February 28, 2022: Day 45 – Deuteronomy 16-20 and Mark 10

In these chapters Moses lays out the religious holidays that ought to be celebrated once they arrive into the promised land that was given to them.  Chapter 16 goes through the celebration of Passover, which was a reminder of what God did for them in Egypt.  Chapter 17 addresses the desire of the people to have a king and I was surprised to read this part because I had thought that God had categorically at this point denied the Israelites even the possibility of setting up a king.  But here he gives some details on how the king is to be chosen and how that king is to rule.  This is way before Saul is anointed the first king of Israel.

Moses addresses how the Levites have been set apart and so don’t have an inheritance of the land, but rather the people need to be taking care of them through the offerings.  We then transition to cities of refuge where people can go if they kill someone by mistake.  That is always nice to have.  And finally we see direction on what to do when you go to war.

In our Mark Scripture we read Jesus receiving the children and telling them that they cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven if they do not become like children in their faith.  Accepting of all that he teaches.  We next see Jesus’ command to the young man to sell all that he has and give it to the poor.  To me it is interesting how we tend to consider some stories literal and other stories allegories.  This one tends to be symbolized more than accepted as literal for some reason.