Loose his shoe

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 25:5–12, “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. 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. 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 if he stand to it, 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, 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. 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 taketh him by the secrets: Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.”

Apart from the tribe of Levi, every Israeli had inheritance rights in the Promised Land. this was not because they were good or deserved it but because the Lord is both generous and gracious. When they took possession of the Land it was divided among the tribes and the families. A man who had reached the age to be married had also reached the age to take possession of the portion of the Land that the Lord had promised him. This also included the hereditary rights, given by the Lord, the that man’s family. If he was unable to produces a child to take over those rights before death then another member of the family was obliged to ensure that his brother’s inheritance was made secure. The brother was told to produce a child with his brother’s widow so that the succession of the Land could be guaranteed. If a man was unwilling to do his duty as a relative then that man was to be despised in his community. That man had preferred himself over his family duties (compare Ruth 4:6–7, “And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel.”) This process was not about sex, it was giving the family a chance to ensure that their relative’s widow was cared for by the child that born after this process was complete.

Controversy

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 25:1–4, “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. 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. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.”

People can only see problems from their own point of view. When people have a different point of view it can become impossible for them to agree. In order to prevent a simple disagreement from escalating there were judges, at different levels with different responsibilities, who would look at the issue without any personal prejudice and decide what the outcome should be. Judges had to have integrity and not be persuaded by bribes or some other kind of inducement or the entire system would self destruct. After a judgment had been made, from time to time, a punishment needed to be administered to the person who was in the wrong. However, justice executed should not lead to degradation. No one, in a position of authority ,should be so filled with anger, bitterness of hatred that they want be see a person completely broken. For this reason, punishments were limited to a reasonable extent. A person who has been given a position of authority can, sometimes, become corrupted by the authority and even enjoy the process of punishing others. A person like that loses their respect for mankind and becomes like a beast. The fact that the instruction concerning muzzling an ox that is treading out the corn is repeated here shows us that a person who is put in a position of authority should be paid for their work and not expected to live in poverty.

The poor and the stranger

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 24:14–22, “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. 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. 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. When thou cuttest 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. 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.”

The Lord’s justice must always be seen in context and that context is found in Gen 18:19 (“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”) Justice is to keep the way of the Lord. Adam’s first task was to keep the garden (Gen 2:15 , “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”) While Adam’s task was to keep the garden, he listened to the lies that Satan manufactured for Eve and didn’t keep the garden. After that harmony and peace were replaced by conflict, toil and hardship. However, the Lord in His Law protected the weak and the poor, the widow, the stranger and the orphan. The background to this protection was found in the preamble to the Law. “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage”. (Ex 20:2) Any person who had come from that kind of background was bound, by the Lord God, to care for anyone who was less fortunate. A stranger was someone who had no inheritance rights in Israel, measured against this was the fact that Abraham was a stranger in the Promised Land. and his descendants were strangers in another Land. (Gen 23:3–4, “And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” and Gen 15:13, “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;”) Treating strangers with compassion was not a matter of social justice but of gratitude for the fact the fact that they had been strangers and the Lord had delivered them. The Lord promised Israel that they would be prosperous if they obeyed the Law (Deut 15:6–7, “For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:”) If the Lord was generous then every person in Israel was to pass that generosity on, in gratitude, to someone who was less prosperous than they were. This was keeping the Law and not allowing sin to triumph so that they would lose their tenure of the Land. The fact that children were not held reponsible for their parents activity and parents were not held responsible for their children’s activity was based on the regulations discussed in Deut 21: 18-21, “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”)

Going to war

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 24:5–13, “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. No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge. 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. 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. When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. 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: 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.”

The most basic fact about war is that people get maimed and killed and, if I go, there is no guarantee that it won’t be me. The Lord made sure that a man who was married didn’t have to go to war for twelve months so that the couple could have time to develop their marriage and even try to have a child so that the family could continue. There were laws about one Israeli charging interest to another Israeli. However, from time to time a person might need to borrow money. In that case the lender would expect to take some kind of guarantee for the loan. However, what kind of guarantee could a person take from someone who was poor? One possibility was the poor man’s overcoat. The Lord made it quite clear that He cared for the poor and needy and would look after them (Ex 22:21–24, “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.”) If someone took a poor man’s coat then what would the poor man do about keeping warm at night? That is why the lender had to give the coat back before sunset, even though the loan wasn’t repaid at that time. Another think that a person who has money to lend does is act like he owns the borrower but this was not acceptable. The borrower wasn’t allowed to come into the poor man’s house and see if there was anything he might like to take. Even though a man is poor, he is still a child of God and must be treated with the dignity that a child of God deserves. Kidnaping was a capital offence, especially if a man kidnapped someone for profit.

No favour in his eyes

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Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 24:1–4, “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”

Over the years this section has been greatly debated by experts in the Law of the Lord. The definition of the words, “she find no favour in his eyes...” is open to many interpretations. Some scholars took it to mean something as trivial as a man could divorce his wife is he woke up in the morning and didn’t like her that day. The rest of the sentence , “because he hath found some uncleanness in her.” didn’t attract the same attention. The first time that we find the word “marry” in the Bible is in Gen 19: 14, where we find that Lot’s daughters were to be married but the concept of marriage is first discussed when the Lord gave Adam Eve to be his wife. (Gen 2:21–24, “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” In this case the man made a public declaration and, presumably, so did the woman. They belonged in the parents’ homes but they publicly declared (the marriage ceremony) that they would now form their own new home together. After that they would enjoy the privileges of marriage and be joined together. When we read about Adam earlier in that chapter (Gen 2:7, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”) Adam was different to all the other creatures because he had the breath of life and he was a living soul and Eve was exactly the same. When they were joined together their souls were joined. If a man or a woman sought to join with another person in that way they damaged their own souls, the part that was made in God’s own image. God’s intention was that they be joined together until they were separated. (Even though this took place before sin and death, God was not surprised by sin because He knew that both Adam and Eve had the ability to choose and that they would choose in the course of time.) When the Law was given, the social and cultural milieu was different and the society was strongly patriarchal. At that stage, a woman belonged to her husband or her father. If her husband put her out she would have no status in society and would be an outcast. Even though the couple were joined together in their souls the man could assert his superior status in that culture. The Lord established this regulation, as a last resort, to protect a helpless woman from literally becoming homeless and having no one to protect her. However, this protection was extended so that the man could not treat her with complete contempt and come back to her later. Leaving her in a position of complete emotional insecurity as he bullied her.

Your brother Israeli

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 23:15–25, “Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him. There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it. When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth. When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.”

The Israelis were slaves in Egypt and they lived in a society where there was slavery. The Law made special provisions for slaves to be set free rather than keeping them as slaves for life. There were no bankruptcy laws in those days and people who got into financial trouble could only solve the problem by selling themselves as slaves to pay the debt. In view of all these issues, Israelis were not to return slaves who came from other countries to find refuge. They were not to send the slaves back to their masters but offer them hospitality as strangers. In fertility cultures, prostitution was a legitimate part of worship. Orphans were sent to the temples to become prostitutes, both female and male. Worshippers would then visit temple prostitutes as part of their worship, hoping for better crops, etc. The Lord promised Israel that they would be prosperous if they obeyed Him, meaning that there was no need for prostitution. Thus the money earned by prostitutes was actually money given to a false god and an abomination to the Lord. The same reasoning was behind the issue of lending money for interest. The Lord promised to make the nation prosperous so they were obliged, in the Lord’s Name, to help their fellow Israelis. The person who helped his fellow Israeli was just acting as the Lord’s agent and giving the benefits from the Lord second hand. This also applied to crops and fruit; a hungry person could take fruit from a tree to eat. If that person took a bag to carry the fruit he became thief. The wonderful benefits of belonging to the Lord and enjoying the benefits of His lovingkindness were sufficient for every Israeli and were best enjoyed by sharing them with the brothers and sisters from Israel.

Unclean in the camp

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Sinking Sand

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Deuteronomy 23:9–14, “When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing. If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.”

When the Lord told Abraham about the fact that his descendants would be slaves in Egypt, the Lord told him that the sin of the Amorites was not yet full. (Gen 15:16, “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”) This means that, by the time Israel reached the borders of the Promised Land their iniquity had reached the stage where Divine Judgment was necessary. In fact, as long as Israel kept being the source of blessing to all the families of the earth by keeping the covenant of the Land they would always be in a position to defend the Lord’s good Name and act as His agents of judgment in the world. If this was so, then they would have to make sure that each person in their armies was ceremonially clean before he went into battle to act as the Lord’s agent. The Lord HImself moved among His armies when they went into battle and we know that the Lord cannot look on iniquity. (Habakkuk 1:13, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”) The Lord would no longer move among His people if they were not ceremonially pure and they would lose the battle rather than win victory and let their enemies know that the Lord is the Lord (compare, for example, Ex 7:5, “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”) Any man in the army who was ceremonially unclean in any way was to leave the camp and not participate in the battle.