Deuteronomy 23:15-25 – Neighborliness is godliness in display

The uniqueness of God’s people must be seen in how they treat each other. God would not allow the children of Israel to forget that they belonged to each other. They were brothers and sisters, and they must not forget that. Hence, they must never exploit each other. When any of them had a need and requested help from another, it must be willingly given without charging interest. God, however, allowed them to levy an interest should they lend to a foreigner, who borrowed from any of them.  

Another area that they must thrive and excel in was personal integrity. They must be people of their words. Their words must be their bond. When they had made a vow, they must not delay in fulfilling it. Any failure to honor one’s words was a sin as far as God was concerned. The best thing then was for them not to make a vow. Then they would not be snared by their own words. God wanted them to be people of integrity, people of their words.

The next area God wanted them to do was to exercise neighborliness. And as neighbors, they must exercise generosity and not selfishness. What underscored this instruction was the fact that whatever they had, first came from God. So when any of them came to another person’s vineyard, he should be allowed to partake of the grapes or the grain, as much as he needed. That person, however, must not take advantage and reap from his neighbor’s vineyard to take away. The principle in this instruction was for God’s people to be generous, and when kindness was shown, it must not be taken advantage of.

Three lessons to take away. Firstly. just as the Israelites were members of each other in God’s family, every Christian is a member of the body of Christ. And in Him, we are members of one another. We must take care of rather than exploit each other. We should owe each other nothing except love. Secondly, every one of us must be a person of our words. Personal integrity is something we must cultivate. When we have made a promise be sure to keep it. Don’t say one thing and then do another. As Jesus had said, we must just let our yes be yes and our no, no. Anything else would cause us to stumble. Thirdly be generous toward each other but never take another person’s generosity for his or her weakness. No one should take advantage of any kindness shown. As God’s people let us show honesty, integrity, and generosity. In what we do, do all to please God. Let this be the guiding principle in our life!