Deuteronomy 25:7-12 - If two men are fighting

25:7-10

The situation of the brother refusing to fulfil the duties outlined in the previous section is now outlined. At first pressure is brought to bear on the brother by the elders, stressing his obligations to his deceased brother. If this failed to have any effect, then the widow was to spit in his face and denounce him. So the man would be dishonoured. 

25:11,12

The Bible is wonderfully down to earth, dealing with all sorts of practicalities. So if two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them seeks to help her husband by grabbing the testicles of the other man, then she was to be severely punished. The punishment seems rather harsh, if you do a google search there are various possible explanations, none of them wholly satisfying. It could be an over-literal translation. Anyway, I don’t know of anyone who bases there theology on these two verses, so we will move on.

Hebrews 10:31,32 - It is a fearful thing

10:31
“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Any notion that judgement has gone out of the window is utterly false and misguided. Christ has taken our judgement, He has taken our punishment. If we neglect or reject Christ, then we still have a judgement to face, and that is not a sensible thing to do.

10:32
Hebrews contains some of the most severe warnings in the New Testament, but the warning passages are often followed by a passage of encouragement. The warnings are given with the intention and expectation that the readers will not fall into the traps that the writer warns against. So here the writer urges his hearers to remember the earlier times when they, having received the light, “endured in a great conflict full of suffering”. Why did they do this? Because they had been filled with the joy of the gospel. But after a battle it is easy to forget, and that is often when we are at greatest risk. 

Deuteronomy 25:4-6 - Do not muzzle an ox

25:4

Animals are to be treated properly. The Bible is clear that animals and humans are different. We are made in the image of God, animals are not. We are superior to animals. However, the attitude of some animal rights activists today is very unbiblical. We have a responsibility towards animals, but they are not the same as us.

25:5,6

The situation here would seem to imply that the other brother is not married, otherwise he would probably not be living with the other brother. However, if one who is married dies without a son, then the other brother is to marry the widow. The first son of the marriage would carry on the name of the brother who died. Presumably subsequent sons would belong to the second brother. This is another rule that may seem strange to us. It was concerned with the continuation of the family name.

Hebrews 10:29,30 - Vengeance is mine

10:29
People sometimes think that the New Testament did away with the harshness of the Law. Nothing could be further from the truth. The consistent argument of the New Testament, here and elsewhere, is that if the penalty of the Law was so severe, how much more severe will the consequences be for neglecting the Gospel. To deny the cross, or to look for some other means of forgiveness, is to trample underfoot the blood of Christ. It is to regard Christ’s death as worthless. It is also to go against the Spirit of grace, it is to go against God.

10:30
“It is mine to avenge” (Deut 32:35), a sentiment echoed in Rom 12:19. The writer is emphasising here that God is still a God of vengeance. There is only one way to escape this, and that is through the cross. The writer of Hebrews has stressed how the new covenant supersedes the old covenant and renders it obsolete. However, it is also clear that the God of the old covenant is also the God of the new covenant. God’s character and standards have not changed.

Deuteronomy 25:1-3 - When people have a dispute

25:1-3

This section needs a little explanation, it will still seem odd to us, but will help us to have a better idea of what is going on. First, it gives the basic and straightforward purpose of a court, which is to acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty. There are times when our courts would do well to remember this basic principle. Now we come to the bit we might find objectionable.The judge was to sit in on the flogging of the guilty person. The reason for this was to ensure that the punishment was in line with what the court decided, and was not excessive. So there must not be more than forty lashes, and this was to preserve the dignity of the guilty person. Now our reaction is that thirty nine lashes is a barbaric sentence. Let’s look at things a little differently. The situation proposed here is that the person receives the set punishment and is then free to get on with their lives. Non-physical punishments can have two types of detrimental effects. One is that justice is not done, the punishment does not fit the crime; the other is that the person is regarded as a permanent outcast.

Hebrews 10:27,28 - A fearful expectation of judgement

10:27
If they relied on the Levitical sacrifices then all that awaited them was a “fearful expectation of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries”. The Levitical sacrifices are now totally ineffective, only the blood of Christ cleanses us of sin, brings forgiveness. We often seem to think it is up to us to decide who or how God will accept us. Nothing could be further from the truth and the Law made that abundantly clear. Only God decides how we are made pure.

10:28
The Law made it abundantly clear that God decided the rules, and anyone who broke them was, under the testimony of two or three witnesses, put to death. In reading the Law we may sometimes wonder why there is so much harshness. One of the reasons is that God is making it absolutely clear that He is the One who decides the rules, there can be no brooking of this.

Deuteronomy 24:17-22 - Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless

24:17,18

Once again we have laws concerning protection of the vulnerable, here including the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. The foreigner and the fatherless are mentioned in the context of not depriving them of justice. With both groups there could be a temptation to not treat them properly. For the foreigner because they are different and not part of your community. For the fatherless because they are weak. Likewise, a widow’s cloak was not to be taken as a pledge for a load. Yet again the motivation for this is that the Israelites had once been slaves. Sometimes God allows us to go through difficult circumstances so that we will have a more compassionate attitude towards others.

24:19-22

Their time as slaves in Egypt is the motivation for another batch of commands. These were all concerned with not being 100% efficient in harvesting various crops. They were to be happy to leave some so that the foreigner, fatherless or widow could take the leftovers. Note that hardly any of the people, except the elderly, would have actually been in Egypt, that being some forty years ago now, but the nation had been enslaved. 

Hebrews 10:25,26 - Not neglecting to meet together

10:25
“Not neglecting to meet together”. Some of them had stopped meeting together, or at least were doing so far less frequently. There are various reasons why we may be tempted to do this. In the case of the Hebrews the threat of persecution may have been the primary reason. Feeling discouraged or inadequate can be a reason. Whatever force may be tempting us to not meet, we should resist it. For when we meet together we can encourage one another, and we need to be encouraged. “All the more so as you see the Day drawing near”. The worse things get is a sign that this age is passing away, the day of Christ draws near.

10:26
“For if we go on sinning ...” What is the author talking about here? Is it acts of sin as we normally think of it, or is it denying Christ’s sacrifice on the cross? Given the context the, the latter seems the more likely as that is what the writer has been on about for the whole of the letter. Also “after receiving the knowledge of the truth” would also seem to support this, as does the phrase “there is no longer remains a sacrifice for sins”. We all do commit acts of sin, and if we repent then we are covered by the blood of Christ. The sin of the Hebrews was that they were relying on the Levitical sacrifices, or being tempted to do so. There is now only one sacrifice for sins, and that is the blood of Christ.

Deuteronomy 24:14-16 - Do not take advantage of a hired worker

24:14,15

Workers wages were to be paid each day. Now, this does not mean that our common practice of paying wages monthly is wrong, for in those days many were really living from day to day. Advantage was not to be taken of the poor, instead account was to be taken of their situation, and they were to be respected. The previous section had a blessing for following the instructions, this section has a curse. The poor may cry out against the wealthy. These instructions applied to both Israelites and foreigners. There were not grounds for exploiting foreigners.

24:16

Parents and children were responsible for their own actions. A parent was not to be put to death for a child’s actions, nor a child for a parent’s actions. So how does this tie in with Ex 20:5, with the sins being visited down to the third or fourth generation? I would say two things. The first is that this command is about what we are to do. We are not to hold the parent guilty for the child, or vice versa. God can make other decisions, but we are not in a position to do so. The second is that our actions can have long lasting effects, so my sin may affect several generations.

Hebrews 10:23,24 - Let us hold fast

10:23
Believing in Christ involves making a confession, and here it refers to this as a “confession of hope”. Our hope is that we have been spared judgement because of the cross, that we will be raised from the dead, that through the Spirit we are sanctified, transformed. That we will become like Christ, that we will have eternal life, that we will see God face to face. This confession is ongoing, it is this hope that motivates us in life and sustains us. We should hold fast to it without wavering, and should do so because “He who promised is faithful”. We are basing our lives on the promise of Jesus Christ. If the Hebrews went back to the Law they would be putting their hope in something other than Christ. If we ever turn away from Christ we are putting our hope in something else, and that something else will inevitably let us down, Christ will never let us down.

10:24
This is not just an attitude of mind. We are to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works”. I once heard that the phrase “to stir up” is the same term as used in stirring up a riot. We are to be agitators for “love and good works”, and faith in Christ provides the basis for doing this.

Deuteronomy 24:8-13 - In cases of defiling skin diseases

24:8,9

People were instructed to take skin diseases very seriously, and follow the instructions of the priest to the letter. That was because the priests were following the instructions given by God Himself. They are then told to remember what happened to Miriam (Num 12:1-12). Miriam and Aaron opposed Moses and as a result Miriam became leprous. So it was possible that a skin disease was a result of sin, and if so the person needed to take the sin seriously.

24:10-13

These instructions are based on the same premise as 24:6. The poor were to be treated with respect and their dignity preserved. So the person making the loan was not to go into the poor person’s house, thus implying that they no longer had any rights. Instead they were to wait outside. Moreover, a pledge, such as a cloak, was not to be kept overnight, the person might need it to sleep in. If the lender acted in such a way as to respect the poor person, then it would be regarded as a righteous act. Note that the instructions do not pretend that the poor person is not in need. This is not socialism!

Hebrews 10:21,22 - Let us draw near

10:21
We have a great high priest over the house of God. Jesus is our great high priest, one who is far better than all the Levitical priests. He is over the house of God. There is no need to look anywhere else, nor for anything else. Indeed, to do so is to deny Christ. 

10:22
So we can draw near to God, and indeed we should and must do so. And we can do so with a sincere heart. We have no need to fear that we do not have the right to approach God, and to entertain such thoughts is to deny the work of Christ. “And with full assurance that faith brings”. It is our trust and confidence in the work of Christ that enables us to have this full assurance. We are cleansed from a guilty conscience. Our conscience tells us that we are guilty of sin, and so we are, but our faith tells us that Christ has paid the price of our sin in full. We are totally clean. 

Deuteronomy 24:5-7 - If a man has recently married

24:5

This verse can be read alongside Deut 20:7. Marriage was seen as foundational to a properly functioning society, and for the production and bringing up of children. Hence the one year exemption from a new husband going to war. A society that devalues marriage will suffer the consequences, as many Western societies are doing.

24:6,7

Millstones were essential for producing bread, and there were two stones. Someone must not take one, or both, of these as security for a debt. I.e. a man was not to be deprived of his livelihood, and therefore his ability to pay off the debt.

Kidnapping was a capital offence. Joseph’s brothers were, of course, guilty of selling Joseph as a slave. People trafficking is condemned in the Bible.

Hebrews 10:19,20 - Since we have confidence to enter the holy places

10:19
The fact that God has done everything does not mean there is nothing for us to do, but there is nothing for us to do in terms of justifying ourselves. Through the blood of Jesus we have been perfectly justified. We are to live by faith. This means trusting in Christ’s work on the cross, and trusting in God to lead us through life, and to work in and through our lives. The writer of Hebrews states here that “since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus. We can enter the Most Holy Place, there is no better place to go. We have all we need.

10:20
We have entered the Most Holy Place “by a new and living way”. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were all dead! Christ, our sacrifice, is alive. In the tabernacle there was a curtain separating off the Most Holy Place. At the cross the curtain was famously torn in two (Matt 27:51). The death of Jesus has opened the way for us.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 - Do not bring sin upon the land

24:1

This section does not say anything about the grounds for divorce, rather it is protecting the woman who has been divorced. Matt 19:1-12 records a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees, there were those who took this verse in Deuteronomy as permitting divorce in almost any situation, Jesus gives the correct interpretation! The Law accepts that divorce will happen and is seeking to mitigate the effects. The certificate means the woman would not be disgraced and could marry again.

24:2-4

The next three verses are then dealing with the situation where the second marriage ends, either through divorce or death. In that case the first husband must not remarry the woman. The reason given is that she “has been defiled”. Why is this? It is possibly because by divorcing her in the first place, the man had forced the woman to remarry.

Hebrews 10:17,18 - I will remember their sins no more

10:17
The writer then quotes Jer 31:34. The hankering for the Levitical sacrifices and priests was related to them thinking that it was necessary for dealing with sin. They were absolutely right in thinking that sin needed to be dealt with, and we generally do not give enough weight to the problem of sin. However, as the writer has stated on several occasions, the Levitical sacrifices were unable to effectively deal with the problem of sin, with our guilt. Here in Jer 31:34 God states plainly that under the new covenant He will remember our “sins and lawless acts” no more. They are completely dealt with by the cross.

10:18
Through Christ our sins have been forgiven, so no further sacrifice is necessary. God is satisfied, so we should be satisfied as well. Guilt is a major problem, and we should note that the writer places enormous importance on accepting and realising that our sins have been paid for in full. No further penalty is required. Now this does not mean it does not matter how we live. It most certainly does, as later parts of Hebrews will make clear, but there is no need for us to do things to try and deal with the guilt. Such attempts are both futile and unnecessary.

Deuteronomy 23:21-25 - If you make a vow

23:21-23

Vows made to the Lord were to be taken seriously. So if one was made it was to be fulfilled quickly. We also see that God took the vows seriously. In fact it was better not to make a vow unless you meant to keep it, and had the ability to do so. With the case of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) the problem was not that they gave only half the money, but that they claimed to be giving all of it and then gave only half. The key issue is if we make a vow are we doing it for God, or to make us look good, whether in our own eyes, or the eyes of others. We need to be careful about what we say.

23:24,25

There were property rights, but these were not absolute in the sense of being all encompassing. So if you were wandering through someone’s vineyard or cornfield, you could help yourself to a few grapes or ears of corn, but you were not to harvest the crop! The Laws demonstrate a shrewd awareness of human character. The two faults that we are prone to fall into are (i) if something is ours then we will not let anyone else have any use of it at all under any circumstances; and (ii) if there is some sharing then some will take advantage of this. This law takes a middle ground.

Hebrews 10:15,16 - The Holy Spirit also bears witness

10:15
It is implicitly assumed that Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. In fact, we should note that “inspired” here is a very strong term. It says “The Holy Spirit also testifies to us”. The words say what the Holy Spirit wants them to say. It is not a matter of the Holy Spirit giving the author a general feeling or idea. At the same time, this does not mean that the human author was a mere dictation machine. 

10:16
The writer repeats some of the quotes from Jeremiah, this time Jer 31:33. There are two key thoughts in this verse. The first is that there will be a new covenant “after that time”. The covenant of the Law was not viewed by God as the final act. Secondly, He would write His laws in their hearts and minds. The failure of the Law covenant was the inability of man to obey it. The new covenant changes the heart and mind of man, we are born again. We should also note that it is the Law that is written on our hearts. God’s standards have not changed. Moreover, it is His laws that are written on our hearts. This is all God focused.

Deuteronomy 23:17-20 - No one is to become a shrine-prostitute

23:17,18

We can easily understand that these rules are right, though there are elements of society that wish to treat prostitution as “sex-work”, somehow dignifying it. Prostitution is not good, it exploits and degrades women, it also exploits and degrades men, but women are the ones who suffer the most. Prostitution was often linked with pagan religious practices. There was to be no such thing in Israel. Money earned from prostitution was not to be offered to God, for it was detestable to Him. We might think it was obvious that such things should not be done, but there is a continual temptation to follow the ways of society, as much of the church sadly demonstrates today.

23:19,20

They were not to charge Israelites interest on anything at all, but were allowed to charge foreigner’s interest. If they followed this instruction then they would be blessed by the Lord, and things would work. The corollary is that if they didn’t do this then things would not work. This distinction between Israelites and foreigners probably worries us. I can think of two possible explanations. One is the distinction between those who are in the kingdom and those who are not, and we need to remember that there are other instructions about treating foreigners or sojourners well. Another possibility is that loans to fellow Israelites might well be linked to everyday essentials, while foreigners would be engaging in trade, so the loan would be more of a commercial proposition. 

Hebrews 10:10-14 - You have been sanctified

10:10
Now that the perfectly obedient servant was here and offered as a sacrifice we have all been made holy. Mistaken religious thoughts and practices are often the result of a desire to prove ourselves righteous, to somehow achieve acceptance to God. In Christ we are made perfectly acceptable.

10:11
Yet again the contrast between the perpetual nature of the Levitical system and Christ is drawn. Sacrifices and religious duties were practised day after day, year after year. Offering sacrifices that “can never take away sins”. 

10:12-14
Christ, on the other hand, offered Himself once, and then sat down at the right hand of God. The sitting down indicated that His sacrificial work was done, it was complete. The Levitical priests could never do that. Jesus now waits for His enemies to be made a footstool for Him. This Is another allusion to Ps 110:1. By Christ’s one sacrifice “He has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy”. Note the completed “has made perfect”, and the continual “being made holy”. Our sins are completely paid for, we are justified by the blood of Jesus, but the process of sanctification is ongoing.

Deuteronomy 23:9-16 - When you set up camp

23:9-11

We now get some rules on uncleanness. These were given in the context of setting “up camp against your enemy”. They were to avoid anything impure. The first rule is given regarding nocturnal emissions of semen. Such a man was effectively benched for the whole day, but was allowed back on the field in the evening after washing himself.

23:12-14

The next rules concern doing the toilet. A designated place was to be set aside outside the camp. A hole was to be dug and the excrement covered up. This is all very good from a hygiene point of view, but I do find it more difficult to understand the religious significance. 23:14 does tell us that the reason is that the Lord moves about the camp to protect and deliver His people. So the camp had to be kept pure.

23:15,16

This rule may seem a little out of place, but the previous rules were given in the context of setting “up camp against your enemy”, and under such circumstances of a battle, slaves would often escape. Hence this rule about handling slaves that took refuge with them. One of the criticisms made of the Bible by those who like to do such things is that the Bible supports slavery. As we have seen in working through the Pentacheuch the situation is way more complex than that, and these two verses are a very clear example of the fact that the Bible does not simply “support slavery”. The escaped slave was not to be handed back but was to be allowed to live freely among them.

Hebrews 10:8,9 - He does away with the first

10:8

The fact that God desired obedience rather than sacrifice, or obedience is better than sacrifice, appears on a number of occasions in the Old Testament, e.g. 1 Sam 15:22; Prov 21:3; Ps 51:16. This, of course, raises the question as to why the Law contains so much in the way of the laws and regulations regarding sacrifices? Maybe the answer is that the Lord was trying to impress on them the need for sacrifice, and everything was pointing forward to Christ’s sacrifice. The writer does make the point that the Law required the sacrifices.

10:9

“Here I am”. The One that God truly desired arrived. This was a man who perfectly loved, obeyed and trusted the Father. This was what God was looking for, and which no man, except Christ, could ever provide. Once such a man was here, i.e. Christ, then there was no further need for the Levitical sacrifices. For the thing that they had all been pointing forward to was now here, and so their day was over.

Deuteronomy 23:3-8 - No Ammonite or Moabite

23:3-6

The Ammonites and Moabites did not help the Israelites nor respond to any of their reasonable requests. Indeed, they hired Balaam to curse the Israelites, though this did not work out as expected! So they were to be excluded and Israel is instructed to have nothing to do with them. At the same time we should note that Ruth was a Moabitess, and is part of the human genealogy of Jesus (Matt 1:5).

23:7,8

While the Ammonites and Moabites were to be despised, the Edomites and Egyptians were not to be despised. The Edomites (who descended from Esau) were related to Israel, and so were not to be despised. They had lived in Egypt for a time, and so were not to despise them either. During the time of Joseph they were treated kindly by Egypt, though later they were enslaved. Children born of these people at the third generation were allowed to enter the assembly.

Hebrews 10:3-7 - I have come to do your will

 10:3,4

So the repeated sacrifices of the Law were an “annual reminder of sins”. They reminded the people of the fact that they were sinners in need of forgiveness. Our concept of forgiveness is perhaps far too weak, the blood sacrifice is a reminder of the depths of God’s forgiveness. This raises interesting questions regarding Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper. Do we approach it as a reminder of our sins? Or do we approach it as a reminder that we have been completely forgiven? That the cross has taken away our sin?

10:5-7

The writer then quotes from Psalm 40:6-8. So yet again a Psalm is used to prove a deep theological point. The Psalm declares that the sacrifices were not satisfying God’s desire, but that He was looking forward to something better. That something was His Son Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ was prophesied in the Old Testament, on the road to Emmaus Jesus explained to the two disciples how all of the Law and the Prophets pointed to HIm (Lk 24:27). Jesus came to do the will of God.

Deuteronomy 23:1,2 - No one who has been emasculated

23:1

We now come to various groups of people who are to be “excluded from the assembly”, this means they are not part of God’s people.  Some of it seems arbitrary, some seems heartless, and some seems to be contradicted elsewhere in the Bible if we take a rigidly literalistic interpretation. So how are we to read this? The approach I take is that it is setting out principles on what the kingdom of heaven will be like. None of us are qualified on our own merits, and through Christ anyone who believes can become a citizen of God’s kingdom. The first group are those who have been emasculated, i.e. have suffered severe damage to their genitals. This could either be through accident, or via deliberate act. Elsewhere in the Bible we see eunuchs told they can enter the kingdom (Is 56:3,4; Acts 8:27). So the general principle is that we will be whole in God’s kingdom.

23:2

“No one born of a forbidden marriage”. In Christ all sorts of people come into the kingdom, but we do not stay as we are. 1 Cor 6:9,10 gives a list of people who will not inherit the kingdom, and this is then followed in 1 Cor 6:11 by the words “and this is what some of you were”. The mention of “not even in the tenth generation”, may mean “never” if “ten” is taken as representing completeness. It is only through Christ that we can enter.

Hebrews 10:1,2 - The Law was but a shadow

 10:1
“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities themselves”. This sums up the whole approach of Hebrews to the Law and the gospel. The mistake the Jews made was to think that the Law was the reality. Even those who were Christians, and were Jewish or had strong Jewish links needed to understand the relationship, or else they would still hold on to the Law, and might even end up denying the gospel. It is also highly relevant to those of us who have no Jewish background. Our tendency is to ignore the Law, or to largely discount it. We need to appreciate that it is a copy of the reality, and therefore can help us to better understand the reality. So the Hebrew Christians needed to appreciate that the repeated sacrifices of the Law could never actually make anyone perfect, we non-Hebrew Christians need to better appreciate the importance of sacrifices.

10:2
If the Levitical sacrifices could have worked then surely they would have stopped! For then the worshipper would have been cleansed once for all, with no further need of any sacrifices. They “would no longer have felt guilty for their sins”. But they did. There is an interesting implication for us. The gospel should mean that we no longer feel guilty for our sins. Yet the reality is that we are often in a sort of middle ground. There are areas of our life where we no longer feel guilty, where we enjoy the fruit of the gospel, but there can be times when we do still feel guilty. Now if we have not repented then we are absolutely right to feel guilty, and the sooner we repent the better! But we need to realise that part of the goal and fruit of the cross is that we have a clear conscience.

Deuteronomy 22:28-30 - A man is not to marry his father's wife

22:28,29

We then have the case of a man taking a woman who was not betrothed and having sex with her. The ruling here goes against our society’s mores. Instead of this being treated as rape, the man has to pay a penalty and is forced to marry the woman. As mentioned earlier, a much more practical, as opposed to romantic, approach towards marriage is taken. There are also a couple of other points to note. The first is that all the responsibility is put on the man. The second is that the rules expect men to take responsibility for their actions, this is a significant issue which is a problem in our society.

22:30

“A man shall not take his father’s wife, so that he does not uncover his father’s nakedness.” The phrasing here seems rather odd to us, it almost certainly means not to bring dishonour to his father. It is also likely that the wife here is not the man’s mother, but what we would refer to as his stepmother. As noted earlier, a man having more than one wife was quite common in those days, or it may be that the first wife had died. Step children and parents is very common in our society, and what we can learn from this is that step parents and children should have respect for each other.

Hebrews 9:25-28 - Christ was sacrificed once

9:25,26

The Levitical High Priest entered the Most Holy Place every year, it was a repeated exercise. And the Levitical priest entered with the blood of an animal. Jesus entered the real heaven only once, and He did this with His own blood. Jesus suffered once, there was only one crucifixion. His one sacrifice dealt with sin once for all. The cross is referred to as “the culmination of the ages”, or “the climax of history”. God’s purpose has always been that man should live in fellowship with Him. “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” The cross is the key event which enables this purpose to be achieved. 

9:27,28

Men die once, and will then face judgement. That is the destiny of all people without Christ. So Christ also died once, but He did not face judgement. Instead His death paid the price for our sins. He died to take away sin, the sins of many (cf Is 53:12). There is then a reference to the second coming. Jesus will appear a second time, this time to bring salvation. Are we not saved already? Yes, in the sense that everything necessary for our salvation has been done (i.e. the cross and resurrection), but the fulfilment of our salvation will occur only when Christ returns. We die mortal, but will be raised immortal (1 Cor 15:42,43). We will be transformed, there will then no longer be any vestige of sin within us, we will be fully sanctified. “To those who are waiting for Him”, ESV is probably more accurate with “eagerly waiting”.

Deuteronomy 22:23-27 - Do nothing to the woman

22:23,24

The rest of the chapter deals with rape and other cases of sexual sin, starting with rape. Rape is a very difficult crime to deal with. There are cases where it is absolutely clear, such as the case of stranger rape. However, where the victim and perpetrator know each other it is simply a lot more difficult. To claim otherwise is to deny reality (though denying reality doesn’t seem to trouble our society much these days!). Here we have a recognition of that problem. So here if the incident takes place in the city then it is assumed that the woman could have cried out for help if she wanted to. This may seem rather unrealistic to us, but we should recognise that “city” in those days was very different from our cities, so crying out would have been much easier. In this case both the man and the woman are held equally responsible. Note that “betrothal” is considered essentially equal to marriage. 

“So you shall purge the evil from your midst.” In our society the attitude is as long as it is consensual, then it is OK. This is not the attitude of the Bible. It must match with God’s standards.

22:25-27

We now get the case where the act takes place in the country. The previous case may seem to some to be too onerous on the woman, in this case no duty is placed upon the woman. She is assumed to be innocent, and all the guilt, and the subsequent punishment, is placed upon the man. It is assumed that the woman did cry out for help, and it is accepted that this could not be proved, and no proof is required.

Hebrews 9:23,24 - He entered heaven itself

9:23

So the earthly tabernacle, which was only a copy of the heavenly things, had to be purified with blood, with sacrifices. The real tabernacle, the heavenly tabernacle is far superior to the earthly one. So this too needed to be purified, but with “much better sacrifices”. In fact there is only one sacrifice, Jesus Christ Himself. Note that the earthly tabernacle being a copy has two implications. The one that is explicit in Hebrews is that it is only a copy, it is not the real thing. The second is implicit, and that is since it is a copy, there are things that we can learn from it. It is a mistake to reject the Law and all its blood on the grounds that it has now been superseded.

9:24

Christ did not enter an earthly sanctuary, but entered heaven itself. The Levitical priest entered the Most Holy Place on behalf of the people. Jesus has entered heaven itself, the presence of God the Father, to represent us. He appears in God’s presence on our behalf.

Deuteronomy 22:20-22 - You must purge the evil

22:20,21

If the woman was not a virgin, then the consequences for her were extremely serious, resulting in death. Now should we stone people to death for having sex before marriage? No, but we should treat it as a very serious matter. God created sex for marriage between one man and one woman. Any violation of this rule is very destructive.

22:22

Adultery is forbidden in the Ten Commandments, and if a couple were found engaging in adultery then they were both to be put to death. Again, should we have the death penalty for adultery? No, but we really do need to recognise how destructive it is.

Hebrews 9:20-22 - This is the blood of the covenant

9:20

“This is the blood of the covenant”, these are an adaptation of the words of Moses recorded in Ex 24:8. Jesus used very similar words at the Last Supper in Mark 14:24. Matt 26:28 adds that it is for the forgiveness of sins. Luke 22:20 uses the words “new covenant”. The gospel, the new covenant, is firmly rooted in the old covenant, and makes no sense without it. Moreover, the better understanding we have of the old covenant, the better understanding we will have of the gospel.

9:21,22

Under the old covenant everything was sprinkled with blood (Ex 29:10-21). If we read the books of the Pentateuch, where all this stuff is presented, and which the writer is using as his basis for this letter, one cannot help but be aware of the amount of blood that is going around. Gardener draws attention to the following various uses of blood in the Exodus passage: access to God’s presence, out ward purification and sanctification, inauguration of the covenant and the sanctuary. 9:22 closes with “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), the sacrificial animals were a substitute for the sinful man, Jesus is our substitute.

Deuteronomy 22:13-19 - If a man takes a wife

22:13,14

Once on Justin Brierley’s Premier Radio programme Unbelievable I heard an evangelical woman say that the Bible wasn’t clear on sex before marriage being wrong. I was shocked and surprised at the time. The Bible is perfectly clear that sex before marriage is wrong, with this being one such passage. So this section begins with the case of a man marrying a woman and then discovering that she wasn’t a virgin. 

22:15-19

If evidence was provided that demonstrated that she was a virgin, then the husband was clearly in the wrong, and was guilty of besmirching the woman and her family. The man would then be whipped and fined. Moreover, he was to remain married to the woman and was not allowed to divorce her. Now this raises at least a couple of questions to our modern ears. One is why is all the concern about whether or not the woman was a virgin, what about the man? Well the reason is probably that there was no way of proving whether the man was a virgin, so it was just a matter of practicalities. Later parts of this chapter will show that men are answerable for their conduct as well. A second question regards the two remaining married. We are appalled at this because we regard marriage very much from a romantic perspective. In the Bible it is regarded very much as a matter of practicalities. The Bible does also attach importance to romance, but not to the all consuming extent that our society does. Our society’s imbalance has serious consequences for society. Marriages are the bedrock for a stable society.

Hebrews 9:18,19 - Not put into effect without blood

9:18

Throughout Hebrews the writer is stressing that the new covenant is infinitely superior to the old covenant, and that it supersedes it. However, he at no point says that the old covenant was not relevant nor was of no consequence. The old covenant was a perfectly good covenant for the purpose for which God intended it, and it was put into effect through the blood of the sacrifices.

9:19

We now get a description of how it was put into effect through sacrifice. Moses read out the Law, then having completed that he took the blood of calves and sprinkled the altar, the scroll and the people. The covenant covered God, and the people. They genuinely were under this covenant.

Deuteronomy 22:6-12 - If you come across a bird's nest

22:6-8

This command is rather odd. There is concern for the mother bird, and this seems good, but then it seems a bit tough on the young who can be taken at will. There is then a “health and safety” rule! If a house was built, which would in those days have a flat roof, then a barrier was to be put round the edge of the roof to stop people falling off and injuring themselves. If a risk can be clearly seen, and nothing is done about it, then there is guilt if an accident occurs.

22:9-12

We then get more rules prohibiting mixtures of various sorts. First it is applied to vineyards, then to ploughing with two different types of animal, and finally to clothes of two different fabrics. For some we can see a reason, for others it is more difficult. They were also to wear tassels on their cloaks. Num 15:37-41 states that this was to remind them of the Law.

Hebrews 9:15-17 - Christ is the mediator of a new covenant

9:15

“For this reason ...” The writer has just described several ways in which Christ’s sacrifice and priesthood are infinitely superior to the Levitical sacrifices and priesthood. Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, the readers need to update their thinking. Under this new covenant those who are called receive the promised eternal inheritance. The word “promised” may be referring back to the Promised Land. The Promised Land was a temporal land. Is 65:17 and 66:22 refer to a new heaven and earth. So the Promised Land of the new covenant is so much greater than the Promised Land of the old covenant. “He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant”. What about the believers of the Old Testament? Christ’s death applies retrospectively to them as well.  And the current readers may have been wondering about their sins committed under the old covenant, Christ’s death deals with those as well.

9:16,17

“In the case of a will ...” The word translated “will” is the same word translated “covenant” elsewhere in Hebrews. Now the Greek word does mean “last will and testament”, but is used in the LXX to refer to covenant. Gardener points out that the practice referred to here was not known in the Hellenistic world. Now it is obvious that someone has to die before a will comes into effect, but the death is taken as read, rather than needing to be proved. I cannot say I am totally convinced by all this, but the point is that it is the covenant rather than a will that is being talked about. It was ancient practice that covenants were enacted following the notional death of the covenant maker, represented by the death of an animal. So what the writer is saying is that the new covenant was not enacted until the death of Christ, so prior to that the Hebrews were indeed under the old covenant, but since the death of Christ the new covenant was not operational.

Deuteronomy 22:1-5 - If you see your fellow Israelite's ox

22:1-4

Exodus 23:4,5 has similar commands, but relates them explicitly to “your enemies” livestock. Thus being an example of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about loving your enemies being nothing new, but rather being founded on the Old Testament. So why is a similar command given here, but this time with the emphasis on “your fellow Israelite”? Maybe it is because in the wilderness they were a more tight knit community, and the temptation would be to ignore the animal if it belonged to someone you didn’t like. In the Promised Land they would be a more dispersed community, a bit like cities being more anonymous. So the temptation would be to think that a lost or injured animal was none of their business, and it was far better not to get involved.  Even in a large community, we are to care for each other, whether we know them or not. The rules also applied to goods as well as animals.

The rule is extended to animals that are injured or fallen on the road If the owner needed help in recovering the animal, then help was to be given.

22:5

Women and men are not to wear each other’s clothing. To do this is detestable to the Lord. So now that transvestism is increasingly popular these days, even with transvestite story time in schools and other settings, we need to be reminded of this command. Transvestism is not good in the eyes of the Lord, for He detests it. There is a general feeling against mixture in many of the commands in the Law. God has created the world with clear distinctions, and these should be maintained.

Hebrews 9:13,14 - So that we may serve the living God!

9:13

The blood of goats and bulls was not totally ineffective, it did achieve an outward cleansing. Given that they only had an earthly tabernacle, an outward cleansing was all that was needed. But God’s ambitions were much greater than that. His plan was for man to be in true fellowship with Him. For that to happen a much greater and deeper cleansing was needed, and only the blood of Christ can achieve that.

9:14

So the Law was effective in as far as it went, in as far as it was meant to go. But it was pointing forward to something much greater. And the thing that it was pointing forwards to would therefore achieve so much more. The “eternal Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit was at work in the Cross. So Christ offered Himself up as a totally unblemished sacrifice. The Levitical laws are insistent that the sacrifices had to be animals without blemish. The blood of Christ cleanses “our consciences from acts that lead to death” (dead works). We have all committed “acts that lead to death”, i.e. we have sinned, but we are completely cleansed by the blood of Jesus. And this is not done so that we remain passive, but so that we can serve the living God!

Deuteronomy 21:18-23 - If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son

21:18-21

This deals with the situation of a rebellious son. Ideally a son should be obedient and grow up to be a mature man of God, but this will not always happen. If this reached extremes, then the parents were to take the son to “elders at the gate of the town”. Here it refers to the son being a “glutton and drunkard”. This was not to be a first course of action, but related to serious sins, and after attempts to discipline had failed. In present terms the equivalent would be reporting a son to the police if he had committed a crime. The men of the town were then to stone the son to death. “You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.” As with many other aspects of the Law this seems terribly harsh, but the principles are very important.  A person had responsibilities to their family, and also to the wider community, and sin needs to be dealt with.

21:22,23

The chapter closes with some miscellaneous instructions. If someone is put to death because of a crime, their body was not to be left exposed on a pole overnight. The body was to be buried on the same day. To do otherwise would desecrate the land.

Hebrews 9:11,12 - So obtaining eternal redemption

9:11

We now begin a direct comparison of Christ and His ministry with that of the Law. Christ (Messiah) came as “high priest of the good things that are now already here”. We have already entered a new age (not to be confused with “new age”, which now seems quite old!), the old covenant is no longer needed. That does not mean that the Law and the Prophets have nothing to teach us, far from it. Indeed, Hebrews is using the Law to teach us about the new covenant. The point is that the things that the Law and Prophets were pointing forwards to are now here. 

The Levitical priests went through a man made tabernacle, one made by human hands, an earthly one. Christ entered the heavenly tabernacle. One that is not part of creation, but is eternal.

9:12

The Levitical priests entered by means of the blood of goats and calves. Jesus entered by means of His own blood, the sacrifice of the Son of God, the One who lived a life of perfect obedience and trust in God. The Levitical priests achieved a sort of temporary redemption, Christ achieved an eternal redemption, once for all.

Deuteronomy 21:15-17 - If a man has two wives

21:15-17

The firstborn son had special rights, receiving a double share of the inheritance. “If a man has two wives ...” The original teaching in Genesis 2 was for a man to have one wife, and Jesus endorsed this teaching (e.g. Mark 10:1-12). The assumption throughout the New Testament is for one man, one wife. Yet in the Old Testament we find multiple wives seemingly being accepted as normal. Part of the reason for this was probably that in those times women did need the protection of a husband, and men were far more likely to die in battle, so it was a practical measure. However, it should be noted that having multiple wives never worked out well. Solomon is perhaps the extreme example of this! However, the instructions here deal with the practicalities of having two wives. The man must not override the firstborn principle because he prefers one wife over the other. In our society what “one feels” is becoming the dominant factor, rather than truth or law. The Bible takes a very different approach.

Hebrews 9:6-10 - Were not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper

9:6,7

The priests entered regularly. The writer has already made reference to the need to repeatedly offer sacrifices under the old covenant. Only the High Priest entered the inner room, the Most Holy Place, and he did that once a year. And when he did he always took a blood sacrifice. This was offered both for himself and for the people. Here it is noted that this is for the sins committed in ignorance.

9:8-10

The writer then claims that far from being “it”, all the rules regarding the tabernacle, sacrifices etc were showing that they were not “it”, but were pointing forwards to something better. The people could not gain access to the Most Holy Place. We should note that it is God’s intention that we do have access to the Most Holy Place.  The old covenant gifts and sacrifices were not able to “clear the conscience” of the worshipper. The implication is that the new covenant in Christ’s blood is able to clear our conscience. The old covenant was only about food and drink and external matters. They were a temporary measure.

Deuteronomy 21:8-14 - If you see among the captives a beautiful woman

21:8,9

The heifer was offered as atonement, and God would not hold the people responsible. This differs from a sacrifice where the guilt is admitted, and then the sacrifice atones for the sin. Here it is more a general guilt and innocence. The community is in a way responsible, but it is not known who actually committed the murder.

21:10-14

This is a rather strange passage. Elsewhere the Israelites are forbidden from marrying foreign women for fear that they will be led astray to worship idols. Here they are permitted to marry beautiful women who are among the captives. We may also act in revulsion against the practice. However, in wars soldiers often do marry women of occupied lands. We should also note that considerable attention is paid to the dignity of the woman. First she is allowed to mourn for her family for one month, and during this time the Israelite would not sleep with her. If the man decided he did not want to marry her after all he was still to treat her with care, not selling her nor making a slave of her.