FEBRUARY 19
WITCHCRAFT
AND DIVINATION.
Deut.18:9-14
[Lev.19:26b19:31, 20:6-8]
When you enter the land the lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the lord, and because of these detestable practices the lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the lord your God.
The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the lord your God has not permitted you to do so.
DEATH FOR SORCERY. ex. 22:18 "Do not allow a sorceress to live.
DEATH
FOR SPIRITUALISTS. Lev.
20:27
"
'A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death.
You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.'"
If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
MESSIAH
TO BE TRUE PROPHET.
Deut. 18:15-19
The lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die."
The lord said to me: "What they say is
good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I
will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I
myself will call him to account.
TEST
OF FALSE PROPHETS. Deut.18:20-22
But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death."
You
may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken
by the lord?" If what a
prophet proclaims in the name of the lord
does not take place or come true, that is a message the lord has not spoken. That prophet has
spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
Respect
for the Sovereign of the universe is of utmost importance.
REVERENCE FOR GOD COMMANDED Deut. 5:11 .
"You
shall not misuse the name of the lord your
God, for the lord will not hold
anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
REVILING GOD ex. 22:28a . "Do not blaspheme Gods. . .
CASE
OF BLASPHEMY. Lev.
24:10-16,23
Now
the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites,
and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the
Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to
Moses. (His mother's
name was Shelomith, the daughter of Uibri the Danite.) They put him in custody
until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.
Then
the lord said to Moses: 'Take the
blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on
his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: Tf
anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the
name of the lord must be put to
death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born,
when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death. Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer
outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the lord commanded Moses.
To instill a proper sense of priorities and gratitude, God gives various laws demanding gifts of both the first and the best finings. These gifts are to be used to support the spiritual work of the priests and Levites, and to assist in benevolence for those who have special needs.
FIRSTBORN
FOR GOD. Ex.
22:29b,30
"You
must give me the firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle and your
sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on
the eighth day.
PROPER
SUBSTITUTES Ex.
34:19,20
"The
first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males
of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with
a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn
sons. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
FIRST
CROPS FOR GOD.
Ex22:29a Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats.
FIRSTFRUITS
FOR GOD. Ex23:19a [34:26a]
"Bring
the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the lord your God.
FIRSTBORN
ANIMALS.
Ex15:19-23
Set
apart for the lord your God even'
firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your oxen
to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep. Each year you and your
family are to eat them in the presence of the lord
your God at the place he will choose. If an animal has a defect, is lame
or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the lord your God. You are to eat it in
your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if
it were gazelle or deer. But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the
ground like water.
TITHES
FOR PRIESTS. Deut.18:1-5
The
priests, who are Levites — indeed the whole tribe of Levi — are to have no
allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the offerings made to
the lord by fire, for that is
their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the lord is their inheritance, as he
promised them.
This is
the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the
shoulder, the jowls and the inner parts. You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new
wine and oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, for the lord your God has chosen them and their
descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the lord's name always.
PORTION
FOR LEVITES. Deut.18.-6-8
If a
Levite moves from one of your towns any-where in Israel where he is living, and
comes in all earnestness to the place the lord
will choose, he may minister in the name of the lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in
the presence of the lord. He is
to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the
sale of family possessions.
YEARLY
PRODUCE TITHE. Deut.14:22-27.
Be sure
to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe
of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in
die presence of the lord your God
at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn
to revere the lord your God
always. But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the lord your God and cannot carry your
tithe (because the place where the lord will
choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and
take the silver with you and go to the place the lord your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you
like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then
you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the lord your God and rejoice. And do not
neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or
inheritance of their own.
TRIENNIAL
PRODUCE TITHE Deut.14:28,29
At the
end of every three years, bring the tithes of that year's produce and store it
in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of
their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns
may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
SPECIAL
DEDICATION OF FRUITS. Deut.26:1-4
When
you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an
inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of
the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the lord your God is giving you and put
them in a basket. Then go to the place the lord
your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in
office at the time, "I declare today to the lord your God that I have come to the land the lord swore to our forefathers to give
us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in
front of the altar of the lord your
God.
DEDICATION
FOR REMEMBRANCE Deut.26:5-11
Then you shall declare before the lord your God: "My father was a
wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived
there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians
mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out
to the lord, the God of our
fathers, and the lord heard our
voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He
brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and
honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given
me." Place the basket before the lord
your Cud and bow down before him. And you and the Levites and the aliens
among you shall rejoice in all the good things the lord your God has given to you and your household.
PRAYER
OF THANKSGIVING. Deut.26:12-15
When you have finished setting aside a tenth
of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it
to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in
your towns and be satisfied. Then say to the lord
your God: "1 have removed from my house the sacred portion
and have given it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow,
according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor
have I forgotten any of them. I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while
I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor
have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the lokd my God; I have done everything you commanded me. Look
down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and
the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our forefathers, a land
flowing with milk and honey."
REGARDING
FRUIT TREES. Lev.19:23-25
" 'When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden.' For three years you are to consider it forbidden'; it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. lam the lord your God.
To
promote continual remembrance, and to provide periodic occasions for
formal worship of God, various special days, months, and years are set aside
for national celebration and individual devotion.
The
first and foremost day of worship, the Sabbath, is commanded no less than 12
times throughout the giving of the laws. It is symbolic of the day upon which
God rested after creation, and a reminder that no day of rest was permitted
when the Israelites were in Egyptian bondage. It is the one day each week when
all attention can be focused upon God and his blessings. And, although the
Sabbath falls on the last day of each week, it foreshadows a time when the
first day of each week will be observed in memory of the greatest event which will
have happened since creation.
SABBATH REST COMMANDED. Deut.5;12-15[Ex. 23:12, 35:1,.2 Lev. !9;3b]
"Observe
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the lord
your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your
work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the lokd
your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or
daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any
of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and
maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and
that the lord your
God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Therefore the lord your God has
commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
SYMBOL
OF COVENANT.
Ex.31:16,17
The
Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to
come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites
forever, for in six days the lord made
the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and
rested.'"
DAY TO HONOR SANCTUARY. Lev. 19:30, 26:2
"
'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the lord.
DAY FOR
HOLY CONVOCATION. Lev.
23:1-3
The lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
" 'There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the lord.
NO FIRE
ON SABBATH Ex.
35:3
Do not
light a fire in any of your dwellings on, the Sabbath day."
PLOWING
AND HARVEST. Ex.
34:21
"Six
days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the
plowing season and harvest you must rest.
DEATH
FOR BREACH OF SABBATH. Ex. 31:12-15
Then the lord said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the lord, who makes you holy.
"
'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must
be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his
people. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of
rest, holy to the lord. Whoever
does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.
CASE OF
PUNISHMENT. Num.
15:32-36
While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the lord said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp." So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the lord commanded Moses.