Tags
Declaration of Independence, Deuteronomy 23, Deuteronomy 24, Human Dignity, Human Rights, Micah 6:8, Romans 13:1-2
The economy teeters on the balance, awaiting a slip that will make it slide into recession. Business managers use unscrupulous practices to try to insure their survival. Marriage is in disarray and families are distorted and fragmented. The legal system can’t seem to work out what is allowed and what is not.
These may sound like today’s headlines, but they are all taken from warnings to the nation of Israel if they did not obey God’s rules and practices as they set up housekeeping in the Promised Land.
“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Deuteronomy 23: 19-20
“If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain. Deuteronomy 23:24-25
“You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.
“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.
“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. Deuteronomy 24:14-18
Each of these warnings realizes that the actions of individuals in the nation have consequences. A society is no better than the members of it. And relationships between people matter- relationships of family, employer and worker, neighbors, foreign travelers and their hosts. This is a truth that stands the test of time, and is as true today as it was thousands of years ago when these words were written.
I have affirmed before that Israel is Not the USA (see post by that title), and these rules do not apply to our nation. We are not a theocracy, but we affirm freedom and value for all people as our forefathers stated in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”…
It is our duty to be subject to the government. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. Romans 13:1-2 However, we also are bound to value relationships and people as God does. We are to speak up when we see a wrong. We are to call evil, evil. He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
Our God is sovereign and omniscient. He has placed each of us exactly where we are, and given us a choice. We can chose to follow God and work quietly, but diligently, without complaint to make our neighborhood, workplace, school, State, Nation or the world a place that values all people and treats all with the dignity that image bearers of God deserve. Or we can choose to whine and moan about all that is wrong. Which do you think reflects Christ better to a world that desperately needs Him?
Soli Deo Gloria,
Diane