Deuteronomy (Chapters 25-26)

Deuteronomy 25–26 contains laws about justice, honesty, family responsibility, and worship. Israel was commanded to use honest weights and measures, care for others rightly, and remember God’s commands in daily life. In chapter 26, the people were instructed to bring their firstfruits to the Lord and declare how He brought them out of Egypt and gave them the land. These chapters show that Israel was to live with justice, gratitude, and remembrance of God’s saving acts.

Transcript

Welcome And Deuteronomy Roadmap

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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Case Laws Frame: Justice And Punishment

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. We are walking through the book of Deuteronomy. Today we're picking up in chapter 25, and we're probably going to handle 25-26 together today as we continue to look at a lot of these case laws that describe various situations in which in how the law applies based in based on um all kinds of different circumstances. And so Doc, I have uh David Klingler here with me, and he's going to pick us up chapter 25, verse 1, and walk us through the text today. So Doc, it's yours.

Dr. David Klingler 0:59

Yeah, one of the things that I was thinking about as I was going through really all the Deuteronomy and just struck me this time through it, is how many of these laws would have condemned Jacob and his 12 sons. Right? I mean, there's quite a few in here. And I think that um that's why the stories are there is is so that Israel would know the background of why the law is there. You don't do this. Yeah, that's helpful to see. Uh and uh, you know, and so there's so many of those, not uh right here in the start of 25, but as we go, we'll we'll point those out. Other passages show up in the New Testament quite a bit, and uh and authors will use New Testament, uh, Old Testament passages, Deuteronomy in particular, but others as well, to make their point in the New Testament uh text, and we'll run into one pretty quickly today that often gets, I think, misunderstood with how Paul's using it. But anyway, we'll jump in. It says if there's a this is in chapter 25, we'll we'll cover chapter 25, 26 today, a lot of case laws, as you said. If there's a dispute between men and they go to court and this uh the judge decides the case there to uh and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be that if the wicked man deserves to be beaten. Uh I I I like this. There's a cruel and unjust, you know, or cruel and unusual punishment. You know, the uh sometimes they're just you know there's a deterrent here, right? Yeah, and it and it works.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

It's better than the uh most of these other ones where you take them to the city gates own them.

Dr. David Klingler 2:37

Yeah, what do we call uh our parenting approach today? Oh, yeah, gentle parenting. Gentle parent. Yeah, this is not gentle parenting. Um yeah, correct them when they're young uh so that they don't get beaten when they're old. Uh but if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, uh then the judge shall make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. He may be beaten forty times, but no more. Um so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than those uh and your brother is degraded in your eyes. In other words, you know, thirty-nine, yeah, he's okay. Forty, okay, now he's degraded. You know, you can't go past that, right?

Forty Lashes And New Testament Links

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Now you shamed him, yeah, that's right.

Dr. David Klingler 3:20

Yeah. Uh forty lashes. Um you know, of course, this is uh Christ, right? Uh and at the crucifixion that Paul mentions this. Uh we were just talking about this before we started. Uh, you know, Paul was uh was it five times beaten 39 lashes? Um he mentions in in uh second uh uh Corinthians.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

They're being sure not to go to that 40.

Dr. David Klingler 3:43

Yeah, the the the 40.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Yeah.

Do Not Muzzle The Ox Explained

Dr. David Klingler 3:46

Um uh may beat him 40 times, but no more. Uh and um so uh again, uh those verses will show up in the New Testament. Uh verse uh 25, 4. You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. Uh Paul's gonna use this uh in his first Corinthians letter. Uh he Paul's under attack in it for in 1 Corinthians, and they are examining him. Why, Paul, are you doing what you're doing? Why do you eat the way you eat? Why aren't you married? Why don't you get paid? Um you know, and that's the context within which he uses this verse, and uh and he explains that you know he has the right. I mean, this is what the law says, you know, if we were to to to jump over there to to 1 Corinthians uh chapter 9. I believe he also uses it uh in uh 1 uh Timothy chapter 5. Let me go back uh there and uh and uh um we'll double check that here in just a second. Uh I think it's like 518, somewhere in there later in five. But uh in uh um am I speaking uh I'm not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does the law also uh not say these things? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. God is not concerned about oxen, is he? Uh or is he speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake also, because the ploughman ought to plough in hope, and the thresher uh to thresh in hope of sharing in the crops. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much to reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right. In other words, he's saying we deserve to get paid, but we don't.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 5:34

Um but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Um Do you not know that those who perform the sacred service uh eat the food of the uh of the temple, and those who attend regularly the altar have their share from the altar? So Lord has also directed that those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel, but I have used none of these things. I am not writing these things so that it would be done so in my case. It would be better for me to die than to have any man make my boast an empty one. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion, for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do it voluntarily, I have reward, but if I do it against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? See, his whole point here is that he's not using the right that he has, uh Old Testament, New Testament, you know, the down to oxen. Right, right, right. The priest, the the preacher. Uh, but he's not using these things so that no one can say, Paul, that's your motivation. Uh and so uh, you know, authors will use this uh these Old Testament passages uh as a principle.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 6:54

Um do not muzzle muzzle the ox while he's threshing.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

But he understands it in the context in which it was originally set. Absolutely.

Paul’s Rights And Gospel Motivation

Dr. David Klingler 7:02

Yeah, yeah. And then uses it to make the point that even though even the ox has the right, according to God, to not be muzzled while it's threshing. Yeah, you know, you you you know, pay the ox while he's working. But I didn't even exercise the right of oxen. All right, that's the point. Um verse five, this is the one that we were kind of talking about before. When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go in uh to her and take her to himself as a wife and perform the duty of the husband's brother to her. I'm thinking about Judah here. Sure. And uh um, you know, Judah and his sons, um uh Ur and Onan and Selah, and uh and Ur was married to Tamar, and he died, and then Judah did give him to the neck to Onan, but Onan was evil, and and then he doesn't give um you know, give uh Tamar to his youngest. The youngest, yeah. Um it shall be that the firstborn that uh whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel. That story, uh Tamar Judah story, uh is the genealogy of Christ, you know. Uh you know This yeah, it protected that. Yeah, you don't you wouldn't want to blot that name out of Israel. That would not go well. Yeah. This also plays out uh um you know in uh in the book of Ruth, right? Um where Ruth uh is uh her husband dies, uh dies, her father in law dies, uh, and he goes to Boaz, and Boaz has a brother and actually a couple brothers, and uh and so uh or one, so so you know, an older brother. So so this is relevant throughout the Old Testament story.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

It's gonna inform definitely our understanding of that book.

Dr. David Klingler 9:03

But if a man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go to the gate of the elders and say, My husband's brother refuses to establish a name for my for his brother in Israel. He's not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me. You know, this also ties to the inheritance of the land and all you know, all this. So there's there's a lot going on here. Then the elders of the city shall summon him and speak to him, and if he persists and says, I do not desire to take her, then his brother's wife shall come to him in the sight of all the elders, and pull off uh the sandal of his foot and spit in his face, and shall declare, Thus is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. And in the nay uh in Israel his name shall be called the house of him whose sandal is removed. You know, just his name's blotted out.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

Yeah, his name is mud. Yeah.

Levirate Marriage And Israel’s Story

Dr. David Klingler 9:54

If two men live together and a man is uh struggling with his countrymen, and they're struggling together, and the wife of the one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and he puts out uh she you know and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then her hand is to be cut off. She shall be shown no pity. So you know, this is uh, you know, again, apparently there's a this was a case law, and this this was uh something happened to you. Something must have happened. Yeah. Uh you shall not have in your bag different uh weights, is how the New American Standards train this different stones, a stone and stone, uh a greater one and a smaller one. Uh you shall not have two types of measures, large and small. Um you shall uh have a full and just weight. In other words, uh you don't have two sets of weights, two sets of measures, one for you and one for your brother, right? Right. Um the big one for me, the little one for you, or whatever, you know, whatever it works in your favor. You're not to do that. You're to have fair weights and fair measures.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

But now I understand that to be this is how they sort of weight out money to each other, right? It was actually in weights, so they they it it they would they could cheat each other by having larger, smaller weights, essentially.

Dr. David Klingler 11:10

Yeah, or or EFA was a was a measurement. And uh you know, so you have one that's a little bit smaller, and right, you know, and you you get more, you know, or less grain or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 11:20

Um if anything, you ought to be it ought to be pouring over for your brother.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

That's good.

Dr. David Klingler 11:26

Uh you shall have a full and just weight, uh, you shall have a full and just measure that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly, that's what you're doing, is an abomination to the Lord your God. In other words, when you cheat your brother, it's an abomination to the Lord. We don't talk about abomination as cheating your brother.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 11:51

Uh but that's what it says.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

Absolutely.

Dr. David Klingler 11:54

Uh remember what uh Amalek did to you on the the way when you came out of Egypt, when uh he met you along the way and attacked you, and all your straggers are at the weir, uh, when uh you were uh faint and weary, and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall come about that when the Lord your God gives you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. You must not forget. Chapter twenty-six. Then it will be when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and you live in it, you shall shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, uh, which you bring in your land to the Lord, uh you know, that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place the Lord your God has established for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, I declare this day, the Lord my God, uh to the Lord my God, that I have entered the land which uh he the Lord swore to our fathers to give us. Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. You shall answer and say, Before the Lord your God, my father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and lived there, few in number. You know, you t you rehearse the story, you you remind yourself of why you're doing this.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Yeah, that's good.

Public Shame, Sandals, And Names

Dr. David Klingler 13:23

They were few in number. Uh there he became great and mighty and numerous nation, and the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us and imposed hard labor on us. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, uh, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our opposition, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror and with signs and wonders. And he brought us to this place and has given us this land flowing with milk and honey. Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which you, the Lord, have given me. And you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. Uh and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household. I I like that that you you and the Levite and the alien and everyone else.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

Yeah. Well, I like it. This really uh hammers home what you started with in the beginning, that that a a lot of this, if not all of this law is is really based on the story that precedes it, right? Absolutely. They're rehearsing it, they're acting it out. I mean, even Abraham offered a tenth to to Melchizedek when he conquered the kings of the land. And so they're they're yeah, like you said, they're really living out this this story, and they're avoiding some of the things that that the some of the mistakes that were made as well. Yeah, yeah.

Weights, Measures, And Economic Honesty

Dr. David Klingler 14:54

Yeah, and so you cannot disconnect you know parts of Torah from other parts of Torah. That's good. Uh these aren't just laws that stand in isolation, these are laws that have a foundation in Israel's past history. That's right. And it was a constant reminder of what they were to do, why they were to do it. Um, and you know, so so this was the story. Yeah, that's good. Uh that was foundational. Uh verse 12, uh 25, uh, or I guess we're we're now in 26, 12. Um uh and so uh when you have finished paying all the tithe of the increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite and to the stranger and to the orphan and to the widow widow, and they shall eat in your towns and be satisfied. Why is there so much plenty? Uh and by the way, that eat and be satisfied, that's just all through Torah. Um it's it's associated with blessing in the land. It's blessing in the land, it's um it's the Lord's provision. I think about the manna. Yeah, you don't go hoard it. You don't need to.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Yes. Why?

Dr. David Klingler 15:59

Because it's gonna be there tomorrow. And it's gonna be there the next day and be there the next day, and you can eat until you're you know, until you're uh you know, you you've had all your fill and you eat and are satisfied, and it's not just you, it's for those who live in your house and um under your care and for the Levite and for the orphan and the widow and the alien and the poor. But if you don't, yeah, um, if you have unjust measures, if you don't care for the orphan, the widow, the alien, if you see, so the the law is always going to go down to the orphan, the widow, and the alien, not because it's more concerned about the orphan and the widow and the alien, but that's the people that you would tend to be less concerned about, the orphan, the widow, and the alien, because there's nothing they can do for you. Uh but the Lord's provision goes all the way down to them, and they will all eat and be satisfied. Uh you'll see this also in uh in Ruth's story. Uh she goes and gathers grain from Boaz's field, and she ate and was satisfied and took it takes some home back to Naomi. She ate and was satisfied.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 17:03

And and so it's it's it's code. Um in uh the New Testament, uh, in the two stories that uh we uh remember about Jesus, the feeding of the 4,000, the feeding of the 5,000, it's the same. They ate and were satisfied, and they picked up leftovers, you know.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Yeah, and they picked up the crumbs. And what what's striking is then the uh the gentile woman who comes and says, I eat the crumbs that fall from the children's tables. There's plenty left over, even for the alien in Matthew there. Yeah, for sure.

Remember Amalek And Future Justice

Dr. David Klingler 17:33

Yeah. Um uh you shall say before the Lord your God, I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and I have given it to the Levite and to the alien and to the orphan, to the widow, according to all your commandment, which you have commanded me, and I have not forgotten, uh transgressed or forgotten any of your commandments. If I have not eaten of it while I have not eaten of it while mourning, I have not removed uh any of it while I was unclean, I have not offered any of it to the dead, I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God, and I have done according to all that you have commanded me. How important was it that Israel knew this story, so that they could say this, right? I have not, you know, you know, forgotten any of your commandments. Um I have not done uh you know, I have done according to all that you have commanded me. Look down from your holy habitation from heaven and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as you swore to our fathers. Now we're gonna talk about this blessing that's gonna be coming in the next uh couple chapters. What is this gonna look like uh if they follow the Lord and keep the commands? Uh do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, follow what the patriarchs did well. But if they rebel, yeah, if they follow in their patriarchs' wickedness, or if they go after foreign gods, then the curses will come. And so it's gonna be blessing and curse, and we're gonna see that. Um verse 16. Uh, this day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances, uh, you shall be careful to do them with all of your heart and with all of your soul. There's that heart and soul language today. These words are to be on your heart, and you shall speak of them as you walk along the way, and all that, right? So um it's hard to do something you don't know.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

Yes.

Firstfruits Liturgy And Sacred Memory

Dr. David Klingler 19:21

Uh you know, and pleading ignorance was not a you know a good defense. Well, I just didn't know. This was what was to be taught. The fathers were to teach their sons generation after generation. All the way from the elders, priests, down to the fathers, all the way down to the children, and then generation to generation passed down. Yes. Um you have today, today declared the Lord your uh the the Lord to be your God, and you shall walk in all his ways and keep his statutes and his ordinances, and to listen to his voice. To listen to his voice was to listen to the words of Moses, right? Um, you know, so that language kind of gets goofy. We've talked about that quite a bit. Uh the Lord has today declared you to be his people, a treasured possession. There's that uh Segula, that treasured possession word again. Uh, and um uh you know, it shows up all the way through Exodus chapter 19, Deuteronomy chapter 7. Yeah, again here. Um before uh Israel's kicked out of the land, the curse has come. After they return, they're still looking forward. Paul's going to talk about it. We've we've talked about this repeatedly. Uh, as he promised you uh that you should keep all his commandments. Um now uh one j we ought to uh just stop here and and make this point. Sure. That Israel was to be his treasured possession, a people for among all the peoples. Um that doesn't mean that Israel gets to do whatever they want. Right. Uh they were to do what was good right in the house. Uh and when they don't do what's right in the eyes of the Lord, the Lord hits them. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

So you don't have to You might say it's a bigger responsibility.

Dr. David Klingler 21:00

Yeah, you don't you don't have to, you know, worry about judging Israel. Right. Um when Israel is disobedient to the Lord, rejects the Lord, rejects the rock of his salvation, the Christ, he's going to deal with them.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

Yes.

Dr. David Klingler 21:13

Um even if they're back in the land as they are today, that doesn't mean that just because Israel's in the Bible, uh, we ought to side with them. They're they're under the discipline of the Lord, and and it's going to get worse. They're going to actually align themselves uh with uh with Antichrist. Right. Uh so it's not going to go well.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

That's right.

Dr. David Klingler 21:33

Um, but uh but nonetheless, he has promised and he will deliver his promises, he will cause them to walk in his ways. Uh they weren't doing so hot at this point in the story, or later in the story, or or even today. It's not hard to argue that they're not doing so great. Absolutely. Um so anyway, but uh they were to be a treasured possession um uh that you should keep all his commands. Uh and that you will be set uh he will set you high above all the nations, uh, as he has made for praise, for fame, for honor, and you shall be a holy people to the Lord your God as he has spoken to you. Uh and so that kind of ties together all of the you know the the the the blessings, the curses, the laws, the commandments that they were to follow. Now in chapter 27, 28, we're gonna turn to all right, now what happens if you do it and what happens if you don't.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

It's kind of a nice bookend to like Exodus 19, right? Where they're to be a holy people, all right, uh a kingdom of priests, and and pretty much since that point we're we're getting them ready, trying to understand how it is they're going to do that. And now it's like here here it is. Yeah, we're we're kind of closing that, closing that chapter, so to speak. They've got their instruction. Yeah, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 22:54

That's exactly right. So chapter 26 kind of brings to an end the you know the the case law section. The the the commands are always sprinkled through there, but this last exhortation. Uh, and now uh in the coming chapters, we're gonna turn to the blessing and the curse. And and we're getting to some of the most important chapters in understanding the Bible, uh, understanding Israel's history, uh, and even understanding the New Testament and what's what's going to go on in the person of Christ. Uh and the, you know, and of course the prophets of the old. So we're getting to some pretty important sections. Yeah.

Provision For Levite, Alien, Orphan, Widow

SPEAKER_03 23:30

Absolutely. Well, thanks for walking us through that again. Uh, I hope that y'all um, along with me, uh learning so much in these case laws that we can so easily be tempted to to skim over or or to think of as not relevant. But um, we've continually demonstrated uh how it is that not just the rest of the Old Testament refers to these, but even the New Testament often refers to these. So understanding these sections um is no small thing. And so hopefully that's been helpful to you. Uh, but like Doc said, uh we're gonna get into chapters 27 and 28 next time, where we're gonna see some um increasingly important stuff for understanding the word. So it never it never stops. You gotta know this whole book, essentially, is what we're saying, what we said from the beginning. Uh you gotta know Deuteronomy. And so hopefully, um, hopefully, you're on your way to understanding this book and the rest of the story. Uh, we'll pick up next week in chapter 27 and 28. We'll see you then.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

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