Deuteronomy 24:21

_WHEN THOU CUTTEST DOWN THINE HARVEST IN THY FIELD, AND HAST FORGOT A SHEAF IN THE FIELD, THOU SHALT NOT GO AGAIN TO FETCH IT: IT SHALL BE FOR THE STRANGER, FOR THE FATHERLESS, AND FOR THE WIDOW: THAT THE LORD THY GOD MAY BLESS THEE IN ALL THE WORK OF THINE HANDS._ When thou cuttest down thine harvest. The grain pulled up by the roots or cut down with a sickle was laid in loose sheaves; the fruit of the olive was obtained by striking the branches with long poles or shaking the tree (Isaiah 17:6; Isaiah 24:13); and the grape clusters, severed by a hook, were gathered in the hands of the vintager. Here is a beneficent provision for the poor, who were to participate in the general joy at the crowning of the year with the divine goodness. Every forgotten sheaf in the harvest field was to lie; th

14-22 It is not hard to prove that purity, piety, justice, mercy, fair conduct, kindness to the poor and destitute, consideration for them, and generosity of spirit, are pleasing to God, and becoming in his redeemed people. The difficulty is to attend to them in our daily walk and conversation....

Compare the marginal references. The motive assigned for these various acts of consideration is one and the same Deuteronomy 24:18, Deuteronomy 24:22....

EXPOSITION LAWS RESPECTING DIVORCE, AGAINST MAN-STEALING AND INJUSTICE. DEUTERONOMY 24:1 _Of divorce_._ _If a man put away his wife because she did not any longer please him, and she became the wife of another man, by whom also she was put away, or from whom she was severed by his death, the first husband might not remarry her, for that would be an abomination in the eyes of the Lord, and would bring sin on the land. This is not a law sanctioning or regulating divorce; that is simply assumed as what might occur, and what is here regulated is the treatment by the first husband of a woman who has been divorced a second time....

WHEN THOU GATHEREST THE GRAPES OF THY VINEYARD,.... Which was done much about the same time that the olives were gathered, and both after wheat harvest, about the latter end of June, or beginning of July; for they were more forward in those hot countries: THOU SHALL NOT GLEAN [IT] AFTERWARDS; go over the vines a second time, to pick off every berry or bunch that escaped them at first gathering: IT SHALL BE FOR THE STRANGER, FOR THE FATHERLESS, AND FOR THE WIDOW; as the forgotten sheaf, and the olive berries left; these are all supposed to be poor persons, otherwise no doubt there were strangers, and fatherless persons, and widows, in good circumstances; who, as they needed not, so neither would give themselves the trouble, but think it beneath them to go into fields, oliveyards, and vineyards, to gather what was left by the owners. These laws were made in favour of the poor, that mercy...

20. CONCERNING DIVORCE AND LAWS OF MERCY CHAPTER 24 _ 1. Concerning divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1)_ 2. Concerning pledge and slavery (Deuteronomy 24:6) 3. Concerning leprosy (Deuteronomy 24:8) 4. Concerning the oppression of the poor (Deuteronomy 24:10) 5. Concerning injustice (Deuteronomy 24:16) 6. The stranger, the fatherless and the widow remembered (Deuteronomy 24

Laws in the interest of the sojourner (see Deuteronomy 1:16 *), the orphan (EV, fatherless because the motherless orphan would be seen to by the father), and the widow (Deuteronomy 10:18 *), classes for which D shows great concern (Deuteronomy 15:12 *), the Levite (Deuteronomy 18:1 *) being often added (Deuteronomy 26:12, etc.). Deuteronomy 24:17_ f_....

Deuteronomy 24:5 to Deuteronomy 25:4. Thirteen Laws of Equity and Humanity Besides the humane temper common to most of them, and a few cue-words, there are no apparent reasons for their being grouped or for the order in which they occur. They have various openings, mostly conditional, otherwise negative. Three are not in the direct form of address, and two only close with this; the rest are in the Sg. form, except one mixed of Sg. and Pl. Some are peculiar to D, others have parallels in E and H. In particular note the separation of the three laws on pledges, and their use of two different terms for -pledge." All this suggests a compilation from different sources....

DISCOURSE: 216 GLEANING, A DIVINE ORDINANCE Deuteronomy 24:19. _When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember, that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing_ [Note: If this be a Charity Sermon, the triple repetition of “the Stranger, the Fatherless, and the Widow,” must, of course, be more larg

(15) NEEDY TO BE CONSIDERED AT HARVEST TIME (Deuteronomy 24:19-22) 19 When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. 20 When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the sojourners, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21 When thou gatherest _the grapes of_ thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it after thee: it shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22 And thou shalt remember that thou was a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing. THOUGHT QUESTIONS 24:19-22 430. Are some people naturally more generous than others? Is generosity a quality cont