November 21

Journey-through-the-Bible-with-us

READING FOR NOVEMBER 21, 2024: DEUTERONOMY 14, 2 PETER 3, PSALM 119:57-64 DEUTERONOMY 14 Some scholars believe the practices of cutting oneself and shaving the front of one’s head were part of pagan practices to express grief when a family member died. Thus, the command not to do this helped to set Israel apart from other belief systems that were not part of the covenant. Of course, self-cutting is sometimes practiced by disturbed individuals today and is certainly not a healthy practice.   Moses then repeats all the dietary guidelines for Israel. These, too, are meant to set Israel apart from all other peoples. They are no longer in place for Christians: “Thereby He [Jesus] declared all foods clean. And He was saying, ‘That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person.”’ (Mark 7:19-20).  Followers of Jesus are now set apart by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the inner person, not through such external practices: “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (Rom. 8:9).

Moses reviews the extremely important rules about bringing the tithe to the Lord. The Prophet Malachi many centuries later conveyed a sad commentary regarding Israel’s disobedience of this command: “Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you” (Malachi 3:8-9). In the New Testament, we see Jesus endorsing tithing, but again more concerned about inner holiness: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matt 23:23-24). Note though that this statement was before the cross, before the New Covenant became operational. Paul provides less quantitatively rigid standards but more intrinsic principles for giving: “Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:17).

There is an interesting accommodation mentioned for those who lived far from the Temple and for whom it would be difficult to travel annually with the tithe and/or offerings of animals or grain. They had the option of bringing money to the site to buy whatever offerings they chose to present to the priests. This buying and selling of animals near the place of sacrifice somehow lost its primary purpose over the years and was subject to Jesus’s great anger for desecrating the Temple.  An additional concern that Moses noted was not to ignore the needs of the Levites who live in towns throughout Israel.  These Levities depended on the people’s offerings for their sustenance. 

2 PETER 3 This short chapter contains truths that are essential and rarely stated so clearly. God’s Word: In verse one Peter equates the writings of the Old Testament prophets, which Jesus clearly taught as God’s Word (Matt. 5:17-19, John 10:35-36, and John 5:39), with the

READING FOR NOVEMEBER 21, 2024 CONTINUED: 2 PETER 3, PSALMS 119:57-64              words of Jesus as conveyed by the Apostles. This would cover the gospels and the epistles of the New Testament. Later on and even more remarkably, he confirms that people have trouble understanding/believing certain content in Paul’s letters (true today more than ever) but that they are Scripture: “In all his [Paul’s] letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).    

The End of the Current Age:  People could fall into error about Jesus’s second coming because it has not yet happened. Peter suggests that’s because we view reality from a human, not divine, perspective. We look at the 2,000 years since Jesus lived on earth and consider that such a long time. Some as proof that He isn’t coming back. Peter says God looks at 2,000 years much the same as 2 days. From the viewpoint of timeless eternity, it is almost nothing. In fact, we learn that He is waiting that long to ensure that the maximum number of folks will hear and respond to the Gospel and be saved. The patience of God: “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4).     

Losing Salvation: Directly related to not obeying the entire Bible and no longer believing in the Second Coming is the real danger of being so deceived such that one’s salvation is lost: “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unscrupulous people and lose your own firm commitment” (2 Peter 3:17).

PSALM 119: 57-64 The Psalmist declares the Lord his “portion.”  This Hebrew word “helqi” is related to the concept of inherited land or share, extremely important concepts in traditional cultures. By making the Lord his true portion, he is placing the Lord above any other human object of value or security. This is what it means to declare Jesus our Lord when we come to faith. Jesus cannot be a secondary add-on to life. He is our life. The rest of these verses express what naturally flows from that declaration to “seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matt 6:33): 

  • We commit to following His word and seeking His favor with all our heart—not casually. 
  • We study His word and trust in all His promises found there. 
  • We shift our priorities away from our interests or our culture’s values and live according to His word.
  • We don’t agonize about whether to obey His commands in the Bible; we obey them immediately. 
  • We remember His word even and especially when we are going through difficult times in life. 
  • We ponder and give thanks for His word always, even in the middle of the night when we can’t sleep.
  • We take care to associate with other people who have a similar high view of God and the Bible. 
  • We view the world as an expression of God’s goodness and seek to keep learning from the Bible.