March 17th

Today's reading from the One Year Chronological reading plan is Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9.

If you have the time, there is an excellent commentary on Deuteronomy 18 about false prophets here.

One quote jumped out at me in particular...
He has come down from heaven in the person of Jesus Christ. He has mediated a new covenant. He does command us to draw near. But we are always to do so with a sense of His awesome holiness, and thus draw near with fear. And this fear should prompt us to hear and to obey Him.

That is one thing that has struck me over and over while reading these few OT chapters so far this year - that nowadays we seem to have minimilized the holiness of our God, perhaps because to focus only on a loving God makes it so much more comfortable for us, and a little easier to talk about with unsaved friends or family. The hell and brimstone of prior generations was on the opposite end of the spectrum. But I think we`ve swung the pendulum too far the other way. We need to remember that God is both holy and merciful. He is just and loving. We can`t focus on one to the neglect of the other. We can`t be so fearful of God that we shy away from intimacy with Him. But we also can`t speak or act irreverently in His presence.

This passage of scripture (ch 18) deals with sorcery and divination in particular. This is something that is very relevant to life today. Society has tried to make dabbling in the supernatural seem like no big deal. But it is a big deal to God. Fortune telling, ouiga boards, contacting the dead, anything like that - it is an abomination to the Lord and should not be trifled with.

From the same commentary...
In effect, these forbidden pagan practices seek to “use” the supernatural forces in a way that appears to keep them at arm’s reach, and thus under man’s control. This is a very important point. These forbidden practices seek to interface with “the supernatural” in a way that uses the “higher powers” for a price. The appearance is that supernatural beings are serving those who seek to employ them; the reality is that those who suppose they are using the evil supernatural powers are really enslaved to them. They are enslaved to Satan himself, through contact with demonic forces (1 Corinthians 10:14-22). There is a certain thrill to the thought that one might be able to “tap into” supernatural powers and make use of them for one’s benefit. The sense of being “in control” is an illusion.

Another excellent commentary on these verses is Jesus vs the Occult by John Piper.

Now what does Moses say about such activities? First, in verse 9, he calls them "abominations." This means that God regards them as detestable, abhorrent, loathsome. It is a very strong word. We will do well to ask ourselves whether some seemingly innocent activity we are engaged in may be an abomination in the eyes of God. Second, according to verse 12, the persons who do such things are an abomination to the Lord. Not merely the activity but also the persons become abominable in God's eyes. It is an unbiblical sentiment which says, "God only hates the sin, never the sinner." When a person gives himself over to will, to delight in, and to follow abominable practices, he makes himself abominable in the eyes of God. Of course, this does not put a person beyond the reach of God's love. The glory of divine love is that it reaches out to justify and to sanctify precisely those whom God abominates because of their sin.....

Another way of revealing the evil of involvement in the occult is to say that man in the occult is man in harlotry. Leviticus 20:6 says, "If a person turns to mediums and wizards, playing the harlot after them, I will set my face against that person." Consulting mediums is like committing adultery against God. Jesus Christ is the husband of the church. He is God's fullest revelation. All that we need to know and all the power which it is good for us to have comes through him and his Word. When we go after other secret oracles and psychic powers, we say in effect that our husband is unsatisfactory and we must seek for lovers elsewhere. When a Christian peeks at his horoscope, he is treating Jesus the same way a husband treats a wife when he peeks at Playboy to provide the titillation he no longer gets from her. Involvement in the occult is wrong because it is spiritual adultery, it is rebellion against the sovereignty of God, and it belittles his revelation while exalting human pride.

The chapter began with how the Levites were to be treated, which is relevant to the following discussion on false prophets because it is the Levites who were to be teaching the people about God and about the law. There was no need for the people to purposefully look elsewhere for knowledge of, or direction from, God.

Tomorrow`s passage: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19