Welcome to the Love and Context podcast, engaging in unscripted conversations with your hosts,
Ben and Spencer.
Whether you're tuning in from your car, your office, your home, or anywhere in between,
we are so happy to have you join us today.
Our mission is simple, to explore the Bible through a powerful lens of love.
Together we'll uncover fresh insights and gain deeper understandings of how we can love
God and love the people in our everyday lives.
So buckle up and join us on the spiritual journey as we discover timeless wisdom that
is just as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.
Without further ado, let's dive right in.
Welcome to the Love and Context podcast.
I'm one of your hosts, Ben.
And I'm Spencer.
Also another host.
I just like to throw Ben off before I hear him.
Exactly.
It's kind of like an exercise in like, how can I mess with Ben during the podcast?
Yeah, every-
It's not just that.
It's also like on Sunday morning when we're doing music in practice and you're like, what
kind of drumbeat can I throw in here to see if it messes with him?
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
So that's the kind of relationship that we have.
On a different note, we did like an all city worship night and I was doing that all throughout
the worship service.
Oh yeah, you were.
Like I was like, I'm going to do this little thing here and see what Ben does.
And there's a couple of times where Ben just like turned his head and was like, what are
you-
Nobody else noticed.
Yep.
No.
I definitely have, like it is part of my mental function that I just notice little things
and then I pick them up.
And I've gotten really good at ignoring them.
You know, really good, but sometimes, sometimes it is click over the top.
So all right.
We had Pastor Sarah over the last couple of weeks and that was great.
I was just listening back to those episodes and I was like, man, we got to get her on
more, which we are.
Yeah.
She's going to be coming back and I don't know when, but a little bit.
Yeah.
Season two, maybe just start out the season.
It just depends on what we decide to start out with.
Next week we're going to have Caleb Fox.
He is a prison minister.
He's going to be coming, prison chaplain.
He's going to be coming and just sitting with us for a couple of weeks talking about the
end of Deuteronomy.
But today you guys are excited.
I can tell, I can tell.
You're not even listening yet.
I'm actually recording it right now, but I can tell that you're excited because we're
in Deuteronomy 19 through 25.
These are some really cool chapters.
Yeah.
Like really, if there's, if there's a chunk of Deuteronomy that you really want to spend
time in, this is some of my favorite stuff right here.
Well, and if you're, if you're wondering about like sections of Deuteronomy that Jesus quotes
from a lot, it's actually here because he's having conversations with the Pharisees.
We'll point out a few of them along the way, but if you have not read Deuteronomy 19 through
25, you should do that.
Yep.
Pause the podcast, put it on audio Bible, put it on you version.
Your copy is great.
Get some coffee.
Don't rush spend some time, like let it actually marinate because we're going to assume that
you've read this before, before we start discussing some of these things.
Yeah.
All right.
I, once again, I want to preface one of the things we talked about at the beginning of
Deuteronomy is it's not necessarily helpful to compare their laws to our modern laws.
We need to make sure that we're contextualizing it with the laws that are around them and
what is God speaking into?
What is it actually meant to, to correct or change?
Yes.
Right.
Yes.
So one of the first things that comes up in chapter 19 of Deuteronomy is this thing called
cities of refuge.
Now, this is not the first time they've been mentioned.
He's just mentioning it again.
So what's the deals with cities of refuge?
Like what, what, why, why are these even a thing?
Because like in our modern context, that doesn't even make sense.
It's like, Hey, listen, if something happens and somebody is after you go and go to Boston,
go to Boston and you can hang out there for a while.
And our modern context is called running.
Yeah.
Whether that's from the law or from a life situation or something like that versus here,
it's saying like, if something actually happened, go to these places.
Yeah.
So the cities of refuge is a place that you're supposed to flee to if something happens that
was unintentional.
Okay.
And I want to stress unintentional because there's, there's another caveat that they
add in here when they're talking about it.
So the example that Moses throws out there is if you're in the woods, cutting down some
woods and the axe slips in it, hit somebody else and they die.
You fleeted these cities of refuge so that if somebody who they're feeling the blood
lust, right?
Think about a Hapfields and McCoy.
That this is where you go to find safety because you stay in your home, like they're going
to come after you.
They're going to come after your family, et cetera.
Yeah.
And that, that's, that's no bueno.
Okay.
Because it wasn't actually something that you meant to do.
And so there, there's a formula or a procedure for justice in that situation.
Yes.
Now with that, if you did do it intentionally and you flee to one of these cities, this
is not the place for you.
In fact, he says that you actually need to go and get the elders and the elders are actually
going to bring you out of that city and take you back to the place for judgment.
So this is, this is legitimately set up for people who do something unintentionally.
Now why is that important?
Because that's different than the laws that they had at the land.
The laws of the land is if you take from, if you take from me and I, I can take from
you your life.
Yeah.
Might makes right.
And that's going to come up in just a little bit.
So just FYI, there is actually two little mini chiasms.
They're not going to actually draw them out for you in chapter 19, but you can go find
them.
One centers on the accidental and one centers on the intentional.
The center of the first one talks about like what constitutes an accident, something that
accidentally happens.
Yeah.
And then the second one says the responsibility of the elders to make sure that justice is
being achieved.
Yeah.
And then that section concludes with don't move your neighbor's boundary line.
Now the boundary line, of course, that is your land and it's going to be your clan's
land is going to be your family's family's land for generation after generation after
generation.
And so these boundary lines are meant to mark where these places are.
Yeah.
Okay.
So it's more than just stuff.
It's actually like their identity.
Yeah.
So this is more than just don't try to take part of your neighbor's stuff.
Okay.
Obviously don't do that.
It's like the same commandments.
Don't steal.
Right.
Yeah.
But it's broader than that.
It's literally more like don't take part of somebody's identity.
Yeah, exactly.
So when you're talking land in the Old Testament, that was usually inherited down through generations.
And now we're still in Deuteronomy.
Like we're still in the desert wandering years.
They're crossing over into the promised land.
Yeah.
But it's about to be different.
It's about to be different.
Yeah.
Versus like land today, like both you and I own a house.
Yeah.
So if we wanted to sell our house and buy a different house, we could do that.
Right.
Pretty easily.
So it's not necessarily applicable for us.
Yeah.
But I do actually think that there's a good conversation here about boundaries in people's
lives.
In the literal context, it doesn't necessarily apply to the way that we buy and sell houses.
But let's not get into metaphorical context and boundaries.
One of the things I've gotten some pushback on over the last couple of years, as I said,
it's okay to have boundaries in your life.
Yeah.
Where people say, you know, they say, hey, can you go and do this?
You say, I cannot.
And they say, oh, why are you busy?
You don't have to answer someone.
It's okay if you want to keep that private.
Yeah.
Because a lot of times when somebody is asking, are you busy?
They're looking for a way to convince you that you should do what they want you to do.
And by the way, people, that's not appropriate.
It's totally appropriate to ask for help, to invite people in, to explain to them that
you really need their help, all those things.
But it's not okay to guilt trip people.
Yeah.
It's actually a form of manipulation.
It's absolutely a form of manipulation.
I have grown up in the church and the church is incredibly proficient at gaslighting and
manipulating people.
Yeah.
Now that is not a church exclusive thing.
No.
But I think that we guise it up in religious garb.
And then we try to justify it away, which by the way, goes back to our conversation.
Like I was talking about with Solomon, right?
Where Solomon's like, oh, well, I have to have this, this wedding because of a treaty
or because of unity between the tribes or the nations.
And he justifies why he now has 900 wives.
Yeah.
Usually we justify these things for righteousness sake, but you can't do evil for righteousness
sake, which is actually the new movie, Neighbor's Line.
Yeah.
So I worked in the ministry a number of years ago where we had one guy who was helping out
who was kind of flighty.
He was in and out.
You never really knew.
So I just told him, I was like, here's what I want from you.
If he can be there, here's when we're doing things here, the things I'd like you to help
out with.
If he can be there, let me know.
Yeah.
And he would let me know more often or not it was, he could not be there.
So we didn't count on him.
We filled his, filled what he was doing with other people's responsibilities.
Yeah.
And then when he came back, he's like, oh, well, that's what I usually do.
It actually led to a great conversation of like, Hey, here's the deal.
Like we've been doing this for a while.
We asked if he could be like, we asked, just let us know if he can be here or can't be
here.
And so you're now wanting to show back up again.
That's great.
Why don't you show up for six months and then we'll start adding responsibilities back
when we play.
Right.
Just show up and be here.
You're also helping establish healthy boundaries on your side and his side.
Yeah.
And just to add some nuance to that conversation, if the guy had come to you and been like, well,
I want to talk about like how I can be more involved, then you might have a nuance of
conversation about why can't you, but that's an invited conversation, not one where I'm
demanding answers.
Yeah.
So a good example in my life is I Sabbath Friday night, Saturday night.
I don't work.
I don't focus on anything that is work.
We've actually gone to the point where they do men's breakfasts, which I actually do really
like men's breakfast cause I love bacon, but they do them on Saturday morning and I don't
go.
Part of the reason I don't go is cause every time I go to a church function, it feels a
little bit like work.
And after so many years in ministry, I rarely can go to something and just actually relax.
Yeah.
And it causes me to lose focus to lose focus on what Shabbat is supposed to be.
And so I've had people ask, they're like, well, are you going to go to men's breakfast?
I said, no, I'm not.
I said, not because I don't think it's a great thing.
I think it's a great thing.
If we have it on Sunday, I'll be there.
Yeah.
Have it on Friday.
I'll be there.
Yeah.
And then the same situation is somebody needed help and they said, well, we really need some
help on Saturday.
And I showed up and they said, well, I thought you, you Shabbat on Saturday.
I said, what I've been very clear on is that I rest and I, we play, we remember that God
loves us on Sabbath, but loving God and loving other people is more important than that.
Yeah.
And so when there is a, when there's a situation where I need to love people more than I need
my rest, I'm going to step into that.
Now you can only do that occasionally.
You can't do that on a regular basis or else your boundary is, is no, I was like, but it's,
it's actually, if you've had conversations with me about Sabbath, something I talk about
quite a bit is that when I have the situation where I need to love people more than my own
personal boundary, I'm going to, I'm going to move past that to do that.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
And when Jesus talks about, Hey, let your yes be yes and your no be no.
Like the other part of that, that we don't often talk about is we need to be willing
to accept people's yeses and accept their no's.
A lot of times we're like, okay, we'll accept the yes, but then no comes around and like,
we need to question that and figure out why they can't do that.
Well, and just one more thing on boundaries.
Cause we could stay here for a while.
I mean, honestly, we probably will talk about boundaries and maybe a topical episode in
the future, but churches need to start putting together job descriptions and expectations.
Yeah.
I have seen too many times for pastors, they they're like, we expect you to be at this
and this and this and this, and they find out as they're going.
I think that if you set clear expectations off the get-go in a job description, it is
very helpful.
Yeah.
But it's not helpful if you give them a job description and then you're asking them to
do things that aren't in their job description.
Yeah.
Last thing on this and move on.
But last thing on boundaries is also church boards.
They need to be willing to back the boundaries that they set for the pastors.
Oh, a hundred percent.
Because oftentimes a pastor will come in and then volunteers will be like, actually, you're
supposed to do this.
Yeah.
And it's actually the church boards need to be like, no, these are the boundaries we set
for our pastoral staff.
Yeah.
And so those need to be honored.
And then the volunteers are coming in and be like, actually, you need to do this, this,
this, and this.
The board actually needs to be willing to step in and be like, no, those are not the boundaries
we set for.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
So we got to protect our pastors as well.
Yeah.
Pastors have a tendency to overcommit and overwork, and we need to also enforce their
boundaries that they need to rest.
Yeah.
So thus far in 19, it's actually been a lot about justice so far, which is not surprising
that's continuing on the conversation from last week.
So with continuing that conversation, in one of the episodes we had with Pastor Sarah, we
talked about that there needs to be two witnesses.
And he reiterates this again.
He says, one witness is not enough.
You need two or three witnesses.
Now that's a really important thing for justice because one person is going to make an accusation.
You need to actually be able to corroborate that testimony.
Right?
One of the things I like to point out here is in America, our word is not very important.
Like people lie all the time.
I think that it's important to understand that in a Middle Eastern culture, specifically
this time period, your word is your entire being.
If you give your word, you're committing your life behind it, which is also which comes
up when Jesus says, if you proclaim with your mouth, Jesus is Lord.
Right?
When you're saying Jesus is Lord, you say Jesus is Lord.
Sorry, Paul says that, but when you say Jesus is Lord, you're saying Caesar is not.
And you're actually committing your life one way or another.
So the testimony of one witness isn't enough.
If you get two or three people who are witnessing to the same thing, it becomes a more serious
accusation because it's a lot more tangible process for them.
It's why the Pharisees actually had to pay off witnesses in the trial of Jesus.
Yeah.
Because there wasn't actually any tangible.
And we do want to point out once again, we are talking about the Jewish mafia.
When we say Pharisees, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the ruling council.
I do not want you to associate with the same people that Jesus spent three years with talking
in the triangle.
Yeah.
Those are different people.
We'll have a conversation about that at some point.
So they have to investigate it thoroughly.
If the witness is a liar after the examination, they find them to be a liar.
You actually are supposed to do to the witness what they want to done to the person who was
accused.
It seems appropriate.
People will hear about that and they won't try to do that.
Now once again, this reminds me of the unfaithful wife.
You're coming to the priest and there's recourse.
And if you know there's nothing wrong, you're going to go there.
He's going to be publicly shamed.
If you have a witness who brings something against you, you're like, fine, let's go to
the priest, let him examine the situation.
I know that I didn't do this and then you're going to have to deal with whatever repercussions
you actually want for me.
There is a chiasm here again in chapter 19, a little mini one, and it centers on the responsibility
of the judges to make diligent inquisition is the words that it centers on.
So they're supposed to do the hard work to figure out the truth.
It's not a haphazard decision.
So I have a friend and I really respect him for this.
One of his life policies is that someone has to prove to me themselves whether they're
good or bad persons.
Meaning that if someone comes up to me and is like, hey, you don't want to spend time
with that person because of this.
He's like, no, they have to prove that to me.
That person has to prove that to me because there is a chance that they could be a changed
person from when that other person knew them.
Oh, absolutely.
And he's like, yeah, I've been burned a number of times by that policy.
He's like, but I'm not letting that go because I've also had a number of times where people
have been like, this person is a horrible person and you get to know him and you're
like, actually they're not.
They're a wonderful person.
Well, there are people in this town who have said some questionable things about me and
you.
I was going to leave you off.
People only say good things about Spencer.
And you know, the biggest thing I have to say is I was like, get to know me and make
the determination for yourself.
Yeah.
Listen, I'm going to love people even if they say bad things about me.
Yeah.
It's like that's part of loving my enemies.
And there's also just the element for when you do have bad things, you shake the dust
off your feet.
Yeah.
I've been prepping some of the questions that are coming up in our Q and A in like four
weeks.
Yeah.
One of the things I noticed in the Q and A's is that like questions, comments that we get
usually are about things that are people are unsure about or they like to argue about.
And I'm not going to stop saying those things guys.
And it's okay if you don't like me because of it, but we need to have real conversations
about these things.
If you dislike me because I'm trying to have a real conversation, I can live with that.
We're going to make content.
You get to make all the comments you want.
Yeah.
Real conversations require disagreement, require struggle.
Well, you think like a couple of weeks ago, like Pastor Sarah and I, we had some disagreements
about what is giving and tithing look like.
Didn't matter.
We're going to figure it out together.
You guys haven't talked since then.
We've just joking.
Oh man.
No, I did text her and say, asked her if she watched the video on YouTube and if she was
okay with the way she looked because we did not forewarn her that we were videoing.
Okay.
True story.
So this section of chapter 19 actually ends with this conversation about a quote that
we're pretty familiar with life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand and foot for foot.
So we talked about Samson and we talked about this escalation of evil that happens in the
book of judges in the story of Samson.
And it's you don't take an eye for a hand and you don't take a life for an eye.
You don't attack somebody's family because you're mad at the person.
A lot of times this quote has come up in historically in when people have used this quote, it's
usually one people who don't really follow Jesus and they use this quote to justify getting
even.
Yeah.
This, this isn't about getting even.
It's about making sure there's non-escalation.
Well, I think more than that too, it's about make sure you're doing your best to treat
each other fairly.
Exactly.
Because it's coming on the heel of don't lie.
Don't, don't move your neighbor's boundaries.
If you do something accidentally, here's where you flee.
Don't take an eye for a tooth or a, or a life for an eye.
Like it has to be equal to what's actually going on.
Someone takes your hand.
You don't deserve their head.
Which once again, looking at the code around them, Hamarami's code, looking at some of
the Chaldean codes, if somebody attacks you, you have the right to just go and demolish
them.
And God says, Nope, you don't get that right.
And that's important.
Yeah.
Now out of that as well, Jesus references this in the Sermon on the Mount.
He says, you have heard it said an eye for an eye and a tooth or a tooth.
I say unto you to pray for those who persecute you.
Yes.
Jesus is correcting what it was always supposed to be.
This was always supposed to be about treating the people around you better, about actually
bringing kingdom to earth, about being set apart and holy different.
And please hear that because it's also in Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, I'm
here to fulfill the law, right?
Abolish it.
And then, but you read through the Sermon on the Mount and if you just take it at face
value, you can be like, well, he's changing it.
And so you actually, he's telling you what it was always supposed to be.
Yeah.
He's telling you what it was supposed to be.
Yeah.
And so he's, he's correcting the perverted views that we had, that they had at the time.
Yeah.
We're going to, we're going to link a episode in the show notes from Baymah.
It's called Abolish or Fulfill where, where Marty talks about that and it's really good.
Yeah.
And, uh, just helping you understand what does it actually mean when you say abolish
or fulfill?
Yeah.
So going into chapter 20, they're continuing this conversation, but now he shifts and he's
talking about they're about to go into conquest, right?
They're going to have to go into the land and we've had a lot of conversations about
the lands.
I'm not going to rehash the conversation we've had about does put to death mean put to death
sometimes, but not always necessarily.
It's important though that he reminds them you're going to go and face odds that are
way better than you.
Yeah.
People that are way better.
They've got way better weapons.
They got way better technology.
They have more people.
So don't be afraid because God's going with you.
Yeah.
I, I find that highly encouraging because I don't know about you, but I often feel outnumbered
in the world.
Yeah.
Same here.
This is as good a call for us as, as don't worry about it.
God's going with you.
And for application for us, like look at how many we've talked about this, but the number
of ridiculous battle plans, the war is laid out for Israel.
Hey, go march around the city.
Yep.
Blow horns and shout, Hey, 300 of you is going to take down over 120,000.
By the way, you're not going to use any weapons.
It's like, okay.
Siding out on that one.
I once had someone tell me the story of Gideon.
They're like, well, the reason that was is because they were, the army was in the valley.
They were on the hillside that each torch could have represented up to 10,000 soldiers.
So they could have thought that they had a hundred or 300,000 soldiers and the army's
down below could have been scared.
I was like, there's one problem with that argument.
And they're like, what?
I was like, there is no way to make 300 sound like 300,000.
But even in that context, there is no way.
And even if that's the case, are you, are you telling me that 30,000 wouldn't have looked
like 3 million?
Uh huh.
Yeah.
You know, I mean, I like, and so like, you gotta understand what is the point of the
story is the point is that God won the battle.
Yeah, exactly.
It was the battle belongs to God.
Exactly.
Not to you.
There is a couple of things here that I just want to know because I think it's, it's just
good practice in, in probably military, but I'm just going to mention the new military.
So they actually excuse people for certain reasons.
If a person's built a house, but they haven't lived in it yet.
Yeah.
Once again, much more tied to the land than we are a person with a vineyard that hasn't
enjoyed it yet.
Because otherwise in both those situations, somebody else might enjoy it.
If you die in battle, if you're pledged to be married, have you not been married yet?
Go get married and actually later they're going to talk about that.
You get a full year before you actually are required to show up for military service.
Sometime when we talk about Hebrew weddings, we'll actually go into some context about
like the ways that they like why they have a year, but they have a year that they're
they're excused from civic duty.
And then the last one is anyone who is faint hearted so that they don't affect anyone else.
Now I actually think that's probably one of the best things that we could take for our
churches today.
Oftentimes we are trying to convince people to go into battle that are faint hearted.
And the fact that they go with us actually discourages everyone else.
There are people who are worry warts and their worry becomes infectious.
And sometimes it's okay to just say, hey, why don't you stay home and watch the house?
Because we got to go and we got to go and take some ground.
It's going to be much more productive for you to worry about things over here than it
is for you to worry about what we're going to do.
Now notice that he doesn't he doesn't say that any of these people are bad people.
It just says that if they're faint hearted, leave them home.
We actually want people who are sold out to the mission.
Pastors we actually want people who are sold out for the mission.
I'd rather five people sold out for God than 500 who are whims a day's goal about it.
I think the presentation of sold out can differ too from person to person.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I'm not what I'm not suggesting is every person is like, let's go take a look.
You know, like I'm not saying everybody like everybody's personality is going to be different,
but you want people who are committed to the cause of the kingdom, which is to love God,
love other people and that all the world would know.
Yeah.
So the next thing on war that they mentioned here in this Deuteronomy 20 is that you have
to offer peace first.
You can't just go in and wail on them.
You have to go in and say, hey, let's make peace.
If they're like, no, then you have the option to go.
Which by the way, I was actually thinking about that as you were saying it is it makes
it so that you can't have any surprise attacks on your enemy.
Yeah.
Yeah, you can't have you're not being sneaky.
Yeah.
And in Deuteronomy 20, you're going in with genuine, let's make peace.
If they don't want that, then there's then there's war that could happen.
Yeah.
And this actually leads into what Jesus actually talks about in John 17 when it's correcting
the neighbor.
Yeah.
Where where it's like, no, you go in with a conversation for right.
And and to to be specific, they are specifically talking about cities that are not part of
the land that's been promised.
Yes.
So because we're going to get to that.
Some of you are already typing and like, hold on, we're going to get to those.
But basically they go and they will they will offer them peace if they accept you're not
going to attack them.
And if they refuse, then you have to go to war with them and drive them out.
And that's how you treat all the cities that are nearby that are not part of the land that's
been given to you.
Now, the flip side of that, if there are from the land that is given to you, you got to
go clean house.
Yes.
In verse 18, it says otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things
they do in worshiping their gods and you will sin against the Lord your God.
So how do I know in the book of Joshua?
They don't drive everybody out because they teach them all the detestable things and they
do in worshiping their gods and they still sin against the Lord their God.
Yeah, I do want to make a note here because I think this is a really interesting piece.
It says when laying siege, don't destroy food bearing trees because Moses says are the trees
people that you should besiege them?
Like obviously the answer is no.
And really practically to like if you take over a child, you don't want to destroy the
agriculture.
Yeah.
You don't want to feed yourself from that.
So if you're going in and once again, this is this is just these are just hints.
And so I'm just giving you guys hints on why I wouldn't necessarily say that they go and
they destroy everyone.
Yeah.
One of the reasons you would leave fruit producing trees is because there's still going to be
a population that needs it to eat.
Yeah.
Like maybe not a warrior population, but there is going to be a population.
So there's there's a lot of hints going on here.
I just want to lay that for you to consider when we're talking about this, this literature.
Yeah.
Okay.
You do not have to agree with me.
This is one where I'm totally fine with you completely disagreeing with me, but it is
something that I have been more convinced on.
The more I look into ancient literature, writing styles and what was going on in history in
this area, it does not conflict with a biblical account because this is the way things would
have been written.
Yeah.
So then they go into chapter 21 and we have our first murder mystery.
It's a good old episode procedural here.
It's titled as unsolved murder.
Now the customs of this area are foreign to us, but the implication is this of this section.
It says that if somebody was murdered, you need to take care of them.
You need to bring out the elders, do the atonement offerings, bless, lift up to God.
You are responsible to the person, even if you're not the one that murdered them.
Yes.
This is a little bit strange.
I want to go off on a little bit of a tangent here.
Is that cool?
All right.
So in verses 10 through 14, it talks about if you want to marry a woman who is a captive
or not, not Israelite.
The other thing I want to say is that there's a lot of terrible things that are happening
in this area, including the fact that the priest is a Christian and he's a Christian
and he's a Christian.
The priest is a Christian.
So it's not a Christian.
It's a Christian, and in this case, it's a Muslim.
This is a Christian priest.
So it's a Christian priest.
It's a Christian priest.
He was a Christian priest.
captive or not Israel and non-israelite. Yeah, and
There's a procedure that you have to go through they have to shave their head
They got to go into mourning for a month and then you're able to take them into your family and they're like part of the country
Mm-hmm, and you're like Ben. Why do you care about that? Well, I want to remind you about a little book called Ezra. Mm-hmm
Ezra and it's in chapter 10 after the Israelites have gone into captivity and now they have come back out of Babylon
So this is towards the end of the story before Jesus
There's a guy by the name of Ezra who is helping them rebuild and he finds the book of the law and he reads it in their
Presence like he stands and they read the read read all of the book of the law
In that section they realize that they weren't supposed to intermarry with the people around them. Mm-hmm. And so
the men of Israel
Send their wives and their children away in their zeal to follow the law
That is a very good example of reading the law and not understanding the heart of the law
Mm-hmm, because what they've now done is they've created
widows
orphans
They they've given them nothing and sent them away
Mm-hmm, and in their pursuit of of doing the right thing for God
Following the law. They've actually missed the greater portion of the law, which is to love your neighbor as yourself. Mm-hmm
Now I was reading this through with my wife and my wife is brilliant sometimes in her in her observations
So we're reading through Ezra together and she says
But isn't there a prescription for this in Torah?
I was like, is there like cuz I I didn't remember this from Deuteronomy 21 and so we go there and sure enough
There is mm-hmm. So, you know what?
They could have done is asked all their wives to shave their head
Go into mourning for a month and then everybody would have been legitimate. Yeah
And that would have been honoring to God. Mm-hmm, but instead they acted with zeal
But not in the heart of God
Mm-hmm. Now I want to I want to point out that God doesn't necessarily condemn them for this
Because there is there is a zeal and the heart is in the right place
But there is now going to be generational hurt in that area and probably more conflict in Israel
Then there should be because you're getting thousands of families being torn apart
Yeah in pursuit of God. Yeah, which is not just not the heart of God. No, I
Think there is a practical application of
Having zeal where you're willing to push the worldly things aside
Is that right? There is that practical application of having that zeal where you're like
I'm not gonna keep up with the Joneses or I'm not gonna keep up with the
Zeal where you're like, I'm not gonna keep up with the Joneses or I'm not going to
Buy into this thing that the world offers whatever that might be
I'm being very vague because everybody's situation is a little different but there is also the very practical of like hey
God is a god who is for the widow an orphan where there's actually prescriptions for
What do you do for welcoming the foreigner in?
And this would actually be doing the opposite of that prescription. Yeah, that's listed that's listed there
And it's actually one of the reasons why James in his book New Testament actually corrects that at the end of James 1 don't neglect
The widows an orphan and reason I bring that up is the thing
I love is when people are like and we're I think we're gonna do a miniseries on James at some point
Yeah, probably in season 2. Oh, yeah, but the thing reason I love that is because a lot of times people are like James is an awesome
Book, did you know James is primarily written to Jewish people and there's like 95% quotes from Torah
I knew that but a lot of people don't yeah, like that's it's
James wrote to the 12 tribes of Israel scattered amongst the nations and he primarily quoted to and and depending on who you have scribe
Authorship to it would make total sense for him to write that to the Jewish people. Yes to the Jewish followers of Jesus
It's one of those things
Okay
So like obviously in the New Testament Paul addresses it. Mm-hmm because he has to because people start missing it
It's like what if you come to faith in your and your spouse doesn't believe
Well, Paul has to address it too because he's he's primarily writing to Gentile context
yeah, like in majority of his writing and that was a very that was a very common thing where they
Were people from their community are bringing people to Jesus and one person's coming to Jesus
And so what Paul actually says is if your unbelieving spouse wants to stay with you
You stay with them. Mm-hmm, and if they want to leave you don't hold them back. Mm-hmm
That is that is a very graceful way to do that because you're like, hey
I'm gonna follow Jesus if you want to stay you can stay but I'm not changing
Mm-hmm, and I'm still gonna love you. I'm gonna take care of you
But can you imagine that same context if somebody comes to Christ and their wife or their spouse doesn't I'm just gonna say spouse because it's
Not wife exclusive. Yeah, their spouse doesn't and they're like, well
I'm a Christian now so I can't be unequally yoked. So I'm just going to divorce you
Do you understand how?
In observance of the unequally yoked you're actually betraying something that God is actually calling you to be
You need to actually be able to interpret Torah
Correctly, you need to actually be able to see how these things work
Which is why it's very important that we understand that there are
weightier portions to the law than others
Now some of you heard me just say that and you heard me say that some parts of the law are unimportant
No, that is not what I said. They're all very important
But when they are in conflict you default to the weightier, which is why Jesus says
That the two greatest commands are love love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength
This is the number one if you're gonna default to anything. It's always that yeah, and the second is love your neighbor as yourself
Everything that we interpret through Torah and how we obey God has to go through that lens if we follow Jesus
Just draw a parallel to like the legal system in the US a little bit like there are greater
Consequences for breaking some laws than there are for others. Yes
A few months ago. I got a parking ticket
Okay, shameful. I went and paid my parking ticket, you know that happened. Okay now if I
Went and committed tax fraud
There's more significant consequences. There's more significant consequences
Yeah, exactly
the next thing they talk about is the rights of the firstborn and one of the reasons I wanted to point this out is if
You have in this time you might have multiple wives or multiple spouses and if you have kids from multiple
Women you can't choose the kid that you like the most and make them your firstborn
Which the reason I point this out and I think it's really funny that Moses points us out. That's exactly what Jacob did
Mm-hmm, like who's this firstborn technically Ruben and he's like no, I want Joseph to be my firstborn which is why he got the second
coat. Mm-hmm
Right. You have that later with Ephraim and Manasseh the kids of Joseph that they both become tribes in Israel
Mm-hmm. They actually take the place of Joseph. You might want once again say that they get a double portion
Yeah, so Moses actually speaks into that and by the way, I don't I'm not saying that
I think that Moses is speaking against Ephraim and Manasseh
I'm thinking what he's saying is you need to make sure that your firstborn is your firstborn
Mm-hmm, and that you're treating them correctly. Yeah, you're not just you're not favor favoring specific children
Over over the ones who are actually given the responsibility by God. Yeah. Oh, hey
This next section is one of my favorites the rebellious son, right?
How many times have you heard the rebellious son like quoted growing up? Oh a few a few
So the the essentially the rebellious son, so we're not gonna get all into this
But I'm gonna just give some high-level things that I think are helpful
It's not just a rebellious son. This is somebody who is defiantly against everything that you have going. Mm-hmm
They are persistently
Avoiding correction and trying to do their own thing. Mm-hmm. This is not just some
Oh, I didn't listen to dad today. Well, you're a rebellious son and we're gonna take you out in Stonia. Mm-hmm
No, this is this is somebody you would essentially put them as public enemy number one
Mm-hmm, like they they are a trouble in the community. Yeah, okay. So first off
secondly in all of Jewish history, I
Think they found one recording of it ever happening. Mm-hmm
You know, that's it's even debatable about whether or not that actually happened
Yeah, but only one time of this actually being enforced. Mm-hmm. Okay
So what is the purpose of this if it's not to be enforced?
The purpose is that you're supposed to live in harmony with the people around you
Mm-hmm, and that you don't just let your kids get away scot-free
You actually hold them accountable and teach them to obey mm-hmm different time period different language
If you think about especially surrounding cultures and depending on how much power you had a community the kids could get away with murder
Yeah, literally. Mm-hmm. It's not gonna be the case. Mm-hmm
I mean if only there was something relevant in America with powerful people and their kids getting away with murder, huh?
Think that's a different podcast. That's probably different podcast, but there is there is a there
I mean we understand that mentality. Yeah. No, you actually need to hold the kids accountable
Uh-huh parents you have a responsibility to raise your kids in a way that's right
Yeah, or you have a responsibility to step in and correct it. Mm-hmm
You have a profound responsibility that God will bless you in but you it's still your responsibility. Yes
So in verses 22 and 23
They talk about how you're not supposed to leave somebody on a pole overnight and you're actually supposed to go and bury them. Mm-hmm
Now immediately, what do you think of Jesus Jesus?
It there's not an accident like they're definitely referencing that when they talk about the Jews like bringing them down now
I fight it super interesting. You're talking about them bribing officials and witnesses and all things like like
the ruling council is very
Particular about what laws they're persistent about following and which ones they're not. Mm-hmm
Oh, well, we can't leave them up on a pole
But we can bribe an official right
Right sometimes sometime we'll go through the crucifixion and what maybe we'll do a miniseries where we're talking
Yeah crucifixion because it's just such a profound. It's such a profound event. Yeah that radically changes everything
Mm-hmm, but there there is just some stuff going on there that you're like, I don't understand you ruling council
You're very strange. Yeah the there's I think they struggle
Maybe with trying to follow God but also trying to accomplish their own agenda
Well this crucifixion if you look at it from the Pharisees perspective and whether or not they're following the laws
It's it's pretty comical. Yeah one level where it's like, oh you're you're just very selective
About what law you want? Yeah to fit your need in this moment. Yeah, and well, we'll talk about that
Yeah, alright, so let's go into chapter 22 and there's gonna be a lot of various laws here
So Spencer and I are gonna kind of just fire back and forth on these
The first one is regarding other people's stuff living a peace with other people if their ox goes straying don't ignore it
Yeah
If you see somebody like like they're in trouble help them
Mm-hmm
If they live far away take their stuff home until they can come get it and then give it to them
Same with other stuff like they're the donkey if you see it fall into a pit if they alone you their cloak
All those type of things by the way, Jesus actually is gonna reference that when he's talking about the Sabbath. Yeah with people
If you see it in a pit help them out like don't just leave their their stuff in a pit
Like you actually got a lot of your neighbors yourself, right? Yeah
There's also a rule in here is talking about
Representing yourself as you were made and then they're gonna talk about women and men's clothing and men and women's clothing
It would be really easy for us to get into a conversation about sexual fluidity and all those kind of things
The big thing that's going on here is be who you're made to be. Yes be who God has called you to be
We can have a broader conversation about those those topics at another time
But I don't want to get bogged down into here because I think people take this and they use it to be people over the head
And that's not necessarily what they're talking about with the Jewish people at this point. Yeah, there is some application
But it's not we shouldn't be using it to beat up other people if you guys have questions on that
Feel free to email us. Yeah on tactile. That's fine. But just know that that's not what we're talking about today, correct? Yeah
You can take eggs but not the bird so you can live long on the land
So I mean like what's referring to here is like longevity, right? Like if you go kill the bird that's laying eggs
Yeah, guess what you have any more eggs you have a meal for a day. Yeah
But that's it. Yeah, how effective would it be with all your chickens to just go butcher all your chickens?
I mean I added one level that'd be very effective for you kids are driving you crazy
But it wouldn't actually be effective for long-term egg production. No, it wouldn't be effective for that
I mean we've got food for a while because we got a lot of chickens
We got my my wife went overboard with chickens. Yeah, and then after that some friends of ours also had some chickens that they were like
Oh, it's Spencer want more chickens. I said, yes he does
Anyways, yeah, but if you kill the chicken, yeah, you have a meal for a day, but then your eggs
Yeah gone like you lose the longevity of that food source
Exactly like these are practically practical
Also, what comes up says put railings on your on your dwelling so that if people are there they don't fall off and hurt themselves
Mm-hmm. Otherwise, you're gonna be guilty for negligence
Mm-hmm. I'm glad to know that there's a building code is actually taken from the Bible
Yeah, the next one is don't mix seeds when planting now in a modern context
You can kind of create your garden how you want to well
Yeah, we have like these fancy tools where we can like line up your rows and all these different things
But I mean like they were just throwing seed and so like if you try to throw strawberry bushes with tomato bushes
I'm just throwing them out there like one of those gonna string a lot the other
Yeah, and I'm gonna end up with nothing
Yeah
And there are some like there are some bushes that they do grow well together like you see that in the natural environment
Like blueberries huckleberries stuff like that. We live in Alaska. That's nice easy to pick on like they grow well together
Want to be interesting? It'll be interesting in the Hebrew if mixed seed means like seeds of different species
Yeah of fruit so of different regions that something to be mindful of when we lived in Washington for a while
There's this plant called scotch broom. Uh-huh. That was everywhere
They it was an invasive plant, but it just took over right like if there was a sunny spot
It would just take over it would strangle out all the other plant
It would it could actually like wreck ecosystems and like all sorts of stuff
So if you like I'm least at the place we worked at there's about 400 acres and every year
We had to spend a couple weeks going through and just pulling out the scotch broom
Every year some of it will come back and I'll get less and less and less
But we had we had to take care of getting that invasive species out
So when you're talking mixing seeds you are to also talking about the people who are coming from Egypt and they're going up to
Israel or where we know as modern-day Israel and as much as those climates are similar
They are different as well. Absolutely. And so when you talk about mixing seeds
Like what you could do is but if you bring your seed from your old life into your new life
It actually causes damage. Hmm, that'll that'll preach all day. Yeah
Don't plow with an ox and a donkey. That's another one
I I don't there's probably somebody who knows why you shouldn't do that
My assumption is that they don't get along. Mm-hmm that you're you're actually gonna struggle with both animals
If you put them together, but somebody who has ops and donkey, feel free to email us and tell us exactly why I'm sure
There's a good reason. Well, there's actually a strength difference to I mean equally yolks
Yeah, one's one stronger than the other. Sure. Then you'll have one pulling way harder than the other
Yeah, so if anybody knows a reason beyond those email us because we'd love to hear. Mm-hmm
Don't wear blended fabrics right now
I think this is interesting because a lot of people are well, why wouldn't you go your bonded fabrics?
So in this context is so that you can be set apart, right?
Like cuz you're not supposed to be mixed. You're not supposed to enter mix
Mm-hmm, like a lot of those are practical reminders
Like the way that you live is a is a testament to who you're supposed to be. Could you imagine us today?
Trying to go clothes shopping and finding clothes that are just 100% one material
Yeah, have a conversation with Marty about that sometime. Okay Marty Solomon like him and his wife when they
Decided to embrace the Jewish portion of his life because he's he's genetically Jewish
Mm-hmm, right like they started to try to observe Torah. However, they could you know those things?
He said finding clothes is the hardest. Yeah, so hard
Yeah, you know the next one is to put tassels on your robe now that actually shows up earlier in the text
They talk about putting tassels on the robe. It is the conifote over your zitsi oat
It's on the court castles on the on the corner of your of your robe of your outer robe
This is important because it's also called the wing
Yeah
and in the New Testament Jesus is actually going to be walking through the city and a
Woman with an issue of blood is going to reach out and touch the conifote of his zitsi oat. Mm-hmm
She's gonna touch the tassels of his robe
Because in the Bible it says that God has healing in his wings
She knows her text that she's communicating with the text. She knows that she touches this portion
Yeah, she'll find healing because of who Jesus is and what he represents
Yeah, just a fun little aside into the text for you. Yeah
Alright, so then the next one is they're they're talking about marriage violations. So this section by the way is very difficult
There's a couple of sections in here where they're trying to talk about marriage and some different things that are very difficult
And I want to just remind you once again
Do not compare this to modern life also don't assume that everything that is being said is the right thing to do
But it is moving the needle forward in what's going on. Yeah, okay, so started off
Right. Yep. So if a man marries a woman, yep sleeps with her. Yep the sides and nah man and then
Claims she wasn't a virgin the parents are to produce the bloody cloth
Okay, so this I need to add a little bit of context to because this is a little confusing. Uh-huh
So Jewish wedding summer you get married and then you immediately go to the betrothal chamber
Uh-huh, and that's where you consummate the wedding marriage
And then you take the bloody cloth because if the person has never had relations before they're going to bleed
And you actually give the bloody cloth to the best man who takes it to the family
And it becomes the the testament that the father of the mother of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son
That the father and mother gave a virgin to be married and that seems very strange in our culture
And it would be very strange in our culture. Yeah, it's just it's a very different culture
Now why is it really important that you understand that because paul's going to talk about in the new testament
He's going to say that you were not able to produce a bloody cloth
Mm-hmm
So jesus produced it on your behalf. Yeah
Now we're gonna be like bros
No, this is actually a beautiful piece of imagery that paul weaves together the truth of the scriptures and and something that they're very familiar with
And like once again talking about us being the bride of christ as the bride of christ
We could never produce a bloody cloth and it goes back to what you were saying where your word was everything
Yeah
Like if the parents actually gave up their daughter for marriage and she was a virgin and then the man comes back says no
She wasn't they would provide this as evidence. Yeah, and if they couldn't
Guess who got in trouble the father the father because it was the father's word. Yeah
That that clarified this now that brings a whole new connotation to make sure your parents know what you're up to
Because can you imagine if you are a woman growing up in that time and you lie about your promiscuity?
And now your lie actually cost your father his life because he vouches for you. Yeah
Yeah, that is by the way, that's not to put the onus on women. I'm just talking about this as an example. Yeah, yeah
You'd rather me 2222. Okay, it's the new living translation
If a man is discovered committing adultery both he and the woman must die
And this way he will purge israel of such evil
I feel like i've heard a story about a man and a woman caught in adultery and yet the man seems nowhere to be found
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm
And if I remember correctly jesus was there and he was drawing a beautiful picture in the sand
Yeah, he was drawing some things in the dirt. Yeah
He was drawing some things in the dirt. Yeah. Yeah, once again this point of like we're okay grabbing the officials
But we're also you know, we're gonna make sure hey, we're gonna try to catch you with uh with a law from torah
but we're gonna be going to hold the woman accountable actually heard a
Commentary on time on this where the guy was like it's actually where he's like there's a really good argument
That the man who was caught was actually a religious leader
And didn't bring himself forward
Yeah for the sake of maintaining his life. It's entirely possible. It's entirely possible. That is that is speculation
Of course it is speculative
But by the fact that he's not there means it's somebody that the Pharisees or the ruling council didn't want thrown under the bus
Yeah, so we're not going to get into a bunch of these other ones these retire a lot of context because it talks about
Unpermissible sexual activity. Okay, it requires a nuanced conversation and contextual analysis
Yeah
But I want to let you like point out that many of these laws hold the aggressor accountable
Where they would not have been before yeah, it's about adding more equity to a bad situation, right?
This is not to say that the things that happened are acceptable. Right?
But it's about moving forward with the higher levels of equity and justice for women
Yeah, and we're so we're gonna be jumping into 23 through 25. These are great chapters for you to go read go study
Yeah, they're awesome. We we're just going to be bullet pointing through these real quick. Yeah. Yeah
So starting off here, it talks about the assembly of the Lord and some people are not allowed to be in there
So if you are emasculated, which means you either have bruised manhood or no manhood
Why aren't you allowed to be in well, you're supposed to bear the sign of the covenant
Forbidden if you're part of a forbidden marriage why because you're supposed to be set apart
Now once again stop following hard and fast rules
This is meant to really instruct them on the way that they're supposed to be no ammonite or moabite
Because they had no generosity and they entice the prophet Balaam to to curse them
Then it goes on to some really practical ones
I want to talk about like when they go camping if you go camping dig a latrine outside of the camp
Don't poop in your camps. Yeah
We've talked about like, you know sin like pooping in your house
Not great if a slave runs away and seeks refuge with you do not send them back to their master
You actually need to take them in by the way
That's gonna be really and really good to understand when you take into account Paul writing his letter to Philemon. Mm-hmm
Yeah, so the next one on the camping regulations is one that we should all be all be wary about don't become a prostitute
Yeah, I don't know if that's necessarily connected to the camping but it's definitely you shouldn't be a prostitute
Yeah, yeah, don't become a prostitute and don't bring
Prostitution money into the house of God. So don't go engage in behavior
You're not supposed to be in and then try to bring that to bless the house of God. Yeah, God definitely doesn't want that money
Yeah, I said that because then put the don't be a prostitute in our notes under the campaign section. You're welcome
And so I was like, yeah, we're gonna make we're gonna hook fun at that. Don't charge your fellow Israelite interest
It's okay to charge a foreigner once again, but like you're not supposed if you're lending to people that you know
Yeah, don't charge them interest. Yeah
Also, I want to point out that even if you're charging the foreigner interest previous law where it says that there need not be any poor
Among you still applies. So you can't charge them interest so that makes them poor
Yeah, next one is don't make promises to God that you don't plan to keep. Yeah, he didn't force you to do it
No, so if you're gonna make it do it
Yeah, and don't put off doing it and this goes this goes again ties back to Jesus when he's saying hey
Let your yes be yes me and they'll be no. Mm-hmm. All right now in our conversations with God our relationship
Hopefully with God is a little different than our relationship with some of the people around us. Like let's beat let's clarify that but still
Yes, be yes and they'll be no
The next two are about food and and I basically boil them down to this if you're at somebody's house
It's okay to eat stuff out of their fridge, but maybe don't go shopping in their fridge
Uh-huh. You know, like one of them is you're actually sharing the produce production of their field
And the other one is you're actually taking for yourself from their game
So my mom laughs at me every time I come and visit because it is such a help
No, it's like I live in a different state and I'll fly down
I'll go see my mom and then first thing I do is I walk in I'm like, hey mom
And then I go to the fridge and I open it and she's like, what are you doing?
And I'm like, this is just such an ingrained habit for my 20s. Yeah that like
It's it's just kicks it. Yeah, it's just such an ingrained habit. I'm like, I'm just gonna go and say hi
I'm gonna go open the fridge see what's there and it's like usually I'm not hungry. I'm just like, okay
Yeah
So the next piece and it starts in chapter 24
It's gonna talk about divorce and I just want to specify once again that it's a lot more complicated than churches make it
Yeah that that there is provisions but the provisions are really meant to keep peace in the in the land and
Jesus says it's because of your hard heart that you were even given a writ of divorce
Mm-hmm. However, this section of 24
I actually think it's helpful if you're going to read that before you read the conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well
Yes, this is where I was talking about the recently married people are not supposed to be sent to war
He also says in this section. He says don't take the millstones
So the way that somebody actually produces their wealth like they're they're working utensils
Don't use that as a security against their debt. Mm-hmm. If you are a delivery person, I should not take your car
Insecurity against your debt. Mm-hmm. Yeah, you know what I mean?
Like cuz that's how you're actually going to make your living and actually pay me
Like I'm actually literally make it impossible for you to do that
Which is really interesting when you say this because there's actually parables where Jesus was like, oh this person owed money
So he was thrown in prison telling could pay. Yeah, and then we read that and be like, oh well the that's how God treats
People who owe him it's like no Jesus was actually drawing picture here
I'm like, how is that person going to pay if he's in prison? Yeah
Which leads us to Jesus paying the price for us. Yeah
Yeah
Somebody coming in and paying the demise on their behalf. Mm-hmm
Yeah, we're gonna talk about the parable at some point a lot of times in the parables
We try to make them all allegorical with and we miss the context of what God is talking about what Jesus talking about
So this is a good one
If you get skin diseases
Make sure that you follow the letter the law to the letter right because you don't want skin diseases to spread everywhere
They spread very easily in a post-covid society
We should understand that if you're sick, you need to follow the letters of the law
Versus a 10 to 13 they reference like this whole thing with a cloak that if you have a cloak and somebody is poor
You need to take it back to them by night
This is something that Jesus references when he's talking about justice when he's talking about turning the other cheek
Yeah, sometimes we'll talk about turning the other cheek, but it does not mean what you necessarily think it means
It actually means standing up to oppression and injustice. Mm-hmm
Pay people on time. That's a good role. Yeah, or you're not gonna have employees
Don't deprive those people outside of justice the foreigners remember that you were outsiders once
You know leave the uncut corners of your field for the poor and that's actually gonna come up in the book of Ruth
Yeah
So chapter 25 if somebody's going to be punished you can't do more than 40 lashes
Which I mean sounds like a lot to me. Mm-hmm
But you can't do more than 40 lashes. Otherwise, you are going to degrade them in the sight of the people around them
Yeah, so your punishment when you're in when you're restoring justice should never degrade the individual in the sights of the people. Yeah
That's a really important thing for us to hear
Yeah, another thing was proper to the book of Ruth
It talks about continuing the line if your brother dies that you're actually to take your brother's wife and actually sire a child for
And it's gonna be your brother's line. That's continued. Now we are go. Oh, that's gross. Well, it's all tracked through paternal lines
So what you're actually doing is making sure your brother's line doesn't go nowhere
Yeah, it's really important and it's actually a very loving thing that you can do for the family and for the wife. Mm-hmm
Also, you're not supposed to have different weights dishonest weights dishonest scales. We've talked about that before right?
You're you should not be a sneaky mischievous individual. I mean to be fair
I don't mind a dishonest scale if it's after like a Christmas meal
I don't think that's what he's talking about
You know and it's and like the bigger thing here is you shouldn't be underhanded. You shouldn't be sneaky
You know think about back to war you're supposed to go and give them off for a piece first
Yeah, you're not gonna sneak attack them. Yeah, like you need to be a straightforward honest person. Mm-hmm
This is who God is. This is who you're supposed to be
So these these are a bunch of laws that we run into in in Deuteronomy 19 through 25 like our last couple weeks
We've seen that you're supposed to make sure that the judges are stout that they're doing their job and it's supposed to you're supposed to
Tie then it's gonna create you to be a more generous person. In fact next week when we have Caleb
We're gonna talk about the tide more
They are supposed to create inside of you to be the generous kind of person and a generous kind of person has these attributes
Yeah, they don't have dishonest scales. Yeah, they are promoting equity with people
They're not just throwing women to the side. They are not commodities. They're people people made in the image of God
They're our partners. Yeah, and while it's not necessarily everything that we'd want it to be in a modern society
Yeah, it is God completely radically changing the world around them. Yeah, which he is still
doing mm-hmm
Amen
God actually wants us to be different than we are today tomorrow. Mm-hmm
That we are conforming to the image of his son. He wants us to be better. He wants us to be better
He wants us he he wants our old life to fade and our new life to gain traction
Yeah, that can be a process. I've met some people where it's like that
Yeah, like I know I know some people where it's like the Lord got a hold of their life
They had like drug addicted alcohol addicted and they had no desire for that ever again moving forward like straight up healing
I've met other people where it's like they came to Jesus and they're like, I still
struggle
And and I've and I've heard people be like, well, it's a matter of faith and I'm like or it's a matter of the journey
Yeah, I would and I would push back against that because one of the things that Moses says that from God
As he says you're gonna go into the land and you're not gonna take it all immediately
Yeah, because otherwise the the Satan's will rise up and they will they'll destroy you. Yeah
It's not for God's benefit that is happening slowly through your life
It's for yours and it's not for us to determine
What journey the Lord has put that person on our jobs to walk alongside them. I love that
With that we're gonna close the episode there because we've been talking far too long
And I covered a lot of ground. Yeah covered a lot of ground next week. We're gonna have Caleb Fox with us
We'll be moving into the next session of Deuteronomy
And then I think you'll be with us through the following week where we're actually going to close out the book of Deuteronomy
So if you have any questions to put into our Q&A, this would be the time to send them
And love it context at gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook Instagram the ticket to talk
You can listen to us on audible audible. Why am I saying audible? We're not on audible. We are in Amazon and
Apple and Spotify not Google and a lot of other places and you can also watch us on YouTube
If you just do not value your eyesight. Mm-hmm. Yep. All right until next time. Bye
That's a wrap for today's episode. We want to extend a heartfelt
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Wow, this is all stupid
Let me let me just do everything again
Everything again bed just cut all this out
What happens within the book of Samson i'm not saying the book of Samson. Wow judges
This is going to be quite the editing one of the reasons that you would leave fruit producing food or
from the tribe of
Joseph
Tribe of Joseph's not I know it tribe of those is not a thing. Sorry. Let me say that our determination to determine
And well, I mean I mean those are words that was I was gonna say, you know