◄ Deuteronomy 23:6 ►
You are not to seek peace or prosperity from them as long as you live.
Study Bible
You shall not seek their peace
This phrase is a direct command from God to the Israelites regarding their relationship with the Ammonites and Moabites. The Hebrew word for "seek" is "דָּרַשׁ" (darash), which implies a diligent search or pursuit. In this context, it suggests that the Israelites are to actively avoid pursuing any form of peace or alliance with these nations. Historically, the Ammonites and Moabites were descendants of Lot and had a contentious relationship with Israel. Their refusal to offer bread and water to the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt (Deuteronomy 23:4) and their hiring of Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers 22-24) are key reasons for this divine prohibition. This command underscores the importance of maintaining spiritual and moral boundaries, emphasizing that alliances with those who oppose God's people can lead to spiritual compromise.

or prosperity
The Hebrew word for "prosperity" is "טוֹב" (tov), which generally means good, welfare, or benefit. In this context, it refers to the well-being or success of the Ammonites and Moabites. The Israelites are instructed not to contribute to or desire the flourishing of these nations. This directive serves as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience and the importance of aligning with God's will. It also highlights the principle of divine justice, as these nations had acted against God's chosen people. From a spiritual perspective, this teaches believers to be cautious about supporting or endorsing those who stand in opposition to God's purposes.

all your days forever
This phrase emphasizes the perpetual nature of the command. The Hebrew word for "forever" is "עוֹלָם" (olam), which can mean eternity or an indefinite period. The use of "all your days" reinforces the idea that this is not a temporary injunction but a lasting directive for the Israelites. It serves as a reminder of the enduring nature of God's commands and the importance of faithfulness across generations. Historically, this reflects the ongoing tension between Israel and these neighboring nations, and spiritually, it underscores the call for believers to remain steadfast in their commitment to God's standards, regardless of changing circumstances or pressures. This eternal perspective encourages a long-term view of obedience and faithfulness to God's covenant.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The author of Deuteronomy, who is delivering God's laws and instructions to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land.

2. Israelites
The chosen people of God, who are receiving these instructions as part of the covenant relationship with God.

3. Moabites and Ammonites
The nations specifically referenced in the surrounding context of Deuteronomy 23, who were not to be sought for peace or prosperity due to their historical enmity and actions against Israel.

4. Promised Land
The land of Canaan, which the Israelites are preparing to enter and possess, as promised by God to their ancestors.

5. Covenant
The agreement between God and Israel, which includes laws, blessings, and curses, and is central to the instructions given in Deuteronomy.
Teaching Points
Understanding Historical Context
Recognize the historical enmity between Israel and the Moabites/Ammonites, which informs the command in Deuteronomy 23:6.

God's Sovereignty and Justice
Trust in God's sovereign decisions regarding nations and His justice in dealing with those who oppose His people.

Separation from Sin
Reflect on the importance of maintaining spiritual purity and separation from influences that lead away from God.

Balancing Old and New Testament Teachings
Consider how Jesus' teachings on love and peace interact with Old Testament commands, seeking a holistic biblical understanding.

Practical Discernment
Apply discernment in relationships and alliances, ensuring they align with God's purposes and do not compromise faith.
Bible Study Questions
1. What historical events led to the command in Deuteronomy 23:6, and how do they shape our understanding of this verse?

2. How does the command to not seek peace or prosperity from certain nations relate to the broader theme of holiness and separation in the Old Testament?

3. In what ways can we apply the principle of separation from negative influences in our modern context, while still following Jesus' command to love our enemies?

4. How do the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament challenge or complement the instructions given in Deuteronomy 23:6?

5. What practical steps can we take to ensure our relationships and alliances honor God and align with His purposes, especially in a diverse and interconnected world?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 19
Provides background on the origins of the Moabites and Ammonites, who descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew.

Numbers 22-24
Describes the incident with Balaam, where the Moabites attempted to curse Israel, highlighting the historical enmity.

Nehemiah 13
Reflects on the continued separation from the Moabites and Ammonites during the post-exilic period, emphasizing the lasting nature of this command.

Matthew 5:44
Jesus' teaching on loving enemies, which provides a New Testament perspective on dealing with adversaries.

Romans 12:18
Encourages believers to live at peace with everyone, as far as it depends on them, offering a broader context for understanding peace.
Sermons
Loss of Sacred Privilege a Grievous PenaltyD. Davies Deuteronomy 23:1-6
The Congregation of the Lord Jealously GuardedR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 23:1-8
The Excluded from the CongregationJ. Orr Deuteronomy 23:1-8
People
Aram, Balaam, Beor, Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Pethor
Topics
Age, Forever, Friendship, Nothing, Peace, Prosperity, Seek, Treaty, Well-being
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 23:6

     1346   covenants, nature of
     5205   alliance
     5592   treaty
     5692   friends, bad

Deuteronomy 23:1-8

     7209   congregation

Library
Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Here Then Shall These Persons in their Turn be in Another More Sublime Degree...
28. Here then shall these persons in their turn be in another more sublime degree of righteousness outdone, by them who shall so order themselves, that every day they shall betake them into the fields as unto pasture, and at what time they shall find it, pick up their meal, and having allayed their hunger, return. But plainly, on account of the keepers of the fields, how good were it, if the Lord should deign to bestow wings also, that the servants of God being found in other men's fields should …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Lessons for Worship and for Work
'Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few. 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Introductory Note to the Works of Origen.
[a.d. 185-230-254.] The reader will remember the rise and rapid development of the great Alexandrian school, and the predominance which was imparted to it by the genius of the illustrious Clement. [1865] But in Origen, his pupil, who succeeded him at the surprising age of eighteen, a new sun was to rise upon its noontide. Truly was Alexandria "the mother and mistress of churches" in the benign sense of a nurse and instructress of Christendom, not its arrogant and usurping imperatrix. The full details …
Origen—Origen De Principiis

Excursus on Usury.
The famous canonist Van Espen defines usury thus: "Usura definitur lucrum ex mutuo exactum aut speratum;" [96] and then goes on to defend the proposition that, "Usury is forbidden by natural, by divine, and by human law. The first is proved thus. Natural law, as far as its first principles are concerned, is contained in the decalogue; but usury is prohibited in the decalogue, inasmuch as theft is prohibited; and this is the opinion of the Master of the Sentences, of St. Bonaventura, of St. Thomas …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Jesus Defends Disciples who Pluck Grain on the Sabbath.
(Probably While on the Way from Jerusalem to Galilee.) ^A Matt. XII. 1-8; ^B Mark II. 23-28; ^C Luke VI. 1-5. ^b 23 And ^c 1 Now it came to pass ^a 1 At that season ^b that he ^a Jesus went { ^b was going} on the { ^c a} ^b sabbath day through the grainfields; ^a and his disciples were hungry and began ^b as they went, to pluck the ears. ^a and to eat, ^c and his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. [This lesson fits in chronological order with the last, if the Bethesda …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

That it is not Lawful for the Well Affected Subjects to Concur in Such an Engagement in War, and Associate with the Malignant Party.
That It Is Not Lawful For The Well Affected Subjects To Concur In Such An Engagement In War, And Associate With The Malignant Party. Some convinced of the unlawfulness of the public resolutions and proceedings, in reference to the employing of the malignant party, yet do not find such clearness and satisfaction in their own consciences as to forbid the subjects to concur in this war, and associate with the army so constituted. Therefore it is needful to speak something to this point, That it is …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Canaan
Canaan was the inheritance which the Israelites won for themselves by the sword. Their ancestors had already settled in it in patriarchal days. Abraham "the Hebrew" from Babylonia had bought in it a burying-place near Hebron; Jacob had purchased a field near Shechem, where he could water his flocks from his own spring. It was the "Promised Land" to which the serfs of the Pharaoh in Goshen looked forward when they should again become free men and find a new home for themselves. Canaan had ever been …
Archibald Sayce—Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations

Brief Directions How to Read the Holy Scriptures once Every Year Over, with Ease, Profit, and Reverence.
But forasmuch, that as faith is the soul, so reading and meditating on the word of God, are the parent's of prayer, therefore, before thou prayest in the morning, first read a chapter in the word of God; then meditate awhile with thyself, how many excellent things thou canst remember out of it. As--First, what good counsels or exhortations to good works and to holy life. Secondly, what threatenings of judgments against such and such a sin; and what fearful examples of God's punishment or vengeance …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
BY A.E. GRIMKE. "Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not within thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place: but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer:--and so will I go in unto the king, …
Angelina Emily Grimke—An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South

The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.' Exod 20: 17. THIS commandment forbids covetousness in general, Thou shalt not covet;' and in particular, Thy neighbour's house, thy neighbour's wife, &c. I. It forbids covetousness in general. Thou shalt not covet.' It is lawful to use the world, yea, and to desire so much of it as may keep us from the temptation …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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