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- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
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B
Hey, you are listening to A Year in the Bible With Daily Grace. I'm Shelby and I'm here with Paul. And we're in the book of Deuteronomy. Today we're looking at chapters 16 through 18. Give us kind of an overview of these chapters, Paul.
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A
Yeah, so we're getting some calendar instructions for Israel, which is a little interesting, but definitely still relevant. And then we get kind of some specific instructions with dealing with some kind of specific administrative tasks like judgment over wrongdoing, Kings, provision for those who are without in society. And yeah, that's what we get.
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B
Yeah, I'm interested to come back to that calendar portion. I think we're going to talk about that in just a minute. But can we talk about chapter 17 for just a second? Because I think if you're reading through and you see the punishment for idolatry listed here is death by stoning. That feels really heavy. Can you help us understand that?
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A
Yeah. So we've seen throughout Deuteronomy and previous books that God really emphasizes not worshiping other gods, but worshiping him alone. And, you know, I think it can seem pretty extreme to our modern eyes, but, you know, if Israel is God's people and God's people alone and they start worshiping other gods, they're basically saying, you aren't our God. Right. We don't need you. We can get what we need elsewhere. And it definitely for us, when we think about idolatry, we might talk about idolatry even in church about how we have certain idols over God. And so it can definitely feel scary, like, oh, do I deserve stoning? Which is crazy to think about. But all sin is punishable by death. That's the key underlying thing here. And so Christ died in our place. Right. And so he received the punishment that we deserve for all manner of sins, even idolatry. And so it's actually a mercy that there are certain sins that God doesn't require death in Israel and through things like the sacrificial system and such. So, yeah, it's definitely, definitely extreme. But, you know, we can have confidence and as Christians in Christ.
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B
Yeah, absolutely. Okay. And you mentioned these calendar instructions and maybe how those could even apply to us today. So let's talk about that.
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A
Yeah, I, you know, this is something I love to talk about is just that, you know, God gives Israel rhythms for their life. Right. And it honestly makes me think about Ecclesiastes, which we'll, we'll get to eventually. Where there it talks about how there's a time in Life for everything, for. For both laughing and crying, for weeping and rejoicing. And I think these calendar instructions kind of give a rhythm for their life to remember what God had done for them through things like Passover. Right. And these different festivals and such. And, you know, for us today, even though we don't celebrate Passover or the Feast of Booths or these different celebrations, we do have the church calendar, which is not used in every tradition in Christianity. But if you attend church on Christmas Eve or Easter, that's a special service that's dedicated to that holiday. That's a Christian holiday. And so the church calendar actually has certain seasons that lead up to those dates. So we have Advent, which is the four weeks leading up to Christmas, and we also have Lent, which is the 40 days leading up to Good Friday, I believe. And then you have ordinary time, which is kind of just like everyday life throughout the year, not dedicated to a particular holiday. But, point being, God intends for us to have a rhythm to our lives that there is. You know, every day isn't the same. There are certain seasons of life where we focus on certain things and other seasons of life where we focus on other things. And, you know, even without a church calendar, I think all of us probably experience seasons of some kind where the Holy Spirit is leading us in a particular attribute or virtue that we're growing in. And so I think it's just such a good reminder to turn to those things that are inviting us to intentional reflection. Right. And the church calendar is just one option for that.
- [04:22]
B
Yeah. Okay. I love that you kind of explained how the Israelites received this, but then also how we might see that reflected in our lives today. And I think that's my takeaway is in. I've been doing this, I'll say slowly, really slowly, throughout the years, just kind of being more intentional about these different seasons. And it's honestly taken the pressure off because I don't have to remember all things at all times or be doing all things. I know that there's these seasons throughout the year where I'm going to be reminded of my sin and my need for a Savior. I'm going to be reminded of God's nearness during the Advent season. And so my encouragement for myself and anyone listening is, hey, go check out some liturgical readings resources, because I think that they'll be a blessing to you, and they might actually take, rather than putting more pressure on you, they'll take pressure off of you by just allowing you to fall into these rhythms that point you to Christ. All right. Well, we'll be back for more in Deuteronomy tomorrow.