The Heart of God is With the Weak

The last half of Deuteronomy 23 refers to economic mandates God instilled into the lives of Israel to make sure fairness, freedom, and brotherly kindness was consistent among His people.

These laws deal with how they were to make money - not through sacred prostitution, how to loan money - without interest to one another, fulfilling vows made to God - following through for His honor, and sharing one's crop in a reasonable manner - no bagging a ton of freebies while walking through his vineyard.

But the first law really catches the idea. For all the talk about how the Bible condones slavery, consider God's Word on the matter to an ancient context:
Deuteronomy 23:15–16 (ESV) “You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.

This is an amazing passage. Every commentator I read notes that this law totally contradicts every inborn train of humanity and all other ancient customs. Slaves were never to be afforded this right in the ancient world. Consider that emancipation of slaves in the legal sense was not fully realized until only 150 years ago! The human condition seeks to make slaves of others in one way or another. But here in Deuteronomy, God demands that His people treat someone escaping from slavery with kindness, to treat them as God Himself.

How do I know this? Notice the phrase in verse 16 about where the escaped slave is to live. He will live in "the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him." This phrase in the Hebrew is used only of God everywhere else in the Pentateuch. ONLY of God. Every time God references the Tabernacle of His dwelling He speaks of the "place that He shall choose within" the nation of Israel.

The lesson would not have been lost on the original hearers. God's heart is with those who are weak and powerless to save themselves. And those who know God must treat such people as they would treat God Himself. 

Deuteronomy 12:5 (ESV) But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,

Deuteronomy 14:23 (ESV) And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

Deuteronomy 16:2 (ESV) And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the LORD will choose, to make his name dwell there.

The only other person we are told he will choose where he wants to live in the book of Deuteronomy other than God is the runaway slave. God identifies with the weak and powerless. What a beautiful picture of God in this small verse. He is not the God who condones slavery. He is the God who frees them. After all, the Israelites were slaves before God saved them... and He wants all His people, Old and New Covenant alike - to be in the business of freedom and grace for those who need it most. 


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