UNROLL
At dawn on a hill road, the pole gate of a dry-stone farmyard wall stands wide open, a full sack of grain and a clay jar of oil set down beside it, terraces and an olive tree beyond.

The Book of

Deuteronomy 15

Every seventh year, debts let go and servants sent home loaded with gifts: the open hand of a people God had set free.

23 verses≈ 5 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–4Remember the wayFrom Horeb to Moab
  2. 5–11Love the LORDThe heart of the covenant
  3. 12–26Laws for the landWorship, justice, neighborChapter 15
  4. 27–30Blessing and curseChoose life
  5. 31–34Moses' farewellA song, a blessing, a death

The Seventh Year

At a courtyard gate at evening, a well-fed farmer hands back a pair of bronze sickles and a worn hoe to his thin neighbor, whose face lifts in surprise.

The law

The LORD’s release

  1. Release

    Every seventh year, cancel debts

    At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

  2. Every creditor releases his neighbor

    This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor.

  3. Collect nothing: the LORD’s release

    He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.

  4. Foreigner

    Forgive a brother; a foreigner may pay

    You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today. When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none.

Generosity in Lending and Giving

If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.

Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.

Deuteronomy 15:10

For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.

Reflect

Open or shut?

Moses saw how a heart can calculate: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” and so the hand closes. God’s answer is “Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so.” Think of one person in need you know by name. Is your hand open or shut toward them? Write down one thing you could give or lend this week, and give it gladly.

Hebrew Servants

At dawn a freed servant and his wife walk out of a farmstead gate onto the road with two sheep on a rope and a donkey loaded with grain and a skin of new wine, while the master lifts a hand in farewell.

If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.

And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.

0:28

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you, then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.

Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

The open hand

Debts let gothe seventh year · 1–3The poor helpedopen, not shut · 7–11Servants setfreein the seventh year ·12Notempty-handedflock, floor,winepress · 13–14He redeemed youonce slaves in Egypt ·15

Whiteboard

Debts let go, the poor helped, servants set free and sent off loaded with gifts: every open hand in this chapter has one reason behind it. Israel had been slaves in Egypt with nothing, and God set them free and gave them a land. “Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you.” People who have been treated with grace are to treat others the same way.

Pray

You set me free

Israel was never to forget: “the LORD your God redeemed you.” Thank God for the freedom He has given you in Jesus, who paid what you could not pay. Name one way He has been generous to you. Then ask Him to make your hand as open to others as His has been to you, and to take away any grudging in your heart.

Firstborn Animals

Moses

The law

A firstborn with a flaw

  1. The altar

    Never sacrificed if blemished

    But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

  2. At home

    Eaten at home, like game

    Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.

  3. But pour out the blood

    But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

At the tabernacle court's gate: a priest in white linen kneels to run his hands down a lamb's legs and look into its eyes, its owner standing by, seen from the side.

Question

Quick question

Exodus said a Hebrew servant went free in the seventh year. Deuteronomy adds what he was to take with him.

What was a Hebrew servant to be given when he went free?

You’ve experienced

Deuteronomy 15

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A verse to carry with you

Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.

Deuteronomy 15:10

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