[Today: Deuteronomy 17]: Pitfalls in the Promised Land. In this chapter, God warns the people through Moses of various challenges they would face in the land of Canaan. 1.) They would be tempted to dilute their faithfulness to God and marginalize their standards of commitment by offering polluted sacrifices. 2.) They would be faced with complicated societal issues that would tempt them to stray from the simplicity of God’s word. 3.) They would eventually choose a king, which would involve many vulnerabilities and lead to a return to paganism. All of these issues are relevant to Christians today living in increasingly aggressive secularism in a post-Christian era.
