Key Verses: Deuteronomy 15:7, 15:10, 15:11
Moses gives laws of remarkable generosity. Every seventh year is to be a “year of release,” in which debts among Israelites are cancelled. He urges open-handedness toward the poor: “you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,” but give freely and without a grudging heart, “because for this the LORD your God will bless you.” Israelite servants who have served six years are to be freed in the seventh, and not sent away empty-handed but furnished liberally from the flock, threshing floor, and winepress, remembering that Israel itself was once enslaved and redeemed.
The sabbatical release and the laws of generosity reveal a God deeply concerned for the poor and for a society that does not entrench poverty and debt. The command to give “freely” and without a grudging heart reaches past mere action to the disposition of the heart, calling for glad, ungrudging generosity that reflects God’s own giving. The freeing of servants with liberal provision is explicitly grounded in Israel’s redemption: because God generously redeemed them from slavery, they must deal generously with others. Moses’ realistic acknowledgment, “there will never cease to be poor in the land,” is not resignation but a call to perpetual open-handedness, a text Jesus echoes (Mark 14:7) and the early church embodies in its care for the needy.
Key Terms & Words:
- שְׁמִטָּה (shemittah) - Deuteronomy 15:1 - “Release”; the cancellation of debts every seventh year
- וְלֹא־תִקְפֹּץ (velo-tiqpots) - Deuteronomy 15:7 - “You shall not shut”; do not close your hand to the poor
- נָתוֹן תִּתֵּן (naton titten) - Deuteronomy 15:10 - “You shall surely give”; give freely and ungrudgingly
Cross-References:
- Leviticus 25:1-7 - The sabbatical year for the land
- Deuteronomy 15:15 - Freeing servants because Israel was redeemed from slavery
- Mark 14:7 - “You always have the poor with you”
- 2 Corinthians 9:7 - “God loves a cheerful giver”
Discussion Questions:
- What do the release of debts and the freeing of servants reveal about God’s concern for the poor?
- Why does Moses emphasize the disposition of the heart in giving, not just the act?
- How does Israel’s own redemption shape the way it is to treat others?