Deuteronomy 21:18-21

If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him,then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place.¹ They shall say to the elders of his town, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”² Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death.³ So you shall purge the evil from your midst;⁴ and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.⁵

1 So the parents will hand him over for death?

2 Where does “glutton and drunkard” come from? Is that just an assumption about rebellious sons? Very reminiscent of accusations against Jesus.

3 Death penalty with no mention of the judicial process. Quite different than how the Father treated the Prodigal Son in Jesus's parable, and hard to imagine ever being carried out.

4 Killing a rebellious son is purging evil.

5 Again, the purpose of killing is to put fear and obedience into others.

Take-home: Obedience to mother and father is highlighted as having extreme importance.

Deuteronomy 21:15-17

If a man has two wives,¹ one of them loved and the other disliked, and if both the loved and the disliked have borne him sons, the firstborn being the son of the one who is disliked, then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he is not permitted to treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn.² He must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the one who is disliked, giving him a double portion of all that he has; since he is the first issue of his virility,³ the right of the firstborn is his.

1 Assuming already that two wives is okay.

2 Protecting the right of the firstborn and sort of standing against favoritism.

3 The reasoning that he is the “first issue of his virility” is not exactly something that would hold much weight today.

Take-home: Family order is upheld by ensuring the firstborn receives the inheritance regardless of whether he is from the favored wife or not, helping keep order in the family after the patriarch dies.

Deuteronomy 21:10-14

When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God hands them over to you¹ and you take them captive, suppose you see among the captives a beautiful² woman whom you desire and want to marry, and so you bring her home to your house: she shall shave her head, pare her nails, discard her captive’s garb, and shall remain in your house a full month, mourning for her father and mother;³ after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.⁴ But if you are not satisfied with her,⁵ you shall let her go free and not sell her for money. You must not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.⁶

1 Again a continuous reminder that God is the one who will win the victories

2 Beauty is assumed to be the standard for desiring to marry.

3 Even the enslaved woman is allowed to mourn her family – there is something of compassion here.

4 The woman doesn't appear to have been given a choice in the matter at all.

5 Again, the husband's decision alone to discard her as well. Jesus appears quite strongly to contradict this in Mark 10:1-12 and the parallels.

6 Again, a hint of compassion within a set of instructions that would generally disturb us today.

Take-home: While assuming the Israelite man's right to take an enslaved foreign women as his wife, conditions are made which acknowledge some degree of self-interest to the woman and prevent some offenses against her.

Deuteronomy 21:1-9

If, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess,¹ a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down, then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body. The elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked, one that has not pulled in the yoke; the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi.² Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord, and by their decision all cases of dispute and assault shall be settled.³ All the elders of that town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi, and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it.⁴ Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you redeemed; do not let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.”⁵ Then they will be absolved of bloodguilt. So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst,⁶ because you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

1 The backdrop of all this law is the fact that it occurs within the land that God has given them – a theme so pervasive I almost forget to notice at times.

2 This has the feeling of veering closer to the religious cleansing laws than the just judicial processes that were clarified in the previous passages

3 The “religious” and “judicial” functions are blended together so well.

4 Now we find something recognizable as a “judicial” element.

5 Which moves directly into a religious plea.

6 Now the “guilt” has been purged. Atonement theorists could probably have a lot to talk about with this one.

Take-home: The shedding of innocent blood is an act displeasing to God and must be dealt with attentively even when no perpetrator can be found.

Deuteronomy 20:1-20

When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.¹ Before you engage in battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the troops,² and shall say to them: “Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, or be afraid, or panic, or be in dread of them; for it is the Lord your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.”³

Then the officials⁴ shall address the troops, saying, “Has anyone built a new house but not dedicated it? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another dedicate it.⁵ Has anyone planted a vineyard but not yet enjoyed its fruit? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another be first to enjoy its fruit.⁶ Has anyone become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another marry her.”⁷

The officials shall continue to address the troops, saying, “Is anyone afraid or disheartened? He should go back to his house, or he might cause the heart of his comrades to melt like his own.”⁸ When the officials have finished addressing the troops, then the commanders shall take charge of them.

When you draw near to a town to fight against it, offer it terms of peace.⁹ If it accepts your terms of peace and surrenders to you, then all the people in it shall serve you at forced labor.¹⁰ If it does not submit to you peacefully, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it;and when the Lord your God gives it into your hand,¹¹ you shall put all its males to the sword.¹² You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children, livestock, and everything else in the town, all its spoil.¹³ You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.

Thus you shall treat all the towns that are very far from you, which are not towns of the nations here.¹⁴ But as for the towns of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive.¹⁵ You shall annihilate them—the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as the Lord your God has commanded, so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods,¹⁶ and you thus sin against the Lord your God.

If you besiege a town for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them.¹⁷ Although you may take food from them, you must not cut them down. Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?¹⁸ You may destroy only the trees that you know do not produce food;¹⁹ you may cut them down for use in building siegeworks against the town that makes war with you, until it falls.

1 The focus is now again explicit on a theme that has implicitly under-girded everything – YHWH will fight for you.

2 Priests tied into warfare, another example of the lack of modern religious/secular division.

3 Again – it is not your strength, the Lord fights for you.

4 Who are these “officials”?

5 Interesting – compassion upon a soldier not for a family matter, but as a land and property matter.

6 Even though it might seem somewhat simple-minded (at least to me), it is also a beautiful picture of love for one's land and work.

7 And now the direct family interest too. My Study Bible suggests that all three of these commands protect the stability of the nation by saving new households from the losses of war.

8 A call to bravery as much as an actual invitation to leave.

9 Peace is offered first, but under the threat of violence.

10 Even the peace comes only with slavery. Still, this contradicts the “utterly destroy them” found in 7:1-2 and elsewhere.

11 Again – God, not your strength, gives it to you.

12 The brutal total annihilation of the people – did this ever really happen?

13 Women and children as “booty” to “enjoy” sounds disgusting.

14 Why is Israel even traveling far off to make war?

15 Oh, never mind – here again are the towns that are utterly destroyed.

16 The reason for annihilation is to avoid the wrong forms and object of worship.

17 Fascinating...compassion? For trees here.

18 Quite personalizing it, while almost dehumanizing “humans' in the process.

19 The food production of trees is central to saving them. You cannot destroy the food production of the land.

Take-home: Rules of warfare are laid which attempt to lessen the destructive impacts on Israel itself.

Deuteronomy 19:14-21

You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker,¹ set up by former generations, on the property that will be allotted to you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. A single witness shall not suffice to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any offense that may be committed. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained.² If a malicious witness comes forward to accuse someone of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges³ who are in office in those days, and the judges shall make a thorough inquiry.⁴ If the witness is a false witness, having testified falsely against another, then you shall do to the false witness just as the false witness had meant to do to the other.⁵ So you shall purge the evil from your midst. The rest shall hear and be afraid, and a crime such as this shall never again be committed among you.⁶ Show no pity:⁷ life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.⁸

1 Reminder to be just/honest, in the context of the land.

2 Another clear way to encourage just trials. Not followed today, even in cases where there is no other direct evidence.

3 Two different kinds of authority come together to decide difficult cases

4 Justice and a fair trial are really important.

5 It seems to make sense, but also extremely harsh. Certainly not practiced today, perhaps ever.

6 Fear will supposedly stop all crime. Obviously not true, even fro the little stretch of history that Israel had just been through.

7 “Show no pity” does not represent the God I know.

8 This will be directly contradicted by Jesus.

Take-home: Justice in the court system is extremely important to God, and strict punishments are set fro those who try to pervert the courts.

Deuteronomy 19:1-13

When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you have dispossessed them and settled in their towns and in their houses, you shall set apart three cities¹ in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. You shall calculate the distances and divide into three regions the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any homicide can flee to one of them. Now this is the case of a homicide who might flee there and live, that is, someone who has killed another person unintentionally when the two had not been at enmity before:² Suppose someone goes into the forest with another to cut wood, and when one of them swings the ax to cut down a tree, the head slips from the handle and strikes the other person who then dies; the killer may flee to one of these cities and live.But if the distance is too great, the avenger of blood in hot anger might pursue and overtake and put the killer to death, although a death sentence was not deserved, since the two had not been at enmity before.³ Therefore I command you: You shall set apart three cities.

If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors—and he will give you all the land that he promised your ancestors to give you, provided you diligently observe this entire commandment that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and walking always in his ways—then you shall add three more cities to these three, so that the blood of an innocent person may not be shed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you. But if someone at enmity with another lies in wait and attacks and takes the life of that person, and flees into one of these cities, then the elders of the killer’s city shall send to have the culprit taken from there and handed over to the avenger of blood⁴ to be put to death.⁵ Show no pity; you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.⁶

1 In addition to the 3 described in chapter 4.

2 Interesting definition of “homicide” again. Wouldn't other murderers flee there as well?

3 Logical rational for making the cities accessible from everywhere.

4 Good to give the authority to the elders first, but the “avenger of blood” is still a repulsive role to us

5 The answer to the “intentional homicide” question.

6 Yet again, capital punishment is a “purging” that brings good.

Take-home: Care is taken to protect the accused before trial in capital cases.

Deuteronomy 18:9-22

When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations.¹ No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire,² or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead.³ For whoever does these things is abhorrent⁴ to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You must remain completely loyal to the Lord your God.⁵ Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people;⁶ you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.” Then the Lord replied to me: “They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.”⁷ You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken.⁸ The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

1 Not just the wrong god, but the practices they use in following that god are at fault.

2 Child sacrifice?

3 The lists seems to be made up of “those who try to seek gain by spirits”.

4 Why are they “abhorrent”? The word is used three times but not explained.

5 Worship of the one true God is central.

6 Immediately after Moses or much later? And just one, or a succession?

7 Again focusing on the need to follow God alone.

8 A command regularly ignored by many of the so-called “modern-day prophets”.

Take-home: Israel is warned against the practices of foreign nations, and reminded again that the true prophet of YHWH is the only spiritual authority they should listen to for new words from God.

Deuteronomy 18:1-8

The levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no allotment or inheritance within Israel. They may eat the sacrifices that are the Lord’s portion but they shall have no inheritance among the other members of the community; the Lord is their inheritance,¹ as he promised them. This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two jowls, and the stomach.² The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.³ For the Lord your God has chosen Levi out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.⁴

If a Levite leaves any of your towns, from wherever he has been residing in Israel, and comes to the place that the Lord will choose (and he may come whenever he wishes), then he may minister in the name of the Lord his God,⁵ like all his fellow-Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord. They shall have equal portions to eat, even though they have income from the sale of family possessions.

1 “the Lord is their inheritance” is actually a very strange phrase. Isn't He all of Israel's? As best as I can understand it, his promise that the rest of Israel will continue to provide for the Levites is their compensation for not having an inheritance of land.

2 That sounds like a raw deal – jowls and stomach. At least they get a shoulder.

3 Broadening out the provision.

4 This is God's decision, respect it.

5 Interesting – he seems to be able to minister in the temple whenever he wants. Study Bible states that later (2 Kings 23:4) this wasn't adhered to.

Take-home: Some basic instructions are given regarding the Levites.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,”¹ you may indeed set over you a king whom the Lord your God will choose.² One of your own community you may set as king over you;³ you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community.⁴

Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to you, “You must never return that way again.” And he must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself.⁵

When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the levitical priests.⁶ It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes,⁷ neither exalting himself above other members of the community⁸ nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.

1 This and 1 Samuel 8 seem very closely tied together, like a reaching-back contemporary account in the time of Israel's kings.

2 Doesn't make it appear as bad of a decision here. Strange, considering God's other statements about the “nations around them”, this would seem to be a pretty poor motive.

3 Other than “like all the nations”, the positive duties/functions of a king are not detailed at all.

4 Surprising that this would even be considered – perhaps it happened often in the ancient world?

5 Study Bible points out that this all alludes to Solomon, very plausibly so, suggesting to me that Deuteronomy/Samuel/Kings might be contemporary works. Independent of the allusions, the command not to accumulate military power, wealth, or women is wise.

6 Tying the law to the king's reign.

7 Once again following the commands is central.

8 Humbling the king in a manner strikingly different from the Egyptians, Romans, and others. Study Bible points out that Psalm 2, 45, and other seem to conflict with this.

Take-home: Kingship is allowed another level of authority, but the King is still subject to the law

Deuteronomy 17:8-13

If a judicial decision is too difficult for you to make between one kind of bloodshed and another,¹ one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another²—any such matters of dispute in your towns—then you shall immediately go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose,³ where you shall consult with the levitical priests and the judge who is in office in those days;⁴ they shall announce to you the decision in the case. Carry out exactly the decision that they announce to you from the place that the Lord will choose, diligently observing everything they instruct you.⁵ You must carry out fully the law that they interpret for you or the ruling that they announce to you; do not turn aside from the decision that they announce to you, either to the right or to the left.⁶ As for anyone who presumes to disobey the priest appointed to minister there to the Lord your God, or the judge, that person shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.⁷ All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not⁸ act presumptuously again.⁹

1 Acknowledging that these cases are not cut-and-dried.

2 These are clearly what we would today consider “secular” matters, not just today's “religious” matters

3 i.e. - the Temple, which is central even in these matters.

4 The priests and the “judge” are the final arbitrators hen the appointed officials fall short

5 Reminiscent of the commands to follow God's word.

6 Again, reminiscent of the commands to follow God.

7 Killing anyone who disobeys a priest is “purging evil”.

8 Really? Their track record, even in the face of death, isn't all that good.

9 The purpose of killing is once again to scare others into obedience.


Take-home: The priests are given authority as final arbitrators in difficult legal decisions. Their absolute authority is stressed.

Deuteronomy 16:21-17:7

You shall not plant any tree as a sacred pole beside the altar that you make for the Lord your God; nor shall you set up a stone pillar—things that the Lord your God hates.¹

You must not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has a defect, anything seriously wrong; for that is abhorrent to the Lord your God.²

If there is found among you, in one of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman³ who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, and transgresses his covenant by going to serve other gods and worshipping them⁴—whether the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven,⁵ which I have forbidden— and if it is reported to you or you hear of it, and you make a thorough inquiry,⁶ and the charge is proved true that such an abhorrent thing has occurred in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or that woman who has committed this crime and you shall stone the man or woman to death.⁷ On the evidence of two or three witnesses the death sentence shall be executed; a person must not be put to death on the evidence of only one witness.⁸ The hands of the witnesses shall be the first raised against the person to execute the death penalty, and afterwards the hands of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.⁹

1 A couple particular forms of apostasy are established.

2 This had already been repeated several times earlier, but is mentioned again here to set up examples for the following verses.

3 Equal gender opportunity for apostasy

4 “serving other gods” is again a central sin against the true God.

5 Some examples of the “other gods”.

6 The inquiry has to be thorough, not just something you hear.

7 The strictest punishment possible.

8 Again emphasizing the need for proof, not taking justice lightly. The need for multiple witnesses is not always followed in our own courts today, and is never proscribed by Christians that I am aware of.

9 To kill those who follow other gods is to “purge evil”.

Take-home: The need to worship God alone is emphasized, with fatal consequences for those who transgress. The need for justice in adjudicating such cases is also emphasized.

Deuteronomy 16:18-20

You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes,¹ in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people. You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.² Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.³

1 Interesting change of topic- the appointment of just judges is placed right in the midstof regulation for religious ceremony.

2 Don't distort justice. Don't show partiality. Don't accept bribes. All are still problems today.

3 Life in God's land is connected to the pursuit of justice.

Take-home: The pursuit of justice, especially by appointed officials, is highlighted as central to life in God's land.

Deuteronomy 16:9-17

You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.¹ Then you shall keep the festival of weeks to the Lord your God, contributing a freewill-offering in proportion to the blessing² that you have received from theLord your God. Rejoice³ before the Lord your God—you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites resident in your towns, as well as the strangers, the orphans, and the widows who are among you⁴—at the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.⁵ Remember that you were a slave in Egypt,⁶ and diligently observe these statutes.

You shall keep the festival of booths⁷ for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing-floor and your wine press.⁸ Rejoice⁹ during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns.¹⁰ For seven days you shall keep the festival to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose; for the Lord your God will bless you¹¹ in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate.

Three times a year all your males¹² shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed; all shall give as they are able,¹³ according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.¹⁴

1 This one is more clearly (than Passover) and agricultural festival.

2 “in proportion to the blessing” - did the Jews take that as a formula or were they free to give whatever they thought appropriate?

3 Again rejoicing is a central part of the festival.

4 Slaves, Levites, strangers, orphans, widows – the least and the most vulnerable are all included in the celebration

5 Temple worship and exclusivity of God are again alluded to.

6 Once again the Israelites are called to remember their own slavery. It is unclear whether this instance is directed towards thanks towards God or compassion towards others who are oppressed.

7 The use of booths in the flight from Egypt is not mentioned here as it is in Leviticus 23

8 Another agricultural festival, this one tied to olives and grapes.

9 Again it says “rejoice”!

10 Yet again the least are specifically emphasized, and the communal nature of celebration is central.

11 God will bless you. This provides both the occasion for the celebration and hope within the celebration.

12 Only males appear to be able to use the holy place for these things.

13 Everyone must give to God.

14 Because everyone has been blessed by God.

Take-home: A festival of thanksgiving for God's provision is tied to the harvest and extended to all members of society.

Deuteronomy 16:1-8

Observe the month of Abib¹ by keeping the passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.² You shall offer the passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock and the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his name.³

You must not eat with it anything leavened.⁴ For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it—the bread of affliction—because you came out of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt. No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days; and none of the meat of what you slaughter on the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.

You are not permitted to offer the passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you.⁵ But at the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name, only there shall you offer the passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, the time of day when you departed from Egypt. You shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose; the next morning you may go back to your tents. For six days you shall continue to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly for the Lord your God, when you shall do no work.⁶

1 My Study Bible ties this celebration strongly into the agricultural calender, as a separate influence from the Exodus.

2 Freedom from Egypt occupies such a central space in the Jewish calender

3 Again emphasizing the importance of the place of sacrifice

4 Study Bible points out that this gives herders (the sacrifice) and farmers (the bread) both a role in the festival.

5 Again, really emphasizing one single place as the center of their worship.

6 As usual, a sabbath from work is part of the festival.

Take-home: In celebration of the Passover, both the escape from Egypt and exclusivity of worship to God are remembered as the agrarian community begins a new spring.

Deuteronomy 15:1-18

Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts.¹ And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbour, not exacting it from a neighbour who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission² has been proclaimed. From a foreigner you may exact it,³ but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy,⁴ if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.⁵ When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.⁶

If there is among you anyone in need,⁷ a member of your community in any of your towns⁸ within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour. You should rather open your hand, willingly⁹ lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.¹⁰ Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbour with hostility and give nothing;¹¹ your neighbour might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt.¹² Give liberally¹³ and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.¹⁴ Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth,¹⁵ I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.’¹⁶

If a member of your community, whether a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and works for you for six years,¹⁷ in the seventh year you shall set that person free. And when you send a male slaveout from you a free person, you shall not send him out empty-handed.Provide liberally out of your flock, your threshing-floor, and your wine press, thus giving to him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you.¹⁸ Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; for this reason I lay this command upon you today.¹⁹ But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you’, because he loves you and your household,²⁰ since he is well off with you,²¹ then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his earlobe into the door,²² and he shall be your slave for ever.²³

You shall do the same with regard to your female slave.²⁴

Do not consider it a hardship when you send them out from you free persons, because for six years they have given you services worth the wages of hired labourers; and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.²⁵


Take-home: Compassion to the poor and the slave must be built into the rules of society, and must be felt in the heart as well as performed in actions.

Deuteronomy 15:19-23

Every firstling male born of your herd and flock you shall consecrate to the Lord your God;²⁶ you shall not do work with your firstling ox nor shear the firstling of your flock. You shall eat it, you together with your household,²⁷ in the presence of the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. But if it has any defect—any serious defect, such as lameness or blindness—you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God;²⁸ within your towns you may eat it, the unclean and the clean alike, as you would a gazelle or deer. Its blood, however, you must not eat;²⁹ you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

1 After Exodus and Leviticus, this is the 3^rd book in the Pentatuch to stress the importance of the Sabbatical year. The more I consider this, the more the social justice involved year is incredible.

2 This is God's remission, not to be disobeyed.

3 Foreigners aren't a part of this sabbatical

4 Quite a hopeful statement. How much will correct actions among the Israelites determine this? Apparently a lot, since just a couple verses later it is clear that it won't happen.

5 Again, this will only come if they obey the commandments!

6 A new blessing upon the nation that I don't believe had been proclaimed before.

7 Anyone!

8 Any of your towns!

9 The lending must be down willingly

10 Whatever it may be!

11 Don't use the Sabbath year as an excuse.

12 God will clearly judge you.

13 Again, give liberally.

14 Again, the Lord will repay with a blessing.

15 Because they won't do what was necessary in verses 4-5?

16 Reiterating the command to make it clear.

17 Slavery seems to at least be somewhat okay.

18 Fascinating compassion towards newly freed slaves, which has no immediate benefit to the giver.

19 Sympathy/empathy in response to slavery is called for again.

20 My Study Bible points out the possibility that his family may still be enslaved, and he may just not want to leave them.

21 The possibility that in some cases, slavery is better than the alternative.

22 Sounds kind of demeaning.

23 Is “slave for ever” the only option? Crazy lopsided power dynamic.

24 Gender equality in this command.

25 A last exhortation to try to prevent negative thoughts which may lead to a failure to follow through with the commands.

26 As has already been mentioned in chapter 11 and other books, sacrificing the 1st-born is an important act of trust and thanks to God.

27 It is a communal act.

28 As in previous books, only things without defects can be sacrificed, both as a sign of God's holiness and as a worthy sacrifice/offering to Him.

29 Again, the “life” symbolism of the blood forbid it from being eaten.

Take-home: Israelites are reminded to sacrifice the firstborn of their herd and flock to God.

Deuteronomy 14:22-29

Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field.¹ In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock,² so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. But if, when the Lord your God has blessed you, the distance is so great that you are unable to transport it, because the place where the Lord your God will choose to set his name is too far away from you, then you may turn it into money. With the money secure in hand, go to the place that the Lord your God will choose;³ spend the money for whatever you wish—oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink,⁴ or whatever you desire. And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your household rejoicing together.⁵ As for the Levites resident in your towns, do not neglect them, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you.⁶

Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns;⁷ the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns,⁸ may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you⁹ in all the work that you undertake.

1 May be worth remembering that this is a tithe of the total product of their field, not just the profit.

2 So they get to eat it, they just have to make sure they do it in the presence of the Lord.

3 Interesting, very practical way to solve a logistical problem. Sounds like something that would have been come up with much later, not now when they haven't even entered the Holy Land.

4 “Whatever you wish”? “strong drink”? Really?

5 The “rejoicing” and “together” aspects seem to be a really important aspect.

6 Yet another side-note to remember the Levites.

7 Interesting – so not to the temple that year?

8 Levites grouped with the aliens, orphans, and widows.

9 Taking care of the marginalized will lead to blessing from God.

Take-home: The produce of their work is not something to be hoarded for oneself, but both God and the less fortunate must be remembered at harvest time.