Honoring Laws and Customs of the Land

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Deuteronomy 16:13-14

"You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.

NKJV

Deuteronomy 16:13-14 is speaking of the observation of the Feast of Tabernacles.  The scripture stresses the importance of not only the Jews observing this feast, but servants, foreigners, widows, and everyone within the gates of the city were required to observe this feast.  To understand the importance of this requirement, we must put it into its proper context.

Unlike in our country where Constitutional law prohibits the government from establishing a religion or preventing anyone from practicing their religion, the religious laws in ancient Israel were the law of the land.  Therefore, someone living in the land, failing to observe this feast would have been breaking the law.  The contextual interpretation of Deuteronomy 16:13-14 would be that all people living within the gates of the city are required to obey the law through the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles.  We could also interpret this scripture to mean that people should obey the customs of the land they choose to live in. 

God included this requirement in Jewish law to encourage Israel to remain firm in their obedience of Gods law and not adopt the customs and laws of those choosing to remain in the land, many of whom were not followers of the ways of God.  Unfortunately, the nation of Israel did not heed these laws and ordinances and eventually fell as the nation turned its back on God and adopted the pagan practices of the nations around them. 

The United States is currently experiencing an invasion at its southern border.  The fact that these individuals have illegally entered the United States and violated the nation’s immigration laws demonstrates a desire to ignore the rule of law in the land.  In ancient Israel, Jewish law would not have allowed these individuals to remain in the land.  If we continue to allow these lawless individuals to remain in our country, like Israel, we too could experience a loss of our nation and its culture.  If we do not act, we could experience,

1)      Loss of our language – I often get frustrated when calling some company and the first thing I encounter is an automated system telling me that if I want to conduct my business in Spanish, press one.  Our nation has functioned since 1776, and even before when we were the colonies, by speaking English.  My family immigrated to this country in the 1800’s and did so wishing to take advantage of the opportunities this nation offered.  They took the time to learn English for they understood failing to learn the language of the land would hinder their ability to take advantage of the opportunities the United States has to offer.  Of course, this was before the growth of entitlements that we now have in our society.  Now, people are coming into the United States illegally to take advantage of entitlements such as free education, housing, and now health care.  There is no longer any need to learn English for government officials who have job security due to expanding entitlement programs will accommodate them by hiring employees that speak their language.  The danger here is we are no longer seeing immigrants desiring to make a positive contribution to our nation and instead are seeing illegal immigrants looking for freebies. 

2)      Bankruptcy of our nation through exploitation of its generous safety net – This growing group of illegal immigrants seeking free benefits from generous entitlement programs are causing deficits and increasing the national debt of the United States.  Just as occurs in someone’s personal finances when they keep spending more than they make and continue to incur debt, the United States faces higher taxes, declining economic opportunities meaning that future generations will see their opportunities for success disappear as the economy collapses. 

3)      Loss of security as we allow criminals and terrorists to cross our open border – The reason nations like the United States have immigration laws is not to prevent people from coming into the nation but to know who is crossing the border.  The number one job of government is the security of its citizens.  The flood of people illegally crossing the southern border of the United States means border patrol has no idea who is crossing.  We do not know if they have any diseases, criminal backgrounds, or if they are actually terrorists with intentions of launching some terrorist attack on the United States.  This is why I support deporting these individuals and encouraging them to come back into our country through the proper process.  This will weed out those who entered the country with criminal or even terrorist intentions and open the door for those coming to pursue the American dream.  If the United States needs any immigration reform, it is the need to use technology to streamline the process and cost of legally entering the United States.

Just as God required foreigners to obey His law if they wanted to stay in Israel, we must require those desiring to come to the United States to obey its laws.  This means first showing good faith by entering the country legally.  When someone fails to obey immigration laws by entering the nation illegally, we have reason to believe they do not intend to obey the other laws of the land.  The United States is a nation governed by the rule of law.  It is the adherence to the rule of law that has allowed us to maintain a civil and prosperous society.  Enforcement of immigration laws will insure the continuation of civility and prosperity in our society.