Uncut stones (DT 27:5-7)

"Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not wield an iron tool on them. You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God; and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 27:5-7)

If I were to build an altar to God I would want to build something grand and majestic. I would spare no cost or effort to make it beautiful and to adorn it it in a way to reflect both the God to whom it was built and the gratitude of the one who built it. However, when God commanded the Israelites to build Him an altar He insisted it be made of "uncut stones". God is not concerned with appearances nor is He impressed with the efforts of our labors. We want something grand, yet God is content with something simple, personal, and intimate.

When David sought to build a grand temple to God, God's response was, "For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, 'Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?'" (2 Samuel 7:6-7) God was content with a tent when David wanted to build Him a house.

God does not need much to relate to His people, but we too often try to shroud our relationship with God in buildings, activities, and programs of our own imagination. We want to have services that are polished and professional and to meet in buildings that are grand and expansive. We expend great effort to build and do things for God when what He wants most of all is to be with us. Our works and efforts actually serves to insulate us from an intimate relationship with God.

When King David sought to bring the Arc of the Covenant back into Jerusalem, they conceived a grand way to bring in the presence of God.

"David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the Lord who is enthroned above the cherubim, where His name is called. They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets." (1 Chronicles 13:6-8)

This approach seamed good; they had worship, praise, and a new cart to carry the arc. However, the end result was death.

"When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it. The anger of the Lord burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God." (1 Chronicles 13:9-10)

Their intentions were good, but they relied on their own estimations and inventions to usher in the presence of God and the end result was disaster. God did not want their "new cart", He wanted them. Finally, after seeking the Lord, David discovered what God really wanted and safely brought the present of the Lord back into Jerusalem.

"Then David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab, and said to them, 'You are the heads of the fathers' households of the Levites; consecrate yourselves both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it. Because you did not carry it at the first, the Lord our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance.' So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. The sons of the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles thereon, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord." (1 Chronicles 15:11-15)

God's presence is not to be born upon the engines of our imagination but rather upon the shoulders of His worshipers. God does not want our latest program or latest idea to woo His presence, He wants us. He is not impressed with our outward appearances and work but desires most of all a relationship with us that is simple, personal, and intimate. "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3)

David Robison

simplicity, Book of Deuteronomy, The Robe, David Robison

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The law, written in stone (DT 27:1-8)

"So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime and write on them all the words of this law... So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up on Mount Ebal, these stones, as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime... You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very distinctly." (Deuteronomy 27:2-8)

What is evident about the law is that it is external to man. It is an external imposition upon a man which he is to obey out of his own will, ability, and alacrity. The law cares little about the inward notions of a man but seeks primarily to establish an outward conformance of behavior that is fitting to righteousness. Because the law is external to man, and often contrary to his nature, it is important that he be reminded of it often. This is why God instructed it to be written down, taught daily, and meditated on night and day.

"You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:7-9)

The Israelites' greatest danger was that they would forget the law of Moses and depart from what is right and, in their sin, they would be separated from the love, presence, and grace of God. Remembrance of the law was essential for their keeping the law. "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." (Joshua 1:8-9)

Unfortunately, as we have previously seen, mankind was unable to keep the external law of God. The perfect law of God is beyond the abilities of man to keep in that mankind has been enslaved by a sinful nature driving them from sin to greater sin. "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh..." (Romans 8:3) Fortunately, God has a plan. It is to write His laws upon the hearts of man, that those laws may be internal not external, that they may change the inside of a man and thus change his outward behavior.

"'Behold, days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,' declares the Lord. 'But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares the Lord, 'I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares the Lord, 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'" (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Today God is about writing His laws "very distinctly," but not on tablets of stone but rather on the tablets of our hearts. "Being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Corinthians 3:3) When we receive and obey that word God is writing onto our hearts then we are changed and our change is not some mere outward obedience to some external law but a true and genuine change on the inside and, when one has been truly changed on the inside, for certain their outward behaviors will, in time, change to come into conformance with who they have become on the inside.

David Robison

law, obedience, hearts, Book of Deuteronomy, The Robe, David Robison

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So what happened? (DT 26:16-19)

"This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken." (Deuteronomy 26:16-19)

The Mosaic covenant was a covenant between God and the Jewish people that, if they would obey His commandments and live according to all of His laws, then He would be their God and they His people and He would make them a nation to be desired and praised. They would be above all other nations; the head and not the tail; and they would be the joy of the whole earth. Unfortunately, while Israel did experience times of greatness, her end was in dispersion and captivity. In the end, God divorced His nation Israel and terminated His covenant with them. "I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce." (Jeremiah 3:8)

So what happened? How is it that a nation founded on so great promises made by a covenant keeping God would fail to obtain all the benefits and blessing of that covenant and instead fail all together? The problem was not in the promises or with the God who made those promises, the problem was with the people. Joshua understood the problem when he told the people, "You will not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you." (Joshua 24:19-20) The truth is that, no matter how great the promises or righteous the laws, in our hearts we are unable to keep and observe what God commands us. Unregenerate man, with his sinful nature, cannot and will not obey God. "Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:7-8)

Trying to keep the law is a dead end. Paul reminds us that, "by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight." (Romans 3:20) No matter how hard we try to keep the law we will never be able to live sin free; we will never achieve the level of righteous required to inherit the promises and blessings of God. Trying to obtain righteousness via the law will never work. What we need is another way to achieve righteousness. Fortunately, God has made just such a provision. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." (Romans 10:4) God has made provision through His Son that, for those who believe and live in Him, they will fulfill all righteousness and will inherit the promises and blessings of God. "But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:21-23) Let us stop trying to establish our own righteousness by attempting to keep the law and, instead, let us find true righteousness though faith in Christ Jesus.

"What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works." (Romans 9:30-32)

David Robison

law, faith, righteousness, Book of Deuteronomy, The Robe, David Robison

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Tithing in the third year (DT 26:12-15)

"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied." (Deuteronomy 26:12)

There are several things of interest in this passage of scripture. First, benevolence was to be undertaken by the individual and not the church or state. It was the individual's responsibility to "Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce" (Proverbs 3:9) in giving to the poor, needy, and the Levites. Today, we are more accustomed to looking to the government to provide for the welfare of the needy among us. We expect the government to use our taxes (or more preferably the taxes of the rich) to provide for those in need, but this was never what God intended. God intended that the poor and needy were to be provided for out of the abundance and generosity of others. This approach to benevolence was echoed by Paul when he said,

"For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality — at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; as it is written, 'He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.'" (2 Corinthians 8:12-15)

God appoints that equity should flow out of the voluntarily generosity of people's hearts, not as compulsion mandated by the government and extracted through taxes.

Secondly, the Old Testament practice of tithing was very different from our modern notions. "I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead." (Deuteronomy 26:14) It is interesting that, in a scripture focused primarily on using the tithe to provide for those in need, the giver is to confess before the Lord, "I have not eaten of it while morning." His confession is not that he has not eaten of the tithe but merely that he has not eaten of it while morning. Presently, in most western churches, tithing is interpreted as bringing your money to the church for them to do with as they see fit. We would never consider spending a portion of the tithe on our selves, nor presume to stipulate how it should be used, but in this scripture it is at the discretion of the giver how they should offer that tithe so long as it is done with the knowledge that the tithe is seen as holy by the Lord.

Lastly, there is a promise for the land that is generous. "Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers." (Deuteronomy 26:14) There is a blessing on the generous. "There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered." (Proverbs 11:24-25) However, this blessing is not limited to individuals, but the nation that is generous will also be bless. This scripture speaks of not an individual blessing but a blessing on the ground and a blessing on the nation.

I believe that this blessing on generosity is in part what has made my country such a prosperous country. Our generosity has led to America's greatness and has been at the foundation of American exceptionalism. Americas prosperity is not solely the result of individual industry but also of the blessing of God poured out on her because of the generosity of her people.

David Robison

tithe, blessing, generocity, The Robe, David Robison, Book of Deuteronomy, Foundations of Governance

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Then it shall be in that day (DT 26:1-11) Part 4

"and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name... You shall answer and say before the Lord your God... and you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 26:2, 5, 10)

The ceremonial laws pertaining to the offerings, sacrifices, and festivals were all constructed so that the people would not merely remember God but that they would also periodically appear before him. Speaking of the festivals, God commands, "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God." (Exodus 23:17) And speaking of the burnt offerings He says. "Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see, but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you." (Deuteronomy 12:13-14) What made the place of the Lord's choosing a special place was that it was where the presence of the Lord dwelt; in the Holy of Holies, above the mercy seat, and between the cherubim the very presence and glory of God rested. God's demands that they appear before Him regularly was not because He needed their sacrifices and offerings, but rather because He desired to be with them. God desires to be with His people; it was true then and it is still true today.

Even from the very beginning, from the first creation of man and woman, God has a desire to be with, and to fellowship with, His creation. After Adam and Eve sinned, its says that "They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." (Genesis 3:8) How did they know what that sound was? Because they had heard it before. God regularly walked and talked with them in the garden, in the cool of the day. God created them and God was with them because He desired them. The same is true for us. When we offer our sacrifices and offerings in worship, it is not what we offer that is most important to God, it is us! More than anything we might have to offer Him, God desires time with us; for us to be in His presence and He in ours. In this sense, worship is not about giving but about coming; coming into His presence. Let us never forget to offer to God what He desires most of all: ourselves, our presence, and our time.

David Robison

worship, offering, The Robe, David Robison, Book of Deuteronomy

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Then it shall be in that day (DT 26:1-11) Part 3

"'Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O Lord have given me.' And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God; and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household." (Deuteronomy 26:10-11)

Today, as Christians, we no longer have to journey to a physical place to bring our offerings to God. Under His new covenant, God has chosen to abide in each believer rather than in a physical temple or some single location. "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands." (Acts 17:24) "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Similarly, today our offerings most often do not consist of physical items such as produce or sacrificial animals. Speaking of the coming of the Christ, David says, "Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; my ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required." (Psalms 40:6) Under His new covenant, God has not asked us to offer up such physical items in our worship, but there is something He does ask us to bring in our worship. "Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." (Hebrews 13:15) God is not interested in our physical possessions as much as He is in the gratitude of our hearts as expressed through our praise and worship.

David exhorts us to "Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy." (Psalms 33:3) Fortunately he goes on to say what he means by a "new song." "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord." (Psalms 40:3) The "new song" David is talking about is a song of praise; a song that is new, not because if was previously unknown, but because it is new in the context of our praise. When we sing to God a song of praise that is born out of something new God has done in our lives, even if it is an old song, it can be a new song of praise unto God; it is new because of the new thing God has done in our heart.

As God is continually moving and working in our lives, there are continual opportunities to worship God with a "new song". While it is good to recall and thank God for what He has done in ages past, our worship should never be solely focused in the past, rather our praise must be contemporary and filled with the reality of what God is doing presently. We must not allow our worship to become stale; singing the same old songs we used to sing ten or twenty years ago. Rather our worship should always be fresh and new; born out of our daily life and experiences with God. Let us take the advice of David to heart and daily find new reasons to worship God with a new song.

David Robison

worship, new song, offering, sacrifice, The Robe, David Robison, Book of Deuteronomy

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Then it shall be in that day (DT 26:1-11) Part 2

"You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, 'I declare this day to the Lord my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.'" (Deuteronomy 26:3)

Confession. Most often, when we think of confession, we think of either the confession of our sins or the confession of what we desire, in the traditional "name it and claim it" style of confession. However, here Moses is referring to the confession of what God has already done. In this case, we are not confessing what we have done, nor what we wish God would do, but rather what God has already done for us. Confession of the past works of God is important in pursuing our futures. Consider David, when he was about to face Goliath he recited to King Saul the previous time God had come to his aid. It was in his remembrance of God's past faithfulness that David had hope in God's future deliverance of him before Goliath.

"But David said to Saul, 'Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.' And David said, 'The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.'" (1 Samuel 17:34-37)

By confessing our past victories with God, our hope and faith in God's future victories is built up and strengthened. Paul says that, "faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17) Sometimes we need to hear the word of God spoken from our own mouths rather than from another. When we hear our confession of God's word, and especially the fulfillment of God's word in our lives, our faith is increased and we grow in our faith towards God.

When we confess the work of God in our lives we magnify God over and against our problems. David says to, "magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." (Psalms 34:3) Unfortunately we far too often magnify our problems; our problems seem huge while our God seems small. When we have big problems and a small God we are in trouble. We need to magnify our God and minimize our problems, which, in truth, is the reality of our every situation.

Asaph understood this principal. There was a time when he was disquieted by the enormity of his problems. He wrote, "Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence; for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning... When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight" (Psalms 73:13-14. 16) Yet when he started to consider and confess who God was and what He had done, his faith was buoyed.

"Until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form. When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. with Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory." (Psalms 73:17-24)

It was only after Asaph entered into the sanctuary, remembered who His God really was, and confessed the truth about God and what He had done in the past that his heart was strengthened and he was able to go forward in his life. They say that confession is good for the soul, but it is also good for our faith.

David Robison

faith, confession, The Robe, David Robison, Book of Deuteronomy

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Then it shall be in that day (DT 26:1-11) Part 1

"Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it..." (Deuteronomy 26:1)

Moses speaks of a future day, a day many years removed, when the people of Israel will have fully come into possession of all that God had promised them. As they stood on the east side of the Jordan, all the Promise Land, and their entire future, was before them. Moses knew that many years would pass as they labored to conquer and possess the land of the Canaanites, but one day they would have rest and would settle down to enjoy all that God had given them. For that day, Moses gave them instructions as to their remembrance of God. From these scriptures, we too can gain instruction for our lives today.

Remember God. In multiple places Moses exhorts the people of Israel to remember God; not only in the bad times, but also when flushed with the blessings of God.

"Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." (Deuteronomy 6:10-12)

When we are in times of trial our necessity presses us towards God, yet often in times of blessing we can forget the very God and provider of those blessings. How often, when it comes to pass that we receive the very thing that we had previously petitioned God for, in receiving we forget the God who answered our prayers. We are like nine of the ten Lepers Jesus healed.

"As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' When He saw them, He said to them, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.' And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, 'Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine — where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?'" (Luke 17:12-18)

When they were in need, they had great interest in Jesus, but now, having received what they desired, they immediately forgot Him and went on about their own lives. Paul charges Timothy, "Remember Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:8) and so should we, not only when we need something from Him but all the more when, having received in full, we are in possession of all our wants and desires.

David Robison

Book of Deuteronomy, The Robe, David Robison, remember

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