Are our ideas of inclusion and exclusion very different from God’s? How exclusive was crop ownership? Did Jesus rob a grainfield on the Sabbath or did the law require that some of it be available to hungry passers by? For whom did Jesus' death atone? Let’s begin in Deuteronomy 23.
Who could not be fully a part of God’s holy nation of Israel?
If a man's private parts have been crushed or cut off, he cannot fully belong to the Lord's people. No one born outside of a legal marriage, or any of their descendants for ten generations, can fully belong to the Lord's people. No Ammonites or Moabites, or any of their descendants for ten generations, can become part of Israel, the Lord's people. This is because when you came out of Egypt, they refused to provide you with food and water. And besides, they hired Balaam to put a curse on you. But the Lord your God loves you, so he refused to listen to Balaam and turned Balaam's curse into a blessing. Don't even think of signing a peace treaty with Moab or Ammon. (Deuteronomy 23:1-6 CEV)
Who would be counted as worthy to enter the assembly of Israel?
You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 23:7-8 ESV)
What were some of the rules of camp cleanliness in Israel?
When you are encamped against your enemies, be careful to avoid anything offensive. If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a bodily emission during the night, he must go outside the camp; he may not come anywhere inside the camp. When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may come inside the camp. You must have a place outside the camp and go there to relieve yourself. You must have a digging tool in your equipment; when you relieve yourself, dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement. For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you; so your encampments must be holy. He must not see anything improper among you or He will turn away from you. (Deuteronomy 23:9-14 HCSB)
How should a runaway slave be treated within the nation of Israel?
Don’t hand over a slave who escaped from his master when he runs to you. Let him live among you wherever he chooses in any of your cities that he likes. Don’t mistreat him. (Deuteronomy 23:15-16 ISV)
Were male and female prostitutes included and could their wages be given as an offering?
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God. (Deuteronomy 23:17-18 KJV)
Could interest be charged on loans? What about loans to foreigners?
You shall not charge interest to your brother: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest. You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you send forth your hand to do in the land which you are about to enter to possess. (Deuteronomy 23:19-20 LSB)
What were the requirements regarding a vow made to God? Was it wiser not to make vows?
When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly require it of you, and it will be a sin for you. However, if you refrain from making vows, it will not be a sin for you. You shall be careful and perform what goes out of your lips, since in fact you have vowed a voluntary offering to the Lord your God, whatever you have promised. (Deuteronomy 23:21-23 NASB)
Were people allowed to have a meal from a neighboring farmer’s crops?
If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain. (Deuteronomy 23:24-25 NIV)
Is this law why Jesus did nothing wrong by eating from a farmer’s grainfield? Was human need also more important than the Sabbath?
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8 NKJV)
Did Jesus just die for an exclusive few or for the sins of the whole world?
He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. (1 John 2:2 NLT)
Are our ideas of inclusion and exclusion very different from God’s? How exclusive was crop ownership? Did Jesus rob a grainfield on the Sabbath or did the law require that some of it be available to hungry passers by? For whom did Jesus' death atone? You decide!
