In this message we will consider the six remaining matters concerning the government among the people.
In 24:7 we have the judgment on kidnapping. If a man kidnapped someone from among his brothers of the children of Israel and dealt with him as a slave or sold him, then that kidnapper was to be put to death (v. 7a). This death sentence indicates the seriousness of kidnapping; it is equal in seriousness to the crime of murder. To kidnap a person is equal to killing him. Through the execution of the kidnapper, the evil was to be utterly removed from the midst of the children of Israel (v. 7b).
Kidnapping is a serious sin that annuls one's human rights in a cheating way. We should not think that there cannot be any kind of kidnapping among brothers today. In recent years, certain ones have attempted to "kidnap" some of the brothers and to "enslave" them and then to "sell" them. These ones have not tried to kidnap the outsiders; they have tried to kidnap the brothers, the members of the Body of Christ. This kidnapping must be condemned.
Deuteronomy 24:16 is a word concerning judgments on fathers and on their children. Fathers were not to be put to death because of their children, nor were the children to be put to death because of their fathers (v. 16a). Rather, every man was to be put to death for his own sin.
Verse 16 reveals God's justice. Actually all the points concerning the divine government among the children of Israel show us that God is a God of justice. As a God of justice, God will not allow anything unjust to be among His people.