by Chadwick Brewer<\/p>\n
“And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 7:26).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In this passage, Moses is instructing Israel on the need to destroy all idols in the land of Canaan. They are not to covet the silver or gold inlaid in these idols. Instead, they are to burn them with fire. If they do covet the silver or gold and bring it into their homes, they risk becoming devoted to destruction along with the idols.<\/p>\n
Let us consider this passage in light of several New Testament teachings. Peter tells us that this world and its works are devoted to destruction (II Peter 3:10). John warns us not to love the world or the things in the world, adding that they are all passing away (I John 2:15-17). Paul teaches that covetousness, defined as an excessive desire to possess something, is idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Jesus goes even further, saying that if we are to be devoted to God, we must despise mammon (Matthew 6:24).<\/p>\n
There is certainly a distinction between what Israel was commanded to do with the physical idols in the land and how we are called to live in this world. However, there are also striking parallels. There is a real danger that the things of this world can seduce us, become obsessed with them, and fall into condemnation. We should take this threat very seriously. If we do not despise mammon and instead love the world or the things of this world, we too can become devoted to destruction.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Chadwick Brewer “And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction” (Deuteronomy 7:26). In this passage, Moses is instructing Israel on the need to destroy all idols in the land of Canaan.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[609],"class_list":["post-89225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-worldliness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-why-leviticus-2729-says-a-person-set-apart-had-to-be-put-to-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":89225,"position":0},"title":"Could you explain why Leviticus 27:29 says a person set apart had to be put to death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am doing a Bible study about Jephthah, and I really liked\u00a0your article.\u00a0 I did have one question about the verses in Leviticus which spoke about redeeming or ransoming something devoted to destruction.\u00a0 In Leviticus 27:29, it says, \"No one who may have been set apart among men shall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52182,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-leviticus-2729-indicate-that-god-accepted-human-sacrifices\/","url_meta":{"origin":89225,"position":1},"title":"Doesn’t Leviticus 27:29 indicate that God accepted human sacrifices?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Mr. Hamilton, In Leviticus 27:28, you say\u00a0Jephthah's daughter could not be redeemed, but Leviticus 27:29 says, \"No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed,\u00a0but shall surely be put to death.\" Doesn't it mean that Jephthah's daughter should have been put\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90197,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-these-passages-talk-of-human-sacrifices\/","url_meta":{"origin":89225,"position":2},"title":"Do These Passages Talk of Human Sacrifices?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about human sacrifice in Scripture, please. I believe in the Bible and I am a Christian, of course. But the following verses do bother me, because they really do sound like human sacrifice: Isaiah 34:5-6 (about Edom): \"The LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53602,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/burnt-offerings\/","url_meta":{"origin":89225,"position":3},"title":"Burnt Offerings","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 9:24-10:10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The sacrifices of the Old Testament can be confusing because they are classified in different categories, such as by how they were done (heave, wave, burnt), what they were for (sin, trespass, vow, voluntary, peace), what they were (firstfruits, food, drink), or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52814,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-were-the-four-angels-placed-at-the-euphrates-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":89225,"position":4},"title":"When were the four angels placed at the Euphrates River?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When were the four angels placed at the Euphrates River? Answer: \"One saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.' And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46461,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/devoted-to-the-word\/","url_meta":{"origin":89225,"position":5},"title":"Devoted to the Word","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer When the problem of neglected widows came up in Acts 6, the apostles told the church to choose seven men of special quality to take care of it so that they would be able to \"devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word\" (Acts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}