Day 19 - What the Bible Really Says

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 12:1-23:14

Moses is recounting the history of wandering in the desert and relaying the commandments.He's already mentioned the Ten Commandments, now we're getting into other rules and statutes.

First, burn everything. Specifically, the altars and idols in their new land.

Offerings. What to eat (especially as it pertains to what one offers). Kill those that entice you to follow other gods. A long list of 'clean' and 'unclean' animals that one may or may not eat. Tithes (giving a 10th of one's harvest to the priests). Every seven years creditors are to grant a release to the borrower. Do not allow anyone to become poor, lend them freely what is needed for survival, even if the seventh year is approaching and you won't get it back. If someone serves as a slave (because of debt) release them in the seventh year and give them what they need to survive on their own. Observe the Passover. The Feast of Weeks. The Feast of Booths. Appoint judges and observe justice. Anyone who practices forbidden forms of worship is to be killed. Judges and priests have the final say in legal matters. Rules for the king (when there is one). Priests and Levites are provided for by the offerings of the other tribes. Don't listen to wizards and fortune tellers. A new prophet will replace Moses. Cities of refuge. Property boundaries. More than one witness is needed to prove an accusation. False witnesses will be punished in the way they wanted the accused to be punished. Laws regarding war.Offerings for unsolved murders. Rules for marrying captive women. Rights of the firstborn, even in polygamous families. Rebellious sons to be stoned to death. A hanged man is cursed and should be buried before nightfall. Return a stray animal. A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long. When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it. You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself. Rules for proof of virginity of a new wife. If a guy sleeps with the wife of another, he and the woman will be stoned. How to handle the rape of young virgins. Those not allowed into the assembly. Keep uncleanliness out of the camp.

Whew. That's a lot. And there's MORE tomorrow!

Tomorrow's Reading: Deuteronomy 23:15-32:47