Define

• Duties or observances, often related to guarding or keeping specific practices (e.g., priestly duties).

Related words

• Commandments
• Penalties/Consequence: Many commands lack specific penalties in Deuteronomy, with consequences often tied to the general curses of Deut. 28:15-68 or specific punishments like death (e.g., for idolatry, adultery, murder) or curses (Deut. 27). Some penalties are drawn from related Torah passages (e.g., Exodus, Leviticus).
  • Deuteronomy 28:15-68 (Deut-28#v15)
• Ransom: Atonement is rarely specified in Deuteronomy, except for cases like the heifer ritual (Deut. 21:1-9) or purification processes (e.g., Deut. 23:11, Lev. 14:1-32 for leprosy). Most violations lack explicit atonement instructions in Deuteronomy, often implying repentance or adherence to general sacrificial laws in Leviticus.
• Offerings

Connections

It seems initially the Passover Lamb of the Passover Offering could be applied just as the Hebrews in Egypt applied the blood to their door posts. The emphasis is on seeking fellowship with God and gratitude for His redemption. This graphs one into the Congregation of Israel, becoming one of Yah-God's people, brought out of bondage and set free. Jesus became our Passover Lamb offering.

Jesus as an Offering

• Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. 28 A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

• John 14:15: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments (mitzvah)."

• John 14:21: "Whoever has my commandments (mitzvah) and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

• John 15:10: "If you keep my commandments (mitzvah), you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments (mitzvah) and abide in his love."

• 1 John 5:2-3: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments (entolē). For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments (mitzvah). And his commandments (entolē) are not burdensome."

List of Ordinances (Mishmerot) in Deuteronomy

1. Worshiping Other Gods or Idolatry

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 17:2-5
• Scripture text (WEB): "If there is found among you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight in transgressing his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded, and you are told, and hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is committed in Israel, then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates, even that same man or woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death by stoning (Deut. 17:5).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified in Deuteronomy. Leviticus 4:27-31 mentions sin offerings for unintentional sins, but idolatry is a deliberate "high-handed" sin, typically unforgivable without repentance (Num. 15:30-31). Sins Requiring Death - No Offering
• Note: No set elders anymore.

2. False Prophecy

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 18:20-22
• Scripture text (WEB): "But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. If you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?'—when a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death (Deut. 18:20).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. False prophecy is a deliberate offense, precluding atonement (Num. 15:30-31). Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

3. Murder

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 19:11-13
• Scripture text (WEB): "But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, and strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death by the avenger of blood (Deut. 19:12).
• Offering or Ransom: None permitted. Numbers 35:31 explicitly states, "You shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death." Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

4. False Testimony in Court

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 19:16-19
• Scripture text (WEB): "If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother; then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall put away the evil from among you."
• Penalty or Consequence: The false witness receives the punishment intended for the accused (Deut. 19:19).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. This is a deliberate act, so no atonement is implied.

5. Disobedience to Priests or Judges

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 17:8-12
• Scripture text (WEB): "If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict. You shall do according to the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you. According to the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they announce to you, to the right hand, nor to the left. The man who does presumptuously in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death for presumptuous disobedience (Deut. 17:12).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. Presumptuous sins generally exclude atonement (Num. 15:30-31).

6. Adultery

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 22:22
• Scripture text (WEB): "If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death for both parties (Deut. 22:22).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. Leviticus 20:10 reiterates the death penalty for adultery, with no atonement option. Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

7. Rape of a Betrothed Woman

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 22:25-27
• Scripture text (WEB): "But if the man finds the lady who is pledged to be married in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die; but to the lady you shall do nothing. There is in the lady no sin worthy of death; for as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter; for he found her in the field, the pledged to be married lady cried, and there was no one to save her."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death for the man (Deut. 22:25).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. The woman is innocent, and no atonement is required for her. The man’s sin is deliberate, precluding ransom. Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

8. Sexual Relations with a Virgin Not Betrothed

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 22:28-29
• Scripture text (WEB): "If a man finds a lady who is a virgin, who is not pledged to be married, grabs her and lies with her, and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the lady’s father fifty shekels of silver. She shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not put her away all his days."
• Penalty or Consequence: Payment of 50 shekels of silver and mandatory marriage without divorce (Deut. 22:29).
• Offering or Ransom: The 50 shekels serves as a form of compensation to the father, but no sacrificial atonement is specified.

9. Transvestitism (Cross-Dressing)

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 22:5
• Scripture text (WEB): "A woman shall not wear men’s clothing, neither shall a man put on women’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh your God."
• Penalty or Consequence: None explicitly stated in Deuteronomy. Described as an "abomination," implying severe divine disapproval, potentially linked to exclusion from the community (Lev. 18:29 for similar abominations).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. Atonement for abominations typically requires repentance and possibly a sin offering (Lev. 4:27-31), but not explicit here.
  • Commands which are to be done and are not does not fit into any offering's definition? Intentionally not doing or doing something which is a do not, does not fit into any offerings definition?
  • Sin Offering?: Emphasis on purification from defilement. Unintentional sins against the commandments of God which are not to be done. Primarily those that defile the sinner or the sanctuary requiring purification.

10. Neglecting Firstfruits and Tithes

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 26:12-15
• Scripture text (WEB): "When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be filled. You shall say before Yahweh your God, 'I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them. I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to Yahweh my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.'"
• Penalty or Consequence: None explicitly stated, but failure to obey implies forfeiture of divine blessing (Deut. 28:15-68 for general covenant curses).
• Offering or Ransom: The tithe itself is the offering, given to Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. No additional atonement is specified.

11. Blasphemy (Cursing God’s Name)

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 5:11 (reiterating the Ten Commandments)
• Scripture text (WEB): "You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."
• Penalty or Consequence: Not held guiltless, implying divine judgment. Leviticus 24:16 specifies death by stoning for blasphemy.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. Blasphemy is a high-handed sin (Num. 15:30-31), typically without atonement. Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

12. Sabbath Violation

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 5:12-15
• Scripture text (WEB): "Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. You shall labor six days, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, in which you shall not do any work—you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."
• Penalty or Consequence: Not specified in Deuteronomy, but Exodus 31:14-15 and Numbers 15:32-36 prescribe death for Sabbath violation.
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. Deliberate violation excludes atonement (Num. 15:30-31). Sins Requiring Death - No Offering

13. Dishonoring Parents

• Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 21:18-21
• Scripture text (WEB): "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place. They shall tell the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.' All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear."
• Penalty or Consequence: Death by stoning (Deut. 21:21).
• Offering or Ransom: None specified. This is a deliberate rebellion, precluding atonement. Sins Requiring Death - No Offering