Deuteronomy 15
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The Bible often uses economic terms to talk about spiritual realities. For example, Romans 6:23 says…
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wages and free gift are economic terms describing the spiritual reality of being saved by God’s grace through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 15 is full of economic terms; it deals with the economy of Israel once it enters the Promised Land.
But that’s just on the surface.
The economic teaching of Deuteronomy 15 foreshadowed a greater spiritual reality that arrived in Jesus and still continues today.
[READING: Deuteronomy 15:1-18]
1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 “This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 “From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother. 4 “However, there will be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, 5 if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. 6 “For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. 7 “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; 8 but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. 9 “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. 10 “You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. 11 “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’ 12 “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. 13 “When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 “You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 “It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; 17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. 18 “It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.
[PRAYER]
Moses was giving his second address to the Israelites before they followed Joshua into the Promised Land.
In his first address, Moses had recounted Israel’s history (1:6-4:49).
In this second address, Moses gave a series of exhortations, laws, and statutes (5:1-26:19).
He has called Israel to obey the Ten Commandments.
He has told them of the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience.
He has talked to them about idolatry, eating, and sacrificing.
And now he tells them about the Sabbatic year.
Israel’s calendar was built around a seven year rotation. Every seventh year, the land was to rest from producing its crops and God’s people were to trust Him to provide.
Here in Deuteronomy 15 we also learn about three more things that took place during that Sabbatic year: debts were erased, the poor were helped, and the slaves were freed.
[TS] Let’s talk about each of these ideas…
Exposition
Exposition
The debts erased (1-6)
The debts erased (1-6)
1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 “This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 “From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother. 4 “However, there will be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, 5 if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. 6 “For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
[EXP] As the text says, every seven years all debts between Israelites were canceled.
If a foreigner (a non-Israelite) owed them money, they didn’t have to forgive that debt, but whatever they were owed by a fellow Jew had to be forgiven.
This was the Lord’s remission.
He had commanded it.
But the mention of indebtedness may have made some Israelites curious; maybe they asked, “Isn’t God supposed to bless us in this Promised Land? Why is that some of us will be in debt?”
Verse 4 speaks of the ideal: There will be no poor (no one in debt) among the Israelites because the Lord will bless them if they obey Him cf., v. 5).
God’s Word says that the borrower is slave to the lender, and Israel wouldn’t be slave to any one, wouldn’t be ruled by anyone, if she obeyed the Lord.
[TS] Let’s keep going. Look at…
The poor helped (7-11)
The poor helped (7-11)
7 “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; 8 but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. 9 “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. 10 “You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. 11 “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’
[EXP] Verse 7 with its “If there is a poor man...” and v. 11 with the promise that “the poor will never cease to be in the land” speak to the sad reality of Israel’s future. At least some of the Israelites would be poor because Israel would not obey the Lord carefully.
Given the reality of poverty, some Israelites may have seen the Sabbatical year as a reason not to lend to those Israelites in need.
But the Sabbatical year was not to be used to excuse a lack of generosity.
Israelites with means were to lend to the poor trusting that God would bless them even when the forgiveness of debt was near in the Sabbatical year.
[TS] Let’s look at this last passage before we apply all this to our lives…
The slaves set free (12-18)
The slaves set free (12-18)
12 “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. 13 “When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 “You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 “It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; 17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. 18 “It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.
[EXP] Perhaps a poor farmer can’t pay his debts to the wealthy landowner he rents from.
The poor farmer then becomes slave to the wealthy landowner to work off what he owes.
The limit of such slavery between Israelites was at most six years.
The slaves were to be released on the Sabbatical year.
To prevent an immediate return to slavery, slaves who were set free were to be lavishly provided for by the wealthy landowners who had been blessed by God through the labor of the slaves.
If the slave, however, wanted to remain as a bondslave to his or her master, he or she could do so.
The public ceremony of piercing the slave’s ear with an awl (a punch), running that punch through the ear
and into the door of the master’s house, that would mark a slave a belonging to his master forever.
In any event, the master had been blessed by God because of the work of the slave. Having received such a blessing, it should not be hard for the master to let the slave go if the slave wanted to go.
[TS] …
Illustration
Illustration
Dave Ramsey is a popular radio host and financial advisor. Every week, people call into his show and shout, “We’re debt free!” They’ve used his program to pay off their debts, so they celebrate on his show with a debt-free scream.
After they scream, Dave plays a clip from the movie Braveheart were the main character, William Wallace, screams, “Freeeedommmm!”
Surely, some Israelites who were in debt shouted, “We’re debt free!” when the sabbatical year rolled around.
Some slaves no doubt shouted, “Freeeedommmm!”
But as I said at the beginning, this economic freedom in Deuteronomy 15 foreshadowed a greater spiritual freedom that came in Jesus Christ.
In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah…
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
Then Luke 4:20-21 says…
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
It’s in Jesus—through His sinless life, perfect sacrifice, and victorious resurrection—that the debtors are truly forgiven.
It’s in Jesus that the poor are truly helped.
It’s in Jesus that the slaves are truly freed.
Application
Application
Think of the three passages that we’ve talked about from Deuteronomy 15 in this way…
First, we are the debtors forgiven by Jesus.
First, we are the debtors forgiven by Jesus.
In Matthew 6:12 Jesus taught us to pray...
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And then Jesus became to answer to our prayer as He paid our sin-debt on the cross. In Colossians 2:13-14 it says…
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
The Sabbatical year has arrived in Jesus, and in Him our sin-debt is forgiven!
Second, we are the poor helped by Jesus.
Second, we are the poor helped by Jesus.
Revelation 3:17 tells us that even if we are rich materially, we are still wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked apart from Jesus.
James 2:5 tells us that God did chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.
In 2 Corinthians 8:9 it says…
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
We were poor in regard to righteousness, but Jesus was rich.
He gave us His riches and took our poverty upon Himself.
The Sabbatical year has arrived in Jesus, and in Him our poverty is erased!
And finally, we are the slaves freed by Jesus.
In John 8:34 Jesus told us…
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
And so we were until Jesus set us free through His death and resurrection.
In Romans 6:6 the Apostle Paul wrote…
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
The end of Romans 6 ends with vv. 22-23 saying…
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Sabbatical year has arrived in Jesus, and in Him our slavery to sin is undone!
Now, we are bondservants for life to Jesus Christ our Lord!
Conclusion
Conclusion
At the end of everyday’s show, Dave Ramsey says, “Remember, there’s ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that’s to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.”
I think when we consider the whole counsel of God’s Word, that statement sums up Deuteronomy 15 pretty well.
[PRAYER]