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The following is Pastor Nate’s teaching transcription from Calvary Monterey’s 3/30/21 Tuesday Night Service. We apologize for any transcription inaccuracies.

1 “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.”

Exodus 21 starts with verse one. “Now these are the rules,” God says to Moses, “that you shall set before them.” Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.

As I mentioned in our teaching about the 10 commandments from Exodus chapter 20, there are three divisions that can be found in the Law of Moses. First, we have the 10 commandments themselves. Second, we have the civil law of God mainly found in these next few chapters that we're going to study together. And third, we have the laws governing worship, some of which are found here in the book of Exodus, in that God prescribes how the tabernacle and temple for ancient Israel were supposed to look. But are mostly found in the book of Leviticus, where they're told specifically how to lead the people of Israel in worship.

Introduction

Now, this section that we are entering into right now regarding the civil law for ancient Israel will extend through chapter 23. So Exodus 21, 22 and 23 include these civil laws amongst the nation of Israel. So, by that what I mean are laws concerning how they would treat each other, how they would conduct business, the death penalty, what would qualify someone for that kind of punishment for a crime. The way to pay people, the way to treat the poor, amongst them, things like that are in the civil law for the people of Israel. Now many of these laws were actually a codification likely of existing norms. So what I mean by that is that these were probably practices of the people of Israel in some way shape or form had practiced in a past or bygone era. Abraham, you might remember came out of Ur of the Chaldees, and when he did, he came out of a culture that was steeped in similar regulations, similar laws.

In fact, through historical records we have discovered that there were many people groups surrounding Israel at this time, who had similar laws in place, although there were some significant and major differences. One of the major differences is that an overall emphasis is found in Israel's law in caring for the poor or widows or servants or orphans or the defenseless that is lacking in the other sets of commandments or laws governing other people's. Another difference is that none of the other law codes were received from the words of a deity, but here in Exodus we have God transmitting to Moses his requirements, his rules for the nation.

But the similarities that do exist have more to do with the similar times and issues that they were dealing with and living in. For instance, you or me, we might not be all that concerned about what to do with an ox who gets loose, that might not be a paramount concern that we're going to try to deduce lessons for ourselves from these ancient parallels. But for them, in their culture they were concerned with what to do with unruly animals and how to compensate people fairly if an animal of theirs did damage to someone else's property or someone else's body. And I think what you have to remember as we go through these next few chapters, is that their society is rudimentary at this point. And as they developed, they needed to develop laws which were based on what God presented in these next few chapters.

But these next few chapters really represent a raw society, some basic rules that they would need to kind of form some of the practices they were already caught up in. Now for our purposes I think that one of the blessings of Exodus chapter 21 in particular, which is what we're going to study today, is that we can receive encouragement from this passage on how we do our work. Because each one of us has a career or a profession or something that occupies our time, whether it's paid or unpaid, that we would consider our work. And Exodus 21 can help us with the attitude concerning our work, it can help us with how we treat employees or how we treat others that are on a level playing with us, or how we steward our possessions. All of these things are of the utmost importance for the child of God. God's people called to love him are also called to love their neighbors. And how we work, and how we conduct our affairs is one of the ways that we can love our neighbors really well.

Laws Regarding the Care of Servants

Unfortunately, I've been a pastor and a Christian long enough to know that there are plenty of Christians who somehow are able to have this dichotomy exist in their minds. Thinking to themselves that if they come to church and raise their hands in worship and maybe serve in a ministry or something like that and do the good Christian activities that somehow gives them a pass to be a terrible worker, a terrible employee, a terrible boss, someone who cheats or lies or steals. And unfortunately, over the years I've had so many people who have come to me brokenhearted because they know the truth about one of their fellow brothers or sisters in Christ, what they're really like during the rest of their lives. And God didn't want to have that amongst his people, he wanted a people who were consistently devoted to him, obedient to him, living a first and second tablet kind of life. Loving the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength but also loving their neighbor as themselves.

So really, verse one kind of sets us up for not just chapter 21 but also 22 and 23, in that it says, now these are the rules that you shall set before the people of Israel. By the way, in chapter 20 when God gives the commandments to Moses, it's the words that God gave to Moses, and now here we have the rules that God gave to Moses. So make of that what you will, but there seems to be a difference, something that has shifted here. God has given the major in the commandments and now he's going to give the minor in these everyday rules or principles, which are to govern the nation.

2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

Alright so let's go on and read the beginning of the first section of rules, in verse two. It says when you buy a Hebrew slave he shall serve six years, and in the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing.

All right, so here we are right away, looking at the rules of the people of Israel. And again after God established the 10 commandments, the first thing that he really set up after the 10 commandments was the altar, the kind of altar that would be built for which they would approach or with which they would approach God. That's already been established in chapter 20, kind of the rudimentary basics of their worship system. But now we get into these rules and the first thing that God addresses is slavery amongst the Hebrew people. And so immediately we're confronted with the disturbing subject of slavery, which for many people in that ancient time, and unfortunately for way too many people in our modern time, was simply a fact of life.

Remember the people of Israel themselves had been enslaved for four centuries in Egypt. They were used to being enslaved and now we discover God giving them directions concerning slavery in Israel, amongst the Israelite people. But why would God start here, why would this be sort of the first thing that he holds out? I mean he will deal later on with the important subject of murder, what do you do when someone takes someone else's life, that's of great importance for a society. Why does God though not start there, but start here with slavery? Well it makes sense that the people of Israel who'd been enslaved would need directions on how to treat people. Now God did not simply forbid the practice and this has caused consternation for many modern Christians who have looked back upon this Old Testament passage. And for that I wanted to say a few things. First of all this Hebrew version of slavery, you have to remember, I mean it was bad, it was in existence and so God is giving some governing control so that it doesn't become worse than it needs to be.

But that said, it was far different from the terrors of the transatlantic slave trade that we have in our nation and in our world's history. First for the people of Israel, the issue was not about foreign slaves, but Hebrew people, their own people. So there wasn't a racial component attached to this slavery. Second, the issue was not about capturing unwilling slaves, but funding willing slaves. These were willing Hebrew people who had come to a place in life, for whatever reason, where they needed access to provision, income, work, and so slavery was an option that they needed to pursue. Third, the slavery in Israel was not for a lifetime like we would have in our own nation's history, but it was for seven years. So it was more akin to something like indentured servitude, after six years of service and the seventh year you would get your freedom.

Fourth, this slavery did not lead to inhumane practices. In fact that's what these requirements are about, is protecting the slave so that they would not suffer unduly under the hand of a harsh master but provided protections there for those rendering service. Fifth, the Hebrew people had been slaves, so they were meant to act mercifully towards those who needed to indenture themselves for some reason. And another reason that this I think existed at that time, one possibility at least is that they had a total lack of social structures that we might have today, total lack of a welfare system. There was no prison system, there was no place that someone who got in deep trouble could go to to sort of pay their debt to society. There was no such thing as bankruptcy that could be declared. And so this system seems to have created a temporary way for the people of Israel to have a viable option to provide for themselves in case they made poor life decisions or in case they just were in trouble financially and they needed help in some way.

So those are some of the differences and perhaps some of the reasons why slavery existed in Israel at that time. And as many have pointed out it likely would have been useless to prohibit slavery at that time, it was so ingrained in all the cultures of that region. But of course now in our Christian age we've discovered the full brightness of God's revelation. We know that God has made human beings in his image, and that all slavery in all forms in our time is sin, it is wrong. So we know the evil of any form of slavery, but this was a darker age, you could sort of compare revelation, God communicating to people like the progression of the Sun. In the morning, it's dim, you can begin to see the landscape, but of course by noon day, everything is bright and full. The way that night turns into full day it's not with the snap of fingers or something that happens quickly, but it progresses over time, slowly, steadily but surely.

And that seems to be the way God's revelation works. God is slowly and steadily working to communicate to the people of Israel and over time they would have discovered as we have now as believers, the truth. People are made in God's image, no one should be treated in this way but it was just a fact of life amongst the societies in that era and perhaps these are some of the reasons why it existed. Now, again, as I would highlight for the people of Israel this was optional servitude. A person could sell themselves or their family into service, Leviticus 25 verse 39. If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, that's the requirement. So here's the idea is that someone is in trouble and they are saying, look, this is what I need to do with my life. And even in Deuteronomy chapter 15 which gives fuller requirements for how to treat servants or slaves, it tells us that when the time of freedom came the master should make them flush, should send them out with great possessions, not send them out empty handed.

Male Servants

And so we learn here that when they bought a Hebrew slave he said, you'll serve six years, and in the seventh year, he says, go out free for nothing. This is powerful because after six years of service in the seventh year the servant or the slave would be set free. And so after a fixed period of time their freedom would come. Now of course the people of Israel this had not been their experience, we recognize this from the earlier portions of the book of Exodus. They had suffered in slavery in Egypt and there was no hope that they would ever be set free. They were provided for there for a little while but that service devolved into slavery, devolved into ownership and there was no hope that they would ever be set free unless God miraculously intervened, which he did. Now, part of the reason I think that the slave is set free after the seventh year or in the seventh year is very simple.

3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone.

There's only one being that deserves life-long servitude, there's only one being that deserves to be served, honored, for us to be slaves of for the duration of our lives and that is God himself. Only God should be served for a lifetime, and if you're married, your spouse as well. This is in verse three, to go on in the passage he says, if he comes in single, he shall go out single. If he comes in married then his wife should go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters and he shall go out alone. Now here, what's happening is that a balance is being struck. If a servant comes in and he is unmarried, and during the course of those seven years he is given a wife by his master and that wife bears children. Then, when he is set free the wife and the children that the master has given and they have been born from that woman, they will belong to the master, they will have to fulfill their time of service.

But if he comes in with a wife and she bears him children during the time of servitude then when it's time for his service to be over with he of course then goes free with the wife and with the children who have been born to him. Now, this, again, I think, is present in order to strike a balance between the personal rights of the Hebrew slave, and the economic and property rights of the Hebrew owner. He's entering into this agreement for profit, for some reason he's not just there for charity or welfare that isn't going to benefit him in any way. He's entering into this arrangement or this agreement with the Hebrew slave for a purpose. So there's a little bit of protection against his profits. And the idea here is that the servant knows exactly what he is getting into. There's no forced marriage upon him, he knows the agreement before he gets into it.

The servant understands the contract, and a servant has a right to refuse, a wife from his master, but acceptance means that he, when he goes free will not be set free with them. And I think what's happening here is that this is foreshadowing what's coming next, some servants would choose to continue their service. So if after a few years of servant realize, man, this is the place that I want to be. This is the master that I want to have, this is the household that I want to work for and be part of, it's safer for me here, I'm provided for here rather than going out and making it on my own. If the master then approaches and says, hey, I'd like to give to you a wife, do you accept. That servant then could understand well, she is going to be an indentured servant here longer than me. So, do I really want to get into this relationship. If he knows, though, that he wants to stay working for this master then he just might accept the gift that the master wants to give.

5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

And so, as is the case with many of the laws from this section, we really don't have a lot of explanation on exactly how all this would work out, that's not really explained. How would they do it if the servant did want to leave, that's really not explained, it's just kind of given to us and it was left to the Israelites to work out the details. But verse five, if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door of the doorpost and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever. Now, again this is part of the reason why I think we can have great certainty that the kind of slavery that the Hebrews were dealing with is nothing like the transatlantic slave trade that we are familiar with in our American history.

Because no slave would ever say this kind of thing, this is where I want to be, I love this, this is the experience that I want to have. So the idea here is that this master had provided such a great experience that the servant comes to a place of saying, this is where I want to be. I don't want to go out free, I want to remain here with my wife and with my children. And so they perform this ceremony before God, an awl is driven through their ear, they have an earring now for the rest of their lives, indicating that they are a bond servant, they have chosen this life, and not just a period of seven years but a life of servitude. Apparently such cases were frequent enough that it required this formal recognition. So again, this helps us understand that this was not harsh bondage, but something that many servants would potentially choose to enter into for the duration of their lives.

So, again, don't get me wrong, it was still slavery, this kind of thing is still not acceptable today, however, I think it likely had softer tones than we might immediately imagine with the harsh word slavery. And of course this would say much more about the master than about the slave. For the servant to say, I will not go free. It said a lot about the kind of conditions that they were working in, they felt that their master was a good person who was providing for them well, a good place for them to toil. Paulo, often in the New Testament called himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. This is one of the common descriptions of himself that he would give often at the opening remarks of his various letters like he did in Romans one verse one. It's like Paul was saying, listen, I have served Jesus and I am now choosing a lifetime of service to Christ.

And if you will, putting my ear up to the doorpost and making the decision that because Jesus is such a good master, I will serve him for the duration of my life. And of course, we should then devotionally ask ourselves, are we born servants of Jesus. And if so what is the sign that we are, that we have made that singular and lifetime decision to follow hard after him. Many of us are holding on to our own will, to our own preferences, we want to be the Lord of our lives. But it's better for us to make Jesus the master and for us to take a slave or servant posture before him. In fact, when we do this for the Lord, we are actually adopting the mind of the Lord.

Paul said in Philippians chapter two verse five, he said, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. So Jesus's mentality, that servant mentality so much a servant that he was willing to die for us, is a mentality that Paul exhorts the church to enter into as well, to have that mind within us that we will be servants, that we will lay down our lives.

Wife-Servants

Now before I go to the next section here in Exodus chapter 21, I just want to point out that a female slave apparently could do the same thing that is mentioned here in these first six verses. Everything about the first six verses is very male in nature, he is spoken of over and over again and if he is given a wife and if she bears him children. So it almost appears that this is the requirement for male slaves. But in Deuteronomy chapter 15, when the directions are given about a servant who wants to be a bond slave permanently in the house of that master, and he's to put his ear to the door, he'll be your slave forever, it says. And it says in Deuteronomy 15 verse 17, and to your female slave, you shall do the same.

So, it seems as if these first opening verses are about male and female slaves who have made that decision to indenture themselves to others for whatever reason in life. And part of the reason I mentioned that it's because the next section seems to deal with female slaves but I'm of the opinion that it has a marriage component attached to it in this next section. Verse seven through 11, I don't think are just the requirements for female servants, but are the requirements for female servants who have entered into some kind of contractual marriage relationship. It's not just a run of the male slave or servant who's made this kind of decision but some kind of negotiation that has been made for whatever reason for a woman to marry into likely a more wealthy family for some kind of societal or provisionary kind of reason. So with that I want to introduce this next little section.

First of all, praise God that love has much more of a component in our modern marriage decisions. Now some have pointed out that apparently that hasn't led to more satisfaction in marriage. There are nations on earth today that still arrange marriages that have a much smaller divorce rate than in nations like the nation I'm in, that are able to enter into or exit marriages at will. I don't know that that speaks to the quality of the relationships as much as it speaks to the customs and the societal pressures that are on people in various nations. But once those pressures are removed, if people have choice they will, as history is showing itself, enter into and out of marriages at will. But in the past, especially here in the ancient times of Israel that we're reading about today, love was not the driving force that it is today.

Marriage was more exclusively for procreation and was also for the running of households and the establishment of a society. And these of course are things that marriage should be for. The establishing, the betterment, the health of a society, the establishing of a family, raising up children, godly offspring to God, but love was not as much a component in this bygone era. And praise God that love is more involved today than it was back then. But, this might help us as we look at the backdrop of these different slave laws and the arranged marriages that were attached to some of them. And really what you're reading about in this section are some of the beginnings of the honor of women or women's rights right here in the pages of Scripture. Again like I said earlier, like the sun blasting at full strength at noon day, time has passed by and now we understand people are made in the image of God.

7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

But in that era of very male dominated society, just the fact that God would begin to put protections in place for these vulnerable women was a game changing, groundbreaking kind of thing. They of course had moments where they would honor princesses or queens or women of great wealth and stature, but what we're about to read is protective of anonymous, forgotten, unknown women. All right, so let's read this next little movement. It says in verse seven, when a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people since he has broken faith with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

So let's talk about this little section dealing with these particular female slaves who are entering into, it appears into some kind of marriage agreement with a man or with a man's son. At times, this would have been done apparently in these old societies for provision for the woman, provision for her family. At times, this would also be done as a way to advance her status in that society or culture, rather than marrying someone from her impoverished level, she would marry someone from a higher class. But nonetheless, though, in this passage, she's designated as a slave or as a servant. But these laws protected her from being treated like the male servants would be treated. She had all the rights and the protections of a legitimately married woman. Now, the point of this law is not to question the existence of this situation, we of course would not practice this today in this way, but to give clear guidelines to these people from this time on how to behave since this was a societal norm.

And she was to be provided for and protected completely. If something displeased the master, he could not just release her like some of the male slaves or servants might be released. She'd have the opportunity to be redeemed by another family member, she could not be sold into foreign captivity, he had broken faith with her, God said. So, in other words, she is no longer, if she enters into this marriage agreement, she is no longer considered a simple property. No, not at all she's considered a wife in the home and he cannot treat her as he wishes or emotionally wants to at times, she gets all the protections that the law affords. Now this is a powerful section of scripture protecting these young women. The man required to respect her and provide for her, he could not play favorites in any kind of way. And if he didn't give her, her food or clothing or her marital rights, then she would not have to pay to be set free, she would gain her freedom, she would get this new class in society, and she would gain her total freedom.

So it was incumbent upon the man and his family to bring her in with the full rights of a wife. And so this is God, again, this is not an ideal situation but it's God providing a way for the women of that era to be protected. Now, you might have noticed that up to this point, God has merely been giving the people of Israel directions on how the Hebrew servants, the Hebrew slaves are to be treated. And there's no account, up to this point about how foreign slaves are to be treated. Now, there are passages, and we'll see them in chapter 22 and 23, that deal with how to treat foreigners who are part of the land. But really the emphasis there is on a lack of oppression, don't oppress these foreign people, it really doesn't deal with their enslavement as much as making sure that they are not an oppressed people. So again, it's a different kind of slavery that we're talking about here in Exodus chapter 21. These are Hebrew people making the decision to enter into indentured servitude for a period of time or as a married woman who gains then full marital rights and privileges.

Laws Regarding Capitol Offenses

Alright, with that though we're going to move on to some laws regarding capital offenses. What crimes could be committed that would earn, if you will, the death penalty in the nation of Israel. And what we're going to see for a long period here and we're just going to look at chapter 21 today, but even beyond chapter 21, this is a collection of many case laws. So they'll start with a phrase like, if there is or if someone does this or that, then or in that case, this is what you need to do. And here in this first movement there are four causes for the death penalty.

The first cause is premeditated murder. The second cause is physical violence against the parents, the third cause is kidnapping and the fourth cause is verbal abuse of your parents. All of these things in these first four movements would garner the death penalty, and all of this helps us understand that God is for the honoring of human life, human life is important to God. All the way back in when we began our study of the Old Testament, in Genesis chapter one verse 26 and 27, it tells us it on the sixth day God said, let us make man in our image.

It's a fallacy to believe that the animal kingdom is somehow on par, equal to, level with, in honor and glory to humanity. No, we are more important in the eyes of God than anything else in his created order, we are made in his image. And since the image of God is upon us it's important for us to be respectful of other people and other people's lives because they also are made in God's image. In fact, after the flood, when God was reinstituting society through Noah, it says in Genesis nine verse six that God said, whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed because God made man in his own image. So the very reason that God instituted the death penalty in those post flood conditions, is because human beings are made in his image. So we have no right to take the life of someone else in a murderous kind of way because they are made in God's image. So God wanted there to be a serious punishment for those who had entered into that crime.

Now I should say before we start reading about these cases that would lead to the death penalty, that some have wondered if the death penalty requirement is more of a moral standard than a law that the people of Israel actually kept. And we don't have a lot of records in Old Testament history of Israel like executions. We do have a lot of records in Old Testament history of the crimes that are listed in Genesis, excuse me, in Exodus 21, 22 and 23. There are many times that they wandered off the path of devotion to God. So, there weren't a lot of times where they actually carried out the death penalty for many of these crimes. So, some have wondered if perhaps God wasn't even as much insisting on the penalty itself, but the people of Israel saw these are death worthy crimes, things that we should rightly avoid.

Another clue in this direction some would say, is that there's really not anything in the text about anything other than why the death penalty would exist. We see what someone has done, but you don't see who should execute, when they should execute, what process they should go through, where the person should be executed, none of these things are listed, there's nascent detail. So it seems that perhaps the people of Israel would read this, see the seriousness of it but not yet have a function or a way to bring application to this in their everyday experience. But with all that said and I'll talk a little bit more about the death penalty in a few minutes.

12 “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. 13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

Let's look at this first instance, it says in verse 12, whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie and wait for him but God let him fall into his hand then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

Alright, so in this first instance is pretty cut and dry. You have one person, he is intentionally murdering someone else, he strikes someone else that they might be put to death, this is pre meditated murder. There's obviously an exception for those who did not premeditated, they did not lie in wait, God just sort of let them fall into their hand. For that person, he says, I'll appoint for you a place to which that man may flee. And later in the law, in the book of Numbers and also in Deuteronomy, God would establish cities of refuge for the people of Israel if they were guilty of manslaughter could run to, to flee to, to try to find justice and protection of their lives lest an avenger rise up against them. But here he's talking about those who there is premeditation, they've made a decision, and they are going to kill this person, that person God says will be put to death.

You see murder is a serious crime. It usurps God's prerogative. God had said to Adam in the Garden of Eden, in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. God's decision about when a person dies is God's decision, and the murderer takes that prerogative from God and applies it to themselves. So not only are they attacking God's image, someone made in God's image, but they are taking what is rightfully God's position, and they are deciding when that person is going to die. But not only is it an attack on God to murder someone else, it is an attack on the family of the deceased. The people that are left behind to pick up the pieces, to fill in the gaps, to care for their loved ones that they left behind or the young ones that they have responsibility for.

But it is also, if you will, an attack on society itself, because in taking a person from that society you are decreasing the overall effectiveness of that society and also asking that society to pick up the slack and do that which the person who is now dead has left behind. And obviously, it's an attack not just on God, the family, the society but an attack on the individual themselves. So it breaks apart a family, it breaks apart a society, it violates both tablets, because it is not loving towards God, and it is not loving towards man. So, this is God's first requirement or first law or rule that would cause someone to gain the death penalty, this killing someone else, cold blooded murder.

15 “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

But the second one might surprise us. It says in verse 15, whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. Now, I should say that if you have a New International Version, you have a newer version, I think it says, it has a little marginal note that tells you that kills could replace the word strikes, here in verse 15. Whoever kills his father or his mother shall be put to death. Now according to the first instance of the death penalty, you would understand that, if a man killed somebody death penalty, including father or mother. It does seem though that here we have something lesser than actually cold blooded murder but it's just lashing out physically against a parent. And many of us in modern times look at a law like this, and we're disturbed by this particular use of capital punishment. That this or what happens next, the following laws could actually bring the death penalty upon someone. And all throughout these three chapters we're going to be studying in this week and subsequent weeks, there are crimes that are not murder that are gaining the death penalty for someone.

Kidnapping, physical or verbal assaults against parents, sorcery, bestiality, idolatry, all of them would garner the death penalty. Now, against our modern standards of judgment this seems to be really harsh, but you have to remember, these were ancient times, the society was very fragile, it was in its beginning stages and it needed this kind of requirement up against it. And I think part of what we're seeing here is that God is establishing a strong reverence for the family structure. You can't lash out against your parents, physically, is the law here in verse 15. We're to honor our father and mother, we know that from the 10 commandments. And here's an application of that commandment, it's a big deal in the sight of God. So I think this is part of God's way of saying, look, this is so important to the society that you're building, if the family structure breaks down your whole society is going to break down.

And I don't want to go on a long tirade on our modern society. But the reality is so much of the brokenness and pain and heartache and dysfunction and tragedy that we're experiencing in our modern time it has come from a breakdown and also a devaluing of the family. I think there are many instances of the state thinking that the family is not a very big deal, and that they can do a better job than mom and dad. And I think within the home there has been a destruction of, where fathers have left their post, have neglected their families, where wives have decided to do their own thing and find their own truth. And all of this has led to a destruction of the family, which in turn makes society much more dysfunctional than it needs to be. And so God is instituting a law here by which, at the very beginning he's saying, you got to have high respect for the family unit.

16 “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

Then in verse 16, he gives a third crime that would lead to the death penalty. He says, whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death. So both the person that is taking a human being, stealing them, selling them or anybody purchasing that person. So human trafficking, the trafficker, or the person who is purchasing someone, both of them in this ancient economy they were also to be put to death and given this death penalty. Now, at this point I just want to say a couple of things, first of all, as believers it is good for us to champion the cause of attacking, going against bringing consciousness of the reality of human trafficking on earth today. This is an unfortunate and terrible crime that still exists even in our modern times and many of the, much of the prostitution and pornography that our world is rife with has been funded, instituted and furthered because of human trafficking.

And there are many other crimes attached to this crime, is a terrible stain on our human existence. And because Christians believe that humans are made in the image of God we should believe that and we should fight for the cause of those who are in danger of being trafficked or have been trafficked or are being trafficked, we should do what we can. And so I praise the Lord for those whom God has raised up to enter into such a difficult fight and battle. But I also just want to talk for a second here about the death penalty itself. Because many of the laws, I mentioned earlier that there are other Near Eastern cultures that we know their law codes from. Many of those cultures, they highlighted monetary compensation for nearly everything. So even like murder that we just spoke of a few minutes ago, often it was money that would be paid as a punishment for the crime. But what the Bible insists on here amongst God's people is not money but life for life.

You see, non-biblical laws applied the death penalty to things that had monetary value. If you broke into someone's house and stole from them, if you looted, a fire, if you stole from somebody. Those were things in other law codes that would get the death penalty but not in Israel. In Israel, the death penalty had to do with how you treat people. These examples revealed that in other cultures financial loss was sometimes treated more seriously than the loss of life. But the biblical laws consistently emphasize that human life is of greater value than material possessions. But in light of all of this, as we're talking about the death penalty, here you have it in the pages of the Old Testament, of course this is just one of many places where the death penalty in that era was highlighted. It might appear that Christians, we should be people who support the death penalty for crimes like murder but I think there are a few other factors that should be considered by the modern Christian.

First, ancient Israelites really had no other option. They couldn't sentence someone to life imprisonment because they had no prisons, they didn't have the capacity to build all of these prisons. And remarkably imprisonment was never used as a means of punishment for any crime, not just murder but any crime, there was no place to house someone. And so this restricted their choice of punishment but also secondly, it's likely that, as I mentioned earlier the death penalty was likely rarely ever used in Israel. This probably ensured that it did not have the effect of devaluing human life and so it really it wasn't something that they entered into all that often. But I think another, perhaps consideration for the modern Christian would simply seem to be that, I don't know how else to say it but our modern system of capital punishment is just so convoluted and it seems at times unjust.

And so I could understand if a Christian has concerns about the long appeals process or the seemingly over, the high percentage of African American men that are incarcerated and then having to face the death penalty in comparison to other races here in the United States, or something like that, I could understand those concerns. It just almost seems as if this is something that human beings are just incapable of administering well. So I think at the very core of it a believer should be able to say, well, technically speaking there's evidence in the Old and New Testament that capital punishment is something that God would endorse because human beings are made in his image. Or if someone takes someone else's life that is a serious offense that requires a serious punishment, though we might have misgivings about how its administered, and all of that. And so I think there's some wiggle room there for a Christian to kind of wrestle with that tension in our modern times.

Laws Regarding Intentional Injury

17 “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. 18 “When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed, 19 then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.

But with that though, let's move on to verse 17, It says, whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. Now again this goes back to the family, before it was a striking now it's verbally striking someone. And again, this would hold to or remind us of the sanctity, the importance of the family. Before I move on to the next section, I just want you to note in verse 17, that the father and the mother are held out here. They're mentioned together, this stresses their basic equality, they're both important in the sight of God even here in this ancient culture. All right, let's conclude by looking at the final section here where we have laws concerning just kind of the way that you operate in your daily life. And some of them having to do with intentional or unintentional injury of those because of the things that you own and the things that you possess. It says in verse 18, when men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed.

Then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear, only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed. And here the point is obvious, God's people are required to take personal responsibility for their actions. So, if, by your actions you strike someone, they're injured, they lose out on their work because they're recovering. He says, you have to pay for their loss of time until that person is thoroughly healed. Now, again, we might read this in our modern time and think to ourselves, okay, well, I guess if I ever hit somebody or something like that and they're injured and they can't work, I'll try to take care of them. But really what it's about, it's the principle of taking personal responsibility and I've just discovered over time that many believers have a hard time taking personal responsibility. Many believers won't apologize and many believers won't make restitution for the wrongs that they have done.

20 “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. 21 But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

Many believers, hold to an easy kind of believeism where God's grace is just always flowing and so they're just doing whatever they want sinfully damaging others in the process. But here we see that, no, God's people they're grieved by the pain that they caused. And they want to do what they can to make it right with the people that they have hurt. And so they're doing what they can, here in this instance, it's actual monetary compensation because that's of course what the person who's been hurt has lost out on. So we have to be people who say, what do I need to do to make things right? Verse 20, when a man strikes his slave male or female with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged for the slave is his money. Here you have a man who strikes out against a servant.

22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

And if that servant dies, then the man will be avenged, he needs to die as well. But if the slave lives, a day or two goes by and then he begins to make a recovery then there will be no vengeance because he's going to suffer by the fact that the servant cannot work. And that's kind of the point there of verse 21, for the slave is his money is the idea that is held out there. Now verse 22, it goes on and it says when men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so that her children come out, but there's no harm, the one who hit her, she'll surely be fined as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Now, there's a couple of things that we need to mention about that little paragraph that we just read.

First of all, the idea here is that a couple of men are fighting together. They, in the course of their fight, unintentionally or intentionally a woman gets involved, she's struck. If she's pregnant and it induces labor, and her child is born. But, even though the child's premature, it's safe and healthy then, the husband of the wife just fines the offenders. But if there is harm, if the child is harmed in any way, especially if the child dies, then he says, you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Now, this is important for a couple of reasons. First of all, this whole statement is important because it tells us a lot about how God sees the unborn. If someone who is full grown is murdered, the murderer pays with their life. Now you have a baby inside the womb, if they die, even though this is more similar to the manslaughter charges because it's unintentional.

The two men fighting, a woman is there, she is struck accidentally, even though it's a manslaughter kind of charge, the death penalty is still the case because God says, life for life. The unborn fetus in this passage in other words is seen as just as much a human being, if not more so because they are defenseless, cannot protect themselves. And so God is seeing the unborn in a very special kind of way and so this informs us concerning our modern views of how to treat the unborn. We should not be aborting our children, we should be allowing them to live and those who are in peril, or in poverty, and in times of difficulty, because of having a child. Well, the world should rally together, the church should rally together to help those unborn be born and then bring them into society, help support them and encourage them and do what we can to bring life, clearly abortion is sinful and wrong in the sight of God.

But the other thing that we see here in this passage is this ancient statement, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth on and on. Now this has often been thought of as a very barbaric and an workable, unsophisticated kind of law governing the people of Israel. And many people have ridiculed, mocked Israel's laws because of this whole eye for an eye concept. How does that work, you do something where someone's eye pops out and then you have to go and have your eye get popped out, it seems like a barbaric way of running a society. But in actuality what this would have done is limited in a very rudimentary society, vengeance, you can imagine. A father whose teenage son has his eye damaged severely by someone else, what does he want to do, go damage an eye. No, he wants to do something worse, the temper, the anger, the tendency towards vengeance. And so this would offer a restriction upon those feelings that would sometimes erupt inside of the avengers heart.

26 “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.

And so God is establishing something that would actually control the people of Israel, rather than letting them run rampant in dealing with the crimes of the people around them. Now 26, it goes on and says when a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth. So again, this is a way for slaves to be protected in that society. If they were struck, if they were harmed, then they would get all the benefits of seven years of servitude, but they'd be able to go free earlier rather than later. And so this would create a protection for these servants and this would be a blessing or a protective measure for slaves.

Laws Regarding Unintentional Injury

28 “When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. 29 But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. 31 If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule. 32 If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Now verse 28, I love this one. It says, when an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten but the owner of the ox shall not be liable.

But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stone and its owner also shall be put to death. If a ransom is imposed on him then he shall give for him the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. If it gores a man's son or daughter he shall be dealt with according to the same rule. If the ox gores a slave male or female, the owner shall give to the master 30 shekels of silver and the ox shall be stoned. Now, on one hand, again, I'm sure that nobody listening to this podcast is thinking to themselves, oh, man finally I know what to do if my ox gores someone on accident. I don't think that's any of our struggle today, but we have property, we have automobiles, we have jobs we have schedules, there are things that we do that can damage someone else. And again the idea here is of taking personal responsibility.

If you're driving down the road, and you know that your tires are as bald as a bald eagle, and it's a rainy day. Well, what are you doing, you're endangering yourself but you're also endangering other people and you might be able to lift from a passage like this the concept of personal responsibility. Gosh, I got to make sure I'm not doing things that would be harmful to the society that I'm living in. But I also think that there's something interesting here just about, in a spiritual sense about our own tendencies in our lives today. I mean here you have a man with an ox who had not gored in the past and if it did, the man was not held liable. But if it had shown that tendency and he'd not put a fence around it, he'd not tied it up to a stake, he'd not protected people, he'd not put out signage that says beware of the ox. If he'd not done that, then he is liable in the future if this ox repeats that same unfortunate crime, so to speak.

And I think this speaks to us maybe concerning our own personal walks with the Lord. All of us are tempted in various ways, but we know our tendencies as well. We know our past failures, we know the areas of weakness and it's unfortunate that oftentimes, even if we know what those temptations and weaknesses are, that we won't do anything about them. That we won't set up the fence, the walls, the barriers, the guidelines, the accountability that might keep us from harming ourselves and others in the same way in the future. We've got to know our tendencies, and we've got to do something about them by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God.

33 “When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.

Now it says in verse 33, when a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pitch shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner and the dead beast shall be his. Now on those ancient times, a pit, it was often dug for water or for other reasons. And so, owner of land needed to cover that pit lest a person or an animal unwittingly fall into it and harm themselves. And so the idea here is again taking personal responsibility, taking care of people that exist out in the world and just making sure that you're not doing anything that could in some way bring harm to another person. And the rule was very simple there in Israel. If the owner was negligent and someone else's animal died, the pit owner in effect bought himself a dead animal. That was kind of the idea, okay, if my animal died in your pit, you need to pay me for that dead animal and the dead animal is now yours, congratulations.

And again this might speak to us concerning the way that we steward the stuff that we possess. I'm thinking of a Christian landlord, you should not be one of those terrible people who lets the plumbing in the building that you own rot. You should not be a person that has dangerous electrical wiring in a building that you own and are renting out to someone else. You should, when you drive around, have some car insurance just in case you strike somebody. These are things that Christians should be doing because we know that we need to take care of our responsibilities, we don't want to bring harm to society.

35 “When one man’s ox butts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share. 36 Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.

Let's close with the last two verses. When one man's ox butts another's, verse 35, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price and the dead beast also they shall share. Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox and the dead beast shall be his.

So again, they go back to the ox here, this time not harming a person but harming another man's ox, they're fighting together. If it's never happened before it's no one's fault, and the two ox owner share the expense together but if it has happened before then the owner of the living ox shall repay ox for ox. He'll give the live one away and keep the dead one for himself, it was his fault, he is responsible. So again, what we're seeing in these laws is, again, personal responsibility, taking care of our lives so that we can be a blessing to others. And again these are ancient Israel laws that governed their time and space. We're in the church era and age, we have different laws that govern us today but the principles that are found there in are so perfect for us in our modern time that we might be a people who take responsibility for our lives as well. God bless you, church, I hope you have a wonderful week.