Deuteronomy 24: 6 – 15 “Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.
If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.
In cases of infectious skin diseases, be careful to diligently follow everything the Levitical priests instruct you. Be careful to do as I have commanded them. Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the journey after you had left Egypt.
When you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect security. You are to stand outside while the man to whom you are lending brings the security out to you. If he is a poor man, you must not go to sleep with the security in your possession; be sure to return it to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in his own cloak and bless you, and this will be credited to you as righteousness before the LORD your God.
Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise, he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
When God was giving these commands, He knew how wicked the human heart could be. God knew that there would be people who leant money to others and that some of these people would truly be skinflints!
A money lender was not allowed to take the upper (moveable) grindstone as collateral because nobody could run a grinding mill without it. If a money lender came to collect the collateral, he was forbidden to enter a poor man’s house to look for the collateral. Even if a poor man had to give up his cloak for collateral, the money lender had to return it at night so that man would not freeze in the cold of the night.
Hired hands were to be paid regularly and on time; failure to do so could lead to the workers crying out against the unfair master.
While a poor man might sell himself or a child as a hired servant, nobody was to kidnap a fellow Israelite, either to treat him as a slave or to sell him. Kidnapping was punishable by death.
What about the injunction regarding skin diseases? There were elaborate rituals the priests were to employ to determine if a disease was infectious or not and whether or not it had burned out. The story regarding Moses’ sister Miriam was told in Numbers 12. Miriam and Aaron chose to rebel against Moses, with Miriam possibly taking the lead. Aaron really was a follower and not a leader. God Himself confronted Miriam and Aaron and caused Miriam to break out in leprosy, requiring her to be set outside the camp for a week. God healed Miriam but warned Aaron and her that Moses was God’s chosen vessel and not them.
APPLICATION: The themes throughout these verses are regard for the poor and helpless and justice and righteousness. God wants His people to be holy in all their dealings, not just when they are offering sacrifices at the temple. If God is not Lord of everything in the lives of the Israelites, then they are not behaving as His people.
What is the basis for our behavior? Is God Lord of our lives, or are we living according to any other standards? As 2021 draws to a close, we need to stop and ask ourselves how have we honored God in our lives this year?
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to honor You in every area of our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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