Page 123 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

word is strong. In Deuteronomy it is used most often of a Canaanite worship practice (7:25-26; 13:14;
18:12; 20:18; 22:5; 23:18; 27:15; 32:16). Due to the context in a section on “misuse of the name of God,”
we should probably understand a similar thought here. Clean and unclean foods are connected with
worshipping other gods. In a similar manner we would anticipate an idolatrous background to the
practice of cutting oneself or shaving the front of one’s head for the dead (14:1). A believer in YHWH is,
in effect, taking God’s name in vain if he adopts these practices. They were practices identified with
other gods.

The fourth commandment is further illustrated in 14:22-16:17 with instructions on the Sabbath. Most of
these have been recorded in other sections: tithing, the Sabbath year, firstborn animals, and the major
festivals (Passover, Festival of Weeks, and Festival of Tabernacles). The emphasis here is on trusting or
resting in Yahweh.

The fifth commandment expands the honor of parents to the honor of other authorities (16:18-18:22).
These include judges, courts, the king, priests, and prophets. Instructions are given for investigating
thoroughly accusations of the worship of other gods and occult practices. The authorities have a
responsibility to protect the nation from such.

The sixth commandment about homicide is discussed in 19:1-21:23. Many of the connections are
obvious. Cities of refuge help divide between murder and accidental death (19:1-13). Instructions about
witnesses could be placed in a section on lying, but in 19:15-21 these laws are also important in murder
cases. War is distinguished from murder in 20:1-20. Discerning who might have some responsibility for
an unsolved murder is in 21:1-9. The issue of a woman taken captive in war (21:10-14), a rebellious son
(21:18-21), and the body of an executed person (21:22-23) all clearly have to do with death. If we have
been paying attention and working through this book with care, we are struck by the many ways a
person could be sentenced to death. We are pressed with the impossibility of it all. We would our body
one day hang on a tree? This is the design of Deuteronomy. We are to come to a keen realization of our
need for someone to hang on a tree for us, for someone to become a curse for us (Gal. 3:13).

The next small section is puzzling (22:1-12). It
seems to be a hodgepodge of laws stuck
together with little thought. It contains laws
about animals in trouble (22:1-4), cross-dressing
(22:5), birds (22:6-7), building construction
(22:8), planting (22:9), plowing (22:10), different
materials woven together into clothing (22:11),
and tassels on the bottom of garments (22:12).
We scratch our heads in bewilderment. Yet
throughout the section there are repeated
references to a “mantle” or “cloak” (vv. 3, 5, 11,
12). Perhaps these laws could be reshuffled and
Fig. 80: tassels
placed in different categories: theft, adultery,
and keeping the Sabbath. Yet placed here,
together, they remind us of the all-encompassing nature of the law. Something as small and
insignificant as a cloak can have big spiritual consequences. Mixing two different kinds of
material, for example, was reserved for the priests and the tabernacle (26:1; 39:29). Is the

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