Deuteronomy 25

We feel our ignorance when we consider some of the stipulations of God's Law. The life of Israel under the Law of Moses is foreign to us.

We need to understand the Lawgiver who cared for His people by granting to them this system of public life. As we do that, principles emerge that can help us to love justice and mercy and to walk humbly with the Lord who saved us.

The God of Israel taught His people that there needed to be limits to the physical pain inflicted upon a guilty man. The punishment needed to be proportional to the seriousness of the offense, but the dignity of the guilty man was important. The expectation behind such a law was that this man would be restored to the people of Israel.

Even an ox in Israel needed to be able to eat of the field in which the animal worked. If that was God's will for a beast, how much more for a human being?

The death of people entered the world through sin. But the death of a man did not need to mean the end of his family line. His brother was commanded to carry on the name of the deceased by doing his part to provide offspring for his sister-in-law. The Lord cared for the widow and for the name of her deceased husband. To reject these duties would be a matter of public shame.

Barriers of decency and human dignity were not to be crossed lightly in Israel. The hidden parts of the body were treated with appropriate respect and protection, even in dire circumstances.

Dishonesty in commerce could not be tolerated. To steal through the deception of false weights and measures was something the Lord hated.

The Most High cared for the weak. Enemy nations were not to attack faint and weary Israelites like wolves. The nation of the Amalekites would be blotted out forever because they had been brutal to God's people in their time of need.

These laws are worthy of our meditation. They reveal a God who concerned Himself with the intimate details of the lives of human beings. He created them in His image, and He expected them to behave toward one another with His tender care.

What kind of God cares about what a wife does when two men are in a brawl? What deity would want a man to be ashamed for not providing offspring for his brother's wife once she had become a widow? Why would the Lord bother Himself about the name of a deceased man in Israel, or the honor of a man who had done something so repugnant to community standards that he needed a public whipping?

The God of Israel, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, cares about human beings. How much does He care about us? He sent His own Son to pay the penalty that would restore to us the eternal dignity that He intended for us.

You may be ignorant of the details of a culture that existed thousands of years ago in a very different world than yours. That is understandable. But you need to know something about their God and ours. You must not be ignorant of His love. He cares about the details of your life. He has made a way for you to walk with Him forever in a society of peace.