DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 24

Chapter 24
Summary:	Moses' speech continues: "When a man marries a woman and he finds some uncleanness in her, then he may serve her with a bill of divorce and send her out of his house. After she leaves her ex-husband's house, she may then remarry. If her second husband hates her and divorces her, of if her second husband dies, her first husband may not remarry her because she has been defiled. That is an abomination before the Lord, and you are not to bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God has given you for an inheritance. "A newlywed husband is not to go out to war, nor is he to be given any duties, but instead he is to be free at home for the first year of his marriage to cheer up his wife that he has taken. "No man is to take another man's millstone as collateral, because he is taking another man's livelihood. "If a man is found kidnapping any Israelite and either enslaves them or sells them into slavery, then the kidnapper must die to purge the evil from among you. "Take heed to the plague of leprosy, and follow everything that the priests and the Levites instruct you to do, as I commanded them, so you shall obey. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam after you came forth out of Egypt. "When you lend your fellow Israelite anything, you are not to enter his house to pick out an item for collateral. You are to stand outside the man's house and he shall bring out the collateral himself. If the man is poor and offers his coat as collateral, you cannot keep his coat while you sleep. You shall return his coat at sundown so that he may sleep in it. You shall be blessed for doing righteousness before the Lord your God. "You shall not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is an Israelite or a foreigner. He must be paid at the end of the day, because if the sun goes down and he cries against you to the Lord, it will be counted as a sin upon you. "A father shall not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor shall a child be put to death for the sins of his father. Every man put to death shall be put to death for his own sin. "You shall not twist judgment against a foreigner, an orphan, nor may you take a widow's garment as collateral. You are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you, therefore I command this. "When you reap your harvest, and have forgotten a sheaf out in the field, you are not to go back to retrieve it - it is to be left for the stranger passing through town, the orphaned, and the widowed that the Lord your God may bless you in all your the work of your hands. When you collect your olives, you are not to go over the boughs again, and when you gather your grapes from your vineyard, you are not to glean it afterward - you are to leave what is left for the stranger passing through town, the orphaned, and the widowed. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, therefore I command you to obey this law."
Thoughts:	Moses begins this chapter by stating that if a man gets married and later discovers he doesn't like his wife, he's free to serve her divorce papers and kick her out of his house. Once his now ex-wife leaves the house, she's free to remarry. But if her second husband divorces her or if he dies, her first husband is not allowed to remarry her because she has been "defiled", and God considers the act an "abomination". Next, Moses states that a newlywed husband is not to be sent out to fight in a war, nor is he to be given any major responsibilities for the first year of his marriage, which he is instead to stay home and "cheer up" his new wife. Moses states that a man is not to take another man's "millstone" as collateral, meaning in a broader sense that you are not to take as collateral on a loan, the tools of which a man makes his living - i.e. take a carpenter's hammer, a baker's mixing bowls, or a painter's brush, etc. Next up, Moses condemns kidnapping - which he equates to theft of a person - whether it results in slavery, or selling the kidnapped into slavery, by punishment of death. With regard to how strict Moses's take on kidnapping is, the eighth commandment (seventh if going by Catholic standards) of the Ten Commandments - "thou shalt not steal" - is far more likely to refer to kidnapping than of our modern concept of theft concerning that of property. Moses then tells the Israelites that they need to take heed to the ridiculous laws and instructions concerning leprosy as carried out by priests, and makes a curious mention to the Israelites to remember the fate of his sister Miriam. Miriam was punished not for disobeying leprosy laws, she was stricken with leprosy by God as a punishment for speaking out (along with her brother Aaron, who didn't receive any punishment) against Moses' marriage to an Ethiopian woman which violates God's law. Mentioning Miriam in this context makes no sense. Moses' next law concerns collateral on loans, where he states that the man giving the loan is not to enter the other man's home and pick out an item for collateral himself, but is instead to allow the one receiving the loan to pick out his own collateral. Moses further adds that if the man is poor and offers his coat as collateral, that this coat must be returned to the poor man at night for him to sleep in. The next verse while sometimes confused for a defense of the bible condemning slavery, it is not slavery that Moses is mentioning here, but that of a hired worker. Moses basically states that an employer is not to oppress his employee by not paying him promptly, especially if he is a poor man and is relying on prompt payment - which Moses warns is a "sin" to God. The following verse also seems to have some conflict in its understanding, where some attempt to attribute it to mean that God does not punish people for the "sins" of their ancestors, this is not what Moses is saying here at all. What Moses says is that a man is not to be put to death for the "sins" of his ancestors (and vice versa, that one is not to be executed for their children's "sin") not that they aren't guilty of "sin", only that they are not to be punished with capital punishment. Moses ends the chapter with a few laws to favor strangers in the land, orphans, and widow. First stating that judgment is not to be skewed against a foreigner, an orphan, nor may one take a widow's garment as collateral. Next Moses commands that one is not to pick their crops, grapes, and olives completely, but are to leave some surplus for the strangers in town, the orphaned, and the widowed. Moses attempts to somehow link the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt as a reason to obey this law, as he closes out the chapter.