Deuteronomy 14:22-15:23

Deuteronomy 14:22-15:23

The next set of laws deal with the proper way of tithing. Although the Israelites are given certain instructions on what to tithe and when to tithe, there is not a set amount of what they were to give. Ultimately, the point of tithing was to give back to God, and to do this, it has to be a sacrifice. Think about the poor widow who gave all that she had later on in the Bible. Then in return, God would use that to help others. At times our tithing will be returned to us. Out of our obedience to God’s commands, He will pour out His blessings on our lives. We will not miss the tithe, and life will continue as always with an awareness of God’s blessings. At other times, we will see how our giving helped the lives of others. There are many who are hurting all around us every day. By giving back to God, He can turn those gifts into ways to reach out to those people. Moses gave the Israelites an example of this by showing how their giving would provide for the Levites, the widows, and the orphans. Tithing is not meant to make us mad or guilt us into giving back to God. It should be done out of a joyous heart.

Every seven years would be a year of giving back. Debts would be forgiven and people would be able to gain back what they had once lost. This was a process established in Israel to help keep everyone on somewhat of an equal basis. It was a way for the Israelites to show forgiveness to one another. It was a way for them to reach out and really care for one another. But God did not want it to only happen during that one practice every seven years. God wanted them to look out for and care for each other at all times. So they were commanded to provide for each other when they saw a fellow brother or sister struggling. If they had come upon some bad luck and had lost their land or home or money, then they were to be able to depend on their fellow Israelites to provide for them. This is the picture of the family of God both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. A similar situation is seen in Acts when the believers were all living together, pouring their money into the same pot and taking care of one another’s needs. No one was left behind in the family of God, because they were actually acting like a family. Even today, we must look out for one another. Life is hard, and Christians encounter hard times just like anyone else. But unlike the world, we should be able to find hope and strength from our brothers and sisters in Christ. If not, then we seriously need to think about what it means to be a part of the family of God.

The end of Deuteronomy 15 looks at some of the older customs of Israel that we no longer practice today, and although there are still some lessons we can learn out of these two examples, we will not focus in on them much. First Moses deals with slaves and how they were to be released in the seventh year. Then Moses speaks about the importance of sacrificing the first born of their flocks, and how this is a gift to God. It is easy to get bogged down in these laws, but as we have seen on many occasions already, we can learn a lot from Israel. We have this text for a reason, and we can learn how God expects us to live from it just like Israel did.

Matt