Daily Journey: April 6th

Deut. 25:1-27:26, John 10:1-21

Thought from Today’s Old Testament Passage:

Now we move on to another point. You can’t make me believe that God does not have a sense of humor. God has a law here to take care of widows. It worked effectively, as we shall see in the Book of Ruth. But to me it is very humorous.

If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. (Deut 25:5)

Can you imagine how this would affect a family in Israel? Suppose there was a family of four sons living on a farm in Ephraim country. Suppose that night after night one of the boys went off with the lantern and when he came back to go to bed, he would be whistling. Pretty soon the family would get into a huddle and the brothers would ask him, “Where are you going every evening?” They’d do a little investigating of their own and find there was a daughter in the family that lived down the road. So the brother would admit, “I believe in the good-neighbor policy, and I have been going down there to visit that family that just moved in.” And he would admit that he was thinking of marrying the girl. Now, if those brothers didn’t care too much for that girl, can you imagine what would happen? They’d say, “Listen—before you get any notions, you go the doctor and have a physical check-up. We want to be sure you are in good health before you marry her, because none of us want to get stuck with her.” Believe me, they got down to business. Getting married was a family affair. This was God’s way of drawing families very close together, of protecting the widows, and also of protecting the land. You see, this was the way the land would always stay in the same family. It was a very good law for them. (J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, © 1981 by J. Vernon McGee)