SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 25 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. [Deuteronomy 25:1] The Law of Moses gave Israel a social order and justice system. Throughout the Law, the concern for justice and mercy is evident (in some…
Category: daily meditations
the heart of the Law
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 24 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. [Deuteronomy 24:19] This chapter addresses justice and mercy…
cleanness and kindness
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 23 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you. [Deuteronomy 23:14] God hates sin, immorality, moral impurity and perversity. To reinforce God’s…
specific stuff and heart issues
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 22 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, ‘I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,’ then the girl’s father and mother shall bring proof that she was…
i don’t like this chapter
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 21 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: “Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.” [Deuteronomy 21:21] I am having a tough time connecting this passage to Jesus. The part about marrying the foreign woman, then putting her away…
clinging to God through hard passages
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 20 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: “When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you…. For the LORD your God is the one who goes with…
mercy trumps justice
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 19 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: “Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” [Deuteronomy 19:21] In this passage on justice, we see the principle of equitable retaliation. This idea was also found in other cultures at the time. It was a way to promote good order and punish…
the one to listen to
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 18 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: “The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. [Deuteronomy 18:14-15]…
His words close to my heart
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 17 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: “When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he…
a feast for the soul
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 16 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: “For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.” [Deuteronomy 16:15] The Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths, or…