Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and have him flogged in his presence with the number of lashes his crime deserves, but he must not give him more than forty lashes. If he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes.
Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. However, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me." Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, "I do not want to marry her," his brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line." That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.
If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.
Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.
Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
Deuteronomy 25
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Like Chapters 23 and 24, Deuteronomy, Chapter 25 is a collection of various laws and commands Israel were to follow as they entered Canaan. And again, keep in mind that this was a new generation of Israelites. Their ancestors had been given most of these instructions before this. Moses was reviewing God’s expectations with Israel before he would die and they go onto the Promised Land. As we have in the last two devotionals, let’s look at each of these commands:
- Disputes were not to be handled between individuals but in the courts. Judges had been appointed to hear cases and render the appropriate findings, ensuring always that justice was served. Note that there was a limit to the amount of punishment a guilty person could be given. They were to get no more than 40 lashes. Anything beyond that was considered inhumane.
- Humans weren’t the only ones allotted humane treatment. Oxen would be used to tread on stalks of grain thrown on the threshing floor. As they walked on the stalks, the grain kernels were separated for collection. Muzzling the oxen would deprive them of their need for food and be cruel treatment. Thus the command to not muzzle an ox as it was treading out grain.
- Prior scripture has highlighted how important it was to have a son born in any family. This son would be able to carry on the family name and inherit from his father any high position the father might hold. But what if a man dies before he has a chance to have a son? His brother was to marry his widowed wife and ensure she bore a son who would “carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel”. But there was no guarantee that the dead man’s brother would agree to marry his widow. The scripture shows us that this decision would be met with great scorn and disapproval. The widow was to take the matter “to the elders at the town gate and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.’ The elders would then “summon (the brother) and talk to him. If he persists in saying, ‘I do not want to marry her,’ he would face the following:
“His brother's widow (would) go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his
sandals, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who will not build up his
brother's family line.’ That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.”
In other words, the brother would be released from his duty to provide a son for his dead brother’s widow but he would be released through a ceremony of shame. His reputation would be tarnished from that point on as the community would know of his decision not to respect his dead brother and his wife.
Of special interest here is the matter of being unsandaled. Remember that Jesus, when instructing his disciples about what they were to do as He sent them out to evangelize said that they were to leave a town and shake the town'’ dust from their sandals if the people of that town refused to receive them and the gospel message they preached (Matthew 10:11-15). The unsandaling action in the New Testament was meant to heap shame on the rejecting town and its people. It was an extension of what we see here in Deuteronomy, Chapter 25.
- We have seen other places in scripture that speak about decency in dealing with sexual situations and sexual parts of the body. The law here is clearly used as a deterrent for anyone who might seek to severely injure a person (in this case a man) by grabbing him by his private parts. The penalty was harsh as the woman’s hand was to be cut off. We don’t get a sense that the woman is prevented by coming to the aid of her husband…just prevented in what she can’t do when she does.
- You’ll recall that when Israel escaped from Egypt, they began an exodus across the Sinai peninsula toward Mount Sinai where God would give Moses instruction to pass onto Israel through the Ten Commandments and other commands. On the way to Mount Sinai, while Israel was “weary and worn out”, the Amalekites…the decendants of Esau attacked Israel. God delivered Israel into victory from the Amalekites but didn’t want Israel to forget what they had done. He definitely hadn’t. God’s tasking for Israel in regard to Amelek was severe for Israel was to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven”. In other words, God was going to hand Amelek over to Israel for victory.
- Commerce was often done by using weights and measures. One of the ways to determine the cost of a purchase was to weigh it against a known standard weight to determine the weight of what was being bought and subsequently the cost of that purchase. Differing weights and measures were often used to dishonestly weigh and measure items in the broker’s favor. It was a common practice and many people got ripped off. Seems that poor integrity in business was something that extended all the way back to the Old Testament days. It’s obvious that God expects everyone to conduct their business matters honestly and above board.
It’s this last command that I would like to focus in on. For as we deal with others day-by-day, isn’t integrity one of the most important traits we expect from those we deal with? No one likes to be deceived, especially when that deceit comes from some one you trust most.
It doesn’t take too much time reading around the scriptures to know that God hates deceitfulness. And just as we have seen harsh penalties for other matters in today’s passage, perhaps no penalty could be as severe as the one that would await those who deceive. Consider these words from The Book of Revelation:
“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.” Revelation 21:22-27
Deceit is a disqualifier because it makes a person impure and the scriptures clearly state that “nothing impure will enter” through the gates of the New Jerusalem. Only the “glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it”…and those whose “names are written in the Lamb’s book of life”. I don’t know about you but I want my name to be found in Jesus’ book. Scripture assures us we can remain there by refraining from shameful, deceitful behavior. In other words, we only need to do what we’re supposed to do…live as Jesus lived. Doing so will earn us a place with Him. Rejecting Him and modeling Satan will only earn us an eternal place in hell.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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