1 John - Introduction

There are three letters in the New Testament written by John the apostle. The style of writing, and historical allusions, are reminiscent of John's gospel.

The exact date is not known, but these three letters are almost certainly later writings in the New Testament. By that time many false teachers were doing the rounds, and the main purpose of the letters, especially 1 John is to equip the believers to detect false teachings and false teachers. John is thought to have lived in Ephesus before being exiled on Patmos, and the most likely destination for the letters is churches in Ephesus, though they may have had wider circulation as well.

John gives three key tests that must be applied (to ourselves and to others). These are belief, righteousness and love. All three are essential, and in many false teachings and false movements you will find that they focus on one of these, but neglect one or both of the others. For instance you get those who supposedly focus on love, but neglect righteousness (this applies today in the attitude of some towards the Bible's teachings on sexual morality) or belief (such as liberal theology).

However, we are equally wrong if we make sure our theology is as sound as a bell, but have no love (righteousness will often go out of the window as well, consider the Pharisees). In the first letter in Revelation, Ephesus is commended for upholding sound teaching, but is rebuked and warned severely because she has lost her first love.

Nor are good morals on their own any good. They must be coupled with belief and love for God and for others.

Belief, righteousness and love. All three are essential.

There is no agreement on the precise nature of the heresy or heresies being espoused, but they probably had elements of Gnosticism and Docetism. Gnosticism treated matter (evil) and spirit (good) as being completely separate and opposed. This could lead to extremes of licentious behaviour or to asceticism. Docetism denied the incarnation (hence the references in John to Jesus coming in the flesh).

Psalm 77 - Feeling forgotten? Then remember what the Lord has done.

Another Psalm with the psalmist crying out of his distress. I cannot be said too often, God hears us when we cry to Him out of our distress.

Now look at the immediate effect. He remembered God, and he groaned. He meditated upon the word and his spirit grew faint. This isn't what we often taught! Remember God and everything will be fine, meditate upon His word and we will be revived.  God will bring peace to us, but here God kept him from sleeping.

All his meditating and calling seemed to do was to remind him of better days, and to feel even more lost. Has God forgotten him forever. 

All of us go through times when God seems to be of no help at all. This is normal Christian experience!

So what does he do next? He does not give up. He keeps on seeking with his mind and spirit a solution. He considered all the things that God had done before. Presumably both for him personally, and what God had done for Israel as a nation. 

Then he declared the greatness of God, recalling earlier deeds of the Lord.

Then the psalm finishes! It does not come to a nice neat end. 

Psalm 76 - The dwelling of God is with man

In the last Psalm we spoke about the relationship between God and His people. Here that theme is taken further.   God dwells amongst His people. Right at the end of Revelation it says that "now the dwelling of God is with men" (Rev 21:3). Here it talks of God dwelling in Zion and Jerusalem. Jesus spoke of He and the Father coming to make their home with us (John 14:23). So we see again the closeness of God and His people.

The dwelling of the Lord brings peace. He puts an end to those who war against His people. 

"Your wrath against man brings you praise". People are always complaining about the wrath of God, saying in effect that God should not have wrath. However, when God's final judgement is revealed it will actually bring Him praise. 

Moreover, this is the only way it can be. All evil is a result of sin, it needs to come under judgement to come to an end. 

We can also see the cross here. Jesus suffered the judgement that we should suffer. God's wrath against sin was revealed on the cross. 

So the conclusion of all this in the Psalm is that we should make vows to the Lord.

Psalm 75 - Close to God

We do not praise a distant God, but One who is near. The closeness of God to His people is fundamental to the Christian faith. We are meant to develop a close relationship with the Lord. Look at the whole Bible. Right at the beginning God made us in His image. He calls people like Abraham friends, He meets with people like Moses in a special way. When He came to earth He did not come as some sort of super- being, but as a man. Jesus loved spending time with people. We are called into a relationship with God. 

If God seems far off, or if our relationship with Him has become virtually non-existent, then something is wrong. If that is the case (and all of us can experience some times when this happens), then call on God to show Himself afresh to you.

This near God is also the Lord of All, He is the One who holds the whole world in His hands. He chooses the appointed times. It is not governments or rebels, or faceless forces, that determine the future of the world. It is God. So we need to have no fear of the arrogant, for they will come to nothing.

So at all times and in all situations we put our trust in God.

Psalm 74 - God do something

The Lord's anger was smoldering  against Israel. They wondered why He had rejected them, or so it seemed to them.

So what do they do? They remind God that He had purchased the people, that He had redeemed them. Now why does this happen? It is not as though God had forgotten, not as though He needed reminding. God sometimes allows things to happen so that we remember. 

The enemies of Israel had conquered the land and set up their standards in the holy places. God was mocked. So why was God seeming to do nothing?

Then the psalmist reminds us who God is. It cannot be that God actually has abandoned them forever. He is the Lord of all creation and is all powerful. So he calls on God to act and do something.

Psalm 73 - How to deal with worthless thinking

The Bible does not ask us to pretend. The Psalm starts with the declaration that God is good, but then admits that his foot had almost slipped. For it seemed that God was not good, and he envied the wicked. God is good, but our hearts are not pure. So what do we do when the impurity of our hearts becomes apparent? Pretend and put on a mask? That is the way of religion. The way of truth is to be honest with God. It is us who will have to change, but we are more likely to change if we are open and honest with God.

It seemed as though the wicked did indeed prosper, that life was better for the wicked. There seemed to be no justice.

So the Psalmist thought that all his attempts to follow God were a waste of time. If you have thought "what is the point", you are not the first to do this.

So what did he do? He entered the sanctuary of God, and he kept his mouth shut! We cannot stop ourselves having worthless thoughts from time to time, but we can recognise when we are doing this and keep our mouth shut. Now this does not mean bottling things up or pretending, for the Psalmist told God. Go and tell God how you feel. Too often we tell everyone else except God. When we do this we can cause trouble, when we tell God we can be changed.

For when our hearts are grieved or embittered (verse 21) our thinking becomes futile.

So the Psalmist went to God and received counsel from the Lord. The Lord restored and strengthened him.

Psalm 72 - How to be a great ruler

This Psalm was either written by Solomon, or for him. At the end it says  "this concludes the prayers of David", so perhaps this was written by David for his son who he knew would succeed him. 

The most important thing for a ruler to have was God's righteousness and justice. Human rulers are meant to reflect God's qualities. We were made in God's image and it is right for us to ask God to endow us with His qualities. The outcome of this is that the ruler would then rule the people with justice and righteousness.

The Godly ruler will bring prosperity to the nation, and will defend the cause of the poor and the afflicted.

His rule will extend across the nation, and he will defeat all his enemies. 

Why will this happen? Because he has great military power and skill? No, but because he defends then needy and the weak, because he is full of mercy. Our strength and security come from the Lord, so when we follow His ways we dwell under His covering.

"Then all nations will be blessed through him". This is an echo of the promise given to Abraham (Gen 12:3). The blessing is always meant to extend from God's servants to the whole world.

Psalm 71 - Rely on God always

As with so many Psalms, David is calling on the Lord for help. Although the Psalm is not explicitly ascribed to David, he is the most likely author of this Psalm, and Psalm 70 may have served as an introduction to the 71. David is relying on God's righteousness and His strength and power. God is his refuge to which he can always go. No matter what we are facing, we can always run to God. We need to develop a close relationship with the Lord.

How do we develop such a relationship? By continually trusting, hoping in and obeying the Lord. The Lord had been David's hope since his youth. He had continually relied upon God and praised Him. We cannot gain this depth of relationship by any quick fix, but only through an ongoing relationship with God.

Now David was old, he was facing circumstances that he had not faced before. Many were accusing him and looking for his downfall. As life goes on we encounter different circumstances, ones we have not faced before. By continually relying on God we build up a wealth of experience and a depth of relationship, and this enables us to face all things.

David declared what the Lord had done. We need to do likewise.

"Though you have made me see troubles". David knew that ultimately the Lord's decision to let him see trouble, but he did not view this negatively. He knew that in it all the Lord would give Him victory in the end.

So he would continue to praise the Lord, as he had always done, and knew that in the end he would see the victory.

Deuteronomy 33 - Blessings

We are now given the blessings that Moses proclaimed over the various tribes, just before his death. In some ways it seems strange that after the song of judgement we now get a string of blessings. What are we to make of this? The nation was under a blessing, each tribe was under a blessing. The reason things went wrong was not because God was against them, but because they went against God. This applies to the whole human race. We were all created in God's image, and as such are under a blessing. The problem is not that God is against us, but that we have turned against God. People, atheists in particular, are always blaming God for stuff. We would do far better to look at ourselves.

Life is proclaimed over Reuben, victory for Judah.

Levi is the priesthood, and we see here words that are reminiscent of some of the things that Jesus said. One time during His ministry his family came along and people said to Him, here are your mother and brothers. Jesus replied, who is my mother and brother (Matthew 12:46-50). This goes along with His teaching that we are to love Him more than our own families.

Security and intimacy was declared over Benjamin, prosperity over Joseph.

Zebulun and Issachar were blessed in all things. Gad's territory was increased. Dan is a lion cub, and Naphtali abounded in the Lord's blessing. Asher was full of strength.

Finally all Israel is under the blessing of the Lord's protection. But we enjoy these blessings only if we love and obey the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32 - Song of Moses

Now to the song itself. It starts off with a declaration of the greatness of the Lord. Note that the whole of creation is called upon to listen to the song. God's plans were never just about Israel, it affected the whole world. We are called upon to learn the lessons from this judgement. It is a teaching for us.

The Lord is perfect and all His ways are just. This is a fundamental truth. Sometimes we see things that make us react. Now it is not wrong to react. Ezekiel, David and others reacted at what God was seeming to do, but in the end it is we who need to change. We will realise in the end that all His ways are indeed just.

Following on from God's greatness we come to the state of the Israelites. They are corrupt. The Lord had treated them well, yet they repaid Him with unrighteousness. Yet they were God's inheritance.

The nation was nothing, was not even a nation, until God found them and created them. It was the Lord alone who saved them, foreign gods played no part in things.

The Lord exalted the nation. Yet when success came the nation abandoned God. Instead she turned to foreign gods, to idols. They ended up worshipping demons.

In response the Lord rejected the people, and His wrath was shown to them. They refused to learn from these judgements.

Yet in the end He will save them. He will bring healing and restoration. This is the pattern we see again and again in the prophets in the Old Testament.

Moses was then taken up to see the land, but then died on Mount Nebo.

Deuteronomy 32 - Song of Moses - Contemporary significance

This is a song of judgement. Why did God ask Moses to give this judgement to the them in the form of a song? Perhaps because it would be more memorable. 

We should remember that this was given to them at the point just before they were about to enter the land. Now this is a strange thing to do on the eve of what one might think is the fulfilment of God's plans for them. Well it is a clear indication that this this was not the fulfilment of the plans. God knew full well that it was the hearts of the people that needed to change, and this theme has indeed been permeating the whole of Deuteronomy.

This should also serve as a pause for thought to those who get obsessed with the land that Israel currently has, and who worry about land deals (land for peace etc) that Israel may or may not make with her neighbours. The precise land boundaries that political Israel has are really neither here nor there, it is totally missing the point. As this song makes clear, God is quite prepared to eject Israel from the land just as he ejected the inhabitants at this time from the land. I firmly believe that Israel is a major part of God's plans, but she will only know the full blessing of God when she repents and turns to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I will look at the song itself tomorrow

Deuteronomy 31:9-30 - Failure predicted

The whole Law was to be read to all the people every seven years, so that they would learn to fear the Lord. This means to know that it is the Lord who determines our future, and how He expects us to live. This was to be read to all the people, including foreigners in the land. It was always the plan that the kingdom of God should encompass all people. There is a lot of talk about respecting other religions etc. We have a duty to give the good news to all people. If we do not we are denying them something good, and we are going against God's plan.

God knew that the people would soon rebel against Him. This should make it abundantly clear that the Law was not intended to bring salvation, rather it was there to make us aware of sin. The purpose of the Law was to prepare people for receiving salvation. 

God then assures Joshua that He would be with him.

Moses communicates what will happen to the nation in the form of a song, which we will look at tomorrow. God knows what is going to happen, nothing takes Him by surprise. However, this does not take away our responsibility.

Deuteronomy 31:1-8 - Joshua and the People Commissioned

Moses had been forbidden from crossing the Jordan by Lord because of his failure at the rock incident at Meribah (Numbers 20). Despite this Moses had continued to faithfully lead Israel, knowing that he would not be allowed into the Promised Land. 

This should not concern the Israelites, for the Lord Himself would go ahead of them, this was what mattered. It is easy for us to become too dependent upon a particular leader. Now we should have respect and commitment to our leaders, we must love them. However, we need to recognise that it is the Lord who ultimately leads us, and it is upon Him that we are ultimately dependent. Joshsua would also go with them. Joshua is important, but it is the Lord who is vital.

Moses assures them that the Lord would go with them. So they should not fear, but be strong and courageous. The Lord would not leave them.

Moses publicly commissions Joshua. He effectively gives him the same commission that he gave to the people. Leaders are necessary, but we all have the same commission. 

Deuteronomy 30 - Choose Life

God knew that they would experience both blessings and curses. There would be times when the nation turned to God. In those times they would experience His blessing. Then there would be times when they turned away from Him. In those times they would experience the judgements.

The people were to learn from these experiences, and no matter how far they had strayed, if they turned back to the Lord they would be completely restored. The same is true today. Anyone who turns to the Lord will be restored, it does not matter how far you have gone away from Him. 

We then get promises that the restoration would be greater than what was before. The restored nation would be more numerous and prosperous than the nation that entered the Promised Land. Their hearts would be circumcised, ie there would be inward changes in the nature of the people. This would produce a people who willingly obey the Lord.

All these things are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. There are now millions upon millions of Christians, and through the Holy Spirit we are transformed.

The command of the Lord was very simple. It was not something that was beyond reach, but was very straightforward. So it is with the call to follow Christ. We have a very simple choice before us, to choose death or to choose life.

Deuteronomy 29 - Covenant

We now get the renewal of the covenant. It starts with a reminder that they had seen all that the Lord had done in Egypt. This is a reference to the nation as a whole. Then we get the crucial statement that the Lord had not given them a mind that understood what had happened. In a sense this is at the heart of the matter of what the rest of the Bible is about. Isaiah talks of them being ever seeing but never perceiving (Isaiah 6:9,10). And Paul talks about their minds being blinded, and the Spirit taking the veil away (2 Corinthians 3:14).

Now someone might object that they could hardly be held responsible if God had not given them a mind that could understand, but we need to remember why they could not understand in the first place. It was because man had turned against God in Eden. Moreover, the offer is open to all to come to Christ and then our minds will be opened.

The purpose of the covenant was so that they would enjoy God's prosperity in the land. It was to be the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham. So we have a fundamental point here. God's plans for us are good. It cannot be emphasised too strongly how important this is. Note how atheists argue so vehemently that God is evil.

Then there are warnings against idolatry, coupled with a warning that if someone commits idolatry but then invokes a blessing on themselves, far from saving themselves they will be in even worse trouble. How easy it is for us to do this. To do something wrong thinking that God will just forgive us. This will not happen unless there is true repentance. Christianity cannot be treated like a lucky charm.

Finally there is the description of what would actually happen. God knew that the nation would turn against Him. Then future generations would see what had happened, and why it had happened.

Deuteronomy 28:15-68 - Make life simple - obey the Lord

After the blessings we get the curses, and there are a lot more of them than there were blessings! Sin is complicated, goodness is simple. Goodness makes things clearer and straightforward, evil always blinds and obscures, and produces a multitude of problems.

The first list (v 16-19) is the opposite of the blessings. When we follow the way of the Lord things will have a habit of working out somehow. When we disobey the Lord everything will end in frustration.

Diseases, confusion, plague, scorching heat, and all sorts of things will come upon us. The Lord was giving them the land, and driving out the evil nations so He could do so. If Israel failed to obey the Lord they would suffer the same fate as the nations they had displaced.

Instead of having victory over our enemies, we will endure defeat. Everything will end in failure.

As the chapter goes on the judgement becomes worse and worse. In simple terms the message is clear, it is far better to obey the Lord than not.

Deuteronomy 28:3-14 - You are blessed

"You will be blessed". The sign that we are blessed by God is that we become a blessing to others. This was the promise given to Abraham. Joseph was blessed by God, so he brought blessing to the whole nation of Egypt and  to Israel. Moses was blessed, and he brought release from captivity to the Israelites. Daniel was blessed, and he brought blessing even to Nebuchadnezzar. Most of all, Jesus was blessed and He brought salvation to all who believe.

Wherever we are, wherever we go, we are blessed by God. We need to live continually under the covering of Christ, living in Christ. Then we will be people through whom He can bring His blessing to many others.

There is no guarantee that enemies will not rise up against us, quite the opposite in fact, but there is a promise that they will flee from us. Resist the devil and he will flee, as James says. 

When we read promise like those in v1-14 some get carried away with me,me,me thoughts. Others react against it, because they fear that it will lead to greed and self-centredness. We have these reactions because we have a wrong impression of prosperity and blessing. As I have been saying in this post and the previous one, the true test of blessedness is whether we are a blessing to others. In the same way we react against authority and teachings such as man being the head of the woman. We do this because we have a wrong idea of authority.

If we want to know what authority and blessedness really mean we need to look at the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the embodiment of both and a demonstration of what godly authority and blessing means.

Deuteronomy 28:1,2 - Exalted above all nations

This chapter is very similar to the corresponding one in Leviticus 26. Now we need to face up to a very fundamental fact. On our own merits every single one of us is in for the curses. Sometimes preachers proclaim these verses with a whe-hay. Well, as they stand they are bad news, for not one of us has "fully obeyed the Lord", so it is the curses for us then! There is only one man who has "fully obeyed the Lord", and that is Jesus Christ.  So it is only in Christ that we can take encouragement from these verses.

Having said that, there is much we can gain from these verses, remembering that it is only in Christ that we benefit from them. "I will exalt you above all nations". Now Jesus has been given the name above all names, has been exalted above every power and authority. But we are seated with Him in heavenly places. Now this is not pie in the sky, or fairy tale nonsense. It means that we are potentially the most influential people on earth. In every situation we find ourselves in we must act and live in a Christlike way. Some may find themselves in places of power, others just in everyday circumstances. It does not matter. We must be Christlike at all times, and we will find that the love and power of God flows through us in those situations.

We need to appreciate this. We are the people of God. Let me give you a very practical example. The country, along with most of the world, is going through an economic crisis. We should make it a goal to continue giving, even to increase our giving. For God is not suffering an economic downturn. The source of our life and strength is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He never fails.

Deuteronomy 27 - Remembering and Curses

When they entered the land they were to set up stones with the Law written on them. So there were two key things that they needed to remember. One was that it was the Lord who had brought them into the land, and secondly the way that the Lord had commanded them to live. It is the same for us today. We need to remind ourselves always that it is only because of Christ that we have been saved, but we also need to focus on the new way of living that Jesus taught and showed us. Being saved is not a ticket to heaven, it is about eternal life, about living a Christlike life.

This is followed by a whole list of curses that the Levites were to proclaim. Now a curse is not a spell, rather it is God's judgement on man's sin. So what the Levites are doing is declaring various actions that are sinful, that will bring God's wrath (His righteous judgement) upon the people.

Many of the prohibitions are the opposite of the Ten Commandments, eg despising your parents rather than honouring them. Several of these concern sexual sins. Sexual sins are different from others, because they affect our very being in a way that other sins do not. As Paul said, other sins are committed outside the body, sexual sins are committed in the body (1 Corinthians 6).

Deuteronomy 26 - Giving and serving

First we get instructions on tithes. After they had conquered the land they were to give some of the first produce to the Lord. Now there are several things to note about all this. First it happened after they had conquered the land, ie after God had fulfilled His promise. They were giving out of what they had (as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8,9). In giving they were acknowledging that it was God who had given them the land. Our tithes are a recognition of the ultimate source of our provision.

Then they were to remember where they had come from and how they had got here. Without the Lord they were nothing. The same applies to all of us. Not one of us had any say in our conception! To imagine that we are in full control of our lives is shear lunacy. None of us really knows why our heart continues to beat. We are capable of many things, but we need to recognise our true place as well. Without the Lord we are nothing. 

Then the giving was to be a time of celebration. They were to celebrate all the other things they had after having given to God, and they were to share this with everyone.

Every third year there was a special tithe for the Levites, and various groups of needy people, including foreigners. Giving to the poor has always been an essential part of the Christian life.

Finally we are to be completely committed to the Lord. We are His special people. Now remember the promise to Abraham, that all nations on earth would be blessed through him. This special relationship with God that we have is not a cause for being inward looking or self-satisfied, it is one from which we are able to bring God's blessing to all people. Jesus commanded this when He said go in to all the world.

Deuteronomy 25 - More laws

The purpose of the justice system is to acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty. Physical punishment was used, and was limited to forty lashes to avoid the offender being "degraded". Now to us this seems very strange. However, I think it is fair to say that our judicial system and punishment system is not exactly effective. Moreover, the advantage of corporal punishment is that it is over and done with. Prison drags on and seems to do little to help. So perhaps we should not be so quick to rush to judgement.

Under certain circumstances a brother was to take his brother's widow as a wife. The goal was to ensure that the family name did not die out. There was a much greater sense of family identity than we find in our very individualistic society.

Verses 11 and 12 contain a very amusing instruction. It is not quite clear why the woman should be punished for helping her husband.

Trade was to be carried out in a legal and straightforward manner, not cheating anyone.

Judgement was to be carried out against the Amalekites.

Deuteronomy 24 - A Socially Progressive Society

Now we get regulations on divorce. Again we need to remember that this law would give the woman more protection than she would otherwise have in the society of the day. 

We also need to note that this is not promoting divorce. As Jesus said, this was given because we are evil. Divorce will happen, it shouldn't, but sometimes it will. There can be contentious debates about divorce, some saying that New Testament teaching allows divorce, but not remarriage. In the society of the time (both here in Deuteronomy, and and New Testament times), it would be assumed that divorce allowed remarriage. 

Newly married men were not to go to war. He was to bring happiness to the wife, again the needs of the wife are put first here.

If someone was poor, it was a sin to take away his livelihood. Verses 10-15 show more concern for the poor. People are not to be exploited, but are to be respected. When we treat the poor well it is pleasing to God. Conversely, mistreating the poor can lead to them crying out to God, and He will hear their prayers.

Verse 16 is very important, especially in the context of teaching on "generational sins". Now it is obvious that things are passed down from one generation to the next. We see this genetically, we can also see trends in families, patterns of behaviour repeating themselves. But here we have a very clear statement that each person is responsible for his own actions. In all matters we need to look at the whole of the Bible's teaching, then we are much more likely to get to the truth of a matter.

The chapter closes with more concern for the poor.

Taken in context, and looked at as a whole, the teachings in the Old Testament are remarkably progressive, and indeed in some cases are more "liberal" than our own society. If atheists tell you that the Old Testament  teaches unjust and cruel laws they do not know what they are talking about. There is an awful lot we can learn from the Bible.

Deuteronomy 23 - Various Laws

The chapter starts with a list of various exclusions from the assembly. Those excluded were people who had been castrated, those born of a forbidden marriage, and Ammonites and Moabites.

What are we to make of all this? Well first of all it is worth reading Isaiah 56 where it says that eunuchs and foreigners will be welcome in the assembly. So this is only a temporary prohibition. Perhaps the best way to look at is to see it as the types of things that are not part of the kingdom. We see in the Law a picture of what the kingdom is like in terms of principles and standards, but the Law was powerless to deal with man's sinfulness and brokenness. So we see here various groups of sinful and broken people. In Christ sinners are forgiven and the brokenhearted are healed.

In verse 7 and 8 we see two groups who were not permanently excluded. Now both groups were enemies of Israel, but they were not permanently excluded because of Israel's relationship to them. In the case of Edom it was a blood relationship, in the case of Egypt she had lived there.

Next we get instructions on nocturnal emisions (wet dreams) and dealing with excrement. What a wonderful book the Bible is! Anytime anyone starts getting too prim and proper they should be sent to mediate on these verse for a week, and then deliver a teaching on it! Just a suggestion.

Similarly verses 15 and 16 are useful for those who think the Bible promotes slavery. It most certainly does not.

Prostitution is forbidden. There are those who say that prostitution should be treated like any other "profession". This is nonsense. Prostitution is always involved with the exploitation of people, and is demeaning, both to the prostitute and "client". God created us with a better purpose in mind.

We need to be careful what we say. Vows and promises are very serious matters. 

Deuteronomy 22 - More laws

The Bible shows a keen awareness of human psychology. It is always very easy for us to look the other way, but God here tells them that if they see a sheep or ox wandering around they are to take care of it, not just ignore it. And the same applied to other lost objects as well.

Next we have prohibition of transvestitism. The Biblical teaching is that men and women are both made in the image of God, but are distinct and compliment each other. This is why the Bible consistently teaches against homosexuality.

We then get concern for birds, and health and safety regulations. The rules on not using an ox and donkey, or mixing wool and linen, may be about not mixing things that should not be mixed.

The rest of the chapter deals with protecting a woman's integrity. A man could not falsely accuse his new wife of not being a virgin as an excuse to get rid of her. The opening paragraph closes with the instruction that the man must not divorce the woman. Now in our Western way of thinking we might think this odd, considering that the woman would be far better of without him! There may be something to be said for this, but society was different in those days, and it was important for a woman to be married. Despite the obvious changes in society, there is still something we can learn from this. Today we are far too ready to give up, far too ready to find an excuse for divorce. We could benefit a lot from focusing more on ways to make things work, ways to overcome difficulties.

There then various other laws on sexual sins. It is significant that in most cases both the man and the woman were held responsible. This seems obvious to us now, but looked at in the context of the times is an important and quite amazing advance.

Deuteronomy 21 - Various rules

If a murder went unsolved a cow had to be sacrificed. The purpose was to ensure that the community took the matter seriously. There is a great tendency to look the other way. Sometimes murders will go unsolved, but we must never adopt a "shrug of the shoulders" attitude to these matters.

Then we get rules on marrying captive women. Now our first reaction to this may well be to react in horror and think this is just a matter of male dominance. However, we need to look at the context. A little thoughts shows that the woman is actually being treated with respect, certainly with far more respect than was the general way of things in war. First, the woman was to be given time to grieve. Then she could not just be case aside as worthless. In war women are often treated as mere sex objects - consider what happened in Germany when Russia defeated her. 

Next we have rules on what happens if a man has two wives. The rules ensure that a son is not mistreated because of favouritism. Now the rules are not supporting having several wives, merely accepting that it would happen. 

A rebellious son was to be dealt with seriously. It was a matter to be dealt with publicly.

Deuteronomy 20 - War

Now we get instructions on going to war. The first instruction is not to be afraid. If the Lord was with them, then they would win. At the same time they were not to give in to fear or panic. Fear will always confront us at various times, the key is not to give in to it. If the Lord is with us we will win.

There is a list of those who were exempt from the army, mainly those who had just got married, just acquired a new home and so on. It was no use having people in the army whose thoughts would be elsewhere.

War was not to be violent for its own sake. A city was to be given the chance to surrender.

The cities in the land of Israel were to be completely destroyed. The motive behind this was to ensure that there was no vestige of their false religions left in the land. For these would lead Israel astray.

Deuteronomy 19 - The Legal System

Next the cities of refuge instructions are given again. These were places where people could flee if they had unintentionally killed someone. The system was well organised. The land was split into three regions, and there had to be good roads to the cities. So there was a concern that justice is carried out properly. If someone is killed relatives of the victims naturally feel aggrieved. In such a case it is possible that further injustice could be carried out. Hence the cities of refuge.

Today in our society there is increasing talk about taking account of the feelings of victims in trials. We need to be careful about this. The reason why this has arisen is that our courts have been far too lax on criminals. In the instructions we see here, we find that proper steps are taken to ensure that innocent people are not wrongly made to pay for murder, but on the other hand, if someone is guilty of murder then they are dealt with very severely. So there is a good balance. What we need in our society is a legal system that does acquit the innocent and judges the guilty. All the talk at the moment about taking account of victims is just a sign of a broken legal system.

Cases required at least two witnesses. Interestingly, I think Scotland still has this requirement, but England does not. Telling lies on court was a most serious offence.

In many ways the legal system was more advanced than ours!

Deuteronomy 18 - Priests, Occult and Prophets

The priests were to be wholly devoted to God and utterly dependent upon Him. Therefore they did not have an allotment or inheritance in Israel. The Lord Himself was to be their inheritance. How does this apply to us? We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We share in an inheritance with Christ. But we are also the true Israel. In the present time we kind of straddle the two. So there will be times when we are utterly dependent upon God, when His only provision to us will be Himself, but these times will not be continuous. There will be times when we do have goods and provision in a more normal form (still provided by God, but in a more tangible way). The rest of the people were to provide for the Levites. In the same way, the congregations should provide for the "full time" Christian workers.

They were to having nothing at all to do with any occult practices. Verse 10 shows us one of the reasons for this, these things were often associated with child sacrifice. Indeed, these things were one of the reasons that the Lord was driving out the current inhabitants of the land. Now someone might say that these practices are no longer associated with child sacrifice. However, they do no good at all. Horoscopes, fortune telling, mediums etc will not do you any good.

Moses knew that a prophet would come who was like him, but greater. He is the one we must listen to. The instruction "you must listen to him" adds poignancy to the words from God to Jesus, "this is my Son, listen to Him".

Earlier we had a test of a prophet was that if he tempted people away from the Lord he was not a true prophet, even if what he predicted came true. We now get a second test. If he speaks in the name of the Lord , then the test is whether or not what he says comes true.

So a prophet must have two key features:

1. Devotion to Christ

2. Accuracy.

Deuteronomy 17:8-20 - Courts and Kings

Verses 8-13 are interesting. If the law courts could not decide an issue, then they were to go to the priests for a decision. Now we need to remember that cases could only be brought to the courts in the first place if there were at least two witnesses, so we are not talking about any trumped up charge here. There would have been a proper case which just proved to be too difficult to decide. 

Now the idea of taking things to the priests goes against all thinking in our society, but we would do well to think for a moment or two. We try to solve every problem by setting up laws and processes. Now good laws and processes are valuable, but they cannot decide everything. Our current legal system is a complete shambles, and seems to do precious little for justice in many cases. 

Israel did not have a king, and was not meant to have one. However, in the time of Samuel she demanded a king and was given one. God knew this would eventually happen, so He gives them rules concerning the king. First, he must be an Israelite. There were also restrictions put on the king, he was not to become an absolute monarch. He was not to become enormously wealthy, and he was not allowed to take the people back to Egypt. In modern parlance this would be "against the constitution". Nor was he to have many wives. Solomon, of course, famously fell foul of this one, and was indeed led astray.

The king was to devote himself to the Law. He was there not to get his own way, but to rule on God's behalf. Nor was he to consider himself better than the rest of the people.

Deuteronomy 17:1-7 - Worshipping other gods

There are more warnings about not worshipping other gods and about worshipping God properly. Why these injunctions? Well they would see outwardly impressive symbols of other religions. They were not to be taken in by them. The warnings about worshipping God in the proper way are there because it is vital that we worship God in the way He has chosen. God is not created by man, but gods are. Left to our won devices we will make things up, we will event gods, we will make up ways of doing things, but this is the root of rebellion. It is God alone who gives life, we need to trust in Him. One of the main problems that the churches have today is when they go against the Bible, thinking we know better. We do not know better.

Strong action was to be taken against those who led the nation astray, but this had to be done only on the basis of firm evidence (two or three witnesses) not on hearsay or rumour. Those who testified against the person had to take responsibility for their testimony, and the whole community had to take responsibility for the judgement. Now we might say that having a different religion does not merit such a harsh penalty, and I am not in favour of stoning heretics! However, it was not just a matter of following a quaint religion. The false religions of the day led to child sacrifice, and all sorts of other evils. It was not just a matter of having a different "view" on things.

Deuteronomy 16 - Festivals - a foretaste of the kingdom

They were to celebrate the Passover. On that night in Egypt the people ate a meal with unleavened bread. They were to do the same so that they would remember the Passover. They needed to remember how it all started, and why they were saved at all. In the same way Jesus told us to remember Him in the Lord's Supper. We take bread and wine. This is not just an intellectual remembering, but an emotional remembering as well. 

They were to celebrate the harvest, seven weeks after they started to take in the harvest. They were to give a freewill offering. Now we may ask how can someone be commanded to give a freewill offering. We need to understand what the Law is. If we see it as just a set of commands that needed to be obeyed then we miss the point, just as the Pharisees missed the point. What the Law does is describe the kingdom life that people were meant to have. It told them how they would live if they were living in the Kingdom of God. Now the Law is only a shadow of the New Covenant, so it does this in part. Nonetheless, it is a foretaste of the kingdom. It is only through the cross and the Spirit that we can truly enter into the kingdom. But one of the features of kingdom living is giving freely.

They were to be joyful at the festivals. These festival included everyone, male and female, servants and free, and foreigners. This foresees Paul's words on there being neither slave nor free, Greek nor Jew in Christ. The Kingdom is for all who will come to Christ.

Justice was to be a key trait of the nation.