Bible in one year 5/6/2022 Deuteronomy chapter 11-15
By
Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce
Christian
Arts Ministries; Biblical precepts & Gospel music; Pastoral ministry &
Counseling
Deuteronomy Chapter 11 The call to
commitment
Love the Lord your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws and His commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: His majesty, His mighty hand, His outstretched arm; (vv.1-2). A vivid figure of protection. Moses was particularly reminding those who were under twenty years old at the time of the Exodus of the great miracles they witnessed in connection with their flight from Egypt (v.7). irrigated it by foot (vv.10-11), Agriculture in Egypt was dependent on irrigation; the reference may be to waterwheels turned by the feet or to turning the water into small channels with the foot. By contrast, Palestine is watered by rain. The early rain fell in autumn (Sept.-Oct.), and the late rain in the spring (Mar.-Apr.). The Lord requests Israelites faithfully obey the commands and not to worship other gods nor bow down to idols. Fix His Words in their hearts and minds, tie them as symbols on their hands and bind them on their foreheads, write them on the doorframes of their houses and gates.(vv.16-20).
The choice between blessing
and cursing (vv.26-28) was dramatized by relating it to the cleavage between
two mountains in the central part of Palestine that rise about three thousand
feet on either side of Shechem: Mt. Gerizim (which stood for blessing) and
Mt. Ebal (which stood for cursing). This is elaborated on in Deut.27.
Deuteronomy Chapter12 The Command
Concerning the Central Sanctuary
The Lord instructed Israelites as long as they live in the
land, destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills,
break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and bun their Asherah poles
in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from
those place. (vv.1-3) All vestiges of idolatry must be destroyed throughout the
land. In contrast to heathen worship at various sites
throughout the land, the worship of the Lord (Yahweh) was to be centered in the
place of His designation. Gilgal, Bethel
and Shiloh were temporary centers before the Temple was built in Jerusalem.
Today worship in centered in the Word ( Christ) who became flesh.
Burnt offerings (v.6) refer to Lev.1:3. Tithes
refer to Lev.27:30. Special gifts (Lev.7:32). What you have vowed (Lev.7:12-17)
The Lord will choose as a dwelling for His name there Isaelites are to bring
everything : burnt offerings and sacrifices, tithes, special gifts and all the
choice possessions that they vowed to the Lord. Family feasts could, of course,
be held at home. Meat was not prominent in the diet of most Israelites. Two reasons for them not to eat the blood
(Lev.17:11; Gen.9:4), for the life of a creature is in the blood, and it is the
means by which atonement for sins is made. It is the blood that makes atonement
for one’s life.(v.11).
The tithe had to be taken to the central
sanctuary. This referred to what was known as the second tithe (Mal.3:8 and
further elaboration of this command in 14:22-29). The Israelites were not
even to inquire about the worship of the Canaanites, lest they be tempted to
incorporate aspects of it into their worship of God ( a similar admonition in
Rom.16:19).
Deuteronomy
Chapter 13 Commands Concerning False Prophets
The Lord instructed Israelites that If
a prophet or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to
you a miraculous sign or wonder, and says, “ Let us follow other gods”, they
must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer (vv.1-3). The sign or
wonder. I.e., a prediction concerning the future. Note that a false prophet’s
prediction might very well come to pas. The determination of whether he was a
true or false prophet was not made on this basis, but on whether or not he led
the people away from God. The success of false prophets was permitted in order
test God’s people (v.3). A person who enticed another to idolatry was subject
to capital punishment.(v.9). If a city was enticed to idolatry by wicked men,
then it was to be completely destroyed. God places first priority on undivided
loyalty to Himself. (vv.13-18).
Deuteronomy
14 Commands Concerning Food and Tithes
Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead. (v.1), these signs of mourning for the dead, which
were practiced by the Canaanites as an acknowledgement of the divinity of the
dead person, were strictly forbidden to God’s people (Lev.19:27-28; Jer.16:6).
The animals they may eat : the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, and the
gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain
sheep. But chew the cud or that have a split hoof completely divided they may
not eat the camel, the rabbit or the coney and the pig. All the creatures
living in the water, they may eat any that has fins and scales. Any clean
birds, but not eat eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, the
black kite, any kind of falcon, raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the
gull, hawk..(vv.3-21).
The Lord commands concerning tithes, “be sure
to set aside a tenth of all that their fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your
grain, new wine, and oil and the first born of herds and flocks in the presence
of the Lord their God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His name,
so that they may learn to revere the Lord.” (vv.22-27) This command was
considered by Jewish interpreters to be for a second tithe (Lev.27:30 and
Num18:21 for the first; also Mal.3:8), which was brought to the central
sanctuary either in kind or in money. Apparently the offerer could use a part
of this tithe for a feast at the sanctuary (vv.26-27). Every third year, the
second tithe was not brought to the sanctuary but kept at home and used to feed
the Levites and the poor. (vv.28-29).
Deuteronomy
Chapter 15 Commands concerning the Sabbath Year- every seven years must cancel debts. Concerning a poor and needy brother.
Every seventh year, there was to be an unconditional
remission of the debts of fellow Israelites. Foreigners still had to pay, for
unlike sojourners, who were permanent members of the community, foreigners were
temporary, commercial visitors. These regulations helped keep poverty out of
the nation. (vv.1-6). “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the
land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted
toward your poor brother. Rather be open handed and freely lend him whatever he
needs. ( v.7-8). It was a sin to refuse to help the poor just
because the seventh year was at hand when the debt would be canceled. (v.9). The
Lord commands Israelites to give generously to the poor and needy in their land.(vv.10-11).
Firstborn
of the animals belonged to the Lord (vv.19-22); however, to be accepted they
had to be without blemish (Ex.22:29; Num.18:17-18; Mal.1:8)
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Old
Testament (NIV) Deuteronomy Chapter 11-15
Chapter
11 Love and Obey the Lord
11:1 Love the LORD
your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands
always.
11:2 Remember today
that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of
the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;
11:3 the signs he
performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of
Egypt and to his whole country;
11:4 what he did to
the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the
waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought
lasting ruin on them.
11:5 It was not your
children who saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived at this
place,
11:6 and what he did
to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its
mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their
households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them.
11:7 But it was your
own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done.
11:8 Observe therefore
all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go
in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
11:9 and so that you
may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your forefathers to give to
them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
11:10 The land you are
entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come,
where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden.
11:11 But the land you
are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys
that drinks rain from heaven.
11:12 It is a land the
LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it
from the beginning of the year to its end.
11:13 So if you
faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God
and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul--
11:14 then I will send
rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may
gather in your grain, new wine and oil.
11:15 I will provide
grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
11:16 Be careful, or
you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.
11:17 Then the LORD'S
anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not
rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the
good land the LORD is giving you.
11:18 Fix these words
of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind
them on your foreheads.
11:19 Teach them to your
children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up.
11:20 Write them on
the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,
11:21 so that your
days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore
to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the
earth.
11:22 If you carefully
observe all these commands I am giving you to follow--to love the LORD your
God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him--
11:23 then the LORD
will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations
larger and stronger than you.
11:24 Every place
where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the
desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea.
11:25 No man will be
able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the
terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.
11:26 See, I am
setting before you today a blessing and a curse--
11:27 the blessing if
you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today;
11:28 the curse if you
disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command
you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
and on Mount Ebal the curses.
11:30 As you know,
these mountains are across the Jordan, west of the road, toward the setting
sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living
in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.
11:31 You are about to
cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the LORD your God is
giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there,
11:32 be sure that you
obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.
Chapter 12 The One Place of Worship
12:1 These are the
decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the
God of your fathers, has given you to possess--as long as you live in the land.
12:2 Destroy
completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under
every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their
gods.
12:3 Break down their
altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut
down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.
12:4 You must not
worship the LORD your God in their way.
12:5 But you are to
seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put
his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go;
12:6 there bring your
burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have
vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and
flocks.
12:7 There, in the
presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall
rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has
blessed you.
12:8 You are not to do
as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit,
12:9 since you have
not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is
giving you.
12:10 But you will cross
the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an
inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that
you will live in safety.
12:11 Then to the
place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name--there you are
to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your
tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the
LORD.
12:12 And there
rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your sons and daughters, your
menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns, who have no
allotment or inheritance of their own.
12:13 Be careful not
to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please.
12:14 Offer them only
at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe
everything I command you.
12:15 Nevertheless,
you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat
as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the LORD
your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
12:16 But you must not
eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
12:17 You must not eat
in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and oil, or the
firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your
freewill offerings or special gifts.
12:18 Instead, you are
to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God
will choose--you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants,
and the Levites from your towns--and you are to rejoice before the LORD your
God in everything you put your hand to.
12:19 Be careful not
to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.
12:20 When the LORD
your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and
say, "I would like some meat," then you may eat as much of it as you
want.
12:21 If the place
where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you
may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I
have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you
want.
12:22 Eat them as you
would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat.
12:23 But be sure you
do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the
life with the meat.
12:24 You must not eat
the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
12:25 Do not eat it,
so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will
be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
12:26 But take your
consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the
LORD will choose.
12:27 Present your
burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God, both the meat and the blood.
The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the LORD your
God, but you may eat the meat.
12:28 Be careful to
obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with
you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and
right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
12:29 The LORD your
God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess.
But when you have driven them out and settled in their land,
12:30 and after they
have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring
about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will
do the same."
12:31 You must not
worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they
do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and
daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
12:32 See that you do
all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
Chapter 13 Worshiping Other Gods
13:1 If a prophet, or
one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a
miraculous sign or wonder,
13:2 and if the sign
or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow
other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them,"
13:3 you must not
listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing
you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your
soul.
13:4 It is the LORD
your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey
him; serve him and hold fast to him.
13:5 That prophet or
dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD
your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of
slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you
to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
13:6 If your very own
brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend
secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods"
(gods that neither you nor your fathers have known,
13:7 gods of the
peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the
other),
13:8 do not yield to
him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him.
13:9 You must
certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to
death, and then the hands of all the people.
13:10 Stone him to death,
because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out
of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
13:11 Then all Israel
will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.
13:12 If you hear it
said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in
13:13 that wicked men
have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying,
"Let us go and worship other gods" (gods you have not known),
13:14 then you must
inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been
proved that this detestable thing has been done among you,
13:15 you must
certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely,
both its people and its livestock.
13:16 Gather all the
plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn
the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It
is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt.
13:17 None of those
condemned things shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from
his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase
your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers,
13:18 because you obey
the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and
doing what is right in his eyes.
Chapter 14 Clean and Unclean Food
14:1 You are the
children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your
heads for the dead,
14:2 for you are a
people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the
earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
14:3 Do not eat any
detestable thing.
14:4 These are the
animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
14:5 the deer, the
gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain
sheep.
14:6 You may eat any
animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud.
14:7 However, of those
that chew the cud or that have a split hoof completely divided you may not eat
the camel, the rabbit or the coney. Although they chew the cud, they do not
have a split hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you.
14:8 The pig is also
unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to
eat their meat or touch their carcasses.
14:9 Of all the
creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales.
14:10 But anything
that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.
14:11 You may eat any
clean bird.
14:12 But these you
may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,
14:13 the red kite,
the black kite, any kind of falcon,
14:14 any kind of
raven,
14:15 the horned owl,
the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,
14:16 the little owl,
the great owl, the white owl,
14:17 the desert owl,
the osprey, the cormorant,
14:18 the stork, any
kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
14:19 All flying
insects that swarm are unclean to you; do not eat them.
14:20 But any winged
creature that is clean you may eat.
14:21 Do not eat
anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of
your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a
people holy to the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's
milk.
Tithes
14:22 Be sure to set
aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
14:23 Eat the tithe of
your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the
presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his
Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
14:24 But if that
place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot
carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name
is so far away),
14:25 then exchange
your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the
LORD your God will choose.
14:26 Use the silver
to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or
anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence
of the LORD your God and rejoice.
14:27 And do not
neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or
inheritance of their own.
14:28 At the end of
every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in
your towns,
14:29 so that the
Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the
fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be
satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your
hands.
Chapter 15 The Year for Canceling Debts
15:1 At the end of
every seven years you must cancel debts.
15:2 This is how it is
to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow
Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother,
because the LORD'S time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.
15:3 You may require
payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you.
15:4 However, there
should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to
possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,
15:5 if only you fully
obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving
you today.
15:6 For the LORD your
God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but
will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over
you.
15:7 If there is a
poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your
God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor
brother.
15:8 Rather be
openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.
15:9 Be careful not to
harbor this wicked thought: "The seventh year, the year for canceling
debts, is near," so that you do not show ill will toward your needy
brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and
you will be found guilty of sin.
15:10 Give generously
to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your
God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
15:11 There will
always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded
toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.
Freeing Servants
15:12 If a fellow
Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the
seventh year you must let him go free.
15:13 And when you
release him, do not send him away empty-handed.
15:14 Supply him
liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him
as the LORD your God has blessed you.
15:15 Remember that
you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give
you this command today.
15:16 But if your
servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves
you and your family and is well off with you,
15:17 then take an awl
and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant
for life. Do the same for your maidservant.
15:18 Do not consider
it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you these six
years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the LORD your
God will bless you in everything you do.
The Firstborn Animals
15:19 Set apart for
the LORD your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the
firstborn of your oxen to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.
15:20 Each year you
and your family are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the
place he will choose.
15:21 If an animal has
a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it
to the LORD your God.
15:22 You are to eat
it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it,
as if it were gazelle or deer.
15:23 But you must not
eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
Bibliography,
Ryrie, Charles C. The
Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986
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