READINGS FOR February 27 - March 5

FEBRUARY 27

Pg 261

There were many restrictions concerning kings in today's reading.
Deuteronomy 17:14-17  
You will enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You will take possession of it and live there. You will say, "Let's have our own king like all the other nations around us." Be sure to appoint the king the LORD your God will choose. He must be one of your own people. Never let a foreigner be king, because he's not one of your own people. The king must never own a large number of horses  or make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. The LORD has told you, "You will never go back there again." The king must never have a large number of wives, or he will turn away from God. And he must never own a lot of gold and silver.

Yet two of the greatest kings, David and Solomon had great numbers of horses, multiple wives, and great wealth.  Solomon asked God for wisdom and God gave him wisdom but also great wealth.  He used this wisdom for peace in the land. Solomon chose to have multiple wives and many horses.  Solomon didn’t use his wisdom wisely.

What kind of country would we have now if our leaders obeyed the following guidelines of a king?

Deuteronomy 17:18-20
When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Each king is to hand write these laws for himself, to keep them close at hand and to read them regularly.

Pg. 262
There are provisions for respect for rulers. Do not "curse the ruler of your people." No matter how we may feel about a ruler, leader, or boss, we must honor the office.  A good practice would be to pray for them daily.

Pg 263

The two witness rule is listed in today's reading. Any sin must be testified to by at least two witnesses.

Deuteronomy 19:15
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be made sure.

Interestingly, at Jesus' "trials" there were no two witnesses who agreed on the charges brought against Jesus, which the religious leaders would have certainly known about.  And yet....

Deuteronomy 19:18-19
The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 

This penalty was carried out by King Ahasuerus as it concerned Haman and Mordecai recorded in the book of Esther.

Esther 7:9-10  

Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, "Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house, fifty cubits high."  And the king said, "Hang him on that." So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated. 

This penalty would certainly be a deterrent to perjury in our courts today or immoral judges!

What a packed verse this is, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.” Exodus 23:2a

What are the ways that we as Believers in Jesus might follow the crowd in doing wrong? Sometimes following the crowd may be just to speak a careless or thoughtless or hurtful word, just as the rest of the crowd does, just to fit in.

Do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. Think about all those people during Jesus’ trials.  Some of those very same people who shouted, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” were the same ones who a few days later shouted, “Crucify him.”  However, some of them converted to become Followers of the Way at Pentecost a few weeks later. 

Matthew 12:36
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

FEBRUARY 28

Provisions are made in Scripture for the avenger of blood. The avenger of blood was the next of kin of the person who had been murdered and was allowed to punish the offender, even to the point of killing the accused without being himself guilty of murder.

Reminds me of the revenge attitude of so many people today. "I don't get back, I get even." Not a very godly attitude.

Cities of refuge were to be established where a person who has accidentally killed someone could flee to and be safe. Think about all the times in Scripture that God is described as being our refuge, our safety, our shield and protector.

Jesus was very clear how He felt about a revenge kind of attitude.
Matthew 5:38-39
You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Striking on the right cheek was an insult.  Since most people are right-handed, a hit would be on the left cheek of the person being hit.  Striking on the right cheek would be a back-handed kind of hit and considered an insult.  Jesus says if someone insults you, let it go.

If we have an attitude of revenge in our hearts, we are following the crowd in doing wrong like we have been warned about before. It's so much easier to follow the crowd than to stand out in a crowd. But as Believers in Jesus, we are called to be different and to stand out!

MARCH 1

A line in the commentary in today's reading on page 267 concerning God's laws on personal rights and remedies is "These civil laws are designed to regulate daily activities in a fair manner for each citizen and to instill a sense of order throughout society."  Today at times it seems as if there is little order in society. However, if we would obey God's laws we would enjoy an equitable, orderly, just, and honest society.

One of the promises of obedience that God gave was this.
"...you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none..."
Deuteronomy 15:6

What connections can we make today to the United States in regards to borrowing from other nations?

Pg. 271

A great welfare system that God put in place – be openhanded toward your brothers. This command from the Lord has some stipulations. It is based on three important words; brother, lend, and need. Open-handedness should be to the brothers (believers and relatives) first. This was to be a loan with the expectation of being paid back, without interest. And it was to be based on needs, not on wants. God said, “There will always be poor in the land.”  

John also recorded these same words from Jesus.
John 12:8
You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

Jesus was probably talking in this case about the poor in worldly possessions. A woman had just poured out some costly perfume on Jesus (a year's wage to be exact).  Judas wanted the perfume sold and given to the poor (or at least that's what he said).  However, there are also spiritually poor among us. What is our responsibility to them?

We should feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty, but we should also tell them about the "Bread of Life" and the "Living Water".
We should house the homeless, but we should also tell them that in "our Father's house are many mansions".
We should clothe the naked, but we should also tell them about the "garments of righteousness".
We shouldn't really do one without the other.  God called us to do both, to take care of physical needs but to also take care of spiritual needs. Tall order!

MARCH 2

Pg. 275

In today's reading, there is a provision for the Israelite men to marry foreign women. At first this sounds like a contradiction. Earlier God had warned them against marrying the inhabitants of the land saying that the foreigners would lure them away from Him. This provision for the Israelite men to marry foreign women is for marrying a captive woman. This woman would be considered "spoils of war"." The captive woman has no ties, no surviving family, or anyone to support her in drawing the man away from God.

At the heart of the marriage relationship is the idea of faithfulness to the vows of commitment. Faithfulness is important both in marriage and in the people's relationship with God. Their unfaithfulness to God is considered spiritual adultery."
-quote from the Chronological Bible comments

Spiritual adultery happens when believers in Jesus break their vows of commitment and follow after false gods.

Pg. 279
In Leviticus 18 homosexual practices are forbidden.
Leviticus 18:22
You shall not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination to God. 

This was confirmed by Paul in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 1:27
Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion. 

There is no room here for interpretation. It says what it means and means what it says!  Homosexuality is wrong!  It is an abomination to God.

Deuteronomy 22:5 forbids women to wear men's clothing and men to wear women's clothing.  Many people use this verse to say that women shouldn't wear pants. But what kind of clothing did men wear at the time this was written?  They didn't wear pants like men do today.  They wore tunics or robes.

According to the law, the penalty for adultery is the death of both parties involved. (Deuteronomy 22:22, Leviticus 20:10)
There is a New Testament connection.  When the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery, they didn’t bring in the man with her. (John 8:3-11) Could it be that some of those accusing men who were standing around the woman were guilty themselves? Is that what Jesus wrote on the ground…their names or their sins?  Was Jesus accusing them one at a time of having committed adultery with her by writing their names on the ground?  Is that why they dropped their stones and left? Just a thought...

All the woman's accusers left, one by one. Jesus told the woman that He didn't condemn her. But He also declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

The sin is condemned, but not the truly repentant sinner. Praise God for that!

MARCH 3

As we struggle through the reading of the laws and regulations, imagine what a struggle it was for the people to keep the law.

Romans 7:6-7a
But now we having been set free from the Law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter.  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Let it not be said! But I did not know sin except through the law. 

The prophet Amos wrote about a plumb line.

“Look, I am setting up a plumb line among my people…”

What a great visual He has given us. His Word is our plumb line that helps us to be aware of our sin. It shows us how far off we are.  It is with this plumb line that we can compare our lives, our actions, our motives, our thoughts. It is through the moral law that we know what actions and motives and thoughts are sinful. 

Most of the health and dietary laws do not fall under any of the "Big 10" and there is no punishment attached to the breaking of those laws, therefore believers in Jesus today are not under those commands.  They simply apply to the people at that time because of conditions under which they were living.  Many of the strict regulations concerning diet and cleansing were to demonstrate to the nations that God's people are to be different.

“You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean…”
Romans 7:7 spells it out very clearly.  How would the Israelites know what things were unclean if they did not have the law? We hear many sermons and can read many books about God's love, mercy, and grace but we hear few sermons or read few books about God's law.

In all the rituals concerning people with infectious diseases, leprosy, boils, burns, etc. there is no mention of a cure. They were simply separated from the general population. Jesus came with cures, not just for the physical but for the spiritual as well.

2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

If only we would keep ourselves separate from things that contaminate us. Praise God, He sees us as "clean" through the blood of Jesus!

MARCH 4

Many of the dietary and health regulations listed in Deuteronomy and Leviticus are just plain common sense. Many of the animals, fish, and birds listed as unclean are those who either eat meat or are scavengers.

Leviticus 17:11
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
Couldn’t help but think of Jesus on this one. It is through His shed blood that we have atonement for our sins.

Colossians 1:19-20
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

While we may not want to commit to memory the qualifications for clean and unclean animals, it is good to have it there for us to refer back to, especially when telling the story of Noah's ark.  Not all the animals went into the ark in pairs of two only.

Genesis 7:2
You shall take with you every clean animal by sevens, the male and female. And take two of the animals that are not clean, the male and female. 

Rather a strange command concerning cooking a young goat in its mother's milk.  Mixtures of milk (or cheese) and meat are prohibited according to Jewish law. Today, strict Jews do not eat cheeseburgers because it is a mixture of cheese and meat. Jesus freed us from that restriction.

According to the Talmud, these almost identical references are the basis for three distinct dietary laws:

-the prohibition against cooking a mixture of milk and meat

-the prohibition against eating a cooked mixture of milk and meat

-the prohibition against deriving any benefit from a cooked mixture of milk and meat. 

Pg. 288

And there is also this explanation.
"It was a custom with the ancient heathens, when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid, and boil it in the dam's milk; and then in a magical way, to go about and sprinkle all their trees, and fields, and gardens, and orchards with it, thinking by these means, that they should make them fruitful, and bring forth more abundantly in the following year. Wherefore, God forbad his people, at the time of their in-gathering, to use any such superstitious or idolatrous rite.
Dr. Cudworth, from a MS. comment of a Karaïte Jew.

Many of the strict regulations concerning diet are to demonstrate to the nations that God's people are to be different, that they are to stand out in a good way.

Leviticus 20:26
You are to be holy to Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and have set you apart from the nations, to be my own.

MARCH 5

In all the laws God gave to Moses for the people, He made provisions of benevolence toward others.  In the custom of gleaning, some remnants are left over for the alien, fatherless, and the widow, but the remnants were not picked and handed to them, they had to go gather them for themselves.  This was God's welfare system of that day. Unlike our welfare system today in which recipients are not required to work.  Our government does not always follow Biblical principles. No surprise there.

2 Thessalonians 3:10
For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, that if anyone would not work, neither should he eat. 

Paul was very clear as he related the practical application of the law.  However, there are those who are incapable of working and of course these are the exceptions and are to be taken care of.

It was through this custom of gleaning and providing for the alien and widow that Boaz was introduced to Ruth…and we know where that led.

Ruth 4:13
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

Ruth 4:17b
And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. (ancestor of Jesus)

Again God warns the Israelites about the nations teaching them to follow their detestable ways and not God's ways, the worst of which is the worship of other "gods", a direct violation of the first of the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 23:14
For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Can we even begin to wrap our minds around this one? The Lord moves about in our "camp" to protect us and deliver our enemies to us, spiritually speaking. But in order for the Lord to do this for us, our "camp" must be holy, containing nothing indecent. Makes a person want to evaluate everything; what we say, what we do, who we hang out with, what we watch on TV, what kinds of movies we watch, what kind of books we read, what kind of music we listen to, things we have in our homes, etc.... Would anything we see, say, or do be considered indecent in the Lord's eyes?