Guarding Purity: Deuteronomy 13, 14  (6)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 128.1, 2
Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,
Who walks in His ways.
When you eat the labor of your hands,
You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

Psalm 128.1, 2
(Fountain: There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
How blessed are they who fear You, Lord, who walk within Your ways!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word, they prosper all their days!
They prosper all their days, they prosper all their days!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word, they prosper all their days!

Today’s Text: Deuteronomy 14.28, 29

Preparation
1. What’s different about this tithe and the regular tithe?

2. Who was to benefit from this tithe?

Meditation
A special tithe was instituted for every third year. Instead of bringing the annual tithe to the central place, the people would keep it within their own towns and villages (v. 28). Then it would be used not only for the Levites, but also for the “stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates” (v. 29). This is a form of distributive justice, in which the people were obliged to care for the needy in their midst, including those who may have come from other nations to dwell with them.

Biblical justice is a gem with five facets. It begins in obligatory justice – what we owe to each person as an image-bearer of God, and which can be summarized as love. Next comes preventive justice, in which we take steps to ensure the wellbeing of our neighbors and their property by, for example, keeping our animals from grazing on their lands. Retributive justice exacts penalties on those who violate the person of another. These can include beatings, exile from the community, and even capital punishment. Then restorative justice – such as we see Zacchaeus planning, and Jesus commending (Lk. 19.1-11) – seeks to right a wrong through returning to another what was broken, lost, or taken, sometimes with interest. Then distributive justice caps off the justice gem. In addition to what we see in today’s text, leaving gleanings for the poor was another form of this aspect of Biblical justice.

The principles of justice outlined in the Law of God remain valid today; only the practice changes, according to the circumstances of our times. The third-year tithe should remind Christian congregations that all that we have is from the Lord, and we must learn to use it as He guides and instructs. If we will, everyone in our community will “eat and be satisfied” and God will bless us in all our work (v. 29).

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
This passage puts me in mind of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If.” If only the people of God had been obedient in showing kindness. And now, if only the Church had obeyed, we would have places of worship full to the brim. Kipling’s end to all his “ifs” was a son who became a nice man. God’s end result for us is that the people of the world would see the Church as the joy of the whole earth” (Ps. 48.2). What if we had cared for the “stranger, the fatherless, and the widow”? What if instead of turning all these things over to the government, the Church had fulfilled her responsibilities? Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (Jn. 12.32). It is never too late to start obeying. We can always begin to emulate the New Testament Church. Here is the result of their obedience to God’s commands: “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2.44-47).

If.

Reflection
1. What do these tithes teach us about being a community of believers?

2. Finish the following: “If My people, who are called by My Name…” “If you love Me…” “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door…” Now put your answers together into one sentence.

3. How can believers encourage one another to carry out our “ifs”?

Now, this was a most equitable arrangement, that the priests and Levites having been well provided for during two years, should admit their poor brethren and strangers to a share. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Deuteronomy 14.28, 29

Help me to be alert to every opportunity to exercise justice toward my neighbors, Lord, so that…

Closing Prayer: Psalm 128.3-6
The Lord’s blessings are for those who trust Him and obey His Word, including in the matter of tithes and offerings. Offer yourself to the Lord for this day, and seek the good path He has marked out for you in His Law.

Psalm 128.3-6
(Fountain: There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
Their homes with happy children bloom who fear Your holy Name;
their tables and their every room declare Your glorious fame!
Declare Your glorious fame, declare Your glorious fame!
Their tables and their every room declare Your glorious fame!

O Lord, from Zion send Your peace, and prosp’rous make our ways;
thus may Your blessings e’er increase upon us all our days!
Upon us all our days, upon us all our days!
Thus may Your blessings e’er increase upon all us all our days!

T. M. and Susie Moore

Listen to our summary of last week’s study in Deuteronomy by clicking here. You can download all the studies in the series by clicking here.

If you find Scriptorium helpful in your walk with the Lord, please seek the Lord, asking Him whether you should contribute to the support of this daily ministry with your financial gifts. As the Lord leads, you can use the Contribute button at the website to give with a credit card or through PayPal, or you can send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 360 Zephyr Road, Williston, VT 05495.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: Ancient Christian Commentary Series III, Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J. ed. in collaboration with Ronnie J. Rombs, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001). All quotations from John Calvin from John Calvin, Commentaries on The Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Order of A Harmony, Rev. Charles William Bingham M. A., tr. and ed. (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1863. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).