Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 320
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IMMERSE
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BEGINNINGS
24:20–25:19
you do. When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the
boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and
widows. When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the
vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Remember that you were slaves in the land of
Egypt. That is why I am giving you this command.
“Suppose two people take a dispute to court, and the judges declare that
one is right and the other is wrong. If the person in the wrong is sentenced
to be flogged, the judge must command him to lie down and be beaten
in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate to the crime. But
never give more than forty lashes; more than forty lashes would publicly
humiliate your neighbor.
“You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the
grain.
“If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of
them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from
outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and
have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. The first
son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that
his name will not be forgotten in Israel.
“But if the man refuses to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the
town gate and say to the elders assembled there, ‘My husband’s brother
refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel—he refuses to fulfill the
duties of a b rother-in-law by marrying me.’ The elders of the town will
then summon him and talk with him. If he still refuses and says, ‘I don’t
want to marry her,’ the widow must walk over to him in the presence of
the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she must
declare, ‘This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother
with children.’ Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the
family of the man whose sandal was pulled off ’!
“If two Israelite men get into a fight and the wife of one tries to rescue
her husband by grabbing the testicles of the other man, you must cut off
her hand. Show her no pity.
“You must use accurate scales when you weigh out merchandise, and
you must use full and honest measures. Yes, always use honest weights
and measures, so that you may enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your
God is giving you. All who cheat with dishonest weights and measures are
detestable to the Lord your God.
“Never forget what the Amalekites did to you as you came from Egypt.
They attacked you when you were exhausted and weary, and they struck
down those who were straggling behind. They had no fear of God.
Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your
