Lists to Live By

INTRO

These have several lists of different things, which were created as guardrails for the Israelites. It’s going to feel like we are trudging through mud. We are going to talk about inclusion and exclusion, cleanliness of the camp, neighbors’ crops, and marriage–– and it all feels like legalism. But what we are after is the heart condition.

TEACHING

Deuteronomy 23 This chapter covers the inclusion and exclusion of members into the community, the cleanliness of the camp, how to deal with fugitive slaves, the need to avoid cult prostitution, interest on loans, the importance of keeping vows, and rules for how to treat neighbors’ crops.

Deuteronomy 24:1: It’s never easy to teach on divorce, and these rules are not easy to accept. First, if a man married and found something improper about his wife, he could write a divorce certificate. She could have had a sexual sin or menstrual irregularities that prevented them from having consistent sexual relations. In Matthew 19:3, the Pharisees asked Jesus if there could be any reason for a man to divorce his wife. In the New Testament there are only two reasons for a divorce: if the husband dies, the wife could move on (Romans 7:1–3), and adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22). Divorce was not an option. Some of the best stories have come out of spouses working it out and restoring their marriage after adultery.

If the woman became another man’s wife and the second man also hates her, divorces her, and sends her away, she could not go back to the first husband because she has been defiled (vv. 2–4). Marriage can be seen as two pieces of wood glued together. If the pieces are split apart, there is no way for a clean separation, because there will always be some part of the wood left on the other. That means a part of you is still with each person you have had sexual relations with.

Deuteronomy 24:5: A newly married man did not have to go into the military for the first year so he can make his wife happy before leaving her.

Deuteronomy 24:6–9: To guard the security of families’ livelihoods, the Israelites were instructed not to take a millstone as a security for debt since that was how they made their living (v. 6). If someone kidnapped one of his Israelite brothers, he must die so that death would purge the evil from the community (v. 7). If someone had an infectious skin disease, the Israelites were instructed to carefully do everything the Levitical priest instructed (v. 8). Remember what the Lord did to Miriam on the journey after the Israelites left Egypt and she was stricken with leprosy (v. 9).

Deuteronomy 24:10–13: The next set of instructions was to show consideration of people to whom loans were made: (1) they were not to enter the house to collect what someone asking for a loan had offered as security (v. 10); (2) they were to wait for him outside while the security was brought out to the loaner (v. 11); (3) if the person receiving the loan was poor, the person who received their garment as security could not sleep in it but must give it back each night to provide them protection against the cold (v. 12); and (4) they were not to accept the only clothes the borrower owned as security (v. 13).

Deuteronomy 24:14–18: Hired hands who were poor were to be paid daily (vv. 14–15).

Fathers were not to be put to death for punishment of their children or the children for the punishment of their fathers (v. 16). Rather, each person must be responsible for their own sins (Joshua 7:24–25; Exodus 20:5). Sin does lead to death, but, praise God, His love comes in and takes care of the death. Justice was to be given to the foreigners, orphans, and widows (v. 17). The Israelites were to remember what it had been like while they were slaves in Egypt before God redeemed them and treat these groups accordingly (v. 18).

Deuteronomy 24:19–22: The Israelites were instructed to leave the sheaf for the foreigners, orphans, and widows to have (v. 19). And what was left on olive trees after knocking on the branches or the vines after picking the grapes, were to be left for them as well (v. 20–21), showing God’s concern for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. God reminded the Israelites again that they had once been slaves and had only been redeemed through Him. Therefore, they were to do as He instructed (v. 22).

All of these instructions deal with the heart condition of how the Israelites were to treat each other justly. Jesus brings a new perspective to these instructions. Matthew 5:17–20 says, “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But, whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:21–48: Jesus extended God’s law against murder to include anger. Likewise, Jesus extended adultery to include lust, put stricter guidelines on divorce, and restrained retaliation (vv. 21–42). Then Jesus extended God’s law to love our neighbors, to also include loving our enemies (vv. 43–48). The only way we can live out these conditions is if we have a heart change that is not based on legalism.

In Matthew 23:27, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity.”

In Romans 8:10, Paul wrote, “Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” You can’t fake walking with legalism. Jesus wants you to work on everything inside. The only way righteousness comes out is because we put our trust in Christ and not ourselves.

CLOSING

Again, we are dealing with a lot of rules. Deuteronomy 23 went over who could enter the assembly, cleanliness of the camp, fugitive slaves, prostitution, loans, keeping vows, and harvesting the crops. Then, in Deuteronomy 24 we dealt with marriage, debt, kidnapping, and skin disease. Moses emphasized taking care of the needs of the people, especially the foreigner, fatherless, and widow, because the Israelites had already received God’s care in their lives.