Deuteronomy With JesusSýnishorn

Deep Clean

One reason many Christians struggle with books like Deuteronomy is that large parts of them don’t seem to apply to us. We are no longer bound to follow all the commands of Deuteronomy, but often we don’t really understand why not, or what we are supposed to make of the commands that no longer apply to us. These passages give us some great pointers to help us out.

Firstly, Deuteronomy 14 makes it clear that some laws were never intended to be universal. In verse 21 Moses explicitly tells them that foreigners are allowed to eat some of the things that were forbidden to the Israelites. That shows us that this command is not a matter of right and wrong in an ethical sense, but is tied in some way to Israel’s unique calling as God’s chosen people.

Moses explains the reasons for the distinction: “but you are a people holy to the Lord.” The reference to holiness can be confusing to us, as we assume that that is about ethics, but actually in the Old Testament, holiness often has a religious sense. For something to be holy means either that it reflects God’s ways and character (ethical), or that it has been set apart and dedicated to him (religious). When Moses says that Israel were ‘a people holy to the Lord’ he means the word in the second sense.

Israel had a unique calling as God’s people, showing the world who God was and the grace and blessings of being in relationship with him. Part of that meant being consciously and obviously different from the world around them, and many of the religious laws that we read in the Old Testament were symbolic of this difference and calling.

That means that the purpose of these laws was actually to point beyond themselves – as Jesus makes clear in Mark 7. He highlights how food laws (like Deuteronomy 14) were designed to be symbolic of a deeper devotion to God and moral purity. They established the concept of being defiled and ‘unclean’, and so being excluded from the presence and worship of God.

That pointed to something bigger, which was the importance of holy living. Jesus emphasises that what really defiles us is deeper: “what comes out of a person…sexual immorality, theft murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.”

As Christians we are part of the new covenant in Jesus, and so the specific ritual laws of the Old Testament do not apply to us. Jesus makes that very clear in this passage, as Mark underlines when he explains that “in saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean” (v19).

However, this passage also makes very clear that that does not make such laws irrelevant to us. Jesus uses the terminology and ideas of the old law to help us understand the thing they illustrate and point to, which in this case is the importance of leading holy and godly lives.

Prayer

Look again at the list of “evils that defile a person”, take some time to repent of any ways in which you fall short, asking for God’s forgiveness (which he always gives!) and for his help in changing as you move forward.