Deuteronomy 22:1-4 – Why should we be compassionate?

When Israel became God’s covenant people, they were given the Ten Commandments.  Living by them would make them stand out as God’s unique people. The first four commandments deal with relating with God while the next six deal with relating with one’s fellowmen. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses was dealing with how those commandments of God should be applied in life. Now in Deuteronomy 22 and the next three chapters, Moses would be dealing with several sundry issues on building a decent society in the promised land. In Deuteronomy 22, he dealt with two issues broadly. They have to do with being good neighbors and ensuring faithful marriage. We shall also reflect on the different issues and their implications presented in this chapter in bite sizes.

In the first four verses of Deuteronomy 22 is the call to exercise brotherly love for one’s neighbors. The people of Israel, all 12 tribes, belonged to the same family. Hence, they must recognize the fact that they belonged to each other. Here we see Moses urging God’s people to act rightly as a family. They must act cordially toward each other even though they might not personally know each other. God expected them to be each other’s keepers. Hence, their kind action should include returning each other’s strayed animals and lost goods.

Here in these four verses, we sense a call of God for His people to develop a spirit of compassion and care towards each other. The account talked about a person coming across a strayed animal not belonging to him or finding some lost goods. The person could respond in one of these ways.  Firstly, if he knew who the owner was, he must seek out the owner and return the animal or his lost goods to him. Secondly, if he did not know who the owner was, he could hold on to it, take care of it till the owner showed up to claim it. And thirdly, he could simply ignore it. God’s expectation was of course for him to do the first two. He could not choose the third option. With the same spirit,  in verse 4, God prescribed what a person must do when he discovered a neighbor’s animal in trouble. He must not ignore it but rather rescue it.

God wants us, His people, to develop a love for our neighbors. In His community, we must learn to view ourselves as family members of one another even though we may not always know each other personally. He expects us to do the right thing. He will not allow us not to offer a helping hand to someone in need. One attitude that can sabotage the spirit of compassion is the spirit of nonchalance. God will not allow His people to develop it. We are to be kind to one another. Our compassion can be the reason why others can believe and trust in God. Jesus commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. This will demonstrate His love through us. Let’s do it!