Deuteronomy 25:11-16

hey hey good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this morning we're at Deuteronomy chap 25: 11-16 two different laws one about what do you do when people get in a fight and grab each other and the ne nether reasons uh not necessarily a fun law to talk about but important and secondly what about when you go to the gas pump or you buy something it's nothing but air in the bag so just wait some measures let's have some coffee we'll pray and get into God's word let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for the blessing of having your word we thank you for time together to read your word we pray that your holy SP Holy Spirit would help us to understand this the words that we have here but also Lord that we would love what you love that we would be transformed by your spirit to do as you have commanded us to do Redeemed by you living in the light of loving you and loving others in Jesus's name amen all right Deuteronomy 25: or 11 through 16 here we go if two men fight together and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals then you shall cut off her hand your ey shall not pity her verse 13 through 16 you shall not have in your bag different weights a heavy and a light you shall not have in your house differing measures a small and a large you shall have a perfect and just weight a perfect and just measure that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all who do such things all who behave unrighteously are an Abomination to the Lord your God all right so two different laws here various miscellaneous laws both getting at what I think is loving your neighbor as yourself so the first law two guys are in a fight a wife decides to jump in the middle and to defend her husband in this fight right it it doesn't seem like maybe a fight under the death but these guys are fighting in and maybe wrestling disagreeing about something not a good thing any ways but she reaches out she escalates the matter and she actually grabs onto his genitals the Commandment to here is Alx tonus right the it's that she has grabbed this man's tesle so you take off her hand your ey shall not pity her man that seems harsh that seems like whoa what are you talking about this that's that's a huge penalty but I want to take you back into a different culture in a different time by the way other ancient near Eastern cultures um this the punishment is even worse right if he becomes infertile it talks about removing parts of her breast so but the point with this is right there's both an honor and a utility specifically with children remember what we talked about last time with the leverite marriages having to marry your deceased brother's wife right to produce Offspring why because children back then especially are for defense therefore for utility they're also one's own Glory right so children care for their parents in their old age around here in an agricultural area I remember talking to Farmers and they just tell me that hey you know back in the 1940s earlier before really engines were became ubiquitous right before there were tractors that could help it really did take a small army of children to run a farm it took a lot of hands and a lot of work and a lot of time and so to rush a man's nether regions right to to stop that is to both take away the family's livelihood possibly mean that they're in a place of starvation and economic harm well is their Glory right this idea that no longer is this man able to have children and children especially in the Old Testament are a a direct blessing from God I think there's still a direct blessing from God right there's all sorts of Psalms that talk about this all sorts of places right Hannah Desiring longing to have a child you can think of Zachariah in in Matthew or in Luke chapter 1 Desiring to have a baby right him and Elizabeth and this this desire we still even see today in our own culture as people struggle with infertility and this desire to have a child imagine if that desire to have a child was taken away from you in a hasty moment so this was not saying that this is good this is saying you're not able to kill that woman you're not able to just get so angry that you would do something un rash no but there you do need to make sure even in a fight there's Fair rules right uh the next law right this is why you have the Departments of weights and measures in many states right if I go to a gas pump here in Iowa the Department of Agriculture I think it is has a little seal on the gas pump and says that there's a that this has been inspected one gallon is one gallon is why on a chip bag it's sold by weight and not by volume right so the bag may be a lot of air but they aren't selling you the air they're selling you how much food is weighed in that bag and so it's based on the weight not the volume right but you could imagine somebody in their home right or a merchant down the road they have uh two different scales one of them think about a balance right this what it's talking about with weights and measur you're going to sell somebody uh one bath of or one pound let's say of of grain and you put your little weight on there and you like this guy so you give him a fair weight but the other guy you know he's a real jerk he's got got more money than you really needs so you put the you put the uh the lighter weight on there so it it balances differently or maybe the heavier weight I don't know which way that goes but the point is right you are either stealing from some people or being overly generous to others you never really know what you're doing neither of these people are loving each other right God is restraining the evil in Israel there was to be a limits to laws there was supposed to be an upholding of Life there was supposed to be equity and fairness in trade this is what God is getting at here in these laws specific scenarios where he's saying this is what my people are to be about loving each other not trying to get over each other not fighting not over punishing valuing life right thinking of the other person's good and the effects even of what we do to people so I think that's what this is getting at so what is it about what's the best verse to summarizes why would underline verse 11 and underline uh verse 15 is what I have underlined there as well you shall have a perfect and just weight a perfect and just measure that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you the last SE calling what are we called to do do you have business and are you loving your neighbor do you show your love of God and your fear of God by treating your neighbor well are you a brawler this is one of the things for church officers they must not be Brawlers are you one who thinks about how the effects of your anger of of your fighting may affect somebody's not just their life but their family's life and even the life of their children to come are we people who take seriously what Jesus tells us that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves I think that's this is what it's calling us to do to still live Lives full of love and grace let's pray father this is not a section on some type of legalism Lord you have loved us with a perfect love and you are a god of equity and of justice so father we pray that we would please follow after you and love you and love others well in Jesus's name amen well may God bless you may you love the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in his ways and I'll see you next time bye