CONTEXT
Part
3: Ch.12-20 Moses reminds them of Stipulations for a Holy Nation
Ch.12
– The One Place of Worship
Ch.13
– Beware Deception
Ch.14
– Food & Tithing
Ch.15
– Year Seven Changes & Firstborn Animal Offerings
Ch.
16 – Festivals, Justice &
Worship
Ch.
17 – Worship, Justice &
any Future King
Ch.
18 – Maintain Right Spiritual
Practices
Ch.
19 – Rules for Cities of
Refuge
Ch.
20 – Rules for Going to War
FRAMEWORKS:
Deuteronomy 15: Year Seven Changes & Firstborn Animal Offerings
v.1-11
The Year for Canceling Debts
v.12-18
Freeing Servants
v.19-23
The Firstborn Animal Offerings
v.1-11
The Year for Canceling Debts
v.1-3
Every seven years cancel all debts
v.1
At
the end of every seven years you must cancel
debts.
v.2
This
is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan
they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment
from anyone among their own people, because the Lord
's time for
canceling debts has been proclaimed.
v.3
You
may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel
any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.
v.4,5
There should be no poor
v.4
However,
there need be no poor people among you ,
for in the land the Lord
your God is
giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless
you,
v.5
if
only you fully obey the Lord
your God and
are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
v.6
You will loan to the world
v.6
For
the Lord
your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will
lend to many nations but will borrow from none . You
will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.
v.7,8
Look after the poor
v.7
If
anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns
of the land the Lord
your God is
giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.
v.8
Rather,
be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
v.9-11
Don't be begrudging towards the needy
v.9
Be
careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year,
the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show
ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give
them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord
against you,
and you will be found guilty of sin.
v.10 Give
generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because
of this the Lord
your God will
bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand
to.
v.11
There
will always be poor people in the land.
Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites
who are poor and needy in your land.
[Notes:
An open-hearted bless-one-another policy. Cancel all
debts every seventh year, look after your poor. There really needn't
be any poor because of God's good provision but because in the
Fallen World people are less than perfect, there will be, so be
openhearted towards them.]
v.12-18
Freeing Servants
v.12
If
any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you
and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them
go free.
v.13
And
when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed.
v.14
Supply
them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your
winepress. Give to them as the Lord
your God has
blessed you.
v.15
Remember
that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord
your God redeemed
you. That is why I give you this command today.
v.16
But
if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because
he loves you and your family and is well off with you,
v.17
then
take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and
he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female
servant.
v.18
Do
not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their
service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as
that of a hired hand. And the Lord
your God will
bless you in everything you do.
[Notes:
Paid servitude must end every seven years and when it
does, bless and provide for those who had been your servants.
Provision is made for those who want to stay on.]
v.19-23
The Firstborn Animal Offerings
v.19
Set
apart for the Lord
your God every
firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn
of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.
v.20
Each
year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the
Lord
your God at the place he will choose.
v.21
If
an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw,
you must not sacrifice it to the Lord
your God.
v.22
You
are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean
and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.
v.23
But
you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
[Notes:
Offerings come from the first-born animals so set aside
all the first-born but present to the Lord and eat them at the
Tabernacle but eat at home first-born that are defective - without
blood.]