Religious Authority in Israel

Under our discussion of the fifth commandment, we have been dealing with broader questions of authority, with an emphasis on “secular” authority. In this portion, we come to questions of religious authority, both legitimate and illegitimate. “The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel . …

The Sabbath Mind and the Tithe

We have seen that we are not to twist and distort God’s sabbath kindness—we are not to boil a kid in the mother’s milk. And throughout this section of Deuteronomy, although we may not be addressing the weekly sabbath directly, we are still concerned to cultivate what may be called the sabbath mind. “Thou shalt …