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March 25, 2010
Exodus 21:1-36 “These are the laws you are to set before them: 2 “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. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. 5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life. 7 “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money. 12 “Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. 13 However, if he does not do it intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate. 14 But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death. 15 “Anyone who attacks his father or his mother must be put to death. 16 “Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death. 17 “Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. 18 “If men quarrel and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist and he does not die but is confined to bed, 19 the one who struck the blow will not be held responsible if the other gets up and walks around outside with his staff; however, he must pay the injured man for the loss of his time and see that he is completely healed. 20 “If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, 21 but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property. 22 “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 “If a man hits a manservant or maidservant in the eye and destroys it, he must let the servant go free to compensate for the eye. 27 And if he knocks out the tooth of a manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free to compensate for the tooth. 28 “If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. 29 If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and the owner also must be put to death. 30 However, if payment is demanded of him, he may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded. 31 This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. 32 If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull must be stoned. 33 “If a man uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit must pay for the loss; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his. 35 “If a man’s bull injures the bull of another and it dies, they are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. 36 However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and the dead animal will be his.
Matthew 27:11-26 11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. 12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge– to the great amazement of the governor. 15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. 19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. 21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. 22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” 23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” 24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” 25 All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
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Books: Exodus, Matthew 3 Comments »
3 Responses to “March 25, 2010”
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March 25th, 2008 at 5:40 am
Exodus 21:16 – “Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death.”
Interesting how a few verses earlier he’s giving instructions on how to handle your slaves, and then in v. 16 he is instructing them not to kidnap and sell people. Obviously slavery in the time of Moses is not like the slavery that involved the forcible kidnapping and enslavement of Africans. But you can see how easy it is for both sides to read the Bible and find support for their position. One sees God endorsing slavery, the other sees God speaking out against kidnapping against one’s will.
March 25th, 2008 at 7:50 am
One of the fundamental rules of our auto insurance policies is that if you have an accident, never admit guilt, even if you know it was your fault. How different is God’s society. Right down to a bull that is known to gore other animals, this is the masters responsibility. Pet owners beware, you are responsible for what your dog or cat does to others!
It seems that a God ordered society should have a great interest in the well being of others as the guiding principle.
It is easy for us to miss what 21v10 is saying. A dowery was paid for a wife so she was “owned” by the husband, so he has a responsibilty to provide “food, clothing and marital rights”, even if he married another. If he does not, it will cost him the loss of the dowery that he paid, and the wife will return to the protection of her father, free. We can so easily forget that throughout history, women have been exploited and victimized, men are reponsible either as fathers or husbands to protect women.
God intended there to be an order to society in its need to provide for and protect its people, and a responsibility for our actions and for all that we have control over. Even the slavery of the time, was a means of providing for the support of those who as a last resort, had to sell themselves to provide for their own upkeep; but the purchaser of the slave, still had responsiblity for his “purchase”.
We seem to have a tough time with the words responsibility and commitment; but they are fundamental to a God ordered society, and I need to remember that.
March 25th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I have just realized that I used the wrong word in the comment above, I should not have used the word “dowry”, but “bride price”; the price that the prospective husband paid to the father of the bride.”