July 11, 2026 - Deuteronomy 12 & Psalm 133

We read Deuteronomy 12 and Psalm 133, then we trace God’s repeated warning that we must not worship Him with borrowed practices. We connect that to modern temptations like cultural pressure, individualism, and a reshaped view of Jesus, then we end with why unity in worship is sweet and life-giving. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. 

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Reading

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where you are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word lighting the way. I'm Josiah Smith joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Saturday, July 11th, 2026. Listen intently to God's written word.

Deuteronomy 12 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Deuteronomy 12. These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills, and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their asheron with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods, and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your free will offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you. You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, every one doing whatever is right in his own eyes. For you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, but at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes. There you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you. However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer, only you shall not eat the blood, you shall pour it out on the earth like water. Ye may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain, or of your wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd, or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your free will offerings, or the contribution that you present, but you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land. When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, I will eat meat, because you crave me, you may eat meat whenever you desire. If the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. You shall not eat it, you shall pour it out on the earth like water. You shall not eat it, that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. But the holy things that are due from you, and your vow offerings you shall take, and you shall go to the place that the Lord will choose, and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat. Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God. When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do the same? You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do, you shall not add to it or take from it.

Psalm 133 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Psalm one thirty three. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

Right God Wrong Way

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Deuteronomy twelve has a repeated emphasis of idolatry. And one of the things that's interesting, of course, it's reiterating the Ten Commandments that they are to not have any other gods before him, they are not to make any graven image, and that's really sort of this is an excursus, an exposition of those two commandments, if you will, here in Deuteronomy 12. But one thing that I want to point out is sometimes we think a graven image or maybe even a golden calf is from the perspective of the Israelites being constructed to be worshipped uh in and of itself, right? Like the golden calf was the object uh of their worship um in contradiction to Yahweh. Um now, of course, there is some of that that we see in the scriptures, but we actually see here in Deuteronomy 12 that um there actually could be a scenario, even with the golden calf or with graven images, where they're seeking to worship the right God, but they're doing it in the wrong way. So just hear what I'm saying that uh a carved piece of wood, for example, if they were to do that, that would be a graven image. Um it could be very possible, and and often I think it was possible for Israel to seek to worship Yahweh sort of in and through a carved image, rather than seeing the carved image as some sort of deity, that they would use it uh as a means to try to worship God. And God basically says, I don't want anything to do with that. So I just make that distinction because sometimes we think that those two commands, the first two commands of the Ten Commandments, are basically saying, don't go into the woods, carve something into a tree, and worship the tree in and of itself. Now, of course, that is within the scope of those commands, but really there's also this reality behind it where don't go carve something into the tree and go kneel before the tree, but pray to Yahweh, right? Like there's a sense in which you can worship or seek to worship the right God, but do it in the wrong way. And that's why there's a repeated, you know, you'll notice, Tyler, even talks about in verse three, that you shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their ashram with fire, you shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. So there's a specific way that they're seeking, of course, they're worshiping false gods, but they're doing it in a specific way with these altars and this ashram and these carved images. And God says, Don't try to worship me in the way that they are worshiping their false gods, adopting their practices, adopting their practices by making graven images. So again, he's talking about uh Israel, you could be seeking to worship God, that which is good and proper. There is one God, you know, Deuteronomy 6, Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, but you could be doing it in a way that God has not prescribed, by making some sort of physical graven image or trying to have something physical to uh again as an example, kneel before, and God says, Don't worship me in that way. So even at the end of the chapter, where it talks about a warning against idolatry, that's the heading in my Bible. Um, you know, it gives this in verse 30 take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, uh, those whom are being dispossessed of their land after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? So again, there's a there's a there's a a concern about how they went about worshiping. So it's not just that they're false gods, though that's certainly true. It was the manner in which they worship the false gods. And so God himself knew that they would be tempted, not necessarily to to again go think that uh a carved piece of wood was God himself, though of course that could happen, but that they could take a carved piece of wood and try to sort of interweave it into their worship of the one true God. And God says, Don't do that. You shall not, this is verse 31, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. Right? So again, there's an affirmation that they're seeking to worship the right God, but in the wrong way. Don't do it in that way, don't do it in the way that they did it. Don't try to take and adopt their practice practices, don't intermingle them. Uh, don't, you know, another word is called it's called syncretism. We're not trying to adopt different practices in our in our worship of God from other religions. Uh, we want to worship God in the way that He has prescribed, and that's His concern. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. For every abominable thing that the Lord hates, they have done for their gods. And of course, it talks about something even pretty grotesque here, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. So just to just to clarify, I think we've talked about this before on the podcast, but there is certainly a way that even today we can seek to worship the right God, Yahweh, the the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but we can seek to do it in the wrong way, in the way that God has prescribed. So, of course, you're probably not tempted to go into the backyard to carve something into the tree or to erect a golden calf or to adopt pagan practices and sort of implement it into your worship of the Lord, um, at least in the more direct

Modern Syncretism And Individualism

SPEAKER_00 10:52

way. But there are certainly things that we can be tempted towards uh in terms of allowing the culture to influence the way that we view God, allowing the culture to shape the way that we worship God. Um there'd be just one example here. This one's more obvious, but there's a lot of talk today about who Jesus is from the perspective and the vantage point of the world. This is who he is, this is what he did, this is what his message was. It was all about love, it was about affirmation. Uh, Jesus um was someone that was just simply an encourager. He affirmed people in their sin, uh, whatever the case may be. Of course, I'm summarizing here. And so there's a sense in which they're trying, the the culture in some ways, and even many quote-unquote churches, are trying to worship the right God, Jesus, but they're doing it in the wrong way. So they're they're adding things, they're adopting other beliefs, and they're letting that shape their worship and their view of who Jesus is. And so that's a modern example of what God is telling Israel here in Deuteronomy 12. I don't want it. I don't want it. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. He says in Deuteronomy 12, verse 3, he says it again in verse 31. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. Uh, and that's just a temptation that Israel faced. So again, don't just think of it as this sort of black and white, either or they they made a graven image and they bowed before it and saw it as God. Not necessarily. Uh there was often more practice that more often than not, more likely, Israel's temptation was to adopt and sort of to interweave other pagan worship practices into their worship of the one true God. And God says, Don't do it. I don't want anything to do with it. You need to worship in the ways that I've prescribed, and that's even how it ends in verse 32. Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. And so this is just a good warning and a good reminder for us that God is to be worshipped in a specific way. You know, so one of the things in the West, specifically with individualism, is that we we think um that we can worship God in whatever way that we want, because it's all about a personal relationship. And of course, we do have a personal relationship with God, but sometimes we stretch that too far and we we end up violating the principles here in Deuteronomy 12 and adding things to our worship of God that don't honor him and that don't please him. And if he was speaking directly to us today, he would say, Do not worship me in that way. And of course, he speaks through his word, and he has said that very clearly. So it's just some interesting things here. Um, but I wanted to just draw that distinction. Of course, you know, worshiping a golden calf in and of itself is idolatry, it's evil, it's wicked. Um, but we oftentimes we we forget the other component of that of trying to worship Yahweh by creating a golden calf. And I would even argue that's exactly what was going on with Israel. They weren't necessarily saying God doesn't exist, of course, he had just delivered them out of out of uh slavery to the Egyptians. So they they weren't like he doesn't, he's not real, the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, I mean the smoke on the mountain. They're seeing all of this, they're not denying the reality of the one true God, that they're just trying to worship him in the wrong way. And of course, that that was evil, that was wicked because God says, do not do not, do not do that. You shall not worship God in ways that he does not prescribe. And that's what we see here in Deuteronomy 12.

Psalm 133 And Church Unity

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, it kind of reminds me, um, as we think about more modern days, a postmodern approach to uh finding your own way, your own mold to do something that has been done the same way for for a very long time. And we see Israel straying from that, um, exploring new ways, exploring the adopting the practices of the people um of the nations around them. Um and there there is not unity when God is worshipped in the proper way and we blend in, uh, we blend in a worship that is uh that is defiled, um, we we have problems and it goes south very quickly. And I just love how our psalm today uh focuses on the unity that can be had and how sweet and how pleasant it is when brothers are are dwelling in in unity and dwelling in in a a singular mindset of of worshiping God, following after him together, honoring the Lord together. And Psalm 133 speaks to uh a man named Aaron and the the precious oil on the head, running down to the beard and um and running onto the collar of his robes, and uh the Aaron, the the man who is responsible early on for leading people uh in worship, leading people in the ways that would please and honor the the Lord. And it reminds me of Sunday morning. I love to gather on a Sunday morning with my brothers and sisters, lifting songs of praise, uh experiencing rich fellowship, um hugging one another, seeing the kids run around. Like that, that to me is one of the one of the best biggest highlights of my week is to see people joining together in unity to accomplish one thing. We want to worship God. We want to worship Him through uh through our hearts, through our minds, through the preaching of the Word, through singing together. And it really is truly a sweet thing when uh a church body um is together. And you don't have to be at a local church. You could be in the community at homes, having fellowship over dinner, coffee, whatever it may be, but there is a rich uh unity and is a pleasing aroma to the Lord when we are in line with him and doing the one another's.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Yeah, I mean the breakdown of this Psalm, Psalm 133, is very simple. There's an assertion made in verse one how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. And then there's two vivid illustrations of that, two comparisons to kind of help accent that and highlight the reality of that. The first one is in verse two, of course, the precious oil on the head running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robe. So this is a direct connection to Aaron's consecration, his ordination as a priest. And that was a joyous occasion uh for Israel. That was a cause for celebration. The anointing oil uh was instituted by God. So think of just a celebration, and so how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It's like when Aaron has the oil poured on him and the ordination uh to kind of walk into his role as the high priest, this mediator uh for on and on behalf of the nation of Israel to represent Israel to the Lord. That's a good thing, it's a joyous thing, it's cost for celebration. And then there's another example in verse three it is like the dew of Hermon, which falls in the mountains of Zion. So there's a sense of it brings refreshment, it brings um new life and uh new vitality, that kind of idea uh of dew, right? There's the there's the water, there's the the refreshment, the cool of the morning, things that uh we sort of intuitively know. Um, and that's the that's the emphasis. So we have celebration with Aaron and the oil, we have refreshment with the dew of Hermon, and all that ties back to verse one behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. So that's something that of course we want to have a high premium on in our church because the Bible places a high premium uh of unity, and we want to see that played out and lived and experienced, and we want to celebrate that, we want to be refreshed by it. And of course, Sunday mornings is a prominent way uh to be able to do that together.

Closing And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible sv.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.