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CHAPTER 24 May 7 
Law for Divorce
When a man takes a wife and marries her, if she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some unseemly thing in her, he shall write her a bill of divorce and give it into her hand and send her out of his house. 2When she has departed out of his house she may go and be another man’s wife. 3If the latter husband hates her and writes her a bill of divorce and gives it to her and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies, 4her former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled, for that is abomination before Yahweh. You shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance. 
Various Laws
5When a man takes a new wife he shall not go into the army, neither must he be assigned any business. He shall be free at home for one year and shall please his wife whom he has taken. 6No man may take the mill or the upper millstone as pledge, for he takes a life in pledge. 7If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave or sells him, then that thief must die. So you shall put away the evil from among you. 8Take heed that in the plague of leprosy you observe diligently to do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall observe to do. 9Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam by the way as you came forth out of Egypt. 10When you lend your neighbour any kind of loan, you must not go into his house to get his pledge. 11You shall stand outside and the man to whom you lent shall bring the pledge outside to you. 12If he is a poor man you must not sleep with his pledge; 13you must surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down so that he may sleep in his garment and bless you, and it shall be righteousness to you before Yahweh your God. 14You must not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is of your brothers or of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates. 15Each day you must give him his hire. The sun must not go down on it for he is poor and sets his heart on it, lest he cry against you to Yahweh and it be sin to you. 16The fathers must not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17You must not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge, 18but you must remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt and Yahweh your God redeemed you from there, therefore I command you to do this. 
Kindness to the Needy
19When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless and for the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20When you beat your olive tree do not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless and for the widow. 21When you harvest your vineyard do not glean it afterwards yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless and for the widow. 22You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.

Commentary


24:1 In the case of adultery a man could have his wife killed; apply the trial of jealousy of Num. 5; forgive her; or divorce her, as allowed for here. We have choices as to how we respond to human failure against us, and the very existence of the choices is in order to exercise our spirituality.
24:4 The prophets describe God divorcing Israel for her infidelity and yet still asking her to return to Him. He chose this metaphor to reflect the level of His desperate love for His people- that He would do what His own law declared to be abomination to Him. That same kind of love is what He has for us today.
24:10 Moses does not repeat every single commandment in the Law. Rather are there several themes of Moses in Deuteronomy presented. His choice of which ones he does repeat indicates his feelings towards Israel. His sensitivity towards the weakest and poorest of Israel comes out in this. He was reaching the spirit of the Lord Jesus, who said that the weakest of His brethren represented Him (Mt. 25:40). Moses for all his wealthy background and high status amongst Israel could enter into the sense of shame and embarrassment of the poor man when a richer man enters his home. The Law in Ex. 22:26 did not stipulate that the house of the poor man should not be entered; by making this point in his farewell speech, Moses was showing his sensitivity, his ability now to enter into the feelings of the poorest of God's people. He typified in this the sensitivity of God’s son to our spiritual poverty. In some things we all have some advantage over others; some ‘wealth’ which they don’t have; for even the wealthiest person has some area of spiritual poverty in their lives. We are not to shame them, but to be sensitive to how they might feel if that poverty is exposed before us.