Deuteronomy 23
McGeeCHAPTER 23THEME: The world, the flesh, and the devilChapter 23 continues this very interesting section regarding regulations for domestic and personal relationships. The world, the flesh, and the devil are the three enemies a believer contends with daily, even hourly, and moment by moment. We are living in a day when very plain language is being usedin fact, vulgar language. God in His Word also uses very plain language, but it is by no means vulgar. Where the Bible deals with very personal issues, that section is generally avoided. However, I do not think we should avoid it, as it holds very practical spiritual lessons for us.
Deuteronomy 23:1
This is a most unusual law, is it not? What is God trying to teach us here? I believe that this would correspond to asceticism, and God condemns it. During the Middle Ages, men saw the corruption in Europe and in Asia and in North Africa, and they turned from the things of the world to become ascetics. They retired to monasteries to get away from the world. Very candidly, one probably couldn’t blame them for doing it at that time. But this is an extreme and God warns against it. In Protestantism one can find that same type of legalism today. There are those who feel they are living the “separated life.” Yet I have never found one of those folk to be a joyful person. As a matter of fact, I have found some of them to be dangerous people. They act very pious and seem very shocked when anything that is worldly is mentioned before them. I have found that those same people can be the meanest gossips, and that they are not always honorable in their business relations. I have had a very bitter experience in my own life with a little group of “separated Christians” who were totally, absolutely dishonest. I believe God is warning against asceticism. He does not accept that kind of thing.
Deuteronomy 23:2
God uses some pretty strong language here. An illegitimate child could not enter the congregation of the Lord. What does that mean for us today? You must be born again to be a child of God. There are a lot of people today who say, “I am a child of the King,” but they are not a child of the King. They are illegitimate. One can be religious and not be born again. Such a one is not a child of God at all. God makes that very clear. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a very religious man, a spiritual ruler of the people, a man who wore his phylacteries. Yet that man was illegitimate, and our Lord said to him that he must be born again. Our Lord almost rudely interrupted him to make that clear to him (Joh_3:3). As I hold many meetings all over this country, I meet many pastors. One Baptist pastor told me, “There are a lot of baptized pagans today. They are hell-doomed sinners, and they think because they have been baptized they are children of God.” God says that an illegitimate son is not going to heavenhe shall not enter the congregation. God doesn’t have illegitimate children. His children are all legitimate because they have been born again. There is a good question for you to ask yourself today. Have you been born again? Do you know Christ as your Savior? “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Joh_1:12-13). Do you qualify as a legitimate child of God? I don’t care how many ceremonies you have been through, or how many churches you have joined, or how religious you may beunless you are a child of the King, you are illegitimate.
Deuteronomy 23:3
FALSE RELIGIONSArchaeologists have discovered that the Ammonites and the Moabites were pagan to the worst degree. They have found a great many of their little images to Baal. False religion is not to enter into the congregation of the Lord. And how can one recognize false religion? “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The evidence was that they “met you not with bread and water” in that great and terrible wilderness, and they hired Balaam to curse Israel.
Deuteronomy 23:5
This sounds harsh, but it is a warning against linking up with false religions. False religion is satanic in origin. The Devil is not to enter into the congregation of the Lord. It is false religion that has damned this world more than anything else. It is possible for a beautiful church building with a high steeple and a lovely organ to be the very den of Satan. We are to beware of false religion. False religion has no place in the congregation of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 23:7
We saw back in the Book of Genesis that Edom is Esau, and Esau and Jacob were twin brothers. Ammon and Moab were to be abhored. Why not Edom also? Because an Edomite was their brother. For the believer, Esau represents our old nature, the flesh. We can hate the flesh, try to step on it, try to punish it, or mutilate it, but none of that will do any good. We are not to abhor the flesh, but we are not to yield to it. The old nature is not to control us. The flesh is in rebellion against God, but it is a part of us, and hating it will not get us anywhere. They were not to abhor an Egyptian. Why? “Because thou wast a stranger in his land.” Egypt in Scripture represents the world. We are told, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1Jn_2:15). Again let me say that this does not mean we are not to appreciate the beauties of nature or our homes, our cars, and other conveniences that are part of the world around us. The point is that we are not to fall in love with these things. Of course we are not to despise them, but we are not to love them.
You and I are strangers and pilgrims down here in this world. Just as the children of Israel were never called upon to plant flowers in the wilderness, neither are we called upon to join movements that try to straighten out the world. We are to give out the Word of Godthat is our businessbut we are pilgrims and strangers here, just passing through.
Deuteronomy 23:12
CLEANLINESSNow beginning with verse Deu_23:9 is a section on cleanliness. Even when they were out in the field of battle, they were to maintain a clean camp. God is interested in sanitation. Wherever Christianity has gone, there has been an improvement in sanitary conditions. We hear so much about pollution today. Who polluted this universe? Certainly, it was not God who did it. He gave us clean streams, clean air, clean water. It is sin, sinful man, who pollutes this earth today. If men would follow the rules which God has given, this earth would be a sanitary place.
Deuteronomy 23:14
God is interested in cleanliness. I think it was Webster who said that cleanliness is next to godliness. I think it is even closer than thatI would classify cleanliness as a part of godliness. God wants us clean in body, clean in environment, clean in thought, clean in action. We are to be a holy people in this world today. Say, this book is very practical, is it not?
Deuteronomy 23:17
God said there were not to be harlots or sodomites among His people. God says that under no circumstance will He accept income from that which is illegal or from that which is immoral or wrong. He does not want any of it. Now I am going to say something that I know is not popular to say. I do not believe that any Christian organization should receive money from any industry that is illegal or immoral. I thank God for the two schools that turned down a gift from a large brewery. Many questionable businesses try to gain respectability by giving to charity, as you know.
Deuteronomy 23:19
Here again God is insisting that they take care of their brother. And if they lend money, they are not to charge him usury, which is interest.
Deuteronomy 23:21
A vow to the Lord was a voluntary act. No one was required to take a vow. However, once a person had made a vow to the Lord, that vow was absolutely binding, as we have mentioned before.
Deuteronomy 23:24
We will find that the disciples of our Lord did this very thing. Because they were hungry, they began to pluck the grain and eat it as they passed through a field. As we see here in Deuteronomy, this was not illegal. God said that a farmer was to extend this courtesy.