James McNaught: June 2013

Deuteronomy 22:1–4, “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself. Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.”

The preamble to the Ten Commandments is, "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (Ex 20:2) This was the justification for all of the Lord’s commands that He gave to Israel. The Lord was alienated by humanity when we sinned. Even though the Lord was the offended party, He effected reconciliation and we did nothing. There is a principle that can be seen in the Lord’s relationship with Israel was not based on their activities, it was based on the fact that they believed God. Even great Abraham was treated according to the fact that he believed God rather than the works that he did. (Gen 15:5–6, “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”) Israel were delivered from slavery before they were given the Law. Abraham didn’t circumcise his family until after he was counted as righteous. (Gen 17:10–14, 24 “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant... “And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.” As part of the Lord’s faithfulness to those who believed in Him, He freed Israel from slavery. Not even Abraham was sufficient, in his own right, to please God. God chose him in love. (compare Deut 26:5–9, “And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.”) The Lord always dealt with Israel in grace and mercy. This is the reason why the Israelis were called upon to treat their fellow citizens with grace and mercy. Every man was to respect the fact that the Lord loved their fellow Israeli as much as he loved any individual Israeli. If they saw that a fellow Israeli was suffering some kind of loss through injury or straying of their beasts, they were to make sure that they treated their fellow’s beasts as though the beast was their own. In this way the would respect and show gratitude for Israel out of the abundance of His overwhelming grace and mercy. Even today, on the statute books of some countries there is a crime called theft by finding.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

A stubborn and rebellious son

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Deuteronomy 21:18–23, “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”

The Ten Commandments were based on the fact that the Lord, Israel’s God, had saved them from slavery in the Land of Egypt. These commandments can be seen as in inverted “T”. The top of an inverted “T” is like “l”, this first part of the commandments refer to our relationship with the Lord. The first commandments tells us that there is only room for one God in the world. There is only one Creator and He must be respected as superior to every other imitation “god”. Moving down the inverted T we find that the second commandment tells us that it is wrong for us to assume that God is similar to anything that He has made in creation. If we assume that our God is like something that is inferior to His Almighty Self then we will begin to reduce our understanding of Almighty God. The third commandment informs us that we must never use the Lord’s Name to justify anything that is inconsistent with His pure and perfect nature. The fourth commandment is to remind us that the Lord made His creation perfect and that He made it in six days. At the end of the sixth day, the Lord God was exactly the same as He was at the beginning of the first day. His creation is entirely distinct from Himself and He left nothing of Himself in Creation. This is the beginning of all false religion. If we believe that God place a part of Himself in His creation then He was reduced at the end of the process. This leads to a belief that we can, by our own efforts, find part of God in His creation and evolve into a superior kind of person, this is entirely false. God is always God and we are always His creatures, made in His image, but unable to evolve into a higher species. The fifth commandment is at the junction of both the upright part of the inverted “T” and the horizontal. It belongs to our relationship with the Lord God and, as the rest of the horizontal section, our relationship with each other. We can never get our horizontal relationships right unless we get our vertical relationship right. The fifth commandment, in essence, reminds us that the Lord God created an ordered world. If we want to have peaceful and productive relationship in the Lord God’s perfect world we must accept that order. For every person this is represented by our parents, who play the role of teaching us how to understand, appreciate and submit to the Lord God. If we are unwilling to accept any part of the Lord’s perfect plan for our lives then we are worshipping another god. This section is an extension of Deut 13:6–11, “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.”) If their own children were encouraging others to worship a false god, who doesn’t control an ordered world then Israel was to put to put the health of nation above their own personal desires. The section ends with a command not to use the Law for the satisfaction of personal vengeance. If a person was executed for sinning against the Lord then they were to be buried with respect and not left there for his enemies to gloat over his rotting corpse.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The favoured one

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php

Deuteronomy 21:15–17, “If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.”

Even though the Lord designed marriage to be between a man and a woman (see Mat 19:4–6, “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” It was customary, at that time for men to marry more than one wife. The classic example was Jacob who married two sisters and also has two concubines. Sometimes a Israeli man would follow that practice as well. However, there were special honours given to the firstborn child in terms of inheritance and respect. If a man did marry two wives and preferred his second wife over his first wife, he was not allowed to treat the children of the preferred wife better than the children of the first wife. The regulations concerning the firstborn applied to the child who was born first and had to be observed. Israel is the Lord’s firstborn (see Ex 4:22–23, “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”) and the world is expected, under the Lord’s sovereign will, to treat Israel with the respect due to the firstborn. This is a fearful regulation to defy for the Lord told Abraham, Israel’s grandfather , “... Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 12:1–3) This means that the Lord has promised to place a personal curse on any who curse Abraham’s legitimate heirs. Who would ever want to be under the Lord’s curse” (Heb 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”)

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

A desire unto her

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Deuteronomy 21:10–14, “When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.”

In Old Testament times, soldiers were not paid, by their own leaders, to be in the army and fight in battles. They would take their pay at the end of a victorious battle by taking plunder from the army they fought and entering their towns and cities to take anything they desired. From time to time a man might be attracted to a women he saw after the battle and decide that he wanted to marry that woman. The Israelites already had firm customs for marriage. Marriages were first arranged by the parents of the bride and groom or their representatives. After that the marriages would take place and a bride price would be paid. During a time of war there wasn’t the time or the means to make formal marriage arrangements, often the girl’s parents were not available because they had been killed, taken captive or run away. The bride price would have been taken as plunder so the man who desired one of the women could assume that she was legitimate plunder. However, the Lord forbade Israel from raping all the women who belonged to the enemy. If they wanted to take a woman they were expected to marry that woman. She had to be given time to mourn her own family and become ceremonially clean, then the man could legally marry her. If he decided later that he didn’t want her any more, he was responsible to treat her with respect and dignity and not like a slave or plunder.

Lying in the field

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Deuteronomy 21:1–9 “If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley: And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried: And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.”

There are crimes that are committed openly and there are crimes that are committed in secret. From time to time one person kills another and there are no witnesses. However, it is not so easy to hide a body. If someone discovered a body somewhere out in the country and there was no one to say how that person died, the leaders in that area still had to acknowledge that life was sacred before the Lord. If a person didn’t respect the sanctity of life, as the Lord had declared, then that person’s life was to be treated with the same respect that he showed for another person’s life. (Gen 9:6, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”) The Lord had established a system of local legal authority and the people given this charge were responsible to punish any offender for a land that didn’t have respect for life had no right to exist before the Lord. When a dead body was found the first job was to find out whose jurisdiction covered the area of the crime. The local authorities had to atone for the death, even if an offender could not be found. These people were called upon to offer a sacrifice for forgiveness of the fact that a person had been killed.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Fight against a city

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Deuteronomy 20:10–20, “When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege: Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.”

When the armies of Israel went to war they were to give their enemies a chance to surrender and save bloodshed. If the people refused to surrender then Israel would have some justification for going to battle against their enemies. When the battle had been fought and won, then they were to exact the Lord’s judgment on that city and execute everyone who had sought to battle with the Lord’s anointed. In those days, the men were responsible for making the decisions and not the women or children so the women and children were spared form the punishment. Even though Israel entered the Land to act as the Lord’s agents and punish the people because their iniquity was now full, they had to understand they were not fighting against the Land but against the people. There were examples where the attacking forces tried to ruin the land as well and force the people away from their homes. (Judg 9:45–46, “And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt. And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith.”) In this case, those people were also punishing the people in that city and wanted to force them away from their ancestral homeland. On the other hand, Israel were punishing the Amorites and also satisfying the promise that the Lord gave to Abraham. They wanted to take possession of the Land and live there themselves. This is why they were not to wage was against the Land. Later, when they were living in the Land, they would need to food to eat. They were not to destroy any fruit trees or other vegetation that might be useful later.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

The officers shall speak

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php

Deuteronomy 20:1–9, “When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart. And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.”

When the Lord first gave Abraham the promise that his descendants would have tenure in the Promised Land, the Lord told him that they would have to dispossess the Amorites. (Gen 15:12–16, “And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”) This promised included the corollary that Israel would have to be involved in battle, both to punish the Amorites and take possession of the Land. This section discuses what would happen when they came to battle. The underlying promise was that the Lord would fight for Israel and Israel would triumph. After all the Lord had taken them away from the greatest super power of their time when they had nothing to defend themselves other than the fact that they belonged to the Lord. However, the Lord understood that person who didn’t want to be in battle, or who was afraid, could affect the entire and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Another given when fighting battles was that some would die. In order to make sure that people had time to enjoy the benefits that the Lord had given them, the Lord excused anyone who had a new status from battle so that they could enjoy their new status before the faced the possibility of death.

Neighbour's landmark

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Deut 19:14–21, “Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it. 1One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

Even though Israel was promised tenure in the Promised Land, the Land still belonged to the Lord and He could apportion the Land as He would. This meant that no person should act fraudulently and change the ancient boundaries that would be set up soon after the Land was surveyed by the new occupants, Israel, of the Land. This would be taking the Lord’s name in vain. The Lord promised the Land and supervised the allocation. If a person changed the ancient boundaries they would trying to use the Lord’s authority to cover their own greed. Israel was also to have a judicial system that prevented the “he said...”, “she said...” situation that so often crops up in modern jurisprudence. A person needed to have witness to back up her statements against an accuser. On the other hand, if a person tried to accuse someone of a crime they hadn’t done, and it was proven, then the false accuser would be forced to pay the penalty that he had intended for the innocent person.

When the Lord thy God

Deuteronomy 19:1–13 (AV)

¹ When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; ² Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it. ³ Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. ⁴ And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past; ⁵ As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: ⁶ Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. ⁷ Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. ⁸ And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers; ⁹ If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three: ¹⁰ That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. ¹¹ But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities: ¹² Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ¹³ Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

A Prophet

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php

Deuteronomy 18:15–22, “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

Moses had been the Lord’s prophet to Israel since the nation had been founded on the first Passover night. He would go down in history as the founding prophet of the nation. He would always stand alongside the patriarchs as an important man in Israel’s history. Just before Moses completed his task of setting Israel free from slavery in Egypt and taking them to the borders of the Promised Land. He had also prepared them to live as an independent, sovereign nation in the Land that the Lord had promised to Abraham and his descendants, he also promised them that there would be another prophet like himself who would come at a later stage. The major issue in identifying this prophet was the fact that the prophet would be like Moses. What does this mean? Would any prophet qualify as this prophet? If we look further down in this section we can see that there were further qualifications that would distinguish this prophet. Moses went into the mountain at Horeb, to meet with the Lord and protect the people from the awesome majesty of the Lord by bringing the Law to them. Moses stood between the Lord God and people so that they would not die (Ex 19:9–12, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:”) This prophet would also have to come at an important time of transition in the nations history for Moses was the great prophet of the first transition. Another prophet of transition was the prophet Elijah who prophesied to Ahab when the nation was sinking into a complete rejection of the Lord and everything that He had chosen them to do on His behalf. (1 Kings 16:30–33, “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.”) But Elijah didn’t prevent Israel from experiencing the full extent of the penalty provisions that they agreed to when the made their contract with the Lord and they were taken away into exile. We read in the New Testament that this prophet was still expected when John the Baptist was preaching in Judah. John 1:19–23, “And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”) Moses was the prophet who was commanded to put a vail in the Tabernacle to separate between holy and most holy. (Ex 26:33, “And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.”) The Lord Jesus Christ, on the other hand, was the prophet (Luke 13:33, “Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.”) He was responsible for removing the removal of the veil and allowing every sinner to have direct access to the Lord God. (Luke 23:44–45, “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.”)

Friday, June 14, 2013

The abominations of those nations

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php

Deuteronomy 18:9–14, “When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.”

The major difference between worshipping the Lord and worshipping the gods of the other lands is the fact that the Lord is alive and the others are only figments of imagination. Because the Lord is real and the Master Designer of everything that He created, He knows the design specifications and, hence, what is best for every person that He made. On the other hand, the gods of the nations can be manipulated so that the sinners who worship them end up getting their own way and doing whatever their sinful hearts desire. This is why it was so important for Israel to obey the Lord and follow His ways. As long as they were doing whatever their sinful hearts desired they were not showing the rest of the world the Lord’s love and goodness. The people who were in the and before Israel, who were cast out because they had debased the good Land, used whatever means they could of manipulating their gods and getting their won way. They would various means of determining gods will, like checking the patterns in a cup which they had previously drunk from, checking the stars, using magic, or talking to ghosts and spirits. these things were a good part of the reason the Amorites were so debased. They also burnt their own children as a sacrifice to their gods and everything they could to ignore the Lord. On the other hand, Israel had the Lord’s written Law so they knew exactly what the Lord required of them. They didn’t have to use any other means to bring themselves the Lord’s word.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

No part of inheritance with Israel

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php

Deuteronomy 18:1–8, “The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever. And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose; Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD. They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.”

The Lord chose the tribe of Levi to be a substitute for all the firstborn in Israel as they had been miraculously saved from the angel of death on that first Passover night. As such they belonged to the Lord and were to act as His agents in the nation. The tribe of Levi represented the Lord to Israel and Israel to the Lord. We say before that even a king had to come to the Levites and obtain their version of the book of the Law so that he could copy it out for himself (Deut 17:18, “And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:”). The people had to respect the fact that the Levites were acting as the Lord’s agent for them and as their agent to the Lord. This was not a voluntary service but one commanded by the Lord and Israel had to pay for their service. However, the only had to pay from the abundance that the Lord provided for them.

Burundi

The airport in Bujumbura, Burundi, is a cavernous, colonial building. There are three entrances from the apron; one for arrivals, one for departures and one for important people. There are police guarding the entry for important people to make sure that no one has delusions of grandeur. The bank at the airport doesn’t have facilities for credit cards and the visa had to be bought at the airport. I had to borrow some money from some church members to buy my visa. On the way out the boarding passes were written by hand.

There is no doubt that Burundi is a poor country. According to the CIA World Factbook[*], Burundi is the 4^th poorest nation in the world, with only Somalia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (195^th) poorer. Burundi can be contrasted with her northern neighbour Rwanda, which lies 22 places higher on the poorest nations table. The first non-African country on that list is Afghanistan at number 185.

Both Burundi and Rwanda have similar ethnic structures but Rwanda is better know for the fact that she experienced a huge convulsion of ethnic violence in 1994 when approximately 800,000 people were killed in 100 days. The ethic violence in Burundi occurred over 10 years between 1993 and 2003 and there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that even more people died. However, since that time the country has been seeking reconciliation and is much more peaceful.

The CIA World Factbook also tells us that 68% of the population in Burundi live below the poverty line and 40% of the people in Rwanda live below the poverty line and 36% of people in Afghanistan live below the poverty line. This brings us to the major problem in Africa today, grinding poverty. When people struggle every day to find enough to eat they have little energy to lift themselves out of the poverty cycle.

The Bride of Christ Worldwide Church in Burundi is working to prepare the Church for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord returns to the earth He will take His bride away and then there will be the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19: 9, 17). These people also take James 2: 14-16 seriously, which is very important in country where many people are poor and hungry. The people in this church regularly feed hungry people near their compound. They don’t have a building to worship in but a walled enclosure with corrugated iron roof and an earthen floor and are looking to the Lord to help build a church as headquarters for all their outreach and development work.

They have developed a system to train people in various trades and a development bank to provide low cost, long repayment loans to people in Burundi. Young people have opportunities to experience work at approved sites. There are opportunities in many areas including building trades, car mechanics and hospitality. When the students have graduated they have access to low cost, long-term loans to buy tools and establish their business.

The church has also been involved in some other projects. They have helped some poor farmers in the provinces to plant Moringa[†] trees. These produce seeds containing oil when harvested they help improve nutrition and boost food security. For farming families living a hand to mouth existence these trees can provide nutrition for their growing children. As time goes by these farmers can grow more trees and have a cash crop. Pastor Jean-marie Nibizi was in the process of negotiating with a middleman in Rwanda to sell the seeds so that they could be pressed to make oil and sold to provide an income for these farmers.

They were also developing some cottage industries in some communities. Burundi has over 150 rivers that can be dammed but people washing clothes and animals and bathing themselves have polluted these rivers. The pastor has also developed a solar powered system for purifying water using simple water bottles. He has also manufactured a simple solar light. Local people working in their own homes can produce all these things and develop an income stream for themselves.

I visited Burundi in May 2013 to give some in-service training to their pastors. Some of the pastors had to come from other towns. It cost them two days average wage to come to the training sessions and another two days wages to get home again. They stayed for the entire time of the course. My main aim was to teach these church leaders to understand and interpret the Bible. Once they learn how to do this and gain some experience they will be able to train the next generation of leaders.

I believe that a local church should be led and trained by local people as soon as these people are ready to pass their skills on to their own people. We had a worthwhile course with about ten local leaders learning these skills.

While I was in Burundi, I was asked to conduct a crusade in the local church a Roziba. My first question was, how could a simple Bible teacher run a crusade? The answer is simple: just stick to the simple message of the Bible, speak well of the Lord Jesus Christ and trust the Holy Spirit to work.

Burundi offers many opportunities to invest and the rewards are out of this world. There are many opportunities for people to be involved in the work, either by staying at home and praying or visiting for a short time. Everyone who wants to go will have to pay their own airfares and other costs and it is a good idea to have US dollars when you arrive in the country

Burundi has two national languages, Kirundi and French. Anyone who can’t speak either of these languages will need to have an interpreter.

Many people, today, are telling us that the twenty first century will be the Asian century. However, Africa is full of many young people who are hungry to learn and develop themselves if they are given the opportunity and this century could well prove to be the African century.

[*] The World Factbook 2013-14. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2013 .https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

[†] Scientific name: Moringa oleifera

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A king

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php

Deuteronomy 17:14–20, “When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.”

This section reminds us that Israel was designed to be a constitutional monarchy. The Lord Himself gave Israel their constitution, it was called the Law. Much later we read about king Nebuchadnezzar and find that he could do whatever he wanted to do in his own country. He could say one thing today but change his mind the next day and no one could stop him. On the other hand, kings in Israel were expected to obey the Lord in everything they did. In fact the king was called upon to copy the Law in his own hand and then read it every day so that he could moderate his own behaviour according to the Law rather than moderate the nations behaviour to suit his own whims. The king had to be an Israeli, they were not allowed to choose a foreigner to rule over them. The king was not allowed to pursue wealth but trust the Lord and accept everything that the Lord gave. In those days, horses were like heavy weapons today. The king was not to rely on having a large army of horsemen to protect himself. Kings, at that time, would make marriages to secure their borders. A king would give his daughter to another king as wife and she would look after her father’s interests, on the other hand she would be a hostage who could be killed if her father broke any treaties. Kings didn’t marry because they were sex maniacs, the married to ensure their future. The Lord promised Israel that they would be secure within their borders is they obeyed Him. They were not to trust in treaties with other kings or nations for that would draw them away from the Lord. When a king married a wife from another country, he would be tempted to worship her gods to keep happy and would lead the nation astray.

The Lord thy God shall choose

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php

Deuteronomy 17:8–13, “If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.”

The Lord established a system of local people to judge between one person and another when there were neighbourhood disputes and other issues between people on the local level. They also arbitrated in issues of business. However, from time to time, an issue would come up that was harder than the people on the local level could deal with so they were to go to the place that the Lord chose. During the kingdom period, this place was Jerusalem but before that other places were chosen. The Priests were trained and familiar with the Law and the regulations so they were qualified to make these more difficult decisions. Once the decision was made then all the parties involved were bound to accept and abide by the decision. This method would also lead to consistency between on region and another for the final place of appeal was always the same.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Any evilfavouredness

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php