Introduction
In the earlier chapters of Deuteronomy, God gave laws to the
Israelites to keep them clean and pure so He could be among them. The laws He
gave were to keep them righteous and pure. Deuteronomy 25 approaches purity
from a different angle. It considers justness, dishonor, abomination, and
judgment.
Before we get into the study, we need to understand the
definitions of these four words. The word “just” in this chapter of Deuteronomy
comes from the Hebrew word tsedeq. Tsedeq means rightness in speech and
action and justice in case or cause. Justness is righteousness. The character
and will of God are the foundation for righteousness and justice. Righteousness
requires justice and judgment for it to continue in the human realm. This
explains the other side of God’s righteousness, judgment on those who are not
right or just.
Judgment, as said above, comes from God’s character of
righteousness and justice. Sinfulness brings God’s condemnation, His condemning
of sin. God’s righteousness and justice brings condemnation of sin, which
brings judgment. Judgment is the punishment for sin that God proclaims against
the sinner. It is the necessary requirement to remove evil or to discipline a
wayward person. Punishment/judgment either brings the person back to God or casts
the final judgment of death and eternal separation from God.
The word “abomination” comes from the Hebrew word tow’ebah. It means a disgusting thing in
the sense of wickedness or ritual uncleanness. Abomination is loathing or detesting.
When God called something abominable, He considered it detestable and
loathsome. God cannot be in the presence of people when they do or have done abominable
things or when detestable things are around them. For God to be among people,
they must be clean and pure. Cleansing from the dirtiness of abominable acts
had to occur for the Israelites via judgment and the sacrifice of animals. When
they enacted judgment or offered sin sacrifices, they would be ritually clean.
The last word needing defining is “dishonor.” Moses did not
write this word in Deuteronomy 25, but implied it several times. Dishonor means
to bring shame or disgrace upon someone. It means to fail to observe or respect
a person or law, too. Knowing these words, let us now get into the study.
Disputes
Each of the four sections Moses dealt with in this chapter about
justness teaches about different kinds of disputes. There are fine nuances between
them so we can consider them this way: criminal dispute (vs. 1-3), family
dispute (vs. 5-10), civil dispute (vs. 11-12), and business dispute (vs.
13-15). Moses used the analogy of how much they were to care for their animal when
he clarified how to treat people. In verse 16, Moses wrote the thematic
statement of this chapter and defined the word “evil.” In verses 17-19, he
showed them how far God goes in judging people to remind them of the
seriousness of His requirement for justness/righteousness.
Criminal Dispute.
In verses 1-3, Moses gave an example of two men in dispute
going to the court to decide their case. The word “dispute” in verse one comes
from the Hebrew word riyb, which
means controversy, quarrel, or strife. In Deuteronomy 19:16-17, Moses used riyb when he spoke about criminal
disputes. Commentators often consider the dispute in Deuteronomy 25 a criminal
case. Moses said in this chapter, when the men take their dispute to court and
the judges decide their case, the judges will “justify the righteous and
condemn the wicked.” Justifying the righteous meant declaring to every person listening,
including the two men, who was right, correct, and lawful. Condemning the wicked
meant the judges declared to every person listening, which man they found
guilty of a crime/sin. That is what Moses meant by justifying and condemning.
They were public pronouncements so every person would know who was right in the
dispute and who was wrong. In addition, their pronouncement gave witness to
God’s righteousness, His requirements for purity, and His judgment on people
who sinned against Him or other people.
What was the judgment given to the one who the judges
condemned as evil? Moses said in verses two and three,
Then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the
judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the
number of stripes according to his guilt. He may beat him forty times but no
more so [lest] that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and
your brother is degraded in your eyes. [NASB]
A couple important things arise in
these two verses. First, beatings did not occur for every criminal action. The
verses said “if the wicked man deserves to be beaten.” God trained the
judges to know His ways. He taught them His laws and judgments. Not every
criminal dispute required the judgment of lashes on the back.
The
second important thing to notice is that God cared for the man found guilty of
wickedness in this passage. How do we know that? Moses said in verse three not
to beat him over forty times so they he is not degraded [read that as
dishonored] in your eyes. God cared that a person, whether justified or
condemned, kept his honor in the eyes of the judges. To beat over forty lashes
was to treat the person as less than an animal. How do we know this last part?
Verse 4 tells us. It says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.”
Since the Israelites were to treat the ox well while he was working, how much more
were they were to treat a fellow man well even while administering punishment.
The condemned man still had to live among them and work with them after his punishment.
If the judgment dishonored the man, people would be less inclined to work with
him. The outcome of that was that he and his family might starve or become poor
because of the excessive lashes/dishonoring he received. A person punished excessively
does not see their wrongness, but becomes embittered and cynical. In ancient
Mesopotamian cultures, the maximum number of lashes a person could receive was
one hundred. God was the God of Israel, not Mesopotamia. He wanted the
Israelites to stand out as different from surrounding nations and cultures. God
instituted a maximum of forty lashes.
Another
factor we should note is that the number forty in the Bible showed a time of
trial or preparation. Consider these people and their times of preparation and
trial – Moses (in Egypt, in the desert shepherding, in the Exodus), Jesus (in
the wilderness), the Israelites (Exodus journey), Nineveh (40 days to
destruction), and Ezekiel (laid on his right side 40 days to symbolize Judah’s
sins). The pattern of forty shows days or years of trial and preparation or
deliverance. With forty, hope remained. Deliverance and redemption from trouble
occurred after the forty days or years. So the forty lashes were a punishment
and a message to change his behavior. The judges did not decree them to bring
destruction on the man, just punishment. They ruled that the criminal could
live and hence he needed his honor, not defamation. God’s judges rendered the judgment
and led the people to a state of rightness and righteousness. They dealt with the
sin by rendering the just punishment and the people returned justness before God.
Family Dispute.
Verses 5 through 10 imparted God’s will in particular family
disputes. These kinds of disputes continued even to Jesus’ day as we read in Matthew
22:23-33. The basic law here is when a man died having no heirs, his unmarried
brother must marry the widow and lie with her until he produces an heir for his
brother. This was the levirate law. The firstborn son of the brother-in-law and
widow received the name of the deceased brother. He received the deceased brother’s
inheritance, too. This law assured the family line of the dead brother
continued (“his name not be blotted out” vs. 6), his inheritance from God
continued in his family line, and his widow received care throughout her life.
The dispute in these six verses arose when an unmarried
brother did not desire to take his brother’s wife for his wife. The word “desire”
in Hebrew is chaphets and means take
delight in, take pleasure in, or be pleased with. Maybe the brother did not
want to marry the widow because she was not pleasant. Whatever the case, if the
brother did not marry her, she would be shamed and could not marry anyone outside
the family. Added to this, it would be unjust because her husband’s line would end
and his inheritance be given to someone else. Finally, she would have no one to
take care of her – food, lodging, and care in old age.
This must have occurred often because an established process
of rectifying the problem existed. From verse 7 through 10, Moses declared certain
steps to follow that allowed the widow legally to marry outside the family.
First, as in each of these disputes, she presented her case to the elders at
the city gate. She explained her case – her brother-in-law refused to marry her
and perform the duty of a husband’s brother. If you have read the story of
Ruth, you read Boaz did this before he married Ruth (Ruth 4:5-6). Here is where
the justice part of the law begins - where the judges get involved. Next, the
elders of the city summon the unmarried brother to speak to him. If he persists
and still does not want to marry the widow, the final part of this law occurs.
Verse 9 says,
Then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the
elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face and she shall
declare, “Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.
In Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’”
[NASB]
For fair treatment, the widow had
legal recourse. By law, she married into her husband’s family. If the dead husband’s
brother would not give her an heir for her husband to assure the future for him
and take care of her, she could legally remove herself from the family and seek
another man to marry. This was a common enough occurrence. Yet, still, verse nine
seems odd to us in the twenty-first century. Let us try to understand it.
Historical
writings say that the judges had a sandal made for this purpose of this levirate
law. To free himself from marrying his dead brother’s wife, the brother-in-law
put on the sandal, tied the laces, and stood firmly in it. The widow bent down loosened
the straps and removed the shoe from his foot. She tossed it away onto the
ground and then spit on the ground in front of him. After that, the judges gave
her a certificate that allowed her to marry whomever she wanted in Israel. The
symbolism is what is important in these actions. Remember, when a man married a
woman, she was his skirt. She became the closest covering/garment for him. In this
instance, the sandal represented the reproductive organ of the woman and the
man’s foot represented his reproductive organ. By publicly removing the man’s
sandal from his foot, she removed herself from him as his sandal. The
brother-in-law allowed this to show he gave up his rights to her. This method
showed her reproach of him. He did not deserve her as his sandal. In addition, the
widow’s removing of his sandal signified he did not deserve to be considered a
free man, but of servants and slaves. (Slaves did not have shoes.) Spitting in
a person’s face or towards him showed contempt of that person and was a way of
shaming and disgracing a person. It was a sign of abhorrence and defamed him
(Isaiah 50:6). The judges offered justice and returned the people involved to a
relationship of justness and rightness.
Civil Dispute.
Verses 11 through 12 handled civil disputes, most particularly
a wife’s involvement in it. Moses said, “If two men, a man and his countryman,
are struggling together and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband
from the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his
genitals, then you shall cut off her hand.” [NASB] First off, this judgment seems
drastic when reading it in English. We need to look closer at the Hebrew words
to understand it better. On top of this, we need to understand the finer
nuances of this case.
In verse 11, the word “hand” comes from the Hebrew word yad and means hand, strength, and power.
The word “hand” in verse twelve is the Hebrew word kaph, meaning the palm of the hand. If Moses intended this judgment
literally, he would have used yad in
both verses. The Jews from the beginning interpreted this law to mean the
judgment was the payment of a monetary fine to the man she seized. Jewish leaders
ruled this way because kaph means the
palm of the hand and, from the palm of the hand, people gave money.
The notable point of this law is the modesty and decency of
the wife and the honor of the men in the fight. When the wife entered the fray
to rescue her husband, she dishonored her husband in front of people. She, in
essence, said he was not strong enough to win his battles. Added to this, by
grabbing the other man’s genitals, she dishonored him and dishonored her
husband. The dishonor to her husband was like she cuckolded him. The dishonor
to the other man came from her indecency. It, too, could have affected the
man’s ability to have offspring to whom to pass his inheritance. The woman was
not just or right in her handling of the problem. She was immodest and
indecent. The wife dishonored/defamed both men and herself. The judgment of the
woman required her to pay a punitive fine to the man whose genitals she grabbed.
Moses declared no pity was be shown to a woman who did this. The judges’
judgment restored rightness and justness. Their addressing the case rectified
the problem and removed the abomination.
Business Disputes.
In verses 14 through 15, Moses told the Israelites to be
fair and just in their business dealings. In that time, people used stones of specific
weights to sell their products. Each size stone was to weigh a specific amount,
the standard for the time. In these verses, Moses told them not to use weights
less than the standard amount to measure out goods sold. He told them not to
have a large and small weight in their pouches - the large to measure the
amount sold to someone and the small to measure what they themselves bought
from someone. They were to use the same measure for both transactions. The word
“measures” in verse fourteen referred to a volume amount. “Measures” comes from
the Hebrew word eyphah. An eyphah was equal to ten omers, about
nine gallons or forty liters. The word “weight” in verse fifteen is the Hebrew
word ‘eben, which means stone. This
referred to the weight of products. To sell the products at a standard and just
weight, the seller used the measuring stones according to the standard.
Why was this important to God? God is righteousness and
justice. To be a people of God, the Israelites were to be a people of
righteousness and justice. Moses said in verse fifteen, “You shall have a full
and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure.” The word “full” is shalem and means complete and at peace.
“Just” comes from tsedeq and means
rightness and righteousness in speech and action. The Israelites were to
measure out complete measures, not steal from others. By doing this, they would
be righteous, as God is righteous. By this, they would be at peace because they
did not sin.
Moses gave the biggest incentive for being righteous the
Israelites could have. At the end of verse fifteen, he said, “That your days
may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” (See Exodus 20:12,
too.) Moses reminded them of their first promise and covenant with God from
Mount Sinai. God promised this blessing to the Israelites if they were faithful
to their covenant with Him. God gave the laws to keep them righteous tied and promised
this blessing for their faithfulness to Him. Their faithfulness to God meant
they were righteous in God’s eyes. When people followed God and His laws, God blessed
them with a prolonged life in the Promised Land; He blessed them with life.
Judgment for Unjustness/Unrighteousness
In the first fifteen verses Moses dealt with specific acts
requiring justice and the administration of judgment. These judgments rendered
by God’s judges “justified the righteous and condemned the wicked” (vs. 1). They
set one against the other so the Israelites could learn and know what was just
and right and what was unjust and unrighteous, wicked. This allowed them to pursue
righteousness and be righteous before God. In verse fifteen, Moses reminded the
Israelites of their covenant with God and His blessing on them if they were
faithful to it.
Verse 16 explains the opposite, what God considers people
who act unjustly. Moses said, “For everyone who does these things, everyone who
acts unjustly is an abomination to the LORD your God.” In this verse, Moses defined
the word “evil.” The word “unjustly” comes from the Hebrew word evel, which means injustice and
unrighteousness. God is just - righteous and right. He cannot be in the
presence of injustice and unrighteousness - evil. Because of this, He provided
judgments for people who were unjust/unrighteous - evil. The judgments were
disciplining (so the person would return to the LORD) and actions to serve as
an example to the people (to keep them walking in God’s righteous ways). Judgment
could be the unrighteous person’s removal so he or she would not lead people
away from God. In verse sixteen, we hear that God called anything unjust an
abomination, something disgusting and loathsome. The choice to follow God and
His laws or not to follow Him is for each person to decide. If a person acts unjustly
or unrighteously (evel-ly), he or she
chooses not to follow God. God’s metes out His judgment upon him or her.
Remember what God does to an abomination. He issues judgment that are either discipline
or as destruction of the person - the Law of the Ban.
How do we know this? Moses outlined God’s judgments for
disputes in the above situations. His judgments for different acts of sin are
in the earlier chapters of Deuteronomy. Moses added more to this chapter in
verses seventeen through nineteen to remind the Israelites of God’s seriousness
about sin, an abomination. Moses said,
Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came
from Egypt, how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the
stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary and he did not fear God.
Therefore, it shall come about when the LORD your God has given you rest from
all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the LORD your God gives you as
an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under
heaven; you must not forget. [NASB]
Moses reminded the Israelites that
God’s ultimate judgment, His curse for unrighteousness, is death. Earlier in
Deuteronomy, God told the Israelites when they entered Canaan, they were to
destroy the people, the worship places, the worship idols, and everything related
to their worship of false gods. They received God’s ultimate judgment – the Law
of the Ban.
In
verses eighteen and nineteen, Moses reminded them God still judged people for
their unrighteousness via His curse for unfaithfulness. That ultimate judgment was
death. The Israelites remembered that when Moses told them God’s judgment on the
Amalekites. Because the Amalekites attacked the Israelites when they crossed
the Red Sea and were at their weakest and because the Amalekites attacked them
from the rear where their weakest people were, God’s judgment on them was
death. When God in later years told the Israelites to attack and kill the
Amelekites, He said they would blot out the Amelekites from the memory of
humankind forever. The English verb “blot out” comes from the Hebrew word machah, which means to wipe out, to obliterate. God commanded the destruction of the
Amelekites almost 400 years after the Israelites settled in the Promised Land. The
Amelekites had those 400 years to repent and did not. God told Saul to kill
them (1 Samuel 15). Saul spared some of them. David destroyed more of them. The
Simeonites in Hezekiah’s time killed the rest (1 Chronicles 4:43).
God
renewed his Law of the Ban when He issued the order to kill the Amelekites. He
reminded the Israelites He expected faithfulness to Him. God reminded them He would
bless or curse when He reminded them of the Amelekites. Moses’ final statement
in this chapter was, “You must not forget.” “Do not ignore nor cease to care about
your covenant with the LORD your God” is what he meant.
Recap
God issued each of His laws, statutes, and decrees to help
keep the Israelites righteous and pure, not to be a tyrant. In verse 16 this
week, we find the theme of this chapter, “Everyone who acts unjustly is an
abomination to the LORD your God.” God offered a blessing or curse for a
person’s faithfulness or unfaithfulness to his or her covenant with Him. The
blessing for being just, Moses stated was, “That you days may be prolonged in
the land which the LORD your God gives you” (vs. 15). Life was the blessing. The
curse, as stated in verse sixteen, was death. In this chapter, Moses taught how
to resolve disputes in most areas of the Israelites’ lives. He taught that God
wanted each person to keep their honor and not be shamed or disgraced even if
they received disciplining by the judges. By doing this, Moses taught that God
cares about every person and each animal. God wants people to be righteous and just,
not unrighteous and unjust, which God calls an abomination. He detests
sinfulness and cannot be in its presence.
Relevance and Conclusion
God knew humans would sin. He is all-knowing. God gave each
person the opportunity to decide for him or herself. He allowed each person a choice
to be in a relationship with Him. God created us to be in a relationship with
Him. He knew we each would sin and choose to go our own way. God created the
Old Covenant from Mount Sinai to establish a theocracy and to teach the people
how to be righteous, pure, and just. It led the Israelites to God. The covenant
provided a way to remove sin, though temporarily, so God could be among His
people. The sacrifice for sin was not perfect and did not cover sin for all
time.
From the beginning of time, God knew humans would sin and go
their own way. He provided from the beginning the perfect sacrifice to take
away every sin from people forever. The perfect sacrifice came through God’s
own perfect being, the birth of his Son on earth to live a sinless life. Only
the sacrifice of a sinless, perfect being could save people from their sins
forever. God provided this perfect sacrifice because of His love. Jesus’ death only
needed to happen once because by coming back to life, He beat death and sin
forever. When a person believes Jesus Christ is the Son of God who lived, died,
and was resurrected for his or her sins and then confesses his or her sins to
God, he or she becomes a clean child of God. Death does not have power over the
person anymore. Jesus’ power over death transfers to His brothers and sisters so
they have victory over sin and death, too. As brothers and sisters of Christ,
they are joint heirs with Him in God’s kingdom and will live forever with God
in heaven after their lives on earth.
Each of us has this opportunity. The opportunity gives us
forgiveness of our sins, power to resist temptation, and power to overcome
death to live with God in heaven. God provided this. We did nothing to get it
or deserve it. God gave it because of His love for each person He created.
Will you accept God’s
gift of love – salvation and forgiveness?
It is up to you.
