The following is Pastor Nate’s teaching transcription from Calvary Monterey’s 4/13/21 Tuesday Night Service. We apologize for any transcription inaccuracies.
Introduction
Exodus 22, verse one, "If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep." Now, immediately just reading that sentence to you, wherever you are and however you're consuming this teaching, you likely are saying to yourself, well, these are laws that have little or nothing to do with me. Now, just to remind you, we are in a section of the Book of Exodus where God has delivered to the people already the 10 commandments. It was a moment filled with fear and trembling. They had come out of their captivity in Egypt, and now the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has revealed himself through the commandments, through the law. There was lightning and thundering, and it was an ominous moment where Moses came down from the mountain with these 10 commandments.
But now we're in a section where before God then takes the time to explain the laws regarding worship in Israel, the tabernacle, the ceremonies, the sacrifices. God gives to the people of Israel the civil law, and this is found in Exodus 21, which we've already covered, 22, which we'll cover today, and chapter 23 as well, or at least part of chapter 23. And as I said, in our chapter 21 teaching, many of these laws were a codification of customs that existed in that time, but with a completely different bend attached to them because of the existence of God and God's care and compassion, especially for the poor and the needy inside of the covenant community. But they are a rudimentary society at this point that God is developing for his glory. And of course, it is true that these laws that we're about to look at cannot be indiscriminately transferred to our modern society.
Laws Regarding Treatment of Finances
For example, there are certain laws that have to do with dowry payments for brides-to-be, these are not applicable in our modern times, we're in a modern society, but these were the laws for the people of ancient Israel as God governed them as a theocracy. And from them, there are principles that apply to our modern times and especially to our Christian life. And one of the major concepts throughout this whole passage is that there are penalties and consequences built into our sin. For instance, in the first movement, we're going to see God basically expounding on the commandment, thou shalt not steal, but what happens if I do steal? And so consequences are going to be laid out in this passage that would help the people of Israel understand there are consequences to our sins, consequences to our actions.
Also God is creating in this nation more civilization. In other words, a criminal perhaps in other civilizations contemporary to their time would have faced a much more brutal judgment than the kinds of judgments that are held here. Some of them meant to keep the judicial process moving, to keep vengeance and revenge in check, and to protect the criminal themselves, but also to hold them appropriately accountable for their actions. So the first of the commandments that we'll look at today really deals with the, the first whole section deals with the treatment of our finances or property, what we're doing with the things that we own. So again, that first commandment, verse one, if a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
Theft
Now, as I've already alluded to, this is a commentary on the eighth commandment, you shall not steal. And immediately what we discover is that the commandment itself was not enough. Here's God saying, but even though you're not to steal, if a man does steal, and this is the reality of the law, the law cannot save us, the law can govern a people and the law can show a person their need for a savior because though the law says, "Thou shalt not steal," the reality is we will. There will be moments that we cross that line, that we take something that does not belong to us. The letter, in a sense, as Paul said in Second Corinthians three, verse six of the law, the legal code, it condemns us. It kills us. The spirit through the gospel comes in and gives us life.
1 If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Now, something I should mention here, and verse one is as good a place as any to mention it, is that these laws are our principles from which the judges in Israel, would deduce all the governing precepts for the nation. And what I mean by that is simple, and you can see it exemplified in this first verse. He says, "If a man steals an ox or a sheep," and then he gives some requirements on what needs to be done as a result. And he doesn't mention goats, for example. That doesn't mean that it's open season on goats, you can go steal as many goats as you want, and there's no ramifications, no consequences. No. This is a template that the people, the judges in Israel would then glean the appropriate punishment for those who steal other kinds of livestock or other kinds of property. And the price for theft is steep. He says here, "You steal an ox, you pay back five. You still a sheep, you pay back four." This is meant to be a theft deterrent, and deterrents of course are helpful and needed. Even in the Christian life. These are things that are helpful and needed to us. And so they would have extended this to all aspects of their society.
2 If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
Then he says in verse two, "If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no blood guilt for him, but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be blood guilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft." The idea here is that it really is a protection for the criminal himself. "If a thief comes in," God says there in verse two, and he's breaking in and he's struck in self-defense, the homeowner defends his property, doesn't know whether this is just a common thief or if there are more scandalous desires, and the homeowner then strikes out lashes against this criminal and he dies, there's no blood guilt.
The homeowner will not be guilty for that unless the sun has risen on him. If it's daylight, in other words, and the thievery is taking place and the homeowner kills the thief in broad daylight, then there will be a reckoning for that death. The blood guilt will be upon the homeowner. And likely the idea is, hey, well, it's dark. You don't know exactly what's going on and you can defend yourself. But if it's daytime, the criminal is seen. Witnesses can watch this occurring. And then a fair judicial process can deal with the crime. And if he steals an ox, then he's got to pay five back and they witnessed the crime that he has committed. You could go to his house, you could find the ox, and he will have to deal and pay the penalty for his error.
4 If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.
But he says in verse four, "If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double." So the idea here is that still the ox is living, he has not sold it, he has not killed it, but it's still alive in his possession, then he's got to pay double for that beast. He's not killed or sold as in the first verse, but it's actually found alive because here the original owner can at least be reunited with his own animal, which would be better for him to have, he's trained it, it's comfortable, he's able to use it as he desires, he knows that animal. An interesting little side note here though, is that in Leviticus, it tells us that if a person did this kind of crime and was not caught but voluntarily confessed their sin, then they would actually, as they gave back the animal, only be required to pay one fifth.
So rather than paying double, they would pay one fifth when they gave the animal back. So again, some motivation there that God is trying to build into his word that we would be a people that confess our sins readily. There's a big difference between being caught and coming out with it ourselves and confessing our sins, and then also being able to make restitution. He says, "If you kill the animal or you sell the animal, you got to pay back four or five fold, but if you're able to give it back, then you have to pay double. And if you give it back before they find out and you've confessed it yourself, then you only pay back one fifth," but again, the idea is you pay it back.
Negligence
Now, again, as I said earlier, probably some principles were to glean from these Old Testament laws. One principle that we might glean here is that, hey, it's important for us when we sin, not if we sin, but when we sin, it's important for us as much as is possible with us to make things right with those we have sinned against. Too many believers have adopted a mentality where, yes, the blood of Jesus has covered them up their sins or from their sins, but the idea then that they extend to others is, well, I have nothing to settle with you. I have no sin to confess to you. I have nothing that I need to make right to you. My sin is against God and God has forgiven me. But the reality is, that there are consequences that we have left behind worse and so it is good for us, as much as is possible with us, to make things as right as we possibly can.
Take a man, for instance, who leaves his wife, his children, and pursues his own fleshly pursuits, right? He then has all the freedom in the world to hear the gospel of Christ, to receive the grace of God, and to be forgiven and washed of all of his sins. But it would also be good for that man to then pause and say, "I have reaped great havoc in the life of this woman and the life of these young children, and I'm going to do everything I can to make things as right as I possibly can." That might mean a remarriage or patching the family up. That might not be possible. She may have moved on, become unwilling to reconcile or even remarried. That doesn't mean that that man should not attempt to be part of those children's lives, ministering to them, caring for them, praying for them, confessing his sin, apologizing for what he's done, paying child support, being as much of a fixture as he possibly can.
5 “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard. 6 “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.
These would be the kinds of ideas that we would deduce from the kind of restitution that the people of Israel paid for their theft. Now in verse five, we see a case of negligence. Two of them actually, verses five and six. It says, "If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard. If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who's started the fire, shall make full restitution."
Now, here you have a couple of examples of negligence. First of all, you have one beast owner who just allows his animal to graze wherever. So this animal is grazing in someone's field or vineyard or stacked grain, total score, for the beast or their standing grain. It's not yet been plucked. Or you got another man who is likely tending to his field with fire, perhaps burning weeds or thorns that he needs to get rid of or healing the soil somehow through the burning of the soil, but then he lets that fire get out of control and it goes and begins to consume the crops of his neighbor. God says the animal owner and the fire starter are negligent and they have to deal with their crime. They need to make full restitution, is the word that's used there in verse six or in verse five, "He shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard."
So God is concerned about the fruit of our neighbor that we protect it, that we preserve it, and he is concerned that our actions do not negatively affect those that we share borders with or our neighbors, so to speak. Again, as I said, it's hard for us to draw laws that should be applied in our modern time, although this kind of responsibility, I'm sure we could find many ways in our modern law codes that these things have been applied in various principles and ways. If you think of your own car, you're driving down the road, you are responsible. You can't just plow into somebody's front yard and say, "I have no responsibility." No, you are liable for that. Your insurance will help pay for repairs and damages. And God forbid, you've actually taken a human life because of that negligence, we are responsible. And some of those original laws would come from laws like these in the Old Testament.
But there's also, again, just the concept that I have a measure of responsibility for the people around me, that God wants me to care for them, watch out for them, and he doesn't want me to do things that would negatively harm or impact their lives. And if I do, then it is up to me to make things right. I found in the Christian life, there's a lot of different kind of personalities that are out there. We've got our different ways of measuring the kinds of personalities that people have. And those different personalities that we have as human beings often lead us to just speaking and conducting our lives in different kinds of ways. And sometimes, those ways aren't even sinful, but they can hurt other people, impact other people because of misunderstandings or miscommunications and the like.
Unfaithfulness
7 “If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man’s house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8 If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor’s property. 9 For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, or for any kind of lost thing, of which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before God. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.
And it is good for us when those things come across our plate or we become conscious of something that we did perhaps intentionally or even inadvertently to then say, "I want to make that right. I need to own what I have done. I need to learn from what I've done. I want to make full restitution." Now, in verse seven, we see not just theft and negligence, but total unfaithfulness in the next handful of verses. It says in verse seven, "If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe and it's stolen from the man's house, then if the thief is found he shall pay double. If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to the neighbor's property. For every breach of trust, whether it's for an or, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloth, or for any kind of loss thing of which one says, this is it, the case of both parties shall come before God. The one who God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor."
Again, this is interesting. And again, one of those laws that could just really never be applied in a modern, especially a non-believing kind of society, but just definitely not in any modern society, this is the clear mark of a theocracy at play here in Israel, because what would happen in that ancient time without banks or anything like that, when you traveled perhaps to a distant country or you went on a trip to visit relatives in another part of Israel or the promised land, you would take perhaps some of your valuables and you would entrust them into the care of your neighbor. Now, this was likely just kind of part of their society, part of what they did. Your neighbor understood that you needed them to do this for you because he or she would likely need you to do this at some point for them. And so you would take their goods into your home or their livestock into your pens or your home or your property, and you would watch over them, tending to them, caring for them, watching over them until they return. There was no bank for them to put their money in or anything like that.
So, if Welby's things were under your care, they were stolen, then what God announces there is that if a thief is found, then the thief will pay double. But if the thief isn't found, the person comes back, they come to you and say, "Hey, where's my cloth, or where's my ox, or where's my jewelry, where's my money?" And you say, "Well, it was stolen," but the thief is not produced, then this really interesting thing was supposed to happen in Israel.
Both parties, the person who was holding the items and the person whose items were being held, were to present themselves to God and God would condemn one or the other of them. He would either say to the accuser, "Hey, you've falsely accused this person, they've done nothing wrong." Or he would condemn the person that was acting as the bank and say, "Actually, they have stolen these items for themselves and they're not letting you know what they have done. They lost them intentionally to enrich themselves." Now you might ask the question, how did God do this? How did God designate which one was innocent and which one was guilty, if any? Now, it's possible that the judges were involved. Remember earlier in the Book of Exodus, Jethro came in, Moses' father-in-law, with advice to Moses that he would appoint qualified individuals to be judges over thousands of hundreds and tens underneath Moses' authority and leadership.
And so perhaps this is the judge system in Israel at play. You come to the judge, the judge asks some interview type questions and comes to a conclusion. But it's also possible that he's alluding to here something that was about to develop in Israel called the Urim and the Thummim or in our modern vernacular, the lights and perfections, which we don't really know a lot about, but somehow the people of Israel used as a way to discern yes and no answers from God to discern God's will.
David used this when he was on the run from Saul to ask questions of the Lord, "Should I go here? Should I go there? Should I flee from Saul?" Types of questions. And God would respond, it appears, through this thing called the Urim and the Thummim that was originally at the priests' disposal. So perhaps, this is God beginning to declare this kind of thing, "I am going to weigh in on it through this Urim and Thummim ceremony," which again, helps us understand this is not something that could be applicable in our modern times because Israel was a unique theocracy before the Lord, before God.
But again, it would just make you as a citizen in Israel very conscious of the responsibility that you have for others when you take their goods into your home and begin watching over them. We just spoke of treading lightly and being very conscious of the fact that you had a responsibility in someone else's life. I wish and pray that this consciousness grew more in the Western church. I feel that we, as a Western people, have very closely identified ourselves to the worldview that speaks of us as individuals and that we need to live out our individuality, but in the scripture, in the both Old and New Testament, God's people are presented quite constantly as a community of people with a responsibility to one another, to love one another, care for one another, support one another, pray for one another.
And often our modern lives come into competition with that one another nature of the Christian life. We go to our own homes. We have our own jobs. We have our own paychecks. We purchase our own possessions. And none of these things are wrong in and of themselves. I'm not suggesting a communal kind of living or anything like that. I think they attempted that in Jerusalem and it only lasted for a season of time. It was a special moment in the history of the church and there are special moments to live exceedingly like this, but it would just be so good for us to have an increased awareness of our responsibility for other people in our community, and yet the body of Christ.
10 If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away, without anyone seeing it, 11 an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor’s property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution. 12 But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. 13 If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn.
But let's go on in verse 10. He says, "If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away without anyone seeing, an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. The owner shall accept the oath and he shall not make restitution. But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence, he shall not make restitution for what has been torn." So again, the idea of taking care of your neighbor's property here, you have livestock being cared for, and he says, "Look, if it dies, it's injured, or is driven away without anybody seeing it, then the person who has been loaned the animal, they have to make an oath before God between them both to see whether or not God has put his hand to his neighbor's property and the owner has to accept that oath before God."
And the idea here is that with animal property, there's always the chance of death or injury or being killed by a wild beast that might not indicate negligence of any kind, but is just kind of the run of the mill process of animal life. You might compare it to borrowing a friend's car when that thing has five miles to go before the transmission blows out and there you are chugging down the road five miles after borrowing the car, the transmission goes out, it might be nice for your friend to have mercy on you because, now, this wasn't really your fault, it was just what the engine was prone to do. Here you have animals, they're prone to illness, to sickness, they've certainly died, and so this would cause you to just sort of think twice about becoming the guardian of your neighbor's possession, there's responsibility. And as I've been saying, we should take responsibility for others. Jesus took responsibility for us, and so we should care for others as well.
Borrowing
14 If a man borrows anything of his neighbor, and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution. 15 If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution; if it was hired, it came for its hiring fee.
In verse 14, he addresses the subject, not a negligence, but a actual borrowing. He says, "If a man borrows anything of his neighbor and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution. If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution. If it was hired, it came for its hiring fee." So in the previous scenarios, it was the owner coming to a neighbor and saying, "Hey, look, I need you to watch my animal. I need you to hold on to my money or my possessions." Here, this is a neighbor coming to the owner saying, "I need to borrow your animal or I need to borrow your possession."
And what God says is, in that scenario, if the animal's injured or dies and the owner is not there, he's not operating the ox. He's not taking care of it. If it dies, then the person who's borrowed it shall make full restitution. If the owner's there, God says, then the borrowers should not make restitution. And if he paid for it, if it was hired, then it came for its hiring fee. Now, if the owner is there, working it, and he's been paid for it, then he got what he agreed upon from those who borrowed it. So the idea here is that the borrower initiates the transaction and the lender is given the benefit of the doubt. So I think there's some grace here in the way that they would treat each other.
Laws Regarding Treatment of Others
Now, moving on to verse 16, the first couple of verses really of this next passage, this whole passage now will deal with the treatment of others. We've talked about the treatment of our possessions. And by the way, there is something embedded in those first 15 verses in Israel about human ownership, that we can own things, that we are stewards of possession, we need to take care of them. But here in verse 16 to 31, we're going to deal with the treatment of others. And really the first couple of verses you could say are part of the previous section, because it deals with a young virgin in her father's household, and in their ancient culture, she was often thought of as a possession. I'm not saying that's right, but it's just sort of the mentality of that time and space.
Laws Regarding Seduction
16 If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. 17 If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.
And so God is going to reveal some laws dealing with a concern for humanity and how people should not be exploited starting in verse 16. He says, "If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride price for her and make her his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride price for a virgin." Now, again, I told you this is an interesting passage. And the idea here is that is not one of rape. There are other passages that speak of that forced sexual encounter of taking advantage of a woman and raping her. Here the idea there is a consensual nature to the sexual relationship between this man and this young woman who's yet to be married and is still a virgin.
If he comes in and seduces her, so this is extrapolating on Exodus 20, verse 14, "You shall not commit adultery," he's building that out. So a man comes in, he seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and he lies with her, then what he has to do is he actually pay the dowry price as if he'd gone through the appropriate channels, asked for her hand in marriage, and paid a dowry price to the family to make her into his wife. And then there's a special clause here in verse 17, that if the father refuses to give this woman to the man, he's supposed to take her into his home, treat her as if she is his wife, they're getting married, he's paid the bride price. They basically just didn't wait until marriage to consummate their marriage. But if the father says, "No, I refuse you as a husband," that says in number 17, "That the man will still pay money equal to the bride price for virgins."
So the idea is that her and, again, in their ancient eyes, her value had been diminished in the eyes of her father and so the price had to be paid so that she was secure in the future if she couldn't find another husband that was suitable to herself and of course to the father. Now, this is just an interesting passage. It obviously would discourage young men in Israel from going around and seducing young women, and would encourage young women in Israel to hold fast, to make sure that they're not entering into a sexual relationship before there is a commitment that has been made to them of marriage for life, and it would help encourage a society in lots of really good ways.
One of the good ways that it would encourage their society is the sanctity of marriage itself. They would have a high view of the value of marriage, a high view of the marriage bed. It would also keep them from extra marital affairs and relationships that could cause not just psychological damage, but actual familial damage all throughout their culture and society. And just offer a deterrent for the obvious desires that a young man, and here this young woman as well, are feeling, and wanting, and craving at that station and season of their lives. So the idea here is keep your relationships pure, keep your relationships holy.
Now I realize in reading this, there are a couple of things that stand out that might make us feel awkward and strange in our modern time. First of all, there's something about worth being attached to this woman and her sexual purity, so to speak. And praise God, the gospel redeems us from this kind of view that somehow our sexual past puts a value or lack thereof upon us. Now Jesus came to die for us. He covered us and forgave us of all of our shameful pasts, presence, and future. Everything that we've done that is an embarrassment or is less than we would desire, Jesus came in by his grace to wash us and cleanse us from, and redeem to declare over us the value that we have in him.
I think also there's something beautiful here about the value that we have before God, the value that is placed upon this young man, but most importantly, in this passage, upon this woman. She would not be encouraged to throw her body around easily. The message is, no, there should be a price that is paid. You are worth more than just a sexual experience. This should not be something that is free, but that is costly for a man and a woman to experience.
Of course, in our modern times, we've totally disengaged sex from any consequences whatsoever. We worked very hard to try to disengage ourselves from being able to have children as a result of sex, sexually transmitted diseases as a result of sex, and we're trying as much as we can to even detach ourselves from the emotional, psychological, spiritual cost of sex outside of the marriage bed or experience. We're trying as best we can to make it a recreational experience that is just for fun. But obviously God created it. It is an enjoyable experience. But what's being communicated here is that actually the young woman is worth so much more and sex is something that deserves a strong commitment between a man and a woman. So I'd encourage you to value yourself more highly. To say, "No, there's a level of commitment that's required for me to give my body to someone else."
I personally do believe that when women, in general, hold strong and say, "No, I am not going to give my body to men for pure enjoyment," however enjoyable that might be, but say, "No, I'm reserving that experience to someone who loves me enough to make a commitment to me and to lay down their lives for me. And once they've made that commitment to me, I will give myself to them sexually." I think when many women across the board do this, society in general just gets better, just improves, because men will then work hard to be what they ought to be, because they want to enjoy a woman. They want to partake of a woman in that way. But many men are willing to do it without any cost if they don't have to pay any kind of price. So it's good to just set a high bar and say, "You know what? Marriage is the thing that enables me to enter into that kind of relationship."
And obviously I know all the statistics, I know the modern tendencies, and I know that even inside of the visible church, there are many young believers who just think it's impossible not to live together, not to enjoy each other sexually before marriage, but I'm here to tell you it's not impossible. It's the way of God. And if that has been an area of failure in your life, then I think you should confess your sin. Reach out to God, ask for his grace, and apologize to him for what you've done, but move forward in him.
Laws Regarding Idolatry
18 You shall not permit a sorceress to live. 19 Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death. 20 Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.
All right, let's move on into verse 18. We've got a little cluster of verses that deals with forms of idolatry in Israel. They all sort of stand out as separate from each other, but they do go together. Verse 18, "You shall not permit a sorceress to live." Verse 19, "Whoever lies with an animal, shall be put to death." And verse 20, "Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction." Now, like I said, all three of these laws seem random from each other, but they actually are standing together because in ancient Canaanite culture surrounding the people of Israel, all of these things were present. There was sorcery. And the specific word that's being used does refer to a female sorcerer or a magician, someone who is dabbling in the demonic kind of realm.
Interestingly enough, the wording itself has connotations of drug use or pharmaceutical portions attached to it. So the idea being brought into another state, psychologically or pharmacologically, so that you're opened up to a different dimension, that idea could be found here within the word sorcery. The idea of lying with an animal is grotesque to us, but was attached to many pagan worship ceremonies in the Canaanite region around them. And additionally in verse 20, "Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than Lord will be devoted to destruction," here you have the blatant worship of a false god.
So all of these things not permitted, the sorceress should not live, the person that lies with an animal put to death, and the person that worships a false God, they're inviting a cancer that could destroy Israel from the inside out, so they shall be devoted to destruction. The idea being that if these things begin to be introduced into Israel, then the whole gospel message is in jeopardy because the Messiah needs to be produced from this people. And if they destroy themselves from the inside out, then no gospel because no Jesus. So the consequences had to be very severe for the kind of activity that was a cancer spiritually to the nation of Israel. So there's just deaths with death that comes upon all three of these actions.
I think it might remind us, perhaps, of some of the words of Jesus when he talked about various sins and things that would bring us into sin, if your foot or your hand causes you to sin, cut them off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Of course, we understand that none of those things actually cause us to sin. Sin is rooted within the heart of man, but Jesus is telling us that we're to be aggressive and to move boldly and swiftly against that which could kill us from the inside out. And I think we see this to abide here in these three verses.
Laws Regarding Caring for the Needy
21 You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
In verse 21, continuing on in our section here about how to treat others, he talks about caring for the needy and addresses specifically oppression against the poor or the widow or the orphan or the foreigner who's come from another country to live in Israel. The idea here is that at least in their time, these people had few or no natural protectors, and so God is stepping in as their protector as we'll see in this passage. So verse 21, it says, "You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child, if you do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn and I will kill you with the sword and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless." So this is strong language from God to the people of Israel. He wants to defend the defense list here in this passage. So he's looking out for the hurting amongst the people of Israel.
Here he just talks about the sojourner, someone who's come from a foreign country. They are an outsider. They're not easily accepted into the society or culture. He talks about widows, talks about fatherless children. And he says, "Look, these are people that you should not wrong and that you should not mistreat. If you do mistreat them," God says, "And then they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry," and God then declares that he'll bring swift destruction on them if they treat these people poorly. And fascinatingly enough, one of the big reasons that God gives for this, at least in this first paragraph we read, is that he says, "For you were so sojourners in the land of Egypt." He's telling them, "Don't wrong people like sojourners because that's what you used to be."
All the way back when Joseph moved to Egypt and was prosperous and his family moved into Egypt, 70 or so people living in the land of Goshen, they were foreigners. And as they multiplied, they were still sojourners from a distant land. You people of Israel know what it's like not to be in your country of origin, to be in your place, and because you know about that and were sojourners in the land of Egypt, you must treat sojourners really well. And I think one of the things that lifts off the page to me about this particular command from God is the tendency that sometimes strikes us to forget where we came from or to forget what we used to be especially as it pertains to our treatment of others. The New Testament teaches that before the gospel we're lost, but with Jesus we're found. Or that we, before the gospel, were blind, but with Jesus now we see. Or that we, before the gospel, were in darkness, but now with him, we are brought into the light. That we, before the gospel were broken, but now by Christ's grace we are made whole and we are being made whole by him.
One of the things that can happen is that these whole or health giving things begin to occur in your life and you start to forget who you used to be. And what inevitably can result from that is that you start looking at others who are currently lost, currently blind, currently broken, currently in darkness, with disdain. And here, God is telling his people, "Remember who you used to be. This used to be your situation. So have compassion on the sojourner."
Now, obviously God is not speaking in a spiritual dimension here at all. He's talking about literal sojourners, literal widows, literal orphans. And so we do see this particular emphasis transfer into our New Testament era. James said that pure and undefiled religion before God is this, to care for widows and orphans in their distress. We do see that the heart of God to care for those who are needy transfer over into our New Testament era. So we have to remember this, and we might even be able to say to ourselves, even if you've never been physically, financially needy, you can say, well, I was needy for the gospel and so I know what it is to be in need and I'm so thankful that God gave to me his only begotten son, and so I want to be a giver to those who are in need around me.
25 If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. 26 If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Then he says in verse 25, "If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a money lender to him and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor's cloak and pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that's his only covering. And if it's his cloak for his body, then what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear for I am compassionate."
Now, here, God is still dealing with how to treat those who are needy in Israel. And here we're not talking about just the sojourner or the widow or the orphan, but just those who are poor in Israel. And God says, "If you would lend to them, it's got to be different than any other loan that you would give. You can't charge someone who's poor and an Israelite interest, you've got to just give them the loan. If they pay it back, when they pay it back, that's fine, but you can't make money off the loan that you are giving to them." This is God, again, like I said, looking out for those who are impoverished, and this is all throughout the legal code for Israel.
In Deuteronomy 24, God said that the grain was to be left behind for widows and orphans during the harvest. They could make one pass through their harvest and then anything they didn't glean or reap in the first pass, they had to leave behind for the widows and orphans. The Book of Ruth is a great example of this. They had to leave the edges of their fields or the corners of their fields unreaped, so a full crop there on the edges for the poor to come and partake of it.
The helpers were to be given special hospitality, so people that were in need, they were taken care of during the feasts. And there was a special tithe every third year, for those who were poor. And even during the times where, every seven years, you perhaps have heard the law, that they were to let their land rest every seven years. Well, when they did that and their land was resting, they were supposed to allow those who were poor, according to Exodus 23, which we'll see next time together, to plant crops in their fields. So to use their field during the year of rest. So the idea here is of taking care of those who are poor amongst the people of Israel.
And the whole driving force of this paragraph is found in verse 27. Remember how the driving force of the first movement in this little section about taking care of the needy was, "Hey, you used to be a sojourner. " Here in verse 27, he says, "For I am compassionate." This comes from the very nature and the very heart of God. So a couple of things about this paragraph before we move on and conclude this chapter. One, is just simply that, again, this carry over of taking care of, ministering to those who are poor, is across not just the Old Testament, but the New Testament as well. We are to take care of those who are needy inside the body of Christ. And I've encouraged you, if you have means to be looking for ways to bless those who have less inside the church, inside the body of Christ.
And then of course, there should be a generosity in our heart towards those who are in need outside of the body of Christ as well. But the bigger thing that I want to hold out to you is the idea of discerning how to act based on the character and nature of God. That's really what God is saying here, "I want you to act this way because I am compassionate." I think we look into the word so often the mistake that we make is what is God asking me to do or what is the direct application to me from this particular passage of scripture?
And when you read the Bible that way, you'll come up with some very granular applications and sometimes some very odd applications, because it's just really not about you in so many areas of the word. It's all about the Lord who he is, but if you read the Bible through that lens, what is this teaching me about God, then that will help you deduce principles that will then move your life in some broader directions, not as granular, oh I think I need to give to this person, but a larger thing of, you know God, he is compassionate towards those who have need in this world. He always has a heartbeat for those for whom life is hard. And so I want to be a person who is just generous and caring for those who are hurting in this life because God loves them and he's put me on earth as his ambassador so I want to be the hands and feet of God, himself here on earth. So, seeing God's word in that way, I think will be really helpful to you in your growth and life with and in him.
Laws Regarding Reverence
28 You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
Now let's wrap up the chapter in verse 28 all the way through verse 31. He says in verse 28, and here we have some laws about revering God. He says, "You shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people." Here the idea is respect God and respect your leaders. Now, of course, this does transfer over into our New Testament scripture, Romans 13, verse one and two, for example, tell us to be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God. And those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resists what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment.
There obviously are times to resist the governing authorities when they're telling us what to say, telling us what we're not allowed to say, that type of thing. But there are times that we've got to, as citizens, submit to the governing authorities. The idea here is don't revile God, don't curse a ruler of your people. And probably the word curse has more than just like a displeasure, personally, about a ruler of your people. Although it might be good to put that in check in your heart and make sure that you're not crossing lines into hatred for our political leaders. But on the other hand, this is probably something a little bit more in ancient Israel, the actual pronouncement of an official curse upon a ruler of your people. He says, "Look, you just can't engage in and that you need to respect God and you need to respect the leader that God has placed in your life."
29 You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. 30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
He says in verse 29, "You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons, you shall give to me, you shall do the same with your oxen and and with your sheep. Seven days, it shall be with its mother, on the eighth day, you shall give it to me." Here, the idea of the Hebrew is you shall give your fullness to God. You'll give the first of the field and of the vine to God. You're not to hold the best for yourself, but you're to give it to God. Now, obviously it's not that God needs wine or that God needs grain or that God needs honey, the idea is they gave these things to the priesthood, it would support the worship that was happening in Israel. The priests would eat these things and bid off of these things and survive off of these things.
The idea was that they were giving them to God and they were placing God's things first and placing God first within their lives. This extended, not just to their crops, but to their own sons as well, because it was the first born that was sacrificed or was slain there on the Passover night. And so God had said, "Now all of your firstborn will belong to me in the future." And the way they did this was they offered an offering for the firstborn to redeem the firstborn to stay in their homes and then the tribe of Levi was given to God as a replacement for the firstborn sons being priests all through Israel, only the tribe of Levi would offer those from Aaron who would become the priests and then the servants of the priesthood all around the tabernacle.
But I love the phrase there in verse 29, "You shall not delay to offer." This is just the human tendency, isn't it? When it comes to perhaps tithing or giving of our possessions to God, to our local church, to those who are in need, to para-church ministry, when it comes to giving and being generous, sometimes it can be a difficult thing for us to actually do. So he's telling the people of Israel, "Don't delay. Just got to rip the band-aid off. And as you do it and you're generous and you take a step of faith in that direction, you'll find the reward comes, but you've got to maintain that practice in your life.
31 “You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
You," verse 31, "Shall be consecrated to me. Therefore, you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field. You shall throw it to the dogs." Two very different ideas here in this last verse. I'll take the second idea first before closing with the final idea. The second idea, "You shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field, you'll throw it to the dogs." The idea is that a beast in the field would have been torn by an unclean animal. You don't want to by extension touch the uncleanness by eating the flesh that has been killed. You shall throw that meat or that flesh to the dogs. It speaks up the importance of personal holiness and saying, "Look, I don't want to be around anything that by extension even is going to bring unholiness or impurity into my life." With the big idea of first one, "You shall be consecrated." Suddenly this underlines all of these commands. These people were God's treasured possession and he's demanding holy living from their lives just as he's looking for holiness from us today. God bless you church. Have a wonderful week.