A Commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, chs. 23, 24, 25 (14 August, 2013, Elul 8, 5773)
 [A continuation of Ci Taetsai. D6a Resistance to Evil ]
Duration: 24.24 minutes
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The Book of Deuteronomy, chs. 23, 24, 25 (Ci Taytsai) tells us to accept Edomites and Egyptians into the community after three generations. The pressures of US Secretary of State John Kerry (August 2013) against the State of Israel are to be resisted. Escaped slaves were to be given refuge. Sexual promiscuity and homosexuality is forbidden. Other Israelites are to be treated with dignity and respect. The poor and vulnerable are to be cared for. Evil adversaries of the Israelite Peoples must be punished and revenge taken against them.
s.4Â 23:8-24
Deuteronomy 23:
7 You shall not abhor any of the Edomites, for they are your kin. You shall not abhor any of the Egyptians, because you were an alien residing in their land. 8The children of the third generation that are born to them may be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.
An Edomite could become an Israelite after three generations of sojourning amongst Israelites. At one stage many descendants of Edom did join up with Israel and Judah.
 The Edomites were descended from Esau the twin-brother of Jacob. The Edomites had a kingdom of their own to the southeast of Israel. In Roman times this kingdom is referred to as Idumea. In addition to Idumea descendants of Edom ruled over numerous over places. Ancient Sparta in Greece was probably founded by Edom. So was Rome. The German peoples and other European groups had rulers descended in part from Edomites.
Both Edomites and Egyptians had to go through three generations of sojourning before being accepted into the community. Non-Israelites from other nations did not have to wait but could be accepted at once.
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Deuteronomy 23:
9 When you are encamped against your enemies you shall guard against any impropriety.
 When you go to war you should keep yourself as pure and as unsullied as possible. There are those who try and give the impression that dirty language and immodest behavior is more manly. This is a delusion. Manliness begins with self-respect or at least with respect for basic codes of conduct.
Deuteronomy 23:
10 If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp; he must not come within the camp. 11When evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp.
 a nocturnal emission. In Hebrew "Mikreh [chance occurence] Laylah [of the night]". The word Mikreh [chance occurence] is from the root KRH. This is the same root as that in the word "KERI".
In the Bible "GOING KERI" [taylekh keri] means denying the Almighty or at least the involvement of God in the world.Â
God says that if you go KERI with HIM then HE will go KERI with you i.e. HE will abandon you and you will be given over to calamities and dreadful disasters.
Leviticus 26:
21 If you [go KERI with me] [continue hostile to me [KERI] , and will not obey me, I will continue to plague you sevenfold for your sins. 22I will let loose wild animals against you, and they shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock; they shall make you few in number, and your roads shall be deserted.
23 If in spite of these punishments you have not turned back to me, but continue hostile [going KERI] to me, 24 then I too will continue hostile [KERI]Â to you: I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
Nothing exists or happens that is not in the Bible.
John Kerry, US Secretary of State has come to Israeli (July, August, 2013) is pressuring Israel to give up control over parts of the Land of Israel. Because of Kerry Israel was forced to release hundreds of wicked terrorist who murdered or were involved in the murder of Jewish men, women, and children.
This is against the Bible.
See:
KERI
The US Secretary of State and a Warning to Israeli and America (12 August, 2013, Elul 6, 5773)
John Kerry has threatened Israel with Isolation and a virtual threat to its national existence unless it concedes to the forces of Islam represented by the Palestinian terrorists and their supporters.
See:
Kerry Warned Netanyahu: If Talks Fail, Israel Will be Isolated
By Elad Benari (14 August, 2013, Elul 8, 5773)
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170895#.UguIFyT8IdU
Extracts:
Quote:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that if his latest peace mission is unsuccessful, Israel will be isolated.
According to Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, Kerry capitalized on Israel"s anxiety over the European Union"s new guidelines which boycott Israeli entities that operate from beyond the 1949 Armistice Line.
Kerry, according to Goldberg's latest column, has warned Netanyahu in recent weeks that if the current peace talks bear no fruit, Israel may soon be facing an international delegitimization campaign -- in his words -- "on steroids."
Anonymous officials cited by Goldberg said that Kerry thinks the one thing Netanyahu fears as much as Iran's nuclear program is the growing power of the international movement that seeks to isolate, scapegoat and demonize his country.
"Although Netanyahu is worried that the campaign to make Israel appear to be an illegitimate state could hurt the country's robust economy, he is said to be even more worried that this campaign will erode Israel's ability to defend itself," wrote Goldberg.
"The theory is simple: A country seen as illegitimate, not only by the powerful Arab lobby at the United Nations but also by Western powers, will have little standing if it is forced to retaliate against sustained attacks from groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which remain committed to Israel's extermination. Netanyahu thinks that the campaign to delegitimize Israel could force Western powers to rein in Israel, or at the very least, rush to condemn it before it has the chance to defend itself," he added.
End Quote.
John Kerry is carrying out the will of Barak Hussein Obama arch-enemy of the Israelite Peoples.
Kerry is a danger to the Jews in Israel and to the Israelites in the USA.
The Israelites were commanded to maintain basic rules of sanitation.
Deuteronomy 23:
12 You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go. 13With your utensils you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement. 14Because the Lord your God travels along with your camp, to save you and to hand over your enemies to you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.
Slavers who escaped to you from their owners overseas could not be returned.
Deuteronomy 23:
15 Slaves who have escaped to you from their owners shall not be given back to them. 16 They shall reside with you, in your midst, in any place they choose in any one of your towns, wherever they please; you shall not oppress them.
Deuteronomy 23:
17 None of the daughters of Israel shall be a prostitute; none of the sons of Israel shall be a homosexual.
 prostitute. Hebrew "Kedeshah" meaning a woman dedicated to sexual licence. From here the Rabbis learned a general prohibition against illicit sex even when those concerned were not married. Promiscuity was forbidden.
Homosexuality and everything like it is also strictly forbidden by the Bible.
See:
Homosexuality Kills!
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Homosexuals are the Enemy! Why Homosexuality Should NOT be Tolerated!
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s.5Â 23:25-24:4
Deuteronomy 23:
25 If you go into your neighbour's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbour's standing grain.
This Law actually only applied to someone who was working in the field of another.
Divorce was permitted (24:1-4) though the Sages and Rabbis were later often critical of it.
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s.6Â Â 24:5-13
Deuteronomy 24:
5 When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home for one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married.
6 No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.
7 If someone is caught kidnapping another Israelite, enslaving or selling the Israelite, then that kidnapper shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
The death penalty existed for kidnapping or enslaving a fellow Israelite.
We should be careful how we treat other people. Do not order them about, especially if they are not obligated to do your bidding.
Israelites should develop the qualities of sensitivity and empathy for others.
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s.7Â Â 24:14-25:19
A day laborer had to be paid on the same day he worked unless it had been previously agreed otherwise (24:14-15).
Deuteronomy 24:
16 Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may persons be put to death.
17 You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow's garment in pledge. 18Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.
When grapes or grain was harvested gleanings had to be left behind for the poor to gather (24:19-21). The poor included aliens, orphans, and widows. The Book of Ruth tells us how Ruth went to glean in the fields of Boaz and ended up marrying him.
Deuteronomy 24:
22 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.
Levirate Marriage existed where the brother would marry the widow if they had had no children (25:5-10). Similar practices existed amongst numerous other peoples including the Irish.
A woman who physically intervened in a fight between here husband and another man could be severely punished.
Deuteronomy 25:
11 If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, 12you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.
This illustrates a known phenomenon. There are women who interfere in the business of men, try to take command, and seem to have a castrating complex.
Uneven weights were condemned (25:13-16).
The word for weight was "even" meaning literally stone.
The English word "even" is defined as:
1
a : having a horizontal surface : flat <even ground>
b : being without break, indentation, or irregularity : smooth
c : being in the same plane or line
2
a : free from variation : uniform <his disposition was even>
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/even
Its etymology is given as:
Old English efen "level," also "equal, like; calm, harmonious; quite, fully; namely," from Proto-Germanic *ebnaz (cf. Old Saxon eban, Old Frisian even "level, plain, smooth," Dutch even, Old High German eban, German eben, Old Norse jafn, Danish jaevn, Gothic ibns).
http://etymonline.com/?term=even
In fact a derivation from the Hebrew "EVEN" connoting measured out, weighed precisely, etc, would seem logical.
We vwere told to remember the dastardly deeds of Amalek and take revenge.
Deuteronomy 25
17 Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, 18how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God. 19Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget.
#Â he did not fear God. # i.e. Amalek did not fear God. This is the traditional accepted understanding
in accordance with how the Hebrew is traditionally read.
The verse in the Hebrew however may alternately be read as saying,
# AND YOU FEARED NOT GOD #. This was pointed out by the Sages in Midrash Sifrei.
In other words,
Because you did not fear God the enemy was able to come and attack you. Nevertheless, even though your culpability in some sense may have induced this attack upon you, you must still take vengeance!
WE some times hear concerning rape victims and the like, expressions such as,
"She was asking for it!"
Even if there is some truth in this the guilty party must still be punished and the injured person has the right to take what revenge they can.
If someone did you wrong and your feel you may have deserved it for some other reason not related to the person in question then the culprit should still be punished.
There are some offences against oneself that should be forgiven and forgotten.
There are other sins however that we are forbidden to forgive.
This applies especially when the offender shows no signs of repentances and is liable to offend again.
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The Haftorah
Isaiah 54:1-10
http://www.britam.org/isaiah/Isaiah51to55.html
Judah will return prior to the Ten Tribes and prepare the way for them. Judah will rebuild the waste places (54:3). God was angry but HE will yet have mercy (54:8).
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[Isaiah 54:3] FOR THOU SHALT BREAK FORTH ON THE RIGHT HAND AND ON THE LEFT; AND THY SEED SHALL INHERIT THE GENTILES, AND MAKE THE DESOLATE CITIES TO BE INHABITED.
This is applicable mainly to Judah who will return prior to the Ten Tribes and prepare the way for them. Judah will rebuild the waste places.