When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.
No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man's life to pledge.
If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.
Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.
Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.
When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.
Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.
And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:
In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:
At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge:
But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.
BE YE KIND!
‘Remember that thou wast a bondman … therefore I command thee to do this thing.’
Deuteronomy 24:18
I. What tender, beautiful thoughtfulness pervades this chapter!—For the poor man’s self-respect, on account of which his house might not be broken into; for the servant’s wage, which must be paid at nightfall; for the bondslave and foreigner, who were to receive just judgment; for the fatherless and widow, in the gleanings of the harvest and vintage. There was no class so needy or lowly as to be beneath the beneficent thought of this religious nation, which was to repeat on earth something of that Divine life which God was living in heaven.
II. What a shelter and protection the poor and oppressed have in God!—The man whom the poor bless for his courteous thought, is remembered for righteousness in the day of trouble by the Most High; whilst the cry of the poor against his oppressor brings sin and condemnation with it, as it ascends into the ear of the Lord God of Sabaoth. The gift of beneficence to the poor will return in Divine blessing on the man that makes it. It would appear as though God especially espoused the cause of the poor, identifying Himself with them, and accepting as for Himself all the treatment meted out to them. It seems as though throughout this chapter we could hear the voice of Him, who for our sakes became poor, saying, ‘Inasmuch as ye do it to one of the least of these My brethren, ye do it unto Me.’
Illustration
‘How wise and just and merciful all these items were; so human and so divine. As we consider them, we instinctively look round to find Him speaking, whose words have filled our world with sweetness and light. Ere these words were spoken the Father had committed all judgment to the Son. Let all who are poor and fatherless, and widowed and lonely, take heart at these words, and look trustfully up into the face of God.’
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.
When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.
