DEUTERONOMY 25
The subject of judgment in any controversy is now introduced; such judgment is to be marked by righteousness. So long as we are here we are under grace, but we are also under government. The joy of the house of Jehovah, and the peace of Jerusalem, are secured by the presence there, according to Psalm 122, of “thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David”. It would be a mistake to suppose that Israel was, or will be, better furnished with “thrones of judgment” than the saints are today.
But all must be judged now according to the principles of the kingdom — the new kind of righteousness introduced by the reign of grace. “They shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked” (verse 1). A man is “wicked” now who does not judge himself, and act in grace towards his brother. The principles of grace which God has set up in His kingdom become the standard by which everything must be judged. That which is inconsistent with the present ways of God, and the character of the dispensation, is unrighteous.
There is a tendency to become legal in our thoughts of righteousness. The man in Matthew 18 had a righteous claim, but he exacted it in such a way as to constitute himself “wicked”. The Lord acts retributively in regard of anything ungracious in our spirits or ways; there is still such a thing as beating with stripes, and this for one who is “thy brother”. There are three different classes of bondmen in Luke 12: 42 - 48. There is a “faithful and prudent steward” who, in result, is set over all that his lord has. There is a wicked bondman who has his portion appointed with the unbelievers. But there are others who are beaten with either many [p. 312] or few stripes according to their deserts. The latter represent true believers who come under the Lord’s chastisement as members of His household, and that is in keeping with Deuteronomy 25. The Lord’s retributive ways are very equitable; many stripes for one who knew his lord’s will, and did not prepare himself nor do it; few stripes for one who knew not that will, and did ignorantly things worthy of stripes. The fact that in “the land” there may arise necessity for “judgment” and “stripes” shews that responsibility continues. That being so, there is always the possibility of wrong-doing which will, in the divine government, meet with its just deserts. “For he that does a wrong shall receive the wrong he has done, and there is no respect of persons” (Colossians 3:25).
Paul contrasts the “rod” with “love and a spirit of meekness” (1 Corinthians 4: 21). He preferred not to “use severity”, but he had authority which might have to take this form. He said to the Corinthians, “If I come again I will not spare” (2 Corinthians 13: 2, 10). He did not say exactly what he would do, nor did John as to Diotrephes, but the “rod” was there, and, in case of necessity, would be used. The brethren have not the rod of apostolic authority, but there is with them ability to judge in a way that corresponds with Deuteronomy 25: 1 - 3. If the brethren have to administer stripes it is well to receive them in the spirit of the psalmist who said, “Let the righteous smite me, it is kindness; and let him reprove me, it is an excellent oil which my head shall not refuse” (Psalm 141: 5). Any such rebuke is the Lord’s, though it may be inflicted by the brethren. A sense of disapproval has sometimes to be brought home, “according to the measure” of culpability.
But “stripes”, as administered by the brethren, are restricted in number; there is a point beyond which we are not to go. And the reason for this is not lest he [p. 313] should be killed, or have more than he deserves, but lest “thy brother become despicable in thine eyes”. What is to be avoided is the effect upon our own spirits of undue severity; we are not to lose brotherly respect. A disobedient man is to be marked and shunned, but he is still to be admonished “as a brother” (2 Thessalonians 3: 14, 15). There is to be a brotherly spirit even in what is a righteous discipline. To withdraw, or shrink from, a disorderly brother is right, and with the object in view “that he may be ashamed of himself”, but it is done for his good, and in a spirit that holds him in brotherly respect. John speaks of one seeing “his brother sinning a sin not unto death”. Even his sin is to bring out the true character of righteousness and love in the brethren; they are to pray for him in view of his having life given to him. So that for one under rebuke there continues earnest desire that self-judgment and restoration should come about.
The principle of recompense runs through this chapter. If we do what is inconsistent with the principles of the kingdom we shall get stripes (Colossians 3: 25); if we engage in the patient labour of love, like the ox treading out the corn (verse 4) we shall not go unrecompensed. Every bit of true labour for the saints has its present recompense, and the one who renders it is a comfort to the brethren instead of a trial like the one who deserves stripes.
Paul uses different figures in 1 Corinthians 9 — carrying on war, planting a vineyard, herding a flock, ploughing, treading out corn, sowing — and he tells us expressly that Deuteronomy 25: 4 was written, not because God was occupied about oxen, but “altogether for our sakes”. It is a divine principle that all labour is entitled to recompense from those who benefit by it. Paul had not used this right at Corinth, that he might put no hindrance in the way of the glad tidings of the Christ, but he asserted [p. 314] the right as an unquestionable divine principle. In a spiritual sense there is always recompense for the ox who treads out the corn; he himself enjoys what he treads out for others.
Then Jehovah foresaw that death would come in, even in favoured Israel, and that if names were not to be blotted out from the inheritance they must be secured by one who would in unselfish love build up a house and raise up a name on behalf of the dead. It was a figure of what Christ would do for Israel, who, as being under death, could bring forth no seed for lift eternal in the inheritance. The wife would represent those in Israel who, through a divine work in their souls, felt what it was to be bereft of all hope according to the flesh, death having come in to blight all prospects of the inheritance being enjoyed or maintained on the natural line. All such had the sense that grace alone could meet the case.
The one who liked not to take his brother’s wife would typify that self-centred and ungracious spirit which was found in scribes and Pharisees, who thought only of themselves and their fancied righteousness, and cared nothing for the state and sorrow of Israel, and were unwilling, as well as unable, to do anything for the godly remnant who felt it. God would cover such a spirit with disgrace and infamy; this answers to the woes pronounced by the Lord upon that class of persons.
In the book of Ruth, Boaz is seen as taking Ruth “to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place” (Ruth 4: 10). This is connected, as we know, with the right of redemption, and it is typical of what has been taken up by Christ as the Kinsman-Redeemer. The kinsman nearer than Boaz, who declined to redeem lest he should mar [p. 315] his own inheritance, represents the legal principle that can do nothing to save the situation when death has come in. But Boaz, in the spirit of Christ, thinks of “our brother Elimelech”. Israel’s name would have perished if Christ had not taken up the remnant and secured a seed to inherit. The maintenance of the inheritance was hopeless on man’s side; Israel nationally and responsibly was dead; there was no possibility of fruit for God, or of the inheritance being held according to God’s thoughts. But Christ was not careful as to marring His own inheritance, for He was cut off and had nothing, but at all cost to Himself He exercised the right of redemption. He secured the inheritance, and brought in a generation to stand in its privileges and blessings according to God. Israel’s name and house will be secured, not on the line of nature — death is on all that — but by Christ coming in as the true Kinsman, and in principle it is thus that all is secured for the saints of the assembly.
The spirit of all this is intended to influence us in our brotherly relations. Our brother’s name in Israel is to be maintained even at some personal sacrifice; his house is to be built up. Even if he has come under some governmental dealing of God we are to be concerned that his name shall not be blotted out. We are not to be like the Pharisees, scribes, and doctors of the law who taught in Israel, but who had no brotherly spirit. They were not prepared to make any sacrifices for their poor, afflicted, distressed and sinful brethren suffering under the government of God. But Christ came in to do a true Kinsman’s part for those who were resourceless, and who needed Him. Boaz made himself a name in Bethlehem by acting as a kinsman. This honour belongs in a superlative degree to Christ as the true Boaz, but it will surely rest in measure on those who act in the Spirit of Christ towards their brethren.
[p. 316] Verses 13 - 16 remind us that God Himself has balances and weights; He weighs persons (Daniel 5: 27), and actions (1 Samuel 2: 3), and spirits (Proverbs 16: 2). And He is “the God of measure” (2 Corinthians 10: 13). He looks also that His people should weigh and measure things in a “perfect and just” way. He would not have us to judge by appearances. Some matters are weightier than others, and there is no more serious symptom of moral perversion than to attach undue importance to the small while leaving aside “weightier matters” (Matthew 23: 23).
There must be with us a divine standard of moral values if days in the land are to be prolonged, and this does not admit of variation. No “divers weights” are permissible; they are not to be “a great and a small” according to circumstances. Our brethren are to have all that is due to them, and no unjust self-advantage is to have any place in our dealings with them. Thus every one is assured that his interests are carefully safe-guarded by his brethren! “We are members one of another”; then why should I deceive my brother, or wrong him in any way?: He is part of myself.
Personal feelings, either favourable or unfavourable, are very apt to lead to our weights being tampered with, and this has to be guarded against. Perfectly equitable dealings are essential to mutual confidence, and without this there can be no enjoyment of the land. Righteousness has a great place in John’s epistle, and it is largely a matter of weight and measure; that is, of each receiving what is due to him.
The man who was concerned about the mote in his brother’s eye, while ignoring the beam in his own, had evidently a different standard for his brother than he had for himself. He had “divers weights”. The Lord calls him a hypocrite. And in this connection He says, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you” (Matthew 7: 1 - 5); the government of God will [p. 317] certainly recompense any unequal or unrighteous dealing.
The chapter closes by speaking of retribution on Amalek, the first wilderness enemy of the people of God. There was peculiar audacity in an attack upon them at such a time; it was, as seen in Exodus 17, the hand of the adversary on the throne of Jah. But as referred to in Deuteronomy 25 what marked Amalek was smiting without fear of God the hindmost and feeble of the people when they were faint and weary. The flesh instigated by Satan would seek to destroy at the very outset what is of God in feebleness here. This brings out the true and pitiless character of what is opposed to God and to His people. It is to be remembered; there is to be no weakening in our souls of the sense of the deadly character of the opposition that has had to be encountered. There is to be no thought of any truce in this war, or of any terms with a relentless and unchanging foe. The power of evil which first assailed us as redeemed is ever to be in our thoughts as an enemy to be utterly destroyed. The saints are ever to hold themselves in this attitude of mind. The blotting out of the remembrance of Amalek is looked at in Exodus 17 as done by Jehovah, whose throne had been assailed, but it is viewed in Deuteronomy 25 as done by His people who had suffered. Their time of rest and full blessing will be the time when the remembrance of Amalek will be blotted out from under the heaven.