As you've discovered by now, the book of
Deuteronomy is sort of a review of the
law.
The word itself indicates the second law.
It is a review by Moses for the
people, really a final review because Moses will
be dying in just a few days and
Joshua will be taking over and leading the
children of Israel into the promised land.
So, he is continuing his instructions, his final
instructions to them.
And in the 17th chapter, again at the
beginning, he lets them know that what they
give to God should never be castoffs, never
give a sacrifice that has blemishes.
God really isn't honored when we give to
Him the castoffs, that which has no value
to us.
The Lord is really honored when we give
to Him a sacrifice that really costs something.
When David wanted to buy the threshing floor
of Ornan in order that he might offer
to God a sacrifice there because it was
at that point that the angel was stayed
and the plague that was upon Israel was
stopped, Ornan says, I'll give it to you
and here you can have the cattle to
offer as a sacrifice.
And David said, no, I'll not give unto
God that which cost me nothing.
Now, David was called a man after God's
own heart.
And I think that God is honored when
we do give to Him, we give that
which cost us something.
Otherwise, it really isn't a gift.
Jesus, watching the people putting their money into
the treasury, when He saw the widow woman
throw in her mite, He said, she's given
now.
That's true giving.
The rest of them were all giving out
of their abundance.
She was giving out of her sustenance, out
of her livelihood.
And so, when we give unto God, not
the castoff.
And so, you're not to sacrifice unto the
Lord any bullock or sheep with blemishes or
evil favoredness.
That's an abomination unto the Lord.
Then, they were very strict within the law.
God was seeking to preserve the nation.
He knew that by allowing certain things within
the land that they would have within them
incumbent seeds of destruction.
As you look at history, you'll find that
the majority of the nations that were once
great were not really conquered by outside forces,
but deteriorated by the rotten politics within the
nation itself.
Nations, after a period of time, have a
tendency to become corrupted.
Nations are built upon certain pillars of righteousness,
justice, equity, solid pillars upon which a nation
is built.
But when these pillars begin to rot, then
the nation is in a dangerous condition and
will soon fall.
One of the rotten planks that God was
seeking to guard against was that of idolatrous
worship.
And therefore, the penalty that God ordered for
anyone who would enter into idolatrous worship, the
worship of other gods, the worshiping of God
in unprescribed ways, the penalty was to be
that of stoning.
He's wrought wickedness within Israel.
And he's served other gods, worshiped them, the
sun, the moon, the host of heaven, which
I have not commanded, God said.
Now, you are to inquire diligently to see
if the story is true.
And if two or three people will witness
against that person of the truth of the
charges, then he is to be stoned by
the congregation of Israel.
However, the death penalty was not to be
invoked if there were only one witness against
the person.
Now, if the matters were brought to the
judges, and it was really too hard for
them to determine just how to rule in
the case, then they were to bring those
matters before the priest.
And the Levites shall inquire of the Lord
and give the sentence of judgment.
And again, God speaks of the place that
he will choose in the land, which will
be the place where men will meet God
and worship God.
Now, in the 14th verse, it is interesting
as God now anticipates a future deterioration of
the land.
You see, God intended that the nation Israel
be a theocracy, that it be a nation
that was governed by God.
They were to have the most unusual form
of government of any nation of the world,
where other nations may have had monarchies or
dictatorships or democracies or other forms of government.
Theirs was to be unique because they were
to be a theocracy, a nation that was
ruled over by God.
Not as Iran is today.
Comene sort of tries to give an aura
of divine approval or, you know, God's government,
but surely what he has installed is far
from God's government.
But God knew that one day these people
would insist upon a king.
And therefore, even though at this point there
was not to be any king ruling over
them by God's divine ideal, yet knowing that
the day would come when they would no
longer adhere to God's ideal plan for them
as a nation and would insist upon a
king.
God, therefore, in the law gave certain rules
when a king would rise to rule over
them, then he gave rules for the kings
here in the laws.
Though it was to be 400 years or
so before they would have a king, yet
God already anticipating the demand for a king
is now giving the rules when a king
does rise to rule over them.
And so, to me it is interesting that
God in anticipation of their future demand for
a king throws in here, even in the
law, certain rules to govern the king when
they ultimately have a king.
And the very reason that they would give
for having a king is anticipated by God.
When you want to have a king like
the other nations.
When the people came to Samuel, they said,
set up a king over us like the
other nations.
And they demanded that they have a king.
And so, God anticipating this demand of the
people.
When it comes to pass, you're in the
land which the Lord gives you.
You're dwelling there.
And you shall say, I will set a
king over me like all the nations that
are about me.
Thou shalt in any wise set him king
over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall
choose.
One from among your brothers shalt thou set
king over thee.
Thou mayest not set a stranger over you,
which is not your brother.
Now, here are the rules for the king.
First of all, he's not to multiply horses
to himself or to go down to Egypt
in order to trade for horses.
The second was that he was not to
multiply wives unto himself.
And the reason for this was given, lest
his wives turn his heart away from God.
Now, it is interesting when Solomon became king,
he failed on all three counts.
First of all, Solomon began to multiply horses
unto himself.
And the stables of Solomon are still to
be found throughout Israel.
Not only did he multiply horses, but he
went down to Egypt in order to do
horse trading.
The second, disobedience.
And finally, he multiplied wives unto himself.
Now, it is interesting that God said, you're
not to multiply wives, lest their hearts, lest
they turn your heart away from me.
And Solomon's wives turned his heart away from
the Lord and brought the failure to Solomon.
So God anticipated the evil.
He anticipated the results of the evil.
He warned about it.
And yet Solomon disregarded the warnings of God,
did exactly what God said he should not
do and exactly what God said would happen,
did happen.
In other words, God knows what he's talking
about.
We so often feel that we know better.
Well, that doesn't apply to me.
Well, I can do it and get by
with it.
Oh, that'll never change me.
Wives could never change my attitude towards God.
And that may apply to some others, but
that really doesn't apply to me.
And we think that somehow we have some
private exclusion from the rules or the laws
that God establishes.
Not so.
God has set the rules.
He has set the punishment or the things
that would transpire if the rules are violated.
You think you can get by with it?
You can't.
You can be sure that even as God
has stated, so shall it be.
And you can be sure that God doesn't
warn you about anything needlessly.
Whatever God warned you about is the thing
that you're in danger of violating or doing.
So God was warning concerning the king.
Solomon disregarded the warning.
And even as God declared, so did it
take place in Solomon's life.
Now the king actually was to make his
own copy of the law and he was
to read it daily.
Now, how marvelous that would be if you
had a president who would have to write
his own copy of the word of God,
because in writing it, you're reading into it
all the time and then have to read
it daily.
When Moses turned the charge over to Joshua,
he gave to him the law and he
says, now thou shalt diligently consider the law.
Thou shalt meditate in it and thus shalt
thou make thy way prosperous and thus shalt
thou have good success.
David spoke of his own delight in the
law of the Lord, which he meditated in
day and night.
He was a man after God's own heart
because of the respect that he gave to
God's word as a king.
David was the kind of king that God
wanted.
God wanted a shepherd king.
God always wants shepherds to rule.
He wants all of the rulers to have
the hearts of a shepherd.
And David had the heart of the shepherd
for God's people, nurturing them, caring for them,
loving them, concerned with their needs.
And so the requirement that the king write
his own copy of the scriptures and read
it.
Now, again, he repeats how the tribe of
Levi is not to be given any portion
of the land, but they will eat the
offerings that were given unto the Lord made
by fire as their inheritance for the Lord
is their inheritance.
And thus the priest, when he offered a
sacrifice, they were to give the priest the
shoulder and the two cheeks and the maw.
Also, they were to give to the priest,
the first fruit of their corn and of
their wine and of their oil and the
first of the fleece of thy sheep shalt
thou give to him.
Now God required really a tent.
He considered that as his.
And the tent was always to be the
first tent was to go unto God.
Now, when you would bring an offering that
the priest would sacrifice the offering for you,
the priest always got the shoulder and the
cheeks and the maw.
That was his that was his sort of
fee or not really a fee, but that
was just his his allotted share from the
sacrifice.
Now, later on in their history, when Eli
was the priest.
He had some greedy sons and the people
would come to offer sacrifices and hey, these
greedy sons, they would put their hooks in
and grab the tenderloins, the sirloins and the
and the finest of the steaks and everything
else.
And and if the people would go to
object, you know, then they'd order them out
of the place so that they actually, by
their greed.
Caused people to begin to resent.
Sacrificing unto God.
And Eli would not actually correct his sons
and thus God dealt very harshly with Eli
and his sons because of their greediness in
the ministry caused people really to resent God,
seeking the best for themselves.
Looking out for themselves and more concerned with
their own wants and selves than they were
really the people.
And thus God dealt very severely with Eli
and his sons.
But there was a portion that was to
be given to the priest.
And then the first fruits of their fields,
the first fruits of their grapes and so
forth, there were to be given unto the
priest.
For the Lord thy God hath chosen men
out of the tribes to minister in the
name of the Lord and thus they shall
have like portions to eat.
Now again, God forbids that the people follow
after the abominations and the practices of those
people that were already living in the land
that they were to drive out.
The practices were using divination or an observer
of times.
The observer of times is actually the practice
of astrology, the use of horoscopes or an
enchanter or a witch or a charmer or
a consulter with familiar spirits.
So spiritism or a wizard or a necromancer
or all that do these things are an
abomination unto the Lord.
And it's because of these abominations that God
is driving the people out of the land.
Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy
God.
The word perfect there is thou shalt be
completely towards the Lord.
You're not to have other gods in your
life, so to speak.
Your heart is to be completely towards God,
not to be divided with these other interests
and issues, but just a heart that is
completely towards God.
For the nations which you are going to
possess, they hearkened unto these observers of times,
to the diviners.
But as for thee, the Lord thy God
has not allowed thee to do it.
Now here we find a great prophecy concerning
the coming of Jesus Christ.
The Lord thy God will raise up unto
thee a prophet from the midst of thee
of your brothers like unto me.
Unto him shall ye hearken according to all
that you desire of the Lord thy God
in Horeb in the day of the assembly,
saying, Let me not hear again the voice
of the Lord my God, neither let me
see this great fire anymore that I die
not.
And the Lord said unto me, They have
well spoken that which they have spoken.
I will raise them up a prophet from
among their brethren.
And I will like unto thee and will
put my words in his mouth and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall
command him.
And it shall come to pass that whosoever
will not hearken unto my words, which he
shall speak in my name, I will require
it of him."
Peter in his message in the third chapter
of the book of Acts declares that this
was a prophecy concerning Jesus Christ.
Now the Jews knew the prophecy of Moses
and thus they were looking for their Messiah.
They believe that this is a prophecy of
the coming Messiah.
That God is going to raise up another
spokesman to speak God's word to them.
I'll raise up another prophet like unto myself
so that when they came to John the
Baptist saying, Who art thou?
They said, Art thou that prophet?
And they were referring to this particular prophecy.
Are you that prophet?
The prophet that we are to look for
like unto Moses through whom God will speak
his word to the people.
John said, I am not.
Are you the Messiah?
No.
Who are you?
I'm just the voice of one in crying
in the wilderness.
Prepare you the way of the Lord.
Make straight his path.
Now the Jews today are still looking for
their Messiah and they're anticipating that he is
coming very soon.
But they told me we believe that the
Messiah will be just like Moses.
That's this prophecy they're referring to.
That he will not be the son of
God.
They say now you say the Messiah or
that Jesus was the son of God.
We do not believe that the Messiah will
be the son of God.
We believe that the Messiah will be a
man just like Moses was a man.
A man from amongst us that God will
raise up to speak God's word to us.
And so the Jews today are looking for
a man, a Jew, who will be able
to come and to help them to rebuild
their temple and to bring them peace.
And the minute that man arises on the
scene and brings them peace and helps them
build their temple, they are all of them
ready to acclaim him as their Messiah.
Now of course there are other scriptures that
refer to the Messiah being God with us.
Thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted as God with us.
Behold I'll give you a sign.
A virgin shall conceive and bear a son
and call his name Emmanuel, God with us.
But the Jews are not looking for the
son of God, they are looking for a
man.
Now that man is coming and he is
coming very soon and he will arise out
of western Europe.
He will make a covenant with the nation
Israel whereby he will help them to rebuild
their temple and they will acclaim him as
their Messiah.
We're right on the borders of these events.
It's tragic but Israel will acknowledge this false
leader as their Messiah.
Jesus said I've come in my own name,
you did not receive me.
I mean he said I have come in
my father's name, you did not receive me.
There's another one who's going to be coming
in his own name and him you will
receive.
They're going to be deceived for three and
a half years but after three and a
half years when they have rebuilt their temple,
started again their daily prayers and sacrifices, he
is going to come to Jerusalem.
He's going to stand in that rebuilt temple
in the Holy of Holies and he's going
to proclaim to them that he is God.
He's going to stop their daily sacrifices, their
daily prayers.
He's going to claim that he himself is
God and demand that they worship him as
God.
At that point the Jews will realize that
they have been deceived by this man, that
he is not the Messiah and those who
are sharp in the scriptures will flee to
Jordan to the rock city of Petra where
God will preserve them for three and a
half years.
Those that do not flee will be put
under terrible persecution by this leader who comes
to Jerusalem at this point.
So it is interesting that if you talk
to an Orthodox Jew today about his Messiah,
he'll tell you that the Messiah is not
the Son of God, he is a man.
He'll be like Moses that God will raise
up from among the people, but not the
Son of God, just a man like Moses.
And that's who they are looking for today
to come and to lead them out of
this current dilemma.
Now God declares if a prophet presumes to
speak a word in my name which I
have not commanded or that shall speak in
the name of other gods, that prophet shall
die.
And if you say in your heart, how
shall we know the word which the Lord
has not spoken?
Very easy.
If a prophet prophesies something in the name
of the Lord and it doesn't come to
pass, he's a false prophet.
It's very easy to point out a false
prophet.
The simple rule, just see if what he
says come to pass.
If it doesn't come to pass, then just
mark him as a false prophet.
Now there are some people that are so
gullible that even though the Jehovah Witnesses have
prophesied about three or four different times when
the Lord was going to come, and he
hasn't come on any of those prophesied dates,
yet they still don't have enough sense to
realize that these leaders in New York are
false prophets.
Now my heart goes out to these people
that come around door to door.
These people are very sincere.
I wish that many times Christians were as
dedicated as they are.
They are sincere in their dedication to God,
but they have been deceived by their leaders
in New York.
And I cannot help but believe that it
is deliberate deception by their leaders in New
York because the mistranslations of the scriptures could
not just be accidental.
They are deliberate mistranslations of the scriptures by
which they are deceiving these people.
And thus my heart goes out to the
people who come door to door because of
the fact that they've been deceived.
Oh that they would see the truth that
is in Christ Jesus and they would come
to know the grace of God and the
love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord
and would come to trust in Jesus for
their salvation rather than their works for Jehovah.
Now Peter gives us another sign of the
false prophet.
In 2nd Peter chapter 2, warning there of
false prophets said, who through feigned words will
seek to make merchandise of you.
So whenever any man seeks to make merchandise
of you, seeks through gimmicks
to encourage you to give, through pressure, through
various antics, gets on big money kicks, he's
a false prophet who uses computerized typewriters for
their mailing lists so that it appears like
the letter has been written personally to you
with statements such as, I have been thinking
about you lately, wondering how you are.
Those are feigned words and the purpose is
to make merchandise of you and I have
no hesitation declaring they are false prophets according
to the word of God.
You say, oh but they've done so much
good.
I may have a counterfeit $20 bill and
someone may come to me and say, Chuck
my family needs help.
I lost my job.
We don't have any money and my children
are hungry.
So I give him this counterfeit $20 bill
not knowing that it's counterfeit.
So he goes down to the store and
he uses the $20 bill to buy some
hamburger and some bread and some milk and
he feeds his hungry children.
And the merchant, the store who takes his
$20 bill for the merchandise, goes down to
the electric company and he pays his electric
bill with the $20 bill.
And the electric company gives that $20 bill
in change to you when you pay your
electric bill.
And you in turn use that $20 bill
to go down and buy yourself a new
sweater.
And that merchant gives the $20 bill to
the gas company to pay his gas bill.
And the gas bill, I mean the gas
company goes to the bank to deposit the
$20 bill and the teller says, I'm sorry
I can't take this $20 bill, it's counterfeit.
Wait a minute, that bill has done a
lot of good.
It's fed the poor, it's paid the light
and gas bill and it's bought a new
sweater.
Look how much good it's done.
What do you mean you can't take it,
it's counterfeit?
Well, it's counterfeit.
The argument that it has done so much
good is not a valid argument.
Now this is the argument that a lot
of people use for false prophets or even
false religious systems.
But look how much good they've done, they're
counterfeit.
When it comes to the final deposit, not
going to make it.
So God is warning against the false prophets.
God had very little, well really God doesn't
appreciate it when a person comes along and
says, thus saith the Lord and he speaks
out of his own heart and really isn't
saying God's Word.
I don't know.
You know, I think that the days of
computerized typewriters were a great curse to the
church.
I've gotten more computerized letters from these, someone's
put me on a mailing list.
I don't know who it was, but you
got my name in the pot.
And these guys buy mailing lists from each
other.
And if they have a mailing list that
they get a certain amount of percentage of
returns, then they sell your name at a,
if you write in a check, then your
name is sold at a premium price to
the others.
And I got this letter the other day,
some guy named Popoff and hear a personal
prophecy in the thing, thus saith the Lord,
I am pleased with thee and I am
going to bless thee, you know, and just
share the blessing kind of a thing, you
know, and all of this stuff.
Well, I wrote him back a letter and
I said, thus saith the Lord, I am
against the false prophets that prophesy in my
name saying, thus saith the Lord, when I
have not spoken.
And I knew that the Lord was saying
it because I was just quoting him right
out of the word.
But then I added my own little appendage.
I didn't put this under the thus saith
the Lord, but I put under my own
little appendage.
Thy name has been Popoff, but even as
the name of Saul was changed to Paul,
so your name is to be changed from
Popoff to Ripoff.
No doubt my name will be deleted from
his mailing list shortly.
But there are a lot of ripoff artists
who are going around disguising themselves as prophets
of God.
And as I said, God doesn't appreciate a
person speaking for him when he hasn't spoken.
And thus the false prophets in those days
were to be put to death.
Now in the 19th chapter, again, they are
told to establish the cities of refuge.
Three of them, when they come into the
land, three had already been established on the
other side of Jordan.
But when you come into the land, God
would appoint three cities as cities of refuge.
Again, the idea being that if you killed
someone accidentally, if you and your friend were
out chopping wood and your axe head should
fly off of the handle and hit him
in the head and kill him, and as
the avenger of blood would be angry because
you killed his brother and he's chasing you,
you could flee to the city of refuge
and there you could be saved from the
avenger of blood.
He could not come into the city to
take you or to kill you.
However, the cities of refuge were never to
be a refuge for those who were guilty
of first-degree murder.
Now again, in verse 9, God just gives
chapter 19 some commandments.
If thou shalt keep all these commandments to
do them, which I command thee this day,
to love the Lord thy God and to
walk ever in His ways, then thou shalt
add three cities more for thee beside these
three.
In other words, three more cities when you
get into the land.
Now, the commandment is to love the Lord
and to walk ever in His ways.
They were not to touch the landmark of
their neighbors.
Now, in those days, they would set up
little piles of stones.
These stones would be landmarks.
When you go through the land of Israel
today, you can still see out in the
fields these little piles of stones, which are
landmarks, which they have set up in the
Arab territory.
In the Jewish territory, they don't practice this,
but in the Arab territory, in the land
of Israel, there on the West Bank, you'll
see all these little piles of stones out
in the fields, which are the landmarks.
Now, you're not to go out at night
and move those stones over 10 feet or
so.
You're not to remove your neighbor's landmark.
That was a crime that was looked on
with great disfavor.
Now, if a man would rise up and
bear false witness against his neighbor, and it
was proved that he had perjured himself in
his false witness, his sentence would be whatever
kind of a crime he is trying to
get pinned on his neighbor.
In other words, if you got up and
lied and said, well, I saw this man
steal that cow, and it was proved that
you were lying, you didn't see him, you
were just trying to get him in trouble,
then you would get the sentence of a
cow thief.
Whatever sentence would have been meted out against
the fellow whom you were trying to incriminate,
that sentence would be yours.
And if you're trying to incriminate him in
a capital offense, then you would be put
to death.
So, whatever you were seeking to have done
unto him shall be put onto you.
And thus, God wanted them to have a
healthy fear of lying as a witness, the
perjury.
Now, when they went to war, chapter 20,
against your enemies, and you see the horses
and chariots, don't be afraid, for the Lord
is with you who brought you out of
Egypt.
Now, there was among these people, they were,
remember, just slaves, and they did have fears,
fears of battle.
They weren't trained fighting men.
And in those days, the children of Israel
did not have any horses for battle, neither
did they have chariots.
And having a chariot was like having a
tank against infantry in modern warfare.
And thus, when they'd see these chariots and
these horses and prancing horses and all pulling
these chariots towards them, it would strike fear
into the heart.
And the Lord said, don't be afraid when
you see those, because I'm going to be
with you.
David said, yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil, for thou art with me.
You know, the consciousness of the presence of
God is one of the most fear-dispensing
things in the world.
It's so glorious to realize God is with
me when there are frightening situations that I'm
facing.
I oftentimes forget that God is with me,
and that's when I really get scared.
But it's always a comfort when you're faced
with some difficult situation to remember, oh well,
God is with us, because if God before
us, who can be against us?
Now they're to go out to the men
as they're getting ready to fight, and you're
to say unto the troops, don't let your
hearts faint, don't fear, do not tremble, don't
be terrified, for the Lord your God is
going before you to fight for you against
your enemies and to save you.
And the officers are to speak to the
people and say, has any man built a
new house yet and hasn't had a chance
to live in it?
Then that fellow could go home.
He wouldn't have to fight, because if he
were killed in battle, then it would mean
he built a house and someone else lived
in it, and he never got a chance
to live in it.
So he would be excused from battle.
How many of you have planted vineyards and
you haven't picked the grape shed?
You can all go home, because it wouldn't
be fair for you to do all the
work of planting a vineyard and perhaps be
killed in battle and never be able to
eat of your vineyard.
So those that had built new houses and
not lived, how many have been engaged to
a wife, betrothed, and you haven't yet fulfilled
that time of betrothal, and the marriage hasn't
yet taken place?
Those that were engaged to be married were
dismissed from battle and were able to go
home.
And finally, how many of you are afraid
to fight?
You can go on home too.
So by the time you were left in
your army, you had a pretty good group
of really fighting men, you know.
They weren't afraid, and they were ready to
go, and they didn't have any, you know,
distractions like some girlfriend that they're engaged to,
and looking forward to the wedding, or these
kind of things.
The fellows that remained to fight were those
that were really ready to go.
Now the idea, and it was a very
good idea, of sending home those that were
fearful is that in the midst of the
battle, because they're afraid they might panic and
start to run, and that has a kind
of a infecting effect upon the other troops.
And so those that were fearful were sent
home.
They didn't want fellows there who were apt
to panic in the midst of the battle,
and thus create a panic among the troops.
So it was a very wise kind of
a move indeed.
It left you with just really quality fighting
men.
Now when you come to a city to
take it, first of all, proclaim peace upon
the city.
And if they open their gates and surrender,
then fine, take over the city.
But if they fight against you, then go
in, kill all the men, and leave the
women and children alive, and then you can
use the women and children as servants.
And this cattle and the spoil you may
take for your own to eat of it.
And thus you shall do to all the
cities that are far off, but those cities
that are in the land where the Hittites,
the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the
Jebusites are dwelling, then these nations you're to
utterly destroy, not to make any peace treaties.
You're to wipe these people out completely.
That they teach you not to do after
their abominations which they have done unto their
gods, so should ye sin against Jehovah your
God.
When thou shalt besiege a city a long
time, and making war against it to take
it, thou shalt not destroy the trees of
it.
Now the purpose of the total eradication of
these nations was the horrible lascivious practices that
were going on in these nations, lest they
would pollute you.
Now the people did not obey the Lord
in this.
They did save some of the cities, and
thus became polluted, and ultimately were driven out
of the land themselves because of the pollutions
that they practiced after the manner of the
nations that they were to have destroyed.
Again, you must see it from God's standpoint
to understand it, because people always have difficulty
when God has ordered the total eradication of
a city, of a people.
People have a difficulty understanding God's command of
the total eradication, wiping out everything, everybody.
The reason why God commanded this is the
vile, horrible practices of these people.
It would not be proper in mixed company
to tell you of some of the normal
practices of these people, especially in their worship.
They were beyond help, so
vile, so low, there was no recovering.
By their very practices, they would be in
time eradicating themselves.
By the incestuous practices, by the bestiality, and
all of these things that they were practicing,
they would have soon become just a group
of idiotic kind of people, and would have
destroyed themselves.
Thus, God ordered their destruction, lest by their
being alive, they would pollute His people, and
thus bring these polluting, destructive practices among His
own people.
It would be much like you being a
guard at a school, watching over the kindergartners,
and seeing them out there in the playground,
and observing a little dog running up the
street with foam coming out of its mouth,
yipping and nipping at everything.
And you immediately recognize the symptoms of this
dog, its actions.
You know that it has hydrophobia, rabies.
Now, would you be justified in killing that
little rabid dog before it could get on
the school grounds?
Or should you just sit there and say,
oh, look at that dog.
I think it has rabies.
Look at it biting all of the children.
My, that isn't nice.
Little dogs shouldn't bite children like that.
Man, I'd fire you so fast.
The dog is rabid.
It's going to die.
It can't live.
If it's got rabies, it's doomed to die.
But if you don't protect those children, many
of those innocent little children will also die
because they'll be infected by that rabid dog.
Therefore, you would be totally justified in killing
that rabid dog.
In fact, you would be at fault if
you didn't kill that rabid dog.
You would be responsible if you allowed that
dog to bite the children.
You would be responsible for the children's death.
Therefore, for the sake of the innocent children,
your obligation is to kill the rabid dog,
lest it infect the children.
Now, these people were like rabid dogs in
that their practices were self-destructive.
They were destroying themselves and would have destroyed
themselves.
Yet the practices, because of their nature, were
infectious.
And there was a danger if God's people
would come in and see these vile, abominable
practices, that they too might enter into some
of these practices and thus become infected with
this deadly sin by which God would have
to then judge and eradicate His own children.
So, God was seeking to protect His innocent
children from these destructive practices of these people,
and thus He ordered their eradication.
Where the nations weren't involved so deeply, God
didn't order that kind of eradication.
It was only among these people where these
vile, horrible practices were going on.
Thus, God was protecting His innocent children, trying
to keep them from being infected by these
deadly practices of the nations that inhabited this
land.
So, God tells them when they are besieging
a city, they are not to cut down
any fruit trees to use as a bulwark
against the city.
Just cut down the trees that don't bear
fruit to use, you know, to build your
bulwarks and so forth.
Cut down the eucalyptus and the oak and
trees like that, but don't cut down the
olive trees or the apricot trees or those
that bear fruit, because they will be food
for you in time to come.