Vers.17-25.-Money-making must be abo11e suspicion. We have in these verses an excellent lesson upon mercantile morality. '!'here nre too many people in this world who are not at all particular how money is made, if only it be made. "The wages of iniquity" are as welcome to them as to Balaam. But it is plain from these verses that tho Lord does regard the way money is won, and will not handle what has come licentiously himself, nor give any countenance to bis people in doing so. I. MONEY MADE DY WICKEDNESS IS ABHORRED OF Goo. The wretched woman who lives by her own dishonour, the wretched man who lends himself to licentiousness, are both intolerable to tho Divine King. 'l'he idols of the heathen may receive the wages of licentiousness, and be served by lewd women, as the history of heathenism shows, but God will have no such dedications polluting his house. As tha Holy One, he will uot be served by the deliberately unholy and profane, II. MONEY MADE OUT OF THE NEEDS OF TRE POOR IIAINTS IS ALSO AN ABOMINATION TO Goo. It was a noble hiw that Jew was not to play the money-lender to Jew. Tu 3i6 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMl, [oR, um. 1-ll5.
extort from a brother what his needs can ill Afford to pay, Is forbidden. The Jews were to be brothers indeed, in reRdiness to lend without hope of recompense. And although this arrangement may not be literally binding under this dispensation, there is e. general idea abroad of the undesirableness of mRking money out of God's poor people. There is to be special consideration shown surely to those who are of the household of faith (Gal. vi. 10). We should suspect a man of worldliness who extorted big interest from a struggling Church, when well able to advance the desperately needed loan. III. A SPHERE FOR USUllY IS RECOGNIZED BY THE LORD. 'l'be stranger may borrow under an en!l;agement to pay interest. 'l'his is only right. If usury were universally forbidden, the world of commerce would come to a standstill. Capital would not accumulate if it had no reward awaiting it. The stranger, consequently, comes and asks the favour of a loan. He has no claim on you for it, but he is willing to pay a fair price for the obligation. The whole edifice of commerce rests upon the legality of such a transaction. It is a mutual benefit,. At the same time, there may be extortion and speculation in usury, ju,st as in other lines of business; and God shows that "extortioners n (l Cor. vi. 10) have no part in his kin~dom. It is selfishness pure and simple, and in its most tyrannical and despicable form. r,. ALL vows REGISTERED IN COl."'NECTION WITH OUB MONEY-MAKmG MUST DE FAITHFULLY PERFORMED. It is almost a natural instinct that vows should be made unto the Lord in connection with our prosperity. Often a person struggling to realize an "honest profit,'' while the transaction is only in progress, and the issue is still uncertain, dedicates a proportion, if the Lord send him success; or a proportion of a new crop, if it be a good one. Such vows must never be recalled, but always honour- ably met. "Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay" (Eccles. v. 5). V. 'l'HE RIGHTS OF THE HUNGRY SHOULD ALSO DE RESPECTED IF A LAND IS TO ENJOY sucCEss. 'l'he vines are so productive in Palestine, when properly cultivated, and the vineyards so unprotected, that a hungry passenger may fill himself and no one be a bit the poorer. Or he may enter the field of standing corn and make what use he can of his hands. In other words, the hungry was regarded as having a right to safisfy the cravings of nature and to pass on. And when it was placed on the statute-book as a right, it saved the poor man's self-respect and never interfered with his personal freedom. '!'bis " poor-law" gives man his need without asking him to surrender his liberty. This is its beauty, it meets the pressing necessity without destroying the person's legitimate self-respect. Liberty is more precious to any upright soul than bread; and it is a wholesome instinct which, as far as possible, should be respected in any beneficent national arrange- ment.-R. M. E.
Vers. 1-6.-Loss of sacred privi1ege a grievous penal,ty. In such passages as this, very much more is intended than is expressed. We have to read between the lines, for only they who lived in those days of Jewish life could comprehend the shadowy hints, the pregnant suggestions, which are here reduced to words. L THE ADCSE OF REPRODUCTIVE VITALI6M IB A GIGANTIC BIN. The law of the natural kingdom, with regard to every species of life, that its "seed should be in itself," obtains in man its highest form. ru 1 here human inclination, passion, will come into play. It is an honour which God has conferred upon us, in that he has made us agents co-operating with him in the perpetuation of the human race. And the abuse of this function is followed forthwith by the Divine censure. In many cases, judgment swiftly follows upon the heels of the sin. As at Betbpeor, sudden and overwhelming penalty fell upon the Jewish culprits who yielded to the seductive snares of the Moabite women, so that there fell of the Hebrews four and twenty thousand men; so summary ,·engea □ ce falls upon such transgressors still. Adultery and incest are stamped with the red brand of God's hottest wrath. One feels in reading the shameful narrative of Lot•~ incest at Zoar, as if the historian had not left on it the burning stigma of indignation; but we may draw no such conclusion from his silence. In this chapter we perceive how the blank is filled. The isllue of that incelltuous intercourse are bra.nded with perpetual shame. lltr. xxnr. 1-25.] THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 377