Quiet Time in Deuteronomy 22
- Filip
- Aug 22, 2022
- 3 min read
EXPAND TO READ: DEUTERONOMY 22 (HCSB)
Caring for Your Brother’s Property
22 “If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; make sure you return it to your brother. 2 If your brother does not live near you or you don’t know him, you are to bring the animal to your home to remain with you until your brother comes looking for it; then you can return it to him. 3 Do the same for his donkey, his garment, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it. 4 If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen down on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.
Preserving Natural Distinctions
5 “A woman is not to wear male clothing, and a man is not to put on a woman’s garment, for everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord your God.
6 “If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young. 7 You may take the young for yourself, but be sure to let the mother go free, so that you may prosper and live long. 8 If you build a new house, make a railing around your roof, so that you don’t bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it. 9 Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; otherwise, the entire harvest, both the crop you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled. 10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 Do not wear clothes made of both wool and linen. 12 Make tassels on the four corners of the outer garment you wear.
Violations of Proper Sexual Conduct
13 “If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and comes to hate her, 14 and accuses her of shameful conduct, and gives her a bad name, saying, ‘I married this woman and was intimate with her, but I didn’t find any evidence of her virginity,’ 15 the young woman’s father and mother will take the evidence of her virginity and bring it to the city elders at the gate. 16 The young woman’s father will say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her. 17 He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying: “I didn’t find any evidence of your daughter’s virginity,” but here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ They will spread out the cloth before the city elders. 18 Then the elders of that city will take the man and punish him. 19 They will also fine him 100 silver shekels and give them to the young woman’s father, because that man gave an Israelite virgin a bad name. She will remain his wife; he cannot divorce her as long as he lives. 20 But if this accusation is true and no evidence of the young woman’s virginity is found, 21 they will bring the woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from you.
22 “If a man is discovered having sexual relations with another man’s wife, both the man who had sex with the woman and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. 23 If there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and has sex with her, 24 you must take the two of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s fiancée. You must purge the evil from you. 25 But if the man encounters an engaged woman in the open country, and he seizes and rapes her, only the man who raped her must die. 26 Do nothing to the young woman, because she is not guilty of an offense deserving death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. 27 When he found her in the field, the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her. 28 If a man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered, 29 the man who raped her must give the young woman’s father 50 silver shekels, and she must become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.
30 “A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not violate his father’s marriage bed.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 22): My sin today, Father, is one that I have already confessed to You, my wife, and my brothers in faith. My sin today is concerning the topic of me, being a married man, having sexual relations with a married woman who is not my wife. I confess that I did cheat on my wife with a married woman. Based on Your old law, both of us are deserving of death in Your sight as these acts are detestable to You. I am ashamed of what I did and I do recognize that I am deserving of this punishment. At the same time, Jesus died for all of my sins and the grace You’ve shown me through His sacrifice is sufficient to cover ALL of my sins, even this one. Help me to no longer feel guilt nor shame over my past, Father. Help me to live in the grace You have provided to me, so that my guilt and shame do not re-crucify me daily.
PROMISE (verse 5): Although this is mostly a command, I also see it as a promise as You are revealing to us some of the things You find detestable in this world. This particular verse covers cross-dressing specifically for both men and women. You do not want men nor women dressing as the other gender. You promise us that all who do these things are detestable in your sight. Thank You for this promise, Father. Although Your grace and Jesus’ sacrifice covers all sin, including that discussed in this verse, Your Old Testament rules are still solid guidelines for us to live by and should be followed to the best of our ability.
ATTITUDE (verse 4): My attitude adjustment today is to be better at helping my fellow brothers who are in need. I do sometimes look the other way, which I am not proud of. Although You have blessed me with a big, caring, helper’s heart, I do fight that urge often out of my own selfishness, fear, or lack of confidence in the moment. Help me to be better at embracing and living in a helper’s heart fuller, Father, so that my brothers who need my help are never lacking to the best of my ability in this life.
COMMAND (verse 8): You give MANY commands in today’s scripture, Father, but this particular verse really stood out to me. If we own or build a home, we are to build it in a way that is safe for others, so that we do not “bring bloodguilt on our house if someone falls on it.” I feel like I’ve followed this command rather well, but could/should I do better? If I am lacking in this, Father, please help me to better follow Your command of ensuring my home is safe for both my family and any guests we invite into our home. I do not want my home to be cursed with bloodguilt, as You state here. I want it to be as safe as I can make it for anyone who enters it. Help me to ensure I am being a blessing for all those that walk onto my property by ensuring a safe environment for them, Father.
EXAMPLE (verse 1-4): The very start of this scripture gives some great insight into how we are to live our lives amongst others. We are to be as helpful as we can be, looking for ways to help out our brothers in this world. We are not to stray away from the blessing of helping them, rather we’re to actually step up and do what we can to ensure that everything within our capabilities are being done to help them where we can. Ignorance seems to be a rabid disease in today’s world, both ignorance in refusing to listen to facts/truth, but also ignorance in ignoring situations that we could help out with. I’m guilty of this just as the world is, unfortunately. Help me to be better at helping others when and where I can, Father, so that You may be glorified through ALL that I am in this life.
*DAILY NOTE: Interesting message today, Father. You hit me with a LOT of the law of Moses commands today. Although Jesus has covered us and is the new covenant/law, the old law still gives some great insight and guidelines on how I should be living my life. Thank You for providing some direction to me today, Father. Thank You for giving me more and more insight into the way things used to be. Knowing the old law gives me an even greater appreciation for the new covenant through Jesus and I am so grateful.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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