Chapter 15
All debts to "brothers" forgiven after 7 years. Debts to foreigners can go on for longer. This keeps everything short term. Risk is short term.
If they do as God tells them, there will be no poor:
4 But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess-- 5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. [Deu 15:4-5 ESV]
A conditional promise, but one with great possibility. This was their goal. A country with no poor or destitute at all. Only God's blessings can result in such a place. And they never got there.
Then this just a few verses later:
11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.' [Deu 15:11 ESV]
This verse acknowledges beforehand the sad truth of the human condition. They won't obey as they should. This verse is a conclusion to the admonition that they take care of the poor who are Israelites, their brothers, no matter what. They are not allowed even to "begrudge" this charity to their own. Though they sometimes don't deserve it, and sometimes obviously will not be paying it back, it is still to be loaned to them.
Those who become your slaves are to be freed after 7 years, and sent away with flocks, goods, and so on. They are to be liberally furnished for their service when they leave.
These live-in slaves served at half the cost of a hired worker. So they were a bargain, and had earned a generous severance. They could stay if they chose to do so.
2023 - Here it is again:
23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. [Deu 15:23 ESV]. This was about what to do with a firstborn animal that had a blemish and so was unacceptable to God. You didn't take it to Jerusalem and offer it as a sacrifice, you just ate it in your own town. But even though it was not sacrificed, because it "would have" been the Lord's, you did not drink its blood. So...if you killed a deer, could you drink that blood? I really don't think so, I think drinking blood under any circumstances at all would have been against the Law.