Boundaries

Israel’s boundaries

Chapters 22-25 are concerned with boundaries… establishing boudnaries or dealing with situations where boundaries have been crossed… terminology like inside and outside, entering and exiting, sending and receiving, and including and excluding.

Hebrew to English doesn’t always land well… but they are all about boundaries.

Animals and boundaries (22:1-12)

Sexual boundaries (22(13-30)

Entry into the assembly (23:1-8)

The military camp (23:9-14)

Economics and boundaries 1 (23:15-25) and 2 (24:6-22)

Marital boundaries (24:1-5)

Boundaries and personal integrity (25:1-12)

Various laws (25:13-19)

Confirmation of the covenant community (26:1-19)

Boundaries so that Israel

May know that they are set apart from the world to God

Will give themselves to holy living

Be a light to the nations around them, as they faithfully live for the Lord

live for the glory of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 22:28–29 CSB

28 If a man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered, 29 the man who raped her is to give the young woman’s father fifty silver shekels, and she will become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.

Rape here is not down played… it is equated with murder (25)

The rapist is held accountable… paying the bride price + meeting the needs of the woman for the rest of her life. In a world where she needed the protection of family life and the provision it affords, this is quite reasonable.

Like when parents are called to pay child support for the raising of the children in broken marriage and relationship situations, here the rapist is forced to take responsibility for this woman for the rest of her life.

First fruits (26:1-11)

Israel’s Creed...

Deuteronomy 26:5–6 NIV

5 Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor.

Deuteronomy 26:7–9 NIV

7 Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8 So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;

Deuteronomy 26:10–11 NIV

10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. 11 Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

Roots of Israel are outside Canaan… the land is the Lord’s gift.

Israel’s identity is connected to the Exodus… The Lord saved them from slavery, from mistreatment… from despair to blessing they enjoy living in the Lord’s grace

Contrast between Jacob (migrant, vulnerable and perishing) and them now in the land of blessing… permanent dwelling place, security and blessing from the Lord… first fruits are offered in gratitude/thanksgiving.

Tithing (26:12-15)

Deuteronomy 26:13–14 CSB

13 Then you will say in the presence of the Lord your God: I have taken the consecrated portion out of my house; I have also given it to the Levites, resident aliens, fatherless children, and widows, according to all the commands you gave me. I have not violated or forgotten your commands. 14 I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done all you commanded me.

Every year (14:22-27)

Every third for the vulnerable (14:28-29)

Opportunity for Israel to give account of their behaviour to the Lord since they live in dependance upon his provision.

Deuteronomy 26:16–19 NIV

16 The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him. 18 And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19 He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.

Israel’s stuggle to receive blessing

Every Israelite had a part to play in living according to the law so that they receive blessing from God while living in the land...

But once they had settled and began the difficult fight for survival without our education system, without government funded welfare, with constant pressure from outsiders raiding their land and property… not only was life difficult physically, but also spiritually.

This is how they were living...

They would take people's clothing as collateral, but callously refuse to return it at the end of the day, using it instead to lounge around (Amos 2:7; cf. Deuteronomy 24:12-13, 17). They would trumpet their seemingly righteous offerings and tithes

Amos 4:4–5 (NIV)

4 “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. 5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings— boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.

while simultaneously crushing the vulnerable

Amos 4:1 (NIV)

1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”

and pining for the end of worship days so that they could go back to exploitative economic practices that brought them wealth

Amos 8:5–6 (NIV)

5 saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

They took food from people as tax (Amos 5:11), thus depriving them of a basic daily need, despised those who acted and spoke with integrity (Amos 5:10), and obstructed legal process through bribery (Amos 5:12).

George Athas writes, “This 'rap sheet' reveals a nation in which the norm was for the privileged to abuse their power for personal gain, rather than seek the welfare of all. It resulted in the endemic exploitation of the nation's vulnerable. Israelite society became oppressively dark.” (290-291)

After things had gone completely pear shaped, and they had been sent into Exile, God warned them through Zechariah that when they returned...

Zechariah 8:16–17 (NIV)

16 These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; 17 do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah spoke of the hope of God’s law written on their hearts and a new covenant with the forgiveness of sins.

And Isaiah wrote about foreigners and eunuchs being gathered with Israel to worship.

Isaiah 56:4–8 NIV

4 For this is what the Lord says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— 5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever. 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” 8 The Sovereign Lord declares— he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.”

But these hopes weren’t realized.

Boundaries today

Repentance and Transformation

John the Baptist preached to the Jews to repent before it was too late… they were taking advantage of the needy and vulnerable, leaders (like Herod) were divorcing wives illegitimately, he called the leaders a brood of vipers… they were not living according to the law, especially not the intent of the law.

Jesus came preaching

Matthew 4:17 NIV

17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

There was time to turn back to God in repentance, God would come in judgement, but if they turn back they would be saved!

Likewise, there is now time to turn back to God for all people, he is coming in judgement, but now, if we repent and believe in Jesus, then we will have our sins wiped away, we will be welcomed into Jesus’ kingdom.

A personal struggle with sin

Romans 7:21–25 NIV

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Is that you today? Feeling the weight of your sin, the guilt crushing you… you don’t need to continue like this. Repent, turn back to God, trust in Jesus, and he will lift that weight from your shoulders so that you can have freedom.

Romans 8:1–4 NIV

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The gospel crosses boundaries

Romans 1:16–17 NIV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV

13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

<End!!>

And the Jewish People?

Romans 11:28–32 NIV

28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Living Sacrifices

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 15:8–9 NIV

8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.”