Exegetical on Deuteronomy 15: 1-18: A Structural Analysis

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Structural Analysis of Deuteronomy 15: 1 – 18
PART 1: Outline
Introduction: Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Bible and completes the list of books classified as law books. Verse 1 – 18 of the books 15th chapter highlights some of the important laws God intended Israelites to follow as means to wealth and prosperity. Generally, the section can be broken down into three core parts or themes: cancelation of debt, freeing of servants, and generosity.
Cancelation of dept: Verse 1 states the first law that at the end of every seven years you must cancel. Following this law, verse 2 explains how these debts will be cancelled. For instance, the debts to be cancelled are only those made to fellow Israelites and not those by foreigners. Verse 6 explains why obeying this law is important…that “God will bless you as he has promised”. In between, verse 4 provides an overall reason why debts should be canceled in the 7th year: so that there will be no poor people within society.
Freeing of Servants: Cancellation of debt is done after the end of each seventh year. Servants, on the other hand, are set free at the beginning of the seventh year of work. In this aspect, verse 12 states the law. Verse 13 and 14 instructs Hebrew men and women to gift their servants generously on the day of their release. Verse 15 is a reminder that even the Hebrew men women, who now have, were once slaves in Egypt. Verse 18 concludes this theme by providing a justif...