Not enter into the congregation

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

Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 23:1–8, “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever: Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.”

The Lord God created a perfect earth and placed the world upon it. (according to 1 Sam 2:8 , “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon them.” the world is placed upon the pillars of the earth) When the Lord created the world, He created everything perfect and without sin. After sin came into the world then came imperfection and disabilities. We know that the Lord cares for the widow and the orphan, (see Ex 22:21, 22, “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.”) We can extend this to any person who is “different” in any way, including people with physical disabilities. However, when it comes to atoning for sin, the people involved must not be afflicted by the gross effects of sin. This is not to say that anyone serving as a priest was sinless while those who are afflicted are not sinless. When the Lord God began creating, He established chaos and then brought order from that chaos. After sin came into the world, chaos descended on that order moving the world from a predictable system to chaotic system, that is system that it unpredictable. This is why bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people while they live on the earth.

Relationships

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

Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 22:13–30, “If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you. But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor discover his father’s skirt.”

When the Lord originally created Adam, He saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone so He made Eve to be Adam’s companion. Together, they were complementary, making a complete unit to work with each other and complete the task that the Lord gave Adam, that was to live in the garden. When Adam and Eve came together they were joined together, that is, they were joined in their souls. If people are joined together and they try to join with a third person then their souls are wounded, eventually they become scarred and they are no longer able to form relationships that are loving and supportive. The bride price was to intended to be set aside so that the bride could use that money later if something went wrong with the marriage. On the other hand, sometimes a couple would decide that they didn’t like each other after they were married. In that case, the woman had left her home but was not welcome in her new home so she had nowhere to go and no means of support. The Lord had compassion for a woman, under those circumstances and gave her support and different ways of protecting herself. The groom could not just make any accusation against his bride but he had to support his complaints with evidence. If he couldn’t support his claims then he would be punished for defaming a good woman and a good family in Israel. If there was a case of rape the girl had to call out to protect herself or she would be accused of compliance. On the other hand, if a girl was out in the county, where people couldn’t hear her cries then the man was considered to be guilty and would have to bear his punishment. This passage also prohibits incest of any kind. When close relatives have a relationship that produces children then there is a very high chance of the children being disabled. Disability occurs naturally in any society and those children must be treated with compassion and given every encouragement possible but it is wrong for relatives to go out of their way to cause problems like this.

Birds and eggs

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

Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 22:5–12, “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God. If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together. Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.”

This section contains a section of different regulations to cover areas not considered in some of the broader regulations. When the Lord created mankind, He created Adam and then Eve, according to His own wisdom. After the curse, He placed different obligations on men and women. The first regulation here insists that we all submit to the Lord’s first act in creating mankind, that is, He made men and women different. We are to submit to the Lord’s order in this matter and dress according to the way that the Lord God made us. However, as we move through this section we should be mindful of the fact that all the regulations belong in the same category. The second regulation shows something of the Lord’s grace. No one should kill a nesting bird on the same day that they take its eggs. After this we have some common sense. When a person builds a house they are required to consider safety in the design process. Never leave a flat roof without a fence because if a person falls off a house roof they will be badly injured or they may die. If a builder sets up a house without safety precautions then the builder is responsible for the safety of the people you come to the house. (This is similar, in some ways to Eze 33:1–6, “Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.”) The builder is required to take safety precautions but is not responsible for a foolish person. Leaders can also be held responsible for leading their flock in the right way and not leading them astray. The Lord had set Israel apart to be a special people dedicated to achieving His goal of blessing all the families of the earth so He told them they must remember the principle of purity in the farming practices as well. Lastly the Lord called upon them to wear a garment with tassels, or fringes on the four corners. This is to remind Israel of the four corners of the earth and that they are to be a source of blessing to the people right to the four corners of the earth. (compare Is 11:12, “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”). If a person is dogmatic about one part of this section, for example, men not wearing women’s clothes but is willing to a woollen suit with a cotton shirt then that person is being a hypocrite.

Thy brother's ox

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

Sinking Sand

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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.

A stubborn and rebellious son

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

Sinking Sand

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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.

The favoured one

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Sinking Sand

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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.”)

A desire unto her

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Sinking Sand

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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.