I am nearly overwhelmed (in a good way) by the Book of Deuteronomy.

It is so vast in its content, covering every area of life.

Law after law, line upon line.

It deserves a lot more preaching than it ever gets!

For today I have chosen just one verse for our Text, having used whole paragraphs for the past few mornings.

“Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” Deuteronomy 22:10

That’s it!

“Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.”

One might initially suspect that this prohibition would only be applicable to farmers, right?

After all, this is “merely” one of the 613 different “regulations” proposed (commanded) by the Old Testament. (That’s the number the rabbis tell us the Pentateuch contains. They’ve carefully counted them all, too.)

But wait a minute!

I suggest God’s Laws may not simply be “haphazard.”

That a solid “reason” was behind the giving of each statute.

For example, today’s verse.

To yoke an ox and an ass together would injure both animals!

Their legs are so different in length … that they could never “plow” in step. The yoke would be constantly “rubbing” the animals with each tug on the plow! Sores would develop. Infections follow. Cruelty indeed! Perhaps even premature death would ensue! DO NOT PLOW UNEQUALLY YOKED ANIMALS IN THE SAME HARNESS! For the animals’ sakes!

What a practical reason … “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” By the way, one would also be putting a “clean” (the ox) and an “unclean” (the ass, donkey) animal together! Never a good idea, in God’s Economy!

Then I immediately advance … there is a spiritual principle behind the code as well.

One which Paul (under the direction of the Holy Spirit) picks up and uses in that great 6th chapter of his 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians. There he is talking about us Christians separating ourselves from sin! And he writes: “Be ye not UNEQUALLY YOKED together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14, where I guarantee you Paul had Deuteronomy 22:10 in mind, our very verse today!

Do not become intimately involved (in marriage, in business, in schooling, in comradery) with those who are “unclean” in God’s Eyes. With reprobates! With rebels! With rank sinners!

Lessons learned from the farm!

But just a minute.

Clearly, we are NOT under the Law of Moses in this blessed Age of Grace!

Jesus has come, died, been raised from the grave! And He sits this very second at His Father’s Right Hand, praying for His Own, for you and me.

BUT … the principles behind those laws are yet significant!

After all, He is the same God today as He was thousands of years ago!

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Incidentally, should God have given a Law with no logic behind it at all … IT WAS STILL TO BE OBEYED! Because He is God! Like (maybe) … “If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.” The “dam” obviously being the “mother” bird. Deuteronomy 22:6-7, the same chapter we’ve studied today.

However, personally, I think this “bird and her eggs” law is loaded with practical admonition! I preached a sermon or two from it several years ago!

Now, the lesson has ended!

 

I would simply call it “kindness.”

And when obeyed, today’s Deuteronomy paragraph indicates that the Israelites just might have been the most gracious people on earth.

“Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself. Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.” Deuteronomy 22:1-4

And though our Paragraph here has some specifics built right into it … Paul pretty much summarizes it in a line from the New Testament. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted.” Ephesians 4:32a

Moses (really, God Who wrote the Law) has just taught the Jews to …

If necessary, go out of your way to “help” a needy person! “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and HIDE THYSELF from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.”

Even when given the opportunity, one may not “take” another man’s property … until he is sure there is no other resolution to the matter! “And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.” Feed the animal? At my expense? Apparently so!

Then we come to the legislation about simply “helping” a fellow human being. “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely HELP HIM to lift them up again.” But what if I’m in a hurry? That thought did not enter God’s Mind! HELPING must be more important than HURRYING!

Short Lesson this morning!

If God gives you opportunity to be “kind” to someone today, you likely should “go that extra mile” and be of service to him or her.

Surely, God would be glorified in such a deed.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Today’s specific set of instructions clearly deals with a man’s “ox,” but also applies to his “donkey,” any article of his “clothing!” Or to anything else he may own!

Enough has been said.

 

 

The nature of today’s Lesson almost necessitates reading the first paragraph of Deuteronomy chapter 21. The first nine verses, that is. “If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain. And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley. And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near … and all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.” Deuteronomy 21:1-9

The Text implies that God always holds someone guilty for any innocent blood shed in an area. Then to buttress the code, God gives an example of “trying” to absolve that guilt.

In other words, “How to handle an unsolved murder!” Maybe I had better say, “unpunished murder!”

First, from the point where the dead man or woman was found … measure to calculate the nearest city! They (its inhabitants) will be held accountable (to some degree anyway) for the “innocent” blood shed in their vicinity!

That city’s leaders must go to the crime scene and perform a (blood must be shed) God prescribed ritual involving an innocent animal (a heifer in this case). Then (in the presence of God ordained Priests) “wash their hands” over the slain heifer! Thereby indicating the city’s innocence concerning the crime committed near her borders!

Wow!

The city’s elders are to pray to God: “Our hands have NOT shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge.” Then, immediately we’re told …  “The blood shall be forgiven them.”

What’s the point here?

Why a Lesson on this so-called archaic Text?

To show God’s concern for the shedding of “innocent blood.”

Human life is that SPECIAL to the Lord God Almighty!

After all, man (woman) … is the very “crown, apex, ultimate” of all God’s Creation!

Amen.

By the way, if all this had to be done when one dead body was found near a city, with the murderer still un-apprehended … WHAT DOES GOD ULTIMATELY PLAN TO DO TO CITIES WHO HARBOR ABORTION CLINICS WHERE DOZENS (OR HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS) OF LITTLE BABIES ARE MURDERED?

Surely, their blood is innocent!

Think about it.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

It’s called the “one-word” telegram!

Written by a godly man near the end of his life, much too weak to travel, in fact.

“What advice would you share with your fellow servants of the Lord?” … he had just been asked.

His immediate (back then telegrams were charged by the number of words they contained, and his organization’s funds were low) response, the summary of a lifetime: “OTHERS!”

I thought of that little story (true, by the way) as I read today’s Bible Text from Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse number 8 to be exact.

Just before the Jewish army engaged an enemy, just before the battle began raging, one of her officers would ask the men, the soldiers: “What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted?”

Wow …”Who’s afraid?”

Here it is, King James Version: “And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, WHAT MAN IS THERE THAT IS FEARFUL AND FAINTHEARTED?”

I personally have never heard of such being asked of a military unit.

Only Israel, only God!

Then this admonition, or is it “permission?”

If you, sir, are that scared … “Go and return unto thy house.”

Wow!

“You’re dismissed!”

That “tactic” would deplete many a battalion these days, in some armies anyway.

Now my question is, “WHY?”

And the Bible immediately supplies the answer.

Get ready … here it comes. And try to see if it might tie into the word “Others!”

“Lest thy brethren’s heart faint as well as thy heart.” (Your fear will “rub off” on other fighters! You’re dangerous to your Unit! Fear can be contagious! Again, “Go home!”)

One truth surely displayed in this Text: A FEW BOLD MEN just might accomplish A WHOLE LOT MORE … than a normal army blended with quitters, worriers, fear gripped draftees!

Wow again!

Influence on … OTHERS!

Paul lived his Christian life focused on the betterment of “others” as well!

And Jesus certainly did!

How about you … and me?

One more time, our verse for today: “And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house, LEST HIS BRETHREN’S HEART FAINT AS WELL AS HIS HEART.” Deuteronomy 20:8

Be careful that you don’t pull someone else “down” today!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

“Practical,” the Book of Deuteronomy is certainly that!

I’ve come to love this Book of the Bible, one of Jesus’ favorites as well! For example, He quoted from Deuteronomy each time (3 of them) that He refuted one of the Devil’s wicked “suggestions.”

A total of 34 chapters, with 959 verses, majestic Deuteronomy is the eighth largest Book in all Scripture.

The practicality of the Book is particularly obvious in chapter 20, today’s Lesson.

“And the (military) officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath BUILT A NEW HOUSE, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath PLANTED A VINEYARD, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath BETROTHED A WIFE, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.” Deuteronomy 20:5-7

Three “types” of potential soldiers can be given exemptions from military service … and the specific conditions are capitalized in the Text above.

Those just setting up homemaking!

Those just beginning their jobs, food producing jobs!

And those just beginning married life!

Seems that in God’s Eyes some things are more important than even fighting for one’s Country!

A place to live.

A place to work.

A wife to love.

Is that not … well, “PRACTICAL?”

Truly Paul was right. God loves things done “decently and in order!” (1st Corinthians 14:40)

Now …

Have YOU let things become more important than your Wife, loving her? (Or your Husband, if you’re a lady?)

Or YOUR occupation, is it still meaningful to you? That value called the old fashioned “work ethic” being critically important in the Mind of the Lord.

Or even your residence, home, is it not being enjoyed to the fullest extent?

I guess today’s word is “PRIORITY.”

And after all these critical things are “in place” … go fight the battles necessary in your life, to be a victorious individual! To the glory of God!

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I need to hear from someone today. Anyone still out there reading these Lessons? My text number: 770-844-7627.