Deuteronomy 15:12-23 - Rights for Slaves

The releasing if debts applied to slaves as well. Sometimes people object to the use of slavery in Israel. However, compared to other nations the rules on slaves were amazingly liberal. Slaves were to be released in the seventh year, and they were to be given gifts. This was no normal treatment of slaves! And while we get on our high horse about slavery we do well to remember that slavery still exists even in our own country. There are sex slaves, and there is exploitation of migrant workers. You can probably also make a case that we exploit workers in third world countries. Time spent criticising slave conditions in Old Testament Israel would be far better spent learning from the Law and putting our own house in order.

The reason for the command on good treatment of slaves was that Israel had been in slavery herself once, and that God had blessed them.

If a slave liked his owners (in fact the word servant is used here) he could stay with them. Now he would only want this if he was treated well. 

The natural reaction may be that all this "slaves rights" nonsense would be far too costly. God rejects this attitude. They were not to consider it a hardship, and indeed the Lord would bless them.

God's economy works on very different principles to the world's economy, and it results in freedom and prosperity, not slavery and poverty.
The firstborn of their flocks were to be dedicated to the Lord, this was because the Lord had saved the people form the plague of the firstborn in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 15:1-11 - Generosity the key to financial security

We now have a reiteration of the laws on cancelling debts. Debts were to be written off every seven years. In the West we have a society founded on debt, and we can see all to clearly that this is a foundation of sand. 

There would be no need for debt, for the Lord was giving them a good land and would provide richly for them. Debt is a sign of a society that is not looking to God, it is not a sign of a vibrant economy! If we follow the Lord then we will not need to borrow, but will be in a position to lend to others. Moreover, others will not rule over us. The Lord's will is that we should have dominion, not that we should be dominated.

We then see that generosity of heart and action is to be a feature of God's economy. They were to be open-handed towards those who were in trouble. 

We then see what the effects will be. If we are mean and stingy, then the poor will cry out to God and He will hear them, and judge against us. However, if we are generous towards the poor, then the Lord will grant us success.

Generosity is the cornerstone of financial success!

Deuteronomy 14 - Eating and Tithing

Cutting themselves was a practice that the Canaanites followed, hence the prohibition against doing this. Once again we see the importance of not following the ways of the nations they were dispossessing. 

Next there is a repeat of earlier food laws. There does not seem to be any consensus on the precise reasons for the food laws. One thing to note is that "unclean" does not equal "sinful". For see that the eagle is one of the birds they were not allowed to eat, yet in Isaiah 40 it speaks of them soaring on wings like eagles. So eagle is used as a positive symbol there.

The people were to give a tithe of all their crops to the Lord. Taken together with Numbers 18:21-29 it seems that the tithe was given for the Levites to eat. At the harvest time everyone ate some of it, but the rest was set aside for the Levites. So it was only a small fraction that the people as a whole ate.

The reason they were to give the tithe was to teach them to revere the Lord, ie to remind them that it is the Lord who provides all that we have. Tithing is still a good discipline to follow, for it strikes at a fundamental truth. Who is the one who gives us life and all that we need? It it just chance, just us, just the way the universe is? Or are we created and cared for by the Lord? Moreover, just as the tithe then provided for the Levites who served the Lord, it is through the church that God builds His kingdom in the world today. So it is good for us to give. The tithe was also used to provide for the poor (the fatherless and widows).

See the end result, "so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands" (v29). Tithing is an act of faith, and putting faith in God is how we receive the life of God.

Deuteronomy 13 - Worship only the Lord

There are now more warnings against worshipping other gods. We need to understand that the danger in our lives lies only in us choosing to turn away from the Lord and follow false gods. Nothing else can defeat us. This does not mean we will not encounter difficulties, but we will not be defeated if we continue to follow Christ. Whatever circumstances we are facing, the most vital things is that we continue to follow Christ.

Moses here warns them against being taken in by false prophets, even if their prophecies "come true", or even if they do signs and wonders. If someone encourages people to focus on anything or anyone other than Christ they are not to be listened to, no matter how great a sign they perform, or how wonderful a prophecy they give. 

The heart of the matter is whether or not we love God with all our heart. False prophets were to be dealt with most severely. This may seem harsh, but we need to consider what the consequences would be of following the false prophet. It would lead to sexual immorality and exploitation of people, for that is what the other religions of the time indulged in. What we believe matters. All religions are not the same.

Loving God comes above loving even our closest relations. Jesus said the same when He said we must hate our mother and brother compared to our love for Him. Jesus is to be above all else in our lives.

They were to deal severely with any town in Israel that started to turn away from Him.

Deuteronomy 12:8-32 - Eating

Things would change once they entered the Promised Land, and more would be expected of them. When God leads us into a new phase of life often new expectations are put upon us. Things that did not matter before, matter now. 

The Israelites were to offer sacrifices only at the places appointed by God, not just anywhere they chose. Why not anywhere? Well a key part of worship is humbling ourselves before God. The essence of our rebellion was saying we would decided what was right and what was wrong, instead of trusting in God's judgement. Turning back to God means putting ourselves aside and submitting to His wisdom.

The commands the Lord gave involved a large amount of freedom. In fact most of God's command involve vast amounts of freedom, yet our sinful nature makes us focus on the small restrictions.

There is further warning about not seeking to emulate the nations they are taking over from. To do so would only lead them astray.

Deuteronomy 12:1-7 - One way worship

They had to destroy all places of idol worship. Now some may object to this on quaint grounds of destroying cultural heritage, but we need to remember what the cultural heritage was that they were destroying. It was one that sometimes involved child sacrifice, often involved gross sexual immorality. In short is was not something worth preserving. There is only one true God, and it is only by worshipping Him that we can become what we are meant to be.

"You must not worship the Lord your God in their way". The Israelites were not to adopt the ways of the nations, but were only to worship Him in the way that God instructed. The Lord was leading them to live a different life, so that they would be a light to the nations. So it is with us. We have been called to a new life and to a new way of living, and to be light to the world.

They were to bring offerings to God, but it was also a time when they would "eat and rejoice in everything they had put their hand to". The Lord seeks to fill all of our life with His joy.

Deuteronomy 11:16-32 - The Choice

Their success, fruitfulness and prosperity depended entirely upon them following the ways of the Lord. If they turned to other gods they would find that disaster would follow. The same can happen today. Someone can turn to God and find that He makes big changes in their life. Then they start to forget about God and turn to other things, the benefits they have received will soon start to fade away.

So what are we to do to avoid this? One of the most important things is to feed upon the word of God, and to instruct our families in the word of God. The word of God is to be a normal and pervasive part of daily life. The Israelites were instructed to always have the word before them. The Bible is not just for special times, but for all times.

If they did continue with the Lord then they would experience victory, and their enemies would experience terror.

So the people had a choice: follow the Lord and enjoy a victorious life, or follow other gods and suffer the consequences. The same choice is before us today.