Day #78

Sermon - Audio
Deut 24-27 - Audio
Deut 24-27 - Daily Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

Chapter 24

• 24.1: “something indecent” These words became a topic of hot debate by Jesus’ day. The school of Hillel interpreted them to mean “for any cause” while the school of Shammi was much more restrictive and saw the words to be connected to sexual indecency. In Matthew 19 when Jesus is being questioned about marriage and divorce it is a conversation about Dt. 24. His questioners want to know if he supports the “any cause” divorce that was so popular in his day.
• 24.5: “recently married” is a term that means, “married a new wife”. These words prevent a man from divorcing and then remarrying his wife to avoid military duty (see the rest of verse five).
• 24.7: The reason you kidnapped someone was to make him/her into a slave.
• 24.10: A person who is loaning to another cannot abuse that person’s dignity. What is given in pledge does not equal what was loaned, instead it is a symbol of promise to pay the loan. The amazing thing is that if a cloak is given the one loaning the money has to bring it back at the end of the day. It is not the poor person who has to go pick it up, but the rich person who has to drop it off.
• 24.14-15: These words are echoed in the book of James where he speaks out against the rich who are withholding the wages of the poor (James 5.1-6). Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. James 5.4
• 24.16: This law is unique in the Ancient Near East where extended family members would be punished from something someone else did. For instance, if a father hurt the child of another person, the child of that father would be given the same injury.
• 24.17: While you could take the cloak of a poor person in pledge, you could never do the same to a widow. She had extra protection from God.

Chapter 25

• 25.1: One of the themes of this chapter is that things be done with justice and integrity. In the writings of the prophets there is a continual complaint that the guilty are set free and the innocent punished. Here God makes it very clear that judgments are to be just.
• 25.2: The only crime mentioned in the Torah that carries flogging is a man who unjustly accuses his wife of not being a virgin when they marry. There were other crimes that flogging was used for in the Ancient Near East but the Bible does not tell judges specifically what flogging should be used for or how many lashes are to be used.
• 25.4: Again concern is shown for the animals. A farmer could keep the ox from eating the grain it was treading by muzzling it. God says that would be wrong. In the New Testament Paul uses this as an illustration of the importance of paying those who preach the word. 7Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? 8Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? 9For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? 1 Corinthians 9
• 25.4-10: This form of marriage brought about two things—the family property stayed in the family and a widow, who was among the most needy in society, would be cared for. A brother-in-law’s unwillingness to do what was demanded of him showed a lack of concern for God’s covenant and God’s concern for the weak. The attending punishments for his refusal were meant to shame him—something to be avoided in a shame based culture.
• 25.11-12: The idea is that she grabbed hard enough to end all hope for future children for the man who was fighting with her husband. Sages interpreted this “cut off her hand” as “leave her with diminished financial resources” so the substituted a monetary fine for mutilation.
• 25.13: God is so concerned about honest weights and measures he tells people not to even have a dishonest scale in their possession.
• 25.17-19: The Amalakites staged a sneak attack on the people of Israel as they journeyed to the Promised Land and attacked the weakest (remember the concern of this chapter for justice). God tells the people not to forget this and to consider the Amalekites as their enemies. You may remember that in the book of Esther that Haman, the man who tries to destroy Israel, is identified as an Amalekite. This verse about blotting out the memory is the source for the custom of drowning out the name of Haman with raucous noise during the reading of Esther as the feat of Purim.

Chaper 26

• 26.2: The giving of firstfruits was a declaration that the person was dedicating all he had to the service of God.
• 26.3: “The LORD your God” The worshipper is speaking to the priest and recognizes the priest’s special relationship to Yahweh by speaking of “Yahweh your God.”
• 26.5: “father” most likely refers to Jacob/Israel who wandered for many years of his life.
• 26.5-11: A shift takes place in these verses. The farmer speaks not only of God’s blessing on the soil, but God’s work in history. In doing so an important theme of the Bible comes out, namely, God is the one in control of all things. He controls the land, nations, the earth, and the cosmos. Each year in repeating these words the people of Israel were reminded again that they served the God of all the earth.
• 26.10-11: The response to God’s good gifts is to bow down and to rejoice. One of the cool things that is you never rejoice alone—the Levites and even the aliens in the land join in the celebration. The sages envision people coming from all over Israel to the temple during the time of firstfruits in a grand celebration joined by people playing instruments and dancing.
• 26.12: “a tenth of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe”. The simple truth is that figuring out the tithe in the Old Testament is a hard deal. This we do know, there was a tithe. The question is, was there one tithe, two tithes, or three tithes. Some Rabbi’s hold that there were three tithes. Two of the tithes were “collected” every year. The first of these tithes were given to support the Levites thus maintaining Israel’s core. The second was a celebration tithe that each family used to have a great feast in Jerusalem to celebrate the goodness of God. The third tithe was “collected” every third year and given to the poor. In this scheme on a yearly basis you gave 23% of your crops through the “tithe”. Most Rabbis, however, hold that the third year tithe replaced the celebration tithe. As one rabbi puts it, “The first tithe goes to the Levites, to maintain Israel’s spiritual core. The second is consumed in Jerusalem, to teach us to celebrate our good fortune in God’s presence and in the presence of our fellow Israelites. Once in three years, the second tithe is given to the poor, to perfect Israelite society by minimizing poverty.”
• 26.15: Notice the prayer is not to look down and bless me, but to bless the whole people of Israel.
• 26.16ff: Moses now brings a close to chapters 12-26 and their call to follow the Torah of God. He calls the people to follow God and promises that those who follow will enjoy the blessing of God.

Chapter 27

• 27.2: Stones with plaster were a typical way in the Ancient Near East to convey information. God seems to regularly use visual elements to help Israel remember his commands (Dt. 6.4-9, Numbers 15).
• 27.3 “words of this law” literally “words of this Torah”. Also in verse 8 and 26. It is a good thing to remind ourselves that Torah means direction and not merely laws to be followed. This direction is to set us on a path that brings us the life that God desires for us.
• 27.5: An altar has been found on Mt. Ebal that dates to the 13^th century B.C. This is not the altar built by Joshua but since sacred sites are often used over and over again, it is rather likely that this would be the site where Joshua did built the altar commanded in this verse.
• 27.7: Fellowship offerings were eaten mainly by the person who offered them. The meals was seen as a celebrative meal with God.
• 27.9: The command to “be silent” was a call for the people to pay close attention to what was about to be spoken.
• 27.9: The affirmation that they have now become the people of God seems to be one that occurs on more than one occasion. As they enter this new era in their relationship with God they also become God’s people in a new way (cf. Revelation 21.3 where when the new heavens and earth come the people become God’s people).
• 27.14ff: A few things about these verses
  • You can hear the echo of the 10 commandments in many of these curses.
  • To be cursed means that God will punish you for what you did wrong
  • The “amen” at the end of each verse is actually a promise to avoid these cursed activities.
  • These cursed activities are activities that are “secret” activities. Since people will not see them being done, these verses remind the people that God sees what others do not.
• 27.17: The moving of a boundary stone was not only an offense against a person by stealing some of his/her land, it was also an offense against God since he was the one who assigned the land to each family.
• 27.25: This verse refers to judges who would accept a bribe to declare an innocent person guilty.
• 27.26: The way you uphold or confirm the Torah is not by saying you agree with it, but by putting them into practice.
• 27.26: Paul quotes this verse in Galatians 3.10.