Golden Text:
Readings for the week:
Day 1: Deuteronomy 15
Day 2: Psalms 82-83
Day 3: Psalm 107
Day 4: Psalm 109
Day 5: Isaiah 31-32
Day 6: 2Corinthians 9
I- The shemita.
In the previous portion we discussed the three types of tithes that God demanded and that should be used under the responsibility of the person and not of the institution of worship. In this one everything (including tithing) will be discussed, which will be given in the year of remission (shemitah).
Every seventh year, as well as every seventh day, was to be a Sabbath for the earth in order to worship God. Sowing, harvesting, and all tools or implements of work were to cease by the end of the sixth year. Thus, the earth itself would observe its own rest to the Lord. Parallel to that, everything that grew in that seventh year on earth would be called hefker which means ‘without an owner’. On the last day of that year, that same blessing that the earth received was extended to man with the forgiveness of debts. In this way the nation itself would receive an unparalleled transformation in all its areas.
So much so that men break their heads to create a system of social equity, falling into concepts of socialist democracy in most cases and so easily that God solves this issue.
The word shemitah covers two things here:
(1) The year of rest.
(2) The last day of that year that would be the day of cancellation of debts.
Historically, Israel’s leaders (rabbis) have sought to alleviate the situation that might arise. For example, they taught that in the year of the shemitah you could sell the land to a gentile, and he would work it, so that at the end of the year it would be bought back from him. Avoiding this only added weight to the nation’s guilt, because the purpose of this rest was also to rely completely on God’s protection, rather than to be looking for a solution to avoid a possible loss of investment in this case. They did not understand that with their cunning they were invalidating the miracle of protection that God would perform.
The year of shemitah was also an opportunity to testify about:
(1) The earth belongs to its Creator.
(2) He reigns and disposes in the life of his people, and they rejoice in that.
(3) He is the first interested in social equilibrium.
(4) The Creator is the source of all provision and blessing.
(5) His people are willing to be built up in faith by Him.
II- Service as an expression of love.
From this portion a question arises: Why does God allow there to be poor people? The answer can be based on two other questions as well: Can you imagine what the world would be like if we were all self-sufficient and never needed others? Can you imagine selfishness, greed, and vileness if no one ever felt compassion or gratitude? Through the act of giving to the needy, humanity has the opportunity to be elevated to the dimension of acting equal to its Creator. From this emerges a reality: “Seeking and giving to the needy is what really has value and what we need most as a human race.”
Herein lies the great difference between the divine theocratic system and the different worldly systems. Everyone tries to proclaim a social justice “X”, but they take God out of the equation. It is He who alone establishes, produces and gives the balanced opportunity to man to express true justice, and although some have insisted on reducing it to something purely emotional by reducing the concept of love to this, God establishes love not only as an intimate experience of the human spirit, but also from action. There is no love without service to one’s neighbor.
And of course, there can be service to one’s neighbor without love (for interests, to manipulate, for fear, etc.), but there will never be love without this being expressed through serving others.
III- Serving without limits.
From verses 7-8 we can conclude that they are the biblical origin of the obligation to help others: “You shall open your hand freely to him [the needy], and you shall lend him what he needs.” God is very clear in this text because he knows that there are those who need more income, those who require a stable job, those who ask for advice, those who need medical help, those who seek to get married and cannot find a suitable partner and who perhaps only need guidance on their spiritual journey.
Needs can be very varied, and we will always find people who are aware of their needs and others who do not even know what they really need. This is how the obligation to provide others with what they lack, forces them to open their eyes and try to see beyond the surface, to discover their most urgent needs and try to satisfy them. For this, the question would be: How to identify the real needs of others? No such detector has been invented, so we have no choice but to spend a few moments thinking about them and getting together to observe.
It is also good to understand that when you help the needy, there are not seen that are also being satisfied. For example: When we give a coin to the hungry, we are not only enabling him to buy food, but also the possibility that he will remain alive. When we help the needy to get a job, we also give them the possibility of dignifying life. When we give Him words of encouragement, we are also giving Him strength to bring encouragement to others and face new challenges. When we share the gospel with the sinner, we also give him the possibility to live fully.
IV- Sensitive to the needy.
In v.7 of the golden text in the portion something very special appears. God says, “Thou shalt not harden the heart.” To understand it we must see it in the light of other moments in which this same phrase appears, for example, in Pharaoh. This clearly means that he became numb by focusing solely on his pain from the intense pressure the plagues placed on him, rather than sensitized to seeing that his pain for the plagues was akin to Israel’s pain for the slavery that had been imposed on them.
In our context, the admonition not to harden the heart is to prevent us from becoming cold and insensitive to the pain and anguish of our fellow human beings. It cannot happen to a child of God that his personal worries or pains make him indifferent and insensitive to the situation of his neighbor. It is very difficult to avoid giving when you feel other people’s pain and distress. This is how, through being attentive to the situation of our neighbor, this sensitivity towards him can remain.
It is because of this sensitivity to one’s neighbor that it can be understood that the Bible does not teach to take from the haves to give to the haves, but rather commands each one in his own love and freedom to be able to take away himself to help the needy.
V- Filling in for my brother in the faith.
Verse 11 brings another reality that can be key to learning to give to the needy: “You shall open your hand to your brother, to the poor and to the needy in your land.” Let’s imagine that the needy person is a blood brother, in which case giving would be much easier (and it is almost always done with all the heart). We must always remember this: “When another believer of the same faith and a child of our heavenly Father asks us for help means that your brother is asking you.”
Now if this is not enough, the Lord’s teaching is much more powerful: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So, the next time you ask for help, you should think: “They are asking me for help, and it is as if that person were the one in need myself.”
Questions:
1.- Share with the rest of the group what strategy has been effective for you to know the real needs of a sibling.
2.- Ask God for clarity and select two brothers from your congregation to observe your needs. Then share with your pastor or group facilitator to help you strategize cooperation with these brothers.
3.- How does the year of shemitah remind you of what Christ did for you?
Under Construction..
Deuteronomy 15.
1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the LORD’s release has been proclaimed. 3 Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
19 “All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose. 21 But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. 22 You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
Psalm 82.
A PSALM OF ASAPH.
1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: 2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; 7 nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
Psalm 83.
A SONG. A PSALM OF ASAPH.
1 O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! 2 For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. 3 They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. 4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!” 5 For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant— 6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8 Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, 10 who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground. 11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, 12 who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind. 14 As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, 15 so may you pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane! 16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O LORD. 17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, 18 that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 107.
1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; 5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. 6 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. 8 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. 15 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.
17 Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; 18 they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. 21 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
23 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; 24 they saw the deeds of the LORD, his wondrous works in the deep. 25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. 26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; 27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits’ end. 28 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. 31 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, 34 a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants. 35 He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. 36 And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; 37 they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. 38 By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish.
39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, 40 he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; 41 but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks. 42 The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.
Psalm 109.
TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID.
1 Be not silent, O God of my praise! 2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. 3 They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. 4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. 5 So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7 When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin! 8 May his days be few; may another take his office! 9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow! 10 May his children wander about and beg, seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit! 11 May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil! 12 Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children! 13 May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation! 14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out! 15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
16 For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted, to put them to death. 17 He loved to curse; let curses come upon him! He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him! 18 He clothed himself with cursing as his coat; may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones! 19 May it be like a garment that he wraps around him, like a belt that he puts on every day! 20 May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life!
21 But you, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me! 22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me. 23 I am gone like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust. 24 My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt, with no fat. 25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads.
26 Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to your steadfast love! 27 Let them know that this is your hand; you, O LORD, have done it! 28 Let them curse, but you will bless! They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad! 29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonor; may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD; I will praise him in the midst of the throng. 31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.
Isaiah 31.
1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD! 2 And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity. 3 The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.
4 For thus the LORD said to me, “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down
to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. 5 Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.”
6 Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
8 “And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor. 9 His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 32.
1. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. 2 Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land. 3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention. 4 The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly. 5 The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable. 6 For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. 7 As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil; he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right. 8 But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.
9 Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. 10 In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come. 11 Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist. 12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, 13 for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city. 14 For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; 15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. 6 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. 18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. 19 And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low. 20 Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.
2Corinthians 9.
1. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!