Obscure Physical Conditions
Deuteronomy 23 begins
with some pretty odd teachings – teachings that if it were not for Jesus’
teaching in the New Testament I would really struggle here. Essentially, most of the first few verses of
this chapter talk about how certain physical conditions – or genealogical
conditions – prevent a person from coming into the presence of God. Clearly the New Testament teaches us
differently.
All who seek God will
find God. Okay, that’s actually from
Jeremiah 29:13, a reference from the Hebrew Scriptures, but I could have easily
referred to Galatians 3:28-29 as evidence to all those in Christ are Abraham’s
offspring regardless of their stature. My
initial question with the opening verses of this chapter is that they seem to
indicate that physical deformity implies a spiritual deformity. While I know the Hebrew Scriptures are clear
that sacrifices are to be from the unblemished, I personally think that all
people are spiritually unblemished whether we look it from the outside or not.
Thanks be to God that
Jesus gives us perspective on this passage.
Jesus heals the man born with a crippled hand (See Matthew 12). Jesus teaches that eunuchs have a place in
the Kingdom of God (See Matthew 19:11-12).
In fact, the first recorded non-Jew (or Samaritan, who were a sort of
‘half-Jew’) converted in the Bible was a eunuch (See Acts 8:26-38)! We have the teachings of Jesus to bring
perspective on this passage. While God
may desire unblemished sacrifices, through Jesus Christ we can know that those
of us with both physical and spiritual deformities have a place in the presence
of God. That is indeed something for
which we can be grateful!
Exceptions
In the midst of all
of this is a teaching that I don’t want to get lost, however. Notice that God says in this passage that the
Hebrew people are not even to desire peace with the Moabites or the Ammonites –
or desire their prosperity, for that matter.
Within this passage I hear a general call to those who follow God to not
seek the prosperity of those who reject God.
Yes, we are called to proclaim God to the world. But when someone makes it clear that they
reject God and are no longer open to Him, we are to not desire what they offer
– whether it is peace or prosperity.
They have made themselves enemies to God, and until they become open to
God’s forgiveness and His ways they are really our enemies as well.
Sure, we don’t need
to treat them horribly – we are to love our enemies. But as enemies we are not to desire what they
can offer us, either. For the record,
Ruth the Moabite – grandmother of King David – is a great example of this. The Moabites were not well regarded as
people, yet Ruth made it clear that she was open to the movements and
forgiveness of God. Her personal
openness to God allowed her to enjoy the peace and prosperity that God was
giving to the Hebrew people.
Miscellaneous
We have many other
miscellaneous laws here in this chapter.
Most are self-explanatory, such as the burying of excrement among the
camp. I won’t spend time on every law here. Rather, I’ll focus in on a few that we can
use to go deeper in our faith.
More on Sexual Sin
The passage about
prostitution should have some words spoken of it, especially if the translation
being read has the word “dog” in verse 18.
I personally prefer the translation “male cult prostitute” to that of “dog.” It is a sort of ancient slang that often gets
missed in translation.
That little
translational bit aside, we need to understand this passage has more to do with
the concept of worship than prostitution.
Cult prostitution was a common practice in almost all Mediterranean
religious practices. Prostitutes (female
and often male) would be at the temple of their god and offer up sex as a means
of drawing close to the god through personal ecstasy. This is a bit of an over-simplified
explanation, but those wanting to know more about the practice can no doubt
find out more on their own.
Essentially, then,
what this passage is condemning is the need to engage in human sexuality to get
close to God’s presence. When stated
that way, this passage can be read in a brand new light! Other cultures used their human lust to bring
them close to the things they thought were gods.
The God of the Hebrew
people wanted no part of that behavior – much less that pattern of thought! God draws near to us repeatedly as seen in
the stories of creation, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jesus, and ultimately through
the Holy Spirit. We do not need to
engage in our lust in order to feel the ecstasy of drawing close to God! In fact, if you go through the Bible and
search, you will see that cult prostitution is a way of life that is usually
punished with a quick and immediate death.
The idea of sex as a tool of drawing us close to God is not something
God desires.
That being said, I
don’t want anyone thinking I am saying sex is bad. God has given us sex within marriage and it
should be enjoyed. That act helps bond
us to another person and we can give praise to God for that bond. But that act does not inherently draw us
closer to God as the cult prostitutes would encourage. Hopefully this distinction that I am making
is clear.
Interest
I would love to spend
some time on the laws regarding charging interest, but I think they are
self-explanatory enough. God blesses us;
we should not need to oppress our neighbor to increase our own blessing.
Vows
However, I would like
to spend a paragraph on the laws regarding vows. The Bible takes vows pretty seriously. When we make a commitment to the Lord, we
should follow through with that commitment.
More generally
speaking, we should take our communication with God seriously. It is easy to think that God doesn’t really
hear us or that God doesn’t really remember all the little things we say to
Him. The reason it is easy to say and think
that is because God seems so distant at times.
Yet this is not true! God, who
created the universe, is capable of knowing your innermost thoughts even better
than you. These words about vows are
there to help us remember that God does take us seriously. He does know us intimately, and when we don’t
take our words to Him seriously we are showing Him that we don’t take His
relationship with us seriously as well.
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