May 11, 2021
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Reading along with us in Deuteronomy? Here’s today’s reading:
Deuteronomy 24 (NIV)
1If 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, .........Continue Reading
I wish marriage was taken as seriously in our country as God intended for it to be. We so quickly change our minds and give up on marriage or don’t enter into the covenant all together instead settling for a life of sin. Marriage is hard work but God wants our marriages to succeed and offers us instruction and guidance in His word.
I also love how much he cares for every aspect of life and His people. Clear direction on leprosy, kidnapping, loans, wages for your workers….direction for dealing with all these things in a safe and just manner. The chapter ends with a call to protect and provide for the fatherless and the widows. God loves us so much and he dealt with every issue to ensure our protection!
Deuteronomy 22-24
Deuteronomy 24
Read 24.
One of the marks of God’s people is how they treat others. Notice that he gives instruction concerning divorce. I believe this is the passage that the Jewish teachers were asking Jesus about Matthew 19:7, and he also spoke about this in Matthew 5:31-32.
He also speaks about how we should take care of the poor instead of taking advantage of the poor.
Relationships and how we treat people are important to God and various aspects of that are mentioned in this chapter. Jesus does make it clear that God allowed this divorce option due to the hardness of the Jewish heart, but He never intended for marriages to end in that way. God provides far too much to us as believers for us to ever have to resort to such a thing, especially as husband and wife are seeking to live in the way that God instructs and makes possible. I also like how marriage and even the wife more particularly are honored in freeing the husband from social responsibility for a year.
The rest of the chapter emphasizes the care of the poor. It is so easy for those more powerful and wealthy to look down on those who are poor and take advantage of them. Here they are told to respect the poor’s property and the greater need they have for basic necessities. And what wisdom there was in asking farmers not to gather everything in their fields and leave it for the vulnerable. It allowed the poor to work and be taken care of at the same time….maintaining their honor and self esteem….
Here’s the use of “abomination” again referring to going back to the first marriage that you left to remarry. God wants us to take our commitments seriously and be, well, committed to them.
I was thinking that a man could “write a certificate of divorce” for any reason, but that isn’t the case. From “uncleanness” is interpreted as “marital unfaithfulness” by Jesus. I suppose the Jews may have gotten to a point where they would divorce a wife for stupid reasons, but Jesus clarifies what God actually intended.
19When 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. 20When 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. 21When 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. 22Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.