Exodus II Notes Week 8

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Notes

Exodus 20:24 CSB 24 “Make an earthen altar for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your flocks and herds.
I will come to you and bless you in every place where I cause my name to be remembered.
The Laws
Most laws are about Justice (Exodus 21:1-22:17)
Some laws are just statements
Capitol Offenses (Exo 22:18-20)
Vulnerable -- connected to the Lord (Exo 22:21-27)
God cares for the poor
sabbath year
Respecting God's name (Exo 22:28-31)
Honesty & Justice
Then there is the Sabbath and Festival Laws
Then this strange line:
Exodus 23:19 CSB 19 ...“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

Considerations

This is but a mere sampling of the Law given, it does not cover every circumstance
No ‘jail’ so to speak. Perhaps that is why death is prescribed
or as in the case of theft — being sold into slavery (Exo 22:4)
Why are laws needed?
Because of Sin
Because we live in a broken world
These laws are in some way applications of the moral law, the ten.
We must respect the vast difference between our culture and theirs.
Must be compared not to our day, but to the surrounding nations of their day.
Given to Israel just prior to going into the land to set them out as a holy nation, that is a people set apart to live differently and not give into the practices of the surrounding nations.
So in some sense, these laws are not applicable save for the people of God
These laws are based on the inherent nature of human dignity — the imago dei
Genesis 9:6 CSB
6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image.
Exodus 21:15–17 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): Kidnapping (v. 16) is not a property offense since no property offense draws a capital punishment, and this law is not listed under property laws. Instead, it is the theft of a human being (cf. Code of Hammurabi 14)

Thoughts

The Civil law is an expression or application of the Moral Law (The Ten)
God gives the Ten becuase he loves us and wants us to live (thrive)
God gives the Civil law because
we live in a broken world and need order, justice and opportunity to flourish.
The Book as a Whole is about Redemption, Worship, law

Right Worship

Right Worship — this is important, not to worship in the manner the other religions do.
Is this relevant in our day?
Absolutely! — We are not to worship false Gods
We don’t have to visit mecca, or holy sights
We don’t believe in a caste system but that all are created in equal dignity and worth
We are not to sacrifice human beings on the alter of convenience, greed, or power
We are not to relate to God in such a way that he is a vending machine
The first 2 commandments give us a view of proper worship.
This section begins and ends with worship
Alters and Goats. (Fertility rights)
In the NT it’s not even about a place to worship, but to worship In Spirit and Truth
They are to be a worshiping community
In truth we are all ‘worshipping’ someone or something else.
It is no accident that the Book of the Covenant begins and ends with matters of worship. Nor is it accidental that social and cultic matters are interwoven throughout the text, particularly in part C. The structure of the Book of the Covenant reminds us that secular and sacred intertwine. More precisely, there is no “secular” realm in ancient Israel. God’s law to Israel pertains to all matters of conduct (NIVAPP)
Interesting point here at the book starts with worship, thinking about the fact that at some level we cannot separate our religion with our laws, we may claim to but it’s unavoidable that our role of use, as values drive our decisions and how we think people should live.
So we have to be very careful how we talk about church and state, they are separate On an authority level, but can they really ever be on a philosophical level?
In other words, how do you determine who you vote for, or what you vote for? Isn’t not based on your values? What are your values based on? On the culture? On the experts? Or on gods word?
Furthermore, on our our laws meant to promote the behaviors that we believe believe the human flourishing? And are not those laws based on Herb desired behaviors which are based on our values?
And so in some ways laws are the outworking, the hand portion, we attempt to live out but we deeply believe in our hearts, And to instruct and lead others in doing the same
Real battle and our political climate is really what is the source of human flourishing? What do we think will lead to the best ordered, just an flourishing society? Where we differ on this we will differ on the outworking of this, namely laws and legislation.
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The Law

For ancient Israelites, however, the law on Mount Sin
ai represents the beginning of the climax of the book, a climax that carries through to the end of the book with the regulations regarding the construction of the tabernacle. Rather than a collective sigh or show of indifference, the ears of the original audience would have perked up at this stage (NIVAPP)
That the law is a positive, liberating element in the Old Testament is beyond debate. But likewise, the ineffectiveness of the law in view of the coming of Christ is nonnegotiable as well. How can the two be held together?
The law reflects the nature of God, but it does so in a historical context. The Book of the Covenant is God’s law, but it reveals God to a people living at a particular point in time and for whom he has a particular purpose.
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Excursus on Slavery (NAC)

Exodus Excursus: Slavery and Slave Laws in Ancient Israel

Excursus: Slavery and Slave Laws in Ancient Israel

Although the laws in Exod 21:1–11 address primarily the circumstances of six-year contract servants, they do not implicitly distinguish among categories of employees. The most common vocabulary word used for the servant is ʿebed, which can mean “worker,” “employee,” “servant,” or “slave.”
When the law was properly followed, persons who were servants/slaves/workers/employees held their positions by reason of a formal contract that related primarily to the job that they had “signed up” to perform, for a period of time, much as one enlists in the military today
Slavery in this sense like serving in the military.
I signed a contract for 6 years when I was commissioned. This meant I gave up some freedoms to gain some services. This was more akin to ‘slavery’ in their day.
In addition, some of the misunderstanding of biblical laws on service/slavery arises from unconscious analogy to modern Western hemisphere slavery, which involved the stealing of people of a different race from their homelands, transporting them in chains to a new land, selling them to an owner who possessed them for life without obligation to any restrictions and who could resell them to someone else (although such did also occur in the ancient world
God’s laws, then, provided divinely enforced covenant protections for those who worked for former slaves and made sure the former slaves did not return evil for evil once they had the opportunity to do so. Indeed
Like the Labor laws of the 19th Century, protecting workers
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Human Dignity

Exodus 21:12–14 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): Since men and women are made in the image of God, no money or property settlement can atone for the sinful and premeditated destruction of people and the image of God in them. Accidental death is distinguished from intentional murder in vv. 13–14, which is an act of God (see Notes). Additional expressions of unintentionality are found in Numbers 35:22–23—“unintentionally
Exodus 21:28–32 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): 5. The biblical version of these laws, which obviously springs from the same culture, times, and background, is very different from Hammurabi’s or Eshnunna’s versions in that the Bible’s concern is not economic but moral and religious. The ox (v. 28)—and the ox and his owner (vv. 29–30)—are guilty of taking another person’s life. Notice that Genesis 9:5–6 requires that the life of a beast that kills a human being as well as that of a murderer be taken, because human beings are made in the image of God. It makes no difference regarding the age, social status, or gender of the person (vv. 31–32); boys and girls, men and women, male and female slaves are all created in the image of God

Sorcerecess

mekaššēpâ, “sorceress”) is the feminine form of mekaššep (“magician, sorcerer”), which some allege comes from the root kāšap (GK 4175), meaning “to cut.” The Piel form of this verb is to use incantations, magic, sorcery, or the arts of witchcraft. The Greeks use pharmakos (“poisoner”) for a sorcerer, since such people dealt in drugs and pharmaceutical potions.

Beastiality

Exodus 22:19 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): This law, written in a participial form as 21:12, 15–17; 22:20, forbids bestiality (as do Lev 18:23; 20:15–16; Dt 27:21. The Hittite Laws 187–88, 199:16–18 proscribe this evil involving a sheep, cow, or pig with the threat of a sentence of death unless pardoned by the king, but 199:20–22 and 200:23–5 do not apply bestiality to sexual relations with a horse or mule, as the Bible does (Cassuto, 290–91; Hyatt, 241). Apparently, this offensive sexual act was prevalent among the Canaanites

Meeting Notes

Might be good to talk up God’s goodness and care in the context of the the law.

Grudem

B. WHAT ABOUT THE DETAILED LAWS FOR ISRAEL GIVEN IN EXODUS-DEUTERONOMY?

(1) The place of Israel: Proper interpretation of Israel’s laws requires a mature understanding of the place of the nation of Israel in the history of the Bible and God’s purposes for Israel in the history of the world.

(2) Israel as a theocracy: Proper interpretation of Israel’s laws also requires a realization that Israel was unique because it was to be for God “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:6).

(3) God’s end-time judgment breaking into current history: Proper interpretation of Israel’s laws requires an understanding of some unusual examples of God’s judgment suddenly “breaking in” to human history.

(4) Extensive application of the death penalty:

Politics according to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture D. Governments Should Serve the People and Seek the Good of the People, Not the Rulers

If the civil government is to be “God’s servant for your good” (Rom. 13:4), then government exists for the good of the people, not for the good of the king or the emperor or the president.

Verses

Exodus 20:22–23 CSB
22 Then the Lord told Moses, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. 23 Do not make gods of silver to rival me; do not make gods of gold for yourselves.
expounded upon by Deut 4:14-16
Deuteronomy 4:14–20 CSB
14 At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess. 15 “Diligently watch yourselves—because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb—16 so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form, 17 or the form of any animal on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky, 18 any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth. 19 When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the stars in the sky—do not be led astray to bow in worship to them and serve them. The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven. 20 But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.
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