Not muzzle, etc... St. Paul understands this of the spiritual labourer in the church of G.o.d, who is not to be denied his maintenance. 1 Cor.
9.8, 9, 10.
25:5. When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:
25:6. And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel.
25:7. But if he will not take his brother"s wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband"s brother refuseth to raise up his brother"s name in Israel: and will not take me to wife.
25:8. And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:
25:9. The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother"s house:
25:10. And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.
25:11. If two men have words together, and one begin to fight against the other, and the other"s wife willing to deliver her husband out of the hand of the stronger, shall put forth her hand, and take him by the secrets,
25:12. Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved with any pity in her regard.
25:13. Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a less:
25:14. Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.
25:15. Thou shalt have a just and a true weight, and thy bushel shall be equal and true: that thou mayest live a long time upon the land which the Lord thy G.o.d shall give thee.
25:16. For the Lord thy G.o.d abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice.
25:17. Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out of Egypt:
Amalec... This order for destroying the Amalecites, in the mystical sense, sheweth how hateful they are to G.o.d, and what punishments they are to look for from his justice, who attack and discourage his servants when they are but just come out, as it were, of the Egypt of this wicked world and being yet weak and fainthearted, are but beginning their journey to the land of promise.
25:18. How he met thee: and slew the hindmost of the army, who sat down, being weary, when thou wast spent with hunger and labour, and he feared not G.o.d.
25:19. Therefore when the Lord thy G.o.d shall give thee rest, and shall have subdued all the nations round about in the land which he hath promised thee: thou shalt blot out his name from under heaven. See thou forget it not.
Deuteronomy Chapter 26
The form of words with which the firstfruits and t.i.thes are to be offered. G.o.d"s covenant.
26:1. And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy G.o.d will give thee to possess, and hast conquered it, and dwellest in it:
26:2. Thou shalt take the first of all thy fruits, and put them in a basket, and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy G.o.d shall choose, that his name may be invocated there:
26:3. And thou shalt go to the priest that shall be in those days, and say to him: I profess this day before the Lord thy G.o.d, that I am come into the land, for which he swore to our fathers, that he would give it us.
26:4. And the priest taking the basket at thy hand, shall set it before the altar of the Lord thy G.o.d:
26:5. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy G.o.d: The Syrian pursued my father, who went down into Egypt, and sojourned there in a very small number, and grew into a nation great and strong and of an infinite mult.i.tude.
The Syrian... Laban. See Gen. 27.
26:6. And the Egyptians afflicted us, and persecuted us, laying on us most grievous burdens:
26:7. And we cried to the Lord G.o.d of our fathers: who heard us, and looked down upon our affliction, and labour, and distress:
26:8. And brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders:
26:9. And brought us into this place, and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
26:10. And therefore now I offer the firstfruits of the land which the Lord hath given me. And thou shalt leave them in the sight of the Lord thy G.o.d, adoring the Lord thy G.o.d.
26:11. And thou shalt feast in all the good things which the Lord thy G.o.d hath given thee, and thy house, thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is with thee.
26:12. When thou hast made an end of t.i.thing all thy fruits, in the third year of t.i.thes thou shalt give it to the Levite, and to the stanger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled:
26:13. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy G.o.d: I have taken that which was sanctified out of my house, and I have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, as thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments nor forgotten thy precepts.
26:14. I have not eaten of them in my mourning, nor separated them for any uncleanness, nor spent any thing of them in funerals. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my G.o.d, and have done all things as thou hast commanded me.
26:15. Look from thy sanctuary, and thy high habitation of heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
26:16. This day the Lord thy G.o.d hath commanded thee to do these commandments and judgments: and to keep and fulfil them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.
26:17. Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be thy G.o.d, and to walk in his ways and keep his ceremonies, and precepts, and judgments, and obey his command.
26:18. And the Lord hath chosen thee this day, to be his peculiar people, as he hath spoken to thee, and to keep all his commandments:
26:19. And to make thee higher than all nations which he hath created, to his own praise, and name, and glory: that thou mayst be a holy people of the Lord thy G.o.d, as he hath spoken.
Deuteronomy Chapter 27
The commandments must be written on stones: and an altar erected, and sacrifices offered. The observers of the commandments are to be blessed, and the transgressors cursed.
27:1. And Moses with the ancients of Israel commanded the people, saying: Keep every commandment that I command you this day.
27:2. And when you are pa.s.sed over the Jordan into the land which the Lord thy G.o.d will give thee, thou shalt set up great stones, and shalt plaster them over with plaster,
27:3. That thou mayst write on them all the words of this law, when thou art pa.s.sed over the Jordan: that thou mayst enter into the land which the Lord thy G.o.d will give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as he swore to thy fathers.
27:4. Therefore when you are pa.s.sed over the Jordan, set up the stones which I command you this day, in mount Hebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster:
27:5. And thou shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy G.o.d, of stones which iron hath not touched,
27:6. And of stones not fashioned nor polished: and thou shalt offer upon it holocausts to the Lord thy G.o.d:
27:7. And shalt immolate peace victims, and eat there, and feast before the Lord thy G.o.d.
27:8. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law plainly and clearly.