UNROLL
Israel's camp of low black goat-hair tents in long rows on the plains of Moab at evening, a few cooking fires glowing, the dark tableland of Moab rising behind under a clear evening sky.

The Book of

Deuteronomy 23

Who may stand in the LORD’s assembly, how a camp stays fit for His presence, and why a curse became a blessing.

25 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–4Remember the wayFrom Horeb to Moab
  2. 5–11Love the LORDThe heart of the covenant
  3. 12–26Laws for the landWorship, justice, neighborChapter 23
  4. 27–30Blessing and curseChoose life
  5. 31–34Moses' farewellA song, a blessing, a death

Exclusion from the Congregation

The law

The assembly of the LORD

  1. The assembly

    A man castrated or maimed

    No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD.

  2. One of forbidden birth

    No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the LORD, nor may any of his descendants, even to the tenth generation.

  3. The nations

    No Ammonite or Moabite

    No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.

  4. No bread, and Balaam hired

    For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

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Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.

Deuteronomy 23:5

Moses

Reflect

Curse into blessing

Balaam was hired to curse Israel, but “the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.” Think back over your own story. Where did something meant for harm turn out, in God’s hands, for your good? Write it down, and thank Him for it.

Uncleanness in the Camp

When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every wicked thing. If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp and stay outside. When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may return to the camp.

You must have a place outside the camp to go and relieve yourself. And you must have a digging tool in your equipment so that when you relieve yourself you can dig a hole and cover up your excrement.

For the LORD your God walks throughout your camp to protect you

Pray

Walk among us

Moses gave the reason under every rule of the camp: “the LORD your God walks throughout your camp to protect you.” Thank God that in Jesus He has come to live among His people. Ask Him to walk with you today, and to clean out anything in your life that is not fit for His presence.

Miscellaneous Laws

Do not return a slave to his master if he has taken refuge with you. Let him live among you wherever he chooses, in the town of his pleasing. Do not oppress him.

At night at the gate of a hill-country village, a gaunt man in a torn tunic, seen from behind, is welcomed in by a villager holding a small clay lamp, who lays a hand on his shoulder.
In a farmyard in the morning, a row of tall clay storage jars stands by a stone wall, one jar open beside a coarse sack half filled with barley, a wooden scoop resting in the grain.

The law

God’s house and a brother’s need

  1. Worship

    No shrine prostitute in Israel

    No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.

  2. No such wages in God’s house

    You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.

  3. Lending

    No interest from your brother

    Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.

  4. From a foreigner, interest allowed

    You may charge a foreigner interest, but not your brother, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything to which you put your hand in the land that you are entering to possess.

If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty of sin. Be careful to follow through on what comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth.

A traveler's hand plucks a few ripe heads of wheat at the edge of a golden field beside a footpath, his staff and bundle at his feet, a vineyard on the terrace above in low evening light.

When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, but you must not put any in your basket.

When you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

0:15

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Question

Quick question

Edom and Egypt had both treated Israel badly. Yet Moses told Israel not to despise either of them.

Why was Israel not to despise an Edomite?

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Deuteronomy 23

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A verse to carry with you

Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.

Deuteronomy 23:5

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