Exodus chapters 22-24

More Laws

God’s message to me: God provides what you can handle. He promised to deliver Canaan a piece at a time until the nation of Israel was large enough to handle it, not all at once so that the land would go wild and be unmanageable.

Promises: Following God’s laws brings blessings. He promised the Israelites health, wealth, long life and property.

Commands: Plenty of laws are mentioned below but a general theme is shown. Don’t involve yourself in that which is unjust. Spreading rumors, false testimony(even if you think it serves the right ends), lynching, not being impartial and anything else that might pervert justice is wrong. Keep in mind that we serve a just God. There is a societal responsibility to adjudicate criminal matters for mutual protection. To many people make it personal and press for someone to be punished even if the law doesn’t support it. This perverts justice. Remember that the ones we can’t catch, God will, and knowing that we can accept our losses in court.

Timeless principles: Justice must be impartial to be just. All to often a demand for “justice” is a demand for revenge and such demands don’t involve a demand that the right people be punished. It does no good to avenge the crime if you take out the wrong criminal. When that happens the real criminal is left to continue his crimes.

more to learn for in-depth study: Note Exodus 24:4 once again it points out that Moses wrote these things down. I know I’m repeating myself on this subject but I have heard more than enough from the folks who claim none of this was written until hundreds of years later. To many Christians have tried to tell me that nothing was written until the Babylonian captivity over 1000 years later. It’s nonsense and proves they don’t read their bibles. It was just after this that God carved the law into stone tablets for Moses to bring to the Israelites.

Let’s avoid becoming a law book and hit the highlights

Killing a burglar is not a crime and not punishable civilly. That seems like common sense but the US is only beginning to understand the principle after more than half a century of punishing the homeowner for protecting his family and property.

Accidental losses are paid for and restored from the best available but only the loss is restored. This is not a problem for the civil courts except for things that depreciate. The bible calls for the loss to be restored from the best available to the person that caused the loss. Depreciation is an excuse that leaves people with a little cash but unable to replace the thing they lost. Theft is repaid double triple or more. That would clear the jails and lower crime even if we had to put all the thieves on chain gangs to earn the money they owe. Rented property is expected to receive wear and risk damage. The rental payment is owed but not more even if it is damaged. Why is it the renters responsibility to insure the rented property? Shotgun weddings were the rule and paying the dowry was required even if the girls father wouldn’t let you marry her.

Sorcery=bad, bestiality= bad, Sacrificing to other gods= bad, any of these things could end in a death sentence and they are still a bad idea today, though the penalty is less.

Treat the stranger(resident alien)well. The Children of Israel were resident aliens in Egypt. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were resident aliens in Canaan. The pilgrims were resident aliens in Holland before coming to
America. We all want to be treated well away from home and so we should treat others well also. Treating the widows and orphans and children of single mothers well should be expected but, too often it is not. What we know of welfare was meant for them but the welfare state that expands it’s use has made us cynical.

Lending to the poor is fine, charging interest is not, nor is taking security. Never delay your tithes.

Don’t spread falsehoods, don’t testify to a lie, don’t help to pervert justice, don’t show partiality in disputes, help the one who needs it even if you don’t like the guy. Don’t kill the innocent, avoid being involved in false matters, TAKE NO BRIBES.

You have 6 days to work, God expects you to rest on the seventh as he did and to let all the people and animals that work for you rest as well. The land gets a Sabbath rest every 7 years. Work the fields for six years and let them rest on the seventh. It’s a formula to avoid topsoil erosion, replace soil nutrients and ensure good crops.

The feasts of Passover, Harvest, and ingathering are appointed holidays.

From the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and from the desert in the south to the Euphrates river, these were the boundaries of the promised land

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.