Year 7, Day 174: Deuteronomy 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Deuteronomy 23 continues the pursuit of miscellaneous laws.  Most of these laws feels like they have simply been thrown together because they don’t really fit in well with the rest of the prior portions of the Law.  That’s a generically true statement.  They don’t particularly fit.

Within these laws, we do have an overarching theme that covers most of the laws in this chapter.  We can call this the chapter about keeping the holiness of the Lord.  Remember that holiness is a word that means “separate,” not “better-than-thou.”  Although, I don’t have any problem saying that the Lord is better than me.

For example, take these opening verses about eunuchs and males who are deformed in their sexuality.  They simply are not allowed to enter into the holy places of the Lord.  As I mention in the commentary I wrote six years ago, there is every reason to read this through the lens of the New Testament.  This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love them.  It doesn’t mean that God will not have a good relationship with them.  All who seek the Lord will find Him.  What this is about is remembering that the Lord is separate.  He is holy.  We can’t come to God with a “whatever works” mentality.  We come to God with a mentality that is focused on God, God’s ways, and God’s holiness.  We come to God with a mentality that says, “Not my will but your will, God.”

I find this true in the passage about uncleanliness in the camp as well.  I love the line in Deuteronomy 23:14 that says, “Because the Lord walks in the midst of your camp…”  How easy is it to picture God as a far off God who doesn’t care about the intricate details of our existence?  That’s just simply not true.  He walks among us.  He dwells among us.  When we remember God’s holiness, we need to remember that this holy God is among us, dwelling with us.

In fact, if we take that and go back to the eunuch, we honestly have a better perspective on it.  The eunuch may not be able to go into the worldly place designated as God’s holy place, but that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t come to the eunuch!  God walks among us.  He walks among us all!

The last one that I want to focus on is the vows to the Lord.  If we make a vow to the Lord, then we need to keep it.  In fact, we need to not delay in keeping it.  Again, I think that this is about the holiness of the Lord.  If we generally love the Lord and desire to dwell in His holiness, then we absolutely should want to fulfill that vow.  We should not desire for our unfulfilled vow to come between us and a holy and righteous God!

In the end, there is a lesson we can learn here.  The Lord is holy.  The Lord does walk among us.  He does desire relationship with us.  We need to remember this and take this seriously.

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