Deuteronomy 23:9-24:5
The people were to be watchful, even in the small things, and in their contact with the enemy on God’s behalf they were to be careful that they were not tempted and led away.
Their camp, too, was to be kept clean, for the Lord dwelt among them. A dirty home or meeting room is always a poor testimony before the world. When the heart has been made clean in the precious blood of Christ, we may well expect the person, the home, the clothes, and the meeting room to be clean too. There are times when we cannot help things getting dirty, but for it to become a habitual thing is not according to God, and even the world will frown upon carelessness in these things. God’s Word is to be our guide in all these matters, and how thankful we can be for its precious instruction.
Considering One Another’s Needs
While abhorring evil and corruption among their brethren, as God abhors it, they were to consider the needs of one another. They were to be specially kind to their brethren, not charging them interest on money or other things it was necessary for them to borrow. If they made promises they were to keep them. They did not have to make vows or promises if they did not wish to, but if they made them they were to keep them. It is a fine thing to cultivate the habit of being men and women who say what we mean and mean what we say.
When they went into their neighbor’s vineyard or fields, the neighbor was not to mind them eating what was growing there, but they were not to carry any away. How lovely these instructions! How they tend to create that happy feeling of a welcome and kindness, so often lacking in the world, and, alas, even among Christians today. May we profit by all this, for God’s glory!
God’s Mind As to Marriage
God allowed an Israelite to divorce his wife, not because He approved of it, but because of the hardness of their hearts (Matthew 19:8). He showed His mind about these things in the beginning, when He made Adam, and gave him one wife with whom he was to stay. His Word says, “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh” (Matthew 19:5). This is His mind, and time does not change it, as this Scripture clearly shows. We know that God bore with many things in Israel, such as a man having more than one wife, and here, divorce, but such were not His mind (Acts 17:30). Let us remember that now, in Christianity, we are much more responsible than the Israelites were. The Spirit of God now dwells in Christendom as a Divine Person, as well as in the body of every true believer, and so Christendom has been enlightened (Hebrews 6:4). The believer, too, has the power to live to please the Lord, and even if he should have an unhappy marriage partnership, the Lord may use it to draw him or her closer to Himself, causing such to walk more dependently upon Him. The believer is not to break that which God has joined together.
Even such matters as the loneliness of a young wife, when first married, are brought before the people of God here, for the One who made the heart knows all about its inmost feelings and the loneliness that it feels at times. May He teach us the same care one for another!
Further Meditations
1. What were the instructions when going into a neighbor’s vineyard or fields?
2.What are some of the reasons that God created marriage?
3. If you are considering marriage or are already married you would find it helpful to read or reread Understanding, Love and Respect in Marriage by G. H. Hayhoe.