Deuteronomy 16-18 Why the World's Wisest Man Washed Out
Psalm 29:3-11 Tapping into Thunderous Power
3 Yahweh’s voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even Yahweh on many waters. 4 Yahweh’s voice is powerful. Yahweh’s voice is full of majesty. 5 The voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars. Yes, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox. 7 Yahweh’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning. 8 Yahweh’s voice shakes the wilderness. Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 Yahweh’s voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests bare. In His temple everything says, "Glory!" 10 Yahweh sat enthroned at the Flood. Yes, Yahweh sits as King forever. 11 Yahweh will give strength to His people. Yahweh will bless His people with peace."
Observations: 29:1-2 See Leviticus 1 for vv 1-2, in which glory and strength are ascribed/given to God from holy worshipers, responding to the revelation of God's power in a thunderstorm (worship = response to revelation).
29:3-11 David chiastically (glory, strength, strength, glory) continues his poetic (note the parallelism and repetition) praise of God's powerful voice/strength in nature. Then in verse 11 David shifts from general revelation in nature to specific revelation in God's dealings with His people. The temple, where people praise God for answered prayer, resounds with holy worshipers responding with their voices, giving/ascribing glory to the God of power. Verse 10 uses “sit” first in the perfect tense indicating God's past power over the earth with the Flood (this is the only usage of this word, outside of Genesis, always referring to the flood of Noah's day); then David uses “sit” in the imperfect (ongoing, future) tense to describe God's ongoing sovereignty over the earth. The coda (strength-glory) relates both the strength and glory of God to His people: He will continue to strengthen His people, and bless them with peace (a covenantal bestowal of His glory).
Application: Ask God to display His power and glory in your life, in meeting your needs, so you can praise Him.
Prayer: God, thanks that You offer to use the majestic power I see in nature to help and bless me; please strengthen me to do all that is pleasing in Your sight. Amen.
Proverbs 8:8-11 What Do You Desire Above All?
Proverbs 8:8 “All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them. 9 They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge. 10 Receive my instruction rather than silver; knowledge rather than choice gold. 11 For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can't be compared to it.
Observations: 8:10 If you had a choice between getting better grades or making more money at the expense of time gaining God's wisdom, which would you choose? What have you been choosing? (Ouch!)
Application: If we treasure God's wisdom, we will spend the best of our efforts getting it. Why not write out Proverbs 8:11 in your favorite version, on a post-it, and keep it in front of you until you have it memorized?
Prayer: God, You offer me the treasure of Your wisdom; don't let me be a fool and seek perishable things like grades, promotions, silver or gold at the expense of ignoring what You've said. Amen.
Deuteronomy 16-18 If you can only read one chapter today, focus on the last half of Chapter 17. These chapters flow out of the third and fourth commandments, relating to the Sabbath and authority.
Deuteronomy 16 Reminders and Justice
16 1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night. 2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose, to cause His name to dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread...that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you; 6 but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause His name to dwell...9 Seven weeks shall you number from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain 10 You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill-offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as Yahweh your God blesses you: 11 and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and...the Levite who is within your gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in the midst of you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 12 You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes. 13 You shall keep the feast of tents...because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase, and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
16 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Yahweh your God in the place which He shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents; and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty: 17 every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which He has given you. 18 Judges and officers you shall make in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not pervert justice: you shall not respect persons; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. 20 That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
21 You shall not plant an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you shall make you. 22 Neither shall you set up a pillar; which Yahweh your God hates.
Observations: 16:3,12 God wants His people to remember what He's done for them so they don't live independently of Him.
16:17 God blesses us, so we can bless others and Him.
16:18-20 Note how right in the middle of major religious requirements is the mandate for social justice (which is not equality, but equal treatment under the law).
Application: Giving, sharing with others and justice are as much requirements for God's blessing as are religious observance and abhorrence of idolatry.
Prayer: Gracious God, keep me mindful of Your blessings and the requirements for continued enjoyment of them. Thanks. Amen.
Deuteronomy 17 Cars, Cuties, and Cash
17:1 You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a blemish, [or] anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 2 If there be found within any of your gates, man or woman, who does that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, in transgressing His covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods...4 and you have heard of it, then shall you inquire diligently; and, if it be true, and certain 5 then...you shall stone them to death with stones. 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you. 8 If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment...9 you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days: and you shall inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment. 11 you shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
Observations: 17:1-7 Both personal and corporate holiness are required for blessing.
17:8-13 Failure to hear and obey authorities who accurately reveal God's will was a capital offense.
17:16-20 The king was to make his own copy of the law and read it every day, (just like DailyTruthbase), so he would fear God and prosper. Three specific prohibitions: no multiplying cars (horses, especially imported ones), cuties, and cash (Power, Pleasure, Possessions). Solomon was the world's wisest man, because of the wisdom God gave him. Do you think he had a daily quiet time? He did it all, had it all, and knew it all (see Ecclesiastes) yet he ceased fearing God, and lost it all.
11:1 Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites; 2 of the nations concerning which Yahweh said to the children of Israel, "You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon joined to these in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 4 For it happened, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and didn't go fully after Yahweh, as did David his father. 7 Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8 So did he for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9 Yahweh was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he didn't keep that which Yahweh commanded. 11 Therefore Yahweh said to Solomon, "Because this is done by you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant." 14 Yahweh raised up an adversary to Solomon...
Application: If the world's wisest man blew it because he didn't fear God and invest daily time in His word, what hope is there for mere mortals like us, if we don't?
Prayer: God of Truth, keep me mindful of the reality that I do not live by bread alone, but by every word that has proceeded from Your mouth; may I value Your word more than food. Amen.
Deuteronomy 18 Perfection, Priests and Prophets
18:1 The priests and Levites, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, and His inheritance. 2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers: Yahweh is their inheritance, as He has spoken to them. 3 This shall be the priests` due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. 4 The first-fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give Him. 5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, him and his sons for ever.
9 When you are come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or engages in witchcraft (NIV), 11 or casts spells, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or consults the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh: and because of these abominations Yahweh your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless/perfect with Yahweh your God. 15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to Him you shall listen; 16 according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die. 18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I shall command Him. 19 It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, who shall speak a word presumptuously in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. 21 If you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken? 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing doesn`t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken: the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him.
Observations: 18:5 God chose the Levites for their privileged position of blessing, after they chose to be loyal to Him at the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:26).
18:9-12 Seeking supernatural revelation from other than God would incur His wrath, because things that are supernatural and not from God are from Satan.
18:13-19 God requires blamelessness of His people, and not only expected them to obey, but disciplined them if they didn't obey.
18:20 People who claim to be prophets and don't know the Word of God, should note this verse.
Application: People who don't have a blameless relationship with God will seek alternatives. Don't go there.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for being accessible, and speaking to Your people. May I be quick to hear only Your voice, and swift in obeying it. Amen.
Digging Deeper:
God in a nutshell: God not only cares for His people, and gives them ways to keep on the path to blessings, but warns them of things which will cause their heart to stray from Him. When we are loyal to Him, He blesses; when disloyal, He curses. He will discipline even His most prized servants if they stray. No one is exempt from total allegiance to Him.
Us in a nutshell: We not only have the requirement of personal holiness, but corporate as well. If we occupy ourselves with gaining and sharing God's blessings, we'll have little time for getting into trouble. If we stop listening to truth, we will believe lies, do abominably, and suffer the consequences of our sin. People who are wiser than Solomon might be able to risk not investing daily time in God's word. Everyone else would be wise to saturate themselves with Truth every day.
Where to Go for More:
Deuteronomy complete text
Chapter 16
16 1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night. 2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 There shall be no yeast seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you; 6 but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Egypt. 7 You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose: and you shall turn in the morning, and go to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God; you shall do no work [therein]. 9 Seven weeks shall you number to you: from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain shall you begin to number seven weeks. 10 You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill-offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as Yahweh your God blesses you: 11 and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man-servant, and your maid-servant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in the midst of you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 12 You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes. 13 You shall keep the feast of tents seven days, after that you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your winepress: 14 and you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man-servant, and your maid-servant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates. 15 Seven days shall you keep a feast to Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh shall choose; because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase, and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. 16 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents; and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty: 17 every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you. 18 Judges and officers shall you make you in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not wrest justice: you shall not respect persons; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. 20 That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 21 You shall not plant you an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you shall make you. 22 Neither shall you set you up a pillar; which Yahweh your God hates.
Chapter 17
17:1 You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a blemish, [or] anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 2 If there be found in the midst of you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, man or woman, who does that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of the sky, which I have not commanded; 4 and it be told you, and you have heard of it, then shall you inquire diligently; and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel, 5 then shall you bring forth that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to your gates, even the man or the woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones. 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you. 8 If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then shall you arise, and get up to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose; 9 and you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days: and you shall inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment. 10 You shall do according to the tenor of the sentence which they shall show you from that place which Yahweh shall choose; and you shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you: 11 according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. 14 When you are come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me; 15 you shall surely set him king over you, whom Yahweh your God shall choose: one from among your brothers shall you set king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because Yahweh has said to you, You shall henceforth return no more that way. 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 18 It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of [that which is] before the priests the Levites: 19 and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; 20 that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.
Chapter 18
18:1 The priests the Levites, [even] all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, and his inheritance. 2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers: Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. 3 This shall be the priests` due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. 4 The first-fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him. 5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, him and his sons for ever. 6 If a Levite come from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he sojourns, and come with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh shall choose; 7 then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh. 8 They shall have like portions to eat, besides that which comes of the sale of his patrimony. 9 When you are come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, 11 or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh: and because of these abominations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before you. 13 You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God. 14 For these nations, that you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice sorcery, and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do. 15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you shall listen; 16 according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die. 17 Yahweh said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 19 It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, who shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. 21 If you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken? 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing doesn`t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken: the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him.
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