NOTES for Deu 25:1-19

In a certain sense, the quintessence of all the norms of the Book of Deuteronomy is contained in one saying: everyone who does all this, who acts unrighteously, is an abomination to Yahweh. The original text uses a word meaning crookedness or twistedness, a dislocation, something from which one does not die, but with which it is also impossible to live normally because it is impossible to move normally.

This dislocation can manifest itself in different ways, but most often it makes itself known in small things. Minor sins mean precisely that a person cannot move freely where his spiritual life is concerned. If a person's arm or leg is dislocated or otherwise injured, this will show itself in a limp or in a certain awkwardness of movement. Such a person will not be able to move normally, freely, as healthy people move, until he is freed from the consequences of his injury.

The same applies to spiritual life: here too there will be no normal, full spiritual movement until a person is freed from his spiritual injury. The only difference is that one cannot always be freed from a physical injury (more precisely, from its consequences), while one can almost always be freed from the spiritual injury produced by sin, although sometimes this is not easy. Minor sins such as short measuring or short weighing do not in themselves cause serious harm to the one who is shorted, at least not material harm.

They turn out, however, to be symptoms of a far more serious problem connected with a person's spiritual condition, with his habitual sinfulness, when sin ceases to be recognized as such and becomes a habit. In such a case it sometimes even ceases to be called by the name of the sin that it is in essence - as in the case of short measuring or short weighing, which, even when the amount is small, still remains theft. Often, however, in the consciousness of those who act this way, these things are not perceived precisely as theft at all, but are considered simply a way of earning a little extra, dishonest perhaps, yet permissible because everyone does it. Meanwhile, the soul is being trained to steal - first in small things, and then in large ones.

One can object, of course, that large-scale theft may not work out; the person may come to his senses and refuse. In the best case for the person, that is what will happen, but it can also be otherwise: the soul is already spiritually dislocated, already limited and fettered in its inner movements, and therefore in the decisions it makes. This fettering of the soul becomes the natural environment for any sin, perhaps even a very serious one, if circumstances come together that way.

It is worth reflecting on the meaning of the word “detestable” (v. 16). If understood in its ordinary sense, this is certainly a very strong word. Surely none of us can be detestable to a loving and merciful God. The word means something unacceptable, unclean, something that must not be touched. Notice that it concerns one who cheats his own brothers, thereby placing himself outside the Old Testament community, outside the people of God. For God does not save isolated individuals, but a people. In the context of the New Testament, the circle of brothers expands greatly, not merely to include the New Testament Church but all humanity, for Christ died for everyone. It is therefore detestable to God, that is, unacceptable, when we treat people in general unjustly. And injustice takes many forms, not only false measures of weight and volume.