Video Sermons Book of Deuteronomy

Never Forget Where You Come From Deuteronomy 24:10-22

Dec 11, 2022

Summary of Sermon

One of the themes that run through the Torah once the Jews leave Israel, is that they are not to forget that they were once slaves in Egypt. In our text, there are two such reminders, see verses 18 and 22. God was and is particularly concerned about how the poor are treated. In the text that we are considering, God lays out how to treat the poor once the Jews had crossed into the Promised Land. There are three points that God lays out.

Lending to the Poor

The people are to lend to the poor. They are not to be refused the money they need. When lending does not go into their homes and get the collateral that you are taking for the loan. If you do take the person’s outer cloak, you are to return it each night so that they can sleep in warmth.

Remember that all loans are cancelled on the Sabbath year and in the Jubilee year, all collateral like the land is to be returned. The debts of one generation are not transferred to another generation. Make sure that the poor get what they need.

Justice for the Poor

No father is to be executed for his son’s crimes and vice-versa. One is not to withhold proper justice from the poor simply because they are poor. Do not take bribes to pervert justice, see Deuteronomy 16:19, and Exodus 23:8.

Dignity of the Poor

Farmers were to leave some of the produce from their fields and vineyards. We can see an example of this in the book of Ruth. They were to make sure that food was provided, but the people had to leave their homes and get the food. This is a Biblical principle; one has to work to eat. This allows the poor the dignity of work.

God set these principles out and reminded the people that they are to follow these rules and to remember that they were slaves as well.

In Matthew 5:23, we are called the ‘poor in spirit’, we are never to forget that we are sinners saved by grace. Thus, we are to be generous in forgiving each other. Luke 17: 3-4, forgive your brother 7 times in a day. Ephesians 4:32, forgive each other as God forgave you in Jesus. Mark 11:25, forgive your brother, then come and pray to God. On and on we can go with this. We are called to forgive each other always, and we do so as we remember where we came from, we were forgiven so much by God that we have no excuse not to forgive each other. God encourages us to always remember where we came from, like the financially poor, we were once poor spiritually, but Jesus provided a way for us to be saved.