Welcome to Deuteronomy study number 23. We'll go through all 25 verses, Lord willing, and the church don't rise as we send out a hebele halah out to a brother Pierre. Brother Pierre is a new listener, at least recently, and we Interacted a little bit just by email, but we appreciate those who? Contact us and let us know you're listening and brother Pierre. Here's your billy holla as We get into our study of Deuteronomy 23 with a word of prayer father we thank you Lord for this time in your word, and sometimes reading the Bible is life-altering, life-changing, and other times it is just very interesting. And we read with interest the instructions that you gave to the children of Israel under Mosaic Law, and we consider the implications of that, and at times can make personal application, But we thank you for the direction you give us by your Holy Spirit so that we can rightly divide the word of truth and We thank you for these things most of all we thank you for salvation by the death with shed blood on the cross burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and We pray these things in his precious name. Amen. I So, Deuteronomy 23 deals with, we'll just say practical matters for the folks under Mosaic Law. And really, any sort of outline just serves no real purpose. And probably just confuse things. So, we're just gonna dive right in with verse one. He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. So we start right off with a doozy. Stones. Other terms are used to refer to the male testicles. We don't have to go into that. You know what those are, more than likely. But it's saying that a man with busted, injured, whatever, maybe even removed testicles, amputated or severed penis. We're all adults I hope watching this and you should be able to handle this discussion, but especially in that day that would be considered a very debilitating condition and the likelihood of not only physical but mental and emotional disability made this rule necessary. We want to point out that when it says it shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, it's not talking about becoming a member of the nation. It's talking about holding positions of honor, power, and responsibility. It was used in the general sense, as we saw in the book of Numbers, coming into the congregation of the Lord, but it's used in this sense, the same way you'll hear a church member. You ask the person, are you a member of the church? Well, generally speaking, that's just asking them if they're saved, because if you're saved, you are a member of the body of Christ. But people use that terminology for those who have joined themselves to a local church in which you now have the power to vote on matters and to hold certain offices in the church. And so that's the way this entering into the congregation of the Lord is being used in that same sort of sense in Deuteronomy here. And that softens the blow a bit compared to saying you can't become a part of Israel. It's not saying that, it's just saying you can't enter into the congregation of the Lord in positions of honor, power, or responsibility. So verse two says, a bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Even to his 10th generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord. A fatherless child was not to be abused. He was he or she but we're saying he here because it's just a fact it was male leadership was the norm. Once in a while someone like a Miriam or a Deborah would rise up, but usually it wasn't in a place of authority as much as a place of inspiration and motivation and getting people to do what's right, as even in Deborah's place it was. So that's why I speak in male terms here, that a fatherless child wasn't to be abused and he was an Israelite like all others, with the exception that he couldn't assume those leadership and responsibility roles that we just mentioned. That seems harsh, but it was necessary to deter extramarital sex, which produces out-of-wedlock births. Especially today it used to be a when I was a kid. He talked a lot about Black America and how they have so many fatherless homes But that's increased among all the minorities and white population now and it's been detrimental to society and So this was to preserve order in the Society of Israel at the time verse 3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever. Of course, we know that Moabites joined themselves with the nation of Israel and the great-grandmother of Jesus, Ruth the Moabitess, was one of them. She married a male Jew, Boaz, so his offspring were exempted from this, but if Ruth had been a male and any time a male Moabite would come in to Israel, they couldn't become a Leader and take those role roles or positions or offices of leadership until the 10th generation then verses 4 through 6 Continue and says because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when you came forth out of Egypt and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pthor of Mesopotamia to curse thee Verses five and six continue nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam But the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee because the Lord thy God loved thee And then verse six says thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever God Has his reasons for basically holding a grudge against the Ammonites and the Moabites and it was because it was unrepentance God knew that even to that day that they were unrepentant of their treatment of Israel and so You know, it wasn't that he just held a grudge but that his grudge was because they had persisted in their wickedness and And that explanation just will have to suffice. It is what it is. But the Lord makes further clarification regarding Edomites in verse 7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite. For he is thy brother. Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. So exceptions were given because of special relationships with these people, with the Edomites. Why? Because they're descendants of Esau, and Esau was literally Jacob's brother, and Jacob is the patriarch that gave birth to the 12 tribes of Israel. So in that sense, he's your brother. and for sentimental reasons, I guess we could say, the Egyptians as well. Before the final pharaoh in Exodus, between the time of Joseph and the time of Moses, the pharaohs had treated the children of Israel well, giving them a place to live. He made Joseph the regent king, treated Jacob with the highest respect and his sons and their offspring for nearly four centuries before it got bad under that final Pharaoh. And for that reason, then verse eight says, the children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation. It wasn't right away, but it didn't have to wait 10 generations. It was the third generation. And with that, now we jump into a verse that begins to deal with times of war. Verse nine, when the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing. When in the chaos of war, Men would, sadly, throughout history, they would kind of lose their morals and lose their standards. And this also would have a direct relationship to, like, Aiken, when he took the Wicked thing that he wasn't supposed to take now that wasn't always a rule That was a special rule for Jericho that they weren't supposed to even take the gold or anything And God has his reasons But in this case, it just says every wicked thing, not just one particular wicked thing. And if you just study, if you're a student of history, but especially a student of wars in history, then I don't really have to tell you, but for the sake of those who haven't done any study or reading, read about the Assyrians and what they did to Israel. but what they did to all their enemies, the Babylonians, Persians, and others before Christ, and then after Christ came the Islamic Viking barbarian wars and just raping and pillaging and all that. And then you read the Native American wars and what many of the tribes here in the Americas did to the Europeans, but then what the Europeans and especially the Spanish conquistadors were wicked, the things they did to the natives. But even in our American Civil War, uh... or what the nazis and the soviets did to each other during world war two with the nazis did to the allies and sometimes even the allied troops would get out of hand and a lot of times it was out of vengeance and rage uh... just a uh... movie that give you the idea without being too grotesque is one uh... uh... uh... jimmy stewart if you know who jimmy stewart is he was in a movie called shenandoah and uh... That was a hard one for me to watch. First time I saw it, I've seen it a couple of times, but that'll give you the idea. But now we continue in the context of army life. Verse 10, if there be among you any man that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp. He shall not come within the camp. Now, again, we're all adults here, so I know this is gross. And there's no reason for a long discourse. I'll just make this quick and clear that a man discharges semen from a dream or however it happens. It's not talking about masturbation, although that would also be implied here. Any discharge of that sort Why does it tell him to go outside of the camp? Because they're in close quarters. It would be an embarrassment to him. Who wants to see that? Get out of the camp and take care of it is basically the message. It's not something that you can control, especially when you're asleep. It happens to men, most men it's happened to. We're all human, we're all disgusting, and thank God we're being saved from our disgusting natures and one day we'll be glorified and not have to worry about any of this. Embarrassment for some at least will continue as we read in verse 11 But it shall be when evening cometh on he shall wash himself with water and when the sun is down He shall come into the camp again now. That'd be embarrassing enough because most everybody's gonna know what's going on I mean so-and-so is outside the camp. Oh boy. Don't even want to talk about here. He comes yep He's back So this is a matter of personal hygiene, and then being considerate of others, I guess you could say. And then verses 12 and 13, not only considerate of others in the camp, but of God himself. Verse 12 says, thou shalt have a place also without the camp, meaning outside of the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad, Verse 13 says, And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon, and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee. They didn't have Johnny on the spots or portable outhouses. So they were to carry a little shovel, a little paddle to bury their excrement. And if you've ever noticed, never noticed this before, the Lord basically says, I don't want to see that or have to walk around piles of human manure. That's his reason. We'll read in a second. But I also want to mention, you know, they used to, especially among the non-Jewish peoples of the world, up until 100 years or less ago, they would pee in a pot. I'd always hear, that fella's so poor he don't have a pot to pee in. And I didn't even know that was a thing, except for I finally kind of put two and two together, someone say he's on the pot, they talk about it being in the restroom. But my whole life we had a toilet and we had indoor plumbing. But before that, people would literally go in a pot in the middle of the night. And then they would just throw it out in the yard or out in the street. And that then caused kind of a cycle of uncleanness. And then you have rats and then the rats would defecate and then their stuff would get in the air and people would breathe it and that sort of thing. And then they would Fleas would then bite the rats and then bite the people and spread disease. It was just a terrible situation. But look what God says here in, let's see, verse 14. For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee. Therefore shall thy camp be holy, that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee. That's in the context of burying your excrement. It's the least you can do for the Lord who's going to be in your midst. He doesn't have to see that and walk around it. If you can't show the Lord some consideration, He'll just leave you to your own mess. And think about what the Lord must think of these liberal run cities where there's human feces all over town on the sidewalks. It's a fitting kind of a picture because you know God has almost totally forsaken the cities. And now students of American history are about to see that the Fugitive Slave Clause, it's in Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, and the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and of 1850, which caused so much trouble and helped foment the hatred and anger that brought about the American Civil War, as it's called in the history books. Some call it the War of Northern Aggression. The war of northern invasion the war among the states. There's different titles given to it, but all these Fugitive slave acts were anti-biblical look at verse 15 to 16 thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee and He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best. Thou shalt not oppress him." So the Constitutional Fugitive Slave Act and those other acts completely contradicted God's word. And of course, American slavery itself was an unbiblical, godless, disgusting practice to begin with. We've discussed that at other times. But it didn't even resemble this servanthood, the bondservant situation that we're reading about in the scripture. When people use the Bible to justify American slavery, they're just either ignorant or blatant liars. There's very little comparison. And the Fugitive Slave Act is an example of that. Totally contradicts what we just read in the scripture. Verse 17 there shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel there will be none in the kingdom to come there will be none in heaven and under Mosaic law if you knew a woman was a whore you were to expose her if you knew a Dude was a sodomite you were to expose them and they were to be executed and Of course, that would disqualify a growing segment of the U.S. population in these last days, which are as the days of Lot in Sodom. Verse 18 goes on to say, Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore or the price of a dog into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God." So you weren't to use ill-gotten gains in temple worship or to give your offerings in the temple. If you did, the priest wouldn't know any better and he faced no censure or consequences, but the person doing so would be dealt with by the Lord. And then we come to the matter of interest on loans, usury. Verse 19 says, thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother, usury of money, usury of vittles, usury of anything that is lent upon usury. Now that, as I said, is a loan given on interest. I lend you $20, and I say, well, I'll loan you this $20, but you owe me a dollar for each day until you pay me back. And that's pretty high interest, but that's about what they're doing to people now. And that's usury. It's a simple but clear example of it. It's basically the same scam that banks use. They're loaning money they don't actually have. We don't have time to get into all that. Watch the Money Masters by William Still to learn all about that. Our whole Federal Reserve System is a scam that's based on this whole thing of usury. but they give out bank loans for houses and cars. It's even more abusive when you go to a buy-here, pay-here place where the interest can be, unless the law, I don't know, they passed some laws, but when I was a kid, I was tempted to go do these things, and they'd have like 30% interest of rent-to-own places. You'd pay three or four times when you finally paid it off. It'd be three or four times what you'd pay down at the store if you bought it new. from the store. So this usury ban only applied, though, within the family of Israel. Verse 20 says, unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury. that the Lord thy God may bless thee and all that thou settest thine hand to in the land with that thou goest to possess. And again, we have to remember in Israel, it's not like America where you're related to a bunch of people, but you're not related to the whole country. But in Israel, they're all related. They all trace back to Jacob. They're distant cousins at worst. I mean, they're all related. Now strangers could be charjusri, but the abusive levels found in like credit cards today and those others I already mentioned, they're criminal and they're abusive to the poor, and that was never to be allowed. Verse 21, when thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it, for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee, and it would be sin in thee. It's a dangerous thing to make vows, especially with God, and go back on them. You should keep your word. I'm glad that I learned this as a baby Christian. I know some people who've made vows. I've had people tell me over and over, tell me these vows they've made with God, and they failed to keep them. Then they have it bearing down on their conscience for the rest of their life. Verse 22 says, but if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. And that's the position I've taken since I learned about this. I don't make vows. I try to be a man of my word. I try to do the right things, but I just do it. Verse 23 goes on that which has gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform even a freewill offering According as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, which thou has promised with thy mouth if you if you not Required to give something but you say I'm going to give it then it becomes a requirement because you just made the vow to give it I You know, I've just told people just don't say it just do it because most people who tell me that They're going to do something. They never do it. They tell God they're going to do something. They never do it. It's a very bad thing. I've had people tell me they're going to start coming to church. I'm going to start giving. I'm going to give regular. I'm going to this and that. You don't have to tell me. This isn't between me and you. It's between you and the Lord. But if you tell the Lord that, even if you're not telling me, you tell the Lord, you should do it. So many people through the years have reneged on their vows and not done the things they said they were gonna do for the Lord. And if that's you, if you can still do it, do it. Pick up where you left off and do what you're supposed to do. But don't make vows from this point on. Just do things. Don't make promises, just do it. I'll leave it at that. As we close in verses 24 and 25, when thou comest into thy neighbor's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure, but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. Verse 25, when thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand, but thou shalt not move a sickle into thy neighbor's standing corn. Again, this is the family thing. Don't try this with your neighbor here in the United States of America. Go to your neighbor's garden and just start picking what you can eat. Unless he tells you it's okay. But in this situation, it's a family thing. So if you're hungry, take what you can eat. But you can't come and fill a big basket and take it home and bring a sickle and start cutting things down to take home so you can make bread that lasts the winter and that sort of thing. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet situation. Some people think it means all-you-can-eat all-day buffet. That's not the idea. If you're hungry, it gets you something to eat and get out. Um, I saw one meme for an all-you-can-eat buffet. It said, um, all-you-can-eat buffet, not mean all-day buffet. You know, come stay four hour. You eat, you go home. We were in one store that had a big sign, no doggy bag for buffet allowed, because people tried to do that. And there's a lot of funny videos out there, memes out there about, oh, you can eat buffets. Now people try to abuse that. But it's funny because it's real. Too many people will take advantage if you don't lay down some ground rules. And that explains the reason for this chapter.