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Deuteronomy Chapter 25 "Punishment
for Disobedience [1-3]." This
Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription/ location Deuteronomy 25:1 "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." This chapter is Ecclesiastical, meaning it deals with men and women living in their flesh body. As Solomon said, "with the man that walketh under the sun". When there is a controversy that can not be settled between two men in all Israel, this is the way that it will be settled between them. This looks even to our generation for it stands as the way for bringing justice without one man harming the other. Remember it is Ecclesiastical, meaning as long as man is living in the these flesh bodies, and the sun is in the sky, it is to be done this way. It is the method that God selected to settle affairs between two men with a disagreement. To "justify" is to make the matter right. When there has been a wrong done by one man to another, the judges are to listen to the evidence that each man presents, and the judge shall make the decision. The judge shall judge the matter fairly without a bribe or showing preference to one over the other because of wealth or race. It is God's law, and to judge other than this manner this is to bring a curse down on the judge and all those involved. Lets review this manner for a moment from Deuteronomy 16:18-20. Deuteronomy 16:18 "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment." Deuteronomy 16:19 "Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous." Deuteronomy 16:20 "That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." The judge must hear the case, listen to the witnesses, and find the righteous man and the right thing to do from what is presented at the trial. He must be accurate in his judgment. Deuteronomy 25:2 "And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number." One of the punishments of the day was the giving of stripes; whipping a man but not taking the man's life. If the punishment of the cause of the crime demanded that a punishment was in order, than the judge had the right to oversee that the punishment was carried out. Giving stripes is still carried out in certain countries of the world. The number of stripes must be stated, recorded, and counted by the judge who shall witness them being applied. This comes to a matter of morals and the wickedness of stealing, and other matters between two people. The judge must watch it as it is taking place, and then he is within and part of the correction, and when you experience the punishment to the fullest, it makes the judge a better judge for giving out future punishments. The judge sets the count of the stripes, and he becomes aware of what a man can and can not take. The count may be different for a man weighing two hundred pounds, than for a man weighing one hundred and thirty pounds. One would breeze through forty stripes, while the other would be killed by half that many stripes. The Judge knows the details of the matter, and if the beating should be stopped before the count is completed, he is the only one that can make it stop. Deuteronomy 25:3 "Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee." More than forty stripes would be a degradation to the man, and cause him to become vile, if not dead. There is one thing in God's law that is always there. God requires that you leave the man his dignity, even after the beating. When the man has been so degraded, then his dignity has been taken from him. This is the reason that in the New Testament forty stripes were never given to a man, but "forty minus one". God said "don't go over forty", New Testament law stops short of the forty stripes. These things were always done before all the people of the city, or ship or where ever they were administered. The reason of course was to set the example for the rest of the people so it would cease from happening in the community. Cut a man a little slack, even when he has done wrong, and leave him his dignity. He will soon return to the community and he could not survive in the community without his dignity. The man should be able to take the punishment, get up and continue in life with his manhood about him, with the will to do what is right. Deuteronomy 25:4 "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." This is a simple figrue of speech that simply means, "that anybody that works is worthy of their hire". The ox is the one that pulls the wheel around the millstone, and he eats corn. When he does the work, feed him because he has earned it. When a man, any man does work and has earned his wage, than give him his due hire. Deuteronomy 25:5 "If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her." When you have two brothers, and one of the brothers dies, this requires the wife of the dead brother not to marry another man until after the single living brother has had the right to take that woman to be his wife. God demands that the brother take his brother's wife and have children by her to carry on the blood line, or inheritance of the dead brother. This is not in our civil law today and does not apply, but their was a point to be made here. This law was made for the protection of the daughters of Adam from the Nephilim [the fallen angels], whereby it would bring the pure lineage that would bring forth Christ. When you understand the plan of God, it becomes clear that this law was required. Deuteronomy 25:6 "And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel." Deuteronomy 25:7 "And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, `My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother." The "gate" is the place of the elders and the judge sat that made the determination. It was the woman, the widow that was to go to the judges and makes the charges be known publicly. Deuteronomy 25:8 "Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, `I like not to take her;' " The elders of the city are the ones that sent the sheriff out to bring the brother in to answer the charge placed against him. The man must make a stand one way or another and it must be completely clear, for the sake of both the widow [her family] and the community. He must state publicly that he does not want her, and that he refuses to marry her. He may have hated his brother and chose not to raise children under his brother's name. In any, He must make his stand in public. Deuteronomy 25:9 "Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, `So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.' " This is what the widow of his brother must do in public at the gate of the city where all can witness it. She must take the sandal from off of his foot, and spit into his face, and say these words to strip the man of his dignity. "The brother is disobeying the commandments of God that God required of him", in which the community will take away the man's dignity. Deuteronomy 25:10 "And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loose." This declaration "The house of him that hath his shoe loose", is like calling a man a coward. He would obey God's law, and make a stand of the side of what is right. The law that we have just read took place in the lineage of Christ. The virgin Mary's bloodline is mentioned in Luke 3:23-38, and in verse thirty one, David is given as being the son of Jesse. Then in verse thirty two we read; "Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasoon," It is talking about the in-laws of Joseph, the wife he is to betroth to marry. The term "Which was" is what we call today, "by law" or according to the law. We call them our "in-laws" [mother in law, etc]. This is the blood line of Jesus Christ. The point to take notice of here is the name "Booz" [the Greek form of the name Boaz] who was the forty second in the blood line from Christ. This very law was applied in the lineage of Christ, to keep the blood line pure. God knew the line that would bring for the Messiah and this law was made for the sake of keeping it pure. God wanted to protect the blood line that His son would come through all the way back to the Angels. He knew that Satan, and the fallen angels would attack it and come against the daughters of men, to marry them and have children by them. This law was for the benefit of every tribe, nation, and culture, and people on the face of the earth, it was the safety valve for keeping the Nephilim [fallen angels] from their daughters. Jesus Christ came into the world and this earth age of the flesh through the tribe that He prophesied He would come. It is important that we understand that the lineage of Christ and that these things are important to all people of every race. When we accept Christ, we become one of family in Christ, no matter what race you belong to. God loves all his children. God expects us to carry out our obligation from the Word exactly as they are written, and it was just as important to fulfill this part of the law for them, as it is for up to follow the teaching of Christ that we follow from the New Testament. Christ fulfilled the all the law, and those parts of the law that deal with blood ordinances and sacrifices are still in effect unless Christ states that they are done away with. Christ did not do away with any of the law out side of those that deal with the blood ordinances, for He never even removed on dot or tittle of one letter of the law. Can we keep all the law as God gave it? Of course we cannot, and when we break one part of the law we break all the law. God's law is absolute, you either obey it all and are saved by the law, or you do not. Of course no man nor woman is saved under the law and that is why Jesus Christ came into the world; to save those that would by faith believe on him, and accept Christ's shed blood on the cross as payment for their sins. For Christ to be the perfect sacrifice, His blood had to be pure, of a "perfect pedigree", with not one drop of Satan's or the fallen angels blood within Him. This was the perfection that God saw in Noah, for his generations, his parentage and his sons and their wives. They had no mixture with the Nephilim, like the rest of the Adamic race of that day. Genesis 6:8 "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Noah found grace or unmerited favor in the eyes of God for a reason. Genesis 6:9 "THESE are THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." This states the reason that God found Noah a just and obedient man, and that was because he "perfect in his generation". "Perfect" as used here in the Hebrew text is "tamin" and in the Strong's dictionary is described as "without blemish as to breed, or pedigree." The word "generation" in the Hebrew text is # 8735 in Strong's Hebrew dictionary, and comes from the prime "Toledoth", meaning "family tree, or history". We are talking about Noah's ancestors all the way back to Seth, the son of Adam and Eve to be free from those fallen angels [sons of God] that came to earth and married the daughters of men, to pollute the entire Adamic race prior to the flood. Noah and his family were the only ones of our race that were free from the pollution of the fallen angels. This law that the Moses gave to us in Deuteronomy 25 concerning the widow of an Israelite was to protect her. She was to be protected from being taken by these supernaturals, the fallen angels, or Nephilim, for after the flood there was a second influx of fallen angels, just as there will be in that latter days, in our generation. That will happen when Michael kicks Satan and his fallen angels out on the earth, to start that five months period of the great deception. Revelation 12:7 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels," Remember that John is writing this from his view of what happened looking back from "the day of the Lord". The entire great tribulation or "deception" had already taken place, and the earth age of the flesh is over when this is written. This is why it is written in the past tense. Revelation 12:8 "And prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven." Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." There can be do doubt in your mind who the dragon is, or the old serpent, or the devil; for Christ identifies them all as Satan, and John records it here in Revelation. Satan is the "old serpent" that deceived Eve in the garden of Eden, and from that sexual union came Cain, and Cain's offspring called the Kenites. Satan will be cast out onto the earth very shortly, for we are living in the generation of the parable of the fig tree. That generation started when the Jews returned to the holy lands and set up their nation, and took over Jerusalem. When Satan is cast out on to the earth, he will come with all his supernatural powers alone with his angels. He will appear to be the true Christ, only he is a fake. He will do all sorts of supernatural acts, yet those things that he will do will be for the sole purpose of convincing those that say are of Christ, that are not sealed in their mind, to worship him. This is why Satan is called the Antichrist, of "instead of Christ". Most Christians today say the church is not mentioned after Revelation 3, because they simply do not understand the Word of God. They don't understand that only the elect, the seal of God will see Satan for who he really is, a fake, and all the rest will be taken by him. They will have Satan's name, number and mark, and they will do it in ignorance. You see, God will blind their eyes and turn the rest of them over to Satan at that time for their own protection. For in their ignorance of God's Word, they are innocent. This background was given for the purpose of helping us better understand the importance of this law of the widow in the eyes of God, and for the protection of His own Son that would come far into the future from this time. Today people just don't see the importance, but up until the birth of Christ it was extremely important. Lets go to the book of Ruth, and see how God used this law to protect His own lineage. Remember that Ruth was a Moabites, and because she was female the law Israelites not to marry into the Moabites did not apply to her. The curse that was placed on Moab was placed only upon the men of Moab. Moab was the son of Lot by his own daughter. Ruth married into Naomi's family, and married one of her sons. In time Naomi's husband Mahlon died, as well as all her sons, and she had no kin in Moab for Naomi's family to leave seed to. Naomi released all her daughters in law to turn to their own people to remarry, but Ruth stuck by her mother in law, and went with her back to Bethlehem. Ruth 1:16 "And Ruth said [to Naomi], Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and whether thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy People shall be my People, and thy God my God:" So when these two ladies return to Bethlehem, Naomi saw her kinsman by her husband. Naomi knew that Boaz saw and like Ruth. So Naomi told Ruth to go only to Boaz' field during the harvest time, to glean. Mamma is telling her daughter to go close to Boaz and make sure that he notices you, which she did. Though Boaz desires to marry Ruth, he told Ruth that there was a closer kinsman than he was, so that person has first rights to take you for a wife. The other man had to forefoot that right, to take off the sandal, and say the words of denial and refuse to marry you. This is where this shoe release comes into play, for it is a law of God. When Boaz forced the issue on this man that was the next of kin, this is what the kinsman said. Ruth 4:6 "And the kinsman said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. Naomi's kinsman gave up his right to Ruth, and allow Boaz to go ahead with the marriage, however, the proper form for redemption had to be followed for the marriage to have the blessings of God. If Naomi's kinsman would have accepted, he would have lost the right to his regular inheritance of the family, for he would be taking the position of Ruth's first husband. Ruth 4:7 "Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things, a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel." Ruth 4:8 "Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, "Buy it for thee." So he drew off his shoe." Ruth 4:9 "And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the People, "Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's of the hand of Naomi." They are at the judgment gate that Moses required here in Deuteronomy 25. The elders and those present witnessed that the nearest of kin, and the sons of Naomi no longer had the right to Ruth in marriage, and she was free to marry Boaz. Remember that the sons of Naomi were all dead, and thus, all their rights would be passed on to Boaz. Boaz is the kinsman redeemer that purchased the right to redeem all that was part of Ruth's family. Boaz is now the next of kin to Naomi by law. Jesus became our kinsman Redeemer, when he purchased that right to do so with His blood on the cross. He has the right to make the purchase, but you have the right to make the choice to receive Him or not. Ruth 4:10 "Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of the place: ye are witnesses this day." " Had this not taken place, do you know who would have been cut off from God? This offspring of the kinsman redeemer called Boaz is in the lineage of the Messiah. If our Kinsman Redeemer could not redeem us, his bride, than we would all be lost to Him. These are types that are given for a purpose, and it was important that each of these laws be carried out for the sake of the coming Messiah. It helps us see the love of our Father for us, that He made all the detail that would be required for salvation to come to man. Ruth 4:11 "And all the People that were in the gate, and the elders said, "We are witnesses, The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem:" Ruth 4:12 "And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman." When Judah disregarded God's instructions to him, he forced Tamar to play the role of a harlot, to force Judah to marry him. From that role that she played, Tamar had twins by Judah, and thus the nation or house of Pharez came. This law existed far in advance of Moses giving it here in the wilderness, for Pharez was born several hundred years prior. Pharez, the great grandson of Abraham is also in the genealogy of Christ. Ruth 4:13 "And Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son." Ruth 4:14 "And the women said unto Naomi, "Blessed be the Lord, Which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel." The Kinsman Redeemer is a very sacred thing, in that Christ became our Kinsman Redeemer. He is the nearest of kin to every living soul. He became our Kinsman Redeemer by paying the full price for the purchase, but you have to make the choice to have it apply to you personally. It requires the acceptance or the rejection on your part, and the witness at the gates of heaven. That is the way that our Father prepared, and thus the only way to the Father is through the blood of Christ, who is our Kinsman Redeemer. Deuteronomy 25:11 "When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets;" Many reject this verse because they say it puts the law always on the side of the woman. The situation here is that one man is about to kill the husband of this woman and she steps in to defend her husband, and kills the attacker of her husband. Deuteronomy 25:12 "Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her." When something like this is stated and it just doesn't make sense, than there has been a problem in the translation. What is stated here is that the woman was trained to go for the secret parts with an object if need be. However, if she is trying to defend her husband, it still doesn't give her the right to cause a man to cease to have children. If she steps into the fight, than she must do something else, hit him over the head, scratch his face or what ever, but God made this a very strict law to defend the right to reproduce. It is always good to stay out of a domestic fight, especially if it is between a man and his wife. The spiritual meaning is this: We are the bride of Christ and we know that Christ will have the victory, and there is a false husband coming first. That is why Christ would say in Matthew 24:19 "And woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days" That first husband may look like our husband, Jesus Christ, and it may also look like He is suffering a beating through the events of these end times. However, don't try to step into the fight with Satan and try to rupture Satan quite yet, for God has a plan to His fight, and in the end Christ will be victorious. Let the plan of God continue exactly as it is written. Learn the events and the order that they will happen, and stay out of the fight against Satan, for God is in control of all the events that will happen, will come to pall. God will win the battle in His own way. Deuteronomy 25:13 "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small." Stones were used for weights to buy and to sell merchandise. God is telling you not to use two sets of scales for buying and for selling, like the Kenites do today. God is telling us to use the same set of scales with every person that we dealt with. Deuteronomy 25:14 "Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small." This is saying that your bushel basket had better always be the same size for measuring all the time, for when you are buying and when you are selling. Verse thirteen dealt with units of weight being measured, while this verse deals with volume of measurements. Deuteronomy 25:15 "But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Deuteronomy 25:16 "For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God." If you cheat in anything that you do, do not expect God's blessing on your business, nor your life. God will not bless you and it is just that simple. It is just as true today as it was in Moses day. If you are in business with false measures, the public and the law will find you out in time, and then you will pay the price, even with the loss of your business. God blesses honest people. Deuteronomy 25:17 "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt:" Amalek was one of the dukes of Esau, and when Israel was at a weak point in their travels in the wilderness, he would circle to the rear of the group and pick off the weak, the old, and the invalids that would straggle behind. He was sort of like many Kenites Jews do today, they seek out the old and sick, and pray on them to steal and take what they have when they have no defense against it. God is saying that you can forgive them if you want to, but don't forget them and the ways that they work. If they have taken advantage of your lack of knowledge on a matters and deceived you into trusting them once, don't let it happen again, and spread the word about them to others. Deuteronomy 25:18 "How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God." "The hindmost" is where the women and children were, and the elderly. Amalek didn't care who he took advantage of, as long as he could make a fast buck for that is all that mattered to him. This was an event that was ordered by God to be written down and remembered. Deuteronomy 25:19 "Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the rememberance of Amalek from under the sun; thou shalt not forget it." Moses is telling the Israelites not to deal with these Edomites of Amalek here in the wilderness, but after you have taken your promised land and settled into your homes, then go after these people and blot them out of existence. Eliminate them to where even the remembrance of them is gone. This is what David did when he was in power. Though Christ instructed us to forgive our enemies when they have wronged us, we are still to correct them when it is possible. When nations correct other nations it is done by war or embargoes, but Christians are not to allow others to walk all over us either. After you have been wronged and corrections taken place, remember those things so that they will not happen again to you. You don't forgive them until they repent and ask for forgiveness. Then when it is asked for, you can share your forgiveness, but still be on guard. God is getting to another matter here that is a real problem today, and that is abuse by a loved one. If someone abuses you in any manner, God is telling you to be on guard against that in the future. Even though there is forgiveness in your heart for that loved one, don't let your guard down to where the conditions exists to where it could happen again. Remember what happened, find the causes of it happening the first time, and then don't allow yourself to be put in that same position. It is you that is responsible for remembering. God said, "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way,..." When you apply this to your life it becomes: "Remember what (that person) did to you along the way." Don't trust them to not do it again until they have earn your trust, and for some it may take a lifetime to earn that thrust. It is just that simple. That is wisdom, and there are some that disagree with this, but in many cases they are the women that make repeated trips to the hospital for the beatings that they took in times before. God is warning you to remember and don't let it happen again. There are laws that assist in making sure it doesn't happen again.
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