Drash
Deuteronomy 12:29-31
Blaine Robison, M.A.
Delivered 3 September 2016
Home
Do
Not Imitate the World
"When
Adonai your God cuts off before you the nations that you are going in to
dispossess, when you have dispossessed them and settled in their land, 30 be
careful not to be trapped into imitating them after they have been destroyed
before you. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How do these nations
serve their gods? I will do the same.' 31 You are not to act like this
toward Adonai your God! For every abomination of Adonai, which He hates,
they have done to their gods—they even burn their sons and daughters in the
fire to their gods." (Deut 12:29-31 TLV)
The text
for today comes from Parashah 47, Re'eh, which began in the previous
chapter, verse 26, and concludes in chapter 16 [verse 17]. The Hebrew word
re'eh is the imperative form of ra'ah, which means to see,
look or behold. The opening verse for the Parashah sets the theme, "Look, I
am setting before you a blessing and a curse:" The command to look has a
simple meaning in divine monologues: Pay attention to what I'm showing you
or telling you. Imagine the people standing on the plain of Moav, and Moses
directs their attention across the river. Look! There in the land is the
opportunity for great blessing. There is also the danger of a curse.
The
Parashah continues with instructions for worshipping at the place the Lord
would choose, identifying animals acceptable for eating, forgiving debts
every seven years, providing for the needs of Levites, widows and orphans,
and observing the pilgrim festivals each year. In the midst of such
straightforward instruction are repeated warnings about avoiding the
idolatry of the nations whom God had set apart for destruction. Our text
makes two important points about that subject. First, God warns the
Israelites to control their curiosity about the Canaanites. Why would they
be curious? Well, we all like to know how things work. The Israelites would
be taking over cities, houses and farms that were all prospering. So, they
might think "these Canaanites must have been doing something right for God
to bless them. Maybe it had to do with their religious practices."
When they began to examine Canaanite religion they would discover a number
of features they had in common. The Canaanites offered sacrifices of the
same kind of animals. They had a high priest and priestly families. They had
festivals that corresponded to the agricultural cycle. But, unlike
Torah-prescribed worship Canaanite worship included singers and musical
liturgy. And, the Canaanites had sacred prostitutes. In other words, the
Canaanites had a pleasure-oriented feel-good religion. But, our text has a
second important point. God reveals that the Canaanites had a really
dark side. They
killed
their children by making them burnt offerings in religious rituals. Solomon
said there are seven things God hates, one of them being hands that shed
innocent blood. Think on this. Scripture affirms that a child is a creation
and gift of God, so why destroy such a precious gift? But, it is the nature
of Satan to kill and destroy. God's point is that the depraved world around
us is not worthy to serve as an example of what would please Him in our
religion and in our worship.
Eventually King David would create choirs and instrumental ensembles. Music
became the medium for the expression of praise. In fact, six times in this
Parashah God tells the Israelites that besides presenting sacrifices,
offerings and tithes to the Lord they were to rejoice before the Lord at His
dwelling-place. Now, David did not introduce musicians to make worship less
boring or so the people could marvel at their performance. Music became a
means of prophesying about the goodness and greatness of the God of Israel.
When Jean and I first attended Messianic Jewish services the worship
resonated with our spirits and we have come to really appreciate the
ministry of the worship leaders. But, here's something to remember. They do
not lead us in worship to make us feel good. I have seen Christians change
churches, because they didn't receive in worship what they wanted. Their
thinking was fundamentally flawed. Worship is not about getting what we want
to make us feel good, but giving God the glory He deserves. Some day we will
stand before the throne and sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb:
"Great and wonderful are Your deeds, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, Just and true
are you ways, O King of the nations." [Rev 15:3 TLV] So, hear the
instruction of Paul: "let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of
praise—the fruit of lips giving thanks to His name." [Heb 13:15]
Barukh Hashem!
Copyright © 2016 by
Blaine Robison. All rights reserved. |