Deuteronomy 16-17

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Deuteronomy 16:1-22

“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 any thing 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. 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 [bribe]: 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.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED604]

“I pray some of you have read ahead, that would be wonderful if you develop that habit of reading ahead, some of you read ahead, some of you, five, we’re up, I’m an optimist, if you read ahead in these chapters. Chapter 16 in Deuteronomy we come to three mandatory Feasts that are outlined by the LORD [they really represent three Feast Seasons, especially as Tabernacles encompasses the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles], the Feast of Passover, combined with Unleavened Bread [7 days], the Feast of Pentecost, called the Feast of Weeks here, the Septuagint translation, the Greek translation of the Old Testament that called it Pentecost, this Feast, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Those three Feasts were mandatory for all the Jewish [Hebrew, all 12 tribes, of which Judah is only one tribe] males were to come to Jerusalem. Often families and children were brought along. For you and I they are notable because they are a reminder certainly of our redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. [The Feaasts also picture, prophetically, the whole of Plan of God’s Salvation for mankind (see https://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm ).] The Feast of Pentecost, the reminder that we can’t do any of this on our own strength but only through the filling of God’s Holy Spirit, what makes us what we are in our endeavor to lead a Christian life. To do that without God’s Spirit is an exercise in futility. And the Feast of Tabernacles [which in this listing of it, represents the whole Fall Holy Day Season, including the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles (see https://unityinchrist.com/E-Mails/June%2014/FallHolyDays-short.htm )], this pilgrimage we’re on, as he did for ancient Israel, that he will provide for us along the way, that we will hopefully teach our children of his faithfulness, and of his provision, his keeping. So, interesting to look at these three Feasts [Feast seasons] brought before us here in chapter 16.

The Feast of Passover & Days of Unleavened Bread

“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.” (verse 1) In time Rosh Hashanah, which is in the Fall, would become the New Years Day in their civil year, but Passover, the 14^th of Nisan [observed at sundown at the ending of the 13^th Nisan], the month of Abib it says here, was always the beginning of their religious or spiritual year. It was the Feast of Feasts as it were. It was pre-Law, this Feast was pre-Levitical, it was given before the other Feasts, it was a memorial Feast of the night they had come out of Egypt, and their calendar began with this Feast of Redemption. What a wonderful thing each year, their spiritual year began with the blood of the lamb, and everything else hinged off of that, it was the beginning of the year for them, redemption was the beginning of everything. Certainly it is for us too, it isn’t the life of the lamb that gave them freedom from bondage, it was the death of the lamb [as it is for us (see https://unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm )]. The Church [greater Body of Christ] is a little confused about that these days, somehow, I’m always amazed, yes, Christ certainly is our example, but there isn’t any way we can emulate that example until we’re first saved and filled with his Spirit, the beginning of all of this is the death of the Lamb, not the life of the Lamb, it’s the death of Jesus Christ, our being washed in his blood, Redemption is the center of everything in the Church. And then from there, certainly much exhortation to the way we should live and what we should accomplish on his behalf as we’re here. But this Feast. It says “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.” (verse 2) Now they hadn’t celebrated the Passover, it seems, since Kadesh-barnea, for 38 years in the wilderness wandering they hadn’t celebrated the Passover. When they finally cross over and come into Canaan they will celebrate the Passover. And for many of these people, it will be the first time, probably for most of them. So, remarkable, God is now challenging them, ‘This is what you do when you come into the land, you’ll take of your flock and so forth.’ “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.” (verse 3) So certainly the Feast, a memorial, explaining to the children, you go back to Exodus 12, 13, 14 it takes you through all of that, explain to your children why the bread is unleavened, why the bitter herbs, why the salty water and so forth [all symbols during the Jewish Passover observances from 70AD onward], and God the Master-teacher giving them this Feast, and it’s a Feast of Remembrance. Jesus of course would say ‘Henceforth when you do this, do this in remembrance of me,’ he would fulfill all of that. We have a Memorial Feast, our memorial Feast is the Lord’s Table, when he says ‘As often as you break this bread and drink this cup, you show forth the Lord’s death, until he comes’ the 2^nd coming of Christ an important part of that. [Comment: Sunday-observing Christians observe this ‘Communion’ service multiple times during the year, whereas the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God, following the custom as handed down to them from Christ to the apostle John, who handed it down to Polycarp, and then on to Policrates, observe the Christian Passover once a year on the 14^th of Nisan (see https://unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1.htm ).] So for us, the Eucharist or the giving of thanks, it’s the center of everything for us [as Passover on the 14^th Nisan is for the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God]. Imagine, now this is their New Year’s celebration, imagine if every New Year’s in the United States, all over the country, in the White House, everywhere, everybody stopped and took Communion. It would be wonderful to know the whole United States, at New Year’s Eve instead of watching the Ball drop, that they were somewhere together praying, instead of singing Old Langsyne we could sing Amazing Grace, All Hail The Power of Jesus Name, let angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadem, crown him Lord of all,’ I’d stay up till midnight then. [As we get older, Joe, we go to bed much earlier 😊], you know, I’d stay up to watch the Ball drop, that would be exciting, imagine if our New Year’s every year we remembered that all of the blessings of God are given to us. That was the privilege that God handed to this nation, they are to begin their year that way, God is encouraging them, when they come into the land, they’re to take these things and make them central in all that they do. “And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.” they were to eat the lamb, “Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: 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.” (verses 4-6) So he didn’t want them sacrificing in all different places, the Tabernacle would be central there at Gilgal and so forth, Bethel, and then Shiloh, they were to worship there, and finally Jerusalem, he wanted a central place where they would come and sacrifice. So he says you’re not to eat this in your own place, “but at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose” verse 7 says “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.” So a national holiday, mandatory Feast, “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.” (verse 8) [For what Unleavened Bread symbolizes see https://unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/beholdeatwalk.html and https://unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Leaven.htm ] And what a challenge for us, when we come together and partake of the Lord’s supper, I just think of all of the things he could have set before us, for us to remember him, I mean, miracles that he did, the rebuking of the wind and the sea, the transfiguration, the resurrection, think of all of the remarkable things attached to his life. But he said, it’s this thing I want you to do in remembrance of me, I want you to remember that my body was broken, and my blood was shed, and that there’s a Covenant, and when I died on the cross the work was done, and your sins were paid for, I want you to do this in remembrance of me. Certainly it says we should examine ourselves, we shouldn’t take it lightly or take it in vain, we should make sure our hearts are right [good way to do that is go through this study at: https://unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm ]. But it’s about remembering what he’s accomplished on our behalf, and how wonderful, if we fail, if we make mistakes, that if we confess our sins he’s faithful and just to forgive us, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a great Feast for you and I, and what a Feast for the nation, certainly.

The Feast of Weeks, Pentecost

He comes down, verse 9, to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost [for a complete Biblical explanation for the prophetic-symbolic meaning of Pentecost, see https://unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Feast%20of%20Weeks.htm ]. He says “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.” (verse 9) Now what it was is they would, Jesus died of course on Passover, then on the first day after the Sabbath, which was Sunday, that’s when the Feast of Firstfruits started, and the priest would go into the Temple and he would wave a shock of gain, and that was [marked the beginning] of the Feast of Firstfruits, looking forward to the harvest that would come, from seven weeks after that, 50 days all told. And Jesus dies on the Passover [either 30 or 31 AD, which for those two years, amazingly enough, was on a Wednesday], he rises on the first day [36 hours, or exactly three days and three nights from when he went into the tomb, which was around sundown that Saturday, that’s when Jesus arose from the dead, not on Sunday morning as most believe] when the sheaf is being waved, looking forward to the greater harvest. Then 50 days later [always falling on a Sunday] on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit falls on the 120, and the Church begins, 3,000 people are gathered in during Peter’s sermon, it’s the Feast of Ingathering, all of that pictured there. This Feast of Pentecost laid out the way it is, in great detail, and there’s beautiful things about it [be sure to read that study linked above], it’s the only Feast where there was leavened bread, they were to bake two loaves, and the loaves were to be leavened. In all of their other sacrifices it was to be unleavened, it’s an interesting picture of God’s people, not perfect yet, forgiven, filled with the Spirit, but we look forward to that day when this corruption puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality. So you have this interesting Feast established, and what it really is doing, it’s setting the stage for Peter’s sermon, making sure that Jews are there from all over the known world, as Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost. And it says that then they went, Parthians, Medes, and so forth, they were scattered as it were, like seed back to their own countries. And then Paul in his missionary journeys, whenever they came to different places they found groups of disciples, they found people there that believed, they found the Word already spreading. So, God in a very interesting way sets this mandatory Feast, knowing that it will set the stage for Peter to stand up on the day of Pentecost, the Church being born that day [which the Feast of Pentecost prophetically pictures anyway] officially, those filled with the Spirit, Peter preaching and thousands coming to Christ. So we have this second Feast that’s mandatory. “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. 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:” they’re to come, they’re to give willingly, “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.” they’re to rejoice, it’s to be a time of rejoicing, “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.” (verses 9-12) [the Holy Days are statutes, as stated here by God.] So again, throughout here, this commandment of the LORD that they should rejoice when they come together in these mandatory Feasts, it should be a time of blessing, a time of rejoicing, they should give as according as the LORD has prospered each of them. [Comment: very interestingly enough, the Feast or day of Pentecost is still observed by many Sunday-keeping denominations, as they recognize it is the Church’s literal birthday. It is the only Old Testament Holy Day observed by them, along with Palm Sunday, which literally occurred on a Friday in reality.]

The Feast of Tabernacles

In verse 13 he comes to the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, “Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: 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. 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.” (verses 13-15) By the time Jesus Christ comes on the scene, this Feast is called The LORD’s Feast, or referred to just as “The Feast,” because in the seven Feasts of Israel it was the one that they most looked forward to, it was the one where there was the most rejoicing, it was the one when all of the harvest had been gathered in, it was the one where they remembered his faithfulness to them. It was a time to live in the booths with your children, and talk to them about what God had done. [Comment: Also remember, everyone in the land of Israel travelled from all over Israel, with their 2^nd tithe, they were rich in 2^nd tithe food and money, all to be spent in 8 short days, feasting like kings. They set up tents, booths, in Jerusalem and it’s surrounding towns, living in temporary dwellings, living like kings as far as having food and money (which is symbolic of how well off people will be during the Millennial Kingdom of God). I know, because the Sabbath-keeping Church of God I attended kept a 2^nd tithe for the Feast of Tabernacles, and we all travelled to designated Feast sites, where I’d spend, with my family, wife and kids, one tenth of my income in 8 short days of feasting and attending worship services, and doing fun things with the family every day after those services--doing this for eight straight days. It was a time of both spiritual and physical refreshing (see https://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm and scroll to the paragraph title The Feast of Tabernacles, and read from there to the end of the article).] It wasn’t an attitude in the kids part ‘Oh all these old fogies, I’m getting tired of hearing about what God did, and how God saved them, what God did in their lives, and how God took them out of Egypt, and how God led them through the wilderness.’ No, there wasn’t any of that, it was masterful, it passed something to the next generation, it stirred their hearts, it gave them a visual picture to go along with the lessons that they were learning, God the Master-Teacher makes this one of the mandatory Feasts. [Comment: We in the Churches of God, recognize that the prophetic meaning attached to the Feast of Tabernacles is that it points to and represents the coming Kingdom of God that Jesus will set up after his 2^nd coming, when he returns to earth with all the resurrected, immortal saints. We’d spend those 8 days of the Feast hearing sermons going through all the Old Testament prophecies God gave about that coming Millennial Kingdom of God (read through https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf ).] And of course it was at this Feast where it tells us in John chapter 7 that Jesus, on the Great Day of the Feast, the last day, the 8^th day, which was a solemn day, a day of silence. Ah, for seven days the priests would go down to the Pool of Siloam with golden pitchers, fill them with water, they would come back up to the Temple precinct and they would pour the water out at the bottom of the altar, and it was in memorial of the Rock that had followed them, and that had provided water for them in their wilderness journey. Paul tells us very clearly in 1^st Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4, ‘That Rock was Christ, the Rock that followed them was Christ.’ And on the 8^th day, when they came up, it was a solemn day, everybody was quiet, and in the midst of that silence, it’s where Jesus cries out ‘Any man who thirsts, let him come to me and drink, and out of his inmost being shall flow rivers of living water.’ John says ‘this he said of the Spirit, which was not yet given.’ But here’s Christ disrupting, and then they had steam blowing out their ears I’m sure. But he disrupts their big quiet day, he himself the Rock, Paul says, that had followed them, standing there in the midst saying ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come,’ he had been the one that guided them, who had provided for them, who had made sure they had Manna, they had water, and there he was in their midst. So interesting, this stage again set for this remarkable scene. Verse 15 says “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.” Now it’s interesting, they sacrificed 70 bulls during the Feast of Tabernacles. The Talmud says that they sacrificed 70 bulls because they believed that there were 70 nations, that the world was comprised of 70 nations, and they believed that they were to be a testimony to all, in fact, of those nations. Zechariah chapter 14:16-19 speaks of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is [becomes] a mandatory Feast during the Millennium, it says “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” So all kinds of remarkable things, certainly attached to this Feast. [Isaiah 66:22-23, says this, “‘For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me,’ says the LORD, ‘so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me,’ says the LORD.” When is this? Verse 24 shows us it’s right after the great battle of Armageddon, the bodies are still lying about, “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me…” Both of these passages (Zechariah 14:16-19 and Isaiah 66:22-23) are 2^nd coming of Jesus Christ passages. One says that observance of the Feast of Tabernacles will be commanded of all nations (Zechariah 14:16-19). The other, Isaiah 66:22-23 (in context with verses 15-21) says all people will observe God’s 7^th Day Sabbath. Interestingly enough, God’s 7^th Day Sabbath is commanded as the very first commanded Holy Day in Leviticus 23 (verses 1-3). (Leviticus 23 is the Holy Day chapter of the Bible, for those of you who didn’t realize it.) And the Feast of Tabernacles is the very last commanded Holy Day observance in Leviticus 23. So if Jesus is commanding the world at his return to observe both the Sabbath Day and the Feast of Tabernacles, he in essence is commanding the inhabitants of the world, the whole world, to observe all of God’s Holy Days found in Leviticus 23, from Sabbath (verses 1-3) to Feast of Tabernacles (verses 34-44). Notice that the Feast of Tabernacles is mentioned three time in these three verses. That is God’s way of placing a great emphasis on his statement here. When Dr. David Hocking, a Jewish Christian, was addressing a bunch of Calvary Chapel pastors in a pastor’s meeting, he told them something like this: “You had better get used to observing the Sabbath and Holy Days, because we’ll be keeping them during the Millennium.” My sincere question, why wait till then?] Both blessing for ancient Israel, relative to us certainly in our pilgrimage, and relative to the Kingdom Age, God’s blessing. Verse 16 pulling it together says, “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,” which began with the Passover, “and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.” (verses 16-17) They’re to come rejoicing, they’re to come blessed, don’t come empty, there’s to be blood, there’s to be sacrifice, even the poor could sacrifice a turtledove. Ah, those who would come to Passover, that one lamb would be sacrificed, and ten Jews [could be one to two families, with 10 to 20 individuals] would then partake of that lamb, there would always be the ability to do that [when Jesus held his Passover meal, one lamb sufficed for all 13 of them]. So not to come empty, to come to give, “every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.” (verse 17) 2^nd Corinthians 16:2 says, I think, that the church is to gather, and according as they could they were to give. So the rehearsal of these Feasts when they come into the land.

The Rule For The Judges That Would Be In The Land

The next verse begins to outline responsibilities of leaders when they come into the land. It gives us here in chapter 16, verse 18 the rule for the judges that would be in the land. 17:14 begins a picture of the kings of Israel, ah, 18, verse 1 begins to give us a picture of the responsibility of the priests and the Levites, chapter 18, verse 9 begins to talk about Prophets and false prophets. The official appointments and responsibilities of Israel’s leaders, judges, kings, priests, prophets begin to be outlined here and set before them. As they come into the land, Moses had provided leadership, then Joshua would provide leadership. When he passes off the scene, we have then the Book of Judges, and a series of Judges, which their accomplishments are inadequate, we have a season of Judges and priests, but it tells us at the end of the Book of Judges that by that time everybody was doing what was right in their own eyes. So as we come through the Book of Ruth and into 1^st Samuel then, then we have this idea of a king brought before us. And the prescription for the king is set before us here, it’s the only place in the Pentateuch where the responsibilities and the character of the king are outlined. But he begins with judges here in verse 18. He says “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.” (verse 18) Now “the gates” were an important part of city life. Those of you who have been to Israel with us have seen this, we’re trying to plan another trip, but I got a feeling the Lord might come here before we get there, the way things are going in the world right now [right now with the major Israeli-Hamas-Hezbollah War going on, and Israeli airstrikes going into Iran in this year 2024, we may be closer to that event than we’ve ever imagined]. But the gates of the city, they were a place that was cool, the seats were carved often into the walls, and the elders of the city would sit there, and the judges, and they would hear cases, they would make plans for war, they would have their counsels there. When Jesus tells Peter and the disciples ‘The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church,’ that’s what he’s talking about, the strategies, the counsels, the gates of hell. Ah, here it’s talking about the judges and officers sitting within their gates, and that’s where often these cases would be tried and would be judged. He says, first thing, “and they shall judge the people with just judgment.” Now I like that. Wouldn’t it be good if you just know everything that’s happening in our country is happening with justice? That would be wonderful. You know the lady that stands outside the courtroom with the blindfold and balances is supposed to represent that justice is blind, in a good sense. It seems like it’s come all the way round circle to where justice is indeed blind in our country, and we wish it would get its sight back again. But here, just judgment. God had said to them ‘What things soever I command you, observe to do it, thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.’ They weren’t allowed to add to the Word of God, or to take away from it, not even to diminish from it, it says, but they were to judge with just judgment. Look in verse 19, how wonderful, “Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift [bribe]: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.” Don’t twist it, don’t diminish it, don’t wrestle with it, “thou shalt not wrest judgment” or justice. “Thou shalt not respect persons” imagine that, you’re not allowed to be a respecter of persons, not to hold one person above another. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, no politicking, no you get as much justice as you can buy, none of that, it’s not supposed to be going on, “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.” You can write there in your Bible “bribe,” that’s what it’s talking about. “for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.” So wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a system of courts and judges where they weren’t allowed to twist, there was a standard to live by, it was not allowed to be twisted or messed with or convoluted, they weren’t allowed to respect one person above another, the rich above the poor, the unfortunate above the powerful, they weren’t allowed to do that, and they weren’t allowed to take a bribe, a free trip to Florida, or a free membership with $500,000 a year to a golf course or a golf club (I’d rather have $500,000 worth of rib-eye). These kinds of things, one hand washing the other, it just goes on all around us. Here he’s saying ‘No, when you go into the land and you have judges and officers, this is to be the character that characterizes them.’ “That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.” (verses 20-22) Now the groves of trees were part of the worship of Ashtoreth, it was sexual, it was unclean, he says no groves to be planted, I don’t want this going on. “Neither shalt thou set thee up any image” idolatry. Malachi he says ‘Ye sons of Jacob are not consumed because I am the LORD, I change not,’ and I still don’t think he likes obviously any kind of image that anybody would pay any kind of homage to [while growing up, and Pastor Joe must remember these, but the Dashboard Jesus statues that Catholics would put on the dashboards of their cars, easy to see who was a Catholic driving down the road 😊. Those were a modern-day version of images as well.]”

Deuteronomy 17:1-20

“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 enquired 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 thy 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 afterwards 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 enquire; 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 evil from Israel. 13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. 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.”

Principles Of Judgment Against Those Who Go & Serve Other gods

Standards Of Modern Jurisprudence Given Here

“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.” (verse 1) Isn’t it sad that he has to tell them again, ‘Look, don’t bring me your three-legged lambs, don’t bring me a bull that kind of looks like this when it comes, give your best.’ Give your best, you know, he wouldn’t ask anything of them that he himself wouldn’t do, and he gave his best, he [God the Father] gave his only begotten Son, and every sacrifice was to reflect him, it was supposed to be without spot, without blemish. He knows us so well, ‘When you start to sacrifice, don’t look out into the field and say, ‘Who needs a three-legged or a five-legged lamb, get that one in,’ he says don’t do that, it’s an abomination. “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,” (verse 2) They’re brasen, they’re doing this out in the open. “in transgressing his covenant” now in the Old Testament we hear of sin, we hear of iniquity, we hear of transgression. Sin is simply missing the mark, it’s not walking properly. That happens in our lives, sin or wickedness, because of iniquity. Iniquity is the word, and the root of it means “to be twisted” or “bent.” And all of us are a little bit twisted inside. We’re born in sin, conceived in iniquity, iniquity is the internal thing that inclines us to sin. [Now within the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God, we came to an understanding that the spirit-in-man talked of by Solomon in Ecclesiastes, is the human spirit God places within the minds, brains of every human being, it is the brain’s software, granting us human intelligence. Satan broadcasts his evil wavelength into the human spirits of all mankind. A baby is born sinless, with no proclivity toward sin, no iniquity within it. But shortly afterward, after birth, Satan’s wavelength, broadcasts his spirit of iniquity into that innocent child. That’s where the spirit of iniquity ultimately comes from. A baby at birth is totally neutral, not good or bad. But not for long. Mankind has been hijacked by Satan and his evil cohorts, since the time of Genesis 3.] And then when we finally step across the line God draws in the sand, that’s transgression. When the line is drawn, he says ‘Don’t step across that,’ and you step across that, that’s transgression. Here the LORD says ‘Look, you come into the land, any man or any woman in their wickedness, before me, before my sight, they decide to transgress,’ and this is going to be relative to false worship [which is treason against the King, Yahweh, that is what idolatry is] relative to idolatry, he’s going to say it’s a capital crime, it is a capital crime [just as committing treason against a king is a capital crime, just look at English history, how they dealt with a traitor]. If anybody is taking you away from the statutes and the ordinances that you’re not to add to or diminish from, it’s kidnapping as far as God is concerned [and the statutes included Holy Day observance in God’s Old Testament Law]. Anybody whose taking the hearts and the lives of his children away from him, that has eternal consequences. You’re murdering somebody forever, taking them away from God and from his means of Salvation. So he says here, if it goes on, that’s a capital crime. He says “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; and it be told thee,” speaking to the judges and to the officers, “and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 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 thy die.” (verses 3-5) Now look, he says you hear this, then you just don’t go out and kill somebody. You enquire diligently, you’re exercising government here, you make sure that the situation is true, and the evidence you have is real, the thing is certain that this abomination has been wrought in Israel. And once it’s been verified, then you go and you get that person, you bring him to the gate of the city. Look at verse 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.” Now in a court system today, that will put you away, jurisprudence. Now isn’t this sad, “but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.” Because he knows the way we are, on a bad day, when somebody’s really bugging us, has been driving us crazy for a long time, we might just be tempted to say ‘I saw him worshipping an idol,’ ‘Boom!’ you know, he’s gone. So he says at the mouth of two or three witnesses, and then every word has to be confirmed. Remember when they were trying to accuse Jesus, it says they couldn’t get their accusations to agree. Caiaphas knew that he needed two or three witnesses, because they couldn’t get their testimony against him to agree on anything. But he says here there has to be two or three, their word has to stand, it has to be in harmony. And then look in verse 7, “The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.” Jesus said ‘Let he who is without sin be first to cast the stone at her,’ the woman caught in adultery. Because the accuser was to be the first one, so he said ‘that’s Moses’ law, adulterers die, so let’s go at it, the one of you that’s without sin, you throw the first stone.’ Of course it shut the whole thing down. It says here “The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.” and always that point, as we go through this, “So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.” Now, by the way, it was carried out this way because, if at a point after this they found out that the witnesses had lied, those witnesses then who cast the first stones were guilty of murder, and they were put to death, for bearing false witness. Verse 8 says, so now the judges, they face something that’s very difficult in judgment, “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: [i.e. the Hatfields & McCoys] then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:” (verses 8-9) so there was central authority. There was still evidently the use of the Urim and Thummim, of these stones that in the use of them, we don’t have a lot of information, it was respected the fact it was divine, God had ordained, and the truth would be told. So you come up to the Temple or the Tabernacle, where the priests and Levites are, the high priest is there, there’s a judge there. “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: 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.” (verses 10-11) It says, this is the ultimate place for interpretation of the Scripture. And there is authority there that’s ordained of God, the high priest was there, the Levites were there, if there was a judge there. And if there’s a situation too hard for you, you bring it there, they will interpret the Word of God, and then according to that, you’re to honour that and not to decline from what is said there. Interesting, I just have this little quote by Wiersby, he says “When Woodrow Wilson was President of the United States, he said ‘There are a good many problems before the American people today, and before me as President. I expect to find the solution to those problems just in the proportion that I am faithful to study the Word of God.’’ Woodrow Wilson. Statesman Daniel Webster said “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper. But if we, and our posterity neglect it’s instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury our glory in profound obscurity.” Wiersby says “Living as we do in a democratic pluralistic society, we can’t expect the government to make the Bible it’s official guidebook, but it would help the nation if professed Christians and Christian churches would major on preaching and teaching and observing the Word of God.” Here they’re told, ‘this is going to be the place where the Word will be interpreted and the word, the sentence that they give to you is a divine decree, I don’t want you to turn from it to the right or to the left.’ And look in verse 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 evil from Israel.” So contempt of court was pretty serious in those days. “even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.” always the point. “And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.” (verse 13) God said even in these difficult cases, somebody shouldn’t be doing presumptuously, there is a way for these things to be handled.

God Outlines The Relative Character A King Of Israel Is To Have

Now in verse 14 we begin to see the responsibility of a king in Israel. And God says when the days come, and you decide you want a king to rule over you like the nations that are around you, it was never his model, Israel was to be a theocracy, Israel was to have the LORD’s presence in the center of the nation, the high priests and Levites interpreting the Law of God for the people of God, there would have been a system of judges and officers that would have exacted justice, there was no police force as we know it today, that would have exacted the right justice and judgment on the nation. And if the people had been committed to the LORD, and to the Word of God it would have been much different. But Moses passes off the scene, Joshua passes off the scene, and the nation comes to disarray under its Judges and priests. And at that point they begin to look, and God will allow them to have Saul as their first king, and he was head and shoulders above the rest, a huge, handsome guy. Certainly it was God’s judgment on them to let them have a man of their choosing, who was not necessarily the man of his choosing. And God never intended to establish a dynasty of Saul, because he was of the tribe of Benjamin and not of Judah. But there would come a time when David would be chosen. It would not be the choice that the people would have made, even Samuel was confused, because he went to the house of Jesse, and he said ‘The LORD has sent my here to anoint one of your sons,’ and as the oldest son came out, immediately Samuel got out the oil and began to pour it, and God said ‘What are you doing? Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart,’ and he said ‘Well, you got any other sons,’ and he says, ‘Ya, ya, six of them,’ he said ‘You got any other ones?’ he said ‘I don’t have any more sons, but I got a Hippie out in the field, playing his harp and taking care of the sheep, I guess you could look at him,’ and of course David is brought in, ruddy, remarkable young man, God’s choosing. And the outline we have here is relative to the character of the king, not necessarily of the responsibilities of a king. It is the only outline like it in the Pentateuch, it is the only place where the king is described, and he is described here, certainly there are responsibilities, but they are relative to the heart of the man. So it’s a very interesting picture. It says “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,” he knew them, “I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;” in other words, imitating the nations around them, “thou shalt in any wise” or you shall only, is the idea “set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose:” it wasn’t their choice, it was to be his choice, “one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.” he didn’t want a foreigner ruling and reigning over them. He says this now, “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. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself,” that can always be a problem, “that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.” (verses 14-17) now Solomon did all of these things, Solomon, an interesting man, an enigma, this is a man who writes the Book of Proverbs, most of it, and then transgresses everything he wrote in it. This is a guy who found God’s heart when he said ‘LORD, just give me wisdom to rule over your people,’ and God said ‘I’ll bless you with everything else,’ and then he turns away, he goes to Egypt to trade in horses, to multiply and bring them back and build up his armed forces. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines, I’d say that’s multiplying, you can have your own opinion. And many of them were foreign wives that turned him away from God, he allowed them to put up altars to their foreign gods, and it began to pervert the nation. And he brought so much gold and silver, it says ‘thou shall not multiply to thyself,’ it doesn’t say a king or president is not to prosper a nation, and to have that nation be prosperous. It says ‘Thou shalt not multiply to thyself,’ and of course, the very interesting thing is it tells us in 1^st Kings chapter 10, verse 14 that his yearly salary was 666 talents of gold, just interesting number 666. He just multiplied gold to the point in Israel, they said silver became like stones, it became like rocks, didn’t mean anything, silver, there was so much gold. Now, God is warning here. When Moses and the children of Israel came out of Egypt and they came through the Red Sea, Miriam and Moses and the children of Israel sang ‘I will sing unto the LORD, he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider thrown into the sea.’ The great chariots and horsemen of Egypt were nothing in the face of the LORD their God, they were destroyed in a moment’s time, taken away, all of their power. The Psalmist David would say in Psalm 20, ‘Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.’ That, I believe was David’s heart. We know in 2^nd Kings, when Elisha, not Elijah, Elisha is at Dothan, and his servant wakes up in the morning before him, Elisha wanted to get a good night’s sleep, and his servant says ‘Hey boss, look, the Syrians have surrounded us with all their horsemen and chariots! Ahhh!’ and Elisha goes ‘O LORD, please open this guy’s eyes,’ he says to his servant ‘There’s more of us than there is of them,’ and he says ‘What are you talking about?’ and it says the LORD opened the eyes of his servant, and he saw the fiery chariots and horsemen of God surrounding them. So here the LORD says ‘Look, when you finally do take a king, I want him to be one of your brethren, I don’t want a foreigner, I want someone with the faith of Israel, I don’t want that king going back to Egypt to multiply horses, because I don’t want his confidence to be in his own ability to maintain the nation, I want that man to be dependent upon me. I don’t want him to multiply wives to himself,’ and it was a common practice to take wives from other nations, there was always some clandestine conspiratorial thing involved in that. In Europe, 100 years ago, 200 years ago, people would be marrying daughters from other countries and so forth, because if you married the daughter of another king, and that woman really fell in love with you, then she would tell you everything that was going on in her father’s kingdom, and then you wouldn’t be attacked or surprised because you had somebody from the other side on your side. Of course the bad thing was, if she came over and you fell in love with her and you married her and the father had sent her to be a spy, then she would be telling the father everything that was going on in your kingdom, and then there was the outside chance the father just hated her and she drove him nuts, and he just sent her over there to marry to get rid of her, like Micah in the Bible, Saul took that one daughter and gave her to David. But those things went on 100 years ago in Europe adnosium. And there were so many intermarriages in royal and monarchial families there, that was this kind of thing. So God is saying ‘I don’t want you to multiply wives to yourself, there’s to be no confidence in making those kinds of political gains, those kinds of things.’ And certainly, not for the satisfaction of their flesh, they weren’t to do that. ‘And then I don’t want you multiplying silver and gold to yourself.’ Yes, the nation may prosper, good things may go on, but to yourself. Tradition tells us that Solomon in the morning would get up every day and wear a white silk outfit, and that he had guards that would run next to his chariot, that all had to have raven black hair, they all had to be taller than 6-foot tall, and that he would grind fresh gold every morning and sprinkle it in their hair so when they ran next to his chariot, their hair was glistening in the sun. He got out there, he was importing peacocks and monkeys, he was bored. You read the Book of Ecclesiastes, he just went off the deep end. [The Book of Ecclesiastes is still part of the Word of God, a genuine part of the Old Testament.] Like Alexander the Great, there was nothing left to conquer, for Solomon there was nothing left to do, it had all come into his hand, then his heart turned away from the LORD. Look, these prohibitions are interesting, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, we find it all through Scripture. The lust of the flesh, multiplying wives, lust of the eyes, gold, silver, all of this, pride of life, horses, power, it’s passion, possession, position, pride, women, money. We’re constantly warned through the Scripture of those kinds of circumstances. It was the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life that brought down Eve in the Garden of Eden, when Satan said ‘Hey, this will make you wise,’ she saw it was good to look at, good to the taste, for the flesh. When Satan comes to Jesus in the wilderness, those are the three tools he uses, lust of the flesh, ‘turn these stones to bread,’ lust of the eyes, ‘I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world,’ the pride of life, ‘cast yourself down, it’s written he’ll give his angels charge over thee, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ And the thing that you have to understand, because we’re called to be kings and priests, we’re called as it were to be the sons of the Most High. These are the areas where the enemy would come at us, he would come at you and I, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life, we’re told that in 1^st John. If that’s the shot he took at Jesus, we know those are the best tools he has in his toolbox, Satan. And Jesus answered him on our behalf, ‘It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,’ each time “it is written.” So, these are the pitfalls, these are the things that God warned about, he doesn’t just talk here about the responsibilities, this is what I want the king to do, he said ‘This is what I don’t want the king to do. I don’t want these things to be in the forefront of his heart and his mind when he comes to power, I don’t want him going to Egypt and multiplying his military strength, because military strength is more than that. I don’t want him multiplying wives to himself, I don’t want him satiating his flesh or making political alliances that way, and I don’t want him, it shouldn’t be the goal of a king just to multiply gold and silver to himself,’ absolute power corrupts absolutely.

We Have Bibles Everywhere, What A Privilege

So, he says, this is what I want, look at verse 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: 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: 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.” (verses 18-20) The first thing it says the king should do when he comes to power, is he goes to the priests and Levites, who have a copy of the Law, Moses knowing that it would be completed and brought together, the Pentateuch, some feel just the Book of Deuteronomy, but the Law was all the five books. And the king, though he has scribes, they weren’t supposed to do it, he himself was to sit down and write a copy of the Law for himself. That would help you remember it, wouldn’t it? if you had to write it, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. And you could imagine, saying, ‘We need to see the king, this is going on here in this kingdom, and we’re afraid there’s going to be war over here,’ and the king had to say ‘Wait, wait, wait, before I do anything else I have to sit down and copy the Bible,’ ‘What!?’ “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: and it shall be with him,” that’s why, get yourself a Bible that fits in your hand. Get yourself a Bible that you like to carry around, a sword. If you just get one of these big monster things, it says “it shall be with him,” that’s just a great place for your sword to be. Look, “he shall read therein all the days of his life:” how many is that? “that he may” and here’s why God wants him to do it, number 1, “learn to fear the LORD his God,” secondly, “to keep all the words of this law and these statutes,” then to do them:” So God’s saying I want him to read it all the days of his life, that he might learn to fear, reverence God, to fear God, and to keep, or to guard, to embrace all the words of this Book, to do them, to the end of obedience, to do them. Why? “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.” The inference is, for those who do not embrace the Word of God, those who do not read it on a regular basis, they are always then in the danger of turning away. Those who do not recognize this as the Word of God, so much so, that if you couldn’t get a copy, you would sit down and write an entire copy for yourself, just so you could have it, so you could read it every day. What a privilege we have, what a privilege we have, we have printing presses. People in our church, they have a Bible in their car, they have a Bible they keep in the Lost & Found so they don’t have to carry the Bible back and forth to church every week, they have a Bible they keep out on the coffee table open to Obediah so people think they’re reading difficult parts of Scripture, they have a Bible in their bathroom. We have Bibles everywhere, what a privilege. But is the Word of God more important to us than gold, than pleasure, than power, than position? Is the Word of God more important to us than pleasure, every time someone is sinning sexually, looking at pornography, obviously at that point the Word of God is not more important than pleasure. Is the Word of God more important than gold, than money, the way we spend our time and the way we invest ourselves will tell that story. Is the Word of God more important to us than position, power, pride, territory, my reputation? It will tell itself out in the way we behave. What an interesting, interesting perspective, and a great, really it’s a great picture of those who would lead in any capacity, in any capacity. What, how the Kingdom would be enriched if you and I, how much would the Kingdom be enriched if I, pray for me, if I was that sold out, and I was that genuine? Don’t worry about anybody, just worry about me, worry about yourselves, I know you’re way ahead of me, worry about me. Read ahead, we come to the priests, we come to the Levites, we come to a very interesting section on Prophets, false prophets, power, necromancy, wizards, enchantments, all of that dark side, there’s stuff really going on there, and the LORD addressing that. And then the Prophet that the LORD would choose, an interesting picture looking forward to the coming of Christ, some remarkable things. So, it’s as far as we’re going to get this evening, I encourage you to read ahead. Great stuff for us, the mandatory Feasts, the blood of Christ our Passover Lamb, what a great way to start each day, the morning and evening sacrifice, what a great thing to do when you go to bed at night, to remember the blood of Jesus, ‘Lord I messed up today, Lord, the evening sacrifice, what a wonderful thing.’ When you wake up in the morning, I’m glad just to wake up in the morning, when you wake up in the morning and get your creaky skeleton to sit on the edge of the bed, what a great time just to say ‘Today is a day you bought with your blood, a day you’ve given to me,’ what a great thing. And then to remember Pentecost, the power of his Spirit, we’re never going to accomplish it in the energy of the flesh, the Church is loaded for bear on the horizontal, and what we are lacking is what Whitfield and Spurgeon and Moody experienced on a regular basis, and that was on the vertical. Lord fill us afresh with your Spirit, let us be alive, Lord. And then our pilgrimage, remembering, we’re passing through, we just got here, we ain’t staying long, we are passing through, and we’re headed for another place, don’t hold on too tightly, don’t hold on too tightly, while you’re passing through everyday in here, keep things in perspective, keep yourself in perspective. While you’re passing through I don’t want to hear any of you guys have 700 wives, that’s 700 mother-in-laws, remember that. [Solomon married foreign wives, so those mother-in-laws, if he was smart, remained back in those foreign lands 😊]…gold and silver shouldn’t be our goal, God has blessed us with life, new life, so much more valuable. And we live in a world that is so sexually explicit and seductive, that we need God’s Spirit, we need God’s Word everyday, to stand strong, we need to have on our armour, I know we all do. Let’s stand and let’s pray…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Deuteronomy 16:1-22 and Deuteronomy 17:1-20, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]