Deuteronomy chapter 16

Is this what it has come to? I get up so early that I only have time to post here on weekends. Sigh. Prac is a drain.

vs 12

I wonder if constantly remembering the slavery of Egypt could have had the effect of making Israel think they will never be slaves again, Scarlet O'Hara style? If it did, they were going to be disappointed.

vs 13

Another feast! It comes after harvest.

vs 14

Well, it is a festival - no point being morose. But notice that everyone is involved. So you can't go off and party and leave your slave to keep working. Everyone gets the time to celebrate.

vs 15

This festival is to be a joyful reminder that all the stuff they have harvested, and are celebrating with, has come from God in accordance with his promise. So yay to God!

vs 16

Three regular pilgrimages to the chosen place. Each one is a feast, so you've got to make sure you can take something.

vs 17

It is interesting that God is a percentage God, a proportional God - fairness across the board. No flat taxes for God.

vs 18

This is pretty much perpetuating the judges Moses put over them in the first place. when he decided he couldn't do it all.

vs 19

We read this and say, "Well, that's stating the obvious." But bribes are so common outside the western world, that they stop seeming wrong. They aren't looked on as bribes - they are looked on as gifts, or tips, or supplementary payments. It all depends on culture. So this statement would be more powerful in such a culture.

vs 20

Justice should be its own reward for a judge. Besides, anyone who gets posted as a judge is probably going to be in a fairly good financial position anyway.

vs 21-22

Again, we would think this is obvious. But everything has to be said a first time (and I know this probably isn't the first time it is said, but things get repeated for memory's sake so much in this culture that you can probably still count it as a first time. It's in the first set, if you like).