The Blessings of a Righteous and Just Society

Series on Exodus

VI. The Character of God’s People Text: 21-23:19

Title: The Blessings of a Righteous and Just Society

Introduction

You will note in our outline that I have included portions of Exodus 21:1-23:19 under each of the commandments. The reason for this is that these chapters contain the application of the commandments to the life of Israel. They are examples of case law, or how to apply the commandments in certain sets of circumstances. This portion should also be considered separately because I think we can learn something about a truly godly society from these particular applications. There are three themes which run through these situations that are described in this section of Exodus. First a concern for justice, secondly a compassion for the poor and oppressed, and thirdly a consecration of ourselves and our resources.

I A Concern for Justice

There is here a protection of women in 21:7-11, If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do. If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money. These might not seem like much to us but in a society which generally put low value upon women’s rights they are significant. Crimes justifying capitol punishment are listed in 21:15-17, and the corresponding rule of an eye for an eye, a life for a life, a hand for a hand and a tooth for a tooth and so on is found in 21:23. Let me pause and point out that this is not an outmoded Old Testament law which has been replaced by Jesus ethic of love like turning the other cheek as is so often asserted. We are talking here about civil law in distinction from personal conduct. As individuals we need to turn the other cheek, but if the state, or the government or the courts turn the other cheek then innocent people suffer. What we see in our own society is a loss of fairness and justice. In fact, fairness has become a manipulative club. We think of fairness as something which benefits us but not the other person. The reason is that in spite of multiplied legislation we have become a lawless society. A society is lawless where the law is not internalized, and it is not internalized where there is no religious foundation. The denial of our Christian heritage has led to this lawlessness and consequently to an absence of a sense of justice. Look at Chapter 23:4,5 and see how God handles justice, If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it. Along with this idea of internalization there was also a strong concept of redemption and restitution exemplified in Chapters 21 and 22. An example would be in verses 33-36, If a man uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit must pay for the loss; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his. If a man’s bull injures the bull of another and it dies, they are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and the dead animal will be his. And of course bribery which is the exact opposite of lawful restitution, that is paying for injustice, is outlawed in 23:8. This idea of redemption is especially clear in the first case described in 21:2-6, If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. But if the servant declares, “I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,” then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life. Concerning Hebrew slaves, note the limitations on the practice of slavery “in the seventh year he shall go free,” and also note the practice if the slave wished to remain in his master’s service. This would be occasioned if his master had permitted him to start a family. In this case he would have his ear pierced. We probably prefer the way they do it at the mall, but this is a powerful image of our redemption. In the Hebrew Old Testament in Psalm 40: 6 and 7, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come-it is written about me in the scroll.” David applies this to our relationship to Christ. We know this because Paul applies this passage to Christ in Hebrews 10 but follows the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Old Testament with the translation “a body you have prepared for me.” No one really knows how this transition was made between the Hebrew and Greek texts. The Hebrew says, “sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced.” And Hebrews, quoting the passage, says, “sacrifice and offering you did not desire but a body you have prepared for me.” God in his providence has not only given us both versions but has put his stamp of approval upon both. and the curious thing is they both have the same net effect. they speak of our Savior’s willingness to surrender himself for our redemption. The point i want to make is that where there is no sense of redemption, there can never be a true sense of justice. That’s why we’re in such trouble: no sense of gospel redemption, no sense of sin, and therefore no sense of law and order and therefore no justice.

II Compassion for the Poor and Oppressed

This is seen throughout our passage. The point is not that God permitted slavery or the suppression of women. These were already present due to the sinful fallen nature of man. God regulated them with mercy and justice. ample examples of this are present in our text: 21:20,26,22:21-27, 23:6. It’s clear that we would not want all of these case laws to be transplanted into our society. They fit the context of ancient Israel. However, the underlying theme is mercy. There is a story told about Grover Cleveland in the panic of 1893 when many were unemployed and hungry. A poor man came to the White House, and to demonstrate the plight of the poor, he got down and was chewing on the grass. Cleveland saw him, asked what he was doing, and the man said, “I’m so poor that i have to eat grass.” Cleveland reputedly replied, ‘Why don’t you go around to the back lawn, the grass is better there? The story is probably apocryphal and unfair to Grover Cleveland, but real mercy for the poor is in short supply. We collect billions and then spend it in administration. and if it reaches the poor it is usually not really helpful because of the way it is given. Mother Theresa tells of going to a big conference on hunger in Bombay. She got lost, and when she finally found the place, there was a starving man sitting right at the door of the place where hundreds of people were talking about hunger. She took him home and he died of starvation because he was too far gone. We don’t show mercy and compassion because we’re cut off from our Christian roots. Real compassion has to be individual and it has to come from the heart of each man as he is persuaded that God has been merciful to him. The only way we are persuaded of this is through the gospel that Jesus loved us and gave himself for us.

III Consecration of Ourselves and Our Resources

The key passage here is Exodus 22:29 and 30, Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. You must give me the firstborn of your sons. 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. We also see this truth expressed through the emphasis on the sabbath which is a symbol of our devoting our whole lives to the Lord in 23:10-13, as well as the keeping of the annual feasts in 23:14-19. No one is to appear before me empty handed God says, bring the best of the firstfruits. In the same fashion 22:20 indicates the pure devotion which these people were to have to the Lord God alone, Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed. There is much we have not explored in these chapters, however it is clear that consecration was a fundamental characteristic of their life. Now consider again that we talk about justice a lot, but we do not have it . We talk about mercy a lot, but we do not have it, and neither do we have patriotism. Our forbears gave their lives and fortunes for this country and many have followed in their steps, but in order to have a people who are dedicated, you need a people who are dedicated to the Lord. It is from our relationship to God that the whole concept of dedication and therefore patriotism comes. A man not dedicated to God has no reason to give his life in the service of his country and many reasons not to. He will not be dedicated to his family either. In God’s common grace some are, but that only stretches so far. if I do not know that Christ has redeemed me, I do not understand true justice, or true mercy or true consecration of self. We have lost this in America because we have left the true faith and we will not regain it without a revival of that faith.