What comes to mind when you see the word detachment?
One definition of detachment is the action or process of detaching or separation.
Yes, this definition is from Merriam-Webster.com.
If you have a military background, you already know that detachment can refer to the dispatch of a body of troops or part of a fleet from the main body for a special mission or service.
Yep, also from Merriam-Webster.com.
The third definition supplied by Merriam-Webster.com describes detachment as indifference to worldly concerns or aloofness.
Detachment can also show freedom from bias or prejudice.
But what is the spiritual benefit of detachment?
When Detachment is to Our Benefit | Deuteronomy 29:1-29 Study Questions
This is a long passage, but it is important for context.
These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb. (Dt 29:1)
Who is the initiator in the verse above?
And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. (Dt 29:2–4)
Explain verse four above using Ex 32:1-6 and Dt 1:19-45.
I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. (Dt 29:5–6)
What did the Lord do for the Israelites while they were in the wilderness? Why?
And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. (Dt 29:7–9)
Why is verse nine appropriate given verses 1-8?
You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Dt 29:10–13)
Describe the significance of who Moses lists as present at this covenant renewal.
It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today. (Dt 29:14–15)
How far-reaching is God’s covenant?
You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. (Dt 29:16–17)
Why are idols detestable based on Deuteronomy 4:15?
Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ (Dt 29:18–19)
What is the person with a root-bearing poisonous and bitter fruit attaching themselves to?
This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. (Dt 29:19–21)
What results from this person, clan, or tribe attaching their hearts to idols instead of the LORD?
And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— 23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath. (Dt 29:22–23)
Describe the level of devastation for attaching one’s heart to an idol.
All the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger? (Dt 29:24)
What is the significance of this of “all the nations” questions the devastation described in verses 22-23?
Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. (Dt 29:25–26)
Why would the nations recognize the reason for the devastation from the LORD? (Also see Ex 12:12 and 14:18)
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28 and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as they are this day.’ (Dt 29:27–28)
What is the significance of the LORD uprooting the person, clan, or tribe who turns to idol worship from the land? (See Dt 28:9-14)
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Dt 29:29)
Comparing this verse with Dt 27:15, is it possible to truly keep anything secret from the LORD? Why or why not?
When Detachment is to Our Benefit | Deuteronomy 29:1-29 Application
Based on this chapter’s dire warnings about attaching oneself to the worship of idols, describe the benefits possible if one were to detach from such a practice. (Also see Dt 28:1-14)
Now consider the words of Paul.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! (Php 2:3–8)
How did Jesus Christ exemplify the spiritual practice of detachment?
Finally, consider the words of the apostle James when there was a dispute about what should be required of gentiles who came to the LORD.
Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” (Ac 15:19–21)
Is there anything polluted by idols in your day-to-day life that you need to detach from to nurture your worship of God alone? What action do you need to take this week to correct this?
What encourages you from this study today?
Blessings,
Barbara Lynn