Deuteronomy Chapter 24

We have a saying in our modern culture that says, “remember where you came from.”  This was certainly true for Israel, God wanted them to remember where they had come from.  They were never to forget that they were once slaves in Egypt.  And more importantly they were to never forget that it was God who rescued them and brought them to the promised land, and it was God that blessed them greatly. 

God’s laws and statutes were given to help keep them set apart as a nation unto Him and to keep them in humility as they experienced His many blessings.  God wants us to always put the needs of others before our own.  As the people experienced the wealth of the land, it would be easy to forget God, forget where they came from, and to ignore those who were poor or in need of help.  God knows human nature, and He knows what boundaries they need.

Let's Reflect

1. When a man divorced his wife and she remarried, and the second husband divorced her also, what was the first husband not allowed to do?

2.  Jesus described in Matthew the definition of a wife that was unclean (indecent) which caused her husband to seek a legal divorce.  The wife was involved in some type of sexual immorality.  God never intended for a marriage covenant to be broken, but if someone in the relationship broke that covenant, they could seek divorce.  They could not merely declare themselves divorced; they had to have just cause.  They had to get what documentation?

3.  God set statutes for lending money.  When a man collected a pledge or a payment from someone he had lent money to, if he discovered that the man was destitute what did he need to do for the poor man?

4.  According to verses 14 and 15 how should an employer treat his employee that is poor?

5.  There was an order put in place that fathers could not be put to death for sins committed by their sons and vice-a-versa.  Who must pay for their individual sin?

6.  What was to be a guiding factor in the minds of the Israelites when there were needy people in the midst?  What were they to always remember?