The Bible by David Alley

by David Alley

Season 1

Deuteronomy 17 - Laws for Kings | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 17 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 17 it starts by telling the Israelites not to offer second rate sacrifices. There was a real temptation to offer blemished sacrifices, because they were cheaper. Upon arrival at a festival it was a way of saving money, but God is reminding them to make himself a priority. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 was like this in that they pretend they were giving a better sacrifice than they were. In this case the amount of their offering was at thei discretion but they lied. When it comes to service, we need to give God our best effort, from a good heart. When it comes to money or giving, we endeavor to put the Lord first. Later is goes to give instructions for kings, when inevitably they would ask for one. It said not to have many horses. King Solomon, for all his wisdom, seems to not have been aware, or chose not to follow this advice. Horses were a sign of trust in one’s own strength, just as today people might trust in the dollar, or in technology. The law also said not to have many wives. Solomon also had many wives, who in fact did lead him astray. For a man with such wisdom, this was a highly foolish thing to do. He discovered this to his own shame, what he could easily have avoided by following what was written in the law in advance. His own words in Ecclesiastes 2:10-11: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;” Finally the king was required to write out a copy of the law, which presumably was either this book of Deuteronomy, or the entire law, being the first 5 books.

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Aug 21, 2022

13:41

Deuteronomy 16 -Passover,Pentecost, and Tabernacles|Bible Podcast,David Alley,Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 16 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 16 in Moses’ great speech he recounts the three great feasts. These three are pilgrimage feasts which meant people were meant to travel to the place, which was Jerusalem later, for them. While the 12 tribes were in the land, none was really more than a few days' journey from Jerusalem, as we see later in the life of Christ, he regularly travelled to Jerusalem for feasts, This is seen most clearly in John’s gospel where he is present for multiple passover, plus other feasts. We have often heard that Jesus had a three year ministry, but if you read Matthew, Mark or Luke we only see one passover there, the final one. But in John’s gospel is where we get the multiple feasts that Jesus attends in Jerusalem. Plus in Luke we also see Jesus' parents take him to the temple for passover as a twelve year old boy, so we see that pilgrimage was his family habit. Each of the pilgrimage feasts is a seven day feast - a symbolic number for God. And there are three, of them, the number of the trinity, also a number of God. In verse 14 he says “you shall rejoice”. It’s funny that God commands them to keep feasts and then commands them to celebrate the feasts. This is because for humans the reason for joy is not obvious. Of course we cannot fake enthusiasm, (en theos) but we can through obedience grow to see the things that bring joy. So we always start with obedience to God. For the Israelites they were obliged to celebrate these three times per year as a way of remembering all that God had done for them. As believers we participate not only in annual events like Christmas and Easter, but other regular practices like communion/eucharist, and weekly church attendance, which we should be joyful about too. IMagine if God said we had to attend church, and we had to celebrate. Many would not see the reason for doing so, but in time their eyes might be opened if they persist. Ultimately the feasts are Christ, and we are celebrating Him. It is plainly stated by Paul in Colossians 2:16-17.

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Aug 20, 2022

12:37

Deuteronomy 15 - The Year of Jubilee - | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 15 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 15 Moses talks about debt, slavery and defective sacrifices. First on Debt: Imagine a country which cancelled debt every 7 years. Debt and credit would be low. God put in place a number of things to make sure there were no poor among them, including this debt management strategy, and elsewhere things like Jubilee, and the gleaning during harvest. But we do see poverty in scripture… why? Simply that people didn’t follow the laws of the Lord. Much later the Lord exiled his people for 70 years, to Babylon because of the 70 sabbath years which were not observed. Effectively, lending was to be approached like giving. We are told in NT terms to give to the poor, and we don’t expect to be repaid. This was effectively the same, but the poor were given a time frame within which they could repay and regain their dignity. Second on Slaves: We talked about bond slaves already in Exodus 21. These are love slaves, and Christ is the door. We are to put our ear to Christ and be pierced into the door, permanently listening to him. Paul called himself a bondslave of Christ. Thirdly, on perfect sacrifices, Christ is the perfect sacrifice, and our sacrifices to him should also be perfect. Cain offered a sacrifice that may have been good in quality, but from a non-perfect heart. That sadly constituted a sacrifice not accepted. Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge your brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.” Here our attitude to God is part of making the sacrifice pleasing and true, and our lives, rather than the life of a sheep, are to be given to God.

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Aug 19, 2022

11:20

Deuteronomy 14 - Clean and Unclean Foods | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 14 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 14 the speech of Moses continues, now relating specific things they should and should not do much of which has already been discussed in earlier books, such as in Leviticus 11. We then discuss practical matters relating to travel and sacrifices. If the distance from where a worshiper lived ws too far to go to the temple, to conveniently take the sacrifices, they could instead buy the sacrifice on location. This is exactly what happened at the temple, with an industry booming supplying lambs for sacrifices at the temple. It is almost certain that the shepherds in the fields at Bethlehem, just ten miles or so from Jerusalem, who saw the glorious Christmas angels, were raising sheep that would be used in temple sacrifices, and ultimately as food for worshippers and priests. We are familiar with the story of Jesus cleansing the temple and from that we get the idea that buying and selling in a house of worship is wrong, but it isn’t, because it is advocated right here. So what was Jesus doing? He was greatly bothered by price-gouging. What was happening at festival times was the prices were rising when people had no other choice but to pay the price on offer. People who had travelled a long way with money, had to buy at highly inflated rates or risk wasting their trip to the temple. This bothered Christ a lot, because it was turning the purpose of the feasts into a commercial opportunity. So we have the story in John 2 of Jesus cleansing the temple with a whip. There is nothing wrong with commercial opportunities in their own right, and there is nothing wrong with buying and selling as part of spiritual life as needed, but to deliberately turn something spiritual into something commercial is to change its purpose, the motivation for having it and more. So it is ok to have a Christian bookshop in your church, which sells resources to God’s people? Certainly because its purpose is to resource people and help them spiritually.

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Aug 18, 2022

13:22

Deuteronomy 13 - False Prophets and Idolaters | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 13 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 13 this whole chapter is about things which try to lead the Israelites away from God. Firstly a false prophet giving signs. It's not remarkable that a false prophet performs a sign. This is not just an OT thing, because we see it in the NT too, as part of the warnings in Matt 24 and elsewhere. The truth is the truth regardless of signs. THen relatives who try to lead you astray. It was the death penalty in all these situations. Clearly this is serious. From an eternal perspective, this is exactly what happens to those who advocate turning away from God. As shocking as it seems to some today, it's a window into reality. Finally on a more corporate level, if a city has turned away, the entire city had to be removed. The entire chapter is very strong about destroying the source that tries to lead you away from Christ. Jesus figuratively said as much in the NT when he said, “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” If there is an obvious source of apostasy in our lives, we need to remove ourselves from it. Is this chapter advice to attack our enemies? No Christ taught us to love them? How do we reconcile these differences? These types of chapters were in a context of an entire nation where God was the king. These were instructions as to the rule in a country. But it was also to teach us how seriously we must treat things which cause apostasy. Without this very firm boundary in place, we could never have come to the positions of grace and kindness which we have now. The truth is that without a firm commitment to God which is unshaking, we would never be able to love our enemies anyway.

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Aug 17, 2022

12:32

Deuteronomy 12 - The Laws for Worship | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 12 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 12 we discuss Asherah Poles and the Place that God would choose, which was firstly Shiloh, and ultimately Jerusalem. Asherah poles were probably not actually poles, but idols. Some people think they are trees, but archaeology has discovered many idols of Asherah but nothing that is recognised as an Asherah Pole. This video explains what these are. Today we are not tempted by Asherah, but the things that Asherah represents are still tempting, wealth, success, advancement, prosperity, and of course physical intimacy. Imagine a way of life where these things would guarantee you success. How hard would it be for people to resist that? Then, we discuss the place, which of course was Jerusalem, where the temple would ultimately be built, in the midst of the tribal land of Benjamin. Prior to that the temple was at Shiloh, in the tribal hill country of Ephraim - see Judges 21:19. Practically a form of worship which required you to go to a certain place is difficult to sustain, but in this case the Lord was building a type to teach the human race something. Its hard enough for us to get spiritual concepts as it is, even with a physical example to lean on. We know now that we must go to Christ, and he is our temple and our sacrifice, but imagine trying to lean on these invisible things without the redemption history we have. The problem facing the ISraelites was the choice between easy worship of Asherah anywhere they wanted, or the difficulty of travel to worship God in one place, with his rules. In the NT, Jesus tells a parable of the easy road and the hard road. This is located in Matt 7:13-14. The Israelites chose the easy road. The warning was in advance for them, as it also is for us.

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Aug 16, 2022

13:55

Deuteronomy 11 - The Blessings of Obedience | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 11 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 11 Moses continues his speech using words which seem so very similar here to in many previous places in the book of Deuteronomy. He is repeating himself as a parent does when talking with a teenager. Moses knows full well how the Israelites are going to end up and is trying to reinforce key ideas, such as obedience. This is also God's method too, trying to make abundantly sure we have received the message. Sadly we often do not hear, despite many repetitions. In verse 16 he advises care lest the heart be deceived. The deceiving of the heart is the problem. Jeremiah said in 17:9 that the heart is deceitful above all else. We fool ourselves and justify our behaviour, and rationalise all sorts of things. We must be so careful not to assume we are better than we are, or that we deserve what good we have. In verse 24 Moses said what God had promised to Abraham, that everywhere they set their feet would be theirs. Spiritually it is important to set our feet in many places, as we will inherit them. If you see another with graces and anointings, these are also potentially ours by faith if we seek to walk in that place too. Then in verses 26-7 God gives them a choice between blessings and curses. The doctrine of Calvinism denies such a choice, but the truth is that God in his complete sovereignty has sovereignly chosen to give people choices. He is also sovereignly capable of removing our ability to choose, but has not done so, because true love and fellowship is only possible when one has the ability to respond. There is going to be more about the curses and blessings in the second half of Deuteronomy

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Aug 15, 2022

13:29

Deuteronomy 10 - The Second Set of Tablets | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 10 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 10 we surprisingly find out that Moses made an ark to put the tablets in, but is it the ark of the covenant, or another box? This video explains an answer. Next in verse 6 it say Aaron died at Moserah, but elsewhere the Bible says that Aaron died at Mt Hor causing some critics to jump on this as an apparent discrepancy. We should always trust the Bible because these types of things have a way of clearing up in time, but if not, there is usually a good reason. Moserah may have been a broader area, and Mt Hor the more specific part of the broader area, or the other way around. There are many examples of perceived contradictions that turn out to have good reasons, such as the example with Moses' wife in Numbers 12. See https://peace.org.au/numbers-12.html In verse 12 Moses asks “What does your God require of you?” and it echoes Micah 6:8. This indicates that Deuteronomy is far older than the minor prophets (848-844 B.C.), and at the time of their writing, already well known throughout Israel. In verse 16 Moses tells them to circumcise their hearts. Circumcision of the heart is an old idea, but the concept of it wouldn't have existed without actual circumcision. This demonstrates the power of real life practices established as examples. We also consider how God can be just when poverty seems rampant. And we contemplate the symbolism of the number 70 at the end of this chapter.

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Aug 14, 2022

13:02

Deuteronomy 9 - A Reminder of Israel's Rebellion |Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 9 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 9 Moses continues his speech and mentions the giants in the land who previously scared the Israelites. Later in the book of Joshua 14 and 15, Caleb personally defeats three of these giants, and displays the same boldness that he showed when he was one of the original 12 spies sent into the promised land 39 years earlier. There are genuine obstacles in our lives that are insurmountable, but Caleb is an example to us that our attitude should be confidence in Christ’s work. In v4-5 Moses reminds them that it is not their righteousness that is the reason for inheriting the land. It can be very easy to think that when we have good things in life it is a sign of the Lord’s approval of us, but this passage demonstrates that they were to inherit the land because the sin of the previous occupants dispossessed them. Our response to God is never presumption, or thinking we deserve anything, but always gratitude because of grace. In the rest of the chapter Moses proceeds to recount a number of the faults of the Israelites, demonstrating how weak, and human they are. He is attempting to put them in the middle of the humility they need to have reminding them of how dependent they are on God. This whole passage and many others like it demonstrate that God has always been a god of Grace. There isn’t a dispensation of grace and a dispensation of law, rather there was an old covenant and a new covenant, but both contain grace and law. You cannot have grace without the law, but you can have law without grace. This passage demonstrates the graciousness of God

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Aug 13, 2022

10:00

Deuteronomy 8 - Warning against Forgetting the Lord | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 8 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Deuteronomy 8 is a reminiscent chapter bringing out lessons from the forty desert years. It begins by reminding them of some of the difficulties they faced in the desert. God allows tough times in our lives to humble us and test us. We are told in the NT to rejoice in all things. These difficulties are worth their weight in gold, unless of course we fail the test as many did. Verse 3-4 was then quoted later by the Lord in his temptation with Satan, reminding him that man does not live by bread alone, a statement Moses made right here to teach the Israelites that they had to keep trusting the Lord. In verses 5-6 it talks about how the Lord disciplined them because he loved them. Difficulty in our lives is not always a sign that God is against us, but that God is with us. The key is to always seek him so that we grow in grace and learn the lessons that we should learn. In 11-14 Moses warns them not to forget God when life starts getting better for them. It is easy to forget God when all is well. Of course we do not forget him in the sense that we don’t know about him, but we don’t depend on Him and walk with him as we otherwise would. Humility is needing God’s help, and when we have everything under control, we no longer need him, and can easily be proud and cut off from grace. In v 18 it says “it is God who gives you the power to get wealth.” This verse so often quoted by prosperity preachers, is usually taken out of context. Here Moses uses it to remind the people that when they are doing well, it may seem as if they don’t need God, but it is actually God who has provided for them just the same. It’s not a promise of wealth, but a reminder that when you are doing well, not to forget the Lord. In Daniel 4:28 is the story of Nebuchadnezzer who took pride in what he thought was his achievements, not realising it was from the Lord. His humiliation was very great.

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Aug 12, 2022

11:37

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