Old Testament Laws: Social Responsibility and Moral Clarity

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome

to the Bible Guys. I'm Chris. This is Jeff, and today we

have an exciting episode for you. Oh, it's going to be the most

exciting episode of the week. We have no idea what we're talking about,

but we definitely we both love this segment. I'm going to guess it's going

to be in Deuteronomy. Yes, we are definitely in Deuteronomy still. But

before we get to that, we have a segment by Desiree that we both

love called would rather? Yes? Would you rather? Did you ever read

the book with when you were a youth? Pastor did you ever use the

book? Would give you that with your kids? Should? I have a

little book on my shelf even now still by Doug Fields, and it's would

you rather? Questions? And there's like four hundred questions, And so what

I would do is I would literally just grab the book as an icebreaker,

open it up. I should do this now today still fund be saying thing

like okay, everybody, and I'd ask some person, I'd say, okay,

billy in the front row, would you rather burn to death or freeze

to death? And he'd have to do thumbs up or thumbs down, right,

or he'd have to pick one, and the whole crowd would vote with

them or against okay, with her against okay? Well, hey, here's

one yep. Would you rather have the ability to talk to animals but they

only complain or be able to fly but only a few inches off the ground.

There is no question in my mind, which is because I can't stand

complaining from anything anybody. So why would you invite a lifetime of complaining from

your cat? Just you know, your cat looks like she's complaining all the

time, right right, And by the way, such an idiot imagine this.

Imagine like you're now all of a sudden aware of all the complaints of

animals and you have to fight for them on their behalf because that's what they're

going to be asking you to do. And then you're going to have to

try to build the camera hunter. So I've got an answer to this complaining

boom, But all the answer all the answer like could listen, would you

please, could you please just help us out here? Right? And you're

like I don't know where to begin to help you. That would be your

life. I would be like quick complaining, you're going to turn you into

sausage to the not to the answer. Okay, yeah, probably not.

Yeah all right. Number two? Would you rather have your life narrated by

Morgan Freeman or by a cartoon character of your choice? Oh? Morgan Freeman?

Well yeah sure, Well that's almost like it's like it's like, let

me give you the number one choice or a goofy choice. Right, Although

if you did have a cartoon character narrate your voice, who would it be?

Oh? Wow? I mean it would have to be some sort of

an epic like Double O seven times. I think for you, I can

envision Bart Simpson being the one that narrates your entire life. Bart Simpson has

an irritating voice. Yeah, but he's kind of sassy and okay, he's

going to make up for your You'd have to have a cool voice that you

want to listen to. Isn't that the point? No, I'm choosing of

the bo I was choosing for you, so not for me. Okay,

well, then I'm going to choose the uh no, you're gonna have man,

No, I was gonna choose uh the Australian guy Steve Irwin st Yeah,

yeah, is he a cartoon character? Oh? Oh, I see,

I see? Well okay, anyways, yeah, this is too much

time. Would you rather have a permanently itchy nose or a permanently ticklish foot.

I'd have to go with foot, I guess, because you can itch

it without drawing attention to it. But it sounds like what you're because tickling

is kind of the same thing, right, because you're ticklish foot nose,

well, tickler's foot you'd have to sort of like adjust it or move it

or a hard one. They both seem miserable to me. Well, yeah,

I mean this is like eternal torture. So which one did you choose?

I choose the foot, I guess. Okay, I think I would

choose foot too. Yeah, people are looking at your nose. Number four.

Would you rather live in a world where you have to dance everywhere you

go? Or sing everything? You say? That is your world? Both

of those things? No, it's not. Yeah, you like to sing

and dance. I just don't. Actually the Pirates of Penzance, I actually

don't know how to dance that well, but I wish I did. I

dance worse than you do. You I have proven that. But I'll tell

you what. I shot a dance video for crying out loud. That's true,

and they pretty much all the videos of me chest high. Yes,

yes, but I would definitely say between the two, Oh my word,

those are both awful. Just sing everything you say. I'd have to sing,

I guess if it was. If it was, because dancing would be

so distracting, nobody would want to look at you, right, but you

wouldn't be able to preach singing. I'll tell you what, you be in

better shape if you danced at where you went, you would. Yep,

you have a you have. You'd be physically fit. That's for darn sure.

All right, last one, go for it? Okay. Would you

rather be a character in your favorite TV show? Me? Yes please?

Or be able to bring your favorite TV character into real life? Oh?

She is? First of all, I'm having a hard time thinking of who

my favorite TV character is. Yes, magnum p I, magnum p I.

That's funny, but you're going you're going deep on that way. I

honestly would rather be a character in my favorite TV show? Would you I

would, yeah, because the excitement of that thought is better than the excitement

of like Magni peing and magnim p i being real. Who would be?

Oh? I don't know what character that would be? But which TV show?

That's the more important question. So would you rather be a character in

your favorite So it's specifically your favorite TV show has to be determined first,

which would you rather? I would pick Big Bang Theory, Big Bank Theory.

And who would you want to be? Well, I'd have to be

my own character. I couldn't replace a character. No, it's a character

in your TV show. Oh you so you're reading this like you get to

be in your favorite TV show? Yes, like I'm a I think she's

asking would you want to be one of the characters in your favorite TV show?

Like replace somebody? Well? Why would I want to be somebody else

other than me? I don't know. But then therefore I'd have to choose

the second one because the first one now is a terrible option. Okay,

okay, would you rather not be you? Right? Or live around somebody

who's your favorite? That's correct? Oh, that's that's not a good question.

I think it's my thing. I think it's would you rather be a

would you rather be you in your favorite team? Right? We did one

similar to this a while back, and I think I chose to be a

Hannibal Lecter. Oh no, not Hannibal elector Hannibal from eighteen Okay. I

was like, raw, wrong, Hannibal, I'm going to eat your liver

with a nice kyantes. I was like, wow, bro, bro,

that is that is a really weird choice. I said that, Jeeze,

that is a massive mistake. Wrong one. No, I meant to say

Hannibal from the eighteen Yes, yes, remember I think I went on the

record of saying that that if I can, Yeah, I think so.

The eteam Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well I'll tell you what are youselves

from this? Yeah, let's rescue ourselves. Let's go into Deuteronomy chapter twenty

one. So we've already talked about as a transition. I don't even know

that there is a good transition. There is not. Because I was I

was like, I didn't want to react. I was like, I was

like, I don't know what you're saying right now, because that is terrible.

I want to be a serial killer. That's a that's terrible, terrible.

Sorry about that. Cannibal Freudian slip she wits wow. Okay, So

anyways, we have talked about the laws of God, the laws of God.

We've talked about the levitical laws. We've talked about the fundamental laws about

loving God and loving people. But then what we haven't talked about at all

through all these is all the social laws God set up. So Leviticus was

primarily it's what we call the levitical law. Those were the laws about the

worship of God and about sacrifices and all those things. Then a chunk of

Exodus, a chunk of numbers, and then a good chunk of Deuteronomy is

establishing socially how the law was supposed to go. Now that's different from how

you your laws for your nation are supposed to go versus the laws of the

nation of Israel. There was no king right for the laws of the nation

of Israel. So God established those laws. Here's all the consequences, all

the rules, all the guidelines, and so I just think it's interesting to

look at how detailed God God with all the different laws. And so we're

going to read Deuteronomy chapter twenty one. Start off with the verse. What

is it twenty two. Let's do it, yeah, He says. If

someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a

tree, the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. He must

bury the body that same day. For anyone who has hung as cursed in

the sight of God, In this way you will prevent the defilement of the

land the Lord your God has given you as your special possession. If you

see your neighbor's ox, or sheep or goat wandering away, don't ignore your

responsibility. Take it back to its owner. If its owner does not live

nearby, or you don't know who the owner is, take it to your

place and keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then you must

return it. Do the same. If you find your neighbor's donkey, clothing,

or anything else your neighbor loses, don't ignore your responsibility. If you

see that your neighbor's donkey or ox has collapsed on the road, to not

look the other way, go and help your neighbor get it back on its

feet. A woman must not put on men's clothing, and a man must

not wear women's clothing. Any One who does this is detestable in the side

of the Lord your God. If you happen to find a bird's nest in

a tree or on the ground, and there are young ones or eggs in

it, with the mother sitting on the nest, to not take the mother

with the young. Must take the young, but let the mother go,

so that you may prosper and enjoy a long life. When you build a

new house, you must build a railing around the edge of its flat roof.

That way you will not be considered guilty of a murder if someone falls

from the roof. Must not plant any other crop between the rows of your

vineyard. If you do, you're forbidden to use either the grapes from the

vineyard or the other crop. Must not plow with an ox and a donkey

harness together. Must not wear clothing made of wool and linen woven together.

You must put four tassels on the hem of the cloak which you cover yourself,

on the front, back, and on the sides. And he just

goes on man. He talks about marriage, He talks about money, he

talks about loaning things, He talks about workers, he talks about servants,

He talks about planting. He talks about it fields, he talks about water.

He talks at one point about what to do with our waist is one

of the funniest verses in the Bible. Just a couple chapters after this,

he goes, if you got to do your business, he says, go

outside the camp, big a little hole, do your business, and then

cover it over right, that's ways. And then the very next verse says,

because I the Lord your God walk among you in the camp. That's

hilarious. It's just funny. It's hysterically funny verse. But God tells the

people of Israel what to do about it. Your clothes, what you can

and can't wear, the fabrics, how to treat your neighbors animals and lost

stuff, and build railings around the roof of your house. He covers everything.

Yeah, and by the way, uh, I remember one time you

even told me this, and I remember hearing your explanation that particular verse about

burying your waist. Ye, back then, they would have never known the

medical benefits from that, right, which goes to show you, like it's

almost further evidence that the Bible is from God and it's not from man.

Right, So would you want to just have a little fun and explain why

what that means. Well, it's consistent with the first verse. So he

said, hey, if somebody has to be executed, marry them today,

right right, same reason you said, because you don't want to defile your

land. And they would have thought it's just it's defiling because this criminal.

But it's not. It's rotting. Bodies are bad for the water, they're

bad for everything. So in that case of you know, if we had

read the other verses about what to do with regard to your waste, for

this was written in two thousand years before Jesus. This is four thousand years

old, right almost, and they wouldn't have understood if God had said,

hey, listen, there's bacteria in human waste. It's going to make you

sick. You're going to get equal eye, you're going to get whatever,

and it makes you sick. It's going to kill you if you're not careful.

He doesn't explain the idea of germs. He doesn't explain the idea of

bacteria that they can't see. He doesn't explain the fact that there are organisms

in the top soil that neutralizes human waste within about thirty six hours. In

the top eight or nine inches. We didn't even discover that until the middle

of the twentieth century, right, And so what's happened is around the world

where people just went on the ground and didn't cover where animals just go on

the ground. Now equal e in our ponds and in our rivers and lakes

is usually caused by either raccoons or Canadian geese, right, And we just

didn't know. We didn't know what was caused by And so what happened is

people didn't obey, and water was polluted all around the world, and more

people died from water than almost any bad water than almost anything else in the

world even today. And so what was happening for the Jewish people like back

here in the Middle Ages. It's one of the reasons why Europe hated the

Jews so much is they seemed to live when others died, whether it was

in the plagues or whether it was in other things. But they didn't they

manage their waste in their parts of the towns and in the villages. I

was just in Venice the other day in the very first ghetto. Do you

know where the word ghetto comes from? It comes from the word ghetto was

was where the Jews were allowed to live inside of Venice, and it was

where a copper furnace was and it means copper furnace. That's what ghetto means.

It's really interesting. So but they had very little disease in their area.

It was because they managed their waste and they and they kept vermin out

of rats, right, So it was really surprising even there in Venice.

And that's where that word spread throughout the rest of the world. Was the

word ghetto came from this copper furnace concept is where they lived. Well,

I would have guessed the word grotto came from, yeah, but you're saying

the word ghetto came from yeah. So it was Venice required that the Jews

lived there, but it was it was because the people of Europe, the

people of Europe believed that maybe they were magic or that they were witches in

some way, because they lived when everybod else was dying from the plague.

They didn't hardly some did, but not many. And it was because they

didn't allow rats. Is because they kept cats. Well, that's where the

cats came from, right right in Europe, this idea that witches have cats,

and it was because God says, don't allow vermin in your homes.

God says, keep waste out of your house, bury it, wash it

away, don't allow it. Everybody else are just pitching out the window.

It's in the streets, and they just hope the rain came right, right,

But not the Jews. And so what happened was the people did not

understand all the rules why God made the rules. They didn't understand bacteria,

they didn't understand germs, they didn't understand any of those things. But God

said, if you do these things, you live, and if you don't

do these things, you'll die. So the laws of nature, this is

a continuation of our conversation from yesterday. The laws of nature are God's consequences

for living the wrong way. Now, on occasion, he intervenes supernaturally.

Right, that's a miracle, is what we call that all the rest of

the time. If you you know, I came home with a disease a

while back, I was overseas and I wound up eating some contaminated something or

other and came home sick from it. That doesn't have to be necessarily God's

overt supernatural curse on me. Sure it was that I broke a law of

nature and there's a consequence to that. Right, Well, you didn't somebody

did? Yeah? How yes, something I consume something where the law of

nature's nature is broken. So and I'm still sick from it. By the

way, you're not in any danger. But yeah. So the these laws

that God puts up puts out there, we may not always understand them,

right, we might not understand Hey, how come he says, don't take

the eggs just or go ahead and take the eggs, don't take the mom

right, Well, if you take all the moms, there's not gonna be

more eggs. That's why, right, right? Why why do I have

to build a railing? It's not a God's business what I put around the

roof of my house. And God saying, listen, somebody's gonna die.

And then when somebody dies, there's a consequence for your family. So just

put a railing around. There's no problem. Right. He has an answer

for every single thing. We don't always necessarily understand why. But God is

right every time. Right, every time he's right, I guess what he's

right. So even when I can't wrap my head around the justice of God

or the morality of God. My morality and justice is not superior to God's.

So I have to come to this place where I go, Okay,

He's right, and if I don't understand it, it might because I'm wrong.

Yeah. Well, we talked about that last Sunday. In fact,

remember where I talked about childlike faith and U and I say, you know,

even in terms of our salvation, in our own intellect, we try

to reason and understand when God says, if you just trust me and put

your faith in me, you don't have to understand. You have to believe

in trust in Me right in this in the sacrifice of Christ in that case.

Hey, another thing that stands out in this passage that we read is

that there's so many applications to the statement, uh, doing to others that

you would you would have them do for you. Oh yeah, especially for

people who lose things or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, So I mean there's

there's you know, a consequence. There's there they talk about sheep, they

talk about uh, donk neighbors, donkey and ocs collapsing for assistance, you

know, go back and help them. Uh. And so it's it's the

idea that you know, Jesus later on just says, you know, treat

others the way that you would have them treat you, to love others the

way that you love yourself. And uh, and I love that idea because,

as you said, because there was no governmental laws and God is establishing,

you know, and basically explaining to everybody, if this situation arises,

here's how you should act, here's how you should respond. And uh,

I love that because, uh, you know again you and I we uh,

this is a challenge for us every day because we see somebody who's you

know, hurting and then uh, you know, we we don't back up,

and we don't go help our neighbors. Right. I calls it our

responsibility, right, right, he said, He said, assume it's your

responsibility because you're the one witnessing the sheep going astray. And he says a

couple of times, don't ignore your responsibility, right, So so he's driving

that idea home. God says something one time, you know, I think

he means it. He says it two or three times. You probably got

a yeah, I think he really means it. Yeah, it's it's it

reminds me of that when I stopped to help that girl who's stuck in the

snow. Yeah, remember that. I think I told it. But the

idea is like, I I got you, I got in my car,

I was in the snow. I literally my clothes were soaking wet, and

I used all my strength and pushed her out of the snow. And instead

of even stopping and waving, she just pulled away. She was so relieved

rescued her. I was like, you've got to be kidding me. Yeah,

this was one of your what made Chris Manns this week? Yes,

And I was just actually thinking to myself like, okay, this is perhaps

the reason why people don't stop and help people. Right, So it's interesting

he affirms the idea that there are crimes that are worthy of death is that

that's always a surprise to people. So where you and I are forbidden from

executing this is a government rule, right and where that's why he says,

Hey, the government carries a sword, That's what That's what Paul says here.

So there are you know, if if you murder, then your life

is supposed to be taken. Those kinds of things. He goes on.

He talks about possession, He talks about if you go further he talks about

sexual issues in society. Yeah, puriody, yep. He talks about elations

for worship, He talks about immigration, He talks about harvest, He talks

about tithes. He talks about the idea of leaving your fields fallow every seven

years. Right, rotate your crops, rotate your crops. Are you serious?

We didn't even realize we needed the road to hate our crops until a

couple hundred years ago. Right, Right, But he's talking about this four

thousand years ago, and it's the incredible detail. He doesn't explain it.

He talks about leaving extras in the field for the poor. Right, hey,

be a generous Society's trying to tell them from the very beginning. Listen,

you don't have to go to the very corner when you're harvesting. You

can go ahead and leave a little bit for the other people. If you

drop a bunch of grapes, go ahead and leave him. If you forget

something on a vine, that's okay, Let the poor people have them.

He's using this as God's given you plenty you can share with the people around

you. He goes on and he just unveils so many practical things for society.

Now again, I want to reaffirm, these are not the law for

your society. These were the laws that God set in place for their society

who had no king, right right. A Book of Romans, chapter fourteen

tells us we're supposed to obey the laws of our culture, right right,

so, which sometimes you know that is challenging. We if the speed limit

says twenty five, and it is in my mind radically unreasonable for that stretch

of road to be twenty five, right, Or sometimes like when I go

to Youngstown, Ohio, which is my hometown, everything's fifty five. Every

freeway is fifty five wow, and so Ohio. Right, so you just

slow down, you know, so like on the road, on the road

that's right next to us right here. You know, even even ones that

aren't like main freeways are like seventy right, right, like M fifty nine

sixty nine, Am I sixty nine? That goes past my mom and dad?

Of them, it is seventy five right on the freeway. It's great.

Yes, So it's like, but I go home and it's like fifty

five. Well, my father visited me, and you know, he doesn't

come up to Missigan very often. But I was actually going I think the

speed lim was seventy and I think I was going like seventy five, right,

and again obey the laws of land. Do I believe that that was

wrong? Yes? Do I fall short and sin all the time? Yeah,

I do so. But again I would just justify my own little mind

by saying, if had I not going seventy five, I wouldn't be able

to keeping up with people around me, right, so would have dangerous.

But I'm going seventy. Yeah, so I'm going said, yeah, yeah,

that's right. You have to be willing to pay the price, that's

right. Right. So, so a social thing like this, you're not

going to hell for it, right. Social thing like this is you better

be ready to pay the price. Right, And there's social consequences. He

writes those two in here. So if you're willing to pay the ticket,

right, if a police officer pulls me over, it's my fault. Yep,

that's right. So I've always understood that the reason why they drive fifty

five two things. One they drive fifty five in Ohio because they're slower people.

I knew. The other one's I've always been surprised down there near Youngstown.

How many of the road signs are written in crayon? Those those two

things are just wow. Those are so good. They're really good. Those

are really That's why you keep on using them over and over. It doesn't

matter how many times I've heard you say that funny. The crayon things are

really funny. We'll talk slower so I understand, I'll slow down. Yeah.

So anyway, the point is is that my father comes up and he

sees me driving seventy five and he goes berserk. He's in the back.

Ah would slow down, slow down. He he spent his whole life probably

going like forty five when it's fifty five, right, right, So anyway,

anyway, it's funny. But but the laws of the land are there,

and we are commanded to obey the laws of the land. That's right.

And the only reason, the only way that we are to disobey the

laws of the land are if they conflict with the laws of God. That's

right. Right, if there was a decree that came out that said we

were not allowed to publicly worship or you know, like like Daniel, right,

like Daniel, you know, the only thing that you should ever bow

down to is the statute of Nebukadnezzar, you know, And then Daniel's like,

yeah, no, that's not going to happen, right, same thing

with the three Hebrew children, right, yeah. So for us, what

we have to be careful of is a couple things. One, you have

a vote. We are unique in human history in this in this way that

we are Caesar right, and so we we have to use our votes.

Well. We have to advocate for our positions, we need to communicate with

those that represent us, all those kinds of things. I think it's important.

But at the same time, I cannot mix up the idea that the

laws of the land are my morality right. Our government does not is not

an arbiter of what is moral right. Our government has only determined what is

legal, and just because it's legal doesn't make it moral right. And if

they decide that they're going to outlaw a thing that God says we should do,

again, they cannot make a thing that God is said is moral,

immoral right right. And so we have to have a strong voice, we

have to speak up, we have to participate in our process. But then

we also have to determine the fact that just because the thing is is legal,

doesn't make it moral just because the outlaw thing doesn't make it immoral.

That is, God is the is the arbiter of what is moral and immoral.

That is a massive distinction that people probably don't take the time to separate

or different differentiate, you know, which is awesome. Hey, well that's

just about our time, so we will see you next time, hopefully on

the bibble guys. M m hmmm mmmmmm