Deuteronomy 24-26

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Deuteronomy 24:6-22

“No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge. 7 If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you. 8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do. 9 Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt. 10 When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. 11 Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. 12 And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge: 13 in any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God. 14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: 15 at his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee. 16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge: 18 but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing. 19 When thou cutest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. 20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.”

Introduction: Various & Sundry Laws

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED608]

“We have come to chapter 24, I believe we went through the first four verses, looking at the bill of divorce that was to be given by a husband to his wife. We took some time with that last week. Verse 5 says “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war,” Guess you don’t have to fight with strangers anymore. Just kidding. Let me read the whole verse, we’ll stop whoever is interrupting, “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” So, anybody can put on a uniform, I think God’s consideration, a new marriage, there may not yet be a child born, certainly that was in the center of the consideration, because the inheritance, the family genealogy, very important in Israel. But sounds like a nice opportunity too. That’s a Honeymoon, one year, that’s really the way a Honeymoon should be, a year long, who could afford it, I don’t know how they could afford it. But he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with, his wife wasn’t allowed to give him the business, “but he shall be free at home one year,” imagine that, guys, being free at home. No ‘Honey-do this’ for a whole year, he shall be free at home, one year. And then for the rest of your married life that doesn’t happen anymore. “he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” And depending on the husband she might after two months say ‘Why don’t you go to war, honey.’ Now, that we’ve conquered that. [Comment: God is demonstrating the importance of laying a loving foundation for all marriages. As brought out in the previous sermon transcript, often the son’s father will have built a house adjoining and connected to his house for his son and new bride, and it is assumed the father took care of the couple’s financial needs for that year. Also Solomon laid out the principle in Proverbs that a young man was to establish a farm before seeking a wife, so that he would have the means to support a wife and start a new family, that there should be no poor young people jumping into marriage, i.e. there is a right way and a not so right way to enter into marriage. Things in life aren’t always perfect the way they get carried out, but the idea is to aim for that perfection.] “No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.” (verse 6) If someone was giving you collateral for a loan, it says you should not take their millstone, that is where they ground their wheat, if you take that you’re taking their life, they have no opportunity to survive without that, so it forbid that. “If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.” (verse 7) Kidnapping now. Things were simpler then. I don’t have a problem with that. This is not talking about a custody battle, where sometimes you have parents, one taking the children, and the lawyers get involved. This is talking about somebody who kidnaps a child for the purpose of making merchandise of them, and there are too many children in this country, some of them because of Myspace and Facebook and all of that, they get lured out and they get taken, and the numbers would stagger you, the number of children and young girls in this country that are prostituted, that are moved from major city to major city [see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m2ZUrgp9rk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt0kp4VW1cI ]. It says if you steal someone to make merchandise of them, that was a capital crime. And I think that’s a good idea. That would slow some things down. But this is ancient Israel, I just have an opinion, we’re all entitled to our own distorted opinions. [Comment: This was God’s opinion, and it will yet be during the Millennial Kingdom of God, as the whole Torah will become the Constitutional Law not just for the future nation of Israel, but for all nations. So enjoy this series on the Torah, and realize, these are the future Constitutional laws for the Millennial Kingdom of God, and all nations therein, during the period the Jews refer to as The World To Come, and a famous theologian termed as The World Tomorrow.] “Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do. Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.” (verses 8-9) In Leviticus chapters 13 and 14, extensive chapters talking about the diagnosis and the offering to be offered in regards the day when leprosy was cleansed, never healed, it wasn’t a doctor, it was a priest, it was a Divine act if it was ever cleansed, so it talks about that here. An exhortation, and I’m not sure of all of the angles of this [see https://unityinchrist.com/Leviticus13.html and https://unityinchrist.com/Leviticus14-15.html ]. “Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.” (verse 9) She was put outside the camp, certainly, according to the Law, and until she was clean and all of the leprosy turned pure white, you remember the incident, God listened to the prayer of Moses and was merciful to her. But for murmuring and rebellion against God’s leader, Moses, she was smitten and she was Moses’ own sister. So, remember, there was evidently a number of angles there, but remember what God did to Miriam. “When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.” (verse 10) If you lend your brother something, and he says ‘I’m going to give you so much money,’ and so forth for collateral, and he doesn’t do it, it says you’re not allowed to break into his house and get it. Isn’t it something the LORD has to tell us some of these things? “Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:” (verses 11-12) You just don’t go in and take it for yourself. In other words, if he gives you his cloak as collateral, it was to be given back by the evening, because if he’s poor, that was his blanket also, it’s what he slept under. “in any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.” (verse 13) Doing right by the less fortunate, even though they had made a pledge to you, they had promised something, you have the collateral, they’re not going to keep what they said, because they’re poor and less fortunate, you showing kindness to them, it causes them to bless you, and it’s righteousness before the LORD in regards to your behavior. Verse 14, “Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: at his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.” (verses 14-15) So, you’re hiring somebody, they’re poor, they’re needy, it says “at his day” you pay them day by day, you don’t say ‘Oh we hold back the first week’s pay,’ this guy’s impoverished, that’s why he’s working, if you hold back the first week’s pay, what is he going to do? So in ancient Israel God said you pay him daily, don’t pay him by the week, don’t pay him every other week, don’t hold back the first week’s salary. If he’s poor you pay him each day, his heart is set upon that, because if he cries unto me, the LORD says it’s going to be sin in your column as far as I’m concerned. You hire somebody, don’t hold back wages, you employers, don’t hold back wages. [I worked in electronics companies for about 28 years, they all did this, and we weren’t rich or well-to-do by any stretch of the imagination. First, they did hold back the first week’s wages, and then after some years, the company I worked for started paying everybody biweekly, every two weeks, and it really stank, was hurtful to all of us workers. Shame on this industry! Also in the U.S. there are many disreputable “temp agencies” that prey upon the poor and often foreign workers in our land, cheating them on their wages, stealing the taxes they withhold, robbing both these poor workers and the Federal Government at the same time. The New York Times (online edition) just did an Expose’ about this, dated 18 November 2024] “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” (verse 16) So, you wouldn’t think that God would have to tell us that. You commit a crime, don’t put your children to death in your place. That in fact was a practice amongst some pagan cultures. If the father committed a crime that was worthy of death, he could offer his child, ‘Hey Billy, come over here,’ you could offer a son. God says ‘No, that’s not the way it’s going to be in Israel.’ Ezekiel 18 talks about that, it’s a chapter you should know, because in the Church today there’s that teaching of ‘Ancestral Sin’ that sneaks in once in awhile, and it tells you because your grandma was a Voodoo priestess, and along with the grandfather clock you also inherited her demons, and though you didn’t ever do anything wrong, it had been passed down in the will, and now you got problems. The Bible knows nothing of that. It says in Ezekiel 18, God said ‘I don’t want to hear about it anymore, you said, Our teeth are set on edge because our parents drank sour grapes, so we got bad teeth because of what our parents did,’ he says ‘I don’t want to hear about that, if a man is a good man, and he walks with me, and he keeps my commandments, he’s not going to suffer for the sins of somebody else. If he has an unrighteous son, who is worshipping on the mountains and in the groves and is involved with all kinds of vile and unclean things, the righteousness of his father is not going to be counted on his behalf, he’s going to die for his own sins, and the righteousness of his father is not going to have anything to do with it. But if that son has a son, there’s a grandson born, and the grandson keeps my commandments and he walks with me, that grandson, even though he had a father involved in Satanism and the darkest kinds of things, offering children in sacrifices, though the dad did the vilest things, the son will not suffer for the sins of the father. Each generation will suffer for their own sins,’ the LORD says, ‘I don’t want to hear about this anymore in Israel.’ What he said when he gave the Commandments, that he would show, that he would visit the iniquity of the parents to the third and fourth generation, read it for yourself, “of them that hate me.” So you have a godless father, who has a godless son, who has a godless grandson, and a godless great grandson, that iniquity, literally it means the bent, the twistedness of the father is visited to the 3^rd and 4^th generation, God says ‘of them that hate me,’ but he says he shows mercy to a thousand generations of those who keep my commandments. So there’s no way, don’t let anybody tell you that your house is haunted or you got a demon in your permanent because your grandma was demon possessed, your permanent may look demon-possessed, but it’s not [chuckles]. Don’t try to get me off track here. ‘Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.’

Laws Concerning The Widow, Fatherless & Foreigners

“Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge: but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.” (verses 17-18) ‘I want you to be gracious to those that are less fortunate, you remember that you were slaves in Egypt and I took you out from there.’ Now, this is relative to this whole passage, “When thou cutest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.” (verse 19) Now we had talked about this in Leviticus, he said it this way ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of the field.’ By the time he’s getting to Deuteronomy he’s said ‘If you forget a sheaf, don’t go back and get it.’ In the original commandment he says ‘Leave the corners, when you reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of the field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest,’ he’s asking them to deliberately keep others in mind, ‘Thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard, thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger, I am the LORD your God.’ (Leviticus 23:22, see https://unityinchrist.com/Leviticus23.html ) Now here, reiterating the Law before they go into the land, it’s interesting, it says ‘If you have forgotten a sheaf in the field,’ they were supposed to leave some deliberately. ‘If you forgot one there, you’re not to go back and fetch it, it shall be for the foreigner, the fatherless, for the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands.’ Now you remember the Book of Ruth, Boaz was more righteous because he was deliberately leaving grain in the field for Ruth, and of course God was at work there, but he was rewarded in all of that. Verse 20 says, “When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.” (verses 20-22) This is what he’s saying, look, if you forget a sheaf of grain in your field, you just had Divine Amnesia, God made you forget that. It’s for the poor, for the widow, for the stranger. If you beat your olive tree, and some of those little olives are stubborn little olives that are hanging on, and you’re trying to beat them off, you can’t go back a second time, God made them tough little olives that hang on for the widow, for the orphan, for the fatherless. When you gather your grapes and you look and some of them are not ripe, and you’re surprised, you’d think there would be more ripe, you take the ripe ones, you don’t go back into your vineyard a second time, you leave them for the poor, for the fatherless. It was the welfare system in Israel, and it gave dignity to the recipient, because it wasn’t something just sent to their house, they actually went and worked for their wellbeing, and they gathered the olives, they gathered the grapes, they gathered the wheat, it was there for them, and they had the dignity of going and putting in a days labour to take those things and then take them home. It was a system that God here put together. “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.” (verse 22)

Deuteronomy 25:1-19

“If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 2 And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. 3 Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. 4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. 5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. 6 And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. 7 And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother. 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; 9 then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house. 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed. 11 When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and take him by the secrets: 12 then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her. 13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. 14 Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. 15 But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 16 For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God. 17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when we were come forth out of Egypt; 18 how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. 19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.”

Various & Sundry Laws, Part-II

“Now, ““If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.” (verse 1) Doesn’t it seem like we have a hard time doing that these days? That’s because our vocabulary is lacking in our judicial system, it is no longer “the righteous” and “the wicked,” it isn’t righteousness and wickedness anymore, everything is relative, everything is accepted. But in this culture the righteous, “they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.” (verses 1b-3) now they were beaten with sticks, with rods. Here’s the problem, you don’t want to punish someone more than they should be punished, but you don’t want that punishment then to be less than what is just either. In our Bill of Rights here in the United States, Amendment Number 8 says “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, and no cruel and unusual punishments shall be afflicted.” That’s the Bill of Rights, and it’s taken from these verses. There is the right measure for the right crime, there’s not to be cruel or unusual punishment above what there should be, there shouldn’t be fines and bail asked that’s excessive. But of course there should be justice. Here, 40 stripes is the limit, 40 comes to be a number of judgment in Scripture, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, the children of Israel wandered for 40 years, by the time of Jesus’ day the Jews to show mercy backed it off to 39, Paul says that he received 39 stripes more than once. In the Egyptian hieroglyphics we’ve discovered that they would beat a man 40 times with rods, part of that culture, but here God setting a limit on it, saying that justice should be meted out, but it should not be cruel and unusual, it shouldn’t go beyond what is necessary. Verse 4, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” So, you have a hungry ox working all day, pulling the threshing sledge around, and all day long he’s looking down at the grain, not even taking the life of the beast into consideration, don’t muzzle the ox, let him bend down, let him eat while he’s working. Paul uses this in 1^st Corinthians chapter 9, verse 9, and 1^st Timothy 5, I believe 18, when he’s talking about those labouring in the Gospel, and he said there, God took this consideration for an ox, certainly those who are labouring in spiritual things, he says, particularly those who are labouring in the Word and doctrine, and we’ve got some great, great men and gals here that are very serious about God’s Word, that labour there, really the young guys, so wonderful, so I’m so thankful. But here, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn [grain].” Now, “If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her.” (verse 5) now this is called the Levirite marriage, Levirite taken from the Septuagint from the Latin it means “husband’s brother,” and it was the responsibility in those cultures, there’s certain things required, there’s certain requirements here, ok. And take note of them. Number 1 is, these are brethren that dwell together, the brother doesn’t have a business in Saskatchewan or somewhere, or live in Florida, they lived together, so she’s familiar, part of the family. Secondly, they’re childless. There’d be no sense in this stipulation if they already had children, if the brother died and he already had sons, there’d be no necessity for this. In fact in Leviticus 18, either verse 16 or 19, but there, it says that it is an abomination for brother to go and lay with his brother’s wife. So this is a situation where the brother dies, he’s childless, and the 3^rd requirement is, that the brother is willing to do this. It says his duty, it’s his responsibility, it’s not forced on him, he has to be willing to do it. “And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.” (verse 6) So the firstborn son then alleviates the responsibility of that brother, and by the way there are cultures in the world that still practice this today. When the firstborn male is born, then the brother is absolved [he’s still married to her, as the verse states], because the family name will continue, and in Israel the family inheritance would be passed to the next generation, and the name would be preserved, not put out of Israel. But Verse 7 says this, “And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.” now he decides he doesn’t want to do this, he doesn’t want to cooperate with the program. It could be because they lived together, and they were joint-heirs relative to the father’s property, and he knows that if his brother’s wife remains childless, all of the inheritance will be his, so it could be greed. It could be that she’s just ugly, could be a number of reasons, I imagine. “And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him:” and evidently they try to convince him, they share the Word of God, ‘This is the responsibility, this is what it’s about, this is what’s going on,’ “and if he stand to it,” he’s stubborn, he refuses to be part of this, “and say, I like not to take her; then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face,” hey, this is important, “and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.” (verses 7-10) So the idea of loosing the shoe, Moses said ‘Everywhere the soul of your foot touches it shall be yours,’ the idea is, you’re removing some of that, the right, this person has no regard for that, inheritance. Of course spitting in the face in that culture was just a public insult. “And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.” (verse 10) and spit in his face. You really have to have a reason, this girl’s really gotta be discouraging for you to put up with all this, I don’t know, to have a bad handle for the rest of your life. Verse 11 and 12 I wish weren’t here, but they are, so, we’ll plow right through. “When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and take him by the secrets: then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.” (verses 11-12) they’re fighting. Her husband’s getting whupped, so she decides to step in and help. “by the secrets,” King James makes everything sound so Biblical, it’s just. Ah, seems like a, you know, tough way to handle this. I’m assuming, the scholars fumble through this, there’s the possible causing of sterility, or there’s an injury where the other man is unable to have children, and in light of what we’ve been talking about, end up without a heritage in Israel. I just wish that God, why does he have to put this in here at all? You know, I guess there was some neighbourhoods in Israel that were really tough, and you got a wife in one of those neighbourhoods, got a really tough girl that, you’re getting beat up. ‘Bite his ear, hit him with a board, don’t grab him there, you’ll never get the dishes done with one hand.’ So, let’s move on [laughter]. I didn’t write it. It’s just a shame that God had to write this, it doesn’t say you can’t jump on him and choke him out, that you can’t help your husband, these are the Queensbury Rules, can’t do it. “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.” (verses 13-16) The idea is, you know, we used to have here in the United States, the United Statues Bureau of Standard Weights and Measures, the idea was that everything would be measured out fairly. If you went to buy something from someone, and a pound of grain or something, and you used a heavy weight in that transaction, then you got more than you were paying for, and when you were selling if you used a light weight, then you gave them less than they were paying for, and God knows if he didn’t tell us this we’d have two sets of weights when we did something. [The Department of Weights and Measures still checks out gasoline and diesel fuel pumps, and puts a sticker on them after periodic inspections, showing that that particular pump is accurate.] And we don’t, do we? Of course we have two sets of standards, when somebody else is sinning, doesn’t your sins look way worse on somebody else? When you do something wrong, you want mercy. That’s the light measure. If somebody else does the same thing, you want justice, ‘Get ‘em, God!’ He says, no, there should be equal weights and measures across the board, there should be standard weights and measures. In fact, the last time I taught here, I remember reading an account of someone who was buying butter, and they said Every time I get home, the pound of butter was lighter than a pound, I measured it when I got home, and this guy’s been ripping me off,’ and they went to the guy who was doing it, and he said, ‘Well what I do is I put a pound of grain I bought from them on the other side, and whatever that pound weighs, that’s what I give him in butter,’ I guess that’s fair. Ok, you get it, if you don’t. “thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” He doesn’t want them all ripping each other off, “For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.” (verses 15-16) He wants honesty to be in the land. So some of this seems harsh. I did find there’s an Assyrian law [and ancient Assyria are the ancestors of modern Germany, the Germans], that if you kissed a woman in public and she wasn’t your wife, they would cut your lips off, that’s just free information.

‘Remember Amalek, What He Did To You’

Verse 17 says, “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when we were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.” (verses 17-18) When they came out of Egypt they met Amalek there, Amalek is a type of the flesh, Amalek came up behind them, again, you have 2 to 3 million people moving, that is between 500 and 700 square miles, again, that’s twice the size of the city of Philadelphia, 3 million people. And you imagine that moving through the wilderness. So Amalek, one of their enemies would come and they would pick off the stragglers, those that were weak and so forth. Our carnal nature, we have our own weaknesses, we wrestle in those places. Here Amalek, “Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.” (verse 19) And of course, Haman was of the lineage of Amalek, who wanted to wipe out all of the Jews. You read through and you see those in Saul’s life, that was an Amalekite that supposedly took him, he was supposed to put to death the Amalekites and Samuel said ‘What is this bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen I hear in my ears?’ and Haman, he was the Amalekite, you go through and you see how not listening to this, not dealing with those things that would drag us down from behind, that hit us in our weakest points. There’s such a huge camp, those are stragglers, those are just a few things, it’s no big deal. Well it is to God, and if we don’t deal with those things that would just take advantage. Hebrews chapter 12 talks about those sins that doth so easily beset us. Cambell Morgan translates that “These are sins in good standing.” I mean, we live in a culture now where there’s bad sins, and there’s ok sins, and now there’s good sins, sins that used to be sin that are no longer sins, and you can’t use that language anymore. But for you and I, there’s a standard, for you and I there’s something to take heed to. And here it says to put to death, Amalek, don’t ever forget what he did, the flesh cannot be negotiated with, it’s never satisfied, because it’s not physical, it’s ethereal, it’s the fallen nature.”

Deuteronomy 26:1-19

“And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein: 2 that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there. 3 And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us. 4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God. 5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: 6 and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: 7 and when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: 8 and the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: 9 and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God: 11 and thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. 12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled; 13 then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: 14 I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. 15 Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 17 Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: 18 and the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; 19 and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.”

Giving The First Of The Firstfruits

“Chapter 26, “And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein:” (verse 1) He’s going to say some things to them, because the children of Israel have not been an agricultural society, they had been nomads, they had been shepherds. The first time that Abraham is called a Hebrew in Genesis, the word is Haburi, and it speaks of those that are nomadic, those who were shepherds, those who did not settle down. The Egyptians let them have Goshen because the Egyptians despised shepherds. There’s a whole other study there with the Hyksos dynasties and the shepherd kings, those unusual Phoenician people for several dynasties were there in Egypt [see https://unityinchrist.com/lamb/exodus1.html ]. But it tells us right in Genesis that they despised shepherds [these Hyksos/Egyptian Pharaohs didn’t despise shepherds, per se, because that was their original background, but the Egyptian populace they ruled over, of pure Egyptian stock, still hated shepherds. God had placed these Hyksos shepherd-kings in Lower Egypt as pharaohs so they would be more amenable to Joseph and his brothers, when they finally came down into Egypt. Be sure to read that link above.] So now they’re going to come into the land, and they’re going to settle down, they’re going to have farms, they’re going to have property, they’re going to be raising grain and vineyards and so forth, and now God sets some stipulations before them relative to a new way of life that they’re going to experience. It says in verse 2, “that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.” They were to come and they were to give as evidence of them possessing the land, and God blessing them. “And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God. And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:” (verses 3-5) Now a Syrian in the sense of Aram, Haran where Abraham’s family had delayed in northern Syria, where he waited too long when he was on the way to the Promised Land, is the land of Aram, he was [became] an Aramaan, which is a Syrian, another term for that today would be a Syrian. Speaking of Jacob, “A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:” (verses 5-6) and no doubt Satan was behind that. God had said when he cursed him, that the seed of the woman would crush his head, but he would bruise his heel, and we see this process throughout the Scripture, when Satan tries to wipe out the line, all of the male children being thrown into the river in Egypt, there were times during the period of the kings when they were down to one child, the lineage [leading to Christ], and over and over, Satan trying to eradicate the Messianic line [read “A History of The Jews, From Earliest Times Through The Six Day War” by Cecil Roth. Satan after Christ was born, still persecutes the Jews, as seen in that history and beyond right up to now, because he’s angry because he failed to wipe out the Jewish line leading to Christ.] “and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: and when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: and the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:” (verses 6-8) He was their only resource, and look, he’s our only resource also. That was an impossibility for them to come out of Egypt all on their own, facing the greatest military force in the world, and then for that army to be destroyed in the Red Sea, for the things that took place, he’s saying ‘Remember this, you’re now in a land that God promised to our fathers, and remember what he did when he brought you’ “with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.” (verse 9) it’s good for grazing, it’s good for pollination, “And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God: and thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.” (verses 10-11) So there was a principle of bringing forth the firstfruits, laying them before the LORD, to honour the LORD, saying ‘these things are yours, I had nothing to do with it, I was a slave in Egypt, you delivered me, you did miraculous things, you brought me here, you gave me a land that you promised to my forefathers that I had nothing to do with, now here I am, I’m living out the benefits that someone else, their lives were sacrificed and so forth.’ the way you and I live out the lives we have because of what Christ did on the cross, and there was a principle here [a law, the law of the firstfruits, as explained in Leviticus] of bringing forth the firstfruits, of giving them to the LORD [and these firstfruits would go to the Levites and the priests].

At The End Of Your 3^rd Tithe Year

Verse 12 says, “When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;” Now we’re not sure what exactly this verse means, and believe me, I’ve ground through it. Some feel that there was a regular 3^rd year tithe, which was a 20 percent that year, of the normal tithe. Some felt this was only the very first 3^rd year the nation experienced in the land, the scholars are not agreed on this. [Calvary Chapels do not understand the tithing system of ancient Israel, or it’s system of 3 tithes, mainly because they’ve never followed them. This link explains them, and the 3^rd tithe was a tithe to be laid up at the gates of the city nearest the tithing individual, put aside as sustenance for the fatherless, widow, foreigner and Levites “within thy gates.” It was an agrarian tithe, set up for an agrarian culture, this explains it all: https://unityinchrist.com/gifts4.htm ] Tithing is not a simple process as you and I may imagine [read the article at that link, yes, and no]. We do not enforce tithing on our congregation. [see https://unityinchrist.com/hebrews/Hebrews%207%201-28.htm which explains the apostle Paul’s explanation on who now holds the right to levy tithes, and determine the principles of giving, each separate denomination having the right to determine for themselves.] I think the principle of firstfruits is there, I think the principle of giving is there. I think the Lord is more interested in your life than in your wallet, and you can get the wrong impression by listening to some of these guys on TV. Even in the Old Testament he wanted one seventh of their life, the Sabbath, and only one tenth of their increase. And you get the opposite picture the way some people [televangelists] beg for money, and give you the idea that God is ready to file Chapter 11, he’s running into bankruptcy, it’s gonna be your fault, you’re going to be a bad steward over his resources. Look, a lot of folks in our church tithe and they should do that because the Lord puts that on their hearts, not because it’s a law. Because it tells us in Colossians the law and the ordinance and the commandments are passed away, they were shadows of something [there’s a difference of opinion within the various parts of the Body of Christ on how Colossians 2 is to be interpreted, see https://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm and https://unityinchrist.com/Colosians/Colossians2-6-23.htm ] We’re saying, if you’re making $10,000 a year, how are you going to tithe? You’re not going to be able to afford, we’ll be buying you Huggies and formula, do marriage counseling. You can still give, you can be an usher, you can cut your neighbour’s lawn, giving is something different than tithing. And again, if you make $200,000,000 dollars a year, we don’t want a tenth, we want half [laughter], if you can’t live on $100,000,000 you got a problem. You need to pray. God prospers us, and as it says in the New Testament, they gave as they were able. And the truth is, in the Body of Christ, if each believer will yield to the Holy Spirit, it’s a Lordship issue, if each believer will give what the Lord tells them to give, and I do believe we should give regularly, if each one gives what the Lord inspires, then we will always have the resources to do whatever the Holy Spirit is leading us to do [and Calvary Chapels are not hurting financially]. If God guides, God provides. So this is a complicated issue here. I remember this guy who used to listen to me on the radio, he said ‘Pastor Joe,’ he’d quote me in his church bulletin, it’s a big church in Jersey, and one time he heard me say ‘We don’t enforce tithing, we don’t think tithing is enforced in the New Testament,’ then he wrote me like an 8-page letter, ‘Your teaching’s off, and you’re wrong…’ and I think I was giving him and everybody over there a heart attack, everybody in his congregation. Look, giving, the offering bucket goes by once a week, Romans 12 is there every day, to present yourself a living sacrifice, according to the mercies of God, not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you might prove out to completion what is the good and acceptable will of God in your life. He wants all of us, he wants all of us. This was a time-sharing in Israel, they were leasing the land from the LORD, it was his, they weren’t allowed to give it away, were not allowed to sell it to strangers. So this every third year comes up, I don’t have a good answer for that. [It’s a year when they pay a 1^st tithe, still save a 2^nd Feast tithe for themselves, and pay a 3^rd tithe laid up within their gates for the widows, orphans, strangers & Levites.] “then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead:” which was a pagan practice to lay grain and gold and so forth on the tombs, on the graves of the dead, you’re going to come to the LORD and say ‘I haven’t done any of this,’ “but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.” and they’re being the beneficiaries of it, “This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.” (verses 13-16) That’s what he wants, with all thine heart, with all thy soul. [The Old Testament Laws within the Torah were the Constitutional Laws of ancient Israel, legislated by God for the governing of a physical nation within the Promised Land. They are yet to be the Constitutional Laws of the land for the whole world during the soon-coming Millennial Kingdom of God. They, along with those tithing laws, are not the laws for the greater Body of Christ, except in principle, with the exception of the 10 Commandments and perhaps some of the Statutes, as has been proven by recent Church history to have been kept by the early Church. As such, there is no application to the Church for some of these laws, designed for the civil governing of an agrarian society. The Old Testament tithing structure of laws, as given in the Old Testament is not applicable to the Church today (see https://unityinchrist.com/gifts4.htm and https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf ).]

They Have Affirmed This Day That The LORD Is Their God

“Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: and the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.” (verses 17-19) Never wanting them to walk in destructive paths, never blessing them the way no parent would if they were involved in something they should not be involved in ways that’s destructive to them. Malachi will say before he signs off, Malachi 3:16-18, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on his name. ‘They shall be mine,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘on that day that I make them my jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” It says that the LORD “hearkened” interesting the verb form there is the word that’s used for a horse, you ever see a horse then their ears stand up like that, the ears prick up. When we’re gathered here together, studying his Word, thinking about his name, it says the Lord up in heaven is saying, ‘Hey look, that’s Wednesday night,’ and he bends down, he puts his ear over the building, and he listens to us singing his praise, he listens to us in our hearts, he listens to us as we honour his Word. He says here that a Book of Remembrance is written, it’s all recorded [and is still being recorded]. “‘They shall be mine,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘on that day that I make them my jewels.” It’s “special treasure,” it’s this word back here, you shall be a “peculiar people,” that’s the idea that they would be his special treasure, he says “And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’” and what a great hope Israel has, literally, because of those kinds of promises, no matter who turns against them, or what the rest of the world may do. [Those verses in Malachi 3 though, are particularly aimed at those in the Body of Christ, especially during the end times we’re in now.] Five minutes, five minutes. 8 minutes up there.”

Deuteronomy 27:1-4

“And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. 2 And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: 3 and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee. 4 Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.”

“What it tells them here, and these next few chapters deal with it. They will come into the land. When they come into the land, they are to write on, put up these rocks, then plaister them, and write the Book of Deuteronomy on them, all of these words, just imagine what an undertaking this is, and it says “Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.” (verse 4) And we’re going to find out, on Ebal the curses were written, and on mount Gerizim the blessings were shouted out, and what they did is they divided the heads of the tribes, it seems like Leah’s and Rachel’s sons are on one side, they are with Gerizim with the blessings, and the sons of the concubines are on the other side on mount Ebal. And all of Israel is in the valley between, Shechem today, it’s where Abraham first came into the land. And here they are hundreds of years later. God had promised to make him like the stars of heaven, and they’re going to come into the land, and the nation will be in this valley, the heads of the tribes and the Levites and the priests will be on either side, and they will cry out the curses and the blessings. And it will say ‘Cursed is the man that worships any other god,’ and all of the nation standing in the middle, they’re to scream ‘Amen!’ so be it. ‘Cursed be he that setteth light, that mocks or shows contempt to his father or his mother,’ and the whole nation screams ‘Amen!’ (the kids are probably looking around like this). And then they’re going to recite the Blessings, and they all cry ‘Amen!’ So as they come into the land, here God has fulfilled his word, he’s brought them over Jordan, at this point in time Jericho is in ruins, Egypt is in ruins behind them, he’s brought them in, the whole nation is there, the Promises to Abraham about their numbers are a reality, and God then will put up his Word, and he asked them at the end of this chapter, not to step away, that they would promise to fulfill everything that’s in his Word, and he always upholds his Word. And when they recite the Curses on one side, the whole nation says ‘So be it! Amen! Yes, we agree.’ ‘Cursed is the man who worships other gods, cursed is the man that mocks his parents, cursed is the man that commits adultery,’ we’ll go through the curses next week, and then the Blessings, and they scream ‘Amen!’ And the interesting thing is, it says, ‘that any man that thinketh to do any of these things in the secret place,’ that’s the interesting thing about it, it says anybody that thinks he can get away with any of these things, committing adultery, cursing mother and father, worshipping other gods, he goes down the list, in the secret place, the ideas is, it’s not even the priests or Levites or the elders that find out about it, it’s God who sees it. David, remember in Psalm 51, when he had sinned with Bathsheba and killed her husband, he said ‘Before thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this great evil in thy sight,’ no one else knew, David owned it. It says in the Book of Hebrews, for you and I, all things are open and naked before the One with whom we have to do. So the interesting thing is, as we go on in the chapter, it’s not saying that they’re going to be in trouble because men see it, God is getting them to say ‘Amen, let God deal with me, though no human knows, if I transgress and do any of these things.’ It’s very interesting. So, I encourage you, read ahead, as we go into these chapters, some remarkable things here, hopefully, easier territory to get through next week, and just some great stuff there. So read ahead, we’re going to have the musicians come, let’s lift up our voices, and we’ll worship the Lord, we have time for an extra song, and let’s stand together and let’s pray, and I know the Lord’s telling Rob already what we’re supposed to sing…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Deuteronomy 24:6-22, Deuteronomy 25:1-19, Deuteronomy 26:1-19 and Deuteronomy 27:1-4, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]