Antiguo Testamento

Deuteronomy — Capítulo 15

On the Year of Release. - The first two regulations in this chapter, viz., Deu 15:1-11 and Deu 15:12-18, follow simply upon the law concerning the poor tithe in Deu 14:28-29. The Israelites were not only to cause thos…

Versión

Texto — Reina-Valera 1960

1Cada siete años harás remisión.

2Y esta es la manera de la remisión: perdonará a su deudor todo aquel que hizo empréstito de su mano, con el cual obligó a su prójimo; no lo demandará más a su prójimo, o a su hermano, porque es pregonada la remisión de Jehová.

3Del extranjero demandarás el reintegro; pero lo que tu hermano tuviere tuyo, lo perdonará tu mano,

4para que así no haya en medio de ti mendigo; porque Jehová te bendecirá con abundancia en la tierra que Jehová tu Dios te da por heredad para que la tomes en posesión,

5si escuchares fielmente la voz de Jehová tu Dios, para guardar y cumplir todos estos mandamientos que yo te ordeno hoy.

6Ya que Jehová tu Dios te habrá bendecido, como te ha dicho, prestarás entonces a muchas naciones, mas tú no tomarás prestado; tendrás dominio sobre muchas naciones, pero sobre ti no tendrán dominio.

7Cuando haya en medio de ti menesteroso de alguno de tus hermanos en alguna de tus ciudades, en la tierra que Jehová tu Dios te da, no endurecerás tu corazón, ni cerrarás tu mano contra tu hermano pobre,

8sino abrirás a él tu mano liberalmente, y en efecto le prestarás lo que necesite.

9Guárdate de tener en tu corazón pensamiento perverso, diciendo: Cerca está el año séptimo, el de la remisión, y mires con malos ojos a tu hermano menesteroso para no darle; porque él podrá clamar contra ti a Jehová, y se te contará por pecado.

10Sin falta le darás, y no serás de mezquino corazón cuando le des; porque por ello te bendecirá Jehová tu Dios en todos tus hechos, y en todo lo que emprendas.

11Porque no faltarán menesterosos en medio de la tierra; por eso yo te mando, diciendo: Abrirás tu mano a tu hermano, al pobre y al menesteroso en tu tierra.

12Si se vendiere a ti tu hermano hebreo o hebrea, y te hubiere servido seis años, al séptimo le despedirás libre.

13Y cuando lo despidieres libre, no le enviarás con las manos vacías.

14Le abastecerás liberalmente de tus ovejas, de tu era y de tu lagar; le darás de aquello en que Jehová te hubiere bendecido.

15Y te acordarás de que fuiste siervo en la tierra de Egipto, y que Jehová tu Dios te rescató; por tanto yo te mando esto hoy.

16Si él te dijere: No te dejaré; porque te ama a ti y a tu casa, y porque le va bien contigo;

17entonces tomarás una lesna, y horadarás su oreja contra la puerta, y será tu siervo para siempre; así también harás a tu criada.

18No te parezca duro cuando le enviares libre, pues por la mitad del costo de un jornalero te sirvió seis años; y Jehová tu Dios te bendecirá en todo cuanto hicieres.

19Consagrarás a Jehová tu Dios todo primogénito macho de tus vacas y de tus ovejas; no te servirás del primogénito de tus vacas, ni trasquilarás el primogénito de tus ovejas.

20Delante de Jehová tu Dios los comerás cada año, tú y tu familia, en el lugar que Jehová escogiere.

21Y si hubiere en él defecto, si fuere ciego, o cojo, o hubiere en él cualquier falta, no lo sacrificarás a Jehová tu Dios.

22En tus poblaciones lo comerás; el inmundo lo mismo que el limpio comerán de él, como de una gacela o de un ciervo.

23Solamente que no comas su sangre; sobre la tierra la derramarás como agua.

CARL FRIEDRICH KEIL AND FRANZ DELITZSCH OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY

Versículo 3

I. The foreigner thou mayest press, but what thou hast with thy brother shall thy hand let go. נכרי …

The foreigner thou mayest press, but what thou hast with thy brother shall thy hand let go. נכרי is a stranger of another nation, standing in no inward relation to Israel at all, and is to be distinguished from גּר, the foreigner who lived among the Israelites, who had a claim upon their protection and pity. This rule breathes no hatred of foreigners, but simply allows the Israelites the right of every creditor to demand his debts, and enforce the demand upon foreigners, even in the sabbatical year. There was no severity in this, because foreigners could get their ordinary income in the seventh year as well as in any other.

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II. "Only that there shall be no poor with thee." יהיה is jussive, like the foregoing imperfects. The…

"Only that there shall be no poor with thee." יהיה is jussive, like the foregoing imperfects. The meaning in this connection is, "Thou needest not to remit a debt to foreigners in the seventh year; thou hast only to take care that there is no poor man with or among thee, that thou dost not cause or increase their poverty, by oppressing the brethren who have borrowed of thee." Understood in this way, the sentence is not at all at variance with Deu 15:11, where it is stated that the poor would never cease out of the land. The following clause, "for Jehovah will bless thee," etc., gives a reason for the main thought, that they were not to press the Israelitish debtor. The creditor, therefore, had no need to fear that he would suffer want, if he refrained from exacting his debt from his brother in the seventh year.

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III. This blessing would not fail, if the Israelites would only hearken to the voice of the Lord; "for…

This blessing would not fail, if the Israelites would only hearken to the voice of the Lord; "for Jehovah blesseth thee" (by the perfect בּרכך, the blessing is represented not as a possible and future one only, but as one already bestowed according to the counsel of God, and, so far as the commencement was concerned, already fulfilled), "as He hath spoken" (see at Deu 1:11). "And thou wilt lend on pledge to many nations, but thou thyself wilt not borrow upon pledge." עבט, a denom. verb, from עבוט, a pledge, signifies in Kal to give a pledge for the purpose of borrowing; in Hiphil, to cause a person to give a pledge, or furnish occasion for giving a pledge, i.e., to lend upon pledge. "And thou wilt rule over many nations," etc. Ruling is mentioned here as the result of superiority in wealth (cf. Deu 28:1 : Schultz).

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IV. And in general Israel was to be ready to lend to the poor among its brethren, not to harden its h…

And in general Israel was to be ready to lend to the poor among its brethren, not to harden its heart, to be hard-hearted, but to lend to the poor brother מחסרו דּי, "the sufficiency of his need," whatever he might need to relieve his wants.

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V. Thus they were also to beware "that there was not a word in the heart, worthlessness," i.e., that…

Thus they were also to beware "that there was not a word in the heart, worthlessness," i.e., that a worthless thought did not arise in their hearts (בּליּעל is the predicate of the sentence, as the more precise definition of the word that was in the heart); so that one should say, "The seventh year is at hand, the year of release," sc., when I shall not be able to demand what I have lent, and "that thine eye be evil towards thy poor brother," i.e., that thou cherishest ill-will towards him (cf. Deu 28:54, Deu 28:56), "and givest him not, and he appeals to Jehovah against thee, and it becomes sin to thee," sc., which brings down upon thee the wrath of God. Deu 15:10 Thou shalt give him, and thy heart shall not become evil, i.e., discontented thereat (cf. Co2 9:7), for Jehovah will bless thee for it (cf. Pro 22:9; Pro 28:27; Psa 41:2; Mat 6:4).

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VI. For the poor will never cease in the land, even the land that is richly blessed, because poverty …

For the poor will never cease in the land, even the land that is richly blessed, because poverty is not only the penalty of sin, but is ordained by God for punishment and discipline.

Versículo 12

VII. These provisions in favour of the poor are followed very naturally by the rules which the Israeli…

These provisions in favour of the poor are followed very naturally by the rules which the Israelites were to be urged to observe with reference to the manumission of Hebrew slaves. It is not the reference to the sabbatical year in the foregoing precepts which forms the introduction to the laws which follow respecting the manumission of Hebrews who had become slaves, but the poverty and want which compelled Hebrew men and women to sell themselves as slaves. The seventh year, in which they were to be set free, is not the same as the sabbatical year, therefore, but the seventh year of bondage. Manumission in the seventh year of service had already been commanded in Exo 21:2-6, in the rights laid down for the nation, with special reference to the conclusion of the covenant. This command is not repeated here for the purpose of extending the law to Hebrew women, who are not expressly mentioned in Ex 21; for that would follow as a matter of course, in the case of a law which was quite as applicable to women as to men, and was given without any reserve to the whole congregation. It is rather repeated here as a law which already existed as a right, for the purpose of explaining the true mode of fulfilling it, viz., that it was not sufficient to give a man-servant and maid-servant their liberty after six years of service, which would not be sufficient relief to those who had been obliged to enter into slavery on account of poverty, if they had nothing with which to set up a home of their own; but love to the poor was required to do more than this, namely, to make some provision for the continued prosperity of those who were set at liberty. "If thou let him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go (send him away) empty:" this was the new feature which Moses added here to the previous law. "Thou shalt load (העניק, lit., put upon the neck) of thy flock, and of thy floor (corn), and of thy press (oil and wine); wherewith thy God hath blessed thee, of that thou shalt give to him."

Versículo 15

VIII. They were to be induced to do this by the recollection of their own redemption out of the bondage…

They were to be induced to do this by the recollection of their own redemption out of the bondage of Egypt, - the same motive that is urged for the laws and exhortations enjoining compassion towards foreigners, servants, maids, widows, orphans, and the poor, not only in Deu 5:15; Deu 10:19; Deu 16:12; Deu 24:18, Deu 24:22, but also in Exo 22:20; Exo 23:9, and Lev 19:34.

Versículo 16

IX. But if the man-servant and the maid-servant should not wish for liberty in the sixth year, becaus…

But if the man-servant and the maid-servant should not wish for liberty in the sixth year, because it was well with them in the house of their master, they were not to be compelled to go, but were to be bound to eternal, i.e., lifelong bondage, in the manner prescribed in Exo 21:5-6. (Note: Knobel's assertion, that the judicial process enjoined in Exo 21:6 does not seem to have been usual in the author's own time, is a worthless argumentum e silentio.) This is repeated from Ex 21, to guard against such an application of the law as might be really cruelty under the circumstances rather than love. Manumission was only an act of love, when the person to be set free had some hope of success and of getting a living for himself; and where there was no such prospect, compelling him to accept of freedom might be equivalent to thrusting him away.

Versículo 18

X. If, on the other hand, the servant (or maid) wished to be set free, the master was not to think i…

If, on the other hand, the servant (or maid) wished to be set free, the master was not to think it hard; "for the double of the wages of a day-labourer he has earned for thee for six years," i.e., not "twice the time of a day-labourer, so that he had really deserved twice the wages" (Vatablius, Ad. Osiander, J. Gerhard), for it cannot be proved from Isa 16:14, that a day-labourer generally hired himself out for three years; nor yet, "he has been obliged to work much harder than a day-labourer, very often by night as well as day" (Clericus, J. H. Michaelis, Rosenmller, Baumgarten); but simply, "he has earned and produced so much, that if you had been obliged to keep a day-labourer in his place, it would have cost you twice as much" (Schultz, Knobel).

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XI. Application of the first-born of Cattle. - From the laws respecting the poor and slaves, to which…

Application of the first-born of Cattle. - From the laws respecting the poor and slaves, to which the instructions concerning the tithes (Deu 14:22-29) had given occasion, Moses returns to appropriation of the first-born of the herd and flock to sacrificial meals, which he had already touched upon in Deu 12:6, Deu 12:17, and Deu 14:23, and concludes by an explanation upon this point. The command, which the Lord had given when first they came out of Egypt (Exo 13:2, Exo 13:12), that all the first-born of the herd and flock should be sanctified to Him, is repeated here by Moses, with the express injunction that they were not to work with the first-born of cattle (by yoking them to the plough or waggon), and not to shear the first-born of sheep; that is to say, they were not to use the first-born animals which were sanctified to the Lord for their own earthly purposes, but to offer them year by year as sacrifices to the Lord, and consume them in sacrificial meals. To this he adds (Deu 15:21, Deu 15:22) that further provision, that first-born animals, which were blind or lame, or had any other bad fault, were not to be offered in sacrifice to the Lord, but, like ordinary animals used for food, could be eaten in all the towns of the land. Although the first part of this law was involved in the general laws as to the kind of animal that could be offered in sacrifice (Lev 22:19.), it was by no means unimportant to point out distinctly their applicability to the first-born, and add some instructions with regard to the way in which they were to be applied. (On Deu 15:22 and Deu 15:23, see Deu 12:15 and Deu 12:16.)

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Versículo 12