How to Treat People Properly. (Deuteronomy 24: 6-22)

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Welcome to today's episode where we delve into the practical applications of biblical principles in our contemporary lives. Today, we're exploring Deuteronomy 24:6-22, a passage where Moses provides specific guidance on how we should treat one another. While these scenarios are rooted in ancient Israel, their underlying principles are timeless and relevant to us today.

Study Notes: How to Treat People Properly (Deuteronomy 24:6-22)

In Deuteronomy 24:6-22, Moses offers specific instructions on various situations, each highlighting key principles of justice, compassion, generosity, and empathy. Here's a brief overview of the seven situations and the principles they convey:

1. The Millstone (Verse 6)
   • Principle: Do not deprive someone of their means of livelihood.
   • Application: Ensure that collateral for loans does not take away a person’s basic means of survival.
2. Kidnapping (Verse 7)
   • Principle: Respect the sanctity of personal freedom.
   • Application: Recognize the gravity of depriving someone of their freedom and the severe consequences it warrants.
3. Leprosy (Verses 8-9)
   • Principle: Follow health guidelines and be mindful of the consequences of disobedience.
   • Application: Adhere to health protocols and remember past lessons to prevent future issues.
4. Borrowing and Lending (Verses 10-11)
   • Principle: Preserve the dignity of borrowers.
   • Application: Allow borrowers to offer their pledge without intruding on their personal space.
5. Returning a Pledge (Verses 12-13)
   • Principle: Act righteously and consider the basic needs of the borrower.
   • Application: Return a poor person’s garment before nightfall to ensure their warmth and well-being.
6. Paying Workers (Verses 14-15)
   • Principle: Treat all workers fairly and pay them on time.
   • Application: Ensure timely and fair wages for both local and foreign workers to prevent exploitation.
7. Personal Responsibility and Vulnerable Groups (Verses 16-22)
   • Principle: Uphold personal responsibility and protect the vulnerable.
   • Application: Only the guilty should be punished; ensure justice for the foreigner, fatherless, and widow, and remember past sufferings to foster empathy.

Key Principles to Remember

1. Justice: Ensure fair treatment for everyone, especially the vulnerable.
2. Compassion:

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Transcript

How to Treat People Properly.  (Deuteronomy 24:6-22)

Transcript:

 Looking at the world and seeing how people treat one another, I believe the human race could do with some specific training on how we should treat each other in everyday situations. 

But where should we look to find this guidance? 

I believe the Bible is full of guidance and also sets out principles that can help. but sometimes we need something more specific than guidelines and principles So, is there somewhere in the bible can we find the practical application of these general principles? 

I would like to suggest that Moses here in Deuteronomy, perhaps more than anyone else in the Bible—except maybe Solomon in Proverbs—provides us with very specific situations to illustrate for us how to treat one another.

In Deuteronomy chapter 24, we have a number of individual situations—seven of them as a matter of fact we can look at today.

At first glance, these situations may seem unrelated to our modern world, but they represent common scenarios in ancient Israel, and Moses gives clear instructions on how to handle them. 

In today’s episode I plane to go through each of these seven situations, and then, at the end, we will try to identify the underlying principles and what they might mean for us today….

Situation One: The Millstone

We begin with verse 6: 

Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.

(Deuteronomy 24: 6)

This one is fairly transparent in what it means. The millstone was used daily in households to grind grain for making bread and food for meals.

In this context Moses is saying that if you are the lender, you should not take the upper or lower millstone as a security for that debt. Doing so would deprive the borrower of the ability to feed his family and sustain his livelihood. 

This teaches us that it is neither kind nor fair to take someone's means of economic survival as collateral for a loan.

In fact one can see how doing that sort of a thing could immediately throw someone into a position of slavery for as long as you held on to their means of livelyhood.

Situation Two: Kidnapping.

The second situation is in verse 7:

If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.

(Deuteronomy 24 7)

This one is straightforward. The crime of kidnapping is punishable by death. In ancient Near Eastern societies, including the Mesopotamians and the Hittites, kidnapping was a common crime occurrence, but here in Israel it is revealed as being punishable by death..

The reasoning seems to be that kidnapping is another example of depriving a person of their freedom and their life, thus the kidnapper forfeits their own life as a consequence. 

Situation Three: Leprosy

Verses 8-9, address leprosy:

In cases of defiling skin diseases, be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.

(Deuteronomy 24: 8-9)

Leprosy, as mentioned in Leviticus, probably refers to a variety of infectious skin diseases, not just what we now know today as leprosy. If someone contracts a skin disease, it says, they must follow the procedures laid out by the priests, as detailed in earlier in Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. This includes isolating the person and, in some cases, burning contaminated clothing.

Moses also reminds the Israelites of what he previously told, specifically referring to an incident in the book of Numbers, where Moses’ sister Miriam spoke against Moses, falsely accusing him. Because of this, God punished her with leprosy. 

So, Moses is saying that if someone contracts leprosy, they should handle it as instructed in the past and he tells them to remember Miriam’s punishment as a warning. This serves as a motivation to obey God's commands to avoid similar punishment.

Situation Four: Borrowing and Lending

Let’s continue with Deuteronomy 24, verse 10:

When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbour, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge. Stay outside and let the neighbour to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you.

(Deuteronomy 24: 10-11)

This passage addresses borrowing and lending money. When you lend money and take a pledge as collateral, you are not to go into the borrower’s house to retrieve it. Instead, you must wait outside for the borrower to bring it to you.

Why this specific instruction? 

Some suggest it preserves the dignity of the borrower by prohibiting the lender from entering their home. How does that sit alongside are modern way of collecting debt sometimes.

Lenders should not humiliate debtors by demanding repayment within their homes. Instead, debtors should initiate the repayment process, maybe outside or at their place of employment thereby trying to maintain their dignity at all times. This could be seen as respecting the borrower’s situation, acknowledging any effort to repay without undue pressure if they have been genuinely trying

Situation Five: Returning a Pledge.

Continuing with verses 12-13:

"If the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight. You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God."

(Deuteronomy 24: 12-13)

This specific instruction concerns returning a poor person’s garment, given as a pledge, before nightfall so they can sleep in it. 

We’ve been here before in this sermon by Moses The principle here is clear: even when lending money, you must act righteously and consider the borrower’s basic needs. By returning the garment, you ensure the borrower can stay warm at night.

This act of fairness is seen as righteous before God, and we are told will bring blessings to the lender also. This act shows love for your neighbour in action, treating them as you would want to be treated. It’s not merely about the promise made, but it’s about maintaining compassion and dignity in fulfilling of the transaction.

Situation Six: Paying Workers.

Now let’s look at verses 14-15:

"You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates."

(Deuteronomy 24: 14-15)

Here, the focus is on fair treatment of workers. You are not to oppress or defraud a hired servant, whether they are a fellow Israelite or even a foreigner living among you. The Hebrew word for "oppress" means to violate, defraud, or extort, indicating it’s talking about some kind of severe misconduct.

This instruction also emphasizes that all workers, regardless of their status, deserve fair treatment and timely payment.

Moses extends this principle to aliens legally residing in the land, ensuring they too receive fair wages and are not to be exploited. 

While there is a current debate about the treatment of illegal immigrants worldwide, it is important to note that the biblical term translated "alien" here refers to legal residents, not individuals who had broken the law in order to enter the country.

Moses is saying that if you hire a worker, whether poor, needy, or a foreigner, you must pay them fairly and on time. This prevents the exploitation of vulnerable individuals and maintains justice and righteousness in the community and stands as an example to foreigners coming into the land to word.

Verse 15 deals with the issue of ensuring fair wages for workers. The instruction emphasizes the importance of paying workers at the end of each day.

In ancient Israel, daily wages were crucial for workers to provide for their families. Withholding wages could cause significant hardship, and Moses warns that such an act would be considered a sin if the worker cries out to the Lord. 

The underlying principle appears to me to be about always giving fair and timely compensation when due as an act of righteousness and compassion.

Situation Seven. Personal Responsibility

Situation seven has several specific examples within it, all of which I have clumped together under the principle which I have called, talking personal responsibility.

Deuteronomy 24:16 states.

Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.

(Deuteronomy 

This verse establishes the principle of personal responsibility to the level of accountability within a family when someone transgress  the law, which contrasts with some ancient practices.

In the ancient Near East, it was not uncommon for family members to be punished for the crimes of one individual. The Code of Hammurabi, for example, allowed for a son to be put to death in place of his father. 

Moses explicitly rejects this practice, insisting that each person under God precepts is accountable for their own actions.

While there is no example of this law being enforced in the biblical canon of scripture, its inclusion highlights a significant departure from the practices of surrounding nations at that time. It also emphasizes justice and fairness, by ensuring that only the guilty are punished.

But this justice is to spread beyond the family to the vulnerable who are amongst us.

Now let's consider Deuteronomy 24:17-21, which repeatedly mentions the "stranger, the fatherless, and the widow." Moses addresses their treatment in various contexts:

Verse 17: Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.

The repetition of this triad—stranger, fatherless, widow—underscores the importance of caring for the most vulnerable members of society. Moses insists on justice and fairness, prohibiting the exploitation of these or any vulnerable individuals. 

In verse 18, Moses the provides motivation for doing this:

Verse 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

By reminding them of their own experience of oppression and God's deliverance, the Israelites are reminded to treat the vulnerable with compassion and justice. 

Verse 19: When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

This instruction ensures that those who are poor have access to food, while also providing an opportunity for the farmers to act generously.

Verse 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.

Here, Moses instructs farmers to leave some of their harvest for the needy, allowing them to gather what remains. The principle is unpaced further in the practicality of:

Verse 21: When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.

This reiterates the same principle with grape harvesting this time, emphasizing consistent compassion across different types of produce.

These practices prevented the needy from starving but also required them to work for their food, maintaining their dignity. This concept is also illustrated in the story of Ruth, who gleaned in the fields of Boaz and eventually found both sustenance and a new beginning.

This is all about ensuring that the empathy that God people should feel is rooted in their own experience

Verse 22 ties everything together by saying:

"And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore, I command you to do this thing."

This verse reiterates the importance of empathy and compassion, urging the Israelites to remember their own past suffering and to act justly and kindly toward others.

Now, what do we do with this passage of scripture today? While most of us don't have olive trees or fields to harvest, the principles remain the same. 

Moses is not merely providing a list of isolated cases; instead, he is teaching us how to treat people in various specific situations, guided by overarching principles of justice, compassion, and empathy.

I believe there are four Key Principles extrapolated by Moses through  these ancient real world examples :

1.     Justice: Ensuring fair treatment for everyone, especially the vulnerable.

2.     Compassion: Showing kindness and empathy, remembering our own experiences of hardship.

3.     Generosity: Be willing to share our resources with those in need, allowing them to maintain dignity.

4.     Empathy: Use our past experiences of suffering to motivate compassionate actions toward others.

By internalizing these principles, we can apply them to our own everyday situations today, whether it's through fair business practices, supporting community, or simply being mindful of how we treat those around us. 

These timeless values guide us to act righteously and lovingly, reflecting the heart of God in our everyday lives.

Moses has provided numerous examples across these last few chapters in Deuteronomy to illustrate the broader principles of justice, compassion, and remembering God's past deliverance.

Each of these cases, while specific to ancient Israelite society, but carry underlying principles applicable to any context: 

I’s al about expressing justice, kindness, respect, and compassion.

He uses the words “justice” and “righteousness” explicitly and shows that love and compassion is expressed through the application of these various laws. 

These virtues are therefore meant to permeate all aspects of life, guiding interactions with others. Ensuring fair treatment for everyone, especially the vulnerable, is a recurring theme.

Showing empathy and kindness, particularly to those in need, is also emphasized.

Jesus himself reinforced these ideas in the New Testament, stating the greatest commandment is “to love God and love your neighbour as yourself”.

Another key theme in this passage is the importance of remembering past experiences, in this particular case God’s deliverance from Egypt. 

Moses repeatedly instructs the Israelites to "remember" as a means of motivating these just and compassionate behaviors:

Verse 13: Remember what happened to Miriam with leprosy.

Verse 18: Remember you were slaves in Egypt and God redeemed you.

Verse 22: Remember your slavery in Egypt as a reason for compassion.

Remembering past oppression and God's deliverance is meant to instil empathy and motivate us to treat others fairly. It is a reminder that we too were all once vulnerable and yet still received God's mercy.

While we may not have fields to harvest or garments as debt security, the principles remain relevant:

Treat people with justice and compassion in all interactions.

Be fair and respectful, ensuring the dignity and well-being of others.

Remember your own experiences of receiving favour, grace and mercy, and let that inform your actions.

Final Encouragement

John Newton, the famous English abolitionist upon his conversion, prominently displayed Deuteronomy 24:22 in his home: "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt." This verse served as a constant reminder for him of God’s deliverance and the need for compassion.

Similarly, we should internalize this remembrance, letting it shape how we treat others.

In conclusion, by remembering who we are and what God has done for us, we can freely extend justice and compassion to others. 

These ancient principles, drawn from Moses’ teachings, can still continue to guide us in living out our faith in meaningful and impactful ways.