Deuteronomy 22-23

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Deuteronomy 22:8-30

“When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. 9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. 10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. 11 Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together. 12 Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself. 13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, 14 and give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: 15 then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: 16 and the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; 17 and, lo, he hath given occasion of speech against her, saying, I have found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; 19 and they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. 20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: 21 then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. 22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. 23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; 24 then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you. 25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: 26 but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: 27 for he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. 28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29 then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. 30 A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor discover his father’s skirt.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED607]

“Deuteronomy, we have come as far as chapter 22, some of these things as we look at them, I often think it’s a shame the LORD would have to stoop down to tell us some of these things, but he knows us so well. It began with an ox or a sheep going astray, you see your neighbour’s animal, the ox was his tractor in that day, the beast of burden. If you see someone’s animal fall into the ditch or wander off, you’re supposed to exercise a certain responsibility toward your neighbour in caring for that animal. Verse 5, we came there, and it says that a woman should not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all that do so are an abomination unto thy God. It’s not against gals wearing Levi’s, men and women wore robes in this culture, men and women wore earrings in this culture. But there was a certain distinction between men and women, it was that way from the beginning. To try to mingle those or erase that line was an affront to the Creator, who created them male and female, it was Adam and Eve in the beginning, that’s why people are around to protest today, because God did it right in the beginning, there’s order, it was Adam and it was Eve. And trying to eradicate or blur that line is an affront to the Creator. And as we go through this chapter, there’s distinctions, a separation that’s constantly brought before us. And certainly that’s true in our culture today, we’re struggling with that. You know, sometimes I look at the things that guys wear, you know, California always is a land of, you know, California, you know they have metro-sexual, guys dressing with girls pants, what’s their problem? I don’t know, I don’t want to be that cool, if that’s cool, I’ll be square cool, I don’t know. But anyhow, this seems to have a deceptive side to it, in an unclean deceptive side to it, so there’s a prohibition here, it’s an abomination. Ah, “If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.” (verses 6-7) So this is just environmental protection agency, it’s inception here, God is a conservationist, he understands the importance of it, he just knows that humans are more important than spotted owls, he knows that. Certainly conservation. He says this isn’t in regards to clean, but wildfowl, you’re walking in a path, you see a mother bird on the young, certainly, you have the right to take the young, the young ducks or something, but to let the mother go, because she could continue to reproduce, the number of clean fowl wouldn’t then be diminished, but you could take the young in a situation like that. God knows how stingy we are, we take everything we get our hands on. So he says, here’s wisdom. [Comment: There is a very important law of conservation here, especially as been seen in the East Coast fisheries of the United States and Canada, where whole species of fish have been nearly wiped out to what they call commercial extinction levels due to large factory fishing trawlers or large fishing fleets fishing in spawning grounds off rivers, or the Grand Banks and other known spawning areas during spawning season, or fishing at night when cod and other fish species are known to spawn at night during certain times of the year. With an eye toward the Millennial Kingdom of God, this law will certainly be applied to wildlife and fisheries areas for sure. At least 9 or 10 of the apostles were fishermen, so we know this will become a law governing all wildlife, game animals, and fish spawning grounds. God’s law, in its minutest way is so very important.]

Various Laws about Safety, Purity

Verse 8 says “When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.” What he says, when you build a new home, in the process, be sure to put a parapet wall around the top. In that culture, even to Jesus’ day, even today in fact, if you’ve been to Israel with us, oftentimes the family will resort to the roof at evening, it’s cool, it’s a nice place to socialize and to sit [these houses had flat rooves, with a stairway leading up to it]. Of course if you have toddlers running around, somebody else’s kids, you don’t want people running off the edge of your roof and bringing blood into the land. So as you’re improving life for yourself, do it with consideration towards others. Even in our court system today, there’s res ips, liquitor, which is the thing is as it seems, it’s just an obvious thing, if somebody gets injured because of some negligence on your part, where there wouldn’t ordinarily be injury without that negligence, then there can be a case, and you could be guilty of doing something that would put someone else’s life in danger. If you build a balcony on the third floor and you don’t put a banister around there and somebody falls off, you’re in trouble. So the same thing here, you build a house, while you’re thinking of your own self efforts and life improvement, don’t to it without thinking of others. And Jesus in Matthew 24 said, in the last days, let those who are on the housetop not go down, they’d be sitting there in the evening, pointing to us this kind of situation. Verse 9, “Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.” You’re not to be sowing with different kinds of seed, this is certainly wisdom when you’re sowing your field, but it’s relative to separation. [Comment: First, hybrids, it also is a very powerful law against bio-engineering that goes way beyond Mendelian genetic engineering, GMO’s would certainly fall under the jurisdiction of this law, which God foresaw mankind doing. But even farmers know, and it’s kind of humourous, when you sow squash near cucumbers, and a cross pollination takes places, making for some weird fruit, and is way inferior to either a cucumber or a squash. Now GMO bio-engineering is going into animal and fish stock. Man is trying to play God with genetic engineering.] “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” (verse 10) an ox, which is a clean animal, and an ass, an unclean animal, together they step different, they pull different, clean and unclean step different and different in regards to mankind. “Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.” (verse 11) Most scholars think there was something relative there to idolatrous priests, there’s nothing wrong with wearing cotton, polyester, we’re under a better covenant now, something relative to Canaan as they came in. [No, actually, this is a quality law, weaving those two cloths together made for poorer quality. Nowadays, polyester is turning into a major pollutant in the air, as is decomposes and tiny particles of it get airborne. It would seem, almost everything mankind chemically engineers as a “better product” has contributed to major pollution on our planet, take plastics for example, as opposed to good old fashioned glass, which harms nothing environmentally.] But in all of these things, there was to be separation, the way they sowed their seed, there’s distinction and separation, the way they dressed, male and female, in the way they plowed their fields, there’s to be distinction and separation, in all of these things. Paul, of course, says to us in the New Testament in regards to distinguishing, separation, he says ‘Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, what communion has light with darkness, what concord hath Christ with Beliel, the devil, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God,’ and he tells us that we are the Temple of God, ‘with idols? For you are the temple of the Living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, I will be their God, they shall be my people. Wherefore’ this is New Testament, ‘come out from among them, be ye separate, sayeth the Lord, touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, I will be a Father unto you. You shall be my sons and my daughters, sayeth the Lord Almighty.’ (2^nd Corinthians 6:14-18) So Paul says “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’ (2^nd Corinthians 7:1) He’s talking about being bound together with unbelievers, being unequally yoked [especially applying to marriage]. Certainly this is not interracial marriages, but this is inter-spiritual marriages, a believer and an unbeliever. It just is, you’re asking for trouble if it happens. Now look, there are times when two unbelievers get married, and then one of them will get saved, and then they’re in that environment, and they come and ask. But if you go into this both eyes open, you’re asking for trouble, the New Testament forbids it (see https://unityinchrist.com/corinthians/cor7.htm ). We won’t do a wedding here for a believer and an unbeliever, because it is just a nightmare as time goes on, the kids are born, and the mom’s trying to get them to go to Sunday school, the mom’s telling the kids ‘You know, you need Jesus in your heart,’ and the kids are sitting at the dinner table saying ‘Does that mean dad’s going to hell, mom? He’s not a believer.’ It just is incredible to sort that out. So sometimes we end up in a situation, and we’re riding a broken horse, we didn’t ask for it, we get that. But there’s no sense creating our own problems. And that goes for business, it goes for lots of areas. [George Mueller forbid the hiring of non-believers as employees or even volunteers to work with his famous orphanages in England, where he stated if you’re running a Christian work, don’t hire unbelievers for help.] And here the children of Israel in the Old Testament, constantly taught to think distinction, separation, there’s just wisdom in that sometimes in regards to particular things, and the Bible is clear on that. So, this is being put before them. Verse 12, “Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.” You remember back in Numbers they were told to put fringes of blue, to remind them of their God, and to remind them to keep his commandments and to walk uprightly before him. In our culture, rank, and position is normally symbolized on the sleeve, on the shoulder, across the chest, you see a general, a full colonel, you see somebody with rank and so forth. In this culture, quite often it was on the hem of the garment, the priests, Jesus said, they loved to make broad the hem of their garments, and their phylacteries, they wanted everybody to see. David, when he came into the cave and Saul was in their, and no doubt had taken off his robe to relieve himself, and David cut off the hem of that robe, no doubt the hem of that robe had the embroidery of a king on it, and David felt guilty after that, ‘God forbid that I should touch the LORD’s anointed.’ So here, the rank and file, they’re to have something that’s a part of their garment to remind them, constantly, of their relationship to heaven. And just the way you and I adorn ourselves, our language, our priorities, certainly the way we dress, it should not be seductive, the way we adorn ourselves. It should be in such a way, with as it were, fringes of the blue of heaven, in taking into consideration all of the time.

Various Laws About Marriage

“If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,” (verse 13) Be careful, be careful, it’s easier to be single and want to be married, than it is to be married and want to be single. So, you single guys, I pray God will do to you what he did to Adam, put a deep sleep on you until he brings you a wife. Now everybody would be a lot safer. “If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: and the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; and, lo, he hath given occasion of speech against her, saying, I have found not thy daughter a maid;” a virgin “and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.” (verses 13-17) Now, different culture. On the wedding night, because the woman was a virgin, when they consummated their marriage, the blood, the spots from that first experience, were on the sheet, the sheets were given to the father, so the parents could always prove this is the sheet from the wedding night, proving that our daughter was a virgin. There are cultures around the world today that still hang them out the window after the wedding night of the daughter, at the father’s house. So, we don’t need to worry about that. But the point is, look, hey it was serious that you keep yourself until your wedding night in this culture. And if the guy decided he hated her, ‘I can’t believe I got myself into this,’ and then he makes up this story about her, ‘She wasn’t a virgin,’ you know, ‘We came into the bedroom, I found out she had been with somebody else before we were married.’ Then the parents would bring those tokens of the virginity, the linens from the bed on the wedding night, bringing them forth, and show them to the elders and say ‘Here’s the proof that our daughter was a virgin,’ spread the cloth before the elders of the city, “And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;” because then they know he lied, the Hebrew is “they will beat him, flog him,” “and they shall” King James “amerce” fine “him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.” (verses 18-19) So you get married, you decide you don’t like your wife, you make up some cockamamy story about her, and it’s slanderous, it has to do with her integrity and her character, and they find out you’re lying, they take you and they beat you, and they fine you a hundred pieces of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, “because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.” So he’s not happy when he comes home at the end of the day, he’s sore, he’s all whupped, he’s all beaten. He brought an evil report on a young woman who was chaste and godly enough to keep herself, and God looks upon that favourably. Here's the other part, “But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.” (verses 20-21) Morals belong to God, don’t they. Ah, we’re under a different covenant now, we make a mistake, fall, Paul wanted to present the Corinthian church, of all churches, as a chaste virgin in that day before Christ. If our repentance is real, so is his cleansing and forgiveness. But the point is, look at this culture. You have to understand, they’re headed into Canaan, amongst the Amorites, the Hittites, who were sacrificing their children in the fire to pagan gods, they were cutting their hearts out, they were giving their daughters to be prostitutes in their temples. This people, God’s people are to be a different people. And God is saying your daughters are to keep themselves, for their husbands. If a young woman deceives a young man, and she plays the harlot, and she’s unfaithful, and they come to find that out on the wedding night, she’s to be taken to her father’s house, because she shamed her father, and stoned there, and “so shalt thou put evil away from among you.” “If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.” (verse 22) Adultery was a capital crime. So there’d be no Desperate Housewives in this day. Look, something’s being said here that’s very important as we go through here. “If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;” (verse 23) she’s engaged, but in that day engagement was considered binding, you were married but the marriage had not been consummated yet, it was like our period of engagement before the wedding day. Notice this, “and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel,” here’s the reason, “because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.” (verses 23b-24) even though they’re both betrothed, it is considered his neighbours wife. So, the picture is, you’re in the city, you’re somewhere where there’s lots of people around, some guy’s forcing himself on you, Scream! Scream! If nobody’s gonna listen, scream Fire! all you got to do is that, and everybody will be running, but scream, put your finger in his eye, if somebody’s trying to force himself on you, tell him ‘Close your eyes,’ and let him have it when his eyes are closed. The point is, this is in the city, it’s where there’s lots of people around, somebody could have heard. The sad thing is, we hear of date-rape today, where the girl would be unconscious with some drug, and not find out until after she wakes up again. But if you’re conscious, if you are conscious, you scream, you fight, you stand up. Don’t be reluctant to resist and allow yourself ever to be put in that situation. It says if this damsel, this young girl, she’s engaged, and some guy finds her in the city, and she’s part and parcel to it, and he has sex with her, both of them are to be put to death, because she didn’t cry out, and because he’s humbled his neighbour’s wife, “so thou shalt put away evil from among you.” Look at this one, verse 25, “But if a man find a betrothed damsel” here’s the difference, “in the field,” where she might cry out to no avail, “and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: for he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.” (verses 25-27) So rape was a capital crime in Israel, ancient Israel, so that evil would be put away. [Interestingly enough, it was also a capital crime in the U.S. Army during World War II, and there were executions that took place in the European Theater of Operations.] It always drives me crazy, somebody that’s up for the 5^th time on rape, and they’re trying to find out what to do with him. The father of the first girl that was raped trying to figure out what to do with him. I mean, you know what I mean, dads, husbands, if somebody found your wife out in the field when nobody was around, it’s not rocket science to figure out the problem or the solution. “but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:” It’s equivalent to murder as far as God is concerned here. “for he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.” That’s the point, nobody there to hear her when she cried. “If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.” (verses 28-29) So if you’re caught, premarital sex, and the father finds out, this is a Shotgun Wedding. You’re going to pay, and you’re going to be married, and you have no freedom to put that girl away for the rest of your life. Verse 30, “A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor discover his father’s skirt.” Not to humiliate, it seems to be pointing to several verses in Leviticus that would speak of the father’s second wife or the step mother, that if something happens to the father, the son has no privilege to marry his father’s wife, even though she’s not his mother. And the other thing is, of course, we think of Reuben going into Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine. So there’s prohibition here, humiliation is to be avoided. Look, this is what we’re looking at throughout here, family. God is saying something to us about men, women, about our civil lives, about our respect to one another, about husbands, and about wives, about homes. Because God knows that the foundation of any culture is the family. Morals and values are bred into the next generation in the context of family. It does not take a village to raise a child, it takes a mother and a father and a family to raise a child. Now, because of our culture, we have many broken homes. It doesn’t mean that we can’t see success giving our lives to Jesus Christ. It doesn’t mean we have to be crippled. It doesn’t mean if you were raised in a broken home, like Greg Laurie was when he was here, he said “You know it’s hard, but you don’t have to be crippled, that’s why I’m telling my story after all of these years, “Lost Boy,” because there’s so much of it going on in the world today, and I want young people to know you may have grown up in a terrible situation like this, it hurts, but it does not have to cripple you, you can go on and serve the Lord, and accomplish whatever he has for your life, you can have meaning because you do have a Father in heaven.” But the point is, in a culture where families are strong, where respect is strong, where marriage is valued, where parents are honoured, where those kinds of things take place, there is a strong, independent culture. The power brokers in any culture around the world today, know, the more we can get people on welfare, the more we have broken homes, the more we have kids born out of wedlock, the more we have fatherless homes, the more we have all of these things going on, the more people are dependent on the State, and the more they’re dependent on the State, the more control we have. And don’t you think there aren’t people that think that way, because there are. But it doesn’t matter, ‘because greater is he that is in you than he that’s in the world,’ we’re told. And who knows what God might do in these last days, with you and I, if we stand up, if we’ll seek him every day, if we’ll be in his Word, if we’ll ask him to fill us afresh with his Spirit, if we’ll honour our homes and our parents and our spouses and our children, if we’ll take a stand and not surrender, who knows what he might do in the days that we live in. But behind all of these things, some of them seeming archaic to us, there is a value system that is being reinforced that is vastly different than the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Moabites, the Edomites, the termites, any of them, ok. And that’s the important thing here that’s being brought before us.”

Deuteronomy 23:1-25

“He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. 2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD. 3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever: 4 because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. 5 Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. 6 Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. 7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land. 8 The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation. 9 When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing. 10 If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: 11 but it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. 12 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: 13 and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: 14 for the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. 15 Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: 16 he shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him. 17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both of these are abomination unto the LORD thy God. 19 Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: 20 unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 21 When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. 22 But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. 23 That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth. 24 When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. 25 When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.”

Various Laws Of Separation

“Chapter 23, I hope you’ve read ahead so you’re not shocked by any of this. “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.” (verse 1) Why does that have to be in here? It’s talking about mutilation, castration, it’s talking about idolatrous things that they’re going to encounter when they come into Canaan. Willing mutilation was part of the idolatry in the land, and no doubt it is speaking towards those who would be seduced into that kind of behavior and bowing down before some other god. Isaiah tells us, and probably looking towards those who had been forced to become eunuchs, he says this, ‘Neither let the son of the stranger, the foreigner, that hath joined himself to the LORD, saying, the LORD hath utterly separated me from his people, neither let the eunuch say, ‘Behold I am a dry tree,’ for thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me and take hold of my covenant, even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls, a place, and a name better than of sons and of daughters, I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.’ There are those that feel Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were made eunuchs when they came into the house of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. We know in Acts chapter 8, Phillip is in the midst of a tremendous revival in Samaria, and God separates him and tells him to go into the desert for one man. And that one man is the Ethiopian eunuch, and Phillip will pray with him, when he gets there the man is reading Isaiah 53, it’s a wonderful setup, he leads the man to the Lord, the man then is baptized, and Phillip is caught away. So there is no prohibition in that sense, of someone who has gone through that type of experience, coming to God, in the Old Testament and New Testament. The prohibition is for the children of Israel to mutilate themselves or dismember themselves in the name of some foreign god to bow down and worship some god that would demand that kind of behaviour. Second verse, we’re getting a little bit easier, we’re getting away from the first verse here. “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.” (verse 2) Now that word’s only used twice I believe in the Old Testament, this most likely speaking about somebody born of a temple prostitute. It is, there’s some paganism attached to this, something unclean in some way, and it is God making provision for the purity of his assembly. He wants the children of Israel to be a pure people, he wants them to be pure in their worship and so forth. And this is someone evidently who was born out of an unclean pagan, a forbidden relationship that would be in the Old Testament, and then that person thinking he can become part of the worship of the LORD’s house, it says “not until the 10^th generation.” The question is, the scholars want to argue, does that mean literally not to the 10^th generation, or does that mean “never at all”? And both opinions are held. Of course the interesting verse with 3, it says “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever: because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.” (verses 3-4) Now both their origin is incest, you remember Lot and his daughters. Now is that figurative, does that mean forever, does that mean it should never happen? Of course the interesting thing is, in the end of the Book of Ruth, as there are blessings being pronounced, it says ‘Let thy house,’ they’re speaking to Ruth, ‘be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bare to Judah of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.’ Well what kind of blessing is that? that was born out of a deceptive strange relationship, and you know the whole story, Tamar dressing up like a prostitute and so forth, she was a Canaanite. But then at the end of the chapter, it says ‘Now these are the generations of Perez,’ it gives us ‘Perez, Hezron, Rom, Aminadab, Nashon, Salomon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David,’ 10 generations to David, the king. So is it literally saying back there to the 10^th generation then God can receive him? Of course the interesting thing is when you go through David’s genealogy, that Boaz married Ruth the Moabitess, that’s only 3 generations behind him. So interesting questions even in David’s genealogy. The wonderful thing is in the genealogy of our Lord and Saviour, it says Judah begat Pharez and Zerah of Tamar, and then it says that Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab the harlot, a Canaanite, and then Boaz begot Obed of Ruth, the Moabitess. Obed begat Jesse and Jesse begat David. Isn’t it interesting when we look at that genealogy the great grandmother, we have women there that are both harlots, that are Moabites, that are Canaanites, what a picture it is of God’s grace. So here no doubt, in the Book of Deuteronomy, God desiring to keep the children of Israel pure in their worship and so forth. But his prohibition here about the Ammonite and the Moabite is not their incestuous origin, he says this verse 4, “because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.” Now it tells us here “of Mesopotamia,” it never tells that in Numbers. “Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.” (verses 5-6) isn’t that interesting? Don’t seek the peace or prosperity of a Moabite or an Ammonite, that’s interesting, God’s dealing with them. The prohibition about the Moabite and the Ammonite had nothing to do with their origin, which was incestuous, God says it’s because of the way they treated you along the way, and you’re my people. Look, that is going to hold up, when we get to Matthew chapter 25, and we hear of the judgment of the sheep and of the goats, and it says the Lord when he returns is going to say to the goats that are on his left side, ‘depart from me into everlasting punishment, because when I was hungry you didn’t feed me, when I was sick you didn’t visit me, when I was in prison you didn’t come and so forth,’ and they’re going to say ‘When, Lord?’ and he’s going to say ‘As you did not do unto one of the least of these my brethren, you didn’t do it to me.’ Jesus himself, Lord of lords, King of kings, will hold people and nations accountable in the great judgment, relative to how they treated his ancient people, and that principle is here, set before us. Interesting that he says to them, that Balaam sought to curse you, but I didn’t let it happen, and the reason I turned it into a blessing, is because I love you. There isn’t any attack that can come to us without God’s permission. Balaam could only move as far as God would give him leash. Here’s one of the interesting things to me, and relating to you, relating to me, relating to the Body of Christ, the Body of Christ, the Church, the family of God, you know, we’re the best dysfunctional family going, that’s what we are. And sure there are problems. Remember, Paul wanted to present the Corinthian church as a chaste virgin before Christ on that day. And you think of Balaam, I think of times when I just griped to the Lord sometimes about people, that happened in 1974 once, and you know, and the Lord said ‘You know, look, look at Balaam, it says very distinctly the Holy Ghost came upon Balaam, and when it opened his mouth, he said “How lovely are thy tents O Jacob, there is no iniquity found in thee,”’ wait a minute they made a golden calf and turned away at Kadesh-barnea, they did all kinds of things that God had to deal with them, at Kibroth-hataavah thousands of them died. And here when the Holy Ghost comes upon an antagonist and he looks at God’s people, he says ‘How lovely are thy tents O Jacob, there is no iniquity found in thee.’ And God would say to me, ‘Hey, you’re griping? Maybe your problem is you’re not filled with the Holy Ghost, because even this antagonist, when he was filled with the Holy Ghost could see the beauty of my Bride.’ And God said ‘I didn’t let Balaam judge you,’ and they were scoundrels in the wilderness, the whole generation passed away, they didn’t make it to the Promised Land. ‘I didn’t let them do this, I turned the curse into a blessing, and I did that because I love you.’ Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable. And we see the ultimate demonstration of his love, not that we loved him but that he first loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Nothing will ever equal that demonstration of his love for us. He says
“Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.” (verses 7-8)

Laws Of Sanitation

“When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.” (verse 9) We’re going to just have hygiene here, interesting. “If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night,” that could be one thing or another, “then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: but it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.” (verses 10-11) So he has some kind of emission in the night in one way or another, he’s unclean until the sun goes down and washes himself. Hygiene. “Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: for the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.” (verses 12-14) Now this is talking about going to the bathroom, with 2 million people you have to have some rules [armies have latrines now, with the lower ranks, or short-timer soldiers assigned to latrine duty]. Now only the King James can make this sound Biblical. I love the King James, I’m addicted. You have to go to the bathroom, you go outside the camp, you dig a little hole, do your business and you bury it, and you come back into the camp. You know I have some questions, when you look at this, verse 9 seems, I don’t know if it’s talking just specifically about the camp in regards to when you got forth to battle against your enemies, which would make the camp a little smaller, because 2 or 3 million people, you’re talking about 5 to 7 hundred square miles, and that’d be a bummer sometimes trying to get to the edge of the camp. But there are specific instructions here related to that. And he says “for the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee;” so hopefully he’s talking about just now when the men are out to battle and it’s a smaller group, “therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.” Now, it’s a shame that God finds it necessary to have to even make these kinds of rules, but you know the way people are, and what they would do. [Band of Brother, Battle of Foy episode, ‘Who’s the so and so that took a crap in my foxhole!’] Make application here, sometimes we see people here get out of the car take their cigarette out and put it on the ground, put it out with their foot, just leave it there for somebody else to pick up [in the military, some Sgt or navy Chief, ‘Police that butt, son!’]. We tell people over and over and over again, on our field out there, please don’t bring your dog, ‘Well my dog’s a Christian dog,’ ya, right, your dog’s a convert, he doesn’t go to the bathroom, and then we have to come up with all kinds of rules about Christian dogs and unchristian dogs. Just, there’s children, this is a place where they’re supposed, that shouldn’t be happening, take your dog somewhere else. [Shouldn’t be taking your dog to church anyway, they can’t understand the sermon 😊 It’s a house-pet, not a church-pet.] Don’t let your dog do on the field what you wouldn’t let him do on your livingroom floor, just go somewhere else, dogs don’t care whether they’re here or not. I remember one time at the old building, somebody brought their dog, and we wouldn’t let them in the building with their dog, and they said ‘I’ve been in Europe, and in Europe you can go sit right in a restaurant, people have their dogs, they’re well behaved, and I don’t understand why my dog can’t come in.’ And I said go talk to him, he can listen on the radio. But we find coffee cups and candy bar wrappers, this is the Lord’s camp too, and we should have respect unto it, we should keep it clean, I think the Lord walks also in the midst of us, it’s just some practical things here.

God’s Feeling About Slavery & Prostitution

“Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:” (verse 15) which would be speaking about a foreigner that escaped from a foreign master, “he shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.” (verse 16) [Comment: This is an anti-slavery statute, law, in the Torah. I know it’s only one tiny law amidst the whole Torah, but it is significant. It is not prohibiting the 6-year bondservant laws which could be incurred for debt or robbery, but this law is against true slavery. It is said there were more slaves in the Roman empire than there were free citizens. The British empire was made wealthy, as was early America, by the institution of slavery. It cannot be overestimated that God is inherently against the institution of slavery.] “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.” (verse 17) All of this idolatrous. When they came into Canaan, so many of the fathers and mothers gave their daughters to be temple prostitutes, it was a right of passage. It’s unthinkable, about some of the things they did. “Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both of these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.” (verse 18) So if you, if your daughter’s a whore and she brings home the money she makes, don’t you dare bring that to the house of the LORD in regards to some vow. If your son is a sodomite, a male prostitute, and it says don’t bring the price of a dog, it was an ancient term, and in many cultures, even amongst the Greeks the male prostitute was called “a dog.” When we read in the Book of Revelation about the Holy City, and it says ‘For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolators, and whosoever maketh a lie,’ that’s not talking about Fido, that’s talking about this kind of thing. Listen, it is prevalent in our culture also. Right now in San Francisco the city counsel is trying to decide whether they want to legalize prostitution in the city of San Francisco. They’ve already decided that illegal aliens could have a haven there, and they’re refusing to give them up, a very difficult situation. Now evidently, Louis is out there, told me that they surveyed the city counsel, and it’s 70 percent against 30 percent, to make, legalize prostitution in the city of San Francisco. A large portion of those prostitutes will be male prostitutes. So this is not something from ancient culture, this is not something that’s gone and dead, that we don’t have to deal with and look at today [read this article about the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and how they minister to those unfortunate teenage male and female prostitutes in New York City (see https://unityinchrist.com/prayer/prayer-teamessentials.htm and scroll to the paragraph title “THE SALT MINES” and read down from there)]. It isn’t something that you and I have to be ashamed to say ‘I don’t believe that’s right, I’m going to teach my children morals.’ These people are not the Taliban, you don’t have to live in fear, this is America, we have freedoms also, certainly they have the freedom to be here, but they don’t have the freedom to legislate themselves into our lives and demand their right at our children. You see because heterosexuals reproduce. They have to make converts, because they don’t reproduce. And none of our family, as far as I’m concerned, we have the right to say in this country, this is what we believe, we believe this is right, and we believe this is wrong. And you can do that, and do it in a loving way, and do it in an honest way. But this kind of confusion is still prevalent in our culture. “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both of these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.” (verses 17-18)

Laws Against Charging Usury, Interest

“Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.” (verses 19-20) Usury here means “with interest.” Usury of money, usury of vittels, usury of anything that is lent upon usury, you shall not take interest or collateral of these things. But unto a foreigner, a stranger, you may lend with usury, say if you make a business deal with somebody from a foreign land in regards to importing and so forth, you may charge interest. “but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.” (verse 20) [Can you imagine this? This very law will basically make banks obsolete, credit cards will become a thing of the past, people will have to save their money for needed large purchases. Israel, during the World of Tomorrow will go back to a gold standard, inflation will become a thing of the past. Through this law and the law of release from financial dept every 7 years and then on the year of the Jubilee, accumulated and generational debt will cease to be. It will truly become the Millennium of the Common Man, as Henry A. Wallace tried to create the Century of the Common Man (see https://unityinchrist.com/IsraelAPeculiarPeople--ALightToTheGentiles.html ).] “When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.” (verses 21-22) Jesus just said let your yea be yea and your nay be your nay, beyond that anything said is sin. And at the same time we have all these churches trying to get Pledges from their people, making their people Pledge, you know. And I don’t mean cleaning with a dust rag and that lemon stuff. They’re trying to make people pledge, ‘I’ll give this above our normal giving,’ and getting into people’s pockets, it just says in the New Testament, don’t even do that. Don’t even make a pledge, let your yes be yes and your no be no, more than that just makes problems. Here it says, if you make a vow, keep it, because the LORD takes notice of that. “But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.” If you don’t make it in the first place, it’s no sin to thee. “That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.” (verse 23) Once you let it out, it’s hard to get it back. Isn’t it? And again, your mouth, your tongue is the only part of your body that comes in a cage, if you just keep the cage closed you stay pretty safe. Let me tell you something, it’s not only God that notices that, people notice that, people notice. If you’re prone to say ‘Well the Lord told me to do this,’ and then you don’t do it. You know, it’s amazing, the number of people I have heard that tell me ‘The Lord told me this, the Lord told me that,’ and then somehow the Lord changes his mind. Circumstances change and it’s like the Lord didn’t foresee that. So of course now ‘I don’t have to do that anymore, he told me I was supposed to do it, but now this happened, I don’t have to do it.’ People notice too, when you do that. You need to be obedient to the Scripture, God’s given us his Word, he’s given us his Spirit, he’s so gracious to lead us. He’s told us that when we fail, fall, if we confess our sins he’s faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We don’t have to go out there and make a big vow and make a big demonstration, make a big show ‘God told me this, the Lord told me this.’ Look, wisdom is justified of her children. If you’re wise and you live the right way, you’ll see the offspring of that in your life, you’ll see the fruit of it. Here he says, ‘That which is gone out of your lips, then you have to keep it, and perform it.’ “even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.” (verse 23b)

Respect For A Farmers’ Crop

“When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.” (verses 24-25) You’re walking through your neighbour’s vineyard, you’re allowed to pick grapes and eat them. But notice, isn’t it sad what the LORD has to tell us? “but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel,” don’t go in with your pickup truck, ‘back it up boys, my neighbour’s on vacation, get that part of the field first.’ Your kids have that philosophy when they’re little, you take them to the grocery store, they’re eating grapes, they think it’s Biblical, they can eat, they just can’t take a whole cart out of the store for free. Isn’t it so sad that God has to tell us this? You go through your neighbour’s vineyard, you can eat grapes while you’re walking through, you just can’t go in with vessels and back your truck up and take all your neighbour’s vineyard. “When thou comest into the standing corn [grain] of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.” (verse 25) Jesus’s disciples were doing that. Don’t bring in the combine, ‘Harry is in Hawaii for two weeks, bring the combine in and mow the field down.’ Isn’t it sad that the LORD has to tell us that? If you’re walking through your neighbour’s field you can pick some grain if you’re hungry, but don’t dare go in there with a sickle when you’re neighbour’s on vacation and not around. He knows us so well.

Deuteronomy 24:1-6

“When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4 her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. 5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken. 6 No man shall take the nether or upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.”

Laws About Divorce & Remarriage

““When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her:” and I’m going to read through the whole passage “then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” (verses 1-4) So it’s an interesting passage, you marry a woman, you find some uncleanness in her. Is that talking about adultery? Well it can’t be, because if she committed adultery, she’d be stoned, and you wouldn’t have to give her, you don’t have to hire a lawyer or anything. So it’s some other thing. In Jesus’ day Hillel and Shammai [The House of Hillel (Beit Hillel) and House of Shammai (Beit Shammai) were, among Jewish scholars, two schools of thought during the period of tannaim, named after the sages Hillel and Shammai (of the last century BCE and the early 1st century CE) who founded them. These two schools had vigorous debates on matters of ritual practice, ethics, and theology which were critical for the shaping of the Oral Law and Judaism as it is today.] disagreed, some say it was a moral thing, some said no, it’s for any reason. And in the days of Jesus Christ if you get, you can look in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim, or he’s got one on social life in the days of Christ [Sketches of Jewish Social Life], you could divorce your wife if she spoke mean to your parents, if she argued with her mother-in-law, you could divorce your wife is she looked at another man in public, you could divorce your wife if she spoke mean to you in public, you could divorce your wife is she burned the dinner. If she was getting on your nerve, I guess you could turn the stove up and blame her for burning the dinner, and you’d have to say ‘Be gone, be gone, be gone’ three times and she was gone, and you had to give her a bill of divorcement. And they came to Jesus and they said ‘Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?’ because it was a local debate in Christ’s day. He takes them back to the beginning and says ‘From the beginning it was not so, Moses didn’t command you to give a bill of divorcement, but for the hardness of your hearts he allowed you to do that.’ And notice what the prohibition is here, the prohibition isn’t, you can’t get divorced, the prohibition made provision for the woman. It says ‘If this goes on, whatever this uncleanness is,’ and some of the Pharisees and Sadducees had over a dozen wives. He says here, when you send her out, you have to give her a bill of divorcement, so she has some legal protection, and with that bill of divorcement, she’s allowed to marry another man. What’s prohibited is if that man divorces her, or if he dies, then she’s not allowed to go back and marry the first husband again. And the reason is, is because the One whose giving this law is standing outside of time, and for him, I divorce my wife at 9 O’clock in the morning, she goes out and marries somebody else at 9:30 and sleeps with him, he divorces her, she comes back to me at 10 O’clock and I marry her again, what just happened is she went out and committed adultery and came back, God says that’s an abomination, doesn’t matter to him whether it takes an hour or a week or ten years, it’s all the same to him. What he’s prohibiting is that wife getting divorced, sleeping with somebody else, and then God says I can’t endorse her coming back to that first husband. Jesus said the problem is this, when you divorce her, you cause her to commit adultery. The problem is not just when she comes back, because initially, that God’s initial intent was, that a husband and wife cleave to one another for the rest of their lives, and the two become one. Jesus said the problem is not just when the wife comes back, the problem is you’ve abused her, you’ve done something wrong, you’ve written her off for no reason, and she goes out and she ends up with another man, you’re causing her at that point to sin. The sin doesn’t begin when she comes back, because God’s original intent was that people would be faithful to each other their whole lives. It’s a complicated issue in the Church today, there is divorce, that’s not the unpardonable sin. There needs to be repentance, I think there needs to be pastoral involvement, there needs to be people understanding the complexity of the circumstance and everything that’s gone on with it. I believe the innocent party has the right to remarry, and there’s a whole other argument that goes on there that we covered in Matthew 19 and so forth [the major Bible chapter on divorce and remarriage, written by the apostle Paul, is covered in 1^st Corinthians chapter 7 (see https://unityinchrist.com/corinthians/cor7.htm )]. Interesting picture here, what she doesn’t have the right to do is come back and remarry the first husband, that’s an abomination, God’s standing outside of time just sees that as a woman who goes out, she’s with somebody else, and comes back to her husband again, and he says I can never, ever endorse that. We’ll end on verse 5, “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” Now that’s a Honeymoon. I always tell couples a Honeymoon should at least be a month long, Kathy and I took a month. We were Hippies, we were living in a commune, but we took a month, and she’ll never let me forget it. I had this old travel-all, I had to park it facing down the hill and jump start it because it didn’t start, so I had to put it in gear and let the clutch out to start it. We drove from Portland, Oregon to Philadelphia and back again in a month with that, I got it for free, out in somebody’s field, put four cans of fix-a-flat in it, pumped it up, and drove it from Florida to San Diego, changed the oil, was a miracle, it was a miracle, just the whole thing was a miracle. If I had to do it all over again, I’d have gone somewhere and just stayed somewhere for a month. What did I know? I wanted a woman, I didn’t know I was getting a wife too, I mean, you know. I remember driving across North Dakota, and the exhaust pipe had broken in front of the muffler, so she was trying to sleep in the back where I put a mattress, it was an old travel-all, suburban, and she’s coughing because the fumes are coming up, and I was amazed because the Aural Borealis was there, there was nobody around, it was 3 O’clock in the morning, I’m just driving down the road saying ‘Look at that! Isn’t that amazing!?’ she said ‘You gotta pull over, stop in the road.’ We just had our 30^th Anniversary on Tuesday, it’s a miracle we’ve survived [loud applause]. We love each other, God’s been gracious to us. “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” (verse 5) Of course that doesn’t say after a month she’s not saying ‘Honey, why don’t you go to battle, maybe you should just,’ I don’t know how this happens financially when you’re looking at a year, except the groom building an addition to his father’s house, and I guess it was the father’s responsibility to take care of the young groom and his wife, he’s not supposed to do any business or go to war for a year, and then of course the young girl had to live with her mother-in-law for a year, I don’t know if that cheered her up. There’s all kinds of things here that are not explained, but young guys, you get married, I think you need to pay attention, there’s a principle here, don’t jump right into ministry, first year you’re married your attention needs to be towards this partner that should be with you for your entire life. I think that first year is incredibly important, no matter how smart you are, you’re a novice when you step into that, and it is lab work, on the job training, and it is a blessing, it is a blessing, it is a blessing for us to look back over 30 years, and think what the Lord has done, which we never ever thought, would never have dreamt, the children, young men and young ladies serving the Lord, walking with the Lord, grandkids, life. I wrote on her card, I said ‘You know, it’s gone by like a dream, it’s gone by like a thousand years, 30 years, I can hardly believe it, so much has happened….’ Ah, read ahead, this is just remarkable stuff, and there’s so much to make application, when we get to the end of this I’m going to collect some stats about families today, what’s happening in our culture today. You know the fastest growing segment of our society is pornography it is amongst 11 to 13-year-olds in our culture. Family is so important, fathers stand up, fathers, and be counted. Stand up. You don’t need to be your kids buddies, your kids got buddies, you need to be their father. My boys understood, you got buddies, I ain’t one of them, I’m your father, when you become a man we’ll be buddies, but right now I’m your dad, you’re my son, and that’s the rule. As long as I’m bigger than you and outweigh you that’s the way it’s going to stay, and even when you get bigger than me, you’ll never win I’ll get you when you’re sleeping, I’m your father, you can never win, you can never win. Just kidding. My dad was a good dad, I loved him, and on the other side of that, I didn’t want my dad to spank me…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Deuteronomy 22:8-30, Deuteronomy 23:1-25 and Deuteronomy 24:1-6, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]