Thursday Night Bible Study

Deuteronomy24-Deuteronomy 26

 “Do Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly!” • 2.21.13 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Bible Study

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Intro.

- We're finishing Moses' second sermon tonight. Let's get right to it.

Text

• Deuteronomy 24:1-4 : "When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance." : Her husband has found an uncleanness in her. Jesus defines this for us in Mark 10, as sexual immorality.

- Something has come up over the course of time that breaks the trust and cannnot be tolerated. In that society, a certificate of divorce freed her to remarry.

- If that second husband divorces her as well, the first husband is not take her back. He was to honor his agreement to free the woman and not enter into a convenient sexual relationship.

- When we read this, we have to remember the Lord's commentary on this passage when He was interrogated by the religious leaders in Mark 10.

- The Pharisees asked why Moses had given the law concerning divorce and the Lord answered that it had to be given because of the hardness of their hearts.

- The thought is that they were becoming heartless toward their wives. Jesus answers them that God's original intention for marriage was for one man and one woman for life.

- That's the Biblical, divine intention and definition, regardless of how our society votes and regardless of what current beliefs hold. God's word never changes.

• Deuteronomy 24:5-7 : "When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken." : The man is to be home learning how to live with his wife, seeking her happiness, seeking to bless her.

- The placement of this command is not accidental. A marriage where mutual blessing is sought will be a healthy, life long marriage.

- If a person spends a year learning how to do this, he'll gain a liftetime partner!

• Deuteronomy 24:6 : "No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes one’s living in pledge." : Millstones were used as cooking implements. It would be something like an toaster or microwave today.

- God's law legislates that we not take as collateral that which a person needs for regular life.

- Money, possession, things never outrank people!

• Deuteronomy 24:7 : "If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; and you shall put away the evil from among you." : Human trafficking has been a problem from the days of Genesis when Joseph's brothers sold him to Egypt.

- Such an offense in the land of Israel would be punishable by death. It was evil and not to be named in Israel.

• Deuteronomy 24:8,9 : "Take heed in an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!" : There are very specific instructions, both for personal leprosy, as well as that which was found in their homes.

- Moses recounts his own sisters condition recorded in Numbers 12. Miriam had been behind the attempt to undermine her brother's authority. Consequently, she was struck with leprosy.

- This was punitive measure that ended after Moses' prayerful intervention. Seven days out of the camp. Why did God want them to be careful to observe?

- Two reasons: Leprosy unattended could spread. Sin has that same problem. The second reason however, was that in all the time from here to Jesus, nobody was ever cured.

- Moses is telling them to keep watch because someday Jesus would come and heal lepers!

• Deuteronomy 24:10-13 : "When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight. You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God." : Lending to someone does not give you the right as a brother to be discourteous. Have some respect.

- Trust the Lord that the person will bring what has been lent back out to you. Taking matters into your own hands is not the way to behave for a believer.

- Paul will say later to the Corinthians who were going to People's Court to resolve their disputes, "Wouldn't it be better to be wronged than to act wrong in front of the world?"

- If the man is poor, don't keep an outer garment that he would use to keep warm at night.

- Notice that God is watching over the poor man! You want to behave rightly before the Lord, so don't take advantage of that person.

• Deuteronomy 24:14,15 : "You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you." : God's people were not to oppress, crush or mistreat their dependant workers. Pay them on schedule.

- God looks at their heart and sees their excitement. If they were to cry out to God, He would hear them and count sin against the employer.

• Deuteronomy 24:16 : "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin." : Every person bore responsibility for their own actions. This curbs the desire for justice when a responsible person dies before he can pay his penalty.

• Deuteronomy 24:17,18 : "You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing." : The land of Israel was to be a place where justice was served for every party, no matter who they were.

- The stranger the orphan and the widow were helpless just as they had been helpless in Egypt, but God was their redeemer. He looked out for and delivered Israel.

- That deliverance, that example, was to be their way of living as well.

• Deuteronomy 24:19-22 : "When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing." : Whatever is dropped is for the poor. They could walk behind the harvesters and take a little as they walked through the fields as Ruth did in Boaz' field.

- They were slaves and now God is bringing them into a land where they will be masters. Their position had changed, but their mentality was not to change.

• Deuteronomy 25:1-3 : "If there is a dispute between men, and they come to court, that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight." : The Jews made sure this was upheld by giving 39 lashes instead of 40. The goal was not humiliation, but justice.

• Deuteronomy 25:4 : "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." : Moses tells the agriculturally centered Israelis not to cut off the hope of their animal.

- The ox should eat at the same time that it works in the grain fields. That is the proper reward and motivation for the ox.

- In both occurences in the New Testament, Paul employs this verse as part of his argument that Pastors, church workers, should be paid employees when possible.

- I Corinthians 9:9,10 as well as I Timothy 5:17,18 speak specifically in that regard.

• Deuteronomy 25:5-10 : "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.’ And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’" : In Israel, no name was to be left behind. Without a son, an heir, a family name could be lost from Israel.

- This is why God allows this law for the surviving brother. He is to willingly perform the duty of the husband for the surviving widow.

- Lacking the scientific capability that we possess today, this was to be quickly and respectfully. It was not some torrid fantasy.

- If someone would not, they'd take the man's shoe and spit in his face because he would not build up his brother's house.

• Deuteronomy 25:11,12 : "If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not pity her." : Don't seek another person's injury. Seek to stop the fight with as little harm done to the other person as possible.

• Deuteronomy 25:13-16 : "You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God." : The weights that Moses refers to speak to commerce. Someone here is looking for a way to get more from what they are selling than it is actually worth.

- Manipulating the weight would raise the price, giving the seller an advantage. There are not to be two different weights. There is to be one standard in the home and in the marketplace!

- To do otherwise would be a disgusting thing before the eyes of the Lord.

• Deuteronomy 25:17-19 : "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt,  how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget." : In Exodus 17, just after the people of Israel had come out of Egypt, the cowardly and vicious Amalekites came out to attack the old, the tired and weary.

- Imagine what that must have been like? What sort of trauma and difficulty had they seen? It's no doubt that they were exhausted. That's how the enemy likes it!

- "Get em where they're defenseless! Strike at their weakest point!" As a result, Israel was to make war forever with Amalek until they were destroyed.

• Deuteronomy 26:1-3 : "And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’" : They were to declare with their offering that God had brought them in. Lord, you have kept your promise to us!

- Giving begins with gratitude for what God has done in our lives!

• Deuteronomy 26:4-11 : "Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, 'a land flowing with milk and honey'; and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’ Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you." : Their giving was to be in light of their history. "They had been, but the Lord had done." What were you before Jesus rescued you?

- Second, their giving was to be out of what the Lord had given them! He never asks for anything but from what He has already given to you.

• Deuteronomy 26:12-15 : "When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, 'a land flowing with milk and honey.'" : The tithe given had a social aspect to it as well. It was used to feed the Levite who had no inheritance in the land, as well as the poor.

- Our gifts are given always to promote the Kingdom and the causes of God. They were not to be used for their personal needs. None was to be used in any cultic way either.

- There is always a temptation to take care of our "needs" and "desires" first. Remember the Lord first in your giving.

• Deuteronomy 26:16-19 : "This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.'" : In everything that God had commanded, they were to be careful to obey and observe.

- Like the Israelites on this day, you have proclaimed Him your God? Are you walking in His ways? Are you obedient to His voice?

- In that day, as they proclaimed His Lordship, the Lord proclaimed them His people, set high above all the people of the Earth!

- Hebrews 2 tells us of Christ coming to sanctify and perfect those who are His through sufferings. The writer tells us in verse 11 that He is "not ashamed to call us brethren!"

- Now in the New Covenant, He has declared us righteous, a holy people, separate for His purposes!

Conclusion
- Let's pray!