Monday, January 18, 2010

Bible In 90 Days: Deuteronomy and Joshua

For 1-119, click the "Bible in 90 Days: Impressions" link below.

Deuteronomy:
120.  The relatives of Israel, but not those of the bloodline of Christ, Esau, Moab, and Amorites, were given their own territory by the Lord.
121.  Dt. 4:6- Intelligence determined by obedience to God's laws.
122.  Obedience to God's laws bring blessings to be witnessed by the surrounding nations.
123.  The Law is not just to be transmitted across the generations, but the story of God's appearing on Mt. Sinai would enable future children to learn to fear God and follow His laws.
124.  Israel heard the voice of God when He gave the 10 commandments to Israel.
125.  By following the Law one lives long in the land.
126.  The Lord is one, He is not just one of many, so He must be obeyed and His commands taught to the next generation.
127.  So many times while giving the Law, God reminds Israel of His goodness by emphasizing that He, God, is bring Israel into the Promised Land.
128.  Again in Dt. 7:22, the Lord tells Israel that they will drive the Canaanites out of the land little by little rather than all at once, for their own protection.
129.  God used the wilderness years to humble Israel, teaching Israel to trust in Him for everything.
130.  God will prosper Israel in the Promised Land, knowing full well the danger of Israel forgetting that it was God who prospered Israel and following after other Gods.
131.  God drove out the pagan tribes from Canaan not because Israel was righteous but because the pagans were wicked and because God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants.
132. Dt. 10: 12-22- Israel should love and obey God because He is the only true God and He loved Israel.  God's otherness is described in terms of His seperateness from creation and His ethical nature.
133.  Dt. 13: 1-5- False prophets who actually perform miracles , signs, and have dreams of the future must be put to death.  Focus on God's Law and hearing His voice.  If a family member or close friend tries to lead you astray, you must take the initiative in executing him/her.
134.  Dt. 14:23- "...The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to fear the Lord your God."
135.  Moses constantly reminded Israel not to forget the Levites.
136.  The release of debts only applies to the Israelites.  Israel could lend to and make debtors of other nations.
137.  No one could be executed except by the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses.  Then those same witnesses must be the first to stone the law breaker.  Is this so people would be reluctant to make false accusations because of the seriousness of participating in an execution?
138.  The Lord will raise up a prophet like Moses. Jesus, who lived among Israel who once was afraid to hear the voice of God.
139.  Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot-  this was given in the context of warning against false accusations.
140.  Dt. 20- Israel only to completely distroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites.  Other people could surrender and become forced laborers.  If these did not surrender, the males would be killed and the women and children enslaved.
141.  The guilt of an unsolved murder must be cleansed from the community.
142.  If an Israelite marries a captive woman, He must shave her head to remove her beauty, wait a month while she mourns the seperation from her family, then marry her.  He cannot treat her as a slave.
143.  Unlike Islam, a man can not discriminate against the wives he loves and the wives he does not love.  If his first born is of a wife he does not love, that 1st born must receive a double inheritance.
144.  Dt. 22: 22-23- Unlawful sexual conduct is punished by stoning both parties, not just the woman.  If a woman is engaged, she is already married in the eyes of God.
145.  Dt. 23: 7-8-"Do not detest the Edomites or the Egyptians, because the Edomites are your relatives and you lived as foreigners among the Egyptians.  The third generation of Egyptians who came with you from Egypt may enter the assembly of the Lord."
146.  A slave fleeing a pagan master must be given refuge in any town in Israel he chooses.
147.  Israel can not charge Israelites interest, but can charge other nations interest.
148.  Israelites in debt to an Israelite must not have their means of livlihood or their clothing to protect them from the elements taken from them.  The debtor will not suffer the indignity of having his creditor enter his house to collect.
149.  The memory of being slaves in Egypt was to motivate Israel to treat all with justice.
150.  Israel's enslavement in Egypt was not punishment for sin.
151.  Dt. 28- Obedience will bring blessings that will cause other nations to be in awe of Israel.
152.  Dt. 29:29- "There are secret things that belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our descendants forever, so they may obey the words of the law."
153.  Dt. 30:11- The Lord gave Israel a choice between life and death.  Sorry Calvinists.
154.  The Song of Moses: God as Father; disobedient Israel not legitmate children.

Joshua:
155.  No one can obey the Law without meditating upon it.
156.  Reuben, Gad, and the 1/2 tribe of Manasseh could not rest until the rest of Israel rested.  A solidarity with implications for the Church.
157.  God's actions on behalf of Israel made Israel's enemies fear them and caused Rahab to believe that God is the God of the entire universe and that if she helped the spies she would be safe.
158.  Israel circumsized, healed and then celebrated the Passover in front of Israel's enemies.
159.  As Rahab is said to have lived among the Israelites "to this day," the book of Joshua was written in her lifetime.
160.  Some pagan tribes could not be removed.  Some of these pagan peoples became Israel's slaves because Israel could not remove them.  The tribe of Ephriam seems to have made little effort to remove them.

No comments: