Deuteronomy

Towards the New Creation

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: 46-110

Genre: Talk

Track: 046

Dictation Name: RR187Y46

Location/Venue:

Year: 1993

Let us worship God. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He will strengthen thine heart. Wait I say, on the Lord. Let us pray.

Almighty God our Heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee that day after day Thy mercies are ever new. Every morning we arise to a world Thou dost control, to a purpose that is greater than ourselves and to an assurance of victory. Give us patience our Father as we wait on Thee, knowing that Thy will surely shall be done. Teach us to take hands of our lives and to commit them into Thy care. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture is Deuteronomy 14: 21-29 and our subject: Towards the New Creation. Deuteronomy 14: 21-29.

“Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto theLord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

23 And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always.

24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:

25 Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose:

26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before theLord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,

27 And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.

28 At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:

29 And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.”

In verses twenty one the eating of any meat from an animal that dies of itself is forbidden. It is not spoiled meat that is here referred to but the meat of an animal killed by a beast of prey or dying of age or having some ailment. Many pagan peoples had and have no objection to such meat as long as there is no deception. Such meat can be sold or given to an alien; specifically two kinds of aliens are mentioned. Resident alien and the non-resident foreigner. There is no attempt to compel these people to observe the covenantal laws of diet nor were they persecuted for their alien faith and alien way of life. To this day in some parts of the world when a sick camel, for example, seems certain to die it is butchered and at once prepared for eating. Such practices are forbidden to covenant members. Then we are told that a kid is not to be steeped in his mother’s milk. This was not a practice that we fully understand, it was pagan, the same law appears in Exodus 23 and Exodus 34:26. In both these instances it is given together with the law of the offering of the first fruits, so there is a connection here that we are at present ignorant of. However we are not told to wait until we understand before we obey. We are to obey first and then to understand wherever possible. In verses twenty two through twenty nine the main body of our text the concern is with tithing and in particular, with one aspect of it, rejoicing before the Lord, the second tithe. This tithe is to be celebrated at the sanctuary and then at home with others on every third and sixth year. It is to include our family, our employees, foreigners close by, widows, orphans and the Levite. The place for this sanctuary was to be the central sanctuary. If one’s residence were too far away the firstlings and the produce could be sold, that is converted into silver and then the food could be purchased when one arrived at the sanctuary.

[unknown name] junior has cited the basic holiness of worship structures. First, one’s possessions were to be dedicated to the Lord, this is in 14:22 to 15:23. This meant living as god’s stewards and according To His law. This included the tithes and also the granting of a release to those in debt or in servitude on the seventh year. This meant that covenant man finds release from bondage as he grants release to his covenant brother. The laws of release are concerned with a future of freedom. Then second, the dedication of life meant a calendar governed by holy days, by the Sabbaths, the Passover, Pentecost, tabernacles and also by holy years, the Sabbatical years and the Jubilee. A God governed calendar gives man a focus, it gears man also to God’s reality rather than to man’s cycles of defeat. If man does not think in terms of a holy calendar he will think in terms of a national or a personal one which means it is likely to be geared to defeat. The godly calendar also stresses the earth and its productivity under God’s blessing. The biblical calendar is one of hope whereas the godless calendar is a cycle of despair. Then third later in this unit of law is Deuteronomy 14:22-16:22 we are told that justice is essential to holiness. This is stressed in Deuteronomy 16:20, that which is all together just shalt thou followeth that Thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. This is an important stress. Too often in our day churches have a very limited focus. They stress a very limited doctrine of holiness and that holiness is limited to abstinence from a few things. But we are told in Deuteronomy as we shall see in successive weeks, God stresses justice. He stresses also that it is essential to holiness. Deuteronomy makes clear that justice is a condition of life and to frustrate justice is to work towards death. Death not only of individuals but of a society. To omit justice as a basic aspect of the godly life is therefore to omit holiness and to invalidate worship. The basic forms of worship are not in of themselves pleasing to God. The totality of man’s life and work must reflect his faith. God’s contempt for mere formalism is emphatic in all the Bible.

Verse twenty two is emphatic. Thou shalt surely tithe, or you must tithe. Tithing is not cited as an option but as a condition of life under God. The health of the family and of the community mandates it. The tithe or the tenth means that we are in debt to God, it is His tax. Our status as a citizen of His kingdom requires us to be free of debt in this regard, free of debt to God. Not all rejoicing tithe was used up in the trip to the central sanctuary. As a result the rest remained in the local community and at the end of every three years was used as the tither designated. This did not mean it had to wait for the third year. The stress in verse twenty nine is on blessings when tithing is done gladly and readily. Saint Paul in Second Corinthians 9:6-7 tells us that:

“This I say, ye that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly and he that which soweth bountifully shalt reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give, not begrudgingly nor of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

The word cheerful in God loveth a cheerful giver is in Greek related to a source of our word hilarious. One who giveth joyfully with exhilaration. Now Paul’s image of the farmer sowing seed is a vivid one. The man who is stingy with his seed shall have a thin and poor crop whereas the man who sows freely reaps a good harvest. This is what tithing and giving produces. We have here two tithes in affect merged to a degree. The rejoicing tithe eaten at the central sanctuary and the poor tithe used locally. Our rejoicing tithe should make us mindful of the poor. In verse twenty nine we are told that obedience leads to blessings. A people poor towards God means poor lives and a poor land whereas a people rich towards God has a rich land. Such an obvious correlation between faithfulness and blessings annoys the modern church men.

But the bible is very clear that this is so and of course Deuteronomy 28 is all about this. We are blessed in our possessions only when we use them as God’s stewards, not as self-sufficient lords. J.T. Manly noted and I quote:

“The basic principle underlying the offering of tithes is the same of that as the Sabbath law. All men’s wealth as well as his time is God’s gift and held in trust for Him. To mark the sacredness of the whole a definite proportion is to be set aside and dedicated at the sanctuary.” Unquote.

Charles N. Cooper has called tithing the practice of pure religion and also one of the positive requirements of religion. This is sound terminology. The tithes were basic to the unifying of society, the advancement of God’s kingdom and the cultivation of a grateful people. Tithing leads to gratitude. [unknown] spoke of the triple use of property mandated by our text. The first use was for God’s service. Proverbs 3:9-10 declare honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thy increase. So will thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. The image is one of exuberance, full barns and a super abundance of new wine. When God is served joyfully we are blessed in time and in eternity. Then second, property was for family use. They were both to rejoice before the Lord and to fear the Lord thy God always. God does not call us to a miserly life, sin has made this an evil world but God’s purposes are prosperity in Him.

Then third, another religious use and purpose in gaining property is to bless others as we have been blessed. The Levite is especially mentioned as one whom we must bless. John Peter Lang said of this chapter that the dietary laws led from sin and death to life in the Lord. The Christian direction is back to the original creation and we can add ahead to the new creation. This fact stresses their status as laws of holiness. The laws of tithing have the same function, holiness. Thus tithing has an essential purpose in leading us ahead to the new creation. Let us pray.

Our Father we thank Thee for Thy word and we thank Thee that Thou hast called us to be the people of Thy word, of Thy kingdom. Make us faithful, strong effectual and joyful in Thy service. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions about our lesson? Yes?

[Question] Well the ancient Hebrews were very fortunate in only having a ten percent tax. Today the American people have forty nine percent tax and I would assume that the expansion of the taxes by the state have the fall out of diminishing all the churches.

[Rushdoony] Yes and it is interesting that in First Samuel 8 when the nation began to rebel against God as king that what Samuel told them was that very well, you’re going to have a tithe such as you’ve never imagined from the king you want. And it’ll be a tithe of everything including of your sons and your daughters as well as of your substance and your property. And of course that’s exactly what followed and that’s what has happened as in our time in this century we’ve gone from the tithe to the income tax and it’s because first of all the churches retreated. Are there any other questions or comments?

Let me add that the whole progression of Deuteronomy is to show what happens when a people abandon the Lord for other gods. The commandment tells us thou shalt have none other gods before me and then people go to other gods they’ve been over taxed, they are oppressed, they are robbed right or left. They imagine that because the other gods are of their choosing as in our democracy today somehow they’re going to be better. But the false gods are never as modest as the only true God is. As Otto said, forty nine percent and its likely to pass that before too long whereas God says ten percent and another ten percent to be spent rejoicing before Him and two years out of six a poor tithe. That’s very mild compared to what every state has demanded. If there are no further questions we will conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we hunger and thirst for Thy kingdom. We are in bondage to false gods because we have strayed from Thee. Oh Lord God deliver us, make us again a righteous and just people, a holy people. A people with knowledge that we may again be free in Christ. 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.