Skip to main content

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

Hello again my friends,

Hope you have had a good Sabbath (From 2/7/21).  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

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 30:16-20 Hearts set to seek the Lord - Day 359

Good morning fellow members of the household of God, After writing the devotional, I am thinking about the Passover as a household event.  In ancient Israel, the physical household of man was covered by the blood of the lamb.  Now, it is the spiritual household of God that is covered by the blood of the Lamb. Blessings, Jeff The account of the greatest celebration of Passover since time of Solomon (v 26).   Observations: One of the things that made this one great is participation of some of the tribes from the northern kingdom.  Israel was a united kingdom and Solomon and now toward the end of the northern kingdom, there is at least a semblance of being united. God allows some exemptions: Who offers the sacrifice:  The original Passover was a family by family sacrifice of a lamb.  However in  Deuteronomy 16:5-6 this changed to a centralized location once they entered the promised land.  (You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of ...
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