Journal Through the Bible: Week 29 Thursday

source

Deuteronomy chapters 25 and 26

Does God issue any commands in this passage?

• (25:1-3) Courts were to be fair to judge. The wicked were to be punished but not above beatings of 40 stripes.
• (25:4) The oxen were not to be muzzled while they worked to grind the corn.
• (25:5-10) The laws of the kinsman-redeemer were explained. If a man died childless his brother was to marry the wife of the deceased and have children by her. The first child was to inherit the name and property of the deceased. If the brother did not want to marry her the widow would remove the shoe of the brother and spit in his face. 
• (25:11-12) A woman could not deliver her husband in a fight by grabbing the secret parts of the opponent. Her punishment was to have her hand cut off.
• (25:13-16) No one was to have in their possession weights that were fraudulent and imprecise for the purpose of cheating.
• (25:17-19) The Amalekites were to be annihilated for their sins toward Israel and toward God. Specifically mentioned was killing the elderly and feeble.
• (26:1-15) The people were reminded that in the third year they were to begin tithing the first fruits by taking them to the Levites. Included in the ceremony was a reciting of the history from the time of Jacob unto the present so that they would not forget all that blessings they had received. There was also to be a time of confession and supplication for continued blessings.
• (26:16-19) The people were commanded to remember that they had vowed to be a peculiar people separated for the worship of God and that God had vowed to take them as His people.

Does God make any promises?

• Having true weights and measures brought the promise of living long on the land.
• God promised that His people would be holy, praised, and honored among all the other nations.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer. It is by Him that we inherit all that belongs to God. Jesus is our kinsman because He came in the flesh and dwelt among us, but since He was without sin He was able to redeem us for Himself.
• Jesus is the honored of Israel, its prime dignitary.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• Someday we will live on the inheritance that our kinsman-redeemer obtained for us.
• God has not forgotten His people. Someday they will again be exalted above all nations.