At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother, because Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release.
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Deuteronomy 15:1-3 sits inside this longer paragraph.
At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother, because Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release. However there will be no poor with you (for Yahweh will surely bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess) if only you diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you today. For Yahweh your God will bless you, as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks. Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you. You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to. For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land. If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today. It shall be, if he tells you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you, then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you; for he has been double the value of a hired hand as he served you six years. Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do. You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You shall eat it before Yahweh your God year by year in the place which Yahweh shall choose, you and your household. If it has any defect—is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God. You shall eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle and as the deer. Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.
Parallel Translations
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At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts.
This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother, because Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed.
Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release.
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At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’s release.
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;
Show all 3 translations
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At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not exact it of his neighbour and his brother; because the LORD'S release hath been proclaimed.
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it; but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thy hand shall release.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (2)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (22)
- Deuteronomy 23:20 (v3) You may charge a foreigner interest; but you shall not your brother interest, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you put your…
- Deuteronomy 31:10 (v1) Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths,
- Exodus 23:10-11 (v1) “For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that…
- Leviticus 25:2-4 (v1) “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to…
- Luke 7:42 (v2) When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?”
Show all 22 cross-references
- James 2:13 (v2) For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Exodus 21:2 (v1) “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
- Luke 6:34-38 (v2) If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much. But…
- Nehemiah 5:7-11 (v2) Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You exact usury, everyone of his brother.” I…
- Matthew 18:25-35 (v2) But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.…
- Luke 4:18-19 (v1) “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to…
- Exodus 22:25 (v3) “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest.
- Isaiah 58:3 (v2) ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast…
- Isaiah 61:1-3 (v1) The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken…
- Jeremiah 36:8-18 (v1) Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book Yahweh’s words in Yahweh’s…
- Amos 8:4-6 (v2) Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we…
- Matthew 6:12 (v2) Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
- Matthew 6:14-15 (v2) “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses,…
- Matthew 17:25-26 (v3) He said, “Yes.” When he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth…
- John 8:35 (v3) A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.
- 1 Corinthians 6:6-7 (v3) But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers! Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you, that you have…
- Galatians 6:10 (v3) So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (25 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v2 He shall only release his debtors, which are not…
He shall only release his debtors, which are not able to pay for that year.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Deu 15:1 At the end of [every] seven years…
Deu 15:1 At the end of [every] seven years thou shalt make a release.
Ver. 1. At the end of every.] This Sabbatical year signified the year of grace, the kingdom of Christ, wherein all Israelites indeed are discharged of their debts. {Mat 6:12} {See Trapp on "Mat 6:12"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–3 i.e. In the last year of the seven, as…
i.e. In the last year of the seven, as is most evident from Deu 15:9; Exo 21:2; Jer 34:14. So the like phrase is oft used, as Deu 14:28; Jos 3:2; Jer 25:12; Luk 2:21; Act 2:1. And this year of release, as it is called below, Deu 15:9, is the same with the sabbatical year, Exo 23:11; Lev 25:4.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. A law for the relief of…
Here is, I. A law for the relief of poor debtors, such (we may suppose) as were insolvent. Every seventh year was a year of release, in which the ground rested from being tilled and servants were discharged from their services; and, among other acts of grace, this was one, that those who had borrowed money, and had not been able to pay it before, should this year be released from it; and though, if they were able, they were afterwards bound in conscience to repay it, yet thenceforth the creditor should never recover it by law. Many good expositors think it only forbids the exacting of the debt in the year of release, because, no harvest being gathered in that year, it could not be expected that men should pay their debts then, but that afterwards it might be sued for and recovered: so that the release did not extinguish the debt, but only stayed the process for a time. But others think it was a release of the debt for ever, and this seems more probable, yet under certain limitations expressed or implied. It is supposed (Deu 15:3) that the debtor was an Israelite (an alien could not take the benefit of this law) and that he was poor (Deu 15:4), that he did not borrow for trade or purchase, but for the subsistence of his family, and that now he could not pay it without reducing himself to poverty and coming under a necessity of seeking relief in other countries, which might be his temptation to revolt from God. The law is not that the creditor shall not receive the debt if the debtor, or his friends for him, can pay it; but he shall not exact it by a legal process. The reasons of this law are, 1. To put an honour upon the sabbatical year: Because it is called the Lord's release, Deu 15:2. That was Gods year for their land, as the weekly sabbath was God's day for themselves, their servants, and cattle; and, as by the resting of their ground, so by the release of their debts, God would teach them to depend upon his providence. This year of release typified the grace of the gospel, in which is proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord, and by which we obtain the release of our debts, that is, the pardon of our sins, and we are taught to forgive injuries, as we are and hope to be forgiven of God. 2. It was to prevent the falling of any Israelite into extreme poverty: so the margin reads (Deu 15:4), To the end there shall be no poor among you, none miserably and scandalously poor, to the reproach of their nation and religion, the reputation of which they ought to preserve. 3. God's security is here given by a divine promise that, whatever they lost by their poor debtors, it should be made up to them in the blessing of God upon all they had and did, Deu 15:4-6. Let them take care to do their duty, and then God would bless them with such great increase that what they might lose by bad debts, if they generously remitted them, should not be missed out of their stock at the year's end. Not only, the Lord shall bless thee (Deu 15:4), but he doth bless thee, Deu 15:6. It is altogether inexcusable if, though God had given us abundance, so that we have not only enough but to spare, yet we are rigorous and server in our demands from our poor brethren; for our abundance should be the supply of their wants, that at least there may not be such an inequality as is between two extremes, Co2 8:14. They must also consider that their land was God's gift to them, that all their increase was the fruit of God's blessing upon them, and therefore they were bound in duty to him to use and dispose of their estates as he should order and direct them. And, lastly, If they would remit what little sums they had lent to their poor brethren, it is promised that they should be able to lend great sums to their rich neighbours, even to many nations (Deu 15:6), and should be enriched by those loans. Thus the nations should become subject to them, and dependent on them, as the borrower is servant to the lender, Pro 22:7. To be able to lend, and not to have need to borrow, we must look upon as a great mercy, and a good reason why we should do good with what we have, lest we provoke God to turn the scales.
II. Here is a law in favour of poor borrowers, that they might not suffer damage by the former law. Men would be apt to argue, If the case of a man be so with his debtor that if the debt be not paid before the year of release it shall be lost, it were better not to lend. "No," says this branch of the statute, "thou shalt not think such a thought." 1. It is taken for granted that there would be poor among them, who would have occasion to borrow (Deu 15:7), and that there would never cease to be some such objects of charity (Deu 15:7), and that there would never cease to be some such objects of charity (Deu 15:11): The poor shall never cease out of thy land, though not such as were reduced to extreme poverty, yet such as would be behind-hand, and would have occasion to borrow; of such poor he here speaks, and such we have always with us, so that a charitable disposition may soon find a charitable occasion. 2. In such a case we are here commanded to lend or give, according to our ability and the necessity of the case: Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand, Deu 15:7. If the hand be shut, it is a sign the heart is hardened; for, if the clouds were full of rain, they would empty themselves, Ecc 11:3. Bowels of compassion would produce liberal distributions, Jam 2:15, Jam 2:16. Thou shalt not only stretch out thy hand to him to reach him something, but thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him, to lend him sufficient, Deu 15:8. Sometimes there is as much charity in prudent lending as in giving, as it obliges the borrower to industry and honesty and may put him into a way of helping himself. We are sometimes tempted to think, when an object of charity presents itself, we may choose whether we will give any thing or nothing, little or much; whereas it is here an express precept (Deu 15:11), I command thee, not only to give, but to open thy hand wide, to give liberally. 3. Here is a caveat against that objection which might arise against charitable lending from the foregoing law for the release of debts (Deu 15:9): Beware that there be not a thought, a covetous ill-natured thought, in thy Belial heart, "The year of release is at hand, and therefore I will not lend what I must then be sure to lose;" lest thy poor brother, whom thou refusest to lend to, complain to God, and it will be a sin, a great sin, to thee. Note, (1.) The law is spiritual and lays a restraint upon the thoughts of the heart. We mistake if we think thoughts are free from the divine cognizance and check. (2.) That is a wicked heart indeed that raises evil thoughts from the good law of God, as theirs did who, because God had obliged them to the charity of forgiving, denied the charity of giving. (3.) We must carefully watch against all those secret suggestions which would divert us from our duty or discourage us in it. Those that would keep from the act of sin must keep out of their minds the very thought of sin. (4.) When we have an occasion of charitable lending, if we cannot trust the borrower, we must trust God, and lend, hoping for nothing again in this world, but expecting it will be recompensed in the resurrection of the just, Luk 6:35; Luk 14:14. (5.) It is a dreadful thing to have the cry of the poor against us, for God has his ear open to that cry, and, in compassion to them, will be sue to reckon with those that deal hardly with them. (6.) That which we think is our prudence often proves sin to us; he that refused to lend because the year of release was at hand thought he did wisely, and that men would praise him as doing well for himself, Psa 49:18. But he is here told that he did wickedly, and that God would condemn him as doing ill to his brother; and we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth, and that what he says is sin to us will certainly be ruin to us if it be not repented of.
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III. Here is a command to give cheerfully whatever we give in charity: "Thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest, Deu 15:10. Be not loth to part with thy money on so good an account, nor think it lost; grudge not a kindness to they brother; and distrust not the providence of God, as if thou shouldest want that thyself which thou givest in charity; but, on the contrary, let it be a pleasure and a satisfaction of soul to thee to think that thou art honouring God with thy substance, doing good, making thy brother easy, and laying up for thyself a good security for the time to come. What thou doest do freely, for God loves a cheerful giver," Co2 9:7.
IV. Here is a promise of a recompence in this life: "For this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee." Covetous people say "Giving undoes us;" no, giving cheerfully in charity will enrich us, it will fill the barns with plenty (Pro 3:10) and the soul with true comfort, Isa 58:10, Isa 58:11.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 At the end of every seven years thou shalt…
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. Not of servants, for they were not to be dismissed from their service until they had served six years, as is directed to in a following law; for if they were to be set free whenever a sabbatical year came, they might be discharged when they had not served more than a year, or than half a year, or than a month or two. Indeed when the year of jubilee intervened, they were released be it at what time it would; but not in a sabbatical year, which was a year of release of debts, as the following verses show, as well as there was, then a rest of the land from tillage, Lev 25:2. Now this was done at the end or extremity of every seventh year; not at the latter end or extremity of it, for if the debt of a poor man might be exacted of him in the year, and until the end of it, it would not in this respect have been a sabbatical year, or a year of rest and quiet; but this was done at the first extremity of it, at the beginning of it, as Aben Ezra and Ben Melech observe; though Maimonides (b) asserts it to be after the seven years were ended; for he says,"the seventh year releaseth not monies but at the end of it,''according to Deu 15:1 that as in Deu 31:10 after seven years is meant, so the release of monies is after seven years.
(b) Hilchot Shemittah & Yobel, c. 9. sect. 4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Orders concerning the release of debts every seventh year,…
Orders concerning the release of debts every seventh year, ver. 1-6. Concerning lending, ver. 7-11. Concerning the release of servants, ver. 12-18. Concerning the firstlings, ver. 19-23.
At the end - That is, in the last year of the seven, as is, most evident from ver. 9. And this year of release, as it is, called below, ver. 9, is the same with the sabbatical year, Exod. xxiii, 11.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v1 The Sabbatical year of release, 1.
CHAPTER XV
The Sabbatical year of release, 1.
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The manner in which this release shall take place, 2-5.
Of lending to the poor, and the disposition in which it should
be done, 6-11.
Of the Hebrew servant who has served six years, and who shall be
dismissed well furnished, 12-15.
The ceremony of boring the ear, when the servant wishes to
continue with his master, 16-18.
Of the firstlings of the flock and herd, 19, 20.
Nothing shall be offered that has any blemish, 21.
The sacrifice to be eaten both by the clean and unclean, except
the blood, which is never to be eaten, but poured out upon the
ground, 22, 23.
NOTES ON CHAP. XV
Verse 1. At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release] For an explanation of many things in this chapter, see the notes on Exod. xxi. and xxiii., and Lev. xxv.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Deu 15:1. At the end of every seven years…
Deu 15:1. At the end of every seven years — When the seventh year comes, which is the end or last of the seven, Deu 15:9; Deu 15:12. This termed here the year of release, was the sabbatical year spoken of Exo 23:11;
Lev 25:4. The wisdom of the Hebrew constitution provided for a release of all debts and servitudes every seventh year, that the Jewish nation might not moulder away from so great a number of free subjects into the condition of slaves: see on Leviticus 25.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 The year of release is no doubt identical with…
The year of release is no doubt identical with the sabbatical year of the earlier legislation (Exo 23:10 ff, and Lev 25:2 ff), the command of the older legislation being here amplified. The release was probably for the year, not total and final, and had reference only to loans lent because of poverty (compare Deu 15:4, Deu 15:7). Yet even so the law was found to be too stringent for the avarice of the people, because it was one of those which the rabbis “made of none effect by their traditions.”
Deu 15:2
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Because it is called the Lord’s release - Render, because proclamation has been made of the Lord’s release. The verb is impersonal, and implies (compare Deu 31:10) that “the solemnity of the year of release” has been publicly announced.
Deu 15:3
The foreigner would not be bound by the restriction of the sabbatical year, and therefore would have no claim to its special remissions and privileges. He could earn his usual income in the seventh as in other years, and therefore is not exonerated from liability to discharge a debt anymore in the one than the others.
Deu 15:4
There is no inconsistency between this and Deu 15:11. The meaning seems simply to be, “Thou must release the debt for the year, except when there be no poor person concerned, a contingency which may happen, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee.” The general object of these precepts, as also of the year of Jubilee and the laws respecting inheritance, is to prevent the total ruin of a needy person, and his disappearance from the families of Israel by the sale of his patrimony.
Deu 15:9
literally: “Beware that there be not in thy heart a word which is worthlessness” (compare Deu 13:13 note).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–3 In the. Hebrew, "at the extremity of seven years,"…
In the. Hebrew, "at the extremity of seven years," which some erroneously refer to the end, though the original signify also the beginning. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The Fourth Command
The Fourth Command
Deu_15:1 to Deu_16:17
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Deu_15:1-23
1, 2 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner [word] of the release [what is said therein]: Every creditor that lendeth aught unto his neighbour1 shall release it; he shall not exact [press his, sq.] it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called [for called is] the Lord’s release. 3Of a foreigner thou mayest exact [urge, press] it again: but that which Isaiah 4 thine with thy brother thine hand shall release: Save when [Only that]2 there shall be no poor among you; for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: 5Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments [this commandment] which I command thee this day. 6For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. 7If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any [one] of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother. 8But thou shalt open thine hand wide [cheerfully]3 unto him, and shalt surely [richly] lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. 9Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart [a word in thy heart, worthlessness] saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against [over concerning] thee, and it be sin unto thee. 10Thou shalt surely4 give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved [and not evil shall thine heart be] when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto [the reaching forth of thine hand]. 11For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide [ever again] unto 12thy brother, to thy poor [bowed, distressed] and to thy needy, in thy land. And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. 13And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: 14Thou shalt furnish him liberally [Thou shalt load him, lay upon his neck richly] out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. 15And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond-man in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing [word] to-day. 16And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee: 17Then thou shalt take an awl and thrust [give, it in] it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant forever. And also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise. 18It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee: for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee [double of the wages of the hireling has he served thee six years], in serving thee six years: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest. 19All the firstling males that come [are born] of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. 20Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household. 21And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God. 22Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart. 23Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.
Deu_16:1 to Deu_17:1 Observe [Keep] the month of Abib, and keep [make, celebrate] the passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. 2Thou shalt therefore sacrifice [kill] the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place [cause his name to dwell] his name there. 3Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; (for thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste): that thou mayest remember the day when thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life. 4And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coasts seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst [didst kill] the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. 5Thou mayest not sacrifice [kill, as margin] the passover within 6any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee: But at [to] the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice [kill] the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season [time] that thou earnest forth out of Egypt. 7And thou shalt roast [cook] and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. 8Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread;5 and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work therein. 9Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. 10And thou shalt keep [make] the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute [measure] of a free-will-offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God,6 according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee: 11And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name. 12And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond-man in Egypt: and 13thou shalt observe and do these statutes. Thou shalt observe [make to thee] the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn, and thy wine.7 14And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates: 15Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because [for] the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase [inbringing, produce] and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. 16Three times in a year shall all thy males appear [be seen] before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they 17shall not appear before the Lord empty: Every man shall give as he is able [according to the gift of his hand] according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. As the third command closes with the number three, Deu_14:28, so the fourth command, defined through the sacred number seven, has its commencement numerically with that number. Theologically this chapter connects itself with that which precedes, in this way, that as in the tithes the whole fulness of the earthly goods was recognized as Jehovah’s, as His blessing, belonging to Him, and for which He is to be praised; so with the seven days the whole period of life generally was regarded as sanctified to Jehovah, because He will complete it in His holy and blessed rest. Ethically and practically the transition is from the tithe of the poor at the close of the 14th chap., to 1) the poor debtor, Deu_15:1-11; Deuteronomy 2) the Hebrew slaves, male and female, 12–18.
2. Deu_15:1-11. Deu_15:1. At the end, sq., i.e. at the expiration of the septennate; thus in general the Sabbatical year. With the presupposition of this institution from Exo_23:10 sq.; Lev_25:2 sq. (comp. upon these passages, and the article in Herzog’sEncykl. XIII. 205; Bræm., Wanderings of Israel, p. 381; [also article on Sabbatical Year in SmithBib. Dict.—A. G.], there is a completion, but at the same time a genuine exposition and application of the Sabbath-law, according to Mar_2:27. As שְׁמִטָּה תַּעֲשֶׂה (Deu_15:1) refers to שָׁמַט, Exo_23:11, to leave, let lie, then the land, and indeed with reference to the poor; here with a like reference to the poor, to whom a loan has been made—the loan. The connection also of שָׁמוֹט, Deu_15:2, with יָדוֹ, that every creditor should permit his hand to rest with reference to that which he had lent, brings out the same thing; only that with every such interpretation as to the sowing and the harvest (Exo_23:10), there must be a regard also to Lev_25:4-5. Reference to the latter passage is the more in place here; for the debtor relation lies, in the highest measure, at the foundation of the statement, Leviticus 25 Jehovah there gives Israel the land, as here the בַּעַל מַשֵּׁה is either: the master of the lending, having the object in the relative clause: which he will lend or: the idea of the master is defined from the connection, and מַשֵּׁה is the object—lends the loan to his neighbor. Canaan is a good loaned. Jehovah is the only proprietor and creditor in the land; this is especially the supposition for the sabbatical year, Lev_25:2. But if all are debtors to Jehovah, the relation of debtor between man and man can only be relative, and must be carried out according to Mat_6:12. Thus passing over from the tithe to the Sabbath idea, the sabbatical year (שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן), the rest of the divine loan, namely of the land, a שבת ליהוה (Lev_25:4; Lev_25:2), becomes in Deuteronomy a release also of every human loan. All Israelites are moreover brethren, which is insisted upon, Deu_15:2-3, etc. Israel pays no tithe to Jehovah from his loan during the sabbatical year. Jehovah Himself cares for the personæ miserabiles in His enlarged blessing upon the seventh year (Lev_25:6 sq.), through which the master appears as placed alike with his servants, thus—although there is no express mention of the widow, fatherless, poor, comp. however Deu_24:14—fed upon divine alms, as they are usually through the blessing of God upon their toil. It agrees well with this detailed explanation to understand שְׁמִּטָּה, Deu_15:1, as the leaving the debtor in rest for the seventh year, as the clause: thou shalt not exact (press), more fully describes, and one who is also אָחִיו. The usual Jewish interpretation is that there should be an entire release of the debt, Luk_6:34-35. [The clear reference to the land-rest or release, which was for the year, and the force of the Hebrew word rendered exact, more correctly urge or press, and the whole spirit of the Mosaic law, which was not to destroy obligations of this kind, but to guard the poor and unfortunate against undue severity or oppression, are all in favor of the interpretation which regards the release as for the year. This interpretation is now almost universally accepted. The Bib. Com. adds also: “it seems further clear that the release had reference only to loans, and to loans lent because of poverty, not to debts contracted in the purchase of goods.” A. G.]—Called, sq.; an official proclamation, although not precisely as Lev_25:9-10 (Deu_23:2; Deu_23:4). Probably at the beginning in the seventh month (10. Tisri) at the day of atonement. לַיהוֹה, as Lev_25:2 (Exo_20:10). This reference to the Sabbath Year gives the reasons for the release of the debtor. Deu_15:3. Comp. Deu_14:21 (Deu_23:21). The foreigner was not in the condition of those who had no harvest this year, and therefore could not pay.—Which is thine, what thou hast of thine in thy brother’s hand as a loan. The hand, because it must rest, keep festal time, in reference to the field, etc., would perhaps be busy with reference to the debtor. But we cannot serve God and mammon. Deu_15:4. Only(will I say to you still) that, sq., equivalent to but, nevertheless (in the promised rich and sure blessing of God), there shall be no אֶבְיוֹן (literally straitened, wretched) in Israel, to whom one shall have to lend. Not that Israel should be charged to take care that there be no poor (Schultz, Keil), but to hold before him the idea of his blessed national condition as willed by God (Deu_15:6). In every possible mercy or kindness of Israel, Jehovah has thus been before him. Comp. further Deu_4:21; Deu_4:38. From this ideal stand-point the earnest exhortation (Deu_15:5) introduces the transition to the relations, not as they should be, but as they are and will be. Deu_15:6. בֵּרַכְךָ. The blessing is a complete, spoken, established thing. As it is here explained, so it must be understood in Deu_15:4 (against Keil and Schultz). עַכַט in Hiph.: to take from any one a pledge for security, to oblige one, thus to lend upon security; in Kal.: to bind one’s self by a pledge; hence, to borrow from one. Such independence is surely a dominion in the world. Deu_15:7. The actual relations at first hypothetically stated. Comp. Deu_2:30. אָמֵץ, Piel: to draw together, hence make firm, spoken against such an unnatural state, which truly the closed hand follows in a natural way, as a door which is shut before the needy brother. Deu_15:8. Obliges them to do much more than to leave the hardened, closed heart.—For his need.—דֵּי is the construct st. of דַי (דָיָה), abundance, sufficient, enough to cover what was wanting to him. Deu_15:9. The application to the Sabbatical Year. Comp. Deu_8:5; Deu_13:14. It would be shameful to represent to himself the obligation of the seventh year, and anticipate it with an evil eye with respect to his needy brother. Since the year is one proclaimed as ליהוה, Deu_15:2, the loud or mute cry of the poor becomes intelligible (Jam_2:15 sq.; 1Jn_3:17; Jam_4:17). Deu_15:10. According to the connection, it concerns especially the loan which he asks (2Co_9:5 sq.). Comp. further Deu_12:7. Finally Deu_15:11 presents the entire sad and actual condition (Mat_26:11), as on account of sin, as its consequence, guilt, punishment, which condition, however, must be met with brotherly kindness and mercy (1Pe_4:8). The whole arrangement of the seventh year rests upon the supposition of this never-ceasing relation of the subjective inward (עני) and objective outward wretchedness. [It is questionable whether the statement: the poor shall never cease, sq., is to be regarded as a penalty for sin. There is nothing in the passage which would lead us to suppose this; and there is no necessity for the supposition in order to reconcile these words with Deu_15:4 : there shall be no poor among you. There was the same necessity then as now for these diversities in human condition. Each class needed the other for their mutual good. The promise in Deu_15:4 is not absolute, nor merely conditional, as suspended upon Israel’s obedience or disobedience. The promise was that there should be no abject poor, no crushed, wretched ones. There should be poor, those needing aid; but they should be relieved. This whole provision of the year of release, and laws similar in spirit and tendency respecting inheritance are to guard against the total ruin of the unfortunate and needy; to prevent the poor from sinking into hopeless poverty.—A. G.].
3. Deu_15:12-18. There is no reference here to the Sabbatical year; but the Sabbatical principle and number are still retained. The connection with the tithe for the poor in the previous chapter is still in force, but not so “that the poverty which makes it necessary that the Hebrew should sell himself for a slave, forms the transition to the following provisions” (Keil), for there is a different way in regard to servitude, Exo_21:2. The generosity towards the enfranchised, which is commanded in Deuteronomy, gives much more the point of union with the foregoing precepts. Further it is the fundamental idea of the fourth command, the Sabbath idea, which as it was made availing in the year of release before, so now, and still more essentially, in the seven years of servitude. Israel is a servant, ליהוה; hence also whatever has part in the covenant-relation (the number seven) consequently the Israelitish slave: thus his time must be sanctified to Jehovah. This is brought into distinct consciousness in the seven years’ service, and indeed is conformed through the injunction, thou shalt not let him go away empty, to the blessing which God placed upon the Sabbath, Exo_20:11. In this sense the Sabbath Year forms the transition from the foregoing to what follows. Deu_15:12. Be sold unto thee, or sell himself to thee.—Thy brother points him—the one sold—out as an Israelite. עִבְרִי designates either: one from the other side with respect to the land, the other side of the Euphrates, or: עֵבֶר, the stem-father (Gen_10:21), the drawing together, union, people, and indeed the people simply, so that the adjective here is equivalent to one of the grand nation, as the French love to call themselves, a landsman, in distinction from a foreign slave.—Or an Hebrew woman, an addition to Exodus 21. What is there evident in the case itself is here expressed, comp. Deu_15:17, on account of the special case, Exo_21:7 sq., because in what follows it is the relation of servant generally which is spoken of. Comp. on those passages.—In the seventh year, thus commonly, as in an extraordinary manner in the fiftieth or jubilee year, Lev_25:39. Since Israel is redeemed out of the house of bondage (Exo_20:2), and is the servant of the Lord forever (Lev_25:42; Lev_25:55), there is no prolonged human bondage here. Deu_15:13. Comp. Gen_31:42 (Luk_1:53). Deu_15:14. Repeated servitude through poverty or want should be prevented. No mere empty freedom! So much as he can take, carry with him, perhaps, also, pressed upon him. Comp. further Deu_15:6; Deu_12:7. Not send him away empty, but give him; it reaches to this, especially where they had received such blessings to give. A genuine Deuteronomic supplement. Deu_15:15. Comp. Deu_5:15; Deu_7:8; Deu_13:6. Deu_15:16. Comp. upon Exo_21:5 sq. The public announcement and declaration of the servant pre-supposes the legal proceedings. In Deuteronomy, and according to the connection here, it is the private domestic act only which comes into view.—Andthine house includes the wife and the children of the servant, who, according to Exo_21:4, would remain in the house.—Well with thee. The Hebrew servant was generally no slave (Lev_25:43). See the excellent article by Oehler in Herzog’sEncyclop. XIV. 464 sq. Deu_15:17. The symbol of that cleaving to the body (probably the right ear), thus of constant obedience (Psa_40:6 does not belong here) and of ever-enduring bondage to the house.—[“Bored ears were made a badge of slavery, and so became ignominious,” Bib. Com.; and thus show that the Hebrew servant was in many respects regarded as a slave, although his condition was greatly modified by the beneficent regulations here laid down.—A. G.]. Enduring servitude has thus its disgrace in whatever moral motives it has its origin; it is not merely a resolution which has to do with it. עוֹלָם, according to the Jewish tradition, reaches only to the Year of Jubilee, or until the death of the master.—Also unto thy maid-servant, scarcely as Deu_15:14, according to the Jewish tradition, but as is said above of the servant. It related to the elder women, to whom the direction in Exo_21:7 could have no application. Deu_15:18 explains why this prominent precept again recurs. As the presumed public procedure excludes any gross violence, so Deu_15:18 meets and opposes the more subtle, by persuasion; the servant may and ought actually to be free. Moses meets the apparent hardness (Jer_34:8 sq.), practically for the calculating selfishness, with the consideration, that the service of the servant in question was worth double that of a hired servant, if one had labored in his room; for him there was barely support, not even wages nor account; the servant had saved twice the cost, was also at every time ready for service. Isa_16:14 belongs as little here as Isa_21:16; at most only so far as with hired servants, there must be an exact reckoning. For the rest comp. Deu_15:6; as much as to say: thou wilt never be the loser, for the blessing of God is with thee.
4. Deu_15:19-23. Comp. Introd. § 4, i. 19. Although the first-born have been named already, Deu_12:6; Deu_12:17; Deu_14:23, with the tithe, partly in the summary statement, and partly on account of what was common to all, still it is now first preeminently the subject of discourse. The reason is because the first-born belong to the exposition of the fourth command. While the tithe is the acknowledgment of Jehovah, as peculiarly the proprietor of the land, so with respect to the first-born, since birth leads into life, and over against the dead first-born of Egypt (Exo_13:15) the first-born of Israel were kept alive (Num_3:13; Num_8:17), it symbolizes naturally and historically the sanctification of the whole life to Jehovah (Keil, Arch. I. 340). But that is the idea of the Sabbath. As to the peculiar institution in Israel with respect to the first-born, comp. upon Exodus 13; Numbers 18. In reference to the Sabbath, it is said, Deu_15:19 : thou shalt sanctify to Jehovah, Deu_5:12, Hence also עבד as in the fourth command. They are neither to profit by their labor, nor through the usual natural usufruct, i.e. they are treated as a sacrifice. Deu_15:20. Comp. Deu_14:23.—Eat, namely with the priests, to whom the first-born belonged, Num_18:18. (Hengstenberg: The eating of the first-born was granted to the offerer as such (Exo_13:15), because the first-born belonged to the שְׁלָמִים.—Authen. II. 406 sq. Others: the discourse treats of the female first-born. Others: of a second first-born (!). Others: of the young animal, the best, the youngest.)—[The apparent inconsistency between this passage, which not only allows, but directs, that the offerers should partake of the victims, and that in Num_18:18, which assigns the firstling to the priests, is discussed in the introduction. If the firstlings were only partly given to the priests, then of course there would be no inconsistency, since the offerer would have the remaining portions. But if, as the words in Num_18:18 seem to imply, the whole was assigned to the priests, then the right here given to the offerer is grounded in the force of a custom which was originally provided for in the ritual of the sacrifice, especially of the passover sacrifice, which had gradually grown up to become a law, and which now receives the sanction of the law-giver. The right here bestowed may not have been alluded to in Numbers, just because it was well understood, but was here expressed in accordance with the very nature of Deuteronomy, in which the popular rights are fixed and guarded for all the future. If we keep in view the different circumstances, both of the law-giver and the people, in which these directions were given, it seems clear that the one is the natural and historical complement of the other, that what was needless, and therefore not expressly stated in the earlier, finds its appropriate place in the later legislation.—A. G.]
Deu_15:21 is explained from the sacrificial character of the first-born (comp. Lev_22:19-20); hence also: thou shalt not sacrifice (kill) to Jehovah, on account of the sacred meals, that they might not be profaned with them. Deu_15:22. Comp. Deu_12:15; Deu_12:21-22. Upon Deu_15:23 comp. Deu_12:16; Deu_12:23-24.
5. Chap. 16, Deu_16:1-17. The reference to one sanctuary is generally deuteronomic; the special ground for what follows appears rather in the fourth command, hence this passage treats simply of “the feasts which are for the most part sabbatical.” Schultz. 1). The passover-feast, 1–8, with which, as already through the previous first-born institution (comp. also Deu_5:15), the Sabbath-idea now gains more expressly its greater depth in the redemption first begun truly (out of Egypt), but pointing onward typically and far more widely. Deu_16:1. Comp. Deu_5:12.—חֹדֶש, literally the breaking dawn, the first day, upon which the moon is again visible, hence month, which began with the new moon. But by no means the new moon of Abib (Hitzig) in opposition to Exo_12:6; Lev_23:5; Num_9:2 sq., which are all here supposed as well known. אָבִיב (the ear, green ears) is not a proper name, as indeed all the months were designated in the Pentateuch by numbers (Herzog’sReal Encyl.), but appellative (Exo_9:31; Lev_2:14). The designation ear-month connects itself always with the exodus from Egypt, as also the required feast-observance is here grounded in it (Hengst., Authen. II. 361). The later name is Nisan, our April. פֶסַח, from the passing by or over, sparing, comp. Exo_12:13; Exo_12:23; Exo_12:27. May it be with reference to the “breaking through,” the new shooting forth in spring, as the redemption in nature, at which time it was observed, similarly as our Easter? The passover-feast observance commanded, is emphasized here through the verifying לָיְלָה, historically as the eating of the well-known passover lamb, comp. upon Exo_12:8; Lev_23:5; as the passover meal pre-supposes the slaying of the lamb as completed, the direction, Deu_16:2, is either to be understood in reference to the place where the remaining sacrifices should be brought, including also the passover-sacrifice (Lev_23:8; Num_28:19-26), Hengstenberg, or to make prominent the end of the wider meals, marking them all with this character of the passover, the offering of all kinds, slain and thank (Exo_23:15; Lev_23:38) as one passover-feast (Hertzog XI., p. 145; Schultz, Keil). The connection favors the latter view. This is the accepted view. The Jews not only desiguated the whole service as the passover, but the word is used in the New Testament, Joh_18:28, in this wide sense. The seven days make it clear that it is so used here. “The passover-lamb was to be consumed on the first evening, and that with which they were to eat unleavened bread was the passover in the wider sense. The direction here therefore is no variation of the ordinary name, Exo_12:5. The rite of the paschal lamb is pre-supposed throughout, and the command of the present passage relates to the paschal offerings.” Bib. Com.—A. G.]—Thus to the tone of joyful festivity impressed upon it (by the sacrificial meals) follows now, Deu_16:3, the other feature equally prominent and in itself predominantly earnest, solemn character of the passover-feast. Thus the eating, עָלָיו, if in the first case it may be referred to the passover-lamb, it cannot certainly in the second case—since it was continued seven days, and must therefore be generally with respect to the passover-feast or upon it. Some refer it to the offerings of the flock and the herd, Deu_16:2. The careful impressive negation of leavened bread must be understood, as the immediately following position of מַצּוֹת (fundamentally, to extend, thus flat, dried, extended, not previously cooked), intimates, with reference to the historical and not symbolical motive; for in haste, anxious haste—(חָפַז, to concentrate, in anxiety, in order to flee, Exo_12:11 sq.) as the arrangement foreseen and prescribed by God, Exo_12:8; Exo_12:15 sq., was entirely completed under the pressure of the circumstances at the time, Exo_12:33-34; Exo_12:39 (Hengst., Auth. II. 367). What was symbolized by the leaven, beyond this signification of the historical relations (that thou mayest remember), comp. Kurtz, Hist. II. 127, does not come into view here. The מַצּוֹת is explained by לֶחֶם עֹנִי, and would certainly call to mind the oppression, affliction and poverty (Kurtz).
But the prominence of the number seven is to be observed with reference to the Sabbath-idea, which rules in this section: seven days shalt thou, sq., and the life-long remembrance is manifestly a sanctification of the whole life. On account of the grave, earnest recollections connected with the passover, to which the other aspect evidently serves as a relief, Moses has before, Deu_16:2, so expressly mentioned the other meals, in order to elevate the feast into the character of the Sabbath-feast, as a feast of a redemption which should come to its rest, as also the name of the Lord, in Canaan. (Deu_16:2. Comp. Deu_12:11.) Deu_16:4 repudiates again any existence of שְׂאר, i.e. leaven (the שָׂאַר, causes to boil up), during the seven days, and indeed in the most comprehensive way. Comp. Exo_12:15; Exo_12:19; Exo_13:7. לְךָ, belonging to thee. That nothing of the flesh of the passover-lamb should be left until the morning, but in that case should be burned with fire, rests upon Exo_12:10. The historical feature of haste also clings to the feast, and thus the passover was a night-meal, with whose food the succeeding morning had nothing to do. בָּעֶרֶב (not in the transition sense, not the twilight, but from עָבַר, to fold together; in the turning, sinking of day to night), at the 14th of Nisan. According to Exo_12:6 : between, הָעַרְבָּיִם, dual, i.e. the double turning before and after sunset; comp. below, Deu_16:6. Thus the slaying of the passover would be between the fifth and seventh hour.—The first day, equivalent to the day before, i.e. before that, with the 15th of Nisan beginning seven days’ feast of unleavened bread. Deu_16:5-6. A modification of Exo_12:7; Exo_12:46, with respect to Canaan and out of the sacrificial nature of the passover. Comp. Num_9:7; Num_9:13; Exo_12:17; Exo_34:18; Exo_34:24. Thus at the sanctuary. Comp. however Kurtz II., p. 342. In any case the distinction in the expression: in the place, with reference to the cooking and the eating, from that in Deu_12:7; Deu_12:18, is worthy of notice; this could occur at the dwelling, the night-quarters of each one in the place of the sanctuary. [The modification as to the one place from Exo_12:7; Exo_12:46, is certainly a modification contemplated and provided for in the original institution, is alluded to in Exo_34:24, and finds express utterance here naturally and in full accordance with the spirit of Deuteronomy.—A. G.]—To thy tents is thus, after the conclusion of the whole feast, to their respective homes (Joh_7:53; Joh_7:37).—Roast, cook, with reference to the passover-lamb, not in water, but over the fire, 2Ch_35:13.—[Our version is here rather an interpretation than a translation. But every Jew would understand at once how it was to be cooked.—A. G.]
Deu_16:7 bears throughout a very general character, as of the sacrificial meals, which still find a place here according to Deu_16:2, with which also the closing direction, to go to their homes, spoken with respect to the pilgrimages to the sanctuary, which Schultz, Keil, understand of a return to their booths or lodges, well agrees. Deu_16:8 involves no difficulty; on the contrary it explains the return to their homes as occurring first after the seven days, since as upon the 15th, so also upon the 21st Nisan (Exo_12:16), there was to be abstinence from the leavened bread and from every kind of business (Exo_16:29); comp. Deu_5:13. Thus a Sabbath! עֲצֶרֶת from עָצַר, either: to restrain, thus to cease from ordinary labor, hence a sabbatical assembly, or to hold fast, firm; thence a closed society, feast-assembly, or to close; and thence the close of the feast.—2) The feast of weeks, Deu_16:9-12. Deu_16:9. Seven weeks, sq.—The number seven makes the Sabbath-idea prominent at once.—From the beginning of the sickle (Lev_23:15 sq.) is the same as from the second day of the passover, when with the presentation of the sheaf of the first-fruits, the grain-harvest began (16 Nisan). קָמָה, that which rises up, ascends, stalk, more definitely, wheat.—Seven sevens, and in Deu_16:10 the feast of the sevens.—For the harvest-feast (Exo_23:16) is the ethical side of the destination to Jehovah with true free will and bountifulness, and without a special precept. מִסַּת, const. of מִסָּה (from מָסַם, to separate, divide, measure), only used here, related to מִדָּה, measure. Sept: καθότι, καθώς. But the blessing of God should also make joyful, Deu_16:11; comp. Deu_12:7; Deu_12:12; Deu_12:18; Deu_14:29. It is said of God Himself in regard to the Sabbath, Exo_31:17 (Deu_23:12). Deu_16:12, as (Deu_15:15.—3.) The feast of tabernacles, Deu_16:13-17. It fell upon the seventh month, and lasted seven days. Deu_16:13. Comp. Lev_23:33 sq. סַכָּה, from סָכַךְ (סךְ) to make a covering, to cover, to screen; generally: shelter (Keil, Arch. I. 412 sq.). The side of this feast which relates to the leading through the wilderness is thus sufficiently intimated and supposed, and the other side, the predominant side with respect to Canaan, and at the same time so directly inciting to thankful joy, the ingathering of the threshing-floor and wine-press into granary and cellar, as truly deuteronomic as it is suited to the connection, can alone be presented. Observe the progress: the rescuing of life (Passover)—the customary support of life by means of bread (feast of weeks)—out of threshing-floor and wine-press, the full, joyful enjoyment of life (feast of tabernacles). אסף, summarily used of the fruit; oil and wine harvest. But in all, sanctification to the Lord, the Sabbath-idea of life. Deu_16:14, as Deu_16:11.—In (it) thy feast, a phrase through which the destination even of the Sabbath to be for man comes out more clearly than through the ־לךְ Deu_16:9, or the לךָ, Deu_16:13. The blessing of God in every way in the increase and toil, Deu_16:15, will provide for the completion of the joy. אךְ, not as, therefore, but wholly, throughout, perfectly (Joh_16:24). To the closing feast of the year, there is appropriately added, Deu_16:16-17, the three yearly feasts collectively, at the same time closing the exposition of the Sabbath-command as a final notice from Exo_23:17; Exo_23:15; Exo_34:23, with the express reference to Jehovah (אֶת־פני), before whom what is both subjectively and objectively accomplished, Deu_16:17, is of more avail than לֹא רֵיקָם, Deu_15:13.—[The view of those who hold that the thread of this part of the discourse is rather the oneness of the sanctuary than the Sabbath-idea, which Schroeder so ingeniously carries out, is thus stated in the Bib. Com: “The cardinal point here is the concentration of the religious services of the people round one common sanctuary. The prohibition against observing these great feasts at home and in private is reiterated in Deu_16:2; Deu_16:6-7; Deu_16:11; Deu_16:15-16. Hence it is easy to see why nothing is here said of the other holy days. No doubt the great day of atonement (Lev_23:26 sq.) and the feast of trumpets (Lev_23:23 sq.) are as positively enjoined by Moses as are the three feasts mentioned here; but it was no part of either of these observances that all the males should “appear before the Lord.” Those days might be observed by the faithful without going to the central sanctuary for the purpose.” But it does not appear that the topic of a national and visible unity in faith and worship holds such a leading place in Deuteronomy as this view supposes. It is clearly one object aimed at; but it gives too narrow a view of the scope and end of Moses in this book to assign it this leading and controlling place. Having once established it, as it came up in the natural progress of his discourse, it is assumed, rather than inculcated over and over, as he passes on to other topics.—A. G.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The unfolding of the Sabbath-thought, according to its ascending stages, is the nerve of the section. Keil correctly designates “the rest or suspension of every business” only as “a means” of the sanctification of the Sabbath, as “the condition without which it could not be truly sanctified to the Lord,” and therewith meets us, Deu_15:1-11, the first characteristic feature from which all the rest proceeds. The sanctification of the Sabbath, since it is to Jehovah, represents the covenant which God has with Israel, through which it should appear free from servitude in toil or care of this life, and this is the second characteristic or stage, Deu_15:12-18. The third, Deu_15:19-23, is, that with the consecration of days, months, years—thus ever of definite periods of time—the consecration of the whole life generally, is in truth symbolized and exemplified. As now the rest upon the Sabbath is based upon the rest of God after the creation of the world, so the freedom of Israel for such rest, was grounded in the redemption out of the Egyptian bondage, which fact through the passover feast has an everlasting celebration; a fourth stage (Deu_16:1-8) intimating at the same time how the Sabbath solemnity would have its completion. (Mat_26:2; Mat_26:18-19; Mat_26:26 sq.; Luk_22:15 sq.; Heb_4:9). But this completion is the perfection of the creation, fallen with the humanity, as through God so in God; the good pleasure of God again in His work, becomes the blessedness of men; hence the joy, the fifth sabbatical characteristic, Deu_16:9-12. Finally this joy becomes only joy, i.e., as entirely perfected, set before us in the last feast of the year. “That which is prophetic,” remarks Schultz, “in the Sabbath solemnity, lies especially near here. He who has willed this completion in the lapse of the year, must will it also in the lapse of greater periods of time, at the end indeed of all time. Zec_14:16 sq.” The sixth stage of the Sabbath thought, Deu_16:13-17, shows the redemption (through which the Sabbath comes to its completion) as one again in the Sabbath first having its final perfection. Thus time in its widest development is limited and bounded by the Sabbath; thus generally the world time of humanity closes in a Sabbath. Comp. upon the pilgrimages to the three feasts, even in Canaan still, the beautiful explanation of Keil, Arch., I. 417, as also Psalms 84.
2. It is peculiarly deuteronomic to bring out clearly the ideality of the people of God, without forgetting its real relations, e.g., Deu_2:25; Deu_4:30. Baumgarten well says: “Just as no sickness cleaves to the people of Jehovah, (Exo_15:26; Exo_23:25; Deu_7:15) so Israel cannot be struggling with any want, but lives in abundance and wealth (Deu_8:9). Jehovah has prepared the land from the beginning for His people, Deu_11:10-12. This is the cutting severity in the poverty of an Israelite, that in it the disobedience of Israel and the wrath of Jehovah are revealed. In the necessities of its individual members, therefore, Israel should learn to see its own naked actual condition and truth, according to which it is tainted with its natural stiff-neckedness and disobedience against the law of its God,” etc.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Deu_15:1-2. Richter: “The year of release was a figure of the gospel, in which the acceptable year of the Lord was proclaimed.” Deu_15:3. Berl. Bib.: “So also Gal_6:10; but 2Pe_1:7, the universal love appears as the highest round, as also Christ praises love towards an enemy, and thus towards all men, as perfection, Mat_5:43-48.” Deu_15:4. Richter: “Observe the distinction between beggars and the poor generally. Liberality to these, and careful laws, should prevent begging, which fearfully corrupts the poor. Comp. Psa_37:21.” Deu_15:5-6. J. Gerhardt: “These earthly riches are a type of the spiritual in the N. T., since no gracious gift shall be wanting to the pious, (1Co_1:7) since indeed they should impart to others, and thus spiritually lend, and also should have dominion over Satan, sin, death, and hell.” Berl. Bib.: “Usually men seek the smallest coin in order to give to the poor, and give even that unwillingly.” Deu_15:7-11. Baumgarten: “What a sensitive inward character prevails here.” Schultz: “That one should inflict violence upon his heart, as it were, shows how censurable hard-heartedness is, while the mere natural kindness has no moral worth.” Osiander: “Although the poor should not revile the rich, yet their cries against the unmercifulness of the rich come up before God.” [Deu_15:11. Wordsworth: “Our Lord adds the reason that ye may do them good, and thus exercise the divine grace of love, and so promote your own salvation and theirs. God will judge you according to your treatment of them, Mat_25:40. Thy poor brother is his brother.”—A. G.]. Deu_15:15. Baumgarten: “This is not merely a recollection of the past, but in every Israelitish servant, the servitude of Israel should be recognized as still enduring, since it points to the redemption as not yet perfected.” Deu_15:16-17. The image of our eternal bondage to the Lord; condition under which; the manner and method how. Deuteronomy 1 : A free, clear acknowledgment to the Lord, grounded in love to him and his house, having its deepest ground in the blessed condition, flowing out of the love of God to us; 2. pain, shame, obedience (absolute dependence) but also eternally belonging to him. Deu_16:1-2. Berl. Bib: “The Spirit of God truly demands from us that with the remembrance of the death of Christ, who is our passover Lamb, we should offer our spiritual sacrifices, and should ourselves be such, (Rom_8:36); but all our service which we offer, presupposes the sacrifice of the Lamb, and has its virtue and strength from the sacrifice of Christ.” Deu_15:3. Richter: “We also, as redeemed, should remember our wretched state before our redemption, especially at the holy supper.” 1Co_5:6 sq. Starke: “It is not sufficient to know when the great feasts occur, but we must celebrate them in a manner well-pleasing to God.” Deu_15:4. Friedlib: “Christ should be dearer to-day, than to be enjoyed on the morrow.” Deu_15:11. There is a joy before the Lord, which the world willingly refuses, the true joy of communion with Him.—Calvin: “God will do more for us than we have for Him. The world laughs, but will at last wail and gnash its teeth.” Deu_15:13. Luther: “We observe every day the feast of tabernacles, if we learn and perceive that we are strangers in the world, until our tabernacles are laid aside. Thus we rejoice also in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, i.e., in the food of the pure gospel, and in the life of the Spirit, without toys and ornaments, etc.” Schultz: “The feasts in the N. T. refer to that which is completed, and need only to be appreciated; they are not sabbatical, but Sunday feasts. Your highest (?—most joyful) feast is not at the end, but lies at the beginning; the incarnation is the greatest joy-feast.” Parallel feasts: Passover and Easter, Feast of Weeks and Pentecost, Tabernacles and Christmas. Deu_15:16. Calvin: “He spares the tender women, and the children under twenty. The father of the family includes wife and children. According to an old custom no one could appear before the king without a present. Thus God wills a mark of subjection from every one.
Footnotes:
[1][Deu_15:2. Schroeder, lit., every master lending his hand, which he will lend to his neighbor. See Exegetical Note.—A. G.].
[2][Deu_15:4. Margin, to the end that there may be, etc. Bib. Com. renders no poor with thee in the transaction. But the rendering which is allowable seems liable to the objection that the idea so expressed is forced into the text.—A. G.].
[3][Deu_15:8. Opening thou shalt open—both widely and cheerfully.—A. G.].
[4][Deu_15:10. Cheerfully, richly. See above on Deu_15:8.—A. G.].
[5][Deu_15:8. Restraint, as if from labor, although etymologically possible, does not meet the case here. Schroeder transfers the Hebrew word to the text. But our version is here preferable.—A. G.].
[6][Deu_15:10. The italic words are needless.—A. G.].
[7][Deu_15:13. Lit., In thy gathering from thy floor and thy wine-press.—A. G.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall…
Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it--not by an absolute discharge of the debt, but by passing over that year without exacting payment. The relief was temporary and peculiar to that year during which there was a total suspension of agricultural labor.
he shall not exact it . . . of his brother--that is, an Israelite, so called in opposition to a stranger or foreigner.
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because it is called the Lord's release--The reason for acquitting a debtor at that particular period proceeded from obedience to the command, and a regard for the honor, of God; an acknowledgment of holding their property of Him, and gratitude for His kindness.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. Every seven years… a release — This was…
THE YEAR OF RELEASE, THE EMANCIPATION OF HEBREW SLAVES, AND THE APPROPRIATION OF THE FIRSTBORN OF THEIR CATTLE TO SACRED AND CHARITABLE PURPOSES.
1. Every seven years… a release — This was the same as the sabbatical rear of the earlier books. See Exo_23:11; Lev_25:4.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. At the end of seven years] So Heb.…
1. At the end of seven years] So Heb. That is, in the seventh year, as is clearly put in Deu_15:12 (cp. Jer_34:14): see also Deu_14:28.
a release] or remission, Heb. shemiṭṭah from shamaṭ, to let drop (2Ki_9:33; let her drop) or lapse: Exo_23:11, thou shalt let it (the land or its crop) lapse, i.e. lie fallow; Deu_15:3 of a debt.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v1 (1) At the end of every seven years thou…
XV.
(1) At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.—The Law in this place is an extension of that which we find in Exo_21:2, &c, and Lev_25:3, &c., There was not only to be a manumission of Hebrew slaves and a Sabbath for the land in the seventh year, but also a release of debts, of which all the Israelites must have the benefit.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Deuteronomy 15
Deuteronomy 15
"At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release. Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord’s release. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again; but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release. Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it; only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you." (Vers. 1-6.)
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It is truly edifying to mark the way in which the God of Israel was ever seeking to draw the hearts of His people to Himself by means of the various sacrifices, solemnities and institutions of the Levitical ceremonial. There was the morning and evening lamb, every day; there was the holy Sabbath, every week; there was the new moon, every month; there was the Passover, every year; there was the tithing, every three years; there was the release, every seven years; and there was the jubilee, every fifty years.
All this is full of deepest interest. It tells its own sweet tale, and teaches its own precious lesson to the heart. The morning and evening lamb, as we know, pointed ever to "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" The Sabbath was the lovely type of the rest that remaineth to the people of God. The new moon beautifully pre-figured the time when restored Israel shall reflect back the beams of the Sun of righteousness upon the nations. The Passover was the standing memorial of the nation’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The year of tithing set forth the fact of Jehovah’s proprietorship of the land, as also the lovely way in which His rents were to be expended in meeting the need of His workmen and of His poor. The sabbatic year gave promise of a bright time when all debts would be cancelled, all loans disposed of, all burdens removed. And, finally, the jubilee was the magnificent type of the times of the restitution of all things, when the captive shall be set free, when the exile shall return to his long lost home and inheritance; and when the land of Israel and the whole earth shall rejoice beneath the beneficent, government of the Son of David.
Now, in all these lovely institutions we notice two prominent characteristic features, namely, glory to God, and blessing to man These two things are linked together by a divine and everlasting bond. God has so ordained that His full glory and the creature’s full blessing should be indissolubly bound up together. This is deep joy to the heart, and it helps us to understand, more fully, the force and beauty of that familiar sentence: "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God." When that glory shines forth in its full lustre, then, assuredly, human blessedness, rest and felicity shall reach their full and eternal consummation.
We see a lovely pledge and foreshadowing of all this in the seventh year. It was "The Lord’s release," and therefore its blessed influence was to be felt by every poor debtor from Dan to Beersheba. Jehovah would grant unto His people the high and holy privilege of having fellowship with Him in causing the debtor’s heart to sing for joy. He would teach them, if they would only learn, the deep blessedness of frankly forgiving all. This is what He Himself delights in, blessed for ever be His great and glorious Name!
But alas! the poor human heart is not up to this lovely mark. It is not fully prepared to tread this heavenly road. It is sadly cramped and hindered, by a low and miserable selfishness, in grasping and carrying out the divine principle of grace. It is not quite at home in this heavenly atmosphere. It is but ill-prepared for being the vessel and channel of that royal grace which shines so brightly in all the ways of God. This will only too fully account for the cautionary clauses of the following passage. "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand: and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him; because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of thy land; therefore I command thee, saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." (verses. 7-11.)
Here the deep springs of the poor selfish heart are discovered and judged. There is nothing like grace for making manifest the hidden roots of evil in human nature. Man must be renewed in the very deepest springs of his moral being ere he can be the vehicle of divine love; and even those who are thus through grace renewed, have to watch continually against the hideous forms of selfishness in which our fallen nature clothes itself. Nothing but grace can keep the heart open wide to every form of human need. We must abide hard by the fountain of heavenly love if we would be channels of blessing in the midst of a scene of misery and desolation like that in which our lot is cast.
How lovely are those words, "Thou shalt open thine hand wide!" They breathe the very air of heaven. An open heart and a wide hand are like God. "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. because that is precisely what He is Himself. "He giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not." And He would grant unto us the rare and most exquisite privilege of being imitators of Him. Marvellous grace! The very thought of it fills the heart with wonder, love and praise. We are not only saved by grace, but we stand in grace, live under the blessed reign of grace, breathe the very atmosphere of grace, and are called to be the living exponents of grace, not only to our brethren but to the whole human family. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all, especially unto them which are of the household of faith."
Christian reader, let us diligently apply our hearts to all this divine instruction. It is most precious; but its real preciousness can only be tasted in the practical carrying out of it. We are surrounded by ten thousand forms of human misery, human sorrow, human need. There are broken hearts, crushed spirits, desolate homes, around us, on every side. The widow, the orphan and the Stranger meet us, daily, in our walks. How do we carry ourselves in reference to all these? Are we hardening our hearts and closing our hands against them? Or are we seeking to act in the lovely spirit of "the Lord’s release"? We must bear in mind that we are called to be reflectors of the divine nature and character, to be direct channels of communication between our Father’s loving heart and every form of human need. We are not to live for ourselves; to do so is a most miserable denial of every feature and principle of that morally glorious Christianity which we profess. It is our high and holy privilege, yea, it is our special mission, to shed around us the blessed light of that heaven to which we belong. wherever we are, in the family, in the field, in the mart or the manufactory, in the shop or in the counting house, all who come in contact with us should see the grace of Jesus shining out in our ways, our words, our very looks. And then if any object of need come before us, if we can do nothing more, we should drop a soothing word into the ear, or shed a tear or heave a sigh of genuine heartfelt sympathy.
Reader, is it thus with us? Are we so living near the fountain of divine love, and so breathing the very air of heaven that the blessed fragrance of these things shall be diffused around us? Or are we displaying the odious selfishness of nature, the unholy temper and dispositions of our fallen and corrupt humanity? What an unsightly object is a selfish Christian. He is a standing contradiction, a living, moving lie. The Christianity which he professes throws out into dark and terrible relief the unholy selfishness which governs his heart and comes out in his life.
The Lord grant that all who profess and call themselves Christians may so carry themselves, in daily life, as to be an unblotted epistle of Christ, known and read of all men! In this way, infidelity will, at least, be deprived of one of its weightiest arguments, its gravest objections. Nothing affords a stronger plea to the infidel than the inconsistent lives of professing Christians.
Not that such a plea will stand for a moment, or even be urged before the judgement-seat of Christ, inasmuch as each one who has within his reach a copy of the holy scriptures will be judged by the light of those scriptures, even though there were not a single consistent Christian on the face of the earth. Nevertheless, Christians are solemnly responsible to let their light so shine before men that they may see their good works and glorify our Father in heaven. We are solemnly bound to exhibit and illustrate in daily life the heavenly principles unfolded in the word of God. We should leave the infidel without a shred of a plea or an argument; we are responsible so to do.
May we lay these things to heart, and then we shall have occasion to bless God for our meditation on the delightful institution of "The Lord’s release."
We shall now quote for the reader the touching and beautiful institution in reference to the Hebrew servant. We increasingly feel the importance of giving the veritable language of the Holy Ghost; for albeit it may be said that the reader has his Bible to refer to, yet we know, as a fact, that when passages of scripture are referred to, there is, in many cases, a reluctance to lay down the volume which we hold in our hand in order to read the reference. And beside, there is nothing like the word of God; and as to any remarks which we may offer, their object is simply to help the beloved Christian reader to understand and appreciate the scriptures which we quote.
"If thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty; thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress; of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him."
How perfectly beautiful, how like our own ever gracious God is all this! He would not have the brother go away empty. Liberty and poverty would not be in moral harmony. The brother was to be sent on his way free and full, emancipated and endowed, not only with his liberty but with a liberal fortune to start with.
Truly, this is divine. We do not want to be told the school where such exquisite ethics are taught. They have the very ring of heaven about them; they emit the fragrant odour of the very paradise of God. Is it not in this way that our God has dealt with us? All praise to His glorious Name! He has not only given us life and liberty, but He has furnished us liberally with all we can possibly want for time and eternity. He has opened the exhaustless treasury of heaven for us; yea, He has given the Son of His bosom for us, and to us - for us, to save; to us, to satisfy. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness; all that pertains to the life that now is, and to that which is to come, is fully and perfectly secured by our Father’s liberal hand.
And is it not deeply affecting to mark how the heart of God expresses itself in the style in which the Hebrew servant was to be treated? "Thou shalt furnish him liberally." Not grudgingly or of necessity. It was to be done in a manner worthy of God. The actings of His people are to be the reflection of Himself. We are called to the high and holy dignity of being His moral representatives. It is marvellous; but thus it is, through His infinite grace. He has not only delivered us from the flames of an everlasting hell, but He calls us to act for Him, and to be like Him in the midst of a world that crucified His Son. And not only has He conferred this lofty dignity upon us, but He has endowed us with a princely fortune to support it. The inexhaustible resources of heaven are at our disposal. "All things are ours," through His infinite grace. Oh! that we may more fully realise our privileges, and thus more faithfully discharge our holy responsibilities!
At verse 15 of our chapter, we have a very touching motive presented to the heart of the people, one eminently calculated to stir their affections and sympathies. "And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee; therefore I command thee this thing today. The remembrance of Jehovah’s grace in redeeming them out of Egypt was to be the ever-abiding and all-powerful motive-spring of their actings towards the poor brother. This is a never failing principle; and nothing lower than this will ever stand. If we look for our motive-springs anywhere but in God Himself, and in His dealings with us, we shall soon break down in our practical career. It is only as we keep before our hearts the marvellous grace of God displayed toward us, in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, that we shall be able to pursue a course of true, active benevolence, whether toward our brethren or those outside. Mere kindly feelings bubbling up in our own hearts, or drawn out by the sorrows and distresses and necessities of others, will prove evanescent. It is only in the living God Himself we can find perennial springs.
At verse 16, a case is contemplated in which a servant might prefer remaining with his master. "And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee, because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee, then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever"
In comparing this passage with Exodus 21: 1-6, we observe a marked difference arising, as we might expect, from the distinctive character of each book. In Exodus, the typical feature is prominent; in Deuteronomy, the moral, Hence, in the latter, the inspired writer omits all about the wife and the children, as foreign to his purpose here, though so essential to the beauty and perfectness of the type in Exodus 21. We merely notice this as one of the many striking proofs that Deuteronomy is very far indeed from being a barren repetition of its predecessors. There is neither repetition, on the one hand, nor contradiction, on the other but lovely variety in perfect accordance with the divine object and scope of each book. So much for the contemptible shallowness and ignorance of those infidels who have had the impious temerity to level their shafts at this magnificent portion of the oracles of God.
In our chapter, then, we have the moral aspect of this interesting institution. The servant loved his master and was happy with him. He preferred perpetual slavery and the mark thereof, with a master whom he loved, to liberty and a liberal portion away from him. This, of course, would argue well for both parties. It is ever a good sign for both master and servant when the connection is of long standing. Perpetual changing may, as a general rule, be taken as a proof of moral wrong somewhere. No doubt, there are exceptions; and not only so, but in the relation of master and servant, as in everything else, there are two sides to be considered. For instance, we have to consider whether the master is perpetually changing his servants, or the servant perpetually changing his masters. In the former case, appearances would tell against the master; in the latter, against the servant.
The fact is, we have all to judge ourselves in this matter. Those of us who are masters have to consider how far we really seek the comfort, happiness and solid profit of our servants. We should bear in mind that we have very much more to think of, in reference to our servants, than the amount of work we can get out of them. Even upon the low-level principle of "live and let live," we are bound to in every possible way, to make our servants happy and comfortable; to make them feel that they have a home under our roof; that we are not content with the labour of their hands, but that we want the love of their hearts. We remember once asking the head of a very large establishment, How many hearts do you employ?" He shook his head, and owned with real sorrow how little heart there is in the relation of master and servant. Hence, the common heartless phrase of "employing hands."
But the Christian master is called to stand upon a higher level altogether; he is privileged to be an imitator of his Master, Christ. The remembrance of this will regulate all his actings towards the servant; it will lead him to study, with ever-deepening interest and solid profit, his divine model, in order to reproduce Him, in all the practical details of daily life.
So also, in reference to the Christian servant, in his position and line of action. He, as well as the master, has to study the great example set before :him in the path and ministry of the only true Servant that ever trod this earth. He is called to walk in His blessed footsteps, to drink into His spirit, to study His word. It is not a little remarkable that the Holy Ghost has devoted more attention to the instruction of servants than to all the other relationships put together. This the reader can see at a glance, in the Epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, and Titus. The Christian servant can adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, by not purloining and not answering again. He can serve the Lord Christ, in the most common-place duties of domestic life, just as effectually as the man who is called to address thousands on the grand realities of eternity.
Thus when both master and servant are mutually governed by heavenly principles, both seeking to serve and glorify the one Lord, they will get on happily together. The master will not be severe, arbitrary and exacting; and the servant will not be self-seeking, heady and high-minded; each will contribute, by the faithful discharge of their relative duties, to the comfort and happiness of the other, and to the peace and happiness of the whole domestic circle. Would that it were more after this heavenly fashion, in every Christian household on the face of the earth! Then indeed would the truth of God be vindicated, His word honoured, and His Name glorified in our domestic relations and practical ways.
In verse 18, we have an admonitory word which reveals to us, very faithfully, but with great delicacy, a moral root in the poor human heart. " It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest."
This is very affecting. Only think of the most High God condescending to stand before the human heart - the heart of a master, to plead the cause of a poor servant, and set forth his claims! It is as if He were asking a favour for Himself. He leaves nothing unsaid in order to strengthen the case. He reminds the master of the value of six years’ service, and encourages him by the promise of enlarged blessing as a reward for his generous acting. It is perfectly beautiful. The Lord would not only have the generous thing done, but done in such a way as to gladden the heart of the one to whom it was done; He thinks not only of the substance of an action, but also of the style. We may, at times, brace ourselves up to the business of doing a kindness; we do it as a matter of duty; and, all the while, it may "seem hard" that we should have to do it; thus the act will be robbed of all its charms. It is the generous heart that adorns the generous act. We should so do a kindness as to assure the recipient that our own heart is made glad by the act. This is the divine way: "When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both." "It is meet that we should make merry, and be glad." "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth" Oh! to be a brighter reflection of the precious grace of our Father’s heart!
Ere closing our remarks on this deeply interesting chapter, we shall quote for the reader its last paragraph. "All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God; thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep; thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year, in the place which, the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household. And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt eat it within thy gates, the unclean the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, as the hart. Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof. Thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water." (Vers 19-23)
Only that which was perfect was to be offered to God. The first-born, unblemished male, the apt figure of the spotless Lamb of God, offered upon the cross for us, the imperishable foundation of our peace, and the precious food of our souls, in the presence of God. This was the divine thing; the assembly gathered together, around the divine centre, feasting in the presence of God, on that which was the appointed type of Christ, who is, at once, our sacrifice, our centre, and our feast. Eternal and universal homage to His most precious and glorious Name!
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Vers. 1-6. To the prescription of a tithe for…
THE YEAR OF RELEASE FOR THE BENEFIT OF DEBTORS AND THE EMANCIPATION OF HEBREW SLAVES. THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE FIRSTBORN OF CATTLE.
Vers. 1-6. To the prescription of a tithe for the needy there is added a regulation for the behalf of debtors. The Israelites were not only to help the poor, but they were to refrain from what would be a hardship and oppression to them. Debtors, consequently, were not to be deprived of the benefit of the sabbatical year, for at the close of each seventh year there was to be a release. This does not imply that the debt was to be remitted, but only that the debtor was not then to be pressed for payment. As during the sabbatical year the land lay uncultivated, and the debtor consequently would earn nothing, it was reasonable that he should not then be pressed for payment. A law that every seventh year debts should be remitted, would have frustrated itself, for on such conditions no one would lend, and so there would be no debtors. This is an addition to the law of the Sabbath-year. (Exo_23:10, etc.; Lev_25:2-7)
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Release. The word thus rendered (hFmiv, from fmv to leave, to let lie fallow) occurs only here and in ver. 2; in Exo_33:11 the cognate verb is used, and from this the word is best explained. The debt was to be left in the hands of the debtor, as the land was to be let lie or left untilled for that year.
Vers. 1-6. Divine checks on human greed.
In this paragraph the institution of the sabbatical year is presupposed. (of Exo_23:9-13; Lev_25:2-7) During this year the land was to rest, and it would doubtless be conducive to after-fruitfulness to give the soil this respite, by letting it lie fallow every seventh year, for at this time the effect of the rotation of crops was unknown. We by no means affirm that such was the only reason for the appointment; yet nothing hinders us from regarding it as a reason. In that year there was to be a general remission of debts. To all appearance, there would, however, be one social danger arising from so peculiar an arrangement. Human nature, as regards capacity, aptitude, tact, kindness, hardness, etc., would differ as greatly among Hebrews as among any other peoples. There would be the wise manager, and the man who knew not how to manage at all. There would be some easily "taken in," and others watching for an opportunity of enriching themselves at another"s expense. And among the harder men, the thought would naturally arise, "Well, if I must not work to increase my gains that year, I will at least secure all that I ought to have, by collecting all debts due to me, and this I will do with rigor." Now, here comes in this law mercifully guarding the weak against the rapacity of the strong, compelling men, at least outwardly, to show some regard for those who are somewhat behindhand in the race for life, and preventing the more successful ones from so exacting from poorer men as to reduce them to helpless dependence upon others. The following points may be noted.
1. The sabbatical year is here assumed, ut supra.
2. This year debts were to be remitted, not cancelled, but pressure for payment was to be postponed.
3. Thus there was to be an enforced pause in the accumulation of wealth.
4. The sentiment of kindliness and forbearance as well as of justice in business life, was thus taught.
5. At the same time, there is a safeguard against the Hebrews being trifled with by foreigners by a misuse of this law. A foreigner (one who was so in all respects) might incur a debt in the sixth year, thinking that, as a Hebrew could not press for it the next year, he should have a long respite; while, as he was not bound by the Hebrews" Law, he could press for debts due to him! This would have been unequal. Hence God guards Israel against such inequality, and says, as a foreigner is not under this law so far as debts due to him are concerned, so neither is he included in it with regard to debts incurred by him; and the release is not intended to operate where its operation cannot be equal all round.
6. Moreover, there is in this law no encouragement to mendicancy, but rather such a check on pressure by the rich, and such an inculcation of regard for the poor, that beggary may be a thing unknown among them. The word "beggar" does not occur once in the Mosaic institutes (cf. Michaelis"s "Commentary on the Laws of Moses," art. 142). Surely in all this there is abundance of material for homiletic teaching from a Christian point of view. The formal institution here referred to has passed away. But, if we follow out the formula already laid down, that forms change, but principles never, we cannot be at a loss for an exposition of the ethical teaching which this paragraph suggests for all time. For, as is well remarked by Mr. Garden, "The spirit of this law is the same as that of the weekly Sabbath. Both have a beneficent tendency, limiting the rights and checking the sense of property; the one puts in God"s claims on time, the other on the land. The land shall keep a Sabbath unto the Lord." "The land is mine." Let us, then, study the Divine cheeks on human greed, as they are shown to us in the teaching of the New Testament.
I WE HAVE THE DISTINCT DECLARATION, "YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN." This is far wider and deeper than any analogous statement of Moses. For while Israel had been redeemed out of Egypt, so that God said, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee," we must all feel how infinitely short that comes of the tender pathos in 1Co_6:19, 1Co_6:20; 1Pe_1:18, 1Pe_1:19. The phrase, "Ye are not your own," must needs cover the whole ground of all that we are and have. As "redemption" was the appeal at the basis of Israel"s life, so is it in the case of God"s people now.
II WE ARE REDEEMED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE FOR GOD BY LIVING FOR OTHERS. We are expected to have "the same mind" which was also in Christ Jesus. (Php_2:1-8) Note the argument involved in 2Co_8:7, 2Co_8:9; also that in Rom_14:7, et seq. See the purpose of Christ"s redeeming work, as stated in Tit_2:14; and also the law of the Christian life in Gal_6:1-10. In these passages there is so much of duty indicated with regard to others, that though little of minute detail is now specified, yet Christian men cannot go far wrong if their lives are regulated thereby. (1Co_10:24)
III THE PROHIBITION OF OUR LORD AGAINST COVETOUSNESS IS VERY STERN AND STRONG. (see Luk_12:13-21) At every stage of that paragraph there is some new and startling light in which the evil of covetousness is seen.
1. It cherishes a totally mistaken view of life. (Luk_12:15)
2. It is perilous. (Luk_12:20) Hence:
3. It is foolish. (Luk_12:20, Luk_12:21) Strong checks these! Far stronger than Israel"s.
IV THERE IS A DIVINE STIGMA UPON COVETOUSNESS. (see Eph_5:5; Col_3:5) It is idolatry. It is giving to creature objects the regard which is due only to God. He would have us "in his light see light," and regard the greed of gain as an abominable thing.
V THERE IS A DIVINE RULE FOR LABOR. It is given us in Eph_4:28. The observance of this precept would prevent the social evil arising from covetousness on the one hand, and would create the good accruing from benevolence on the other. "Let him labor in order that he may have the wherewith to give!" How truly sublime! It is like the benevolence of God.
VI THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER HAS SPECIAL INJUNCTIONS FOR THE RICH, with the giving of which he is charged. (1Ti_6:17-19) Thus the Christian code is by no means less comprehensive than the Mosaic. On the contrary, it is far more so. It is equally stringent in allowing no one to think of his property as his own.
VII OUR GOD WOULD WIN AS WELL AS WARN. (Seergurov). Heb_13:5, "Let your turn of mind be free from the love of money". (ajfila) Why? "Because himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee". (see also 2Pe_1:4) We are permitted, in Christ, to call God "ours," to find in his love our joy, in his wisdom and strength our stay, in his wealth our supply. Hence we ought to be lifted up above any consuming racking care, and to be loyally obedient to God"s will in the sanctified use of all that we have. (Mat_6:33) Let any one set side by side the Mosaic regulations in the paragraph we have just been considering, with the seven considerations adduced from New Testament teaching. Let him compare them with one another. And, if we mistake not, he will find more than ample material for other Homilies on the height, the breadth, the depth, and the length of Christian ethics, as covering the entire ground of the relations of man to man and of man to God, and as requiring no less exactitude in detail through less detail being specified. It is said (and we fear it is said truly) that the great hindrance to God"s work in the world is that the Christian name does not carry with it Christian morality. Ah! if it did, how luminous would such morality appear! Let but the above considerations be universally acted out, on all sides, and no more strifes between capital and labor would ever be known. The rich would neither oppress, nor despise, nor neglect the poor; the poor would no longer be jealous of the rich. Both would recognize their mutual relation to and need of each other. While, with universal righteousness and kindness, mendicancy would be a thing unknown. And never, never, till there is a new principle of love infused through the various classes of society, will such a consummation be attained! Still, however sad our hearts may be as we consider how far we are off from the mutual regard between owner and laborer which even Moses enjoined, let each of us feel his personal responsibility for fidelity to the Divine Law. Only as this is felt and discharged by each, can it be felt and discharged by all. The Lord make us and all men to abound in good will, and may the supreme benevolence which has its source in heaven flow o"er the world as a pure river of water of life!
HOMILIES BY J. ORR. Vers. 1-12. The Lord"s release.
The sabbatic year was in many respects a year of mercy to the poor. The beautiful name given to it here Lord"s release suggests gospel ideas. It finds its higher counterpart in that "acceptable year of the Lord", (Luk_4:19) which is the true "Lord"s release." Christ came "to preach the gospel to the poor," and "to preach deliverance to the captives ". (Luk_4:18) This "accepted time" is the period of God"s forbearance with our sins. (2Co_5:19 2Co_6:2) It is the time also of forgiveness of sins to those who believe a "Lord"s release" indeed, not from money debts, but from spiritual ones, (Mat_6:12) not temporary, but eternal. It is the time of the setting free of bondsmen Satan"s captives those held in thrall by evil. (Rom_6:18; 2Ti_2:26) We are taught by this law
I THAT THE POOR HAVE A CLAIM ON THE FORBEARANCE OF THE RICH. (Vers. 1-5.) Such a claim will willingly be recognized by the loving heart. It will shrink from pushing hard on any one. It will put itself in the debtor"s place, and bear with him as long as possible. This was the lesson enforced by the law of "the release" It secured for the poor debtor a whole year of grace. It interposed a check upon the creditor s selfishness, and rebuked him if disposed to press hard upon his brother. It did more, testifying by its very existence to God"s sympathy with the poor, and to his desire that they should be mercifully treated. The harshly exacting spirit, however common, is not God"s or Christ"s. (Mat_18:23-35) It is assumed, of course, that the case of poverty is genuine. There is no evidence that, even during the sabbatic year, the creditor was not entitled to recover his debt from a man well able to pay it.
II THAT THE POOR HAVE A CLAIM ON THE ASSISTANCE OF THE RICH. (Vers. 7-12.) Assistance goes beyond forbearance. The Law requires, not simply that lenders of money should not be harsh and unforbearing in exacting its repayment, but that, where need exists, they should be willing, nay forward, to render such assistance as is in their power. Honest poverty for such only is in contemplation creates a claim which those "having this world"s good" (1Jn_3:17) are not at liberty to disregard. Heart and hand are to be alike open to the cry of distress. The giving is to be:
(1) liberal;
(2) ungrudging;
(3) disinterested (cf. Mat_5:42)
Note: 1. Liberal assistance in a time of need is worth many doles spread over a longer period.
2. Assistance, where practicable, should be given in the form of loans. This is the idea of the law, and it is in harmony with the best modern opinion. Loans are preferable to simple charity; they do not pauperize; they develop the principle of self-help, encourage diligence and thrift, and foster the spirit of honest independence. Those who cannot be helped save by gratuities must, of course, be helped cheerfully.
III THAT LIBERALITY TO THOSE IN NEED TENDS TO OUR OWN ENRICHMENT. (Vers. 4-7, 10.) No truly liberal man will make this the motive of his liberality. But as a secondary encouragement to liberal giving, and as removing fears of the possible results to one"s own fortunes, it deserves to be considered. The liberal soul is usually not the loser, but the gainer, by its liberality. Selfishness defeats itself. Subtle spiritual laws operate to produce this result.
1. Liberality reacts upon the soul itself to ennoble and expand its powers. This tends in the direction of enrichment.
2. The liberal man is loved and trusted. He gets kindness shown him for his kindness to others. (Luk_6:30-39) He is one whom neighbors and friends are always willing to serve, and to speak a good word for.
3. God"s blessing is upon him (vers. 4, 10). Through that blessing he is prospered. He divides and conquers. By opening his hand liberally, he gets more than he parts with. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth," etc.. J.O. (Pro_11:24, Pro_11:25)
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 1-6. The year of forgiveness.
We have here what we may call the poor law" of Palestine. The poor were to be regarded as "brethren," they were to be treated as neighbors, as members of the one society. Money was to be lent them to give them a start in life (vers. 7-11), and if they were unable to repay it by the seventh or sabbatic year, they were to be forgiven the debt, "to the end that there be no poor among you" (ver. 4, margin). Usury was thus discouraged between brethren. Loans were to be acts of generosity, and the idea was distinctly to be kept in view that a person should sometimes lend, "expecting nothing again." With foreigners, that is, those not of "the household of faith," it might be different; the debt need not in this case be cancelled; the year of release was a Divine institution for the people of God. The Jews were intended, if obedient, to be creditors of the world, and debtors to none; and the poor brother was to have the joy in the sabbatic year of being forgiven.
I THE DUTY OF FORGIVENESS WAS PRESCRIBED TO ALL THE BRETHREN. In fact, this poor law was the proclamation of the "brotherhood" of believers in the one God. Upon this forgiveness of debt was based. The creditor was to realize how much more blessed it is to give than to receive; (Act_20:35) how blessed it is to be able to help a brother! Had the Jews been faithful, the parable of the good Samaritan would not have been such a wonder. It was just the spirit fostered by this institution of the year of release.
Now, this duty of forgiveness of the debts of brethren arises out of the forgiving character of God. As the common Father of these brethren in the faith, he inculcates forgiveness because he practices it. The experience of Israel in the wilderness was of a series of Divine forgivenesses, even though in forgiving them he took vengeance on their inventions. (Psa_99:8) And the beautiful parable about the two debtors (Mat_18:23-35) is really meant to bring out the truth that unforgivingness is a violation of the family spirit encouraged by the king, and is the unpardonable sin.
II THE IDEAL SET BEFORE THEM WAS TO BE THE EXTIRPATION OF POVERTY IN THE FAMILY OF GOD. It would most probably never be reached, but it is well to be aiming at the high and the noble, even though it may not be all attained. The marginal reading in ver. 4, which has received the imprimatur of Jonathan Edwards ("Works," Tegg"s edition of 1860, vol. 2. p. 164), brings out the beautiful aim thus set before Israel. The effort was to be to make Jewish poverty impossible. The same idea seized on the mind of the Church after Pentecost, leading to the trial of a Christian commune, wherein for a time it could be said, "Neither was there any among them that lacked". (Act_4:34) Poverty was for a time at least banished from the Christian Church. These strivings after an ideal shall be crowned at last with success when under the new regime, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat". (Rev_7:16)
III THE OBEDIENT ARE INTENDED TO MAKE ALL MEN THEIR DEBTORS. The Lord promises his people, if they are only obedient, that they shall lend to many nations, but shall not borrow (ver. 6). It is sometimes thought to be a special benefit when a person can contract debt from all and sundry, his credit being so good. But it surely is a higher benefit to be in a position to oblige everybody. This is what God meant his people to be. Surrounding nations were to borrow from them, and own their indebtedness. And has not this a moral and spiritual side? The religious spirit is the obliging spirit, the spirit which hails with delight the opportunity of "doing good unto all men, especially unto such as are of the household of faith.
IV IT IS THE SECRET OF SOVEREIGNTY TO BE ABLE TO OBLIGE OTHERS. For it is significant surely that the Israelites are told, immediately after the promise of being able to lend unto many nations, "and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee" (ver.6). Rule arises out of obligation. Influence is acquired when we are able to befriend others. Doubtless many of the conquests of Israel were by force rather than by finance; but it is the peaceful acquisition of power that a Divine promise contemplates, and we begin to rule as "kings and priests unto God" when we become thoroughly obliging. It is thus love and loyalty are secured among men.
Thus we have in this arrangement of the year of release principles laid down that God has illustrated himself in his considerate and forgiving conduct towards us, and in which we are to try to follow him. R.M.E.
HOMILIES BY D. DAVIES Vers. 1-11. A bulwark against cupidity.
Material prosperity was the only form of blessing that had attractive charm for the Hebrews. Neither mind nor conscience was yet sufficiently developed to value higher good. God had to raise them by slow and successive steps. Material prosperity had its dangerous side. It might foster pride, self-sufficiency, a sense of overweening superiority, and might lead to tyrannous treatment of others. Or, used in devout recognition of God, it might give scope for generous impulses, furnish leisure for intellectual pursuits, aid the culture of the aesthetic arts, diffuse religious knowledge, and practically relieve human distress. The institution of the year of release was designed to serve as a flood-gate, by which the tide of material wealth might be turned into the fittest channel.
I MATERIAL WEALTH, WITH ITS CONCURRENT POWER, WAS A FRUIT OF RELIGIOUS OBEDIENCE. (Vers. 4, 5.) The acquisition of wealth is the effect of law. It does not follow an erratic course. If we can see the operation of fixed law in nature and in human life, we are constrained to believe that law (whether discovered or undiscovered) operates in getting wealth. In the case of the Hebrews, the law of earthly success was clearly revealed. In return for loyal obedience to Divine command, the soil should be fertile; early and latter rain should descend; a salutary awe should restrain the neighboring tribes from predatory raids; the seasons should be auspicious; there should be plenty for man and for cattle. Still it is true that the "hand of the diligent maketh rich;" "them that honor me I will honor;" godliness is profitable unto all things." Yet earthly prosperity is not the badge of piety. Many of God"s saints are in the ranks of the poor. Imprudent courses, though pursued by the righteous, end in disaster. Prudent courses in business, assiduously pursued, even by the profane, terminate in worldly success.
II MATERIAL WEALTH IS VERY UNEVENLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG MEN. Some men are creditors; some are debtors. Some begin life in affluence; some begin in poverty. Such varieties of human circumstance are best. They teach that the same hand that has fashioned material nature has molded the externals of human life. Such a plan affords variety of occupation and pursuit. The poor are benefited by the "learned leisure" of the rich; the rich are benefited by the industry of the poor. Men require quiet freedom from bodily toil to investigate and to invent; men require the stimulus of hunger to perform arduous labor. It is a mutual benefit; the rich are as much indebted to the poor, as the poor to the rich. We learn also that material wealth is not the highest good that God has to bestow, or he would put it within every man"s reach. It is but a visible symbol of invisible treasure.
III MATERIAL WEALTH IS INTENDED FOR MUTUAL HELPFULNESS. It was never intended to be hoarded in caves or coffers. The possession of wealth carries an obligation to render high service to humanity. This very obligation to do good prevents an indiscriminate scattering of wealth. Simple communism would be an immeasurable curse. The industry and self-restraint which enable one nation to lend to another nation, give to the former immense influence and wholesome power. We are to distinguish between the objects of our help. We are not to treat brothers and fellow-citizens as we may aliens and strangers. We may exact from foreigners what, for a time, we have lent; but towards a fellow-citizen we should be lenient and indulgent, remembering that all wealth belongs absolutely to God. There is a volume of instruction in the fact that the Hebrews were restrained from parsimony by a Divine Law. Thus were they taught that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." Generosity strengthens the sense of brotherhood.
IV THE WEALTH THAT CLOSES THE HEART AGAINST CHARITY BECOMES AN ACTIVE CURSE. (Ver. 9.) It is possible to abuse the most beneficent law of God or man. This very provision of God that, at the end of the septennial period, release should be afforded to all debtors, might become very prejudicial to the interests of the poor. The approach of the sabbatic year might make the Hebrew capitalists parsimonious and close-flared. "Beware of this!" saith God. "Such an act will be an act of unfaithfulness to me." Jehovah has constituted himself the Guardian of the poor. His eye is upon their straits; his ear is open to their cry. And if his stewards fail to fulfill their mission, to them it will be accounted sin. Thus we are taught to take large and extended views of human life. We are integral parts of a great system. Our conceptions of life must stretch beyond the narrow confines of time. We should aspire to think and feel and act as God does. This is God"s great ambition, and for this he is now training us. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Keep the Passover.
Deu_15:1-8
Keep the Passover.
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The yearly festivals
The darker side of the Jewish religion was more than relieved by its outlets for joy. It identified in a marvelous manner the holy day and the holiday (see the, two words translated feast in Lev_23:1-44, meaning, the one holy convocation, the other festival), showing that the people with deepest religious feelings are, after all, the happiest people. The three great yearly feasts were--
1. The Passover, in the middle of Abib (nearly our April);
2. Seven weeks after, Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks; and
3. The Feast of Tabernacles, or of Ingathering, in the end of autumn (October). Notice of all three--
I. Their origin. They have their root in the weekly Sabbath. The Sabbath itself is the first of the feasts (Lev_23:2-3), in which respect it also is a joyful day (Psa_18:24; Isa_56:7; Isa_58:14). And the great feasts are framed upon its model. They are ruled by the sabbatical number, seven. They begin and generally end on the seventh day. Two of them last for seven days each, and there are seven days of holy convocation in the year. Pentecost takes place seven weeks--a sabbath of weeks--after the Passover. The seventh month is specially distinguished (verses 23-36). Moreover, every seventh year is of the nature of a Sabbath, and seven times seven years bring the Jubilee. Smaller festivals formed connecting links between the Sabbath and the yearly feasts. There was the Feast of Months, distinguishing the first Sabbath of each month with special sacrifices (Num_28:11), and with blowing of trumpets (Num_10:10), which trumpets were used again on the first day of the seventh month--the Feast of Trumpets (Lev_23:24-25). Our Sabbaths, like those of the Jews, form the backbone and safeguard of our own national festivities.
II. Their purpose. They accomplished on a larger scale what was already aimed at by the weekly Sabbath.
1. They called away from the round of yearly duty to the public recognition of God. In spring and summer and autumn they presented anew to the peoples consciousness, through the most impressive vehicle of national festivals, their covenant relation to Jehovah.
2. They had a most important educational function. They were a compendium in dramatic form of early Israelitish history, What mean ye by this service? (Exo_12:26.) Moreover, they gave opportunity for special religious instruction. (Josiahs Passover, 2Ch_34:29 ff.; and Ezras Feast of Tabernacles, Neh_8:1-18.)
3. They subserved important ends not directly religious. They promoted the national unity of the Israelites, stimulating their patriotism. (See the action of Jeroboam, 1Ki_12:26.)
III. Their regulations.
1. The males from all parts of the country must assemble to the three feasts (Deu_16:16); for which purpose all ordinary labour ceases.
2. The worshippers are to bring contributions (Deu_16:16-17), both for the necessary sacrifices of themselves and others, and for hospitality (Neh_8:10).
3. The people are to rejoice in their feasts. So Lev_23:40 commands for the Feast of Tabernacles, and Deu_16:11; Deu_16:15 for the Feasts of Pentecost and Tabernacles. Ezra tells of the joy at the Feast of the Passover (Ezr_6:22); and Nehemiah of the very great gladness at the Feast of Tabernacles (Neh_8:17). But where is happiness to be found if not in the recognition of Gods relation to us? Special protection was promised during the celebration of the feasts. There are frequent promises that the fruits of the earth will not suffer, as Deu_16:15. And it was specially promised that the absence of its defenders would not expose the country to invasion (Exo_34:24). In short, Israels compliance with Gods will here as everywhere was to be to the advantage even of his worldly prosperity. A truth for all times and all peoples (Psa_1:3; Psa_92:13-15). (W. Roberts, M. A.)
The yearly festivals
Looking to these festivals separately, we find that a three-fold meaning attaches to each of them--
1. A present meaning in nature;
2. A retrospective meaning in history; and
3. A prospective meaning in grace.
Moreover, in each of these three respects the three feasts stand in progressive order: the Passover, the first at once in nature, history, and grace; the Pentecost, in all three respects the second or intermediate; and the Tabernacles, in all three respects the consummation of what has gone before.
I. The feast of the passover, occurring about the beginning of April.
1. Its natural meaning was necessarily an afterthought or addition of the wilderness legislation. Looking forward to the settlement in Canaan, and placed at early harvest, it marked the beginning of a peoples enrichment in the fruits of the earth, and recognised in that the gift of a covenant God. Its place was when thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn (Deu_16:9). And hence the special provisions of Lev_23:10-14.
2. What was first in nature was also first in history. The Passover night marked the beginning of Israels national life. The month in which it occurred was henceforth to be the first of the year (Exo_12:2), and to be permanently observed (Exo_12:14; Deu_16:1). Some modifications necessarily arose in the permanent observance of the Passover; the blood was now to be sprinkled on the altar; and the lamb was to be slain in the one place of sacrifice (Deu_16:5-7; 2Ch_30:15-16). The eating with unleavened bread and bitter herbs remained, as pointing to--
3. The prospective and spiritual reference of the Passover. The observance of the Passover touched closely the spiritual welfare of the Israelites. It distinguished the reigns of Josiah and Hezekiah and the return of the Jews from captivity. And here we have the third and greatest beginning, the beginning of the kingdom of God, in the worlds deliverance from sin. And we must deal with Christ as the Jews with the Paschal Lamb, taking Him--eating Him, as He Himself puts it--in His entireness as a Saviour, with the bitter herbs of contrition and the unleavened bread of a sincere obedience.
II. The feast of pentecost--called also the Feast of Weeks, inasmuch as seven weeks were to be reckoned between Passover and Pentecost. And this distance of a Sabbath of weeks rules in all three meanings of this feast.
1. Its natural reference was to the completion of the harvest. It was the Feast of harvest. Now, two loaves baked of the first-fruits are to be waved before the Lord, with accompanying offerings (Lev_23:17-20). In addition to which, a free-will offering, in recognition of Gods blessing, is to be brought, and the people are called on specially to rejoice (Deu_16:10-11).
2. Its historical reference is a matter of inference. The seven weeks between Passover and Pentecost are paralleled by the seven weeks actually occurring between the deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the law from Sinai; and as the Passover commemorates the first, it is reasonable to infer that Pentecost commemorates the second. Moreover, the fulfilment which in nature Pentecost gives to the promise of the Passover is paralleled by the fulfilment which the Sinaitic law actually gave to the promise of the Exodus. For Gods first object and promise was to meet His people and reveal Himself to them in the wilderness. And this connection becomes greatly more remarkable when we notice--
3. The prospective meaning of this feast in the realm of grace. Under the Christian dispensation Pentecost has become even more illustrious than the Passover. Again God numbered to Himself seven weeks, and signalised Pentecost by the gift of the Spirit. And what the Pentecost was to the Passover, that the gilt of the Spirit is to the atonement of Christ. Look at the natural meaning of the two feasts. In the sheaf of corn the Passover furnished the material for food; in the wave loaves Pentecost presented Gods gift in the shape in which it could be used for food. So the Passover atonement furnishes a material for salvation which becomes available only through the gift of the Spirit. Or look at the historical meaning of the feasts: the Passover atonement came to effect spiritually and for the world what the Paschal Lamb effected for the Jewish nation. And the Holy Spirit came to do for the dead law what Christ in His atonement did for the Paschal Lamb. He came to write universally on mens hearts what of old had been written for the Israelites on stone (Heb_8:8; Heb_8:10; 2Co_3:3). As the end of harvest was the fruition of its beginning, and the law the fruition of the exodus, so the pentecostal Spirit was the fruition of the atonement. Should not we who live under the dispensation of the Spirit maintain our pentecostal joy?
III. The feast of tabernacles, in the seventh month, or our October--called also the Feast of Ingathering.
1. Its natural meaning. It came after the harvest of the vineyards and olive yards. It marked the close of the years labours and their cumulative results, and was therefore the most joyous of the feasts (Lev_23:40; Deu_16:14); but--
2. The historical meaning of the feast gives us deeper insight into its joy. There is a special provision made in view of the coming settlement in Canaan, and made in order that the hardships of the wilderness may be kept fresh in the peoples memory (Lev_23:40; Lev_23:42-43). That memorial was to emphasise Gods goodness in the protection of the fathers and in the settlement of their posterity. The Feast of Tabernacles therefore marked the consummation of Gods covenant, and called for highest gratitude and joy. Specially interesting is the celebration of this feast by the Jews on their return from Babylon, where Gods goodness in bringing their forefathers through the wilderness had been a second time, and no less wondrously, manifested to them (Neh_8:13-17; Psa_126:1-6.) But--
3. The fullest meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles is in the kingdom of grace. The wonder of Gods goodness finds last and highest manifestation in the final home-bringing of His universal Church. The anti-type is the ingathering of Gods good grain into the heavenly garner. Canaan after the wilderness, Jerusalem after Babylon, are paralleled and fulfilled in the multitude that have come out of great tribulation. (Walter Roberts, M. A.)
Jewish commemorative feasts
The Scriptures record two chief outbursts of miraculous power: one at the foundation of the Hebrew commonwealth at the exodus from Egypt, and one at the time of Christs appearing and the foundation of Christianity. It is a matter of infinite importance to every man to ascertain whether these great miracles of the exodus and of Christs first advent were really wrought.
I. The facts of the case are these:
(1) The Hebrew people and the ancient Hebrew books now exist, and they throw light on one another.
(2) Wherever the Jewish people exist they celebrate in the spring the festival of the Passover, which they universally regard as a historical memorial of the deliverance of their forefathers from Egypt, about fourteen hundred years before Christ, by the supernatural intervention of God the Almighty.
II. In the same manner, the feast of Pentecost, or the festival of the wheat harvest, fifty days after the Passover, came to be regarded as a memorial of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after the Exodus. In like manner, the autumnal festival of Succoth, or Booths, called The Feast of Tabernacles, is now celebrated just as universally as the Passover in the spring, as a memorial of the children of Israel dwelling in huts or booths. These festivals and commemorations have been celebrated now for more than three thousand years.
III. The rule is that national celebrations and public monuments maintain the remembrance of real events in past ages. It may be objected that if Athens, with all its wisdom, could celebrate the fictitious history of Minerva why may we not believe that the Jews were capable of commemorating things that happened only in the imagination of later writers and poets? To this we answer:
(1) that even in the festivals of mythology there has been a strange interweaving of historical truth and a constant tendency to give this element prominence in the lapse of time;
(2) that the Jews were utterly destitute of the dramatic imagination of the Greeks: to them the origination of a myth like that of the Exodus, if it were a myth, would be an uncongenial exercise, its adoption as history an impossibility. (E. White.)
Conditions of worship
The time is specified, and the reason is given. Every month has a memory, every day has a story, every night has a star all its own. Selected instances help us to ascertain general principles. Acting upon these instances, we become familiar with their spirit and moral genius, so much so that we begin to ask, are there not other memorable events? Are there not other times of deliverance? Have we been brought out of Egypt only? Are not all the days storied with providential love? If God is so careful about time, has He any regard for place? (Verses 5, 6.) This is morally consistent with Gods claim for gracious recollection of definite times. May we not slay the Passover where we please? Certainly not. May we not insulate ourselves, and upon little church appointments of Our own creation carry out the ceremony of our worship? Certainly not. We should strive to move in the direction at least of unity, commonwealth, fellowship, solidarity. The sacrifice is the same, the man who offers it is the same; but because it is not offered at the place which God has chosen the sacrifice and the sacrificer go for nothing. That is in harmony with all the social arrangements which experience has approved. There are fit places for all things, as well as fit times. The time having been fixed and the place determined, what remains? (Verse 10.) Here is the beginning of another kind of liberty. A wonderful word occurs in this verse: a free-will offering. How wonderfully God educates the human race: He will insist upon definite claims and obligations being answered, and yet He will also give opportunity for freewill action, as if He had said,--Now we shall see what you will do when left to yourselves; the law no longer presses you: the great hand is lifted, and for the time being you shall do in this matter as it may please your own mind and heart. That is an element in the Divine education of the human race. God gives us opportunities of showing ourselves to ourselves. He only would count the gift: no one should know what had been done: the sweet transaction should lie between the one soul and the living Lord. Another singular word occurs in this tenth verse:--a tribute. The literal meaning is that the gift is to be proportional. It would have been easy to throw a dole to the Lord that had no reference whatever to what was left behind: that would be a broad, easily-opened gate to heaven; but such is not the condition stated in the bond. Even the freewill offering is to be tributary: it is to be based upon the original substance, the actual property, whatever is in the hand as momentary possession. Thus, sacrifice is to be calculated; worship is to be the result of forethought; nothing is to be done of mere constraint or as consultative of ease and indulgence. A word of taxation touches the very poetry and pathos of oblation. And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, etc. (Deu_23:11). This gives us the joyous aspect of religion. An ancient Jewish annotator has made a beautiful remark upon this verse, to the effect that thy four, O Israel, and My four shall rejoice together. Thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant--let them rejoice, let them be glad in response to music, and let them call for more music to express their ever-increasing joy; but Gods four must be there also--the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; they represent the Divine name as authority for admission to the feast. The religious servant, the poor stranger, the orphan, and the widow--they sit down, in seats divinely claimed for them, at the festive board. So the company shall be representative:--son, daughter, manservant, maidservant; priest, stranger, orphan, widow;--this is the typical company sitting down at the symbolical feast. God will not have our small house parties, made up of people of one class, equally well-dressed and accosting one another in the language of equality; He will have a large feast. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Unleavened bread
What does this unleavened bread mean? Two things, I think.
1. First, Christ; for He is the believers food. The unleavened bread sets forth Christ in one aspect, as much as the lamb sets Him forth in another. In the Israelite feeding upon unleavened bread, we have presented to us the believer drawing his strength from Jesus, the spotless and Holy One--the unleavened bread. I am the bread of life.
2. But there is another meaning of the unleavened bread, and that is holiness, uprightness, singleness of eye. Just as the bread was not the main staple of the Passover feast, but the lamb, so holiness is the accompaniment rather than the principal portion of the Christian feast. In the case of every believer the unleavened bread must accompany feeding upon Christ as the lamb. God has joined these two things together, let us not put them asunder. If we are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, let us live upon the unleavened bread; let us show forth the sincerity and truth which God requires in our life. For even Christ our passover was sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1Co_5:7). (S. A. Blackwood.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.—The rules for the relief of the poor…
CRITICAL NOTES.—The rules for the relief of the poor (Levites, strangers, widows, and orphans) by the triennial tithe are followed by others which forbid oppression.
Deu_15:1. Seven years. During the last of the seven, i.e., Sabbatical year (Exo_21:2; Exo_28:11; Lev_25:4; Jer_34:14). Release, let go, let lie applied to land (Exo_33:11), and must be taken in the same sense here. “The command of the older legislation is here amplified. Not only is the land to have its ‘release’ or ‘rest’ for the year, but the debt also.”
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Deu_15:2. Manner, cf. Deu_19:4; 1Ki_9:15. Creditor. Master, i.e., owner of a loan, the lender. Release it, not by absolute discharge of the debt, but the payment was not to be pressed that year, during which there was total suspension of land cultivation. Exact, lit., press or urge his neighbour to pay. Brother. An Israelite in opposition to a stranger or foreigner. Called, render “because proclamation has been made of the Lord’s release.” (Speak. Com.) The verb is impersonal (“they call”), as Gen_11:9; Gen_16:14. The Sabbatical year, like the year of Jubilee, was proclaimed for Jehovah, in honour of Him, sanctified to Him, and according to His command.
Deu_15:3. Foreigner. Not one who lived among the Israelites, for whom they must have pity; but a stranger of another nation not related to them at all, one who was not bound by this restriction and who could earn income in the seventh as in other years.
Deu_15:4. Save. The debt for the year must be released except when there would be no poor borrower. If he was rich, the restoration of the loan might be demanded even in this year. The margin “to the end that there be no poor,” etc.—that none be reduced to poverty and distress. Bless. The creditor would be no loser by not exacting his debt, for God would specially bless the land.
Deu_15:5. Only if they were obedient.
Deu_15:6. Lend. Remarkably fulfilled in Jewish history. Reign, rule, because superior in wealth (cf. Deu_28:1).
Deu_15:7-11. The foregoing laws might operate to the disadvantage of the poor in seeking relief. Mores exhorts them not to cherish a mean and selfish spirit, but give liberally and God will bless them.
Deu_15:7. Harden. Do not suppress natural feeling and compassion.
Deu_15:8. Sufficient. Whatever he needs.
Deu_15:9. Thought, lit. a word of Belial or worthlessness in thy heart, by saying the seventh year is at hand; I shall not be able to demand what I lend. Evil, i.e., thou cherishest ill feeling (cf. Deu_28:54; Deu_28:56). Lord against, brings down anger upon thee.
Deu_15:11. Never cease, for sin never ceases. Poverty permitted partly as punishment of sin, and partly to exercise benevolent and charitable feelings.
Deu_15:12-18. Hebrew servants’ freedom. Provisions for the poor are followed naturally by rules for the manumission of Hebrew slaves.
Deu_15:12. Sold. “The last extremity of an insolvent debtor when his house or land was not sufficient to cancel his debt, was to be sold as a slave with his family” (Lev_25:39; 2Ki_4:1; Neh_5:1-13; Job_24:9; Mat_18:25). These commands are repeated from Exo_21:2-6, with explanations characteristic of Deut.
Deu_15:13-14. Empty. This an addition. Liberal provision must be made to aid in regaining original status in society. Furnish, lit. lay on his neck, i.e., load him. For they were once redeemed from slavery.
Deu_15:15-16. If he say. The slave might choose to remain with his master instead of going into freedom; then he was not forced to go.
Deu_15:17. His ear must be bored with an awl, and fastened to the door—a symbol of permanent servitude (cf. Exo_21:4-6). If a slave determines to have freedom, it must not be considered hard.
Deu_15:18. He has been worth a double-hired servant—“earned and produced so much, that if you had been obliged to keep a day-labourer in his place it would have cost you twice as much.” (Keil.) He had been without wages for a fixed time, whereas hired servants were engaged yearly (Lev_25:53), at most for three years (Isa_16:14).
Deu_15:19-23. Dedication of the firstborn of cattle. Firstling, the firstborn, was dedicated to God as a memorial of deliverance from Egypt, virtually sanctified the whole (Rom_11:16), and was a pledge to all the people of their national union with Him (Exo_23:30; Lev_22:27). No work. The injunction is added that animals thus set apart were not to be used for earthly purposes, by shearing sheep or yoking bullocks to the plough. They were to be offered year by year and eaten before the Lord. If any were blemished, blind or lame they must not be offered (Deu_15:21); but might, like ordinary animals, be used for food, and could be eaten in all cities of the land.
THE YEAR OF RELEASE.—Deu_15:1-7
In this legislation we have wonderful provision for the convenience of Israel, and striking contrast between the wisdom, equity, and mercy of the Hebrew lawgiver and the highest pagan laws. Every seventh year was a year of release, in which the ground rested from culture and the servants freed from debt.
I. The persons to be released. The Sabbatic year was a year of great relief, therefore indicating great distress. The subjects requiring help are described in various terms.
1. Foreigners not to be discharged. They were outside this arrangement. A stranger from another nation, distinguished from one who lived among them and had claim to benevolence, had no right to remission and privileges. This gives protection to an Israelite and displays no hatred or injustice to a foreigner. “He could earn his usual income in the seventh as in other years, and therefore is not exonerated from liability to discharge a debt any more in the one than the others.” “Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it.”
2. Neighbours must be released. “He shall not exact it of his neighbour or of his brother.” Fellow-Israelites were members of one society and regarded as a “common brotherhood,” a type of “the household of faith,” enjoying equal rights and privileges; sharing that divine love which embraces all and offers pardon to all.
3. These neighbours are described as debtors. “Every creditor that lendeth to his neighbor”—the poor borrowed not for trade nor extravagance, but for subsistence. He could not pay without reducing himself to poverty, or seeking relief in other countries which would be wrong. Kindness must be shown by the lender and gratitude by the borrower. The rich are indebted to the poor as well as the poor dependent upon the rich. God has bound all classes into one family.
II. The reasons for releasing them. Several considerations urge obedience to this law.
1. The honour of God is concerned. “Because it is the Lord’s release.” God claims regard to His authority, and acknowledgment of His providence. We depend upon Him and hold all property from Him. Release of debts was an act for God, the poorest sacrifice, the meanest labour offered to Him are sacred. Purity of motive dignifies toil and renders benevolent acts acceptable to God.
2. Extreme poverty was prevented. “To the end there shall be no more poor among you” (margin, Deu_15:4). Exaction of debts would have reduced many to great straits at a time when there was no labour nor produce. Poverty would be a reproach to the nation and the destruction of its people. The Great Shepherd of Israel considers the poorest of His flock, and like a king protects those who dwell under His shadow. “In the multitude of people is the king’s honour; but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince” (Pro_14:28).
3. The favour of God was secured. “For the Lord shall bless thee” (Deu_15:4). They would lose nothing by obedience. God would grant a special blessing on the land. Selfishness evades obligation under cover of prudence. But what we give is a loan to the Lord, who pays again with interest. He gives security in His word which can never fail. Though He is indebted to none, but has a right to all, yet He condescends to be surety for the poor and debtor to His true Helper. “He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again” (Pro_19:17).
THE RESTRAINTS OF OPPRESSION.—Deu_15:7-11
The previous injunctions might prevent the poor from getting loans. Creditors might take advantage and become exacting towards the borrower. Moses admonishes them not to be hard-hearted and oppressive, but to cherish a spirit of charity and act with liberality. We have safeguards against oppression, checks upon selfishness and rapacity.
I. By Providential Interposition. “The Lord’s release,” which no authority could prevent. In this seventh year there was rest for the soil; pause in the race for wealth, and protection for the poor. In national and domestic affairs God often interferes. Tyrants upon the throne, and tormentors in the cottage, are restrained, delayed and frustrated in their design. In the ambition of Lot and the aggressions of Nebuchadnezzar, in the bondage of Egypt, and the revolutions of France, we had sad warnings against covetousness and haste to be rich. Grasping by unjust means will end in shame and fill with the curse of an avenging God.
The cries of orphans and the oppressor’s eye
Doth reach the stars.—Dryden.
II. By the enforcement of liberality. “Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him” (Deu_15:8). The claims of poorer brethren were to be generously and gladly met. The evasion of this duty was a sinful violation of the spirit of the law (Deu_15:9). It was designed to restrain the selfishness of the creditor and prevent him from pressing too hard upon the weak. “The rich ruleth over the poor” too often in harshness (Pro_22:7). Man becomes an alien to his brother, the victim of his meanness, not the object of his sympathy. The warnings of God’s word and providence are loud and repeated. “Whose stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he shall also cry himself but shall not be heard” (Pro_21:13).
III. By the cultivation of kindly feelings. “Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart” (Deu_15:9). We must not only bestow the gift, but cherish right feeling. It is possible to “give all our goods to feed the poor,” without one atom of true charity of heart (1Co_13:3). “Bowels of mercies and kindness” must be the mark and source of our liberality (express yearnings which touch our inward parts—Gen_43:30; Jer_31:20; Luk_1:78) (Col_3:12). We should think, feel, and act as God does, who is “pitiful and of tender mercy.”
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods!
Draw near them, then, in being merciful:
Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.—Shakespeare.
CONSIDERATION OF THE POOR.—Deu_15:9-11
Society is separated into distinct classes, yet bound together into one harmonious whole. If rich and poor would each do their duty in their stations, they would become reciprocally a blessing and support to the other. Special consideration must be given to the poor. For—
I. The oppression of the poor is offensive to God. “And he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be a sin unto thee.” God identifies Himself with their condition and cause, and sets infinite value upon every man. All are equal before Him. “There is no respect of persons before God.” Rigorous measures and harshness were distinctly forbidden, and grievously offensive to God (Lev_25:39-43).
II. The cry of the poor is heard by God. “He cry unto the Lord.” The sufferings of the distressed have a thousand tongues and appeal direct to God. The law condemned robbery for a single night (Lev_19:13), uttered woe against him “that useth his neighbour’s service without wages” (Jer_22:13); and fearful judgement fell upon those who “oppressed the hireling in his wages” (Mal_3:5). “The hire of labourers kept back by fraud crieth, and the cries enter the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth” (Jas_5:4).
III. Liberality to the poor will be rewarded by God. “For this thing the Lord will bless thee in all thy works” (Deu_15:10). Whatsover is done to poor disciples is done to their Master—“Ye have done it unto me” and will in no wise loose its reward. “Liberality,” says one,” is the most beneficial traffic that can be—it is bringing our wares to the best market—it is letting out our money into the best hands, we thereby lend our money to God, who repays with vast usury; an hundred to one is the rate He allows at present, and above a hundred millions to one He will render hereafter (Luke 18-24). “Blessed is he that considereth the poor.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_15:2. The Lord’s release.
1. Devised by His Wisdom
2. Revealing his goodness and grace.
3. Typifying “the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luk_4:19).
Deu_15:6. Lending and borrowing.
1. Some borrow and are never able to lend.
2. Others borrow and forget to pay back.
3. He that borrows is servant to him that lends (Pro_22:7). He must be dependent and often, too, servile. Try not to borrow at all. “He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.” Owe no man anything but love. “Guard against that poverty which is the result of carelessness or extravagance. Pray earnestly, labour diligently. Should you come to poverty by the misfortunes of the times, submit to your lot humbly, bear it patiently, cast yourself in childlike dependence upon your God.”—(Geier on Pro_22:7).
Deu_15:7-8. Hand and heart. The heart hardened shuts the hand and the poor suffer. The heart smpathethic opens the hands and the poor are relieved. The hand the expression of the heart. “My hand of iron,” said Napoleon, “was not at the extremity of my arm, it was immediately connected with my head.” “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack (a deceitful) hand” (Pro_10:4).
Deu_15:7-10. The claims of the poor upon the rich. 1. Claims of help in their poverty.
2. Claims of sympathy in distress. Triple Almoners—the feeling heart, the helping hand, the pure eye. “He can never keep his covenant with his God that makes not a covenant with his eyes.”—Bp. Hall.
Deu_15:11. Poor shall never cease out of the land.
1. The inequalities of life. Physically we have a thousand varieties, and all possible contrasts. Mentally there are feeble-minded and strong-minded giants and dwarfs. Socially one lives in luxury and clothed with fine linen, another is covered with sores and clad in rags.
2. The appointment of Providence. We have the poor, notwithstanding our legislation, “poor laws,” and “almshouses.” “Ye have the poor always with you.”
3. The bond to unite men together. Inequalities serve to bind men one to another. The man of labour needs the man of capital, and the man of capital the man of labour. The man who sets class against class and teaches them to regard each other with suspicion and ill-will is an enemy to society. “The Lord,” says Bp. Sanderson, “in His wise providence, hath so disposed the kings of the world that there should ever be some rich to relieve the necessities of the poor, and some poor to exercise the charity of the rich.” “There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor” (2Sa_12:1)
Duty of the Church towards the poor. Consider—I. That poverty is a real evil, which without any impeachment of the goodness or wisdom of Providence, the constitution of the world actually admits. II. That providential appointment of this evil, is subservience to the general good, brings a particular obligation upon men in civilised society, to concur for the immediate extinction of the evil wherever it appears.—Bp. Horsley.
THE LIBERATION OF SLAVES.—Deu_15:12-17
Slavery existed among the Hebrews in a totally distinct spirit and method from modern slavery. Human traffic and human cruelty were punished and forbidden (cf. Exo_21:26; Lev_25:39-43), servitude was limited in time and relieved by a spirit of generosity. Beyond six years’ service a Jewish bondman need not go. The Sabbatic year brought liberty, if he thought fit to claim it. Provision was not only made for the forgiveness of debts, but for the freedom of debtors. There was personal release, hence learn—
I. The infinite value God sets upon man. Kidnapping was a most atrocious crime in the time of Moses. In Egypt, bloody wars were carried on for that purpose, and in heathen countries slaves offered for sale were obtained in this way. Kidnapping is a crime against the person only a little short of murder, since it deprives of liberty, which makes life dear. Many would prefer death to slavery. It is a calamity most terrible, inflicting misery for life. “The sum of all villainies,” says Wesley. God has made man in His own image, and exalted him above the brutes. The poorest and most enslaved are stamped with divine value. He that diminishes this value and looks upon his fellow men as “goods and chattels,” he that mutilates or injures them will be amenable to “the Judge of all.”
II. The wonderful provision God has made for man’s freedom. Freedom is the birthright of man; it should neither be bartered nor taken away by violence. If lost at any time through temporary causes, it must not be forgotten nor destroyed. In these demands for the rights of slaves we see the wisdom of the Divine Lawgiver, the rectitude of His laws, and the natural rights of His creatures. We are reminded also of provision in Jesus Christ, not from temporal but spiritual bondage—a provision
(1) universal,
(2) free, and
(3) divine. “He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, deliverance to the captives,” etc. (Luk_4:18-19).
III. The true spirit with which this freedom must be granted. The value of a gift often depends upon the spirit in which it is bestowed.
1. The spirit of love. “Thy brother.” We must forgive, love, and help as brethren. “All things are easy to love,” says Augustine. When Achilles was asked what works he found most easy, he answered, “Those which 1 undertake for my friends.”
2. The spirit of forgiveness. However great the loan or debt, it must be forgiven. “The highest exercise of charity is charity towards the uncharitable. (Buckminster.)
3. The spirit of liberality. Liberality ungrudging. “Thine heart shall not be grieved” (Deu_15:10); disinterested, “open thine hand wide;” extensive, “lend him sufficient for his need” (Deu_15:8). “The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.”
4. The spirit of gratitude. “Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt” (Deu_15:15.) God delivered them from bondage and enriched them with spoils. What base ingratitude to be insensible for mercies received! What sin not to acknowledge or repay them! As God treats us so we must treat one another. Forgive without reluctance and request; help liberally and cheerfully and God’s blessing will rest upon us and upon our posterity.
PERPETUAL SERVICE CHOSEN.—Deu_15:16-18
The Hebrew slave was kindly treated, might actually love his master and value the security which he enjoyed in his service more than freedom. He might be unwilling to break up the family, and wish to remain for ever in his servitude. “If he say, I will not go away from thee,” etc. Then a formal act was necessary to seal the covenant.
I. The spirit in which the servitude was chosen.
1. It was a voluntary choice. “I will not go.” The master did not compel the slave to stay. God does not rule us by force and physical law, like stars and seas. There is no true service where there is compulsion. Jesus appeals to the will. “Will ye be my disciples?”
2. It was a choice of love. “He loveth thee and thine house.” Affection may grow up between slaves and masters. The Roman slaves would endure severest tortures rather than betray or accuse their owners. If the law of love ruled more in domestic affairs, between masters and servants, employers and employed, it would sweeten toil and secure peace and prosperity. “God counts that free service which love dictates and not necessity.”—(Augustine.) “Lovest thou me.”
What love can do, that dares love attempt.—Shakespeare.
II. The badge by which it was distinguished. Voluntary sacrifice of freedom was ratified by a significant ceremony and distinguished by a certain mark. The servant’s ear was put to the door-post and bored through with an awl, by the sanctions of the judges (cf. Exo_21:5-6). If the process was not painful, there was a manifest dishonour willingly endured. We have to bear the cross to endure shame and reproach, if not bodily sufferings, for our Divine Master. Slaves were branded by their owners. Paul gloried in the marks (stigmas, brands) of the Lord Jesus” (Gal_6:17). Let us give ourselves to Him, delight in His service, and never be afraid nor ashamed to confess Him before men.
THE SABBATIC YEAR.—Deu_15:1-18
This year, like the Jubilee, was a memorable time. Regarding it in its evangelical aspects, notice—
I. The method of introducing it. A solemn, loud and universal proclamation was made. A type of the earnest and importunate call of the gospel—the “glad tidings of great joy.” The priests, not civil magistrates, were to make the proclamation. They acted by the authority of God. Ministers must preach the gospel in God’s name to every creature.
II. The blessings which it brought. These symbolise the blessings of redemption in Christ Jesus.
1. Release from debt. “In whom we have forgiveness of sins.”
2. Removal from bondage. Introduction to a new condition, a fresh start in life. “Liberty wherewith Christ makes us free.”
3. Checks to evil. By extirpating evil from the “heart” and “eye,” by cultivating kindly feeling and uniting into one common brotherhood.
4. Establishment of peace and repose. Peace among men; repose amidst agitation and revolution in society, amidst pressure of population, unequal distribution of wealth and the selfishness of mankind. Christianity allies itself with everything that is free, generous and just. Let it shed its own glorious light on home and workshop, in social customs and civil laws. Then truth and righteousness will advance, and angels again may sing “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will amongst men.”
DEDICATION OF THE FIRSTBORN.—Deu_15:19-23
“First fruits” seem to be the offerings of natural piety among all nations. God demanded from Israel the setting apart (Exo_13:11) and the consecration of the firstborn of man and beast.
I. As a divine claim upon all. The first and choicest of all we have—property, time, intellect, wealth and affections must be given to His service. No bullock did servile work. Nothing must be given to the world. God has a perfect right to all redeemed life. This life should be without blemish and offence. “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s.”
II. As a representative of entire consecration. The first represents the whole. Only a whole or perfect creature could represent the offering of a man’s heart and life to God (Mat_1:8). Nothing must be kept back—“All for Jesus.” “Present your bodies (i.e. yourselves, your persons) a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable” (Rom_12:1).
III. As an indication of the spirit of the worshipper. References to passages will show the frequency of these injunctions, and the danger there was of disregarding them.
1. A spirit of holiness. There must be no legal defect, no blemish in the offerings. God demands rectitude of heart and life.
2. A spirit of readiness. There must be no forgetfulness, no unwillingness, but readiness to offer. “Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits” (Exo_22:29).
3. A spirit of fellowship. The offering of the firstborn brought them into God’s presence, taught dependence upon Him, and was a means of intercourse with God.
IV. As a type of the perfect offering of Jesus. Christ was the firstborn of all creatures—a sacrifice, a substitute for us, without spot or blemish. To Him all firstlings and firstborn pointed. He offered Himself to God in life and death, and with Him was God well pleased. “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_15:12-15. Freedom. I. Condition from which released. Debt, bondage and degradation. A picture of helpless sinners, sold under sin, and indebted to law. II. Method of release by divine appointment and proclamation. “The Lord’s release.” The release of bond-servants. In this ordinance we may see—I. An encouraging emblem. It represents—
1. The redemption which God vouchsafes to His people.
2. The mercy which He exercises towards His redeemed. II. An instructive lesson. We are to regard God’s mercies as—
1. A pattern for our imitation.
2. A notice for our exertion.—Rev. C. Simeon, M.A.
Deu_15:14-15. Poverty.
1. A test of civility and kindness.
2. A touchstone of friendship and sympathy.
3. A reminder of life’s changes. “He travels safe and not unpleasantly, who is guarded by poverty and guided by love.”—Sir P. Sidney.
Deu_15:16-17. Voluntary servitude.
1. The Master loved. “He loveth thee,” good, lenient and kind. When we enter the service of any master we enquire after his character, the nature of his employment, the support which he affords, and the rewards which he offers. Jesus is our Master, our only Master, good and powerful.
2. The service entered. Reasonable, cheerful, and life-long. God’s service is perfect freedom, holy and satisfactory. Enter this service now. Continue in it “unto the end.”
Deu_15:19-23. Dedications of firstlings.
1. In remembrance of deliverance from the house of bondage. That which is spared by special providence should be solemnly dedicated to God. Hence—
2. This claim of the firstborn rests upon divine goodness and grace. Not upon the natural proprietorship of God as Creator of all things; but upon the grace of the call. Israel was a consecrated because a redeemed people. Because Jehovah had delivered their firstborn, they were to be sanctified to Him.” “It is mine.”
Deu_15:21. Blemished life.
1. God only accepts the perfect.
2. God has given the perfect, through which He will bless man. Man is guilty before God. Cannot offer the fruit of his body, the firstlings of his flocks, for the sin of his soul. But in Jesus “our righteousness,” we are accepted and blessed.
Deu_15:23. Blood.
1. Blood spilt, life lost, death deserved through guilt.
2. The animal offered, atonement made for guilt. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul (Lev_17:10-11).
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 15
Deu_15:1. Release. It remains with you then to decide whether that freedom, at whose voice the kingdoms of Europe awoke from the sleep of ages, to run a career of virtuous emulation in everything great and good; the freedom which dispelled the mists of superstition, and invited the nations to behold their God; whose magic touch kindled the rays of genius, the enthusiasm of poetry, and the flame of eloquence; the freedom which poured into our lap opulence and arts, and embellished life with innumerable institutions and improvements, till it became a theatre of wonders; it is for you to decide whether this freedom shall yet survive, or be covered with a funeral pall, and wrapt in eternal gloom.—R. Hall.
Deu_15:2-4. Creditor. There is greatness in being generous, and there is only simple justice in satisfying creditors. Generosity is the part of the soul raised above the vulgar.—Goldsmith.
Deu_15:4. Bless thee. If then we will needs lay up, where should we rather repose it, than in the Christian’s treasury? The poor man’s hand is the treasury of Christ. All my superfluity shall be hoarded up, where I know it will be safely kept.—Bp. Hall.
Deu_15:7-11. Not a thought in thy wicked heart. Extreme vigour is sure to arm everything against it, and at length to relax into supreme neglect. (Burke). A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man.—Tacitus.
Let not ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys and destiny obscure;
Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.
T. Gray.
Deu_15:8. Open thine hand. Howard’s rule—so nobly expounded by his own self-denying devotedness—is a fine comment on this. “That our own superfluities give way to other men’s convenience; that our conveniences give way to other men’s necessaries; and that our necessaries give way to other men’s extremities.” (Quoted by Bridge). Thy poor brother. Why should I for a little difference in this one particular, of worldly wealth, despise my poor brother? When so many and great things unite us, shall wealth only disunite us? One sun shines on both, one blood bought us both; one heaven will receive us both; only he hath not so much of earth as I, and possibly much more of Christ. And why should I disdain him on earth, whom haply the Lord will advance above me in heaven.—Bp. Reynolds.
Deu_15:10. Give him. There cannot be a more glorious object in creation than a human being, replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator, by doing most good to His creatures. (Fielding.) Nothing is more conformable to God’s nature, or renders us more like Him than beneficence.—Barrow.
Deu_15:16-18. Not go away. Servitude seizes on few, but many seize on her.—Seneca.
James 2, on his death-bed, thus addressed his son, “There is no slavery like sin, and no liberty like God’s service.” “A good servant,” says Luther, “is a real God-send; but truly, it is a rare bird in the land.” “If I had served my God as faithfully as my king, He would not have thus forsaken me.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Deu 15:7-8, Deu 15:11
Deu 15:7-8, Deu 15:11
I. "God has made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell upon the face of the whole earth." This is the announcement of a grand fact, which has never yet been successfully disproved. This relates man to man everywhere, makes all the world a neighbourhood, and founds upon universal affinity a universal claim. This general law, however, must be divided into minor modifications, or it will be practically useless. Hence all private affections are recognised and hallowed, and are indeed the sources from which all public virtues spring. We are bound to love our neighbour as ourselves, and if in a contracted Hebrew spirit you are inclined to press the inquiry, "And who is my neighbour?" there comes a full pressure of utterance to authenticate and enforce the answer, Man.
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II. The last clause of the text is as true to-day as in the time of its original utterance. The poor shall never cease out of the land; in every age and in every clime there are distinctions of society in the world. Society could not cohere as a union of equals; there must be graduation and dependence. In the text benevolence to the poor is positively enjoined, and enjoined because of their abiding existence as a class of the community. Once recognise the relationship, and the claim will inevitably follow; the sense of service rendered and obligation created thereby will make that claim more sacred; and Religion, attaching her holiest sanction, lifts the recognition of the claim into a duty which may not be violated without sin.
III. "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto Me." This is our Divinely furnished argument. "She hath done what she could." This is to be the measure of our giving.
W. Morley Punshon, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 25.
References: Deu 15:9.—J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 512. Deu 15:11.—W. D. Morrice, Sermons for Sundays: Festivals and Fasts, 3rd series, p. 32. Deu 15:12-18.—Parker, vol. iv., p. 247. Deu 15:15.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1406.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Sabbatical Year
The Sabbatical Year
This chapter deals with the year of release, or the Sabbatical Year, and should be compared with Leviticus 25. In addition to the rest for the land and the manumission of Hebrew slaves in the seventh year, it prescribes a release of debts (Deu_15:1-5); only, however, so far as Hebrew creditors are concerned, and proper loans, not money due on account of purchase (Deu_15:3, Deu_15:8-9).
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4. Save when there shall be] RV 'Howbeit there shall be.' The law is intended to prevent poverty.
10. 'The Lord loveth a cheerfui giver.'
1. The ideal state of matters is contemplated in Deu_15:4 : here we have the actual fact. There will always be poor people, but poverty will be exceptional, if this injunction is conscientiously carried out: see Deu_15:4, Deu_15:5.
12-18. See also Exo_21:2-6; Lev_25:39-46. The subject of slavery is connected with that of poverty, as it is implied here that the poor person has been sold as a slave for debt. Every seventh year the slave has to be released. He is not to be sent away empty, as the probable result would be a return to slavery. He is to be liberally furnished, so as to be in a position to earn a livelihood and make a fresh start in life. This is a very wise as well as humane prescription.
16. If a slave elect to remain in the master's service instead of accepting release, a formal compact must be made to that effect. In Exo_21:6 the ceremony is performed in public before the magistrates; here it seems to be private. The boring of the ear and the fastening it to the doorpost with the awl signified that the person was permanently attached to the house and was bound to obey the words of his master: cp. on Exo_21:6.
19, 20. In Num_18:15-18 the firstlings of clean beasts are the perquisite of the priests. Here they are to be eaten by the owner and. his household annually at the central sanctuary. Much ingenuity has been expended in the attempt to reconcile these two regulations. The simplest explanation is that they belong to different stages of legislation.
21. Whatever is offered to God must be the best of its kind: cp. Deu_17:1, and see on Lev_22:17-25.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 11. The Year of Release and Liberation of Hebrew…
11. The Year of Release and Liberation of Hebrew Slaves
CHAPTER 15:1-18
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1. The year of release (Deu 15:1-11)
2. The liberation of the Hebrew slaves (Deu 15:12-18)
The poor and those who have no possession were to be remembered in kindness and have a share in the blessings. Linked with this law are the laws not to force and oppress the poor, the year of release and the liberation of the slaves. The great Sabbatic year, the seventh, brought the release. See Exo 23:10 and Lev 25:2-7. Here we have an enlarged exposition of the previously given law. The debtor not to be pressed then for what he owed and nothing was to be exacted from him. While the land rested all debts and obligations had also to rest. It does therefore not mean a complete remission of all debts forever. And linked with this merciful institution is the promise of blessing. Obedience to these gracious laws would bring to them great blessing. Especially interesting is verse 6. “For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as He promised thee; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.” Even today in their blindness and dispersion this promise is being fulfilled. Who does not know that the Jews are the money lenders of the nations? Kings and princes have borrowed from this wonderful people. Some day when the time of our fulness and blessing comes, this promise will be fully accomplished and Israel will reign over the nations, be the head and no longer the tail.
The poor were also to be treated in great kindness. What grace and love breathes in verses 7-11! Twice we read “thou shalt open thine hand wide.” “Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient.” “For the poor shall never cease out of the land, therefore, I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” Throughout the Word of God the poor are mentioned to be remembered in kindness and some most blessed promises are given to those who obey these gracious words. See Pro 14:21; Pro 19:17; Pro 22:9; Pro 28:8; Pro 28:27; Psa 41:1. Oppression of the poor is a sin, which God specially marks. See Isa 3:14-15; Isa 10:2; Eze 18:11-13; Amo 2:6; Amo 4:1; Amo 5:11; Jas 2:6. When the Lord comes He will remember the poor and deliver them. See Psa 72:2; Psa 72:4; Psa 72:12-13; Psa 113:7; Psa 132:15; Isa 11:4.
The teaching of some, who say that we are not under the law but under grace, and therefore do not need to pay any attention whatever to these gracious words, which Jehovah bound upon the hearts of Israel, is fatally wrong. “Under grace” is often used to cover a selfish life. The grace, which has saved us, which pledges our eternal security in Christ, demands of us that we be followers of God. This is learned from the exhortations of the New Testament. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). “But to do good and communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb 13:16). “The Lord loveth a cheerful giver” because “He giveth to all and upbraideth not.” “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
The liberation of the slave is also stated in Exodus 21, to which we refer the reader. The Hebrew woman is mentioned here. In Exodus 21 only the male slave is spoken of. But why is it given here again? Is it a mere repetition? It is not. The Lord gives through Moses the mode in which this law is to be kept. His loving kindness shines out once more in the gracious addition made here. “And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty.” This verse and verses 14-15 are not found in Exodus 21. How blessedly He cared for the poor slaves. They were set free, laden down with the riches of the flock, the floor and the winepress. Other lessons connected with this we must leave untouched.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Of the Treatment of the Poor
Of the Treatment of the Poor
v. 1. At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. At the end of every Sabbatic year, after the close of the harvest season, when the accounts mere cast up, every creditor was to remember that leniency was expected of him.
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v. 2. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor, literally, "every lord or maker of a loan," that lendeth aught unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor or of his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release. Cf Exo 23:10-11; Lev 25:2-7. This does not imply that the debt was simply to be canceled, but that the creditor was not to insist upon its immediate payment in a harsh and legalistic spirit.
v. 3. of a foreigner, a non-Israelite, thou mayest exact it again, in his case payment could be demanded, because he was not bound by the law which forbade the cultivation of the soil in the seventh year, and was therefore supposed to be in a position to pay, since he had had his usual income; but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release, of him the return of the loan should not be exacted,
v. 4. Save when there shall be no poor among you, literally, "in order that by no means there be among you needy ones," namely, due to the oppression of the poorer ones, as here intimated; for the lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the lord, thy God, giveth thee for an in heritance to possess it, and therefore no creditor would need to fear want on account of the humaneness practiced by him;
v. 5. only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord, thy God, to observe all these commandments which I command thee this day, for obedience to God flowing out of true faith must be at the basis of all holy life.
v. 6. For the lord, thy God, blesseth thee as he promised thee, His blessing was not problematic and uncertain, but had begun even at this time, for the conquest of the land east of the Jordan was a guarantee of the final complete victory; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, let people of other nations have money upon security, but thou shalt not borrow, none of their nation would be obliged to bind himself by a pledge given as security for a loan: and thou shalt reign over many nations, have a position of superiority due to this economic independence, but they shall not reign over thee.
v. 7. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee, the entire context emphasizing the relation of intimacy which should exist between all the members of the nation, thou shalt not harden thine heart, draw it together with every evidence of coldness, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother;
v. 8. but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, show a cordial generosity, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth, to the extent in which he is in need.
v. 9. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, that the worthless heart should speak to the person, saying, the seventh year, the year of release, is at hand, in which the loan might not be returned; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, be filled with ill will and grudge against him, and thou givest him naught; and he cry unto the lord against thee, complaining of this lack of brotherly love, and it be sin unto thee and challenge the wrath of Jehovah.
v. 10. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him, be filled with ill will and resentment against the poorer neighbor, because that for this thing the lord, thy God, shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. Jehovah’s purpose in doing so was to enable every person to practice charity in the right spirit and in a liberal manner.
v. 11. For the poor shall never cease out of the land, Mat 26:11; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in thy land. Note that he stresses the personal responsibility and obligation of every person toward the members of his people. The obligation of the Christians in this respect is stated very plainly by St. Paul: "Let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith," Gal 6:9-10.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 General Information:
General Information:
Moses continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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seven years
"7 years" (See: Numbers)
you must cancel debts
"forgive every thing which people still owe you"
This is the manner of the release
"This is how to cancel the debts"
creditor
a person who lends money to other people
his neighbor or his brother
The words "neighbor" and "brother" share similar meanings and emphasize the close relationship that they have with their fellow Israelites. AT: "his fellow Israelite" (See: Doublet)
because Yahweh's cancellation of debts has been proclaimed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "because Yahweh has required that you cancel debts" (See: Active or Passive)
your hand must release
This is an idiom. AT: "you must not demand it back" or "you must not require repayment" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
year
neighbor
brother
preach
alien
hand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–2 15:1-23 The Law included the regulation of borrowing and…
15:1-23 The Law included the regulation of borrowing and lending so that the poor could survive deprivation. It provided restrictions to allow the rich to minister to the needs of the poor without exploiting them.
15:1 cancel the debts: This technical term refers to releasing people in financial bondage from their creditors and from any penalty for their default.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.