Deuteronomy 10-26
Key Scriptures
10:12-19 [Moses declared to the people,] “Listen carefully, Israel. What is it that God expects of you? It is this: Live in trust and reverence before the Lord your God, following in all his ways, loving and serving him with your whole heart and soul, obeying the commandments and decrees that I’m giving you today for your own benefit. …Remove the calluses encrusted on your hardened hearts and stop being so obstinate. For your God is Lord of all—he’s omnipotent, omnipresent, and awe-inspiring. The Lord treats all people equally, stands up for the orphan and widow, and shows his loving-kindness to the foreigner and immigrant whom he feeds and clothes. See to it that you also treat the foreigner and immigrant with loving concern, remembering the day you were aliens in Egypt. Honor and serve the Lord and cling to him firmly, taking every oath and vow in his name alone.”
12:13-14 “Take extra care not to make offerings to the Lord in random or convenient places. You must only make offerings in the place the Lord will designate in the land of your inheritance. That place alone will be the place you will bring the offerings I command of you.”
13:1-5 “If a prophet or seer predicts a miraculous event or other supernatural sign and it comes to pass as he predicted, but he then calls the community to worship and follow other gods and beliefs, ignore him completely despite his abilities. It is a trial the Lord is putting you through to test and refine your love for him. You must be totally committed to honor and obey the Lord, clinging tightly to him and serving him gladly. But the prophet or seer must pay for his blasphemous activities with his life…”
14:22-15:4 “You are to offer the Lord a tithe of one-tenth of all crops your fields and vineyards produce each year. …Every third year take that same tithe of crops and store it for the Levite who owns no lands and for the needy in your community—the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow. Once their needs are taken care of, the Lord will then give his blessing to you and all you do.…As every seventh year ends, you are to cancel each and every debt owed to you. …The Lord will bless you with such abundance for your obedience in the land that there should no longer be any reason for poor people to be in your midst.”
15:7-11 “When the time comes that you encounter a poor or needy person anywhere in Israel, do not ignore that person and refuse to share your own wealth. Instead, be as generous as possible and lend whatever is needed to get him back on his feet. …Give freely and without any hidden grudges against the poor person. Then the Lord your God will pour his blessings on you and make your every effort to prosper. As long as there are poor and needy people anywhere in Israel, you are commanded to generously share your wealth and abundance with them.”
17:14-17 “Once you take up residence in the Promised Land and say to yourselves, ‘Let’s appoint a king to rule our people so we can be like the other nations all around us,’ then take care that the man of your choice is also the man of God’s choice. The chosen man must be an Israelite and not foreign born. And once chosen, do not allow him to build up a huge military with numerous horses acquired from Egypt. …The king will be corrupted if he takes for himself a lot of wives, or piles up his treasury with masses of silver and gold.”
17:18-20 “After the king’s appointment is complete, he is to make his own copy of this Law which he copies on a scroll from one provided by the Levitical priests. The king’s copy of the scroll will be his constant companion and he will read and meditate upon it each day of his reign in order to learn reverence for the Lord and strict obedience to God’s commandments. The Law will teach him that, in God’s eyes, he is no different from any other Israelite—whatever their station in life—and that there is no double standard allowing the king to do whatever he wants. If the king does these things, he and his descendants will rule Israel for a very long time.”
18:9-20 “When you settle into the Promised Land the Lord is giving you, don’t adopt the repulsive lifestyles of those who now live there. You must never, ever follow their practice of sacrificing a son or daughter as an offering by fire. Neither are you to practice divination or sorcery, such as casting spells; no contacting the dead through séances or channeling; no witchcraft or foretelling the future through the dark arts. Those who follow these repulsive practices are abhorrent to the Lord, and because of them God will soon dislodge them from their lands. By contrast, you are to live righteously in God’s sight…and he will give you a prophet like myself—someone from among your own people. Listen obediently to everything the prophet says, for the Lord will tell him what you need to hear. … ‘But how,’ you may ask, “are we to know whether or not the prophet’s words are from God? ‘There is a simple test: If the prophet who speaks in God’s name makes predictions that always come true, then you will know it was the Lord who sent him and spoke through him—and you are accountable to obey his words; but if any of his proclamations and predictions fail to come to pass, you will know that person was not from God. A false prophet or one who speaks in any other name than the Lord’s name is guilty of blasphemy and to be punished with death.”
19:15-21 “No conviction for any crime is allowed on the testimony of just one witness; there must be at least two or three witnesses to establish a valid case. …If it is discovered that a witness lies in his testimony against another, the false witness is to receive the very same punishment he intended for the accused. …Such a person is to be shown no mercy, for the requirements of the Law demand one life for another, one eye for another, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.”
22:22-29 “If a man is found in the act of committing adultery, both he and the woman he is with are to pay with their lives. Such wickedness must be rooted out of Israel. If a man takes an engaged virgin he meets in town and has sex with her, they are both to be stoned to death by the gates of the town’s entrance. The man must die because he violated another man’s betrothed, and the young woman because she could have cried out for help but chose to remain silent and commit adultery. Such vile behavior must be rooted out of Israel. But if the incident occurs away from town in a rural area and the man forces himself upon the engaged woman, only the man is to be put to death. The woman has done nothing wrong and deserves no punishment. …If a man forces himself upon an unmarried woman who is not engaged and the matter is uncovered, the man will be required to pay fifty silver pieces to the young woman’s father. Then he is required to marry her and provide a home for her without ever having the right to a divorce.”
23:15-16 “If a slave flees his owner and takes refuge in your town, you must not force him to go back. Allow the runaway to stay in your town or another town of his choosing, but never try to take away his freedom and subjugate him again.”
23:24-25 “If you are hungry and go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you have the right to eat enough to satisfy your hunger; but do not take advantage of him by carrying away grapes in your pockets or your bag. Likewise, if you pass through your neighbor’s field of grain and need something to eat, feel free to eat the ripe kernels you pluck; but you are not allowed to cut down any stalks with your sickle or knife and take them away with you.”
24:14-22 “If you hire a poor and needy laborer, you may not take advantage of him no matter his background—whether he is a fellow Israelite or an immigrant living in your area. Because the poor laborer lives from day to day without any savings, you must pay him the day of his work. If you don’t and he calls out to the Lord in distress, you will be held accountable before God for your sin. …At harvest time when you bring your sheaves in from the fields, should you overlook one, do not try to retrieve it. You are to leave it in the fields for the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow among you. In so doing you will open the gates of heaven to bring forth God’s blessings on your work. Likewise, when you harvest olives from your trees and afterward see some remaining on the branches, leave them for the immigrant, the orphan and the widow. And the same holds for your vineyards: don’t strip every last cluster of grapes from the branches, but purposefully leave some for the immigrant, orphan, and widow. Do these things because when you were slaves in Egypt you too lived hard lives at the very bottom of society.”
25:13-16 “You are not to have in your possession any false weights or inaccurate measuring cups for selling your produce. You are to own only one weight and one measure—ones that are true and accurate. If you live honestly and truthfully in your day-to-day lives, the Lord bless you with a long and peace-filled tenure in the Promised Land. But if you are given to dishonesty and corruption in your daily living, you will incur his judgment; for he abhors those who do such things.”
26:16-19 “The Lord your God commands you today to follow all these laws and regulations; obey them with your whole heart and all the strength you have within you. This day you are recommitting yourselves to the Lord your God, and declaring that you will obey and follow him without reservation by strictly keeping his commandments. And on his part, the Lord declares today that you alone are his chosen people, the ones he treasures. He will raise you high above every other nation on earth and make of you a people holy before the Lord, just as he has promised to do.”
Basic Message
Moses tells the Israelites that God expects them to trust and revere him, to follow him and devote themselves heart and soul to his commandments. He tells them the covenant arrangement is for their own good but requires them to soften their hearts and turn from their obstinate ways. Among the requirements they must fulfill is to treat the immigrant well, care for the widow and orphan, and make sure their sacrificial worship is done in the proper way and place.
Among other commands God expects Israel to follow is the ten percent tithe and the Year of Jubilee, both of which help to care for the Levites and the needy among them. But more than that, God expects the people to be generous and caring toward all, whether neighbor, foreigner, or the poor. Practical application includes protecting runaway slaves, lending freely to neighbors in need, and making sure destitute laborers receive their wages the day of their work. Furthermore, a bit of produce from fields and vineyards is to be left unharvested so immigrants, widows, and orphans can eat them as needed.
Justice is a major focus of the commandments Moses gave the people. The Israelites
were expected to use only a single measure and a single weight in transactions; no double-standards. They were to insist on two or three witnesses to convict an alleged criminal, and to punish false witnesses with the same penalty originally intended for the accused. Punishments for crimes were not to exceed the crime itself—limited to an “eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Adultery and rape were to be severely punished with the death penalty for the perpetrators. Victims of rape, however, were not to be punished if they were not complicit in the act. They were to be protected and compensated through marriage to the perpetrator, who thereafter had to perpetually care for his victim without recourse to divorce.
Pleasing God and following the commandments also meant holding kings, leaders, and prophets to the highest of standards. Kings were expected to study the law daily, keep it by their side, and live by its standards like everyone else. Prophets whose prophesies were either false or directed people to follow other gods were to receive the death penalty, no matter what sort of miracles or popularity followed them.
The Israelites were to strictly avoid adopting the practices of the native inhabitants of Canaan. Of special concern to Moses were the Canaanites’ idolatrous forms of worship, which included child sacrifice, divination, and delving into the occult—all of which were said to be an abomination to God. The Israelites were called to be faithful to their vows, renewed that day, and to follow their side of the covenant agreement with God. Moses told the people that they were God’s treasure and their response to him should be lives of faithful obedience.
Comments
* Pleasing God is an attitude and an orientation of the heart. It requires regularly cutting away the calluses that inevitably form there. Obeying commandments alone is not enough; in fact, without the heart commitment, it leads to legalism and hollow religiosity. But with a genuine commitment of the heart, following the commands of God flows naturally and without strain. Obedience and a committed heart cannot be separated, as Jesus proclaimed in John 14:15 when he said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
* A large portion of the commandments involve the treatment of others. The immigrant is singled out by Moses as being of special concern. No one could please God and fulfill the commandments while ignoring or mistreating such persons, who were not only to be treated well, but actually to be loved. By loving the immigrant—the foreign resident among them—the Israelites were loving and serving God. Jesus, too, was an immigrant when he came to earth, leaving the realms of heaven for the harsh realities of life among fallen man. In the person of the immigrant (and all people who are vulnerable and easily taken advantage of) we thus encounter God. Our response to all who are disadvantaged reveals our real attitude toward God himself.
* Once Israel entered the Promised Land, all offerings were to be made in the sacred places God would designate. To do otherwise would lead to distorting the true worship of God that Moses had so meticulously cultivated among the Israelites. For if sacrifices were allowed to be offered just anywhere, control of what and how the sacrifice consisted of would eventually be lost. Everyone would create their own versions of what was allowed and, soon enough, the versions would begin to emulate the pagan rituals of the peoples surrounding them. That is the power of acculturation. People absorb their surroundings. The Law was an early effort to curb the human tendency to “bring your own religion”—a do-it-yourself penchant that characterizes spirituality in the modern world. People love to create their own personalized versions of worship by throwing off all oversight. The result is a spiritual trainwreck—a self-deceiving potpourri of whatever spiritualized fashions happen to be in vogue. Spirituality without the Living God as an absolute inevitably ends up as one form or another of self-worship. It becomes a projections of our own fears, desires, or ego.
* Wherever true worship is found, false prophets and leaders inevitably crop up—like dandelions on a green lawn. Moses’warnings against false prophets was given with the simple but extremely effective method of testing their legitimacy. One-hundred percent of prophesies had to come true or else the prophet was not from God—no matter the signs and wonders that attended his or her words. How many so-called prophets down through the ages could stand up to such scrutiny? How many would risk their lives for their profession given the death-sentence the Mosaic Law required for false prophets? Prophecy was serious business and had to have serious consequences for deception.
* The king whom Israel would eventually request of God (in the process shifting from a theocracy to a monarchy to be like the nations around them) was to be like everyone else in regards to obeying the law. This requirement set Israel’s kings apart from kings and kingdoms of the time—and ever since. The king was in fact expected to study and follow the law diligently, keeping it at his side constantly in order to rule with justice and righteousness. As leader of the nation, he was to remain humble and reverent before God—a precursor to the servant-leader model Jesus would perfectly embody. But history tells a different tale. Pomp and circumstance have been the staple of kings ever since. European monarchies have been especially prominent in this regard, revealing just how miserably so-called Christian nations have failed to follow the design God intended for such an important and influential position. The servant-leader became the leader with servants, and the Church has been used to authenticate the arrangement.
* But God is not naïve. He knew that commanding the king to serve his people would not be enough, given the propensity of leaders to care mainly for themselves while ignoring the needs of the masses (“power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”). The Law of Moses institutionalized a form of public assistance through a ten percent tithe that not only took care of the Levites, but also immigrants, widows, and orphans. The laws for helping the poor culminated in observing the Year of Jubilee, an institution that kept poverty from becoming entrenched in Israelite society. Tithing too was a “leveling mechanism” that kept both poverty and wealth from growing out of control through a system of redistribution of wealth. The ideal God described—that there be no poor among the Israelites—was actually possible if they but followed the Law, which stipulated that individuals live their lives devoted to personal charity and generosity toward all in need.
* The “eye-for-eye” stipulations in the Law are generally seen today as outdated and barbaric. But during a time when people were accustomed to taking whatever measure of revenge they wanted, such stipulations limited the size and scope of retribution—thus curtailing lawlessness. Certainly the Law of Christ—to love not only one’s neighbors but also one’s enemies—has supplanted the Law of Moses in terms of personal interactions. But the principal of an “eye-for-eye” is still intact in civil law to the degree that punishments are designed to fit the crime. Eyes are no longer plucked out (at least in most modern nation-states), but jail time and financial compensation is intended to be a fair and equal measure of the crime committed. Limiting retribution—part and parcel of any modern civil society—is firmly rooted in the Mosaic Law.
* The death penalty for adultery or rape under Mosaic Law is also seen today as overly severe and indicative of an ancient, inhumane and totalitarian religious system. But given the context of flagrant sexual abuse and exploitation inherent in the Canaanite mixture of sex and religion, and the effort to create a new and morally upright society founded on the absolute sanctity of sex anmarriage, the death penalty can be understood as justified for its time. Marriage and family is, after all, the bedrock of any stable society; and when that sacred institution is disfigured or broken, the whole of society begins to crumble. Each act of adultery and each rape corrodes the high moral standards God purposes for his people and his world. If there is not severe punishment for such acts, and especially if people get away without any penalty at all, the behavior becomes accepted and even admired in a perverse way. Rogue soldiers raping women in the Congo and elsewhere has continued unabated precisely because they do it with impunity. Calls to punish such acts as crimes against humanity, using an international legal system to prosecute the perpetrators, is the only way to stop the spreading plague. Barring punishment, or at least the threat thereof, human nature will continue to express itself in such horrific ways whenever and wherever the rule of law is absent.
* It can be argued that under Mosaic Law it was cruel to permit a rapist to marry his victim (the case when a victim was unwed and unbetrothed). Yet again, given the cultural context of the time, it was the most humane response for the victim and a suitable “punishment” for the perpetrator. The rapist was required to take full responsibility for his crime by marrying and taking care of the person he defiled. Otherwise, her defilement would entail a life-long sentence of spinsterhood in a society were marriage and family was the right and goal of everyone. Defilement meant no marriage because of the terrible stigma attached to the crime and the loss of virginity. To leave the victim without marriage options would have punished her twice. Marriage at least provided a home and children for her (the main means of support after a husband’s death) and, in time, the repentant husband would hopefully learn to love and value her as a person and not an object (rape always involves depersonalizing and objectifying the victim).
* It is so easy to project our own cultural frame of reference onto others, thinking we have some sort of neutral viewpoint accompanied by the highest of ethical values. Yet we are really only slaves to our own cultural values, inherited from family, ethnic group, and country of origin. Some of those values are undoubtedly good and wholesome; others not. “Culture,” as a very astute professor once said, “is what feels natural.” The values and worldviews each of us espouse seems natural and right to us precisely because we have not evaluated and critiqued them through understanding other cultural perspectives. Thus all of us are culturally illiterate to one degree or another.
The ethical standards embedded in the Bible not only help us to gauge the moral standards reflected in our own and other cultures, they provide a framework by which we can measure the “rightness” of any worldview or system of philosophical thought. Moreover, biblically-based ethics are necessary to adequately interpret the Bible itself, which is deeply embedded in the cultures and peoples of the Ancient Near East—a world quite alien to our own. The person who wishes to accurately understand the Scriptures—whether it be the Law of Moses, the Psalms of David, or the words of Jesus—must first learn to step outside his or her inherited system of cultural values, however biblically-based we think them to be, and listen for the voice of God echoing through the unfamiliar cultures and traditions of people and places long ago and far away. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is in the business of interpretation. To hear him speak requires more of an openness of heart than the skills of an historian or anthropologist. But it is incumbent upon us all to do our best to both learn and listen so we can better recognize his voice amid the overbearing clamor of own.
Biblical Themes
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14
