January 22, 2014 - Wednesday

Start Time: 6:09 A.M.

End Time: 6:50A.M.

Title: Laws Concerning Unsolved Murder

Scripture: Deuteronomy 21:1 – 23

God’s Message / God’s Promises / God’s Commands:

→ if a homicide victim should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord their God is giving them, and no one knows who killed him. Their elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse.  Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke – and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown.  There are the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck.  Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the Lord their God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in His name, and to decide every judicial verdict) and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.  Then they must proclaim that their hands have not spilled this blood, nor have they witnessed the crime.  They are to ask the Lord not to blame His people Israel and not to hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person, then atonement will be made for the bloodshed.  In this manner, they will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among them, for they must do what is right before the Lord.

NOTES:

Ø God is a God who does not make His people accountable for things that are beyond their control!  God knows everything and sees all things.  He is just but does not pass on judgment to just anyone.  The truth is, God commanded man to rule and take care of the earth so in reality, when God gave the Promised land to His people, it is their responsibility to take care of the land.  When a body ends up in their field, it should be the owner’s responsibility to know how that body ended up in his field.  Yet in this passage, we can see that God is still a God of mercy, grace and love at all times.  It should have been the responsibility of the owner of the field to know what happened in his field, yet, God gives him the opportunity to wash his hand of this sin and freely live without accountability for the body that ended up in his property.  Speaking of Grace and Mercy!  God is a truly a God of Love and His love overpowers His strong urge for judgment!  Thank You Lord!

→ When they go out to do battle with their enemies and the Lord their God allows them to prevail and they take prisoners, if they should see among them an attractive woman whom they wish to take as a wife, they may bring her back to their house.  She must shave her head, trim her nails, discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, and stay in his (the man who took her as a wife) house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month.  After that they may have sexual relations with her and become her husband and she his wife.  If they are not pleased with her, then they must let her go where she pleases.  He cannot in any case sell her; he must not take advantage of her, since he has already humiliated her.

NOTES:

Ø God is a God who favors His children yet He also looks after others, especially the ones oppressed!  God since the beginning has a big heart for humans, even to the gentiles.  In cases where God allowed His people to conquer and take prisoners of war from a battle and one of His children decides to marry one of his prisoners.  God ensures that the prisoner will have time to grieve for her family who died in battle.  God sees the hearts of the grieving and His heart goes out to them.  When His child decides that the prisoner was not pleasing to him, God ensures that he will set her free to where she wants to go and not sell her to anyone.  God clearly shows His heart to the oppressed and broken and they have a special part in His heart.

→ Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, and they both bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife.  In the day he divides his inheritance he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other wife’s son who is actually the firstborn.  Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved wife as firstborn and give him the double portion of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power – to him should go the right of the firstborn.  If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of the city.  They must declare to the elders of his city that their son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what they say – he is a glutton and drunkard.  Then all the men of his city must stone him to death.  In this way they will purge out wickedness from among them, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.

NOTES:

Ø God is a God who does not play favorites!  He gives what is rightfully ours.  He ensures that the firstborn son gets what he deserves even if he was a child of the less loved wife.  Again, this illustration shows the heart of God to the oppressed or the people who are less favored.  His hearts sees them and hears their cry.  In relation to this, even if the son is the firstborn and most loved but if he is rebellious and stubborn, God’s loved for His people is fair and strong!  He does not want this one son contaminates His whole people with his rebellion and stubbornness that’s why He ensures that he is eliminated and that all of Israel hears.

→ If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed and they hand the corpse on a tree, his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead they must make certain they bury him that same day, for the one who is left exposed on a tree is cursed by God.  They must not defile their land which the Lord their God is giving them as an inheritance.

NOTES:

Ø God is a God whose actions are always for the benefits of His people!  God ensures that the people are not cursed by one man’s sin.  So after punishment, He commanded them to bury the punished man on the same day less they who are exposed to the tree where the man was hang will be exposed to its curse.  Again, this is another situation where God not only sees the oppressed and broken and hear their cries but also sees the people left behind after punishing the guilty.  All His works, His words, Hiw laws are all for the benefit of His people.  What a great God we serve!

Application / Realization:

Ø God is a God who sees the hearts of the people, His people and even those that rejects Him.  He serves justice yet ensures that the oppressed or the broken after the judgment are getting their freedom or they are taken care of.  God’s love is clearly demonstrated in His words, His actions, His works.  However most of the time, we only see the negative side of His laws.  Like putting the person guilty to death, but we don’t see that this must be done so the living will remain pure and righteous so His presence will continue with them therefore the outpouring of His blessings and provisions continues.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, great and awesome You are God!  Every day You show me how great Your love is for us – that in everything you do or say or command, are all for the good of us.  Yet human as we are, we always tend to see the negative of Your words, Your actions, and Your works.  We tend to dwell in that negativity and questions why we are impacted of this negativity.  Lord, Father, I pray that You open my eyes daily to see Your good works, Your good words, Your good actions.  I want to see the benefits or the positive end results of everything that You do Lord.  I want to be able to completely trust You that everything and I mean all things that happen in my life will turn out for my own good.  You make sure of that.  Holy Spirit, let me see thru Your eyes!  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!