On the banks of the Jordan River, on the verge of invading the Promised Land, on the cuff of fulfilling a centuries-long dream to have their own homeland, Israel waits and listens to Moses challenge them to a strong, faithful spiritual life. That is the message of Deuteronomy. We consider three chapters in our thoughts today, taking approximately seven minutes to read…
Chapter 13 deals with false prophets. Followers of God have always had to deal with false teachers, ever since Satan entered the Garden and changed one word of God’s commands. It is conceivable that this false prophet could perform “signs” and “wonders” and they come true! (13:2). But, it is his teaching that is to be judged (13:3-5). Israel is to “cling” to God’s commandments that came from His mouth (13:4). The false prophet, in fact, is to be put to death (13:5) because his teaching “counseled rebellion” (13:5).
Even if your son or daughter or other family member is the “false prophet,” he or she is to be put to death so the rest of Israel will learn not to do such a wicked thing (13:6-11). Before any hasty judgments are made, Israel is to “investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly” to see if the matters are true (13:14). If they are, even if it means destroying a whole city, false teachers cannot be tolerated (13:15-16).
Chapter 14 deals with clean and unclean animals. While there is some truth to the idea that some of these animals would have been dangerous for ancient Israel to eat, I read it more as God showing He has the right and authority to declare certain foods edible and certain foods non-edible. The chapter begins by warning Israel not to wear tattoos that associate them with pagan practices. Some of these non-edible animals might also have been associated with pagan practices.
To support the idea that health was not the primary concern in these food laws, we read in 14:21 that Israel was not supposed to eat anything that “dies of itself” (NASV). Was that because it was unhealthy? But they could share it with their neighbors. That would not be very nice, if such was unhealthy to eat. I suspect it was either because God wanted them to understand He had the right to make such laws or because the practice dealt, in some way, with pagan practices, as boiling a kid in its mother’s milk.
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Beginning in 14:22, we have laws relative to tithing and in 14:26, Moses allows Israel to buy “strong drink.” It is clear that just because a drink had some degree of fermentation in it, it was not sinful to drink it. Of course, their “strong drink” was nothing like the “strong drinks” we have today.
Chapter 15 begins by appointing a “sabbath” year, every seven years, when one’s debts were forgiven. If Israel were to listen to God, they will become a “creditor” nation and not a “debtor” nation. For poor individuals, then individual Israelites were to given generously, “for his need” (15:7-9). The poor will always be in the land (15:10-11), just as Jesus told His disciples (Mark 14:7).
If a servant wishes to remain a servant, then he can announce his intentions to his master and be such for the rest of his life (15:12-17). In the seventh year, other slaves are set free without grudging them their freedom because they worked so hard (15:18).
The firstborn are to be dedicated to God (15:19) and they are not to give to God sick animals (15:21). In all that they can eat, blood is not one of them (15:23).
Paul Holland
