Last week we covered the statutes and ordinances that dealt with the command “You shall not kill.” And they were a way of closing loopholes that people would try to get through when their actions caused the death of another. For example, a person with an ox that was known to “thrust with its horn in times past”—if that ox killed a person, the owner could no longer claim, “Well, it’s an animal, that’s what an ox does, I'm not responsible.” God said “Oh yes you are! You knew that animal was out of control and you did nothing about it. You are just as guilty of killing that person as the ox is.” Today we are going to look at a set of statutes that deal with property rights, whether it is livestock that has been stolen, or the accidental loss of property, or property that has either been borrowed from a neighbor or has been hired out.
Before we start, I really think most translations didn’t quite get it right when they split up the verses in this section. If you look at this passage carefully, I really think the last part of verse 3 should be at the beginning of verse 4. And you could almost read verses 2 and 3 as being in parentheses. So that’s how we’re going to read it. Exodus 22:1, 3b, 4—“1 If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep…3 He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double.” The first principle is real simple. If you steal an ox or a sheep, you restore what you stole—and then some. In the day that we are living in, most of the time when a person steals something, it is a thing of relatively little importance. If someone breaks into your house and steals your PlayStation, is your life going to come to a screeching halt? Are you going to suffer any long-term harm if someone steals your 52” plasma TV? You are going to be out the money you paid for it, but really, can you live your life without it? And if you’ve got homeowner’s insurance, it will probably cover a replacement. But do you think Allstate or Progressive existed when the book of Exodus was being written? That being the case, there were statutes covering the punishment of those who were caught stealing by whatever means they used. If you had slaughtered it or sold it, you gave me five oxen for my one. What would happen if you stole five of my oxen and had sold them or slaughtered them? How many would you have to give me? If the animal was found alive, and in your possession, you gave me two for each one. So if you stole 5 sheep, and they were found alive, you would give me 10 of yours. So the thief, if he was found out, could wind up paying a huge amount of restitution. Because, when these commands were being given, were sheep and ox slightly more important than a PlayStation?
Why was the theft of an ox or sheep or donkey so atrocious? Well, because that was how the person made their living. I might make my living raising and selling sheep, either for their wool or their meat. I would raise oxen to plow my land. I would raise donkeys to sell as beasts of burden. So if someone steals one of my ox or sheep or donkeys—they are taking money out of my pocket and food off my family’s table. If you had sold it or slaughtered it, you gave me more than if it was found alive in your hand. Why do you think this penalty was greater than if they were found alive in your hand? Because if you sold it or slaughtered it, it was gone. There was no getting it back. But, if you still had it with you, I could get it back, so you give me what’s mine and you also give me one of yours. But what happens if you don’t have anything? Look at the end of verse 3. He shall be sold as a slave. And how long would he serve as a slave? Six years at the most. He would go free the seventh year.
Now, let’s look at the verses in between these, Exodus 22:2-3—“2 If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. 3 If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed.” And now that we have separated these verses properly, I think we can see why it makes more sense this way than reading verse 3 to say “If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution.” If someone breaks in to steal from me, and I kill them, how are you going to make restitution? And in fact, some translations put the restitution clause at the end of verse 1. Basically, if you break into my house at night to steal from me, I can strike you so that you die and I will not face any criminal charges. BUT, if the sun had risen—if it happened during the daylight hours—you had the responsibility to NOT kill him. Why? Well, because at night, it’s dark. I don’t know what your intentions are. I can't see if you have a weapon in your hand. I'm scared. And I have the right to do whatever I feel is necessary to defend my family from any possible harm. So I could kill you and not worry about it. But, during the daylight hours, you can see the man. You can see whether he has a weapon or not. Not only that, but are there going to be more people awake and about during these hours? And you can call them for help. So even though this man meant to steal from me, it was not likely that he meant to kill me, and even the life of the thief must be spared in such a case.
So now that we've dealt with theft from the one raising work animals and food animals, and we've covered the theft of personal property, now we come upon statutes covering the loss of grain to the crop farmer. Exodus 22:5—“If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed, and lets loose his animal, and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.” If you were out taking your cattle to graze, and one of them wandered into your neighbor’s field or vineyard and started chomping away—again, taking away from another what rightly belongs to them and is their livelihood—you not only compensated them for their loss, you gave them from the BEST of your field or vineyard. John Calvin—
“This kind of fraud is justly ranked among thefts…For if a person makes improper use of his servant to steal by him, the master is deemed guilty of the offense, even though he may have touched nothing with his own hand. A man is no less in the wrong who has caused injury by means of a brute beast.”
What he’s saying is that if I send my servant to go steal from someone, I am just as guilty of theft as my servant is. The fact that I have gained wrongly because of a dumb animal does not make my offense any less punishable. This was another way of reminding you to keep your animal under control. Because for however much your animal ate of my crops, you gave me the best of yours. And you may have had a really good crop growing. The best harvest you’ve had in years. Tough luck. Next time, take someone with you to help graze your animal.
The next ordinance covers accidental loss of crops. Exodus 22:6—“If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.” What do you get when you combine a dry desert climate, a wheat field, and a spark? Oh, and there was no such thing as Rural/Metro. There was no Sinai F.D. Here’s what would happen: the farmer would be harvesting his crop. Once he separated the wheat from the chaff (the outer covering), he would take the chaff and burn it. Now, in the area where they were at—in fact, throughout much of the Middle East—fields were often bordered by thornbushes. Thorns caught fire and burned real easy. So when you started a fire to burn something, you better be careful. Because all it took to get a thorn bush burning was just a little spark, especially in a dry desert climate. And as hard as animals are to control, how much more difficult is it to control a fire—especially when you don’t have a vast supply of water at your disposal. The best you could do was a cistern, and even then all you could do was scoop it out by the bucket. You might as well spit on it. Well, guess who was responsible for that fire destroying their neighbor’s crop? Since the person who started the fire did not benefit from the fire—What do I gain by burning your crops?—he would simply make restitution.
Now we get to a principle we studied when we were going through the Ten Commandments. Exodus 22:7-8—“7 If a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8 If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods.” You're going out of town, and you don’t want anybody stealing your car. You ask me if I can keep it at my house until you get back. I say “Sure, you bet!” Well, you get back and my car is gone. If someone stole it from your garage, the thief brought my car back to me—and bought me another new car to boot. Now, suppose your car winds up missing and nobody can find it. KPD calls around to all the junkyards and chop shops around Knoxville, and what do you know they find it. I am brought before the judges—who are acting by the authority of God—and they determine whether I stole your car or if someone else did.
Now, there was a way of what we would call “settling out of court.” Exodus 22:10-12—“10 If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing it, 11 then an oath of the LORD shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor's goods; and the owner of it shall accept that, and he shall not make it good. 12 But if, in fact, it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it.” Here we see two of the Ten Commandments being brought into the matter. First, of course, “Thou shalt not steal.” The second being what? “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.” If I accuse you of stealing something, and you vehemently deny it, and we are standing before the judges, then you have the option of taking an oath in the name of Almighty YHVH, saying that you did not steal those goods, and that is that. We see this principle restated in Hebrews 6:16—For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. And the owner of the stolen property had to be satisfied with that. And if you think about it, if the person did in fact steal from you and they stand before God and swear an oath to God, then they have a far greater problem than repaying you what they stole. What they are doing, in essence, is calling God as a witness. “I call YHVH as a witness, and He will testify that I did no wrong!” You better be telling the truth. Because guess what? Exodus 20:7—“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
Now, suppose something happened, and a pack of wolves, or a lion or a bear got into my sheepfold and got after the sheep you had given me to hold on to. There was a provision for that. Exodus 22:13—“13 If it is torn to pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not make good what was torn.” You come before the judges, and you say “I have his ox right here. And here. And they're bringing some more in right now.” It wasn’t enough to say that it had been torn by beasts. You had to prove it. And you proved it by bringing in the various parts. Now, if could be determined that the animal was indeed torn by wild beasts, then there was no penalty incurred by the keeper. Sometimes nature just acts like nature, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You don’t need to risk your life for my animals.
Now we get to statutes dealing with borrowed property and the presence of the owner. Exodus 22:14-15—“14 And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor, and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good. 15 If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good; if it was hired, it came for its hire.” I need to borrow an ox to plow my field. You say “Here, you can use one of mine. Just make sure you have it back before Thursday, and make sure you top off the gas tank.” And then you go home. And while I am out plowing my field with your ox, it stumbles in a rut, breaks its leg, and is now useless. My bad, I give you another ox to make up for it. But suppose I borrow your ox and you are helping me plow my field with your ox. That ox steps in a rut, breaks its leg—the owner was with it, there is no restitution. Matthew Henry—
“If a man lent his team to his neighbour, if the owner was with it, or was to receive profit for the loan of it, whatever harm befell the cattle the owner must absorb: but if the owner was so kind to the borrower as to lend it to him freely, and put such a confidence in him as to trust it out of sight, then if any harm happened, the borrower must make it good. Let us learn therefore to be very careful not to abuse any thing that is lent us; it is not only unjust, but base and deceitful, inasmuch as it is rendering evil for good; we should much rather choose to suffer loss ourselves than that any should sustain loss by their kindness to us.”
Have you ever let somebody borrow your car, and sat at home the whole time asking yourself “What in the world was I thinking letting him borrow my car?” If I'm with you when you're driving my car, and we wreck, it’s my fault. If I lend you my car while I'm at work and you wreck that car, you pay for it.
Now, let’s tackle a sticky situation. Suppose Bo buys that car from me. He didn’t know I stole it. He bought it from me thinking he was getting a good deal. That is where the next word comes in, Exodus 22:9—“For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or for any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.” Sorry, Bo. You owe my friend two cars. Bo tells the judges, “Hey, now wait a minute—I bought it from him!” (That is, me. The thief) I am found out, therefore I am the one who owes the neighbor I stole from two new cars. This is getting expensive, isn't it? That’s why we now have rackets like fencing stolen merchandise; money laundering. Criminals have gotten smart and they go through other parties to get rid of any trace of evidence that they had anything to do with that theft.
Now, let’s fast-forward to the NT. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us something peculiar. In Matthew 5:40—“If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.” The NASB reads like this, and this is closer to what we would be familiar with today, Matthew 5:40 (NASB)—“If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.” The context of this verse is Jesus teaching about taking vengeance. And He’s saying that if someone wants to take you before the judges and take away your shirt—give him your coat as well. Do not go after the person to take vengeance on him, because who does vengeance belong to? Romans 12:19-21 (NASB)—19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. 20 "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The point of the penalties in the OT Law, and the point of Christ’s teachings about vengeance, and Paul’s teachings about vengeance, all spring from the same principle: that is, all sin will be punished. God will make sure of that. We may never see justice done to evildoers here on earth. but remember that the Great and Glorious Judge is sitting on the bench, as we speak, and He will make sure His docket is cleared and that justice is done to those who deserve it. Vengeance is whose? Vengeance belongs to God. And He knows how to dish it out a whole lot better than we do.
Jesus is Lord. Amen.
We saw last week that the commands that God gave the people concerning how they were to treat their slaves were much more humane than what took place here in the United States in the years before and during the Civil War. Let me read for you this list I found of just a few of the differences between how slaves were treated under the OT Law and how they were treated here in America.
• Runaway "slaves" were not to be returned to their "masters" (Deuteronomy 23:15).
• If a Jewish male was attracted to a conquered female slave, he was required by law to treat her with dignity. If he had consensual sex with her, but decided not to marry her, she was to go completely free (Deuteronomy 21:11).
• If a Jewish male was attracted to a conquered female slave (or soon to be slave), he was permitted to marry her, but she was to be treated as a wife, not as a slave (Deuteronomy 21:11-14).
• "Slaves" were to take the Sabbath day off, just as the Jews were required to do (Exodus 23:12).
• "Slaves" could buy their freedom (Lev 25:47-49).
• The Jews were constantly reminded by God that they had been slaves in Egypt, and were NOT to treat foreigners as they had been treated in Egypt.
Although so-called corporal punishment was permitted by owners on disobedient slaves…even the loss of a tooth by a slave was to result in his/her immediate freedom (Exodus 21:26-27). (Full article here)
So we can see from this list—and there are many, many more commands along these lines—we can see from this short list that slavery under the OT Law was much more fair and much more lenient than what took place on these shores.
Now, whether we realize it or not, we are all slaves. You, me, the fellow down the road, your mom and dad. White folks, black folks, Asians, Puerto Ricans, you name it. Every single person from every single nation and every single family is a slave. But there are really only two masters. You can be a slave to sin—or you can be a slave to Christ. Romans 6:16—Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? From the time we were born until the day we came to know Christ, we were slaves to sin. We were, so to speak, the property of sin. Romans 7:14—For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. BUT, Romans 6:17-18—But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. How were we set free from sin? 1st Corinthians 6:19—You were bought at a price. Who paid that price? Galatians 3:13—Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Christ bought us from out of our slavery to sin, so that Romans 6:18—Having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. And one last thing before we move on from this subject—listen to how far the Word of God descended on our behalf, Philippians 2:5-8—5 Christ Jesus, 6 being in the form of God…7 He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a slave, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 …He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Well, not only was slavery much different than what took place here, even the way they dealt with matters of what we call criminal law were much different. And we’re gonna breeze through these statutes today concerning murder. Let’s start with Exodus 21:12-19—“12 He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. 13 However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. 14 But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die. 15 And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 16 He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death. 17 And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 18 If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, 19 if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed.” I do want to mention a couple things. First, we will not be studying every single commandment in the Law. If we did, we could get really bogged down and it could become quite lengthy. Besides, many of these statutes and commands are quite simple. Some, though, require a lot of background study. We’re gonna kinda hit the ones that need some explanation but not a lot of deep digging. Second, we know that the Law points to Christ, but I do want to make one thing clear—not every single command in the Law points to Christ. Let me just be clear on those two things.
Well, with that said, let’s get started. Exodus 21:12-13—“12 He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. 13 However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.” Today, if someone gets charged with murder, they get arrested, booked, fingerprinted, and then there is a looooong, drawn out trial, and if the person is found guilty there is a loooong drawn out appeal, and it is very rare that a convicted murderer—or any other convicted criminal, for that matter—ever serves the full sentence pronounced upon them. Again, much different from what we see under the OT Law. There was no appeal; there were no “mitigating circumstances”; there was no question of whether you were “competent to stand trial.” If you committed an act worthy of punishment, you were punished. If you committed and act punishable by death, you were put to death. Period, paragraph, end of story. Leviticus 24:17—“Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death.” Hebrews 10:28—Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. This was nothing new; God told Noah the same thing hundreds of years prior to this, in Genesis 9:5-6—“5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6 Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” Why does one deserve the death penalty for killing another human being? Because man was made in the image of God, and when you kill another man you are striking at the image of God.
Now, the first statute is quite simple. I hit Richard upside the head with a brick. He dies—I die. The second statute has to do with what we would call “criminally negligent homicide” or “involuntary manslaughter.” You committed and act that led to another person’s death, but you did not mean to. Deuteronomy 19:4-5—“4 Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past—5 as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live.” The ‘cities’ referred to here were called “cities of refuge.” When a person was killed, the nearest relative was the one to avenge his brother’s blood. And for the man who kills his neighbor unintentionally, there were six cities where he could run to, and if he got to one of those cities before the avenger could catch him. Numbers 35:9-12—9 Then the LORD said to Moses: "10 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 11 select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee. 12 They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that anyone accused of murder may not die before they stand trial before the assembly." According to the ISBE,
“Upon reaching the city he was to be received by the elders and his case heard. If this was satisfactory, they gave him asylum until a regular trial could be carried out. They took him, apparently, to the city or district from which he had fled, and there, among those who knew him, witnesses were examined. If it were proved that he was not a willful slayer, that he had no grudge against the person killed, and had shown no sign of purpose to injure him, then he was declared innocent and conducted back to the city in which he had taken refuge, where he must stay until the death of the high priest. Then he was free to return home in safety. Until that event he must on no account go beyond the city boundaries. If he did, the avenger of blood might slay him without blame. On the other hand, if he were found guilty of deliberate murder, there was no more protection for him. He was handed over to the avenger of blood who, with his own hand, took the murderer's life.”
And there was no getting off on a technicality.
Then, Exodus 21:14-17—“14 But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die. 15 And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 16 He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death. 17 And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.” These are pretty simple. Premeditated murder; cursing or striking your mother or father—all worthy of death. The command forbidding the kidnapping a man to sell him as a slave would have brought slavery in America to a screeching halt. These are the qualities of a person who has no regard for human life, or for the order that God has established for the home, and therefore they need to be removed from society post haste.
Now, Exodus 21:18-19—“18 If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, 19 if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed.” Again, I smack Richard upside the head with my brick. He doesn’t die, but he is going to be out of work for a while. And they didn’t have AFLAC beck then. Therefore, since it’s my fault that Richard has been out of work, it is my duty to compensate him for the time he lost from work, and to pay for all his medical bills until he is able to go back to work. Jesus repeats this principle in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Luke 10:33-35—"33 But a certain Samaritan…when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds…set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day…he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’" Now, let’s think about this a moment. Whose responsibility was it to make sure this man was taken care of for his injuries? But, look at the compassion the Samaritan shows. Jesus is saying that loving our neighbor means going beyond what we need to do, and going on to the point of what we are not even required to do—and help our neighbor whenever we can “Sorry, pal, that’s not my problem” is not a phrase that should be in any Christian’s vocabulary.
Next, we see that a man who owned a slave had to be careful as well. Exodus 21:20-21, 26-27—"20 And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property…26 If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye. 27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth." Again, pretty simple. You beat your slave and he dies, you were punished. I don’t think the punishment would be death because if it was, God would have probably said it. I'm just speculating here, but it was probably likely to have been 40 stripes. Deuteronomy 25:2-3—“2 If the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. 3 Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these.” If the slave did not die from the beating, however, the owner was not to be punished, as it says, because that slave was the property of the one to whom he had sold himself, and the owner would have brought enough harm upon himself by losing that slave’s labor. If, however, you knocked out one of their eyes or one of their teeth—so long, my friend, you are free. What recourse did slaves have in this country if they lost an eye or a tooth?
Then we get to Exodus 21:22-25—“22 If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if any harm follows, then you shall give 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.” In verse 22, where it says “if no harm follows”—the KJV actually gets closest to the real meaning of the Hebrew. The word translated here as “harm”, the KJV translates it “mischief.” This word is only used 5 times in the OT—twice here, and three times in Genesis. And each time it is used it refers to some kind of grave danger. Listen to these verses from the KJV. Genesis 42:4—But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, “Lest peradventure mischief befall him.” Genesis 42:38—And he said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him…then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” Genesis 44:29—“And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” Every time the Hebrew word (אָסï‹×Ÿ, acown [pronounced ah-sone], mischief) is used, it carries with it the connotation of the potential for death. So what this command is saying is that if two men are fighting, and they strike a woman with child, and death follows, then you shall give life for life. Now, the command is rather ambiguous because, is it talking about the death of the mother or the death of the child? And as Pastor Phil would say, the answer is “Yes”. God does not make a distinction here because both the mother and her child are living human beings. And if two men fight and hit the pregnant woman and either she or her baby is killed in the process then the one who hit her shall be put to death. Now, of how much more punishment is a man worthy if he intentionally rips a living human being out of a mother’s womb? Abortion, under the OT Law, would have been punished by death for at least one of the parties, if not all involved.
Now, to finish up this section, we’re going to look at a couple of statutes that deal with the presence of a known danger that the guilty party knew about and did nothing to fix. Exodus 21:28-36—“28 If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. 29 But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him. 31 Whether it has gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. 32 If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. 33 And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his. 35 If one man's ox hurts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money from it; and the dead ox they shall also divide. 36 Or if it was known that the ox tended to thrust in time past, and its owner has not kept it confined, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his own.”
First, you were responsible for your animal. If your ox killed someone, it was killed and destroyed, but nothing was done to you, if you had no prior warning of this ever happening. Animals are animals. Sometimes they do things you don’t expect. IF, however, you KNEW that your animal had “thrust with its horn in times past” and you didn’t do anything about it, and it killed a person—the animal dies, and you died. You were responsible, you knew it was not under control, you knew what kind of an animal it was and you did nothing about it, it’s your fault that it killed someone. Today, if a person owned a vicious dog, and they knew that dog was vicious, and they kept it anyway and it mauled a little girl who happened to be walking down the sidewalk—You, the dog owner, would be tried, convicted, and executed. If your animal killed a neighbor’s animal, they divided the dead animal, sold the live one and split the profit. But again, if you knew it had “thrust with its horn in times past” and you did nothing about it, you gave your neighbor one of your oxen to make up for his loss—but you keep the dead one as a parting gift.
Finally, if you were digging a foundation, or a cistern, and you did not put up any fences or any kind of warning, and your neighbor’s animal fell into it, you paid him for the loss of his animal—but again, you got to keep the dead animal. And I think the reason these statutes had the guilty party keeping the dead animal was as a way to remind them not to let that happen in the future. Today we would say “You break it—you bought it.” That dead animal was of no more use to the one who was wronged; it was now only a nuisance and burden to dispose of, so the one who was in the wrong was saddled with the responsibility of disposing of it.
Jesus is Lord Amen.
Before we begin this section, I want to remind us all that this Law—from the Ten Commandments through the end of Deuteronomy—this Law serves many purposes. One of those purposes is to paint a picture of Christ. John 5:39—“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” Luke 24:44—Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." Galatians 3:24—Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. The reason I mention all this is because when we get to this section on how the Israelites were to treat their slaves, we may be tempted to think, “Well, that was for back then, what does this have to do with anything now?” But it does. Whenever God speaks, it’s important. When He commands that the words He speaks be written down, it is VERY important. And since this section contains words that God spoke to Moses and commanded Moses to commit to writing, I would say this falls under the category of VERY important. Because even in a passage like this we have words which point to Christ.
And these commands read like this, Exodus 21:1-6—“1 Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: 2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. 3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant 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 the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.” As we read these commands and the ones to follow, we see not only the righteousness and justice of God, but also His compassion. If He were not a compassionate God, and if He didn’t care about individual human beings, He would not have given many of the commands He did, because many of these commands are concerned with how we treat one another. And when we mistreat a fellow human being, we are mistreating one who was made in the image of God. James 3:8-9 (NASB)—8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. Adam Clarke said this about these commands of God—“There is so much good sense, feeling, humanity, equity, and justice in the following laws, that they [must] be admired by every intelligent reader.” And in fact, Jesus said this about all the commands of God, Matthew 22:37-40—"37 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." We love God above anything or anyone else—but we also must love our neighbor as we would love ourselves. Because our neighbor was made in the image of God, and if we hate our neighbor, then we hate the image of God and, therefore, we wind up hating God.
And even slaves deserve to be treated with respect. Now, when I use the word ‘slave’, there is a very clear distinction between servitude under the OT Law, and the atrocities that took place during the days of slavery in America. And it won’t take us long to see the differences. Slavery in America was a very cruel and very wicked system. The owner could beat slaves, they could sell them to whomever they wanted; they could deprive them of any and all rights that should be enjoyed by every human being. But slavery during the time of Exodus—and even during the time when the NT was being written, as we find many references to slaves in the NT—was quite different, and God laid down some very clear guidelines about how slaves were to be treated. Matthew Henry said this about these statutes—
“[God] begins with the laws concerning servants, commanding mercy and moderation towards them. The Israelites had lately been servants themselves; and now that they had become, not only their own masters, but masters of servants too, lest they should abuse their servants, as they themselves had been abused and ruled with rigour by the Egyptian task-masters, provision was made by these laws for the mild and gentle usage of servants.”
God had redeemed them from their slavery to Pharaoh—400 years of harsh, cruel, unspeakably inhumane treatment by their masters. Now they were being commanded to show the kind of compassion to their servants that Pharaoh never showed to them. Jesus would give a similar illustration in Matthew 18:24-33—“24 When [a master] had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents…26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' 27 Then the master…released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt…32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'” Likewise, these Israelites who had been shown compassion by God were to show compassion to their own servants.
We find the first commands in Exodus 21:2-3—"2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. 3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him." Simple. Slaves were people that were either (a) sold into slavery by their family, or (b) sold themselves into slavery—and it was usually because they owed a debt that they could not afford to pay. So the person to whom the debt was owed would become that person’s master. But it was not a lifelong commitment. The longest a slave could work, involuntarily—and that’s a distinction we’ll see in a moment—for their master was six years. In the seventh year of servitude, that slave went free. To illustrate, suppose I owed somebody $5,000,000. I commit myself to work for that person starting on February 6, 2010. I work for that person until February 6, 2016. That would be the completion of six years of service, thus beginning my seventh year, and in this seventh year, I was to go out free. I owe you nothing. Slate is wiped clean, I've paid my debt by my labor.
Now, again, unlike what happened here in America, when the period of servitude was complete, the slave was not simply put out the door to fend for himself. The master was to provide for that slave. Deuteronomy 15:12-15—“12 If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the LORD your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today.” How many times do we hear about someone becoming rich and famous, somebody that came from nothing, from poverty and now they're making millions and what is the accusation that sometimes gets brought against them? “They forgot where they came from.” And just so the people did not forget where they came from, we have this command to provide form those who have labored so hard for you for the last six years. And in fact, in Deuteronomy 15:18—“It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years.” In other words, you’ve gotten work out of this fellow, and you haven’t had to pay him. So, yeah, from that one man you got the worth of two laborers.
If I came in by myself, I go out by myself. If I brought my wife and kids with me, they go out with me. This latter concept was in complete opposition to part of what was so wicked and cruel about American slavery. Many times, plantation owners would buy a family, then they would sell the mother to one slave owner, they would sell one of the kids to another fellow, and so forth, and families were ripped apart. But under the OT Law, the family that came in together went out together. Now, this brings us to a point where we see a foreshadowing of Christ. Exodus 21:4—"If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself." Seems kinda cruel, doesn’t it? Let’s think about this a moment. I'm a single guy. I owe a huge debt. I can't pay it. So I put myself under your yolk, for six years, so that when those six years are over I can have that debt wiped out, go out a free man, and receive enough supplies so I can start over again. You, being the kind master that you are, took one of your female servants and gave her to me to be my wife. This wife bore me children. Do I then have the right to take that female servant and say “This woman belongs to me now”? That female servant still belongs to you, and she still owes you labor. It would be wrong of me to take that labor away from you.
Now, suppose I love that wife. Suppose I love those children. And I think so highly of you as a master who has been good enough to give me this wife that I don’t want to leave. There’s a provision for that. Exodus 21:4-6—“4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant 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 the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.” And this is where we come to the picture of Christ. Listen to Psalm 40:6—Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Many times in the Psalms, the writer is speaking as the Messiah would speak when He came. That is, the Psalmist would write the words that would be spoken by the Messiah—and those words would be written as if the Messiah was speaking them then and there. The Psalmist is speaking as Christ, who is referring to this practice of piercing the ear as a way to show that He is the eternal servant of God. In fact, we see this twice in Acts 4:27-30—“27 For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed…the people of Israel were gathered together 28 to do whatever…Your purpose determined…29 Now, Lord…grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word…and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” Twice Jesus is referred to as God’s ‘holy servant’.
For now, let’s look another aspect of this boring the ear to the door. It was done for what reason? The slave—the servant, if you will—had been given a wife and children by his master. Jesus, the holy servant of God, has been given a bride by His master—God the Father. Now, follow me here. Ephesians 5:30-32—30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. God has given His Son a bride—the church. We are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, just like it says in Genesis 2:22-24—22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So now let’s put all this together. Under the OT Law, the servant who was pleased with the wife that his master gave him would have his ear pierced, or opened. The Psalmist, speaking as the Messiah, says that his master has opened—or, pierced—his ear. Why? Because he was pleased with the bride his master—God the Father—gave him. And we see from Ephesians that the church is the bride of Christ—the church is flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, the church is the wife that has been given to Christ by His Master, God the Father. And He is pleased with this bride that has been given to Him, and He will dwell with her and she will dwell with Him forever. The Son has said “I will be Your servant, Father, and I will love this bride You have given Me, for all eternity.”
So, moving forward in Exodus, we now come to the commands concerning female slaves. Exodus 21:7-11—“7 And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9 And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. 10 If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights. 11 And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money.” We’re only gonna have time to start on the first couple of verses in this passage, Exodus 21:7-8. The circumstances of female slaves were different than for male slaves. Like the male slave, the female slave entered into servitude because of poverty. But it was usually her parents who sold her because of their poverty. And when they sold her it was expected that when she became of age the master would take her and make her his wife. This wasn’t always the case, but most of the time it was. And because of the parent’s poverty, the master was not to send her out at the end of six years. He usually made a promise to marry her and take care of her. Now, suppose after a while she got on his nerves and kept nagging about him smelling like sheep and oxen, or spending all day threshing, or tracking his muddy sandals across the dirt floor that she just swept. He had three options. First, he could offer her to his son, if the son was so inclined toward her. Second, he could sell her back to the parents—although this was rather unlikely because, as we said, the parents were usually in poverty and couldn’t afford the price. Third, he could sell her to a fellow Israelite. But under no circumstances could he sell her to anyone of any other nation.
He could not sell her to the Jebusites or the Canaanites or the Hivites or the Parasites or the Termites. Because if he did, number one, he would be sending her out from under the protection of being part of God’s covenant people. He would be depriving her of the ability to worship God and take part in the feasts and offerings that God would ordain for His people. Not only that, but listen to the main reason God gives here, Exodus 21:8--He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. He has promised her father that he would take her and marry her and provide for her. And now he’s saying, “Hey, sorry dad, she’s gotta go.” And it may be that he only wanted her for, um, less-than-noble reasons, if you know what I mean. And then, he gets bored with her and trades her in for a new model. And God says he has dealt deceitfully—“treacherously” (Young's Literal Translation)—with her.
The word ‘betrothed’, or ‘betrothal’—I would define it as “Engagement on steroids.” These days we get engaged, go through a period of engagement. But then, if something happens and we get cold feet, we simply break it off and go our separate ways. During this time period, however, betrothal was a promise—a contract, if you will—that you would marry that person. I like how the ESV translates Exodus 21:8—“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.” He has betrothed her to himself—has designated her for himself—and when he breaks that betrothal he has “broken faith” with her. But check this out. When God betroths us to Himself, He does not break that betrothal. He will not “break faith” with us. Remember, we are flesh of Christ’s flesh and bone of His bone, and to separate us from Himself He would have to go back on His word, and we would be separated from the love of Christ. BUT...Hebrews 13:5—I will never leave you nor forsake you. And Romans 8:38-39—38 I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus is Lord Amen.
