Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Willing Servant Deuteronomy 15 part 2

Deuteronomy 15:12 "And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee."

It may seem harsh that a Hebrew would purchase another Hebrew and make him serve him. Let's look at it in a different way. A man works his crops and his crops fail for some reason. A drought may come. He may have been sick and could not plant on time. Any number of things could cause a man to fail.

Then, along comes another Hebrew and purchases him. He gets a place to live and is fed for six years. It may be that he learns much during those six years and now understands how to be successful and so is released after the six years. He is able to remain in his own nation and start over after only six years. We know that in our country it can take much more than six years to start over.

v13 "And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: v14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

v15 "And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee; therefore I command thee this thing to day."

So the man has had a chance to regroup. He did not have to pay expenses all those six years while he worked and was sheltered and fed. Then when he leaves he receives enough to start over. Had he not been a servant, he would have be reduced to begging for his daily bread, instead he kept his self esteem.

Now the willing servant.

v16 "And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house because he is well with thee. v17 Then thou shalt take an ail, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise."

You see, the servants were treated well. So well, in fact, that some wanted to stay with their master forever. There is a great message here for the Christian who willing becomes the servant of Christ because of what He has done for us. We find it much better in his service than wondering around in the world.

The balance of the chapter deals with the offering of the firstling males and their unblemished condition.

Psalms 70:20 "Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness; and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none."

keywords: servant, Bible study, Milton Southerland

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