Laws on the cities of refuge discouraged vigilantism and encouraged respect for the legal system to decide guilt or innocence. There was a serious penalty against “malicious witnesses” in criminal cases. God gave rules for the war to clean the Land, including discharge from service for the distracted and annihilation of certain existing peoples.
Deuteronomy 17 covers the type of animals to be given for sacrifice, what to do with a person who is worshiping another god and when and how they will chose a king. Deuteronomy 18 explores Levites and their inheritance, a reminder to the children of Israel that they are not allowed to “learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations” and a foretelling of a Prophet will come who is even more powerful than Moses.
The account of the 10 plagues on Mitsraim (Egypt) before Israel’s exodus has a pattern of mercy and judgment. Moses delivered warnings to Pharaoh followed by plagues, then a plague comes without warning.
We are continuing our Passover discussions leading up to the Passover itself. This is some additional background we need to cover before we partake of our annual Passover feast.
Yitzkhak (Isaac) understood something that is hard for us to picture. He knew he was going to be killed, that is huge. Yitzkhak also believed in the promise of God and he knew that God would resurrect him, one way or another. Abraham tied up Yitzkhak, and that put the fear of God into Yitzkhak.
Seven shows up repeatedly in Scripture. It appears first with the seventh day of creation, threads through God’s cycles of appointments with mankind, and foreshadows the timing of Messiah Yeshua’s arrival as the Word become flesh and culminates with many of the symbols of the Day of the Lord.
God’s severe instruction for dealing with someone who has dreams or receives messages that come true and who performs miracles is sobering. It was not a problem for a prophet or dreamer outside the Levitical community to perform miracles or have visions. This passage also covers God’s actual instructions for what is commonly called the “third tithe.”