Deuteronomy 20
OFFER OF PEACE

Some people have said that the God of the Old Testament was a blood-thirsty and vindictive God. To back their view, they point out that the LORD instructed his people Israel to go to war and kill all the inhabitants of Canaan without mercy, and then take over their land. But God’s mercy extended much further than we might care to remember.

In his instructions as to how Israel were to behave during battle, God gave these instructions: “When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labour and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.” (Deuteronomy 20 v 10 – 12).

The people Israel battled were not destroyed with no say in the matter. They were offered peace, but most refused and engaged Israel in battle, thus signing their own death warrant.

When Joshua led the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, some of the inhabitants did make peace with them, and Israel honoured that agreement for peace, going to extreme measures to do so.

Old Testament or new, God shows himself to be a merciful God, giving sinners the opportunity to repent and accept his conditions right up to the last minute. We have the same choice. Have we made peace with God?

May we be merciful this week, just as God is merciful to us.

With love in our Lord
Robert

 Robert Prins

www.thinkythings.com

We are only two days away from reading the Song of Solomon in our daily readings, so please take advantage of  my latest offering, The Story of the Song of Solomon.

The Story of the Song of Solomon
The Song of Solomon can seem like a difficult book to understand. It is written as a song and a play all in one. It was probably one of the very first operas! One of the problems we have in reading the Song is that there are no stage directions, instruction or narration. All we have are the words that are being sung by who knows who. As a result, there are many of interpretations of the Song of Solomon and a lot of confusion around it. 
I have tried to look at the Song to glean the story from it as we would if we were reading the script from a play or opera. If we can understand the story that is being sung and acted as we read it, then we will also be able to understand more of what the Song means to us in our relationships with our husbands and wives, and in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
32 pages. Easy to read. Illustrated.
Free to download for a limited time from https://thinkythings.com/purchase/

Or to buy a printed copy, NZ$10.00 plus postage from https://thinkythings.com/purchase/ or by emailing robert@thinkythings.com

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