Ver. 8.-Leprosy. I. A JUDGMENT TO BE DREADED. Leprosy is viewed here, as usually in Scripture: 1. .As a stroke of Divine furlgment. It was not always such (Job ii.). Nor did the stroke of Divine judgment always take this form (Uzzah, Jeroboam, Ananias, etc.). Dut it was a frequent form of punishment for sins of a theocratic nature (Uzziah,_ Gehazi, etc.). It is seldom safe to interpret judgmentli (Luke xiii. 1-6), but we may expect God's stroke in some way to fall upon ourselve& if we persistently despise his laws. 2. .As a symbol of spiritual corruption. Tho worst penalty with which God ca_n _visit any ?ne is to smi~e him wit~ soul leprosy, to leave sin to have its natural domrn1on over him, to allow its corruption to work and spread through his inner man. . .. II. A WARNING TO BE PO1''DEBED. They are bid remember the case of Mmam. We do well to lay to heart the instances we have known of sin working out punishment and death. Miriam's case suggests the additional thought of pardon on repentance, and of the prevalence of intercession in obtaining forgiveness for offences (Nu!]lb. xii. 9-16).-J. 0. Vere. 6-15.-The treatment of the poor. 'l'he helplessness and dependence of the poor expose them to much harsh treatment. The poor man has, however, his Friend and Judge iu God, whose Law here steps iri for bis protection. lt ordains..... OR, lllV, 1-22.] THE DOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 385
I. THAT THE NE0EBSARIEfl OF LIFE ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN FROM IIIM. The millstone (ver, 6). His raiment, which if taken in pledge is to be restored by nicrhtfall (vers. 12, 13). These 11.re considerate provisions. It is the excess of cruelty to press law 11.gninst 11. man to tho extent of depriving him of the necessaries of life. This would apply to needful clothing, to a bed, to cooking utensils, to the tools by which he earr.s his bread. It is nearly as had to receive and keep these things in pledge or pawn. Help, free and ungrudgin~, should be forthcoming to all honest persons in need, without driving them to such straits. If men will not work, neither should they eat (2 Thess. iii. 10), but while this may be a reason for refusing to support them in their indolence, it can be no reason for helping them to strip themselves of the necessaries of their existence. Instead of taking a man's tools from him, he should rather be encouraged to retain and ply them, "working with his hands the thing that is good," that he may both support himself and "have to give to him that needeth '' (Eph. iv. 28). JI. THAT HIS PERSONAL FREEDOM IS TO BE RESPECTED. (Ver. 7.) No strong or rich neighbour was to be allowed to steal, enslave, or sell him. The steali □ g of a man was punishable with death. And the spirit of the Law carries us beyond its letter. It requires that we respect the poor man's freedom in all the relations of his life. What- ever the degree of his dependence, it does not entitle another to force his convictions, or do aught that would interfere with the exercise of his rights as man or citizen. Yet how often is compulsion and intimidation applied to those in dependent situations to compel them to act, not as their consciences approve, but as their superiors desire! He who takes advantage of a man's weakness to do anything of the kind is a "man-stealer" in principle and at heart. III. THAT HIS DWELLING IS NOT TO BE INVADED. (Vers. 10, 11.) The fine sense of justice, the delicacy of feeling, in these precepts, is certainly remarkable. The poor man's house is to be as sacred from invasi~n as the house of the wealthy. Even his creditor is to wait outside, and let the man fetch as his pledge what he can best spare. We are taught a lesson of respect for the domiciliary and proprietary rights of the poor. Many act as if the homes of the poor were not entitled to have their privacy respected in the same way as the homes of the rich, The Law of God teaches otherwise. We owe it to God, and we owe it to the humanity which is in our poorer brethren as well as in us, that we treat them and their belongings with precisely the same amount of respect that we would show to persons in a better social position. IV. THAT HIS WAGES ARE TO BE PAID WITH BEGULARITY. (Vers. 14, 15.) Every day, the text says, and in the East this was necessary. During the Indian famines it was found that the persons engaged on the relief works had to be paid in this manner. Great suffering was sometimes experienced from the neglect of the rule. The law extends to hired service of all kinds, and enjoins in principle regularity in payment of wages. A like principle applies to the payment of tradesmen's accounts. We have heard tradesmen complain bitterly of the inconvenience to which they were subjected from the singular want of consideration displayed by wealthy families in this particular. Accounts are allowed to run on, and payment is withheld, not from want of ability to pay, but from sheer indolence and carelessness in attending to such matters. "While to crave payment would, on the tradesman's part, mean the forfeiture of custom.-J. 0.
Vers. 16-22.-Doing ;'ustice and loving mncy. I. EACH SOUL IS TO BEAR ITS OIDr BIN. (Ver. 16.) This verse lays down the rule of human jurisprudence. Loss and suffering to the innocent, as a result of the course of justice inflicting punishment on the guilty, cannot nlwo.ys be avoided. But this is an incidental, not a designed result. With those wider movements of Divine justice, which seem to turn on the federal constitution of the race, and involve different principles, human justice has nothing to do. The rule for us is that the punishment of crime, with loss and suffering resulting thcrefrom, is to be confined as much as possible to the guilty person. II. JUSTICE IS TO BE DONE TO TIIE WEAKEST. (Vers. 17, 18.) 'l.'he stranger aud fatherless and widow aro again taken under tho Law's protection. Their right is not to be perverted. The widow's raiment is not to be taken in pledge. There should need no inducement to do what is right, but Moses reminds the Israelites of their own past condition as bondmcu. Oppression is doubly disgraceful when those guilty of it aro persons who have themselves ta~tcd itij bitterness, or who have themselves beeo. DEU'l'ERONOMY, 2g 3M THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [OH, XXIV, 1--2:!,