365 Reflections

Israel was privileged to receive the Law of God. They were set apart from all nations by this law. Their law is the basis for many of our civil laws today. You cannot find another collection of ancient writings that so thoroughly empower a people to grow wise and live long. God tells them this about the law in the beginning of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 4:6–8 (ESV) Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? YET... in spite of this great revelation given to the people of Israel, there were some things God was not going to reveal. This would be part of their experience...

Deuteronomy 29:2–9 (ESV)   And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all t...

Deuteronomy 28 is hard to read. God outlines all the curses for disobedience to the law according to the covenant He has made with Israel. If they are to be His people, He is to come first for their lives. Deviating from his direction will only lead to disaster and pain. In the middle of a long list of curses that would come upon them is a hint at what causes people to crumble in their quest for the "good life" without God. Deuteronomy 28:47 (ESV)   Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, Did you see it? They did not serve the Lord with JOYFULNESS and GLADNESS. And why did they not serve Him with joyfulness and gladness? Because of their "ABUNDANCE of ALL THINGS." I'm firmly convinced of this: It is far more dangerous to be rich than poor. Poverty is visible and challenging. It is demoralizing and terrible in so many respects. We must never belittle the struggle of those...

Deuteronomy 27:9–14 (ESV)   Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.” 11 That day Moses charged the people, saying, 12 “When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice: We have a beautiful picture of the Gospel in Deuteronomy 27. The priests will stand in the valley between two mountains with half of Israel on either side. On Mount Ebal will stand the tribes who will hear the curses for disobedience. On Mount Gerizim will stand the tribes who will hear the blessings f...

Deuteronomy 27:9–10 (ESV) Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 You shall, therefore, obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.” Deuteronomy 27-28 outline God's prescribed ceremony for Israel once they come into the land of promise. They are to set up a monument with all the law written upon it. This monument is to be made up of large stones and covered with plaster. The law is written upon these stones which remain uncut by man. The natural shape of the stones will remain as they are built upon one another and then inscribed with the law of the Lord for His people.  Interestingly, 6 tribes will stand on Mount Ebal and the other 6 will stand on Mount Gerizim and the blessing and curses will be recited for the nation as the priests read off the lists from these chapters. Commentators me...

Deuteronomy 26 commands the people to come before the Lord with the firstfruits of their harvest and declare before the priest in the Temple that all they are is because of God and the people before them. They are to recite and know that their life is a blessing from God alone. With him, they would still be wandering. Look at the phrase: Deuteronomy 26:5–11 (ESV) “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land,...

So I'm just going to take a stab at this next passage in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 25:11–16 (ESV) “When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, 12 then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity. 13 “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15 A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God. There is a connection in this law concerning the wife who harms the genitals of a man attacking her husband and the previous law concerning levirate marriage. The aim of the previous law was to prolong the name of the decease...

So this may be my craziest interpretation of a text ever. But I was reading about Levarite marriage law in Deuteronomy and thought about how this is fulfilled in the New Testament people of God. Let's look at the law first: Deuteronomy 25:5–10 (ESV) “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists,...

Deuteronomy 24:17-18 (ESV)   “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge,  18 but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. Oh how much better we may treat one another if we all remembered that who we are is the result of God's grace and goodness. Israel was given many laws regarding how to treat each other in Deuteronomy. Here in chapter 24, all of the laws are horizontal in nature. Do not take essential items in pledge. Do not kidnap and slave trade another human being. Leave lots of leftovers from harvest for the poor. Let the punishment fit the crime (Deuteronomy 25). The interesting thing about this particular set of laws is that right int he middle of the list is a call to remember where they came from. The Lord redeemed them from slavery in Egypt. Yet how did they get to Egypt in the first place? B...