Stipulations of the Covenant (chapters 4 – 26)

•Moral Law (4:44 – 11:32)• Ceremonial Law (12:1 – 16:17) • Civil Law (16:18 – 26:19)

Section C - Civil Law • The Importance of Justice (ch 16:18 - 20) • Forbidden forms of Worship (ch 16:21 – 17:7) • Laws regarding priests, judges, kings(ch. 17)• Provision for Priests and Levities (ch. 18)• What to Avoid(ch. 18:9 – 14)• A New Prophet like Moses (ch. 18:15 -22) • Cities of Refuge, Boundaries, Witnesses (ch 19) • Warfare Laws (ch. 20)

Section C - Civil Law • Atonement for Unsolved Murders (ch 21:1 -9)• Wives, Firstborn Sons, Rebellious Kids (ch 21) • A Cursed Man Is Hanged on a Tree (ch 21:22 -

23)• Various Laws (ch. 22)• Unclean and Excluded (ch. 23)• Divorce, Miscellaneous, and Marriage Laws

(ch. 24 – 25)• Firstfruits and Tithes (ch. 26)

The Importance of Justice• God commands impartial justice

throughout the land • Levitical priests and judges heard

different cases at special locations (17:8 – 13)

The Importance of Justice• The judges and officers were to be blind to

the status of those coming before them for judgment; the poor were not to expect partiality, or the rich deference. On the other hand, the judges and officers were to have their eyes open to the law and to beware of bribes that would blind them to seeing the true legal standing of the disputants in a case.

Forbidden Worship (16:21 – 17:7)• Avoid pagan rituals and influences (16:21 – 22) • Avoid inappropriate sacrifices (17:1)– Sheep or ox that has a blemish or defect

• The Israelites were to not tolerate idolatry or anyone who promoted it.

• The punishment was severe regardless of the offender’s gender.

• Two or three witnesses were required to safeguard against false accusations made out of a desire for revenge or personal gain.

On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a

person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The

hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the

people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Deuteronomy 17:6 – 7

Laws Regarding Priests and Judges (17:8 - 13)

• Outlines the course of action when legal issues could not be decided locally • Levitical priest had a prominent role in

judging crimes. • The decision of the Levitical priests, in

conjunction with that of the presiding judge was to be final.

According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to

you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict…the man who acts presumptuously by not obeying

the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So

you shall purge the evil from Israel

Deuteronomy 17:11 – 12

Laws Concerning Israel’s Kings(17:14 -20)

• God gives a concession (not a command) that His people may have a king, but the process for choosing a king would the Lord’s prerogative.• The king’s power would be limited • He was forbidden from having many

horses because that would mean the unnecessary buildup of military forces.

Laws Concerning Israel’s Kings(17:14 -20)

• The king was forbidden from having many wives.• Monogamy was God’s original plan for

human beings • A harem would also invite the

possibility of idolatry with the introduction of foreign, idol worshiping wives into the court of Israel.

Laws Concerning Israel’s Kings(17:14 -20)

• The king must be literate and well instructed in God’s Word. • The king was personally accountable to

God and the people on the basis of the teaching handed on by Moses. • Unlike the kings of foreign nations, the

kings of Israel would not be lawmakers but law keepers.

Laws Concerning Israel’s Kings(17:14 -20)

• The Levitical priests would ensure that the king would not introduce his own laws but would submit to God’s law• Unlike Pharaoh or the other kings of

the surrounding nations, the kings of Israel could not consider themselves descended from the gods, with special powers to make absolute laws.

And (the word of the LORD) shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may

not be lifted up and he may continue lone in his kingdom

Deuteronomy 17:18 - 20

Provision for Priests and Levites(18:1 -8)

• Unlike the other tribes of Israel, the Levites’ inheritance would not be a territory but portions of the people’s offerings.• “Minister” (v. 5) = attend or wait on• The work of the tabernacle and the

rationale for the Levites’ special treatment: they were chosen out of all of Israel to minister before the Lord in His name for the people

Provision for Priests and Levites(18:1 -8)

• Levites residing elsewhere in Israel were permitted to come to the tabernacle as they desired to serve the LORD.• They were to be given equal portions

with the regularly serving priests, even if they had other sources of income• Patrimony – source of income that is not

to affect service or share of the offerings

Abominable Practices (18:9 - 14)

• We avoid not only child sacrifices but also various means to discover the course of future event and engaging in occult practices • Following such abominable practices as

other nations would be rejection of the LORD

Be Blameless (18:13)

• Be Blameless = complete or sound • In the Scriptures it means to “be

faithful” to the convent conditions of fellowship with the Lord. • Such undivided commitment would lead

to blessedness and remaining in the land• It is Christ who makes us “blameless”

A New Prophet (18:15 - 22)• Israel would have a succession of

prophets resembling Moses in function, declaring the Word of the Lord… • Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah,

Ezekiel, Noah, Daniel, Micah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi, Obadiah, Hosea, Amos, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, • The ultimate NEW Prophet = Jesus

Warning About False Prophets

• The true prophet speaks only God’s Word• Two types of prophesy are punishable by

death: falsely attributing a prophecy to the Lord and speaking in the name of other gods.

• If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, a record of reliability must be established: what a prophet says will or will not come to pass.