Day #75

Sermon - Audio
Deut 14-16 - Audio
Deut 14-16 - Daily Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment



14

v1-2 - The people of Israel are "sons" the God. The people of Israel were to "be separated" for God's story. The pagan gods of that day in the ancient Near East required people to shave their heads when in mourning, therefore Israel was forbidden in this.

His continuing story:

1 Peter 2:9-10 - "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

v3-21 - The word “kosher” is never used in the Bible in reference to food. Nor is there in the Torah a comprehensive set of rules, similar to the later rabbinic system of kashrut, which covers permitted and nonpermitted foods, combinations of foods, means of preparation, rules for slaughter, etc. Deuteronomy nevertheless begins to build toward such a system. In contrast to Priestly law (Lev. ch 11), it brings together a list of creatures that may or may not be eaten (v. 3–20), which it combines with laws implicitly concerned with slaughter and food preparation (v. 21). Deuteronomy’s dietary restrictions abridge and revise the more detailed list of permitted and prohibited foods provided by the Priestly source (Lev. 11:2–23) Among these animals, they fall into one of three categories: predators (unclean because they ate both the flesh and the blood of animals), scavengers (unclean because they were carriers of disease, and they regularly contacted dead bodies), or potentially poisonous or dangerous foods such as shellfish and the like. Eliminating these from the diet of Israel no doubt had a healthy effect, and one of the reasons for the dietary laws of Israel was to keep Israel healthy! Observant Jews today will not eat milk and meat at the same meal (or even on the same plates with the same utensils cooked in the same pots), because the rabbis insist that the meat in the hamburger may have come from the calf of the cow that gave the milk for the cheese, and the cheese and the meat would “boil” together in one’s stomach, and be a violation of this command. (JSB)

22-29 - Tithing

23 - "fear the LORD" - By tithing to God you were putting His plans and commandments ahead of your ways. You are basically putting your money where your heart is. This was a sign of reverence to God. The journey for this tithing was sometimes very long, so people were allowed to exchange their items for money and give the money to the temple as their tithe.

28 - Every 3rd Year Tithe - This tithe could have been an additional tithe, but many believe that it was the same tithe that was just used for other purposes each third year (poor, Levites, etc.).

The tithe was a way that the people of Israel could show their reverence and care for God and the things that God cared for. Today tithing is not much different. One of the ways in which we show our heartbeat is through our giving. Does our money display that we long for the things that God longs for?

15

At the end of 7 years there would be a cancellation of all debts among God's people. God does not want there to be anyone who is poor among them and gives them a call to be generous. However, we see that God also knows that people will be poor because men won't heed His advice.

7-11 - We are evil people, so our hearts are naturally bent toward looking after ourselves. This is why God makes a command to be open-handed to the poor no matter the year, time, and date. The 7th year law may discourage people from lending money, because the people won't have time to repay it and their debt will be canceled before being paid back. We see this idea of being open-handed throughout the NT. In Gal 6 Paul states that we should be generous and "do good" every opportunity we have.

12-15 - Part of the idea of the releasing of the slaves (or indentured servants) is that the people must remember that they were once slaves in Egypt, and that the LORD has set them free. Not only did these people get released, but they also were given things to restart their life with.

16 - A servant that wanted to stay with his master would have his ear pierced to with an awl at the door of his master's home. This showed his love and devotion to his master. It was a sign of permanent ownership.

19 - we've discussed this previously = Firstborn is usually seen as the "best." Israel is God's "firstborn."

19-23 - Giving the firstborn is an expression of thanks and trust that more animals are to come. The animal is to be eaten in the central place (before the LORD; Deut. 15:20). However, the animal must be unblemished, like any sacrificial animal (e.g., Lev. 1:3). If blemished in any way, it is to be eaten for a normal, non-sacrificial meal (ESVSB)

16

v1 - Abib relates to March/April on our calendar. Jesus' crucifixion was at Passover. Jesus is also the final Passover Lamb given.

Spring Feasts

1. Passover (Pesach). Leviticus 23:5 specifies that the festival year
begins with Passover on "the fourteenth day of the first month"
(Nisan 15). Passover is the Feast of Salvation. In both testaments,
the blood of the Lamb delivers from slavery – the Jew from Egypt,
the Christian from sin. Think about the tenth plague in Exodus 12:5
when Egypt's first born sons died while the angel of death "passed
over" the Jewish homes with the blood of the lamb on their door
posts. In the B'rit Chadashah, Jesus serves as the sacrificial lamb. It
is no coincidence that our Lord Himself was sacrificed on Passover.
In Egypt the Jew marked his house with the blood of the lamb.
Today the Christian marks his house – his body, "the house of the
spirit" with the blood of Christ. Passover, then, represents our
salvation.

2. Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMotzi). Leviticus 23:6 puts the second
feast on the next night: "On the fifteenth day of the same month is the
Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat
unleavened bread." Leaven or yeast in the Bible symbolized sin and evil.
Unleavened bread, eaten over a period of time, symbolized a holy walk,
as with the Lord. Unleavened bread, in the B'rit Chadashah [New
Testament] is, of course, the body of our Lord. He is described as "the
Bread of Life" (Lechem haChayim). He was born in Bethlehem, which, in
Hebrew, means, "House of Bread" (Bet Lechem).
Look at the matzah and see that it is striped: "By His stripes we are
healed"; pierced: "They shall look upon me whom they've pierced," and
pure, without any leaven, as His body was without any sin. And the
Passover custom of burying, hiding and then resurrecting the second of
three pieces of matzot (the middle piece), presents the Gospel
(Afikomen).

3. First Fruits (Yom Habikkurim). "On the morrow after the Sabbath"
following Unleavened Bread, Leviticus 23:11 schedules First Fruits, the
feast for acknowledging the fertility of the land He gave the Israelites. They
were to bring the early crops of their spring planting and "wave the sheaf
before the Lord." The modern church has come to call this feast "Easter,"
named after Ishtar, the pagan goddess of fertility. We continue to revere
objects of fertility such as the rabbit and the egg, but the First Fruits
celebration was to be over God's replanting of the earth in the spring.
Today this feasts celebrates the resurrection of the Lord on First Fruits,
which indeed occurred (plus, eventually, the resurrection of the entire
Church!)

4. Pentecost (Shavu'ot). Leviticus 23:16 says, "Even unto the morrow
after the seventh sabbath shell ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a
new meat offering unto the Lord." In late May or early June, Shavu'ot
marked the summer harvest. Leviticus 23:17 requires an offering of two
loaves of bread, baked with leaven. These loaves symbolize the church
being comprised of both Jew and Gentile.

v18 - The appointment of judges in towns for judicial purposes recognizes the size of the population and the spread of the land (cf. 1:9–18) (ESVSB)

v21-22 - The Asherah and pillar were Canaanite worship items. Once again, God doesn't care too much for idol worship.