Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

23:15 The refugee slave is most likely a foreigner, not an Israelite slave.

23:17 cult prostitute. Cultic prostitution was practiced by Canaanite religion as a fertility rite. It was strictly prohibited for ancient Israel.

23:19-20 charge interest. A distinction is made between a fellow Israelite (brother) and a foreigner. To take a loan in ancient times was an act of desperation, often caused by crop failure. Cruelly high interest rates made situations worse. The prohibition of interest among Israelites protected the poor (see Ex. 22:25). may bless you. Wealth comes from obedience to God, not from selfish economics.

23:21-23 Vows were voluntary but, once made, were binding (see Numbers 30; Eccles. 5:2-6; for the problem of Jephthah's vow, see note on Judg. 11:35). Vows must be kept because God keeps his promises and desires that his people imitate his moral character.

23:24-25 you may eat your fill. These laws benefit the poor and are not an excuse for theft. The economics of ancient Israel included generosity toward fellow Israelites (see notes on 15:4-6; 15:7-8).

24:1-4 This is a good example of "case law," where vv. 1-3 present the situation ("When . . .") and v. 4 is the actual law ("then . . ."). The law forbids the first husband taking back the wife he found no favor with after she is subsequently divorced or widowed. By charging his wife with some indecency, the first husband acquired her dowry--her father's marriage present to her--when he divorced her. Remarrying, she was given a second dowry. This example then implies that, when her second marriage ended (either through death or through more trivial grounds of divorce), she was able to keep her second dowry. The first husband is forbidden to remarry her to acquire her second dowry. This law protects the woman from exploitation by her first husband. This is the only OT law about divorce. Elsewhere divorce is presupposed (e.g., Lev. 21:7, 14; Num. 30:9). See Jesus' comments on this law in Matt. 5:31-32. In Matt. 19:7, Pharisees defend their position on divorce by appeal to this law; Jesus, however, appeals to the creation account (Gen. 1:27; 2:24) to show God's ethical ideal. This law is a concession to hardness of hearts, preserving a minimum level of civility for the theocracy.

24:5 one year. This may give the couple time to have at least one child and develop their relationship. Cf. note on 20:5-7.

24:6 mill or an upper millstone. These were basic utensils for food preparation; if taken as a pledge or security for a loan, they would deprive the poor person of the means for grinding grain.

24:7 that thief shall die. Kidnapping is regarded as theft and is the only type of theft for which the death penalty applies; these laws place a higher value on persons than on property. purge the evil. See 13:5.

24:8-9 leprous disease. The priests were the ones to rule on leprous diseases, as leprosy (a general term for skin diseases) made a person unclean. See Leviticus 13 and note on Lev. 13:1-59. Miriam, Moses' sister, suffered from leprosy (see Numbers 12).

24:10 not go into his house. The dignity of the poor person, who is forced into a loan, is preserved, and violence or theft is guarded against.

24:12 not sleep in his pledge. This forbids a person's cloak, which doubled as a blanket, to be taken to secure a loan. The basic rights of a vulnerable person are protected (see v. 13). Amos 2:8 scourges those who blatantly flout this law.

24:17-18 sojourner . . . fatherless . . . widow's garment. These three groups, as landless people, represented the most vulnerable in the land (see 10:18-19 and note). Israel's own time spent in Egypt as slaves was to motivate their proper treatment of landless people. See also v. 22.

24:19-22 These laws make provision for the poor. The blessings of the land are for the people as a whole to share. Cf. 23:24-25, and see Lev. 19:9-10. See also this law in practice in Ruth 2.