I’m taking sort of an indirect approach to the Text today.

Observing perhaps an “incidental” fact imbedded in its main story, plot, thrust, trajectory.

Another of God’s “Laws” for Israel, in conducting her everyday life.

“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.” Deuteronomy 24:14-15

The noun “servant” means “worker,” in this context.  And “his day” means at the end of his eight or ten or twelve (whatever) hour shift. Imagine he’s working for YOU, one of your hires.

God in essence says: “Pay him daily, he’s abjectly poor.”

If not, you could get “in trouble” with God … IF that man prays to God for his lost (withheld) wages!

Once again, a recap …

Don’t take advantage of any poor man, especially in business ventures.

If he works for you a single day … pay him by sunset.

He needs the money that much!

Children to feed, urgent bills to pay … those kind of things.

God’s great love and care are (again) here on display. In Deuteronomy … one of the so-called harshest Books in all the Bible!

But, what if a farmer does NOT pay his day laborers promptly. According to the admonition God just gave?

Then, that poor man has at least one option.

He could “cry out to God” … telling the Almighty about the wrong just done! About his unpaid wages for (usually) back-breaking, hard work.

And if he does so?

God will hear him.

And the selfish (or careless) landowner will be found “in sin” because of his callousness.

Pay him … “lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.”

Wow!

Wow!

Wow!

I just learned that (instead of taking matters into my own hands) when I am wronged … I can “tell on” the offender! I can tell Jesus about the injustice I have suffered.

Yes, God’s Ear is always open to the meek, lowly, sufferer.

And that (wicked) man will be found sinful in God’s Economy!

I’ll have to mentally and spiritually sort through these thoughts one more time.

Then I think I’ll go pray a while!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

My King James Version “Scofield Reference Bible” labels Deuteronomy chapter 23 like this, “Divers (diverse) Regulations.”

Indeed it is, sets of rules and warnings (prohibitions and instructions) concerning many areas of life. Yes, the great Creator (and potential Redeemer) of humankind plans to be “Lord” of all!

Including daily life!

So … here are rules (in context particularly applying to soldiers who are encamped against an enemy) about “cleanliness.” About hygiene, literally about “using the bathroom!”

Let me explain, better yet, let the Bible explain.  Let God speak:

“Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt EASE THYSELF abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt TURN BACK AND COVER that which cometh from thee: for the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be HOLY: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.” Deuteronomy 23:12-14, wow!

Maybe Grandma was right! About “cleanliness” being next to “godliness!”

How to properly … use the bathroom … in today’s terminology.

This three verse unit is loaded with instruction!

Practically, disease will be (by obeying God) kept in check, potentially so anyway.

Noxious odors will be removed as well.

“Common sense,” which God gave us all, is being utilized here.

Laziness is also outlawed!

This gives the idea of “going” to the bathroom new meaning.

Even here we have “thinking of others” emphasized rather than a man following the immediate desires of his own heart.

BUT do note. God is looking!

And God has standards of holiness, purity … that must be observed!

Plus this … allow filth into the camp … and God just might … “turn away from thee.”

Resulting in untold loss of life, I suspect! In the next skirmish, battle!

Amazing!

Then too, Paul’s advice from 1st Thessalonians 5:22 comes to  mind. “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

Now in principle, think of some ways you can lead a cleaner life for Jesus.

I mean today.

Do keep in mind, as I said, GOD IS WATCHING!

“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:3

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I am nearly overwhelmed (in a good way) by the Book of Deuteronomy.

It is so vast in its content, covering every area of life.

Law after law, line upon line.

It deserves a lot more preaching than it ever gets!

For today I have chosen just one verse for our Text, having used whole paragraphs for the past few mornings.

“Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” Deuteronomy 22:10

That’s it!

“Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.”

One might initially suspect that this prohibition would only be applicable to farmers, right?

After all, this is “merely” one of the 613 different “regulations” proposed (commanded) by the Old Testament. (That’s the number the rabbis tell us the Pentateuch contains. They’ve carefully counted them all, too.)

But wait a minute!

I suggest God’s Laws may not simply be “haphazard.”

That a solid “reason” was behind the giving of each statute.

For example, today’s verse.

To yoke an ox and an ass together would injure both animals!

Their legs are so different in length … that they could never “plow” in step. The yoke would be constantly “rubbing” the animals with each tug on the plow! Sores would develop. Infections follow. Cruelty indeed! Perhaps even premature death would ensue! DO NOT PLOW UNEQUALLY YOKED ANIMALS IN THE SAME HARNESS! For the animals’ sakes!

What a practical reason … “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” By the way, one would also be putting a “clean” (the ox) and an “unclean” (the ass, donkey) animal together! Never a good idea, in God’s Economy!

Then I immediately advance … there is a spiritual principle behind the code as well.

One which Paul (under the direction of the Holy Spirit) picks up and uses in that great 6th chapter of his 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians. There he is talking about us Christians separating ourselves from sin! And he writes: “Be ye not UNEQUALLY YOKED together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14, where I guarantee you Paul had Deuteronomy 22:10 in mind, our very verse today!

Do not become intimately involved (in marriage, in business, in schooling, in comradery) with those who are “unclean” in God’s Eyes. With reprobates! With rebels! With rank sinners!

Lessons learned from the farm!

But just a minute.

Clearly, we are NOT under the Law of Moses in this blessed Age of Grace!

Jesus has come, died, been raised from the grave! And He sits this very second at His Father’s Right Hand, praying for His Own, for you and me.

BUT … the principles behind those laws are yet significant!

After all, He is the same God today as He was thousands of years ago!

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Incidentally, should God have given a Law with no logic behind it at all … IT WAS STILL TO BE OBEYED! Because He is God! Like (maybe) … “If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.” The “dam” obviously being the “mother” bird. Deuteronomy 22:6-7, the same chapter we’ve studied today.

However, personally, I think this “bird and her eggs” law is loaded with practical admonition! I preached a sermon or two from it several years ago!

Now, the lesson has ended!

 

I would simply call it “kindness.”

And when obeyed, today’s Deuteronomy paragraph indicates that the Israelites just might have been the most gracious people on earth.

“Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself. Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.” Deuteronomy 22:1-4

And though our Paragraph here has some specifics built right into it … Paul pretty much summarizes it in a line from the New Testament. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted.” Ephesians 4:32a

Moses (really, God Who wrote the Law) has just taught the Jews to …

If necessary, go out of your way to “help” a needy person! “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and HIDE THYSELF from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.”

Even when given the opportunity, one may not “take” another man’s property … until he is sure there is no other resolution to the matter! “And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.” Feed the animal? At my expense? Apparently so!

Then we come to the legislation about simply “helping” a fellow human being. “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely HELP HIM to lift them up again.” But what if I’m in a hurry? That thought did not enter God’s Mind! HELPING must be more important than HURRYING!

Short Lesson this morning!

If God gives you opportunity to be “kind” to someone today, you likely should “go that extra mile” and be of service to him or her.

Surely, God would be glorified in such a deed.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Today’s specific set of instructions clearly deals with a man’s “ox,” but also applies to his “donkey,” any article of his “clothing!” Or to anything else he may own!

Enough has been said.

 

 

The nature of today’s Lesson almost necessitates reading the first paragraph of Deuteronomy chapter 21. The first nine verses, that is. “If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain. And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley. And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near … and all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.” Deuteronomy 21:1-9

The Text implies that God always holds someone guilty for any innocent blood shed in an area. Then to buttress the code, God gives an example of “trying” to absolve that guilt.

In other words, “How to handle an unsolved murder!” Maybe I had better say, “unpunished murder!”

First, from the point where the dead man or woman was found … measure to calculate the nearest city! They (its inhabitants) will be held accountable (to some degree anyway) for the “innocent” blood shed in their vicinity!

That city’s leaders must go to the crime scene and perform a (blood must be shed) God prescribed ritual involving an innocent animal (a heifer in this case). Then (in the presence of God ordained Priests) “wash their hands” over the slain heifer! Thereby indicating the city’s innocence concerning the crime committed near her borders!

Wow!

The city’s elders are to pray to God: “Our hands have NOT shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge.” Then, immediately we’re told …  “The blood shall be forgiven them.”

What’s the point here?

Why a Lesson on this so-called archaic Text?

To show God’s concern for the shedding of “innocent blood.”

Human life is that SPECIAL to the Lord God Almighty!

After all, man (woman) … is the very “crown, apex, ultimate” of all God’s Creation!

Amen.

By the way, if all this had to be done when one dead body was found near a city, with the murderer still un-apprehended … WHAT DOES GOD ULTIMATELY PLAN TO DO TO CITIES WHO HARBOR ABORTION CLINICS WHERE DOZENS (OR HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS) OF LITTLE BABIES ARE MURDERED?

Surely, their blood is innocent!

Think about it.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell