Deuteronomy (Chapters 14-15)

Deuteronomy 14–15 teaches that God’s people are set apart as His treasured possession and are called to reflect His holiness in every area of life. Through laws about clean living, caring for the poor, canceling debts, and releasing servants, the Lord shows His compassion and justice. These commands reveal that obedience flows from remembering God’s grace and redemption. Holiness is not superiority, but faithful representation—living in a way that displays God’s mercy, generosity, and covenant love to others.

Transcript

Deuteronomy 14 In Context

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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SPEAKER_02 0:26

Hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. We are working through the book of Deuteronomy. We continue to make our way through. We pick up in chapter 14 today. Last week we looked at uh chapter 13 and and talked a lot about false prophets and and making sure they're representing the Lord's character and the word of the Lord accurately. And we're going to continue on and and trudge through some of these details over these next few chapters. So, Doc, if you want to pick up in chapter 14, verse 1, we'll get going.

Holy People And God’s Possession

Dr. David Klingler 0:59

Yeah, we're we're right in the middle of a quite an extended quote, really, um, you know, where Moses is talking, and and you know, we we have these kind of arbitrary breaks. Uh, but as you sit back and consider the the content, there's a smooth transition through this whole section. Uh, and so what ends uh what's been emphasized all the way through the book of Deuteronomy is Israel's taking of the land. Yeah. They're to go in, how they're to interact or not interact with the peoples, don't intermarry with them, don't act like them, you know, uh utterly destroy them, get rid of all remembrance of their gods. Um if you have any prophet that claims to be a prophet who says things contrary to Moses, you're not to listen to him. Yeah, anything that's gonna tempt you to go after other gods, yeah, or pull you away from the Lord. Exactly. Yeah. Uh and so they were to be distinct and separate. When we think holy, uh, we tend to, I don't know, what it's not you know, set apart, different, um distinct. Um in contrast to even um be in the world, not of the world is a New Testament verse that kind of comes to mind. Uh so the Lord is not like any other God. And since you are his people, Israel, you are not to be like any other people. Don't dress like they dress, don't you know, walk like they walk, don't talk like they talk, don't serve the Lord like they serve, don't intermarry with them.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 2:31

Uh and so um you are sons to the Lord your God. That's 14 1. And you know, and and we talk about the sons of God. Um this goes back to Deuteronomy 32, a we'll we'll when we get there, we'll talk about that. Uh back to to Genesis chapter six, uh, sons of God. And uh and often the discussion centers around the book of Job and the identity of the sons of God when really it's it's context that matters. It's yeah, repres representatives, you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 3:04

Can angelic beings represent the Lord? Of course. Uh, but Israel was called to be sons. Sons I have reared, but they have rebelled against me. And so uh here uh they are to be set apart, they're to be sons. And but and when we think son in uh in the Bible, we think image bearer, yeah, uh representative, doing what uh the father desires, um not doing what you want to do, right? Right, and you can track that all the way through the book of Deuteronomy. The children were to listen to the words of their father, not to do what they want to do. And if you had a rebellious child, then you were to you know rid them from the land. And the parents' job was to multiply the image, to multiply the character, certainly to to represent uh him in his word. Yes, that's a good point. Uh and so you are sons of the Lord your God. Uh you know, that could very easily be connected with the end of chapter 13, um, or a good transition point. You know, look, you uh listen to the commands of the Lord, uh, you don't listen to the false prophet, uh, you don't cut yourself, you don't shave your forehead for the sake of the dead. These are things that that the nations around them did. Right. Um, for you are a set apart people to the Lord your God, for the Lord your God has chosen you to be a pe be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Uh, we've talked about this repeatedly. Uh a people for his own possession. Uh this uh this word really runs throughout the whole Old Testament. It uh we see it for the first time in Exodus 19.5. Uh if you will uh indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession. Uh the the the word here is uh segula, your own possession among all the peoples, uh for all the earth is mine. Then in 7-6 we made the same point. You are a holy people to the Lord your God. He has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples of the faith, face of the earth. Here again, uh you are a holy people to the Lord your God. He has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples of the face of the earth. Um in uh Deuteronomy 26, 18, the Lord has today declared you to be his people, a treasured possession, is how they translate that, uh set apart people, his own possession, as he promised you. And that you should keep his commandments. Uh and then after Israel rebels against the Lord, is kicked out of the land, uh, and a partial restoration after the the return uh of the um uh from exile in Malachi chapter three, uh they will be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I prepare my own possession, I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him, uh, who serves him. And so uh to serve the Lord uh was to be a son, to represent him was to be a son. And so it's at the beginning of the Old Testament, it's at the end of the Old Testament.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Do you think that own possession language, and we'll we'll get to this, we're not quite there yet in Deuteronomy 32. Um, when he tells that story that the Lord reserved Israel for himself, whereas the other nations had messengers, right? Is that kind of what that is that sort of the definition of what we're looking at when we're saying Israel is God's own possession? There I mean it kind of emphasizes what you've been saying, that holy, separate, set apart, different, you know, uh idea.

Clean And Unclean Foods Explained

Dr. David Klingler 6:39

Uh in Psalm 135, verse 4, for the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession. So in that that you know, we call that uh you know synonymous parallelism, uh really defines what it means, you know, that the Lord chose Jacob for himself.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 6:58

Out of all the peoples of the earth, and this was what's being uh he chose Israel to reveal himself to and through for the sake of salvation to the nations. And he will keep his promises to his people whom he chose, as well as um being a blessing to the nations. And so very good. So when we come to the New Testament, when we come to you know uh Ephesians passages, uh, and uh, you know, and and in Ephesians chapter one, and we we come across this same language, um uh and uh you know, an inheritance language, an ob you know, a prized possession language. Um you know, uh in him you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of y'all's salvation, this is Paul talking to Gentiles in in Ephesians 1.13. Having uh you know, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of y'all's salvation, having believed, y'all were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view towards the redemption of God's own possession. There's the word again, right? To the praise of his glory. Um and so we track this all the way back through the Old Testament. The the the Spirit was promised to Israel. Yeah. Um, but the Gentiles got it. And of course, we could read Acts 10 and 11 and 15 and Galatians and Romans and you know, the whole New Testament story. But what we're doing here uh in uh in the book of Deuteronomy is just kind of establishing the baseline, uh kind of getting our terms established. And and so Israel is to be a uh uh because they were the Lord's prize possession, chosen among all the peoples, to represent him to the nations, they were to be a kingdom of priests or to represent him. Uh and they're not going to do it. That's the problem. Yes, but they will, they will be able to, even after they won't and don't, and are restored back to the land partially at least in Malachi, and still don't, Malachi is looking towards a time when they will, uh, and Paul is as well. Right. Right. And so um we can't go in as the church did in the third century, in my estimation, and change all the definitions to fit the system. The system has to fit the the definitions that are used consistently through the scriptures. Yeah. Uh and you can't just say, well, you know, bless the apostles' heart, they didn't know any better, right? Or the the prophets, they got it wrong.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

They're all anticipating this, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 9:35

Yeah, somehow we now know in the third century of the church, uh, because we've redefined all the terms, that God didn't know what he was doing, or at least the prophets didn't. We know and God knew, but the prophets and apostles, uh prophets and apostles didn't, yeah, they got it wrong. I think that's really, really, really wrong-headed. But we'll get there uh when we get to the New Testament. But anyway, so uh so these commands were to set them apart. They were uh not to eat any detestable thing. Uh, you know, that they're given instruction on how to eat and how to dress, and these were things that were to separate them. And you know, and there's movements today, you know, talking about how you know don't eat shellfish and don't eat pork because it's you know better for you or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

God knew that it had toxins in it.

Dr. David Klingler 10:22

Yeah, I'm like, well, um context is important, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 10:30

But anyway, uh there's given instruction here about what they're to eat. Um, you know, and basically it comes down to uh it had to have a divided hoof and it had to chew the cut. That was the deal. Uh so a pig had the divided hoof. Um, if you've ever seen pig's feet, you know, you're familiar, you know. Right. A lot so many today have no idea what a what a pig's foot looks like. Or or a rabbit's foot is distinct from uh, you know, it doesn't divide the hoof, but the rabbit does chew the cud. Okay, we're not allowed to eat that either. So so this is the you know, all the way through here. Um it was basically the the animals had to uh have a divided hoof and chew the the cud. Uh and anything out of the water had uh to have scales on it. Um it couldn't be a bottom dweller, basically uh crawfish or or shellfish or or you know catfish, you know, that type of thing. Um and uh the birds, the birds could not be, best I can tell, birds that eat other animals, right? Uh and so hawks and eagles and owls and pelicans and you know things that ate other animals, ate the blood. Yeah. Um, you were not to eat the blood, you're to pour it out on the ground, and you don't eat the things that eat the blood. Yeah. Right? Uh and so uh these animals uh were all become unclean vegetarians, basically. And they ate the vegetables and they chewed the cud and that type of thing. So uh basically that takes us all the way down uh through the unclean birds in verse 20. So basically, you just summarize those three. You shall not eat anything, uh eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the eggland who's in your town, you may eat it, you may sell it to the foreigner. Uh but you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a goat in its mother's milk. Um a lot is made about that. Um, what do I have to say about that? Don't know how much. Uh you know, uh, you know, uh maybe this was something that the peoples around Israel did, uh, you know, to set them apart or or uh whatever. But to this day you can't buy a cheeseburger in Israel.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Uh yeah.

Year Of Release And Debt Remission

Dr. David Klingler 12:41

It doesn't say you shall not boil a calf in its mother's milk. Here's a goat, but you know, but uh nonetheless. Uh you shall surely tithe all the produce of what you sow, every thing that comes out of the field every year. You shall eat it in the presence of the Lord at the place where he establishes his name, the tithe of your grain, the new wine, your oil, the firstborn of your herd, the flock, you may uh so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. Right? So the firstborns were set apart to him. This goes all the way back to the Cain and Abel story. You're anticipating the firstborn, and uh the firstborn was set apart wholly unto the Lord, and and uh you know that's established in Genesis Exodus story. Uh if uh the the distance is too great for you and you're not able to bring it, uh uh since the place is too far for you where the Lord has chosen to set his name, um uh then you shall exchange it for money uh and bind the money in your hand and go to the place uh the Lord your God chooses, that you may spend the money on whatever your heart desires oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, whatever your heart desires, uh, and uh there you shall eat it in the presence of the Lord your God, and rejoice you and your household. You shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, he has no portion or inheritance. Um at the end of every third year you shall breed all the tithe of the produce of that year you shall deposit in your town the Levite, uh, because he has no portion or inheritance, the alien, the orphan, the widow who are in your town shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all of your work and all of your hands that you are doing. So, um, you know, so often we um think about in the church, you know, you're supposed to, you know, bring your cash to the church so that they can, you know, build build or build bigger buildings or do whatever it is they're doing. Um and uh and here they were to bring the firstborn, they were to care for the orphan, the widow, the alien. We're gonna get more of that, the poor among among your midst. Um that this is gonna go right into chapter 15. Um, and uh, you know, and and this was not to be burdensome for you. Right. That was uh you know, that was the point. Uh chapter 15, he continues, at the end of every seven years you shall grant remission of debts. This is the manner of the remission. Every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor. You shall not exact it from his neighbor or his brother, because it's the Lord's remission has been proclaimed. From a foreigner you may exact it, but from the hand uh you shall release what it you is yours uh with your brother. However, there shall be no poor among you. Right. So so basically what was happening was uh let's say that you came in trouble, you needed a loan, uh, you could get a loan from one of your brothers, uh from one of your neighbors. Um, but at the end of seven years, that debt was forgiven. Wow. Right? Uh this was the manner of you know the remission of debt. Uh we're gonna get to the implications of that here in just a minute. So you can't you can't really reason your way to that one.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

That's a walk by faith and not by sight situation.

Open-Handed Generosity Without Partiality

Dr. David Klingler 16:03

Yeah, this is uh this is your stuff isn't your stuff, it's the Lord has given it to you. Yes, and he will give you more stuff, right? It's the you know, it's kind of the same principle in my mind as the is the manna. You don't go out there and gather for two or three or four days. Yeah, right. It's every day. The Lord will provide. Give us this day our daily bread. You know, good. You know, it's the storehouses guy or the what the whatever it is, you know. Uh and and the point was that the Lord will provide. Yes, he will provide for his people in the land because he made a covenant with them, right? Uh and um very good. And so will there be poor in the land? If you read verse four, this is a you know, you when we think about the the uh Jesus uh uh you know being prepared for the crucifixion, uh, and um uh you know the the perfume uh and Lazarus takes issue with this. You know, hey, we could have sold that and given it to the poor, and Jesus says there will always be poor among you. Well, uh that actually is quoting uh from uh 1511, the poor shall never cease to be in the land. But in 15.4, yeah it says there shall be no poor among you. Well, how does that work? How do we connect those dots? Well, if we read the verses in between, it connects the dots. Here, there shall be no poor among you, since the Lord your God will bless you in the land which the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance to possess, if you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God and observe carefully all that I commanded you today. Uh well, why does that work? Because if you listen and obey the Lord, the rain will fall, the crops will grow, uh, the you know, the harvest will be plentiful, and you will have overflowing harvest. Yeah. There will be more than enough. In fact, so much that in the seventh year, you don't have to even work. You don't plant the fields. It's the set it's the year of rest, it's a Sabbath year. And uh, you know, and so this was this was the debt was forgiven. You didn't have to work that year, and you're uh the one that was ins uh enslaved you or sold himself into slavery, he didn't work either, right? All the debts were forgiven. That was the point. For the Lord your God will bless you for uh as he has promised you, and you will lend to the nations but not borrow. You will rule over the nations, but they will not rule over you. If there's a poor man uh within your midst, one of your brothers, in any of the towns which the Lord your God has given you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand to your poor brother, but you shall freely um open your hand and shall generously lend to him sufficient for whatever he lacks. And notice here the word wording is going to change from lend to give. It's lend, it's a loan in the first six years. But but you know, and and it can be paid back, and uh but on the seventh year debts are forgiven, right? Beware. Now here's here's kind of you, you know, you can always, you know, Moses is ahead of the deceitful mind, right? Yeah, he knows, yeah. Well, what happens if it's year six, you know, month ten, and my neighbor is asking for a loan? How about I just wait?

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Right?

Dr. David Klingler 19:14

Because if I loan it to him now, here in a month or two, I'm gonna have to forgive it. The the debt's forgiven, and I'm out. Wow, right? So beware lest there be this base thought in your heart saying the seventh year, the year of remission is near, and your eye is hostile towards your poor brother, and you give him nothing. Notice it went from lend to give. Then he will cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be sin in you. Wow. You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because God loves a cheerful giver. Right? This is all going back to this passage. Because for this thing, the Lord your God will bless you in all of your work and all of your undertakings, right? So um you are to care for the orphan, the widow, the alien, the poor. You are not to lift up face, show partiality, um, uh, recognize faces. You know, that's kind of the Deuteronomy 10, Deuteronomy. Uh we're gonna get to uh uh this in Deuteronomy uh 16 here in a in a couple weeks. Um uh you're not to show partiality. Yeah, you're not to take a bribe, you're to care for your brother, you're to be your brother's keeper. You can say it all the different ways you want to say it, but it's consistent all the way through here. Um what it doesn't say is uh give it to the church and let them dole it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 20:32

Right? And then you've done your part. No, no. Um, you are your brother's right. Um, in fact, don't even tell people you're doing it. Don't let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

So it's like Jesus is reading this.

Dr. David Klingler 20:46

Yeah, this is the heart of the law, right? That's right. Because uh, if don't even let your brother know, right? Um I think there's some wisdom there because he will feel indebted to you. Um or uh don't let others know that you're giving to the poor.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Yeah, otherwise you know you'll start to that's in contrast to the Pharisees that were quote unquote practicing their righteousness before men, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 21:13

Yeah, to have their reward so that they would be esteemed before men. That's the reward. That's your reward. And if so, if you're if what if your motivation for caring for widows and aliens and the poor is so that people will look at you and how great you are because you care for orphans and widows and aliens and the poor, that's your reward. If your motivation is love for brother, then that's a whole different deal.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Yes.

Dr. David Klingler 21:35

Uh and so you're looking out for his character, his needs, his interests, uh, what's best for him, not what's best for you. Yeah. Right? Not your ego and not your, you know, oh, look how holy I am, look how righteous I am, look how much I care for other people. Um that's just wrong motivation. And so it always goes back to motivation. But you shall generously give to him. Your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all of your work and all of your undertakings. Um this represents the Lord well. Um you don't have anything, and he gives to you. So you know, and he doesn't get anything in return for it, except headache from you. So so do the same. For the poor shall never cease to be in the land. So there's going to be a constant opportunity to represent the character of the Lord. Therefore I command you, saying, You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to the needy, to the poor in your land.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

And this is gonna be one of the major indictments against them and the prophets.

unknown 22:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

The poor and the orphans.

Dr. David Klingler 22:43

And what we what we've done in our so social justice.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Yeah, good point.

Love, Justice, And Misused “Social Justice”

Dr. David Klingler 22:47

And uh in our theology. Uh there's going to be uh some theology that's gonna come later in the church. Uh it's gonna reject, you know, kind of orthodox theology. And the the you know, and the what's going to happen again is the redefinition of terms, which we talked about earlier. And uh, you know, they're gonna talk about God's attributes. And the greatest attribute of God is love, right? Uh, and so um no justice, no right, and so let's redefine love to be tolerance, and you know, and uh, and it's going to reduce down to the you know, God loves you just the way you are, uh, he loves everyone, uh, he wants you to be happy. Uh this is the the line of thinking that's going to come from this. And uh and so we are to you know care for everyone, to love everyone, to, you know, to you know, care for the poor and the widow and the alien. And so the, you know, so the drunkard who's out there, you know, wasting all his money, you know, destroying his family and all that, well, you have to accept him the way he is, seeing you got to give him money. Well, well, no, wait a second. Um, you know, it's there's there's more uh involved here. And so so we've reduced the gospel uh to caring for orphans and widows and aliens and the poor. Uh no, you care for the orphan and the widow and the alien and the poor because God cares for you. Uh, but that doesn't mean there's no standards, it doesn't mean that there's no um, you know, uh look, uh are you to accept them the way they are? Um well no.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

No, if they're going against the Lord, Miriam, for example, she got put out of the camp and they couldn't do anything about it except for wait.

Dr. David Klingler 24:26

Yeah, and and if Israel rebels, there's going to be a whole bunch of orphans and widows and aliens and poor in the land or outside of the land. They're going to be expelled from the land. Yeah. Right. And so the judgment is so that they would repent and return. And so you have to balance the command for love with justice and righteousness. And these are things they were supposed to do in their plenty. Yeah. Yes, right. Yeah. And so church discipline, yeah, uh, Israel's discipline, discipline of the wicked, the evil. Um, if you don't work, you don't eat. The the there's plenty in the old testament in the proverbs about the lazy and the sluggard, right? And so um need uh and lazy uh can go together. You know, brother in need is to be cared for. Brother who's lazy and doesn't work needs to, you know, have his rear end you know booted, right? Disciplined, yeah, made to work. Yeah, exactly. Right. And so uh, you know, so so we cannot change the definitions as you know some in the church have done and turn this into social justice. And so that's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

That's one uh I mean we've we've said it multiple times, but um it's it's one huge benefit of understanding this as a story from beginning to end, as one overarching narrative, because you can't change the definitions, they're consistent. Yep, and it gives you a uh standard from which to evaluate other texts, you know, in their context of the story.

Church History And Redefining Terms

Servitude, Freedom, And Firstborn Laws

Dr. David Klingler 25:53

And and behind you over there on the the shelf there is uh uh a boatload of church history books. Yeah. Uh and and not only do you have to know the Bible as a progress of revelation in a story, but then where did the church start to change its thinking in some of these areas? Yeah. Um that's pretty telling. And it's very quick in in many instances. Um, you know, the Corinthians were out in the left field immediately. Yeah. And so, you know, not only do you get Paul's uh letters first and second to Corinthians, but even Clement of Rome is going to write to the Corinthians and he's got to deal with them again. Uh in one of the earliest letters we have in church history, yeah, uh Apostolic Fathers, Clement. Um and so the church doesn't always get it right, uh, and the Apostolic Fathers don't always get it right. But we can consistently see through the through uh church history, this is what the church has believed, and rightly so, as defined by the scriptures and the church. Sure. And then the question becomes, why did we depart from those things? Yeah. Uh and uh and so that's where church history discussion is very helpful. If you're looking for just a basic good work uh for church history, I would recommend uh Jeffrey Bingham's uh, it's called a pocket history of the church. Yeah, easy read. Yeah, very informative, very short and quick. Um uh and there are some others, uh Gonzalez's uh two-volume history of the church, History of Christianity, uh is uh is helpful. Um, you know, and then you can get into some more uh lengthy treatments. Um but uh but anyway. So the poor were always going to be in the land. Uh and so um and so you were to to help them, verse 11, verse 12. If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or a woman is sold to you, he shall serve you for six years, and in the seventh year you shall set him free. And when uh you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. Wow. Uh you shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat, you shall uh give him uh as to the Lord, your God uh who has blessed you. The Lord has given you, you give to him. That's the point. Um The Lord can turn off the rain and stop giving to you. Right? And so if you trust the Lord, he will provide for you, and you're gonna have plenty to provide for your brother. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, the Lord your God redeemed you, therefore I command you uh this today. It shall come about that if he says to you, I will not go out from you because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you, then you shall take an owl and you shall pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever, and you shall do likewise to your maidservant. Now, uh this sounds like foreign to us, right? Um, you know, we think of um slavery as bad or evil, and master as bad or evil. Well, actually, uh the Lord is the Adon, the master, and Israel was to be the Avad, the servant, or the slave. That's the prototype. And how did the Lord care for Israel? Pretty good. And how was Israel to care for their uh servants, those who are in their care? Pretty good. Uh they were to care for them as the Lord has cared for Israel. Uh and so this was the standard. Now, when the world messes it up, when the world you know changes it, destroys it, distorts it, uh, then it does become something very evil. Uh, and this is what Satan always been has been doing. He's always been changing definitions, and and you know, therein lies the problem, right? Um, and so husband and wife, master servant, father, son, these relationships are developed and explained uh through Israel. And Israel was to model these things because this is how the Lord operated for them. Sons I have reared, but they have rebelled against me. Right. Uh the servant rebels against the master, and so the master has to become the servant or uh sends his son to be the servant to lay down his life to to rescue the servant, so the servant would serve him. This is the character of God. When we change the definitions and we view all these things as negative, and then we go back to the Old Testament and say, well, how can this barbaric book advocate for things like slavery? Well, there's nothing barbaric about how the Lord cares for his servant Israel, right? Um, or how Israel was to care for their servants, uh, they were to uh to care for them. The the the the the servant uh was selling himself into servitude for his good to to fix his debt to address his issue, and you were to recognize that need as an Israelite and you were to care for them and provide for them. And then at the end of the uh six years of service and the seventh year, you're to forgive his debt, and not only that, give him a bunch of stuff when he goes out, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:43

So I like what you said too about just that emphasis of Satan's always been changing definitions, and that's that is the story, and it's no um coincidence that those three things you mentioned father, son, master, slave, husband, wives, are some of the three most perverted definitions throughout history that Satan has has pursued, and so it you can see that very clearly and compromised in the church, yeah, exactly.

Dr. David Klingler 31:09

Yeah, exactly. So it's not just the world's doing it, sure, but it creeps into the church. Yes, and then we don't uh we don't know the correct definitions, and so we we actually begin to model and destroy uh the character of God because we don't know the definitions. So um so uh it shall not seem hard to you to set him free. Why not? Because you love him, you care for him, you're looking out for your brother, right? Um since he has given six years with double the service of a hired man, so that the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do. You shall consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males and all the born of the firstborn of the herds of your flock, and you shall uh not work the firstborn of your herd, you shall not shear the firstborn of your flock, you and your household shall eat it every year before the Lord your God in the place that he chooses. If it has any defect, any lameless or blindness or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. You shall not eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it as a gazelle or a deer, only you shall not eat its blood. Um you are to pour it out on the ground like water. Um and now next time we're gonna pick it up with the uh observation of the Passover uh celebration. So so all of this is tying together. This was how Israel was to be distinct and separate. They don't you don't intermarry with those people, you don't worship gods like they worship their gods. Uh there's not a reciprocal love uh from Deuteronomy chapter 10, um, but it's to be a sacrificial love at your expense for their benefit, and you do it because you love your brother, just as the Lord has set his affection on you, so you're set your affection on your brother, uh, your sister, your neighbor, in your midst, and you sacrificially care for them. Um, and then at the end of your caring for them, you send them out with plenty, just as Israel uh received from the Lord when they came out of Egypt, right? Exact same standard.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Absolutely.

Dr. David Klingler 33:14

Uh and so this was to uh to to imply uh impact and influence everything they did as a nation.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

That's very good. Uh I am just reminded, like the these passages, these chapters we're reading here can so easily be skipped, be viewed as you know, boring commands or whatever. I I get this kind of um feedback from people, but uh understanding these things again, as as we've been saying since the beginning of this book, there's so much detail in here that is going to show up again and again throughout this story that you need to know to help interpret uh Israel's story and what they're going to be doing or not doing. Yep. Uh, but also it's it's such great commentary on the character of the Lord. Uh, we we shouldn't miss these things. These are so helpful.

Tradition That Tells The Story

Dr. David Klingler 34:03

Yeah, and and as we were talking about church history earlier, um, and one of the things that's gonna happen, and it's gonna uh relate to what you just said, is that um uh that we're going to come to the place as Protestants mostly, I'm talking to the Protestant uh world here, where we're going to reject tradition. Yeah, well we're gonna say, well, we're not, you know, only the scriptures um we reject tradition. Well, there's a lot of tradition uh woven in here. Why do you do what you do? Because that's what the Lord does for you. That's right. Uh and so um why do we keep the commands that's in the in these statutes? When you get in the land and your sons ask you in time saying, Why do we do these things? You tell them the story. Yeah, right. And so the the actions carry on. Yeah, carry on the story. Yeah, right. Uh and so every time that you uh you know care for your brother, uh, it's not just caring for your brother, uh, so that you get you know, you know, some you know award from the local lions club for being the nicest, you know, most generous person. No, you care for your brother because the Lord has cared for you. And so you see this as an opportunity. When an orphan, a widow, an alien, uh, a foreign woman walks into your field and your name is Boaz. Here's your opportunity to show them how the Lord has cared for you. Yeah. Uh and so uh this is tradition, right? There's a very strong sense in which this is the tradition that you are to continue to do. It's not uh tradition devoid of a context, right? But it's tradition uh an action based on a context. Yeah. Uh and so very important uh for Israel and and for us as well.

Preview Of Upcoming Chapters

SPEAKER_02 35:50

Absolutely. That's good. Well, next time we're gonna probably do a something a little bit different overview the next uh handful of chapters um because we've got a lot again, I can't stop saying it, a lot of great detail that we need to know for the rest of the story coming up. And so uh so make sure you come back for that. Uh, a lot of great things still ahead in the book of Deuteronomy. So we will see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

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