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March 26, 2010
Exodus 22:1 – 23:1 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. 2 “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed. “A thief must certainly make restitution, but if he has nothing, he must be sold to pay for his theft. 4 “If the stolen animal is found alive in his possession– whether ox or donkey or sheep– he must pay back double. 5 “If a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in another man’s field, he must make restitution from the best of his own field or vineyard. 6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution. 7 “If a man gives his neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if he is caught, must pay back double. 8 But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has laid his hands on the other man’s property. 9 In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, ‘This is mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must pay back double to his neighbor. 10 “If a man gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to his neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking, 11 the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the LORD that the neighbor did not lay hands on the other person’s property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required. 12 But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, he must make restitution to the owner. 13 If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, he shall bring in the remains as evidence and he will not be required to pay for the torn animal. 14 “If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, he must make restitution. 15 But if the owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid for the hire covers the loss. 16 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins. 18 “Do not allow a sorceress to live. 19 “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death. 20 “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed. 21 “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. 22 “Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. 25 “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, 27 because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. 28 “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people. 29 “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. “You must give me the firstborn of your sons. 30 Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day. 31 “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.
Matthew 27:27-44 27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. 32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38 Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
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Books: Exodus, Matthew 3 Comments »
3 Responses to “March 26, 2010”
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March 26th, 2008 at 5:43 am
You can tell from the mocking words of the crowd, the chief priests, and the elders that the Jews just had no comprehension of a suffering Messiah. The weakness being displayed by Jesus, going to his death without fighting, was a sign of weakness and foolishness that could never be a sign of divinity or Messiah-hood. Certainly the real Messiah would never be defeated, especially by the Romans!
What an incredible Savior we have to allow Himself to go through all of this silently out of love for us. It’s just incredible that his only real response is “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” He trust God to justify Him, and therefore is not swayed or angered by the responses of the people, because he knows that their hearts are full of wickedness and deception.
I also find it interesting that the chief priests say that if he will only come down from the cross, they will believe in him. Well, eventually he did – just not the way they expected – but they still did not believe.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:03 am
What is interesting in the laws that would govern the nation of Israel, was that an offence was considered to have been committed by an indevidule against another. A judge was to judge between the two, and penalty was to be paid from one to the other; that was why bribery of a judge was so terrible. We have changed the entire concept, so that an indevidule does wrong against the state, and the agrieved party is only required as a witness, and recieves no restitution for the wrong committed; that is unless they can bring a civil suit, but that is a separate case and time consuming.
We would do well to examine the way that people were to be treated in ancient Israel, and we might well conclude that we have not learnt too much in the last 3500 years about how to run a society.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Maybe I should add to the above. It was the acceptance of a bribe by a judge that was so terrible, as it turned a blind eye to an offence, and essentially used that which was taken from the victim to pay off the judge, and so the order that God intended for society was thwarted.