Journal Through the Bible: Week 29 Wednesday

source

Deuteronomy 23:24-24:22

Does God issue any commands in this passage?

• (23: 23-24) Passersby were allowed to eat the produce from the fields and vineyards they passed along the way; however, they were not allowed to pick enough to take home! (God made provisions for everyone who might be away from home to eat when there was nowhere to buy dinner!)
• (24:1-4) Although divorce was not God's plan for marriage, He commanded that a few guidelines be followed if it happened. 1. There was to be a written (legal) notice given to the wife being sent away. 2. The divorced wife was allowed to marry another man. 3. If the marriage to the second husband ended by either divorce or death the woman could not remarry her first husband.
• (24:5) Newlywed husbands were exempt from military or business (perhaps jury duty or building roads?) for 1 year.
• (24:6) A man's tools of the trade could not be taken for collateral against a loan.
• (24:7) A man found guilty of kidnapping another Hebrew and selling him into slavery would be sentenced to death.
• (24:8-9) They were to be diligent to watch for signs of leprosy.
• (24:10-13) No one could enter another man's house to obtain collateral but the lender had to wait outside. And if the man was poor the lender was to give back the collateral.
• (24:14-15) Hired servants were to be paid at the end of their day of labor.
• (24:16) A father would not be put to death for the crimes of his son and the son would not be put to death for the crimes of his father. Each person was responsible for his own sin.
• (24:17-18) Judgment against widows, orphans, and foreigners was to be fair and honest. No one was allowed to prey on them because of their weakness. 
• (24:19-22) Parts of the field, vineyard, and olive harvests were to be left specifically for the widows, orphans, and foreigners to gather.

Does God make any promises?

• The implied promise of 23:23-24 is that if the people obeyed Him and followed His commandments God would so abundantly provide the necessary crops that a farmer would never miss the grapes or ears of standing corn that anyone passing by might pick for their own consumption.
• God would reward those who were kind to a poor person who could not afford collateral. (24:13)
• God promised that He would hear the prayers of oppressed hired servants and would count it as sin against the man who was slow to pay the wages that he owed. (24:15)

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus' disciples became hungry on the Sabbath day and picked grain from a field they were passing. The Pharisees used this action to start a controversy concerning the Sabbath day. Jesus used it to teach that He was Lord over even the Sabbath day. (See Matt. 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5)
• The "commandment" of 24:1-4 concerning divorce was one of the "hard questions" that the Pharisees asked Jesus, hoping to trip Him up in His theology. Jesus made it clear that it was not God's plan that any should divorce but that He knew it would happen due to the sinfulness and hardness of hearts so He set guidelines concerning it.
• (24:16) Jesus saves each of us individually. We cannot take be punished for one another. Only Jesus' death was the substitute for the sins of another.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• The implication made multiple times in this passage is that God always abundantly provides even for those of us who were once strangers to Him. In eternity, whatever God wants us to eat will always be available and we will be able to eat freely.
• The implication is that God's covenant with a believer is like a marriage contract, but unlike a contract between humans the contract between God and the believer will never result in anyone being "put away" (divorce).