Exodus 21
LORD informs Moses of regulationsverse 1
Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them
Regulations regarding male slaveverses 2-6
IF you buy a Hebrew servant – SIX years he shall serve
and in the seventh he shall go out FREE for nothing
IF he came in by himself – he shall go out by himself
IF he were married – THEN his wife shall go out with him
IF his master have given him a wife
and she have born him sons and daughters
the wife and her children shall be her master’s
and he shall go out by himself
And if the servant shall plainly say
I love my master – wife – children – I will not go out free
then his master shall bring him to the judges
he shall also bring him to the door
or unto the doorpost
And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl
and he shall serve him FOR EVER
Regulations regarding female slave/wifeverses 7-11
And if a man SELL his daughter to be a maidservant
she shall not go out as the menservants do
IF she please not her master
who has BETROTHED her to himself
then shall he let her be REDEEMED
to sell her to a strange nation he shall have no power
seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her
IF he have BETROTHED her to his son
he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters
IF he take him ANOTHER wife
Her food – raiment – duty of marriage
shall not diminish
IF he do not these three to her
THEN shall she go out free without money
Sins deserving death plentyverses 12-17
He that smites a man – so that he die
shall be surely PUT TO DEATH
IF a man lie not in wait – BUT God deliver him into his hand
THEN I will appoint you a PLACE whither he shall flee
BUT IF a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor
to slay him with guile
you shall take him from MINE altar
that he may DIE
He that smites his father or his mother
shall be surely PUT TO DEATH
And he that STEALS a man – and sells him
or if he be found in his hand – he shall surely be
PUT TO DEATH
And he that CURSES his father – or his mother
shall surely be PUT TO DEATH
Injured people = compensationverses 18-19
And if men strive together – and one smite another with a stone
or with his fist – and he DIE not – BUT keeps his bed
IF he rise again – and walk abroad upon his staff
THEN shall he that smote him be quit
ONLY he shall pay for the loss of his time
and shall cause him to be
thoroughly healed
Death of slave by owner = punishmentverses 20-21
And if a man smite his servant – or his maid – with a rod
and he die under his hand
he shall be surely PUNISHED
Notwithstanding – IF he continue a day or two
he shall not be PUNISHED – for he is his money
Pregnant woman struckverses 22-25
IF a man strive – and hurt a woman with CHILD
so that her fruit depart from her
and yet no mischief follow
he shall be surely PUNISHED – according as the woman’s
husband will lay upon him
and he shall PAY as the judges determine
AND IF any mischief follow
THEN you shalt give a life for life
eye for eye – tooth for tooth – hand for hand
foot for foot – burning for burning
wound for wound – stripe for stripe
Slave injured by master = freedomverses 26-27
And if a man smite the eye of his servant
or the eye of his maid that it perish
he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake
And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth
or his maidservant’s tooth
he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake
Ox gores resulting in deathverses 28-32
IF an OX gore a man or a woman – that they DIE
THEN the ox shall be surely stoned
and his flesh shall not be eaten
BUT the owner of the OX shall be quit
BUT IF the OX were wont to push with his horn in time past
and it hath been TESTIFIED to his owner
and he has not kept him in
BUT that he that killed a man or a woman
the OX shall be stoned – and his owner also shall be
PUT TO DEATH
IF there be laid on him a sum of money
THEN he shall give for the RANSOM of his life
whatsoever is laid upon him
Whether he have gored a son – or have gored a daughter
according to this judgment shall it be done unto him
IF the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant
he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver
and the OX shall be stoned
Owners of pitverses 33-34
And if a man shall open a PIT – or if a man shall dig a PIT
and not cover it – and an ox or an ass fall therein
the owner of the PIT shall make it good
and give money unto the owner of them
and the dead beast shall be his
Ox injuring another oxverses 35-36
And if one man’s ox hurt another’s that he die
THEN they shall sell the live ox – and divide the money of it
and the dead ox also they shall divide
OR IF it be known that the ox has used to push in time past
and his owner hath not kept him in
he shall surely pay ox for ox
and the dead shall be his own
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 10 If he takes him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. (5772 “duty of marriage” [ownah] means cohabitation, conjugal rights, her marriage rights, or marital intercourse)
DEVOTION: The LORD was establishing a THEOCRACY. This means that HE was the ruler of the nation. God was the one that they would have to answer to if they broke HIS standard. HE had Moses establish a judicial system that Moses’ father-in-law suggested. So there was no king or elected ruler at this time. God was the ruler of the nation.
Now HE is setting down rules regarding marriage. HE had established a one man, one woman, marriage at the time of creation. Since that time the descendants of Cain had started a system that included more than one wife for each man.
Here we find that the poor of the land could sell their daughters to rich men as wives to give their daughters a better standard of living. However, God established rules regarding the treatment of these wives. HE knew they were going to practice having more than one wife but HE also knew that HE had to protect them from abuse.
There were rules for both men and women who had to be sold because of debt or poverty. This is part of the Law of the Old Testament.
We have to remember we are no longer under the Law but Grace. We are not living in a Theocracy but a secular government. We are to obey the laws of the land in which we are living unless they tell us to break the standard of God for the New Testament.
CHALLENGE: Our treatment of the opposite sex is part of our living for the LORD. The New Testament is our standard. Mistreatment is sin.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 13 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand: then I will appoint a place whither he shall flee. (577 “deliver” [‘anna’] means to cause to happen, to befall, to seek an opportunity (for battle), to allow to be captured, to cause anything to happen, without any purpose of the man to whom, or an event occurs)
DEVOTION: God introduces refuge cities at this point. They were not in the Promised Land but HE knew they would be. It was not possible to set up refuge cities yet but HE wanted the people to know that if they accidently killed someone there would be a place they could run to, so that, the avenger of blood would not kill them.
The idea of a refuge city was made to protect the innocent from death. There would be a penalty for accidental killing but it would not be the death penalty. The person who was guilty of an accidental killing would go to the city and find refuge until they could be judged by the elders of the city to make sure that the man/woman was innocent of planning to kill someone.
If found innocent, they would have to stay in the city, until the High Priest died. Then they could return to their home after his death. If they were guilty of pre-mediated murder they would be given to the avenger of blood who was a next of kin to the person murdered and they could bring the judgment of death on the individual.
So the LORD was protecting the innocent and judging the guilty properly. The people were to understand HIS standard and live by the decisions of the elders of the refuge cities.
CHALLENGE: God wanted everything to be done decently and in order. HE still does even today.
: 17 And he that curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. (7043 “curses” [qalal] means to make despicable, to be small, to invoke divine harm or evil upon someone or something, or make contemptible)
DEVOTION: God established the Ten Commandments with the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. One of the commandments was to “honor” your mother and father. Now we find the LORD extending that law to if we curse our parents.
This is a form of dishonor. Any form of dishonor is to be judged by the LORD. The judgment of the LORD for those children who dishonored their parents was death. This was a capital punishment offense in the eyes of the LORD.
The LORD established a family to be a unit of measure for the society of Israel. If the family didn’t work together the nation would not work together. If the family broke down there would be chaos in the home and the nation. This would affect their worship of the LORD.
So God is very concerned over how children treat their parents. HE is concerned that parents treat their children right. However, if you happen to grow up in a home where the parents are not followers of the LORD you still have to honor them where they are not encouraging you to break the laws of God.
Children are commanded to obey their parents in all areas they can in the LORD in the New Testament. If a child becomes a believer in a home where no one else is a believer their testimony might influence the rest of the family to become believers. It is hard for someone who is a believer to continually be the witness they are supposed to be but it can be done with the help and strength of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their life.
CHALLENGE: Christian children should not be speaking with bad language toward their parents or anyone else.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
: 23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life. (611 “mischief” [’acown] means hurt, evil, or bodily injury)
DEVOTION: We live in a time that life is cheap. In many nations there are whole people groups killed to just get rid of them. In some places we find that there are individuals who go into public places and just blow themselves up in order to kill as many people as they can. In our nation we find that the life of the unborn is not really considered a person but just a bunch of chemicals. Those of us who watch any amount of television see people dying every few seconds. The video games that children play see people dying or killed every few second. Life seems to be something that can be taken as long as the person taking the life either enjoys it or gains an advantage with the death.
This chapter deals with issues of daily life. We can see that God thinks that all the details of our life are important. HE is dealing with our treatment of others. HE was concerned with how people treated their parents. HE was concerned with how people treated their servants/slaves. HE was concerned about how women who are pregnant are treated.
These verses deal with a woman who has a child in the womb. If she or the baby is injured during a fight between two men there had to be a consequence. The men responsible will have to pay the husband for the injury.
If one of them dies then they have to pay with their lives. The child in the womb is a human being. All pregnant women should treat their babies in the womb with love and care. All men should protect the babies and their mothers.
Our society doesn’t feel the same way about babies in the womb. Many feel that the baby in the womb is not a human being. IT becomes a human being when it is born.
The BIBLE teaches that a baby in the womb is not an IT but a HUMAN BEING. Life begins at conception not at birth. Many men in the Bible were called of God in the womb. John the Baptist jumped in the womb when Mary came to visit his mother.
These verses show that God considers the baby a life and if a life is taken then it is murder. Please remember that our children are precious in the sight of the LORD. They are precious from conception until death. Children are a blessing, not a curse. Parents are parents as long as they are alive and their children are alive.
Always consider your children to be a blessing from the LORD. Also, remember that we only have nineteen or so years to raise our children to love the LORD.
CHALLENGE: We are sometimes the only example they look at regarding what a true Christian is like. It is an awesome responsibility. We all fail at times, but the LORD wants us to keep trying until we die.
:27 And if he smites out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake. (8127 “tooth” [shen] means 1 tooth, ivory. 1a tooth. 1a1 of man, lex talionis, beast. 1b tooth, tine (of fork). 1c ivory. 1c1 as material. 1c2 of commerce. 1d sharp pointed rock. [Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship)
DEVOTION: This is the very first dentist’s verse in the Bible. What many of us have discovered it is it possible to get charged an arm and a leg for a tooth when we go to see the dentist! This verse, however, is about righting a wrong done to one’s slave through physical abuse. It is clear from this verse and the one before it that some masters (even Jewish masters) could treat their slaves abusively, causing irreversible injury to them. In that case, God spells out that the master is to grant the slave freedom in exchange for their injury.
This passage approaches the issue of personal rights from the standpoint of those in authority. It addresses the fact that the master has an obligation to the slave (particularly not to be physically abusive!). This is similar to the instructions to masters in Colossians 4:1 and Ephesians 6:9. Thus, this passage is not specifically about the rights of the slave as it is about the responsibilities of the master. In our rights driven culture, we often default first to considering the personal rights of the individual over the role of society in setting standards for those rights.
A big question is how quickly we move to make things right when we are the one who has violated another person. Secondarily, we are taught that we should be quick to forgive the other person when we are wronged (and especially if they are a believer in Jesus). If we did so, we would realize how much we ourselves have been forgiven. And that would make us not want to take something away from someone that is rightfully theirs. Even Jesus healed the sliced-off ear of Malchus in the Garden of Gethsemane when Peter attempted to defend Jesus by means of the sword!
CHALLENGE: Do not try to take something away from someone else that belongs to them. Keep short accounts and forgive when you are wronged.
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Altarverse 14
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Judgmentsverse 1
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God (Elohim)verse 13
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead – God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Strange nationverse 8
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Deceitfullyverse 8
Smite a manverses 12, 18, 20
Lie in waitverse 13
Presumptuous to slayverse 14
Slay with guileverse 14
Smiting mother or father = deathverse 15
Steal a man to sell him = deathverse 16
Curse mother or father = deathverse 17
Smite a servant or maid = punishverse 20
Hurt a woman with child
Pay what judges determineverse 22
If child dies = life for lifeverse 23
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Redeemedverse 8
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Relationship between master and servantverses 2-6
Buy a Hebrew servant
Set free in seventh year
Came alone leaves alone
Master gives a wife – she and children stay
Judges – bore his ear = stay forever
Treatment of maidservant/wifeverses 7-11
Sell a daughter = maidservant
Betrothed to master’s son
Not able to sell to strange nation
Deal with as daughter
Duty of marriage
Smite a man to death = put to deathverse 12
City of refuseverse 13
Two men fighting = one not killed
Pay for loss of time verse 19
Servants set free for any injury caused by masterverse 27
Ox that gores and causes death or injuryverses 28-36
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Death penaltyverses 12, 14-17, 29
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QUOTES regarding passage
Whatever the scenario, it probably involved a man’s desiring to marry a woman whose status as his wife would not also threaten the status of his estate. Three kinds of equalities are mentioned in typical paradigmatic fashion as standing for all the various ways a second wife had a right to be treated as equal to the first wife: equality with the first wife in food, clothing, and sexual relations (“marital rights”). Thus the covenant law tolerated second wives, whether servants or not, but only if they were treated equally in the family to the way the first wives were treated. A second wife could not be a second-class wife. Failure to provide equal treatment in every way for a second wife was sufficient grounds for the wife to be freed from both her marriage (which had been profaned by the discrimination of her husband) and her service (since the original terms of the service-marriage had been violated in a dishonest way, as v. 8 says, therefore allowing the right to have one’s service contract repurchased if the marriage obligations had not been lived up to). (Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2, p. 483). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
21:7–11. Female slaves were treated differently. Many times female slaves were concubines or secondary wives (cf. Gen. 16:3; 22:24; 30:3, 9; 36:12; Jud. 8:31; 9:18). Some Hebrew fathers thought it more advantageous for their daughters to become concubines of well-to-do neighbors than to become the wives of men in their own social class. If a daughter who became a servant was not pleasing to her master she was to be redeemed by a near kinsman (cf. Lev. 25:47–54) but never sold to foreigners (Ex. 21:8); she could also redeem herself. If she married her master’s son she was to be given family status (v. 9). If the master married someone else he was required to provide his servant with three essentials: food, clothing, and shelter (marital rights probably means living quarters, not sexual privilege). (Hannah, J. D. (1985). Exodus. (J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck, Eds.)The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
21:7–11 If a poor family could not afford the costs of a normal wedding, the father might “sell” his daughter to a rich man as his “slave,” i.e., as a secondary wife like Zilpah and Bilhah (Gen. 29:24, 29). As wives from poor families, they could face exploitation—which these laws aim to prevent. (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 178). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.)
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
Jonathan Edwards for Armchair Theologians by James P. Byrd
…Edwards proclaimed that without the new sense of divine things we are spiritually blind. Without this new sense, we may know about God’s truth, even be experts in Scripture, but we cannot truly “experience” God’s beauty. (p. 30)
While most of us in the modern world would be disturbed at the thought of a child obsessing over hell, Edwards considered it constructive, a healthy spiritual exercise. (p. 42)
True religion, Edwards believed, united the head and the heart – both were needed to understand and worship God properly. (p. 48)
True religion is never “weak, dull and lifeless” but instead involves “fervent exercise of the heart.” (p. 51)
After all, God is the greatest power in the universe, and who could believe that the appropriate response to God’s salvation is lukewarm and lifeless faith? (p. 51)
Specifically, if we are empowered by holy affections, we will behave like good Christians; we will be moral, faithful in worship and service to others, and humble. (p. 56)
Edwards responded that godly practice, not enthusiastic behavior, was the chief sign of true religious experience. (p. 58)
Daniel 4
Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream.
INSIGHT
What a towering figure is Nebuchadnezzar! Sovereign over the greatest nation on earth at the time, wealthy beyond description, subject to fits of rage, and yet somehow vulnerable and teachable. Nebuchadnezzar rages in fury at the three Jews who refuse to worship his image–yet proclaims their God the only God when He saves them from the furnace. Then, warned by Daniel that unless he repents he will be stripped of his kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar lapses into convenient forgetfulness and self-adulation. True to Daniel’sword, the king becomes an animal and roams the forest. Yet, when his senses are restored, the king again worships God and proclaims His praise to the ends of the earth.
(Quiet Walk)
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9
Another moral attribute of God is God”s faithfulness. What does it mean? When you say that God is faithful, you mean that He is one upon whom you can safely lean. It means one on whom you can absolutely rely, one upon whom you can depend, one upon whom you can secure yourself, without ever being in doubt that He will suddenly let you go.
The Bible has some glorious statements about this. It tells us about the faithfulness of God who always keeps His promises and never breaks His covenants. It tells us that God will always fulfill every word that has ever gone out of His mouth (Isaiah 55:11). It tells us that God will always faithfully and certainly defend and deliver His servants at all times of trial, testing, and conflict. It tells us that God can be relied upon to confirm and to establish all whom He has called, guarding them from the evil one and keeping them and guiding them until His purposes are fulfilled in them.
Listen to one great statement of all that: “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). Whatever else may happen, whatever may be going wrong, Paul tells those people to be sure of this–God is faithful. Again he says, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Thessalonians 5:23). Then notice, “Faithful is he that called you, who also will do it” (verse 24). This is absolutely certain: Nothing can frustrate His plans; nothing can make Him forego what He has promised; nothing can cause Him to change what He has purposed with respect to you.
A Thought to Ponder: God is one upon whom you can safely lean.
(From God the Father, God the Son, pp. 76-77, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
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