the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Deuteronomy 25:1-10
Corporal punishment was incurred for certain offences and had to be inflicted but in a limited way. Hebrews 12:9 states that it is a prerogative of fatherly discipline which helps to command respect (see Proverbs 23:13-14). God uses this punishment with the rod as an example of the discipline which He implements towards His children, reminding us that "he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." But in His wisdom and knowledge of the cruel nature of the heart of man he sets a limit: the guilty person was not to receive more than forty stripes. To be certain of not exceeding this the Jews had the habit of giving forty stripes less one. In their hatred of the Gospel, Paul teaches us that on five occasions they made him suffer that iniquitous punishment (2 Corinthians 11:24).
One other verse in our reading (v. 4) calls to mind the works of the apostle (1 Corinthians 9:9). Finally the teaching concerning the responsibilities of the brother-in-law were used by the Sadducees to set a trap for the Lord Jesus on the subject of the resurrection. However He replied to them: "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures . . ." (Matthew 22:29). For us also, the way to be kept from straying is to know the Word of our God well and to rely on it.
