"Countercultural Compassion"

January 30, 2022

Deuteronomy 24:10-21; Print: Deuteronomy 24:10-21;

Key Verse: Deuteronomy 24:18; Devotional: Luke 9:1-17

Deuteronomy 24:10-21 (NCV)
¹⁰  When you make a loan to your neighbors, don't go into their homes to get something in place of it.
¹¹  Stay outside and let them go in and get what they promised you.
¹²  If a poor person gives you a coat to show he will pay the loan back, don't keep it overnight.
¹³  Give the coat back at sunset, because your neighbor needs that coat to sleep in, and he will be grateful to you. And the LORD your God will see that you have done a good thing.
¹⁴  Don't cheat hired servants who are poor and needy, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in one of your towns.
¹⁵  Pay them each day before sunset, because they are poor and need the money. Otherwise, they may complain to the LORD about you, and you will be guilty of sin.
¹⁶  Parents must not be put to death if their children do wrong, and children must not be put to death if their parents do wrong. Each person must die for his own sin.
¹⁷  Do not be unfair to a foreigner or an orphan. Don't take a widow's coat to make sure she pays you back.
¹⁸  Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God saved you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.
¹⁹  When you are gathering your harvest in the field and leave behind a bundle of grain, don't go back and get it. Leave it there for foreigners, orphans, and widows so that the LORD your God can bless everything you do.
²⁰  When you beat your olive trees to knock the olives off, don't beat the trees a second time. Leave what is left for foreigners, orphans, and widows.
²¹  When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don't pick the vines a second time. Leave what is left for foreigners, orphans, and widows.

Deuteronomy Chapter 24 (Commentary)

24:10-13 If anything was to mark the people of God, it was compassion for those in need--a trait in short supply both then and now. God was even concerned about the dignity of an Israelite debtor, who was to be spared the humiliation of having his lender barge into his house, scoop up whatever he wanted for his security on the loan, and walk out with the debtorsâ?? neighbors watching (24:10-11). If the debtor was a poor man who had nothing to offer but the garment he needed to sleep in at night to keep warm, the lender was told to return it to him by sunset, an act of kindness that God counted as righteousness (24:12-13).

24:14-22 Continuing this focus on compassion, Moses pointed out that workers deserved their wages in a timely manner--even more so if they were poor and had no other way to eat. God held employers liable if they cheated their workers (24:14-15). Out of a similar emphasis on compassion, fathers and children did not have to answer for each otherâ??s sins (24:16). Moreover, a widow or resident alien was not to be denied justice simply because of personal powerlessness (24:17). The repeated motivation for the Israelites to obey these laws was that they were once slaves in Egypt (24:18, 22). Of all the peoples who should understand the pain of injustice, it was the Israelites. Therefore, they were commanded to care for the three most vulnerable groups within their society: the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow (24:19-21).

This leads us to an important side note. Know that if you have been comforted by God, he expects you to share that comfort with others who have experienced similar suffering. "He comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God" (2 Cor 1:4). Your experience of God's blessings should lead you to bless others.

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