Duet 3 as well with the single focus on verse 22, but I’ll say no more for now. “Do not fear them for it is the LORD your God who fights for you”.

Ch. 24:

“Consuming fire” אֵ֥שׁ אֹכְלָ֖ה esh oklah (my transliteration). The word for “consuming” is taken from akal which is literally “to eat”, hence the NRSV seems to have used “devouring fire”.

This for us would signify both destruction as well as transformation. The Fire of the Holy Spirit gives us the desire that is only for God while purifying and burning away every other worldly desire. In this way the Fire of the Spirit “consumes” us, to make us all for God.

Thus it is that God is a “jealous God” אֵ֖ל קַנָּֽא׃ (el qanna).

Impurities will be burnt away and reduced to nothing if we let the Holy Spirit in and ask him to fill us.

Praise be to God

Ch. 6: his of course, contains the “Shema Israel” prayer, from v.4 on “Hear. O Israel…”. This beautiful passage is undoubtedly the main prayer of the Jews, on par for what the Lord’s Prayer is for Christians. Orthodox Jews obey it to the letter, writing it down and inserting it with “tephilim” boxes which they wrap around their heads and their arms each time they do the daily prescribed prayers.

I’ll post the Shema passage:
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[a] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem[b] on your forehead, 9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Ch. 7:

7 “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

21 Have no dread of them, for the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a great and awesome God”. You can seen “awesome” “wenowrah” is participle form, so it’s like “awe-inspiring”.

Deut. 8: “2 Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. 3 He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 The clothes on your back did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. 5 Know, then, in your heart that, as a parent disciplines a child, so the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.”

Deut. 11: 8 “Keep, then, the entire commandment that I am commanding you today, so that you may have strength to go in and occupy the land that you are crossing over to occupy and so that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey”
This again, is similar to what is said in the Shema in Ch.6

“18 “You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.”

And finally, God defines for the Israelites the blessing and the curse. This becomes important later when St Paul quotes: “When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree…” (Gl.3:13) and Phillipians 3:2 “for our sake he that knew no sin became sin…”

It becomes evident that Christ took on himself and satisfied the Justice that was due us:

“26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known.”

The specific curses are stated later in the book.

Thanks be to God, have a blessed Sunday

[11:27 am, 23/05/2022] Sean Rodrigues: hapter 12 and 13

In Chapter 12 the Lord says: “But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there.” (v.5)

1 then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name…” (v.11)

We see, once again, that the great thrust of the narrative is to purify, “purge the evil from the land” (Ch.13,v.5), and to this end the Lord commands the obliteration of the previous peoples, here the reason is states more clearly:

Ch. 12 “³⁰ take care that you are not snared into imitating them, after they have been destroyed before you; do not inquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also want to do the same.’ ³¹ You must not do the same for the Lord your God, because every abhorrent thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods. They would even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.” 

see what it says in v.6 Ch13 “even if it is your brother, father’s son, mother’s son, son or daughter..” So let no consideration tempt you away from God with wastefulness

oday we take chapters 14-17

We hear the constant refrain “in the place that we (the LORD you God) will choose as a dwelling for his Name” (14:23; 16:2,6,11) as the place wherein the offerings and sacrifices must be made and where the Passover (16:2) is to be celebrated.

We are immediately drawn to consider that these commands, have never been rescinded, for the Jews, revelation ended and prophecy abruptly ceased following the return from Babylon. It would be completely unsatisfactory situation if not for the Advent of Jesus for fulfils these commands. He is himself the place wherein “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell” (Col.1:19)

We see very clear instructions that the Israelites are to show kindness toward any “members of their community” (15:7) who are in need and that should they be in financial difficulty they must lend money freely to “there will be no one in need among you if you obey the Lord your God” (15:4).

This theme of kindness, of not being “tight-fisted”, of “giving liberally and ungrudgingly” (15:10), “open your hand to the poor and the needy neighbour in your land”(v.15:11) is the theme in 15:1-11.

One can see then the use of the word “neighbour” (vv.2,7,9,11) here and this gives an insight into that Jesus’ questioner was asking in the famous Gospel passage “and who is my neighbour?”- these verses are only addressed at members of the Israelites’ own community. The passage then runs directly into the treatment of Hebrew slaves from v.12, and so it is obvious that the kindness also applies to them.

Once again in Chapter 17 there is the order to stone to death any “who serve other gods” (v.3) and by this they “shall purge the evil from their midst” (v.7)

We get a wonderful passage about justice (16:19,20):

“ You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you”

And finally instructions on how to interpret the Law. A Catholic would recognize this as the manner in which the Church’s magisterium functions today. Non- Catholics might consider that the Holy Spirit now performs this role:

“If a judicial decision is too difficult for you to make between one kind of bloodshed and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another—any such matters of dispute in your towns—then you shall immediately go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose, 9 where you shall consult with the Levitical priests and the judge who is in office in those days; they shall announce to you the decision in the case.

10 Carry out exactly the decision that they announce to you from the place that the LORD will choose, diligently observing everything they instruct you. 11 You must carry out the law that they interpret for you or the ruling that they announce to you; do not turn aside from the decision that they announce to you, either to the right or to the left.
12 As for anyone who presumes to disobey the priest appointed to minister there to the LORD your God or the judge, that person shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 All the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.”

Finally, the Israelites are given instructions as to how their king must be (17:14-20)- humble, not rich, and not with many wives.

Thanks be to God, have a blessed day

Sean Rodrigues: Chapter 18 contains an important messianic prophecy in verse 18:15, the description continuing through to verse 22.
We’ll take the next few chapters together:
Ch.20 Is rules of warfare it begins (v.1) with “when you see…an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up our of Egypt.”

The rest of the chapter is again iterating “herem” warfare which we have discussed before, it seems to be directed against specific tribes and just as the reason for it is also specified “ Indeed, you shall annihilate them—the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as the LORD your God has commanded, so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods and you thus sin against the LORD your God.” (vv.17,18)

As for the other tribes who fight against them only the men are to be put to the sword, the women and children taken to themselves (vv.13,14) , whereas if they surrender they are merely to be enslaved (v.11). Ch.21 tells of how the female captives are to be treated (vv.10-14), and how rebellious children are to be dealt with (vv.18-21)

I would consider that while the punishment for such children is stoning to death, it seems like this is only with reference to grown-up miscreants since they are described as “glutton” and “drunkard”.

V. 21 states “anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse” which is referenced by Paul (Gal.3:13).

Ch.22 has an edict against trans-vestism (v.5) and then goes into rulings to do with rape which I analyse in an article (vv.13-29).

Ch.23 we see that apart from menstruation, even having a “nocturnal emission” can make oneself unclean (v.10). Religions like Islam still have rulings of this nature. There is the edict against usury (v.19)

Ch.24 contains miscellaneous laws, and ensure kindness is practised, even to resident aliens and orphans (v.17) who are “not to be deprived of justice”. Ch. 25 has the ruling “if the one in the wrong (as decided by the judge) deserves to be flogged…forty lashes may be given but not more…” (vv.2,3)

….and it is unwise for a woman to “hit below the belt, as it were, even in defence of her husband (v.11), this would cost her her hand “show no pity”.

in Ch.26, v.18 calls us the Lord’s “treasured people” and “holy to the Lord” v.19

and finally that that on that very day (when they “cross the Jordan into the land that the Lord is giving to them – 27:2) that they “have become the people of the Lord” (27:9). I love this glorious title that we are given by our God. Please reflect upon it and claim is as your own. I’ll post it in Hebrew.

In the Ch.27, the Israelites are told to write the Law upon plaster-covered rock at an altar upon Mt. Ebal (vv.2-8)

The rest of the chapter and through to Ch.28 is to do with the blessinsg and the curses under the Law, which we shall see tomorrow. God bless all.

[9:58 am, 28/05/2022] Sean Rodrigues: Chapter28 deals with the curses under the Law, having gone through the blessings in the previous chapter. It begins by telling the Israelites they would be “his holy people, as he has sworn to you” (v.9) and that “all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the Name of the Lord” (v.10) “if you obey the commandments of the Lord you God…by diligently observing them, and if you do not turn from them…their to the right or to the left…” (vv.13,14)

The curses are the hardest part of the chapter to read and I would advise that this is where the Bible gives to us the most clear indication of what Hell is like (this is in line with some of the saintly visions of Hell that I have read about, but not all may want to give that importance). Hell is a place of total despair and total lack of any ability to love, or even any desire for it. The only reason that a person in Hell wants to be loved is for the purpose of utilizing the other person. It will not matter any more who that person was to them in the earthly life, in Hell any other person can only be an object and a tool. Finally even the self is loathsome to the self.

The relevant passages are vv.26-26, 32-34, 36-37, 49-50, and it gets increasingly terrifying as you read through vv.53-55, 56-58, 63-64, 65-67. The terrifying thing this is that these curses do seem to come about for the Israelites in the Biblical narrative itself when Israel is besieged by its enemies.

“65 Among those nations you shall find no ease, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a languishing spirit. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, with no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread that your heart shall feel and the sights that your eyes shall see”

Lord have mercy, thanks be to God. Have a blessed weekend
[10:01 am, 28/05/2022] Sean Rodrigues: I should have posted this prior to that last quote: ““If you do not diligently observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, fearing this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will overwhelm both you and your offspring with severe and lasting afflictions and grievous and lasting maladies.”

[0:03 pm, 29/05/2022] Sean Rodrigues: 12 to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, sworn by an oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order that he may establish you today as his people and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you 15 who stand here with us today before the Lord our God but also with those who are not here with us today.

29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.

Ch. 30

6 “Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.

11 “Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God[b] that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Ch. 31 Moses is handing over the reins to Joshua, and the Lord tells of how the Israelites will forsake him.
[0:04 pm, 29/05/2022] Sean Rodrigues: taking these three chapters today, but focussing on the beautiful passages in Ch.30 which I have highlighted