Sermon Tone Analysis

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)

[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)

[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)

[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)

[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…

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)

[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?