What Have We Learned?
When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. Deuteronomy 18:9 NASB
Learn to imitate – I suppose we could concentrate on “the detestable things,” attempting to list all those practices and attitudes that God finds offensive. We could examine the context of the verse, noticing that it is about pagan spiritual practices like witchcraft and sorcery. Then we could look at the list and tell ourselves, “Well, we don’t worship idols. We don’t sacrifice our children (except to abortion!). We don’t consult sorcerers. We don’t . . . . (you can fill in the rest).” With a list like that, we can congratulate ourselves for being so holy. But what if “learn to imitate” is pulled forward into the contemporary world? Then what?
Lo’ tilmad la’asot (not learn to follow) contains two verbs. The first is lamad, “to learn, to teach, to be instructed in, to be skillful.” The second is asah, “to make, to manufacture, to do.” So it seems that God’s instruction here is about not taking up education or practices of things that may be made or done similar to the surrounding pagan nations. Now our list of “holiness” doesn’t seem so secure. Have we taken up, been educated or practiced those things that can be made or done that represent the values of the nations surrounding us? The other side of this question is simple: “Are we really set apart for God’s purposes and values?” Let’s see.
Think about your education. Was the goal to better understand God’s call on your life, the purpose He designed you to fulfill? Or was it about getting a better job, a career, a sense of financial security?
Did you train yourself in righteousness with the same fervor that you trained for sports, for gaming, for peer acceptance? Did you practice holiness with as much concentration as you put into music, art, tennis, photography, mountain climbing, yoga?
And what did you make of all that education and practice? Did you make things that honor Him? That enhance His world? That recognize His sovereignty? Did you do things that lift up His name? That demonstrate His concern for the earth and its people?
Or did you do something else with the borrowed time He allotted to you?
Did you pursue Him with the same gusto you pursued career advancement? Was your dedication to the Kingdom or to carving out a place in life where you were known? Were you concerned more about recognition or about service?
What exactly did we learn to imitate from the world around us? Maybe we avoided all the pagan practices of the spiritualism of Canaan, but have we really avoided the underlying principles of Canaan: beliefs in fate and forces, manipulating what we can to get what we want, and fear of the future? Do we need this same verse, slightly updated?
Topical Index: Lo’ tilmad la’asot, not learn to follow, Deuteronomy 18:9
Its amazing ; consider Israel. God met her, delivered her, drew her into the wilderness and married her, reveled himself, his way. He provided her the most glorious thing; His own word, and way . As if that weren’t enough ( Dianu); in the fullness of time He poured out his Spirit to enable her to obey. That Spirit made available only by the death of His first born son. All this and she and we yet stray, rebell, wanderiing back into the sesspools of our own godless desires. Why? Go figure- The truth remains; ” There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (KJV). Simply a mystery…
You are right, Skip, the question comes down to WHY we want to “learn to imitate” in the first place.
If we are hardwired for love, than why would we fall for things of the world? I think it is because the world promises connection; function; acceptance; fraternity; in fact, all the things that God’s love purports to offer. The world advertises all the same ‘goods’ – with all the same fringe benefits – that love promises. This is why we fall for it! Evil can only pervert the good; it never offers anything original. One, because it can’t come up with anything that wasn’t already created; but two, I think, is because our needs are already hardwired in us – the need for love. Evil can only hijack the circuit.
The world still wants to get in to the Promised Land – it longs for all the advantages love offers – it just wants to jump over the wall without entering in at the Gate, which is Jesus Christ. The ways of the world offer love without Him, but, in the end, we, like the rich young ruler, so many times, “go away sorrowing” because we have to give up all the advantages we gained by playing the world’s way to get Him; we have to become willing to start over in the Father’s kingdom by becoming “as little children”. We have to only accept stuff if it comes from His hand, and not because we played the game ‘right’. This takes faith! Whoops.
The world knows nothing of faith. You don’t need faith to play the world’s way. (Good thing, because none of us can manufacture the stuff, anyway.) Faith is inexplicable to the world. Even though it plays upon trust, it considers trust to be weakness. People learn to feign trust to get what they want from others, but the world does not trust trust because of this. Along comes God Who declares trust to be the foundation of His kingdom. What is our response? The kingdom must be weak! Trust, as the world employs it, IS weakness, but the faith that comes from God “overcomes the world”. Completely different stuff from a completely different origin, but we won’t get it unless we, like the offer made to the rich young ruler, become willing to lay down all our gains and start over, as little children who have to trust. What is the first thing we need to ask for from His hand? Faith: His faith, not ours. (Pilgrim’s Progress: who joined Pilgrim as his companion? Faith.) Hard entrance!
The depths of rebellion, willfulness and selfishness can’t be denied. Although I know and belive the Kingdom of God is just the rightious choice away still I get swayed and drawn towards the lie. Paul said sin is “living in my flesh” , Yeshua said of the slumbering disciples “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” Perhaps there is some truth to the notion that the flesh has fallen? That the presence of the tempter has created a propensity toward disfunction that is stronger than our confidence or knowledge of the true and good? I have a gift of faith doubting God very little , trusting Him alot yet still I struggel with the propensity to sin. Don’t you? Oswald Chambers seems to suggest it’s all about “identification with the crucifixion of Christ” That if we competely identify ourselves with his death we will appropriate his resurected life. His words suggest a finality I have not been able to find. I find my victory to be partial while my faith and understanding of it to be fairly complete. What’s that about?
Short answer? I think it is because our ancestors chose FOR US – by eating of the Tree – to ONLY learn by experience! Experience is the only way the flesh can experience(!), or, learn, trust. We have to actually experience death to self in real life and time to, once again, have access to the efficacy true faith offers us. Faith does not work for flesh: Paul says they are diametric opposites – you can’t have one at the same time you have the other. We chose that at the Tree, of course. In fact, we have to choose either faith or flesh: we cannot have both. I think the Tree choice must have split them off from each other (conjecture). Flesh has to die for faith to have life. (Greasy grace promises what it cannot deliver, for it promises us faith AND flesh, which is impossible.)
Baptism is symbolic of that death to self, but for most of us self dies only gradually as we learn to hand it over in repentance. Most people, I am sad to say, seem to be buried alive in baptism. Dying to self; now necessary to have life. Because of the Tree, we chose to experience death before we can experience life.
Because of the death and resurrection of Yeshua, we are able to die to self (through repentance) by trading into the ability to live vicariously by the mysterious means of His life in us; a life we access by the faith we can only access by that death to the flesh that is in opposition to that faith. Paul spells it out.
Side note: interesting factoid – secret societies and ancient mystery religions alike mimic the above process. I am no expert on this subject, but I have noticed a few things. For example, the Jesuit oath proclaims the initiate “a corpse” that only obeys the head of the order; Masonic orders (which copy ancient Egyptian rites) all mimic death as part of their initiation rituals, too, and they are submitted to Anubis; the god of the dead. In most false religions you will also find some sort of requisite death to self to enter the fraternity; the difference being there is no corresponding new life to take its place in real space and time. Resurrection is unique to true religion, and only the religion of Christ offers us that new life NOW – a life in which simple faith in what we are TOLD works once again, post Tree. Halleluah!
Major Ian Thomas in his classic two book set” The Saving Life of Christ and The Mystery of God-liness” presupposes that what entered in at “the choice”, (forbid I call it “the fall”) was “Dis-function” something in us got broke and we all carry that brokenness forward. The majesty of the vergin birth was Messiah was not born broken? In and through Messiah we are being walked in to wholeness, he bing the greatest fix it man that ever hit the planet? Regarding your aside. I marvel at how insightful and aware so many pagans are regarding the nature and function of the soul. Since we all have the same standard issue equipment how you learn to drive it is common place, it’s the road maps you use and the quality of the compass that decides where you get with it once you hit the road. Choices, choices, it’s all about choice. ..
That’s a great way to put it, Mark. I am going to remember about the road map and compass thing.
This is a good conversation for me; it really helps with something I have been mulling for a while. I did my best to do good, and it did not result in a whole lot of good. In reading the Bible more, I began to see that we are under siege; at war. There are only two sides; not three or more. Either I am making a move that benefits one side or the other. When Cain did what was “good in his own sight” it resulted in placing him on the other side of the playing board, and his piece got used to do a whole lot of damage.
Things we think are fine in peacetime are not fine in war, and we are not the generals here. Here, what matters is how the war is going; not necessarily what each one of us thinks would be great. A man out of line in battle is a man that betrays the whole division; he is AWOL even though he may think he is doing what is ‘good’ for his side. We have to wait on orders, and move only in the strength of the entire command, or else we are not safe, and we may be jeopardizing larger issues we cannot see. There are no cowboy heroes when it comes to love; it all has to fit the larger picture to be effective. Do I even have a dim understanding what being yoked with Christ really is, or am I still just spinning wheels in my parking lot?
The objective is to “come into the fullness of Christ”, and then He can come back. That means we have to start learning to march together, and that is just for starters. When are we even going to be getting that right, much less the larger formations and moves that will bring the battle of good and evil to a head? Do we even know what we are being called to?
Spot on sister. Not enough people have the requisite warrior mentality. We are prisoners of war if we are not active agents in it. There is no nutral ground . Agin I say the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this present world system are simultaneously coexisting but mutually exclusive. Choices choices. As my favorite theologian Bob Dylan sings ” Your going to serve somebody it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but your going to serve somebody. Choices. …
? Hmmmm….
My pre-Christ focus was 100% worldly. That’s all I ever knew
and was taught about. I was completely educated and prepared
to chase after success in this world. And, indeed, that was my pursuit.
God, however, had other plans for me!
He revealed to me, through many various ways and circumstances, His presence
within me and His complete involvement with every path I trod. Good and bad.
My “re-education” is ever on-going. His constant help with the tough job of being able to shed
my old worldly self and the daily effort of putting on my new self in Him, continues to amaze and
overwhelm me. The more I learn, the newer I get. Shedding the old seems to be the most difficult part.
I don’t have it down cold yet, far from it — but in faith I’m pressing on toward the prize!
I spent many years imitating the world because that’s what I was taught…at home, by the world and in many ways, by the church. Laurita is right when she said, “the world promises all the things that God’s love purports to offer.” Most of the time, I wasn’t even aware of my own hypocrisy and when I got an occasional glimpse, I was skilled at quickly dismissing it. When we are taught all the wrong things, we learn to believe all the wrong things…the sins of the fathers are passed down for generations. Thankfully, about 10 years ago, God took pity on me and saw that I probably wasn’t going to “get it” without His intervention. That’s when the lights suddenly went on and I began to see how far from the path I had wandered and how empty I was. Why some people eyes and ears open sooner than others (or not at all) is a mystery to me. I have to trust that it’s all part of God’s perfect plan. My new focus and purpose is on honoring, obeying and loving the King as I try to make up for all the wasted years. I often feel overwhelmed with gratitude that He comes looking for His lost sheep. Baaa Baaa
I am struggling with this. I have lived most if my life just searching for ways to serve God. Always feeling I have something to do or offer that has been left untapped. In my search for that “thing” I believe that living life by design rather than by default, which is how I have functioned, is a better way. The idea that I have not used and/or developed the gifts and talents God has given me to the fullest of my ability make me feel like the evil servant. Living my willy nilly life “trusting God to guide me” now feels more like not having to take responsibility for what I do with my life.
I know what you all are saying can’t mean being irresponsible so what am I missing? In all we do not matter what it is we can look ok for the opportunities to meet the needs if others and show the love and generosity the Father shows us. Being successful in my efforts is my goal why would I not want to accomplish things in this life? It’s a gift. I want to fully embrace it and use every day to it’s fullest. In my understanding anything less is not showing my appreciation for the gift of each day. Please help me find error in ky thinking if you see any.
Thank you!
Cheryl
It sounds to me like you’re doing just fine, Cheryl. Keep doing what you’re doing with your gifts.
I have struggled with the “let go and let God” charge to all of us in the trenches of trying to figure out how to live a life pleasing to YHVH. I know there is a ton to say regarding this topic. It seems to me the idea of trusting Yeshua to live his life through us has been stripped of substance and replaced with ideology/theology.
My former understanding of faith was contained in some intellectual boundaries and exercised by determined thinking somehow. On the other hand, if faith is more than that, being the result our our actions of the flesh wrapped up with our soul, our whole true self, then seeking YHVH, chasing after ways to worship him would find conclusion in actual obedience to those instructions of Torah. Saying what we believe has little, if any, value apart from the tangible and observable obedience that aligns with Torah.
In essence, the life we seek to reflect his ways is very hard and difficult work, a bad word in my former beliefs. How hard we work at making a living, and probably rightly so. However, even if we fail to achieve Olympic standards as the final medalists achieve, shouldn’t our focus of life be training ever so diligently, as Olympic athletes press toward, in learning, discerning and following Torah such that tangible results are concluded? A believing Olympic athlete doesn’t just bend his knee asking YHVH to make him/her a gold medal winner. Difficult, challenging, and tenacious training must occur for a long, long time before the medal can be rightfully obtained. Isn’t this a legitimate comparison to our training, enduring and learning in and for life? A life of faith, biblically, now reveals itself to me as that which requires unending effort, sacrifice, discipline, and determination which is built on love and hope. Very similar to the training of an Olympic athlete. Suffering on a daily basis to come to know, experience and live the life outlined in Torah is the goal, the desire and hope of us all. At least, it ought to be.
Training for righteousness requires blood, sweat and tears. It is a just goal. That would be his life instructions, Torah. Trusting Yeshua to make us so equates to rising to the high calling that it is. It’s not sitting in the arena just observing and thinking about it, waiting for Yeshua to magically make it so in our lives.
Your singing my song brother. If your interested search on worksofwordsdotlive for ” Triple Crown Contender”…Run the race to win and keep your blinders on the other horses on the track are a distraction. The records are not kept at the track. The race master has his office elswhere. ..
“We could examine the context of the verse, noticing that it is about pagan spiritual practices like witchcraft and sorcery.”
Yes, we could. And shouldn’t we? All of these self-scrutinizing questions may be helpful inquiry, but as is posited here, this verse is not merely an admonishment to not engage in certain behaviors like the “evil” or “dark” spiritual and religious practices of surrounding pagan nations. And, actually, it is also not exactly even an admonishment to not live according to certain other values, principles, attitudes, and purposes of surrounding nations, though that should be implied.
IF WE WERE TO EXAMINE THE CONTEXT OF THE VERSE, which is what I appreciate we are usually exhorted to do here at Today’s Word, we should see that it is not merely about not learning certain“pagan spiritual practices”, and that mainly of consulting spiritual mediums not appointed by YHVH or using certain pagan methodologies of seeking counsel, but it is actually about the positive opposite. It is about listening to the voice and words of YHVH and that including through the prophets (mediums – mediators) He commands to speak on His behalf.
It’s really about Whose voice and Whose words we are seeking for truth and wisdom in this life, and through whom we are seeking those things. Witches and sorcerers or the prophets of YHVH? It’s not just about what behaviors or even values, principles, attitudes, or purposes, including motives, we are to be trying to live by, as important as those things are. Of course, in part, it is about these things, by implication, but that is not the most salient thing here, I think.
THE MOST SALIENT MATTER OF CONCERN HERE is WHO are we to consult for our instructions for life AND by WHOSE judgments we are to live in even scrutinizing ourselves? Yes, even in asking all of these potentially useful, self-scrutinizing questions proposed here, we run the risk of failing to know the truth if, in our search for the answers, we are listening to the voices of some others, if we are listening to the words of some others, even if not witches and sorcerers, even if only our own.
THE GREATEST EDUCATION WE NEED, I think, is to learn to fear YHVH, above all, to learn to listen for and to obey HIS voice, to learn to discern and obey HIS words, whether in prayer, reading and studying His word, or in consulting prophets. And, ultimately, above all, to listen to and obey YHVH’s voice and His words in the mouth of His Son and Messiah, Yeshua.
Moses said, “Adonai said to me, ‘I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. Now whoever does not listen to My words that this prophet speaks in My Name, I Myself will call him to account.’” [Deu 18:17-19]
Yeshua said, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired worker is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees. Then the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. The man is only a hired hand and does not care about the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not from this fold; those also I must lead, and they will listen to My voice. So there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.” [Joh 10:11-16]
SO, WE MUST HAVE NO GOD BEFORE THE LORD, OUR GOD. WE MUST NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING AND WE MUST NOT OBEY TO THE VOICE OF ANOTHER. WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE YHVH IN ALL OUR WAYS AND HE WILL DIRECT OUR PATHS. WE MUST LISTEN TO HIS PROPHET, YESHUA AND OBEY HIS VOICE!
In this way “you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.”
This gets me thinking of John’ definition of world; see, desire, lust after… How many times does this not explain our nature. We see we aspire then we chase after… James said we are then like those that err and live to our own detriment. Judas cuts it short by saying because we consider the things of God to imply the freshly…
No pagan view here just animal survival instincts… Are these also deemed detestable?
Or are we referring to that which shapes our life into something we believe we deserve?
As Cheryl said we search to serve God and please him… Is this not what the pagans do? Go through rituals etc year in and year out repeating life by calling into remembrance… As Laurita and Mark comment not living in faith. For when we live in faith we know not our next task as the Spirit of God will lead us not our choices…
Then again living my animal side is intertaining and joyful but is it godly or holy?
Trust in God but also trust in me was Yeshua invitation…
What is there then left as our Father knows we must eat, drink and be sheltered yet we pray for these when we provide them ourselves… If God’s will be done would we not accept with gratefulness while praising God for the opportunity to enjoy rather than the food we have prepared as he has provided we have made tasteful…
Wait rambling on again…
Thank you Skip, kndly help me understand what is detestable, as it is still very vague. I need more exact examples as 98% of religious rituals are man-made or thought of concepts. So what is God’s which we need to learn. 10 words, 613 rules, or all those other rites the Rabbi’s and other religious leaders deem needed to prove to God… May I call it the so called test and proven..proven to what extent I ask back as what God wills we can never confirm as proven through our actions. But rather proven through our submission.
Cheryl you will know when you are called and tasked, until then keep doing what you believe to be truthful, honourable and revealing God’s will through you… Yes also very vague but I to am struggling to find the correct answer that does not result in me doing rituals that God never put in place…