Deuteronomy 24

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Laws of the Mosaic Covenant

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Some of Israel’s laws regulated existing practices.

  2. Some of Israel’s law anticipated potential problems.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Learn to say “Keep the change” more often!

QUESTIONS

  1. What is important to note from verses 1-4 regarding divorce?

  2. How was this law protection for the women in that society?

  3. What application could we draw from the law concerning new marriage in verse 5?

  4. Why was the law in verses 14-15 necessary?

  5. Explain the law in verse 16.

ANSWERS

  1. This is not a law commanding divorce, but a law regulating divorce and remarriage. The law comes in verse 4, where under the conditions described in verses 1-3, the first husband was not allowed to remarry the first wife if she had been remarried to another man after the first divorce.

  2. The law forbidding a man from remarrying his former wife after her second divorce prevented legalized affairs and wife swapping. It protected the woman from being abused as a sex object. This law was meant to regulate an existing practice.

  3. Newly married couples should spend quality time together getting to know one another in their early months of marriage.

  4. This law required that wages not be withheld from the poor and needy. The poor and needy should be paid daily because they need the money to provide basic needs for themselves and their families.

  5. Even though parental input and childrearing have a lot to do with how the children turn out, parents were not to be put to death for a sin of their offspring which demanded capital punishment. Children were not to be put to death for a sin of a parent which required the death penalty. In the surrounding foreign nations sometimes whole families were put to death based on an individual’s guilt.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Deuteronomy 24:10-13 addresses the dignity of a debtor – especially if he was poor. Put yourself in the shoes of the desperately poor and consider the indignity they often face. How can you develop a heart of compassion for people in these circumstances?

  2. How were the gleaning laws in Deuteronomy 24:17-22 different from the welfare programs in the United States? What effect do you think these differing philosophies have on the mindset of the poor and needy?

CHALLENGE

  1. God was very concerned about protecting and providing for the poor and needy, orphans, widows, and aliens. At the same time there was no free lunch. People were expected to work and do what they could to make ends meet. Apply this principle yourself by learning to say “Keep the change” more often!

KEY VERSES

  • “When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.” Deuteronomy 24:5

  • “You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.” Deuteronomy 24:17-18

Deuteronomy, Old Testament, TalksRon ReidDEUTERONOMY 24