Verse by Verse: The 'Strangest' Bible Laws… That actually make sense — Torah Portion: Ki Tetze

We've all been taught to love. Whether you're an atheist, a Buddhist, a hippie, or a Christian. We all agree on the idea of love. But what is love truly? See, it's easy to say love, but it's when real life happens, when things go wrong. How do we practically love when love is hard to do? See, God is not shy of exploring the reality of real life with us. In fact, he even came down, lived life in the flesh, becoming familiar with the sufferings of mankind himself. Today, we're going to talk about specifically caring for the possessions of another person, dressing your gender, property liability, not mixing seeds, oxen, donkeys, fabrics. We can talk about defiled money, charging interest, vows, the joy of new marriage, taking pledges, human trafficking, leprosy, jealousy and evil speech, rules for debt collectors, rules for hard workers or contractors, sins of the fathers. We're going to talk about leaving what you don't need for someone else. We can talk about care extended towards guilty parties and how women should act in disputes with men, and also equal weights and measures. When we look at Deuteronomy 22:25, we are picking up in this area of the Scriptures where Moses is giving his last words from God to Israel as they are about to enter this promised land, this new life that they are beginning, no longer being slaves in Egypt, but now entering a new prosperity. Let's dive in, guys. I'm going to open up for us in Deuteronomy 22, verse 1, and we're going to do a verse by verse study. And we read here first. You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother, and if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him, and you shall do the same with his donkey, with his garment, or any last thing of your brother's which he loses. And you find you may not ignore it. You shall not see your brother's donkey or ox fallen down, by the way, and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again. So I remember when I was a child, there was this saying that went around called finders keepers, losers weepers, right? You've probably heard that before. This whole idea that if you find something, it's yours, you pick something up, you find something, someone lost, it's yours. And this just flies in the face of all that God is saying. No it's not yours. It's theirs. It's someone else's. And you need to honor their property and even bring it back to them and protecting it from the elements or anyone else taking it. You know, we have this idea in this world where people are backstabbing one another and God is telling us to help people behind their backs, not stab people behind their backs, that when no one is looking, whether your neighbor knows it or your family knows it or anyone knows it or not, it doesn't matter. You do the right thing because you have an audience of one. And God, he knows it, he sees it, and he's looking at how you act when no one else is looking. You know, I just want to tell you a quick story that happened just about two weeks ago with me and my wife. We were in our home, and it was getting evening one night, and suddenly we hear a chicken in our backyard. And we're. We're looking at one another, and we're thinking, we don't have a chicken. And, you know, we go to our back porch, and there's these two chickens, and they're not our chickens. And they're, you know, it's getting kind of late, and they're kind of huddled under our porch, and they're just, like, cowering there, scared. And, you know, it's kind of like they're lost. They don't know where they're going or where they come from. And I'm like, oh, no, right? And my wife especially, she's like, pd, we need to do something. And I'm like, I don't even know whose chickens these are. It could be anyone's. And, you know, we go and we start messaging neighbors and asking, who could this be? Whose chickens are these? And eventually we figure out it's likely a certain neighbor's chickens. And so, you know, we let them know, hey, you know, your chickens are here, and, you know, we're keeping an eye on them, and, you know, but they're not home, so they can't come and fetch them. And so, you know, they're very kind to us. They're just saying, oh, don't worry about it. You know, we'll come and fetch them. You know, don't worry about the chickens. And my wife especially, she's like, man, they look so scared. You know, they look like they. You know, what if something happens to them? What if some cat comes off to them or whatever? And, you know, we take the chickens. My wife, you know, I'm with the flashlight, My wife's carrying One of them. And, you know, we're going in the dark and we're going into our neighbor, we open their gate, we go into their gate, we put the chickens back. And you know, it was quite an ordeal grabbing those chickens, let's just say. But I think it's so important for us that, you know, when we're faced with a situation like that, it's so easy to be like, well, I'm so busy right now and, or, you know, oh, you know, you know, they'll be all right, let's just ignore it for now. You know, the commandment specifically actually says right here, when he loses, and you find it here in verse three, you may not ignore it. So God is actually telling us, you may not just go on with your day. You may not just act like this just didn't happen. When you see his donkey or his anything, anything that your brother's lost, take care of it, all right? So guys, I would really encourage you to look that way and keep your eyes peeled for that opportunity where there's something that went wrong, some animal that escaped or something that got lost. You look for that opportunity, that trial, that mistake to love someone. I would like to Also read Luke 6. 31. And we see this. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same, right? God is calling us to treat others as we would like to be treated. Right? This is a golden rule that everyone knows about, but it's something that is actually quite rare in this world when it comes to the real life, day to day practicality of things. That means that when you are, when you see that chicken in your backyard, you should treat that chicken as if it's your own chicken, even though it's your neighbors. And even more than that, you should treat that chicken as if that chicken is God's, that whatever it is, because all things belong to the Father. I want to remind you of Psalm 50, verse 10, where we read this from. For every beast of the forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hill, I know, all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine, right? God is saying, everything is mine. Oh, by the way, not just the animals, but every dollar in your bank account. The fact that you have a job, that job is unto the Lord. The fact that you Have a wife. The that fact that is unto the Lord, that you have a child, that is unto the Lord, that you have a house, that is unto the Lord. Everything that you own and have is unto the Lord. It is his, and he has given it to you to entrust you with that stewardship. Okay, that's awesome. I love these. So we're gonna move on to Deuteronomy 22. 5, and we're gonna just keep going through these different, very different rules and, and words of wisdom. Next one is, a woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak forever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. Okay, I want you to start noticing that God, as he says things, he's giving reasons oftentimes. Sometimes he gives a reason why he gives a commandment, sometimes he doesn't. In this case, he does. He says the reason that he doesn't want a man to wear a woman's garment or a woman to wear a man's garment is to because it's an abomination to him, that he considers it an abomination himself. This is not just an opinion. This is not just something that you even do to be blessed in a very specific area of your life. He's just saying point blank, this is an abomination to me. Dress your gender. God is very concerned with us understanding how we were created, that we were created as a man or as a woman. That's why even in this verse, there is a man and there is a woman. There are two genders mentioned because there are only two genders that exist, only two that God has made. And so us growing up in that gender, understanding our gender and living in and from that gender, that gender is important because your calling is directly connected to whether you're a man or a woman, right? If you are a man, you're gonna have certain callings in your household. If you're a woman, you're gonna have certain callings in the household. And they're both beautiful, they're both lovely, they're both valuable, they're both cherished by God, and they should be cherished by men, but they are different, right? And so that's very important. God wants us to understand it and also present that to the world. And we know that the main way we do that is by how we dress and present ourselves on the outward. So, you know, when someone looks at you, they shouldn't ask themselves, are you a man or are you a woman? Because by the way you're dressing and presenting yourself, I'm not sure. I'm confused. I don't even know how to address you. I don't know how to. How to. How to understand, you know, your calling and your place in this world, because I don't even know what you are. Right. That's primarily, I would say, the heart behind this commandment, because God wants us to understand who we are. All right, Verse six. If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with them. Young. Okay, I want you to listen to this next verse as well. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself that it may go well with you and that you may live long. Okay, this is. Guys, this is crazy. Amazing, right? Like, God is saying, how you treat animals will determine how long you live and how well it goes with you in life. Think about this. God cares for animals so much that he warns humans. And how we treat them will affect our blessings in this life. So those who are abusers of animals, their life will be affected by that, how well it goes and how long you live. Now, what is abuse? Right? Let's just, like, define that for a sec here, because obviously that sounds like a big statement here. Well, we get a good example. He says, if you come across a bird's nest and you see the mom and the eggs or the young ones, you know, if there is a chicken with eggs, take the eggs, leave the mom, don't take the mom and the eggs, then wipe out the family. Of course, you know, this can go into other areas. We can apply the principle behind this with if there is a dog that's your pet, do not abuse a dog, right? Do not abuse a cat or whatever animal that is at the same time. We then, on the other hand, see that God has given us livestock in this world in order for us to eat meat. That is God given, that is a blessing. And God has obviously permitted that, even instructing meat to be eaten under certain circumstances throughout history, including having them as offerings as a pre. Figure of Christ. The point is that there is a place for plants, a place for animals, but there is also a transgression when we start abusing and becoming heartless, absolutely heartless towards them. All right, we're gonna go to the next verse, verse eight here. And we see when you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof. Okay? That you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house if anyone should fall from it. Okay, a lot of people have pointed to this verse and they're like, you see, this is why the Torah and the prophets or the Old Testament is no longer relevant. Because there's these crazy weird rules that no one is following today anymore. And I would just say, of course, course, we're following this today. In general, this has been adopted into building codes all around the world, where, you know, if you have a deck or a. Any high place in your house, you know, in the ancient world, it was common to even go on your roof and have that as living space. Today we have decks or whatever. The idea is make a parapet. A parapet is basically. They would basically build the roof, a surrounding as well on the edges so that you don't fall off and that there's safety. And we have these railings around any high place on a mountain you go for a walk sometimes they build railings, right, because they're trying to protect life. So this is a common thing that has been adopted. And this comes from the Bible. It just shows us how amazing our God is that he thought this through so far. And this is where man got this idea. So because in the ancient world and the time that this was given, guys, this was not normal. This was. People had mistakes, they fell off roofs, things like that happen. People just shrugged their shoulders and said, oh man, too bad. You shouldn't have fallen off that roof. Right? But God is saying, no, actually you have liability. You know, in the insurance world, we call this liability. You say, if someone gets hurt on your property, you are partly liable for their injury, because by nature we should do things to protect people from getting hurt on our property as far as possible. And Goddess, you're also saying you can be liable if someone in this case falls off from your roof. It says that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house if anyone should fall from it. So he's saying that if someone dies on your property because of your negligence, then that blood guilt is upon your house. Okay? So God is about protecting the innocent even from them making a. Whether it's an ignorant or a foolish mistake, God wants to protect life and he's calling us as his followers to protect life. Next we're going to go to verse nine and we see this. You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited. We're going to go on and read a few more. You shall plow with an ox and a donkey Together you shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together, and you shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself. Okay, so there's a few interesting things here around from verse 9 to 12, and we're seeing that they're all very related. It's all about mixing things, whether it's mixing seeds in your vineyard, mixing how you use two different types of animals, an ox and a donkey, or mixing wool and linen. Okay, and so let's just take these one by one, very in a prompt manner. And so when we're looking at the sowing of a vineyard with two kinds of seeds, this is quite well understood today in agriculture. And if you see here I mentioned, sometimes God tells us why he tells us to do something, and here he says why? He says, don't mix the seeds that you use in your vineyard, lest the whole yield be forfeited. It is well known in agriculture that when you take, for example, make a vineyard, like with grapes, and you sow certain other plants in the midst, that those plants would take the nutrients and the grapes would not survive. And sometimes that in general, you know, that whole field would be influenced, because if you want something to prosper, you would want that plant to get the amount of nutrients it needs. And each plant has got a different temperament, right? They just, they live differently, they use different amounts of water and nutrients. And God is basically giving us a lesson here that be careful how you mix plants because you may lose the yield. Okay, so that's the lesson there. And we see the same thing with animals. In the next verse, he's going, and he's saying, don't plow an ox and donkey together. An ox and donkey are animals of two different temperaments. The one is more, is a stronger animal and is also more. The one has got more leadership and more headship than the other. And because if you yoke them together, there's going to be a lot of back and forth and there's going to be, you know, just not going to be a good day to have them work together. And so that's why he's saying that there. You know, this is also where Paul gets the idea from, where Paul says, do not be unequally yoked believers of unbelievers. For what fellowship does light have with darkness? Again, this mixing of light and darkness also doesn't work. When you have a, a pitch black room, you turn on a light, that room is illuminated. Light and darkness cannot exist at the same time. And so because by Nature, the temperament of light and darkness is opposites, right? And, and so that's the same thing that we're seeing here. If you are in a relationship with someone, in a marriage or whatever, and there, and one is an ox and one is a donkey, you know, it's going to be a difficult situation, plowing that load to, you know, that burden of life to gather. That's why God calls us to not be unequally yoked for our own benefit. Next he says, you shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. This is also another instruction where a lot of people scratch their head and they're like, I don't understand how we could follow the commandments. Because this just sounds ridiculous. By the way, just because something doesn't make sense or sounds ridiculous doesn't mean that you can say, God, I know better and I'm not going to do it because it doesn't make sense to me. We obey God whether it makes sense to us or not. However, I did do an in depth teaching on this verse and it's repeated in other places in Scripture, and that teaching is called the mixed fabrics conspiracy. I'd recommend you check that out for more information on the background of this verse, because there's a lot more that we could get into with it. But I would just for now say that in many translations, at certain places where this commandment is repeated, we just see it saying, do not wear mixed fabrics. Which that's not the correct specifics of the translation of the original text because the original text says wool and linen, right? So it's specifically wool and linen. It's not that you're not allowed to wear a garment that has any other type of, type of fabric mixed in. It's wool and linen specifically. Okay? And so then we see, as God ties up, he says, don't mix, don't mix, don't mix. And then he ties it up with this instruction, verse 12, you shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself. So it's interesting, you know, you shall not, you shall not, you shall not, but you shall. You see that? It's interesting. So the reason he's doing that is he's saying, don't do this, don't do this, don't do that, but do this, make tassels on the four corners of the garment. And we read also in the original place where God gives this instruction, the Torah, he is saying, it is so that you remember the commandments and that it is for you to look upon to remember the commandments. And so God is basically repeating these three instructions for us that many of us would scratch our head at. You know, they're the controversial ones. They're all grouped together. And God understands that some of us will be like, I don't understand why these commandments are what they are. This sounds kind of weird. And God just says, tying it up here. Wear the tassels. And when you look upon these tassels, understand that these are the commandments. Remember them and keep them. No matter what you think about them, remember them and keep them. Okay, we can have theories as to why they were given, but remember them and keep them. That's what matters. And by the way, as we're. Last thing I'll say on this, the tassels is remember for feet have never heard of this. When the woman who was bleeding was coming to Jesus, right? And he's in the crowds, and she grabs a hold of him and he says, who has touched me? For he felt power go out of him. That woman who was bleeding was healed in that moment. And it is said that she grabbed the fringe of his garment. And the fringe of the garment is the same thing that we're reading right now. This, the tassels on the four corners of the garment which you cover yourself with. So this was what Yeshua was obeying, as we know, he obeyed his Father's law. And this is where the healing sprung forth. And this is where she touched because she understood that he is holy, he is righteous, he is the Messiah. And these tassels are a representation of how he remembers the commandments and how he is holy and how ultimately, by the way, that holiness is what allows him to die for our sins and so that by his stripes we can be healed. So it's all connected beautifully in that sense. Also, James is also talking to us about mixing. And he says, no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blasting and cursing, my brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. So he's saying the same thing. Watch out in the same way, what comes out of your mouth, blessing and cursing cannot come out from the same place. You need to be a vessel known for blessing, pouring Forth from you, not blessing and cursing. Because people, even if you have blessing and cursing coming from you, people will remember the cursings. You can say and do good things, but when you do and say bad things, people will remember the bad things. And that will pollute your witness of all the good that you ever do or say. So remember to walk uprightly in a manner that is uncompromising and not with hypocrisy. All right, let's continue on. I'm going to go into the next chapter of Deuteronomy 23 now and we're going to pick up on these miscellaneous laws. Now, speaking about slavery, this is a controversial aspect of the scriptures. Many people don't understand. But I want to show you God's heart behind this. We see. You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you in your midst, in the place that he shall choose, within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him. Okay, this is really interesting. When a slave escapes and you know his master is going to be looking for him because a slave in those days was an expensive thing. And by the way, slavery has only been recently abolished on the timeline of history, right? So this is something that today may feel very foreign, foreign to us. But I'll remind you that even in America, right, there were slavery was a big deal. And that's not long ago at all. So we see that for most of the world's history, slavery was a big deal. And God is coming and saying something really amazing. He's giving a right to a slave. He's saying, if a slave escapes, protect him, don't give him up. Even if the law of the land says give him up, God's law is higher. You will protect the slave and you will let him dwell with you wherever he decides to choose within your town. You won't wrong him. So God is telling us that we need to be an advocate for those who are suffering, for those who are slaves, for those who have escaped slavery. I want you to consider the book of Philemon with me. Philemon is a really interesting book of our New Testament with only one chapter. And Paul writes here to someone who is a slave owner and he actually gives him instructions regarding his slave. Because what happened is there was a slave that was dwelling with Paul, helping Paul, serving Paul in some way in ministry, not as a slave, but as now a brother to Paul. And this slave's master, Paul is now writing to this master. His name is Philemon. And I'm going to just pick up in verse seven. And I want us to. I want you to see how Paul applies the spirit of this law that we just read to this situation. And we see this. For I've derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the heart of the saints have been refreshed through you. Okay? Paul is saying to Philemon that you are my brother. I love you. We are one in Christ, basically. Right? And then he goes on and he says, accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required. So Paul is now going to apply the Scriptures, the spirit of the Lord behind what we just read regarding slavery, that God's heart is for slaves to be set free. And we're gonna. I'm gonna read here from verse 12. I'm sending him back to you. Okay? He's talking about Onesimus. Who is this slave? He's saying, I'm sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he may serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the Gospel. Okay? But I prefer to do nothing without your consent. In order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but out of your own accord. Paul is saying, I want you, Philemon, to make a decision of yourself. I don't want to force your hand here. I'm asking you now to consider this. For this, perhaps is why your slave, he was parted from you for a while, that you may have him back forever. No longer as a bondservant, more as a beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? This is amazing. He's saying. I'm saying he should now no longer. I'm commanding you, Philemon. You are my brother, but I'm commanding you according to the Scriptures and the heart of God, right that this man should come back to you not as a slave, a bond, servant, but as a beloved brother in Christ. Because in Christ there is no slave, nor free will, always all one in Christ. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me, as you would receive me. That Paul is not a slave. So Paul is saying, receive him as you would receive me as not a slave. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge it to my account. I'll pay for anything that this slave owes you. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I. Under my authority. I'm saying. This is what he's saying. I'll repay it to. To Say nothing of your owing me, even your own self. Right. This is amazing. And he goes on and he says, yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ, confident of your obedience. All right. To you, knowing that you will do even more than what I say. Okay, this is. Guys, I love how Paul is applying this because Paul recognizes the opportunity here. He's commanding reunification and freedom for the slave. And he understands he's doing it in the way he does because he knows Philemon, and he knows that Philemon will respond in a way that is good. That's why he says, I am confident of your obedience. As he said here in verse 21, I prefer to do it so that you would not be doing so out of compulsion, but of your own accord. I want you to make this decision of yourself, but I know that you will be making the right decision. And the heart behind it is that you may have this man as a brother now in the flesh and in the Lord. And so, guys, the reason I'm reading this to you all is because I want you to see that this teaching here actually is that Philemon is instructed to no longer have a slave because he's a believer now. See, God's heart has always been to bring reformation to all of these cultural practices that were not good. And so when we read about in the Torah, we read around certain regulations regarding slavery. We have to recognize that slavery was such a huge part of the culture. It was how the world functioned in many ways. And I know today that's hard to imagine, but back then, slavery was in certain cases, a blessing to families because their alternative would be destitution. Some would even present themselves to become slaves because resources were really hard to come by. Sometimes it was people suffered. There was so much more poverty than today. And so there were use cases for slavery. And yet God wanted to bring an end to it in the long term. Yet God also, in his wisdom, understood that in the time of Moses, it was necessary to bring about guardrails first around how slavery was conducted. As we just read one of them, that the slave who escapes from his master shall be protected from his master and hid away from his master. And then later, as time goes on and Christ reveals even deeper, the deeper heart of God, we're seeing further revelation because remember, the law was as a schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ. And so Christ comes and he brings the full heart of God behind this matter. Just like Moses said that God allows you a certificate of divorce. And Yeshua said, well, Moses allowed that that was because of the hardness of your heart. And actually it's not God's heart for you to divorce. As believers, you should work out your hardness of heart and you should dwell together in love and impurity, right? That is the heart of God for all, even though there are some who have hardness of heart. So point is just that the law is making provision in times for the fullness of this world and the fullness of human nature and the hardness of the hearts of men. But the heart of God is pure and does not desire there to be slavery. And that's why Philemon is instructed to let go of this slave. And that's why, of course, we can fully believe that he did absolutely do that, following the authority and instruction of Paul. Paul, in this case, if Paul. And I want you to see how Paul did this because he wanted reform, Paul could have just hid away this, you know, this, this, this man who was a slave or bond servant, but Paul wanted this man to be reunited with Philemon. As brothers in Christ, giving a deeper teaching to how we are all now one in Christ, we should treat one another as equals and that we should love one another in that way. That is a reformation act is when you don't just hide in the beginning, you hide slaves away. And that's what happened, by the way, in any in the Reformations, to do away with slavery in all parts of the world. First you had people who were trying to save slaves from slavery and to protect slaves from their masters. And then later you had a reformation that came in where people actually said, hey, the masters, you need to be addressed, you need to come and be reunited and understand that these men are not your slaves, but that they are your brothers in Christ and you should stop treating them as slaves but as brothers. And then, you know, we ended up today where we are in the modern times and many, most of the west, there is no longer a trade of slavery. That's the heart of God. I hope that this opens it up a bit for you so you can understand how God comes and reveals the kingdom in stages. And that's also what Christ has come to do. We are now seeing the arrival of his kingdom when Yeshua came in the flesh. And he has now given us a commission to start proclaiming that kingdom upon the earth as it is being ushered in, even though it's not here yet fully it's being ushered in. And we should live as if we are in that kingdom now, as how we treat other people so they can be brought into the fullness of God's kingdom when he comes and establishes it upon the earth. Okay, let's go to. Let's continue. We're going to go to Deuteronomy 23, verse 17. Now we're going to look at. Regarding prostitution, none of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, he says, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cold prostitute. You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow. For both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. See, it's interesting how certain things are an abomination to God, and he makes clear what those things are. And we should definitely take note because this is. Is how God sees this issue. So we're seeing that money can be defiled in this case. And this probably means that money can be defiled in other ways as well. He is saying, don't bring the fee of a prostitute into the house of the Lord. And so, in other words, when money is made using acts that are as horrific as these, these that we are just talking about now, God is saying that money is defiled. And so that's why I believe, you know, if someone has made a living off of something like prostitution or an occupation that is evil in some other way, that that money is absolutely defiled. And that person should consider what they ought to do now in their next step. It would be improper for that person to live off of the prosperity of money that they acquire using evil acts, even though they are now today a believer. All the more so the fact that they are now today a believer should mean that they should actually recognize that they do not have the right to live in prosperity off of the prophet, off of evil. Evil. Okay. And that's a side spirit of the law lesson I believe we could learn here. And then we also directly have, of course, the instruction to not bring him that as an offering of a vow or any such thing. Next, we're going to be looking at verse 19 here. You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother and interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest that the Lord your God may bless you and all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. You are familiar with finances. How this world works is that money has a cost. If you need money to start a business or to buy a house, you need to borrow money and that lender is going to charge interest because he needs to be able to recoup the costs of doing business. And so that's understandable in the world that we are in, that is a finite resources. But God is telling us that when you are doing business with a brother in Christ or in God, you are not going to be charging them interest, you're not going to be profiting off of them in that way, but you are going to give them the opportunity to start their business or to do whatever they can. Now, here's the thing with this. I want you to read Luke 6 with me. Yeshua speaks about this directly. And he, he takes it further and he comes in again. Like I said, Moses brought about the, this, this initial transformation of the known ancient world by bringing in these radical ideas like lending to someone without charging interest, right? And now we have Yeshua coming and bringing his kingdom about. And as he brings his kingdom, he says this. If you lend to those whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful as your Father is merciful. So he is saying, look, you can follow the law of Moses and lend to those who, who you expect to receive back from, because perhaps they are, you know, someone who you like, a brother or someone in God. But he's saying, that's fine and all and good. That's the minimum requirement. That's the, that's what's expected of you according to the law. And he's saying, but I'm even coming with something deeper to you right now. I'm saying that even the, the world at times would do that for one another. I'm telling you, why don't you land to people who are not the one who is the one you expect to return, who you expect to pay the money back from. Lend to those who you don't expect anything in return from. He says, love them, lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great. So he is saying, like this world has such finite resources, right? Right now there's a world that is coming where my father is going to be king and I'm going to rule from Jerusalem and there's going to be. I'm going to have infinite resources, right? I'm going to provide. Everyone's going to have something to Eat. Everyone's going to have a place of shelter, and so on and so on. In this place right now where we are, I need you to be someone who lives in great sacrifice and in great generosity. And your reward will be great, right? He's saying your reward will be great. He's saying, I'm going to make sure that that is recognized in the world to come and that how you live now does matter. When I lend to someone expecting nothing in return, which, by the way, that just means giving to someone something. It means being generous. They're in a hurt a place that they're hurting right now. And you're providing for them generously. Right? Whatever that looks like. God blesses us not just in the life to come, but in this life. And I'm not saying. I'm not saying. I'm not talking about, you know, prosperity teaching. I'm not saying, hey, give all your money away and you're going to be a millionaire. That's not what I'm talking about. But I am saying that God provides. He looks after us. He sees how we are. If we're generous, he sees it for sacrificial. And he is going to look upon our lives and make sure our needs are absolutely met. And so I can say from my own life, I have seen him meet my needs. And he will always meet your needs. If you live with a right heart before him, with a sacrificial heart, and live generously as you are able with the measure that he has given you today, be a good steward of that. And even if that's a little, if he's entrusted you with a little, do well with that little steward it. Well, we're now going to read Deuteronomy 23:21. And we read, if you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it. For the Lord your God will surely require it of you. And you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what is past your lips. For you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised from your mouth. So God is saying that when you vow something, be sure that you do it, obey it. You've said it and you've chosen to make a vow. He's even saying, look, if you refrain from vowing, you won't be guilty of sin. So you could argue that it could be a better idea to just not vow. Because we know that sometimes we make promises and vow things or swear things that we may come into a situation where we are struggling to keep our end of that vow, and that would which we swore. And this is what Yeshua really said to us in Matthew 5, verse 33, regarding this, where he said, again, you've heard it said to those of old, you shall not. You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. That's what we just read. But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for the throne of God, by earth, it's his footstool. Do not take an oath for your head. You cannot make one hair white or black. For let what you say be yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. All right, he's not coming against the law of God as delivered by Moses, but he is explaining it precisely to us. Like I just said, God is going to require it of you. So make sure that you have a fear of God. When you decide you want to make a vow, you want to swear an app, because God is going to require it of you. Require it of you. That's a big deal. The God of the universe is going to come to you and say, you swore that you would do this. I am going to require this of you. So what's the consequence? If you know that you are a person of fuller nature that makes mistakes and says things you shouldn't have said, it's better to probably not make vows. Now, the other thing is, as Yeshua says, let what you say be yes or no, because anything that comes from this, anything more than this, comes from evil. Because sometimes what happens, and especially that which was happening in the first century, is that people are saying casually, oh, I swear it. Yeah, I swear it's the truth. Right? And we even hear people saying that today. Oh, I swear that's the truth. God is my witness. You know, we say things like that, which. That's what we're doing. We're basically invoking the name of God, his kingdom, heaven, earth, whatever else, everything that belongs to God, we're invoking as witness to what we're saying. Whilst we should be a trustworthy person, where our yes and our no is enough and we shouldn't try and overcompensate for or over explain why we should be trusted. Let us be trustworthy, because trust means we have a track record of being trustworthy. That's how people trust us. So let's live a life of trustworthiness and honor and respect, where when people say, see how we live, they could just say, oh, he said, yes, I can trust him. I can take him at his word. He said, no, I can take him at his word. There's no need to make vows then to try and compel someone to believe you. Okay, let's move on to Deuteronomy 24, verse 5. And we read this. When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or God be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken. Okay, this is a beautiful instruction, guys. I mean, we're seeing that God loves the covenant of marriage, and he loves the romance between a man and a woman that he has brought together. And he wants them to enjoy them one another in that first year of marriage. And that's why he's releasing people who've just married from public duty or the army. You know, in this world, there people are like, big deal, you just got married. Next you know, you're gonna go and you're gonna go into war. God is saying, no, I want these people to be able to be happy. Let this man be happy with his wife whom he has taken. This is just a beautiful display of the heart of God, and it's something that we should honor as well. Deuteronomy 24:6. One shall not take a mill or an upper millstone in a pledge, for that would be taking a life in a pledge. Wow. So here we see. This may not make sense to you if you don't know. If you don't know where the millstone is. So a mill or an upper millstone was used in the ancient world, or, you know, in the time when people make their own bread to grind corn, to make bread. So if you had someone giving something as security or as a pledge, you wouldn't go and take their mill or upper millstone. Because even even though you're taking this instrument, what you're actually doing is you're killing them. Because if you take away a millstone from a person who is poor, they can't make food for themselves anymore, and they would starve. So what does this all mean? It's, you know, we could say, oh, I just took the millstone away. I just took that as a pledge. That's all they had. Right. So it's fair for me to just take that and take that as the security. God is saying that he is not fooled, that he sees all things. He understands how we work. And if we are going to wash our hands, we can't think that we're innocent because we're not. If we took their millstone, we murdered them. Even though we haven't directly caused their death, we have indirectly caused their death because we've taken away their only means of feeding themselves and their own family. Micah 6:8 he has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love, kindness and to walk humbly before your God. From these it is so clear to me that God wants us to be blessed and to become a blessing to other people and to God himself. And I want you to see how practical these things are and I want you to consider how you can take some of these ideas in your everyday and apply them to the spirit of the situation that you are facing. Next week we're going to be continuing in this and we're going to be looking at the next part where we're going to further discuss human trafficking, leprosy, jealousy and evil speech rules for debt collectors, hard workers and contractors and how we should treat them. Sins of the Fathers Leaving what you don't need for someone else we're going to talk about extending care towards even guilty parties and we're going to talk about this strange sounding instruction regarding how a woman shouldn't seize the private parts of of a man when there is a fight and brawl among men. And then lastly we're going to look at equal weights and measures and what that means and how we can apply that to our day to day. Father, I ask that you would help us to be a people that represents you so well and loves you well as we love each other. Father, help us to love our enemies the way that Yeshua called us to to give generously to friend and foe, to lay our life down just as you lay your life down for us. Help us Lord, to show care and be known for the care and compassion that we have. Father, help us to be ambassadors of truth and holiness, righteousness and also known at the same time for the mercy that we extend towards others. Father, I pray that you would turn the hearts of the sons towards the fathers. I pray Father that you would restore marriages I pray Father, you would restore relationships with our neighbors. Father, I pray that you would come and bring in unity and that your kingdom of love and righteousness would be established among all your people as we do your work to usher in the new covenant of your new kingdom that is among us. We praise you and we thank you the name of Yeshua. Amen. Thank you guys for joining me. Can't wait to see you in the next one. Shalom Sa.