How do our modern societies compare to ancient Israel? Let’s look at divorce, military conscription, loans, wages, kidnapping, foreigners and the poor. Which is actually a more civil society? Let’s review Deuteronomy 24.
What were the rules about divorce and remarriage?
When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a certificate of divorce, put it in her hand, and send her out of his house. When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. If the latter husband hates her, and write her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled; for that would be an abomination to Yahweh. You shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 24:1-4 WEB)
Was ancient conscription much more civil than modern military service?
A newly married man must not be drafted into the army or be given any other official responsibilities. He must be free to spend one year at home, bringing happiness to the wife he has married. (Deuteronomy 24:5 NLT)
May someone give in security for a loan, something upon which their livelihood relies?
Millstones or even just the upper millstone must not be pawned, because that would be pawning someone’s livelihood. (Deuteronomy 24:6 CEB)
Was kidnapping to make slaves a capital crime? Was this crime what the transatlantic slave trade relied on in the 1500’s to 1800’s?
If you are guilty of kidnapping Israelites and forcing them into slavery, you will be put to death to remove this evil from the community. (Deuteronomy 24:7 CEV)
What were their responsibilities in regard to various skin diseases broadly called leprosy by many translators?
Take care, in a case of leprous disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 24 8-9 ESV)
How were they to handle loans and wages especially for poor people? Is this far more righteous than modern practices?
When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect what he offers as security. You must stand outside while the man you are making the loan to brings the security out to you. If he is a poor man, you must not sleep in the garment he has given as security. Be sure to return it to him at sunset. Then he will sleep in it and bless you, and this will be counted as righteousness to you before the Lord your God. Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or one of the foreigners residing within a town in your land. You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty. (Deuteronomy 24:10-15 HCSB)
Was there an emphasis on individual responsibility for sins?
Fathers are not to be put to death on account of their children’s sin; nor are children to die on account of their fathers’ sin. Each person is to be put to death for his own sin. (Deuteronomy 24:16 ISV)
Were they to treat foreigners or the poor any differently in matters of justice?
Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge: But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing. (Deuteronomy 24:17-18 KJV)
Were they to leave part of their harvest for the needy among them?
When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the sojourner, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs after you finish; it shall be for the sojourner, for the orphan, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it after you finish; it shall be for the sojourner, for the orphan, and for the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. (Deuteronomy 24:19-22 LSB)
Can we learn to understand this in a far greater manner than the letter of the law?
Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:5-6 NASB)
How do our modern societies compare to ancient Israel? What about divorce, military conscription, loans, wages, kidnapping, foreigners and the poor. Which is actually a more civil society? You decide!
