Deuteronomy

Exclusive Allegiance

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: 39-110

Genre: Talk

Track: 039

Dictation Name: RR187V39

Location/Venue:

Year: 1993

Let us worship God. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee that Thou who art maker of heaven and earth and all things wherein art mindful of the least of us. That not a sparrow falls apart from Thy knowledge and Thy ordination. That Thy purposes are far greater than we can comprehend, they extend to the very hairs of our head and all our days are numbered and have their purpose in Thy plan. Teach us therefore to commit our days and our ways unto Thee, serving Thee with all our heart, mind and being. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture this morning is from Deuteronomy 12:1-16. Our subject: Exclusive Allegiance. Exclusive Allegiance, Deuteronomy 12:1-16.

“These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

2 Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

4 Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God.

5 But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

6 And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

7 And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.

8 Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.

9 For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which theLord your God giveth you.

10 But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;

11 Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord:

12 And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.

13 Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:

14 But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.

16 Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.”

Both the patience and the judgment of God meet with man’s disfavor. When God in Genesis 15:16 tells Abraham that He will be patient with the Canaanites until their iniquity be full, God’s apparent tolerance has met with dismay from some Christians. Their reaction is ‘must we wait for generations to pass before God brings his judgment?’ Again when God a few centuries later required Israel to destroy these same Canaanites churchmen and anti-Christians have seen this as morally wrong. With Paul we must say that the clay has no right to judge the potter, or the preacher to judge his creator. God gives evil men more freedom at times then other men want but at the same time his judgments are more thorough than man feels comfortable with. In verses one through three God says first obey me and live, then second, utter destroy the pillars and groves of the Canaanite phallic cults, their sexual symbols and practices. God’s worship is an exclusive one; there can be none other gods before Him. The Canaanite temples were open air ones, their worship was of natural forces, supremely the sexual. Altars, pillars, sexual ones and idols were set up in natural surroundings to promote fertility through rituals. Human sacrifices also were offered at times. It is necessary to understand that these ancient cults like modern environmental Gaia or mother earth worship were not lacking in noble sentiments. Archeological research has uncovered many, many high sounding sentiments among the people of antiquity. They were great for noble statements whenever the occasion called for them. For example, the ancient laws of [unknown] demanded humane warfare, this is what was said and I quote:

“When he, the king, fights with his foes in battle let him not strike with weapons concealed in wood nor with such are barbed, poisoned or the points of which are blowing with fire. Let him not strike one who in flight has covered on eminence or a unich. Nor one who joins the prongs of his hands in supplication, nor one who flees with flowing hair nor one who sits down nor one who says I am thine nor one who sleeps, nor one who has lost his coat of maille, nor one who is naked, nor one who is disarmed, nor one who looks on without taking part in the fight. Nor one who is fighting with another foe, nor one whose weapons are broken, nor one afflicted with sorrow, nor one who has been grievously wounded, nor one who is in fear, nor one who is turned to flight. But in all these causes or cases let him remember the duty of honorable warfares.” Unquote.

Well it sounds like many a treaty since then including the Kellogg/Briand Pact or recent treaties outlawing nuclear warfare. History cannot be understood by the noble professions of countless men and nations. If you go back to some of the inscriptions uncovered you would have to believe that the nations of old testament times were models of correct deportment where the realities were very grim and otherwise. What God through Moses tells Israel in verses two through twenty eight is that their fundamental law must be one altar, one God and the implications of this requirement are spelled out. Faith in God requires a total break with a face laws and beliefs of the world around them. The singleness of faith required a singleness of sanctuary; no man could say that he could worship the true God in any sanctuary. Not until Israel abandoned attempts at synchronistic worship could the synagogue arise. Then the teaching of God’s word could be done anywhere even though the temple remained as the sole local of worship. The singleness of faith in the one True God required a singleness of worship. There were no multiple avenues to God. Men did not and do not have the prerogative to pick and choose the way they are going to please God. Moses made clear that he had good reason to stress this because he said ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. This idea of every man as his own lawmaker determining good and evil for himself comes from the fall. We meet it again in Judges where the theme verse ‘in those days there was no king in Israel’. God was not king, but every man did which was right in his own eyes. Our text stresses the priority of worshipping the true God. While this worship cannot be separated from God’s true sanctuary it cannot be identified with it.

Worship is more than ritual; it is the character of life. Worship is separated from nature in verses one through seven because God is the creator of all things, not a part of them. In verses ten through fourteen the requirement of the central sanctuary is set forth. In verses fifteen and sixteen we have the prohibition of the eating of blood. Up until now the animals had to be sacrificed, that is butchered at the sanctuary, but in Canaan distances would make this impractical. At the same time no blood could be eaten. Even at that time however gazelle and deer, were not to be killed at the sanctuary. That that did not involve the long time work of men could not be acceptable. In other words, no free gifts. We have here again the repetitive language which marks law books. Everything is clearly specified to allow for no excuses. In terms of this the requirements regarding the sanctuary are important as stated here and again and again elsewhere. First, God ordains and institutes worship, not man. Worship is not a human option. The great accomplishment and evil one of the enlightenment was to disestablish Christianity and to reduce it to a human option rather than a necessity. Some of the writers, scholars in the field of enlightenment studies, are now finally acknowledging that this was the primary goal. The death of Christendom began when the state became the single order of necessity and Christianity and the church became options and hence of no consequence or necessity. That was the greatest revolution of the modern age. Then second, worship requires sacrifice. It is not a matter of option whether or not we tithe, sacrifice, and otherwise recognize the priority of God’s claims on us. Our relationship to God cannot be reduced to the level of membership in a golf club. It is not a choice but a necessity.

Then third, worship carries with it a grace for all who see it, not as a human option but a divine mandate because God is sovereign not man. There is another aspect to all this, in verse twelve we are told that you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. In the many centuries of Hebrew history this had reference to the offering of sacrifices and the meal that followed that included widows, orphans and Levites. In Leviticus 23:40 this joy is also cited, there with reference to the feast of tabernacles. The joy of faith is not a restrictive nor a egocentric one. The joy comes on God’s terms not mans. As a result, verse thirteen says ‘take heed to thyself to be faithful’. Our Lord makes clear how necessary a singleness of life and worship is. He declares, for where your treasure is, there will be your heart there also. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will bow to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and man. The modern state requires a total obedience and submission and it resents the claims of the triune God. But God permits subordinate allegiances, never rival ones. Let us pray.

Our Father, we thank Thee for Thy word and we pray that by Thy grace our joy and our service may ever increase. That in every area of life and thought we see Thy hand. We know that while we may not understand we must acknowledge that Thy hand is upon us for good and Thy purposes are all together righteous and holy. Our God we praise Thee, in Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

[Question] Could you comment on verse fifteen regarding the killing and eating whatsoever thy soul lusteth after?

[Rushdoony] The latter part of the verse, you mean?

[Same questioner] The first part about killing and eating clean and unclean?

[Rushdoony] Oh yes, they were soon going to be in Canaan, it would be difficult to go to the central sanctuary. In the wilderness they were encamped around it so they would be permitted to kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, wherever you live, and the privilege extended to any and any kind of clean animal. And the one exception was that the roe buck or the deer and other game animals never could be taken to the sanctuary, even though they were clean. Does that explain what you had in mind? They could not be offerings, no, only things like sheep and cattle, goats, were you had worked, you had brought them up, you had fed them, you had provided hay for them, only those where man’s work had gone into their production were acceptable in God’s sight, then they were a gift.

[Question unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Well of course they had a variety of religions in Canaan because they did not succeed in eliminating the Canaanites so there were numerous cults of particularly evil character where there was ritual prostitution, male and female, where there was ritual bestiality and more. So they were contending with rival faiths but not very well. That was a part of the problem of their history; they easily drifted into these other faiths. So it was a very diverse society with the extremes being greater than what we are familiar with.

[Question] Now the feast of tabernacles, is that the same as the feast of booths?

[Rushdoony] Yes, mmhhmm.

[Question] Would that be on a fixed time period?

[Rushdoony] Yes, everything in terms of the requirements laid down in Genesis, first of all.

[Question unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] It followed Passover.

[Question] They were supposed to tear down their altars, and we don’t have a freedom to go and tear down altars in today, can you comment on that?

[Rushdoony] In this case they were conquering the land, they were possessing it because God said it’s going to be yours. They chose too often make allies of the people they conquered when they conquered them by not tearing down the pagan open air altars which were not altars in any sense we know of but were fertility cult symbols and representations. So their laxity here they paid a price for.

Well if there are no further questions let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we thank Thee for Thy word, thy word is truth and Thy word indeed is a light upon our way. Give us grace therefore to walk in the light of Thy word and to know that day by day Thou art ever near, that Thou wilt never leave us or forget us, so that we may boldly say ‘the Lord is my helper, I shall not fear what man may do unto me’. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.