chapter 21. If you are in a pew Bible, that's page number 62. We've been going through the
book of Exodus this year, and we've seen that the God of the Bible is a God who saves, right?
He saved the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and He has saved us from sin and death
through the resurrection, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we've also seen that
the God who saves us sustains us. God sustained the people of Israel through the wilderness,
and He continues to sustain and provide for us by His Holy Spirit and His grace. And we've also
seen that the same God who saves and sustains us also instructs us in His laws. For the last two
weeks, we've looked at the Ten Commandments, the heart of God's moral law, which teaches us to love
God above everything else and love our neighbor as ourselves. Now, for the next four Sundays,
during this month of June, we're focusing in on God's wise instructions for His redeemed people
in Exodus 21 through 23. So today, we're looking at a long section of chapter 21 and most of chapter 22.
I won't read all of it, but let's begin by reading chapter 21, starting at verse 1. Here we go.
Now, these are the rules that you shall set before them. Now, God is speaking to Moses to then speak
to the people of Israel. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh,
he shall go out free for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single. If he comes in
married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons
or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out alone. But if the
slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free, then his master
will bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall bore
his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever. When a man sells his daughter as a
slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master who has designated
her for himself, he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people
since he has broken faith with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a
daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, clothing, or marital
rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing without payment
of money. Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait
for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.
But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar
that he may die. Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. Whoever steals a
man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death. Whoever curses his
father or his mother shall be put to death. When men quarrel, and one strikes the other with a stone or
with his fist, and the man does not die but takes to his bed, then if the man rises again and walks
outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear. Only he shall pay for the loss of his time
and shall have him thoroughly healed. When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod,
and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two,
he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money. When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so
that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the
woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm,
then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. I'm going to stop there. Now, one of our commitments
at Trinity Baptist Church is to preach or teach the whole counsel of God. That is, all of the truths
that God has revealed to us in the different books and sections of the Bible. And often we do that by
preaching through whole books of the Bible without skipping anything. And so, we come to this morning's
passage that we might not dare to tackle if each of the preachers just got to choose a different text
each Sunday on our own. Now, a handful of you are lawyers or law school students, and some of you might
be fascinated by this. But most people who try to read straight through the Bible come to passages
like this, and their eyes start to glaze over, and—or maybe you're thinking, yikes, some of these laws
sound really harsh. Slavery, the death penalty for cursing your parents, an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth. Can I really trust that these laws come from a good and just and wise God? But here's the
thing. If the whole Bible is God's Word for us, then God has something good for us here in these chapters,
no matter how strange and alien they may seem. So, this morning I want us to take a deeper look at these
chapters that are easy to misunderstand because we don't live in that cultural context, or we can be tempted
to just ignore and overlook because we don't know what to do with them. Now, a bit of the big picture.
Back in chapter 19, verse 6, God said to the people of Israel, you are to be my kingdom of priests
and my holy nation. In other words, God was calling the Israelites to reflect His distinctive character,
His wisdom and justice and love to the surrounding nations. And this section in particular is teaching
the Israelites how to reflect God's character in their life together as a civil society, as a nation.
Now, these laws we're looking at today were specifically intended for the Old Testament people
of Israel. They don't apply directly to the Christian church because the Christian church is not a nation
state. Jesus Christ did not tell His disciples to set up a king and get a military force together
and take a piece of land and from there expand the Christian kingdom throughout the earth. No.
He never said that. In fact, the disciples seem to have had that idea, and Jesus said no. They said,
are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said, no, but I'll give you the Holy Spirit,
and you will go to the ends of the earth and bear witness to me as the Savior and Lord.
So, these laws are also not meant to be directly implemented by modern governments,
because modern governments do not have the authority or are not given the responsibility
to… No modern nation state is God's kingdom of priests and God's holy nation on earth.
And modern governments have the responsibility to administer justice, Romans 13,
tells us that. But God has not authorized any government to enforce the laws of the New Testament,
to compel people to come to church or compel people to obey the particular commands of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Jesus said Christians are exiles scattered among the nations. We live in loyalty to Jesus,
but we live throughout all the nations of the world. So, then you might ask, well, wait a minute. Okay,
if these chapters don't apply directly to the church, and they don't apply directly to modern
governments, then are they really any use for us at all? And the answer to that is yes,
because they show us God's wisdom in applying the principles of His moral law within a particular
historical and cultural context. And don't we need God's wisdom to apply the Ten Commandments,
for example, to our own lives and our own habits and our life as a Christian community,
as a church, our own particular circumstances? Second reason these laws are helpful is they don't
just tell us how God wants us to live ideally, but also how to deal with some of the realities of life
in a messy and broken world. The section we're looking at today is sometimes called the case law
because it outlines common situations, common cases that the ancient Israelites would have faced,
and it gives guidance about how to pursue justice on a case-by-case kind of basis.
First one says, these are the rules. That word can also be translated judgments or judicial
rulings. In other words, the case law sets a judicial precedent for how to deal with other
similar situations that may arise. But I want you to notice just from the start that every situation
mentioned in these chapters is a result of living in a fallen world. Notice how the paragraphs begin.
Verse 2, when you buy a Hebrew slave. Verse 10, when a man sells his daughter as a slave.
Verse 12 to 17 have a different structure. We'll look at that later on. But verse 18,
when men quarrel and one strikes the other. Verse 20, when a man strikes his slave and the slave dies.
Verse 22, when men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, an innocent bystander. Verse 28,
when an ox gores a man or a woman to death. Verse 33, when someone falls into a pit.
Chapter 22, verse 1, if a man steals an ox or a sheep,
every one of these situations, including, by the way, slavery, is a result of living in a fallen world.
None of these situations would occur if we were still living in the Garden of Eden
and harmony with God and in a right relationship with each other.
But you see, when God saves us, God doesn't magically transport us out of our sinful flesh
and this broken world. We still have to deal with potentially oppressive work situations,
quarrels and fights, car accidents, wildfires, things that get lost or stolen,
etc., etc., etc., etc. And what we see here is that God makes provision for us in the midst of a messy world.
He doesn't promise a utopia, then or now, but He does show us a way forward,
one step at a time toward His redemptive and righteous purposes.
So the laws we're looking at today are not God's last or only word on these topics,
but they do show us God's wisdom in applying the law in concrete situations
and in responding redemptively to the realities of a fallen world.
As we go through these chapters, I want to do two basic things as we go along.
I want to point out some of the ways that Israel's laws distinctively reflected God's character
in their historical context.
So I'm going to mention some comparisons to other laws of other nations of that time,
of the ancient Near East.
And we'll see some ways that the laws distinctively reflected God's character.
And second, I want us to consider God's intention for us here and now.
We won't be implementing these laws directly,
but we need to consider how we're called to live distinctly as followers of Jesus Christ.
As we heard earlier from the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus said,
you're to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a city on a hill,
a distinct people who bear witness to the goodness and glory of God.
Now, there are five categories of laws that we're going to look at this morning.
First, laws about slaves.
First, I'm going to spend a longer time on the slavery laws
because those are more complicated and more fraught in our context.
Second, there's laws about capital punishment.
Third, laws about bodily injury.
Fourth, laws about lost or stolen property.
And fifth, a law about premarital sex.
We're going all over the place today.
All right, so let's dive in.
First, the laws about slavery, chapter 21, 1 to 11.
Now, for those of us who are Americans,
we can have trouble with Bible passages about slavery
in part because of our own country's history.
When many of us hear the word slavery,
we think about Africans who were kidnapped by slave traders,
taken across the Atlantic Ocean,
treated as less than human,
often separated from their wives and children,
and enslaved for life without a real possibility of freedom.
Now, even though slavery was abolished over 150 years ago,
we still wrestle as a nation with its many twisted legacies.
And even in the church, it can be an ongoing struggle
to build deep trust and relationships
among Christians of different races.
And that's something we need to keep working on
by God's grace and with patient endurance.
But when we read about slavery in the Bible,
we need to take a step back from our own country's history
and try to understand it for what it was back then.
Let me make four points to help us do that.
First, the Bible acknowledges the reality of slavery
in a fallen world,
but it does not say that God instituted slavery
as part of the natural order.
God instituted marriage from the beginning.
God gave human beings meaningful work to do
from the beginning.
After the flood, God instituted government
in Genesis 9.
But we never see God instituting slavery
or defending it as something
that should necessarily should be preserved.
Second, the word slave is hard to translate precisely.
It can mean a household servant.
It can mean an employee.
It can mean an apprentice as well as a slave.
Some slaves had no authority at all,
while others had considerable responsibility
within a household.
Back then, pretty much every business
ran out of a household,
and most of the household workers
lived either on the premises or right nearby.
So very often, your boss was also your landlord,
and your workplace was also your home.
That's just how life was.
Third, it's helpful to understand
how people in Israel became slaves
in the first place.
There were basically two reasons.
First, you might grow up in desperate poverty.
Some children might have grown up
with slaves as their parents.
Or chapter 21, verse 7,
talks about a father who sells his child into slavery,
probably because the parents were desperate
and had no way to provide for the child's needs.
A bit like a child today who ends up in foster care.
So you might grow up in desperate poverty
and end up in slavery,
or you might end up in desperate poverty
either through your own fault or otherwise.
Chapter 22, verse 3,
says that sometimes people were sold into slavery
because they had stolen something
and they were not able to make restitution.
They were not able to pay the person back
who they had wronged.
And so the law said they would be sold into slavery.
Someone would pay a price up front,
and that would pay off their debt,
and then they'd be a slave for a time.
Leviticus 25 talks about someone who becomes poor
and sells himself into slavery.
Sort of voluntarily enters into that agreement.
Perhaps, again, if you're in debt,
that's the only way to deal with your debts.
Now, the one thing that was absolutely prohibited
was kidnapping someone
and selling them into slavery.
That's what happened to Joseph in the book of Genesis.
That's what happened to many slaves
who were brought to the United States.
And sadly, it continues to happen
throughout the world today,
especially to children.
But this is something that God hates.
Verse 16 prescribes the death penalty
for anyone who steals a man and sells him,
and anyone found in possession of him.
Talk about a strong law against the slave trade.
It was already there in ancient Israel.
Fourth, we should notice
how God's laws protected slaves in Israel.
One of the things God says over and over to his people is this.
Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,
and I brought you out of there.
The people of Israel had experienced oppressive
and cruel masters, taskmasters,
and they had experienced the gracious deliverance of God.
And so one of God's first priorities in their society
was to make sure that slaves in Israel
would never be treated like the Israelites had been in Egypt.
That's actually why the laws about slaves come first
in the civil law of Israel.
In many other law codes from the ancient Near East,
like the Code of Hammurabi,
the laws about slaves come last,
and they mostly focus on the importance
of catching slaves who run away.
In most other societies of the time,
slaves had few or no legal protections,
but not so in Israel.
Consider five ways that God's law protected
the rights of slaves.
First, the Fourth Commandment specified
that slaves, just like everyone else
in Israelite society,
got a full day off every week on the Sabbath.
That was not the case in any other ancient society.
It's not even the case for many people today.
Second, with the exception of those captured in war,
Hebrew slavery was temporary rather than permanent.
Verse 2,
When you buy a Hebrew slave,
he shall serve six years,
and the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
So in one sense,
slavery back then
was a bit like enlisting in the military today.
When you enlist in the military,
you sign a contract,
and your life is not your own anymore.
You go where your officer tells you to go.
You move where your officer tells you to move.
You work whatever hours the military sets for you.
But when you finish your years of service,
you're free to go.
Another modern analogy could be Job Corps,
even though that's only for a year or two.
And Deuteronomy 15 said that
when a slave goes out after serving six years,
it says,
You shall not send him away empty-handed.
Supply him generously out of your flock,
your threshing floor,
and your winepress,
because you were a slave in Egypt,
and the Lord your God redeemed you.
You see, according to God's law,
slavery in Israel was meant to be a way
for people who had either grown up
in desperate poverty
or fallen into desperate poverty
to get out of crushing debt,
to have a roof over their head
and food in their stomachs
in the meantime,
to learn skills and grow in self-discipline,
and after six years,
they'd have the chance for a fresh start.
If you'd followed these laws,
that's what slavery would have looked like
within Israel.
Now, verse 7 might seem like it's saying
that female slaves, unlike male slaves,
don't go free after six years.
You might say,
What's the deal with that?
But that's actually not the case.
Deuteronomy 15, verse 13 and following,
specifies that the six-year rule
applies to both male and female slaves.
Verses 7 to 11 in this chapter
are about a woman who becomes
both a household servant and a wife
to either the father,
the head of the family,
or one of his sons.
And the reason why she doesn't go out
after six years
is because marriage is not a six-year contract.
Marriage is a lifelong arrangement
in God's design.
Third, Hebrew slavery honored
the integrity of slave families.
Another difference with much American slavery.
If he comes in single,
he shall go out single, verse 3.
If he comes in married,
then his wife shall go out with him.
But then you might say,
What about verse 4?
Verse 4 seems to present a problem.
The boss allows his worker
to marry another worker,
and now they have kids,
and the guy's six-year contract is up,
but he can't take his wife and kids with him.
I mean, what's that about?
Well, the boss has rights too.
You see, the worker can't just walk off
with his wife and kids
if they still have time on their contract,
if the wife hasn't reached her six years yet.
So the man owes the boss's family
for the loss of his wife's services.
So he really has three options.
One, he can presumably wait
until his wife's six-year contract is up,
and then they can go free together.
Although that might be an option
if his wife was a captive in war.
Second option, he can go out,
make money, come back,
and buy his wife and kids
out of the rest of their contract obligation.
Third option,
he can take the option of verses five and six.
He can say,
we've got a good thing going here,
so let's settle here for good.
So those are the three options in those cases.
So slaves get the Sabbath day.
Hebrew slavery was temporary rather than permanent.
Hebrew slavery honored
the integrity of slave families.
Fourth, God's law protected female slaves,
arguably the most vulnerable people
in the ancient world.
Verses eight to 11 envision three situations
where a daughter sold into slavery
might be particularly vulnerable.
First situation,
the master, the head of the household,
takes her as a wife
and then decides he is not pleased with her.
In other words, he decides to divorce her.
That's not a good thing.
Verse eight says,
he has broken faith with her.
God hates divorce.
But God cares for women
whose husbands have broken faith
and abandoned their marriage
and left them alone.
And today,
as most divorces are initiated by women,
we should say God cares for men as well
whose wives have broken faith
and abandoned their marriage.
The provision here for the woman is
he must let her be redeemed.
That is,
he must let one of her relatives
take responsibility to care for her
and not sell her to strangers
who would not have her best interests at heart.
That's the protection
in the first instance.
Second situation,
the master designates her for his son.
In other words,
she becomes the wife of
one of the sons in the family.
In this case,
the law says she is no longer merely a slave.
She has all the rights and privileges
of a daughter in the family.
Third situation,
the master takes another wife to himself.
Again,
this is not a good thing.
We are dealing with situations
that happen in a messy,
broken,
fallen world.
Polygamy was never God's intention.
The Bible never promotes it.
It shows all kinds of bad consequences of it.
But it happened,
and so God's law protected women
who found themselves in that situation.
In this case,
her husband owes her food,
clothing,
and marital rights.
Provision,
protection,
and physical expressions of love.
If he doesn't do those things,
she can go free,
which presumably means
she would be free to marry someone else.
Because he has failed to live up to
the marriage,
the promise to provide and protect for her.
So, God's law protected female slaves
who often found themselves
in the most vulnerable and difficult situations of all.
And fifth,
slaves in Israel had legal recourse
in the case of serious injury or death.
Verse 20 and 21,
verse 20 tells us
that if a man strikes a slave
with a rod
and the slave dies
under his hand,
that is what,
immediately,
that is considered
intentional homicide,
and the master
deserves the death penalty.
That's what it means,
he shall be avenged.
Now, verse 21
is making a distinction
between murder
and manslaughter.
Intentional,
willful murder
that deserves the death penalty
and manslaughter,
which doesn't.
If the slave doesn't die immediately
but survives a day or two
before dying,
that's considered manslaughter.
And the reason given is
for the slave is his money.
Now, that is a very jarring phrase,
and it was taken completely out of context
and abused
in the history of this country.
But that phrase is not denying
the full humanity of the slave.
It's simply a shorthand way of saying
a boss has a financial interest
in his workers staying alive.
So it's likely
that he didn't actually intend
to kill the slave,
and so he shouldn't be prosecuted
for intentional homicide.
Now, verses 26 and 27
give more protections
to a slave.
If a man destroys a slave's eye,
that's an example of an injury
with significant future implications,
or even if he knocks out
a slave's tooth,
an injury with relatively minor
future implications,
in either case,
he shall immediately
let the slave go free.
No other law codes
in the ancient world
had a provision
anything like
verse 26 and 27.
Protecting slaves
against permanent bodily injury.
By giving them the right
to immediate liberation.
You see, slavery was not
in itself a good thing.
But God's laws
protected slaves in Israel
because God had identified
with a nation of slaves
who were being oppressed
under cruel bondage.
And God chose to deliver them
and make them his own.
And today,
God still identifies
with people who are poor
and desperate
and vulnerable
and who cry out to him
and place their hope in him.
And God is still the same God
who protects
and provides
for the most vulnerable
in society.
So that's the first section
of laws.
Next sections,
we're going to go more quickly.
Next section of laws
concerns capital offenses,
verses 12 through 17,
and also chapter 22,
verses 18 through 20.
Now, if you notice,
these laws are worded
differently than the others
because they are not
less than ideal situations
that God is willing
to temporarily tolerate
while mitigating
some of the most harmful
consequences of them.
Rather,
these are deeply wicked behaviors
that have no place
among the people of God,
that God is very serious about.
These are blatant violations
of the Ten Commandments.
Verse 12,
premeditated murder.
Again, verse 13,
distinguishes that manslaughter
is a different case.
Premeditated murder
deserved the death penalty
in ancient Israel.
Now, one of the ways
that this law
distinctively reflected
God's character
is that in other
ancient Near Eastern law codes,
murder was only punishable
by death
if the victim
was of equal
or higher social status.
If the victim
was of a lower social status,
you only had to pay a fine.
Or, in some cases,
a lower class member
of your household
was put to death instead.
But in the Bible,
the punishment
for violent crimes
does not vary
according to the social status
of the victim.
Because the God of the Bible
is no respecter of persons.
Proverbs says,
the rich and the poor
meet together
because the Lord
is the maker of them all.
Every human being
bears the image of God.
And so this law
is whoever.
Young or old,
rich or poor,
male or female,
slave or free.
Now, verses 15 and 17
also prescribe
the death penalty
for striking or cursing
one's father or mother.
It's not just referring
to a careless word
or a one-time
slap in the face,
disrespectful as
those things are.
This is referring
to a serious
physical assault.
Most likely
with intent to kill,
that's how the word
strike is most often used,
even if the parent
doesn't actually die.
Or an out-and-out
rejection of one's parents,
cursing them,
publicly disowning them,
wishing they were dead.
And God says
that kind of behavior
cannot be tolerated.
Because how will
God's holy nation
hold together
if its families
are continually
tearing themselves apart?
Now, we live in an age
where it's pretty common
to disrespect authority,
but the Christian community
is called to be distinctive
in showing respect
for the authorities
that God has placed
over us,
beginning with
children and adults
honoring,
respecting,
their father and mother.
chapter 22,
18 through 20
lists three additional
capital offenses.
Sorcery,
that is witchcraft
or magic,
trying to control
or manipulate God
by channeling
spiritual powers.
Bestiality,
this is also connected
with idolatrous worship
and it lowers people
to the level of animals.
And three,
idolatry,
sacrificing to any
God other
than the Lord.
Chapter 21,
12 to 17,
is three offenses
against human beings
and chapter 22,
18 through 20
are three offenses
against God.
They're all blatant
violations of the
Ten Commandments
and they're deeply
destructive
and dishonoring behaviors
and God wanted them
to have no place
among His redeemed people.
Now,
you might ask,
what does the New Testament
say along these lines?
Again,
the church is never
authorized to use
physical force,
so the church
should never be
administering
the death penalty.
But,
what the New Testament
does say
is that if someone
professes to be a Christian
and yet persists
in serious
and unrepentant sin
that violates
one of God's
clear moral laws,
the church is instructed
to remove them
from the membership
of the church,
to no longer
treat them
as a fellow believer.
to say you are
not living
in accordance
with the new covenant
in Jesus Christ,
we can no longer
call you a brother
or sister in Christ.
We will respect you
as a human being,
but you may no longer
call yourself
a fellow believer
if you continue
to persistently act
in destructive
and dishonoring ways.
Third category,
bodily injury,
verses 18 to 36,
the rest of chapter 21.
Now, broadly speaking,
this section goes
from more
to less serious.
Verses 18 to 27,
a human injures
another human.
Verses 28 to 32,
an animal injures
a human.
Verses 33 to 34,
a human injures
an animal.
Verses 35 to 36,
an animal injures
an animal.
You could also say
verses 18 to 27
are about sins
of commission,
that is,
actions that cause harm
to someone else.
Verses 28 to 36
are sins of omission,
that is,
negligence.
You're causing harm
to somebody else
by doing nothing
when you should do something.
And one thing we see
is just because
you didn't intend
to harm somebody
doesn't mean
you're not responsible
for the consequences
of your actions
or words.
and just because
you did nothing
doesn't mean
you're blameless
if you had a responsibility
to do something.
God takes negligence
seriously
as well as
active
malice
or harm.
Now,
I'm not going to go through
each of these sections
in detail,
but I want us to look
at the main principle
for this section
found in verse 23
to 25,
which is also
a verse that has been
widely misunderstood.
That is what's called
the lex talionis,
that is the law
of retaliation,
right?
Life for life,
eye for eye,
tooth for tooth,
etc., etc.
Two clarifications.
Number one,
these verses
do not justify
private vendettas
or family feuds.
Actually,
that's in part
what they were intended
to guard against.
In the ancient world,
there were all kinds
of ongoing feuds
between clans
and tribes.
And what happens
in a feud
or a vendetta?
It's not equal.
It's not,
I pay you back
exactly as you pay me back.
It escalates.
You insulted me,
I'll beat you up.
You beat me up,
I'll...
It goes on and on,
right?
You always try
to one-up
whoever hurt you last.
And these verses
are trying to stop
that cycle
of revenge
and saying
these matters
need to be brought
before the judges
and the punishment
should correspond
exactly to the crime
and no more.
Second clarification,
these verses
are not actually
recommending
literal,
physical mutilation.
compensation.
There is no record
in the Bible
or anywhere else
of anyone
in ancient Israel
who was punished
by having his tooth
knocked out
or his eye gouged out
or his hand cut off
or being burned
or anything like that.
The principle is
the law was never
applied in that way.
It was actually
never meant to be
applied in that way.
The principle is
compensation
should correspond
as precisely
as possible
to the damage
inflicted.
Notice it says
you shall pay
eye for eye,
tooth for tooth.
So the question is
what is an appropriate
payment
given the damages?
In verses 26 and 27
immediately following
verse 25
we have one example
of that.
A master knocks out
a slave's tooth
or gouges out
his eye.
What's the punishment?
The slave goes free
immediately.
That is
one example
of an appropriate
compensation
that the law
provides.
And in other
situations
the judges
had to determine
what's an appropriate
compensation
monetary or otherwise.
In the case
of premeditated
murder
no monetary
payment could suffice
in ancient Israel.
Numbers 35
31 says
you shall accept
no ransom
for the life
of a murderer.
But the interesting
thing about that
verse
is it seems
to assume
that every other
kind of damage
or injury
can be compensated
somehow.
You just have
to figure out
how.
Now how does
that apply
to Christians?
Well of course
Jesus Christ
in the Sermon
on the Mount
goes one step
further.
He says
you have heard
that it was said
eye for eye
and tooth for tooth.
And some people
misunderstood that
back then
just like they
misunderstand it
today.
And Jesus said
but I tell you
do not resist
an evil person.
In other words
Jesus says
sometimes it takes
more strength
to absorb
an injury
rather than
retaliate.
To forbear
rather than
fight back
and to overcome
evil
by doing good.
And of course
that's what
Jesus Christ
did
when he
willingly
allowed himself
to be nailed
to the cross.
His life
for ours.
Fourth
lost,
stolen,
or damaged
property.
This is chapter
22
verses 1 to 15.
Again I'm not
going to go
through each
section
and each
part in detail
but I want
to point out
two themes.
Number one
the importance
of restitution.
When property
is lost
or stolen
or damaged
and when
someone's
responsible
either by
their action
or by
their negligence
restitution
is what's
required
in order
to make
things right.
What does
that mean?
If you
stole something
you bring
back what
you stole
plus some
more.
If you
lose or
break
something
that someone
entrusted
to you
or that
belongs to
someone else
or that
you borrowed
you buy
them another
one
even if
you didn't
mean to
lose it
or break
it.
Or if
something
happens that's
genuinely out
of your
control someone
entrusts someone
says I'm
leaving for
the summer
can you
hold on
to this
box and
a robber
comes into
your house
and you
had no
control over
it and
they take
the box
and run
and it's
never found.
Then you
make an oath
before God
and say I
did all
that I
could and
something
happened that
was completely
out of my
control and
then that's
all you
need to
do.
You don't
have to pay
them back
because something
happened that
was completely
beyond your
control.
So the
importance of
restitution and
in the New
Testament we
see somebody who
understood this
principle and it's
Zacchaeus.
What did
Zacchaeus say?
He said if I've
defrauded anyone I'll
pay them back four
times over.
You know
Zacchaeus didn't
just say
Jesus I've
done a ton of
bad things in
my life.
I've hurt a lot
of people.
I've sort of
swindled some
people and
taken some
things I
shouldn't have
taken.
Will you just
forgive me so
that I can
forget about it
all and not
have to deal
with any of
those things I've
done before?
No.
Zacchaeus said
in effect
Jesus I know
I've done
wrong but I
can see that
you've accepted
me despite
my sins and
so now I want
to do whatever
I can to
make things
right with
anyone I've
wronged.
And Jesus
says to
Zacchaeus when
he hears this
he says salvation
has come to
this house.
You too are a
son of Abraham.
In other
words that's
what it means
to be saved.
To know that
Jesus has
accepted you
despite your
sin and
therefore if
you've wronged
anybody else
you're going to
do whatever
you can to
make things
right with
them.
You're not
just going to
forget about
it and pretend
it never
happened.
You're not
going to leave
relationships
unreconciled as
far as it's
in your power.
you're going
to come to
Jesus and
say I know
I'm a
sinner.
You've
accepted me
by your
amazing grace
and so I
want to do
what I can
to make
things right
with others.
That's what
a Christian
does.
That's a
distinctive
Christian witness
in this
world because
you know
what in
this world
most people
don't like
to pay
restitution
or pursue
reconciliation.
Even in
the justice
system you
can pursue
restitution.
It's in the
legal code
but what's
the more
common penalty
a restraining
order or
incarceration?
The Bible
never promotes
incarceration for
stealing or
even assault
but it does
say you have
to pay the
person back
and more.
Or in the
case of
assault that
hurt somebody
you pay their
medical expenses
and you pay
them for
loss of time.
and it's a
way of seeking
to right
relationships
between people
in the
covenant
family of
God.
And so as
Christians we
need to do
that regardless
of what the
world may do
or not do.
Regardless of
what the
justice system
may or may
not do.
As Christians
we need to
take responsibility
to make
things right
and pursue
reconciliation
with anybody
we've wronged.
Second point
about the
property laws
is that people
are always
more important
than things.
In Hammurabi's
law code
a thief who
couldn't pay
back what he
stole should
be killed.
He should
receive the
death penalty.
And robbery
or burglary
was also
deserving of
the death
penalty.
The Assyrian
laws and the
Hittite laws
required restitution
on the order
of 10 to
30 times
what was
stolen.
Of course
it depended
who you
stole from.
If you
steal from
someone of
equal or
higher status
you have
to pay
them back
more.
If you
steal from
someone of
lower status
you have
to pay
just a
little tiny
bit.
In Israel
restitution
was much
more reasonable
and doable.
It was
normally
double
sometimes
up to
four or
five times.
And property
crimes are
never punished
by the death
penalty in
Israel because
among God's
people people
are always
more important
than things.
One specific
example
chapter 22
verse 2
if a thief
is found
breaking in
and is struck
so that he
dies there
shall be no
blood guilt
for him
but if the
sun has risen
on him there
shall be
blood guilt
for him.
What does
that mean?
If somebody
breaks into
your house
at night
you can't
really see
what's going
on
you kill
him
that's
self-defense
because you
don't know
what the
thief is
trying to
do and
he might
be trying
to kill
you and
self-defense
is allowed
in the
law.
But if
it's
daytime
you can
see that
the thief
is not
trying to
kill you
he's only
trying to
take your
stuff.
If you
kill him
you are
guilty of
murder
or
manslaughter
depending on
how that's
judged.
But still
you're
guilty.
Even
though
the thief
was obviously
committing a
crime.
You see
God's law
even protects
the dignity
of criminals.
Criminals
too are
created in
the image
of God
and God's
law
protected
them.
Last
section
chapter 22
verse 16
and 17
if a man
seduces a
virgin who
is not
betrothed
and lies
with her
he shall
give the
bride price
for her
and make
her his
wife.
If her
father utterly
refuses to
give her
to him
he shall
pay money
equal to
the bride
price
for
virgins.
Alright?
This is
about
premarital
sex.
It's not
about
rape.
This is
a situation
where the
man
initiates
but the
woman
consents.
Deuteronomy
has a law
about rape.
And if
a man
finds a
woman in
the open
country
and she
screams for
help and
nobody can
hear her
and he
violates
her he
deserves a
death
penalty.
That was
the law.
If she
was around
other people
then she
could have
called for
help.
And it's
not the
death
penalty.
It's a
different...
It is a
penalty but
it's different.
Anyway,
we're not
talking about
rape here.
The
consequence
is...
But the
situation
is a
man
initiates
and he
and the
woman
sleep
together.
Neither
of them
are already
married.
Neither
of them
are already
betrothed.
That is
in a
binding
covenant
that they
would be
married.
Consequence,
man must
give the
bride price
for her
and make
her his
wife.
You
think,
what does
that
mean?
Okay,
in the
ancient
Near East
if a
man wants
to marry
a woman
he would
normally
give a
substantial
sum of
money to
the bride's
family.
Although
sometimes
it was
even
given
to
the
bride
herself.
In
Genesis
24,
Abraham's
servant
gave
silver
and
gold
jewelry
and
clothing
to
Rebecca
who
was
to
marry
Isaac
and
he
also
gave
gifts
costly
ornaments
to
her
brother
and
her
mother.
What
was
this?
It
was
a
way
of
acknowledging
the
seriousness
and
costliness
of the
marriage
covenant.
It
was a
man's
way
of
saying,
I
am
not
doing
this
lightly
or
I'm
willing
to
put
a lot
of
things
on
the
line.
And
usually
the
bride
or
her
family
would
save
or
invest
the
bride
price.
You
could
also
call
it
the
wedding
present.
It
was
kept
as a
kind
of
insurance
policy
for
the
bride
just
in
case
her
husband
died
unexpectedly
or
in
case
her
husband
abandoned
her.
And
she
had
no
other
way
to
provide
for
herself.
It
was
a
safety
net.
It
was
actually
something
that
protected
the
woman.
The
problem
here is
the
man
sleeps
with
the
woman
without
making
any
promise
to
her
and
without
going
through
any
preparation
for
marriage.
And
by
doing
this
he
puts
the
woman
at
great
risk.
For
one
thing
she
might
be
pregnant
or
if
he
abandons
her
another
guy
might
refuse
to
marry
her
because
she's
no
longer
a
virgin.
Again
in
that
Now of
course
the
fact
that
this
law
was
on
the
books
would
make
any
single
guy
in
Israel
think
twice
before
asking
any
single
girl
in
Israel
to
go
to
bed
with
him.
Right?
Because
he
would
know
that
among
the
people
of
God
sex
is
not
cheap
and
it's
not
casual.
Two
applications
for
Christians
today.
Number
one,
don't
have
sex
before
marriage.
According
to God's
design,
sex
is like
superglue.
It's
meant
to
seal
the
deal
on
a
covenant
of
marriage
and
is
meant
to
build
on
that
bond
for
the
rest
of
your
life.
Second,
some
of
you
are
married
now
but
you
started
having
sex
with
each
other
before
you
got
married.
Now,
ironically,
if you're
a Christian,
having sex
before
marriage
often makes
it harder
for you
to enjoy
sex
after
marriage
because
you have
residual
guilt
and shame
tied up
with having
sex
before
marriage
when you
knew
that it
was
wrong.
But if
that's
you,
and if
you have
confessed
to God
your
premarital
sin
and mourned
over that
before the
Lord,
that guilt
and shame
can be
removed.
It doesn't
have to
hang over
your bed
and your
marriage
forever.
You can
go
forward
with the
blessing
of your
heavenly
father
and because
Christ
is making
all things
new,
you can
enjoy
God's
gift
of sex
in
marriage
like
Adam
and Eve
who are
naked
without
shame.
We've
gone all
over the
place
today
because
there's
no area
of our
lives
as God's
holy
people
that God
does not
care about.
And yet
there's no
area of
our life
that is
so broken
or so
damaged
or so
twisted
that God
cannot
begin
a process
of healing
and restoration
and making
things
right.
God
can meet
us
right
where
we
are
and
help
us
take
the
next
steps
forward
to
where
he
wants
us
to
go.
And we
can have
this
confidence
because we
have a
Savior,
Jesus
Christ,
who has
come
to meet
us where
we are,
who has
taken our
sin upon
himself,
and who
has
promised
never to
leave us
and never
to forsake
us.
that's
what we're
going to
celebrate
as we
come to
the
Lord's
Supper
today.
Let's
pray.
Father,
we