Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In Deuteronomy 19:14-21 we find ourselves in the justice section of Moses’ second speech to the Israelites just before they enter the Promised Land.

In the Promised Land, the Israelites will need judges, officers, and priests to uphold God’s Law, settle disputes, and administer justice in general.

This administration of justice was built around God’s Ten Commandments.

For example, God said in His Ten Commandments, “You shall not murder.”

Then in Deuteronomy 19 we learn about these cities of refuge—cities of justice where a trial would decide if a man was guilty of manslaughter or murder.

If it was manslaughter, then the guilty one had to remain until the city of refuge until the death of the high priest.

If it was murder, the murderer had forfeited his life and was, therefore, to be put to death.

In this way, God’s “You shall not murder,” was upheld and justice was administered.

But now in Deuteronomy 19:14ff we come to what seems to be a random law regarding property markers and then some laws regarding witnesses in legal proceedings.

What do these things have to do with one another?

How do they uphold God’s law?

How do they point us to Christ?

Let’s read the text and pray God give us answers to these questions.

[READING - Deuteronomy 19:14-21]

[PRAYER]

[TS] Notice, first, that you shall not steal from your neighbor…

Major Ideas

#1: You shall not steal from your neighbor (Deut.

19:14)

[EXP] The Ten Commandments divide into two parts:

Part One—Love for God

“You shall have not other gods before Me.”

“You shall not make for yourself an idol...”

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain...”

“Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy...”

And “honor your and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you...”

One writer said that we typically think of the “honor father and mother” command as belonging to part two of the Ten Commandments, but because parents are an authority established by God and, therefore, must be obeyed as if obeying God, and God will reward those who honor father and mother, this “honor father and mother command” belongs with part one of the Ten Commandments—Love for God.

Part Two—Love for Neighbor

“You shall not murder.”

“You shall not commit adultery.”

“You shall not steal.”

“You shall not bear false witness…”

“You shall not covet…”

Moving someone’s boundary mark, which is forbidden in Deuteronomy 19:14, would be a violation of the eighth commandment—“You shall not steal.”

First, the boundary mark is not yours to move.

It is your neighbors.

Second, the boundary mark was set by your ancestors.

It was not set by you.

Third, the boundary mark represents the inheritance that God gave to your neighbor.

Would you dare to steal from your neighbor what God gave to him as his inheritance?

Surely not.

Now, it may be that more than just a stone marking a property line is in view here.

The Mesopotamians had a stone that served as a property line but it was also inscribed with the details of the property rights.

In other words, this landmark, boundary mark, or boundary stone may have been like a deed detailing just what someone owned.

Thus, to move your neighbor’s boundary mark may have been more than just trying steal a few more acres.

It may have been an attempt to steal your neighbors property in total.

In Deuteronomy 27, moving your neighbor’s boundary mark is listed with many other sins especially cursed by God.

Moses says…

But what makes this sin and the others in Deuteronomy 27 especially heinous?

It seems to be that they would be committed in secret, which means outside the reach of human justice.

If you moved or stole your neighbor’s boundary mark, how would your neighbor prove that you had done so?

He wouldn’t have the stone that proved his case because you stole it.

Therefore, you might get away with it here on earth, but God sees all and there is no escaping his justice.

“Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary mark.”

[ILLUS] Cheryl’s grandmother owned a little land before she died.

Toward the end of her life, she was very concerned that someone had moved her property lines.

She was convinced that someone was stealing her land.

Her son-in-law, her daughters, and her grandchildren all tried to convince her it wasn’t true, but she went to her grave believing that someone was encroaching of her territory.

We’d love to believe that things like thievery and stealing are all just parts of our paranoid imaginations playing tricks on us, but they are real.

What Deuteronomy 19:14 warns against still happens today.

[APP] What we learn here then is that we have every right to use all lawful means to protect and preserve what is ours.

We also learn that we must never take part in robbing anyone of anything that is rightfully there’s.

We are not to forge anything, conceal anything, destroy anything, alter anything, or shift anything so as to steal from our neighbor.

Rather, we must be content, or as Matthew Henry said, “Let every man be content with his own lot.”

[TS] …