FRAMEWORKS:
Deuteronomy 24: Relational Laws for a Holy
Community
CONTEXT
Part
4: Ch.21-25 Moses lays out Relational Laws
Ch.21
– Misc. Administrative Laws
Ch.22
– Civil Laws, Marriage Laws & Abuse Laws
Ch.23
– Holiness & Righteousness in the Nation
Ch.24
– Relational Laws for a Holy Community
Ch.25
– Sentencing, Succession, Misc. Laws
v.1-4
Marriage & Divorce Laws
v.5-7
Relational Justice Laws
v.8,9
Cleansing Laws
v.10-15
Property & Money Laws
v.16-22
Relational Responsibilities
v.1-4
Marriage & Divorce Laws
v.1
If
a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he
finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate
of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,
v.2
and
if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another
man,
v.3
and
her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of
divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he
dies,
v.4
then
her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her
again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in
the eyes of the Lord
. Do not bring
sin upon the land the Lord
your God is
giving you as an inheritance.
[Notes:
Bringing order to divorce. Jesus maintained divorce
was for the hard hearted, [Mt 19:8] the implication being they
would not receive counsel for reconciliation.]
v.5-7
Relational Justice Laws
v.5
If
a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have
any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay
at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.
v.6
Do
not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security
for a debt, because that would be taking a person's livelihood
as security.
v.7
If
someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or
selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge
the evil from among you.
[Notes:
Three laws protecting marriage, livelihoods, and personal
freedom.]
v.8,9
Cleansing Laws
v.8
In
cases of defiling skin diseases, be very careful to do exactly
as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully
what I have commanded them.
v.9
Remember
what the Lord
your God did
to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.
[Notes:
Lev 13 & 14 cover these subjects in detail. A reminder
to follow them.]
v.10-15
Property & Money Laws
v.10
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.
v.11
Stay
outside and let the neighbour to whom you are making the loan
bring the pledge out to you.
v.12
If
the neighbour is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in
your possession.
v.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.
v.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.
v.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.
[Notes:
Simple laws about pledges and treating others rightly
in respect of money owed.]
v.16-22
Relational Responsibilities
v.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.
v.17
Do
not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take
the cloak of the widow as a pledge.
v.
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.
v.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.
v.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.
v.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.
v.22
Remember
that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do
this.
[Notes:
About treating others well, especially if not your own
people, or those in need. Remember your background, where you
came from!]