September 2, 2020
The message of Deuteronomy is one that the church desperately needs to hear today. These final words of Moses given to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land serve as a warning, an encouragement, and a charge. Through them, God exposes the idolatry of our hearts and calls us to give all of our love, worship, and devotion to Him alone in every area of our lives! Moses warns the people that when they enter the land there will be things that compete with God for their attention, their affections and their worship. We, too, have hundreds of things that compete for our hearts each and every day. In this book, God teaches us how to properly respond to the amazing grace He has given us by giving Him our undivided allegiance, our whole hearts and our whole lives. Over the next 34 days, let’s seek this ancient way together as a church!
In this chapter Moses continues to explain some of the various laws which the Lord gave to His people in order that they would be distinct from every other people. He discusses a wide range of laws governing things such as how the people were to treat one another’s property, clothing, negligence in construction, how they were to run their vineyards, and sexual ethics and conduct.
In the first section of this chapter Moses discusses how the people were to treat one another and one another’s property. He commands them that they should never ignore their brother’s wayward animal, but should take it to their own home and care for it until the owner should come seeking it. They were not to ignore the needs of their neighbors, but respond in both compassion and in action to the needs they saw!
The same is true for us who belong to Christ. 1 John 3:17-18 says this: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” The kind of love that Christ calls us to as His followers is a love that does, a love that responds in both compassion and in action to the needs that we see around us. John goes so far as to imply that a failure to respond in action towards the needs of our fellow believers would indicate that God’s love is not in us, that we are not even saved in the first place!
It is hard to live this way. We live in a culture and time which encourages us to ignore the needs around us and to choose the way which is most convenient for ourselves; inconvenience, discomfort, and sacrificial love are not highly valued in our culture, but they are the things that Jesus calls us to in order to embody His love towards people! Love for other people that does not merely claim to care but shows that care and compassion through action is one of the defining marks of a true disciple of Jesus!
The Law and the New Testament agree: we cannot claim to follow God and ignore the needs of those around us. We must respond in a compassion that move us to action!
Deuteronomy 22
Various Laws
22 “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. 2 And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. 3 And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. 4 You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.
5 “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.
6 “If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. 7 You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.
8 “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.
9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. 10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.
12 “You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.
Laws Concerning Sexual Immorality
13 “If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her 14 and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ 15 then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. 16 And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; 17 and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him, 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days. 20 But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
22 “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
23 “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
25 “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, 27 because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.
28 “If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days.
30 “A man shall not take his father’s wife, so that he does not uncover his father’s nakedness.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Family Discussion Question:
- Why do we tend to ignore the people in need around us, even our brothers and sisters in Christ? How can we take a step towards embodying the love of Jesus by responding to those needs in action?
Dear Heavenly Father,
You have laid out before us many laws and commandments which, if obeyed , will bring forth righteous and clean living. Please help us to keep these laws, not only for Your sake but for ours as well. Thank You for showing us the way to live lives that are pleasing in Your sight. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen
AMEN and HALLELUJAh!!! Your Commandments were made for us to live by.. We are suppose to help one another always. We need to help those in need. There is so much going on in all over the world. You should always come first. Without you we are nothing. So please help us to do your work and show those the love we have with you in our lives. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen
I will recognize the needs of others, be compassionate and take action. Give me the eyes to see and the resources and ability to act.
Father God,
You are a Holy God. While we live under the New Covenant you have called us to live a life of worship, honoring the righteousness of Jesus through the power of your Holy Spirit.
Help me to live like that, Holy and Pure by your power.
Your word is consistent on the seriousness of sexual immorality. Help the Church to be bold in her doctrine on sexual morality especially in these dark days when the world needs your Light.
Help us to faithfully teach our Children to keep themselves pure of all sexual immorality and be on guard to protect them.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Heavenly Father,
You are the creator of all. Praise your Holy Name.
How am I to help others today? May I not rebel against your Holy Spirit.
May my mirror reflect you in all that I do and say.
Fill me Father with your Holy Spirit, enable me to accomplish your will in my life.
Today, Father, may your son be glorified.
For it is in His name I pray,
Amen
Amen. May my mirror reflect your love and kindness. May my acts reflect the fruits of the spirit. Help me to be a reflection of you! Thank you for your mercy and loving restoration when I fall short.
Please continue to heal those among us who are suffering and fighting the virus. Please continue to purge our land and community of this terrible virus. I call upon the King of King and Lord of Lords who has all power and ability to heal and ultimately be glorified!
Lord, help me be sensitive to others’ needs and to how you are working in their lives. Help me incorporate what you are doing in other peoples’ lives, when you want our plans to cross.
I have no idea who is writing these devotionals, but they are written well and are a blessing every day.
Lord, thank you for your Word. May I apply what what I read.
Lord you know. my heart is to give but out of our meager resources, people begin to think you must have much and begin to scam you and take advantage of. you.
Lord please help me discern who truly is in need.so I can continue. to be a blessing for your name sake Amen. Thank you also for all your blessings for truly you Lord give us back more than we can ever give in your service. Bless us all forgive us when we fall short and please help us to give even more than we get for your names sake Amen!!
We have changed our values but God has not. Think about that.