Wednesday Bible Study: Odds and Ends

 Deuteronomy 15 consists of three pieces. Two of them echo ideas from Leviticus but with important differences -- in fact quite major contradictions. One, as far as I can recall, is essentially novel.15 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because theLord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.3 You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.4 In Exodus and Leviticus, every seven years was a " sabbatical year " in which the fields had to be fallowed. The Jubilee year, in which debts were cancelled, was prescribed in Leviticus 25 as happening every seven sabbatical years, that is every 49 years. But here debts are cancelled every 7 years.However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land theLord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,5 if only you fully obey theLord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.6 For theLord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.Here the chapter contradicts itself. There need be no poor people among you, but verse 11 says there will always be poor pe...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs