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

I know I wrote abut this last year when I covered this passage, but it still seems like the most important point to be made.  Moses tells the Israelites that they must not imitate the detestable practices of the people who lived in the land that God was giving them.  He tells them that they must not sacrifice their children, they must not practice divination, or sorcery, they must not consult the dead.  I find it telling that killing your children as a sacrifice to your god is lumped in with divination and practicing witchcraft as equally detestable things.  God was driving the people out of the land in order to give it to the Israelites because they did these detestable practices.  All of these things are detestable to God.  He will drive from His presence anyone who practices them, just as He drove these people out of the land which He gave to the Israelites.  Moses goes on to tell the Israelites that God would raise up prophets to give them guidance, so that they need not turn to divination to know what to do.  We should pay careful attention to what those prophets say, but those who claim to speak in God’s name when He has not spoken to them are just as detestable as those who practice the previously mentioned acts.  If someone claims to be a prophet of God, and what they say does not come true, they have spoken presumptuously.  We can safely disregard what they say.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 14-17.

I was debating what to write about on today’s passage.  It starts out talking about clean and unclean foods, then gets into the regulations for tithes.  Then in the middle of talking about canceling debts every seven years I came across this sentence, “However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,  if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.”  If we fully obey God He will bless us and the land we live in so that no one need be poor in the land.  Nevertheless, Moses gave instructions about how they should, how we should, treat the poor.  He told us to be openhanded and lend freely to them whatever they need. Further, Moses instructs us to give generously to the poor and to do so ungrudgingly.  Also in this passage Moses gives instructions concerning how the king should behave.  Interestingly, nowhere in his instructions for the king, instructions for the government, does he say anything about the poor.  Moses gives instructions to the people about how they should treat the poor, but does not give the king any instructions about what the government should do for the poor.  We should care for the poor, we should lend them resources without concern about whether they can pay us back before the seven years are up when all debt is cancelled.  We should not attempt to fob off on the government our responsibility to help the poor.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 11-13.

I am not sure if I will be able to find the words to properly express the idea I find in today’s passage, but I’m going to try.  As I read today’s passage I was struck that God wants us to take care of our environment, but not the ways which most people approach doing so are counterproductive.  These words from Deuteronomy 11:13-15 really struck me on that: “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”  Our care for the environment follows from doing what God commands, not from devotion to nature.  Moses makes sure the Israelites understand this because he follows that up by saying that they need to be careful to not be enticed away to follow other gods.  The people of the land they were entering worshipped gods whose worship they claimed was vital to preserving the environment in which they lived, but, through Moses, God warns us that their tactics will fail.  If we begin worshiping the gods of this world, the land will stop producing crops and become a dried out desert.  If we look at some places in this country we can see examples of this.  There are places which had been productive and beautiful, but the people living in those areas gave power to those who worshiped the gods of nature.  Those people began enforcing laws to “protect nature” and the lands became dry and/or uninhabitable.  I thought of giving specific examples of this, but instead I want to focus on the lesson.  If we worship God and follow His commands, the lands we live in will provide us with abundant resources to live, prosper, and serve Him.  If we worship other gods, even the “gods of nature”, and attempt to serve them, the lands we live in will become places where nothing will prosper.

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

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

Today’s passage begins with Moses telling the Israelites to follow the commands he is giving them so that they might live and increase.  Then towards the end of the passage he asks them a rhetorical question about what God asks of them.  The answer to the question was that God asks only that they fear Him, love Him with all of their heart and all of their soul, and obey the commands which He gave them for their own good.  These things apply to us as well.  God has given us commands and instructions which are for our own good.  It reminds me of the difference between well-behaved children and children which are out of control.  I have noticed that well-behaved children are convinced that their parents enforce their rules because their parents believe those rules are in the best interest of the children.  While out of control children act as they do because they do not believe that about their parent’s rules.  Well behaved children believe that they will suffer negative consequences for breaking their parents’ rules whether or not they are caught.  Out of control children believe that there are no negative consequences for breaking the rules as long as they do not get caught.  If we believe that God is like a good parent, who establishes rules for His children for their own good, then we will understand that He does not punish us because He is offended that we disobeyed Him.  Rather, He punishes us to teach us not to do things which will have even worse consequences for us than the punishment He inflicts.

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

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

I started reading this and my first thought was that this was going to be another passage where I write something with more academic interest than devotional content.  Then I came to this verse “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”  The very next says, “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God…”  If you have put your faith in Jesus and allowed the Holy Spirit to come into your life, then at some point you have stood before the Lord and listened to Him speak to you,  Or, more likely you did not stand, at some point most of us have lain prostrate before Him.  Do not forget that day and why you were there and what God has done for you since.  We must remember these things because we were shown them so that we “might know that the Lord is God, and besides Him there is no other.”  If we do as He commands, it will go well with us and with those who follow after us.  Which leads to the other part about why we were shown God’s power so that we tell others about it.  So that we tell those who need God how to come to Him and receive His grace.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 1-2.

Today’s passage consists of Moses giving a recap of the Israelites journey through the wilderness from the time they left Mount Sinai until they arrived on the east bank of the Jordan River, preparing to cross into the Promised Land.  The first thing I thought about (and think about every time I read this passage) is the different interpretation of events than the way they were recorded in the earlier books.  Considering that this is a review of events for people who had experienced many of these events as they happened, and whose parents had experienced the rest, this difference in interpretation makes sense. The passage skips over the incident and fight with the Canaanites in the Negev.

However, Moses does mention that God told them not to harass, or provoke, the Moabites, which is not mentioned in the earlier accounts.  Here we find a clear editorial insertion by someone after the original compiler of this account.  That later writer tells us that the Moabites displaced the Emites, and tells us a bit about the Emites.  He transitions from the Emites being displaced by the Moabites to the Horites being displaced by the Edmites.  One might think that was just editorial comment by the original writer, except he finishes this parenthetical part by saying that the Edomites had destroyed the Horites in the same way that the Israelites had destroyed the people in the land which God gave them.  A few verses later, when the prohibition against provoking the Ammonites is mentioned, a similar editorial insertion is made concerning the people whom the Ammonites displaced.  In that sidenote, the editor repeats that the Edomites displaced the Horites, then mentions that the Caphtorites drove the Avites out of Gaza and surrounding territory.  Caphtorites is probably an alternative name for the Philistines.

If the Caphtorites were indeed the Philistines, that would put the compilation of this account sometime during the period of the Judges.  I say that because by the time of David, the Israelites referred to them as Philistines, and anyone writing that late would have used that term for them.  Additionally, it has to be after Joshua because the Philistines appeared in the historical record a few hundred years after Joshua.  I consider this important because there are those who contend that the Old Testament was written by post Babylonian Exile Jews to justify their control over the land around Jerusalem (and others who claim that Deuteronomy was written at the time of Josiah).  However, those writing at those later dates would have referred to the Philistines, not the Caphtorites.

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