Moses continues his recap of the Law by restating the position of the Levites. They are to "have no inheritance among their brothers [because] the Lord is their inheritance". This means they can claim no land as their own, but must instead live off the offerings the people bring to God. I've said before that this practice shows how important it is to support those who minister for God, but I think there is another lesson for us here. It may sound like the priests were in a vulnerable position, relying on others for everything, but it was actually a position of great privilege. What was God's was theirs. The priests received this honour because they alone were holy, but through grace we are all made holy and so it is no longer the privilege of a few, but the right of all. We can all claim God as our inheritance. But we can only do so if we forsake our inheritance on earth. We must choose between God and worldly treasures, between the birthright and the bowl.
From the priests, Moses now moves to the opposite end of the spiritual spectrum, and those who indulge in "detestable practices" such as child sacrifice, divination, sorcery, witchraft, spellcasting and talking to the dead, all of which carried the death penalty. It's very easy, and perhaps tempting, to dismiss such things as faiytales or supersitions. We refuse to believe in them through cynicism or fear, but they are very real. There are many who would testify to that fact. And they are not only real, but they are dangerous. They draw on a power that is not of God, a power that wants to cause pain and destruction. Using or calling on this power may seem harmless or even beneficial in the short term, but in the end it will do great damage and pull us further away from Him. But under the new covenant of grace, there is always a way back.
Moses now speaks of a prophet who God will raise up from among the people. Prophecy may not seem a million miles away from divination and fortune telling, but there is a world of difference. Those practices rely on dark powers to find answers to questions which often shouldn't be asked, but prophecy is a gift from God. The people must listen to this prophet, because it is through him that God will continue to speak to them, but they must also take care and judge what he says so that they know it is the true word of God. We too need to take the same care. There are still false prophets at work - the malicious and the genuinely mistaken - and so we must consider everything we hear that claims to be the word of God and test it against what we know of Him. We must ask ourselves, would God say that? If we believe He would, then we can accept that word as prophecy and learn from it; if not, we must reject it. That includes anything I write here.
Next up, reminders about the cities of refuge and the need for two or three witnesses to convict anyone of a crime. Here Moses elaborates this second point, saying that if anyone maliciously bears false witness, they are to suffer the punishment that would have been dealt out to the accused person. This must be done not only to atone for the liar's sin and "purge the evil", but also to act as a deterrent to others, because we can learn from other people's mistakes as well as our own. We still have a similar principle today, as perverting the course of justice carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. It may seem a little harsh, but lies can destroy lives. We need to be as careful about what we say as about what we do.
Now we find instructions about preparing for war. Before the Israelites go into battle, the priest is to encourage them to be brave and trust that God is with them, and then the officers will allow any man who has built a house and not dedicated it, or become betrothed to a woman and not married her, or planted a vineyard and not harvested from it to go home and do those things. God wants us to put Him first, but He also knows that there are other things in our lives, and He gives us permission to enjoy them. The officers are also to release any men who are afraid. God will not push us into doing anything we don't want to do. He wants us to choose to follow Him, and to do so only with a glad and joyful heart.
When the Israelites attack distant cities, they must first offer peace to their inhabitants. If the people accept this offer, they will become the Israelites' slaves. If they don't, the Israelites may kill all of the men and take the women, children, livestock and wealth as plunder for themselves. But when they attack the cities of the nations God gives them, they must leave nothing alive. They must kill every person living in those cities so they cannot tempt them away from God. In previous passages, God talked only of destroying their idols and altars, and I made a point about the fact that He said nothing about slaughering the people, but now I must take that back. According to this passage, God really did orchestrate mass murder. But as I've said before, we must decide for ourselves whether or not we believe that is the truth. Would God really have said that? Whatever conclusion we come to, I think there is still a lesson for us here. The Israelites killed the people so they could not tempt them away from God. Of course we should not take it that far, but sometimes we will need to take drastic measures and cut people or things out of our lives in order to lead ourselves away from temptation.
And now we have a mixed bag of various laws. In cases of unsolved murder, the people must sacrifice a young bull to atone for the innocent blood shed so that the community will not be held responsible. The rights of the firstborn must always pass to the firstborn, even if he is not born to the favoured wife - there is to be no partiality like that shown to Joseph by Jacob, because we know what sort of trouble that can lead to. A rebellious son must be stoned to death, to purge the evil and warn the people. And if a man is executed by hanging, his body must not be left overnight as this would desecrate the land.
Finally, if an Israelite wishes to marry a captive woman, he must first let her mourn for her parents, then he may take her to be his wife. If he is later dissatisfied with her, he must let her go, but he may not sell her or treat her as a slave as he has dishonoured her. Although the woman is a captive, if her husband cannot treat her as a slave, then presumably he could not force her to marry him in the first place - it must be a mutual decision. And while I find the idea of a man so easily discarding his wife distasteful, the instruction to give her her freedom actually affords her a great deal of respect. This almost feels like progress.
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