Life isn’t complicated as God designed it; we complicate it by taking detours from the narrow way. Life can get very complicated, especially family life. God designed the nuclear family to be the basic self-governing building block of a healthy society. No wonder the devil has made it the prime target for his fiercest salvos. […]
Read More… from January 27, 2023 — Challenges In Family Life
God was not going to micromanage Israel. They needed ways to handle the unknown as well. Unsolved murders in Israel were no light matter. Deuteronomy 21:1-9 describes such a murder mystery. What do the townspeople do “if anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord your God is giving […]
These verses show the balance between preserving natural resources and utilizing them. Times of war not only can bring death to the population but also devastation to the countryside. At the conclusion of Deuteronomy 20 we see the wisdom of God in balancing both the need for utilization and preservation of the resources He has […]
Read More… from January 25, 2023 — Woodman, Spare That Tree!
There is no mercy only for those who despise it; there is no pardon only for those who reject it. In our last study, we saw that we are to “Pursue peace with all people” (Heb 12:14). Israel was to offer peace to cities at war if they would covenant with them (Deut 20:10-11). However, […]
Read More… from January 24, 2023 — The Special Case Of The Canaanites
There are enough verses on peace in the Bible that you could read a new one every day in the year. As a general principle, the Lord told the Israelites, “When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it” (Deut 20:10). The only city on earth […]
Read More… from January 23, 2023 — Approaching A City In War Time
Solomon says there is “a time of war” (Eccl 3:8) but some people aren’t ready when it comes. After the priest had rallied the troops, calling them to keep their hopes in God, “Then the officers shall speak to the people” (Deut 20:5). Israel to this day has a very small standing army. When war […]
They say that if blood was indelible, Jerusalem, the “city of peace,” would be red, all red. Few other nations, if any, have faced more warfare than Israel. The land they occupied was at the crossroads of the ancient world, with the superpowers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Nubia to the south and Chaldea, Assyria and […]
Here are God’s principles for the courts: honesty, corroboration, inquiry, fair sentencing. As important as being straight about boundary lines, God’s people also need to be straight about telling the truth. In Israel, false testimony could be as fatal as a knife to the heart. That’s why “by the mouth of two or three witnesses […]