PM March 9th Deuteronomy 16

March 9^th Deuteronomy 16

Three Festivals each year

1: Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. 2: Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there. 3: Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. 4: And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. 5: Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: 6: But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. 7: And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. 8: Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein. 9: Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. 10: And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: 11: And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there. 12: And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. 13: Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: 14: And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. 15: Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. 16: Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: 17: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.

Judges and officers appointed

18: Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19: Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. 20: That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 21: Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. 22: Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

Deuteronomy 17

1: Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God. 2: If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 3: And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 4: And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 5: Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. 6: At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7: The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you. 8: If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; 9: And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: 10: And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: 11: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12: And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. 13: And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

The Future King

14: When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15: Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. 16: But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17: Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 18: And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: 20: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

Deuteronomy 18 The Priest’s and Levites share

1: The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance. 2: Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. 3: And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. 4: The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. 5: For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever. 6: And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose; 7: Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD. 8: They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.

Forbidden practises

9: When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10: There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11: Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12: For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. 13: Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 14: For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

The Future Prophet

15: The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16: According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17: And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18: I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20: But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21: And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22: When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

In the next three chapters the Lord specifies the three festivals that the children of Israel are obliged to attend. Then the Lord speaks regarding the judges and officers of Israel. Then we have an interesting set of passages which talk abot the coming king and the coming prophets and in between them he speaks of the priests and Levites share and certain forbidden practises. The first obligatory festival is the Passover in the first month Abib. This was a celebration of Israels escape from Egypt. This festival is characterised by seven days of eating unleaven bread. The Passover was to be a lamb roasted and completely eaten on the last night of Passover. Seven weeks later the next festival is the feat of weeks or Pentecost. This is to be a glad celebration of their entering into covenant at Sinai. The third festival was the feast of Tabernacles. This lasted for seven days; it is a celebration of God provision in harvest. At all these times the people are to bring the increase of their goods as a tithe to the Lord. Next the Lord ordains that Judges and officers are to be appointed to sit in the gates of the city to judge every case brought before the Lord. Their judgment is to be honest and without bribes. Then the Lord explains the ministry ofg these judges. They are to judge Israel on behalf of the Lord. First, Israel is not to allow any place to be set up to worship the Lord apart from that which he has specified. Nor are they to bring faulty sacrifice before the Lord. If men do this sin they are to be brought before the Lord and at the mouth of two witnesses to be stoned to death. Other difficult cases are to be brought to the priest and anyone questioning their judgment is also to be executed. In the next passage the Lord gives a strong warning to Israel not to take a king to rule over them. And even if they did it must never be a heathen king but one of their brethren. This king is likely to amass great wealth and marry many wives who will turn his heart away from the Lord. He is not to amass great wealth. The priest are to write a copy of the law of the Lord for him to read all his days. Through it he will learn to fear the Lord all his life so that he does not get an over inflated idea of his own importance. In this way he will live long and his children. Then the Lord talks about the priests and levites. They will have no inheritance of land but live to serve the Lord. Then the Lord gives a very severe warning regarding practises that are totally forbidden by Israel. They are, No one is to sacrifice his children, or to use divination, or to be an observer of times, or enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. All of these things are totally forbidden they are the evil stench of a rotting corpse. These are the very things that caused the Lord drove out the enemies of Israel from the Promised Land. Lastly the Lord speaks of the prophet that the Lord was going to send to Israel. (Christ) He will be like his brethren (in his humanity) but like me (in his diety). The children of Israel are to listen to him. He will only speak the words he hears from the Lord. Any man who pretends to speak in the name of the Lord is to be executed. Those who are pretend prophets are those whose prophecies do not come true in due course. No-one is to be afraid of them.

• What are the three festivals that Israel are to keep?
• What are the forbidden practices that the Lord bans in Israel?
• Who is the future prophet?