Devotionary

The doctrine of the firstborn was to have strong significance for the people of Israel, providing a link all the way back to the days before the exodus from Egypt.

Moses addresses the issue of poverty among the people of Israel and gives them God’s divine plan for alleviating it. In a nation that was guaranteed the blessings of God, there should be no one who suffered want. God’s blessings were meant to be shared.  

God had a plan for forgiving debt and allowing people a chance to start their lives anew, with no threat of prosecution or prison should they fail to pay all they owed. These kinds of initiatives, ordained by God, were meant to set the people of Israel apart as His.

The annual feasts and the sacrifices that accompanied them were about more than law-keeping. They were designed to be communal festivals of celebration and thanksgiving to God.

While the rest of the world did whatever they deemed best, the people of God were to do what God had determined to be holy. And in Deuteronomy 14:1-21, Moses makes that point perfectly clear.

The call to commit idolatry doesn’t necessarily come from expected sources. Moses lists the prophet, a close friend or family member, and the society as a whole as three possible threats to their faithfulness to God.

Moses reminds the people that emulating the Canaanites was a bad idea. Worshiping their gods was even worse. And any thought of adapting their forms of worship were to be avoided at all costs.

Deuteronomy 12:15-28 reveals that God would allow the people to slaughter animals within their own territories, but the divine ban on the consumption of blood held fast because the life is in the blood.  

Once they arrived in the land of Canaan, there would be one divinely approved place of worship. No more setting up shrines wherever they felt like it. And no adapting and adopting the pagan shrines, converting them for the worship of Yahweh.

God was not interested in an obedience motivated by fear and driven by a desire to earn good things from God while avoiding His bad side. No, God wanted the Israelites to obey Him because they loved Him.

The next generation was going to have to learn to trust God on their own. If they wanted to enjoy all that the land of promise offered, they would have to walk in obedience to God’s commands. Because obedience brings blessings.   

Moses reminds Israel of God’s greatness and the need for them to fear, love, and serve Him. Their lives were to reflect His nature, emulating His mercy, love, and justice. As His children, they were to exhibit His character in every area of their lives.

The people had decided to replace God with an idol. And their actions would bring judgment from God. Their sin would result in the forfeiture of their priestly role and their failure to enter the land of promise.  

God had promised that He would bless Israel and that they would be a blessing to the nations of the earth. It would be God’s plan to bring redemption to the world through a rebellious and unrighteous people. Because He is a faithful God.

God was extending His undeserved grace and mercy to a people who had proven their penchant for stubbornness and rebellion. They were unrighteousness and undeserving, but God would prove faithful and true to His promises.