Deuteronomy 14 ...1 Ye are the children of the Lord your God:ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
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Deuteronomy 15... 1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release:Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord 's release. 3 Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again:but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release; 4 Save when there shall be no poor among you;
for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:5 Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.
6 For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee:and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.
(It is a shame for the non-church to reign over the church.)
7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:8 But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him:because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. 11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land:therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
(One time, during Christmas season, a deacon from Baptist church said to me, "Joan, do you know any needy people. Our church has taken offerings for needy at Christmas and we are trying to find needy."
I replied, "If I knew a needy person, he wouldn't be needy."
But if I knew able body person who needed food or clothing, I would not give him such. I would not give such to person who was able to work for the apostle Paul told us the following: 2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. )
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Deuteronomy 16 ... 18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes:and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift:for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. 20 That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
... 22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth.
(I hate those images also, especially religious images. Some man dressed in clothing representing Bible days, is portrayed as a long haired Jesus. This photo is widely seen, and I've even seen it on the wall inside the meeting room of an Assembly of God church. I told pastor this should be removed. It is abomination. Concrete images of human figures with wings are often placed in yards of homes in our city. These images represent angels. This is abomination. In the Bible, such as in Genesis 19, we see angels do not have wings. God hates such images and I hate such images.
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Deuteronomy 17 ... 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
(No anonymous phone calls or letters ... )
8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates:then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; 9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do:thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die:and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
(In NT church today, we have come very far from righteous judgment of the New Testament Bible ... considering that the apostle Paul commanded the following concerning evil-doers in the congregation.
I Cor. 5 ...1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? (We do not judge the world but we are supposed to judge the church in these matters.) 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Paul did not say to counsel the evil doer in the congregation, nor to teach him. If he is the church, calling himself a brother in Christ, he knows better. Paul said, rightly, to put such a one out of the congregation ... and even to turn such over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
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Deuteronomy 17 ...13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
14 When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose:one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee:thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses:forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away:neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life:that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left:to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
We in the NT church today obey the laws of the land in-so-much as we can obey them without denying God. We live in peace in the land when possible today. We do not riot nor stir up the people to rebellion for we remember, like Jesus, our kingdom is not of this world. (Jn. 18) We wait for the new heaven and new earth "wherein dwelleth righteousness" (II Peter 3) We set our affection on things above, not on things on this earth. ( Col. 3)
Not all today can live openly in their nation of men. But this does not mean you riot either. Such will be great testing for you. The only way you can be personally victorious in such is to turn to God and clearly hear what HE wants you to do. But God's way will not be to take over the government of men. You might find you have to flee that country if possible. Regardless you must be able to hear God.