deuteronomy 25-26

Read Deuteronomy 25-26 at Bible Gateway.

We saw yesterday that the explanation for the 10th Commandment, Do not covet, began at Deu 24:10, and it continues in today’s chapters:

Deu 24:10-13 {s} Do not covet the pledge
Deu 24:14-15 {s} Do not covet the wages of your hired men
Deu 24:16 {s} Do not covet revenge so that you put to death the innocent for the guilty
Deu 24:17-18 {s} Do not covet the pledge that belongs to the poor
Deu 24:19 {s} Do not covet the grain that is for the poor
Deu 24:20-22 {s} Do not covet the fruit that is for the poor
Deu 25:1-4 {s} Do not withhold what is justly due the wicked or the ox
Deu 25:5-10 {s} Do not withhold seed that is justly due the dead brother
Deu 25:11-12 {s} Do not withhold just punishment
Deu 25:13-16 {p} Do not covet gain from unjust weights or measures
Deu 25:17-19 {p} Do not withhold what is justly due to Amalek
Deu 26:1-11 {s} Do not withhold the firstfruits that are justly due
Deu 26:12-15 {s} Do not withhold the tithe of the 3rd year that is justly due

Covet is in Hebrew, avah, Strong’s H183, meaning powerful sighing after or longing. Webster’s defines it as desiring that which belongs to another. In each of these paragraphs, we can see that this is indeed the case, as even punishment justly belongs to the wicked.

The final paragraph of chapter 26 is interesting:

“This day the LORD your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. Also today, the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken.” Deu 26:16-19

End Quote! In other words, the speech which Moses began in Deu 5:1 is now concluded. To confirm this, note that Deu 27:1 does not open with a quote, as all the paragraphs from Deu 5:1 and on have, but opens with a return to a narrative style of writing. This final paragraph contains no explanation of any commandments, but a conclusion for all the statutes and judgments which Moses has been explaining for many many chapters now. This makes the paragraph which ends with Deu 26:15, the end of the explanation of Do not covet.

For further study: Does the section explaining Do not covet form its own chiastic structure? Can you find it? What is the central axis? Can you go back and find any chiastic structures from any of the explanations of the commandments remaining? What are their central axis’? What can we learn about what God considers obedience to His commandments through Moses’ explanation?

Finding Messiah: The tithe of the 3rd year prophesies of Messiah Yeshua, as the number three is our clue, but how? The tithe of the 3rd year is set aside so that the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow may be provided for. It is not substance that they have earned by their work, for they do not own their own land in Israel. But it is a gift of God – just as is our salvation in Messiah Yeshua!