A Righteous Dominion Protects
Notes
Transcript
18 “If men have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but remains in bed, 19 if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his loss of time, and shall take care of him until he is completely healed. 20 “If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished. 21 “If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property. 22 “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 “But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye. 27 “And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth. 28 “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. 29 “If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 “If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him. 31 “Whether it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule. 32 “If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. 33 “If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his. 35 “If one man’s ox hurts another’s so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its price equally; and also they shall divide the dead ox. 36 “Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.
—-
Last week we began with a question: “What does it mean for us to take dominion?” I simplified the idea by looking at the ordinary dominion we exercise in our homes and apartments. We remove the bad when we clean them. We fill them with good when we furnish them. A righteous dominion for Israel looks similar in the removal of evil and filling with good in caring for one another. We recognized that no matter the position of someone in Israel whether they have authority and prominence or are called to submit and are debtors, everyone is to be protected. Every room in the house will be clean. No matter how humble your place in the nation of Israel, there’s a guarantee that you wont be subject to the evil ambition of those with authority. On the other hand those who do exercise authority and dominion in society will not be subject to the evil ambitions of those who are to respect that authority. If all these roles are ordered properly we have somewhat of a clean house, but as I noted last week, cleaning is an ongoing work isn’t it? I’d like to add the work of protection to our simple definition of dominion. We remove the bad, fill with good, and diligently protect the good from the intrusion of evil.
If we look at what Adam was called to do in the garden we see this very understanding.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
—-
Adam did not need to worry about the removal of evil in the garden. Everything was set right, but he was entrusted to fill it with good. To cultivate it! And also to keep it. To guard it. To protect it!
It’s the ongoing work of keeping the house clean. Removing evil and protecting from evil are two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other.
The remainder of chapter 21 which we’ll see this morning is the other side of the coin. We’ve protected and ordered the positions of dominion from the least to the greatest, but there’s an ongoing work of protecting those individuals from abuse and neglect. We’ve moved on from addressing the particular positions of society making sure they’re rightly ordered to addressing pretty particular cases of harm and neglect. And just like Adam, Israel is entrusted to keep the garden, protect the people of God from evil in the forms of abuse, and neglect.
The dominion of God’s people is to reflect the dominion of God in protecting the vulnerable from active abuse and passive neglect.
The dominion of God’s people is to reflect the dominion of God in protecting the vulnerable from active abuse and passive neglect.
Protecting from abuse
Protecting from neglect
Protecting from abuse (vs. 18 - 27)
Protecting from abuse (vs. 18 - 27)
We addressed verse 18 and 19 briefly last week, but it’s really the beginning of the second half of the chapter. There’s a change in the character of the instructions and it’s very literally in the middle of this whole chapter, so let’s begin there.
We’re starting to see some of the more ordinary conflict that every society needs to deal with: Disagreements among sinful men that turns to blows. It often begins with words. Someone gets offended, a quarrel ensues and next thing you know they’re throwing fists and someone ends up hurt. It’s not murder, but there’s still a debt to be paid.
19 if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his loss of time, and shall take care of him until he is completely healed.
—-
The protection of life in the command, “You shall not murder.” extends to the protection of flourishing and livelihood. There is to be no loss at the end of the day! Every day of wages he's lost is to be paid for. He’s to be cared for by the offender and completely recovered from his injuries, until then the debt has not been paid. We get a sense of the brotherhood God intends for His people in that command. If you hurt someone you take care of them. If two teenagers get into a fight one doesn’t get to leave the house. At the end of the day they still sit at the same dinner table. They’re still to be caring for one another after the wrong has been committed in this case especially after the wrong has been committed, why? Because they’re brothers. In this case, they’re of the same holy people, set apart by God as a holy nation. Before and after this altercation takes places God intends for His people to seek one another’s flourishing, but especially in this case.
These protections aren’t isolated to those of similar position. God also addresses the potential abuse of slaves.
20 “If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished. 21 “If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property.
—-
I won’t rehearse everything we covered last week regarding slavery or bond-service in the time of Israel, but let’s remember the slave or bond-servant in this scenario is often paying off a debt or subject to service for a crime. Even these who are among the guilty and the debtors cannot be subjected to abuses such that they fear death. There’s punishment due the one who kills a slave , and yet we need to reckon with that difficult line (vs. 21), “If however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property.” Very literally we can understand this line to mean, “If he stands a day or two, if he continues with his strength, no vengeance shall be taken, for he is his money.” There’s an emphasis on the debt to be paid there in the word “money” or “property” as some translations put it. In committing a crime or failing to pay a debt they’ve quite literally become the money by which to pay the debt in the form of bond-service. And until the debt is paid or their term of 6 years is up, they’re subject to the same discipline as a child or a soldier. Obligated to obey, subject to discipline when appropriate, but as we’ll see even that discipline has it’s limitations. We’ll circle back to verse 22, but let’s look down to verse 26 to complete this picture.
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye. 27 “And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.
—-
These are very specific instances, but the principle is clear, as soon as a slave or a bond-servant suffers debilitating punishment, his debt has been paid. There’s no more time or service required of him, he’s to go free. As foreign as these instructions may seem to us, we can recognize God’s understanding of the human heart. We’ve been looking to Galatians the past couple Sundays to help us, and we can do so again. Why the law? The law was given because of sin. Galatians 3:19
God knows the heart of sinful men. When they’ve been wronged in some way and a debt is owed to them there’s a sinful heart that seeks to exact vengeance in a malicious way. Some may call it justice, but often it’s just malicious ambition to get back at the one who wronged them. God knows the heart of those who love to exercise power and authority to subjugate those around them. It’s goes beyond a proper use of authority and becomes twisted into an authoritarian use of power which produces death and disability rather than life and flourishing.
The law reveals the sin of those who abuse their authority, it protects the least who are subject to authority, but it also calls the faithful to a proper use of their authority and a greater response to offense. Jesus refers to this very passage, a verse we’ll look at more closely in just a moment, but He gets to the heart of the command in a higher calling to His disciples - us - His church.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ (vs. 24 of our text this morning) 39 “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41 “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
—-
Jesus calls us - His faithful disciples - to go one step beyond asking, “What are we entitled?” In our society and culture today so many are caught up with entitlements. “I want to get what I deserve!” I want more authority and more freedom so that I can be entitled to more… That’s often followed by, “I want him to get what he deserves..” … Let’s acknowledge: Justice is good! There are freedoms which we can properly defend, and just punishment that we can pursue, but Christ calls us to do what He is about to do. Where would we be if Christ pursued all that he was entitled? Where would we be if Christ pursued all that we deserved? Jesus was entitled all the glory of heaven, all power and authority and justice was his to exercise, and yet he humbled himself to bear a cross and our shame. We could have received our just punishment in full, and yet He took it upon Himself! Might we be equipped with that same ambition. To go beyond, “I deserve this! I’m entitled to this!” and “You deserve this!” Let me be clear, if there is opportunity to be free of abuse and persecution, we have every freedom to take it. Tell someone about it! Don’t keep that to yourself. Much of the early church and even the apostles fled persecution. There’s no guilt in that! What Christ is calling us to is considering how the authority and entitlements we have been given can be used to love the weak and even those who have wronged us. How can we bear our cross for sake of even the offender. Let’s pray for them. Let’s go one step further and appeal to God for their well-being as Christ did. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Let’s take a closer look at those couple verses Jesus referenced directly, and see God’s intention to protect the weak in greater detail.
22 “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 “But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
—-
Certainly the weakest and most vulnerable of all the nation of Israel are the unborn, and God clearly intends for them to be protected at all costs. Two men get into a scuffle of some kind resulting in the accidental premature birth of the baby, that by itself, no injury has been inflicted is deserving of a fine to be determined by the husband of the wife. Apparently the husband can name his price. Even a premature birth coming as a result of a man’s thoughtless neglect is deserving of penalty, but even more so if any injury is sustained by the wife or the child, a just and equal penalty will be returned to the offender. There is no place of refuge for this man to run because of his negligence. He will serve the just penalty for that negligence. If the child or the mother dies, he dies. If the child loses an eye, he will lose an eye. If the mother is burned in the encounter, he’ll be inflicted the same burn. If the child is bruised he will suffer the same bruise.
An unborn life is no less a life than anyone else! They are image-bearers with every other person made in the image of God. The unborn are defended with the full extent of the law such that even neglect is punishable by death. All life is precious in the eyes of God and He takes particular measures with Israel that the most vulnerable life - the unborn - be protected.
As we look out upon our own broken world perhaps there are opportunities for us to protect the weak, the lowly, the unborn. Certainly, let’s take them as they are given to us, but let’s ensure we recognize the heart of the problem. We can recognize the injustice of neglecting or intentionally harming/ even killing the unborn, let’s be active in seeking the defense of those who cannot defend themselves, but if we don’t address sin, the root of all this evil, then we fall short of Christ’s call to us. We’re called to pray for our enemies, to pray for the oppressors, to pray for those who kill the unborn because only God can change the heart. It’s the Holy Spirit that reveals the sin of the heart before Holy God. It’s the Holy Spirit who prompts the heart to believe in the hearing of the gospel. It’s the Holy Spirit, who makes the sinner alive in Christ through faith. In the face of the world’s greatest injustice, Jesus prayed for the souls of His offenders. He appealed to his Father to forgive them! In the face of such horrid depravity and evil that is ever before us in this world, let’s begin with prayer! Pray that hearts would be changed. Pray that the sinner would come to repentance. Pray that life from the baby in the womb to the elderly would be truly cherished. Pray that they would know the love of Christ which cherishes them as beloved children. Pray for the dominion of Christ to make it’s place in the hearts of men and women who do not yet know his gracious lordship.
With the heart of Christ let’s be protectors for the least, laying down our lives for those who have nothing, and yet with that same heart pray diligently for the hearts of the offender. We were the offenders once, and yet now we know the grace of Christ.
...
As we look to the rest of the chapter we see in greater detail God’s intention for Israel to protect the innocent from neglect.
Protecting from neglect (vs. 28 - 36)
Protecting from neglect (vs. 28 - 36)
28 “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. 29 “If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.
—-
I don’t think any of us here have an ox in the back yard, so the remainder of these instructions may appear antiquated, but for our sake we can start by substituting an ox for any of our vehicles. In just these two verses we can recognize there’s a big difference between a genuine accident and an accident that came as a result of neglect. If someone owns a car that for all they know is driving reliably and is safe to drive, but they get into an accident because the brakes fail, no one is going to fault them for that. It may have been a serious accident, but at the end of the day they did nothing wrong. On the other hand if someone gets into a vehicle with someone else and they go for a drive knowing the vehicle is unsafe because of it’s condition or because they’re not sober, that’s blatant neglect. If an accident happens then they would be held liable.
In this case that liability includes the potential death penalty, and if not the death penalty then a payment for the cost of his life.
30 “If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.
—-
The same penalty was to be applied in the case of a son or a daughter’s death. In the case of a slave or bond-servant, the only prescription provided is the death of the ox, to prevent further negligence like before and the payment of 30 shekels of silver (vs. 32) The outstanding debt of the bond-servant must be paid for. Whoever owned the ox was to be exacted a standard payment of silver. The same payment given to Judas nearly 1500 years later. 30 pieces of silver - the cost of a bond-servant.
There’s a simple principle here that gets repeated in a couple different ways through to the end of the chapter.
vs. 33 and 34. If someone digs a pit. Perhaps a well. He’s responsible for his neighbor’s animal that falls into his well. He’s going to repay his neighbor for neglecting to cover the pit that took the life of his neighbor’s animal.
Vs. 35 and 36 speak of an ox killing a neighbor’s ox. If it’s a genuine accident. They split the proceeds of the living ox after selling it and split the dead ox. If it’s truly negligent, the one at fault covers the whole cost.
Now we can certainly see the wisdom and common good that come from such commands. We’d do well to make sure our cars our maintained, and our swimming pools have fences around them so kids don’t fall in them, but let’s go further... How does the will of God reflected in these commands for an orderly society in Israel apply in a spiritual kingdom that is the church?
Firstly, let’s begin by recognizing those good things we have every freedom to possess. What are our proverbial oxen and wells if you will? These aren’t evidently evil or bad things to start. In all these commands no one is ever faulted for owning an ox. That’s not the problem. The man isn’t faulted for digging a pit or digging a well. It’s only when the freedom to dig a pit and own an ox turns detrimental for our neighbor.
We do well to ask, “What am I free to pursue that might not be harmful to me, but may bring harm to someone else?” Perhaps we can handle the ox in our backyard just fine, but that doesn’t mean our elderly neighbor can. Perhaps I can navigate the well I’ve dug just fine, but that doesn’t mean everyone else can.
There are two categories I’d like to address with the remainder of our time: blocks and burdens. For us as Christians we have an explicit responsibility to protect one another from blocks and burdens. These are two categories that I’m afraid are often neglected, and if we’re not careful can actually cause harm to our brothers and sisters:
Let’s begin with addressing blocks, specifically stumbling blocks.
Very often when we see the word stumble in the New Testament it means, “cause to sin.” There’s an explicit sense in which blatantly sinful things can cause us to stumble. The world in their sin walk in darkness as Jesus says and that is the reason they stumble. If we are not living in the light of the gospel and of Christ, then we do not see clearly, and we are prone to stumbling. That’s worth addressing, but our text this morning isn’t talking about explicit evils that cause our brother to stumble. We’re talking about freedoms that cause our neighbor to stumble. Paul addresses this category directly: there is a way in which our freedom’s to do ordinary things can cause our brother or sister to sin.
In both Romans and 1 Corinthians Paul speaks of this failure to protect one another out of neglect, causing them stumble.
20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. 21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. 22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.
—-
The freedom which we have in Christ is a wonderful thing! It frees us to enjoy all of God’s good and perfect gifts with a clear conscience. Our text says happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. That’s a good thing, but Paul reminds us: We are not alone. Not all of our brothers and sisters have the same conscience. We’ve come full circle and returned to that idea of entitlements. For some, their conscience has freed them to enjoy, they recognize they are entitled to that freedom. An ordinary Israelite is entitled to dig a well if he sees fit. He’s entitled to purchase an ox, but we have a duty and a responsibility to consider the well-being of others, not just what we are free and entitled to do.
Paul states it clearly, “It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.”
If someone you are close to, perhaps in your own family, your children especially, a friend has a genuine conviction that something is wrong, we have a duty to know what that is and help keep our brother or sister from stumbling in sin. If our brother or sister’s conscience isn’t clear then they are not participating in faith. And as Paul says, what is not from faith is sin.
Paul gives the church in Corinth a pretty stern warning as they are readily exercising their freedoms:
12 And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
—-
Just like the man who’s negligence resulted in the death of his neighbor is held accountable, we are held accountable, we sin, when we fail to protect our brothers and sisters. We sin when we neglect the well-being of one another and cause them to stumble in the name of our own freedoms.
What does this mean for us practically?
For some, it means it’s time to build a fence. Cover the well. If there’s a freedom we enjoy that we know may cause someone to stumble, let’s be diligent in keeping it to ourselves. Be happy with the freedoms God has given, but we need be careful. The more we flaunt our freedom, the more likely we are to cause someone to stumble. If you take your ox down main street for all to see, it’s only a matter of time until someone gets hurt.
For some it means it’s time to kill the ox. If we recognize, this has already hurt someone, and there is no good way to fence it in; this entitlement I’m clinging to is keeping me from loving my family, my church, my community - perhaps it’s time to put it away altogether. As Paul says, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.” (1 Corinthians 9:19)
Perhaps we recognize that very sin right now. My freedoms have caused my children, my spouse, my brother or sister to stumble. Our sin is never the end of the story if we have Christ! The good news is we have a gracious and faithful Savior! We can take that neglect before Him this very moment in repentance and faith and know, He will forgive us! “Father forgive me for using my freedom to the detriment of another!” He is faithful to forgive according to His promise. The price of our sin has already been paid. We’ve already been redeemed at the cost of Christ Himself. We can readily appeal to that payment, setting our faith in the atoning death of Christ... In that assurance of forgiveness we pray! We know God is faithful to our brother or sister who has stumbled. He is the Good Shepherd, faithful to keep His own. Pray that their faith would be established. Pray for their flourishing and endurance. Pray that we could go beyond protecting them from stumbling to being instrumental in their growth. Paul’s ambition is to protect the weak, but also to see them flourish and thrive.
“To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” - 1 Corinthians 9:16
Might our ambition be to protect and prosper the weak!
1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.
—-
We’ve addressed the blocks which cause to stumble, but we need to address burdens as well. There’s the other ditch that can be neglected too. Perhaps we are the one’s with convictions and a conscience about a particular matter. We recognize a principle in Scripture that we have chosen to apply in a particular way in our lives, but in truth there’s a little more freedom on the matter. Our brother or sister may exercise a little more freedom in that regard. If there’s blatant sin, of course, there is no freedom in Christ to continue in immorality; We have a duty to our brother to show him his sin, but I think we can recognize those areas in which there’s freedom. That place where principles can be applied according to the conscience.
Practically it’s the difference between saying, “You should.” and “It would be wise to consider...”
Paul protects the freedom of the church at Colossae by warning them of those who are quick to judge, those who are quick to say, “Don’t touch this, and don’t eat that!”
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—
—-
Food and Sabbath days are just two examples. There are numerous traditions which the church has implemented for hundreds of years, many of them truly beneficial to the church, many traditions beneficial to the family, but the moment we turn tradition into law, historical wise practice into “You should, and you must...” we risk burdening our brother or sister, binding their conscience as the reformers put it, and causing them to stumble.
Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for doing this very thing! Turning tradition into law and binding the conscience of Israel to a standard they cannot meet themselves.
2 “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. 4 “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.
—-
This matter arises again in the church in the book of Acts at the Jerusalem council. There are some who believe the gentiles need to be circumcised and need to continue observing the traditions of Israel.
Peter defends the freedom the church has in Christ.
10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
—-
Christ, Paul, and Peter all show us what it is to be the faithful protectors of the freedoms we have in Christ. There are those who out of neglect turn wisdom and tradition into law, binding the conscience of the saints and actually leading them to sin.
Let’s get practical again for a moment. This can be abstract.
What traditions and wise practices have proven truly beneficial to you or your family? What is the ox in the field that’s helped you plow the fields and feed your family for the last few years? What is the well that has provided your family with water for your family?
As beneficial as that tradition may be to you or your family, we need make sure we don’t turn our tradition into law for someone else, burdening them with an expectation that they can’t meet and seers their conscience causing them to sin. With that being said, don’t hesitate to show them your faith as an example. Good, godly piety is a wonderful example to others, but if we’re not careful sometimes our own piety can turn into expectations and burdens for others.
What is the wise council you’ve received from reading godly, dead saints that has proven extraordinarily helpful to you and your faith. What wise council did an older brother or an older sister give you that has helped you in your walk? Let’s make sure wise council remains wise council and doesn’t turn into moral law. A law which burdens and causes our brother or sister to stumble in the faith.
If I were to attempt to wrap all this up into a neat package....
God is devoted to the protection of His children. We are called to that same work of protecting one another from abuses, burdens, and stumbling blocks. It’s a call to love, a call to sacrifice -A call to lay down all that we are entitled to because Christ did. We use our freedoms and authority not for our own glory and advancement but for the protection and prospering of our brothers and sisters in the faith. But it doesn’t just stop with our brothers and sisters it extends to our enemies. As we protect the weak within the fold with the love of Christ, let’s be diligent to pray for those who remain in darkness burdened and stumbling without the gospel of Christ. Pray that they would know the light of Christ and the protection of His glorious grace.
At the end of the day our security is in Christ! He is our provider and protector. Our hope is in Him and all the He has accomplished, that’s why we devote ourselves to the saints and the lost in darkness that we might save some. Because we have seen the light, we know the security of His protection and the hope of His calling.
Let’s Pray.
