Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 15:1 - 15:23
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Deu_15:1-6
To the prescription of a tithe for the needy there is added a regulation for the behalf of debtors. The Israelites were not only to help the poor, but they were to refrain from what would be a hardship and oppression to them. Debtors, consequently, were not to be deprived of the benefit of the sabbatical year, for at the close of each seventh year there was to be a release. This does not imply that the debt was to be remitted, but only that the debtor was not then to be pressed for payment. As during the sabbatical year the land lay uncultivated, and the debtor consequently would earn nothing, it was reasonable that he should not then be pressed for payment. A law that every seventh year debts should be remitted, would have frustrated itself, for on such conditions no one would lend, and so there would be no debtors. This is an addition to the law of the Sabbath-year (Exo_23:10, etc.; Le Exo_25:2-7).
Deu_15:1
Release. The word thus rendered ( ùÀÑîÄèÈÌä , from ùÈÑîÇè , to leave, to let lie fallow) occurs only here and in Deu_15:2; in Exo_33:11 the cognate verb is used, and from this the word is best explained. The debt was to be left in the hands of the debtor, as the land was to be let lie or left untilled for that year.
Deu_15:2
Creditor; literally, master of the loan of his hand, equivalent to owner of what his hand has lent to another. Comp. the expression, "what was laid in his hand" (Le Deu_5:21; Authorized Version, "in fellowship," Le Deu_6:2); and Neh_10:32, "the debt of every hand" (Authorized Version, "the exaction of every debt"). Neighbor; here, fellow-Israelite. Exact it of his neighbor; literally, press or urge his neighbor, i.e. to pay. It is called the Lord's release; rather, a release for Jehovah is proclaimed; the sabbatical year, like the year of jubilee, was proclaimed, and it was for Jehovah, in his honor, and in accordance with his ordinance.
Deu_15:3
A foreigner; a stranger of another nation, having no internal social relation to Israel ( ðÈëÀøÄé ), as distinguished from the stranger who lived among them and had claims on their benevolence ( âÅÌø ). Of such they might exact a debt, without regard to the year of release. "This rule breathes no hatred of foreigners, but simply allows the Israelites the right of every creditor to demand his debts and enforce the demand upon foreigners, even in the sabbatical year. There was no severity in this, because foreigners could get their ordinary income in the seventh year as well as in any other" (Keil).
Deu_15:4
Save when there shall be no poor among you; rather, only that there shall be no poor among you; q.d; this ordinance is not intended to prevent creditors seeking the payment of their just debts, but only to prevent there being poor in the land. The reason assigned is that the Lord would greatly bless them in the land which he had given them, so that the creditor would be no loser by refraining from exacting his debt from his brother in the seventh year.
Deu_15:5, Deu_15:6
This blessing, though promised and certified, should come only if they were careful to observe and do all that God commanded them. The for at the beginning of Deu_15:6 connects this with Deu_15:4. Thou shalt lend. The verb in Kal signifies to borrow on a pledge; in Hiph. to lend on a pledge, as here; it is a denominative from the Hebrew noun signifying pledge.
Deu_15:7-11
The reference to the release leads to a prescription regarding readiness to lend to the poor. They were not to harden their hearts against their poorer brethren, nor were they, in the prospect of the year of release, to refuse to lend them what was necessary for their uses, but, on the contrary, were to open their heart and their hand to them according to their need, lest the poor should appeal against them to God, and sin should lie upon them.
Deu_15:7
Harden thine heart; literally, maize strong, so as to suppress natural compassion and sympathy.
Deu_15:8
Sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth; literally, the sufficiency of his need which he needeth, i.e. whatever he might need to meet his requirements.
Deu_15:9
A thought in thy wicked heart; literally, a thing in thy heart worthlessness, i.e. a thing which is worthless and unworthy. The word used is belial ( áÀÌìÄéÇÌòÇì ), which does not denote that which is wicked so much as that which is worthless. Thus, "a man of Belial" is a worthless fellow—not necessarily a wicked man (of. Deu_13:13). And it be sin unto thee; i.e. entail guilt upon thee, and so expose thee to the Divine displeasure.
Deu_15:10
Shall not be grieved; literally, shall not become evil, i.e. shall not entertain a grudge. They were to give, not grudgingly or of necessity, merely through dread of God's displeasure, but cheerfully and spontaneously (of. 2Co_9:7). For this God would bless them in all their works, so that they should not only be no losers, but should be gainers, by their generosity.
Deu_15:11
They were to open their hand wide to their poorer brethren, for there should always be such in the land. This statement is not inconsistent with that in Deu_15:4, for there it is the prevention of poverty by not dealing harshly with the poor that is spoken of; here it is the continuance of occasion for the relief of the poor that is referred to.
Deu_15:12-18
From injunctions regarding the treatment of the poor and of debtors the transition is easy to the law concerning slaves, inasmuch as it was through the stress of poverty that any became such from among their brethren. The law, as here laid down, is the same as that in Exo_21:2-6, somewhat expanded; the most important addition being that the slave is not only to go free after six years of service, but is to be furnished by his master with the means of setting up a home for himself. The six years here specified are not to be confounded with the years ending at the sabbatical year; they are any six years during which the individual has been in bondage.
Deu_15:14
Thou shalt furnish him liberally; literally, shalt lay on his neck, i.e. thou shalt load him. The meaning is well expressed in the Authorized Version. This is the new prescription added to the earlier law.
Deu_15:15
Compliance is enforced by the consideration that the Israelites had been themselves bondmen in Egypt, and had been redeemed out of that bondage by God (cf. Deu_5:15; Deu_10:19; Deu_16:12; Deu_24:18, Deu_24:22; Exo_22:20; Exo_23:9; Le 19:34). As God had dealt by them, so it behooved them to deal by others in like condition and need.
Deu_15:16, Deu_15:17
It might happen, however, that the slave chose rather to remain with his master than to be manumitted, and in that case he was not to be forced to go free, which would be a hardship to him, but was to be, by a formal process of nailing his ear to the door of his master's house, constituted his slave for life (cf. Exo_21:5). This was not a painful operation, especially as the servant's ear was probably already pierced for a ring; nor does any infamy appear to have been attached to the bearing of this badge of perpetual servitude. There is no mention here, as in Exodus, of the matter being referred to the judges; and this has led some to suppose that, by the time this later prescription was given, the earlier usage had passed away; but it is more natural to suppose that this usage was so regular and well known that it was needless formally to announce it.
Deu_15:18
Where a slave determined to have his freedom, the master was to set him free without grudge; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years; literally, double the hire of a hireling he hath served thee six years, i.e. he hath saved to thee as much again as it would have cost thee to pay a hired laborer to do the same amount of work.
Deu_15:19-23
In Deu_12:6, Deu_12:17 and in Deu_14:23, reference is made to sacrificial meals, and to the appropriation of the firstlings of the herds and flocks thereto; Moses here reverts to this, and gives a fuller exposition of it. It is enjoined that, as all the firstborn were to be sanctified to the Lord (Exo_13:2-13), they were not to work with the firstborn of their cattle, either by yoking the bullock to the plough or wagon or by shearing the sheep: these belonged to God, and were not to be put to any vulgar uses of men; year by year they were to be brought to the sanctuary, offered as sacrifices, and eaten before the Lord. If any of the firstborn animals were blind, or lame, or in any way blemished, such was not to be offered to the Lord, but might be used as food in their ordinary places of residence (cf. Le Deu_22:19, etc.).
1. The sabbatical year is here assumed, ut supra.
2. This year debts were to be remitted,—not cancelled, but pressure for payment was to be postponed.
3. Thus there was to be an enforced pause in the accumulation of wealth.
4. The sentiment of kindliness and forbearance as well as of justice in business life, was thus taught.
5. At the same time, there is a safeguard against the Hebrews being trifled with by foreigners by a misuse of this law. A foreigner (one who was so in all respects) might incur a debt in the sixth year, thinking that, as a Hebrew could not press for it the next year, he should have a long respite; while, as he was not bound by the Hebrews' Law, he could press for debts due to him! This would have been unequal. Hence God guards Israel against such inequality, and says, as a foreigner is not under this law so far as debts due to him are concerned, so neither is he included in it with regard to debts incurred by him; and the release is not intended to operate where its operation cannot be equal all round.
6. Moreover, there is in this law no encouragement to mendicancy, but rather such a check on pressure by the rich, and such an inculcation of regard for the poor, that beggary may be a thing unknown among them. The word "beggar" does not occur once in the Mosaic institutes. Surely in all this there is abundance of material for homiletic teaching from a Christian point of view. The formal institution here referred to has passed away. But, if we follow out the formula already laid down, that forms change, but principles never,—we cannot be at a loss for an exposition of the ethical teaching which this paragraph suggests for all time. For, as is well remarked by Mr. Garden, "The spirit of this law is the same as that of the weekly Sabbath. Both have a beneficent tendency, limiting the rights and checking the sense of property; the one puts in God's claims on time, the other on the land. The land shall keep a Sabbath unto the Lord." "The land is mine." Let us, then, study the Divine cheeks on human greed, as they are shown to us in the teaching of the New Testament.
I. WE HAVE THE DISTINCT DECLARATION, "YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN." This is far wider and deeper than any analogous statement of Moses. For while Israel had been redeemed out of Egypt, so that God said, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee," we must all feel how infinitely short that comes of the tender pathos in 1Co_6:19, 1Co_6:20; 1Pe_1:18, 1Pe_1:19. The phrase, "Ye are not your own," must needs cover the whole ground of all that we are and have. As "redemption" was the appeal at the basis of Israel's life, so is it in the case of God's people now.
II. WE ARE REDEEMED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE FOR GOD BY LIVING FOR OTHERS. We are expected to have "the same mind" which was also in Christ Jesus (Php_2:1-8). Note the argument involved in 2Co_8:7, 2Co_8:9; also that in Rom_14:7, et seq. See the purpose of Christ's redeeming work, as stated in Tit_2:14; and also the law of the Christian life in Gal_6:1-10. In these passages there is so much of duty indicated with regard to others, that though little of minute detail is now specified, yet Christian men cannot go far wrong if their lives are regulated thereby (1Co_10:24).
III. THE PROHIBITION OF OUR LORD AGAINST COVETOUSNESS IS VERY STERN AND STRONG. (See Luk_12:13-21.) At every stage of that paragraph there is some new and startling light in which the evil of covetousness is seen.
1. It cherishes a totally mistaken view of life (Luk_12:15).
2. It is perilous (Luk_12:20). Hence:
3. It is foolish (Luk_12:20, Luk_12:21). Strong checks these! Far stronger than Israel's.
IV. THERE IS A DIVINE STIGMA UPON COVETOUSNESS. (See Eph_5:5; Col_3:5.) It is idolatry. It is giving to creature objects the regard which is due only to God. He would have us "in his light see light," and regard the greed of gain as an abominable thing.
V. THERE IS A DIVINE RULE FOR LABOR. It is given us in Eph_4:28. The observance of this precept would prevent the social evil arising from covetousness on the one hand, and would create the good accruing from benevolence on the other. "Let him labor in order that he may have the wherewith to give!" How truly sublime! It is like the benevolence of God.
VI. THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER HAS SPECIAL INJUNCTIONS FOR THE RICH, with the giving of which he is charged. (1Ti_6:17-19.) Thus the Christian code is by no means less comprehensive than the Mosaic. On the contrary, it is far more so. It is equally stringent in allowing no one to think of his property as his own.
VII. OUR GOD WOULD WIN AS WELL AS WARN. See Heb_13:5, "Let your turn of mind be free from the love of money ( ἀφιλάργυρος )." Why? "Because himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee" (see also 2Pe_1:4). We are permitted, in Christ, to call God "ours," to find in his love our joy, in his wisdom and strength our stay, in his wealth our supply. Hence we ought to be lifted up above any consuming racking care, and to be loyally obedient to God's will in the sanctified use of all that we have (Mat_6:33). Let any one set side by side the Mosaic regulations in the paragraph we have just been considering, with the seven considerations adduced from New Testament teaching. Let him compare them with one another. And, if we mistake not, he will find more than ample material for other Homilies on the height, the breadth, the depth, and the length of Christian ethics, as covering the entire ground of the relations of man to man and of man to God, and as requiring no less exactitude in detail through less detail being specified. It is said (and we fear it is said truly) that the great hindrance to God's work in the world is that the Christian name does not carry with it Christian morality. Ah! if it did, how luminous would such morality appear! Let but the above considerations be universally acted out, on all sides, and no more strifes between capital and labor would ever be known. The rich would neither oppress, nor despise, nor neglect the poor; the poor would no longer be jealous of the rich. Both would recognize their mutual relation to and need of each other. While, with universal righteousness and kindness, mendicancy would be a thing unknown. And never, never, till there is a new principle of love infused through the various classes of society, will such a consummation be attained! Still, however sad our hearts may be as we consider how far we are off from the mutual regard between owner and laborer which even Moses enjoined, let each of us feel his personal responsibility for fidelity to the Divine Law. Only as this is felt and discharged by each, can it be felt and discharged by all. The Lord make us and all men to abound in good will, and may the supreme benevolence which has its source in heaven flow o'er the world as a pure river of water of life!
Deu_15:7-11
1. Year after year fresh claims on the kindly help of the prosperous would be presented by their poorer brethren (Deu_15:11).
2. These claims were to be generously and even gladly met, as if it were a delight. We need not charge the writer with ministering to idleness and beggary (see reference to Michaelis, in previous Homily). The word for, yea, even the conception of, a beggar, as we now understand it, is entirely absent from the Mosaic statutes. Honest and diligent work is supposed to be universal; though it might not be uniformly skilful or successful.
3. The desire to evade any obligation thus presented, was a wicked violation of the spirit of the Law (Deu_15:9).
4. The cry of the neglected or oppressed poor would rise up to God, and be heard.
5. The Lord would remember the, sin of cruel neglect and unkindness, or of haughty coldness.
Now, this chapter generally, and therefore this paragraph as a part of it, may be viewed in one of two aspects: either as a section of the Mosaic code of jurisprudence, or as an inculcation of social duty. It would be obviously beyond or beside our province to deal with it in the former aspect; we are concerned solely with the latter. We need not ask whether, in our New Testament standard, kindness to the poor is enjoined? That is understood. Our one query is this—
NOW THAT WE ARE UNDER CHRIST, AS OUR LEADER, HOW IS THE DUTY OF KINDNESS TO THE POOR PUT AND ENFORCED?
1. That duty which Moses enjoined as the leader and legislator of Jehovah's people, our Lord Jesus Christ set on the ground of his own sovereign right, and enforced by his own example. In that wondrous chapter of John's Gospel, the thirteenth, we are told that, when our Savior had washed his disciples' feet, he told them that he had given them an example that they should do as he had done to them, and also said, "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master," etc. We cannot suppose that this one act of kindness and condescension was merely meant to be literally followed. It must have been a kind of representative deed, in which our Lord virtually said, "In whatever way you may comfort or soothe a worn and weary brother by ministering to his wants, do not shrink from doing it, even though it may involve many a lowly, self-sacrificing act." Surely this covers the ground indicated in this paragraph, and includes the duty of giving to the poor and helping the needy, whatsoever their need may be.
2. Our Lord regards the poor and needy as his poor: all, generally, because he died for them; some, especially, because he lives in them. Hence, whoever would act towards them so as to show them the power and glory of a living Savior's sympathy, must let the poor feel through him the warm touch era tender Savior's love. Our Lord said in his intercessory prayer, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." Thus believers are to act in the world in the name and on the behalf of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the friends and benefactors of men.
3. Our Lord reckons a kindness shown to men for his sake, as if it were done to him. Even in the Old Testament we get a thought akin to this (Isa_63:9). But in the New Testament the truth is more clearly defined (cf. Act_9:4, where it is presented to us in connection with the reverse of kindness). In Mat_25:31 46 it is shown us more strikingly still. Christ and his people are one; and a kindness done to men, out of love to him, is done to him. Is there not a wondrous touch of nature here? Would not a mother feel a kindness shown to her son, for her sake, as if it were shown to her? If the mother were in England and the son in New Zealand, she would feel the same. And if the son were even base and unworthy, and love did cling to him for the mother's sake, she could not feel the kindness the less. And we are permitted to take this thought up into the heavenly region, and to read the amazing words, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these … ye have done it unto me."
4. Of so much importance is this kindness to the poor for Christ's sake to be reckoned by us, that we are to watch for and seize opportunities of doing "good unto all men, specially to them that are of the household of faith;" yea, so laboring, we are even to support the weak, recalling those priceless words which an apostle was mercifully led to save from the peril of unrecorded sayings, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Whenever and wherever there is presented to us a case of genuine need, there is an opportunity for honoring our Savior which we must not suffer to pass by unimproved.
5. There are New Testament warnings against the neglect of the poor, which are not only not less severe than any in the Old Testaments—they are even more so. We may arrange them in three classes, giving one specimen under each.
(1) 1Jn_3:17 : If a man can knowingly neglect the poor, God's love is not in his heart. Where love dwells in the heart, there will be corresponding words on the tongue, and corresponding blessings in the hand.
(2) Jas_2:5-9; Jas_5:1-4 : The Apostle James declares that to neglect or despise the poor is sin against God; and that the cries of oppressed poverty will be heard in heaven.
(3) Mat_25:31-46 : Our Lord has explicitly told us that in the day of judgment, the one test which will be applied to men, and by which their destiny will be decided, will be that of kindness to the poor for his sake! Where that has been, penitence and faith have wrought out in love. Where that has not been, there has been no love, and, consequently, neither faith nor penitent obedience. It is not necessary to be openly wicked and profane, in order to incur rejection by the Great Judge at last. There may have been not a single vice which shocked society or violated outward propriety. Be it so. Even then the absence of the activities of love will be a man's ruin. He who has not lived to save his brother will not himself be saved. A piety that is known only by negatives will be disowned by our sovereign Lord; while genuine, active, unselfish love, though it may have had but a limited sphere for service, oft shedding a tear that it could do no more, will meet with the holy Master's loving recognition, and will receive his gracious reward!
Deu_15:12-18
If now we briefly enumerate the several provisions connected with slaves and slave-holding, we shall see, in detail, the proof of the above general remark.
1. The Hebrew slave might be held for six years only; in the seventh he was to be permitted his freedom: excepting as provided in the eleventh detail.
2. There were other provisions, e.g. those connected with the year of jubilee, for ensuring the freedom of the slave, given in Lev_25:1-55.
3. Rigorous exaction and harshness were distinctly and sternly forbidden (Le Lev_25:39-43). If these injunctions and the reasons for them are considered, it will be seen that Hebrew slavery was unlike any other that the world has known.
4. If a master by revengeful treatment inflicted serious bodily injury on the slave, such slave was to have his freedom (Exo_21:26).
5. Undue punishment was avenged by the judges (Exo_21:20, Exo_21:21).
6. The slave might acquire property of his own, and might even amass enough to buy his own freedom (Lev_25:1-55.).
7. There were special decrees for the benefit of the slave. They were to be free from all manner of work on the Sabbath day. They had a right to fruit which grew spontaneously during the sabbatical year. They were to have their share of the feasts at the great national festivals.
8. If they accepted freedom at the end of the sixth year, they were not to be sent away empty, but were to be furnished by their master, liberally and gladly, with a sufficiency wherewith to "start on their own account."
9. The idea of freedom was ever kept before them. They might not sell themselves for life to any one. They were the Lord's freemen, and they were not to pervert the Divine thought by becoming life-long bondmen (Le Lev_25:42).
10. As the nation rose in intelligence, their laws became more and more liberal. Provisions which were intended at first only for the menservants, were extended, even in the lifetime of Moses, to the maidservants likewise (cf. Exo_21:7 and Deu_15:17).
11. If a slave did not accept his freedom when he might have it, he was to have his ears bored, that so he might bear about with him the brand that he had chosen servitude for life (Lev_25:16, Lev_25:17). Surely the object of this apparently strange enactment was to create among the people a disrespect for self-chosen servitude, and so, silently yet powerfully, to lift them above it. And yet one more feature should be noted, viz.:
12. When a foreign slave escaped from his master, the moment he touched the Hebrews' soil he was a free man! (Deu_23:16). Surely no one can study all these details without seeing that the entire tendency of the Mosaic Law was to lift up the people, to advance their happiness, their freedom, their intelligence, and their mutual regard!
If now for a little we pass to the New Testament, to see how the apostles of Jesus Christ regarded and dealt with slaves and slavery, and what their teachings were on this subject, we find that very little is said. There is no denunciation of the institution, notwithstanding the very wide difference between slavery under the Hebrews and under the Greeks and Romans. But we find:
1. Rules for masters, demanding that they render unto their slaves, that which is just and equal, since even they, with all their power, are not irresponsible, but have themselves a Master in heaven, to whom the slave is as precious as his owner.
2. They taught at the same time loyalty and obedience on the part of the slave, and urged on him the duty of so serving an earthly master that, in the very act thereof, he should serve a heavenly one.
3. That both master and slave would receive from their common Lord a reward according to their measure of fidelity; "knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."
4. They laid down afresh, in the name of the Lord Jesus, the old Mosaic law, that "there is no respect of persons with God;" thus teaching the equality of all men in the eye of him "who judgeth according to every man's work."
Now, comparing the Old and New Testament treatment of slavery, what do we see? In the Old Testament a number of details which would work in the direction of freedom, and thoughts dropped which would bring slavery to an end. In the New Testament the details are not repeated.
1. Because, having been given once, repetition would have been of little service.
2. Because the apostles were not laying down laws for a commonwealth in the same sense that Moses was. But, though we have no repetition of details, we have
(1) such an inculcation of kindness on one side and of loyalty on the other, as, when mutually heeded, would make slavery cease to be slavery in all save the name; and
(2) such a clear enunciation of the truth, that in Christ there is neither bond nor free, that, when the power of this Divine impartiality was felt, slavery would ultimately cease both in fact and in name the wide world over!
Thus we see that the Divine Being in his infinite wisdom has seen fit to adopt a similar process under both the Jewish and Christian dispensations, viz. that of educating men by the power of truth and goodness up to such a level, that they voluntarily put down this or that social wrong, instead of thrusting it out at once by a violent hand. Had e.g. this wrong of slavery been forcibly put down, the spirit of enslaving would have still existed on one side, and an opening for unbridled lawlessness might have been created on the other. But by the Divine process, slower though it be, the master is lifted up above the level of the tyrant, the slave comes to be regarded as a man and a brother, and ultimately the last letter shall be snapped, and men brought unto the glorious liberty of the children of God!
Nor can we do justice to our theme unless we point out, for practical use and fervent exhortation, the spiritual significance of the whole.
I. THE EQUALITY OF MEN BEFORE GOD. The Divine love and regard embrace all, The overshadowing wing of mercy covers all, and the free offers of mercy are made to all (Isa_55:1-7).
II. BECAUSE OF THE VALUE GOD SETS ON EVERY MAN, HE FORBIDS ANY MAN TO TAKE ANOTHER CAPTIVE, AND FORBIDS MAN SELLING HIMSELF INTO CAPTIVITY OF ANY KIND. "Ye are bought with a price; be ye not the slaves of men."
III. WE ARE FREE FROM HUMAN FETTERS THAT WE MAY BE ABSOLUTELY FREE TO SERVE GOD. "As free, but not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness; but as the servants of God."
IV. ABSOLUTE LOYALTY TO GOD IS THE SUREST AND BEST GUARANTEE OF FIDELITY TOWARDS MEN. Nothing would be wanting between master and servant now, if both were purely loyal to the Great Supreme. He who is bound by the vow of a holy consecration to serve a holy God, may be trusted with any department of human service.
V. TO THIS OUR GOD WOULD WIN AND LEAD US, BY PATIENT TEACHING AND GRACIOUS TRAINING. It takes long to perfect a world or even a class.
Deu_15:21
1. That in the eye of the All-pure One, every moral flaw or defect was an offence, and therefore could not be accepted by him.
2. That as man was guilty before God, he could not, on the reckoning of bare law, be well-pleasing in the eyes of a righteous Being, to whom all evil was an abomination.
The latter were:
1. That a flawless sacrifice was to be selected and offered to God by, and in the name, and on the behalf of, the guilty one.
2. That such flawless sacrifice, if offered in sincerity and penitence of spirit, would be accepted on his behalf. Now, we are not left to interpret the type as best we may, nor are we called on to offer the symbolic sacrifice. The antitype has come. The reality is ours. And an inspired interpretation of ancient rites is given us by apostles and prophets of our Lord and Savior (cf. Heb_9:14; 1Pe_1:19; Eph_5:27; 2Pe_3:14; Jud 1:24; Rev_14:5). With such teaching before us, we can see a sixfold significance in our text.
I. HERE IS A DIVINE APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE. It says, in language which ought never to be mistaken, "the least speck of sin is an offence to God;" and guilty man cannot, on the ground of his own right, have any standing-ground for an instant before him. It is said that in the later days of the Jewish economy, when the offerer brought his sacrifice, the slaughterer (who was other than the priest) took a two-edged knife and ran it from the nape of the neck down the spine, laying it bare. Not infrequently this would disclose a dark spot: this was a blemish; the animal was unfit for sacrifice, and had to be cast away. Hence the allusion in Heb_4:12, which, so understood, has in it marvelous power. For this blemish did not appear on the surface, it came not out to the light till the spinal marrow was exposed to view. Hence, see Heb_4:13, specially the marvelous phrase, " πάντα δὲ γυμνὰ καὶ τετραχηλισμένα κ . τ . λ .. Every creature is "opened" unto the eyes of him with whom is our account. And though exterior conduct may be such as to commend itself to the eye of man, yet in the "marrow" of one's being there may be a sin which is an offence to God. May be? There is. There are sins upon sins, and there is sinfulness, which is the root and ground of all. And hence it must be the case that sinful man has no right, on the ground of his own merits, to expect acceptance before God. This is the very ground-work of evangelical theology. It is said, "Pectus facit theologum," but we would say rather theolgum; for only as this appeal to (as has been remarked to us), "Conscientia facit" the conscience is felt, will the after-appeals properly tell.
II. HERE IS A DIVINE INVITATION TO FAITH. There was to be a sacrifice chosen, without blemish, which was to be presented by and on behalf of the offerer (Joh_1:29). God has provided a Lamb for a burnt offering, and for a sin offering too (Isa_53:6; 2Co_5:21). (For a discussion of the grounds on which the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all could be valid for the race, see Dale on the Atonement, sect. 10.) Suffice it here to say that this offering had the dignity of a Divine Sacrifice, the appropriateness of a human one, and the "sweet-smelling savor" of a perfectly pure one. Besides which it had all the spontaneity of a voluntary offering, and all the generosity of a noble serf-surrender for the sake of others; in making which the Redeemer was satisfied. And this offering which infinite love has made, loving faith may take and call its own; and abandoning all pretence to a standing-ground in native right, it may find an everlastingly firm one in sovereign grace!
III. HERE IS A DIVINE CALL TO PENITENCE. The sacrifice was to be offered with confession of sin (see Le 16:21). All the several ordinances which were spread over different sacrificial services in Israel, find their varied significances grouped in one, in the attitude of the sinner before the cross of his Savior. Well might Watts write, "My faith would lay her hand," etc. While we accept the Divine Sacrifice for sin, penitential confession over sin should ever mark us (see Psa_51:1-19.).
IV. HERE IS A DIVINE DEMAND FOR RECTITUDE OF HEART. When we bring our offerings to the Lord, no defect should be knowingly tolerated by us. Grace gives no warrant to laxity, and true penitence will be scrupulously intolerant of it (Psa_66:18). The freeness of pardon to the penitent involves no modification of ethical stringency, for the fact is, wherever there is any known tolerance of ill, to that extent penitence does not exist. God puts away sin by forgiving it, only as we put it away by repenting of it and casting it off.
V. HERE IS A DIVINE SUMMONS TO DEVOTION. Jesus died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And where a man, sorry for sin, intolerant of the evil in his nature, struggling against it, and pleading with God to uproot it, casts himself before God in this genuine uprightness of soul, none of the imperfections over which he mourns shall prevent the Divine acceptance of such an offering, presented, as it will be, in the name of the spotless Son of God. The virtue of his spotless sacrifice ensures the acceptance of ours. Every true and sincere penitent is, on this ground of free grace and dying love, as well-pleasing to God and as near to his heart as the purest angel before the eternal throne. The offering to God of a broken and a contrite heart is one which he cannot and will not despise (see also Heb_13:15, Heb_13:16).
VI. HERE IS A DIVINE PROPHECY, TO INSPIRE HOPE. These sacrifices of ours, offered in penitence, faith, and love, are still but imperfect. And the holiest souls are most alive to such imperfection, and most sorrowful over it. Hence it should be no small joy to find in the Word of God precisely the same expressions used to express the future purity of believers that are employed to indicate the perfection of the Redeemer's sacrifice. As the one Great Sacrifice was "without blemish and without spot," so all those who are themselves living sacrifices to God, shall be "without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." He who received them at first on the ground of his own purity, shall create in them a spotlessness like his own. They shall be "without fault" before the throne of God. And he who died for them shall then present them as his own!
Have we not here (in conclusion) a remarkable illustration of what the Apostle Paul so often speaks of as "the righteousness of God?" Each one of these six steps is a fresh aspect of it. The first shows the righteousness of God in taking cognizance of sin; the second, the righteousness of God in offering a spotless sacrifice for sin; the third, the righteousness of God in requiring penitential acknowledgment of sin; the fourth, the righteousness of God in demanding intolerance of sin; the fifth, the righteousness of God in accepting our consecration in the name of a Sinless One, only when we penitently put away sin; the sixth, the righteousness of God in ensuring that those who are living sacrifices to him shall ultimately be perfectly freed from all sin! Thus from beginning to end "grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." "Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and everse Amen."
I. THAT THE POOR HAVE A CLAIM ON THE FORBEARANCE OF THE RICH. (Deu_15:1-5.) Such a claim will willingly be recognized by the loving heart. It will shrink from pushing hard on any one. It will put itself in the debtor's place, and bear with him as long as possible. This was the lesson enforced by the law of "the release" It secured for the poor debtor a whole year of grace. It interposed a check upon the creditor s selfishness, and rebuked him if disposed to press hard upon his brother. It did more, testifying by its very existence to God's sympathy with the poor, and to his desire that they should be mercifully treated. The harshly exacting spirit, however common, is not God's or Christ's (Mat_18:23-35). It is assumed, of course, that the case of poverty is genuine. There is no evidence that, even during the sabbatic year, the creditor was not entitled to recover his debt from a man well able to pay it.
II. THAT THE POOR HAVE A CLAIM ON THE ASSISTANCE OF THE RICH. (Deu_15:7-12.) Assistance goes beyond forbearance. The Law requires, not simply that lenders of money should not be harsh and unforbearing in exacting its repayment, but that, where need exists, they should be willing, nay forward, to render such assistance as is in their power. Honest poverty—for such only is in contemplation—creates a claim which those "having this world's good" (1Jn_3:17) are not at liberty to disregard. Heart and hand are to be alike open to the cry of distress. The giving is to be:
(1) liberal;
(2) ungrudging;
(3) disinterested (cf. Mat_5:42).
Note: 1. Liberal assistance in a time of need is worth many doles spread over a longer period.
2. Assistance, where practicable, should be given in the form of loans. This is the idea of the law, and it is in harmony with the best modern opinion. Loans are preferable to simple charity; they do not pauperize; they develop the principle of self-help, encourage diligence and thrift, and foster the spirit of honest independence. Those who cannot be helped save by gratuities must, of course, be helped cheerfully.
III. THAT LIBERALITY TO THOSE IN NEED TENDS TO OUR OWN ENRICHMENT. (Deu_15:4-7, Deu_15:10.) No truly liberal man will make this the motive of his liberality. But as a secondary encouragement to liberal giving, and as removing fears of the possible results to one's own fortunes, it deserves to be considered. The liberal soul is usually not the loser, but the gainer, by its liberality. Selfishness defeats itself. Subtle spiritual laws operate to produce this result.
1. Liberality reacts upon the soul itself to ennoble and expand its powers. This tends in the direction of enrichment.
2. The liberal man is loved and trusted. He gets kindness shown him for his kindness to others (Luk_6:30-39). He is one whom neighbors and friends are always willing to serve, and to speak a good word for.
3. God's blessing is upon him (Deu_15:4, Deu_15:10). Through that blessing he is prospered. He divides and conquers. By opening his hand liberally, he gets more than he parts with. "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth," etc. (Pro_11:24, Pro_11:25).—J.O.
Deu_15:11
I. THIS DOES NOT IMPLY:
1. That many existing causes of poverty cannot be permanently removed.
2. That every attempt ought not to be made to reduce poverty within its narrowest limits. The saying, "Ye have the poor always with you" (Mat_26:11), is no utterance of fatalism. Much can be done to reduce poverty. With the growth of society, still more as a result of the spread of Christian principles, numbers of the causes of poverty now existing may be expected to disappear (idleness, intemperance, bad laws, merciless competition, class antagonisms, unfavorable sanitary conditions, etc.).
II. IT DOES IMPLY:
1. That under the most favorable conditions of existence on earth a residuum of poverty is still to be looked for.
(1) There are diversities of talents. There will always be those whose abilities only fit them for the humblest positions in society. And these may be left friendless, or health may fail them, or they may live to old age, and become dependent.
(2) There are vicissitudes of fortune. These come to the most fortunate of men, reducing them oftentimes to great straits. And it is too much to expect that, even under millennial conditions, the causes of such vicissitudes will altogether cease to operate.
2. That while poverty lasts, it is our duty to help to bear its burden. Poverty, in a state of society such as we anticipate as the goal of history, need never be the painful thing it is now. With loving hearts, and hands ready to help, its sting will be taken away.—J.O.
Deu_15:12-19
I. THE NATURAL RIGHT OF MAN TO HIS FREEDOM. (Deu_15:12, Deu_15:13.) Freedom is man's birthright. It cannot be bartered. He must not be robbed of it by violence. If from temporary causes the use of it is lost, the right itself is not destroyed. So the Jews were taught by the return of every Hebrew to his freedom in the seventh year. It is a primary and unalienable right of man, which here, like underlying rock, juts to the surface.
II. THE RIGHT OF SERVANTS TO EQUITABLE AND GENEROUS TREATMENT. (Deu_15:13-16.) Bondmen were not to be regarded as mere "hands," still less as chattels. They were to be kindly treated, and dismissed with presents. It is a principle of equity which comes to light in Deu_15:18. We may apply it to modern times by saying that if servants are worth more to us than their wages, it is but fair that they should participate in profits. The principle is already being recognized, and has in it the germ of the solution of many difficult problems in political economy.
III. THAT LOVE IS THE TRUE RECONCILER OF SERVICE AND FREEDOM. (Deu_15:17, Deu_15:18.) It made the service no service—no real bond-service. Compare Jacob's service for Rachel (Gen_29:20). Were the law of love to rule more than it does in the relations of servants and masters, of employers and employed, it would greatly sweeten trade, commerce, manufactures, and domestic life. There are doubtless faults on the side of servants as well as of masters—but how seldom is any earnest attempt made to break down feelings of antagonism, and to bring in healthier relations! The law of Christ is the true cure for strikes, lock-outs, combinations, etc. Apply to the service of God in Christ. Law here, but also love, and through the love freedom in obedience. The highest freedom is in obedience to the law of holiness.—J.O.
Deu_15:19-23
1. Of God's claim on the first and choicest of what we have for his own service.
(1) Of our property.
(2) Of our affections.
(3) Of our powers of body and mind.
2. Of God's right to redeemed life. The firstlings were redeemed by God for himself on the memorable night of the deliverance from Egypt (Exo_13:12). God claims redeemed life as peculiarly his own (Isa_43:1-4; 1Co_6:20).
3. Of God's right to young life. A symbol of early consecration.
4. Of happy fellowship with God. The fellowship was a fruit of the dedication of the best.—J.O.
I. THE DUTY OF FORGIVENESS WAS PRESCRIBED TO ALL THE BRETHREN. In fact, this poor law was the proclamation of the "brotherhood" of believers in the one God. Upon this forgiveness of debt was based. The creditor was to realize how much more blessed it is to give than to receive (Act_20:35); how blessed it is to be able to help a brother! Had the Jews been faithful, the parable of the good Samaritan would not have been such a wonder. It was just the spirit fostered by this institution of the year of release.
Now, this duty of forgiveness of the debts of brethren arises out of the forgiving character of God. As the common Father of these brethren in the faith, he inculcates forgiveness because he practices it. The experience of Israel in the wilderness was of a series of Divine forgivenesses, even though in forgiving them he took vengeance on their inventions (Psa_99:8). And the beautiful parable about the two debtors (Mat_18:23-35) is really meant to bring out the truth that unforgivingness is a violation of the family spirit encouraged by the king, and is the unpardonable sin.
II. THE IDEAL SET BEFORE THEM WAS TO BE THE EXTIRPATION OF POVERTY IN THE FAMILY OF GOD. It would most probably never be reached, but it is well to be aiming at the high and the noble, even though it may not be all attained. The marginal reading in Deu_15:4, which has received the imprimatur of Jonathan Edwards, brings out the beautiful aim thus set before Israel. The effort was to be to make Jewish poverty impossible. The same idea seized on the mind of the Church after Pentecost, leading to the trial of a Christian commune, wherein for a time it could be said, "Neither was there any among them that lacked" (Act_4:34). Poverty was for a time at least banished from the Christian Church. These strivings after an ideal shall be crowned at last with success when under the new regime, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat" (Rev_7:16).
III. THE OBEDIENT ARE INTENDED TO MAKE ALL MEN THEIR DEBTORS. The Lord promises his people, if they are only obedient, that they shall lend to many nations, but shall not borrow (Deu_15:6). It is sometimes thought to be a special benefit when a person can contract debt from all and sundry, his credit being so good. But it surely is a higher benefit to be in a position to oblige everybody. This is what God meant his people to be. Surrounding nations were to borrow from them, and own their indebtedness. And has not this a moral and spiritual side? The religious spirit is the obliging spirit, the spirit which hails with delight the opportunity of "doing good unto all men, especially unto such as are of the household of faith."
IV. IT IS THE SECRET OF SOVEREIGNTY TO BE ABLE TO OBLIGE OTHERS. For it is significant surely that the Israelites are told, immediately after the promise of being able to lend unto many nations, "and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee" (verse6). Rule arises out of obligation. Influence is acquired when we are able to befriend others. Doubtless many of the conquests of Israel were by force rather than by finance; but it is the peaceful acquisition of power that a Divine promise contemplates, and we begin to rule as "kings and priests unto God" when we become thoroughly obliging. It is thus love and loyalty are secured among men.
Thus we have in this arrangement of the year of release principles laid down that God has illustrated himself in his considerate and forgiving conduct towards us, and in which we are to try to follow him.—R.M.E.
Deu_15:7-11
I. GENEROSITY SHOULD NOT BE TOO CALCULATING IN ITS TURN. Doubtless, often times it receives a noble return, but this should not be too much regarded, lest the speculative spirit mar the motive altogether. Nor again should we harden our hearts under the persuasion that our generosity is misspent, and that we shall never be repaid in any way. God has himself shown us true generosity in making his sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good, and in sending his rain upon the unjust as well as the just. And hence we are exhorted to "lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil" (Luk_6:35). There is something noble in an uncalculating generosity.
II. IT IS THE