Year 7, Day 168: Deuteronomy 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Deuteronomy 17 has a huge amount of foreshadowing in it.  Just about every way that the Hebrew people rebel in the rest of the Old Testament is covered by this chapter.  When we read the whole of the rest of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 17 is the prefect lens.

For example, take the fact that the community is supposed to police itself.  I’m not saying that we need to turn neighbors into spies who scrutinize each other over the fence – although that is usually what happens.  What I am saying is that as a community we should be looking out for the well-being of one another.  We should be warning our neighbors when they are about to do something or make a choice that is bad for them.  As the Hebrew nation grew, people stopped caring about one another.  People stopped being concerned neighbors and started being hostile to one another and envious of one another.  When our communities break down, we’re in trouble.

Or, take a look at the next section of scripture.  In this section we are told that we should respect the decisions of the priests.  We are told that we shouldn’t work against what they say is right and just.  The priests were to be the spiritual backbone for the community!  They were to be that which kept it together.  However, how many times in the Old Testament are we going to read that the people did what was right in their own eyes?  We’ll read that in practically every chapter in Judges, that’s for sure!  When human beings abandon their leadership and focus in on their own life without concern for the greater good, we’re in trouble.

Finally, take a look at the last section.  When we do elect leaders, we need to make sure that they aren’t worldly leaders.  We need to make sure that they aren’t putting their faith and trust in amassed wealth.  We need to make sure that the reasons they are desiring to lead are just and upright. we need to make sure that they are not corrupted by foreign influences and foreign thought.  Think about what happens with David.  He marries many women.  Solomon sees this happen, and he marries hundreds more than David.  Solomon marries women of all different countries as a means of forming political alliances.  He becomes swayed by their foreign policy and their foreign religion.  Soon the kingdom splits and the kings fall into a downward spiral of poor and selfish leadership.  When our leaders stop valuing what makes us strong and begin to look to their own strength and their own thinking, were in trouble.

In the end, Deuteronomy 17 is a case against the story of the Hebrew people to come.  They will have moments of redemption and restitution.  However, in nearly every chapter in the Old Testament to come, we’ll find something that points us back to Deuteronomy 17.  There’s a lesson in there about the importance of applying Deuteronomy 17 into our life, too.

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Year 7, Day 167: Deuteronomy 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

When I look at Deuteronomy 16, I hear a commentary on doing the right thing.  No, we don’t hear this advice in any one particular place.  This isn’t even a chapter commenting on morality or ethics.  Yet if we break it down, this chapter is simply about choosing to do the right thing.

We start by looking at the feasts.  Moses tells the people that they are expected to keep the feasts.  He tells them how to keep them.  He tells them when to keep them.  He tells them who should keep them.  He even tells them not to show up empty-handed.  They are expected.  One might even say that they are the reasonable obligations of the Hebrew people.  Moses point is simple.  When you are figuring out whether or not to go to the festival, make the right choice.  Do the right thing.  Live up to what is expected of you.

Then, we turn to the tidbit near the end of the chapter where Moses says to not expect bribes.  Again, do the right thing.  We all know that bribes cause people to overlook transgression.  We also realize that when (not if) word of a bribe gets out that the constituency will lose faith in its leaders.  Justice will suffer.  Communities will become fractured.  In the end, this can be avoided by just doing the right thing.  Don’t take bribes.  It clouds the judgment.

Finally, we hear the even more brief snippet about where to worship.  We are not to set up Asherah poles.  In other words, Moses is telling the people not to worship the gods who got the Canaanites into trouble.  When in doubt, make the right choice.  Remember that it is God who gets us out of the situations in our life and worship Him instead.

The advice of this chapter is simple.  When a challenging decision comes your way, sit down and ask a very simple question.  What is the right thing to do in this circumstance?  When we do the right thing, we seldom go wrong.

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Year 7, Day 166: Deuteronomy 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

The theme of Deuteronomy 15 is generosity.  Again and again in this chapter we hear the message that we are to give to those in need.  We are to lend without expecting back.  We are to be willing to release our possessions into being the possession of others.  We are to give freely out of our herd and flock (or other material possessions, for those of us who don’t live in an agrarian society anymore).  This is especially true for those who serve us.

I want you to hear how strange this advice really is.  Think about common practice in today’s world.  I’ll give a few examples.  Employers give their employees exactly the amount due to them for the work provided and nothing more.  Many people go into a restaurant and calculate exactly 10% for the tip and no more.  Banks lend money for up to thirty years and never offer a grace period – much less a period of forgiveness.  Restaurants often weight their food before giving it out to make sure that they are not over-portioning according to their profit-margin.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that any of the practices above are necessarily bad, and I’m certainly not saying that the practices I list above are evil.  They are common sense practices based upon the rule of fair exchange.  Two parties agree to trade quantities, often money and a particular good.  The agreement is then executed.  That’s how the world works.

But that’s not how God works.  God tells us to lend and not expect back.  He tells us to be generous when people leave our presence.  He tells us to give, knowing that we have already received from God more than our due.

This really is a challenging chapter when it comes to perspective.  I am sure God wants us to be good stewards.  Yet, I am also sure that God wants us to be generous with what He has already given to us, especially when dealing with the poor and those who have no advocate.  We need to keep both ideals in our mind as we go out into the world.

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Year 7, Day 165: Deuteronomy 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today, there was a little snippet at the end of the passage that caught my eye.  It is the rule for a person who lives too far away to come and make sacrifices at the temple.  How are they to go and demonstrate before the Lord?

They are to go to the temple, but notice how long.  They are to go once every three years!  We are not talking about a great deal of sacrifice here.  Once every three years a person is to go and make sacrifices before the Lord.  They don’t need to go weekly, monthly, or even yearly.  What this tells me is that God is a God of relationship more than observance.  He would rather us do right and live rightly where we live than have our focus on making trips to come and fulfill our obligation before Him.  I’ll write more on this at the end.

Did you see how the people are to go, when they do come once every three years?  They are to take whatever offering they should give to the Lord and convert it into money.  They are to then bring the money to the place of the Lord because it is easier to carry.  Then, once they get to the Lord’s house, they are to convert that money into things to offer before the Lord.  Naturally these are things that the Lord has already said He accepts: oxen, goats, wine, grains, etc.  But there are two things here that caught my eye.  First, the people are free to buy whatever their heart desires.  Second, they are to buy it and celebrate before the Lord.  This is not a begrudging sacrifice where one loathingly gives a part of what they have.  This is a time of coming and celebrating before God and with God’s people about the great things that God has done in our lives.

As I indicated above, let me return back to the topic of obligation.  Now that we see the issue of sacrifices is not to be a burden but only a journey once every three years, what is the people’s obligation between those three years?  Moses tells the people that they are not to forget the Levite.  They are not to neglect the sojourner.  They are not to neglect the orphan.  They are not to neglect the widow.  Again, this tells me that God is more interested in our relationship with Him and how we care for the defenseless around us than He is concerned with our obligatory sacrifices.  He is far more concerned about the status of our heart and our community than the offering going into His coffers.

That’s a really neat perspective to find, especially in the Old Testament.  So often we think of ancient religions as appeasing the gods and doing obligatory sacrifices to keep them happy – or at least keep them from being angry.  That is not at all what we see here.  God is showing us, clear back as early as the time of Moses, that He sees the way we care for others as a part of our sacrifice for Him.  If we want to make Him happy, it isn’t about making some sacrifice or giving some monstrous donation.  Making Him happy is about showing love and grace and mercy to those who cannot protect or provide for themselves and who have no legitimate inheritance among us.

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Year 7, Day 164: Deuteronomy 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Do you ever coma across a chapter or a teaching in the Bible that catches you by surprise because of its severity?  Deuteronomy 21:18-21 is one such place for me.  There Moses tells parents that if their child is stubborn and refuses to listen that they should stone the child and be done with him.  Matthew 18:8-9 in another such place, this one among the teachings of Jesus.  This is where Jesus tells us to pluck out our eyes and chop off our feet if they lead us into sin.  Deuteronomy 13 is another one of these places.

In this chapter, we hear that if a person comes to invite us to worship other gods that we should get up and kill him or her!  Or, if there are people within a city who are inviting others to worship other gods that we should get up and destroy the city and assume all of its plunder for ourselves!  Perhaps even most striking, if even one of our brothers, sons, or daughters invites us to worship other gods we are to get up and kill them!

At times like this, it is really easy to stop and ask ourselves what happened to the God of peace, who loves all people, who is slow to anger and quick to forgive?  I don’t really mean that mockingly.  That is a serious question.  How can examples like these come from the same God who loved a fallen humanity so much that He sent His only Son to die for our sake since we cannot save ourselves?

What passages like these do is to highlight the importance of the concepts that lie underneath them.  It is vitally important that children grow up learning the skill of listening to their parents.  It is important that human beings understand how much what we see and experience influence our proximity to sin.  In this chapter, God wants us to understand just how much other people can exert influence into our lives.

When people we trust – the local prophets and wise men – come to us and speak messages to us, we are prone to listening to them.  We need to make sure that their messages are worth listen to!  When loved ones – brothers, sisters, children – come to us and speak to us, we are prone to listen.  We need to make sure that their messages are worth listen to!  When people in neighboring towns develop a particular habit or cultural expression, it often makes its way into the neighboring towns as we imitate one another.  We need to make sure that the people we imitate are worth imitating!

I don’t truly think that God desires for us to kill everyone around us who makes a poor suggestion about worship, just like I don’t really believe that Jesus wants us to disfigure ourselves when we see something that causes us to have a sinful thought.  What I think He desires is that we always take such things seriously and don’t let ourselves become swayed by their influence.

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Year 7, Day 163: Deuteronomy 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I think the heart of Deuteronomy 12 nails humanity.  Moses tells the people not to worship at the places of worship for the people before them.  Then he tells them to only worship at the place God designates.  Eventually he boils down the message very plainly.  He tells them not to follow the whims and wills of their own hearts - doing right in their own eyes - but to listen and obey God’s direction.

On the surface, this is absolutely a chapter about where to worship.  On the surface, this is a chapter about practicing our interaction with God.  But the real meat in the passage is deeper than this.  The real meat in this passage is about our human desires and laying them aside to instead submit to God.

I think that it is very poignant to bind the two concepts of worship and submission.  No, I’m not trying to say that there is only one place to worship God and that we should go back to animal sacrificing.  Jesus makes it very clear in the New Testament that such practice is not necessary.  Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that the time is coming when we will worship God wherever our heart finds itself.  In fact, even at the end of this chapter Moses himself makes a similar declaration.

Why I think it is neat to bind the concepts of worship and submission is because I think that the very first act of true worship is genuine submission.  I believe that in order to worship God, the first thing that I must do is to lay my desires aside.  I must come into the presence of God with a humble and contrite heart that desires to listen rather than assert myself.

That’s the part that I see the world and culture around me struggle with so mightily.  To confess, that’s the part that I struggle with so mightily as well.  Going through the act of worship is a rather easy task – especially when you have someone, or a group of someones, doing all of the work for you and you just have to sit or stand at the appropriate time.  Going through the act of worship is not difficult.  What is difficult is going through the act in a humble and contrite manner that seeks to listen and change more than assert and prove oneself.  That is what makes the worship of God true and different from any other experience we have as a culture.

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Year 7, Day 162: Deuteronomy 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I love the straightforward nature of Deuteronomy 11.  In this chapter, Moses is quite clear with the Hebrew people.  Observe the Lord’s command and prosper.  Make the Lord angry and His protection will go away.

I don’t know why we as human beings find this to be a difficult concept.  It simply makes sense.  When we show someone that they are important to us, we tend to have better interactions with them.  When we indicate to another person that they are meaningless to us, we tend to have worse interactions with them.  It’s simply not a hard concept to understand.  So why do we find this concept so difficult?

I’m sure there are as many answers to that question as there are people in the world.  But I’m guessing that much of the time – at least for me – it revolves around how much I care.  You see, if I don’t care about God and His ways, then I don’t really care whether or not my interactions with Him are favorable or not.  On the other hand, in those moments when I really need God and I want Him to care about me, I tend to pay attention to God and try to win His favor.

It isn’t that the concept is hard to understand at all.  It is my level of buy-in that changes.  I see the same thing in students, too.  Those students who enjoy my subject matter always come to class and do well.  Those students who may not enjoy my subject area but still value school in general also come into the class and find success.  Then there are those students who really don’t care about putting their best foot forward.  They stumble and fall, not finding success until their parents see their report card and start to punish them unless the grades improve.  Then, the students start caring more and the grades pull around.  But here’s the thing.  Even in those instances, I’m not fooled.  The turnaround isn’t because the student has started to care about school.  The turnaround is because the parent found something that the student does care about and tied the consequences of school to the consequences of whatever they do care about.

That brings me back to God.  He isn’t fooled by us, either.  There are people who genuine care about God and His ways because it is in their heart.  Then, there are those people who will only care when they need Him.  There are those people who will only give God their attention when something has gone wrong and they don’t care for the consequences.  We’ll see that time and time again in the story of the Hebrew people.  We see that time and time again in Western civilization, too.  But in the end, God is no more fooled than I am as a teacher.  God knows which people genuinely care and which ones only care until the consequences are less dire.

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Year 7, Day 161: Deuteronomy 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I’ve never noticed the order of Deuteronomy 10:10-12 before.  I’ve heard the passage and its iterations (see Micah 6:8 for the most famous one) before.  But I’ve never noticed the order as I did this time.  I've always focused on the first one in the list, fear, and then spoken about how the others stem from our fear of Him.  This time, I see the breadth of the progression.

Look at what Moses puts first.  The fear of the Lord.  This really isn’t a surprise.  Elsewhere in scripture we are told that it is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom.  What can we do with respect to God until we have learned the fear of the Lord?

Next, we are told to walk in His ways.  This also makes sense.  How can we possible walk in His ways if we have not first learned to fear Him?  Walking in God’s ways is the natural outcome for fearing the Lord.

Third, we are told to love God.  This might seem strange, especially in today’s love-crazy world.  We might ask ourselves why loving the Lord shouldn’t come first.  To counter that, I would argue against the world that I cannot truly and deeply love what I don’t know.  I couldn’t love my spouse until I had gotten to know her a good bit.  The more I get to know her, the more my love for her increases.  What is it they say?  If you want to love a person, walk a mile in their shoes?  That’s exactly what Moses is saying here.  As we fear God, we walk in His ways.  As we walk in His ways, we learn to love God.

Fourth, we are told to serve.  Naturally, this makes sense.  How can we possibly serve if we don’t truly love?  In my mind, that’s the difference between slavery and servanthood.  Slavery is working because of the power held over you by another.  Serving is working out of the love you have for the other.  We serve God only when we love Him.

Finally, we keep His commandments.  As we fear God, walk in His ways, love Him, and serve Him we finally realize that we are keeping His commandments.  When we do these things, we get to the fifth one!  I think this is a fabulous progression, and a new approach for me.

Finally, I think that it is important to her the advice that Moses gives to the people after he finishes speaking to them about what I discussed above.  Moses says to them, “Circumcise your hearts.”  He doesn’t tell them to do something physical.  For me, this is proof that God cares more about the state of our hearts than he cares about the stuff we do.  He cares more about our relationship with him than He cares about where we worship, or what version of the Bible we read, or how many times we fast in a week.  He cares about the condition of our heart.

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Year 7, Day 160: Deuteronomy 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Reading through Deuteronomy presents us with a reminder of the unrighteousness of the Hebrew people.  We hear again about the Golden Calf.  We hear again about the rebellion when the people did not believe that they could take the land.  We see the Hebrew people for what they are.  They are a people who are quick to fall away and slow to believe.

Don’t get me wrong.  I have my days like that, too.  There are days when I am absolutely quick to lose faith.  There are days when I am blind to what God is doing in the world around me.  The massage that this chapter has for me is that even in those days, God does not abandon me.  He may not particularly be happy with me, but He does not abandon me.  That’s great news.

The other aspect of this chapter that I think is important to remember is why the Hebrew people are being given the Promised Land.  Moses is very blunt here.  They were not chosen by God because they were a righteous people or even a special people.  They were chosen because God needed someone to replace the Canaanites.  The Hebrew people are taking the Promised Land because the Canaanites were so evil!

So often we hear phrases like “The Chosen People” and get it in our head that the Hebrew people were a special and a unique people.  They are special because God makes them special.  But they are not inherently special in who they are.  They were normal, rebellious people just like the rest of humanity.  God took these normal, rebellious people and made them special.

The good news is that God can do the same with us.  We are all normal, rebellious people, too.  God can make us special.  God can come, He can dwell with us as He dwelled with the Hebrew people, and make us special through His presence.  That’s what he offers to us.

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Year 7, Day 159: Deuteronomy 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Deuteronomy 8 has a very good warning that we absolutely need to hear in the modern world.  I would guess that humanity always needs to hear it; but I can guarantee that we need to hear it today.  The message is simple.  Don’t mistake what God does with His hands for what I do with mine.

In the time of Moses, he was worried that after a generation or two – or maybe even just a few years of peace – the people would begin to think of their work in the land as, well, their work.  I can see it now.  Some guy out mining copper says to his coworker, “Man, that was a hot day.  But look at all the copper we mined today!”  Or some shepherd looks to his coworker and says, “That sure was some mighty lion that we chased off!”  Perhaps there is some person doing laundry who gets to the end of the day and says, “That was a mighty pile of laundry I got done today!”

Do you hear the emphasis?  In each of those circumstances, the comments from the people are ignoring the support that comes from God and only seeing what they were able to accomplish within the framework of God’s support.  Those comments aren’t acknowledging the seasons that allow the grass and wheat to grow so we can have bread to eat and meat from animals that graze on the grass.  Those comments aren’t acknowledging the peace that God allows us to dwell in by protecting us from harm.  Those comments aren’t acknowledging the wisdom that God has given to us to be able to do the job in the first place.  Those comments aren’t acknowledging the walk that God had for centuries with people who laid the foundation for the life we now enjoy.  Those comments are focused on the work of the people without looking at the greater context and support.

This really is a lesson that I do well to remember.  Everything I do now is so much more than my effort.  Everything I do now is the culmination of God’s work in my life, God’s work in the lives of the people who have helped me become the person that I am, God’s work in the lives of the people who have made this country what it is, God’s work in watching over my travel and the travel of others, God’s work in bringing the seasons to allow food to be grown, harvested, and consumed on a daily basis, etc.  I could keep going if I wanted to.  Moses’ point is really quite clear.  Every day we can see our daily work simply as our own personal effort or we can choose to see our daily results as a chain of events in a long line of God’s hand at work.  The choice is ours.  We need to make the right choice.

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Year 7, Day 158: Deuteronomy 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Deuteronomy is a warning from Moses to make sure that the Hebrew people remember to devote the Canaanites to their destruction.  They are to give no quarter to them.  They are not to be gracious.  They are not to be merciful.  They are in no way, shape, or form, to do anything except utterly destroy the Canaanite people.

Naturally, this message sits funny with me.  After all, is not my experience with God that He is a loving God?  Does He not forgive my sin and grant me chance after chance after chance?  Do I deserve even one ounce of His love?  Yet He lavishes His love upon me anyways.  What is so different about me than the Canaanites?

I think it is that question that helps soothe my inner turmoil regarding this chapter.  Let’s not forget why it is that the Hebrew people are being brought to Canaan.  As this chapter says, it isn’t because the Hebrew people were more numerous or better people.  The Canaanites are being displaced because they haven’t responded to God.  They have lusted after foreign gods.  They aren’t interested in righteousness; they are interested in their own desires.  They are just going to teach the Hebrew people to do the same if they are allowed to live.

For the record, the Canaanites that are allowed to live in the land do corrupt the Hebrew people.  They do lead them astray.  They do teach them to obey ungodly principles in their lives.

Why does God say to give them no quarter?  God knows what will happen in the future.  He knows that they will play an important part in His judgment over His own people by bringing Babylon and Assyria down upon the Hebrews.  He knows how the native Canaanites will torment the Hebrew people.  He knows the future.

How can the merciful God that I know be so merciless?  He can be so merciless because He already knows.  I am blinded by time.  I am blinded by the possibility that they might repent and they might turn around.  But God is not so blinded.  He knows.  He knows, and His advice is to give them no quarter.  It isn’t advice that I am in any kind of position to give.  But it absolutely is advice that God is in a position to give righteously.

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Year 7, Day 157: Deuteronomy 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I’ve heard it said that the whole of the Law boils down to the Shema, or Shema Yisrael.  “Hear, Israel.”  Fortunately, there are a plethora of directions that I can go with this idea.  For those of you who do not know what the shema is, it is a reference to Deuteronomy 6:4.  You’ll notice that shema Yisrael, or hear Israel, are the first two words in that verse.

The traditional track, and I believe a correct track, is to talk about what it is that the shema teaches.  The Lord is One.  What does it mean to say that the Lord is One?  Many people point to it as a foundation to the coming New Testament teaching of the Trinity.  Most people teach that it is absolutely a declaration of the power of God.  In other words, He is not just a god but the God.  It also teaches that God is a personal God because He is our God.  All of these are great teachings found within the shema.

However, let’s not miss out one the shema itself.  “Hear, Israel.”  In other words, we need to listen.  We need to pause and accept that we get our orders from another.  My life is not about my desire and my pursuit.  Rather, my life is about finding where God is at work around my and joining up with God.  My job in this word is not to ask God to help me pursue my dreams but to stop and listen so that I can join God in pursuing His work.  For me, that right there is the truest and deepest meaning to be found in the shema.

As I look at my life and where God has taught me in the past several years, it is here in this teaching.  As I hint above, when I was considerably younger I used to think that life was about getting God’s blessing upon my agenda.  When I finally gave that issue up, I believe that I swung too far to the other side.  Instead of asking God to bless my agenda, I started asking myself what God’s plan for my life was.  Unfortunately, that became a nearly equally fruitless pursuit because I spent most of my life frustrated that I was chasing some dream that I couldn’t even know for certain.  Finally, I began seeking middle ground.  Instead of looking for some grand plan, I just started listening.  I realized that the grand overarching plan wasn’t the goal.  Instead, what was really important was finding Go din the here and now.  What does God want me to do today?  What does God want me to do wherever I find myself planted?

This concept, a concept that I find highly present in the shema, is an incredibly freeing one.  I don’t have to worry about the grand plan.  I simply have to worry about being a part of God’s plan today.  If tomorrow my circumstances change, then I’ll have to find where God is in those circumstances and do His work there.

As we take this concept back to the chapter, that really is what the rest of the chapter is talking about.  When the Hebrew people enter the land, they need to keep listening to God.  They shouldn’t focus on the treasure that they will take without earning from the Canaanites in the land.  They shouldn’t focus on the false gods.  In the same way, they shouldn’t test God and question His overall plan.  They are simply to remember God and teach about Him to their children.  They are to live each day in a walk with God, wherever He leads them and with whatever He puts in their hands.

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Year 7, Day 156: Deuteronomy 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today, I am going to opt out of talking about the Ten Commandments.  It’s not that I don’t think they are important.  They are the foundation to God’s Law!  However, much has been said throughout the ages on the Ten Commandments that I am drawn to something else in this chapter.  Today, I am drawn to the word fear.

Twice in this chapter we hear Moses talk about the fear of the people.  Interestingly enough, the two talks about fear bookend the talk about the Ten Commandments.  We hear about the fear of the people before Moses went up into the mountain.  We also hear about the fear of the people after Moses comes down from the mountain and the people have observed the mountain while Moses was up there.

Not only do the talks about fear bookend the Ten Commandments, the talks about fear speak to the actions of the people.  Because the people were afraid, they sent Moses up the mountain.  Because the people were afraid, the turned to Moses as their intercessory.  Mind you, it isn’t wrong for Moses to go up the mountain.  Neither is it wrong for people to have others that they look upon as spiritual mentors and guides.

But what we are talking about in this chapter when we get right down to it, is that the people didn’t have a relationship with God as much as they had a relationship with God through Moses.  They people weren’t in a direct relationship with God at all.  They were merely riding the coattails of Moses’ relationship with God.  Interestingly enough, this generation of people are also repeatedly called the “wicked generation” all throughout scripture.  I can’t help but think that these two things are inherently related to one another.

Again, God doesn’t mind if we have spiritual mentors and advisors.  After all, that’s how Jesus functioned in the life of His disciples!  But God wants His followers to each have a personal relationship with Him.  We don’t have to have a human intermediary between us and God.  We should not let our fear get in the way of knowing God personally as the wicked generation of Hebrew people did.

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Year 7, Day 155: Deuteronomy 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

When I read Deuteronomy 4, the overarching theme that I hear is the importance of remembering.  God has done marvelous things for these Hebrew people.  He has brought them out from under oppression.  He has brought them through a desert and sustained a whole community of people and animals for forty years in a dry land that is ill-equipped to support life.  He has allowed them begin to conquer the people on the east side of the Jordan River.

These Hebrew people need not question what God will do for them in the future.  Of course God will be with them; He has been with them all along!  There is no need to doubt God’s presence, His hand, or His power.

For me, this is a great lesson about which I need to be reminded.  It is easy to worry about the future.  It is easy to doubt that things will go as needed.  It is easy to believe in Murphy’s Law and assume that everything that can go wrong will go wrong.  But I need not live in that perspective at all.  Has not God been with me my whole life?  Has He not been active in my life?  Has not the presence of His hand and the force of His power been there, sustaining me for as long as I’ve been alive?  I might not always do a great job recognizing it in the moment, but if I look back I can certainly see it at work.

There is one last thing that Moses says about remembering.  Since God has been with the people, the great error the people can be made is falling away from God because they forget about Him or because they do not acknowledge His work.  The people need to remember God’s work and walk with Him.

Again, this message applies to us as much as the Hebrew people.  Since God has been with us in our life, we need to remember Him.  We need to walk in His ways, or at least try.  We need to be repentant when we fail, acknowledging our mistakes rather than testing our God.  Since God’s presence in our future is not in doubt, our obedience to Him should not be in doubt, either.

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Year 7, Day 154: Deuteronomy 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Having spoken yesterday about a God who remembers His Word and protects those who are in agreement with Him, today I’m going to talk about the opposite.  Today we hear about the conquest of the land east of the Jordan River.  We hear about the defeat of Og and the distribution of the land to the two and a half tribes who desire to settle east of the Jordan.

Unlike the people of Lot and the people of Esau, these people are not in relationship with God.  They are not showing any concern for His ways.  They are hardening their hearts against what God is doing in the world.  They are actively engaging in attempts to defeat God’s plan.  They are promoting themselves.  They are pursuing their own desires and taking what their heart leads them to take.

Do you remember the stories from Numbers about how the Hebrew people tried to negotiate peaceful passage through these lands and the people of these lands would not allow it?  Whether it was because they saw the Hebrew people as a threat or an opportunity to gain easy wealth, these people opposed the Hebrew people and resisted their passage.  They put their hearts against God and His ways.  Because of this, they are destroyed and their land is given over to the Hebrew people.

There is a rather significant lesson to be learned in all of this.  Clearly God will respect His agreements with those who abide by Him and respect the agreement in return.  God will honor His Word as long as the bargain is kept.  However, when we turn and make ourselves an enemy to what God is doing, watch out!  As soon as we declare ourselves an enemy to Him, our hearts are hardened and we are susceptible to replacement.

As proof of this, think about the end of the story of the Hebrew people in the Old Testament.  They break the covenant and are dragged off into exile, replaced by the Babylonians and Assyrians for a time.  Granted, when they return to the covenant God still honors the covenant.  But the message is consistent.  If we desire God to honor and respect His end of the bargain, we must honor and respect our end, too.  That doesn’t mean we must be perfect in every way – that could never happen anyways!  But it does mean that we respect the agreement.  We try as hard as we can to keep it.  When we fail, we acknowledge the failure, confess it, and humble pledge to try better.  That’s what being in a relationship is all about.

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Year 7, Day 153: Deuteronomy 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Within chapter 2 of the book of Deuteronomy, I see an overarching theme of commitment.  The Lord is committed to His people.  Mind you, I’m not just talking about the Hebrew people.  After all, while the Hebrew people may be the main subject of God’s interaction in the Old Testament, they are not the only subject.  God is committed to all those with whom He is in relationship.

Do you hear how Moses recounts that the people are not to go into Edom – the area around Mount Seir?  They are not to go into Edom because it is Esau’s people.  The Hebrew people come from Jacob.  However, God entered into a promise with Esau and gave the land of Edom to him.  So long as Esau’s people do not do anything deserving of being tossed out of the land, God will keep His promise.  That land is Esau’s land and the people of Jacob are to have no part in it.

Just to make his point clear, God also tells the Hebrew people to not go into or harass the Moabites.  The Moabites were mingling with the people of Lot.  God reminds the Hebrew people that in the same way as God has been protective of Esau’s people, He is remembering Lot’s people as well.  These are people who have been in an agreement with God from practically the same time as the Hebrew people entered into the covenant through Abraham!

God is faithful to His Word.  It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, and what your status is.  God is faithful to His Word.  If you hold up your end of the agreement, God will hold up His end, too.

As a bit of an aside at the end, I am also mindful that this shows us that God does not have an exclusive relationship with the Hebrew people.  The Old Testament is largely the story about God’s relationship with the people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  But this is not an exclusive relationship.  They do not own God, so to speak.  There are other people in relationship with god and those relationships are equally as meaningful to Him.  Our ability to be in relationship with God does not depend on biology, it depends upon our heart.  I believe that this is a very subtle but consistent theme in the Old Testament that often gets overlooked.

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Year 7, Day 152: Deuteronomy 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

The book of Deuteronomy is a book listing Moses’ final words.  The people are about to follow Joshua into the Promised Land.  Moses is about to go up the mountain and die.  This is his final sendoff.

When I think about this book, I truly value what it means in history as well as in the example it sets for us.  Here is what it means to be a leader.  Moses is on his way to die and be collected to his God.  Yet, where is Moses’ focus?  Is he mourning his approaching death?  No.  He is minding his calling.  He is making sure that when he dies that the people will have as much of their weight on the correct foot as possible as they walk ahead.  That is leadership.

As for its place in history, look at what Moses says.  He starts by reminding them of God and what God has done for them.  Then, Moses reminds the people about their multiple collective sins and disobedience.  Moses doesn’t pull any punches.  Moses tells the truth exactly as he remembers it.  That, too is leadership.

We have much to learn from Moses.  I enjoy the books from Exodus through Deuteronomy for the growth we can see in Moses.  We started so many months ago watching an impulsive man who had trouble controlling his anger.  He does still struggle with controlling the anger, but he is so much more mature now.  As Moses grows, he doesn’t eliminate his failings.  Rather, Moses manages his failings while helping those around him become better people, too.

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Year 7, Day 151: Numbers 36

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I find my reaction to this passage strangely different to the chapter that I read a week or so ago.  When we first read about Zelophehad, we get the impression of a grace-filled God who desires to accommodate circumstances more than inflexibly enforce legislation.  I remember praising that chapter well!

In this chapter, though, I find myself chaffing against the same pronouncement.  However, I think I have more against the way the pronouncement is made than the pronouncement in general.  Do you hear how the women are forced to marry within the clan even though they are retaining their inheritance?  For me, this has all of the trappings of maintaining the status quo than it does of being compassionate in the moment.

Don’t get me wrong.  It is highly possible that I am extrapolating a legal ruler meant for that particular time and place into a new time and place where it does not fit.  In those days, people would not stry far from home.  They would not likely have many relationships outside of their clan.  They would probably marry within their clan in the normal course of action.  In the time in which this was written, the ruling would not have likely had any significant consequences.

My point in all of this is that we need to be careful.  We should never seek to relegate teachings in scripture to their culture and think that they have nothing to teach us.  Equally wrong, however, is to forget that the teachings in the Bible are cultural documents.  At times like this, when rules are being established in preparation for conquest of a new land, we should remember the context.  There is a need to balance the letter of the Law with the spirit of the Law.

The good news is that I find this to be a friendly struggle.  This is the very struggle that Jesus felt in his time on earth.  This is the battle that he had with the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees.  This is a battle that we as human beings don’t often get write, and we certainly always struggle with it.  It is good to have chapters like this to remind us that being obedient to God is about balance in the context of life, not strict and blind obedience.

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Year 7, Day 150: Numbers 35

Theological Commentary: Click Here

What I love about this chapter is the successful mixture of law and grace.  We don’t have too much law so that there is oppression.  Neither do we have too much grace so that there are no consequences.  We have balance, as we would expect with a perfect God.

We start with the city of refuge concept.  The city of refuge is a place that someone can flee to in the instance that a life was lost.  For the record, I think it is really important that we understand the specific circumstance of the city of refuge, as many in our culture want to take this idea and use it to save anyone.  The city of refuge was specifically for the person who was involved in a case where life was lost.  It was a place that a person could go until it was determined whether the loss of life was a manslaughter or a murder.  It was a place where the perpetrator of the crime could go until a jury of his peers – the congregation – could be gathered to judge his crime.

No harm could come to the perpetrator while he was in the city of refuge.  No vengeance could be taken until the trial was held.  Here is one dynamic of grace.  The city of refuge was meant to protect people until judgment could be determined.

Once judgement was determined, we have the law and consequences come forth.  If the person was guilty of murder, not even the city of refuge could protect the person.  The murder was executed for their crime.  Now we see the law come in and consequences are meted out.

The perpetrator of manslaughter – a crime where someone died and there was no evidence of forethought to the crime – could be protected within the city.  These people would be considered safe within the walls of the city.  The crime of manslaughter was not punishable by death within a city of refuge.  The perpetrator of manslaughter could live out a full life within the city of refuge.  Here we see more grace.

We do have a condition where the perpetrator of manslaughter could be put to death.  Should such a criminal leave the city of refuge, they could be caught and have vengeance applied by the family of the victim.  In fact, the Bible is clear that such an act of vengeance would not even incur any guilt!  This means that while the perpetrator of manslaughter was safe within the city, they could never leave the protection of the city.  The city of refuge became both a place of refuge as well as a jail for them.  There are consequences applied, even in the greater context off grace.  Here we see once more that there is the balance of the law.

This is a very important chapter for me to remember as I try to balance the law and grace in my life.  I must pursue the greater context of grace.  God is incredibly gracious to me in my life, I must demonstrate God’s grace to others in their life through my actions.  However, there is a problem with only extending grace.  When the balance of the law is removed, there are no consequences.  Then the balance of the law is removed, we have a self-entitled society that thinks of the individual ahead of the collective.  In fact, in a truly off-balance society, we end up with a society that thinks only of itself and never of the other.  As we see in this chapter, we must try to always remember that grace and law exist in balance when we are living a godly life.

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Year 7, Day 149: Numbers 34

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There is something to be said for planning and expectation.  Every single person that I know truly enjoys the feeling of knowing what to expect when a time of difficulty is about to happen.  Military people spend almost all of their time drilling for those unexpected circumstances of action so that they actually do know what to expect. As a teacher, I always like to know what to expect when my schedule is interrupted with fied trips special assemblies, testing days, etc.  Even when we are driving on the road we pull out maps, GPS devices, and phones to help tell us about the traffic and what to expect.  The reality is that human beings prefer to be in a state of knowing what to expect – especially as familiarity decreases.

I think this is the brilliance of this chapter in Numbers.  Before the people go in, Moses tells them what to expect.  He tells them what the Lord has told him.  He tells them the boundaries of the land that they are about to conquer.  He tells them the leaders of the people who are going to be making the decisions about who gets what share of the land.  The people are about to undertake a massive military campaign to push the native inhabitants out of the land.  Moses wants them to see the end result and know what to expect when they get there.

As much as we would care to deny it, there is a lot of uncertainty in everyday life.  I don’t know that a car won’t collide with my car on the way to work.  I don’t know that a fire might not start at my place of employment of my home while I’m gone.  I don’t know that my health or the health of any of my family might not give out at any time.  When we look at the big picture of life, there is plenty of uncertainty.  That’s why we need to feel like we know what to expect.  Knowing what to expect helps us deal with the uncertainty.

This is part of why my relationship with God is so important to me.  I like living knowing that God can work all things to His glory.  I like living knowing that God can take anything and work His hand in it.  I like knowing that in the end, there is a place for me to abide in His eternal glory.  I like living in that comfort and stability in the midst of a very uncertain world.

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Year 7, Day 148: Numbers 33

Theological Commentary: Click Here

It’s time to be completely transparent.  I read chapters like this and immediately have to fight the urge to gloss over the words.  After all, how interesting is it to read about where the Hebrew people traveled?

We must remember that there is great value in remembering where you have come from.  There is great value in community recognition.  We need to pass down the stories about what has come before us so that we can learn from the example.  We need to learn to imitate the good things.  We need to learn to avoid the bad things.  That’s what this chapter is all about.

We hear about the fact that God brought the people out of Egypt.  We hear that they went into the desert for God’s sake.  We then hear about all of the wandering that the people did.

Moses is recounting this story so that the people remember from where they came.  As they transition into the conquest of the Promised Land, Moses wants them to stay focused on their calling.  God has called them to the Promised Land.  God has called them to bring judgment upon the native Canaanites.  God has called them to drive out the Canaanites and inhabit the land themselves.  They will need to remember from where they’ve come and who brought them here in order to accomplish the task ahead successfully.

Moses also wants to make sure that the people realize the consequences of not accomplishing the task.  If they do not drive out the people, the native people will be a constant thorn in their side.  Unfortunately, we know that it is this very scenario that plays out.  The people will lose sight of from where they came and who brought them there.  They will become complacent and accepting.  Eventually, they too will become tossed out of Canaan by the Babylonians and the Assyrians much like the Canaanites before them.  Chapters like this and the messages they contain are easy to overlook and vital to our continued faithfulness.

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Year 7, Day 147: Numbers 32

Theological Commentary: Click Here

When I read this chapter, I discover another example of a teaching that it took me several years of my adult life to embrace.  We cannot only judge people by their actions and their words.  We need to know their heart, their inner motivations, before truly knowing whether something that they do is right or wrong.  It is so much easier to create a static list of rights and wrongs and then judge people by where their actions fall.  But this is not effective and true.  I can’t tell a person’s sin just by what they do.  I need to know them, first.

How do we see this in the story?  Some of the Hebrew people see the land east of the Jordan river and ask Moses if they can settle there instead.  Moses immediately hears their words and compares them to the sinful generation who were afraid to follow God into the Promised Land.  Moses remembered the decision that kept him wandering through the desert for forty years, and this request sounds suspiciously like that fateful day.  Moses intercedes, reminding the people who are making this request about the failings of their parents.

This generation, however, surprises us.  Once Moses takes the time to get to know their motives, he figures out that they are making the request because they genuinely like the land.  They aren’t afraid to go into the land and conquer it!  They will do their duty willingly.  They simply like this particular area of fertile ground.

In this we learn the value of knowing the human heart.  There are a host of reasons to not want to cross into the Promised Land.  Some of them are genuine as we see in this chapter.  Some of them could be disingenuous as we see at the beginning of the wandering in the desert.  If all we did is look at the action, we might easily mistake one for the other.

This is ultimately why relationship is important.  If we are not careful, we sit off in a distance and judge people as they go by without knowing anything about their life.  We make assumptions and rationalize our judgmental nature.  What relationship does is to help mitigate this cold and distant permission to judge.  Relationship teaches us to know people and walk life in their shoes.  Once we get to know people and not just observe them, we are far more equipped to be God’s influence in the world.

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