Deuteronomy 28-29; Psalm 49; Galatians 6

Deuteronomy 28 Blessings and Curses

If you obey God, these Blessings:	If you disobey him, these Curses:
He will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
Blessed in the city and in the field	Cursed in the city and in the field
Your womb, your ground, your livestock blessed	Your womb, your ground, your livestock cursed
Your basket and your kneading bowl blessed	Your basket and your kneading bowl cursed
Your coming in and going out blessed	Your coming in and going out cursed
You will defeat your enemies. “They shall come out against you one way and flee seven ways.”	Your enemies will defeat you. “You shall go out against them one way and flee before them seven ways.”
God will establish you as his holy people.	The LORD will send upon you disaster, panic…in everything you do, until you are destroyed…
Others will be afraid of you.	You shall become an object of horror.
You will lend and not borrow; You will be the head, not the tail, the top, not the bottom.	Aliens shall lend to you but you shall not lend to you; they will be the head and you the tail, they will ascend above you higher and higher while you shall descend lower and lower.

In short, if you leave me (and my protection), every pain, every hardship, loss, injury, depravity, atrocity, you can think of will come upon you. There is nothing bad you can imagine that will not happen to you, and even the most gentle among you will act in atrocious and despicable ways.

Why? Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything (verse 47).

Deuteronomy 29 Covenant Renewed at Moab
Moses calls the people together.

• Summarizes their history from Egypt through the Wilderness
• Preaches to them here:
  
• You're here to enter into a covenant with God
• If you're already thinking about following other gods (those filthy idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold), you'd better think again: you'll bring disaster on your children and their children.

Psalm 49 The Folly of Trust in Riches
Reminiscent of Ecclesiastes:
16-20 "Do not be afraid when some become rich...for when they die they will carrying nothing away...Though in their lifetime they count themselves as happy...Mortals cannot abide in their pomp; they are like the animals that perish."

Galatians 6
1-10 Bear One Another's Burdens

• A change of tone here, following a list of the fruits of the Spirit: "My friends," carry each other's loads, with gentleness and humility.
• At the same time, do your own work.
• Look for every opportunity to do good, and don't give up. You will reap what you sow.

11-18 Final Admonitions and Benedictions

• Even at this conclusion, Paul is concerned about the influence of the Judaizers.
  
• Examine their motives; they're avoiding persecution, they want to boast about your circumcision
• The cross of Christ is the only thing worth boasting about.
• Brothers and sisters, grace be with you.
  

Deuteronomy 25-27; Psalm 48; Galatians 5

Deuteronomy 25
1-4 More miscellaneous laws

• If flogging is punishment decided by a judge, number of lashes may not exceed 40. Alluded to by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:24, "Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one."
  
• Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain. Quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:9.

5-10 Levirate Marriage (From Latin lēvir, husband's brother)

• Widow of man who has no heir is given to his brother as a wife, to raise up heirs for her deceased husband.
• If he refuses, he's called before the elders.
• If he still refuses, she takes off one of his sandals and spits in his face.
• From then on his family will be known as "the house of him whose sandal was pulled off."

11-19 Other Commandments

• If a wife tries to interfere in a fight by grabbing her husband's opponent's genitals, her hand is to be cut off. Show no pity.
• Don't cheat others by using two standards of weights or measures. General rule: "All who act dishonestly are abhorrent to the LORD your God."
• When you get to the promised land, remove all remembrance of Amalek from the earth, because he attacked you when you were weary.

Deuteronomy 26
1-15 First Fruits and Tithes

• When bringing to the priest the first fruits of your harvest in the new land, you must recite this detailed recitation of your history, from Abraham to Egyptian bondage to the new land: "Today I declare to the LORD your God...So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me" (verses 3-10).
  
• When you give your 3rd year tithe for Levites, aliens, orphans, and widows, here is the declaration you must make to affirm your honesty: "I have removed the sacred portion from the house...bless your people Israel...." (verses 13-15)

16-19 Concluding Exhortation

• "Today the LORD your God is commanding you..."
• "Today you have obtained the LORD's agreement to be your God...."
• "Today the LORD has obtained your agreement to be his treasured people...." It goes both ways.
  

Deuteronomy 27
1-10 The Inscribed Stones and Altar on Mount Ebal
Moses and the elders to Israel:

• When you cross the Jordan, set up large stones on Mount Ebal and cover them with plaster
• Write the words of this law on the stones
• Build an altar of unhewn stones and offer sacrifices
• "This very day you have become the people of the LORD your God." Like a new beginning; "old things have passed away."

11-16 Twelve Curses

• [The tribes of] Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin to stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing.
• [The tribes of] Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali to stand on Mt. Ebal for the curse.
• The Levites will shout the curses, and the people will respond, "Amen!"
• Cursed be anyone who:
  
• Makes an idol
• Dishonors father or mother
• Moves a neighbor's boundary marker
• Misleads a blind person on the road
• Deprives the alien, orphan, or widow of justice
• Lies with his father's wife
• Lies with any animal
• Lies with his (full or half) sister
• Lies with his mother-in-law
• Strikes down a neighbor in secret
• Takes a bribe to shed innocent blood
• Does not uphold the words of this law by observing them In case you want to limit your obedience to these commandments, remember there are many others I want you to observe as well.
  

Psalm 48 A Tribute to the City of God, Mount Zion
9 - "We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple."

Galatians 5
2-15 The Nature of Christian Freedom

• Paul's warnings:
• If you're circumcised, your faith in Christ is useless
• If you're circumcised, you're obligated to carry out the whole law
• If you're circumcised, you have fallen from grace.
• Circumcision counts for nothing. The only thing that counts is faith working through love.
• About those who would lead you astray:
• Such persuasion does not come from "the one who calls you" - Christ?
• Even a little Judaizaing teaching will grow like yeast and will permeate you through and through, like yeast in dough
• Whoever is confusing you will pay the penalty
• It's obvious I don't preach circumcision. If I did, I would not still be suffering persecution.
• Those who unsettle you should castrate themselves! (The NRSV's words -- other versions use words like "mutilate" (RSV, NASV); "go beyond circumcision" (ASV); "I would they were cut off" (KJV); "I would they would cut themselves off" (NKJV); "I wish [they] would cut off much more!" (CEV).
• Instructions to you, brothers and sisters. Friends, children, and now brothers and sisters.
  
• Do not mistake freedom for license
• Become slaves to each other in love, for the whole law is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.
• If you fight each other, you'll all lose

16-26 Works of the flesh versus Fruit of the spirit

• Living by the spirit is the opposite of giving into your fleshly desires
• If you live by the Spirit, you don't need to be concerned with the law

Works of the flesh defined

• The works of the flesh are obvious. No one has to be told these things -- you all know when you're following your fleshly desires.
• But in case you need a specific list, here's one.
  
• It's not all inclusive, though, because at the end Paul adds: "and things like these."

Fruit of Walking in the Spirit

• By contrast: If you walk in the Spirit, these will be your attributes. These are not things to strive toward, in my mind. It is not a checklist of attributes to achieve; they are byproducts of crucifying our worldly tendencies (we know what they are).
• A warning here: If you look at this like a checklist, you're bound to be comparing where you are on the list with where others are. ("I'm sure I'm more peaceable, patient, self-controlled, etc. etc. than she is.")
  
• Therefore: "Let us not be conceited, competing against one another, envying one another."
  

Deuteronomy 22-24; Psalm 47; Galatians 4

Deuteronomy 22
1-12 Miscellaneous Laws

• Do what you can to return a lost possession (animal or thing) to its owner
• Help a neighbor's fallen animal
• No cross dressing. I paraphrased it this way because I think that's the intent: To dress like a man in order to look like a man, or vice versa. There are some who would go to this passage to forbid women from wearing slacks (which are designed exclusively for women to wear). I would say if they use this for an authority, they must also have houses with flat roofs with parapets, they must never wear a polyester-cotton blend; and they must tassel their coats.
  
• If you find a nest, you may take the baby birds or the eggs, but not the mother
• If you build a house, you must build a parapet (any low protective wall or barrier at the edge of a balcony, roof, bridge, or the like) for the roof to prevent accidents
  
• Do not sow a vineyard with a second kind of seed; nor plow with a donkey and ox yoked together; nor wear clothes of wool and linen woven together. Was this for practical or symbolic reasons?
• Make tassels for the four corners of your cloak.

13-30 Regarding Sexual Relations

• A man who makes a false accusation regarding his wife's virginity before their marriage will be fined 100 shekels of silver, if evidence proves him false.
• If the charge is true, the men of her town are to stone her to death.
• Adulterers -- a man with another man's wife, or one betrothed -- shall die. If he has raped her, only the man dies.
• If a man forces a virgin, he is to pay her father 50 shekels and marry her, and will not be allowed to divorce her.
• A man shall not marry his father's wife. This must refer to a woman who is not his mother and after his father either divorces her or dies.

Deuteronomy 23
1-8 Excluded from the assembly:

• Sexually maimed men
• Illegitimate children - to the 10th generation
• Ammonites or Moabites - to the 10th generation
• Edomites or Egyptians to the 3rd generation, but do not abhor them

9-25 Sanitary, Ritual and Humanitarian Precepts

• Bury excrement outside the camp
  
• Do not return or oppress escaped slaves
• Do not permit temple prostitution; wages from such denied as payment in a vow
• Do not charge interest to another Israelite
• Either keep your vows or don't make them in the first place
• Eat what you want in your neighbor's vineyard, but you must not carry any out
• You may pluck and eat your neighbor's grain, but you may not cut it

Deuteronomy 24
1-4 Marriage and Divorce - If a man divorces his wife and she marries again, he cannot take her back if she is divorced again or widowed. It is not forbidden, though, for a man to divorce his wife just because she displeases him.

5-12 Miscellaneous Laws

• A newlywed man must not be sent out with the army until after the first year of marriage
• Kidnapping punishable by death
• Laws re:
• Leprosy - Remember Miriam
• Pledges, especially from the poor
• Withholding wages
• Paying penalty for another person's capital crime
• Justice for aliens
• A widow's pledge: Remember you were slaves once
• Leaving field gleanings for widows and orphans: Remember you were slaves once

Psalm 47 God's Sovereignty
7 - "God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm."

Galatians 4
1-7 More about the Purpose of the Law (My paraphrase):

• Under the law, we were like under-age heirs subject to a guardian or a trustee
• When Christ came, we were finally allowed to claim our inheritance (the promise given to Abraham)
  

8-20 Another reproof from Paul

• You have come out of the bondage of idolatry, and now you want to enslave yourselves again? It's obvious they don't realize what they're getting themselves into.
  
• Friends, I beg you: In spite of my infirmities, you showed great friendship to me when I was with you. Don't shun me now for telling you the truth about these Judaizing teachers.
  
• They are manipulating you for their own purposes.
• My children: It's like I am going through childbirth again until Christ is formed in you (once again). He has appealed to them as dear friends; now he appeals to them as a mother to her children: I went through labor pains when I first taught you the gospel, and you became Christians. Please don't put me through the pain of childbirth again!
• I just don't understand you!

21-31 Hagar and Sarah

• Let's look at (Father) Abraham again.
• The mothers of his children are like the two covenants.
• Hagar represents the slavery of the law.
• Sarah and Isaac represent the freedom of being the children of promise, not of slavery.
• Just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac (see Genesis 21:9, where the NRSV "playing" is translated "mocking" in other versions), so the fleshly children (the Judaizers) are persecuting you.
• You are free now; don't become slaves again. It's like the Israelites wanting to go back into Egypt where there were onions and leeks, "the good life." They quickly forgot the hardships of Egypt. The difference in this case is that these Gentiles had not experienced the bondage of Judaism, so Paul is trying to warn them: You don't want to go there!

Deuteronomy 19-21; Psalm 46; Galatians 3

Deuteronomy 19
1-13 Cities of Refuge

• After you have "dispossessed" the nations (an established fact, as far as God is concerned), set apart 3 cities, equidistant so one guilty of manslaughter could flee to any one of them. In Numbers 35, there were six. The other three are east of the Jordan (Deuteronomy 4:41-43).
• Example of manslaughter given, and reason for cities of refuge: so avenger of blood won't take justice into his own hands
• If you follow God's commands and he enlarges your territory, you'll be able to add 3 more cities of refuge
• One guilty of premeditated murder will be removed from city of refuge and killed.
• Show no pity.
  

14-23 Property Boundaries and Witnesses

• Don't move your neighbor's property boundaries
• Convictions made only on evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses
• False witness will receive punishment he intended for his victim -- to be made an example
• Show no pity: "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." This is one of the most well-known of Old Testament passages, yet this is the only time -- so far -- that I have noticed it. In context, it shows God's utter disdain for falsehood born out of malice.

Deuteronomy 20 Rules of Warfare

• If enemy is larger, do not be afraid. The LORD God is with you.
• Before battle, the priest will remind you that God will give you victory.
• Next: the commanders will tell the armies that if they have any unfinished business (house dedication; enjoying fruit from a vineyard; marriage), they'd better take care of it, in case they don't survive the battle. Not much comfort here! Apparently, victory doesn't mean every soldier will survive.
• For towns that are far off:
• As you approach a town, first offer terms of peace. If they accept, they will be your slaves.
• It not, kill all the men, but take everything -- and everyone -- else as spoil.
• But for towns you are inheriting -- the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites -- annihilate them -- get rid of their pagan influences
• In a siege, don't destroy food-producing trees -- only those you'll use for wood.
• Funny statement: "Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?" So it's okay to fight against humans, but leave the trees be.
• 
  

Deuteronomy 21
1-9 Murder by Unknown Person

• If body is found in field, but killer is not known, the elders from the nearest town are to bring a never-worked heifer to a running stream and break its neck there
• In the presence of the priests, they are to wash their hands above the heifer and declare their innocence and ask God for absolution

10-14 Female Captives

• If soldier wants to marry a captive woman, he brings her into his house, where she shaves her head, pares her nails, and discards her garb.
• She stays in his house for a month, mourning her family
• After the month, he may marry her, but if he changes his mind, he is to let her go free. She is not to become a slave, "since you have dishonored her."
  

15-17 Right of the Firstborn - A firstborn is to receive his rightful inheritance, even if his mother may not be the preferred wife. Polygamy seems to be an acceptable practice -- though a possible problem is implied: A man will probably prefer one wife over another and tend to favor her children as well.

18-21 Rebellious Children

• If a son is stubborn and rebellious, a glutton and a drunkard, then parents can take him to the elders, and all the men of the town will stone him to death
• Reason? "So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid." This theme of making an example of evildoers is repeated again and again. It's a sacrifice of one for the good of the whole.

22-23 Re: Execution by hanging - You must bury the body the same day, "for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse." A reference to the ignominious death of Christ (Galatians 3:13 - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" -- which is in today's reading, coincidentally.)

Psalm 46
Familiar passages from this psalm:
1 - "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
2 - "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult." I remember this being a particularly appropriate passage in the aftermath of Katrina. See Meditation Moments, written in September 2005, published here on March 13, 2008.

Galatians 3
1-18 Law, or Faith?

• "You foolish Galatians!" Paul is again incredulous that they are following where the Judaizing teachers are trying to lead them. They saw the crucified Jesus for themselves; they received the Holy Spirit; they saw miracles. Do they now believe that was all from doing the works of the law?
• Even the Father of the Jews -- Abraham -- wasn't saved by the works of the law. He was saved by faith. So as Gentiles you'll become his child not by following the old law but by believing. That's what God told Abraham would happen.
• You'll be cursed if you try to follow the law -- because that's what happens to those who break the law -- and you will break it. Christ took that curse on himself on the cross.
  
• God made the promise to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed in him. The law does not nullify that promise.

19-29 Purpose of the Law

• Added because of sin -- a guide for God's people until the one came who would be the true offspring of Abraham.
• The law helps fulfill God's promise, but it cannot produce righteousness. It's a system of sin and punishment.
• The law was used as a disciplinarian, but faith frees us from the disciplinarian.
• All who are baptized wear the same clothes -- Christ -- and there is no gender or ethnic distinction.
  
• All who are Christ's are children of God and heirs of the promise made to Abraham.
  

Deuteronomy 16-18; Psalm 45; Galatians 2

Deuteronomy 16
1-8 Passover Reviewed

• Month of Abib -- the month of the escape from Egypt
• Passover sacrifice eaten only in the place of God's choosing
• Unleavened bread -- bread of affliction -- eaten for 7 days. Didn't recall it being called the "bread of affliction" before
  
• 7th day a day of rest

9-12 Festival of Weeks

• 7 weeks from beginning of harvest
• Proportionate freewill offering
• Rejoice -- at the place the LORD will choose for a dwelling

13-17 Festival of Booths

• 7-day festival, when produce has been gathered
• All -- Israelites, families, slaves, Levites, strangers, orphans, widows -- will rejoice and celebrate God's goodness

All males will appear in place of God's choosing at these 3 festivals

18-20 Municipal Judges and Officers

• Appoint judges and officials throughout the tribes
• You must not: distort justice, show partiality, or accept bribes
• Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue

Deuteronomy 17
16:21 - 17:7 Forbidden Forms of Worship

• Sacred poles
• Defective animal sacrifices
• Idolatry - punishable by stoning on the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses
  
• Witnesses will cast the first stones. I would think this would deter hasty judgment, if you knew you had to help carry out the execution
  

8-13 Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

• Questionable cases decided by levitical priests and the judge in the place of God's choosing
• Decision must be obeyed exactly. Disobedience punishable by death "so you shall purge the evil from Israel."
  

14-20 Limitations of Royal Authority

• When you decide you want a king.... God is prophesying they will eventually want a king -- long before it happens.
  
• He's giving them permission to do so, but sets these guidelines:
• He must be one of you
• He must not acquire many horses for himself, especially if it means going back to Egypt to get them
• He must not acquire many wives, because they'll turn his heart away
• Nor silver and gold
• He must have a copy of this law and read it all the days of his life.
  
• Besides being Israelites, not many of their kings followed these guidelines very well. Solomon had scores of horses -- and wives, which -- sure enough -- turned his heart away. The law was eventually forgotten altogether, and in the back of my mind, I'm thinking there may have been an Egyptian alliance during the time of the Divided Kingdom.
  

Deuteronomy 18
1-8 Privileges of Priests and Levites

• No land allotment or inheritance
• From animal sacrifices, priest receives the shoulder, two jowls, and the stomach
• He also receives the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, and the first fleece
• Any Levite can serve at God's chosen place. There they will have equal portions to eat, regardless of their personal wealth

9-14 Prohibition of Abhorrent Pagan Practices

• Child sacrifices, divination, soothsaying, augur (interpreting omens), sorcery, casting spells, consulting ghosts or spirits, seeking advice from the dead
• These practices are the reasons God is driving out these people before you

15-22 New Prophet like Moses

• From among the people, as they requested at Horeb. If we didn't know about Acts 3:22, this mention of a "prophet like Moses" would be a real puzzle. The Jews were still wondering about it during Jesus' time, thinking John the Baptist might be this prophet (John 1:21).
  
• False prophets are subject to death
• The test: Whether or not what he prophesies takes place

Psalm 45 Ode for a Royal Wedding
To the King: 7 - "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."
To his bride: 10 - "Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your people and your father's house, and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him...."

Galatians 2
1-10 Paul and the Other Apostles (He continues his defense of his apostleship with a history of his association with some of the original Twelve.) (Jerusalem)

• In Syria and Cilicia for 14 years, then he made the trip to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along
• There he met privately with church leaders regarding his work with Gentiles
• "False believers" slipped in as spies, seeking to force the old law on them, but Paul was not moved
• James, Cephas, and John, the "acknowledged pillars," extended fellowship to Paul
• Their only request of Paul: That he remember the poor. Such a simple request for someone of Paul's stature. It's as if they're saying, "Yes, we're really impressed with the progress you've made in preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. But don't forget in your fervor to remember their physical situations as well."
  

11-14 Paul Rebukes Peter at Antioch (Map 17)
Further evidence of his position as an apostle, that he could chastise even Peter.

• Peter came to Antioch and ate with the Gentiles, until some men came in from Jerusalem. Then he distanced himself from them.
  
• Other Jews -- even Barnabas -- were led astray by Peter's actions.
  
• Paul publicly rebuked Cephas (Peter): You don't live like a Jew; how can you shun the Gentiles because they don't live like Jews?

15-21 Treatise on Salvation by Faith for both Jews and Gentiles

• Paul: Even as Jews by birth (and not Gentile sinners), we know we're not justified by works of the law; we're justified by faith
  
• That doesn't mean we go back to sinning; we're saved from sin, not in sin
  
• It would be a sin to go back to the law that we have rejected and especially to take others with us
  
• Paul's trying to keep the law was a part of his decision to leave the law behind. In order to live for God, he had to leave the law behind. I need to think about this one some more. It's hard to understand and even harder to express how he could die to the law through the law.
  
• "I have been crucified with Christ...." I think this meant more to Paul than just denying his own desires; to him, it was all intertwined with his old life as a Jew as well. We have lifted this verse out of context so often, I think we often fail to make that connection.
  
• To look to law for justification is to nullify the death of Christ and the grace of God
  

Deuteronomy 13-15; Psalm 44; Galatians 1

Deuteronomy 13
More Warnings Against Idolatry

• Even if true prophets tell you to follow other gods, don't listen to them. It's a test from God. This reminds me of the warning in Galatians 1:8 - "If we or an angel from heaven..." What's curious, though, is that here the enticement appears to originate with God, as if he's trying to trip us up, testing our devotion to him.
• If a family member tries to entice you into following other gods, show no pity nor shield them. In fact, you must be the first one to kill them, to stone them to death as an example to others. Whoa! This seems extremely strict! What a position to be put in, to be an "innocent" listener and put into the position of killing one of your own family members. Indicates how serious this is in the mind of God.
  
• If you hear of a town that's going into idolatry, investigate to see if it's true. If it is, destroy that town and all its inhabitants, burn the town and all its spoil, and never rebuild it. Knowing Israel's later fall into idolatry, it's obvious they didn't go to these (what seems like) extreme measures. Which is maybe why they succumbed, and many more paid the price.
  

Deuteronomy 14
1-2 Pagan Practices Forbidden: Self-laceration or head-shaving for the dead

3-21 Clean and Unclean Foods

• Clean: ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, mountain sheep: whatever divides the hoof and chews the cud -- both, not either/or.
• Unclean: camel, hare, rock badger (who chew the cud but do not divide the hoof); pig (who divides the hoof but does not chew the cud)
  
• Do not eat their meat; do not touch their carcasses
• Water animals: Clean - Whatever has fins and scales; Unclean - all others
• Birds: Unclean - eagle, vulture, osprey, buzzard, kite, raven, ostrich, nighthawk, sea gull, hawk, owl, water hen, desert owl, carrion vulture, cormorant, stork, heron, hoopoe (a crested bird with a slender decurved bill and black-and-white wings and tail), or bat
• Insects: Unclean - all winged insects
• Unclean: Anything that dies of itself. But you may give it to aliens or sell it to foreigners
• Forbidden: boiling a kid in its mother's milk

22-29 Regarding Tithes

• Set apart a tithe (10th, I suppose?) of the yield of your fields, eat it in the designated place
• If the place is too far from you, turn the yield into money, buy what you wish, and eat it with your household in the designated place, "rejoicing together."
• Don't neglect the Levites
• Every 3rd year, store a tithe of your produce for the Levites, resident aliens, orphans and widows

Deuteronomy 15
1-18 Regarding the Sabbatical Year

• Every 7th year - Remission of debts for members of your community only, not for foreigners
• If you follow my commandments, however, there should be no one in need, for you will all prosper
• When I bless you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow
• However -- if anyone among you is in need, be generous -- even if it's close to the remission year.
  
• 10 - "Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake." Where have we heard this before? 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.
• In this 7th year, free your Hebrew slaves, sending them out with a liberal portion of your own bounty. Remember you were slaves in Egypt.
• If slave chooses to stay, pierce his or her ear as a sign of this pledge
• Do not consider this a hardship. After all, they have served you for six years.

19-23 Firstborn of Livestock

• If it is without defect, it is to be eaten in the presence of the LORD in the place the LORD chooses
• Pour its blood out on the ground like water

Psalm 44 - To the leader, Of the Korahites (possibly the musical leaders in the temple). A Maskil (meaning either "instruction" or "lament"). The writers of this psalm perceive that God has abandoned them. Could this be true? If so, why?

• 1-8 - We have heard how you helped our ancestors
• 9-16 - But now you have rejected us and made us a laughingstock
• 17-22 - We have not forgotten you, yet you have covered us in darkness. Because of you "we are being killed all day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter." (Repeated in Romans 8:36, Paul referring to himself and the other apostles suffering persecution for the gospel.)
• 23-26 - Rouse yourself, O Lord; come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.
  

Galatians 1
1-3 Salutation

• From Paul, an apostle, commissioned by God to the churches of Galatia
• Grace and peace from God and Christ, who
• gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age
  
• according to the will of the Father
• to whom be the glory forever and ever

6-10 There is no other gospel, and if anyone else preaches such, they are to be accursed

11-18 Defense of Paul's Apostleship

• Received by revelation of Jesus, not men
• Paul's history -- zeal for Judaism, conversion, 3-year stay in Arabia and Damascus
• His limited association with other apostles