God Cares: Social Protection Through Personal Responsibility

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Social Protection through Personal Responsibility

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Transcript
Text: Exodus 22:1-27
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22 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. 2 If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. 3 If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double.

5 “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed, and lets loose his animal, and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

6 “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

7 “If a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8 If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor’s goods.

9 “For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or for any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. 10 If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing it, 11 then an oath of the LORD shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept that, and he shall not make it good. 12 But if, in fact, it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it. 13 If it is torn to pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not make good what was torn.

14 “And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor, and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good. 15 If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good; if it was hired, it came for its hire.

Moral and Ceremonial Principles

16 “If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride-price for her to be his wife. 17 If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride-price of virgins.

18 “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

19 “Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.

20 “He who sacrifices to any god, except to the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

21 “You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

22 “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; 24 and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

25 “If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest. 26 If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. 27 For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

Introduction:
We need to remember that Exodus is written so that God’s people will learn to serve and worship God.

9 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Exodus 9:13

The Seventh Plague: Hail

13 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me,

Exodus 10:3

3 So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

This passage is going to begin with dealing with private property. Why would God care about something like that?
We’re living in world with much social turmoil and dissension, just as Israel did and I have no doubt that God desires to insulate us so that we can worship him the way He wanted for Israel.
Illustration: the older I get the more I appreciate comfort and corporate worship is less comfortable then individual worship.
We must not read the Bible through the lens of individualism.
Worship among the congregation is extremely important. Worship is not only or even primarily individualistic, it is communal because God is communal is his very nature.
John 17:11

that they may be one as We are.

Many non-Christians object to the God of Exodus because they view him as uncaring, but that could not be further from the truth.

And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

Background:
Reminder: This is case law - “if, then” statements.
We have in the legal collections of the OT are compendia, legal anthologies, lists of precedents, the application to every dimension of living of the principles of the covenant with Yahweh.
Note: Israel’s law is particularly unique, in that its basis is God’s moral law which is one of a kind

With regard to such collections as the one at hand, or the “Holiness Code” of Lev 17–26 or the broad range of laws in Deut 12–26

Romans 15:4

4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Proposition: God desires to protect his people socially through requiring personal responsibility.
Interrogative: How does He desire to protect His people?
Responsibility for Personal Property, for Morality and Worship, for the Treatment of the Vulnerable.

I. Responsibility for Personal Property - 22:1-15

A. Laws on Restitution for Theft (1-4)

22 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. 2 If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. 3 If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double.

1. Restitution - vs. 1
a. 5 fold for Oxen
b. 4 fold for sheep
Restitution: Proportionate to value (Oxen actually worked to make profit)
2. Use of deadly force - 2-3 (note: This was used as guidance for many situations)
a. Deadly force could be used for thieves who broke in at night.
b. Equal force could be used at daylight (but not deadly force)
3. Blanket Theft law - restore double - 4
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B. Laws on Restitution for Damages from Neglect (5-6)

Exodus 22:5–6 (NKJV)
5 “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed, and lets loose his animal, and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.
6 “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.
1. Damage from neglect of animals - Restore from best quality - 5
2. Neglect from fire - 6

C. Laws Governing Property Disputes (7-15)

7 “If a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8 If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor’s goods.

9 “For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or for any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. 10 If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing it, 11 then an oath of the LORD shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept that, and he shall not make it good. 12 But if, in fact, it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it. 13 If it is torn to pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not make good what was torn.

14 “And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor, and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good. 15 If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good; if it was hired, it came for its hire.

1. Disputes of ownership - 7-9
Borrowed goods clearly stolen
Borrowed goods not clearly stolen
The “neighbor,” רֹעַ, is here as at other places in Exodus (cf. 2:13; 20:16–17; 21:14) a fellow Israelite, one bound by the same covenant to Yahweh; the thief, of course, might belong to any group. “Neighbor” must not therefore be understood here in its contemporary sense;
2. Oath of Innocence (10-13)
3. Laws regarding borrowing
Lessons to Learn
1. God expects people to take responsibility for their own actions.
(illustration:broken canopy)
2. God sets forth clear consequences for sinful behavior.
3. God desires to deal with disputes so His people can worship in peace and unity.

Psalm 133:1

1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is

For brethren to dwell together in unity!

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Transition: But personal property is not the only thing God wants His people to take responsibility for. God wants to provide...
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II. Responsibility for Morality and Worship Exodus 22:16-20

A. Laws about premarital sex - Exodus 22:16-17

Exodus 22:16–18 (NKJV)
16 “If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride-price for her to be his wife. 17 If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride-price of virgins.
18 “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
1. The Enforcement of a Bride Price
2. The Father’s prerogative to give the bride away
Price was an unwavering responsibility in ancient Israel that a man could not get out of paying by circumventing marriage vows and having premarital sex with a woman.
It protected the value of the woman.
It preserved the sanctity of marriage as the greatest human covenant.
Intercourse is the sign of the covenant of marriage - 1 Cor 6:16

16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her?

B. Deviant Worship - Capital Punishment Situations - Exodus 22:18-20

1. Sorcery - 18

Sorcery led people astray from placing their faith in Yahweh alone by inviting them to think that with the help of a medium (as in the story of Saul and the medium at Endor, 1 Sam 28) or enchantress or the like, they could learn hidden information or gain power over their enemies, and so on. The term “sorceress” encompasses a range of occult practices, any and all of which were forbidden to Israelites. Sorcery is condemned throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Lev 19:26; Deut 18:9–14; 2 Kgs 9:21–26; 17:17; Jer 27:8–11; Mic 5:10–15; Nah 3:1–4; Mal 3:5) and in the New Testament as well (e.g., Acts 8:9ff; 13:6–8; 19:19).

2. Deviant Religious/sexual practices - Bestiality - 19

Copulation with any animal also is to be punished by death, not only because it was a sexual deviation (cf. Lev 18:23; 20:16; Deut 27:21), but even more because of its associations with animal cults and fertility worship among Israel’s neighbors (cf. Cazelles, 76)
Bestiality (“sexual relations with an animal”) is a relatively uncommon practice but stands paradigmatically as an example of the sorts of perversions Yahweh’s covenant will not countenance. A person who practices bestiality shows himself to be someone who has no regard for godliness, but the practice goes beyond this in its significance. It also was apparently associated with various Canaanite fertility practices and thus was somewhat like the prohibition against boiling a goat kid in its mother’s milk. It represented the replacement of sexually based fertility religion for the saving truth of Yahweh’s covenant.183

3. Sacrifices of false gods - 20

The third law in the opening group of three (“Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed”) prohibits polytheism or, to be precise, any religion except the worship of Yahweh. The covenant in process of being revealed here was for followers of Israel’s God, the true God, and not for any other sorts of believers. “Whoever sacrifices to” is the virtual equivalent of “whoever worships.” There was no religion in the ancient world that did not employ sacrifice (the offering of food) as a key part of worship, so “sacrifice” functions as a synecdoche for “worship.” Thus this command says, in effect, “Worship only Yahweh, and if you try to introduce any other worship into the covenant people, you must be put to death.” Again the severity of the crime stems from its potential to keep people from the eternal salvation that was possible in the true God alone and therefore simply could not be achieved by fidelity to any other gods, whether by themselves or in syncretistic tandem with Yahweh.
Application: We are primarily dealing with worship of self in this culture.

Romans 1:25

25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

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Lessons to Learn
1. God went to great lengths to protect the covenant of marriage.
2. God did not tolerate worldly religious practices of any kind. Their worship was to be holy.
Transition: God expects his people to take responsibility personal property, and for morality and worship, but there is another area that God desires for us to take responsibility.

III. Responsible for the treatment of the vulnerable - Exodus 22:21-27

Exodus 22:21–27 (NKJV)
21 “You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
22 “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; 24 and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

A. Treatment of the Stranger - 21

The terms “aliens,” “widows,” “orphans,” “poor/needy” are not intended to be an exhaustive list of certain categories of people. Instead they are intended to be evocative of the entire range of disadvantaged, unprotected, and easily mistreated individuals and groups in ancient times, including those among the Israelites who were disadvantaged in any way. Any of these words or any group of these words in any combination can function as a synecdoche for “any or all unprotected people.”
22:21–22 [Hb. 22:20–21] The Hebrew terms translated here “mistreat” (ynh, hiphil), “oppress” (lḥṣ, qal), and “take advantage of” (ʾnh, piel) are synonyms having broad semantic ranges, individually and together prohibiting any sort of misuse or unfair treatment of the needy. In v. 21 Israel is reminded of its history of mistreatment as aliens (noncitizens) in Egypt.
The fact that Israel was in Egypt for 430 years before the exodus (Exod 12:20; Gal 3:17) confirms the definition of gēr used in v. 20 as “alien” or “resident alien” over against “nonresident” or “stranger.” The Israelites lived in Egypt for over four centuries without the rights accorded to citizens, but they were certainly not strangers to Egypt.

1. Mistreatment prohibited

2. Oppression prohibited

B. Treatment of the widows and orphans - 22

In v. 22 the “widow” and “orphan” are added as examples of those who could easily be taken advantage of. How so? What made aliens (v. 21), widows and orphans, and the needy/poor (vv. 24–25) at risk for exploitation? The answer is simply that each of these types of persons lacked one or more types of protections otherwise afforded within the society in which they lived.
Aliens lacked the guarantees of citizenship, which included the right to their own permanent land ownership among the tribes, the right to family, clan, and tribal support/backing in legal disputes, the right to direct involvement in the political process, the right to freedom from exploitation by those with greater “clout” either politically or socially or monetarily than they possessed, and the right to resist noncriminal deportation.
Widows lacked direct legal participatory rights (since women were represented by their husbands in legal matters and a widow had no husband) and could not own land in their own names under many conditions.192 If too old to work, they would have no means of providing even for enough food to eat without other members of the family intervening on their behalf. A widow who had nothing otherwise to support herself could easily be made to work long hours for next to nothing as a virtual slave.
Orphans, if young enough, were similarly at the mercy of others. If they had no separate inheritance of their own and were not otherwise protected by older (extended) family members, they might have to work virtually endlessly for whatever anyone chose to pay them—perhaps just some food to get through each day. If there were no work and no one “took them in,” they might actually starve to death or freeze to death.
The first of these (“I will kill you with the sword”) is of a type well attested in the Pentateuch (e.g., Lev 26:25, “I will bring the sword upon you,” or Deut 32:42, “I will make my arrows drunk with blood, while my sword devours flesh”). The expression “the sword” is often used in the Old Testament and New Testament as a metonymy for “warfare” (cf. Exod 17:13; Lev 26:6; Deut 32:24; 2 Sam 1:12; 2:26). The threat implied here is that God would allow Israel’s enemies to attack and exterminate them if they did not uphold social justice.
The second punishment sampled in the verse (“your wives will become widows”) and the third (“your children fatherless”) are examples of “loss of family” covenant curses (cf. Deut 28:30, “Another will take [your betrothed] and ravish her,” or Deut 28:41, “You will have sons and daughters but will not keep them,” or Deut 32:25, “The sword will make them childless,” this last example combining both the warfare and loss of family curse types).
Two other examples of exploitation of the weak, firmly forbidden to Israelites, round out this section of laws: a prohibition against charging interest on a loan and a prohibition against taking any necessity as a surety on a loan.
25 “If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest. 26 If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. 27 For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.
Two other examples of exploitation of the weak, firmly forbidden to Israelites, round out this section of laws: a prohibition against charging interest on a loan and a prohibition against taking any necessity as a surety.

1. Poor - 25

25 “If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest. 26 If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. 27 For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.
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Borrowing and lending are common practices in almost any society; they are not in themselves forbidden by this law. Indeed, during the revival of strict Israelite covenant law under Nehemiah almost a millennium later than Moses originally mediated it, lending and borrowing per se were allowed.
It was charging interest (and presumably any other sort of exploitive practice) that were expressly prohibited, just as in this law. Variations of this prohibition are found not only again in the Pentateuch (Lev 25:36–37; Deut 23:19–20) but also in a proverb that promises similar disaster for those who charge interest to the poor, interest that is by definition exorbitant (Prov 28:8: “He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor”); and variations are found in the Prophets (notably Ezek 18:8, 13, 17; 22:12).
The wording of v. 25 (“lend … to one of my people … who is needy”) might seem at first glance to prohibit only lending at interest to the poor, allowing the charging of interest to those who can afford to pay it and merely prohibiting charging interest to those who are too indigent to add it to the repayment of their loan. But this is not the intent, as is shown by the parallels in Lev 25:36–37 (“Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit”) and Deut 23:19–20 (“Do not charge your brother interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.
You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess”). In other words, any charging of interest by Israelite to Israelite was usury (the charging of excessive interest) because zero interest was to be the norm for loan transactions. The law cites the example of charging interest to the needy not because it was the only circumstance under which charging interest was forbidden but because it was an example of an illegal action that was especially unfair and exploitative.
This law contains the only reference to a “moneylender” (nōšeh, also translatable simply as “creditor” as in the NRSV here and NIV of 2 Kgs 4:1) in the Old Testament laws. It can be inferred from the prohibition against charging interest among Israelites that actual professional moneylenders would have had a chance to stay in business only in connection with business deals that involved foreigners (Deut 23:20); but it may also be the case that the primary referent in people’s minds for this term would have been moneylenders in Egypt, who had exploited the Israelites when they were there.

2. Pledges - 26-27

22:26–27 [Hb. 22:25–26] This law addresses loan sureties, the properties that people put up as “collateral” for a loan to assure the lender that they will repay. Normally a lender’s incentive to grant a loan is the confidence that if the borrower defaults, the lender can then take the property as his own in compensation for the unrecovered money. In the case of this law, as opposed to the law immediately preceding, a distinction is made between the way a poor person and a nonpoor person must be treated. The presumption of the law is that most people have property that does not represent their very survival or the continuance of their health and that if that sort of property is pledged as surety on a loan, such collateral is allowable.
By contrast, people who own so little that they would actually have to pledge an essential item to obtain a loan (the instance paradigmatically cited being a cloak needed to keep warm at night) must be exempted from the requirement of putting up a surety—or else have the essential surety returned to them nightly. Otherwise their health would be put at risk by the loan, and that is unacceptable to Yahweh. A law such as this is patently paradigmatic; for “cloak” one could substitute food, job, shelter, family member, or any other “essential” thing.
The character of God (“I will hear, … I am compassionate”) is cited as the guarantee of this loan. With such a guarantee, no exact penalty need be specified (how could God not know how best to punish someone who broke one of his laws?). Proper fear of Yahweh would motivate Israelites to respect these laws just as well as or better than some sort of fine or corporal punishment could.198
Lessons to Learn
1. God insulates his people to keep them holy, but he doesn’t isolate his people from the outside world.
2. God punishes those the who mistreat and oppress the vulnerable people.
3. God’s people should not profit from someone else’s harm.

James 1:27

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

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Gospel Applications
A person who thinks he is not responsible will not depend on Christ for salvation.
Deviant spiritual, physical, and religious behavior will draw us away from the Lord.
Christ likeness, cares for the poor and the vulnerable and refused to take advantage of them.
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