Exodus chapters 19-21

God’s message to me: God created all law, both criminal and civil, understanding His law makes other laws understood and give you a basis to judge those laws for their good or evil.

Promises: Honoring your father and mother brings the blessing of long life.

Commands: 10 Big Ones

1) You shall have no other gods before me
2) You shall make no carved image to bow down to
3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4) Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5) Honor your father and mother
6) You shall not commit murder
7) You shall not commit adultery
8) You shall not steal
9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
10) You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s
There is more, I put it in the in-depth study

Timeless principles: Everyone claims to want God to speak to them. When they do hear Him they fear Him. Most will prefer to have someone else pass His message to them because they can’t handle hearing them themselves. The fact is, it’s a lot easier to ignore the message from a man without fear. When you hear it directly from God the penalty for ignoring it becomes all to clear. People can’t handle the that idea. That’s why they go to church on Sunday morning then let their bible collect dust all week. It’s easy to forget what the preacher said when your out doing things you shouldn’t. Ignoring God is much harder. Preachers might misinterpret, they might be overzealous, they might be just plain wrong. When you hear it directly from God you are (as a friend wrote on his blog) without excuse.

more to learn for in-depth stdy: Guod neither needs nor desires any icons. In fact He commands us not to make any image to be with him. He went so far as to command that the alter of sacrifice be made of dirt and not carved ornately. Any stone alter was to be made of uncut stone with no engraving. nothing was to be made ornate or symbolic for worship because of the potential of making the symbol more important than God. This problem continues today as great works of architecture and art are created with the goal of Honoring God and end up being admired and worshiped above God. How many times have you heard about people praying to a statue or image because it appeared at random or the statue cried. The second commandment condemns this.

Slavery was a 6 year term at best. On the seventh year the slave was freed unless he chose to stay . if he chose to stay he was, essentially, part of the family. A man selling his daughter did so as a bride. if the purchasing man did not take her as wife he had to give her back and had no right to sell her to anyone but her family. If he took her for his son then they followed tradition. She might go to another son and if she had no opportunity to raise up an heir with one of the boys then she would live as if she had been widowed. Multiple wives was common enough in those days but all the wives had to be treated equally. Fail to treat your earlier wife as well as before and she had the right to leave. No payment, no divorce no nothing, just split because you treated her unfairly.

Homicide is Homicide. Kill a man and you will be killed. The death penalty dates back to Cain and Able, though God gave Cain a reprieve. If it wasn’t a planned ambush you might find appeal in a city of refuge but, if premeditation is proven, the appeal is lost and you get killed. Kill your servant/slave. You’re still facing punishment. Cause a miscarriage or premature birth ending in the death of the child, you get put to death.

Honor they father an mother goes farther here. Curse or Hit your mom or dad and you face the death penalty.

Civil penalties are covered. If you hurt but don’t kill you owe the man for lost time when he recovers.

Cause a premature birth but don’t kill the baby. The husband gets to decide your punishment in addition to the judge fining you. If the baby is harmed but not killed, the eye for an eye principle. Any harm done to the baby will be done to you.

Mess with a bull and you get the horns but, the bull gets stoned to death. if the bull was in the habit of attacking and the owner didn’t try to keep it secured then the owner can get the death penalty. He may avoid the death penalty by paying a redemption. Whatever amount is ordered, that is what he pays or else he dies. Slaves can be redeemed for 30 shekels of silver.

If you dig a hole and don’t protect it you are liable for the cost of animals that fall in it. If Your bull kills another animal you split the money for the live bull and split the remains of the dead animal. If you didn’t restrain a bull known to attack then, you must replace the dead animal.

Reading assignment: Exodus chapters 22-24
Since I forgot to mention it yesterday, look at Exodus 17:14. As you can see God commanded Moses to put things in writing even before He wrote the 10 commandments. Oral tradition is not the only history the Israelites had.