Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 22 March 2018

Happy Thursday to all.  Today is the third day of Spring.  Definitely not sunshine, butterflies, flowers, flip-flops and shorts.  The nearly half a foot of snow that fell here on Tuesday night (first day of Spring, remember?) and yesterday morning is still here.  The weathercasters' crystal ball says we might get all the way up to 37° today.  Yippee, I guess.  And 36° tomorrow.  Huzzah, and all that stuff.


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Deuteronomy, the final book of the Pentateuch, is in some ways the "swan song" of Moses.  They are about in eyeshot of the Promised Land, the land that the Lord had promised Moses, and the promises to Abraham and Isaac and Israel.  But he, Moses, will not enter in.  Disobedience has consequences.  Even for Moses.
Part of this book is a retelling of the Law, a reinforcing emphasis perhaps.  As we've been reminded, it is often more useful to reinforce what we have already -- supposedly -- learned, rather than to take on new learning.  Probably most teachers and parents would understand this, and we ourselves were no better, and probably still are no better.
But it's also here that Moses reminds the people of where they came from and what the Lord has been doing for them all along.   Both are important.  Remember that it has been some 40 years wandering in the desert.  Before that, several HUNDRED years in the captivity in Egypt.  And, before that, the issues with the sons of Jacob and their less than wonderful treatment of Joseph.  A long history, and just perhaps, perhaps, it hadn't all been fully or accurately passed on to the next generations: they had other things to worry about.  I have known, and still do, people who aren't really sure who their own father was, and I'm not talking only about orphans.  The various genealogy services, the DNA testing operations, are around and making money for a reason.  We still have those same issues.  They also had to deal with plural marriages, which complicates things somewhat.  Moses was telling them, some perhaps hearing it for the first time, or at least first from an authoritative source, their own history without being "massaged" to put the speaker in a good light.  I have (or had, they're pretty much gone now) MUCH older aunts and uncles (but mostly aunts) who were somewhat the family historians and who kept track of the family tree stuff, who were occupying the positions of honor at the annual family reunions.  (a practice that seems to have largely fallen out of favor).  They meant well, surely.  But over time it became evident that their memories and records were not always precisely accurate.  Added to that, my own family, much like the Israelites, tended to re-use given names, so it's not always obvious which "John" or "Steven" or "Elizabeth" is being referenced.  And the Israelites didn't have ready access to inexpensive pens and paper, most of this was kept in verbal memorized records.  Even now, I often want a written diagram to understand who goes where.  With the history, of the Israelites and in my own family history over the last 200 - 350 years, spanning centuries but also oceans and continents and nations now vanished, it gets difficult at best.
It's good to know where you came from.  It's even better to know how the Lord made it all happen, and possible.  It's not accidental. 

By the way, at the risk of getting into (more) trouble, notice something in all of this:
The Lord discriminates.  There.  I said it.
Yes, He distinguishes between the holy and the profane, between the good and the evil, between the Israelites that He chose, and the heathens that He commissions to destroy.

Deuteronomy 7

1  When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

2  And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

3  Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

4  For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

5  But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.

6  For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

7  The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

8  But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9  Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

10  And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

11  Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers

13  And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

14  Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

15  And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.

16  And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.

17  If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?

18  Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;

19  The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.

20  Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

21  Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.

22  And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

23  But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.

24  And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.

25  The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

26  Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

Deuteronomy 8

1  All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.

2  And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.

4  Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

5  Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.

6  Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

7  For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

8  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey

9  A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

10  When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

11  Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12  Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13  And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14  Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

15  Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

16  Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

17  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18  But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

19  And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

20  As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

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Psalm 59

To the chief Musician, Al–taschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.

1  Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.

2  Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.

3  For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.

4  They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.

5  Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.

6  They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

7  Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?

8  But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.

9  Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.

10  The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies

11  Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

12  For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.

13  Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.

14  And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

15  Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.for meat:

16  But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.

17  Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.

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Luke 14

1  And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

2  And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

3  And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

4  And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

5  And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

6  And they could not answer him again to these things.

7  And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,

8  When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

9  And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

10  But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.

11  For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

12  Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

14  And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

15  And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

16  Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24  For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

25  And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29   Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30  Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

34   Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

35  It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.