Deuteronomy 15:19-22 – Offering God only our very best

In earlier verses of Deuteronomy 15, God instructed them to cultivate generosity, considering the goodness He had shown to them. God not only wanted them to be generous but they must also dedicate all their firstborns of men and beasts to Him. This call to dedicate the firstborns of men and beasts to Him was not new. In fact in Exodus 13, God already instructed Moses to have the people of Israel consecrate all the firstborns of men and livestock to Him. The reason for the instruction was because God spared all the firstborns of Israel when He took all the firstborns of Egypt at that first Passover. He did it so that Pharoah would let His people go. Consequently, He commanded that all the firstborns of the people of Israel, both men and beasts to be consecrated to Him.

In this passage in Deuteronomy 15:22-29, God once again touched on the consecration of the firstborns of their men and livestock. The purpose was probably to introduce the discussion on the observation of the Passover in Deuteronomy 16. At the foundation of God’s instruction was the whole issue of faith and trust in Him. Just as it required faith to live a generous life, faith would also be required to devote the firstborns of their livestock to God. It meant that they had to trust Him that their livestock would produce more after they had offered their firstborns to Him. It is always easy to give to God out of what we have. But it is not as easy to give to Him the very first blessing we have received and trust Him to give us more following it.

For an Israelite, the firstborns of the animals consecrated to God could not be used for their work. The temptation would be to use the firstborn of their bull to work in the field or shear the wool of their firstborn sheep before they were offered in sacrifice to the Lord. There could be a duration before they could go to the place of worship to offer their firstborn animal to the Lord. So while waiting some might be lured to use the animal first. As far as God was concerned, this must not happen. For God, nothing but the best would do. So in verse 21, we see another stipulation. Any firstborn of the flock or herd with blemish should never be offered to the Lord. They could be eaten in the town and not to be taken to the place of worship. But when eating their meat, as instructed earlier, no blood could be eaten.   

As we consider this passage, we cannot run away from the call to present to God our very best. Giving to God the best means giving to Him our entire life in total surrender. It means also giving the first and best of everything we have, the first fruits of all that we have. Have we given to God the first part of our day, our time, talents, and treasures? In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul tells us to do our best to be diligent to present ourselves approved to God. He is worthy to receive them all!

Deuteronomy 15:12-18 – To be a bondslave of the Lord

Deuteronomy 15:12-18 described how the law of the release of the Sabbath year was to be applied to a person who sold himself or herself as a slave to a relative. Because of poverty and poor circumstances, an Israelite might have to sell his or her service to a fellow Israelite to see himself or herself through the hard times. The Law of the Sabbath release stipulated that he or she must be discharged of the obligation on the seventh year.  

For the release, a master must not set the slave or maid away empty-handed. He must discharge that person by providing him or her amply from his flock, flour from his produce, and wine from his vat. He must give generously according to all the blessings he had received from God through that slave or maid. He must give generously because in ordinary circumstances to hire a slave or a maid would have cost him much more. Besides, this stipulation was also a reminder to the Israelites that they were once slaves to Pharoah, and it was the Lord who had redeemed them from their bondage. Hence to do so was to emulate the grace and mercy of God.    

In verse 16, God knew that there would be a situation where a slave or maid had no desire to leave. That person had come to love the master and his household and wished to remain to serve the master. In such a situation, that slave’s ear would be pierced with an awl into the door. This was a sign that the slave or maid had chosen to serve the master on his or her own accord. The person would become a bondslave. He or she had chosen the master by a personal and deliberate choice.

In Christ Jesus, we have been redeemed from the bondage to sin. In gratitude, we now choose willingly, personally, and deliberately to serve Him for the rest of our lives. The Christlikeness we allow Him to develop in us is like the awl-pierced ear of the bondslave. That must be the sign that we belong to Him. Our lives must reflect His character. We must choose to give up our rights to ourselves so that we can serve Him wholeheartedly. Unconditional love is the right response to our gracious Lord!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 – Cultivating a generous spirit

In instructing that all debts be discharged every Sabbath year, God was teaching His people generosity. Obeying this command would go toward building a caring community. But knowing the tendency of fallen man, God anticipated that there would be some who would harden their hearts and not lend a hand to help their brethren. So here in Deuteronomy 15:7-8, God warned the children of Israel against such hardheartedness. He told them specifically not to deny a poor man among them of supply but instead freely offer him so that he would lack nothing in living. 

In verse 9, God also anticipated that some would be calculative. Seeing that the Sabbath year was approaching, and they would be obligated to discharge their debtors, they would then resort to acting heartlessly toward them. God would not allow heartlessness among His people. He wanted them to remain compassionate, generous, and concerned even in such a situation. So verses 10-11 prescribed what they must do. He wanted them to have an ungrudging heart, an open and generous hand, and a sympathetic eye. With such a heart, hand, and eye. they would not resent the poor but would help them willingly instead.

In these verses, we see reasons why God’s people should be generous. Firstly, what they had were all given by the Lord. Secondly, God would bless them when they generously helped the poor. Thirdly, there would not be a time when no needy people would be among them. That alone necessitated the cultivation of a generous spirit. Fourthly, verse 9 suggests that hardening one’s heart towards the needy would become a sin when one could help but would not. 

God wants us to be compassionate people. We must not close our hearts, clench our fists, and shut our eyes toward the needy. In Galatians 6:10, we are urged to do good to all people, especially to those who are of the household of the faith, while we have the opportunity. We also know that when we refresh others, we ourselves will be refreshed. Being generous reflects best our generous God. Let us cultivate a spirit of generosity, especially toward the needy among us! But this does not mean that we must be gullible and be taken in by every cry for help. We must be willing to help but be careful not to be taken in by people who want to take advantage of us. Be helpful but be prudent!

Deuteronomy 15:1-6 – Stay true to God and be blessed

In Deuteronomy 14, God had already shown His desire to see a caring community among His people. He wanted them to be a closely knead society where each one is the concern of the other. No one should come to a point where he would be nonchalant about the needs of others in the community. Every three years, they were expected to bring their tithes to a store located in the town where they dwell. This was to provide for the Levites, the poor and needy. He would not have their orphans and widows among them to be deprived of their necessity in life.

In Deuteronomy 15, He spoke about making provision for their fellowmen who for some reason had been impoverished. In verses 1-6, God first dealt with debts the needy had incurred. Anything they owed a fellow Israelite should be waived on the seventh year. The seventh year is also known as the Sabbath year. It was to be a year where any debts owed to each one by fellowmen would be overlooked and the debtors were to be released from their obligation to repay their debts.  

God gave them two reasons why this generosity ought to be practiced. Firstly, it was because they as God’s chosen people, belong to each other. They were brethren in the Lord. And to show kindness and generosity to one another was something good and proper.  Secondly, it was because God would be blessing them bountifully in the land that they were going in to possess. God expected them to share the blessings that He would give to them.  

Verse 4 seems to be a contradiction. If there would be no poor among them then why would someone need to borrow? But there is no contradiction. Because to stay in the blessed state of having no poor among them was conditional. Verse 5 states that only if they obeyed God’s commandments would such a situation be possible. Knowing human propensity, God knew that there would always be some that would violate His instruction, thus leading to poverty. Ideally, there should be no poor among them but realistically there would be those who would disobey God and end up in poverty. While the promise of God to be richly blessed stood, how they conducted their lives could cut short those blessings. Underpinning the promise of blessing is the call to responsible and committed living. The blessing in life is dependent on our willing commitment to God by trusting and obeying Him. So we need to trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.    

 

Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – How to handle God's provision

God instituted tithing to the children of Israel for two reasons. Firstly it was a reminder to them that God was the source of their lives. In the offering of the tithe, they were in effect gratefully acknowledging that God owned them and that all they could have come from God. Secondly, through tithings, God was developing a more generous heart in each of them. So when everyone observed this instruction, the needs of the Levites and the less fortunate could be met. The generous gesture on their part would enable them to become a more caring community.

Here in Deuteronomy 14:22-29, God told them to offer a tenth of their produce, the grains, wine, olive oil, and all the firstborn of their livestock to Him. What they were instructed to do was to honor God and gratefully acknowledge Him as their provider. They would bring them to the place where God had put His name. This was clearly the place of worship. At first, this would be where the Tabernacle was erected and later in the temple when it was permanently built. The offering would be ceremoniously eaten at that place. However, God had graciously permitted them to convert their tithe into cash if they stayed too far from their place of offering. They would then bring the money there where they could purchase whatever was needed for the covenant and ceremonial meal with their family before the Lord. Here, God instructed them not to neglect the Levites in their provision.

They would adopt a different procedure at the end of every three years. They would not bring their tithes to the place specified earlier, but to a place in a store in the town where they were located. This was to help those without land, the orphans, the less fortunate people, the foreigners, and the Levites who had no possession of their own.  God was using His people to provide for this group of people. In so doing, the needy of the land would be cared for and they as a nation would be blessed.  

Underscoring the institution of the tithe is the call to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we love God, we acknowledge that all that we have come from Him. We will then gladly tithe to His work. This instruction also encourages us to show care for our fellowmen who are in need. Tithing and giving are tangible expressions of our love for God and those in need. Let us be generous toward God, and also toward men!   

Deuteronomy 14:3-21 – Living as God’s consecrated people

Unlike the Canaanites, the people of Israel were God’s Chosen people. Whatever they would do, even in dietary habits, they were expected to reflect that they were people who belonged to Him. Hence in Deuteronomy 14:2-20, God had to stipulate what land animals, seas creatures, and even fowls which they could eat and which they could not. In Leviticus 11, God also dealt with the same subject at length already. Then in Deuteronomy 14:21, He specifically stipulated that they should not eat any animal that had died by itself, although they were at liberty to give it to the strangers. They were also told not to boil a goat in its mother milk. Why? This was apparently a superstitious practice which the pagans would do to make their land more fertile. But as God’s people, they were strictly told not to emulate such superstition. 

What is important in the dietary stipulations are the principles that accompanied the instructions that God had given to the Israelites regarding this matter. Central to the instructions was God’s calling to Israel to be a holy people set apart unto Him. The differentiation of the edible and non-edible animals was to help the people of Israel to distinguish between what’s sacred and what’s secular in their lives. Holiness was not something pertaining to the spiritual realm only, it must embrace the other sphere of their daily living as well. In everything, behavior, and conduct, God was in fact helping them to inculcate a consecrated life. God's stipulation was not intended to curtail their freedom but to remind them that they were God’s holy people.

So from these instructions, God’s people learned to live a consecrated life. They learned to obey God and in so doing showed they were setting their affection on Him and not on the food. Like them, we too must learn to set our affection on Christ. In whatever we do, even in our dietary habits, we seek to be conscious of God. We must remember that we are first and foremost citizens of God’s Kingdom. And as we set our affection on God, we do not allow the kind of food we eat to prevent us from honoring God. We set ourselves apart from the world to live for His glory!  

 

Deuteronomy 14:1-2 -Why live a life of consecration?

Deuteronomy 14:1-2 leave the people of Israel without a doubt that God had chosen and set them apart for His own possession. Of all the people on the face of the earth, God had chosen to make them His very own. Therefore, they were expected to live as God’s consecrated people in the world. They must not conform to the ways and standards of the people around them. To do so would make them lose their character and uniqueness.

Today, like the people of Israel, we followers of Christ are called out of the world in Him to be God’s consecrated people. First Peter 2:9-10 affirm it. In these two verses, God explicitly said, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” This being the case, it is appropriate to consider how should one live his or her life as God’s chosen people.

Forbidding the people from cutting themselves nor shave their foreheads for the sake of the dead, was a call for the people to live a life of non-conformity to the pagans. For us Christians, the same call is made. We must not be conformed to the standards of the world around us. Firstly, to be conformed to the world around us is incongruent to our calling. We will be no different from the people of the world if we adopt their value system and behave like them. We must not digress and live like our past. Secondly to be conformed to the world would render us ineffective as witnesses to the people of the world. When we are not different from them in conduct and behavior, we have nothing different to point them to God.  Let us live a life that's congruous with our calling as God's people!