Topic: Show Kindness [DCLM Daily Manna 5 November 2020 Devotional by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi]
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Text: Deuteronomy 21:10-17 (KJV)
10 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.
15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:
16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:
17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
Key Verse: “And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.” – (Deuteronomy 21:13)
MESSAGE:
A prisoner of war is a person who is taken as a captive or a slave during battle. For most of human history, these prisoners had been ill-treated and manhandled by their captors. However, the Geneva Accord published in 1929 and amended in 1949 after World War II, provided certain rights to prisoners of war, to mitigate the inhuman treatment hitherto meted to them.
Also See: Open Heaven 5 November 2020 – Freedom from Depression II
From the passage under consideration, the Lord commanded that captives of war in general and women in particular be treated humanely. A captured maid, under this rule, was to be clothed and fed. She was required to shave her hair and pare her nails, and be given a full month to mourn her parents before she would be taken in as a wife. She was not to be taken advantage of at any time. And if the man found her unfavourable, he should let her go wherever she wanted without being sold as a slave or compelled to stay against her wish.
We live in a wicked world where thousands of women are taken advantage of in human trafficking from poor countries with promises of a better life. They take them there and soon convert them into prostitutes and domestic slaves, working under extremely harsh and inhuman conditions.
The quest for materialism is the force behind all this evil. But they forget that the same God that created them also created these less privileged persons they are taking advantage of. Sadly, some of them die in those places – unsaved. It is sad what man’s insatiable desire for wealth and fame has brought upon innocent persons. However, none of these people involved in all these nor any other sinner can escape the judgment of God except they repent. Every believer needs to be engaged one way or the other in helping men to know the Saviour.
Thought For The Day: Human kindness recognises others as God’s creatures.
The Bible In One Year: Jeremiah 43-45
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.