The Beginning of the Law

Introduction

It’s been a while since we left off our expositional study through the book of Exodus. It was early August when we paused for a prolonged topical series through the Ten Commandments. So, as we re-enter the storyline of Exodus today, I think it’ll be helpful for me to remind us about where we’ve been.

We began in January with Exodus 1, and there we saw a listing of Jacob’s (or Israel’s) sons. We also saw a brief mention of their arrival in Egypt as well as their increased number there. The point of those opening seven verses is to tell us (and to show us) that God is faithful.

God brought the people of Israel into Egypt through the odd experiences of Joseph’s life (you can read about God’s work in-and-through Joseph in Genesis 37-50), and God had even blessed the people of Israel with generation after generation of fruitful increase… So much so that we’re told, in v7, “the land [the land of Egypt] was filled with them.”

Then in verse 8, there is a shift: We read, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt…” This sentence begins the saga of the next 15 chapters. Egypt and its king were held up as the epitome of evil in the world, and God revealed to everyone (Egypt, Pharaoh, Moses, Israel, and even other nations who heard about what happened) that He alone (the LORD or Yahweh) was-and-is God.

God sent 10 plagues or strikes against Egypt, and He finally delivered His people from their bondage and ignorance. Through all of this, God revealed Himself not only as the sovereign God above all others, but also as the gracious and saving God… the God who redeems and delivers His people.

But God didn’t immediately bring them into the Promised Land; He first led them into the desert. In chapters 15-17, we read about God shepherding His people in the wilderness, providing them with miraculous food and water and even defending them from murderous enemies.

Then, in chapter 18, we began to see God order or arrange His people. Through Moses, God provided a political and judicial structure for His people. Moses established judges and elders who would take responsibility for the various people under their care.

And then, in chapter 19, with the governing structure in place, God began to reveal His covenantal law.

In Exodus 19:4–6, God said, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…”

This was an incredibly significant moment in the biblical storyline and in the history of Israel. God had made a covenant with Abraham, and now God was further developing both the promises and the demands of His covenant.

The climactic moment came when the mountain began to tremble, and lightning and thunder violently flashed about. Thick smoke and fire covered the top of Mt. Sinai, a sound like a roaring trumpet blast grew louder and louder, and God Himself began to speak with a voice like peals of thunder.

And what did God say? God said, “I am the LORD [Yahweh] your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (20:2).

We’ve spent the last 11 Sundays reading through the 10 Commandments, so look down at the end of chapter 20 with me.

At the conclusion of the 10 Commandments, in v19, the people of Israel asked Moses to be their mediator… they didn’t want to hear God speak directly to them anymore, because they were terrified (see also Deut. 5:3-5).

And, beginning with v21, Moses began to act as the go-between. He received the rest of God’s laws and he delivered them to the people. And this break is just one of the significant differences between the foundational 10 Commandments and all of the rest of the laws that follow.

As we shall see, the 10 Commandments were a sort of opening relational and legal summary. God revealed many more laws, dealing with everything from personal property rights to religious obligations. And all of these laws were part of the Mosaic covenant – the covenant God revealed through Moses to the people of Israel, which defined the relationship between them.

The finalization of this covenant will come in Exodus 24, where we will read about the penalties for disobedience and the promises for obedience. And it’s there, in Exodus 24, that we learn the name or label placed on this whole list of legal case law: it’s called “the Book of the Covenant” (24:7).

It’s important for us to remember that all these laws are directly tied to the reality that God Himself was the king over Israel. The Mosaic covenant was given to the people of Israel, and that nation was the only true theocracy ever to exist in human history – the priests served God and governed the people according to God’s laws.

As Christians, we are not to seek the direct application of each law we find in Israel’s legal code. But we may and should consider these laws in their context. They teach us about God; they teach us about human nature; and they ultimately point us to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Let me say just one more thing as part of my introduction this morning.

The set of laws we’re going to consider this morning have to do with slavery.

It’s going to be just as important this Sunday as it is every Sunday that you pay attention during the sermon. At FBC Diana, we don’t merely tell stories or try to make people feel good. We believe that God’s word is alive and active… We believe opening up God’s word and thinking deeply about it is immeasurably beneficial, both in this life and for the one to come.

So, I, and the other preachers who stand behind this pulpit, are committed to preaching the whole counsel of Scripture. We take great care to prepare sermons that will explain the text as it is – usually in sequential order – and we also aim to help the listener apply the text of Scripture to everyday life.

This means that sometimes the Bible will force us to think about topics and concepts that we wouldn’t otherwise choose to consider. This also means that God – through His word – will decide what this congregation needs to hear.

I’m preaching on slavery, personal responsibility, family structure, and care for women today… NOT because I have decided to address some pressing cultural issues (though I think I will), but because God – in His providence – has brought us to this text as part of our overall study of the book of Exodus.

Let’s consider God’s word together, let’s take some time to learn what we may from this civil legal code for Old Testament Israel, and let’s think about why God would have us study such a passage today.

May God help us.

Scripture reading

Exodus 21:1–11 (ESV)

1 “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.

2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone.

5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall 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.

7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then 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.

9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

Main point

God delivered His people from bondage in order that they would serve Him by following His laws, caring for one another and keeping His covenant.

Message outline

Opening the Book of the Covenant

Laws for Slavery

Laws for the Care of Women

Applying the Passage

Message

1. Opening the Book of the Covenant

Verse 1 says, “Now these are the rules…” The KJV says, “judgments.” The NASB, RSV, and CSB say, “ordinances.” The NET says, “decisions.” And the NIV says, “laws.”

The “Book of the Covenant,” then, is a book of “rules” or “laws” or “judgments” concerning every aspect of life in Israel under God’s kingly authority. This list of case laws provided Israel with the foundational legislation that would govern all of life from here on out.

It was something like their constitution.

The American constitution begins with the designation of legislative authority and responsibility – “Who will make the laws?” The constitutions of the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada each begin with a similar emphasis. Again, the initial concern seems the same – “Who will make the laws?”

In ancient Israel, however, God was the beginning and the end of all governing authority. All laws – civil, criminal, and ceremonial (i.e. religious) – were revealed by God, mediated by the priests, and executed by the people. God gave the laws, God told the priests how to judge, and God told the people how to execute His judgments.

So, Israel’s constitution, their “Book of the Covenant,” didn’t begin with the question of “Who will make the laws?” – obviously, God is the lawgiver. Instead, it began as the 10 Commandments had begun – with slavery.

At the beginning of the 10 Commandments and the beginning of the Book of the Covenant, God reminded Israel that He established them as a people who would forever be known as those who had been delivered from slavery.

And because they themselves had been delivered, they were not to oppress one another with perpetual, involuntary, or family-destroying slavery.

2. Laws for Slavery

There are many laws concerning slaves in the Old Testament. Slaves are mentioned at least 5 more times in Exodus 21, and Leviticus also has several laws to govern the relationship between slaves and masters in Israel.

One pastor said, “We might have expected God to abolish slavery altogether. What he did instead was to allow for certain forms of servitude, with safeguards to protect the welfare and dignity of those who served…” Then the pastor said, “the Bible assumes that some form of servitude will continue.”[1]

Before we get far into our passage, I feel the need to clarify a few of things.

First, slavery (in various forms) has been part of the human experience since the fall. Second, the Bible never endorses any kind of sinful slavery. And third, not all kinds of slavery or servitude are necessarily sinful.

First, slavery has been part of the human experience since the fall. When Adam sinned, he condemned every human after him to live in a world that would be full of abuse, exploitation, brutality, xenophobia, and greed.

And these attributes are not outside of man, merely in society or in nature as some nebulous reality. No, sinful men and women exploit one another, they abuse one another, they brutalize one another, they show prejudice toward one another, and they act against one another out of self-indulgent greed.

As a matter of fact, the English word “slave” is a derivative of the word “Slav.” The Slavs were an Eastern European people-group who seem to have been the first ones trafficked on a large scale for the purpose of forced and unpaid labor. Slav descendants today are Poles, Slovaks, Russians, Ukrainians, and others.

It’s not clear to me who is to blame for the world-wide expansion of the slave-trade, but every nation and people-group on the planet has participated in abusive and sinful slavery at some point in their history.

The most common form of slavery in the world has been the forced labor of conquered peoples. One group would expand their territory, and the people living in the newly captured lands would become the property of those who defeated them.

At any rate, one can’t take an honest look at history without seeing slavery as ubiquitous or universal… It’s usually awful, but it’s common in a fallen world.

Second, the Bible never endorses any kind of sinful slavery. It is true, that the Bible allows for the Israelites to buy and to own slaves, but the Old Testament laws regarding slavery are for the protection of the slave. In Leviticus 25, God commanded the Israelites, saying, “You shall not rule over [the slave] ruthlessly but shall fear your God” (Lev. 25:43).

Even in the New Testament, there is an acknowledgement that slavery exists in the world, but there is never an endorsement of sinful slavery. Christians are commanded to “be subject to [their] masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust” (1 Pet. 2:18). But the understanding is that the “unjust” masters will all endure God’s wrath in the end.

So, Christians are commanded to deal with slavery as a reality in the world, but God never endorses sinful slavery. In fact, I would argue that God calls Christians to leave it behind, as part of their pre-conversion lives.

But not all kinds of slavery or servitude are necessarily sinful. And that’s my third clarifying note before we dive further into our text.

If we are to gain anything from Exodus 21 this morning, then we’re going to have to deal with the fact that God authorized a certain kind of slavery. We must be able to acknowledge that not all slavery was the kind of chattel slavery – the dehumanizing slavery – of pre-Civil War American history.

I’ve already said that sinful slavery was-and-is common around the world, but slavery in America is of particular interest to us, because we are Americans.

When we read about the horrific treatment of Africans in the western slave-trade, it is right for our hearts to break. It is right for us to lament the brokenness of our world, and it is right for us to feel sorrow over whatever part our own ancestors might have played in that awful institution.

And yet, we must not assume that all slavery everywhere was the same. In fact, the whole point of Exodus 21 is to provide laws of protection for Israelite slaves among the theocratic nation of Israel.

Any conversation about slavery is going to be a complicated one, and the topic is often infused with emotional landmines. I’m sure that I’ve not covered all the ground one might want me to cover on the topic here (I’ve not even covered the ground I would want to), but we have to get to the biblical text before us.

Here in our primary passage today we see no less than 4 protections for the slave. Whatever slaves experienced in Israel, God was obviously interested in upholding and defending human dignity, for both the slave and the master.

Let’s look at each of the 4 protections in verses 2-6, and let’s notice how each one provides a contrast between the kind of slavery that was lawful in Israel and the brutalizing slavery of American and world history.

1) Verse 2 decreed the protection of a time-limit.

“When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing” (v2).

The Israelites were allowed to sell themselves into slavery in order to pay off a debt or as a penalty for stealing. A poor man might provide best for his family by selling himself into slavery and thereby become a dependent of his master. The wealthier household would provide food, shelter, and basic necessities for the poorer family. But, in either case (debt or theft), there was a time-limit for servitude; it wasn’t a life-long sentence.

As a matter of fact, Israelite slavery was also voluntary. One could sell himself into slavery, and he could even be sold by one master to another, but no Israelite was to be bought or sold against his will.

Exodus 21:16 says, “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.” This is a direct contrast to the kind of sinful slavery we learn about from pre-Civil War American history.

2) Verse 3 decreed the protection of family unity.

“If he [the Israelite slave] comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him” (v3).

Here again, we see a major contrast to chattel slavery (man-stealing and lifelong bondage). And we also see the value and meaning of marriage.

The Israelite slave was not to be dehumanized, and this included marital relationships – marriage itself (the lifelong union of a man and a woman) transcends economic and social status. And, in Israel, marriage was to be honored and protected even among slaves.

3) Verse 4 decreed the protection of innocent women and children.

“If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he [Israelite slave] shall go out alone” (v4).

At first glance, this verse seems to contradict what I’ve just said about marriage being honored and protected in Israel, but a closer look will show consistency.

We have to understand the situation for what it was. A man who gets himself into debt often does so by mismanaging his time and other resources. If such a man sells himself into slavery for a time and observes good life-management skills on the part of his master, he may indeed manage his own resources better after he is free… But there’s a chance that he might fall right back into the lazy or foolish practices he had before.

If the lazy or foolish man gained a wife and children during his time as a slave, and then took them with him into the world when he was released to live on his own, now his failure to manage his time and resources would not just hurt him… he would be hurting those who depend on him.

One way to reduce the likelihood of such wide-spread suffering is to let the freed man go out into the world for a time and establish himself. Once he has his feet underneath him, then he could go and claim his wife and children for himself, and they could move from one stable home-life to another.

Whether you agree with it or not, God’s law for Israel here did in fact offer a protection for innocent women and children. And Scripture repeatedly affirms God’s concern for the vulnerable (Is. 1:17; Matt. 25:36; James 1:27).

4) Verses 5 and 6 decreed the protection of a good relationship.

“5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God [i.e. formally bring him to the priests], and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost [a place representing the household]. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”

In our culture, that so highly values independence and personal freedom, it can be hard to imagine what it must feel like to “love” a “master” and to want to be a “slave forever.” But the fact is, some will do far better in this world by coming underneath the leadership and care of another.

We all need leadership and care throughout our lives in different ways. And we all go through seasons where we need varying degrees of provision and instruction from someone else, who is more responsible, more knowledgeable, or more capable.

As strange as it may sound to our ears, in Israel, slavery was a way to improve your lot in life… either by gaining and learning from a good master or by giving yourself in life-long service to him.

3. Laws for the Care of Women

As foreign and difficult as our text has been so far, verses 7-11 are even more so. Here we find a distinct set of laws for female slaves, which is already cause for some offense in our culture today. But anyone who denies that there are differences between males and females is going to discover that such a denial just won’t work in the real world.

In the real world, the average man is bigger and stronger than the average woman. In the real world, men abuse women far more often than the other way around. And in the real world, women are more vulnerable than men in a whole host of ways… many of which cannot be removed by legislation or education… they are simply facts of life under the sun.

The laws we see here are designed to care for and to protect women. They are aimed at counteracting some particular vulnerabilities, and they are intended to prevent some common abuses.

Verse 7 prevents a master from turning out a female slave after 6 years of service, not to oppress her, but instead to ensure that she would not be sent out alone. “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do” (v7).

Imagine a father who doesn’t have much in the way of finances or land. He has a daughter, and he wants her to do well in life, so he sells her into slavery with a household that is far better off than his own. Maybe the father hopes his daughter will marry the master, or maybe he hopes she will marry one of the master’s sons. In any case, her possibilities for the future are far brighter than if she had remained a housemaid in her poor father’s home.

But, if she is simply turned out after 6 years of service, then she is in worse shape than before. Now she is still poor, and also 6 years older, which makes her less desirable as a new wife to some other suitor. This law, in v7, was intended to prevent the mistreatment of young females in Israel.

Verse 8 prohibits a master from backing out on an arranged marriage deal and then profiting from the rejected woman. It says, “If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then 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.”

To be “designated for” the master is a way of saying engaged or betrothed.

One pastor wrote, “What this verse describes was really a form of arranged marriage, which, however strange it may sound to most Americans, has been common in many parts of the… world for most of human history.”[2]

But, if the master decided not to proceed with the marriage, then he was forbidden from selling the slave-girl off to some foreign people. Instead, the master must allow her to be “redeemed” by some other Israelite.

If you want to read a fascinating story where such a redemption took place in OT Israel, then read the book of Ruth. It’s only 4 chapters, and it will only take you about 15 minutes… Maybe read it after your nap this afternoon.

Verse 9 ensures that the Israelite slave-girl will be cared for as well as the master cares for his own daughters. And verses 10 and 11 protect her even if neither the master nor his son finally decide to take her as a legitimate wife.

The slave-girl is to have all the rights of any wife in Israel, or she is to be released “without payment” to the care of another.

Once again, these laws may sound so strange. But that’s really no surprise, since we are separated by thousands of miles and even thousands of years. At minimum, we ought to see God’s care for the poor, for the vulnerable, and for His people. But I want to offer a few other applications as well.

4. Applying the Passage

As you might have expected, this passage was incredibly difficult to prepare to preach. I began by trying to understand the text in its context, and then I tried to think through the kind of pastoral instruction I might need to bring to the table in order to explain these verses (as well as I may) in a 45-minute sermon. With God’s help, I believe I’ve done that.

But, with the last several minutes of my sermon, I’d like to offer the following takeaways or applications we might gain from what we’ve seen in Exodus 21.

A) First, God doesn’t promise prosperity in this life to anyone.

Just think about the laws we’ve looked at this morning. These laws were meant to govern the institution of slavery when the people of Israel entered the Promised Land!

Even as God’s people came into the fulness of their worldly inheritance, they would still have the poor, the irresponsible, and the vulnerable among them. Friends, this should serve as a check for any one of us who might be giving an ear to the “prosperity gospel” today.

Just because an Israelite was a child of God didn’t mean he or she wouldn’t have to sell him/herself into slavery at some point in order to put food on the table or to have a roof over his/her head. So too, Christians should not expect a life without poverty or disadvantage just because we are God’s children.

B) Second, God wanted His people to remember their own deliverance.

What a shocking set of laws to begin The Book of the Covenant! The Israelites had only just recently been completely oppressed by their Egyptian slave-masters. And now, God was giving them laws about how to avoid abusing those who would come under their authority.

They had gone from slaves to masters in a matter of months, and God wanted them to remember where they’d come from. This seems also to have a direct correlation to the life of the Christian. May God help us to remember our own slavery to sin and the deliverance He’s provided for us. And may God also help us to remember how we remain in constant need of His forgiveness and grace, so that we might be gracious toward others.

C) Third, while slavery might be a touchy subject, slavery is at the heart of the gospel… It describes Christ’s work for sinners, and it describes the Christian’s relationship to God.

In Philippians 2, the Bible says that Christ humbly put aside His divine rights and became a “servant” or “slave” for the sake of those He came to save (v7). In Matthew 20, Jesus said that He “came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (v28).

Friends, it is only because Jesus Christ came the first time as a suffering slave that we have any hope to rejoice when He comes again as the conquering King. In His life of servitude, giving Himself utterly and completely to the task of serving those sinners who would benefit from His sacrifice, Jesus has taken our burden of sin and judgment.

In addition, Christ’s life of service – His humble slavery in the task of saving sinners like us – presents all Christians with an example to follow.

Did you know that the New Testament calls upon Christians to be “slaves to righteousness” (Rom. 6:17-19) and “slaves of God” (Rom. 6:22)? We are to be like the slave described in Exodus 21:5-6.

God has set us free (those who turn from their sin and trust in Christ), and we are no longer slaves of sin like we used to be. But Christians are also those who turn to God and say, “I love my master… I will not go out free, if that means going out from Him.”

And, like that good master of Exodus 20, God marks Christians off with a sign that they are His slaves forever. All those who are baptized into Christ and thereby brought into His visible body (the local church) take on a new identity. They are children of God, slaves forever of the good master, and full heirs of all the blessings of divine grace.

May God help us to trust in Christ, the true and perfect suffering servant; and may God help us to give our lives to serving Him as our good and gracious master.

Endnotes

[1] Ryken, 659.

[2] Ryken, 662.

Bibliography

Alexander, T. Desmond. Exodus. Baker Books, 2016.

Alter, Robert. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. W.W. Norton, 2004.

Blackburn, W. Ross. The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus. IVP Academic, 2012.

Dever, Mark. The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made. Crossway, 2006.

Hamilton, James M. God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology. Crossway, 2010.

Henry, Matthew. Commentary: Volume 1: Genesis to Deuteronomy. Hendrickson Publishers, 2006.

Ryken, Philip. Exodus: Saved for God's Glory. Crossway Books, 2015.

Sailhamer, John. The Pentateuch As Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary. Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.