Deuteronomy 17 – Thoughts of other gods continue into the next chapter. No worship of anything other than Yahweh was to be tolerated among Israel. Now obviously, that’s not how we treat unbelievers today. That’s because the nation of Israel was to be unique – there was to be no one among them who worshipped anything other than Yahweh, the true God of heaven and earth. Today we confront unbelief evangelistically, loving the person with Christ-like love and sharing the good news of salvation through Him.
In verses 14 – 20, Moses shares thoughts about a future king. Unfortunately, when the time came for kings in Israel, there were many more wicked ones than good ones. Imagine, however, if the kings would have taken Moses’ words to heart, and meditated on God’s law continuously. At least one did, as David wrote Psalm 119, the longest Psalm in the Bible, dedicated to extolling the virtues of the law.
Deuteronomy 18 – Israel was to be different in every way, the most important being how they got their direction. The nations of Canaan got direction through sorcerers or mediums. Israel was to get it through God’s prophets. Moses, under God’s inspiration, predicted that God would raise up a prophet in the future. These words likely had an immediate fulfillment (Joshua), but also an ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Because when you think about it, Joshua really was not like Moses. Moses spoke to God face to face. No other prophet in all the Old Testament could make that claim. Jesus Christ, however, came from the face of God – in fact was God in human flesh – to bring God’s word near to us. As John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Hebrews 1:1-2 also mentions the Son as the ultimate communicator of God’s will; “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His son.”
Moses also gave two basic ways to tell a false prophet from a true one. What a true prophet says will be consistent with God’s revelation all along. He won’t go against what God has already said. A real prophet’s words will also come true. It would be nice if people today would remember these simple rules so they wouldn’t be so easily led astray by folks like Jim Jones, David Koresh, or evangelists who make predictions about the end of the world.
Deuteronomy 19 – Unlike other nations, life was to be valued among the Israelites. Those who committed involuntary manslaughter had protection under the law. Another life was not to be taken for an accidental death. However, anyone who killed in a premeditative way was subject to the law of retribution – life for life.
False witnesses (verses 16 and following) were never to be tolerated among Israel, a fact overlooked when people accused Jesus at his trial, but their testimonies did not agree.
Deuteronomy 20 – When going to war, the priest was the one who was to set the spiritual tone, reminding the soldiers of the great God they have – more powerful than the world’s most powerful army. Interestingly, there was no notion of false courage. If someone was afraid, they were simply excused to go home.
At first, verses 10 – 15 are a little confusing. On several occasions so far, the Israelites have been instructed to completely destroy the nations in the Promised Land. But these instructions are referring to the outlying cities and towns. But those belonging to the occupants of Canaan were to be completely destroyed to make sure they didn’t lead the Israelites astray.
Deuteronomy 21 – As the holy people of God, Israel had to take crime seriously. In the case of an unsolved crime, there had to be a way for the guilt to be taken away, since the perpetrator could not be punished. This ritual was not to be confused with the sacrificial system. “The atonement mentioned is not an atonement within the sacrificial system; for the blood of the heifer was not offered. It is rather an atonement for justice; the heifer suffered death in place of the unknown criminal, in order to clear the land of guilt.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 3, p. 131. 1992)
The rest of the chapter deals with various issues, but one deserving comment is the case of the “stubborn and rebellious son” in verses 18 – 21. Honoring father and mother was something taken very seriously. Clearly, the son in this case was not simply disobeying occasionally, but a change of heart sounds impossible. Interestingly, this son’s offense is called “evil” just as surely as idolatry or sexual immorality.
The final words of chapter 21 are also interesting, and were used by Paul to make a connection to Jesus. A body hanging on a tree, especially overnight, brought a unique curse upon God’s people. Yet Jesus who knew no sin, became sin for us and was cursed by hanging on a tree to lift the curse of sin from all who believe. (See Galatians 3:10-14)
Deuteronomy 22 – Some of the various regulations mentioned in verses 1-12 of chapter 22 sound strange to our ears. Verses 1-4 cover helping a neighbor protect his property, including animals, so that’s not a hard one to figure out. Verse 5 may speak not only to transvestite behavior but also homosexual behavior. Men and women are different, and those differences shouldn’t be hidden, for whatever reason. Verses 6 and 7 may speak to the preservation of the natural fauna of the region so that the delicate circle of life can be maintained. Verses 9-11 speak against the mixing of animals, crops and fibers in clothing. Apparently, the ancients found something improper about mixing things created separately by God.
The marriage violations, by and large, make logical sense. It was customary among ancient peoples for a marriage cloth to be used to establish proof of a young woman’s virginity. To expect such proof to be attainable was not unreasonable.
Deuteronomy 23 – In the old covenant, the emphasis was on the law and worthiness and the grandeur of God. Priests were not supposed to look unkempt when they served. They had to present themselves exactly as God required. God wanted his people to be left with the impression of His holiness and their unworthiness to approach Him. Therefore, eunuchs were not to be a part of the assembly of the Lord, and neither were those born of a forbidden marriage. “Forbidden marriage” in verse 2 may simply refer to an illegitimate birth, but most likely its speaking of a child born of a marriage between an Israelite and a Canaanite (which was forbidden) or a child who was the product of a an act of cult prostitution as was practiced by many of the false god worshipping cultures. In the new covenant, grace dominates, so that the good news of Jesus Christ is shared with an adulterous woman (see John 4) and a eunuch (see Acts 8:26 and following). In the new covenant, Christ is our righteousness covering over our defects and impurities.
Verses 24 and 25 remind me of what the disciples did in Mark 2:23 when they were walking through a grain field with Jesus, picking kernels of wheat and eating them. This law in these verses allowed people to take sustenance when needed so they wouldn’t get faint on a long journey but not to survive indefinitely at a neighbor’s expense.
Deuteronomy 24 – Verses 1 – 4 seem to condone divorce, but Jesus sets the record straight in Matthew 19:3 – 8. Yes, Moses did allow a man to send his wife away with a certificate of divorce, but Jesus clarifies that it was due to hardness of heart. There are times when God allows concessions for ultimate good. Ideally, every marriage will thrive if the two are devoted to one another and the Lord. Yet sometimes divorce is the lesser of two evils if the hardness of heart of one or both in a marriage causes it to be unbearable. It was likely that people were doing that (divorcing) anyway, so Moses provided a system to make this bad thing as God-pleasing as possible.
Verse 16 seems to be an instance where the Bible contradicts itself. Children did die for the sins of their fathers. When King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, the innocent child of that union died rather than David (2 Samuel 12:13-14). When Achan took some plunder for himself from the battle of Jericho, against the Lord’s specific command, he and his whole family were destroyed (Joshua 7:24-26). When Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses’ authority (which was a rebellion against God), they and their whole families were destroyed. In each instance, however, it was God doing the judging. These instructions here in this verse are about punishments placed on people by other people. Also, in the case of King David, his little baby would go straight to the arms of the Lord in heaven, while David would have to live with what he had done for the rest of his life. So truly, the punishment did fall to David.
Deuteronomy 25 – Verse 3: Conventional wisdom was that more than 40 lashes would kill a person, but Moses says merely that “he would be degraded in your eyes.” The spirit of the law, it seems, was to keep the punishment from becoming inhumane. In 2 Corinthians 11:24, the Apostle Paul mentions that five times he received the 40 lashes minus one, so apparently, in Paul’s day, it was customary to even avoid 40 all together, to make sure law wouldn’t be overstepped.
Verse 4 shows that the humane treatment of animals was important to Israel. An ox that was working the treadmill should receive a reward for its work.
Verses 5-10 describe what is known as levirate marriage. Marrying the widow of a brother if they had no sons both provided for her needs and enabled the brother’s family line to continue. I honestly don’t know what the significance of removing the sandal is. My guess is that it was symbolic of disgrace.
Verse 12 gives a woman a severe punishment for grabbing a man’s genitals to incapacitate him, likely because it is such a vulnerable spot, because it could affect the man’s ability to have children which was extremely important in those days, and because it was indecent to do so. However, that only applied when the man was fighting with her husband. There is no mention of a punishment if the woman is protecting herself from harm.
Verses 13 – 16 emphasizes integrity in business dealings, specifically weights and measurements.
1 Samuel 15 describes how God intended to punish the Amalekites through king Saul. The Amalekites had no excuse for treating Israel the way they did, since they were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother, and kinsmen of the Israelites, but they did. Saul failed to completely destroy the Amalekites, and unfortunately they continued to give Israel trouble for many years.
Deuteronomy 26 – Verses 1 – 11: The tithe (tenth) was brought out of thanksgiving for God’s past provisions. That’s why this recitation was made each time the tithe offering was brought.
Verses 12 – 15: Many times the obedient giving of the tithe – and done in a way that honors God completely - was connected to blessing from God. Here in this case and Malachi 3:10 are notable examples.
Verses 16 – 19 continue the theme of God’s special blessing coming as a result of obedience. That God chose the Israelites from all the other nations to be His own, unique people was grace – an undeserved kindness. But to receive the full earthly blessings God desired to give them would require obedience on their part. Such is still the case today. |
