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Deuteronomy 15 starts with a discussion of the “end of the seven years.” The seventh year is not just a Sabbath for the land, but also a Sabbath for the people. However, at the end of the seventh year is actually the eighth year. What happens in the eighth year? The children of Israel were commanded to “grant a remission of debts” for their fellow Israelites.
Deut. 15:4 says, “However, there will be no poor among you….” This word for poor (אֶבְיוֹן ebyon, Strong’s lexicon No. H34) literally means “needy.” However, there is a condition to this promise, which is noted in Deut. 15:5, “if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all this commandment….” We are hear, obey and fulfill the commandments of the Lord and when the people act righteously, there will be no one who is desperately needy.
The Lord also promises the people of Israel that if they obey Him and release their monetary debts in the eighth year, “He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.”
Deut. 15:7–10 tells us that people who have been sold into slavery due to debt are to be released from their servitude at the end of the sixth year and to send them off into the world with generosity. In other words, monetary debts are to be released at the beginning of the eighth year, but releasing people from debts is to happen at the end of the sixth year, bracketing the sanctity of the seventh year.
Deut. 15:11 tells us, “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’”
This text is confusing in English, but in Hebrew it’s a little clearer. What is translated as “needy and poor” in the New American Standard Bible is the Hebrew word עָנִי ani (Strong’s H6041), which means “afflicted,” “oppressed” or “wretched.” This kind of poor person is not simply a person who doesn’t have as many of material possessions as all their neighbors. It’s a much more profound state of poverty, it’s not just a physical poverty, but a mental poverty too.
In other words, you will always have people in the land who have absolutely no knowledge of how to maintain themselves or their household and may need to be temporarily in servitude to another until their learn how to break free from their mental poverty so that they can start working themselves free from physical poverty too. Once they learn self-sufficiency, they will no longer be wretched.
The good works He began in us will be completed in Messiah Yeshua (Phil. 1:6). This isn’t just to teach us how to deal with the poor and wretched but how God deals with mankind.
Deut. 15:19–21 tells us that the people were to “consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock…. But if it has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.”
This text does not have a double-meaning that human beings have to be perfect to approach the Lord. Its “double meaning” is a Messianic reference not something to apply to ourselves or our fellow believers. Anytime you see a reference to a “firstborn male” in scripture, it has a spiritual reference to the Messiah. This text reinforces the truth that the Messiah was to be perfect, without blemish or any debilitating defect. He is not lame, blind or deaf.
Deuteronomy 16 goes over the pilgrimage festivals (Pesakh/Passover, Shavu’ot/Pentecost and Sukkot/Booths), all of which have a seven-day or seven-seven/week pattern, reinforcing the lessons in Deuteronomy 15.
Just as we are not to be “cheap” in blessing those who worked for us and have earned their freedom, we are not to be “cheap” when it comes to bringing our gifts to the feasts, particularly on the feast of Sukkot/Tabernacles.
The book of Deuteronomy is the “song of Moses” (Rev. 15:3–4; Exod. 14:30–15:19; Deut. 31:19–32:47). It is the easiest of the five books of the Torah to understand, and it is more commonly quoted than any of the other books, even by Yeshua Himself. Without the “song of Moses,” the “song of the Lamb” can’t be heard and does not make sense.
Reader: Dave. Speaker: Richard. Summary: Tammy.