Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 23. As I've said on many occasions, because of the distance between us and them, some of the things that will be brought out will be tentative. I'm not certain, absolutely certain on some of these things. like I am on the doctrine of justification by faith alone. That's a very clear, obvious thing that we see very much presented throughout both testaments.
But in terms of some of those things that affected civil life in Old Covenant Israel, again, it's a bit difficult to know with absolute certainty. I think for the most part, everything is pretty cut and dry here in chapter 23. It deals with who's excluded, from the assembly of the Lord, specific cleanliness laws with reference to the military camp, and then the chapter ends with miscellaneous laws. So beginning in chapter 23 at verse one, he who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the Lord.
One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the 10th generation, none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord. and Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the 10th generation, none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam, the son of Baor from Pthor of Mesopotamia to curse you. Nevertheless, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.
You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever. You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land. The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, but it shall be when evening comes that he shall wash with water. And when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.
Also, you shall have a place outside the camp where you may go out, and you shall have an implement among your equipment. And when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and give your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp shall be holy that he may see no unclean thing among you and turn away from you.
You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. He may dwell with you in your midst in the place which he chooses within one of your gates where it seems best to him. You shall not oppress him. There shall be no ritual harlot of the daughters of Israel or a perverted one of the sons of Israel.
You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering. For both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. You shall not charge interest to your brother, interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. To a foreigner, you may charge interest, but to your brother, you shall not charge interest. that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.
When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it. For the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. That which has gone from your lips, you shall keep and perform.
For you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. When you come into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. When you come into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor's standing grain. Amen.
Introduction
So again, a lot of things that we don't face, but things that obviously were foundational to covenant life amongst the community in Old Covenant Israel. So as I said, we've got in verses one to eight, the exclusion from the assembly of the Lord. Secondly, in verses nine to 14, the maintenance of the military camp. And then finally, the miscellaneous laws for the covenant community in verses 15 to 25.
Now note first in verse one, it talks about not entering the assembly of the Lord. And then again, in verse three, shall enter the assembly of the Lord. And then again, in verse eight, the children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord. So
The Assembly of the Lord Defined
it's good for us to understand what is meant by this phrase, the assembly of the Lord. Certainly the covenant people in general and specifically at worship, but most likely the emphasis is on eligibility for full participation in the assembly of the Lord. In other words, These are proselytes, these are persons that had come in amongst Old Covenant Israel and participated in all the rights and all the privileges with all the liabilities and responsibilities involved in being an Old Covenant Israelite. As Craigie mentions, the assembly of the Lord refers to the covenant people of God, particularly when they are gathered in his presence.
Thus, to enter the assembly of the Lord would indicate a person who became a true Israelite and who therefore shared in the worship of the Lord. Now, John Gill restricts it. He puts it more as sort of a governing body within old covenant Israel. He says, but by the congregation is to be understood the elders, judges, and representatives of the people that met together in some one place to execute judgment.
I find both of those compelling, so I don't know specifically what's in view there. But what is in view is that there was what was identifiable as the assembly of the Lord. whether it was full participation amongst the covenant nation, or whether it was a band of judges and elders and those specifically charged or tasked with governing within their cities and within the provinces, whatever the significance was, is that it underscored the holiness and majesty of God, not just anybody could wander in, and the sacredness of that particular assembly. And so there is then those excluded from the assembly of the Lord. And
Exclusions from the Assembly
those exclusions are based on physical concerns in verses 1 and 2, ethnic concerns in verses 3 to 6, and then historical concerns in verses 7 to 8. And I should qualify, ethnic concerns, not primarily because of ethnicity, but because of the particular persons involved, the way they mistreated Old Covenant Israel. Again, I think I mentioned this when we considered the idea of genocide. God did not command Israel to go in and utterly destroy all of the Canaanites based on their ethnicity, but based on their wickedness, based on their corruption, based on their lawlessness and wickedness.
And the same thing holds here. It's not because they're Ammonites or Moabites in terms of blood, but it's the way that the Ammonites and the Moabites treated Old Covenant Israel, that's why they're not to enter into the assembly of the Lord. So
Physical Grounds for Exclusion
with reference to the physical commands, you've got the emasculated man and the illegitimate man, or to use the old King James, a [***]. If you turn back with me in Leviticus chapter 21, you see the general sorts of persons that were excluded from service, at least in the tabernacle and then temple. In Leviticus chapter 21 at verses 17 and following, speak to Aaron saying, no man of your descendants and succeeding generations who has any defect may approach to offer the bread of his God. For any man who has a defect shall not approach.
A man blind or lame who has a marred face or any limb too long a man who has a broken foot or broken hand or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scab or is a eunuch. No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has a defect. He shall not come near to offer the bread of his God." So God excluded those persons with these particular defects, but notice they're not disenfranchised from support with reference to being Levites.
Notice in verse 22, he may eat of the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy, only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar because he has a defect, lest he profane my sanctuaries for I the Lord sanctify them. So within the Levites, they had those particular tasks of attending to the tabernacle and then to the temple. Because of this particular defect, this particular Levite wasn't able to go into the altar or in terms of those things affecting the altar, but nevertheless he was still sustained and still supported with reference to food from the service of God. But in terms of our text with reference to this emasculation by crushing, or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the Lord, the bulk of commentators see idolatry as the problem and not a birth defect, accident, or illness." In other words, he's emasculated by crushing or mutilation with reference to his own God, with reference to his own religious desires.
In fact, one commentator said, the self castrated who carry in their bodies the sign of their recognition of another God shall not enter the congregation. So again, it's not the case that he can't be a participant in the assembly of the Lord with its particular qualifications for being an emasculated man if it was through a birth defect, it was congenital, it was through a work accident or something like that. He's not disenfranchised, but the one who does this in the service of his other God, that one is disenfranchised and not able to come into the assembly of the Lord.
Illegitimate Birth and Exclusion
The next is one of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the 10th generation, none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord. When it says 10th generation there, it means forever. Notice in verse three, It says, an Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord even to the tenth generation.
None of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever. It's not the case that you count ten generations. That's the number of completeness. Most likely it means he is forever excluded versus notice in verses seven and eight with reference to Edomites and Egyptians.
Third generation, third generation does entail ultimate or eventual participation within the assembly of the Lord. So here specifically, the prohibition is forever. And with reference to the illegitimate man, it's probably a child born of an incestuous relationship, a children or children rather of prostitutes or the children of mixed parentage. The particular word that's used here is only used one other time in the Old Testament and it's at Zechariah chapter nine and verse six.
And it talks about mixed peoples in terms of Hebrews and pagans together producing children. So probably it's not your garden variety [***], but it's most likely one that is from Hordam, one that is from incest or one that is from the Hebrew and pagan mixing together and having a child that is illegitimate. Then
Ammonites and Moabites Excluded
notice you've got the exclusion based on the ethnic concerns, again, qualified. And the fact that Ammonites and Moabites were both born out of incestuous relationships might help us to understand what's going on in verse two. Again, it's not just, I don't want to say a garden variety or an ordinary illegitimate son, but it's probably one of an incestuous relationship or of hordom. So notice in verses 3 and following, the exclusion of the Ammonites.
Notice verse 3, an Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the 10th generation, none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord. And specifically with reference to the Ammonites, verse 4, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt. So in other words, they did not offer to you the basic kindnesses and the basic courtesies that nations are supposed to offer to one another.
This is rehearsed in the historical review in the very beginning of Deuteronomy in chapter 2. Again, it's no small thing. God says, as a result of that, these Ammonites are not to enter into the assembly of the Lord up to and including the 10th generation, which literally means, according to verse 3, forever. And then with reference to the Moabites, remember back in Numbers chapter 22, Balak saw the numerous amount of Israelites.
And Balak reckoned that if the Israelites continue to march through the wilderness, they're gonna gobble up everybody else, including the Moabites. So Balak makes the deal with Balaam to curse Old Covenant Israel. And of course, Balaam tries to curse Old Covenant Israel, but God turns it into a blessing. And that's what's referred to here.
So with reference to the Moabites, notice in the middle of verse four, and because they hired against you Balaam, the son of Baor from Pthor of Mesopotamia to curse you. Again, the Ammonites were not gracious, they were not courteous, they were not kind. They didn't afford you the basic things that are necessary in terms of that sort of a situation. And then the Moabites actually hired a prophet for profit and called upon him to curse the very nation of old covenant Israel.
Notice in verse five, nevertheless, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you. And I love this language, because the Lord your God loves you. It's beautiful, because God loves you, He didn't receive this curse invocation from Balaam, but actually turned it around as a blessing for Israel. So accordingly in verse six, you shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
So again, we're excluding from the assembly of the Lord. Why would we exclude from the assembly of the Lord? Because the assembly of the Lord is the Lord and he is holy and he is majestic and he is righteous and just. and it is his to determine who gets in and who must stay out. And if you hurt the apple of his eye, Ammonites and Moabites, then certainly you're not gonna get in to the assembly of the Lord.
If the inclination might be there, especially if you're an Ammonite or a Moabite in that ancestry, DNA, whatever, you're gonna be upset about that, but it's God's prerogative. It's God's prerogative who's a member in the church and who isn't. What's the qualifications? You must be saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you're not saved, you're not a member. If you're not saved, you're not in the assembly of the Lord the way that a saved man or a woman is in the assembly of the Lord. And then
Edomites and Egyptians: Temporary Exclusion
exclusion that is temporary in nature based on historical concerns, verses seven and eight. You shall not abhor an Edomite for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian because you are an alien in his land. The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
A commentator by the name of Harmon makes the observation after three generations, those of these groups could enter the assembly. Time was needed to ensure the immigrants were truly one with the covenant community in their faith and obedience. Again, I think this does speak to immigration. This does speak to assimilation.
If you wanted to come into old covenant Israel, there was a path forward. There was reception. There was participation. There was benefit and blessing and privilege, provided you went about it lawfully, provided you did what was necessary in terms of achieving that, You didn't just wander in and have them hand you money and benefits.
You had to play the game in the way that it was structured and you had to assimilate. You had to participate. You had to take on that Israelite conviction relative to who God is and what he commands in his moral, in his ceremonial and in his judicial law. You had to be participating in all of it to receive the benefits.
You had to also engage the responsibilities. To receive the privileges, you had to also be subject to the liabilities. You didn't just get stuff for free. I think the old covenant certainly upholds the principle of Tanstafl.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. It was the case that if you wanted in, you had to come in the way that was specified and the way that was ordered.
Maintenance of the Military Camp
Now in terms of the maintenance of the military camp, again, we've seen principles of warfare, we've seen principles governing the king, we've seen these emphases with reference to Old Covenant Israel having at times to engage enemies. Certainly Holy War, Deuteronomy 7, when they go into the land and they dispossess the land of the Canaanites, how are they supposed to conduct themselves in camp? Well,
Keep from Every Wicked Thing
the overarching principle is in verse nine, when the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. John Gill makes this observation, that is from idolatry, uncleanness of every sort and murder and all other wickedness as ought to be abstained from at all times by all persons, but especially by soldiers in such a circumstance, just going to battle. Since sin committed weakens natural courage, as it loads the conscience with guilt, and since victory and success, which depend upon the blessing of God on arms, cannot be reasonably expected where vices of all sorts are indulged and abound, and especially seeing such are about to expose their lives to the utmost danger, and know not but that in a few hours they must exchange this life for another, and appear before God, the judge of all, against whom they sin, And yet how little are these things thought of by such in common. So he really basically makes a great application of verse nine.
When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. I think his argument is sound. I think it's good. From idolatry, uncleanness, murder, and all other wickednesses ought to be abstained from at all times by all persons, but especially by soldiers in such a circumstance. because sin weakens.
Sin promotes fear rather than courage. And if you're going into battle against your enemies, you want a clear conscience and a willingness to engage the enemy. But as well, it may be the case that you may not get the blessing of God if your conscience is darkened by and polluted with sin. So I think it's a good overarching principle In the context, however, probably Wright, a more modern commentator, seems to be a bit closer to this immediate context.
He says, the text refers to ritual impurity, not immoral behavior, since the remedy is merely a day's quarantine and washing. So basically, it's the maintenance of the camp. And the two examples are, one, the fellow who engages or contracts uncleanness at night, Verse 10, if there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp.
Now, a comparison with Leviticus 15 has led some to believe that this was an emission of semen on the part of the man in the military camp, a nocturnal emission. Others suggest, no, the soldier urinated in the camp. He didn't want to be bothered to actually exit the camp, so he urinated within the camp. Either way, he contracted uncleanness, and that uncleanness must be remedied, and that's verse 11.
It shall be when evening comes that he shall wash with water, and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.
Disposal of Waste and God's Presence
And then the next has to do with the disposal of waste, and it really means what it really says. Bury your refuse. Don't live like animals don't live like pagans, don't live like beasts. Verse 12, also you shall have a place outside the camp where you may go out and you shall have an implement among your equipment and when you sit down outside you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse.
Why? Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and give your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp shall be holy that he may see no unclean thing among you and turn away from you. Notice the emphasis there on the presence and communion with God.
We expect the statement for the Lord your God walks in the midst of the tabernacle. We expect the statement that the Lord your God walks in the midst of the temple. We expect that. We expect it when he walks in the midst of the garden, which is a temple with Adam and Eve, but that he walks in the midst of a military camp, that does hearken back to chapter 20, with reference to the principles of warfare, specifically at verse four, for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.
So an argument for covering your refuse, your feces, is that God walks in the midst of the camp. God is present with the armies of Israel when they go out to battle the various heathen and pagan that they're going to take on. And as a result of that, you need to make sure that your camp reflects the God with whom you have to do. You're not beasts, you're image bearers.
Not only are you image bearers, but you're in a living covenant with the blessed and triune God. And therefore, you need to conduct yourself in a manner that is consistent with what you have with that God. That he may see no unclean thing among you and turn away from you. Again, Harmon makes the observation.
The holiness of the covenant bond had to be reflected even in physical cleanliness and hygiene, lest the Lord take note of their breach of his stipulations. See anything indecent among you and turn himself away from them. Klein says, in war as in peace, God was present among his people and his name must be hallowed. Physical cleanliness was the appropriate symbol of the holiness of the covenant relationship.
And brethren, practically, it just makes for better living, right? I mean, we're not dogs. We're not animals that defecate and roll around in it. These have practical benefits, but religiously, the Lord God is in the midst of the camp.
Don't let him see indecent things. Now, that's not to suggest that the omniscient God doesn't see things buried. It doesn't mean that the God who made us to expel waste in that particular fashion, somehow thinks it's a bad thing for us to expel waste in that particular, no, no, the idea is orderliness and cleanliness and decency, which I think is a principle that carries over in the New Testament church. Now, we're not told don't defecate in the New Testament church, but we are to do things orderly and decently according to 1 Corinthians.
Why? Because God is a God of order and a God of decency. Why do our worship services or why should our worship services be conducted according to the revealed mind of God? Because it's the revealed mind of God with reference to what pleases Him when the new covenant community gathers together for worship.
We're not supposed to do our own thing. We're not supposed to make dirty the camp that we live in. We're supposed to reflect the glory and the majesty of the Most High even down to the mundane things of where we expel our waste with reference to a military camp. God is involved in all of the details of Old Covenant Israel's life and all of these things speak concerning their accountability and responsibility ultimately to Him.
Miscellaneous Laws for the Covenant Community
And then in terms of the miscellaneous laws, the first refers to the law concerning escaped slaves. Now the law with reference to Israelite slaves is dealt with in Deuteronomy 15 in verses 12 to 18. So this is likely law with reference to foreign slaves. So notice in verse 15, you shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you.
He may dwell with you in your midst in the place which he chooses within one of your gates. where it seems best to him. You shall not oppress him. So the idea might be that one from without Israel sees the wisdom of the God of Israel and the beauty of their law system and wants to seek asylum in that covenant group. He wants to proselytize over.
He wants to participate in the religion of Yahweh. So he flees his master and he comes to an Israelite. Now, I think that most of the countries surrounding Israel did not have the arrangement where they wouldn't give back slaves. In other words, if I'm an Ammonite and a Moabite slave comes to me, I give him right back to the Moabites.
Probably there were treaties in place that protected such things, such that you couldn't just leave if you were an Ammonite and go to the Moabites. Well, Old Covenant Israel was prohibited from engaging in political treaties with the nations around them. So ideally, one from the Ammonites, or not Ammonites and Moabites, probably the bad illustration, whatever other ites, came seeking asylum with the Israelite. The Israelite is told, no, don't give him back to his master, with reference to that other country.
He may dwell with you in your midst in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it seems best to him. You shall not oppress him. In other words, it's probably a good showing on his part, an overture towards conversion, if he's leaving a particular Eid master and coming over to Old Covenant Israel. So don't give him back.
He's away from that oppression and that paganism, Take him in, get him established, and let him hopefully one day join the assembly of the Lord.
Ritual Prostitution Forbidden
The second is the law concerning ritual prostitution. In verses 17 and 18. Notice in the New King James, it supplies ritual harlot of the daughters of Israel or a perverted one of the sons of Israel. Ritual is a good supplying there.
Again, I'm not, condoning garden variety, harlotry. But ritual harlotry is harlotry or whoredoms connected to religious worship. And so basically, it's cultic or ritual prostitution. Pagans engaged in fornication in worship, and this is primarily what's in view.
If you were a Baal worshiper, one of the ways that you worshiped was by fornicating. The idea being is that Baal and one of his consorts perhaps Asherah would join in likewise and then provide rain or storms or whatever to help fertility in the land. A lot of these pagan gods and goddesses were fertility gods and goddesses. And so fertility rights or prostitution rights or sexual rights were used or employed to invoke the God to act on behalf of the worshiper.
So that's what's in view here. Now the perverted ones, one of the sons of Israel was a homosexual prostitute. And they are referred to as dogs in verse 18. You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog.
That's the male homosexual harlot. So you've got the ritual harlot in verse 17 and the male sodomite in verse 17. And then verse 18 naturally follows. If there are ritual harlots, and if there are male prostitutes, and they make money from those ventures, don't bring that money and give it as an offering to Yahweh.
It should go without question, it shouldn't be an issue, but that's what's in view in verse 18. You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. So the money earned by these perverse practices was not to be given to the Lord, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. And by the way, in the book of Revelation, in Revelation chapter 22 at verse 15, we see a reference to dogs.
Again, it's not canines, it's, Probably male prostitutes that engage in lawlessness and wickedness. Not across the board. The apostle warns the Philippians in Philippians chapter three to beware of dogs. In that context, it's not male prostitutes.
In that context, it's Judaizers. It's those who say faith in Jesus, plus circumcision, plus calendar in order for salvation. So it was the case that the Jews referred to the Gentiles as dogs. Paul then, in a wonderful turn of phrase, refers to Judaizers as dogs when they come along corrupting the Gentiles and saying that they must be circumcised in order to be accepted by the Lord.
So Philippians 3.1 dogs are heretics. Revelation 22.15, probably reflecting what we have here in Deuteronomy 23, and then scattered throughout, especially 1 and 2 Kings. Some of the kings made you know, valiant efforts to get rid of the perverted persons, the male sodomites that were perverting the land.
The Law Regarding Usury
And then the next is the law regarding usury. We see that in Exodus 22 and then in Leviticus chapter 25. Notice in verse 19, you shall not charge interest to your brother, interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. Now, in terms of the loan was the money or food loaned to keep him alive or was it to extend his budding business or whatnot.
It was most likely to keep him alive. That's what's in view here. It was the sort of thing that if he didn't eat, if he didn't have a few shackles, he was going to die. So you don't loan him money at interest if he's going to die.
You don't loan him money and stick him with 19% you know, usury and tell him if I'm not paid back by next Friday, I'm gonna break a finger and, you know, subsequent weeks, I'm gonna break more finger. No, no, you don't do that. You show kindness, you show love, and you show mercy. You would make his situation worse, charging him interest, and it would be a failure to love your brother as yourself.
Now, in terms of foreigners, yes. Most likely, these would be foreign traders But you're not supposed to exploit or oppress them either. You're not supposed to, you know, stick it to them and gouge them. Remember old covenant Israel was to shine the light of God around the nations or among the nations around them.
And they were not to be known as those sorts of people that would indeed corrupt everybody and everything that would come their way.
The Law Regarding Vows
And then the next is the law regarding vows. So basically a vow is a solemn promise from man to God. A vow is a solemn promise from man to God. An oath is man to man before God.
So in an oath, I make an oath to a man, but we are witnessed by God. The vow is when I make this directly to God most high, and I make a vow to him. And it's in this particular legislation, It's something I must pay. So notice in verse 21, when you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it.
For the Lord your God will surely require it of you and it would be sin to you. In other words, if you make a vow, you have to pay the vow. Again, this is pretty easy, but it's almost like we miss something. What do you mean I have to pay it back?
Well, yeah, you signed on the dotted line. You have to pay it back. Okay, that's just basic life 101. You make a vow to God, you have to pony up, you have to pay that vow.
But notice the blessedness in verse 22, but if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. In other words, don't vow. If there's a margin of error that you foresee could actually obtain, then it might be the better part of wisdom. to back it down, don't display your bravado and don't make the vow. But the reminder in verse 23, that which has gone from your lips, you shall keep and perform for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
Solomon speaks concerning this. Proverbs 20 at verse 25, it is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy and afterward to reconsider his vows. Ecclesiastes 5, 4 and 5, when you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed.
Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Best piece of wisdom in the world concerning the vow comes from one of the wisest men that ever lived, namely Solomon. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
The Law Regarding Gleaning
And then the law regarding gleaning in verses 24 and 25, it's most likely envisaging a traveler. Somebody is traveling and they're hungry. And so according to verse 24, when you come into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. In other words, it's to meet the immediate need of hunger.
You don't fill your containers to sell them to others. You don't fill your containers to fill your basement. You eat what is necessary to sustain your life. The same with the grain, according to verse 25, when you come into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor's standing grain.
So you're traveling along, you need some food, you get some grain and you eat it. you get your sickle and you start harvesting and you start pulling out, you know, bushels full of his grain, you are violating the law. At the one level, it's a common courtesy calculated to express love and to show a concern for other people's lives. To abuse that, to engage in, you know, taking that which does not belong to you is theft Perhaps you want to store it up in your own home, or perhaps you want to sell it to others. Remember, this was what happened with Jesus and his disciples in Matthew chapter 12.
The problem wasn't that they were taking grain. The problem was that it was on the Sabbath, or at least the perceived problem was by the Pharisees was that it was taking place on the Sabbath. But the law behind it, everybody agreed. You can walk through your neighbor's field and eat his grapes.
You can walk through a neighbor's field and eat his grain. You just can't pack it away and take it out of there, back your truck in and load it up. So life in the covenant community was supposed to be charitable, was supposed to be kind, was supposed to be courteous, was supposed to be gracious, and was supposed to reflect the God who had given them this land to enjoy and to sustain them as they sought to glorify the Lord. Quine says the law of crops in verses 24 and 25 provided such liberty as to satisfy the principle of brotherly hospitality, but prohibited the changing of liberty to license in violation of the property rights to the theocratic citizen.
You had a right to own your own grapes. You had a right to own your own grain. People couldn't just come and take it. So private property is recognized here in the Old Testament in spades.
There's a law, one of the moral laws, the Eighth Commandment deals with you shall not steal. God is pro-private property. Yes, feed your hungry brother. Yes, care for him.
Yes, all those sorts of things. But the hungry brother can't then turn around and take advantage and cart off all your goods and then sell them at the marketplace. So again, some of these things are certainly carried over in terms of principle, love, courtesy, kindness, generosity within the New Covenant community and the decency and the orderliness. Again, we're not in a military camp having to defecate in a hole outside, but in terms of the house of God, we do things decently. and in an orderly fashion with reference to worship.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for these books and the Old Testament and this window that we have into seeing life in the Old Covenant community. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for the wisdom displayed in a society built on fairness and justice and equity and righteousness.
It truly is amazing. But we know, God, they didn't function in that way. We know that they sinned subsequently. They're cast out of the land.
And how we thank you for the covenant keeper, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the salvation that we have in him as a result of his perfect righteousness to the law of God. We bless you for the gospel of our salvation. We pray for your grace that we may live in a manner that is consistent with that gospel. And we pray through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Questions and Answers
Any comments? What's that? That's true. Yeah, that is true. Some interesting things, eh?