Must Not Acquire Great Numbers Of Horses

Deuteronomy 17:14-16 – When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”

Jeremiah 30:21 – Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me—for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?’ declares the Lord.

Isaiah 2:7 – Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots.

1 Kings 11:2,4 – They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love…As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

Application:

• ·         Unauthorized approaches into God’s presence were punishable by death.
• ·         Accumulating large quantities of “silver and gold…horses” was forbidden to the king. They usually led to a failure to trust in God.
• ·         Foreign women indeed did turn the Israelites hearts after their gods.
• ·         Solomon’s wives turned Solomon’s heart after the foreign women’s gods, as the Lord had warned.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

A King...Like All The Nations Around Us

Deuteronomy 17:13-15,19-20 – All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again. When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite…It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Judges 8:23 – But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.”

1 Samuel 8:7 – And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

Deuteronomy 7:3-4 – Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.

Application:

• ·         Moses anticipated a time when the people would ask for a king contrary to the Lord’s ideal for them. So Moses gave guidance concerning the eventual selection of a king.
• ·         Gideon, like Samuel, rejected the establishment of a monarchy because he regarded it as a replacement of the Lord’s rule.
• ·         The sin of Israel in requesting a king rested not in any evil inherent in kingship itself but in the kind of kingship the people envisioned and their reasons for requesting it. Their desire was for a form of kingship that denied their covenant relationship with the Lord, who Himself was pledged to be their savior and deliverer. In requesting a king “like all the other nations” they broke the covenant, rejected the Lord who was their King and forgot His constant provision for their protection in the past.
• ·         The Lord’s command against intermarriage with foreigners was not racially motivated but was intended to prevent spiritual contamination and apostasy.
• ·         The king was not above God’s law, any more than were the humblest of his subjects.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Contrary To My Command

Deuteronomy 17:2-12 – If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant, and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky, and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death. On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you. If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose. Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your God is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

Jeremiah 7:31 – They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

Numbers 15:30 – “‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel.

Zechariah 13:3 – And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.

Application:

• ·         “Nor did it enter my mind” stresses how terribly evil burning your sons and daughters in the fire is to God.
• ·         Unlike unintentional sins, for which there are provisions of God’s mercy, one who sets his hand defiantly to despise the word of God and to blaspheme His name must be punished.
• ·         The Hebrew for “stab” is the same as the verb for “pierced”, perhaps indicating that the feelings and actions exhibited in piercing the Messiah (discussed in Zechariah) will now be directed toward the false prophets.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Defect Or Flaw

Deuteronomy 16:16-17:1 – Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you. Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you. Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates. Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.

Deuteronomy 31:10-11 – Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing.

1 Samuel 8:3 – But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

Exodus 12:5 – The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.

Leviticus 1:3 – “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord.

Application:

• ·         Reading the law to the Israelites was one of the main duties of the priests.
• ·         Perversion of justice through bribery was explicitly forbidden in Pentateuchal law.
• ·         Jesus was like a “lamb without blemish or defect”.
• ·         The animal for the burnt offering had to be unblemished.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Your Joy Will Be Complete

Deuteronomy 16:12-15 – Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees. Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

Job 38:6-7 – On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Psalm 4:7 – Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.

John 15:11 – I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Philippians 2:1-2 – Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

Application:

• ·         Your joy will be complete as a result of God’s blessing.
• ·         When the earth was created, the angels were there to sing the praises of the Creator, but Job was not.
• ·         The heart, in Biblical language, was the center of the human spirit, from which spring emotions, thoughts, motivations, courage and action—“everything you do flows from it”.
• ·         The Christian way is never dreary, for Jesus desires His disciples’ joy to be complete.
• ·         Like-minded is not uniformity in thought but the common disposition to work together and serve one another—the “mindset” of Christ.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Giving...In Proportion

Deuteronomy 16:4-11 – Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning. You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work. Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you.

1 Corinthians 16:2 – On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Deuteronomy 12:7,12 – There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you…And there rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own.

Nehemiah 8:10 – Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Application:

• ·         Every Sunday believers were to bring what they had set aside for the Lord’s work—an amount proportionate to their income.
• ·         The Lord wants His people to enjoy the fruit of their labor, because it is the result of His blessing.
• ·         Joy, based on the Lord’s blessings, was to be a major feature of Hebrew life and worship in the promised land.
• ·         It was customary for God’s people to remember the less fortunate on joyous occasions.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Remember

Deuteronomy 16:2-3 – Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name. Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.

1 Corinthians 5:8 – Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Exodus 12:11 – This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

Deuteronomy 4:10 – Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

Application:

• ·         Keeping the Festival of Unleavened Bread symbolized living the Christian life in holy dedication to God and not getting involved in such sins as malice, wickedness and incestuous relations.
• ·         Passover meant that the Lord would “pass over” and not destroy the occupants of houses that were under the sign of the blood.
• ·         The divine call to Israel to remember the Lord’s past redemptive acts—especially how He delivered them from slavery in Egypt—is a common theme in Deuteronomy and is summarized: “Remember the days of old”.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Ceremonially Unclean

Deuteronomy 15:22-16:1 – You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer. But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.

Leviticus 4:11-12 – But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, as well as the head and legs, the internal organs and the intestines—that is, all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a place ceremonially clean, where the ashes are thrown, and burn it there in a wood fire on the ash heap.

Leviticus 17:11 – For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Exodus 12:5,7,11,13,21 – The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats…Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs…This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover…The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt…Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.

Exodus 23:19 – “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Leviticus 23:27 – “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present a food offering to the Lord.

Application:

• ·         The distinction between clean and unclean was a matter of ritual or religious purity, not a concern for physical cleanliness.
• ·         The blood of the Old Testament sacrifice pointed forward to the blood of the Lamb of God, who obtained for His people “eternal redemption”.
• ·         Passover meant that the Lord would “pass over” and not destroy the occupants of houses that were under the sign of the blood.
• ·         The offering of firstfruits was an acknowledgment that the harvest was from the Lord and belonged wholly to Him.
• ·         The Day of Atonement was foreshadowing the atoning work of Christ, our high priest.
• ·         Jesus was like a “lamb without blemish or defect”.
• ·         Israel escaped the judgment that fell on Egypt only through the mediation of a sacrifice.
• ·         Just as the plagues were miraculous signs of judgment on the pharaoh and his people, so the Lord’s “passing over” the Israelites who placed themselves under the sign of blood was a pledge of God’s mercy.
• ·         Christ is “our Passover lamb”, sacrificed “once for all” for us.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

If An Animal Has A Defect...You Must Not Sacrifice It

Deuteronomy 15:16-21 – But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant. Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. Set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep. Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose. If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

Leviticus 7:16 – “‘If, however, their offering is the result of a vow or is a freewill offering, the sacrifice shall be eaten on the day they offer it, but anything left over may be eaten on the next day.

Deuteronomy 12:7 – There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

Exodus 12:5 – The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.

Malachi 1:8 – When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.

Leviticus 1:3 – “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord.

Application:

• ·         A vow was a solemn promise to offer a gift to God in response to a divine deliverance or blessing.
• ·         The Lord wants His people to enjoy the fruit of their labor, because it is the result of His blessing.
• ·         Jesus was like a “lamb without blemish or defect”.
• ·         God desires the best.
• ·         The animal for the burnt offering had to be unblemished.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Remember

Deuteronomy 15:4-15 – However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you. If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free. And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.

Mark 14:7 – The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.

Jeremiah 34:13-14 – “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said, ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’ Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me.

Exodus 20:2 – “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Deuteronomy 4:10 – Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

Application:

• ·         Even in the best of societies under the most enlightened laws, the uncertainties of life and the variations among citizens result in some people becoming poor.
• ·         Jesus’ statement did not express lack of concern for the poor, for their needs lay close to His heart. He was simply stating the truth.
• ·         The Israelites were to free their slaves because God had earlier freed the Israelites.
• ·         As His subjects, His covenant people are to render complete submission, allegiance and obedience to Him out of gratitude for His mercies, reverence for His sovereignty, and trust in His continuing care.
• ·         The divine call to Israel to remember the Lord’s past redemptive acts—especially how He delivered them from slavery in Egypt—is a common theme in Deuteronomy and is summarized: “Remember the days of old”.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

There Need Be No Poor People Among You

Deuteronomy 15:1-5,11 – At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today…There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Leviticus 25:13,36 – “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property…Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you.

Application:

• ·         There need be no poor people among you because of the Lord’s reward for obedience and because of the Sabbath-year arrangement. This “year for canceling debts” gave Israelites who had experienced economic reverses a way to gain release from indebtedness and so, in a measure, a way to equalize wealth.
• ·         Even in the best of societies under the most enlightened laws, the uncertainties of life and the variations among citizens result in some people becoming poor. In such cases the Lord commands that generosity and kindness be extended to them.
• ·         The Lord prohibited the accumulation of property to the detriment of the poor. “The land is mine”, said the Lord. God’s people are only tenants.
• ·         The main idea in not taking interest was that no one should profit in any way from another’s misfortune; rather, the needy should be given assistance.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Learn To Revere The Lord Your God Always

Deuteronomy 14:23-29 – Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own. At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Psalm 4:7 – Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.

Deuteronomy 4:10 – Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

Isaiah 1:17 – Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

Application:

• ·         The heart, in Biblical language, was the center of the human spirit, from which spring emotions, thoughts, motivations, courage and action—“everything you do flows from it”.
• ·         The divine call to Israel to remember the Lord’s past redemptive acts—especially how He delivered them from slavery in Egypt—is a common theme in Deuteronomy and is summarized: “Remember the days of old”.
• ·         “Fatherless…widowed” represented the weak and often oppressed part of society. Rulers were warned not to take advantage of them.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV