Live-Wire Bible Study - Day 55 - Deuteronomy 4–5 · Luke 6 - FeedTheGoodHorse
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Day 55: Deuteronomy 4–5 · Luke 6 · Commentary · Commentary² · Audio
The Bible text is included for reading continuity; it is accurate in substance, aligned with major modern translations, and may be read alongside any Bible you prefer.1
Special Note about the following Bible text: The following translation uses the Hebrew terms tamé (טָמֵא) and tahor (טָהוֹר) instead of the traditional “unclean” and “clean.” These terms describe ritual status in relation to sanctuary access, not moral fault, shame, or physical dirtiness. A fuller explanation will follow in a dedicated article.
Deuteronomy 4
Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments that I am teaching you to do, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land that Jehovah, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to the word that I command you or take away from it, so that you may keep the commands of Jehovah your God that I am commanding you.
Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did at Baal-peor, how Jehovah your God destroyed from among you every person who followed Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to Jehovah your God are all alive today.
See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as Jehovah my God commanded me, for you to do in the land you are entering to possess. Keep them and do them, because this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples. They will hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What great nation is there that has a god near to it as Jehovah our God is to us whenever we call to him? What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as all this instruction that I set before you today?
Only take care and guard your life carefully, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and to your children’s children—the day you stood before Jehovah your God at Horeb, when Jehovah said to me, “Gather the people to me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth and so that they may teach their children.”
You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the heavens, with darkness, cloud, and thick gloom. Jehovah spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice. He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do—the Ten Words—and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments for you to do in the land you are crossing into to possess.
Take careful heed to yourselves, since you saw no form on the day Jehovah spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly by making for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure—the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters below the earth. Take care that you do not lift your eyes to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars—all the host of heaven—and be drawn away to bow down to them and serve them, things that Jehovah your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
But Jehovah has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people for his own possession, as you are today.
Jehovah was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan and that I would not enter the good land that Jehovah your God is giving you as a possession. I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan, but you will cross over and take possession of that good land.
Take care for yourselves so that you do not forget the covenant of Jehovah your God that he made with you and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything that Jehovah your God has forbidden you. Jehovah your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
When you father children and children’s children and have lived long in the land, and you act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything and do what is evil in the eyes of Jehovah your God, provoking him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it but will be completely destroyed. Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Jehovah drives you. There you will serve gods made by human hands, of wood and stone, which do not see or hear or eat or smell.
But from there you will seek Jehovah your God and find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your life. When you are in distress and all these things come upon you in later days, you will return to Jehovah your God and listen to his voice. Jehovah your God is a compassionate God. He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.
Ask now about the former days that came before you, from the day God created humans on the earth, from one end of the heavens to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have heard, and lived? Has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, as Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
You were shown these things so that you might know that Jehovah is God; there is no other besides him. From the heavens he let you hear his voice to discipline you, and on the earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words from the midst of the fire. Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his own presence, with great power, driving out before you nations greater and stronger than you, to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today.
Know this today and take it to heart: Jehovah is God in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is no other. Keep his statutes and his commands that I am commanding you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you and so that you may live long in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you for all time.
Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan to the east, so that a person who kills another without intent, without having hated them before, could flee there and live: Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
This is the instruction that Moses set before the people of Israel. These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments that Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt, beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the east, from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), together with all the Arabah beyond the Jordan to the east, as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
Deuteronomy 5
Moses called all Israel and said to them: “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and the judgments that I am speaking in your hearing today. Learn them and take care to do them. Jehovah our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. Jehovah did not make this covenant with our ancestors, but with us—with all of us who are alive here today. Jehovah spoke with you face to face at the mountain out of the fire. At that time I stood between Jehovah and you to declare to you the word of Jehovah, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said:
“I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You must not have other gods besides me.
“You must not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them or serve them, because I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the parents’ wrongdoing on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing loyal care to thousands of those who love me and keep my commands.
“You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in emptiness, because Jehovah will not leave unpunished anyone who takes up his name in emptiness.
“Observe the day of rest to keep it set apart, just as Jehovah your God commanded you. Six days you will labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest to Jehovah your God. You must not do any work—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your ox, your donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner within your gates—so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as you do. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Jehovah your God has commanded you to observe the day of rest.
“Honor your father and your mother, just as Jehovah your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and so that it may go well with you on the land that Jehovah your God is giving you.
“You must not murder.
“You must not commit adultery.
“You must not steal.
“You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
“You must not desire your neighbor’s wife, and you must not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
“These words Jehovah spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice, and he added nothing more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
“When you heard the voice out of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me—all the heads of your tribes and your elders—and you said, ‘Look, Jehovah our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a human and the human lives. But now why should we die? This great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any longer, we will die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go near and hear everything that Jehovah our God says, and then speak to us everything that Jehovah our God speaks to you, and we will listen and do it.’
“Jehovah heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and Jehovah said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people that they have spoken to you. They are right in everything they have said. If only they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commands, so that it may go well with them and with their children forever. Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.” But you, stand here with me, and I will speak to you all the command, the statutes, and the judgments that you will teach them, so that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’
“So take care to do as Jehovah your God has commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that Jehovah your God has commanded you, so that you may live and it may go well with you, and so that you may prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”
Luke 6
On a day of rest he was passing through grainfields, and his disciples were picking heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not permitted on the day of rest?”
Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry—he and those with him—how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of presentation, which is not permitted except for the priests, and also gave some to those with him?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the day of rest.”
On another day of rest he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him closely to see whether he would heal on the day of rest, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts and said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand in the middle.” He got up and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you: is it permitted on the day of rest to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” After looking around at them all, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored.
But they were filled with fury and began discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus.
In those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve from them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter; Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alphaeus; Simon who was called the Zealot; Judas son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a large crowd of his disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those troubled by unclean spirits were being healed. The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.
Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
because yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
because you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
because you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil
because of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because your reward is great in heaven, for their ancestors did the same to the prophets.
But woe to you who are rich,
because you have received your comfort.
Woe to you who are full now,
because you will hunger.
Woe to you who laugh now,
because you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all people speak well of you,
for their ancestors did the same to the false prophets.
But I say to you who are listening: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other also. From the one who takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and from the one who takes your things do not demand them back.
Just as you want people to do for you, do the same for them.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to receive back the same.
But love your enemies, do good, and lend without expecting anything in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye but do not notice the beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck in your brother’s eye.
No good tree produces bad fruit, and no bad tree produces good fruit. Each tree is known by its own fruit. People do not gather figs from thornbushes or grapes from brambles.
A good person brings out what is good from what is stored within, and an evil person brings out what is evil from what is stored within. For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart.
Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
Everyone who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them—I will show you what they are like. They are like a person building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the river struck that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.
But the one who hears and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river struck it, it collapsed immediately, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Commentary - Day 55
Deuteronomy 4–5 · Luke 6
The mountain is recalled again, not as a place they approach, but as a place they stood before. Fire rises to the heart of the heavens, darkness and cloud surround it, and from within it comes a voice. No form is seen. The memory is held to what was heard, not to what could be shaped or pictured. The command that follows is tied to that absence: nothing is to be made to stand in place of what was not seen.
The warning moves outward across what fills the sky and the earth—sun, moon, stars, animals, birds, fish. Each is named as something that can be lifted into view and turned toward. The same world that surrounds them becomes the material of substitution if it is taken in that way. The command does not remove these things; it prevents them from being fixed into form.
The memory of Egypt is placed alongside this. The furnace, the taking out, the bringing into possession. What is remembered is not only where they came from, but how they were brought out. The same pattern returns later: if the covenant is left, scattering follows; if they seek again, they find. Distance and return are both held within the same account.
The voice from the fire is described again as something that was heard and lived through. The question is asked within the text itself—whether such a thing has happened before. The answer is not argued but set in the memory: a people heard and remained alive. What is given is not an image but a word, and the word is placed before them to be kept.
The Ten Words are spoken again with the same framing—out of fire, with no addition. They are set down in sequence without expansion. The prohibition of other gods stands alongside the rest that recalls slavery and release, the honoring of parents, and the restraint placed on action and desire. The commands name what is not to be made, what is not to be spoken, the day that is to be kept, and the acts that are not to be done against another.
When the people draw back from the mountain and ask for a voice to stand between, the arrangement changes. They return to their tents, and Moses remains to receive what will be taught. The words are still given, but the distance is now part of how they are received.
Cities of refuge are set apart again on the east side of the Jordan. The same pattern appears within the land: a boundary that holds life in place when it would otherwise be lost. The land is not only given; it is structured with places that preserve those who would be overtaken.
In the grainfields, hands move through heads of grain, rubbing and eating. The same day that was set apart is now the place of question. The reference to David places hunger beside what was permitted, and the answer names authority in relation to the day.
In the synagogue, a hand is restored in the center of the room while others watch for a reason to accuse. The question is placed before them—good or harm, life or destruction—and the answer is given in the act itself. The hand is stretched out and becomes whole, and the watching turns to anger.
On the mountain, the night is spent in prayer, and from the larger group twelve are named. The number is fixed, and the names are spoken one by one. They come down to a level place where a crowd gathers from many regions, pressing in to hear and to be healed. Power moves outward, and many reach to touch.
The words that follow are set in pairs: poor and rich, hungry and full, weeping and laughing, rejected and well spoken of. Each is named as they are—poor, hungry, weeping, hated—and another condition is set beside them: filled, laughing, rewarded, rejected.
Commands follow that move through opposition—loving those who hate, giving without return, turning the struck cheek. The comparison is made with what is already common: those who love in return, those who lend expecting return. The difference is placed in what is done beyond that.
Images gather again—measure pressed down and overflowing, a blind guide and a pit, a beam and a speck, trees and their fruit, a house and its foundation. Each holds its meaning within the image. The tree is known by its fruit, the mouth speaks from what fills the heart, and the house stands or falls when the river strikes what it was built on.
The final image returns to what was heard and what is done with it. One hears and acts, digging down and setting a foundation on rock. Another hears and does not act, building on ground without a base. The same river meets both. What has been laid beforehand determines what remains.
Deuteronomy 4–5 returns to Horeb, where Israel stood before fire, cloud, and darkness and heard a voice without seeing any form. Because no form was seen, nothing is to be made in its place. The words are given before the land is possessed, and the covenant is repeated in commands that reach from worship and speech into rest, family, action, and desire. The people draw back, return to their tents, and receive the word through Moses.
In Luke 6, the day of rest becomes a place of testing again: grain is eaten, a withered hand is restored in the middle of the synagogue, and anger rises in those who watch. Then come pairs and images—poor and rich, beam and speck, tree and fruit, house and flood. Across the readings, what is heard and what is laid down beforehand determines what later stands or falls.
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