Skip to main content

Deuteronomy 13:12 - What were we thinking? Day 160

Hello again my friends,

Hope you have had a good Sabbath.  Thinking of Jonathan's message this morning about Jesus being our Sabbath rest.  How he picks a fight with the religious leaders by healing one man out of a multitude of lame, blind and paralyzed.  Remembering how He came looking for me on a spring evening in Evanston, Ill.

Blessings,

Jeff

The duty to punish entire cities or towns that go astray and worship other gods.

Observations:

1.The transition to distributed population poses new challenge to enforcement of commandments.  During the 40 years in the wilderness, any individual who broke first or second commandment would be know to those around him or her.  But once spread throughout Canaan, individuals and groups could go astray and might not be noticed.  

2. Intentional drawing away - this is internal source of error, not from the surrounding people.  These "worthless fellows" are Israelites.  Instead of the serpent, they are the ones saying "Did God really say..."  

3. Levites not guarding their ministry - When the tabernacle was at center of the community, Levites kept others from getting to close.  Now with the tabernacle in one place, the Levites duty was different.  In a way they were to keep people close to God by teaching and defending.  

4.  Keeping commandments was both individual and corporate responsibility.   No one in the town stands up for what "God has said".  One person standing for truth would save the whole town from destruction.  

5. Physical reminder of results of being drawn away - Everybody who walks by the town that is now a heap of ruins would think "I don't want that to happen to my town".


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 35:23-26 Lament for the last good king - Day 364

Good morning fellow exiles and pilgrims, One more day of devotions.  We are indeed exiles and pilgrims in this world as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  The 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks can serve as a reminder that this world is not our home. Blessings, Jeff The lamentations for Josiah written by Jeremiah.  However, the book of Lamentations does not include any reference to Josiah as they are focused on the fall of Jerusalem.  While these lost lamentations were "made the rule" there are only 4 more kings and none of them were good like Josiah and none died in Jerusalem.  The phrase "to this day" generally refers to the time of the author (post exile).  Taken together, it may be that these laments were for the last good king and during the exile the people were longing for the next good king. Zerubbabel in a way was the next good king as temple and Jerusalem were rebuilt. But Jesus truly was the next king and He...
Post a Comment
Read more