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

Usually I read a passage, write my thoughts, and then determine what to title the days study, but today I read the passage and realized what theme I saw in the passage before I knew what I wanted to write.  In today’s passage there are numerous commands which call for protecting the dignity of the poor.  This passage contains a command not to take the tools a man uses in his trade as security against a loan.  You must leave him the means to earn the money to repay the debt (and to support himself) Another command that you not enter someone’s house to retrieve the item they have offered in security against a loan.  On the one hand, doing so might reveal how poor a person is, damaging their dignity.  On the other hand, it might reveal items a creditor might coerce the poor person into selling.  There is a command to pay a worker promptly, so that they do not need to borrow against their future earnings to feed themselves today.  Another command orders the Israelites not to harvest their fields with complete thoroughness, leaving some behind around the edges, or elsewhere that it requires extra effort to harvest so that the poor can come along behind and gather food to feed themselves.  Throughout this passage are numerous commands which tell those who are successful to leave opportunity for the poor to better their economic status.  This is the key to a truly great economy: the well off ensure that they do not block the ability of the poor to improve their economic position, they must make sure they do not crush them or their chance to make a life for themselves.

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

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

This passage contains several commands which are designed to protect women from sexual exploitation.  The first such command concerns women captured in war.  If a man takes such a woman as a slave and intends to have sex with her, he must give her a month to mourn her family and then he can take her as his wife.  If he decides that he no longer wants her as his wife, he must set her free.  He may not sell her or treat her as a slave.  Then there is the instruction concerning a man who has two wives, of whom he only loves one.  He may not treat the children of the one he loves preferentially over the children of his unloved wife.  Continuing in the passage there are laws concerning rape which assume that sexual acts between a man and a woman to whom he is not married is rape.  These laws meant that if a man seduced a woman, he would need to take care of her economically for the rest of his life.  While in our society today, such laws would punish women for the actions of someone else, in that society they protected them from abuse.  As importantly, they reinforced the idea that having sex with someone meant that you were married to them.

I use 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 warns the Israelites against imitating the detestable practices of the people who live in the land which God is giving them.  Then he lists at least some of the detestable ways they are not to imitate.

• sacrifice their child
• practice divination or sorcery
• interpret omens
• engage in witchcraft
• cast spells
• be a medium, or spiritist, or in any way consult the dead

I find that to be a very interesting list, because to me everything on that list is of a “kind”, except for the first one.  Everything on that list after the first item qualifies under what we today call “doing magic”.  Whenever I read this list I wonder what it is about practicing magic, which is what I classify most of this list as, which puts it in the same category as killing one’s child.  I think this list says something about how our society’s view of abortion influences its approach to rational thought.

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.

The Israelites were commanded to put aside a tenth of what their fields produced each year and take it, along with the first born of their herds and flocks, to the central location where God had designated that all of Israel should gather to worship Him.  We tend to focus on the tithe portion of this command and not what they were supposed to do with that tithe.  God commanded that when they got to the place He had designated, they should eat that tithe in company with all of their fellow Israelites.  They were to share this feast with the Levites, who did not have any land on which to grow crops from which to tithe.  So, the purpose of setting aside this tithe was in order to have a big feast with the rest of Israel.  It was designed to bring all of the Israelites together in unity.  Further, in the next section, they were told to give generously to their fellow Israelites who were in need, but not as a gift, as a loan.  However, they were to forgive any such loans every seven years.  The Israelites were to gather on a regular basis to eat and drink together.  They were to make sure that all of their countrymen could join in this celebration.  They were not to worship any other gods, nor incorporate any of their worship practices with those commanded by God (in particular, God called out to forbid the worship practices of the fertility gods of the region).  In addition, they were not to tolerate the presence of those who worshiped other gods.  All in all the commands given in this passage seem designed to bring unity among the Israelites by making sure that they shared values and that economic stratification never lasted more than a generation.

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.

Moses begins today’s passage by reminding the Israelites that they were the ones who had seen God’s wondrous signs and experienced His discipline for disobedience.  We must remember this, we have seen God’s wondrous works (at least, I hope that you have, I know that I have).  Others may not have, so let us be careful about how we let them influence us.  But whether others have seen God’s great signs or not, if you have you are responsible to remember what those signs mean.  Be careful not to be enticed to worship and/or serve other gods.  Do whatever you need to do to remember, and follow, the commands which God has given to us.  If that means attaching them to you hands, or writing them on your forehead, then do so.  And let us talk about God’s commands, to our children and to our friends, when we are at home and when we are away from home.  Talk about them in the evening as you get ready for sleep, and in the morning as you prepare for the day.  In every waking moment, think about what God’s commands mean for what you do next.

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.

As an aside from my main point I want to make a reference to an issue which causes some archeologists to say that the Exodus did not happen, at least not as described in the Bible.  They point out that one would expect a group as large as the Bible describes the Israelites being to leave a significant number of artifacts to be discovered by archeologists if that group spent 40 years in the Sinai desert.  However, what the archeologists are referring to as artifacts are the things which such a group would have thrown out.  In this passage, Moses tells us that during the forty years in the wilderness their clothing did not wear out.  If the same thing applied to pots and other items, perhaps the reason the Israelites left no archeological artifacts is because they didn’t have any trash during those forty years (or, very little).

Moses warns the Israelites against two, closely related, mistakes they might make once they entered into the land and God had driven the people living there out before them.  These are mistakes which we are prone to as well.  First, they might forget God and come to believe that they had good things because of their own abilities and strengths.  Second, they might come to believe that God had taken the land and the good things from those He had driven out because of their righteousness.  We too must be careful not to make either of these mistakes, or any of the related ones which say that we have received good things because we are more deserving of them than others.  Moses warned the Israelites to remember that the good things they received came to them from God because God had chosen to be gracious to them, not because they were such strong, or wonderful, or righteous people.  Moses told the Israelites that God would drive the people out of the land ahead of them because those people were wicked.  Then he tells them that God defends the cause of the orphan and the widow and loves the foreigners living among them.  Finally, Moses sums up the main message of this passage by telling the Israelites, and us, that we should follow God’s commands because He has given them to us for our own good.  While it is true that most of the suffering which people endure comes from their decision to do that which God has declared wicked, that does not mean we should rejoice in their suffering, or think that we are better than they.  Instead, we should show them God’s love and seek to alleviate their suffering so that they may come to turn to the Lord and enjoy the good things which come from obeying Him.

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

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

Moses recounts here how God spoke the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel and how they were frightened by His voice.  Moses reminds them that God had spoken to them in order to incline their hearts to fear Him and obey His commands.  It is good for us to think about the times when God has done things which have led us to fear Him.  But we also need to remember why God wanted the Children of Israel, and us, to both fear and obey Him: so that it might go well for them (and us) and their children.  Moses goes on to emphasize the importance of loving God and obeying Him because we love Him.  We should write His commandments (or, perhaps, request that He write them) on our hearts.  We should talk about them when we are at home, and when we are not at home, when we get up in the morning, and when we lie down again.  Let us write them out in the open, so that others will know that we intend to obey them, and can call us to account when we fail to do so.  Moses gives the people, and us, two more reasons to make sure that God’s commands are written upon us and around us.  If we have references to God’s commands written upon the spaces we occupy (our homes, our cars, perhaps even our workspaces) we will be less likely to forget God when we receive His blessings.  And, if we have references to God’s commands written where others can see them, they may be drawn to obey them as well.

Moses also speaks here of another thing which is closely related to the above.  The Lord our God is the One and Only God.  There is no other.  Therefore, we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into the worship practices of those around us who serve other gods.  They will try to draw us into their worship.  Let us be on guard to not allow that to happen.  But, even when they do not seek to draw us in, we may be tempted by their practices.  Let us not give into that temptation and be drawn away from God.  Let us not desire the fruits of those practices, even those which appear pleasurable.  And let the only pity we feel for them when they suffer the consequences of their sin be that which inspires us to call them to turn to God and to obey His commands.

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.

Moses reminded the Children of Israel to be careful and make sure that they did not forget the things which they had seen.  Let us do the same.  We also need to be careful and not forget the things which we have seen.  I have seen God do many wonderful things.  I assume that most, if not all, of you who are reading this blog have done likewise.  If you have not seen God do wonderful and marvelous things, I beseech you to call out to Him and ask Him to reveal Himself to you.  God showed Himself to the Children of Israel, and to each of us, so that we might know that He alone is God and there is no other like Him.  The Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below and no other being or thing can compare.  No other being or thing can claim sovereignty over heaven or earth from Him.

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.

The Book of Deuteronomy declares itself to be what Moses told the Israelites as they camped on the eastern side of the Jordan.  There would be two reasons for repeating the Law which God had given Moses for the Israelites in this way.  First, except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, all of those who had been adults when God first gave them His Law had died and all of the remaining people had been too young to fully comprehend the Law when Moses first relayed it to them.  Second, over the course of their wandering in the wilderness, things had happened which led to clarifications on how to apply the Law.  So, Moses repeated the Law, with all of those clarifications included, to the Israelites.  There are scholars who believe that this book was composed at a much later time.  I believe that it was indeed initially composed before the Israelites entered the Promised Land (although I hold no opinion as to whether it was first written down then, or merely passed along orally for some time).  One thing which makes me believe that is what is written in chapter 1 verse 37.  There Moses says that it was because of the rebelliousness of the Israelites that God became angry with him and would not allow him to enter the Promised Land.  Yet, in Numbers 20 we are told that God said that Moses would not enter the Promised Land because he had struck the rock when God had told him just to speak to it.  What is written here sounds like something a person like Moses would say, while a third party writing later would have been more careful to align what they wrote with the earlier account.  I am not suggesting that Moses spoke deceptively here, merely shortening the account to keep from distracting from his primary message.  I also believe that some of the later scribes who transcribed this (either those who first wrote it down, or some of those who copied it for future generations) added editorial comments.  It seems to me unlikely that Moses would have bothered to make the comments about previous inhabitants of the land of the Moabites and the land of the Ammonites which we see in chapter two (and which the NIV puts in parenthesis).

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