A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Leviticus 25:35-46

Just noticed I never published this part of Leviticus. So, here it is

Leviticus 25:35-46—“‘35 If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 36 Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. 38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 39 And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. 40 As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 And then he shall depart from you—he and his children with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God. 44 And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. 45 Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. 46 And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.’”

Here we see the difference between how the Israelites were to treat their fellow Israelites, versus how they could deal with those from other nations. The principle is rather simple—you treat your fellow Israelites better than you treat those pagans who mock and despise God and who worship foreign gods. If one of your fellow countrymen becomes poor, you and your neighbors do what you can to help him. If he needs to borrow money, lend him money—only do not charge interest. If he borrows 100 shekels, he pays back 100 shekels, not 150. If he needs food, you lend him food—only, again, do not charge interest.  If you lend him an omer of flour, he gives you back an omer of flour—not an omer and a half.

Then look at the warning that God attaches to these commands. Leviticus 25:36, 43—“36 Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you…43 You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God.” This is a repeat of a warning He gave back in Exodus 22:21—“You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” These people had been strangers and foreigners in the land of Egypt. They were not invited, but a long time ago a young man named Joseph went down to Egypt after being sold to Midianites. Eventually, a famine took over the land where his father and brothers lived, and guess where they had to go to find food? Yeah, Egypt. And God granted them favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they ate well and their descendants lived happily in that land for some time. Exodus 1:7—The children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Good times all around for these happy Hebrews. BUT. Exodus 1:8-11—8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land." 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They were strangers in the land of Egypt, and the Egyptians afflicted them. Now, what did God do to Egypt after they afflicted Israel for 400 some-odd years? He sent plagues and death. And it is for that reason that God gives the Israelites the warnings He does in Leviticus 25:36 and 25:40. He is warning them that if they mistreat strangers—and even more, if they mistreat their fellow countrymen—that He just might send plagues and death among them. Because, let’s remember, these people were the people of God. So that fellow Israelite was one of God’s people. And do you think it’s a good idea to afflict God’s people? No it is not, and God even says so in Leviticus 25:42—“For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.”

This theme—the people of God taking care of the people of God—is seen again in the New Testament as well. Galatians 6:10—As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. The people of God are always put under a microscope by the people of Satan. The lost, the pagans, the haters of God are always looking for some flaw to exploit so they can point their finger at us and say, “Aha! See! These who claim to be so pure and holy, and look at how they treat their own!” This scrutiny has only increased since the advent of our Lord Christ. He came preaching “Love one another.” John 13:34-35—“34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Paul wrote the same thing to the saints in Rome, in Romans 13:8—Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. In the second chapter of his letter, James wrote to those of the Dispersion to not judge one another based on what a man had or did not have. He sums up his whole argument in James 2:8-9—8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

And yet, it wasn’t too long after the birth of the church that schisms and factions and sniping and feuding arose in the church—nay, even while Paul was penning the word of Holy Writ these things became manifest. Galatians 5:14-15—14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! Philippians 4:2—I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 1st Corinthians 1:10-12—10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." Corinth and Galatia and Philippi were cities filled with pagans, heathens, Romans, and all other groups who knew not God. And the people in these cities were judging these Christians not on how they acted toward the worshippers of false (little-g) gods, but on how they treated their fellow worshippers of the true (BIG-G) God. And if those of The Way would bite and devour one another; if they would erect false divisions among them based on how eloquent the speaker they followed; if they sought their own interest at the expense of others—then what good was it to follow this dead Jewish rabbi (as He was known by those who did not know Him)? When they could just as easily be accepted by those who, like they themselves, practiced all sorts of idolatry in the pagan temples? “I thought you Christians were supposed to ‘love one another’. Is this what your Master meant? Is this how you show your ‘love’ for one another? Thanks—but no thanks!” If we are the people of God, then we should be caring for the people of God. That is the foundation of this command to not hire one of your fellow Hebrews as a slave, but as a hired servant.

Now, the question then becomes, “What’s the difference?” Well, the word translated ‘slave’ is עֶבֶד (‘ebed), which means literally, ‘a slave’. This is one who would become the property of another, as seen in verses 44-46. (Even though slaves were your considered as property, and you could pass them down to your children as an inheritance, you still had to treat them properly, see again Exodus 22:21). The word translated ‘hired servant’ in Leviticus 25:40 is שָׂכִיר (sakiyr), and it means ‘a hireling’. In short, this would mean a day-laborer. And the other, most important distinction between a slave (עֶבֶד (‘ebed)) and a hireling (שָׂכִיר (sakiyr)) was this: at the end of their sixth year of service (or at the Year of Jubilee, whichever came first), the hireling (שָׂכִיר (sakiyr)) went free. (Unless, of course, he had pledged himself to his master as seen in Exodus 21:4-6). The slave (עֶבֶד (‘ebed)) did not. They could serve as that person’s slave for seven Sabbath years and a Jubilee—and there was not one word in the Law about their owner being under any obligation to let them go free at any time—period.

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Statutes concerning fornication, sorcery, bestiality, and usury

Just to kind of give you a preview of what’s in the near future; in a couple weeks when we get to chapter 23 we’re going to skim over the three main festivals that were to be kept each year—Passover; the Feast of Firstfruits; and the Feast of Ingathering. We won’t really go in-depth; we’ll save the deeper study for when we get to those parts of Leviticus. Then Exodus 24, we will see God make His covenant with Moses and the people of Israel. Then when we get to chapters 25-28, these are the chapters that cover the building of the tabernacle and the making of the priestly garments, and for those chapters I found a really good computer-animated video of these things and we will use that rather than have me stand here and try to give you the idea of what they looked like. And then chapter 30 details the consecration, or sanctification, or the setting apart of the tabernacle for the worship of God, and we will see some really clear pictures of Christ and our own salvation through these words.


So, with all that being said, let’s read Exodus 22:16-17—“16 If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride-price for her to be his wife. 17 If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride-price of virgins.” This was the original command for the “shotgun wedding”—you want to sleep with my daughter, you better be ready to marry her. The “bride-price” was a form of what is called a “dowry.” A dowry is defined as “The money, goods or estate which a woman brings to her husband in marriage.” In the day and age we live in, guys think it’s “cool” to take a girl’s virginity. God doesn’t. And so, God gave this command that if you take a girl’s virginity, you would then pay her father the “bride-price”, or dowry if you will. That “bride-price” was fifty shekels of silver (not sure what that would be today), and you have yourself a wife.


And guess what? If you found out down the road that she ain't all you thought she would be—tough luck, you're married to her for life. Deuteronomy 22:28-29—“28 If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed…and lies with her, and they are found out, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.” Sorry pal, you're stuck with her. Now, if they are found out, and daddy says, “Son, I don’t want you anywhere near my daughter ever again,” then you still had to pay the fifty shekels, and you didn’t get the girl. However, the penalty for sleeping with a woman who was betrothed to another man was much worse than if you were caught with a virgin. Listen to Deuteronomy 22:23-24—“23 If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones.” Again, these acts of wickedness—whether it’s stealing or sleeping with a man’s daughter—these things get real expensive. And as we continue studying these statutes we keep seeing, over and over, just how seriously God thinks of sin. He doesn’t just say, “Well, OK, you feel bad about what you did; that’s punishment enough.” He attaches a pretty hefty price to these things.


And next we see the price that God attaches to another act of wickedness, Exodus 22:18—“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” The KJV uses the word “witch.” God says in another place, Leviticus 20:27—“A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.” What do we normally think of when we hear words like ‘sorcery’ and ‘witchcraft’? We think of “Hocus-Pocus, abracadabra”. Know what the word “abracadabra” means? It’s actually Aramaic, which was another Semitic language that was very similar to Hebrew. “Abra means ‘to create’ and cadabra means ‘as I say’, ultimately when merging the two words abracadabra means in Aramaic is ‘create as I say’.” (Source: Wikipedia) So, basically, when someone says “abracadabra” they are making themselves God. Now notice how this command is worded. Most of the commands up until now have been “If a person does this, they shall be put to death” or “If he does this he shall surely die.” But listen to the words God uses here—“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” He is commanding the people that when they find a sorceress—or sorcerer, for that matter—they are hereby commanded to put that one to death.


Think about it. Where had they just spent the last 400 years? Pharaoh surrounded himself with magicians and fortune-tellers. And in fact, these magicians had power to “create illusions” of their own. Exodus 7:11-12—11 But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. There are some who do indeed have power to create illusions, and even perform many signs and wonders, and even “read people’s minds”—but where does their power come from? 2nd Thessalonians 2:9—The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. Two examples of sorcery in the book of Acts, first we have Acts 8:9-11—9 There was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery…10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” 11 And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. Then we have the young woman in Acts 16:16—16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. So we can see, even from Scripture, that there are some who have power to do these things. BUT—we are commanded to put people like that far away from us. Isaiah 8:19-20—19 And when they say to you, "Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter," should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! Keil and Delitzsch—

“What an unnatural thing, for the people of YHVH to go and inquire, not of their own God, but of such heathenish and demonic deceivers and victims as these! What blindness, to consult the dead in the interests of the living!”

Now, this could be a place to talk about the errors of the Roman Catholic system who teach that we should seek the assistance of dead saints, and Mary the mother of Christ—but we’ll save that for another day.


I do, however, want to talk about another passage of Scripture that is related to this subject, and that is 1st Samuel 28:5-12—5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor." 8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you." 9 Then the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?" 10 And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." 11 Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me." 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. Now, three questions that have been debated back and forth for these last couple thousand years are— (1) Was that really Samuel? Yes it was. (2) Did this woman really have the power to raise the dead and speak to them? I would say no, she did not. If you look at verse 12, it says she cried out with a loud voice. This had obviously either never happened before, or she saw something completely different from the familiar spirits she had seen before. (3) How did she see Samuel? Here’s what I think happened. Saul, was being disobedient to God. Had been for quite some time. God had removed His favor from him, and God was not speaking to Saul. So Saul goes against the commands of God and consults this witch. And what happened, I think, was that God sent Samuel to speak to Saul, God bringing up the prophet to speak for God even from beyond the grave. Adam Clarke—

“Strange that a man, who had banished all witches from the land…should now have recourse to them as the only persons in whom he could safely put his confidence in the time in which YHVH had refused to help him!”

Under the Law the people were commanded to put such a woman to death.


Exodus 22:19-20—“Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.” This command is repeated in Leviticus 20:15-16—“15 If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.” Bestiality is such a vile, filthy, reprehensible and wicked thing that anyone who has sex with an animal must be considered to have completely thrown off any sense of respect for the natural order of things and for the image of God in which they were created. Whomever a person gives themselves over to, they are one flesh with that person. And when a man or woman gives themselves over to an animal, they are joining the image of God to a brute beast. Not only that, but consider also the gods of the Egyptians. What kind of form did most of them have? Most of them were half beast and half human. Bestiality was a form of pagan worship at the time, and in many cases it may have been an attempt to create a living form of the images and statues that they worshipped. And it was for that reason that God ordered the person who engaged in such an act to be put to death.


Now, we’re gonna skip ahead to verses 25-27. There’s a good reason we’re doing this. I got started on verses 21-24, which deal with how the people were to treat widows and orphans, and there’s a really good lesson there about Jesus and His dealings with the Pharisees, and how they treated widows and orphans that I think it would be best if we took a little time with it next week and didn’t try to rush through it. So, Exodus 22:25—“If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.” If you lent money to your neighbor, you were not to charge him interest. Not simple interest, not compound interest—not ANY interest. Every source I've read comes to the same conclusion; that if I lend Richard $10, then all I should expect in return is $10. Not $10 plus 0.5% interest. This brings us to the moneychangers at the temple when Jesus came into Jerusalem—they were guilty of usury. This is what they did. The people would come from all over the world to keep the Passover at Jerusalem. Of course, they couldn’t carry all the animals they would need for the sacrifices, and even if they did, those who examined their sacrifice would always find some flaw with it, so just to be helpful, they would have certified, pre-owned sheep and doves to sell there.


This brought up another problem. The only currency you could use to buy these animals was Jewish currency. And it would just so happen that at the time of Passover, the exchange rate just happened to favor the moneychangers. What that means, then is they were charging their fellow Jews interest. Usury. This was in fact a violation of another command, Leviticus 25:35-37—“35 If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 36 Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.” And what did Jesus say about these guys? Matthew 21:12-13—12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" Albert Barnes—

“It became, therefore, a matter of convenience to have a place where the Roman coin might be exchanged for the Jewish half shekel. This was the 'professed' business of these men. Of course, they would demand a small sum for the exchange; and, among so many thousands as came up to the great feasts, it would be a very profitable employment, and one easily giving rise to much fraud and oppression.”

Thus, the Pharisees, in their quest for money and luxury, were in clear violation of the very Law they were seeking to be justified by.


Now, Exodus 22:26-27—“26 If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. 27 For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.” This command is expanded in Deuteronomy 24:10-13—“10 When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. 12 And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight. 13 You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.” What they would do is this: if I owed you $100, you would take my coat as a pledge. During the day, you would hold on to it, until that day when I paid off that debt. But, if it took more than a day for me to pay that debt, then every night you would give me back my coat. Now, we know it gets really, really hot in the desert during the daytime. But what happens at night? It gets really, really cold. And in order that the poor person who carries that debt would not suffer a greater imposition, it was returned to him at sundown so that he may not freeze to death out in the desert. This command is similar to one in Deuteronomy 24:6—“No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes one's living in pledge.” In either of these cases—holding their coat or taking their millstone—that was a form of holding the person hostage until they paid off that debt. The ‘millstone’ was what the family used to grind their wheat or corn to make bread to eat. John Gill—

“If his mill or millstones are pawned, he cannot grind his corn, and so he and his family must starve: and in those times and countries they did, as the Arabs do to this day, as Dr. Shaw relates, ‘…these millstones being portable, might be the more easily taken for pledges, which is here forbidden; and this includes any other thing on which a man's living depends, or by which he gets his bread.”

Next week: widows and orphans


Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.