Deuteronomy 17-20
As I mentioned yesterday, there is an anti-prophecy bias in some who teach the Bible. If something is mentioned that hasn't happened yet, that automatically means it was written later.
Another example of this is in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Here, Moses speaks to future kings of Israel. He warns them NOT to take many wives, NOT to acquire overmuch wealth. My goodness, it’s almost like he saw Solomon’s excesses ahead of time! And yes, either he spoke prophetically, or the Levites of Solomon’s day were writing a cryptic criticism of their king. Really? How hard it is to believe in a God who can see the future and use a prophet to speak words of warning ahead of time?
In Deuteronomy 18, Moses says that God called him a prophet, and that some day, God would raise up Another like him! I capitalized “Another,” because most Jewish, and all Christian, interpreters see these words as one of the Old Testament promises of Messiah! And what’s more, Peter says as much in his second sermon (Acts 3:22-23).
Deuteronomy 19-20 reminds the people of the Levitical “cities of refuge,” the necessity for two or more witnesses, and the “rules of engagement” as they apply to the conquering of the Promised Land. Our modern sensitivities bristle at the phrase from Deuteronomy 20:17, concerning the nations that occupied the Promised Land: “You shall devote them to complete destruction.” Very harsh, it seems; and very harsh it is. But we must remember what Moses said earlier in Deuteronomy 9:4-5, that the Israelites were not being given the Promised Land because of their righteousness, but because of the current residents’ wickedness.
Until tomorrow,
Pastor Gary
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