Links for today’s readings:
Read: Deuteronomy 23 Listen: (3:10) Read: Romans 3 Listen: (4:30)
Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 23:15-16
15 If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master. 16 Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress them.
Reflection: Blurred Borders
By Erin Newton
In most cases, borders are invisible lines. The border between my house and my neighbor’s exists on some land survey stored at the courthouse. For us, it tends to be where someone stops mowing. To get from my state to the next, we cross a river, but I’m not entirely sure which part of the river belongs to which state. If I drive east or west, the border is somewhere lost in the pine trees or in the sand.
Our world is made up of lines. Some lines have been given walls or are naturally bound by water. Borders serve the purpose of separating us from them.
We read about God’s people needing to separate themselves in the foods they eat or the way they worship, conduct business, and relate in marriage and family. Such a separation allowed them to establish their new identity as God’s people.
Some of their laws, however, were similar to the laws of other nations. The “eye for an eye” rule is one that echoes the laws of Hammurabi, an eighteenth-century BCE ruler. This shared principle highlights how sometimes borders were blurred. Such is the case in Deuteronomy 23.
Edward Woods points out in his commentary on Deuteronomy, “While international treaties often required the return of fugitive slaves, Israel was not to follow this practice.” The refusal to return the refugee slave meant allowing the us/them divide to dissipate. The fleeing person could abide with the Israelites, under the protection of God. This call to acceptance showed that the people had utmost allegiance to God.
Despite this call for acceptance, biases and prejudices were likely to happen. So another important piece of instruction was given: “Such a slave was not to be oppressed” (Woods). Oppression was part of Israel’s past. Oppression was the reason for the exodus. The oppressed should not become the oppressor.
Even if the Israelites remembered their years of slavery in Egypt, God instills this direct command for compassion. Let them stay. Leave them alone.
As Christians, we remember that we are not to be conformed to this world. Such separation establishes the basis for our ethical and moral behavior. There are many behaviors and beliefs in the world that we cannot align with. But that does not mean we create walls of hostility.
Living among God’s people should be a place of refuge and welcome, not oppression.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. — Psalm 31.1
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle
Read more: Jesus on the Border
Whether Jew or Samaritan, Red or Blue, or any other worldy division, Jesus stands calling everyone to acknowledge him.
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