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September 9, 2017

Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.

Reading along with us in Deuteronomy? Here’s today’s reading:

Deuteronomy 17 (ESV)

“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.

“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel,then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midstContinue Reading

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This Post Has 6 Comments
  1. I find it interesting in verses 14-20 when we see the rules and standards for the Kings. I find it cool to compare these rules with Israels kings and see how the ones who kept true to this (like David) were blessed, but ones who didn’t (like Saul) were punished.

    1. I was struck by that as well, Sarah!

      “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.” Deuteronomy 17:18-20

      I remember learning years ago that kings of Israel had to write the law out in their own hand, and read and meditate on it constantly. It reminds me now of one of my favorite Scriptures, Psalm 1:1-3:

      1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
      Nor stand in the path of sinners,
      Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
      2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
      And in His law he meditates day and night.

      3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
      Which yields its fruit in its season
      And its leaf does not wither;
      And in whatever he does, he prospers.

  2. Reading about stoning people to death who worship other gods, “purging the evil” from their midst, is scary stuff…and it’s supposed to be. But it reminds me of the Salem Witch Trials. If you have a beef with someone, it seems as though it would be awfully easy to pay a few corrupt “witnesses” to help you send someone to their death.

    You’d think the fear of God would keep people from doing that, but we know from having read the rest of the Bible that there will be kings of Israel with NO fear of God whatsoever. Just goes to show you that intellectual knowledge only takes a heart so far.

  3. 20that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, …

  4. God is certainly strict about the worship of false gods, but I assure you it is for their/our sake and not His! He knows the deception and falsehood behind idols. He knows how prevalent the worship of false gods were in the nations that surrounded Israel. He knew how susceptible we are to the influence of others. SO where we see harsh, God sees necessary. And isn’t that proven by what Israel did and clearly they didn’t follow the standards here.

    But God not only cares about the divine but also the mundane, the things necessary for a people to coexist. Judges are important and so are leaders. It is sad to see how few kings did this. The passage here reminded me of the time of Josiah when the law was found (some think it was Deuteronomy actually) as in they were rummaging through stuff and found God’s word. So it wasn’t given the regard it deserves. After Josiah heard it, presumably, for the first time, he tore his robe and tore down all the idols. The Bible says no one repented like Josiah, no one before him and no one after him. Sounds like a good name for a son…. 🙂

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