March 17: Deuteronomy 17-20

March 17, Deuteronomy 17-20

Deuteronomy 17. Here Moses is talking about forbidden forms of worship. We just left off with the command to not grow any trees near Asherah poles, because God hates them… and now the Israelites are reminded that God doesn't want a sacrificed animal to be blemished - they (and we) are to be giving God our best, not the dingy sick animal that we don't really want anyway. God clearly forbids any forms of divination - trying to find out what you are supposed to do in any form besides coming from God, is an abomination. If someone is accused of doing such a thing, there needs to be at least 2 witnesses to validate. One witness isn't good enough! But, if someone was guilty of seeking divination, it was not to be tolerated and they were to be put to death. Notice over and over we keep reading this: ‘Purge the evil from your midst.’ God wants us to safeguard against evil practices and we have to purge or cleanse the sin away from us.

What I find interesting, is that here we are told about an Israelite King. Israel won’t have a king for a couple hundred years, and yet God is telling them what He will expect of that King when the time comes.

Deuteronomy 18. The Levites were to be provided for by God through the Israelites. They had to rely solely on the Lord to provide, and He did. 

When they come into the Promised Land they are commanded to not learn the abominable practices of the nations that they come into, especially divination. These horrific practices were extreme, and sinful, and the Israelites did not currently practice them, so they would have to be learned. Well, we will soon learn that this is why God wanted the pagan nations to be wiped out - to protect His people. 

Then we are told about a new prophet like Moses that will be appointed. Think about it… we just learned that they were not to learn the divination from the other nations so that they could find out about their future or anything, and God is reminding them that He is sending them a prophet to guide them towards God and pursuit of Holiness. God has it all figured out (obviously).

Deuteronomy 19 God also sets up again if there was an accidental murder (non premeditated murder). They were to be able to go to the cities of refuge that God set up, until the case could be heard and the avenger couldn't come and kill that person without a trial. If a person hates another person and plans their murder, and the killer flees to a refuge city - he shall be handed over and killed with no pity. 

A couple more things on this chapter - they were not to move their property boundaries to get some extra land - that was stealing from their brothers and the land that God gave to them. God will be giving them enough and greed is not allowed. Again, God reminds them about the requirement of at least 2 witnesses, so that false accusations will be found out. If there is a false accusation, then the accuser shall have done to him what he was accusing (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth). This was to purge the evil from among them.

Deuteronomy 20. As we will get into narratives on wars in the book of Joshua, here the Israelites had some rules put in place for the wars coming up. Again, the Israelites were to not fear the large armies, because the same God that miraculously brought them out of Egypt will be there with them and actually goes before them. They were never to forget that massive exodus in their future expeditions. It is God who gives the victory! 

When they were to draw near to a city to fight it (not take it over) - they were to seek peace first. If the city agreed to peace, they were to take it over and make the people their slaves. If the city was part of their inheritance, they were to completely lay the city to waste and devote everything to destruction except for fruit bearing trees. Everything else, destruction. 

To sum it all up:

• Don’t give God your your leftovers or what you really don't want. It is to be a sacrifice - give God your best and sacrifice what you want for what God wants. 
• Divine knowledge is an abomination to God. Stay far away from it. This could even be as simple as reading a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant and believing it to be true, or wanting it to be. It is not always as extreme as Tarot cards. Astrology, or thinking that you are a certain way because of the month that you were born in - this is an abomination to Yahweh.
• God, in His Sovereignty, is laying out the futures for His people and His world - just like He was planning ahead for the Israelites to have a King. He is doing the same for us - He has it all worked out!