Verses 13:1 – 3 got me thinking this morning:
Moses: 1-2 Suppose someone who claims to be a prophet, or to have inspired dreams, stands up and
tells all of you that some unusual, significant sign or wonder is
going to happen, and also says, “I’m here to let you know about some other gods
you should be worshiping.” What if the thing that person has predicted actually
happens? 3 Don’t listen to what that prophet or
dreamer says! The Eternal your God is testing you to see whether you really do
love Him completely, with your whole heart and soul.
When we think about people prophesizing we often forget to
look at the source. The most common one is the “horoscope” where somehow “they”
figure us out based on our date of birth and what “stars” we are aligned with.
Yes sometimes they may seem correct, but don’t fall into the trap since the
source is evil and not from God. They key is verse 4 and don’t even drift to
“sample” these things. Avoid them so not to be seduced into their lies.
Verse 14:11 is part of the food laws:
You can eat any clean bird.
These laws are simple and very difficult to truly
understand. These tend to get ignored by the Christian faith because they are a
Jewish thing, but we need to think about them. First Peter’s vision shows us
that anything blessed by God is good to eat and we should not get hung up on
the “sins” of food. At the same time we need to look at the purpose of the
laws. It was not to make it so we had to eat boring food but rather ensure we
ate what was best for our bodies as designed.
Verse 15:1 starts a dialogue about debt that is critical
today:
Moses: At the end of every seventh
year, cancel all debts.
Imagine this happening today? Ironically most of the
“bankers” on top of this credit mess we are in today are Jewish and do not
follow this law except for I guess the “foreigners” exemption that allows one
to ignore the forgiveness of debts. But imagine if this was true across the
board and your revolving credit card would be clear after 7 years!! I assume if
you ran it up and waited for 7 years to expire people would not loan to you
anymore. But at the same time verses like 15:10 ensure we give generously to
the poor.
Verse 15:19 along with all of chapter 15 is actually
critical to the Christian faith:
If the firstborn of any animal in
your herd or flock is a male, set it apart or consecrate it for the Eternal
your God. Don’t put the firstborn of any ox to work, and don’t shear your
firstborn sheep. These animals already belong to the Eternal One, so
their labor and products belong to Him too.
When you think about it God followed this to the
letter with Jesus. God obeyed his law and gave his first born as a sacrifice
for the world. God in a true example does exactly what he asks of us. Also when
you consider forgiveness of sin, like debt, it is given to all who believe.
When you ponder this chapter you can see many analogies that are critical to
the Christian faith.