Moral Responsibilities to One Another

Transcript

GRS 56
Moral Responsibilities for One Another
10/02/1988
Deuteronomy 4:23-26
Gil Rugh

The Book of Deuteronomy is a preparation for the nation Israel for their entrance into the land of Palestine. There is a variety of subjects addressed in the book to prepare the people to live according to the plan and purpose (bad spot on disk) is that everything that the Israelite do is to be conditioned by the fact that they are the people of God. God in His sovereign grace has chosen the nation Israel to be His special people and that fact governs everything that they do during their life on this earth.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter seven verse six as a background. God said to Israel, “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” He reminds them it wasn’t because of their greatness that He chose them it was simply His sovereign grace. Over in chapter 14 of Deuteronomy the same idea, verse two, “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” His own possession His special treasure that’s how He views the nation Israel. That means they are to be unique and different from any other people on the face of the earth. The way they conduct their lives is to be arranged according to who they are. That’s what the Book of Deuteronomy is. We sometimes get lost in the details of these Old Testament instructions but one thing they ought to remind us of today, even though we don’t live under the Law and have to live in obedience to all these commandments. We are impressed with the fact that God expects the details of our lives to be lived according to His will. That hasn’t changed. The people of God today are to live their lives in obedience to their God and that obedience is to permeate everything we do all that we are.

Deuteronomy chapter 23: This chapter really contains a series of miscellaneous instructions beginning with restrictions on who can be part of the worship assembly of the nation Israel. The first eight verses deal with admission to the assembly of the LORD. Four times in these eight verses, verse one, verse two, verse three and again in verse eight He talks about entering the assembly of the LORD and the assembly of the LORD evidently referred to the time when the people gathered in the presence of the LORD for worship. Many people could be part of the nation Israel but more restrictions limited those who could come together with the nation in worship and part of the purpose of these instructions was to be sure that the purity of the nation was maintained.

The first verse eliminates any male who has been castrated. That might seem like an odd restriction but keep in mind the pagan peoples of Canaan went from one extreme to another. They had a religion that was characterized by lust and all kinds of deviant sexual activities. That will be referred to later in the chapter. Part of their worship for the fertility of the land involved sexual immorality with both male and female prostitutes. Then on the other side within Canaanite worship there were those who were castrated as part of their worship system and neither are to be any way a part of Israel’s worship so that’s the restriction that is given here. These people are going to go in among a pagan people but there is to be no association of those people in the worship of the nation Israel.

In verse two, those of illegitimate birth are excluded from the assembly and their descendants down to the tenth generation. That is quite a restriction that’s given here! This may refer just to an illegitimate child. Again, within the framework we’re talking about it probably refers to a child of a mixed marriage, a Jew has abandoned Israel and intermarried with the people of the land, which is forbidden. It may refer to a child who is an offspring of the cult prostitution that took place there. Again, the purpose is to maintain the purity of Israel as the people of God and the purity of their worship through other instructions given down through these eight verses.

When you come down to verse nine, verses 9 to 14 talk about purity in the military camp. In other words, when the army of Israel moves out to war they don’t leave their purity behind so there are certain guidelines given that reminds Israel that they are the people of God. When they go to war, they are not to be an army like the pagan armies conducting themselves the way that the godless people around them do. Even as a military power having left the main camp of Israel they maintain their unique distinctive as the people of God.

Verse 14 summarizes this, “Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you lest He turn away from you.” Of course, that would be disastrous. That would leave Israel at the mercy of her enemies so even here as the military might they must maintain their purity as a holy people because their God is among them and He must not be offended by anything that He sees. It reminds me of the verse in the New Testament, grieve not the Holy Spirit . . . by whom you were sealed until the day of redemption. A reminder that the presence of God is with us as believers and that is to condition what we become involved in what we do with our lives lest He be offended.

Verses 15 and 16, “You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. “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.” Now this legislation has to do with a slave that escapes from a foreign master. There are other instructions given for slaves within Israel. Now this seems strange that you don’t return a slave to his master but keep it within the framework that we’re talking about, Israel is a unique and distinct nation. When a slave escaped from one of the foreign peoples around them and fled for safety to Israel for Israel to return that slave would be to imply there was some kind of reciprocal agreement between Israel and these other nations. There was to be no kind of agreements between Israel and these other nations and this was a way of keeping that line clearly drawn. No kind of reciprocal agreements so a slave that escaped from those foreign lands then he could reside within Israel and obviously, that would not make Israel popular. It could lead to conflict but that was fine. God intended for His people to be in conflict with the peoples that were around them.

Verses 17 and 18 deal with the other side of what we talked about in verse one; cult prostitution; and it involved both the daughters of Israel and the sons of Israel; both heterosexual and homosexual prostitution, part of the Canaanite worship. Now as we read this and commands and instructions are given that the people of Israel ought not to under any circumstances give their sons and daughters over to cult prostitution. You think the idea is almost too repulsive to be talked about but you know this sin plagued the nation Israel in its later history. It’s a reminder that once the people of God begin to wander from their relationship with their God and a life of submissiveness to Him there is no bottom to the derogation. Who would have thought that this people who are the unique treasure the special possession of the Almighty God whose very nature is holiness would have to be warned about cult prostitution and not giving their sons and daughters over to be cult prostitutes.

Look over in 1 Kings just to see what happens in Israel’s later history. 1 Kings chapter 14 verse 23. Verse 22 tells us Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done with the sins they committed. For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree. You see they’ve adopted now the worship practices of the nations around—There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations, which the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel. You see they have absorbed all the abominations of the people that God judged and dispossessed before Israel. Amazing to see Israel come to that.

Chapter 15 of 1 Kings verse 12. Here we’ve moved over now to the reign of another king, Asa. He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols, which his fathers had made. You see it’s a recurring problem. One king deals with it, it resurfaces again, and later on, another king has to deal with it. Chapter 22 and verse 46. These are the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat. The remnant of the sodomites who remained in the days of his father Asa, he expelled from the land, you go on into 2 Kings chapter 23 verse seven, and that will be enough. Here we are to the reforms of Josiah. He also broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes, which were in the house of the LORD . . ., which were in the house of the LORD where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah. You see what they’ve done they have brought this abomination into the very center of their worship so when you come back to Deuteronomy 23 the warning is very necessary and I’m sure when Israel heard this it was almost repulsive. They wouldn’t have to be told this but again the warning. When you begin to wander away from your God when you begin to stray from obedience to Him you don’t know how far down you will end up and how many believers even have come to the point to say I never thought that I would do such a thing. Well it didn’t start out as one-step to that point. It started out by wandering away. Strong warning for Israel.

Verses 19 and 20 tell them they’re not allowed to charge interest to their countrymen. “You shall not charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest. “ You can charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that the LORD . . . may bless you.” The purpose of this seems to be to protect the poor and the needy in the land of Israel. It was primarily the poor, those in need, who needed to borrow. They didn’t have quite our kind of system of living on borrowed money but the poor were in a situation where they had often to look to someone else. Israel was not allowed to charge interest to fellow Israelites. It would be contrary to the concern that they are to have for one another. They are the people of God. Where there is a need they are to reach out and help to meet that need not take advantage of it to get gain for themselves. We see that in our own family. If we have within our family, a child who has a need we want to move to meet that need. We don’t say well let me see I’ll loan you 10 dollars and that’ll be 32 percent interest; it’s not the way we function. Well Israel is not to function that way.

Look back in Exodus chapter 22 to see some of this connection. Now I have heard between brothers and sisters some negotiations at unfair interest rates but—Exodus 22 verse 25. If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you . . . you see that’s the issue in lending money here. The non-poor aren’t looking for the loan. “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest.” Now they could take a pledge. The pledge was something that the person would give to demonstrate they would pay the money back but then even the pledge needed to be returned and there are restrictions on what pledge could be taken.

Over in Leviticus chapter 25 and verse 35. Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner that he may live with you. Now for a stranger or sojourner they were obligated to show hospitability. Well here more so for their own people. Do not take usurious interest from him; but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you. You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain. The reason is its God who brought them out of Egypt and who has provided for them. Again, you note, in case a countryman of yours’s becomes poor and he’s in need so he’s turning to borrow you don’t take advantage of that situation. It would be an abuse of the poor. Deuteronomy chapter 15 verse seven, “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; you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.” And then a warning about not being willing to lend to him perhaps because the seventh year of remission is close and you’re afraid that it will cost you so there has to be that openness to helping the poor.

Nehemiah chapter five gives an example of Israel not heeding this particular warning how this worked a hardship on the people. This is after the exile the people have come back to the land. In Nehemiah chapter five, now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, “We, our sons and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.” Others said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.” Also, there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. “Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.” Then I was very angry when I had heard their outcry and these words. I consulted with myself, contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You are exacting usury, each from his brother!” Therefore, I held a great assembly . . . and I said to them, “We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. He goes on to say quit charging interest, give back the fields. You see what happened the famine had come. As is always the case and we talk, about it today, we say the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. I don’t know if it’s true today all the time but under times of great difficulty, those who have less are more pressed they don’t have any margin or any leeway. It became an occasion here for the rich in Israel now to say well I’ll give you some grain but this is the charge and pretty soon they were taking over the land of the poor and Nehemiah says that ought not to be within the nation and so the people respond verse 12. We will give it back we will require nothing of them we’ll do exactly as you say and so on.

All that to say I think that the instructions back in Deuteronomy chapter 23 and verses 19 and 20 about not charging interest to a countryman have primarily to do with the nation Israel and the treatment of the poor and to that extent we could see an application to us today. If there is a fellow believer in great need and I have the ability to meet that need, it would be contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture for me to offer to loan him money at interest. Now the bible doesn’t say I always have to give it. There are occasions when it would be right for me to give it. If I see a brother in need, I should give it. It depends on the need but it would be totally out of line for me to charge interest. Usually it would be out of line for me not to meet the need period as a gracious gift if I have the ability to do that. So that point still continues over, I don’t think it has anything to do with the way that we do business generally today or even loaning money as some people do and we have done as a church. Some people have money loaned to the church, which is simply a matter of a business deal. It has nothing to do with poverty or a lack of poverty. It has to do with a better interest rate here than at a bank and wanting to conduct that wisely.

Jump down to chapter 24. We usually think of Deuteronomy chapter 24 as the key section on divorce in the Law but only the first four verses talk about divorce. The rest of the chapter has to do with some other miscellaneous laws but the first four verses talk about divorce and they become key. Let’s read those first four verses. “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.”

Now several things to say about the passage. Number one this passage does not command divorce. It regulates divorce but it’s not instructing divorce to be carried out. There are restrictions given on divorce and particularly remarriage after divorce. Verse 4 gives the instruction. If the conditions of the first three verses take place then her husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife. That’s the point. When a man takes, a wife marries her if there is a divorce and she remarries someone else then under no circumstance is she ever allowed to be remarried to her former husband. That’s the point that is made here it does not deal with the rightness or wrong of the initial divorce it simply regulates remarriage where divorce has occurred. Under no circumstance, can there be a remarriage to a former wife when there has been a marriage in-between. Now if there was a divorce and no remarriage and they decided to get remarried there’d be no problem but where there is a divorce and a remarriage then there cannot be a return to the former partner.

You’ll note in verse one it says that he is divorces her because he has found some indecency in her and we don't know what is included in indecency. The Jews had some great debates over that question. We right away think well maybe she was guilty of immorality but that has been already taken care of by other legislation. Basically, immorality carried the death penalty adultery even if a woman was found to have been immoral before she was married. After she’s married, it’s found out she was immoral then that is dealt with in the same way. That’s back in chapter 22 verses 20 to 22. So whatever the indecency is here were not told. Some commentators speculate perhaps she is unable to bear children and of course in biblical times that would be a very serious matter. We’re just not told here. Some indiscretion, whatever it is, was viewed as serious enough to the point divorce occurs. She goes out and marries someone else. Even if her second husband dies, she cannot return to the first husband.

Now you know it would be easy to sit and think of this just on what we think of as human logic. Say well wouldn’t it be better if that second husband died at least go back to the first husband. Maybe that was God’s way of saying, you shouldn’t have left him in the first place and at least now, they’re back together. God says no, under no circumstance can she ever go back to the first husband. She has been defiled verse four says. That would be an abomination before the LORD. This is a serious matter and we struggle to know why. Well one thing this does is make divorce a serious issue. When this couple divorced, they realized that will probably be the end of the relationship. It ruled out anything like legal wife swapping where I’ll go marry him, for a while, we’ll try that out then we’ll get back together. There’d be none of that but beyond that why it is viewed as an abomination or defiling if she goes back we’re just not told. That’s the way it is. One commentator has speculated that perhaps it becomes a form of incest because a family relationship was established in marriage and even though the marriage bond has been broken by divorce there has been a family tie established that goes on. A former wife is always a former wife. There is a difference in that relationship with that person so even though it’s not a marriage now there has been a family relationship or tie and that commentator speculated that perhaps this would be viewed as a form of incest. We’re just not told.

I don’t know why but what God says is clear and the question comes is that binding on us today? We don’t live under the Law; this is law. I don’t know that I have a clear answer for that. I know of nothing that undoes what is said here. The abominations and sinful practices that are forbidden to Israel in the Old Testament do not become acceptable to the people of God in the New Testament and this is one of those abominable practices. It is an abomination before the LORD and not living under Law has not made certain practices that are called abominations now acceptable. In light of that, the people who ask me I have to tell them as far as I know the principle established here still continues. Even though and there’s been cases where people have talked to me and I say yes humanly speaking as I sit here I would say yeah it’s great. Now they’re going to put their first marriage back together but I have to come to the word of God. There would probably have been people in Israel who would have said the same thing, now that’s great they’re going to get it back together. God says no it can’t happen. A very serious matter.

Jesus picks up on this matter. He’s challenged by it in the New Testament. He doesn’t deal with some of the questions we’d like to have answered but He is questioned about the matter of divorce. Why did Moses permit them to get divorced if it wasn’t God’s will? Look over in Matthew chapter 19. One thing you should note out of this Deuteronomy passage even though divorce is not God’s plan even though divorce is not what God intended we’ll see that from the creation. You know God hates divorce and He hated divorce all the way back through the Old Testament. You cannot deny the reality of divorce. Divorce does break a relationship and a new relationship can be established which is viewed as a valid relationship. Matthew chapter 19 verse six, consequently “they are no more two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man separate.” They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command . . . to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE . . . AND DIVORCE HER? Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; . . . He never commanded them to divorce their wives He permitted them to divorce their wives because of the hardness of their heart. There was a regulation given because of the hardness the sinfulness of their heart but that hasn’t been God’s plan from the beginning so God tolerated certain things through the Old Testament like polygamy even though that was not His intention. He allowed certain sinful practices to go on and with the passing of time with the coming of Christ with additional revelation being given why those things are no longer overlooked or permitted. So with divorce so with polygamy and those kinds of things.

Deuteronomy 24 as you study marriage and divorce it’ll be a passage you have to come to again and again. Perhaps we ought to look at Malachi at the end of the Old Testament before we move on. Malachi the last book of the Old Testament chapter two, so we see that God’s attitude was always the same regarding divorce. Malachi chapter two verse 14. The issue here. God no longer accepts the worship of the people of Israel. Verse 14, “Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. “But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says the LORD of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously.”

Now important that we realize that God’s attitude toward divorce was the same Old and New Testament. He tolerated certain things because of the hardness of people’s heart but His attitude towards it was the same it was a violation of a covenant relationship. That’s an act of treachery and it made their worship unacceptable. Again, it became the common practice for the people of Israel. That’s why Malachi is writing why God won’t accept their worship. You see again that the church is not much different. We end up falling into the same patterns of the people of Israel. We wander from the word of God we become more and more like the peoples of the world around us but we go on assuming that we live under the age of grace. It’s ok we can do as we please. It is no more acceptable to God, Israel deluded itself by thinking they were the people of God. Malachi has to come and say you know your worship is not acceptable. You are a people whom God views as dealing treacherously. We need to be careful that doesn’t mean God doesn’t pick you up where you are. I can’t go back and undo the past. I can’t change yesterday. Praise God for forgiveness praise God for His grace! I believe that a person who has been divorced once, who has been divorced and remarried ten times, is just as forgiven as I am is just as acceptable before God as I am. We submit ourselves to Him, accept His forgiveness in Christ and go on but we need to be very careful that our attitudes aren’t being conditioned by the world. We need to be very careful about approaching sin and thinking I’ll go ahead and do it God forgives me, I’ll go on, and I’ll have my cake and eat it too. I’ll get rid of the wife I don’t like I’ll get the wife I do like God will forgive me and everything will be happy-happy-happy. Well it just ain’t so and I think that we delude ourselves as believers today just like Israel did and they weren’t getting away with anything. Just because we say well then how is it going to be dealt with? I don’t have the answer but I know that God is never put in a box and He’ll always do what’s right.

Come back to Deuteronomy 24. Beginning with verse five there is a series of miscellaneous laws. Maybe you ought to take verse five as the positive side verse four is on divorce, that’s somewhat negative. Verse 5 is a positive happy thing about marriage. When you got married, you didn’t have to do anything but please your wife for a year. “When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home one year . . .” to have his wife wait on him. No I didn’t read this verse to my wife until the second year of our marriage. Stay home for one year and give happiness to his wife . . . ah we men are great at knowing what our wife ought to do to please us but it’s interesting to me how the marriage relation starts out. The first year a man is not to have these distracting things like going to war and other duties but he is to be occupied with making his wife happy. All right enough of that.

Different laws here that protect the poor. You can see God’s concern for the poor in the nation because that is a reflection of the character of the people their compassion for one another their love for one another. He starts out in verse six about you couldn’t take a millstone in pledge because the millstone was used to grind. This is the millstone that would be used in the home the two stones basically the one on top of another rolled together to grind the grain for the daily flour. Well if you took the top of the millstone half the millstone was no good if you took that in pledge you were taking a person’s life away. They didn’t have any means to get their food any longer so there are restrictions like that given again to protect the poor and those who are in need in Israel.

Down in verse 16. Down in verses 10 to 13 collateral for loans is talked about and what you can do and if you were going to take collateral for a loan you weren’t allowed to go in the house and get it. You had to wait outside and let the man bring his own collateral out again things done to protect the dignity of the poor and the less fortunate in the nation. They may have to give collateral here but they had the right to bring out the collateral. The person didn’t now have power to come into their home and take out something that he thought he would have for collateral. Down to verse 16. Now there are instructions on not oppressing a hired servant, verse 15, you give him his wages before the sun, sets because again, you had a servant the poor and the needy he worked every day got his wage for the day could go out and buy the provisions for his food and that was done every day. That doesn’t say now if you’re a Christian employer you have to pay every day. The point is they shouldn’t withhold those wages because if they didn’t pay daily and said well I’ll pay you next month, in biblical times there was no flexibility there so he needed to pay at the end of every day for the wage that they had earned.

Verse 16, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor sons put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.” Here we’re talking about capital punishment and the general principal is you suffer for your own sins. It doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences that affect my children. Chapter five of Deuteronomy verse nine talked about the consequences carrying on to the coming generations but here an Israelite murdered another Israelite that Israelite had to be executed but his son wasn’t to be executed for his crime. Each would pay for his own sin.

Verses 17 to 22 again talk about God’s concern for the poor and the needy so that’s a pervading concern because what happens? Israel will move into the land they’ll begin to enjoy the blessings of God, they’ll get greedy, they’ll want more, and they’ll begin to walk over the people to get everything they can so there’s these constant reminders to make provision for the poor.

Chapter 25 gives a variety of laws. The first three verses an Israelite could be beaten forty times for certain crimes and offenses; forty lashes he could be given but no more. Anymore would be to degrade and humiliate him. It would be going beyond a fit punishment and degrading to him, as a person. Forty lashes could be very severe but to go beyond that would be degrading and humiliating verse three tells us. Incidentally, in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 24 Paul says he got this five times from the Jews only then they gave thirty-nine lashes. They took off one because they didn’t want to miscount and be guilty of giving forty-one lashes because then they would have violated the Scripture and become guilty themselves so that’s why when you see Paul he writes about getting thirty-nine lashes. They always gave one less to be sure in case there was a miscount they were still within the law.

Verses 5 to 10. Oh, we ought to say something about verse four since it’s on the ox that shouldn’t be muzzled. “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” You can just jot down 1 Corinthians 9:9 and 1 Timothy 5:18. Those two New Testament verses take this verse; you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing to apply it to those who minister the word being supported. The point is the ox was free to eat of the grain while he served. Paul says God wrote that not because He was primarily concerned about the ox but as a principle for us to learn from so that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel. You wouldn’t have gotten that out of verse four but the New Testament tell us.

Verses 5 to 10 would make a brother very concerned about who his brother married. It’s what we call the levirate marriage. Basically, what it said is when two brothers are living in a house and one of the brothers is married if he dies the surviving brother is to marry his wife and raise up seed for his brother. What it says is the first-born son would be counted as the dead brothers son and he would inherit all of his dead fathers would be father’s estate. It was a way again of guaranteeing the ongoing family in Israel so you have two brothers living in the same house, one is married, and he dies the other brother is to marry the wife for the purpose of keeping alive the dead brother’s line so that there would be a son. Now if the brother and his wife had daughters the surviving brother was still obligated to marry the wife because there was to be a son because the daughters would marry someone else and the inheritance would be taken over by another family so here it is to produce a son to keep alive the inheritance.

This becomes a significant event in the Book of Ruth and in the fourth chapter; it’s taken up where Boaz takes the responsibility of the near-kinsman and marries Ruth. Remember there was another relative but when he found out that he had not only to take over the land but he had to marry Ruth then he realized that any seed would be counted as the dead husband of Ruth’s seed and all the land would be inherited by that son, he says, I can’t do it. I’d be forfeiting my own inheritance. Then Boaz steps in and they go through a procedure here. He had to take off his sandal and the woman spit in his face. That’s what they did and then from there on he’s known as the family of the one whose sandal got taken off so the humiliation doesn’t end. I tell you I would have really watched who my brother married if you’re going to get me to be the one who gets spit in the face and take my sandal off I at least want to have a say in who you’re going marry. The ceremony does allow the brother to refuse his responsibility but he is humiliated. He is one who was not willing to raise up seed for his brother so it’s a levirate marriage. It comes from the Latin word for brother-in-law because in effect the wife was marrying her brother-in-law. This is one of the exceptions to the law where you were not to marry certain relatives. Levirate had nothing to do with Levites. I remember when I first heard of the levirate marriage I thought it had to do with the Levites getting married. It had nothing to do with the priests, the Levites. Levirate comes from a Latin word brother-in-law it’s a brother by marriage. Ok, that doesn’t apply today so breathe easy.

Down to chapter 26 and chapter 26 deals, basically with two feasts that Israel will celebrate when they go into the land. First fruits the first eleven verses and then the tri-annual tithe in verses 12 to 15. First fruits has been dealt with in detail in Leviticus chapter 23. At the beginning of the harvest, Israel brought the first ears of grain and presented them to the LORD. It was symbolic of a coming harvest that God graciously was providing. Now here an added dimension is given to the Feast of first fruits. It not only anticipates a coming harvest but it also reminds Israel that they were a small insignificant people. God made them a great nation, delivered them from Egypt, and brought them into the land of Palestine. It was to be celebrated the first year they entered Palestine; that would be the first celebration of this feast. Passover was celebrated during the forty years of wandering but Israel was not an agricultural people until they moved into Palestine so the instructions here have to do with the first celebrating of the Feast of first fruits as a reminder that God had delivered them from the nation Egypt.

In verse five, “YOU SHALL ANSWER AND SAY BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD, “MY FATHER WAS A WANDERING ARAMEAN, AND HE WENT DOWN TO EGYPT SOJOURNED THERE, FEW IN NUMBER; BUT HE BECAME A GREAT, MIGHTY AND POPULOUS NATION.” The wandering Aramean here refers to Jacob who was the ancestor of the Israelites. He is called the wandering Aramean because he lived a large portion of his life Paddan-aram which we know as Mesopotamia. In Genesis chapters 28 thru 31 Jacob is living in Aram so he is an Aramean. He married two wives who were Arameans so Leah and Rachel from Laban so he’s the wandering Aramean. He went down into Egypt a few people seventy people Genesis 46:27 says. They came out perhaps two million people so you see what God did in a special way. A wandering Aramean can mean wandering it usually means frail or weak. When Jacob went down into Egypt, he was a quit elderly man. I think he was a hundred and thirty years old when he went down into Egypt. He’s going to live another 17 years so out of that weak man with a few people a mighty nation has come out.

Verse 10, I want to draw your attention to the end of that verse, . . . You shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God; . . . that word to worship, I think is a good reminder for us. The basic root there means to prostrate one’s self and the key idea and it’s used in the Old Testament where an inferior prostrates himself before one who is his superior. In worship, what we are doing is prostrating ourselves before God. It involves submitting ourselves, it involves obedience to God to His commands as His people so we sometimes identify worship with the externals and there’s a place for the externals. Israel had much external in their worship but at the heart of it was to be an attitude of submissiveness and obedience to God and when that was gone, their worship forms became repulsive to God. Remember that in Isaiah chapter one God says who called you to trample on the courts of My temple; viewed as trampling the courts. Why, because the heart of obedience and submissiveness was lacking. Again something that we the people of God need to be reminded of today. We come to a certain building at a certain time go through certain motions sing certain songs listen to a sermon and go home and say we worshipped. We may have or we may not have we may have simply trampled the courts of God spiritually speaking. We did not come with an attitude of obedience and submissiveness in prostrating ourselves before God. Our lives are to be lived as lives of worship day by day, as I live my life in submissiveness to Him. My life is to be a life of worship.

Verses 12 to 15 talk about the third year tithe and that was talked about in Deuteronomy 14 verses 28 and 29. The third year the tithe was to be kept in the town and distributed by the Levites to the poor and that would happen in the third year that Israel was in the land of Palestine. The conclusion to these instructions these commandments, Moses commandments have been given from chapter five verse one through chapter 26 and verse 15. Now God summarizes it through Moses in verse 16. “This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statues and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. “You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. “The LORD has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you and that you should keep all His commandments; and He shall set you high above all nations which he has made for praise, fame, and honor and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God as He has spoken.” What a unique relationship! How did Israel ever end up so amalgamated and blended in to the society around them? What a tragedy. These ideas are taken and applied to us as believers in the New Testament.

Turn quickly over to Titus chapter two verse 14. Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession. The language carried over from what we read about Israel. Purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. We are to be obedient to Him. You shall be careful to do them with all your heart with all your soul, zealous for good deeds as God’s treasured possession.

First Peter chapter two verse nine: But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You know we ought to learn from Israel, they are a unique and treasured people in God’s plan. They forfeited much of the blessing God intended for them. Look and say what a travesty what a tragedy but keep in mind we are the people God has called to Himself today as the church of Jesus Christ. We are called into a unique relationship with God and that places upon us the responsibility to live our lives in every area every day in obedience and submissiveness to Him that we might be a testimony to the greatness of His grace.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Father for the greatness of Your love, the greatness of Your grace. We find it hard to fathom that we should be gathered here called the people of God, the treasured possession of the living God. What an honor to live lives of obedience to You. May that obedience characterize us in the days of this week as we serve You in all that we do we pray in Christ’s name.




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