Deuteronomy 25

Deuteronomy 25:1 “If there is a dispute between men, they are to go seek justice, and the judges will hear their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty.

Deuteronomy 25:2 If the guilty party deserves to be flogged, the judge will make him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate for his crime.

Deuteronomy 25:3 He may be flogged with forty lashes, but none added to it. Or else, if he is flogged with lashes added to these, your brother will be degraded in your sight.

Deuteronomy 25:4 “Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.

Deuteronomy 25:5 “When brothers live on the same property and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry illegitimately outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her.

Deuteronomy 25:6 The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

Deuteronomy 25:7 But if the man doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the elders at the city gate and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He isn’t willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.’

Deuteronomy 25:8 The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’

Deuteronomy 25:9 then his sister-in-law will go up to him in the sight of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she will answer, ‘This is what is done to a man who will not build up his brother’s house.’

Deuteronomy 25:10 And his family name in Israel will be ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed.’

Deuteronomy 25:11 “If two men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she puts out her hand and holds his genitals firmly,

Deuteronomy 25:12 you are to cut off her hand. Do not show pity.

Deuteronomy 25:13 “Do not have differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.

Deuteronomy 25:14 Do not have differing dry measures in your house, a larger and a smaller.

Deuteronomy 25:15 You must have a complete and ethical weight, a full and ethical dry measure, so that you may live long in the land Yahveh your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 25:16 For everyone who does such things and acts unfairly is repulsive to Yahveh your God.

Deuteronomy 25:17 “Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the journey after you left Egypt.

Deuteronomy 25:18 They met you along the way and attacked all your stragglers from behind when you were tired and weary. They did not fear God.

Deuteronomy 25:19 When Yahveh, your God, gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land Yahveh, your God, is giving you to take possession of as an inheritance, blot out the memory of Amalek under the sky. Do not forget.

Deuteronomy 25 quotes:

“Initially, the account about Amalek appears to be an unconnected topic. The law commands Israel to remember what Amalek did to Israel in the wilderness on their way out of Egypt. The older account in Exodus 17:8–16 relates how Amalek attacked Israel, and was defeated by Joshua as Moses held up the staff of God in his hands. From a structural point of view, this passage may be seen as a frame to 12:9–10 in terms of what Israel must do when it experiences rest from all the enemies around you, thus forming a frame around the entire body of cultic and social laws in chapters 12 – 25. The frame to the present passage of remember (v. 17a) and do not forget (v. 19b) calls Israel to a matter of unfinished business with Amalek, her archetypal enemy (cf. 1 Sam. 15:1–3; 30:1–31). Israel is to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven (cf. 12:3; wipe out their names). But verse 18 adds important details to the original account, and brings it under the theme of the tenth commandment and the prohibition of desiring what belongs to the poor and powerless. Amalek’s crime was in desiring and taking advantage of a people when they were weak, powerless and unable to defend themselves (Olson 1994: 114).”

Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

“The legislation concerning levirate marriage is peculiar to the presentation of the law in Deuteronomy; the practice, however, was an old one,5 and here it is given legal authority in the covenant community of Israel. The passage falls into two sections: (i) the legislation concerning levirate marriage is stated (vv. 5–6); (ii) the procedure is stated which is to be followed in the event that a man was unwilling to fulfil his responsibilities (vv. 7–10).”

Craigie, Peter C.. The Book of Deuteronomy (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (pp. 313-314). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

Deuteronomy 25 links:

Clarifying Evangelical Conditionalism
fair is faithful
flogged with forty
in retrospect- remembering the past
protecting joy
protecting the right to reproduce
sandal and spit
strongholds among us
The sky above – shamayim, the land beneath – erets

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The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Deuteronomy 24

Deuteronomy 24:1 “If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, he may write her a divorce certificate, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.

Deuteronomy 24:2 If, after leaving his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife,

Deuteronomy 24:3 and the second man hates her, writes her a divorce certificate, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house, or if he dies,

Deuteronomy 24:4 the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be repulsive to Yahveh. You must not cause failures on the land Yahveh, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man takes a bride, he must not go out with the army or be liable for any duty. He is free to stay at home for one year so that he can bring joy to the wife he has married.

Deuteronomy 24:6 “Do not take a pair of grindstones or even the upper millstone as security for a debt, because that is like taking a throat as security.

Deuteronomy 24:7 “If a man is discovered stealing a throat of one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from you.

Deuteronomy 24:8 “Be careful with a person who has a case of severe skin disease, watching carefully everything the Levitical priests instruct you to do. Be careful to do as I have commanded them.

Deuteronomy 24:9 Remember what Yahveh your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.

Deuteronomy 24:10 “When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect what he offers as security.

Deuteronomy 24:11 Stand outside while the man you are making the loan to brings the security out to you.

Deuteronomy 24:12 If he is a poor man, do not lie down with the garment he has given as security.

Deuteronomy 24:13 Be sure to return it to him at sunset. Then he will lie down in it and celebrate you, and this will be counted as righteousness to you before Yahveh, your God.

Deuteronomy 24:14 “Do not exploit[1] a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your Israelite brothers or one of the guests in a town in your land.

Deuteronomy 24:15 You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets because he is poor and his throat depends on them. Otherwise, he will cry out to Yahveh against you, and you will be held guilty of the failure.

Deuteronomy 24:16 “Fathers are not to be put to death for their children, and children are not to be put to death for their fathers; each person will be put to death for his failure.

Deuteronomy 24:17 Do not deny justice to a guest or fatherless child, and do not take a widow’s garment as security.

Deuteronomy 24:18 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Yahveh, your God, redeemed you from there. Therefore, I am commanding you to do this.

Deuteronomy 24:19 “When you reap the harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the guest, the fatherless, and the widow, so that Yahveh your God may empower you in all the work of your hands.

Deuteronomy 24:20 When you knock down the fruit from your olive tree, do not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the guest, the fatherless, and the widow.

Deuteronomy 24:21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left. What remains will be for the guest, the fatherless, and the widow.

Deuteronomy 24:22 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.

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[1]עָשַׁק = exploit. Deuteronomy 24:14; 28:29, 33.

Deuteronomy 24 quotes:

“If the man decided to divorce the woman, he was to write out a bill of divorce and formally serve it on the woman. She was then sent away from the man’s house, but possession of the bill of divorce gave her a certain protection under law from any further action by the man, In the situation envisaged by this particular piece of legislation, the divorced woman then remarries another man. The second marriage is terminated, either by a second divorce or by the death of the second husband. Now comes the specific legislation: under all these circumstances, the first man may not remarry his former wife. After she has been defiled—the language (defiled) suggests adultery (see Lev. 18:20). The sense is that the woman’s remarriage after the first divorce is similar to adultery in that the woman cohabits with another man. However, if the woman were then to remarry her first husband, after divorcing the second, the analogy with adultery would become even more complete; the woman lives first with one man, then another, and finally returns to the first. Thus the intent of the legislation seems to be to apply certain restrictions on the already existing practice of divorce.”

Craigie, Peter C.. The Book of Deuteronomy (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (p. 305). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

“This is not a general law permitting divorce or setting forth grounds for it, but simply takes the practice of divorce for granted (cf. 22:19, 29). The case is therefore a special one, framed in a casuistic fashion (as an ‘if ’ or hypothetical situation). The first three verses are the protasis (‘if ’ section), describing a situation of successive marriages that have terminated. Then verse 4 contains the apodosis (‘then’ section) which supplies the consequence to verses 1–3, and brings the law to a conclusion.”

Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Deuteronomy 24 links:

daily wages rule
fair to everyone
in retrospect- remembering the past
jobs and the will of God
leftovers
never less than the best
poverty and dignity
remember Miriam
work and marriage

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The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Deuteronomy 23

Deuteronomy 23:1 “No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been eliminated may enter Yahveh’s collected assembly.

Deuteronomy 23:2 No one of illegitimate birth may enter Yahveh’s collected assembly; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter Yahveh’s collected assembly.

Deuteronomy 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite may enter Yahveh’s collected assembly; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter Yahveh’s collected assembly permanently.

Deuteronomy 23:4 This is because they did not meet you with food and water on the journey after you came out of Egypt and because Balaam, son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim, was hired to curse you.

Deuteronomy 23:5 Yet Yahveh, your God, would not listen to Balaam, but he turned the affliction into empowerment for you because Yahveh, your God, cares about you.

Deuteronomy 23:6 Never pursue their welfare or prosperity all your days – permanently.

Deuteronomy 23:7 Do not despise an Edomite, because he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian because you were a guest in his land.

Deuteronomy 23:8 The children born to them in the third generation may enter Yahveh’s collected assembly.

Deuteronomy 23:9 “When you are encamped against your enemies, be careful to avoid anything offensive.

Deuteronomy 23:10 If there is a man among you who is not pure because of a bodily emission during the night, he must go outside the camp; he may not come anywhere inside the camp.

Deuteronomy 23:11 When evening approaches, he is to wash with water, and when the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.

Deuteronomy 23:12 You are to have a place outside the camp and go there to relieve yourself.

Deuteronomy 23:13 You are to have a digging tool in your equipment; when you relieve yourself, dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement.

Deuteronomy 23:14 You see, Yahveh, your God, walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you, so your encampments must be sacred. He must not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you.

Deuteronomy 23:15 “Do not return a slave to his master when he has escaped from his master to you.

Deuteronomy 23:16 Let him stay among you wherever he wants within your city gates. Do not mistreat him.

Deuteronomy 23:17 “No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute.

Deuteronomy 23:18 Do not bring a female prostitute’s wages or a male prostitute’s earnings into the house of Yahveh your God to fulfill any solemn pledge because both are repulsive to Yahveh your God.

Deuteronomy 23:19 “Do not charge your brother interest on silver, food, or anything that can earn interest.

Deuteronomy 23:20 You may charge a foreigner interest. Still, you must not charge your brother Israelite interest so that Yahveh, your God, may empower you in everything you do in the land you are entering to take possession of.

Deuteronomy 23:21 “If you make a solemn pledge to Yahveh your God, do not be slow to keep it, because he will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as a failure.

Deuteronomy 23:22 But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not be counted against you as a failure.

Deuteronomy 23:23 Be careful to do whatever comes from your lips because you have spontaneously voluntarily vowed what you promised to Yahveh, your God.

Deuteronomy 23:24 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want until you are full, but do not put any in your container.

Deuteronomy 23:25 When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

Deuteronomy 23 quotes:

“We are persuaded that every true servant of Christ must be a man of one idea, and that idea is Christ; he must belong to the very oldest school — the school of Christ ; he must be as narrow as the truth of God; and he must, with stern decision, refuse to move one hair’s breadth in the direction of this infidel age. We cannot shake off the conviction that the effort on the part of the preachers and teachers of Christendom to keep abreast of the literature of the day must, to a very large extent, account for the rapid advance of rationalism and infidelity. They have got away from the holy Scriptures, and sought to adorn their ministry by the resources of philosophy, science, and literature. They have catered more for the intellect than for the heart and conscience. The pure and precious doctrines of holy Scripture, the sincere milk of the Word, the gospel of the grace of God and of the glory of Christ, were found insufficient to attract and keep together large congregations.”

Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy. Loizeaux Bros 1880. p. 349.

“The common theme running through the laws contained in this section1 is the question of admission to the assembly of the Lord (vv. 2, 3, 4, 9). The assembly (qāhāl) of the Lord refers to the covenant people of God, particularly when they are gathered in his presence. Although the normal use of the noun (and the related verb) in Deuteronomy appears in a context dealing with Horeb/Sinai,2 here the word has general reference to Israel as a worshipping community.3 Thus to enter the assembly of the Lord would indicate a person who became a true Israelite and who therefore shared in the worship of the Lord. The expression is somewhat narrower in its intent than Israel, taksn as a whole, for there would be resident aliens and others who, though a part of the community,4 were nevertheless not full members of it.”

Craigie, Peter C.. The Book of Deuteronomy (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (p. 296). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

Deuteronomy 23 links:

do not enter
free and clear
in retrospect- God is looking
in retrospect- remembering the past
limited enrollment
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, June 12, 2023
marmsky·com 20200330
marmsky·com 20200401
marmsky·com 20200402
one citizenry
people of our word
sacred septic
usurping the harvest

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The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Deuteronomy 21

Deuteronomy 21:1 “If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land Yahveh your God is giving you to take possession of, and it is not known who killed him,

Deuteronomy 21:2 your elders and judges are to come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities.

Deuteronomy 21:3 The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work.

Deuteronomy 21:4 The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or planted, and they will break its neck there by the stream.

Deuteronomy 21:5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, because Yahveh your God has chosen them to minister to him and pronounce empowerments in his name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.

Deuteronomy 21:6 All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken.

Deuteronomy 21:7 They will answer, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it.

Deuteronomy 21:8 Yahveh, absolve[1] the guilt of your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.’ Then, the responsibility for bloodshed will be absolved from them.

Deuteronomy 21:9 You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood because you will be doing what is right in Yahveh’s sight.

Deuteronomy 21:10 “When you go to war against your enemies and Yahveh your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and

Deuteronomy 21:11 if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife,

Deuteronomy 21:12 you are to bring her into your house. She is to shave her head, trim her nails,

Deuteronomy 21:13 remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a whole month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife.

Deuteronomy 21:14 But if you do not treasure her, you are to let her go as her personality prefers, and you must not sell her or treat her as merchandise because you have humiliated her.

Deuteronomy 21:15 “If a man has two wives, one cared about and the other not cared about, and both the cared about and the not cared about bear him sons, and if the wife not cared about has the firstborn son,

Deuteronomy 21:16 when that man gives what he has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of the wife cared about as his firstborn over the firstborn of the not cared about wife.

Deuteronomy 21:17 He must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the wife he did not care about, by giving him two shares of his estate because he is the first of his virility; he legally deserves the firstborn’s share.

Deuteronomy 21:18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn’t listen to them even after they discipline him,

Deuteronomy 21:19 his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown.

Deuteronomy 21:20 They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn’t obey us. He’s a glutton and a drunkard.’

Deuteronomy 21:21 Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

Deuteronomy 21:22 “If anyone is found guilty of a failure deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

Deuteronomy 21:23 you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s affliction. You must not defile the land Yahveh your God is giving you as an inheritance.

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[1]כָּפַר (piel) = absolve. Deuteronomy 21:8; 32:43.

Deuteronomy 21 quotes:

“A very suggestive and interesting passage of holy Scripture now lies open before us, and claims our attention. A sin is committed — a man is found slain in the land, but no one knows aught about it; no one can tell whether it is murder ov manslaughter, or who committed the deed. It lies entirely bej’ond the range of human knowledge ; and yet there it is — an undenialjle fact. Sin has been committed, and it lies as a stain on the Lord’s land, and man is wholly incompetent to deal with it.

What, then, is to be done ? The glory of God and the purity of His land must be maintained. He knows all about it, and He alone can deal with it; and truly His mode of dealing with it is full of most precious teaching.

First of all, tlie elders and judges appear on the scene. Tlie claims of truth and righteousness must be duly attended to ; justice and judgment must be perfectly maintained. This is a gieat cardinal truth, running all through the Word of God. Sin must be judged ere siiis can be forgiven or the sinner justified. Ere mercy’s heavenly voice can be beard, justice must be perfectly satisfied, the throne of God vindicated, and His name glorified. Grace must reign through I’ighteousness. Blessed be God that it is so ! Wiiat a glorious truth for all who have taken their true place as sinners ! God has been glorified as to the question of sin, and therefore He can, in perfect righteousness, pardon and justify the sinner.”

Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy. Loizeaux Bros 1880. pp. 330-331.

“In the earlier legislation, distinctions have been made between manslaughter and murder, together with the manner of dealing with such crimes (17:8; 19:4–13). In this passage it is envisaged that a crime has taken place (presumably murder, though it could have been manslaughter), but the authorities do not know who was responsible for the crime. Because of the religious implications of murder, incurring guilt for the whole land, the matter could not simply be left (to use modern language) as an open file at the police headquarters. Some action had to be taken immediately, though the action described in these verses does not preclude the continuing investigation into the cause of the death by the officers of the law. Both the crime and the procedure involved have parallels in Near Eastern literature and legal texts,1 though at a number of points the Israelite practice is quite distinctive.”

Craigie, Peter C.. The Book of Deuteronomy (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (p. 278). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

Deuteronomy 21 links:

bypassing preferences
from captive to family
hand washing cow
in retrospect- removing the shame
staying compliant and connected
transvestites and mother bird theft
why he was taken down

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The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.