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*Law of the Land - Exodus 21*
June 7, 2009
*Introduction*: Our study of the Ten Commandments is complete.
The last two passages in Exodus 20 taught us of our need for the superior mediation of Christ and of our need to hear God from Heaven.
The next section of this book begins in chapter 21 and extends out to the beginning of chapter 24.
It is often deemed the Book of the Covenant.
God à Moses
*Exodus 21:1** (NKJV) \\ *1“Now these /are/ the judgments which you shall set before them.”
Moses à Israel
*Exodus 24:3** (NKJV) \\ *3So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments.
This section of Exodus applies in a very specific way the Ten Commandments to the lives of the children of Israel.
The TC are straightforward and easy to apply generally to our lives today.
While we do not live under the Law, studying these commands help us to apply the universal benefit of them.
It is much harder to read Exodus 21-24 with the same profit because we have to derive the benefit from this section through the application of principles found in the passage.
Laws regulating slavery and violence were absolutely beneficial and practical to Israel.
They would have found this section extremely helpful because it benefited them in the life they were living.
It’s where the rubber meets the road.
We must see here that God cares about the life we’re living right now.
While these specific regulations no longer apply to the church; they teach us much about our unchanging God.
/Transition: We will break chapter 21 into two sections dealing with the Law of the Land: 1) Laws Regulating Slavery (1-11); 2) Laws Concerning Violence (12-36)…/
*Laws Regulating Slavery (21.1-11)*
*Exodus 20:2** (NKJV) \\ *2“I /am/ the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
Israel came out of Egypt as redeemed slaves.
While the Bible neither condemns nor condones slavery per se; it assumes that it will continue.
The laws concerning slavery are given to Israel.
Followed closely, abuse would have been averted and eventually the practice of slavery would have disappeared altogether.
Our American concept of slavery is greatly influenced by our history - especially as it relates to the Civil War.
However, there are three distinct differences between the American concept and what Israel thought of when it came to servitude…
1. Voluntary - the Israelite slave volunteered for servitude; the poor looked at slavery as a way to meet needs and pay off debts.
That involuntary slavery was forbidden is seen clearly in v. 16 of this chapter:
*Exodus 21:16** (NKJV) \\ *16“He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.
The Bible forbids taking people from their homes and selling them.
Stealing a person breaks the 8th Commandment and is sin against God.
American slave traders took African people from their homes and sold them.
Israelite slaves (better ‘servants’) were hired hands or indentured laborers (serving a master as an apprentice for a specific period of time).
Servants in Israel lived with their masters and worked hard for a place to live, food to eat, and an honest wage.
The second difference is found in v. 2…
*Exodus 21:2** (NKJV) \\ *2If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
2. Temporary - the servant in Israel did not serve perpetually; the laws concerning the Sabbath principle were in effect.
During the 7th year the slave was set free and provided for as seen in Deuteronomy…
*Deuteronomy 15:12-15** (NKJV) \\ *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.
13And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress.
/From what/ the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him.
15You 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.
The third difference is that servanthood in Israel was…
3. Mutually Beneficial
*/Servanthood benefited the servant and the master./*
Americans think of slavery and think of horrific abuse that benefitted only the master.
We have to exercise care in making sure we understand how Israel would have understood the concept of servanthood.
The Israelite slave had a training ground upon which he might gain responsibility, pay off debt, and become a self-sufficient and productive member of society.
Ryken states that the Hebrew servant “was bound for freedom” (701).
His was a temporary position for his good.
*Exodus 21:3** (NKJV) \\ *3If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he /comes in/ married, then his wife shall go out with him.
· The sanctity of marriage and family is upheld for the Hebrew servant.
American slavery often ripped apart marriages and families.
· What if the servant married a female servant of the master and had children?
*Exodus 21:4-6** (NKJV) \\ *4If 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.
5But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6then 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.
· Verse 3 states that the servant came into slavery by himself, he went out by himself.
If he went in married, he would go out married.
· If the servant got married and had children as a slave, he would go out alone.
Why?
God was seeking to protect the family of this servant.
Had he gained responsibility?
If not, he would soon bring his family back into bondage.
If he had, he would be able to purchase their freedom soon enough.
Application: The closest relationship we have along this line is the Employer - Employee relationship.
· Employers should not abuse or use employees, but rather they should build up, support, and make successful the employees working for them.
· Employees should learn how to manage money and other resources (even people) so that they might gain tools to become employers themselves.
They should live lives not of entitlement but of perseverance and character.
*Exodus 21:7** (NKJV) \\ *7“And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.
· Now we are faced with two difficult questions:
o Why did God allow daughters to be sold into slavery by their fathers?
o Why didn’t the daughters have the same opportunity for freedom as their male counterparts?
Poor fathers sold their daughters into slavery to rich families in the hope that these daughters would become permanent members of the rich households - this happened through marriage to the rich man’s son.
Daughters were not to be set free because without the protection of the household or family, they were extremely vulnerable to abuse in this social context.
God uses the next few verses to afford protection for these daughters.
There are three lines of protection…
*Exodus 21:8** (NKJV) \\ *8If 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.
/Protection #1/ - Verse 8 indicates that the family had the right to redeem the daughter from the master if she did not please him.
The master has dealt deceitfully with her; she is ransomed back to her family not sold to a foreign people.
*Exodus 21:9** (NKJV) \\ *9And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.
/Protection #2/ - Verse 9 talks about what happens when things work out.
If the daughter pleases the master, she becomes the master’s daughter and has all the rights and privileges of being a full family member.
Upon marrying the master’s son, she has freedom.
*Exodus 21:10-11** (NKJV) \\ *10If he takes another /wife,/ he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights.
11And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without /paying/ money.
/Protection #3/ - Verses 10-11 assures that food, clothing, and marriage rights are continually extended to her.
Application: The best application of these principles is found in marriage.
Wives have basic needs of security that husbands must meet.
Physical needs such as food and shelter, but also those needs deemed marriage rights - intimacy (not just sex; but loving, tender relationship).
*Laws Concerning Violence (21.12-36)*
What did you think about the murder of the abortionist doctor, George Tiller?
Did he deserve this type of ‘death penalty’?
Do you want justice for murdered infants?
What should be done to abortionist doctors today?
Why should it be done?
I believe our thinking on these matters can become settled when we read about the laws concerning violence in the last section of Exodus 21.
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