Deuteronomy

Tonight as I was reading Deuteronomy, I found a few things that were very interesting to me.

1. The extreme measures God commanded the Israelites to take to prevent worship of anyone but himself
2. The widows and fatherless
3. God's rules regarding lending money
4. The way God expected the Israelites to treat their poor

If ever there was anyone who worshiped a false god, the matter was to be closely examined, and if the person was found guilty, he was to be stoned. If anyone tried to get you to worship a false god, you were to have him stoned, and you must throw the first stone.
Can you imagine if your best friend one day starts trying to get you to worship a false god, how horrid that would be? Not only do you have the pain of knowing that your best friend has gone astray from God, but you have to kill them.

God was very, very clear that worship of any god other than himself was not to be tolerated, and the consequences would be extremely severe, so as to discourage anyone from taking part in it. (chapter 13)


I had never really thought about this before, but it dawned on me just now that the widows and fatherless were in a much different situation back then, than today. The husband/father was the head of the family, protector, provider, everything. Women didn't just go out and get a job if the husband fell ill and died. There were ways for her to take care of her family, I am sure, but definitely not like today.


God required that every 7 years, if you had lent someone(a fellow Israelite) money, on the 7th year you were to release him of any debt he had not repaid. Even if it were the 6th year, and you knew he could not repay you by the 7th year, you were to lend him the money cheerfully and generously. God was pretty clear that he would bless you for this. I know that God's blessings in return for our generosity are wonderful, and that even when we are not generous, if we seek him he still provides for our needs.


God expected the Israelites who were better off in life to provide for the poor, and when they did, God would bless them. It's like he was saying to them, you know, you don't have to worry about not having any money. If you give it all away to the poor, I will bless you and take care of you!


So, this was just neat to me. :)


-Laura