A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Leviticus 25:24-34

 Leviticus 25:24-31—“‘24 And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. 25 If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. 26 Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, 27 then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. 28 But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession. 29 If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. 30 But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31 However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.’”

In this passage we see the concept of the “kinsman redeemer.” This principle is the theme of the book of Ruth. Elimelech and his wife Naomi moved to the land of Moab with their two sons. One of the sons married a woman from Moab, and her name was Ruth. Eventually, both Naomi’s husband and Ruth’s husband died, leaving them as widows. Long story short, Ruth and Naomi returned to Bethlehem. Ruth 2:1—There was a relative of Naomi's husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. Boaz saw Ruth; he saw that she was pretty easy on the eyes, and said, Ruth 2:8-10—“8 Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them…And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” He also saw how tender-hearted she was. Ruth 2:11—“It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.”

(We will talk more about Ruth's Moabite heritage in a later chapter in Numbers)

Naomi, her mother-in-law, convinces her that this Boaz fellow (whom Ruth thinks is pretty easy on the eyes as well) would make her a good husband, and that he could redeem her from her poverty. Ruth 3:2-9—“2 Now Boaz…is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking…7 And after Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down…9 And he said, "Who are you?" So she answered, "I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative."

Under the Law, the next closest relative was to take the widow unto himself to wife. And Ruth and Naomi both saw Boaz as being that “kinsman redeemer.” Just one problem. Ruth 3:12-13—“12 Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. 13 Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the LORD lives!” Now, these two really wanted to be together. And if that nearer relative could be persuaded to really not pursue Ruth as a wife, then Boaz and Ruth could be together.

Ruth 4:1-4—1 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, "Come aside, friend, sit down here." So he came aside and sat down…3 Then he said to the close relative, "Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 And I thought to inform you, saying, 'Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.'" And he said, "I will redeem it." Now, a couple things need explaining here. First, it was not as though Naomi had actually sold the land—she was in the process of selling it. Second, the ‘redemption’ spoken of here is based in the Law, in the passage of Leviticus we are in, Leviticus 25:25—“If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.” So this nearer relative had first dibs on Naomi’s land. But for some men, there are some things that aren’t even worth taking on the burden of a wife. And that would be the case for the nearer relative.

He could have bought the land that Naomi possessed—but that would mean taking Ruth to be his wife. And he just wasn’t the marrying kind. Ruth 4:5-10—5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance." 6 And the close relative said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it"…9 And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day." The ‘custom’ referred to in verse 7 does not refer to the stipulation in the Law about what was done if a brother refused to take his brother’s widow (see Deuteronomy 25:7-10). Because the nearer relative did not want a package deal—Ruth and the land—he got neither. The land went to Boaz, as did Ruth as his wife.

Now, what we have here is a picture of Christ. He is our ‘kinsman redeemer.’ Hebrews 2:11-13—11 Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You." 13 And again: "I will put My trust in Him." And again: "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me." 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Romans 8:29—For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 1st John 3:1—Behold what manner of love this is, that we should be called sons of God! Christ partook of flesh and blood, even as were born in flesh and blood. Through death He redeemed us from bondage to sin, calling us His brothers, making us—as He is—children of God.

And notice something else about this whole story. Boaz was a Jew. Ruth was a Moabite. Do you understand what that means? That means that a Jew redeemed a Gentile. In fact, Moabites were under a curse due to the fact that they paid Balaam to curse Israel (see Numbers 22-24), and they later led the Israelites to act corruptly in the wilderness (see Numbers 25; Deuteronomy 23:3-4). So a woman who was not of the people of God—and was in fact under a curse—she was now of the people of God. And how did this happen? Because she was now his wife. So let’s get this straight: a man in the lineage of David redeemed a Gentile who was under a curse, and he did so by taking her as his bride. Does that sound like something Christ did? Galatians 3:13—Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law. Hosea 1:2, 10—2 The LORD said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD”…“And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' there it shall be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God.'”  Matthew 12:15-21—15 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. 16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “18 Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; 21 And in His name Gentiles will trust.” Our Lord, a Jew by birth, became a light for us Gentiles, and in His name we Gentiles trust. He redeemed us when we were strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, and were cut off from the promises of God. He redeemed us from every tongue and nation and tribe to be sons of the living God—the brethren of Christ, our kinsman who has redeemed us from bondage to sin.

But here’s the difference: Ruth had to doll herself up and make herself look all pretty for Boaz. We don’t. In fact, Christ calls us and the Father draws us to Christ when we are still dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-2). There is nothing about us that is appealing to Him who is our husband. There is nothing that makes Him look down and say, “Why, look at that one there! They are so godly and good and righteous! They certainly do deserve to be saved!” No, we are all clothed in filth; we are rank, disgusting sinners; we hate the very God who formed us and we mock Him every day of our lives—and yet, before the foundation of the world, God chose us to believe in His Son and He chose to grant us faith and repentance and He wrote our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life, never to blot our names from its pages.

The regulations concerning the redeeming of land belonging to the Levites were a bit different than for the common people. Leviticus 25:32-34—“‘32 Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33 And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.’” And if you recall from a long time ago, you may remember reading that Levites did not own any land. So you may be reading this passage thinking, “Hey, wait a minute! I didn’t think the Levites owned any land!” The ‘cities of the Levites’ were, basically, portions of cities owned by the other tribes—portions which were doled out to the various Levitical lineages. The designation ‘cities of the Levites’ may also refer to the ‘cities of refuge’ to which an accused murderer could flee until he could be tried (see Numbers 35:10-34). And, as it says in verse 33, these houses were the only real estate the Levites possessed among their brethren. And the Levite was not bound by the “redeem it by the Year of Jubilee or lose it forever” regulation we saw earlier. As it states in verse 32, if you bought a house from a Levite 3 years before Jubilee, they could redeem it back five years later. Because that was their only possession. And you could not buy their land. Period.

Father, thank You that You have provided for us a Kinsman Redeemer, One who is nearer to us than a brother, and who in fact calls us brethren (Hebrews 2:11). He is our salvation, the One who redeemed us out of sin when we deserved death. Thank You that You have welcomed us into Your kingdom, and that with us being Your sheep, we will never be cast out, but You will always seek us (Matthew 18:12-13) and that we will always hear Your voice and follow You (John 10:27).

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law----- "You Shall Not Steal" (part 2)

One excuse that some thieves make is this: that the victim either left their front door unlocked or they forget and left their keys in their car. In fact, in a stroke of “genius”, the Tennessee Court of Appeals just recently ruled that a woman was responsible for a car thief crashing her car and injuring other people. Knoxville News Sentinel, 12/10/10—

“The Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit against the city of Murfreesboro and its police department over a wreck that involved a fleeing stolen vehicle that crashed with a car carrying three people. But the higher court reversed a decision by the circuit court of Rutherford County and said the suit against a man who left the keys in the car before it was stolen should continue.”

Uh, no. It is not the car owner’s fault if someone steals their car—whether they left the keys in it or not! The only fault lies with the thief. One person at the Knoxville New Sentinel website hit the nail on the head—

“Just because keys are left in a vehicle is not an open invitation to steal what does not belong to someone else. The thief still has to take what does not belong to them in order to possess the car long enough to do the damage this thief did, and the thief is solely responsible for their actions. The thief is the one that broke the law and crashed into an auto carrying three other people.”

Just like dropping that $20 bill on the sidewalk. It’s not yours—leave it alone!


As we talked about last week, tax collectors—or as the KJV says, “publicans”—tax collectors in Jesus’ day would make the IRS look like a charitable organization. They would collect not only the taxes that the Roman government ordered, but they would impose their own “taxes” on the people, and collect above and beyond what the Roman government demanded. So when John the Baptist was baptizing in the wilderness, it says in Luke 3:12-13—12 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" 13 And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you." John was not telling them to not collect taxes. He was telling them to only collect what the Roman government required. Now, while we’re talking about taxes, let’s talk about taxes. People who are required by law to pay taxes—if they do not pay their taxes, they are stealing. There is a famous incident where the Pharisees test Jesus about the issue of taxes. Mark 12:13-15—13 Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. 14 When they had come, they said to Him…“Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” That is what a lot of people ask these days. “I don’t think I should pay taxes, so I just don’t pay them.” Or they get paid in cash “under the table” so there’s no evidence. The tax that is in question was called the “Head Tax”—once a year, the head of the family was to pay one day’s waged to the Roman government. Now, think about the mindset of the Pharisees. There was a tiny speck of truth in their opposition to paying this tax. After all, this was one way that pagan Rome paid for the construction of temples to pagan gods, and it also supported the very Roman army that was oppressing them. So, they had kind of a good reason for not wanting to pay it.


BUT—this wasn’t the reason they posed this question to Christ. Look back at Mark 12:13—Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. They took this legitimate concern and used it as a way to try and trip Jesus up in His own words. But, Jesus let them know that we are to submit to all government, and says this about taxes, Mark 12:15-17—15 But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it." 16 So they brought it. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." 17 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Depending on your translation it may say “denarius” or “penny” or “copper coin.” At any rate, what they brought him was a coin which was equivalent to one day’s wage at that time.


Look at that little phrase—“Render unto Caesar That which is Caesar’s.” Jesus is saying “That denarius belongs to Caesar—so give it to him.” Now, if Jesus commanded His people to pay what the government of a wicked government like Rome commanded, then we have no excuse for saying “Well, yeah but the taxes I pay go to programs I don’t agree with, so I'm not going to pay it.” It doesn’t matter whether you agree with what the government does with that money, we are obligated to pay your taxes. Christ teach this. The apostle Paul taught that within the context of the fact that all government is appointed by God. Romans 13:1-2—1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. And Romans 13:5-7—5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.


There is another area of theft I want to talk about. That is when we steal from our employers. I used to work at Pepsi, and there were a couple of fellows—OK, I was in the same boat with them—that would sneak out cases of drinks to take home, which we were not allowed to do. What do you think our excuse was? How do you think we justified what we did? “We’ve earned this.” Or, “They don’t pay us enough” or something along those lines. The problem with that line of thinking—other then the fact that what we did was stealing—is the fact that no one was forcing us to work there. If we were unhappy with our jobs, we were more than welcome to find employment elsewhere. But if we stayed voluntarily, we were, in effect, agreeing to work for the wage they were offering. Listen to Colossians 3:22-25—22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. 25 But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. The men that ran Enron and AIG and Goldman Sachs into the ground while they walked away with millions—will God punish them? Absolutely. But He will also punish the lowly servant that is an unrepentant thief stealing from his boss.


Jesus Christ Himself teaches us this same principle in Matthew 20:1-16 in the Parable of the Vinedressers. The greater point Jesus is making is that whether someone gets saved as a child or they call on Christ on their deathbed, everyone who is saved will receive an inheritance in the Kingdom of God. The smaller point is this—if you agree to work for a certain wage, for a certain job, then you can either work for that wage or go home. Just because you don’t like how much you're being paid does not give you a right to steal from your boss.


Another principle this parable brings out is part of the reason people steal: they think God hasn’t given them enough. Although they may not realize it, they are saying within themselves “God hasn’t given me all I want, but He has given it to someone else.” What that means, of course, is that, if I'm the thief, I feel like God needs a little help balancing the account between what I have and what that other person has. But listen to what the owner of the vineyard says. Matthew 20:14-15—“14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” How much of the universe belongs to God? Psalm 24:1—The earth is the LORD’s and the fulness thereof. It all belongs to God. And if He wants to allow one person to have more than you, then that is His right. He owns it; He can do what He pleases with it. Wealth itself is not inherently evil. It’s our attitude toward wealth that can be evil. 1st Timothy 6:10—The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.


Now, we’re gonna take a side road here for a moment. The heresy that is the prosperity “gospel” is rooted in the love of money. It is rooted in the belief that You deserve to be wealthy and that you can command God to give you wealth. One of Kenneth Copeland’s most famous quotes is when he said, "As a believer, you have a right to make commands in the name of Jesus. Each time you stand on the Word, you are commanding God to a certain extent, because it is His Word." And what are these people commanding God to do? Give them more stuff. We’ll talk more about that when we get to covetousness.


Now, let’s finish up by looking back at the provisions in the Law for the poor and the traveler to glean from the corners of fields. We looked at two of those provisions last week, Leviticus 19:9-10 and Deuteronomy 23:24-25. There is also the passage found in Deuteronomy 24:19-21—“19 When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.” I tend to believe that all these commands had more than one purpose. One, of course, they provided for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. BUT it also allowed for two of Jesus great-great-great-great-grandparents to meet.


Long time ago there was a farmer in Bethlehem, and his name was Boaz. A young woman named Ruth came to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, and they came to Boaz, who was a distant relative. Ruth 2:8-9—8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them.” And then he goes and tells his servants to leave a little something for her when they reap. Ruth 2:15-16—15 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her." Eventually Ruth and Boaz get married, they have a son named Obed; Obed has a son named Jesse; and Jesse begets 8 sons, the youngest being a boy named David. Mary and Joseph were descended from David, and that Jesus was born of Mary. So God used this command to leave gleanings for the poor to bring together two of Jesus’ ancestors.


Ruth 4:13-17 (KJV)—13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son. 14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. I want to stop right here and briefly introduce a principle from the Law known as the provision of a “kinsman redeemer”, and we’ll skim a little more about that next week. Well, Boaz was Ruth’s “kinsman redeemer”, while our “kinsman redeemer” is Christ, as we see in Hebrews 2:11-12—11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, "I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise." Any way, Ruth 4:15-17 (KJV)—15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him…17 and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Of course, this is King David, of whom both Mary and Joseph were direct descendants. Their genealogies are recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. Matthew traces Joseph’s ancestry and Luke describes Mary’s. All because a poor widow and her daughter-in-law were allowed to glean stubble in a wheat field. See now how this Law is pointing to Christ? It was because of the many provisions for the poor that two of His ancestors came together. But all this OT stuff is so boring, isn't it!


Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.