal rocks at one another. Some of these arguments have been so vicious that years ago, one Christian writer and speaker who was forced into divorce by her husband’s infidelity wrote a book entitled “Don’t Shoot! I’m Wounded!” Surprisingly, here God is already describing situations in which a woman might be divorced and re-marry. Notice that the condition of divorce is that the woman does not please the man; evidently, the assumption is that women need protection and therefore must endure whatever behavior their husbands exhibit. But the lady is free to marry; only she is not free to return to the first husband.

Before any divorce can happen, the husband must find some uncleanness in the woman, something so bad that he cannot stand to live with her. And the husband must secure a legal document; he cannot simply throw the lady out of the house. The idea is to encourage marriage partners to work as hard on the marriage as possible; yet, there are times when things fall apart. Compassion and kindness are far more important in such situations than judgement, for many people don’t want to admit that their marriages have become emotionally or physically dangerous.

5 “A newly married man must not be drafted into the army or be given any other official responsibilities. He must be free to spend one year at home, bringing happiness to the wife he has married.” The idea here is to allow the couple to procreate so that even if the man goes to war and is killed, there will still be an heir at home. Inheritance remains critically important.

6 “It is wrong to take a set of millstones, or even just the upper millstone, as security for a loan, for the owner uses it to make a living.”  Wow! Obviously, God knows that there will be money lenders so wicked that they will even take the means of a man’s livelihood if they are not stopped. Loan sharks have existed since Biblical times.

7 “If anyone kidnaps a fellow Israelite and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. In this way, you will purge the evil from among you.” Among many of the surrounding tribes, kidnapping someone and selling them into slavery was a common thing. Remember Joseph’s brothers, who sold him to a passing caravan.

8 “In all cases involving serious skin diseases, be careful to follow the instructions of the Levitical priests; obey all the commands I have given them. 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam as you were coming from Egypt.” Here the skin disease referred to is leprosy. When Aaron and Miriam began envying Moses, God caused Miriam to break out with leprosy, frightening Aaron and demonstrating that their rebellion was wrong.

10 “If you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to pick up the item he is giving as security. 11 You must wait outside while he goes in and brings it out to you. 12 If your neighbor is poor and gives you his cloak as security for a loan, do not keep the cloak overnight. 13 Return the cloak to its owner by sunset so he can stay warm through the night and bless you, and the Lord your God will count you as righteous.” God wants to protect debtors, for a lender might enter a house and seize something to which he has no right. At the same time, a cloak given as security must be returned at night so its owner can stay warm. It can get bitterly cold in Israel, and God wants lenders to care for their debtors.

14 “Never take advantage of poor and destitute laborers, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in your towns. 15 You must pay them their wages each day before sunset because they are poor and are counting on it. If you don’t, they might cry out to the Lord against you, and it would be counted against you as sin.” Refusing to pay on time is sinful! Only last night, one of our friends who is a local artisan was complaining that an institution for which he had done a great deal of work was delaying his compensation. This was working a major hardship on his family and him.

16 “Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.” This command sounds simple; however, it was common among other tribes to punish any relatives available, even if the culprit was apprehended.

17 “True justice must be given to foreigners living among you and to orphans, and you must never accept a widow’s garment as security for her debt. 18 Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from your slavery. That is why I have given you this command.

19 “When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all you do. 20 When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. 21 When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. 22 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I am giving you this command.”

Foreigners, widows, orphans, and the poor-God cares for all of them and demands that His people should care as well. All of these groups are vulnerable, and God hates those who prey on the vulnerable. God also wants His people to trust that their harvests will be so plentiful that they will not suffer by leaving gleanings in the field, olives on the tree, or grapes on the vines. One elderly lady in my home area had wonderful grape vines, and she told my mother that as long as she shared her grapes with others, they bore amazing crops. The few years when she failed to share, the grape vines did not bear well.

God cares about every aspect of our lives, and He is particularly concerned that we care for those in need. May God who gives us all good things bless us with a spirit of generosity so that we may behave like His true children!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to be kind, compassionate, merciful, and free from rushing to judgement. Thank You for Your great heart of Love. Let Your Love shine through everything we say and do. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 23 Regulations concerning Worship

1 “If a man’s testicles are crushed or his penis is cut off, he may not be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” Does this mean that eunuchs are to be excluded from worship? Not necessarily. The phrase “the assembly of the Lord” can also be used to indicate a political assembly. David Guzik tells us: “Poole suggests that the idea of the assembly of the LORD is the leadership or the rulers of Israel. These people were barred not from the religious life of Israel, but from the political life of the nation. Trapp agrees, saying on shall not enter the assembly of the LORD: “Shall not go in and out before the people as a public officer.” Clarke adds, “If by entering into the congregation be meant the bearing a civil office among the people, such as magistrate, judge, etc., then the reason of the law is very plain.”

c. Shall not enter the assembly of the LORD: To whatever extent eunuchs were excluded, it was because God’s covenant with Israel was vitally connected with the idea of the seed, and emasculation is a “crime” against the seed of man. Additionally, most eunuchs were made to be so in pagan ceremonies where they, in their emasculated condition, were dedicated to pagan gods.

i. Isaiah 56:3-5 shows that even eunuchs and foreigners could be accepted before the LORD if they would obey Him, and they would be received before those who were complete in their body but disobeyed God. Acts 8:27-38 is the record of a eunuch coming to faith in Jesus.”

2 “If a person is illegitimate by birth, neither he nor his descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” Again, this might refer to civil leadership rather than to religious rites. But many of those considered illegitimate were products of mixed marriages between Jews and Canaanites. Mention of the tenth generation actually means a permanent exclusion.

3 “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. 4 These nations did not welcome you with food and water when you came out of Egypt. Instead, they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in distant Aram-naharaim to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam. He turned the intended curse into a blessing because the Lord your God loves you. 6 As long as you live, you must never promote the welfare and prosperity of the Ammonites or Moabites.” Again, Guzik clarifies: “This had the same application as the previous laws in this section, concerning the civil leadership of Israel. It did not apply to membership in the community of Israel as a whole.

“Disbarment from the assembly was not synonymous with exclusion from the covenant community itself as the one example of Ruth the Moabite makes clear…. There can be no doubt that Ruth was welcomed among the people of the Lord as one of their own.”

7 “Do not detest the Edomites or the Egyptians, because the Edomites are your relatives and you lived as foreigners among the Egyptians. 8 The third generation of Edomites and Egyptians may enter the assembly of the Lord.” Again, God is not barring people from worshiping Him but making sure His people will remain pure and will be kind to those who have been kind to them.

Miscellaneous Regulations

9 “When you go to war against your enemies, be sure to stay away from anything that is impure.

10 “Any man who becomes ceremonially defiled because of a nocturnal emission must leave the camp and stay away all day. 11 Toward evening he must bathe himself, and at sunset he may return to the camp.

12 “You must have a designated area outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 Each of you must have a spade as part of your equipment. Whenever you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the spade and cover the excrement. 14 The camp must be holy, for the Lord your God moves around in your camp to protect you and to defeat your enemies. He must not see any shameful thing among you, or he will turn away from you.

God cares for the cleanliness of His people and wants them to care as well. Sloppiness in hygiene goes along with sloppiness in worship and poor heart attitudes.

15 “If slaves should escape from their masters and take refuge with you, you must not hand them over to their masters. 16 Let them live among you in any town they choose, and do not oppress them.” God cares for slaves and demands His people should protect them.

17 “No Israelite, whether man or woman, may become a temple prostitute. 18 When you are bringing an offering to fulfill a vow, you must not bring to the house of the Lord your God any offering from the earnings of a prostitute, whether a man or a woman, for both are detestable to the Lord your God.” One of the horrors of Canaanite worship was temple prostitution, even though it could be extremely lucrative. God wants His people to have nothing to do with it, period!!

19 “Do not charge interest on the loans you make to a fellow Israelite, whether you loan money, or food, or anything else. 20 You may charge interest to foreigners, but you may not charge interest to Israelites, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you do in the land you are about to enter and occupy.” If you think loan sharks preying on the poor are a new phenomenon, think again. Humans have been greedy ever since the Fall and God wants His people to care for one another.

21 “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, be prompt in fulfilling whatever you promised him. For the Lord your God demands that you promptly fulfill all your vows, or you will be guilty of sin. 22 However, it is not a sin to refrain from making a vow. 23 But once you have voluntarily made a vow, be careful to fulfill your promise to the Lord your God.” Don’t joke with God! It’s no sin to refrain from making a vow, but once you do so, you must fulfill it. Don’t make promises you cannot keep, whether to God or to man.

24 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, but you must not carry any away in a basket. 25 And when you enter your neighbor’s field of grain, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not harvest it with a sickle.” God wants His people to be generous, particularly to the poor; however, there are always those who want to take advantage, even though they have plenty themselves. This injunction allows people who are truly hungry to keep themselves alive without allowing selfish people to profit unduly.

Throughout all these commands, God continues to demonstrate His desire for His people to be pure, to behave well, and to live gracious and holy lives. While God forbids those who might have undergone castration in pagan rites from holding public office, there are never restrictions against those with pure hearts who choose to honor Him.

How kind are we to those around us? Are we feeding the hungry and relieving the needs of the poor, or are we hiding behind stereotypes, claiming those people have no right to exist? Let us remember that God has ordered us to love our neighbors without demanding that they share our political views, our financial status, or even our language. May God help us to live pure lives imbued with holiness, grace, and charity to all those around us!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to be channels of Your Love, Your Mercy, and Your Grace. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.