Good Tactical Advice

Reading:   Deuteronomy 20

Here The Lord gives the Israelites (and all who conduct themselves in a siege) some sound advice...

DEUTERONOMY 20:19-20

19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege:  

20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued. 

Don't cut down the fruit trees in order to create means to assault the city (battering rams, ladders, etc).   It is better to protect the trees as a means to sustain life then to destroy them for a singular purpose.  It would be like slaughtering goats and then throwing them at the enemy - a waste of essential provisions!

We may live to want what we carelessly waste.  

-Matthew Henry-

Good tactical advice for war and for life!

~Kipling

Cities of Sanctuary

Reading:   Deuteronomy 19

So what happens when someone dies at the hand of another but no malice was involved and it was, in fact, quite accidental.  Cities of sanctuary were created for individuals caught up in this type of scenario.  The slayer could flee to a sanctuary and remain there without fear of retribution.  I love how this is explained in scripture because I could not help but immediately start thinking of other scenarios of accidental homicide that would also sound great in biblical verse; first the real scenario...

DEUTERONOMY 19:4-6

4 And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past; 

5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: 

6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. 

Isn't verse five a fantastic literary gold nugget.  Here are a few more that could also fit within the category of accidental homicide thereby allowing the slayer to seek asylum in a sanctuary city...

As when a man walketh toward his neighbor who beareth mutniks and in haste finds foot fault in the earth and falleth forward toward his neighbor.  Unable to halteth his descend the man impaleth himself through the neck upon the staves of bread and weiner.  The neighbor shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:

As when a woman shalt mistaken hemlock for parsley and poison the luncheon of her husband in err that he dieth.  The woman shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:

As when a child might cause a hole to be digged and a snare to be rigged that he might capture a brace of conies and at even a stranger passeth through the region and steppeth in the hole and becometh ensnared and unable to find freedom that a wild packeth of hounds seeketh him out in the darkness of the even and consumeth his very being.  The child shall flee unto one of the cities, and live:

Man, this is fun but alas, I must away...It's nice to have a light-hearted blog now and again isn't it?

~Kipling

Possible Perfection

Reading:  Deuteronomy 18

How is this even a possibility?

DEUTERONOMY 18:13

13 Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. 

There are a number of avenues that could be pursued here but I am going to focus on two;  the first is the use of the preposition "with" where it becomes an act of accompaniment.  We shall be perfect, not of ourselves, but with the Lord's help.  Perfection is unreachable as a natural man but "with" faith and "with" work, the unreachable is bent toward us and can be attained with our Heavenly Father's assistance.

The second angle resides wholly in the aid which God has given us, the one and only path to perfection, our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Is it possible to be perfect, yes, we can be perfect with The Lord through faith, repentance, and the Redeeming love of our Brother.

~Kipling

The original title for this blog was, "Impossible Perfection" but after viewing the preview I realized the importance of changing it to its current, and final, form.

You Are a Witness!

Reading:   Deuteronomy 17

Have you ever been a witness - truly testified on behalf of something you had personal recollection of?  If you have to think about it, stop, no thought required - you are a witness everyday of your life and, wether you vocalize it or not, does not matter.  Actions speak louder than words and your existence is a pretty awesome testimony of who you are, where you came from, and the choices you have made.  You are a witness!

Elder Loren C. Dunn of the Seventy taught a great lesson about being a witness (Witnesses, October General Conference, 1995)...

Every person who receives baptism into the Church and has received and felt the confirmation of the Spirit through the gift of the Holy Ghost stands as a witness "of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9). When partaking of the sacrament, that person renews that witness to take the Savior's name, keep his commandments, and remember him. A person so moved by the Spirit not only knows these things himself, but the Spirit carries them into the hearts of others. This is the basis of the Church's great missionary effort. "For when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men" (2 Ne. 33:1). 

I'm speaking of witnesses because of today's verse and though it is in specific reference to execution it still opens up the idea of what we testify of, on a daily basis, through our immediate actions and portrayal of being.  Again, you are a witness and need to be aware of that fact!

DEUTERONOMY 17:6

6    At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 

You, your background, your education, all come under fire when you step on the witness stand but the thing that trumps all else is honesty and sincerity.  Hold true to what you believe and let the strength of honesty course through you.  Not even the slickest of attorneys can rattle you if the impenetrable shield of truth is there to defend.

~Kipling

Forbidden Groves

Reading:   Deuteronomy 16

A curious bit of instruction wherein the Israelites were commanded not to plant any trees?

DEUTERONOMY 16:21

21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. 

You will have to excuse my laziness the last couple of days as my blogs have been quite truncated and yet again today my input shall be brief and Mathew Henry shall hold the lions share...

They must not plant a grove, nor so much as a tree, near God’s altar lest they should make it look like the altars of the false gods. They made groves the places of their worship either to make it secret (but that which is true and good desires the light rather), or to make it solemn, but the worship of the true God has enough in itself to make it so and needs not the advantage of such a circumstance...

It was about openness, allowing all to see the wonder of God and the worship thereof versus the secrecy of idolatry (a stoning offense).  These days the crowning worship is sex, money, and pride and religious observance is laughed at and viewed as a sign of weakness in those that practice.  It truly is a marvel to see the incredible deceit wrought by the father of lies - the most sacred has become the tool of the most evil.

~Kipling

End of Poverty, Not

Reading:   Deuteronomy 15

Here is a promise to deter the most adamant of communists...

DEUTERONOMY 15:11

11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. 

That's right, poverty shall never cease.  Give freely and open thine hand wide (your heart also).

~Kipling

Morsels of Doom to the Alien

Reading:   Deuteronomy 14

Today we have stumbled across another one of those pesky translation errors...

DEUTERONOMY 14:21

21 Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. 

Did you catch the two mistranslations?  The Israelites were prohibited from eating animals that were not killed by their own hand because animals that died "of themselves" were considered unclean, and rightly so.  Without knowledge of how an animal died or when the death occurred, it would be hard to say wether or not the animal had a disease or if it had spoiled.  It is a measure of health just like all the warnings in Leviticus about washing hands and clothing whenever dealing with the sick (see Medical Ignorance Exposed).  Okay, so why then would The Lord allow the Israelites to feed the unclean animal to a stranger or an alien?  The uncleanliness of the morsel still applied and could adversely affect anyone who partook of it.

Joseph Smith had it absolutely correct when he translated the verse like this...

21 Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt not give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest not sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.  

It's truly amazing that biblical scholars haven't made a point to debate this verse and in many cases even attempt to defend the mistranslation.  Even Matthew Henry explained the handing over of unclean (possibly diseased) meat to aliens and strangers as a mere act of kindness...

Now as to all these precepts concerning their food, It is plain in the law itself that they belonged only to the Jews, and were not moral, nor of perpetual use, because not of universal obligation; for what they might not eat themselves they might give to a stranger...or they might sell it to an alien, a mere Gentile...

But, not two sentences earlier, even he explains the warning as a protection against unwholesome food...

They are further forbidden...to eat the flesh of any creature that died of itself, because the blood was not separated from it, and, besides the ceremonial uncleanness which it lay under (from Lev. 11:39), it is not wholesome food, nor ordinarily used among us, except by the poor.

Interesting, right? Even a biblical scholar of his magnitude chose not to question the monastical translators of the ancient biblical text - he didn't want the wrath of religious zealots knocking down his door and proclaiming him a heretic.  Who could blame him?

As for the last bit of the verse, "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk," it's a simple warning not to cook or boil a goat (animal) in the milk of its mother.  I'm not sure if the exercise of avoiding the mix of dairy and meats is still practiced in fundamental jewish communities but I will ask a Rabbi friend of mine and get his take on the custom.  As to the purpose of the warning I'd imagine its a respect thing but I haven't researched it so don't quote me on that.

~Kipling