Hebraic Musing
– Stay
the Course; Do Not Veer to the Right or the Left.
What’s wrong with making our own
decisions? Well, since we started out as
babies with need for nurture, growth, education and direction to overcome our
sin nature, maybe we need to listen to sound advice. Do we ever outgrow that need? And where is the only trustworthy advice to
be found? A – God’s Word, the
bible.
Moses gave the Torah (first 5 books) to the
Israelites as he was setting up their society and in Deuteronomy 17 he spelled
out resolutions for societal problems and structure. We should go to Priests and Judges for legal
decisions and advice. “If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to
judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the LORD
your God will choose. Go to the priests, who are Levites, and to
the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the
verdict. You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the
LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do.” Deut.17:8-10
There was an underlying
assumption that Priests and Judges were ordained by Almighty God and received all
their guidance from above. Therefore
Moses could command them to “Be careful
to do everything they direct you to do.”
And Moses went
on to say “Act according to the law they
teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.” Deut. 17:11
The
Israelites were commanded to accept the decisions of priests and judges —
assuming, of course, they were righteous to begin with — no questions
asked. In fact, even if the decision
seemed wrong and unreasonable, it still had to be followed exactly, not even
veering slightly “to the right or to the left.”
I
wish we could apply that advice today, but we are faced with all too many pastors
(priests), judges and leaders, especially in our government, who are clearly not
guided by Almighty God. Due to ungodly liberal
influences from both warped educations and man’s sinful nature, leaders today are
not always getting their guidance from above, sad to say!
Some
might read this commandment and question whether we have a right to reason and
think on our own. Are we required to
blindly follow our leaders? The
Israelite nation in Moses’ day was at least theoretically obedient to God. (Yes there were notable exceptions even
then!)
In
conclusion, we are told to respect our leaders by following them, BUT if we
discern that their guidance or laws are not God-ordained, then we do have to
find the judgement to follow that does NOT vary to the right or to the left.
Where do we find perfect laws and judgements? You probably figured it out by now, the
BIBLE, God’s infallible WORD.
And
when the Apostles faced an order that conflicted with God’s commandment “Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We
must obey God rather than men!’”
Acts 5:29 Are we ready to give
that response?
Point(s) to Ponder
And definitely do not look back – “No one who puts
his hand to the plow
and looks back is fit for service in the
kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62
NIV
Do you really want to vary from God’s Word,
considering the wickedness of our hearts?
How should Moses’ admonition apply to our political positions
and leanings since
“A wise man's heart is at his right hand,
But a fool's heart at his left.”?
Eccl. 10:2
“Your word is a lamp to my
feet and a light to my path.
I
have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.” Ps.119:105-106
Yosef a.k.a.
Joe Brusherd October
20, 2020
Author:
“Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring
the Hebrew roots of our faith”
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)” Weekly “Hebraic Musings”
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