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507 | Called to Purity and Protection · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  God is in control.
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  She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman
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  at the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
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  like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living her life for Christ She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl,
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  Deuteronomy 22 is rich with detailed instructions that at first glance may seem
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  far removed from our daily lives.
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  Yet every commandment in this chapter shows the heart of a God who cares about
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  how his people live together in community.
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  Moses addresses a generation preparing to enter the promised land.
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  These were people who had spent centuries in Egypt and many years wandering
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  in the wilderness, exposed to pagan practices and other cultures.
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  They needed clear direction on how to establish a society that honored the Lord.
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  This chapter ranges from very practical matters, such as caring for a neighbor's
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  livestock or building a safe house, to deeply personal matters of purity,
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  marriage, and sexual morality.
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  In every case, God's purpose is evident.
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  His people are to live in holiness, protect and respect one another,
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  and show compassion to all creation.
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  Verse 4 captures the heart of neighborly responsibility, calling us to help
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  those around us and to care for what belongs to others.
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  That we now live on this side of the cross and are not bound by the ceremonial
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  law, The principles behind these instructions still guide us.
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  God desires that we be good neighbors, value purity and honesty,
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  and treat every part of his creation with care and respect.
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  Deuteronomy 22 reminds us that God's law is not just about rules.
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  It is about love for him and love for others.
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  I hope that you can open up your Bible and jump into Deuteronomy chapter 22 with me.
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  Let's read. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray,
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  and hide thyself from them.
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  Thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.
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  And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not,
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  then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until
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  thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.
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  In like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and so shalt thou do with his raiment,
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  and with all lost thing of thy brothers, which he hath lost, and thou hast found,
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  shalt thou do likewise, thou mayest not hide thyself.
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  Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his axe fall down by the way,
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  and hide thyself from them.
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  Thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again. The woman shall not wear that
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  which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. For all that do so.
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  Our abomination unto the Lord thy God. If a bird's nest chants to be before
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  thee and away in a tree or on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs,
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  and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young.
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  But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go and take the young to thee,
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  that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
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  When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof,
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  that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.
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  Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds, lest the fruit of thy seed,
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  which thou hast shown in the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.
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  Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
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  Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, as of woolen and linen together.
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  Thou shalt make thee fringes, upon the four quarters of thy vesture wherewith
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  thou coverest themself.
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  If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and give occasions
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  of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say,
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  I took this woman, and when I came to her I found her not a maid,
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  then shall the father of the damsel and her mother take and bring forth the
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  tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city and the gate.
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  And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this
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  man, to wife, and he hateth her.
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  And lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying,
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  I found not thy daughter a maid, and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.
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  And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
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  And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him.
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  And they shall immerse him in a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto
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  the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel.
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  And she shall be his wife, and he may not put her away all his days.
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  But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the
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  damsel, then they shall bring out the damsel to the floor of her father's house,
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  and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die.
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  Because she hath wroth folly in Israel to play the whore in her father's house,
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  so shalt thou put evil away from among you.
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  If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both
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  of them die, both the man that lay with the woman and the woman,
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  so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
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  If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her
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  in the city and lie with her, then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate
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  of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die.
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  The damsel, because she cried not, being in the city, and the man,
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  because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife.
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  So thou shalt put away evil from among you.
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  But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her and
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  lie with her, then that man only that lay with her shall die.
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  But unto the damsel shalt thou do nothing. There is in the damsel no sin worthy of death.
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  For as when a man riseth against his neighbor and slayeth him, even so is this matter.
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  For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried,
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  and there was none to save her.
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  If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed,
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  and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found,
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  then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels
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  of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her,
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  and he may not put her away all his days.
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  A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.
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  As we move into Deuteronomy chapter 2, once again, we're struck by the purpose of Deuteronomy.
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  Deuteronomy was a review for the Israelites. It was a book of communication
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  from Moses to the people as they were preparing to enter the promised land.
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  This book was designed to remind the Israelites how they were to live when they
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  moved into the promised land.
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  As we read this book, we have to remember that the Israelites had been in Egypt for hundreds of years.
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  They had not been living as their own society under God for a very long time.
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  When we read Deuteronomy, we may be tempted to ask, why is this in here?
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  But the reality is that the scriptures we find here, including some of those
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  in this chapter, are included because the Lord thought they were important.
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  And while some of these circumstances may not directly apply to us,
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  and it is my earnest prayer that they don't.
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  This is one of those chapters where we have to employ our faith and seek the point of application.
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  This chapter opens up with a section on living in a community with our neighbors
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  and making sure that we treat our neighbor's property appropriately.
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  In verse 1, we see that if our brother's or our neighbor's livestock goes astray
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  and we find it, it's our neighborly duty to return it to him.
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  If we find livestock and don't know who it belongs to, it's our duty to take
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  care of it and hold on to it until we can find the owner.
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  If there's anything that a neighbor has lost, such as clothing or a jacket,
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  it's our duty not to hide it or keep it for ourselves, but to return it as soon as possible.
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  As good neighbors, if we see livestock fall down, it's our job to go help our
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  neighbors get their livestock standing back up.
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  Verse 5 may seem as if it's simply inserted into this chapter with very little context.
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  Yet this commandment, that women should wear women's clothes and men should
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  wear men's clothes, must have been something that needed to be said to the Israelites at this time.
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  If we jump ahead to verses 11 and 12, we see two more instructions about clothing.
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  In verse 11, the Israelites were commanded not to weave wool and linen together
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  and then wear it. In verse 12, the Israelites were instructed to include fringes on their garments.
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  Many explanations for not mixing linen and wool stem from the idolatrous practices
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  of other nations that lived in that region.
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  And as for the fringes, the Israelites were the only ones who would be wearing
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  them, which I would identify them as Israelites and as followers of God.
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  Verses 6 and 7 speak about birds, reminding us that the Lord cares for even
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  the smallest of His creation.
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  In verse 6, the Israelites were commanded not to take a mother bird from a nest
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  if there were eggs or young inside.
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  In verse 7, they were instructed to let the mother bird go so that she could
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  continue to produce and sustain life, taking only the eggs for themselves.
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  This simple command shows that God's concern for life and for the well-being
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  applied to even the least of his creatures.
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  God even cared about how the Israelites were to build their homes.
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  When they built a new home, they were instructed to make sure that the flat
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  roof had a railing so that nobody would fall off the roof and be hurt.
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  The Israelites were commanded not to plant different seeds in their vineyards,
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  but to keep the fruit separate so that one fruit would not impact another.
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  The Lord even gave commandments for how the Israelites were to plow,
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  telling them not to plow with an ox and a donkey together.
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  These two animals were very different in size and strength, making it difficult
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  and unwise to have them work together.
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  Now, the chapter changes direction here and moves into a series of laws for
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  the Israelites that all relate to God's commandment not to commit adultery,
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  which we first find in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14.
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  Verses 13 through 19 deal with what happens when a man commits adultery or is cruel to his wife.
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  Verse 13 refers to the husband hating his wife. Verse 14 speaks of bringing
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  up false charges against her, bringing an evil name upon her,
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  and of accusing her of not being a virgin on their wedding night.
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  It was common practice, as we see in verse 15, that on the wedding night a token
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  or a cloth was to be placed in
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  the bed, and the blood on that cloth was evidence of a woman's virginity,
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  and these cloths were to be taken to the woman's parents to be held as proof
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  of the daughter's purity.
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  If a husband, therefore, in cruelty, accused his wife of not being a virgin,
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  the parents had evidence.
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  If a husband took his wife to the elders of the city and falsely accused her
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  of not being a virgin, the husband was to be punished and required to provide
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  payment to the father to recompense the false accusation.
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  Verses 21 and 22 address what would happen if a woman claimed to be a virgin and was not.
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  In that case, the punishment was to fall upon the woman because she had wrought
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  folly in Israel and committed an evil act by her deception.
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  What we know today as adultery is made clear in verse 22.
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  If a man and a married woman were together, the punishment was placed on both the man and the woman.
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  The chapter continues with other situations related to adultery and sexual purity.
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  Verses 23 and 24 describe a young woman who's engaged to a man but willingly
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  chooses to be with another man.
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  In that case, the sin and the resulting punishment would fall on both the man and the woman.
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  This is contrasted in verses 25 and 27, where the scripture says that if the
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  man were to force her, which we would interpret as rape, the man alone was to
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  be punished and the woman was to be acquitted.
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  Verses 28 and 29 explain what happens if a man and a woman who is a virgin who
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  is not engaged to another man are found together.
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  If the man forced the woman, the woman was required to be punished and to pay a fine to the father.
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  If the woman was not betrothed and had been with a man, that man was then responsible
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  for her and was required to marry her and care for her for the remainder of her days.
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  The details in these passages make it clear that God's intent was for purity
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  and for keeping sexual relations within marriage.
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  Men were to treat women with kindness and respect.
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  And the punishments laid out in this chapter were written to deter men from
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  disrespecting women and their community.
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  Now, this chapter closes with one short verse, verse 30, related to an incestuous relationship.
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  It clearly needed to be said that a man should not have relations with his father's wife.
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  This commandment repeats Leviticus 18.8 and is echoed again in 1 Corinthians 5.1.
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  While this practice may not be
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  common in our society today, clearly this commandment needed to be made.
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  Just when we think that we're through the section of Deuteronomy,
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  where locating the application might seem to be a challenge,
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  here we find ourselves in Deuteronomy chapter 22.
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  The best way to approach a chapter like this is with prayer,
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  asking the Lord to make clear the application He has chosen for you.
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  So having prayed over this application, let's dive in.
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  One of the most important aspects of Deuteronomy chapter 22 is its focus on
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  living in community with our neighbors.
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  So much of the book of Deuteronomy is instruction in how to set up this new
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  society that had been given as the promised land.
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  Remember, these are individuals who have been living in Egypt in a pagan society for hundreds of years.
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  They are also individuals who had wandered in the desert and the desert wasn't empty.
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  They encountered numerous other cultures and societies. As Christians,
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  we can be confident and understand that the devil would use all of these situations,
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  both in Egypt and in the desert, to work to ensure that God's people, first, did not know him,
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  second, did not follow him, and third, would be tempted to live like the people around them.
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  The chapter opens with a section on what to do if your neighbor's livestock
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  had gone astray. God's intent is clear.
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  We're here to care for each other's property.
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  If our neighbor has lost something and we find it, we return it.
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  If we find something that is clearly lost and we don't know who it belongs to,
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  we're to take care of it until we can figure out who the owner is.
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  If we see that an animal has fallen and needs help getting up, we're to help.
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  God is giving instructions on what it means to be a good neighbor.
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  Let's take a look at verse 5. Verse 5 talks about men wearing women's clothes
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  and women wearing men's clothes.
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  What's important here is that God thought it needed to be said.
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  Theologians believe that this was a custom in the nations surrounding the Israelites,
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  perhaps in the worship of Venus.
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  They also believe that this practice was sometimes used for concealment after
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  a crime or to gain an opportunity to commit some sort of sin.
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  God clearly instructed Moses to deliver this commandment, so it must have been important.
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  We know that God created men and women with distinct characteristics,
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  and here that distinction is again defined.
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  Let's take a look at the next section about birds. This may be a section that
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  does not seem to belong, except it reminds us how much the Lord cares for his
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  creation, even what might be considered the least of these.
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  This section tells us that we cannot be cruel to God's creation.
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  We know that humans were given dominion over the animals, But that doesn't permit us to be cruel.
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  In this case, a mother bird was not to be taken from the nest. It's really simple.
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  Even Jesus referred to the importance of birds in Luke 12, 6,
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  when he said, Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them
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  is forgotten before God?
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  God has his hand, even on the smallest of his creatures, and his creation is precious.
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  When we build a home in this day and age, we have to follow code requirements.
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  Essentially, Moses was setting up code requirements for the Israelites in this
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  next section. And like all code requirements, they're for the protection of the people.
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  When the Israelites built a house, they had to make sure the roof had a railing
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  so that nobody would fall off of it.
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  I believe this commandment has been passed down and still exists in code today.
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  The Lord was concerned with how the Israelites planted their crops,
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  likely because cross-pollination would hinder the crops.
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  He was even concerned about how fabric was to be woven, most likely because
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  of the practices of a pagan nation around the Israelites.
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  But again, the Lord must have thought it needed to be said, or he would not have said it.
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  Like his instruction about planting crops and making fabric,
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  the Lord gave instruction on plowing a field.
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  It was not good farming practice to plow with an ox and a donkey,
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  because they were so different.
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  Here in this chapter, God is working to set the Israelites and their communities up for success.
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  This last section of the chapter is about purity, marriage, and sexual morality.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  Our Heavenly Father. and it is through your loving and generous support that
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you.
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  Music.