11/13/2008 9:17 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The Redemption of the poor
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Leviticus 25:35-55
Message of the verses: The first section under “the redemption of
the poor” is called “A bankrupt brother in debt,” and the verses for this are
Leviticus 25:35-48, “35 ‘Now in case a
countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then
you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with
you. 36
‘Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your
countryman may live with you. 37 ‘You shall not give him your silver at
interest, nor your food for gain.
38 ‘I am the LORD your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan
This
section tells about a Jewish man who has exhausted all of his funds and the
solution for the problem is to move in with another Jewish brother and have
that brother take care of him until he gets things straightened out to where he
can again live on his own. It is a bit
unclear whether or not there shall be interest charged here, for in the NASB
version it says not to take usurious interest from him, while the Rabbis
interpreted this to mean no interest, at any rate the interest should be little
or non. When someone does this act of
kindness his assisting someone is an act of faith. One only has to look at the first century
church to see that they practiced this pattern of helping others.
“A Poor
brother who became the slave of a Jew (vv. 39-46): “39 ¶
‘If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he
sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. 40 ‘He
shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve
with you until the year of jubilee.
41 ‘He shall then go out from
you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may
return to the property of his forefathers.
42 ‘For they are My servants whom
I brought out from the land
of Egypt
44 ‘As for your male
and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from
the pagan nations that are around you.
45 ‘Then, too, it is out of the
sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain
acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have
produced in your land; they also may become your possession. 46
‘You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a
possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your
countrymen, the sons of Israel
Exodus 21:2
has this to say about a Jewish slave being bought by another Jewish person, “If
you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he
shall go out as a free man without payment.”
Now if the Year of Jubilee comes before the six years is up, then that
person shall be given his freedom then.
The Jewish
people were not to permanently make slaves of their Jewish brothers, but were
allowed to have permanent slaves from the Gentile nations, which begs the
question to be asked as to whether or not it is of the Lord’s will to have
slaves. I would answer this question by
saying that in the “perfect will of God” He wants no man to be a slave, and yet
in His sovereign will He does allow this to happen. It was through the work of the Holy Spirit working
through the Church in the USA
Spiritual meaning for my life today: How much am I to be involved in the political
process in my country, especially since it is in such a mess at this time. I certainly am to pray a lot concerning the
direction that our country is going in, and to make my views known, which are
godly views, to others in a hope that the Lord will use them to bring others to
Himself.
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
- Pray for our country, and be ready to tell others of the hope that is in me as all peoples in this country are being hurt because of the financial situation.
Memory verses for the week: Romans
6:1-5
- What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
- May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
- Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
- Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
- For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.
11/13/2008 10:04 AM
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