Deuteronomy 23:15-24:7 - The Many Ways to Skin A Cat

Introduction

You’ve no doubt heard the saying, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

From what I could find, the oldest use of that exact saying comes from Way Down East or Portraits of Yankee Life by Seba Smith in 1854.

But a very similar English saying, “There are more ways to kill a cat than by choking it with cream,” is found in the 1830s.

However, there was a similar saying involving a dog in the 1600s, "There’s more ways to kill a dog than by hanging.”

Now, you no doubt know what all the variations of this saying means: People of old like variety in their animal cruelty!

No. The saying, at least in the way we might hear it today, means there’s more than one way to do something.

When we look at Deuteronomy 23:15-24:7, what we see is that there are many ways to steal.

The eighth commandment says, “You shall not steal,” and yet many people steal from God without even realizing it.

We typically think about stealing in terms of taking money or property that doesn’t belong to us, but we still from God when we don’t give him the glory he deserves, when we don’t value people made in his image, and when we don’t give him what we promised to him.

We see all of this and more in our passage tonight.

Let’s take a look at these many CASES of stealing…

…but before we do, let’s pray.

[PRAYER]

[TS] You see the first case of stealing in vv. 15-16…

Exposition

CASE #1: The Case of Runaway Slaves (23:15-16)

Deuteronomy 23:15–16 NASB95

15 “You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 “He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose in one of your towns where it pleases him; you shall not mistreat him.

[EXP] In the world of Deuteronomy, a slave was to be always returned to his master.

In fact, one ancient law code, the Code of Hammurabi, said that if anyone harbored a runaway slave or aided him in his escape, he was to be put to death.

Nations in the ancient world had extradition agreements.

If a runaway slave from Egypt showed up in Philistia, he was to be sent back to his master.

Anything else was considered theft of property, the stealing of a slave from his rightful owner.

But that’s not how God saw it, and his perspective is the only one that counts.

He said that if a runaway slave showed up in Israel, he was to dwell among them in any place that he chose that would be pleasing to him.

He was not to be oppressed in anyway.

Just as God didn’t steal from Pharoah when he rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, so the Israelites would not be stealing when they welcomed runaway slaves to live among them freely.

[TS]…

Case #2: The Case of Cult Prostitution (23:17-18)

Deuteronomy 23:17–18 NASB95

17 “None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute. 18 “You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

[EXP] Cult or temple prostitution among pagan peoples was common in the world of Deuteronomy. They often tried to use this demonic immorality to win the favor of their idols. They thought “acts of whoredom,” as one commentator put it, would guarantee fertility for their people, land, and animals.

Israel was not to worship YHWH like this.

No daughter or son of Israel was to be a cult prostitute. The male cult prostitute is called a “dog” in v. 18. And nothing earned as a prostitute could be presented to God in worship.

The Canaanites used money earned in temple prostitution to keep up their pagan temples, but all of this was an abomination to God.

If Israel was to do these sorts of things, they would be robbing God of the worship he deserves by worshipping him like some Canaanite idol.

[TS]…

Case #3: The Case of Charging Interest (23:19-20)

Deuteronomy 23:19–20 NASB95

19 “You shall not charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest. 20 “You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.

[EXP] The term translated as “charge interest” means “to bite.” If you’ve ever paid interest or paid attention to the interest you’ve paid, you know it really does bite!

This law in vv. 19-20 was meant to prevent the Israelites from taking a bite out of one another.

Paying interest was common in the world of Deuteronomy, but Israelites were not to charge one another interest.

If one Israelite had to lend to a poor brother, it was meant to be a help and not an opportunity to make money on the poor brother.

Israelites could, however, charge foreigners interest. These foreigners were likely merchants looking to make money in Israel.

It wasn’t wrong in that case to charge those foreigner businessmen and traders interest…

…but it would be stealing to charge a fellow Israelite interest.

[TS]…

Case #4: The Case of Making Vows (23:21-23)

Deuteronomy 23:21–23 NASB95

21 “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you. 22 “However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. 23 “You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised.

[EXP] Making a vow was voluntary for the Israelite, but once the vow was made, it became obligatory.

There could be no delay in paying it.

If there was, the Lord would see it as sin and hold the person responsible.

Of course, a person could just not make any vows. In Matthew 5, Jesus said not making vows was the best thing…

Matthew 5:33–37 NASB95

33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

To not vow is not a problem, but to vow to God and fail to deliver is to steal from God what has been promised to him.

The Israelites must not do that.

[TS]…

Case #5: The Case of Your Neighbor’s Vineyard (23:24-25)

Deuteronomy 23:24–25 NASB95

24 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket. 25 “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.

[EXP] God told his Israelite farmers that they were not to harvest their crops right up to the edges of the fields. The outer edges remained so that the hungry could come and glean from the edges.

Likewise, grapevines were not to be stripped bare. Some grapes were to remain on the vine so that those traveling by could find refreshment.

The farmer and vinedresser in the Promised Land were sharing in God’s abundance by obeying these laws.

But the one gleaning must not steal by taking advantage of the farmer or vinedresser.

He would do that by taking a basket with him to “glean” grapes or by taking a sickle with him to “glean” grain.

At that point, it would be gleaning but harvesting.

And at that point, it would be theft.

[TS] The first seven verses of Deuteronomy 24 also deal with the eighth commandment, “You shall not steal,” but we’ll come back to those next time.

Right now, I want us to start thinking toward how this might apply to us.

Illustration

[ILLUS] Not too long ago I had a conversation with someone who mentioned how much someone would win if they won the Florida state lottery. I can’t remember how much it was, but I think it was one kazillion dollars.

The person said, “That’s a lot of money, isn’t it?”

I said, “It sure is.”

The person then said, “Imagine if someone won that money and gave it to the church.”

I said, “We always need air conditioners.”

The individual said, “Well, I guess it wouldn’t be right to give money won in the lottery to the church.”

I told about a pastor who apparently had something like this happen in his church.

The person who won it didn’t know if they should tithe on it or not because to win by the foolishness of gambling rather than wisdom of work is dishonest gain.

However, the person’s pastor said, “The devil has had that money long enough. Let’s see what God can do with it.”

What do you think?

Should a person tithe on the their winnings from gambling?

Do you think offering to God money made from dishonest gain would be stealing?

[ILLUS] When I was a boy, I had a little summer job mowing my neighbors lawn. I was getting ripped off. I would only make $12 or so every time I mowed it, but over the course of a summer that added up to around $80-90.

My younger sister, Trisha, wanted to borrow some money to buy a toy or something, so I said, “Sure. You can borrow some money, but you’re going to pay me back with interest.”

But when she went to pay me back, there was not interest.

When I asked, “Why?” my mom chimed in that I was not allowed to charge my sister interest.

I pitched a fit because of the poor business environment in which I was living.

But what do you think about interest based on what we’ve read here in Deuteronomy 23?

When do you think its wrong to charge interest? When do you think its right?

Do you think the way we typically use interest in our society is legitimate or a form of theft?

[ILLUS] What about vows? In Judges 11, an Israelite named Jephthah was called upon to fight the Ammonites, but Jephthah made a tragic vow.

He said to the Lord, “If you will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering,” (Judges 11:30-31).

Jephthah defeated the Ammonites, and when he returned in peace, it was his one and only child, his daughter that came out of his house to meet him (Judges 11:34).

Jephthah did as he vowed and offered up his daughter as a burnt offering.

Do you think he was right to do so?

Deuteronomy 23 says that God’s people were to keep their vows, but if Jephthah would have decided that his foolish vow was an exception, would he have been stealing from God?

Application

Just as there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to break God’s eighth command, “You shall not steal.”

Sometimes we steal by offering to God what we’ve earned through dishonest gain.

The cult prostitutes would have been doing that if they offered the money they earned to YHWH.

Sometimes we steal by taking advantage of others in their time of need.

The Israelite lender charging interest to his impoverished brother would’ve been guilty of that.

Sometimes we steal by not giving to God what we’ve promised.

The one making rash vows to God that he then decides to not pay would be guilty of that.

Sometimes we steal by taking advantage of the generosity of others.

The one harvest his neighbors field or vineyard instead of gleaning from it would’ve been guilty of that.

But let me ask you, have you ever done any of these things? Have you ever stolen in any of these ways?

Out of all the ways to steal that we’ve talked about tonight, the one I think we are all probably guilty of is promising something to God that we didn’t give.

[ILLUS] For a long time I thought that the key to Christian growth was big promises. I would pray to God and say things like…

“Lord, I promise I’ll never do that sin again!”

“Lord, if you will get me a car, I’ll pick up everybody for church!”

“Lord, I will spend two-hours every morning praying to you before I do anything else!”

“Lord, I will read the OT once and the NT twice everyday!”

But I was not able to keep many of those vows.

But here’s what I’ve learned: Growth in the Christian life is not about what I promise to God; it’s about trusting in what He has promised to me in Jesus Christ.

Sinner that I am, I am guilty of breaking this eighth commandment, “You shall not steal,” in a variety of ways.

But although I have often taken what didn’t belong to me, God has graciously given me what I don’t deserve.

The righteousness I needed, he has given me in Jesus Christ.

The forgiveness I needed, he has given me in Jesus Christ.

The mercy I needed, he has given me in Jesus Christ.

The grace I needed, he has given me in Jesus Christ.

All that I have needed, he has given me in Jesus Christ.

I was a thief, a taker, but God is a giver, and he has given me his most precious gift—His Son, Jesus Christ.

[TS]…

Conclusion

Two thieves were crucified with Jesus, one on his right and one on his left.

At first they both mocked him, but then God graciously opened the eyes of one so that he saw Jesus as the Son of God.

He cried out to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus said to that thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Look into the mirror of God’s law tonight and see that in one way or another, you too have been a thief.

But like the thief on the cross, cry out to Jesus.

He will save you.