“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.”
~ Deuteronomy 24:22
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like to make lists of the things that you want to do? Does your dad and/or ma make lists of the things that they want to do? Your grandmaa and grandpaa make lists. Your grandpaa makes a list of the names of all the guys and/or gals who he wants to send a personal letter to sometime during a given month. Your grandpaa makes a list of all the things that he has to do during a month. Your grandmaa makes a list of everything that she wants to take with her when she travels. Your grandmaa makes a list of all the foodstuff and other things that she wants to buy when she goes to a grocery store. Your grandmaa and grandpaa need to make lists to help them remember what they need to do or get. Moses made lists. One list that Moses made is Deuteronomy 24. Moses made a list for God’s specially chosen guys and gals. The list that Moses made for God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, to remember are of a number of very different mandates that God gave to him that God did not want His specially chosen guys and gals to ever forget. Because the list was given to Moses by God for Moses to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals, the list was really God’s list for His specially chosen guys and gals to use as a guide on how to live their lives the way that He wanted them to live their lives.
The first thing that God put on His list for His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, was that it was okay for a guy to give a certificate of divorce to his wife if – after he has married the gal, the guy finds something indecent or offensive about the gal that he cannot accept. Once a guy has divorced his wife and the gal marries another guy who also finds the gal to be indecent or offensive after he has married her and the second guy gives a certificate of divorce to his wife, the first guy cannot remarry the gal. Your grandpaa thinks that divorce should never be an option for a married couple but . . . the very first guy who your grandpaa baptized in Bolivia – in Chochis, was not living with the gal who he had married. The gal who the guy had married was living with another guy. The guy who was the very first guy who your grandpaa baptized in Bolivia did not know where the gal who he had married was living. The guy knew that the gal who he had married had kids with another guy. That guy also had kids – but with the gal who he had been living with for years. The guy had never gotten a divorce from the gal who he married. A divorce would have cost the guy money that the guy said that he did not have. Your grandpaa did ask the guy that he seriously consider divorcing the gal who he had married – as she was living with another guy, so that he could marry the gal who he had been living with for years. Your grandpaa did not want to make it a requirement for the guy that before being baptized that he first divorce the gal who he had married and left and then to marry the gal who he had been living with for years. Your grandpaa was convinced that the guy was a faithful, committed Christ-follower who wanted to publically show his faith through being baptized by immersion.
The next thing that is on God’s list that He gave through Moses to His specially chosen guys and gals is that when a guy gets married that the guy is not to be sent into war. The guy is to stay home with his new wife for a year so that the guy can make his new wife happy. The next item that is on God’s list is that when a guy loans money to another guy that the guy loaning the money is not to take as collateral from the guy who he is loaning money the guy’s millstone. Millstones were used to make a living. God did not want a guy to take something from a guy that would keep the guy from making a living. The next item that is on God’s list is that no guy is to ever kidnap another Israelite people group guy, gal or gal so that he can use the guy, gal or kid who he kidnapped as a slave. If one of God’s specially chosen guys kidnaps another Israelite people group guy, gal or kid, the guy who is the kidnapper is to be put to death. The next item that is on God’s list is a warning for the Israelite people group’s guys and gals to be careful around a guy, gal or kid who has leprosy. God wanted just the Levi tribal clan guys to help a guy, gal or kid who had leprosy. The next item that is on God’s list is that if a poor Israelite people group guy needs some money and the poor Israelite people group guy is loaned the money by another Israelite people group guy, the Israelite people group guy who loans the poor Israelite people guy some money and is given a coat by the poor Israelite people group guy as a pledge or collateral – which meant that if the poor Israelite people group guy could not pay back the loan, the coat would become the Israelite people group’s guy’s coat who had loaned the poor Israelite people group’s guy the money, that the Israelite people group’s guy holding the coat as a pledge or collateral is to return the coat each night so that the poor Israelite people group’s guy can be warm at night. The next item that is on God’s list is that a hired guy be paid every evening what he has earned while working during that day. The next item that is on God’s list is that no Israelite people group guy is to be put to death for something that his dad or bro has done. The next item that is on God’s list is that kids without dads, aliens and widows among God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids are to be treated equally by the Israelite people group’s guys and gals. The last thing that is on God’s list is that the Israelite people group’s guy and gals are not to harvest everything in a field, in an olive orchard or in a vineyard but to leave some of the crop for kids without dads, aliens and widows among the Israelite people group’s guys and gals to glean after the harvest. God says in verse 22, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.” What is on your lists that God has given you to faithfully, diligently do?
Deuteronomy 24 (282)