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Scripture Reading: Deut. 14:3-21, 28-29; 26:12-15; 15:1-11
In the foregoing messages we covered the general advices and warnings (5:32—13:18). In this message we will begin to consider the rehearsal of the general statutes and judgments.
Deuteronomy 14:1—26:19 covers the general statutes and judgments. The word judgments here actually means ordinances. When a judgment is added to a statute, the statute becomes an ordinance.
Whereas chapter thirteen is concerned with apostasy, chapter fourteen is concerned with eating. Verses 3 through 21 cover the matter of the holy diet. We need to be careful regarding our eating because germs can be transmitted by the food we eat.
The holy diet signifies what kind of people are not clean and what kind are clean, good for the people of God to contact, that they may be kept holy. In God's view, to contact people is to eat, that is, to receive something into us as a sustaining substance.
As God's holy people, we need to take care concerning not only division and apostasy but also concerning the kind of people we contact. We human beings need to be social; we cannot live alone, having no contact with others. As we contact people, we need to be careful, for in our contact with others we may receive what they are, what they have, and what they know. Contacting people is a kind of eating, and, as dieticians say, we are what we eat. This means that eventually we will be like those whom we contact. Therefore, in contacting others we need to be discerning regarding who is unclean and who is clean. (For the details on this matter, please see the Life-study message on Leviticus 11.)
"You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk" (14:21b). The mother's milk is for nourishing, but boiling a kid equals killing. This indicates that in the eyes of God, any living cattle that were not properly killed were not clean for eating, that is, for contacting.
The milk in verse 21b typifies the milk of the word of God (the life supply of Christ) used to nourish new believers (1 Pet. 2:2; Heb. 5:12-13; 1 Cor. 3:2). Not boiling a kid in its mother's milk typifies that the milk of the word of God should not be used to kill new believers in Christ. We should use the milk of the word, Christ as the life supply, to nourish newborn Christians, not to kill them. However, many Christian teachers have used the word of God for "boiling" others instead of for feeding them. This is what the divisive ones are doing today. The divisive ones use verses from the Bible to boil, to kill, the new ones. They are boiling the kids in their mothers' milk. In practicing the new way, we should use Bible verses to nourish the new believers. The word of Christ which produces milk should be used always to nourish the babes in Christ, never to kill them.
On the one hand, we should not eat without discernment; on the other hand, we should not allow a kid to be boiled in its mother's milk. We need to help the young ones and to protect them from being boiled by the divisive ones.
In Deuteronomy 12 and 13 we see that we must hate and avoid both division and apostasy. In order to do this, we need to be discerning in our contact with people, as indicated in chapter fourteen. Certain ones may be carrying the germs of division or heresy. If we contact such ones without discernment, we will be infected, perhaps unconsciously, for these germs are very contagious. Once a saint has been infected in this way, he will become cold toward the recovery and toward the church life. Therefore, in order to avoid division and apostasy, we should be careful in contacting people. Also, we need to protect our young ones from those who would use the milk of the word to boil them, to kill them.
Several portions of Deuteronomy speak concerning aid to the needy (14:28-29; 26:12-15; 15:1-18; 23:15-16, 19-20; 24:6, 10-15, 17-22).
The statute concerning aid to the needy ones has many items. First, there was to be the aid by the tithes at the end of every three years (14:28-29; 26:12-15). God charged the children of Israel to offer Him the tithes yearly. Every year a tithe of their produce was to be offered to God. In addition, there was a further command regarding tithes in 14:28. "At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your produce for that year and lay it within your gates." Every three years they were to lay aside another tithe within their gates as a surplus to show the fullness of the rich produce of the good land.
What was laid within their gates was to be for the needy. "And the Levite shall come — for he has no portion nor inheritance with you — as well as the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates; and they shall eat and be satisfied, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do" (14:29). The Levites, who had no job or other source of income but who lived on God, serving Him full-time, were to be taken care of in this way. There was also to be provision for the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow. Today we should also care for the needy ones among us. Under the Lord's covering, I can testify that I cannot bear to see that any saints are lacking what they need to live properly; I have the feeling that I must do something to meet their need. In the Lord's recovery, we need to care for the full-timers and the other needy ones.
Those who gave the tithes of their produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, could say before Jehovah their God, "I have removed what is holy from out of my house, and I have also given it to the Levite and the sojourner, to the orphan and the widow, according to Your whole commandment, which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed any of Your commandments and I have not forgotten them. I have not eaten any of it in my sorrow, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I given any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me" (26:13-14). Even if the one who gave the tithe was in sorrow or had suffering, he did not eat for his happiness what was reserved for the needy. Thus, the giving one could go on to pray, "Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given to us, as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey" (v. 15). This indicates that if we, for the sake of God, take care of the needy ones, God will surely bless our labor and undertakings. This blessing will be a return to us from God. Apparently we are giving; actually we are receiving. Nevertheless, to give is much more blessed than to receive.
In Deuteronomy 13 we see that God takes care of Himself, and in Deuteronomy 12, that He takes care of His people as His expression. Now in the verses concerning aid to the needy we see that God takes care of all those who are part of His expression. In New Testament terms, this means that Christ takes care of every member of His Body. We all should follow this pattern. We should love the Lord Jesus, we should love His Body, and we should take care of the needs of all the members. In caring for the needs of the saints, it is best that we prepare for this by having a budget. This means that in a regular way we should lay something aside to use in taking care of needy saints. We need to be regular in this matter because God's people are living on earth in a practical way. The life of God's people is practical, so the meeting of the needs should be practical and also regular.
In Deuteronomy 15:1-6 Moses gave a charge concerning the release at the end of every seven years. "At the end of every seven years you shall issue a release" (v. 1). Every creditor was to release that which he had lent to his neighbor. An Israelite was to do this even if he had lent something to his neighbor shortly before the year of release. This requirement regarding the release at the end of every seven years is related to God's way of balancing the social wealth and natural resources among His people. We may say that God was practicing a "divine communism."
"This is the manner of the release: Every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it from his neighbor or his brother, for Jehovah's release has been proclaimed" (v. 2). However, there was a limitation to the heavenly communism: the children of Israel were to release their brothers only, not the foreigners (v. 3). If God's people released that which they had lent to their brothers, they would bring in God's blessing that there would be no poor among them (vv. 4-5). Further, because of God's blessing, they would lend to many nations and rule over many nations. "Jehovah your God will bless you as He has promised you. And you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you" (v. 6).
God's people were not only to practice the release every seven years; they were also required to lend to the poor brothers. Deuteronomy 15:7-11 speaks about the lending to the poor brothers. Some of the people might have lost money during the year of release. As a result, they might have decided never to lend anything again. Thus, there was the need for an ordinance to govern the requirement regarding lending to the poor.
The children of Israel were not to harden their heart nor close up their hand from the poor brother (v. 7). Suppose a poor brother had once asked an Israelite for a loan, and this brother was released from his debt in the year of release. If this poor brother should ask the same person for another loan after the year of release, that person might harden his heart and close up his hand. However, this was forbidden by the ordinance governing lending to the poor brothers.
The people were required to open their hand to the poor one and to lend enough for his need in whatever he lacked (v. 8). Today we should not be reluctant to give to the poor brothers among us. When we give to meet the needs of the poor brothers, the Lord will return to us much more than we gave. All the believers who give willingly can testify of this.
In verse 9 the children of Israel were warned about not having a base thought in their heart with respect to lending to the poor brothers. "Be careful that there is not within your heart a base thought like this: The seventh year, the year of release, is near; and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you do not give him anything, and he cry against you to Jehovah, and it become sin to you." For an Israelite to refuse to lend something to a poor brother because the year of release was near was for the eye of that Israelite to be evil against the poor brother.
"You must give to him, and your heart shall not be displeased when you give to him; for on account of this matter Jehovah your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings" (v. 10). The children of Israel were to be happy after the giving was done, knowing that God would bless them. We today should not be displeased when giving to the poor; instead, we should be happy, knowing that God will bless us and return much more to us.
"The poor will not cease being in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, You must open your hand to your brother, to the needy one with you, and to the poor one with you in your land" (v. 11). There would always be the poor in the land as a test to the children of Israel.
Chapters twelve through fifteen of Deuteronomy reveal that we need to hate apostasy, avoid division, be discerning in contacting people, protect our spiritual children, and be generous in giving. We need to realize that we will never suffer loss as a result of giving to the Lord. The Lord is rich, but some of His people are poor. Thus, we need to take care of the full-timers (the Levites), the sojourners, the orphans, the widows, and the poor brothers. We all should be those who avoid division and apostasy, who contact others with discernment, who protect the spiritual children, and whose heart and hand are always open to give something to help the needy ones.
