“A man is not to take his father’s wife, thus violating his father’s rights.”-Deuteronomy 23:1 (or 22:30)
One quick point before I start my study for today.
The majority of English Bibles will have the first verse of Deuteronomy 23 as the last verse of Deuteronomy 22.
Understand this is no big deal however because there just weren’t any chapter and verse markers in the original Hebrew Scriptures anyway.
The only reason we have this difference is because of a conflict of opinion between Christian and Jewish scholars concerning where one chapter should begin and end.
Okay…now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s move forward.
The first nine verses of Deuteronomy 23 is a continuation of the seven laws of adulterous unions that were first introduced to us in the latter half of the previous chapter (Deuteronomy 22).
The first five laws are in Deuteronomy Chapter 22 and the remaining two are in the beginning of Deuteronomy Chapter 23.
The very first verse in Deuteronomy 23 which states “a man is not to take his father’s wife” is the sixth law of the series of seven.
In accordance with the principle that “repetition is the mother of learning”, at this juncture I feel compelled to remind you of something very important.
Understand that Moses here in Deuteronomy is NOT creating any new laws outside of what was established in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.
Moses as God’s chosen mediator, was neither adding to the Law and neither was he replacing anything “old” with something “new”.
He was expounding on and explaining the applications and nuances of the Law, how they were to be applied in different contexts, what the underlying principles meant, and how their Father in Heaven expected them to be carried out.
The part from the last sentence about how the law was “to be applied in different contexts” holds particular relevance here because Israel was about to experience a drastic change in their environment from being desert wanderers to being settled God-established citizens in the towns and cities of the Land of Canaan.
This is a really critical principle for us to understand as believers living in the 21st Century.
Why do I say that?
Because the challenge we all face is how to apply God’s instructions that were first handed down to a group of nomadic wanderers about 3000 years ago and apply them to our modern circumstances and cultures minus going back in time and adopting the lifestyle the ancient Israelites lived.
Yeshua was essentially addressing this same challenge in his time when he gave his famous Sermon on the Mount.
I keep stressing this over and over because of the insidious and false doctrine that began to dominate within the church after the gentiles became the majority.
You all know what doctrine I’m referring to.
I’m talking about the notion that Yeshua was actually giving us NEW laws to replace the so-called “old” ones when he gave his famous sermon from the beautiful hilltops overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
He was NOT overturning anything in the Torah.
Rather he was commenting on and expounding on the foundational principles already established in Torah and applying them to his day and age which included pointing out some of the corrupt religious practices in his day.
He was reiterating the true spirit in which God’s commands were to be lived out in the way that had always been intended and expected by HASHEM.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Don’t think that I have come to
abolish the Torah or the Prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to complete.
Yes indeed!
I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away,
not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah
— not until everything that must happen has happened.
So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and
teaches others to do so will be called
the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But whoever obeys them and so teaches will
be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
-Matthew 5:17-19
Leave a Reply