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DEUTERONOMY 21–23; PSALM 51

Week 10, Day 6

Religious people are sometimes accused of being so heavenly-minded they’re of no earthly use. No such accusation can be made against the rules laid out in Deuteronomy. They are wonderfully down-to-earth—so much so that they may at times seem quaint to people far removed from a relatively simple, primitive society. It doesn’t take too much imagination to adapt many of the rules to life in the twenty-first century.

There is a severity to the laws—as in, for instance, the issue of a rebellious son (21:18-21)—because this is a nomadic society where order is a crucial issue. But there is also great care for those who may be at a disadvantage, such as the woman taken captive in war (21:10-14) or the firstborn who is the son of an unloved wife (21:15-17). And there is practical neighborliness, if an ox or sheep has strayed or a donkey or ox has fallen on the road (22:1-4); and there is a kind of pre-liability law (22:8), not simply to protect one from a lawsuit but because if there were an accident you would “have bloodguilt on your house” (22:8). Neighbors can feel free to eat one another’s produce in passing; in their ancient culture this was not theft. But to take a container or use a sickle was (23:24-25).

All of these commandments, both small and great, rest on the same foundation: the responsibility to “the LORD your God.” If God is truly paramount in our lives, right conduct must follow.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, may I always remember that you are an issue in every detail of my life, great and small; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

How might the rather down-to-earth, common-sense laws of Deuteronomy 22 be applied in our time?