REMEMBER THAT YOU WERE SLAVES

Deuteronomy 24:1-22 / Keywords 24:18

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

 

24:1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, 2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, 4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

5 If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

6 Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.

7 If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.

8 In cases of defiling skin diseases,[a] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them. 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.

10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge. 11 Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. 12 If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. 13 Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.

14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. 15 Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

16 Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.

17 Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

Footnotes

a. Deuteronomy 24:8 The Hebrew word for defiling skin diseases, traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.

1. God wants his people to honor marriage. Divorce is allowed in the Law only as a concession (Mt 19:8), and God gives rules about re-marriage. Violating these rules is detestable to God. Moreover, a newly married man is encouraged to make his wife happy. Will you pray for a God-centered view of marriage in our society?

2. God’s people must consider people’s livelihoods and treat the poor with respect. Millstones, needed daily to make bread, could not be taken as security for debt. No one is allowed to go into someone’s home to get a pledge for a loan; the pledge is to be brought out to them. A cloak given in pledge for a loan is to be returned by sunset. Poor and needy workers are to be paid daily. Foreigners and the fatherless must be treated fairly. The cloak of a poor widow is not to be taken in pledge.

3. God also tells his people to leave behind overlooked sheafs in their fields and to beat the olive trees only once. Vineyards should only be picked once. Something must be left for poor and vulnerable people. God reminds his people that they were once slaves, and therefore, must show mercy and respect for the less fortunate. We, too, were once slaves of sin. Jesus has set us free. Remember who you were and be compassionate.

Prayer Father, thank you for setting me free from slavery to sin. Help me to be merciful to the needy.

One Word You, too, were once slaves