The Guilt of Innocent Blood

 It was after the first act of murder in the history of the world God inquired of Cain, “What hast thou done?” that God revealed, “… the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.” In the Book of Deuteronomy Moses gave to the Children of Israel who would be entering the Promised Land God’s command what to do if at any time one is found slain in a field and the one who caused the death is unknown. (Genesis 4:8-10)

If after investigation of the death the murderer could not be determined, the elders of the nearest city to the crime scene were to bring an heifer into a rough valley without the city, slay the heifer by beheading, and wash their hands over the heifer, saying, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.” The priests of the sons of Levi were to then pray, “Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom Thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto Thy people of Israel’s charge.” The blood that cries out from the earth for justice would then be forgiven them; the guilt of innocent blood would be put away from among them. (Deuteronomy 21:1-9)

Just as those who were commanded to put away the guilt of innocent blood during Moses’ day, King David reiterated God’s command during his lifetime praying, “I will wash mine hands in innocency.” The mariners who cast Jonah overboard as the tempest raged about them prayed, “We beseech Thee, O LORD, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood.” Although the sailors worshipped false gods, they knew of God’s command concerning the guilt of innocent blood, becoming exceedingly fearful of Him as the sea returned to calm after Jonah was put out of their midst. (Psalm 26:6; Jonah 1:14-16)

In the ultimate twisting of God’s Word Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea during the time of Christ, misconstrued God’s command given to the Israelites concerning forgiveness for the guilt of innocent blood when “ …he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person.” Pilate made a mockery of God’s command for his own benefit, thinking he would be absolved of being held accountable by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for the innocent blood that was about to be shed by the death of God’s Only Son on a cruel Roman cross. (Matthew 27:24)

“So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.”

Deuteronomy 21:9

Choose Life

What Doth The LORD Require

As Moses spoke final instructions to the Children of Israel before their entrance into the Promised Land, he posed the question that has been asked by every generation since the beginning of time, “What doth the LORD require of me?” At the dawn of a new year the answer to that question is as pertinent as ever to each and every person living in this time. (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

Moses instructed the Children of Israel to first of all “Fear the LORD thy God,” to reverence who HE is, be in awe of who HE is for His great power and majesty revealed to them throughout their forty years of wilderness wandering.

As they first and foremost were to “Fear the LORD,” they were also to “Walk in all His ways,” not to walk after the idolatrous ways of the heathen they were about to encounter. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church in 2 Corinthians 6:17-18, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

They were also to “Love Him” as Moses had previously instructed them in Deuteronomy 6:5, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Later in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses told them “That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days,” (Deuteronomy 30:20).

In like manner were they also to “Serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” As King David later wrote in the Psalms, “Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing… Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise,” (Psalm 100:2-4).

Moses then told them it is required of them to “Keep the commandments of the LORD,” not only the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets by the finger of God, but additionally some 600 commands found throughout the Law of Moses given to him by God during his long stays on Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19-31; Deuteronomy 9:10)

God also required the Children of Israel to keep “His statutes” found throughout The Book of Leviticus concerning clean and unclean foods, dealing with leprosy in the camp, keeping their festivals throughout their generations, honoring the Sabbath, and much more.

Moses then asked a question of them concerning, “What doth the LORD thy God require of thee;” he asked, is it “for thy good?” He then reminds them of who God is and how He cared for them in the wilderness when they had to rely on Him for everything, telling them, “He is thy praise, and He is thy God that hath done for thee these great and terrible (wonderful) things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons (70); and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude. Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep His charge, and His statutes, and His judgments, and His commandments, alway,” (Deuteronomy 10:14-11:1).

The True ROCK

In the closing days of Moses’ life God commanded Moses to write a song for Israel, a song that “When many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness.” God had shared with both Moses and Joshua the direction, contrary to His commands, the Children of Israel would go once they entered the Promised Land, eventually succumbing to the idol worship they would encounter. “Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the Children of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 31-32)

Moses began the song by declaring the God who had brought them out of bondage in Egypt into the glorious light of The Promised Land, “HE is The Rock, His work is perfect… Just and right is He.” Upon recounting God’s leading from the time of Adam to the present, Moses then included in his song a time when they would “forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation… Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.”

The song continued that because of their turning away from God a foolish nation would arise, provoking them to anger, and the Children of Israel would be able to put to flight a thousand of the enemy by one man, and ten thousand by two, made possible only “except their Rock [the Children of Israel’s] had sold them, and The LORD had shut them up? For their rock is not as Our Rock… For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.”

 In the closing lines of the Song of Moses the Children of Israel would learn was to be sung, “The LORD shall judge His people… And He shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted… Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.” In full assurance it is then proclaimed, “See now that I, even I, am HE, and there is NO god with me.” The Rock of man’s salvation is none other than God Himself… “Upon This ROCK I will build My Church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it,” (Matthew 16:16-18).

No Other Gods

As the Children of Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, Moses gave them final instructions in possessing the land and faithfully obeying God’s commands who was giving them the land. The Book of Deuteronomy is a record of Moses’ final words to those he had led from Egypt, through the wilderness, and on to their final destination. With Moses’ prohibition from entering the land flowing with milk and honey due to his disobedience of God’s command to speak to the rock to receive water, upon which Moses “smote the rock twice” in anger during the wilderness wandering (Numbers 20:7-13), his words to them were filled with great significance concerning the seriousness of obeying God’s Word.

God’s command to the Children of Israel entering the Promised Land after crossing the Jordan River was to destroy all the inhabitants that were occupied there: the Hitties, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; “Seven nations greater and mightier than thou… For they will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods.” The Israelites were to “destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire,” all of which pertained to the idol worship that permeated the land (Deuteronomy 7).

The very first commandment given by God on Mt. Sinai forty years earlier had been, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” (Exodus 20:3-5). The commandment included not to make any graven image, bow down to them, nor serve them. The Promised Land they were about to enter was polluted with idolatrous images which were bowed down to and served by those who resided there. God’s judgment was about to be poured out upon those who dwelt there by His Chosen People in destroying the idol worship that God forbids.

Much is written in the Book of Deuteronomy concerning not following other gods, in addition to the Book of Exodus where God further commands, “Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth,” (Exodus 23:13). In Deuteronomy 13 the Children of Israel were admonished, “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones… Because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you,” (Deuteronomy 13:6-10).

“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”

DEUTERONOMY – Book of “Second Giving of The Law”

Key Verse(s):   Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

Review of Wilderness Wanderings – Chapters 1-4, 8

Ten Commandments Restated – Chapters 5-6, 9

Chosen Because of Love – Chapter 7

Warnings – Chapters 10-11

Conditions of Blessing – Chapters 12-26

Instructions Living in Promised Land – Chapters 27-30

Book of Law in Ark of Covenant – Chapter 31

Moses’ Encouragement, Last Words – Chapters 31-33

Moses’ Death – Chapter 34

 

Reaping What’s Been Sown

As America celebrates another Memorial Day remembering those who have given their lives for our precious freedoms, our once great nation finds itself in the throes of reaping what has been sown over the last 50 years. Since 1962 prayer has been thrown out of our public schools, the killing of innocent babies in the womb has been legalized, free love and mind-altering drugs of the 60s generation are rampant throughout the culture, and God-ordained marriage is witnessing its demise per those who seek to destroy its 6,000 years of history. For a country that seemingly has turned its back on God upon Whose Word it was founded, may we repent and return to our First Love before it is too late, knowing it is written in His Word, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” (Galatians 6:7).

God warned the Children of Israel before taking possession of the Promised Land that if after they had remained long in the land and they were to forget His covenant with them by corrupting themselves and doing evil in the sight of God to provoke Him to anger, they would soon perish from off the land and be destroyed (Deuteronomy 4). It was first King Nebuchadnezzar and his army who conquered and destroyed Jerusalem 850 years later, taking all but those who were sick and feeble captive back to Babylon including the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the Hebrew prophet Daniel. After 70 years of captivity and the Jews return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls, it is recorded in A.D. 70 the Roman General Titus overthrew the city again, burning it to the ground with the people scattering to the four corners of the earth as God had warned them would happen for their disobedience (v.27). It was not until Israel’s rebirth on May 14, 1948, “a nation born in a day,” that God has allowed the Children of Israel to return to the Promised Land where they will remain in preparation for His Second Coming, never to be scattered again (Isaiah 66).

If God brought destruction to the people of Israel for their disobedience to Him, “provoking Him to jealousy with strange gods… with abominations provoked they Him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God… and hast forgotten God that formed thee,” He said, “I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very forward generation, children in whom is no faith” (Deuteronomy 32:15-20), how shall America escape His judgments that are sure to come if we neglect so great salvation? We are doomed as all nations that forget God (Psalm 9:17).

“And that, knowing the time,

That now it is high time to awake out of sleep;

The night is far spent, the day is at hand:

Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,

And let us put on the Armour of Light.”

Romans 13:11-12

Blessings & Cursings

The LORD has written in His Word the blessings He will bring upon those who listen to His voice through His Word, to observe and to do all He commands. He promises His blessings will come UPON them and OVERTAKE them. But for those who choose not to read God’s Word and be obedient unto Him, curses will be what comes upon them and overtakes them in their daily lives (Deuteronomy 28).

HIS BLESSINGS

• Blessed will you be in the city, and in the field.
• Blessed will be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground.
• Blessed will be the fruit of your cattle, your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.
• Blessed will be your basket and your store.
• Blessed will you be when you come in, and when you go out.
• Blessed will you be when your enemies are brought down.
• Blessed will be your storehouses.
• Blessed will be all you do.
• Blessed will be your land.
• Blessed will be the rain that falls on your land in season.
• Blessed will you be to lend and not to borrow.

“All these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, IF thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” Deuteronomy 28:2

HIS CURSES

• Cursed you will be in the city, and in the field.
• Cursed will be your basket and your store.
• Cursed will be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your land.
• Cursed will be the increase of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep.
• Cursed will be when you come in, and when you go out.
• Cursed, vexation and rebuke will come upon all that you do.
• Cursed with pestilence, consumption, fever, inflammation, and extreme burning.
• Cursed with the sword, blasting, and mildew.
• Cursed with heaven as brass and earth as iron under your feet.
• Cursed with rain as powder and dust coming down upon the land.
• Cursed with enemies smiting you.
• Cursed with diseases, madness, astonishment of heart.
• Cursed with children given to others.
• Cursed with others getting what you produce.
• Cursed with oppression.
• Cursed with sowing much seed, reaping little.
• Cursed with destruction of vineyard by worms.
• Cursed with children given to captivity.
• Cursed with trees and fruit eaten by locust.
• Cursed with being brought low.
• Cursed with having to borrow, and not lend.

“Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed: Because thou hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded thee… Because you served not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things.” Deuteronomy 28:45,47

 

Desiring a King

It was in the sovereignty of God that the Children of Israel were told before entering the Promised Land that there would come a time in their future when they would demand a king to rule over them. For over 2,500 years since man’s creation the LORD had been caring for His own, watching over them, leading them, providing their every need, but a time would come when they would desire to be like all the nations round about them by having their own earthly king to judge them, go out before them, and fight their battles for them (I Samuel 8). God revealed in Deuteronomy 17 how that king would come to rule and the guidelines he would abide by:

1. God would choose him (v.15)
2. He would be chosen from among their brethren (v.15)
3. He would not acquire a multitude of horses for himself (v.16)
4. He would not return the people to Egypt (v.16)
5. He would not acquire multiple wives (v.17)
6. He would not multiply to himself silver and gold (v.17)

Just as prophecy was fulfilled 350 years later in the anointing of the first king of Israel, King Saul, the following chapter of Deuteronomy also foretells of a coming Prophet whom God would raise up from among their brethren whom they should hear. They were further told God “will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him,” (18:15-19). It was outside the little town of Bethlehem shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night were told by the Heavenly Host the Prophet, Priest and King foretold of by God the Father 1,450 years earlier in the Old Testament had finally come. “Unto Him ye shall hearken.”