Exodus - Chapters 21-24

Moses and the people are at the base of the mountain of God. The Lord gives directions on how to build an altar. The laws given promote justice and mercy. The laws were given to a specific people group in a specific era. Laws about Hebrew servants show the Lord cares about how we treat others in the faith. Laws about personal injury differentiate between intentional harm and accidents. Laws protect women, widows, orphans, and the poor. Laws about property protection and theft show the importance of restitution. Laws about justice and mercy emphasize honesty, kindness, and fairness. Laws about the Sabbath focus on rest and refreshment. Laws about feasts commemorate important events. The Lord promises to guide and bless the people on their journey. The covenant is sealed with sacrifices and blood. I am Julie Callio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. If by chance you want to contact me, you can do that at vab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are looking at chapters 21 through 24 of Exodus. At the end of chapter 20, we find that Moses and the people are at the base of the mountain of God. In chapter 19, we find that Moses took three trips up to the mountain to speak to the Lord and then came back down to talk with the people. Chapter 20 verse 21 reads, The people remained at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. The Lord then gave directions on how to build an altar for him. And chapter 21 begins, These are the laws you are to set before them. Now the Lord did not just give the Ten Commandments and then left us to figure out the rest of life on our own. The Lord gave laws that would promote justice and mercy. Now the thing about those laws is they were given to a specific people group in a specific era of time. The key of interpreting God's laws are to see what does that law mean to the people of that day and then ask, does that apply to me today? As well as ask, what does this show me about God? So let me point out a few things so that you can see this process. In chapter 21 verses 2 through 11, they talk about Hebrew servants. First note, this is a Hebrew owner and a Hebrew servant. The Lord cares how we treat others in the faith. Verse 2 reads, If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he shall go free without paying anything. In that day, people could sell themselves into slavery in order to eat and live. In this passage, we see that the Lord sets limits on slavery or ownership of other people so the person had choices and an opportunity for freedom. It continues that if the owner gave the man a wife and they had children, the wife and children belonged to the owner because he gave them to the servant. But at that seventh year, the servant was set free. Now verses 5 and 6 read, But if the servant declares, I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free, then the master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the door post and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life. Now I have heard some people use this passage as an excuse that male ear piercing is acceptable to the Lord because it shows that I am a slave of the Lord. The thing is, in the Hebrew culture it did show and represent that, lifetime service to their Lord. But in our culture, when people see male ear piercing, they don't think that has anything to do with the Lord. Now I am not saying it is sin or not sin for men to have their ears pierced. What I am saying is that this is not the intent of this passage. It is talking of a servant who is willing to serve his master for life, which represents what the Hebrews said they would do to their God and as Christians we also commit to this for life as well. In verses 7-11 we see how the Lord protects women with his laws. In verses 12-35 we see laws about personal injury. We see in verse 13 that it matters if someone intentionally caused harm or if it was an accident. Another thing we see is the Lord was not afraid of the death penalty. In verse 18 we see that an injured man was paid for his loss of time as well as his injury. We also see punishment for owners of slaves who mistreat their servants. In verse 22 there is even a law on if a pregnant woman becomes injured. Verse 23 reads, But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. The Lord's laws are designed for justice. With verses 28-36 the laws focus on injuries due to or at livestock. Here we see intent of the owner. If the animal has hurt others before and the owner did not put the animal in a pen, he is more at fault. Chapter 22 are laws with regards to protection of property, either animals or homes. Verse 2 and 3a read, If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed, but if he strikes him after sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed. Once again we see a difference with the intent. If he waits until after sunrise, then he is purposefully killing the man. If at night in the heat of the incident, it is not premeditated. One of the things we see in these laws is the need for restitution. Also if there are debates between two parties, they are to go before judges and before God for justice. With verses 16-31 there are laws of social responsibility. This covers rape and even idol worship. Verse 21 read, Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. There are laws to protect widows and orphans, and the Lord warns that he hears their cries. There are laws about lending money, and if it is a Hebrew with a Hebrew, or in other words quote one of my people, they are not to charge interest. We see that the Lord looks upon the poor, and he said, When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate, verse 27b. Verse 28 says, Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of the people. One of the reasons for that is because it is the Lord who raises up and tears down the rulers of the nations. Chapter 22 ends with a reminder of their commitment to offer their first born animals to the Lord and redeem their first born sons. Verse 31 reads, You are to be my holy people, so do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts, throw it to the dogs. These laws show us a holy God and who he is, and then they reflect on how we are to be holy like he is. Chapter 23 covers laws about justice and mercy. We are to be honest with our words. We are not to follow the crowd, nor are we to show favoritism to either the poor or the rich. We are to be kind to our enemy, and we are to be just. Verse 8 reads, Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. Then verse 9 is very similar to verse 21, Do not oppress an alien. You yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt. This sure makes me think about our immigration issues in the United States. Verses 10-13 are laws about the Sabbath. There are laws about allowing the crops to rest in the seventh year, and that anything that grows on them is designated for the poor and the wild animals to eat. This also includes the vineyard and the olive groves. Then there is the Sabbath rest for people, both slaves, free and foreigners, plus ox and donkeys. The purpose of the Sabbath is so that we can be refreshed. Verse 13, Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods. Do not let them be heard on your lips. Again these laws are a commitment and a covenant with God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. And when we serve other gods, we are breaking that covenant or that marriage contract. Verses 14-19 cover the three annual feasts of the Hebrews. The first is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is in the first month of their Hebrew calendar. This is a week long, and they were not to eat any bread with leaven in it, because when they escaped Egypt, they did it quickly, and there was no time to let the bread rise. This celebration also includes Passover. They were to remember. The second is the Feast of Harvest, with the first fruits of their crops. And the third is the Feast of Ingathering, which is at the end of the year, and this celebrates the bringing in of the grape harvest. Verse 17 says three times a year, all the men are to appear before the sovereign Lord. Verses 20-32 talk of their journey, and the Lord tells the people that he is sending an angel ahead of them to guard them along the way, and to bring them to the place he has prepared. Verse 20, the Lord said if they are faithful to him, he would bless them. In verse 29 he also said that this journey would not be quick, and that taking over the land would be a process. And then he gave the reason, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get impatient with the Lord, wanting everything now. As I am getting older, I am beginning to understand the importance of the journey, and trusting his timing to fulfill what he has in store for me. I also recognize in these passages that the Lord is doing things in other people's lives as well, and I don't have a clue, but he does. He goes before us, and he is with us, and his timing is perfect, and his character is trustworthy, so we can place our trust in him. In chapter 24 the covenant is sealed. Verse 1, Then he said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. Nadab and Abihu are two of Aaron's sons. We see that in Exodus chapter 6 verse 23. They were to worship at a distance, but of course it is closer than the people at the bottom of the mountain. When Moses went down to tell the people all that the Lord had said, they responded in verse 3, Everything the Lord has said we will do. Verse 4 then said, Moses then wrote down everything that the Lord had said. The next morning he built an altar, set up twelve standing stones, which represented the twelve tribes of Israel. The young men offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Verse 7 and 8 say, Then he took the book of the covenant, what he wrote down in verse 4, and read it to the people. They responded, We will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey. Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. This is now the third time the people said they would obey. The first was in chapter 19 verse 8. The second section ends with Moses, Aaron, two of Aaron's sons, and seventy elders went up the mountain to meet the God of Israel. It's interesting that the ground is described like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. This may be because this is what the men were looking at. In verse 11 it said, They saw God, and they ate and drank. One thing that seems important in the Jewish faith is fellowshipping together over food. From there Moses went up higher with Joshua his aid. The cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days Moses was there, until the seventh day when the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. Verses 17 and 18 read, To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. In the New Testament, Peter, who also saw the Lord Jesus, walked with him, and talked with him, and ate and drank and fellowshiped with him. When they sat down at the Lord's Supper, Jesus said about the wine, This is my blood, which is a covenant with you. Then Peter saw Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and at the beginning of his letter it reads, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood. Here in Exodus, the Israelites committed to everything that God commanded them to do. They were sprinkled with the blood from the sacrifices as part of a covenantal ceremony. It doesn't take long in this book, chapter 32, where we find they did not keep their word. This is one of the problems of the law. We see what we are to be like, but our sinful nature keeps us from following through. And this is why Jesus came. Peter experienced God in the flesh in Jesus, and it was Jesus who became our sacrifice. And when we accept him as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit changes us from within and sanctifies us. He makes us holy. It is a process so that we can walk in obedience to Jesus Christ because we are sprinkled by his precious blood, his new covenant. When we walk on this journey of faith with the Lord, whatever land we find ourselves in, we experience God's grace and peace in abundance. So if you have heard his voice today, please don't harden your heart. Instead, let's be women who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, do all he commands us to do. Until next time, and thanks so much for listening.