Deuteronomy 15-16

Intro:

Deuteronomy 15 gives us important teachings about our approach to the poor and needy.

The needy people mentioned here are the poor and slaves.

Today we could add to that list people such as the mentally and physically handicapped and insane, the terminally ill including those suffering from AIDS, and orphans and the aged who have no family to care for them.

Deuteronomy 15 gives laws about releasing people from debts during the sabbatical year (15:1–11), releasing slaves after six years (15:12–18), and setting apart firstborn males from the flock (15:19–23).

At first these laws may seem to be quite unrelated to our lives in the twenty-first century.

Therefore, it is easy to read this passage as a record of how a group of ancient people lived that is of some academic interest but with little practical relevance to us today.

But that has not been our approach to the laws of Deuteronomy.

We believe that there are principles in these laws that should influence our behavior today as they give us a window into the mind of their Creator.

The importance of this chapter is evidenced by the fact that this chapter has the words “you shall” used in an imperative sense twenty-three times in the ESV.

Other statements such as “take care,” “strictly obey,” and “be careful” appear five times, emphasizing the importance of obedience to the laws given here.

Read Deuteronomy 15:1-6

I. Lending Money vs. 1-6

vs. 1-3 Grant release from Loan

Those who think that it takes a great deal of faith to give God a tithe of their income will probably be shocked when they read this section of the law.

Just as every seventh day of the week was set apart for God as the Sabbath Day, so every seventh year was to be set apart as a Sabbath Year.

During that year, the Jews were not to cultivate the land but allow it to rest.

The people would have to trust God to produce the grain, vegetables, and fruits they needed for themselves and for their flocks and herds and farm animals.

But the Sabbath Year involved much more than rest for the land (Ex. 23:10–11). It also meant canceling debts (Deut. 15:1–11) and setting free the servants who had served for six years

In Israel, money was always loaned with the understanding that every seventh year, debts would be canceled.

So there was no long-term debt in this sense – money could never be borrowed, or owed, for more than six years.

This was an important matter to God; the release was said to be the LORD’s release.

As Israel obeyed this command, there would never be a permanent under-class in Israel. Some might go through a bad period but would have the opportunity to rebuild their lives financially on a regular basis.

vs. 4-6 There will be no poor among you

God established an economic system wherein no one had to be chronically poor.

If people would obey the LORD, He would bless (both sovereignly and as the natural result of the obedience), and they would not be poor.

However, Deuteronomy 15:11 – just a few verses down – states: For the poor will never cease from the land.

Is God contradicting Himself? Not at all.

He knows that He has established a system where no one must be chronically poor, yet He knew that because of disobedience, some would, and there would always be the poor in Israel.

So, God did not guarantee prosperity for any one in Israel; but He did guarantee opportunity for prosperity for an obedient Israel.

You shall lend to many nations: If Israel obeyed and the individual citizens of Israel enjoyed the blessing of God’s prosperity, then they would as a nation be prosperous, and blessed above other nations.

II. Dealing w/ the Poor vs. 7-11

vs. 7-8 Don’t harden your heart

If someone should become poor and you have the means to lend to them you shouldn’t harden your heart

What if someone needed a loan in the sixth year?

People were hesitant to loan money knowing that they were going to lose it in a year or two

God wanted them to take care of the poor and trust that God would see it and bless them in return

Prov 19:17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

vs. 9-11 Give freely, not grudgingly

God is the giver of our resources, and what we give actually already belongs to God

Far from being a dampener of satisfaction, the realization that we do not own anything is the springboard to great liberation and joy.

I have seen wealthy people who are unhappy because they are bound by their wealth. It is tragic to see them preoccupied with how they can protect their riches and prevent others from exploiting them.

A loss becomes a terrible tragedy. If and when they give to others, they do so grudgingly, often out of a sense of duty rather than pleasure.

If our primary ambition in life is to glorify God, and if giving to others is a means to glorify God, then when we give we are actually fulfilling a personal ambition.

We don’t see the giving as losing money; we see it as a pleasurable action that gives us great joy.

Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

III. Slavery vs. 12-18

vs. 12-14 Releasing Salves

After describing the kindness that needs to be shown to the poor, Moses describes the kindness that needs to be shown to slaves.

A similar passage is found in Exodus.

There it is found at the start of what is known as the Book of the Covenant

There seem to have been two types of slaves in Israel in the Old Testament era (see Leviticus 25:44–46).

The first are foreign slaves who have been sold to the owner.

The second are fellow Israelites who will not usually be permanent slaves.

Our passage speaks about the second group.

These are possibly people who got into financial difficulties and sold themselves (possibly to their creditors) as a way of surviving the emergency

Moses says that such slaves must be released seven years after they were taken on

Here the years are counted beginning with the time the enslavement took place, unlike the sabbatical year that came according to the regular calendar.

The released slave is to leave with generous gifts from his or her master

Moses here tells the people that they must go beyond the Law in their generosity to their departing slave.

vs. 16-18 Keeping slaves

What if, at the end of seven years the salve wants to stay?

This section is really cool because there are some New testament parallels

If the jewish slave wants to stay because he has fallen in love with his owner

Then the owner pierces his ear with a wooden awl on the doorpost of his house

In this, he declared his love and devotion to his master – a willing slave, who was free to choose and yet chose his master.

Jesus is the great fulfillment of this willing slave.

Jesus said prophetically in Psalm 40:6: My ears You have opened, it speaks of this “opening” of the ear in the bond-slave ceremony.

He was the willing bond-slave of God the Father.

Isaiah 50:5-7 shows that Jesus’ character as the willing slave was most perfectly shown in His sufferings at the cross: The Lord GOD has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help Me; therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.

The Christian is also to be a willing slave of God.

The common New Testament word doulos describes this kind of slave.

Hiebert says of doulos, “a slave, a bondservant, one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another… Among the Greeks, with their strong sense of personal freedom, the term carried a degrading connotation.”

IV. Passover vs. 1-8

vs. 1-4 Rules for Passover

vs. 5-8 Prohibitions for Passover

V. Feast of Weeks vs. 9-12

VI. Feast of Booths vs. 13-17