Hey, it's Shelby and Paul here, and today we're helping you understand and apply

Deuteronomy 13 through 15. What's happening in these chapters, Paul?

Yeah, so we're getting more instructions for how Israel is supposed to behave in the

promised land. And one thing I think that we can pull out from this is that the Israelites are supposed to remain distinct from the other nations there in the promised land. And they're not supposed to worship any other gods, but the one true God that they follow.

So not worshiping up being any other gods.

Like that makes total sense to me.

But we're going to see this concept of them being set apart from the nations.

We have seen it and we will continue to see it.

Can you just explain that for a moment?

Why exactly should they be set apart from the nations around them?

Yeah, that's a great question.

I think the biggest thing is thinking back

to Genesis where God spoke to Abraham and he told them, told him that his descendants would be a

blessing to all the nations. And so essentially by living a set apart lifestyle, the Israelites are

pointing to God and essentially showing the nations that, hey,

he is a blessing. He is the one that created the world and is the God of the universe. And so by living

set apart, they kind of point other nations to him so that one day they might be blessed, right?

Yeah, I think we can even see that in our own lives today, right?

When you are maybe you have faith amid something that's really difficult, when you don't take

part in gossip or something else that maybe the people around you do, people start to wonder,

like, why exactly is that the case?

And that does point toward the Lord. So thanks for explaining that for us. What else did you notice in

...