Deuteronomy 24:17-22 – Generosity is love in action

In Deuteronomy 24:17-18, God expected the children of Israel to adopt a spirit of generosity. This call meant that they must be magnanimous towards the poor and needy. They must not only show kindness to their widows and orphans but also treat the foreigners with the same kindness. They were told never to take a widow’s garment as a pledge. One way for them to deal kindly with them was to constantly recall their past. They were told to remember that they were once slaves and were ill-treated and it was God who had redeemed them. So He was demanding that they accord these needy and unfortunate people the same generosity as they were shown by Him while they were in Egypt. Justice, God demanded, must be accorded to the weakest of their society. Having suffered so harsh a treatment under the hand of the Egyptians, the people of Israel should be able to show tenderness towards the needy.  

In verses 19-22, God was making provision for the poor and needy. His instruction to His people was to leave something in their harvest fields so that the poor and needy could find sustenance. When they harvest their fields and had forgotten to bring back a bag of what they had reaped, they must not go and retrieve it. They were told to leave it for the people in need. When they do so God would bless them. When they harvest olives or grapes they were told not to clean up the branches or the vine but to leave some behind so that the needy could just pick what they had left behind.    

The lessons God had for them are also the lessons He has for us. Firstly, God is the source of all our needs. Just as He had provided for us, we must also remember the needy and be the source of supply for their needs. Secondly, just as God was generous toward us, we must seek to be generous toward the needy as well. We are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. Remember 1 John 3:17. It says, “Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” If we cannot show love to a brother whom our eyes can see, how can we ever effectively show our love to God whom our eyes cannot see? Generosity is love in action. Let’s do it!