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You are to be my holy people.
You are to be my holy people. Exodus 22:1-31 Key Verse: 22:31a “You are to be my holy people.” Last week we began to look at the law of God. God started with the Ten Commandments which are the foundation of the law. However God gets much more detailed and last week we began to look at some of that detail. We basically looked at three broad areas 1) Laws concerning servants – Hebrew servants in particular 2) Laws concerning violence against others 3) Laws concerning animal control These laws got very detailed and even talked about things like what should happen if a person dug a pit and someone else’s animal fell into that pit. This week and next week we are going to continue looking into some more of the details of God’s law. Today’s message is going to focus on two major topics 1) Laws concerning the protection of private property 2) Laws concerning social responsibility Laws Concerning Protection of Property Look at verses 1-4 Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. 2 If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. 4 If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double. Let’s start by looking at verses 1 and 4. Both deal with the stealing of animals, but the punishment is different. Why? In order to understand this maybe it is best to go to Leviticus 6 which talks about the thief or the man who lied to get his neighbor’s property but then he repents – he realizes his sin and becomes guilty. Then he returns whatever was taken in deceit and he does not have to pay back double, he only has to add a fifth to the value of the item. See also Numbers 5:6-7. In verse 4 the animal is still alive and in the thief’s possession so he still has the opportunity to repent. Look verses 2 and 3 again. 2 If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. “Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. Why do you think the defender of his property is guilty of bloodshed if kills the thief who breaks in after sunrise? If the intruder breaks in at night he is doing his best not to be seen clearly by witnesses or the owner of the house. There is no way to tell if his intention was just to steal something or to kill the occupants of the house, therefore the owner has the right to kill him. However if the break in occurs by day, the thief can be seen by both witnesses and by the owner of the house and his motive can be more easily determined – if his intent is to kill, the owner still has the right to defend himself and kill the intruder. It is also interesting to note that if a thief is caught and he cannot make restitution he must make restitution with his life – e.g. he must be sold into slavery to pay for his crime. Look at verses 5 and 6. 5 “If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard. 6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thorn bushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution. These verses talk about what should happen if someone else’s property is destroyed even if the fault does not lie directly with an individual. If a person has an animal that eats someone else’s property, the person with the animal is still responsible for making restitution. Likewise if a person starts a fire and that fire gets out of control and destroys someone else’s property, that person must pay for the destroyed property. Look at verses 7-15. 7 “If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. 8 But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must[b]determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person’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.[c] The one whom the judges declare[d] guilty must pay back double to the other. 10 “If anyone gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to their 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, restitution must be made to the owner. 13 If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, the neighbor shall bring in the remains as evidence and shall not be required to pay for the torn animal. 14 “If anyone borrows an animal from their neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, they 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. These verses deal with the issue of loaning something to someone else and that person loses or somehow destroys the property. What should happen in these cases? Look at verse 7-8. If no thief is caught, the neighbors have to go before a judge and the judge will determine if the one who borrowed the item stole it or not. In verse 11 the neighbors have to take an oath before the LORD, but this still done before a judge in a court and the judge will determine the guilt of the man who borrowed the animal. Laws Concerning Social Responsibility Look at verses 16 and 17. 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. God begins talking about social responsibility by talking about virgins who are not pledged to be married – they are not engaged. This is important. If a virgin is pledge to be married to one man and she has sexual relations with another man the punishment prescribed is much different. For a look at this situation we must look at Deuteronomy 22:13-29. 1) In a city, both the man and the woman must be stoned to death – this is a consensual act of adultery because the woman could have screamed for help 2) In the country only the man is to be stoned to death because even if the woman screamed the man could have forced himself on her. It is clear that relationship here is consensual – if the man forced himself on the woman he must be stoned. The marriage price was often times several months wages this law seems to be an effort to forbid premarital sexual relations. If a man and a woman chose to engage in this type of behavior it would be very costly for the man and he would be obligated to take the woman home as his wife. Look at verses 18-20 18 “Do not allow a sorceress to live. 19 “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death. 20 “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed. Why is God so harsh on sorceresses and those who sacrifice to other gods? Why does God include verse 19, which deals with such a disgusting subject? In order to understand this we have to go over to Leviticus 18:21-28 which shows how terrible the Canaanites were. The Canaanites did these things and God hated them for it. The land even hated them. In Leviticus it says the land vomited those nations out. This is why God gave them laws like this. Look at verses 21-25. 21 “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigner sin Egypt. 22 “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. 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 treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset,27 because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. These verses are about the poor and the needy of the land. It is interesting to note that God starts with foreigners who are living in the land. He starts here because, first, the Israelites were foreigners in Egypt and they knew how terribly foreigners could be treated. The second reason I think is for us. Once we were foreigners. Peter says “we were not a people,” but God has made us His people. Once we were foreigners in His land, but now we are His children. Likewise, there are many foreigners among us and we should treat them with respect and kindness because God is able to make them one of us. God also talks about the poor, widows and orphans. He makes a point (twice) of not mistreating them because if they cry out to God, God will listen to them because He is a God of compassion. Jesus is the perfect example of this. When Jesus came He did not go to the powerful rulers, He went to the poor, widows, the outcast because they were the ones crying out to God for salvation. We must realize that we can do nothing on our own. We have to come to the point that we cry out to God in our helplessness. God will hear us and He will rescue us because He is a God of compassion that listens to those who cry out to Him. Look at verse 28. 28 “Do not blaspheme God[f] or curse the ruler of your people. The Apostle Paul quotes this verse during his second trip to Jerusalem. Paul uses this verse to rebuke himself when he called the chief priest a whitewashed wall that would be punished by God for misusing the law. When Paul was told that he was speaking to the chief priest he apologized and acknowledge his sin using this verse. We also must respect our leaders even when we disagree with their actions. The Bible tells us that leaders are instituted by God – therefore we should respect them and let God hold them accountable for their actions. In the end God will hold everyone accountable for what they have done. We must trust this and preserve social order by praying for our leaders rather than cursing them. Look at verse 29-30 29 “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats.[g] “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. These verses tell us that we should be generous toward God. Everything we have is a gift from God so when it comes time to make an offering to him we shouldn’t be stingy. We should give willingly of the best that we have with a thankful heart. God gave everything for us – He gave his life for us so how can we hold back our best gifts from him? Finally, look at verse 31. 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. Verse 31a tells us why we should keep God’s law. We are to be God’s holy people. That means we shouldn’t live like others, we should live according to God’s holy laws. It means that even when it comes to the food we eat we need to take care and show some respect. According to the New Testament God has declared all food clean, but that doesn’t mean we should live like animals and eat anything we find lying around. When we eat, we should eat for the glory of God. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 Paul tells us, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Today we thought some more about the details of God’s law. Some of the details seem disgusting or very harsh. Some of them are hard to understand, but God provided all the details so that we could know how we should live in this fallen world. Remember this, if God put these details in His law, it is because people then (and now) are doing things that are very displeasing to God. If you don’t think you can remember all the details just remember the two things that Jesus says all the law and the prophets are based on. 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. |
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