Redemptive Law for a Redeemed People⤒🔗

The book of Deuteronomy consists of preached law, whereby our Father seeks the hearts of His children with a gospel-filled law designed to apply grace and mercy. In our passage, we see grace and mercy applied to social and economic relationships. Moreover, the regulations set forth in Deuteronomy 15 reach back to God's creation Sabbath and to Israel's Exodus, and look ahead to Christ's work of debt-cancellation and liberation.

Our study must lead us to see the redemptive character of God's laws. This is what excited David so much, as he meditated on these laws day and night. God's law contains appeal as well as demand. It expects mercy as well as righteousness. In fact, the heart of God's law is the heart of the gospel, the essence of the cross, and the basis of our salvation: mercy is shown, not at the expense of righteousness, but as the exercise of righteousness.

People often view mercy and righteousness as competitors, choosing for one or the other. Because human law-systems can govern only outward conduct, not inward attitude, we are tempted to reduce 'righteousness' to outward behavior. But when God makes mercy and love essential components of right­eousness, He distinguishes His 'justice' from all human righteousness. God's law requires more than simply avoiding or performing certain behaviors. (Question 1)

All of this helps us realize that people need to hear God's redemptive law preached to them, as it has been completed and concentrated in Jesus Christ. Unlike any system of man-made law, God's law stipulates that mercy and love be the expression of right-acting.

But here is another important feature: God's law is designed to teach His children principles of redemp­tion by arranging life in a certain style.

One of those principles is the principle of rest. Call it the 'sabbath principle.' Rest requires freedom, release and victory. Rest leads to service, relative sovereignty, and consecration. All of these rest- components were obtained for Israel on the day of her Exodus from Egypt. As slaves set free to serve the LORD God, Israel received a commandment which sewed this feature into the fabric of her social and economic life: 'Remember the sabbath day by keeping it holy.'

Forgiving Our Brother's Debts, as Ours Have Been Forgiven (read 15:1-11)←⤒🔗

Israel's Exodus-Sabbath was to be demonstrated in her social and economic relationships. At the LORD'S initiative (v.2, 'the LORD'S release has been pro­claimed'), every seventh year the bonds of economic slavery were to be cut. Debtors were to be set free. The Exodus-status of individual Israelites (but not foreigners, v.3) was to be restored. (Question 2)

Here we see the radical, penetrating application of the jubilee-sabbath regulations found in Leviticus 25 and 27. Please notice from those chapters that the jubilee year was not simply the fiftieth year, but the one-after-the-forty-ninth year, the year after the seventh sabbatical, or the year after the seven-times-­seventh year. In other words, Israel's calendar was a testimony to the complete saturation of her national life with divine grace and rest. (Question 3)

The original sabbath was a creation sign testifying to God's power, provision and perfection. These were embodied in Israel's sabbath-day and sabbath-year institutions. As the people of the LORD, Israel, along with her land and flocks, could afford to rest one day or one year out of seven. Jehovah-jireh: the LORD will provide!

As a social-economic application of that redemp­tive principle, Israelites could also afford to forgive one another's debts, just as they had been freed once from bondage to Egypt. Openhandedness may not be calculating (see vv.9-10); a brother's need, not his ability to repay, determines covenantal loan arrange­ments. Economically, Israel was not permitted to incur long-term debt, for that violated her character as a free people. She was not permitted to employ debt as a market mechanism that creates a social underclass which lives in perpetual servitude.

It is very significant that no fewer than three times in these verses the LORD warns His children to guard their hearts, their attitude toward each other (vv.7, 9, 10). They must avoid cold-heartedness and calculating benevolence ('What's this going to cost me?'). Please realize, on this basis, that Christians are very mistaken who claim that in the Old Testament, God was concerned only with outward actions, and not with dispositions of the heart. Occasionally the idea surfaces that Christianity as a religion 'of the heart' involving a 'personal relationship' was invented in the New Testament, when the Holy Spirit was poured out. The corollary is that the Old Testament was satisfied with a formal, external religion. This abominable untruth turns many undiscerning believers away from the Old Testament.

The LORD'S concern about our heart-attitude is echoed in the New Testament, in the teaching of our Savior and of the apostle Paul: 'Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away' (Matthew 5:42); 'But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil' (Luke 6:35); 'So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver' (2 Corinthians 9:7). (Question 4)

Loosing Our Brother's Bonds, as Ours Have Been Loosed (read 15:12-18)←⤒🔗

It's not true that all indebtedness was forbidden in Israel. The slavery spoken of in these verses is that of indenture, to repay a debt through physical labor without wage. This divine economic permission regulates debt in two ways: its term and its dignity. Both of these involve the debtor as God's image-bearer.

By limiting indenture to six years, the LORD teaches us that He, not the master or lender, owns us and has sovereignty over us. Perpetual financial servitude is a condition that contradicts the LORD'S claim upon His children.

By requiring the master to provide his former slave with starting capital (vv.13-14), with joyful liberality (v.18), the LORD teaches us the beauty of economic brotherhood. By filling his brother's hand with food, the former master gives him the dignity of using his first day of freedom working for the future. His past debts are paid (he is redeemed), and his present needs are provided (he has food), so that now his future lies open for covenant service in thankful obedience.

If the former slave wished to remain with his master, their mutual commitment was sealed with the ceremony of piercing the servant's ear with an awl.

As we come to a pause in our passage, take the time to notice here the social application of the fourth commandment. If every sabbath day among Israel memorialized her Exodus from Egypt, then that same sabbath-style must characterize personal and social relations among God's people. Listen carefully for the social dimension of the fourth commandment:

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Sabbath joy, experienced communally every seventh day, must permeate every relationship and structure among God's people. There must be sabbath solidarity.

There's another tiny lesson buried here: often people assign the fourth commandment to 'the first table,' which is thought to describe our love 'toward God.' But the very words of the sabbath command direct our attention both vertically and horizontally! Which means this: while we may certainly distinguish duty toward God from duty toward neighbor, be careful never to separate them.

Economics According to Exodus-Sabbath Law (read 15:19-23)←⤒🔗

The law of the firstlings required Israel to conse­crate every first animal, calf or lamb, without using it for labor or economic profit. Firstlings were to be offered annually 'in the place which the LORD choos­es,' referring again to the sanctuary. As with the tithes (Deuteronomy 14:22-26), the Israelites were commanded to enjoy in the LORD'S presence the meal consisting of their own offerings to Him.

Regarding the dedication of firstlings, it's worth noting that Israelites received back what they had given. This giving and receiving back of the offering applied only to select sacrifices. For example, the flesh offered in the sin offering was consumed or eaten only by the priest; the Israelite received nothing back. But he did receive back his offering of tithes and firstlings, to enjoy in a festive meal eaten in God's presence.

Commenting on this and related passages, Patrick Fairbairn identifies three stages in the LORD'S treat­ment of 'firstlings.'

• First, He inflicted death on the firstlings (firstborn sons and animals) of Egypt.
• Then, He provided Israel's firstlings (firstborn sons) an exemption, in view of the sacrificed passover lamb.
• Finally, to recall both judgment and exemption, the LORD required Israel to consecrate to Him all first­lings, both people and animals.

But there's a deeper dimension: Israel herself was a 'firstling.' You may recall that before His judgment upon Egypt, God had sent Moses to Pharaoh, to rescue His firstling: 'Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the LORD: 'Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn" (Exodus 4:22-23). As the LORD'S rescued firstling, Israel was to live in total consecration to Him, and to provide Him with the enjoyment of fellowship.

The only exception to this regulation was that God's children may not offer Him a defective animal ('But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God,' Deuteronomy 15:21; see also Deuteronomy 17:1). This exception teaches us about God's nature and ours. God deserves our best — our best time, our best performance, our best offerings. A religion made up of second-hand 'gifts' and after-thoughts is an abomi­nation, as the LORD complained through Malachi:

You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, 'In what way have we defiled You?' By saying, 'The table of the LORD is contemptible.' And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favor­ably? says the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 1:7-8

Regarding ourselves, we are a people bent on finding shortcuts, even in religion! We defraud the LORD by coming to church tired and unprepared. We rob Him of honor by mouthing the words of songs and prayers without meaning and sincerity. But we begin to correct such cheating when at every turn we practice the consciousness of living in God's presence. Then we'll be too embarrassed to offer Him less than our best, and less than our all. (Question 5)

Preserved through Preaching until Christ's Coming←⤒🔗

We began our lesson by describing Deuteronomy as preached law. We've been learning throughout these studies how Israel's life was permeated with ser­mons. Her diet proclaimed a constant sermon about deliverance from death. Her national calendar, full of sabbatical cycles, proclaimed another sermon, about divine power and love, about freedom and fruitfulness. The point of all these sermons was to lead Israel to the coming Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul put it this way: 'Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith' (Galatians 3:24).

Questions for Reflection and Reply←⤒🔗

1. 'Human law-systems can govern only outward con­duct, not inward attitude.' Do you agree? Why can't the law cure racism? What happens when lawmakers try?
2. When it comes to deeds of mercy and charity, may we distinguish between believers and non-believers as recipients? What does Galatians 6:10 teach about this?
3. Read Matthew 18:21-22. What does forgiveness have in common with jubilee- or sabbath-release? How is the believer's experience of forgiveness similar to Israel's Exodus-experience? Put in your own words what it means to forgive and to be forgiven.
4. Read Deuteronomy 15:5 and 28:12, along with Proverbs 22:7. How do you apply these to personal and public financial policies? Read Psalm 37:25-26 and 112:5, along with Proverbs 19:17 and 28:27. Why is openhanded lending to fellow believers the kind of righteousness that God requires?
5. Mention some habits or helps that you can use to 'practice the consciousness of living in God's presence.'