Fri.’s Devo - Mercy

Read: Deuteronomy 23:1-25:19; Luke 10:13-37; Psalm 75:1-10; Proverbs 12:12-14
God gave instruction of the people who may not be admitted into the assembly of the Lord. This included admission to public honors and offices in the religious and political arena. It also included any foreigners who wanted to become a part of their nation by marriage.
These people were the ones who had been mutilated by their parents for idol worship, the Ammonites and Moabites who didn’t welcome them with food and water when they came out of Egypt and the Edomites who hired Balaam to curse them when they were approaching the promised land. These people could not enter the sanctuary for 10 generations. The number ten means “a measure”. So, their 10 generations would be a time of testing to see if they changed their ways.
The laws were to teach the people mercy, fairness, compassion for the poor and to not be greedy.
In Chapter 24 we have the laws of divorce. Divorce was allowed if the husband was dissatisfied with his wife as long as the husband offered the wife a writ or document of divorce. This writ gave her rights to provision. Then she is free to marry again. In the New Testament, they were not giving the woman this document so they were not legally divorced causing them to commit adultery if they wanted to remarry. God hated “the putting away” which was not legal but God allowed divorce which was legal. Adultery cancels the marriage contract automatically unless forgiveness is given.
They were not to forget to destroy the Amalekites because they were unmerciful to them and had no fear of God. Amalekites means “perversion” which is the wrong version of truth. We have to put that to death.
In Luke, the disciples came back to Jesus telling them what they saw in the natural and Jesus told them what he saw in the spiritual. As they cast demons out of people, Jesus saw Satan lose his power in the heavenlies. Jesus rejoiced that God was showing them the spiritual realm.
An expert in the law asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to love God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. Then he told him a parable to explain it. Three men passed the dying Jew but only the third man stopped to help. The first man was a priest, the next was a Temple assistant. They both passed because they didn’t want to get “unclean”.
The third man was a despised Samaritan. He felt compassion, nursed him, took him to the inn and paid for his stay. The lesson was all about humility and mercy. Jesus told him to go and do the same.
Lord, may we be like the Good Samaritan who is not afraid to get messy and pay the price for another person to come to life.