Care

Friday 22^nd August

Read Deuteronomy 24:10-25:19

“When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbour, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge. ¹¹ Stay outside and let the neighbour to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. ¹² If the neighbour is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. ¹³ Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbour may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.

¹⁴ Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. ¹⁵ Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

¹⁶ Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.

¹⁷ Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

¹⁹ When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

25 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. ² If the guilty person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, ³ but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes. If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.

⁴ Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

⁵ 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 fulfil the duty of a brother-in-law to her. ⁶ 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.

⁷ 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 fulfil the duty of a brother-in-law to me.’ ⁸ 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,’ ⁹ 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.’ ¹⁰ That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandalled.

¹¹ 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, ¹² you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

¹³ Do not have two differing weights in your bag – one heavy, one light. ¹⁴ Do not have two differing measures in your house – one large, one small. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. ¹⁸ When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. ¹⁹ 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 name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (NIVUK)

The theme of care for community continues. Don’t take advantage /exploit the poor, make sure they have shelter and enough to live on. Don’t follow the practices of the Hittites by taking the life of children or parents in retribution for your loss, make sure that there is a ‘support structure’ in place even for those who have caused you pain and loss. Seek justice for foreigners and widows and orphans, in fact be generous in providing for them the opportunity to access/harvest staple foods (grain, olives and grapes); I wonder what the equivalent is in today’s world? God’s people should restrict punishment of the guilty party in ‘disputes’ where a judge is required (punishment should fit the crime) ensuring the individual is not demeaned; the familiar ‘do not muzzle the ox’ follows this injunction and in context seems to suggest that the guilty party should be given the chance to rehabilitate? Then follows an interesting take on family responsibilities to care for widows, a marriage to provide children and a linage of a dead brother thus ensuring ongoing support; a denial to do so is to become public knowledge (Family of the Unsandaled). This highlights the importance of caring for a widow in a culture where access to food and shelter depended on the male as the ‘bread winner’. Vs11-12 need a cultural background but seem to imply there are limits to what a wife can do to protect her family; is it, don’t damage/demean the providers of other families? The next few verses highlight the need for honesty in dealing with others in commence and then, a left field comment, don’t forget when all is good for you how the Amalekites attacked the weak and vulnerable while Israel were seeking rest in the promised land. Is this an illustration to summarise the section; in your prosperity and rest always care for the vulnerable. As my SU notes suggest this passage is an encouragement to the practical outworking of faith (James 2). I should seek to care for the vulnerable and to advocate for processes in society that ensure this.

Geoff Hinch