Day 69 · Part 4: The Wilderness
Laws for the Land (1 of 2)
In the Story
In context
In the land, Israel was to set apart cities of refuge and “prepare the way” to them for someone who killed by accident, as when an ax head slips from its handle (Deuteronomy 19:1–6). One witness was never enough: “At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established” (19:15), words Jesus repeats (Matthew 18:16).
Before a battle a priest was to say, “Don’t be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you” (20:3–4), and any man with a new house, a new vineyard or a bride-to-be, or who was afraid, was sent home (20:5–8). Fruit trees were not to be cut down in a siege (20:19–20).
Many laws are about everyday care: bring back a neighbor’s stray ox or sheep, help lift his fallen donkey, let the mother bird go when taking the young, and build a railing around a flat roof (22:1–8). Some laws here are hard: in the cities of the nations of the land nothing that breathed was to be left alive; death is the punishment for several wrongs, among them a son’s stubborn rebellion and adultery; and others concern women taken captive in war or forced by a man (20:16–17; 21:10–21; 22:22–29).
“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
Luke 15:4–7 · Moses says not to ignore a neighbor’s sheep gone astray; Jesus tells of a shepherd who goes after the one lost sheep “until he found it.”
In the Bible
World English Bible, as published by eBible.org (public domain).
Deuteronomy 19
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Deuteronomy 20
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Deuteronomy 21
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Deuteronomy 22
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A hymn for today
Amazing Grace · words by John Newton
- Amazing grace! how sweet the soundThat saved a wretch like me!I once was lost, but now am found,Was blind, but now I see.
- 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,And grace my fears relieved;How precious did that grace appearThe hour I first believed!
- Through many dangers, toils and snares,I have already come;'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,And grace will lead me home.
- When we've been there ten thousand years,Bright shining as the sun,We've no less days to sing God's praiseThan when we first begun.