4/20/2021 – Day 338 – Deuteronomy 23 – 25 // God knows the hairs on our head and He also gets very detailed on the Law with the children of Israel.
This might be an interesting group discussion to break down all these laws and regulations into: 1) those that were set for the people of time; and (2) those that still apply to us today. And the discussion would be focused around supporting your throughts through related Scripture, letting “scripture testify to scripture.”
Here is one that was ahead of it’s time and we can relate it directly to American History up to the Civil War: 23: 15: “If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master.” The Union states were turning back runaway slaves to the slave-owners in the southern states, up to the civil war. There are alot of laws (regulations) that I expect were quite focused on caring for the poor and downtrodden. (just one example: paying workers at the end of each day for their labor)
Where was I the most confused? We could each answer that. I might choose 23:5 where it proclaims: “However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. ” That doesn’t make sense in that how would Balaam’s curse have any effect? But John Gill I think clarifies this in this commentary:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/deuteronomy-23-5.html
So, it is actually Balak, who hired Balaam that expected Balaam to curse Israel. So as ludricous as it was , he expencted Balaam’s curse to have an effect. But God (Holy Spirit) actually brought praise Israel words to Balaam’s mouth.
We have talked alot about “fear of the Lord” and how vital it is for us. Well the fear of the Lord comes over me on 23: 22-23: Uttering a vow to God and not delivering on that vow.
Look at 24: 5: “if a man has recently married , he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.” I have a cousin that served in the Green Beret for over 20 years, rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel before he retired. He told me he actually made as forceful a case as he could as a junior officer early in his career , with his superiors to implement this throughout the command.
What a story about Brothers marrying their brother’s widows to “build up his brother’s family line”. For refusing, he wasn’t punished other than to dissandlaed by his widow sister-in-law , spit on, and then known throuhout Israel as : “the Family of the Unsandaled.”
I’ll let you read it but 25:11 & 12 that follows brought a spontaneous chuckle out of me. And perhaps the fear of the Lord should come over me for that.
A clarification on 25:13 which notes that God detests the violator: Differing weights in your bag, one heavy , one light, the thief would use one for buying transactions and the other for selling transactions, thereby stealing rom the counter-party.
Soli Deo Gloria!