Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage Four: "On Your Marks"

Introduction

Five articles about faith-based ministry to refugees precede this one. The article Titles are The Warp and Weft of Life[1], Conception: Empowering to Serve Refugees[2], Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage One: Getting to Know Refugees[3], Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage Two: Founding a Faith-based Ministry to Refugees[4], and Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage Three: Connecting[5]. Besides these, others of my refugee articles relay stories directly from refugees about their lives. These articles begin with the title In Their Words[6][7][8]. One other article on working with refugees teaches about the importance of letting the person tell his or her story. The title of this article is Just Listen[9].

In earlier articles of the refugee ministry series, you learned who refugees are, how many refugees are in the world as of the end of 2016, and that refugees come from many countries in the world. For faith-based refugee work, you must receive God’s vision, pray continually, and depend on God for strength. Further, you must become acquainted with the refugees by talking with them, and then determine their needs based on those conversations with them and from your own inspection of their lives. Another part of working with refugees is setting up a refugee ministry organization with a clear mission statement, and clear goals and objectives. These will keep the ministry focused. They will allow people working with you to help refugees and people outside the organization to understand God’s vision for you and your goals for the refugee ministry as you received it from Him.

This fourth article in the Inception part of the series will look at those tasks immediately preceding the start of the refugee ministry, hence the title, “On Your Mark.”. These tasks are the necessities of your particular ministry. Whether you plan to teach English, give food or rent help, offer counseling services, give legal aid, offer medical aid with clinics, or whatever the vision God gave you, certain practical necessities are needed to begin the ministry. Besides the practical, you must consider other things. These other considerations comprise finding a venue, advertising, submitting funding requests, getting volunteers, more advocacy, and most importantly, continued prayer.

Prayer

Again, as stated before, prayer must enwrap every part of a ministry for the vision which God gives. God is the One who gives the vision and He must empower the work, so the workers will not grow weary, heavy-hearted, and give up on the work to which He calls them. Prayer must weave throughout each part of the refugee ministry to understand God about to whom or to which organization to meet with to get volunteers and funding. Prayer will help you decide when to change or adapt the work and when to enlarge the ministry. It will help you realize your need for added expertise. Added to this, prayer opens people’s hearts as you and the refugee organization advocate and seek ministry funding for refugees and the ministry to them. Without prayer throughout the entire process, the ministry weakens because it rests upon the limited wisdom, knowledge, and strength of people instead of on all-knowing and all-mighty God.

A Venue

One of the most important parts to any ministry is having a place from which to minister. A venue provides a place in which to keep an office and supplies, and becomes the place from which ministry to refugees occurs. A site can cost nothing, or it can require rent payment. It can be associated with a church or business, or can be independent of another organization.

How do you find a venue, a place, from which to minister to refugees? You must compose a priority list of what is most important for that ministry. Does the ministry venue need to be near a main transportation center, like a train station or taxi rank? Does it need to cost the ministry program nothing or can the program pay rent, and how much can it pay? Does the site need to be child-safe, as in will the refugees bring children with them? Do you need a site large enough, so the ministry can grow, or will you be a roving ministry?

After considering the priorities for a ministry site, the ministry team can begin the search for a venue. Often just driving around the area in which the refugees of interest live and praying asking God to show you a place works well. When God shows you a site, contact the manager, pastor, or owner and make an appointment to talk to him or her about using his or her building.

Another way to find a place in which to minister to refugees is by joining another ministry or organization. Consider the other ministries/churches or organizations in the area in which the ministry could best serve the refugee population you want to minister. Determine if one or more of these have the same Christian ethos as the ministry you want to offer for refugees. After that, approach the ministry/church or organization through a meeting telling them of your vision from God for the ministry, and asking them if you can use a room, hall, or any other place they have available.

Most importantly, before you seek an interview with a person, ministry, organization, or business from whom to borrow space, you must pray to seek God’s will about working with them. Some places God will shut the door to you seeking to work with them. He knows best what the underlying ethos is of that person, organization, or business. Even though you might not understand why God tells you not to seek a venue from them, trust He knows the heart of the property owner or manager. Look elsewhere once God closes a door for that site.

Resources

Funding

Resources are a necessity for any organization or ministry. Without them, people and tools would be unavailable for use or to help in the ministry to refugees. No organization could operate without people, pens, paper, pencils, etc.

Before you can do anything else, though, you must find resources and a way to pay for them. How will the ministry get funding? How will it get people to help? Connect with the people, churches, businesses, and organizations you visited in stage three. Determine if they give funds to ministries in the community. Ask how a person gets the funds from the person, church, business, or organization. Obtain the documents needed to submit a funding or grant request. Ask how soon you will hear about your application. If you have not received a reply from the people, businesses, churches, or organizations by the time they said they would decide, email or call them asking when you will know the result of your funding application.

Funding is a key challenge for organizations, profit and non-profit. Often you will need to get funding from several organizations to make sure you obtain all needs for the ministry. When considering refugee ministry, remember to approach the United Nations High Council on Refugees (UNHCR), USAID, and the department of social development or social services. Do not give up if you do not get funding immediately. God gave you the vision: He knows from where the funding can come. Keep praying asking His help and guidance on where to seek funding and to soften the hearts of the people or organizations so they will join you in ministry to refugees.

Supplies

Another part of getting resources is buying physical supplies. What is the program you will start first in the refugee ministry? What supplies will you need for that program? Paper, pens, pencils, and folders are a staple supply in every ministry and organization. Printing costs will occur for handouts for classes or other programs. Will you buy a printer or pay a local print shop? How will you manage that? Will your ministry distribute food, clothes, or blankets? You will need to buy the basic items you will distribute to refugees. For each ministry, places to sit and write will be necessary. These sorts of costs will need consideration in the funding or grant request you submit.

Besides tangible supplies, a ministry will often need people to help with the work. Maybe, you will work on your own at the start of the program. As the number of refugees helped increases, more personnel will need to be on the ministry team. Initially, the team members will be volunteers. After a ministry grows and funding is not as large of a concern because funding is steady, the ministry program can become an employer. Until that time, you will need to solicit and train volunteers.

While working with the refugees, leaders emerge among them. Approach these leaders to tell them of the need for volunteers on the team. Find out their gifting and training. Many refugees have extensive training. They graduated from a university in their home countries. With the refugee leaders as part of the ministry team, the refugee community begins to trust and respect the ministry. They then seek to bring more people needing help while often offering their own services to the ministry.

Besides ministry volunteers from the refugee community, you should consider and solicit volunteers from surrounding communities of the host city and country and city. Return to the organizations with which you made connection at the start of planning for this ministry. See if they would consider telling their employees about the refugee ministry and encourage them to offer their time to help refugees. Churches could put a notice in their Sunday bulletin or on their bulletin board. Employers could hold a monthly corporate employee community day and offer their manpower to the refugee ministry. Small business owners could offer their help by training refugees to work for them. The ways to get volunteers is endless. Talking to the volunteers before and after a volunteer day is also important. Teach them how to do the work for the day. At the end, ask them how the day went for them. What was a highlight for them? What did they find difficult? Debrief the volunteers and answer any questions or concerns. Remember, before soliciting volunteers, get your prayer supporters for the refugee ministry to pray that God would open the hearts of people to care for refugees and join their hands and heart to the ministry.

Advertise

Why you need to advertise? How will the refugee community you want to help realize help is available to them without the ministry being advertised somehow? Until refugees in the community learn about a new ministry and it takes root, it cannot make a big dent in the needs of the community.

How would you advertise to reach refugees? Contact other non-profit and non-governmental organizations telling them about the ministry you will soon offer and ask if you can place a flier in their offices. Tell local pastors and churches about the ministry soon to be operating. Make fliers and put them in the mail boxes in areas in which refugees live. Put fliers up on public notice boards at grocery stores, pharmacies, and other community stores. Put these fliers up in doctors’ offices, libraries, and schools. Go into the community where refugees live and talk to people on the street. Take a refugee leader with you who can talk about the ministry and about you as a person who cares about the refugees’ problems.

Paul wrote something like this. Getting your news out to the community in need requires going to them is similar to Paul’s writing when he said, Christians are to go to the people in need and tell them about God’s salvation made available to them. As a Christian ministry to refugees, the program did not come to you from God, so you can feel good about yourself because you are doing something for refugees. God’s vision came so the people He loves, which includes refugees, can experience His love. How will the refugees recognize God’s love if you do not get into their community and tell them about the refugee ministry, and why it’s available to help them? Ultimately, the refugee ministry is to tell the people God loves them so much that he provided a way to save them from their sins and give them eternal life with Him. That love is for eternity and for now. God’s love isn’t just for the future; God’s love is for now, too. Paul said in Romans 10:1, 10-14, 

¹ “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. ¹⁰ For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’ ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him. ¹³ For ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ¹⁴ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?

The ministry from God’s heart to you as a vision to help the refugees comes because of God’s love for them. He loves them with a saving love for now and eternity. Just as the people cannot hear about God’s saving love without someone going to tell them, the refugees cannot hear about the refugee ministry without someone going into their communities to tell them it exists to help them because of God’s love for them. All who seek to minister must go where the people are to help them.

Advocacy

In the refugee ministry article titled Connecting, you understood many reasons exist for finding other organizations serving the refugee community. Connecting with the other organizations helps you network to meet more needs of refugees. It helps you find funding for the programs. Connecting aids you in knowing how to find funding or volunteers.

Besides advocating with other organizations, you must advocate for refugee ministry within the community and city, so people will accept refugees. Why is this necessary? Many times, people within a community, city, or nation protest out of fear about refugees entering their sphere. They are afraid refugees will take jobs away from them. Refugees willingly take lower paying jobs than nationals. Because of this, employers often choose refugees over nationals. Nationals fear the culture from which refugees come will bleed into their city or nation. They do not want genocide, war, or “strange” religions to affect their way of life. People-land owners or property managers-within the host city or country are prejudiced against refugees and asylum-seekers. They show it by charging refugees and asylum-seekers higher rent prices. Often, they will rent one room of a flat/apartment for half the price of the full price of the whole apartment. Often, they will build shacks in a back yard that do not have access to running water or sewerage. These landlords will then charge exorbitant rents so they pay their own mortgage for the property from the rents.

Ultimately, advocacy within the host community, city, and nation should aim to help the people know the plight of the refugees and why they had to flee their homes. It aims to touch the hearts of people, so they will care for the refugees instead of seeing them as a threat. You can advocate for refugees by speaking at churches, businesses, in councils, in neighborhoods schools and sports clubs, and with local government leaders. You cannot be the only one in a community to care for refugees and asylum-seekers. The task is a very large. It takes a community united to care for its aliens, orphans, and widows. God understood this and told the Israelites to care for their poor and powerless within their own communities.

Consider these verses from the Bible:

At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year and shall deposit it in your town. The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do. (Deuteronomy 14:28-29 [NASB])

“You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.” (Leviticus 19:15 [NASB]) 

For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So, show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:17-19 [NASB])

Other verses of direct teaching from Yahweh in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament, as well as teaching from prophets and New Testament writers, teach these lessons and more.

Conclusion

What is most important to know is God loves everyone. He is not prejudiced. God wants all people to come to a saving relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. At this point and throughout the ministry to refugees, prayer is paramount. God giving you His ministry vision for refugees shows His love for refugees. It also shows His love of you. He knows your heart and trusts you will follow His guidance to care for refugees. God knows you love Him in return by obeying His calling on your life.

By obeying God’s calling on your life, you show love to the refugees in the community, city, and nation. Love for anyone, including displaced people, occurs in several ways. It includes prayers for them, introducing them to God by telling them the gospel, listening to their stories, and seeking to minister to them by providing tangibly for their needs. Jesus modeled social ministry sandwiched by the gospel with His life. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, lifted the lame, restored hearing to the deaf, encouraged the fainthearted, and brought the good news of God’s saving grace to all people.

Jesus is your example of how to minister to refugees and the powerless. He began by Himself and began calling people to follow Him. Jesus trained His followers as to whom God loves and how to minister to the. He taught them to pray. God provided all things needed for the people Jesus and His followers encountered. You, also, at this starting stage of ministry to refugees, must pray, find a venue, get funding, buy resources, request volunteers, tell refugees about the ministry, advocate for the refugees, and pray more. The task is daunting at times. You will grow weary. People may misunderstand your intentions. Others may spread lies about your intentions or the ministry. Funding may not always come when you decide you need it. God may not seem to be listening to you. Jesus experienced many of these things and He said His followers would experience them, too. We are not greater than the Master. I encourage you at all time to keep the Lord before you. Pray continually. Seek God’s will constantly. Rest regularly. Learn when to stop for the day. Get help from friends when needed.

      The LORD bless you, and keep you;      The LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you;
      The LORD lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.                            

       (Numbers 6:24-26 [NASB])

---

[1] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/04/warp-and-weft-of-life.html

[2] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/conception-empowering-to-serve-refugees.html

[3] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/07/inception-working-with-refugees-stage.html

[4] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/07/inception-working-with-refugees-stage_27.html

[5] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/08/inception-working-with-refugees-stage.html

[6] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/in-their-words.html

[7] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/in-their-words-mataas-story.html

[8] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/06/in-their-words-petras-and-fabrices.html

[9] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/just-listen.html

A Holy People: Caring for Others Deuteornomy 14:22-15:23

Deuteronomy 14:22-15:23

INTRODUCTION

Last week, in Deuteronomy 14:1-21, we read and studied about the food laws God gave the Israelites. We learned that as children of God, a nation He created and called His own, the Israelites were to obey God’s food laws not because they could get sick, but because He said so. When God calls things detestable, His children are to call them detestable, too, even if we do not understand His reasoning. We learned that the food laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 pertaining to clean and unclean food are no longer relevant since Jesus Christ’s time on earth because He came to fulfill the Law and establish a new covenant. He fulfilled the old covenant. The problem from this week’s lesson centers on differing levels of prosperity and poverty in Israel. Let us read this passage of Scripture and then see what God told the Israelites through Moses.

Background

            The first thing we must notice is that Moses encapsulated the teaching in this passage with reminders about giving a tithe to the LORD God. What is the purpose for his using this literary technique? Moses used the technique to draw attention to the blessings God bestowed upon the Israelites and therefore have to give to the needs of the poor around them. If you will remember from Deuteronomy 12, God told the Israelites to take a tithe of their wine, grain, oil, herds, and flocks to the temple each year. He told them they were to give a portion of it to Him. The rest they were to eat with their household, servants, and the Levites in their town while rejoicing in their undertakings in which the LORD blessed them (Deuteronomy 12:6-7, 11-12, & 17-18).

            How do we know the land of the Canaanites, which God gave to the Israelites, would be profitable? How do we know they would have a tithe to take to the temple and about which they would rejoice? God spoke to the Israelites several times about the land of Canaan. He called it a land flowing with milk and honey in Exodus 3:8 and 33:3. When the twelve spies returned from spying in Canaan, they spoke of a land that flowed with milk and honey as evidenced in the huge fruit (Numbers 13:27). When the Israelites waited at Beth-peor to enter Canaan to receive their inheritance from God, God told them the land would be plentiful as long as they stayed faithful in their covenant with Him. He said, “He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine, and your oil” (Deuteronomy 11:13-14). Remember, the Old Testament covenants carried a promise of a blessing and a curse for the people in the covenant. In the Mosaic covenant, if the Israelites were faithful to their covenant, they would receive the blessing of the covenant. If they were not faithful, they would receive the curse of the covenant. God’s promised blessing was life – abundance, the resultant prosperity, and life (Deuteronomy 28:1-15). The promised curse was death – drought, famine, and death (Deuteronomy 28:16-63).

            From this, we see why God instituted the tithe as part of the Israelites religious celebrations. God expected them to stay faithful to their covenant with Him. He planned on it and created a law about the tithe. The tithe would be their gift to God for His love and providing for them. They would rejoice and praise Him while taking care of the people around them. So having the teaching of the tithe encapsulate God’s law on caring for other people makes sense since it speaks of sharing in one’s abundance by giving part back to God, sharing in the worship and praise of God for his provision, and providing food for their whole household, servants, and the Levites in their town. Now, let us look at the rest of the teaching in Deuteronomy 14:22-15:23.

Reminder

            Moses reminded the Israelites they were to give a tenth of their produce from what they sow each year, of their new wine, and the firstborn of their herd and flock. This is not a new teaching as noted in the earlier section. Moses reminded them, too, that if the distance was too great between their home and the temple where God set His name, they could sell their tithe, carry the money to the temple, and buy whatever their heart desired. With their purchase they could worship before the LORD and rejoice with their household, servants, and the Levites of their town because of what the LORD’s hand provided for them (Deut. 14:23-27). Moses explained why the people were to give their tithe to the LORD. In verse 23b, he said they were to do this so they may learn to fear/revere the LORD God always. Verse 26b said they were to offer their tithes so they could rejoice together at God’s providing for them.

EXPANSION OF THE LAW

Caring for the Town

            Deuteronomy 14:28-29 expand the law of the tithe. It says,

At the end of every third year, you shall bring out all the tithes of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town shall come, eat, and be satisfied.

The Hebrew word for our English word “bring” is yatsa. It means to come forth with a purpose. The purpose of the Israelites’ tithe in their town/city in the third year was to rejoice in what God provided for them. They celebrated in their town and provided food for everyone in the town – Israelite and alien. Remember, God made sure the Levites had food because He did not give them land for their tribe. He made them a people who worked for and served Him (Deuteronomy 10:8-9). The Levites in the towns and cities did not receive as much from the Israelites offerings and tithes once God established His temple in Jerusalem. The law God gave the Israelites provided them with their food and other needs. They did not eat the entire tithe that God instructed the Israelites to deposit in their own towns in one day. They used it during the three-year period for the inhabitants of the town/city. God named the inhabitants included to be recipients of the tithe – aliens, orphans, and widows. Aliens were temporary inhabitants of Israel. They were foreigners and non-Israelite. Deuteronomy 16:11 & 14 and 26:12 speak of this. Deuteronomy 24:19-21speaks of assisting these peoples, too. The Jews, over time, consolidated this list to mean “neighbors,” which then meant Israelites in their minds. When Jesus ministered on earth, He redefined “neighbor” for the Jews. He said, in Luke 10, anyone around you is your neighbor. This included the ritually clean and unclean person as Deuteronomy 12:15 says.

Debtors

            In Deuteronomy 15:1-3, Moses taught the Israelites to release debtors from their debt every seven years. He said,

Every creditor shall release what he has loaned his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD’s remission has been proclaimed. From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother. (Deut. 15:2-3 [NASB])

Notice that “neighbor” does not include foreigners, just Israelites. The word “neighbor” in the Hebrew is rea and means a friend, companion, or fellow citizen. In the Luke 10:25-37 passage mentioned earlier, “neighbor” came from the Greek word plesion. Christ used it to mean any human with whom we meet or live despite his or her religion. For the Jews and for the law in Deuteronomy 15:2-3, neighbor meant an Israelite with whom they lived. Hence, every seven years, the Sabbatic year, God instructed the Israelites to release from debt any Israelite’s debtor. Because God gave land to each Israelite in Canaan according to his tribe and because He considered each of them equal, God commanded the removal of debt they incurred. The incurring debt created levels of society. Verse 3, though, says the Israelites could exact a debt from foreigners.

The Poor

            God re-iterated in 15:4-11 there would be no levels of society with his “poor” law. God’s covenant with the Israelites said He planned to bless each of them in the land they inherited. He noted this when He told them they will possess the land which they inherited from the Abrahamic covenant when they fulfill their part of the Mosaic covenant. All Israelites were equal and shared in the blessings of God from the Mosaic covenant. Moses stated this in verses 15:4-5 when he said,

However, there will be no poor among you since the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, if you only listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. [NASB]

Moses stated this truth in earlier chapters of Deuteronomy – Deuteronomy 7:12-26 and 11:13. Later, Moses said this in Deuteronomy 28:1 & 8. He used the now familiar word, shamar, meaning to listen, hear, and obey. Moses emphasized this point when he told them to “listen obediently.” He made sure the Israelites knew what he said about the poor was from God and must be obeyed to stay within their covenant with God. He told them, because God promised to prosper them, other nations would seek loans from them. Yet, they must not take loans from other nations because those nations would rule over them (vs. 6). Because they stayed faithful to their covenant with God, His blessings meant they would not need loans. If they found they needed loans, then they would know they had not kept faithful to their covenant with God. Because God knew they would break covenant, He provided this law about loans and the poor. The Israelites would have poor among their people because of being unfaithful to God (Leviticus 25:35). Moses said, “They will never cease to be in the land” (Deut. 15:11). God told them what to do about their poor kindred. He told them not to harden their hearts or close their hands, but to give freely and generously sufficiently from their supply (Deut. 15:7-8). This hardening of the Israelites’ hearts means being obstinate in sharing and the closed hand shows they were not to shut their hands when their poor brothers needed them. Moses said the Israelites were to open their hands to their poor brothers and lend generously to them. Their lack of faithfulness to God brought on themselves the lack of blessing from God. The poor would be among the Israelites. They must give what they need as gift or loan. Added to giving what the poor needed, God commanded the Israelites to give with a good heart. They were not to consider the number of years before the Sabbatic year of remission to determine if the income was worth giving a loan to someone. The imminence of the Sabbatic year must not keep a person from helping their kinsman. Instead, God commanded them to give generously to the poor brother to keep the giver’s heart from being grieved. The latter is one of the reasons the Israelites should help the poor. Verse 10b is the other place that mentions it. The LORD God will bless them in all their work and undertakings. Moses said this in verse 4b, too, when he said, “The LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess.”

 Moses was right, the poor continued to be in Israel. The Israelites were unfaithful to their covenant with God. God wanted to bless them and gave mercy to them often. In the time of Jesus’ ministry, He noted that the poor were from and living in Israel (Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7, and John 12:8).

Servants

            The poor continued to arise in Israel. To ease their dire financial straits, some poor sold themselves as bondservants to other people. Becoming a bondservant enabled the repayment of their debt. Verses 12 through 18 speak to this issue. God did not create differing social ranks of people. Everyone is equal in God’s eyes and He treats them that way. God provided relief for the poor by telling Israelites to take care of their brothers via handouts or loans. He provided relief for them by telling creditors to release the debtor from their debts every seven years. In the same way, God gave relief from the debt of servitude by providing the servant’s release every seven years, the Sabbatic year. Notice in verse twelve the bondservant is a kinsman/relative, an Israelite/Hebrew. To pay the debt of a family, families sold men or women of the family into servitude to another Israelite. The length of a person’s servitude must not be longer than six years according to God’s law here. If the Israelites kept their commitment to their covenant with the LORD, God promised them bountiful fruit from their harvest of grain, wine, oil, and animals. Because they proved unfaithful to God, God withheld His blessings. Because of His love and mercy, He had a plan for the release of the servant, debtor, and poor from their situation. God loves all His children equally and provides an equalizing factor every seven years.

            Another provision for bondservants in the Sabbatic year release was furnishings from their kinsman/master. The one who paid the debt of the bondservant must not send them away empty-handed according to verse thirteen. God provided a new beginning for the newly released bondservant. He commanded the master give from his flock, threshing, floor, wine vat, to the bond servant upon his or her release just as the LORD gave to the master (vs. 15:14). God’s reasoning to the master is that they must remember that God redeemed Israel from their slavery in Egypt. Because of this, they must release their bondservants.

God gave one exception to the redemption of bondservants. If the bondservant says he or she loves the master and will not go away from him since he fares well with him, then the master could make the bondservant a servant forever. They denoted this relationship by piercing the servant’s ear (vs. 15:16-17). For each of these commands about servants, Deuteronomy 15:18 expresses God’s overarching reason. God commanded through Moses, “It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever you do.” Again, following God’s command leads to blessing.

Tithe Reprise

            Though a reprise of God’s command about the tithe, a noticeable difference appears. In Deuteronomy 14:22-27, God told them what to tithe and what to do if they lived too far away from the temple to take their tithe. In the tithe passage of Deuteronomy 15:19-23, the focus is on the consecration of the firstborn of the herd and flock. Consecration comes from the Hebrew word qadash and means to dedicate, set apart, and make holy for the LORD. By consecrating a male lamb or bull calf, the owner intentionally set aside his offering to the LORD from the bounty the God gave to him. This action provided focus on the visible results of intentionally consecrating a part of the herd and flock. As the owner did not shear or work with the consecrated animal, the animal(s) became visibly obvious to the owner as set apart for God. It was a visible reminder to the owner of his covenant with God. Just as writing on the gates and doors reminded the Israelites of their covenant with God, the consecrated sheep or bull bore the visible effects of not being used or employed and became a reminder of their covenant with God. Remember, this sheep or bull God commanded they set apart for Him and take to the temple every year. They would eat in communion with God, the owner’s family and household, and with the Levite in his city or town. These people would witness to and rejoice at the blessing and bounty of the LORD. It was a cause for celebratory worship of God.

            God gave one proviso though. If a firstborn male of a ewe or heifer carried any defect such as lameness or blindness or any other serious defect, the owner was not to sacrifice it to the LORD God. Thank offerings and tithes to the LORD must come from the best of the produce/animals produced during the year. If the animal set apart to God had a defect, the people of the town/city - the ritually clean and unclean – were to eat the animal in the town or city of the owner’s home. This command is like the law God gave to the Israelites about eating meat outside the temple celebration in Deuteronomy 12:15-16, & 22. The clean and unclean persons of the town/city could eat meat whenever they wanted outside the temple celebration as long as they poured the blood of the animal on the ground like water (Deuteronomy 15:23; Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 7:26, 17:10, 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23).

In each of the other sections of today’s study, God gave a reason He commanded what He did. Deuteronomy 15:19-23 does not have an explicit reason. Yet we know the answer why God told the Israelites to consecrate the firstborn males. Moses stated it the first time in Deuteronomy 14:29, “In order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.” Faithfulness to your covenant with God brings God’s blessing. Moses stated it in Deuteronomy 14:29, 15:4b, 10b, 14b, & 18b. God wanted the Israelites’ faithfulness to His covenant with them. Along with blessing the Israelites, Moses gave four other reasons for them to do what God commanded – 1) that they may learn to fear the LORD (14:23); 2) to be in the presence of the LORD and rejoice (14:26b); 3) the LORD said so (15:2b, 15:11, & 15:20); and 4) to remember they were slaves in Egypt and God redeemed you (15:15).

RELEVANCE AND CONCLUSION

            God was not overbearing with the Israelites. Considering He chose to love them and make them His people, they should have been happy to respond to Him with love. Considering God rescued them from slavery and created a nation from them - a people too small in number to make a nation - they should have been grateful and praising Him. Considering that God promised them a land of unending bounty and prosperity, they should have listened to and obeyed Him. We in the twenty-first century see that from our 3400-year hindsight. How are we doing, though, in our commitment to God? Yes, Jesus changed the way the Israelites interpreted neighbor when he spoke with the Pharisee in Luke 10. Even though God provided for the aliens living in Israel, the Israelites chose not to help them. Jesus confronted the Pharisee with the parable of the Good Samaritan. We should not consider people our kinsman and neighbor just by genetics, but by our Creator. Our genetics come from our Creator. God created each person to be equal with all others. This means that someone who does not live in our country is just as worthy to have enough to live on and with as us. When we see or hear of another human being starving, God commands we, as his or her brother or sister, give, with a grateful heart, from the bounty God bestowed upon us. This applies to shelter, clothing, education, and freedom from the bondage of slavery, too.

            What then, faced with these facts, will we do? I hope and God commands we stay faithful to our covenant with Him and do as Jesus taught through His life, words, and ministry on earth. The LORD stated specifically in Matthew 25:31-46 what we are to do. We are to give drink, food, clothing, shelter. Added to this, we are to invite people into our homes and visit them in prison. God will judge us based on our giving and doing for our brothers, even the least of them, just as Christ did. Who are our brothers? Jesus answered that, as did I earlier. They are all people, not just our national citizens, kinsmen, brothers in faith, or biological siblings. Because God is the ultimate Father, all humans are our brothers and sisters. From the first question, what will we do?

We must decide for ourselves. Will we accept God’s provision of redemption from slavery to ourselves and the deception of Satan? If so, we must decide if we will be faithful to our covenant with God through Jesus Christ to live as He taught, lived, and commanded – to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus gave just two commandments. Matthew, the apostle, recorded it in Matthew 22:36-39. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the LORD with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Will you choose to follow God’s command and Jesus’ commandment? Will you choose to give your life to be God’s son or daughter? The choice is yours. What will you decide?