Do you wanna know why I spend so much time deep diving into the geography, language, and cultural mindset of the Hebrew people?
It’s because of what I mentioned in yesterday’s post.
Minus understanding the historical context of Scripture, you’re not going to understand Scripture AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE UNDERSTOOD.
There’s too much ridiculous EISEGESIS (reading your own bias into Scripture) going on as opposed to sound EXEGESIS (interpreting Scripture in its proper historical context).
The way the Apostle Paul taught was actually a great example of how important it is to understand the historical and cultural backdrop of one’s audience and adjust one’s approach accordingly.
When he spoke to the pagan gentiles in one of the new and progressive Roman cities, he used terms and illustrations they could relate to.
That’s also why he spoke in the Greek language.
He had to use a language his gentile audience would understand.
However, when his travels brought him back to the Holy Lands, he changed his approach and communicated in terms the Jews at that time understood and used Hebrew and Aramaic.
And even within the Jewish population, he had to vary his approach depending on which territory he was in.
The point is if Paul had attempted to communicate the Gospel message in Jewish cultural terms to the Romans, he would have failed and the opposite is true.
We need to keep in mind that the world back then and even now never consisted of one uniform or generic group of people and culture who thought only one way and spoke only one language.
In every time period, there have always been different people groups with different cultures who spoke different languages.
And it is the same with the Bible characters.
We need to understand the culture and surrounding circumstances that Moses, Yeshua or Paul were immersed in…
…AND THEN APPLY THEM TO OUR CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES if we’re really going to understand the Bible in a meaningful way.
With that said, let’s take a look at the proper historical context we need to understand before we move on to Deuteronomy Chapter Five (which is mainly a review of the 10 Words or “Commandments” of God)?
FIRST, the time period is now around 1300 B.C. and the patriarch Abraham has been dead for about 500 years now.
SECOND, Moses is only but a few days before he breathes his last breath on the planet and Joshua will succeed him.
THIRD, Moses is addressing the second generation of young and ambitious warriors who are about to fight a Holy War to take the land of Canaan.
FOURTH, the foundations of God’s Law such as a fully functioning Priesthood and the Wilderness Tabernacle were now permanent fixtures of Hebrew society (the Tabernacle would eventually be replaced by the Temple however).
FIFTH, Israel at this point in time was a racially mixed nation consisting of about 3 million native-born Hebrews, mixed folks from intermarriages, foreigners of many different backgrounds who officially decided to join Israel and non-Hebrew slaves.
In addition, there were many thousands of aliens who have decided to befriend Israel and set up camp on the outskirts of the huge Israelite encampment.
When I say aliens, I’m talking about those folks who chose to befriend Israel but not actually be grafted into the Hebrew nation.
With that as the backdrop, the next time we meet, we’ll begin Deuteronomy Chapter 5.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER FIVE
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