Today’s Passage: Exodus 21
This chapter marks the beginning of three chapters that deal primarily with establishing the legal system for Israel. While most of it may sound straight forward and somewhat unpractical for our daily life, I would suggest that we take a deeper look into the meaning and reasoning for some of the laws put into place.
I thought it interesting that the first laws dealt with buying Israelites as slaves. (Just a few chapters ago, God had brought His people from out of slavery in Egypt.) At any rate, although this may not seem directly applicable to us today (since we do not regularly purchase Jewish slaves), there is a lesson to be learned. Notice the slave was to only work for the master for six years, then be released after the seventh, unless the slave says, “I love my master” (vs 5) then he could server his master for a lifelong commitment. This may seem outrageous, but the lesson to learn is how the master treated his slave. The master must have showed great kindness and graciousness for the servant to want to serve for a lifetime. So, while we may not have slaves, some of us do have people that we manage or are over; thus, how are we treating them?
In the next couple of verses (7-11), God’s law shows a shift in viewing women. During this time, women did not have rights as they do today. However, we see here that God’s law called for the respect due them. Also, the text speaks of the necessity and clear establishment of capital punishment. God did not take too kindly to those who murdered. Furthermore, He required the punishment of those who murdered after premeditation. The list goes on. The remainder of the chapter deals with the wide varying issues that may have come up in the Israelite society.
What I was able to come away with after reading and perusing through the passage was the necessity of justice and integrity. Our God is a holy God, who calls for His follows to be holy as well. The laws in and of themselves never sufficed for the salvation of someone. Faith has always been the way. The laws serve to keep order in a sinful world.
The challenge for today: Inspect your life for an integrity issues. Are you able to come before the Holy God?
No comments:
Post a Comment
To help us in moderating our comments, we are asking all blog followers to e-mail michael@bearcreek.cc before their first comment. Please include in your e-mail your Blog user name. We are sorry for any inconvenience.