DIVINE LAWS (DEUT.12)
Now lets talk about the Divine Laws and Instructions that you must obey as long as you live. . .
WHILE THE B.R SCRIPTURES PREFERS THE TERM `INSTRUCTIONS' OVER WORDS LIKE `COMMANDS', 'TURAH' OR `LAW' (BECAUSE OF RELIGIOUS ARGUMENT SURROUNDING THE IDEA OF `LAW') AND BECAUSE `INSTRUCTION' IMPLIES ALOT MORE PERSONAL INTIMACY. . . . WE'RE GOING TO LOOK AT THE DIVINE LAWS GIVEN TODAY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF REIGNING GOVERNMENT AND THE HIGHER CONSTITUTION THAT EVERY CREATURE IN SHAMAYIM (THE HIGHER DIMENSION) LIVES BY. THE SAME BEHAVIOURAL LAWS OF CLEANLINESS GIVEN TO MANKIND TO LIVE BY IF THEY WANT TO COME CLOSE TO THE CREATOR.
DIVINE: (hebrew) sovereign, controller, master, owner, a command (collectively the Law), ordinance, precept, a verdict pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree, divine law, (individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant's right or privilege, adversary, ceremony, charge, crime, custom, desert, determination, discretion, disposing, due, fashion, form, to be judged, judgment, manner, measure, order, ordinance, right, sentence, to abstain (from food and drink, from impurity, and even from divine worship (i.e. apostatize); specifically, to set apart (to sacred purposes), i.e. devote:--consecrate, separate, to learn by experience, diligently observe, a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect.
YISHARAL IS NO LONGER GOING TO BE A COHESIVE GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE CAREFULLY ARRANGED AROUND A CENTRALISED SANCTUARY KNOWN AS THE WILDERNESS TABERNACLE. INSTEAD AS THEY CROSS THE JORDAN RIVER AND TAKE POSSESSION OF THE PROMISED LAND, THEY ARE GOING TO BE DISPERSED ACCORDING TO TRIBE AND CLAN OVER SEVERAL THOUSAND SQUARE MILES OF CANAAN. WITH THIS RATHER DRASTIC CHANGE IN THEIR DAILY LIVING CONDITIONS, THE LOGICAL AND PRACTICAL QUESTION THAT MUST BE ANSWERED IS; WHERE DO WE WORSHIP AND SACRIFICE? WHERE’S THE PORTAL GOING TO BE? THE FIRE? THE PRESENCE? WHAT’S HAPPENING? AFTER ALL, IF THE INSTRUCTION REMAINED THAT ONLY ONE PLACE IS PERMITTED FOR WORSHIP AND SACRIFICE, THEN BY DEFINITION THAT PLACE WILL BE NEARBY FOR SOME TRIBES OF YISHARAL AND FAR AWAY AND A LONG JOURNEY FOR MOST OF THE OTHERS.
Now lets talk about the Divine Laws and Instructions that you must obey as long as you live. . . Don’t forget that your ancestors worshiped Yahuah, and now He’s giving you this land of Canaan as your inheritance. But the nations that already live there worship other deities and false idols. So when you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their deities, high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree. BREAK DOWN THEIR ALTARS AND SMASH THEIR SACRED PILLARS. BURN THEIR ASHERAH POLES AND CUT DOWN THEIR CARVED IDOLS. Completely erase the names of their fake-arse deities and destroy every place of worship so completely, that no one will even remember they were ever there. Always lift up the name of Yahuah your Alahim and MAKE SURE YOU NEVER WORSHIP HIM IN THE WAY THOSE NATIONS WORSHIP THEIR DEITIES.
ALL SHRINES AND ALTARS AND TEMPLES AND PLACES OF WORSHIP OF THE CANAANITE DEITIES MUST BE DESTROYED. ALTHOUGH IT ZOOMS BY US IN ONLY TWO VERSES, THERE IS A RATHER GOOD DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLACES WHERE THE CANAANITES WORSHIPPED; HIGH MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND UNDER GREEN TREES. THEN WE SEE THE KINDS OF ITEMS THAT MARKED THOSE PLACES OF WORSHIP: ALTARS, STANDING STONES, SACRED POLES AND CARVED IMAGES (OF THEIR DEITIES). WHEREVER POSSIBLE, AN ALTAR OF SACRIFICE WAS LOCATED UPON THE HIGHEST LOCAL PLACE (EVEN IF IT WAS BUT A MOUND) BECAUSE IT WAS BELIEVED THAT THE DEITIES PREFERRED TO RESIDE ON MOUNTAINTOPS.
BUT IT WAS ALSO COMMON AMONG THE PAGAN RELIGIONS TO BUILD AN ALTAR OF SACRIFICE IN A GROVE OF EVERGREEN TREES, OR THEY WOULD EVEN PLANT A GROVE OF TREES AROUND THE ALTAR. THE REASON WAS QUITE SIMPLE: EVERGREEN TREES REPRESENTED NEW LIFE AND FERTILITY, AND REPRODUCTION AND SEXUALITY WERE AMONG THE MOST COMMON OF ALL PAGAN SACRIFICES.
A term we’ll occasionally come across in Scripture is ASHERAH, which refers to a wooden object used in worship of a consort of Baal, known by the name of Asherah. This deity is the "Queen of Heaven" and is called "Artemis" by the Ephesians in the book of Acts. The image of Asherah was a tree (a date palm) used by the Pagan Canaanites and Sidonians. When Northern Yisharal was dispersed into the nations by the Assyrians in 722 bce, they carried this tree custom with them. In fact the lost tribes of dispersed Yisharal have preserved one of their most cherished pagan customs among them, which is the Christmas Tree. The KJV translates the word Asherim into the english word GROVES, and around these Asherah (tree groves), as part of their sacrifice, they would often place a carved pole. Simply envision a totem pole; the totem poles we’re familiar with are a little more elaborate than what was typically carved in the ancient middle east but their purpose was essentially the same; they marked that particular place (and the altar built there) as a place to sacrifice to the specific deity represented in that carved pole. The standing stones spoken of are also sometimes called pillars; but in our modern way of thinking the word pillar gives us the wrong impression. We tend to think of these marvellously tall, cylindrical, decorated stone pillars of a Roman Building; but that’s not what this was. A standing stone was literally a large flat stone, set upright, and at times with wording chiseled onto it; but often the stone had no markings. The stone generally was used in its natural state; a stonecutter did not shape it. Often it was a monument that simply says that something important took place at this spot. Other pagan religions saw the symbol of their deity in that stone and it was an object of worship. They were referred to as an Image of Jealousy by Yahusha also and these obelisks, steeples, pillars can be see to this day all over the world.
NOW THE KEY TO ALL THIS IS GRASPING THAT ANYBODY COULD BUILD AN ALTAR OR SHRINE TO THEIR DEITY ANYWHERE WITHOUT DIVINE AUTHORISATION. THE LAND OF CANAAN WAS ABSOLUTELY PEPPERED WITH ALTARS AND POLES AND SACRED GROVES DEDICATED TO VARIOUS DEITIES. SINGLE FAMILIES WOULD BUILD THEIR OWN PRIVATE ALTARS; TOWNS WOULD BUILD COMMUNAL ALTARS; KINGS WOULD ERECT THEIR OWN (MORE ELABORATE) ALTARS. AND NATURALLY THESE ALTARS WOULD BE CONSTRUCTED NEARBY FOR THE SAKE OF CONVENIENCE OF THE WORSHIPPER. THE YISHARALITES WERE FULLY AWARE OF ALL THIS BECAUSE IT WAS BUT STANDARD PRACTICE IN THE ENTIRE KNOWN WORLD AT THAT TIME. AND THE REASON THAT YAHUSHA, THROUGH MOSES, IS GOING THROUGH ALL THIS DETAIL ABOUT ALTARS AND SHRINES IS BECAUSE THE HEBREWS WOULD HAVE NATURALLY ASSUMED (WITHOUT GIVEN IT A SECOND THOUGHT) THAT THEY WOULD DO THE SAME THING AS EVERYONE ELSE; THEY WOULD HAVE BUILT ALTARS AND GROVES TO YAHUSHA AT MULTIPLE LOCATIONS NEAREST TO (WHAT WOULD BE) THEIR MANY SETTLEMENTS.
(Didn't we all try and keep living and worshipping in our same familiar religious formats, even after learning about the Name of Yahusha? The worldly/religious mindset is that one must gather to worship in a building/church/temple etc etc . . . but what does Yahusha say about our bodies and the portal? How does He feel about us trying to behave religiously like the surrounding nations even after He's awoken us?)
THEREFORE YISHARAL IS INSTRUCTED NOT TO WORSHIP YAHUSHA IN THIS MANNER (GROVES, TREES, TOTEM POLES, ETC). RATHER YAHUSHA SAYS THAT THERE WILL BE A CERTAIN PLACE (OF HIS CHOOSING) WHERE THEY WILL GO TO WORSHIP HIM (MEANING THE PLACE WHERE THE TABERNACLE IS TO BE ERECTED AND SACRIFICING IS TO OCCUR) AND NOWHERE ELSE. AND ONLY AT THIS SINGLE CENTRAL PLACE ARE THE 12 TRIBES OF YISHARAL TO JOURNEY AND BRING THEIR OFFERINGS, TITHES, AND SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS.
Our bodies are now the temple, housing the portal of His esteem and our obedient behaviour is the offerings and living sacrifices that we offer up daily on the altar of our hearts. NOTHING ELSE.
Soon you will cross the Jordan River, and Yahuah will help you conquer your enemies and let you live in peace there in the land He’s given you. But after you are settled, life will be different and the patterns of behaviour will need to change. Right now all of you are doing whatever you want, because you haven’t arrived at the place of rest yet, in the land that Yahuah your Alahim is giving you as your special possession. So when you arrive there, you mustn’t offer sacrifices just anywhere you want, because Yahuah will choose a place somewhere in Yisharal for THE DWELLING PLACE OF HIS NAME and you must go to worship Him at the Tabernacle there. Yes all of your sacrifices and offerings must be taken there, including sacrifices to please Yahuah and any gift you promise or voluntarily give Him. That’s where you must also take one tenth of your grain, wine, and olive oil, as well as the first-born of your cattle, sheep, and goats. You and your family and servants will eat your gifts and sacrifices and celebrate there at the place of worship, because Yahuah your Alahim has made you successful in everything you’ve done. And since Levites will not have any land of their own, you must ask some of them to come along and celebrate with you.
THE ONLY PLACES OF WORSHIP WHERE YAHUSHA RESTS HIS NAME TODAY ARE THE LIVING DWELLINGS OF HIS SCATTERED BRIDE.
ONE OF THE THINGS BEING LEGISLATED AGAINST IN THIS INSTRUCTION WAS ALSO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR THAT ERA: THE CO-LOCATION OF A PLACE OF WORSHIP AND SACRIFICE OF ONE DEITY WITH THE PLACE OF WORSHIP AND SACRIFICE TO A DIFFERENT DEITY. AN ALTAR WAS NOT A PLACE WHERE ONE COULD BRING A SACRIFICE AND OFFER TO JUST ANY DEITY. EVERY PAGAN ALTAR AND EVERY HIGH PLACE WAS DEDICATED SPECIFICALLY TO A CERTAIN NAMED DEITY. BUT BUILDING AN ALTAR WAS HARD WORK AND TIME CONSUMING SO AS PEOPLE MOVED IN AND OUT OF AREAS, AND CONQUERORS CAME AND WENT AND BROUGHT WITH THEM THEIR OWN SET OF DEITIES, AND AS A LOCAL DEITY’S POPULARITY WOULD RISE AND FALL, USUALLY AN EXISTING ALTAR OR A HIGH PLACE WAS SIMPLY RE-DEDICATED FROM ONE DEITY TO THE NEXT ONE. AND YAHUSHA SAYS THAT YISHARAL IS NEVER TO DO THAT FOR HIM.
Yahuah has promised that later on He will enlarge your borders and give Yisharal more land, and some of you may not be able to travel all the way from your homes to the dwelling place of His Name (tabernacle) each time you are hungry for meat. But Yahuah will give you cattle, sheep, and goats, and you can slaughter any of those animals at home and eat as much as you want. It is the same as eating the meat from a deer or a gazelle that you kill when you go hunting. And in this way, anyone who is clean or unclean can have some of the meat. But again, don’t eat the blood for it’s the life of the animal, so let it drain out on the ground before you eat the meat. Do you want Yahuah to make you successful? Do you want your children to be successful even after you are gone? Then do what pleases Yahuah and don’t eat any blood. ALL SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS TO YAHUAH MUST BE TAKEN TO THE PLACE WHERE HE CHOOSES TO REST HIS NAME. And if you offer a sacrifice to please Yahuah, all of its meat must be burned on the altar. You can eat the meat from certain kinds of sacrifices, but you must always pour out the animal’s blood on the altar. WHY THE BIG EMPHASIS ON DRINKING BLOOD?
Let's look at the 2 different type of life (existence) we can experience:
1. The base, living and breathing, eating and pooping, savage, carnal, existence of self, day in, day out, procreating within an aging death-trap of slavery and relating within the species like any other mammal/beast of the field.
(BLOOD MAINTAINS THE LIFE OF THIS EXISTENCE).
2. A quickening, sobering, awakening by the breath/essence (ruach) of Yahusha that sparks true intimacy and love, and connects a base human (in the lower dimension) to the throne of Yahusha's esteem in Shamayim (the higher dimension where He is). Without this spark of life, man is but an animal.
(THE TREE OF LIFE MAINTAINS THE LIFE OF THIS HIGHER EXISTENCE).
So if you obey these Divine Laws and Instructions, YOU WILL BE DOING WHAT YAHUAH YOUR ALAHIM SAYS IS RIGHT AND GOOD. Then He will help you and your descendants be successful. And as you go into the land and attack the nations that are there, Yahuah will get rid of them all before you, and make their land* available to you. And that’s when you must be especially careful not to get curious and ask, “How did those nations worship their deities? What was their philosophy for living, their mindset and systems of worship? Shouldn’t we follow them and worship Yahuah in the same way?” Hell no! You shouldn’t! For Yahuah hates the disgusting way those nations worship their deities, infact EVERY BEHAVIOUR THAT IS AN ABOMINATION TO YAHUAH, THE NATIONS DO AS PART OF THEIR IDOLATRY. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as living sacrifices to their deities. So you Yisharal, must obey all the Divine Laws and Instructions that I’m giving you today. Don’t add anything to them, and don’t take anything away either!
*conquering land in this ancient time equates to our success, peace, favor and shalom today in the 21st century and how much we choose to exercise our belief in order to surrender and conquer more and more of our body (the set-part, promised land), overcoming our fleshly self, puting it `under the ban' and bringing it into submission of Yahusha's Divine Law.
THE PROHIBITION OF CHILD SACRIFICE WAS NOT THE PURPOSE OF THESE FINAL VERSES OF CHAPTER 12. RATHER, MOSES TAKES THE MOST EXTREME EXAMPLE OF WHAT CAN HAPPEN SHOULD YISHARAL START TO ADOPT WAYS OF THEIR PAGAN NEIGHBORS AS THEY HONOR THEIR FALSE DEITIES. THE IDEA IS THAT FOR A HEBREW TO BUT SAMPLE OR INQUIRE ABOUT EVEN THE MOST MUNDANE OR SEEMINGLY HARMLESS ASPECT OF THE CANAANITES’ PAGAN LIFESTYLE WILL, WITH SOME HEBREWS, BE IRRESISTIBLE AND END UP WITH THEIR COMMITTING THE WORST POSSIBLE ATROCITIES, AND THEY’LL EVEN DO IT IN YAHUSHA’S NAME. SO THEY SHOULD SHUN THESE PRACTICES AND BEHAVIOURS WITH EVERY FIBER OF THEIR BEING REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT INSULTS, OFFENDS, ANGERS, OR MERELY MAKES RELATIONS WITH THE CANAANITES UNEASY.
WELL THAT’S THE CHOICE YAHUSHA LAYS OUT TO YISHARAL: OBEY MY DIVINE LAWS AND INSTRUCTIONS, REGARDLESS OF THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES, SO THAT I CAN BLESS YOU, OR COMMIT IDOLATRY BY ADOPTING SOME OF THE WAYS OF THE WORLD AND THUS PERVERTING THE TRUE WORSHIP OF THE ONE TRUE LIVING ALAHIM IN ORDER TO BLEND IN WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS AND HAVE A FORM OF PEACE. OF COURSE YAHUSHA HAS GIVEN HIS BRIDE THE THREE RULES WHICH ARE A CONFLICT RESOLUTION, ALLOWING US TO STEP OUT OF ANY ARGUMENT AND WAIT FOR YAHUSHA TO ACT IN A GIVEN SITUATION. AND IT’S SO MUCH BETTER WATCHING HIM MOVE, BUT WE ACTUALLY HAVE TO PRACTICE THE RULES TO SEE IT HAPPEN.
NOW LET'S FINISH BY LOOKING AT YAHUSHA'S DIVINE LAW IN TODAY'S 21ST CENTURY CULTURE . . . .
So what is the take-away from all these diverse subjects we've discussed today?
Yahusha's Instructions are not merely intimate suggestions of love from a Father to a child. . . . NO! they are the Divine Laws and Legislation that make up the eternal constitution of His Reign and form the fabric of all creation. The power of His Living Word (the tree of life once hidden) is now accessible to His Bride, the chosen Dwelling Place of His Name and she is to be set-apart from all forms of worship (behaviour) of the outside nations. Yahusha refuses to be worshipped the way the pagan (fake) deities are for His Bride has been washed in His own Blood and claimed back from the enemy as Set-Apart Real Estate (hot property).
So with this understanding and intimate connection through the portal of life on her heart, why would any Bride want to search out a physical building and other wacky people to try and connect with, for that's a bondage mindset that the world's religions hold over everyone to close the door and make themselves the `divine voice' on this planet.
DID YOU CONSCIOUSLY REALISE THAT YOU ARE THIS VALUABLE, WITH SUCH A ROYAL STATUS? YOUR BODY IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO YAHUSHA. IT IS THE ONLY PLACE ON THIS PLANET WHERE HIS NAME RESTS AND WHERE THE DIMENSIONS CONNECT. THE ETERNAL WAR OF GOOD AND EVIL THAT STARTED IN THE GARDEN WITH MANKIND, THE TREE AND THE DRAGON, IS STILL RAGING FOR OWNERSHIP OVER YOUR BODY. THE DRAGON KNOWS THE VALUE OF YAHUSHA'S CHOSEN REAL ESTATE THAT HOUSES THE DOORWAY TO THE TREE OF LIFE AND HE STILL SEEKS TO CLAIM IT FOR HIS OWN. . . . WILL YOU CONTINUE TO ALLOW HIM ACCESS?
