Deuteronomy chapter 24. Last time we were together, we looked at verses 1 to 5. We saw the law concerning divorce. This section doesn't deal with everything concerning divorce.
The specific issue is that if a man sends his wife away, she remarries, she cannot return to her former husband. That's the prohibition in Deuteronomy chapter 24, verses 1 to 4. And then there was that law for the newlywed, verse 5, lest we have negative thoughts about marriage, we ought to have positive thoughts. Verse 5, when a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business. he shall be free at home one year and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.
Now the remainder of the chapter deals with miscellaneous laws. We're going to follow the remainder of the chapter all the way up to chapter 25 verses 1 to 3. Probably 25 verses 1 to 3 is what we'll spend most of the time on. The other ones are pretty cut and dry. 25, 1 to 3 is pretty cut and dry as well, but I think we do see in it displayed God's wisdom.
And one of the things that I have sought to do as we've worked our way through this book is to show how the people or opponents of God's law who say that it's a barbaric code, it's an ancient code, it has no relevance, are simply wrong. The law of God is equitable, it is righteous, it is just, it reflects his holy will and his holy character. Remember, the larger context that we are in began in chapter 4 at the end of the chapter, verse 44, and it goes all the way to 2619. This is the bulk of the book of Deuteronomy.
It's the exposition of God's law, the application of it. Remember, the fundamental core are the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue in Deuteronomy 5, and then from that are developed all of these statutes and ordinances and laws that they would need to hold to in the land of Canaan. Laws governing warfare and family life and government and kings and prophets and all those sorts of things. Well, we actually are coming to the end pretty soon of that larger section.
After 26, then we get into 27 and following, and that's covenant renewal. That's the blessings and the curses pronounced upon those who either A, obey, or those who violate. So this larger section, we are coming to a conclusion. As I said, in verses 6 and following, we have miscellaneous laws.
Laws of life, justice, charity, and punishment. That's what we'll be looking at this evening. So I'll pick up reading in chapter 24 at verse 6. No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes one's living in pledge.
If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren, of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die, and you shall put away the evil from among you. take heed in an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you. Just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt. When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge.
You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight. You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you. And it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.
You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it, lest he cry out against you to the Lord and it be sin to you. Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers. A person shall be put to death for his own sin.
You shall not pervert justice, do the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow's garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore, I command you to do this thing. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it.
It shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward.
It shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I command you to do this thing. If there is a dispute between men, and they come to court, that the judge may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt with a certain number of blows. 40 blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these.
And your brother be humiliated in your sight. Amen.
Introduction to the Laws
As I said, laws of life, justice, charity, and punishment are what are covered here in Deuteronomy. They're being prepared on the plains of Moab to go into the promised land. And these things would be that stipulation, that rule for them to obey with reference to God and with reference to the community. They were the covenant community of the Lord God.
If you look back for just a moment, just by way of reminder to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 5 says, Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon him?
And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day." So Israel functioning among the peoples of the land would demonstrate the wisdom of God, would demonstrate the wisdom of God's law and would show its beauty and its majesty. And so that's what we need to remember as we approach this law code that these things are given for the glory of God, the good of his people, but there is as well this witness effect. The peoples around them are to see, they are to take heed, they are to ask the question, what kind of a nation is this that has such a law code? and has such a wonderful God. We see something analogous to this in the life of the church.
We are to live in such a way, we are to let our conduct be in such a manner that the peoples outside the church would be able to look upon us and say, that is a great place to be. It reflects the glory, the majesty, and the excellence of God. They love God, they love one another. There is to be that witness within the Church of Christ, as there was to be within the covenant community in Israel in the Old Covenant.
Laws of Life
So let's look at the laws of life. This is verses 6 to 15, and there are five.
Pledges That Endanger Life
Notice, first, it speaks to the type of pledge that someone was allowed to take. If I loan you money, I take a pledge, or you give me a pledge that you will, in fact, pay me back. it's a token, a sign of good faith, a collateral we might also call it. Well in verse 6 it says, no man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge for he takes one's living in pledge. Now in the home the people would have a millstone and with that millstone there would be two stones and they would grind their grain, and with that ground grain they would then make bread.
So if you took one of those millstones, the guy, the family, would basically be without bread. So verse 6 speaks to the type of collateral that you are allowed to take. It speaks to the type of a pledge you are allowed to take. You cannot take a pledge or collateral that is going to cause the man to die.
That simply cannot be the case. You don't function in such a manner. for he takes one's living in pledge.
Penalty for Kidnapping
The second law speaking to life is the penalty for kidnapping. Notice in verse 7, if a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel and mistreats him or sells him, probably what's in view is not the child that's abducted and taken and held for ransom because of the rich parents. But it is somebody that is taken into servanthood in someone's own house, or they are sold as a slave to someone else. Either way, it is man-stealing, it is kidnapping, and God's law mandates that we don't do that.
You're not allowed to take someone and enslave them. You are not allowed to sell another human being. Now, the law speaks to indentured servitude. If I steal from you and I am told to pay you back, and I don't have money to pay you back, I can willingly enter into a servant relationship with that person so that I can work in order to pay them back.
But that's a far cry different. than somebody stealing me, nabbing me, and then selling me to someone else. That is strictly prohibited, and the penalty is very stiff. Craigie says the crime is social murder. For though the victim does not literally die by being sold into slavery, he is effectively cut off from the covenant family of God.
You are taking him, you are removing him, from everything that is near and dear to him, it is as if you are murdering the man himself. And the law is very particular. If you do this and you mistreat him or sell him, then that kidnapper shall die and you shall put away the evil from among you. It's been a recurring theme in this section of legislation.
When you get into the land, capital punishment is mandated. There are various forms of punishment that the law of God stipulates. Capital punishment is certainly one of them. Very often people say, well, that was then.
That doesn't carry over into the New Testament. But the two primary texts which speak to capital punishment are not found in the Deuteronomy legislation. Does anybody know where the first text is that prohibits or that mandates, rather, capital punishment? Genesis 9 verse 6, whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed for in the image of God he made man.
It's a very crucial task to understand what's going on in that section of God's word. Noah comes out of the ark. he had gone into the ark and previous to that the earth was exceedingly corrupt and it was filled with violence. When Noah and his family emerge, God mandates the place of civil government to execute criminal offenders. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed.
The agent there is specified, by man his blood will be shed, and then the reason given for, in the image of God, he made man. Now the Deuteronomy legislation, Exodus legislation, differentiates or highlights or illustrates the difference between manslaughter or accidental homicide and murder. It is the murderer that is to be capitally punished. Remember that distinction.
If I'm swinging my axe and the head flies off accidentally and hits someone in the head and they die, I am not going to be capitally punished. I go to the city of refuge, I wait out the time, and then I'm free to go. But if I lay and wait, and I have malice aforethought, and I'm premeditating it, and I bury my axe in this man's head, I've committed murder, and therefore I am supposed to die. Remember at the end of Numbers, it says you cannot take a ransom. or an atonement.
You cannot take a sacrifice for a murderer. In other words, what has to happen when a murder is committed is that the murderer must be put to death. That's a passage that terrifies me. You know, we talk about all this stuff in our own generation and in our own civil state and sphere.
We've got fiscal clefts, we've got ungodly uses of power and arrogance and all that sort of thing. We have a whole lot of innocent blood that has not been atoned for in the biblically prescribed manner, which is through capital punishment. And then when you get those people who say, well, capital punishment is confined to Genesis and it's confined to Old Covenant Israel, it just doesn't wash. When we get to Romans chapter 13, it is imperative that we understand that Paul the Apostle is writing at a time when the old covenant theocracy is gone.
He's writing during the Roman Empire. He's writing during the reign of Nero. And Paul says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. He says, whoever resists the authority resists God.
And then he says that the government, the magistrate, the civil authority is God's minister to avenge, or to execute rather, God's wrath. He's an avenger of God's wrath. And so the death penalty is a biblical punishment through and through. In other words, when we pray, God have mercy on our rulers, cause them to operate in a fiscally responsible manner, cause them to legislate against abortion, cause them to implement the execution of criminal offenders.
That is as much a biblical concern as many of the other concerns that we pray for on an ongoing basis. So for the kidnapper, what is mandated is execution.
Infectious Disease and the Community
Notice thirdly, the outbreak of leprosy. Again, you can see how these things pertain to life. You can't take a pledge from a man if it jeopardizes his life. Somebody kidnaps or steals a man.
That kidnapper must be executed. With reference to the outbreak of leprosy, verses 8 and 9, you need to heed the priests. What happens if you don't heed the priests? What happens if these infectious diseases are not quarantined in a body that is in a camp-like setting?
That infectious disease is going to spread and everybody's going to die. You need to follow this particular law. Take heed in an outbreak of leprosy that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you. Do what they say.
Don't say, well, I have a remedy. or I've got a tea, or I've got a plant, or I've got no. You listen to the priest. If you need to be under quarantine to stop the spread of an infectious disease, it is love for neighbor that dictates. You see this idea that I'm just going to do whatever I want, and it's my freedom and my liberty.
No, you need to stop and not be selfish, and you need to make sure that your neighbor is protected. He says, just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt. Klein says, respect for the whole community's life and health demanded careful attention to the divine prescriptions for dealing with the disease of leprosy, the seriousness of which was evidenced by Miriam's experience.
If you've got the ability to infect someone, don't do it. You know, these guys that take their AIDS-tainted blood or HIV-tainted blood, use that as a weapon. Certainly the Lord God frowns on that sort of a mindset. That is an attempt to commit murder.
You cannot do that. We need to be responsible human beings, and we need to realize that when we live in a community, there are certain obligations, certain stipulations, and a certain degree of selflessness that we need to maintain for the good of those with whom we live.
Dignity in Lending Transactions
Notice, fourthly, the rule regarding a pledge in a loan. Verse 6 dealt with the type of a pledge or the type of collateral. Here is the rule with reference to that collateral, with reference to that particular pledge. Verse 10, when you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge.
Why? Because the guy's got a right to privacy and dignity. You know, as we read through this, especially when we get to chapter 25, again, we read verses 1 to 3, and it seems so barbaric, this idea of flogging somebody or beating somebody. But it's stipulated that there is dignity for the man even being beaten.
Throughout this passage, what is recognized is that persons do have a certain right under God to privacy. They have a certain right under God to dignity. They're human beings. They bear the divine image, and therefore we need to treat them in that particular manner.
When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. Don't be the thug that wanders through his house and says, well, that's not good enough. Give me that. No, the guy needs money.
That doesn't mean he is, you know, subhuman. It doesn't mean he's become an animal. You still treat him with respect, even in this particular transaction. You need to appreciate that as we work through Deuteronomy.
There's a lot of respect horizontally. We are to love brethren. We are to be selfless. We are to be kind and caring.
We are to treat them as we would like to be treated. If I had to give up a pledge, I wouldn't want somebody barging in my house and saying, well, that's not good enough. I want that. Wait a minute.
My mom gave me that. I don't want you to have that. I want you to have this. No, we're not thugs.
We're not animals. We are to deal with one another in a God-honoring and Christ-exalting manner. So that's the right to privacy. Notice verse 11, you shall stand outside and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you.
And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight. Don't do it. What pledge is in view specifically here is his garment. The outer garment would serve as the man's blanket at night.
If you don't return his garment, what's going to happen at night? He's going to freeze to death. Godly people in a covenant community don't do that to one another. They don't say, tough on you, you should get a better job or learn how to pay your debts quicker.
No, here's your garment back. And some might wonder, well, why even take his garment at all if you're going to have to return it every night? Probably to discourage the man from seeking out loans from various persons. He's only got one garment, then he's only got one creditor, and it helps him.
So take his garment back to him at night, let him have it, go back in the morning and get it and hold it as a pledge for the money that you have loaned in. This is a transaction between covenant community members. One has a bit more, one has a bit less. We are to conduct ourselves with love, respect, with dignity.
And notice what underscores all of this. Verse 13, you shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you. And it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God. I don't think we're supposed to read this in terms of sola fide or compromise, a sola fide, and a Catholic saying, well, there you go.
I return it, and that's my righteousness before God. I think what God is saying through Moses, it's the right thing to do. It's decent. It's what covenant members do for one another.
You don't hold the man's garment overnight so that he almost freezes to death. Bring him his garment, go back in the morning, and get it. That's the bottom line. It is right to do, the man will bless you, and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.
Wages for Hired Labor
And then notice fifthly, the law regarding hired labor, verses 14 and 15. We also see this in Leviticus, previously in Deuteronomy, it's in Proverbs, and it's in James chapter 5 as well. What's the basic rule? You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy.
Whether one of your brethren, notice, or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. You don't get to oppress them because they're an alien. You know, they're inferior, they're subferior, they're lower than us. We can just trounce all over their rights.
No, God says that if an alien comes in among your gates, he does what is necessary to be there among you, treat him the way you treat other covenant members. It's a beautiful thing. I think this speaks to the issue of immigration. If somebody comes in legally, they have the right and entitlement to be there.
You don't treat them as if they're inferior. They're not as good. They're not as well as you are. No, if they've gone through the hoops, they've come into the body politic, they deserve the same respect and the same rights that everyone else gets.
But notice, you shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it. This is a day laborer. What does he do if he doesn't have his money?
He doesn't eat. Pay the guy. Just pay. Pay on time.
Don't be the guy that, well, I'll get you your check next week. Don't be the federal government. The check is in the mail. Don't be that person.
If somebody has done work for you, pay them. Square off. At the end of the day, most contractual obligations in our setting is in every week and every two weeks and every month, however it is. Don't be late on the guy's pay.
Sometimes I hear from businessmen, I hear, you know, guys, oh, it's so hard to get people to pay. It shouldn't be that way. If you get a service or you purchase a good, pay. It's just a good thing.
Each day you shall give him his wages and not let the sun go down on it. for he is poor, and has set his heart on it. If he doesn't get the wages, he doesn't eat. If he doesn't get the wages, his wife doesn't eat. If he doesn't get the wages, his kids don't eat.
And then notice, lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you. That is hardcore. God says, if this man cries out to the Lord, the Lord will indeed indict you for that particular sin. Now even if the guy doesn't cry out to the Lord, it's not as if the Lord is being taught, hey, there's something happening here.
The Lord knows this, and the Lord sees this, and the Lord says, don't do this. In James chapter 5, he speaks to this same issue. What do you think James has in mind? Not only the dead beats in his church, but he has the book of Deuteronomy.
He has the book of Leviticus. He has Exodus. He has Proverbs in his mind. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.
Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out." I've always thought about that text.
You've heard that phrase, money talks. We always use it in a positive sense, like money talks. I showed the guy a 20 and I got a good seat in the restaurant. I've never done that, but some people do that, right?
Money talks. Money does talk, according to James. But in this instance, that money talks to indict professing Christians is who James is talking to. professing Christians who have oppressed those who work for them. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out.
The wages cry out. The wages crying out reach the ears of Lord of Sabaoth, and he is angry. It is a sin. to God most high that you have done this and oppressed this man who did work for you. So those are laws of life.
Laws of Justice
Notice secondly, by way of a larger category, laws of justice. And there are two here. Laws of justice, verses 16 to 18. The first is the law of personal responsibility.
Personal Criminal Responsibility
Verse 16, fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers. A person shall be put to death for his own sin. Now, I've noticed something over the last few years, I'm sure it's predated the last few years, but some people are teaching this doctrine of the transgenerational nature of sin and curse and something that I do is somehow going to be a bad thing for my son. And they ground this idea in the second commandment, where in the second commandment says, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments.
So the idea is that if I send my children, grandchildren, and grand-grandchildren are going to fall because of my sin. And then we read this in chapter 24, and we say, wait a minute, here it's a personal responsibility. Well, this idea of a transgenerational curse being passed down from me to my son, to my grandson, to my great grandson, and so on and so forth, is not what I think that Moses is speaking about. I think the idea here is that when I'm an idolater, I teach my children idolatry.
They are punished for their idolatry, not mine. The soul who sins shall die. There is a personal responsibility that we need to assume. Now, as parents, of course, we ought not to help our children to sin.
We ought not to make it easy for them to violate the law of God. But the civil or the criminal or the judicial idea is clear in verse 16 of 24. Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers. A person shall be put to death for his own sin." Personal responsibility.
You cannot blame your parents. You cannot blame your grandparents. You cannot blame the TV. You cannot blame anything.
You cannot blame the gun. The gun didn't jump up into your hand and make you shoot it into the head of that person. You are at fault. And I've always delighted in Genesis 9.6, whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed.
You know what a very famous defense has been recently? Is not guilty by reason of insanity. Well, 9.6 says, whether you're insane or not, if you murder someone, the law stipulates you die. That's the bottom line.
Verse 16 of chapter 24, I don't have all the ins and outs about the mentally ill and the incapacitated. We just need to deal with what the text actually does say with reference to criminals and non-criminals. Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers. A person shall be put to death for his own sin.
This comes up later in the prophet Ezekiel. Remember, in Ezekiel's day they said the fathers ate sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. What does Ezekiel say? No, the soul that sins shall die.
You cannot blame daddy, you cannot blame granddaddy for the idolatry and the rebellion and the sin and the wickedness that you are currently in. The issue is that you have sinned against God and therefore you will go into the Babylonian captivity. So personal responsibility is highlighted. The principle here applies to the civil realm.
It does not indicate some genetic predisposition. It simply highlights, if we take the passage in the Second Commandment, This perpetuity of idolatry through imitation. So, again, I don't know if you've heard this, but this idea, this transgenerational, you know, I'm being punished because my grandfather, you know, had a slave, or my grandfather did this, and therefore, whatever the offense may be. That's not biblical.
Biblical is, if you sin, you shall be put to death. It's personal responsibility and personal liability.
Justice Toward the Vulnerable
And then the second law of justice in verses 17 and 18, do not pervert justice toward the needy. You shall not pervert justice, verse 17, do the stranger or the fatherless. Do not pervert justice, do the stranger or the fatherless. These people are weaker by nature, weaker by station rather.
Do not exploit them. Do not say, well, you really don't matter. Remember years ago during the O.J. Simpson trial, Johnny Cochran afterwards said the color of justice in America is green.
And what he meant by that is, if you have good money, you get good justice. That is so foreign and contrary to the Bible. The Bible says, do not pervert justice, do the stranger or the fatherless. This is why Lady Justice is blindfolded.
So she doesn't see these particularities or peculiarities between persons. Justice is to be rendered in that particular fashion without partiality. So do not pervert justice, do the stranger or the fatherless. And this cuts the other way too.
In the book of Exodus, you're not to give special place to the poor man. You're not to let his poverty, you're not to let his pitiable condition affect your judgment. You're not to say, well, you know, it's too bad that you're this way, and I can understand. No, you're not supposed to do that.
You're supposed to rule justly. Justice doesn't apply with reference to whether you've got money or whether you don't have money. Do not pervert justice, nor take a widow's garment as a pledge. We've already seen that.
I mean, a widow, right? You've got to be a special kind of a man to say, I'm going to loan you money. I'm going to take your garment. To a widow, leave her alone.
Let her have her garment. Give her the money. Maybe you don't even want to loan it. Just give her.
This is a great charity case for you. And then notice what God says through Moses as the reason for this particular stipulation. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore, I command you to do this thing.
You see the implication? You've been redeemed. How could you live in such a way as to pervert justice? You've been redeemed.
How could you live in such a way as to take some poor old doll's garment? She's a widow. Let her be. Give her the money.
Give her some food. Give her some help. That's okay. This is what the covenant community should look like.
You were redeemed from there. Therefore, I command you to do this thing. So the laws of justice, verses 16 to 18.
Laws of Charity: Gleaning
Now notice finally the laws of charity, verses 19 to 22. It's the same stipulation with reference to grain, olives, and grapes. Leave some. Just leave some, okay?
You'll make it if you don't get every last olive. Every last piece of grain. Every last grain. It's okay.
You can leave some. Remember that hero in the book of Ruth, that man called Boaz. Didn't he tell them, leave some for the gleaners. Make sure that they get theirs.
That's That's kind. That's benevolent. That's good. Maximum profit is not the only thing involved in agriculture.
There's an element of decency, an element of kindness, an element of graciousness, especially in the covenant community in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I command you to do this thing." Craigie says, the manner of their participation in the fruit of the land would be such that they could maintain their honor and self-respect. This idea of leaving some.
If you didn't have a lot, but you could go behind and glean and get some, there's still some self-respect there. You're going out and you're working. You know, the honest guys at Union Gospel Mission, I remember, and Steve and I would go there. We used to go there quite a bit.
And you'd ask somebody, you know, about work. I remember this one guy said, I want my dignity back. I want to work because it's what I should be doing. I don't want welfare.
I want to work. That's the guy's mindset. Well, in this arrangement, when you leave some grains, some olives, and some grapes, these poor people can go out and participate. They can maintain honor and self-respect in gathering their own fruit from the land.
They would not have to beg or seek a handout. They would go into the fields and orchards after the harvest, and like the farmer, they would work for their own small harvest as they searched and gleaned for the grain and fruit that had been left there. And the farmers who had allowed some of their produce, allowed some produce to remain, were not simply being charitable to those less fortunate to themselves. They were expressing their gratitude to God who had brought them out of the slavery in Egypt and given to them a land of their own.
There's dignity, there's respect, there's honor in this arrangement. It's not just a handout. You know, here you go, the government of Israel, here's your check, or here's your olives, or here's your grapes, or here's your grain. No, they worked.
They had the dignity, the self-respect, the honor involved, the men that were the farmers leaving that. Again, it expresses gratitude to God, acknowledgment of His kindness, and a genuine benevolent spirit toward their brethren who were in need. So the laws of charity, very clear. These things were obviously abused later on, as I've said many, many times.
As soon as we get out of Deuteronomy and we start getting into the history, we see they didn't do these things. But this is the marching order. This is what they were supposed to do in the land.
Law of Corporal Punishment
And then the last broad category, verses 1 to 3 in chapter 25, the law of corporal punishment. The law of corporal punishment. Now, the types of punishment that we've seen thus far in the Pentateuch, or in the law of God, we have seen, as I've already mentioned, capital punishment. Genesis 9, Romans 13.
Capital punishment is biblical. I know that sometimes ruffles Canadian feathers, and sometimes even Canadian Christian feathers. I had a pastor one time. I asked him, so have you ever preached on the death penalty?
He says, well, you know, I don't know. I kind of feel like we should do it. But Jesus said to turn the other cheek. And I'm like, dude, you don't even know what you believe on this issue?
Come on. So people that I have met, I I've just assumed that Christians believe that the death penalty is biblical because of Genesis 9 and Romans 13. Of course, the Sinai legislation in between. Anyway, so we've seen capital punishment.
There is also restitution or compensation. to include indentured servitude if the criminal does not have the ability to pay back the victim of his crime. You see, in Old Covenant Israel, if I stole from you and I got caught, I didn't go to prison to pay my debt to society. That's a crime. I paid you back.
Why should the state or the federal government get money out of me when I stole it from you? And then the state and federal government taxes you to provide for me. So you, the victim, are getting it twice. That's the modern situation.
Compensation or restitution is the biblical prescription for a thief or for property crime. You know the guy that goes out and tags something? Get him out there to clean it up. Make him pay restitution.
That will quickly discourage, I hope, I think it would, discourage, I think it would, Steve's over there going, I think it would. If we did it in mass and people got held accountable and we said, what saith the word? Flog him. Then everybody would start hopefully toeing the line.
So restitution or payback. capital punishment, and then there's corporal punishment. That's what we're going to look at here. There is one instance that I know of, of punitive amputation. Punitive amputation.
What I mean by that is as a punishment, somebody loses a hand. That's going to probably be next Wednesday night. That's the instance in Deuteronomy 25 when two men fight and one of the men's wives intervenes and tries to break up the fight and in her intervention she grabs the genitals of not her husband and She is to have her hand cut off for that particular offense. So that's the only instance of punitive amputation that I'm aware of.
The Bible isn't Sharia. If you go out and steal a Milky Way, they chop your hand off or whatever it is. That is the one instance that I'm aware of. So we've got restitution.
We've got capital punishment. We've got corporal punishment. And then as a subset, we'll call it punitive amputation. Again, I don't know that that's you know, something that is widespread, how widespread that would have been as a crime in Old Covenant Israel.
I don't know that it would be any more widespread then as it was or as it would be even today.
Safeguards in Corporal Punishment
So corporal punishment, notice in verses 1 to 3, If there is a dispute between men and they come to court, that the judges may judge them and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. What do we notice first? There must be a trial. Remember, judicial procedure is big in the law of God.
Deuteronomy 17 and Deuteronomy 19, Deuteronomy 22. You don't just turn someone over to punishment. There is due process. You listen.
You hear witnesses. You give evidence. You give testimony. Judges weigh the case and then they give a verdict or they make a ruling.
So it's the first thing we need to understand as we approach this particular passage. There must be a trial. Secondly, if the man is found guilty and the decision is made to punish him corporally or to flog him or beat him, probably with a rod was the instrument. More so a rod than a whip.
Exodus 21 speaks of a rod. So if the decision is made to flog the man or to beat the man, there must be supervision. Again, this is not something we're used to. So I want to walk us through it, just so if you have this idea, wow, this is terrible, at least appreciate all of the safeguards that are put into place so that there wouldn't be an abuse of power, an abuse of authority.
So there must be supervision. If the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence. OK, the judge is presiding. It is a legal situation.
It is not barbarism. It's not take him out back and show him what the score is all about. Craigie says, if the judge has declared that corporal punishment was in order, then the flogging was to be carried out in his presence. In this way, the judge was able to see that the sentence was properly executed and that the offender was not treated too leniently.
You know, my kids have all confessed that they preferred me spanking them than my wife. She was a little one, but she really hauled back and let them have it. They much preferred my spankings, because I was too lenient. I hope it wasn't too lenient.
Yeah, it was, probably. But that's as bad a problem as too much. You see, the judge is there to make sure that the punishment fits the crime. And if the man has done something worthy of 20 stripes, then he gets 20 stripes.
But not just that it was too leniently, but also that it wouldn't be too harshly by the officer of the law entrusted with the task. He can't lose all abandon and beat this guy like he's an animal. There has to be restraint. There has to be supervision.
Notice thirdly, there must be proportion. There must be proportion. Then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, notice, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. According to his guilt with a certain number of blows.
A man steals something or a man does something that's worthy of 10 stripes, don't give him 30. Right? There's proportion. you Isn't that the fundamental principle of punishment? It must fit the crime.
So if a guy's done five stripes worth of crime, don't give him 25. Make sure that the punishment indeed fits the crime. There must be proportion in the execution of this particular penalty. Notice, fourthly, there must be a limit.
There must be a limit. You cannot exceed 40 stripes. That is it. The Code of Hammurabi, which was another law code, I believe, of the Hittites, either the Hittites or the Hivites, said 60.
So the Jews had it a whole lot better by 20 stripes. But remember, when we get to the New Testament, they would say 40 minus 1. They didn't want to go over that 40, so they would end up giving 39. Paul himself received that from the Jews.
And notice Paul never went on a campaign to end corporal punishment. He never stood out, not that we know of, no more corporal punishment. He received it. It wasn't just, but he received it nevertheless.
But there must be a limit. Forty blows he may give him and no more. And then fifthly, there must be concern for dignity. Verse three, really ought to blow our minds. 40 blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother, notice. still your brother, still in the covenant community.
He's not been ostracized. You're not throwing him out to the Hittites or the Hivites. This is remedial. He's going to get his beating, and he's going to enter back into society, and he's going to have learned his valuable lesson, paid the debt to the person he was supposed to do, and go back to operating as a normal human being.
You see, it's a very humanitarian system. You know, the way we do it, a guy goes to prison, he comes out of prison, he can't get a job. Well, this guy could get his job, this guy could go back to whatever it was he did. He got his penalty, he got his punishment, he paid his debt, and off he goes back to wherever it was that he did, where he should be.
If he was a brain surgeon beforehand, he can return to his calling. But notice, he's your brother, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight. So even in the execution of punishment, God is concerned that his image bearers, even the criminals, maintain their dignity, maintain the fact that they're not being degraded. So this wasn't a spectacle done just for sport.
Rather, it was the punishment that was fit for the crime that this man received. He received it, and he went back to wherever it was that he was supposed to go. The just punishment of the guilty was to be dispensed in such a way that his individual human dignity was honored. And then Christopher Wright says that it is sad that in the popular perception the Old Testament is so often vilified for the severity of its punishments, whereas this law with its careful limitations and its explicit protection of the rights and dignity of criminals is overlooked.
Oh, the Bible, it speaks about flogging people or beating people. Yeah, read it. See what's involved. See the safeguards that are involved.
See that God wants this man's dignity to remain intact. It's beautiful. It's fair. It's wise.
It's equitable. It's justice. And it reflects the goodness of our God. He doesn't say when you get into the land, there's not going to be any crime.
He says when you get in the land, there's going to be crime. And this is the way you ought to deal with it. So
Biblical Punishment vs. Prison
in summary, we have seen various laws, and this last one deals with the law of corporal punishment. What in our study has not been a form of punishment that you've seen in the Old Covenant Israel? Anything missing or anything that has not appeared when we just go through this list? Restitution, corporal punishment, capital punishment.
What's not in that list? Prison, right? You don't see prison in the Pentateuch. You see holding cells.
Micaiah went to a holding cell. I'm sure there was, you know, when men were awaiting trial, there wasn't a prison system. There wasn't what we have today in terms of an institutionalized prison system. I argue that that is far more barbaric than this threefold manner of punishment that the Bible sets forth.
Prisons were not in Israel. Egypt had them. Again, I suspect there was a holding cell for certain persons, waiting trial and that sort of thing. But just imagine, just real quick, because we're on this theme, at least I'm on this theme, I just think the biblical principles of punishment are really what we ought to pursue as a body politic.
Just some thoughts about prisons. First, if the biblical principle of punishment is an eye for an eye, the punishment must fit the crime. That's what eye for an eye means. You'll meet people today and say, oh, the eye for the eye, that's terrible.
No, it isn't. It means the punishment must fit the crime. Somebody murders, you put them to death. If somebody gouges out an eye, you gouge out their eye.
If somebody breaks a tooth, you pop out their tooth. It's the punishment must fit the crime. The only crime that answers to imprisonment is if the criminal imprisons someone. Why are you in here?
Because I put someone in prison. That would be one of the only reasons, equitably, to put someone in prison. Kind of a cheeky one, but it is, nevertheless. Secondly, imprisonment thwarts the biblical principle of restitution.
I steal your business, I get thrown in prison, you're out. Right? I get three squares a day. I get to lift weights.
I get to get in buffed shape. Cops can't. They're eating donuts or none of them, but they don't have the leisure to exercise like some of these criminals do. It thwarts the biblical principle of restitution.
My job as a convicted criminal ought to be paying back the person for whom I stole. Not going into prison where the state is paying for my life. And again, taking, if I stole your business, they're going to say, you need to pay for me now to live in prison. It just doesn't, I don't know how we don't see that this makes no sense.
Thirdly, the slavery envisaged in Exodus 22 3 seems offensive to many people. That's where, again, if I steal from you and I say, I can't pay back. I'll be your servant until I pay back the debt. That seems barbaric to some people.
Have you heard about the modern prison system? That's barbarism. Young men go in, and they are homosexually raped. If I was a young man, criminal offender, I would much rather live with the Lawsons and pay back my debt than go to a prison where there is as much crime and more crime than what I'm previously used to.
Fourthly, prison does not deter crime. It simply removes it to another location. Drugs, theft, rape, et cetera, are rampant in prisons today. And fifthly, prison is not designed to promote effective rehabilitation.
It's just not designed that way. Poitras says, criminals have the most hope for rehabilitation if they feel the justice of their punishment. In addition, criminals have a greater chance to reform if they are in normal contact with normal society. You see, the guy gets his 20 stripes, he goes back to normalcy.
He's done. It's over. That's not the defining thing in his life now. He goes on to say, they then have the opportunity immediately to engage in just, socially profitable work and contributions to others.
The abnormalities of prison life can never become a viable environment for training in righteousness. So, I just say this not so we can go on and hold up signs outside the local prisons, but to get us thinking. You know, so many of the opponents of biblical law say, oh this flogging, this beating. It's terrible.
It's barbaric. I personally would rather get 20 stripes, have it done, than go live in a prison cell for 20 years and get out and only be able to get a job at a car wash. I just, to me, and I mean, with the thought of either one of them, I hope it promotes enough deterrent effect that I don't go out and commit the crime. But there are much better options than what has been set before us as humanitarian.
I argue that the modern day prison system is the opposite of humanitarian. It is anti-humanitarian. Just think, when you come to these biblical passages, read them in context, look at what is being said, look at the checks and balances, look at how God structures it, look at how the safeguards are in place. We've seen that for even capital crimes.
Two or three witnesses are necessary. Somebody is false witness. All those things are all brought into play and they all promote or help promote justice and righteousness with reference to these matters. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for this section in Deuteronomy. We thank you for this entire book. It's been a wonderful time to see the wisdom of God. in the revelation of these truths. And we just pray now that you would go with us and watch over us.
Again, we pray for our brothers and sisters in our local church that you would just protect each and every one. And we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.