Deuteronomy Chapters 25-27

25:6 - I love that God cares about an individual person's legacy...God wants that to be held up and defended. Each individual life is important to God. God cares about the impact we had on this world and the impact that our lives had on eternity, and so should we. What kind of legacy is your life leaving behind? I want to leave behind a legacy of faith - I don't want my name to be blotted out because I failed to live up to my destiny in God.

25:9-10 - Being a part of the community of God means that you always build one another up. Anyone who claims they are a part of the family of God and yet tears down his brothers and sisters should be spit on ad slapped in the face with their on shoe! I bet that would really drive the point home, if we practiced that in churches today!

25:13 - I found this interesting, because it definitely applies to us. You never honor God by living dual lives...a life where you honor God and a life where you honor yourself. As followers of God there is only room for one self...you are either in or out - there is no middle ground in faith.

26:2 - Tithing is about giving you first and your best to God, it is not about giving Him your leftover budget table scraps.

26:4-11 - I love that! They use their offering as a time to remember their story...their testimony. They aren't recounting on the monetary wealth and material things God has given, but the priceless blessings He has poured out like protection, hope, freedom from slavery, etc. How healthy would it be for Christians today if they approaches the time of offering with the same heart? Offering is a time of joy and celebration!

27:2-3 - The first thing they do upon entering into the promised land is to remember how they got there. They don't throw a party first...they commit themselves to backbreaking labor. They move huge uncut stones into a pile and plaster over them. Then they painstakingly write the commands that God has given them out on the monument. They do all this because they know essential it is that they always remember who they are. They chisel into the stones and their hearts exactly what it means to be God's people. What do you do to make sure that is always at the forefront of your mind?

Deuteronomy Chapters 22-24

You could comment on every single miscellaneous law given, but I just chose a few that stood out to me...

22:1-4 - You look out for your brother. If you can lend a hand and help a brother out, you do it. You don;t disrespect God and your community by ignoring their problem. This is what people who love God and love others do.

22:5 - This may seem like an insignificant law, but God is serious about His creation. He crated man to be male and women to be female and He doesn't want the two confused. Dressing up as the opposite sex messes with the sanctity of the created human form. If you blur the lines between right and wrong, eventually there is no longer any right.

22:6-7 - Again we see God protecting nature. God does not want to see the destruction of any species He created. If you want to eat, take the eggs and leave the mother, because the mother can continue to produce eggs and the bird population can safely continue on. I think we have really let God down when it comes to earth stewardship.

22:9-11 - Again we see that God even wants the species of grain separated. People in ancient times would often sow two types of seeds, because as the plants grew, they would feed off of one another and help to grow. God also may want the Israelites to sow only one type of seed because it is harder and He wants them to trust that He is the one providing.

22:12 - These tassels serve as a constant reminder that they are the people of the Most High God. What do you use as a reminder?

23:1 - This verse describes two common forms of castration in ancient times. Castration was associated with pagan rituals and foreign peoples - the Israelites are not know to have used any form of castration culturally. This means that God is prohibiting the influence of foreign people who have be deeply impacted by pagan cultures on the community of Israel. (We also need to understand that this is not referring to worshipping the Lord. People are not being restricted from honoring God...they are being restricted from being a part of the main assembly with was the ruling structure of Israel.)

23:9 - Something you need to recognize here - this is referring to a camp of war. A camp set up when the Israelites go off to war. The men are warned to be very conscious of their purity, so that they will stay focused on God...the camp had to holy because the Israelites were dependant on God for military victory. I think we would all be more focused on offering ourselves fully to God and setting ourselves apart for Him if we truly believed we needed Him to get by day to day. Don't balk - do you really live every day like you are in desperate need of God...that your every breath depends on Him?

23:18 - What is this fee of the dog thing? Well...(cough)...it is most likely a reference to male homosexuality. The offerings given from prostitution whether male or female were considered unacceptable to God. It's kinda like when we offer God scraps of our live...or distracted prayers...or worship Him with a heart set on others things...God wants the best and purest of what we have to offer.

23:19 - I love this. The Israelites are a community...they are a family and they do not try to make money off one another.

24:1 - We know from elsewhere in scripture that God hates divorce. We know that God only allowed divorce to take place because of the hardness of peoples' hearts. Early rabbis looked at this passage from Moses and tried to make the case that a man could divorce a woman for any reason at all - any reason! Later teachers of the law understood that a man could only divorce a woman fro something truly indecent, like apostasy, adultery, refusal of sex, etc. (Though not mentioned here...women would also traditionally have the right to divorce because of their husband's indecency.) We see through these laws that God, even when He allows the people to follow paths that go against what He made us for, always sets laws in place to protect the weak and the poor.

Deuteronomy Chapters 19-21

19:21 - Moses instructs that the punishment fit the crime as perfectly as possible. In this example if someone lies at a trial to try to get another person killed with capital punishment, the liar is to be put to death. He tried to have someone killed through the court system, so he is punished with death. Life for life. This goes for any intentional murders...unintentional killings are treated with grace as long as the killer gets to a city of refuge and is deemed innocent by the elders there. When we look at other verses we have read in the past, like Numbers 35, we see that there was a system of paying penalties monetarily instead if bodily. There was a price that could be paid for an eye, a hand, etc. But with regards to murder, there was only one price to be paid - life for life.

20:1 - Sometimes as Christians today, it seems like the spiritual war we are facing is insurmountable. All around we see Christians falling to the culture. All around we see evil and we see levels of brutality, hatred and selfishness that seem more powerful than the forces of good in the world. But we must never forget that the Lord is on our side. The ultimate battle has already been won by Jesus Christ. There is hope and resurrection, and no matter what the odds, when God is with us, we have the advantage.

20:10 - Here we see God instructing the Israelites to offer peace the the cities that lay siege on. If the cities accept, they are spared. So we know that God does not simply order the destruction of every people group that stands int he way of the Israelites. There must be something deeper going on when He does order absolute destruction.

20:14 - Even the people that fight back against the Israelites have their women and children spared. Merciful treatment in that day and age. Again, why do some peoples get mercy and others total judgement?

20:16 - Why is it different with these people? Because God as the ultimate judge has declared judgement on these people groups. These people have hardened their hearts against God and as described in previous chapters...they infect the Israelites with their pagan beliefs. These people are destroyed because it is a matter of life and death for God's people. These people have and will lead the Israelites away from God and when the Israelites turn away from God - they lose their protection...they face the wrath of God...they are judged. (See: verse 18)

20:19 - I thought this was interesting. This shows the responsibility that human beings have to nature itself. Moses tells the people not to destroy trees that bear fruit, because the trees cannot protect themselves. They cannot run into a city for protection like the people can. Often in these times, besieging armies would destroy every fruit bearing tree to utterly demolish the economy and livelihood of the people they were attacking. God doesn't want good fruit bearing trees destroyed, just because that is an easier path to take in their human ambitions. God has set us as the overseers of nature, something that most Christians don't take seriously at all.

21:9 - Blood guilt was something that polluted a community as a whole and had to be dealt with or God would remove His hand of protection from the people of Israel. Throughout these three chapters we see how important it is to God that innocent blood guilt be washed away - 19:10, 11, 19.

21:12-13 - Why the shaving of the hair and the removal of the clothes. These are parts of a person that can be removed and destroyed. This was probably symbolic of the gentile woman shedding her old life, so she could live as part of the Jewish community. We as Christians know a little bit about shedding the old life, huh? We are buried with Christ Jesus and rise in his resurrection life. Are there remnants of your old life that you are still clinging on to...things that need to be shed once and for all?

21:14 - In the Jewish commentaries, rabbis look at this story as a lesson in true love. Since this relationship was based purely on lust and beauty, Moses seems to imply that there is little hope for the fulfillment to last. Beauty is fleeting and a man who bases his love solely on that - is bound to find out quickly that beauty does not satisfy in the long run. We also see again the merciful love of God as He gives the woman rights to free choice, since it is not her fault that the man took her as his wife because he was blinded by beauty.

21:18ff - Wow - pretty intense stuff here! This passage speaks to children who are repeat offenders. Over and over they are corrected and punished and they refuse to change. They refuse to honor their parents and respect the community of Israel. It should be noted that the husband and the wife have to bring the child together...the husband does not have the right to do this alone in his anger. And you gotta figure, if a mother is willing to take her kid before the elders...this kid is crazy rebellious! What would you have to do to get a mom to take their son to a capital trial? And again, there is justice, the parents can't just kill the child...there is a trial that takes place. The elders preside over the situation and sentence death only as a last option to a completely obstinate and rebellious young man. We also see that the parents do not take part in the stoning. In every other case of offense, the offended party is the first to throw stones, but here we see the parents don;t take part. This is so the parents don't have to take part in the killing of their son. This shows that the whole process must be heartbreaking...this is only a last resort (And in all reality it may not have happened very often if at all - maybe the possibility of this being an option was enough to deter young people). The whole punishment process highlights the seriousness of respect for parents and authority in the Israelite world. It is a reflection of the ability to be humble and obedient before God and this respect was vital to the health of the community as a whole.

Deuteronomy Chapters 16-18

16:3 - God knows that symbolism is so powerful for human beings...He frequently instructs His people to use symbols as reminders of who they are and where they come from. The Israelites use unleavened bread because when they were fleeing Egypt, there was no time for them to let yeast rise...they had to use flat bread that could be made quickly. When they celebrate the passover, they eat this flat bread to remember that the Lord brought them out of slavery. We use symbols to remember God's love too. The cross, the bread, the wine...we have to make sure that these things never become stale in our minds, but they exist as constant reminders of the incredible love of God.

16:12 - Again, the focus is on remembering where you came from. We were once slaves to sin...we were once absolute under the sway of sin and death - but Jesus Christ changed all that. If you don't take time to remember that you were a slave, you are bound to let yourself fall back into that slavery. Remember the brutality of our slavery to sin...remember the hopelessness...remember the confusion. What can you do as a reminder? The Israelites would fail to remember how horrible their slavery was and from time to time in the desert they would beg to go back to Egypt. They remembered the food and shelter and allowed themselves to forget the crack of the whip - the back-breaking labor - the horrible treatment. Don't allow yourself to candy-coat your slavery to sin. Again, what can you do to remember?

16:20 - As followers of Jesus Christ, we are the temple of God - the Holy Spirit lives within us. We are a part of the holy priesthood of all believers. We are living in the Promised Land, because we are living the life of freedom that Jesus promised us - freedom from sin! If that is who you are as a God follower, then justice should be a part of your DNA. God's people seek out justice because God is just. God's people do not allow injustice to run wild when they can do something about it.

17:7 - Have you purged the evil from your midst? What is it that is hanging around in your life, trying to drag you back to that slavery we talked about earlier? Have you taken drastic measures to go to war are the sin struggles that have plagued your life? God fearers do whatever it takes to combat sin - what is it gonna take for you?

17:16/17 - How shocking are these verses when you think about the kings of Israel like David and Solomon? Those guys were filthy rich! Solomon alone had thousands of wives and concubines! How did the kings of Israel react when they read the law about how kings were really supposed to act? A king of Israel was supposed to be a spiritual leader, not somebody who was gonna to get wealthy and take advantage of his position of power. What do you think Solomon thought when he read these verses? Flip that to us...what do we think when we read how differently our lives look from what Jesus throws out there in the NT? How do we react when we read about the life Paul was calling Christians to live? Probably the same way David and Solomon did - lame excuses.

18:2 - As Christians we are a priesthood of believers...should our attitude reflect that of the Levite priests? They were instructed to forget about an inheritance...their inheritance was found in God. The OT priests were not worried about the future...they were not worried about wealth and possessions...they we content in what God gave them. As priests of Jesus Christ we should be able to ignore the things of this world and find contentment in God (Phil. 4).

18:10ff - These verses talk about the abomination of a parent putting their children through fire - sacrificing them to false gods. Does this speak to the modern American system of putting your kids through the fire? We "encourage" (force) them into sports, music, school achievement, etc...pushing them to more and more practice/study...doing it "for their own good." So many parents are living out their dreams through their kids...so many parents are trying to find their own worth in their kids' achievements. Oh yeah, and in doing so they are sacrificing their kids to our culture.Is that evil? I would love to see parents following the example that Moses holds up in the Torah, of writing the word of God on the hearts of their kids. If we're gonna push our kids into something...why not something that is eternally meaningful...something that actually matters? (I'll get off my bitter little soap box now - and by the way, I have already been warring with the feelings of false personal fulfillment that come from my son's athletic achievements...so I'm speaking to myself as much as anybody)

Deuteronomy Chapters 13-15

13:1ff - There are going to be things that exist in this world that amaze - that boggle the mind - that seem to be miraculous - that seem to be fact or true...but if they lead us away from God, they are not good. God allows these things to exist to test our faith. We show that we love God with everything we have, when we can live in a world filled with things trying to lead us away from God, and stay true. I think we have all seen how convincing and tempting are the arguments that lead us from God...what's your biggest struggle along these lines?

13:10 - Are there relationships in your life that need to be ended (Not by stoning someone...just ended), because they keep drawing you away from God? We must always be vigilant about what is influencing us and what we are being influenced towards.

14:23 - Why is tithing important? Because it keeps your priorities straight. It's like we talked about last night, when you give your wealth away (especially if you are giving it to God's work) you are not going to be able to worship that wealth. Giving to God leads us to trust Him - we are saying that we trust He will take care of us. Giving to God means that we fear God - we want to keep Him central in our minds and remove any distractions, like wealth.

15:4 and 11 - How can he say in 4 that there will be no poor and then 7 verses later in 11 he tells us that there will always be poor around - have we found a contradiction in the bible? No, not really. Moses is saying that after the Sabbatical year there will not be any people who are poor because of debt...everybody will be on the same page - debt free! In verse 11 he wants us all to understand, that after the Sabbatical year, there are always gonna be people who get themselves into tough situations. There will be people who go through horrific loses and there will be people up to their eyeballs in debt - that will always exist. The point of saying that there will always be poor with us, is not to get people to think, "Well, if they'll always be here - why even bother trying to help them out?(I have known Christians who thought like this)" The point is that there will always be opportunities for God's people to be generous. God is a generous God who is pouring our His blessings on undeserving people every moment of every day - the least we could do as His followers would be to live out His example on earth and give generously, even when people don't deserve it.

15:8 - Moses is pretty clear here...as a God follower, you do whatever it takes to help somebody. Do not allow your heart to shut somebody out.

Deuteronomy Chapters 10-12

10:12-13 - God is laying out beautifully our end of the covenant with Him...fear Him, love Him, serve Him, etc. At first glance, that may seem like quite a lot to ask, but think about it...if you love God and believe in what He has done for you, it all just falls into place. The belief will bring the fear and love ad service, and you will naturally follow His commands as faith is lived out in your life. And to top it all off, life is better when you serve God! So He is simply asking us to do what we were created to do and what brings us fulfillment and in return God remains eternally faithful to His promises and gives us everything we need and more - quite a deal!

10:15 - How cool is this? God created everything, is above everything, holds everything together, lives in heaven with creatures of beauty and power beyond our wildest imagination...and He chose to fall in love with us! His love is so amazing!

10:16 - Even in the OT, there was a clear picture of what the circumcision is really all about. It isn't about flesh...it is about the sinful, rebellious part of us being cut away to live in God's service. It is like baptism...baptism is not about some sort of magical water that cleanses your sins - it is a sacred act that signifies putting your old life to death and being resurrected into a new life in Christ.

11:16 - How many times has Moses warned the people about this. He says to stay on guard so that you do not get distracted by the things of this world and turn away from God. Its like Moses knows this is a problem with human beings or something. Luckily we are well beyond this kind of temptation today, right? Oh...wait...

11:27-28 - Your life will be truly blessed if you follow God and truly cursed if you do not. And buy blessings, don't let your mind go immediately to wealth from human perspective...the blessings are so much more incredible than something that temporary. Th blessings are eternal and life-changing. Look around and you can see the truth of this statement from Moses lived out. You can see people all around you living under a curse because they have rejected God...i is heartbreaking.

12:2-3 - It is clear from the NT that we as Christians do not need to be running into the secular world bringing destruction and hatred, but think it is clear that when Christians enter into the world we should bring positive change! We should bring healing and light. Yet so often it is the opposite that takes place. We enter into the culture and allow ourselves to be changed...we allow ourselves to look more like the culture than Christ. Don't let that happen!

12:8 - How cool is that? Moses is addressing moral relativism thousands of years ago - MORAL RELATIVISM! Even then, the followers of God could recognize the danger involved when each person simply follows his/her own way, and creates his/her own truth. Yeah, the OT is real irrelevant (dripping with sarcasm).

12:30 - In the NT Jesus encourages us to live out our faith among the lost - the secular peoples of the world, but we have to beware of our motivations as we enter into the cultures of the world. Are we really looking to bring truth and change? Are we looking o live out our faith? Or our we looking to see what the other side lives like? Are we looking to see if they really have it better - if that life is more satisfying? Are we trying to find out how they serve their "gods"? Don't belittle your faith in God by tempting yourself with the false "gods" of this world that offer you nothing but death and emptiness.

Deuteronomy Chapters 7-9

7:2 - Again, this sounds so harsh - "you must devote them to complete destruction," but it is necessary in the eyes of God, for His plan to be carried out. These people are God-haters and they will lead the Israelites away from God if left alone. Check my thoughts on Numbers 31 if this is really messing with your mind. We will also cover it a little more in the next two chapters.

7:7ff - God does not choose the Israelites because they were the most powerful people on earth or because they were the most innovative. He chose them because they were weak. He chose them because He has a heart for the oppressed. He chose them out of love...not because they deserved it. They could do nothing to save themselves, so God stepped in and took care of it - He brought them out of slavery. In the same way, we still see God's heart for the enslaved in our lives today. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves, yet God steps in and offers freedom. We don't deserve it...we didn't earn it...God just chooses to offer His love and grace.

7:26 - I think its a little bit scary how nonchalant we are about the destructive things we allow into our lives. Moses is adamant that the people cannot allow evil things into their houses...into their tribes...these things will destroy the Israelites from the inside out. Christians today seem to be bringing destructive elements into their homes and lives at an alarming rate. We assume its no big deal...we want to fit in culturally, yet we pay the price. We pay as we become more and more numb to sin in our lives and deaf to the voice of God.

8:2ff - God allows His people to go through hard times. He allows us to go through deserts...to experience brokenness, but He never leaves us. Through the hard times He is there carrying us through. He allows us to go through difficult situations, because it draws us to Him. In the garden, Adam and Eve had everything they could ever want. Life was perfect...they were connected fully with each other and God, yet it wasn't enough for them. When they had everything they wanted more and rejected God. God allows us to experience nothingness, so that we will understand how much we need Him and we will realize that we were made to be connected with Him.

8:5 - When my sons get in trouble, I always sit them down afterward on my lap and have a little talk with them. I tell them how much I love them and I tell them that I discipline them because I want them to grow up to be the best, godliest men that they can be. If that is my attitude with my kids, and I am a flawed, sinful human being who is still learning what it truly means to love...why would we ever think that God wouldn't discipline us. We are the children of God...because of His love for us, we are disciplined so that we can become the people God created us to be. He is a God of love, that is why sins have consequences...that is why we pay the price for our brokenness...so it will lead us to redemption.

8:20 - Read that verse. That seems to imply that the native people were given a chance to hear the voice of God and they rejected it. God is saying, "Hey Israelites - these people are being judged by me because they refused to hear my voice...they refused to humble themselves before me, and you are going to get the same if you reject me." This shows us that God is not a callous ruler who looks out only for the people of Israel...He is a God of justice who wants all people to hear His voice and come to Him. Unfortunately, there are consequences when we refuse.

9:4 - Again, God does not conquer these people because the Israelites are so holy...He allows these people to be conquered because they have brought judgement upon themselves. They are reaping what they sowed...they are experiencing the consequences of their actions. This is also a good lesson in humility for us. Don't look down on other people judgementally because of your faith...you didn't do anything to earn it. Salvation only comes through the free gift of God's grace...that is why you are saved, not because of anything you ever did. So live humbly and treat people graciously.

Deuteronomy Chapters 4-6

4:23-24 - Be very careful about what it is you worship. Our God is a jealous God. He is jealous for our love...He is jealous for our attention. And this is not sinful covetous jealousy...He is jealous for what He deserves - what He has committed to. My wife and I have a marriage covenant together...we told each other that no matter what happened in life and no matter what came our way, we would always love one another and commit ourselves to one another. If she absolutely ignored me for the attentions of another man, I would be rightfully jealous...I would burn with jealousy. Our covenant demands that we stay committed to each other...that is not wrong. When we enter into a relationship with God, we have entered into a covenant. He made us, loves us, paid the price for our screw ups and all He is asking in return is our commitment. He has every right to be jealous. The real question is not, "Why is God jealous?", but, "Why do I keep breaking the covenant?" What are your idols?

6:4 - This is the greatest commandment that Jesus refers to in the NT - love the Lord with all your heart, soul and might. Jesus also adds, and love your neighbor as yourself. But the understanding is that if you commit yourself fully to loving God, you will love your neighbor and you will keep the rest of God's commands...righteous living is a bi-product of loving God with everything you have. So get to loving!

6:7 - In every area of life, at all times, we should be living out our love for God. There are no breaks...there are no times when we can just do whatever we want and ignore God. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, we should be reflecting the power of God's love and truth into the world. Ever moment is an opportunity to proclaim the awesomeness of God through our actions and words. We are always in a teachable moment, when we are always focused on God.

6:21 - I really like this passage. The author is telling us to always be ready to share our story...our testimony. You may not know absolutely everything about the bible or theological doctrine, but you know what God has done in your life. You know the power of the love of God...you know the resurrection that brings. Be ready to tell people your story...be ready to tell them, "I once was blind, but now I see." Who can argue with that. Christians should come into debates with a notion of winning...they should approach a discussion like by telling there story.

Dueteronomy Chapters 1-3

Wow this stuff sounds really familiar! Moses is giving us a recap of the events that we have been reading about over the last few months. I am not going to rehash things I have already talked about, so I'll just pick out the nuggets that I really like. Feel free to do the same...whatever jumps out at you, leave as a comment.

2:25 - This says that God began to put the fear of the Israelites into people all over the world. They were becoming a feared nation because of God's protection. I think this may have something to do with the persecution the Jews have experienced over the years. People do not like to fear - have you ever noticed that. Many times the human reaction to fear is wanting to get rid of or destroy whatever has made them fearful. If the people's of the world began to see that God was protecting the Jews and that they were a force to be reckoned with...there was probably some hatred that built up that was passed down generation after generation. When the Jews later began to stray from their covenant and from God's protection...their bitter enemies jumped at the chance to make them pay for the fear they had instilled.

3:28 - I am in a mentoring class at Fuller right now and I have discipleship on the brain. What God is telling Moses to do here is to mentor Joshua. His instructions are a great picture of what discipleship is supposed to look like. Moses is supposed to charge Joshua, which means to give him a challenge or a mission to live out. That is a key ingredient to discipleship - giving a younger leader goals to run towards...a picture of what they can be in the future. God tells Moses to encourage Joshua. I would hope encouragement is going on in mentoring relationships. Young leaders need to be told when they are doing things well...they need to be encouraged so they don't lose their nerve to live for God before they ever really started living it out! Finally God tells Moses to strengthen Joshua. Again, this is something that has to take place is discipleship situations. Are the mentors giving the mentees the tools they need to lead. Are they strengthening their wisdom, their faith, their leadership. I hope so. God lays out a great picture of what discipleship should look like for us.

Numbers Chapters 34-36

Chapter 34 - I find it pretty interesting and unique that God gives His people very limited space for the Promised Land. They have been waiting for this land for a long time, yet God does not give them the land as a starting point for great conquest...He gives them the land as a home. In ancient times, civilizations were bent on conquest and acquiring as much land and wealth as possible, yet God expects His people to be satisfied with what they have been given. God sets healthy limitations on His people and expects them to find joy in His blessings...there are some good lessons there for you and me.

35:12 - Again we see the heart of justice that God has. He sets up a system for his people where they have a right to a fair trial. Symbolically we have Jesus as our city of refuge. With a well deserved death pursuing at our heals, we come to Christ, yet he gives us an unfair trial. He does not give us the sentence we deserve...instead he takes our place and offers his life for ours. Beautiful.

35:33 - Again we see that God places great value in the lives of His created. Blood is a symbol of life. Life is a gift from God. Life is sacred. In fact one of the characteristics of God that we reflect as beings made in His image...is life. He is the living God and when as living beings we reflect the creative power of God to the world.