King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2021
Chapters: Deuteronomy 21-23
Message: The Few Who Find The Gate
Hello My Friend,
When you are reading chapters were there are so many random contexts within the verses it can be hard to focus on one theme. So, as I was reading the chapters for today what kept coming to mind were the comments I would get from people as to why they reject God’s Word. When God gives His commands, we need to look at that broader picture, while some things are pretty obvious, others only make sense if we put ourselves in their shoes. In other words, what were they doing that God gave that command. Do we need God to tell us that we need to wash our hands after we go to the restroom or stay away from healthy people when we are sick? Apparently, we do. Look at all the germs and diseases that spread because people do not wash their hands. This reminds me of something Jesus said, [Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.]
Marriage is a sacred union that God instituted between a man and a woman for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity, and for securing the maintenance and education of children. While God does stress the importance that marriage is to be one man and one woman only, watching how Abraham had issues with Sarah, and then how Jacob had issues with his two wives and two concubines, He decided to make rules concerning marriage if a man wanted more than one wife. First, He addresses an Israelite man who wanted to marry a woman he found among the captives, meaning when they went into a city to take it, and met a woman and wanted her for his wife.
[Deuteronomy 21:12-17 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; 13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. 14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. 15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: 16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: 17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.]
[hou shalt not make merchandise of her,] Do you see how God sees a man and woman coming together as being married at that instant? In fact, He says they become one flesh. This is exactly why the Bible says, [I Corinthians 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.] A harlot is another word for a prostitute, and that is why God specifies that if the man decided he did not want to be with the woman anymore that he was not to make merchandise of her.
[and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:] And to read this, we would wonder why he would marry someone that he hated. Well, remember when Jacob met Rachel and worked seven years for her father only to be given Leah instead, and then he had to work another seven years for Rachel, [Genesis 29]? God always has a reason for His commands, and it usually has to do with the fact that He saw what it does to people. If you think that the crazy, idiotic, and immoral things that we see today are new, they are not, God has seen them already. I always say that the difference between now and then is technology. Let me tell you, there are many things that God finds extremely appalling, or as He would put it, abominable, including children disrespecting their parents, no matter how old they get. In fact, He even commands that if they are rebellious they die.
[Deuteronomy 21:18-23 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: 19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. 22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: 23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.]
[so shalt thou put evil away from among you;] Do you see what God was getting at? This goes beyond a kid who just sits there when you tell them to do something a couple of times, this was someone who disrespected their parents. While God is merciful, He will make an example out of those who are rebellious so that the rest of us would learn that there are serious consequences for our actions, [I Corinthians 10:11-13 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.]
[(for he that is hanged is accursed of God;)] Just think about this entire verse, anyone who was guilty of a sin committed worthy of death would be hung, meaning crucified. [Accursed; Worthy of the curse; detestable; execrable.] The curse of sin is death. When Jesus hung on the cross, His own Father could not look at him because He took with Him every sin committed by every person who sinned, even ours, and everyone else who will be born until He returns. Jesus gave His sinless life to save us from eternal death, so that chastening we get every now and then is nothing compared to what we would be getting if we did not accept Christ as our Saviour. [Galatians 3:10,13-14 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.]
Now, I do agree that some of God’s commands that He had given to the Israelites were a bit odd, such as these. [Deuteronomy 22:5,11-12 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God. 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.]
[Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts,] Yes, someone did tell me that they reject God because He said not to wear clothes that were made with mixed fabrics. Well, think about what God is commanding them to do, a woman dressed as a man brings confusion. The priests garments were made of wool and linen, so, anything they did was to be whole of one sort, not blended of different sorts. And as for the fringes at the hem of their clothes, well, that was done to remind them that they were God’s people, and to follow His commands. Still today, the clothes, even the scarves, have fringes, six hundred and thirty to be exact, one for each command, [Numbers 15:38-40 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: 39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: 40 That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.]
Did God expect them to know and obey all six hundred and thirty commands all the tine? No! What He expected, and still expects from all His believers, is faithfulness, to love Him, and when we do mess up, confess and repent of our sins. We will never be without sin until we are in heaven or Jesus returns and we are raptured out of here, but we can love, honor, and respect Him, especially after what He has done for us, [Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.]
Speaking of the newness of life, when we first come to Christ we are worn out and tattered, then He makes us like new after we accept Him as our Saviour. We must be whole to be able to come to God, and the only way we can be whole is through Christ, if we are not, then God will not accept us. And we must also be careful of who we allow in our lives, Moses explains all of this in a rather odd way.
[Deuteronomy 23:3-7 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.]
[An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD;] Do you know how long ten generations is? Well, a new generation is formed, depending on the age in which they have children, every fifteen to twenty years, so, that would be anywhere from eight hundred to a thousand years. This goes to show you that God, while He is merciful to the sinner who repents, sin does bring consequence to everyone around them, and for centuries. Ruth, was a Moabite, she was accepted by God, and came into the history of the Israelite about eight hundred years later, she was David’s grandmother, of whom Jesus would descend in the flesh [Ruth 4:13-22]. You see, the life we live, it is more than about us, and if we truly stop to understand that, we would see that we are leading souls to Christ, [James 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.]
Regardless of being under grace right now, sin is sin, and God still sees it the same way. We may be justified for our sins when we accept Christ, but that does not stop Him from placing judgments when the sin does not stop. People need to know the truth, they need to be convicted in their conscious of their behavior. Of all sins that bother God the most, apart from worshiping false gods, are those committed in the flesh, particularly sexual sins, prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, these are all something He despises still today.
[Deuteronomy 23:14.17-22 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. 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 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.]
[For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp,] God is always with us, He dwells in every believer through the Holy Spirit. As I grow in Christ I realize something, God loves us, and while we ought to be thinking twice about everything we do, we are not under the law anymore. We have a choice in what we do, if we make bad choices, we will not lose our salvation, but we will suffer. Since God knows everything about us, even before we do, it is lying about the sin that angers Him more. So, if we come to Him admitting we sinned, we will be forgiven, [I John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Deuteronomy 23:14 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.]
Today’s Prayer: God, It truly is amazing that once we accept Your Son as our Saviour that nothing separates us, but when we allow things in our lives that You do not approve of it is so easy to forget that You are with us. Lord, help me to truly make You Lord, search my heart, give me a pure heart, reveal to me every thing that You are not happy with and help me to remove these obstacles so I can truly enjoy Your presence and witness the amazing grace You have given me in every area of my life. I ask these things in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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