I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 29-31.

Each day we are given a choice.  A choice between life and death.  A choice to serve and obey God, or to follow the desires of our stubborn hearts.  Knowing what God wants us to do is not difficult.  He has given us His words and written them on our hearts.  There is no need to go to distant lands, or to seek mysterious teachers.  If we seek to serve and obey God He will give us direction right where we are.  The scary part is that we must make this decision each and every day.  The wonderful part is that, if we chose badly yesterday, we get to make a better choice today.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 27-28.

Moses instructed the Israelites that once they entered into the Promised Land they should assemble in the valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.  Then the Levites would call out blessings for obedience from Mount Gerizim and curses for disobedience from Mount Ebal.  The people would acknowledge each blessing and each curse the Levites called out.  One can read the things which would lead to a curse and learn important lessons about our behavior.  However, I want to focus on what this exercise meant for the Israelites and for us today.  The things which the Levites called out and of which the people acknowledged acceptance represented a basic set of values which everyone accepted and agreed to live by.  In order for a society to be functional it must have such a set of values by which everyone agrees to abide if they wish to be part of that society.  The idea that a country needed such a set of common values was rejected during my childhood and early adult years, but today I see an attempt to establish a new set of values to which everyone is required to abide.  This new set of values appears to me to be contrary to those laid out for the people of Israel and to be those which will result in the curses described later in this passage.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 24-26.

Today’s passage contains a lot of commands, some of which seem to have a common theme and some which seem unconnected to the rest.  I suspect that to the Israelites who first heard these commands they would have had greater continuity.  I will focus on the thread which seems to run through the majority of these commands.  The commands make a point that we should not take advantage of others.  So, we should not take as security for a loan the means by which the borrower would earn the money to pay us back.  We should make sure that we leave opportunities for the poor and powerless to work to provide for themselves without forcing them to become dependent on us.  We should make sure that the poor and powerless receive justice.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 21-23.

We can learn an important lesson about the value of human life from this passage.  When there was an unsolved murder it did not just molder in the record books.  A system was established to determine which authorities were responsible to solve the crime.  Then they were required to take a solemn oath that they had neither committed the murder nor knew who had.  This requirement applied even if the victim was someone of no account.  Yes, there were cases where no one would be able to identify the murderer, and there always will be such cases.  Someone still had to come before God and offer a sacrifice to God for the life which had been taken.  Every human life belongs to God and anyone who takes such a life will be accountable to God for that life.  Those to whom God has given the authority to govern will be held accountable for trying to bring justice to those whose lives have been taken by another.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 18-20.

Moses warned the Israelites against adopting the detestable practices of the people who already lived in the land they were entering.  The practices they were not to imitate were sacrificing their children, various forms of predicting the future, attempts to control the world around them using spells, and contacting the dead.  Moses then goes on to tell the people how to recognize a genuine prophet of God.  Anyone who claims to be a genuine prophet of God will make predictions about the future.  If those predictions fail to come true, the prophet is a fraud.  So, Moses links sacrificing children with soothsaying, witchcraft, and necromancy.  When I read the Old Testament prophecies against child sacrifice I find myself seeing abortion as a modern form of the same practices.  All of these linked practices represent attempts to gain control over the universe around us and cheat death, rather than turn to the One who does indeed control the universe around us and Who has power over death.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 8-10.

Moses reminded the Israelites to remember what God had done for them in the past, and to remember the consequences they had suffered when they were unfaithful.  All too often we find it easy to turn to God when times are difficult, but then forget Him when times get better.  Moses’ reminder here is threefold.  First, we must make the effort to remember what God did for us when we were at our lowest.  Second, we must remember the consequences we suffered when we turned from God in the past.  Finally, we must remember that we do not experience good times while others suffer because we are better than they are.  We should seek to be righteous because God has been good to us, not seek to be righteous in order to obtain good things.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 5-7.

I really liked doing something different yesterday.  Perhaps next year I will seek out a different daily Bible reading schedule.  Now I return to reading my way through the Bible.  Starting today Moses presented the generation of Israelites who would enter the Promised Land with God’s commands for them which He had given to the previous generation.  Many of those listening to Moses on this day had been present when the commands were first given, but they were young and not yet responsible adults when they heard them.  Moses starts by repeating, with slightly different wording, what we know as the Ten Commandments.  In a way, these ten commands build upon each other.  I really think of them from two directions.  First, following the commands which come later in this list of ten is meaningless if you do not follow the ones which come before.  It is of no consequence that you do not steal if you murder someone.  It is of no consequence that you do not murder if you worship anything other than God.  However, as I said, it also goes the other way.  If you murder or steal, you clearly do not worship only God.

Then in chapter 6 Moses says something which tells us the most important part of making any set of rules work.  If we wish to truly be made holy by God we must worship and obey Him with our whole being, we must seek His will whole-heartedly.  Pleasing Him must be our chief desire.  All else must be subordinate to that.  If we do that, we will not look for loopholes or ways to get around God’s commands.  “Do not murder” means that we should value the lives of others.  “Do not steal” means that we should respect others ownership of the things which they have.  Jesus was absolutely correct, all of God’s other commands follow from two commands.  Actually, all other commands follow from this one: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all of your strength.  However, the second command is one that offers clarification as to what doing the first one means: Love your neighbor as your love yourself.  This second one follows from the first, but needs to be stated so that people cannot claim they did not realize that the first one meant the second one.  All of the other commands are just applications of these two.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 3-4.

Today’s passage has Moses finish his summary of what had happened to the Israelites from the time they had left Mt Sinai until the day when he was speaking.  When Moses finishes summarizing their history, he reminds them that they had experienced some of this history and it should serve as a reminder to obey God’s commands.  In particular, Moses points out that they had seen for themselves the consequences of disobeying God when many of the people had worshiped Baal-peor.   Moses further reminded them that they had not seen God’s form when He spoke to them at Mt Sinai.  Therefore, they should not presume to create something which they present as being the image of God for worship.

I want to touch on one other thing which I come across from time to time.  Throughout the Old Testament we see that the people of Israel did indeed worship other gods and that, at least some of the time, they viewed these other gods as sharing the heavens with God.  From this, some people conclude that it was only later that the religion they followed became monotheistic.  However, if one believes, as I do, that this passage represents what Moses taught at the time this passage would have taken place one reaches the conclusion that Moses taught a monotheistic religion.  The failure of the people of Israel to live according to what Moses taught does not change what he taught anymore than the failure today of people to faithfully follow Christ’s teachings diminishes their value.