Deuteronomy 22-25

God’s message to me: Do not show favoritism. Be evenhanded in all dealings. Be fair and just.

Promises: Life will be well with you so long as your dealings are honest, fair, and even handed.

Commands: If you see something wrong you have a duty to help. Ignoring the problem doesn’t make it go away. Considering it someone else's business just isn’t helpful to anyone.

Timeless principles: We see some basic civil rules here as well. Rooftops were typically flat and a parapet is a low wall around the roof to prevent accidental falls. Without one the owner is liable for harm to those who do fall.

Times change, civilization advances, people get new attitudes but, SEXUAL SIN REMAINS THE SAME. No amount of political correctness will change God’s view on this. “The world is different now” is not an excuse. It’s not different. The Old Testament is discussing the same issues 6000 years ago that we are claiming should change our views since the sexual revolution of the 1960’s. Adultery, prostitution, homosexuality, bestiality, child molestation, and the list goes on. These are not new, they are not reasonable or natural and they are always sin.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: A man in the western US recently followed the principle of the gleanings. Having taken only the base portion of his harvest he left the field and arranged a day when people could come and gather the remainder. Thousands showed up and picked the fields clean, grateful for the opportunity to gather food for their families. Imagine if every US farm followed this practice, what would be left of our hunger problems.

more to learn for in-depth study: This section is filled with commands as the law of Israel is repeated and extended. The book of the law is a separate text but it would be easy to recreate it by simply gathering the laws written in the first five books of the bible. Keep in mind the bible is not intended to give you a comprehensive picture of Israel at the time, but to provide you with the details God wanted to pass on for the purpose of teaching us truth. Israel’s history, legends and a lot of details not useful to our study but, interesting historically, can be found in the Jewish Talmud.

Edomites were the children of Esau, twin brother to Jacob who was named Israel by God. they were to be considered brothers to the nation of Israel. Egypt was the nursery in which the young nation of Israel was reared and they were to be considered friends.

tomorrow: Deuteronomy 26-28