SCRIPTURE: DEUTERONOMY 23
BIBLE VERSES:
“Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.” (Deuteronomy 23:19-20)
“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.” (Deuteronomy 23:21-22)
EXCLUSION FROM THE ASSEMBLY (vs. 1-8)
PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER INTO THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD:
- Anyone who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting.
- Anyone born of a forbidden marriage including his descendants down to the tenth generation.
- The Ammonites, Moabites or any of his descendants even down to the tenth generation.
Do not abhor an Edomite for he is your brother. Do not abhor an Egyptian because you lived as an alien in his country. The third generation of Edomites and Egyptians may enter the assembly of the Lord.
UNCLEANNESS IN THE CAMP (vs. 9-14)
- Any men with nocturnal emission must go outside the camp. He is to wash himself as evening approaches and he may return to the camp at sunset.
- Excrement that anyone relive must be covered up.
MISCELLANEOUS LAWS (vs. 15-25)
- Let a slave who took refuge with you stay with you and do not hand him out to his master and do not oppress him. (vs. 15-16)
- No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute (v. 17)
- Do not bring the earnings of a female or male prostitution into the house of the Lord. (v. 18)
- Do not charge interest to your brothers but you may charge interest to a foreigner. (v. 19)
- Do not be slow to pay a vow to the Lord. (v. 21)
- Refrain from making a vow. (v. 22)
- You may eat the grapes or kernels in your neighbor’s vineyard, but do not bring it home with a basket. (v. 24)
THOUGHTS:
During the time of Moses, God walked in the camp so that the camp had to be kept clean. Today God walks among His church so that we must also be holy.
God would not accept money earned by abominable means because the source of our money is God’s concern.
Prostitution is strictly forbidden because it makes a mockery of God’s original idea for sex. Some men treated sex as an isolated physical act rather than an act of commitment to another. Sex outside of marriage destroys relationship. We should beware of practising extramarital sex.
God wants people not to go hungry by sharing but it is not an excuse to take advantage of one’s neighbor.