Should a Person Make Vows to the Lord?

Today's Reading:

• Deuteronomy 23:1 - 25:19
• Proverbs 12:12 - 14

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Deuteronomy 23:1 - 25:19
Chapters 23 - 25 of Deuteronomy outlined various miscellaneous laws for the people of Israel.  The laws covered the treatment of slaves, foreigners, widows and orphans.  There were many verses that commanded the people not to harvest every last morsel out of their fields.  Instead, they were to leave small amounts for others to find. Whereas society might ridicule the poor, the Lord looks after those less fortunate.

We saw more laws outlining what happens when a widow dies without an heir.  In that case the brother of the man who died is supposed to step in, marry her, and give her an heir.  I've read that many times over, but there was a part of it I hadn't read before.  Mainly it just struck me as funny, because in the US today this wouldn't be considered much of an insult, but I suppose it was serious at the time.  If the brother ultimately refuses to marry her, despite being talked to by the elders, this is what is to happen:

25:9  The widow must walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face.  Then she must declare, "This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother with children."

25:10  Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as 'the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off!'

 On a more serious note, the verses that spoke most strongly to me was 23:21 - 23.  In these verses the bible talks about making a vow to the Lord.  We are told that it is not a sin if we do not make a vow to the Lord.  However, if we make a vow to the Lord, we must be quick to fulfill that vow.  Any vow we make to the Lord is voluntary; He does not require us to make vows.  But should we make a voluntary vow, we shall be guilty of sin if we do not fulfill that vow. 

Have you ever made a vow to the Lord that you knew you might not keep?  Maybe it was in the form of, "I promise Lord that I will do better at this", "I promise Lord I won't do this again", "If you do this for me Lord, I promise that I will do this."  Be wary of making those promises.  Even if the thing you're promising is not to commit some sort of sin, should you fail you would then be committing more sins -- the sin of whatever it was you did, plus the sin of breaking a vow to the Lord.  That's food for thought, eh?


Proverbs 12:12 - 14

12  Thieves are jealous of each other's loot, but the godly are well rooted and bear their own fruit.

13  The wicked are trapped by their own words, but the godly escape such trouble.

14 Wise words bring many benefits, and hard work brings rewards.

Verse 12 talks about thievery.  Godly people are not thieves -- no matter how one might try to justify thievery, even "Robin Hood" situations, the bible clearly lets us know that thievery is in no way godly.  

Verse 13 isn't telling us that the godly escape the trouble of using wicked words.  Instead it is understood (or at least, this is what I understand) that the godly don't get themselves in a position to be trapped in the first place.  With all the verses about our words betraying our hearts and wicked people saying wicked things, the godly as set aside because they do not do as the wicked do.

Verse 14 talks about wise words and hard work.  As a contrast to wicked words that trap people, wise words bring reward.  Wise words are godly.  Another thing that is godly is hard work.  No where in the bible that I have read so far does it say that God will just up and bless people without them putting work into it.  I call this the "lottery syndrome".  "Well, God will provide for me, God will bless me, so therefore I just know I'm going to win this lottery drawing on Saturday!"  Yes, the Lord will always provide you with provision, but that doesn't mean riches.  Yes, the Lord will bless those who are faithful, wise, honest and hardworking.  But that doesn't mean you're going to be filthy rich, and it doesn't mean that you're going to realize that blessing here on Earth.  I'm not saying you won't realize it on Earth, but the bible does state the blessings that await in eternity for those who are faithful to Him.  While I enjoy being comfortable on this Earth, if I have to choose between the two, I choose abundant blessings for all of eternity.  This life, after all, is just the blink of an eye.

Jesus Sends an Additional 72 Disciples to Preach to the World

Today's Reading:

• Luke 9:51 - 10:12
• Psalm 74:1 - 23

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Luke 9:51 - 10:12
Here we read about how Jesus sent his disciples out to preach to the world.  I read about this in Matthew 10:5 - 15 and again in Mark 6:7 - 13.  There is one distinct difference in this account than the ones before -- here we are told that Jesus chose and sent 72 disciples out in pairs, instead of just the twelve.

Needless to say, I was a bit confused when I read this. I referenced back to the previous mentions in Matthew and Mark to confirm that, indeed, the only previous talk was of the twelve disciples.  So what is the difference here? 

I found my answer in the account in Matthew, when Jesus tells his twelve disciples:

"Don't go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel -- God's lost sheep"  -- 10:5-6

Jesus sent the 72 disciples out to "all the towns and places he planned to visit" (Luke 10:1).  So it seems that the first mission, the one to send out the twelve disciples, was targeted to the people of Israel.  This second mission, which is a separate occurrence from the first mission, was to spread the ministry ahead of Jesus to all the places he planned to visit.  These places included the territories of the Gentiles and the Samaritans. 

Jesus instructed the 72 in the same way he instructed the 12 -- they were to go without money, provisions, extra clothes, etc.  They were to stay in the same place the entire time, preach the good news, and heal the sick in the name of the Lord.  If a town refused them, they were to shake the dust of their feet and move on with a stern warning about the judgement that was to come.

As a side note, I love how I started off today's reading with the expectation that I was reading a third account of how Jesus sent out his twelve, yet in the end I learned something totally new.  You never know what is going to be housed in those few verses you read for a day.  This reading only consisted of 23 verses, yet I have a whole new understanding of this aspect of the ministry of Jesus.

Psalm 74:1 - 23
This was an interesting psalm to read in that it didn't quite follow any previous format or theme.  In this psalm, the writer (Asaph) reports the destruction of the temple and of all the places that the Lord was worshiped.

Asaph asks the Lord how long He will allow this destruction to go on and why the Lord was so angry against them?  He points out all the offenses of the enemy; how they burned down the temple, smashed everything with their axes, burnt down the places that God was worshiped and defiled the sanctuary.

Asaph tells the Lord to "Arise, O God, and defend your cause. Remember how these fools insult you all day long" (74:22).  Asaph does tell the Lord how he is his "king from ages past" (74:12), but I only see one brief reference to praise.  This occurs in 74:21: "Don't let the downtrodden by humilated again.  Instead, let the poor and needy praise your name."

I can't help but feel that this psalm is a bit haughty.  Asaph doesn't know why the Lord has rejected the people.  He tells the Lord to remember his people and remember his promises, and see the offenses occurring against him, yet Asaph offers very little praise to the Lord, and that praise seems conditional, like the people cannot praise the Lord in their current state.

The psalms of David are characterized by extreme faith in the Lord, no matter what is happening.  David also knew what to attribute his suffering to, and while he might have been desperate for the Lord to save him, he pleaded to the goodness of the Lord.  He showed his absolute faith no matter what.  He didn't tell the Lord to remember that the Lord appointed him king and save him (or at least not as far as I remember).

This psalm has been a very interesting and contrasting read, indeed!

Responsibility, Adultery, Rape and Liability in Deuteronomy

Today's Reading:

• Deuteronomy 21:1 - 22:30
• Proverbs 12:11

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Deuteronomy 21:1 - 22:30
Today's reading was a list of rules and regulations.  Some of them I do not recall reading before, but that doesn't mean they weren't there, just that I don't remember.  The rules covered many things,and I found many of them interesting, so I'm going to just jot down a list.

The first thing that caught my eye was in verses 21:1 - 21:9. These are instructions on what to do if a person is murdered and you do not know who did it.  In these situations the elders and priests must perform a ritual to cleanse the community from the guilt of murder.

What strikes me about this is that murder is a community sin.  Murder isn't the only community sin, however -- many of these punishments are designed to purge the sin or evil from the community.  I see that, at least according to the Old Testament, that God deals with people at the community level.  I don't know if there is ever a shift where the Lord deals with mainly individuals (since I haven't read much of the New Testament) , but from what I'm reading so far, the community/nation/etc that you belong to matters and can be judged as a whole.  God knows our individual hearts and we will be saved at death as long as we are faithful believers in Christ.  Since a community is composed of individuals, I suppose it would make sense to say that the heart of the community will reflect the majority of people in it, and for that reason the Lord can (and has) purged many entire communities from the land. 

Moving on to verse 22:22:

"If a man is discovered committing adultery, both he and the woman must die.  In this way, you will purge Israel of such evil."

This verse tells me that there isn't a  so-called "double standard"for adultery, in that women are unfairly judged while the men go free.  There are other verses in this chapter that reiterates the point, where both men and women are charged equally.

Verses 22:-25 - 27 talk about rape.  If a woman is raped, she is "as innocent as a murder victim."  I don't have much to say about this, except that the Lord considers the rape victim to be innocent. I have never been raped, but I imagine that many women who have struggle with realizing that they are victims.  Just know that in the eyes of the Lord, you have nothing to be ashamed of.

Verse 22:1 - 4 talks about responsibility.  If you see your neighbor's lost property then you must retrieve it and keep it safe until it is returned.  If you see your neighbors animals running away, you must alert your neighbor.  If you see your neighbor's animal collapsed on the side of the road, you must help your neighbor to get it back on it's feet. We have a responsibility to others in trouble, we are told not to look the other way.

There are many interesting verses in these chapters, but the last I will focus on is 22:8:

When you build a new house, you must build a railing around the edge of its flat roof.  That way you will not be considered guilty of murder if someone falls from the roof.

Even today, when we own property, we can be considered liable if something causes harm to another person while they are on our property.  In some cases it wouldn't matter if the person was on our property illegally, we could still be held liable.  This verse makes me think of the dangers of pools.  Many people have small pools set up in their yards, and every year there are stories of drownings.  In the most heart-wrenching of cases, these were pools owned by neighbors instead of the person who has the young child.

I have a three year old, I have refused to even put our pool up for the past two years because of his ability to get into anything, no matter where it is or the obstacles you place in front of it.  It doesn't matter, he can get into anything.  When we did have a pool up, we'd always remove the ladder so that no one could easily climb in.  That wouldn't ultimately inhibit a determined child like mine from getting into the pool, but it might at least defer them for awhile.  So please, if you have a pool, take some measures to keep neighborhood children out of it.  The same goes for any glaring hazard on your property.  

Proverbs 12:11

A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.

This verse made me laugh out loud, I guess because I wasn't expecting it to conclude with "has no sense."  I expected it to say something like, "goes hungry" instead.  Either way it's the truth, if you're going hungry because you're chasing fantasies, then you don't have any sense.

I don't think this verse discourages against having dreams.  But if you're chasing the next big thing, or spending all your money plus more on this idea you're sure is going to make you rich, then take a clue here.  There are people who strike it rich accidentally,  but for the rest of us, we work hard.  Work hard first, chase those other things with more hard work.  The Lord expects us to work hard, it is mentioned over and over again.  If you want to achieve your dreams, then work for it.  Don't expect it to just fall from the sky and land in your lap.

The Least Among us Are the Greatest; Welcoming the Children

Today's Reading:

• Luke 9:28 - 50
• Psalm 73:1 - 28

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Luke 9:28 - 50

"Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me.  Whoever is the least among you is the greatest."

This quote is verse 9:28 and is spoken by Jesus to his disciples.  The disciples had been arguing over who was the greatest disciple, and this was Jesus' response to their argument.  On the surface this verse seems to say (to me anyways) that those who welcome the children -- the innocent, the mold-able --  in the name of Jesus welcomes him.  Well, that most certainly would be true.

My study bible points out something more to this verse.  It says that in Jesus' day, children were viewed as their parent's property and had no social status within the community.  Hence children were being compared to the lowest and most vulnerable children in the community. 

Just like Jesus befriended the tax collectors and other people of lowly status in his time, so must we remember that the people we deem to be lowly -- prisoners, the homeless, people with addiction problems, people on welfare, people who are straight out disagreeable -- these are the people that Jesus wants us to reach.  It's a beautiful thing to be able to worship with Christians in church on Sunday, to hang out with them during the week, and to socialize with them.  Beyond that, however, we have to remember to show the love of Jesus to those we are most inclined to turn away from. 

Psalm 73:1 - 28
This is the first Psalm in the third book of Psalms.  It is a psalm of Asaph -- a person I do not yet know anything about.  The psalm speaks from the heart of a person who is trying to understand why the wicked prosper and the godly struggle. 

The writer of this psalm says that he used to envy the wicked and struggled not to abandon the Lord.  In the end, however, he realized that the destiny of those boastful, wealthy, wicked people was nothing but a path to destruction. 

This psalm was a great reminder that we are not alone in our struggles of remaining close to the Lord while the seemingly unworthy people prosper.  Let this psalm serve as a reminder that this is not just a problem of our day, and we are not the only ones to struggle with this.  The path of those who are wicked always leads to destruction -- always.  Our path leads to eternal life.  And to quote Jesus in verse 9:28 listed above: "Whoever is the least among you is the greatest."  The inverse to that implies that the seemingly greatest are the ones who are the least among us.

Witchcraft is Forbidden in Deuteronomy

Today's Reading:

• Deuteronomy 18:1 - 20:20
• Proverbs 12:10

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Deuteronomy 18:1 - 20:20
Moses instructs the people of Israel on a variety of topics today.  These topics range from the Levites, to cities of refuge, to judgement and punishment of people's crimes, to prophecy and witchcraft.  The part I want to focus on is in Chapter 18, verses 10 & 11:

Do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead.

What I find most interesting about verses like these is the confirmation that things such as witchcraft, sorcery, and communicating with the dead certainly exist.  I recall how shocked I was, when reading the story of the Exodus from Egypt, of how the Pharaoh's sorcerers were able to perform many of the things Moses had done (though to a much lessor extent) using magic.

I am finding that being a Christian and truly studying the Word of God shows that there is more to the spiritual world than many people believe there is.  In the New Testament we are told of the casting out of demons and sickness.  In the Old Testament we are told of sorcery and of communication with the dead.  And that's just the parts of the bible that I've studied, which is only 1/4 of the bible.  I can't even imagine all that I will learn by the time I am done with this first thorough study of the bible.

Proverbs 12:10

The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.

This is a seemingly odd verse out, and at the moment I'm not sure how to interpret it right it this second.  As visions of puppies and kittens are dancing in my head, I have to first stop and realize that the bible is likely referring to livestock in this case -- aka, work animals -- not fuzzy little kittens.

This verse is also hard for me to interpret when I apply the definition of a "wicked" person as being a person without salvation.  But from my studies of the bible so far, I see being wicked as being more of a condition of the heart.  If your heart is wicked -- if you long to spite people, cause trouble, speak rudely to those around you, spread mischief and rumors, hurt others, etc -- then I can't imagine that you'd treat your work animals very well either. 

So when I take this verse under the conditions that (1) animals == work animals and (2) wicked == a condition of the heart; then the verse finally makes more sense to me.

Conclusion
I am 1/4 of the way through this bible study!  I have complete read: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Matthew, and Mark.  I am currently studying Deuteronomy, Luke, Psalms and Proverbs.  I have learned and questioned so mch around me.  I have opened up spiritually in ways I have not before.  In short, this experience is fulfilling.  It's enlightening.  It's outstanding.  It's life changing.