{"id":5946,"date":"2026-06-04T00:01:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T07:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=5946"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:08:10","slug":"deuteronomy-1621-22-you-shall-not-plant-for-yourself-any-tree-as-a-wooden-image-near-the-altar-which-you-build-for-yourself-to-the-lord-your-god-you-shall-not-set-up-a-sacred-pillar-wh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=5946","title":{"rendered":"Deuteronomy 16:21\u201322: “You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God. You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Deuteronomy 16, God reminded His people once again to be careful not to copy the worship of the locals, the Canaanites, when they got into the land. He reminded them of this over and over again because it was so important. Today we are also, after we receive salvation, left among the locals<\/em> in order to change them, to change the world, not to have them change us. A recent American poll showed that a majority of parents don\u2019t think peer pressure is a significant influence in their children\u2019s lives. However, on the other hand, 75% of the teenagers said their peers influence them more than their parents or anyone else. We all need to be more aware of the force of peer pressure, but parents especially need to understand the pressure it exerts on their children.<\/p>\n

There is an ancient Aesop’s fable concerning this concept. A man wished to purchase a donkey, and agreed with the donkey\u2019s owner that he would try the animal out before he bought him. He took the donkey home and put him in the straw-yard with his other donkeys. The new donkey immediately found and joined the donkey that was the laziest and biggest eater. Seeing this, the man put a halter on him and led him back to his owner. The owner asked him how in so short a time he could have made a trial of the donkey, and the man answered, “I do not need a trial. I know that he will be just like the one he chose for his companion.” We have often heard that as believers we are called to be in this world but not of it. We must be around some bad company<\/em> if we are to share Jesus with this generation, but we must be extremely careful not to become identified with those outside the body of Christ and end up becoming like the company we keep.<\/p>\n

“LORD please make us strong so we can love the sinner but hate the sin enough to be useful to You. We want to be part of Your solution for saving this world, God, not part of Your problem.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Deuteronomy 16 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God: for in the month of Abib the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0shall choose to place his name there.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there\u00a0any thing\u00a0<\/em>of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God giveth thee:\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0But at the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt roast and eat\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>in the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>a solemn assembly to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God: thou shalt do no work\u00a0therein\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from\u00a0such time as\u00a0<\/em>thou beginnest\u00a0to put\u00a0<\/em>the sickle to the corn.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give\u00a0unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God\u00a0<\/em>, according as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath blessed thee:\u00a0\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt rejoice before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>among you, in the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath chosen to place his name there.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. 13<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:\u00a0\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>within thy gates.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God in the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0shall choose: because the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. 16<\/sup>\u00a0Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0empty:\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Every man\u00a0shall give<\/em>as he is able, according to the blessing of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God which he hath given thee.\u00a0 18<\/sup>\u00a0Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.\u00a0\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God giveth thee.\u00a0 21<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, which thou shalt make thee.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0Neither shalt thou set thee up\u00a0any\u00a0<\/em>image; which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hateth.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Deuteronomy 16, God reminded His people once again to be careful not to copy the worship of the locals, the Canaanites, when they got into the land. He reminded them of this over and over again because it was so important. Today we are also, after we receive salvation, left among the locals in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5946"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16019,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions\/16019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}