Deuteronomy · chapter 15 of 34
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Deuteronomy 15 commands Israelites to cancel debts among themselves every seventh year and to open the hand to the poor brother with generous loans. It also commands freeing the Hebrew servant in the seventh year of service and not sending him away empty-handed, because Israel was a slave in Egypt. It ends with the law of the firstborn of the herd, which is eaten before the Lord.
After the laws on worship and the table, Deuteronomy 15 carries holiness into money and social justice. Israel was to be a community where poverty would not become permanent. The chapter joins two things: the promise that if they obey there will be no poor, and the reality that there always will be, which is why generosity is commanded.
Every seven years creditors must cancel what their fellow Israelite owes them. It is a release in honor of the Lord. A foreigner may be pressed for payment, but not a brother. Moses adds that if Israel fully obeys, there will be no poor among them, because the Lord will bless them in the land, and they will lend to many nations without borrowing.
Even so, if there is a poor brother, they must not harden their heart or shut their hand. They must open the hand and lend him what he needs. They must not refuse to lend as the year of release draws near, with the wicked thought that the seventh year is close. If they do, the poor man will cry to the Lord and they will be guilty. Giving freely brings the Lord's blessing. Moses acknowledges that there will always be poor in the land, and so he commands them to open the hand to the poor and needy brother.
If a Hebrew brother sells himself as a servant, he will serve six years and in the seventh go out free. He is not to be sent away empty-handed but supplied generously from the flock, the winepress and the threshing floor, remembering that Israel was a slave in Egypt and the Lord redeemed them. If the servant loves his master and does not want to leave, his ear is pierced to the door and he becomes a servant for life. The firstborn males of the herd and flock are set apart for the Lord and eaten each year before him in the place he chooses; if they have a defect, they are eaten at home, without eating the blood.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Moses says there will be no poor among them if they fully obey the Lord. Poverty does not vanish by magic but when the people live by the justice and generosity God commands.
If there is a poor brother, the heart must not be hardened nor the hand shut, but the hand opened and lent what he needs. The command aims at the heart: generosity springs from an attitude, not only a rule.
There will always be poor in the land, and so Moses commands them to open the hand to the poor and needy brother. Jesus refers to this verse when he says the poor will always be with them, without removing the duty to help them.
The people must remember that they were slaves in Egypt and the Lord redeemed them. So they treat the servant with grace: the freedom God gave them is the reason to give freedom to others.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: They were canceled among Israelites: the creditor was not to demand payment from his brother. — Deuteronomy 15:1-2
Answer: Hardening the heart and shutting the hand. — Deuteronomy 15:7
Answer: Refusing to lend because the seventh year is near and the debt will be canceled. — Deuteronomy 15:9
Answer: He served six years and in the seventh went out free. — Deuteronomy 15:12
Answer: Generous provisions from the flock, the threshing floor and the winepress, and he was not to leave empty-handed. — Deuteronomy 15:13-14
Answer: That Israel was a slave in Egypt and the Lord redeemed them. — Deuteronomy 15:15
The chapter challenges us to look at our own relationship with money and with the needy. The generosity Moses asks for does not rest on calculations but on remembering the grace received. Whoever has been forgiven and freed by God has reason to forgive and free. In a small group you can ask: Who near me needs me to open my hand? What excuses do I give myself for keeping it shut?
The text also guards against a common trap: ceasing to help because I fear not recovering what I lend. Israel's laws are not a recipe for modern finance, but they show that God's people must see that poverty does not become a lifelong sentence.
Deuteronomy 15 joins the memory of redemption with generosity toward the poor and the servant. The next chapter presents the calendar of festivals, beginning with the Passover, which celebrates that very deliverance from Egypt.
It is a reality Moses acknowledges, but not an excuse for inaction. He immediately commands opening the hand to the poor. Jesus cites this idea, but without giving license to indifference: caring for the needy remains a command for God's people.
It was a public sign that the servant freely chose to stay with his master out of love for him and his house. It was done at the door as a formal act, and the service continued as long as he lived.
Both have the same purpose: to keep poverty from becoming permanent. The release of the seventh year canceled debts, and the Jubilee, every fifty years, returned land to families. Both remind Israel that God is the owner of everything.