Vacation Schedule for the Israelites and Church and State for the Church

Deuteronomy 16 sets up the vacation schedule for the people of Israel.  There is Passover, the festival of 'weeks', what becomes Pentecost for us in the NT, and the festival of booths.  All concentrate of food (good Presbyterians these Israelites!).  The first recognizes Passover, when the angel of death passed over the first born of the Israelites in Egypt.  The next is seven weeks after the harvest is begun, rejoicing over the gift of the Promised land given to the people by God.  The festival of booths is when they complete the processing of the harvest, and is kept for a week.


All the males of Israel are to muster to the place where God will command for all these festivals.  It isn't conquered yet, but it shall be Jerusalem.


16 continues with the civil code for the Promised Land, beginning with the judicial, specifically, the selection of judges where justice, and only justice, shall be pursued.


In Romans 13, Paul is taking care to place the followers of Christ in relationship to the Roman authorities.  We are to be subject to the authorities placed over us, to pay our taxes, to live in peace.  Not a bad theology when Paul is sending this letter to the capital of the Roman empire.  It is also in contra-distinction to the nation of Israel, which seemed to be in constant strife with the Roman Empire, especially into the lead up to the Jewish Rebellion in 70 AD.


Paul cites the law of love as the backbone for our obedience.  The "shalt nots" of the 10 Commandments are summed up by the second part of the Great Commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself."  It is a connection of the basics of the Torah's legal code with the discussion of obeying the law and authority of the Romans, currently placed in control by the power of God.


The sum up for all is that we are closer today than yesterday to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Back in Scripture after a month plus

Hmmm.  I'm the one whose proclaimed that reading God's Holy Word is the second of our core values in being God's Neighbor.  Kind of wish I'd done a better job of that in my own life.  But now we move forward.


Deuteronomy 15 is all about building God's Neighborhood of the Promised Land.  There was to be no poverty in God's neighborhood.  In a perfect neighborhood, it would be because God's blessings flowed.  But Israel wasn't perfect.  So, every seven years, all debts were canceled.  And the 'haves' were expected to lend to the 'have nots' whatever they needed to survive. Liberally and ungrudgingly they were to give.


Slaves too were to be released in that seventh year, and not simply with freedom, but with a cut of the profits they helped the owner make, enough to make a new life for themselves, male and female alike.  Unless the slave chose to stay a slave.  Once that decision was made, it was irreversible. 


Finally, in God's Neighborhood, the first born were all dedicated to the Lord.  Among the flocks and herds, they were to be eaten in the presence of the Lord, unless deformed, then impure.  They were still eaten, but at home. 


But always the rule of blood, it was to be poured on the ground.


Romans 12 calls for our surrender to God.  Make our bodies a living sacrifice, be transformed by our God to what is good.  Each of us has something to give to the Lord, as we are one body with many members.  Let us use the gifts we have been given according to the needs that surround us.  Finally, we are to turn good against evil, living peaceably so far as it depends on us.  God brings vengeance, not us.  In fact, good against evil turns coals upon the heads of our enemies.


Thus endeth the reading...