Seder 100: Lev 26:26 and Matthew 14:13-21---Reversing a Curse by Faith

 In Leviticus 26 the Israelites are told that if they turn their backs on God's covenant, God will discipline them with hardships that will escalate if they persist in rebellion.  One of the hardships is famine, as described in verse 26:  

"When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied."

This verse pictures a group of people having to share an amount of food that is only enough for a tenth as many people.  The Israelites could avoid this kind of scenario by turning to God in repentance (vv 40-45).  

The punishments listed in Leviticus 26:14-39 were the opposites of  blessings that would come to the Israelites in the Promised Land.  We can contrast the famine in Leviticus 26:26 with the blessings described by Moses in Deuteronomy 8:10:  "And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you."  

Israel would continue to receive such blessings if they maintained their faith in God.  In particular, they would be blessed for taking care of those who were in need--Dt 14:29; 26:12.  Note the example of Ruth, who was helped by Boaz, in Ruth 2:14:  "So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain.  And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over."  

Another interesting example is in 2 Kings 4:42-44, where a man brings a firstfruits offering to the prophet Elisha.  Elisha has the man share the food with a large group.  Even though the group is large, there is enough food for everyone, with some left over.  In contrast to Leviticus 26:26, people ate are were satisfied.  

The miracle in 2 Kings 4:42-44 prefigures Jesus' feeding of 5000 in Matthew 14:13-21, where 5 loaves and 2 fish fed a large crowd, with much left over. In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on January 24, 2026, Kyle Kettering focused on this miracle to illustrate what can be accomplished when we place our trust in God.  

Seder 156---Deuteronomy 26-27---Rituals of Remembrance

 In Deuteronomy 26, Moses describes two rituals designed to help the Israelites stay on track in carrying out their divine mission.  One (vv 1-11) is a firstfruits ceremony, in which a family would bring the firstfruits of a year's harvest to the central sanctuary and present them to the priest.  The head of household would recite a statement rehearsing the nation's history and God's mighty works on their behalf.

No time is specified for this ceremony, but a natural time for it to occur would be annually at the time of Pentecost, when lots of people would be traveling to the sanctuary.  These would be wonderful times to rejoice together and include everyone in the celebration (v 11).  

Moses lays out a second ritual in verses 12-15, one to take place in the third and sixth years of every seven, the years in which one gave a tithe to help the needy (Dt 14:28-29).  In this ritual one affirmed one's allegiance to God and his covenant and prayed for God's covenant blessings.  

To our ears this statement might sound boastful, but it is not intended that way.  The statement is not making a claim of moral perfection; instead it is an affirmation of loyalty.  Understanding the difference can help us gain a more balanced understanding of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14.  In that parable the Pharisee can be faulted for looking down on the tax collector but not for affirming his obedience to God.  

Verses 16-19 of Deuteronomy 26 are a conclusion to Moses' address in Deuteronomy 12-26.  This conclusion implies that in conjunction with Moses' address, the Israelites carried out a covenant renewal ceremony (vv 17-18).  

There would be an additional covenant renewal ceremony when the Israelites crossed the Jordan in a few short weeks.  The principles of the Torah were to be written on large plastered stones which they were to set up at Mount Ebal (verses 1-8).  Then there would be a ceremony at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim (already mentioned in Dt 11:29), with 6 tribes represented at each mountain.  Levites would give a series of twelve imprecations that would be affirmed by the people.  

The twelve imprecations, listed in Deuteronomy 27:9-26, cover a range of issues representing the entire Torah.  Two of them (vv 14, 25) explicitly mention things done in secret, leading to the observation that a number of the things covered are private actions that would not be prosecuted in court. For the Israelites to prosper in the land, they would need to follow God even when no humans were looking.

The ritual at Gerizim and Ebal was carried out as described (Joshua 8:30-35).  After that, people could look at the two mountains and remember the importance of the choices they made each day. 

This region would play an important role in Israel's later history.  For example, Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman (John 4) would take place there.  Kyle Kettering discussed this fascinating episode in a sermon at Church of the Messiah on August 12, 2023.  

Seder 146: Deuteronomy 14-16---Sabbath Principles

 Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17 deals with topics related to the Sabbath commandment, things like worship at the annual festivals and observance of sabbatical years.  In discussing these topics, Moses speaks not in terms of making regulations, but in terms of opportunities for the whole community together to rejoice before God, with no one left out.  He places quite a bit of emphasis on helping poor members of the community.  

In Deuteronomy 14:22-27, Moses describes an annual festival tithe that would enable the people to experience regular events analogous to the covenant meal at Horeb 40 years before (Exodus 24:9-11).  Another tithe collected in years 3 and 6 of every 7-year cycle would be used to help the poor (vv 28-29).

Year seven was the sabbatical year, a time of release of debts.  In the seventh year, "every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor" (15:2).  Daniel Block proposes that this may have meant releasing what the debtor had given the lender as collateral rather than cancelling a loan altogether.  That way creditors would be willing to make loans, and debtors would be able to gain economic benefit from the collateral and get on a better financial footing.  

Deuteronomy 15:3 says that this debt release did not apply to loans to foreigners.  It's assumed that such loans would be business loans to people who were not permanent residents, not personal loans for someone who has fallen into debt.  This was not a matter of prejudice against foreigners, which is spoken against elsewhere in the Torah (e.g., Lev 19:33-34).  

Moses holds up an ideal in which the Israelites are obedient to God and poverty is eliminated (vv 4-6).  In the meantime, though, there would be poverty, and people should come to the aid of those who needed it (vv 7-11).  (Certainly Jesus' reference to Deuteronomy 15:11 in Matthew 26:11 was not intended to imply that the poor should be neglected.)

Hebrew slaves should be released with generous gifts, Moses adds (vv 12-15).  It has been observed that this is a principle which God made sure the Egyptians carried out when the Israelites departed from them (Ex 12:36).   

In Deuteronomy 16 Moses describes the three annual pilgrimage festivals---Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles---that Israelites would have the opportunity to celebrate.  Daniel Block identifies some key principles in the theology of worship expressed in Deuteronomy 16:1-17:

1. True worship involves an engagement with God and is focused on him. 
2. True worship occurs at God's initiative and must be conducted on his terms.
3. True worship is communal.
4. True worship is driven by gratitude to God for his redemption and daily provision.
5. True worship involves the offering of our resources and ourselves.

Seder 145: Deuteronomy 14---Invitation to God's Table

 At the start of Deuteronomy 14, Moses reminded the Israelites of who they were:  "the sons of the Lord your God" (v 1); "a people holy to the Lord your God"; "his treasured possession" (v. 2).  So they were to represent God well in all areas of life, being sure to "pursue righteousness" (16:20).  That included their choice of meat to eat.  

It was assumed throughout the Ancient Near East that the gods approved of some foods and disapproved of others.  In the "Prayer to Every God," the supplicant confesses, "In ignorance I have eaten that forbidden of my god."  Suffering, but not knowing what he has done wrong, he assumes he may have violated some taboo of which he was not aware.  He would have appreciated the boundaries that God graciously gave to Israel.

In Deuteronomy 12 and 14-16, there is an emphasis on the blessing and bounty that Israel would enjoy in the Promised Land.  In laying out the dietary requirements of 14:3-21, Moses emphasized all of the kinds of meat available to them (vv 4, 6, 9, 11, 20).  The emphasis was similar in Genesis 2:16-17, where there was only one restriction  We should not make the mistake of Adam and Eve and fixate on the restrictions.

God was inviting his chosen people, his adopted children, to a "family meal."  Certain things would set this group of people apart from others.  They would not practice pagan mourning rituals---14:1---and they would not eat "any abomination"--verse 3.

The Bible does not give an underlying rationale for its choices of which animals can be eaten and which are not to be.  Commentator Daniel Block says his best guess is that the unclean animals tend to have some connection with filth and death.

Verse 21 repeats the cryptic instruction of Ex. 23:19; 34:26:  "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."  In discussing possible meanings of this directive, Block notes an explanation proposed by Heath Dewrell in 2012.

In all three cases, this instruction appears in the context of discussion of firstfruits.  Dewrell proposes that this cryptic saying is a restatement of the principle of firstfruits.  

The best of the firstfruits of a harvest should be offered to God in gratitude.  We should not consume it ourselves. Similarly, we should not take a kid from its mother.  The milk consumed by the kid is like the firstfruits of the "harvest" of the goat's milk.  We can enjoy the goat's milk--the rest of the harvest--but should show gratitude to the mother goat by allowing the mother to enjoy her kid and allowing the kid to drink the milk, the firstfruits of that harvest.

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on May 20, 2023, Kyle Kettering reflected on what it means to be adopted children of God.