Ordinances Regarding Slaves & Personal Injury

INTRO

Our whole theme for Exodus is “The Deliverer.” Jesus was the one who delivered the people out of Egypt. Yes, He used Moses. But the big picture is that it was Jesus who sets the captives free (Luke 4). The Mosaic Covenant was a conditional covenant the Lord made with the Israelites. Exodus 20 states the Ten Commandments. God gave these key guidelines to the Israelites. Then He continued to go on and give a total of 613 ordinances.

TEACHING

Exodus 21:1: The Ten Commandments were good, but God had a whole lot more as well. What we’re going to read now are specific cases that were given in more detail than the Ten Commandments. How does studying the ordinances reveal to us Jesus, the Deliverer?

• God was trying to govern their heart issues. He was trying to change their mindsets and thinking, which would lead to changing their heart condition.
• We have to remember, they’ve been wandering around the wilderness, and God wanted to create a culture for them.

Exodus 21:2: Verses 2–6 are about slavery. Why this mindset of the Hebrews having slaves? They just came out of slavery. It’s actually more about the servant mindset than a slave. They were to be released after six years. Likely, the Hebrew slaves became slaves because they were indebted to someone. For example, Jacob worked for Laban in order to marry Rachel and Leah. Paul urged Philemon to treat Onesimus as a friend and brother as he worked for him (Philemon 15). Constable wrote, “Slavery as a social institution becomes evil when others disregard the human rights of slaves.”¹God was creating guardrails that value human rights.

Exodus 21:3–6: If a slave wanted to stay with his family, there was a procedure. The slave would have an ear pierced with an awl, which signified the slave belonged to his master for life. An awl is a long sharp tool used in leather working. Nelson writes, “The slave would be taken before judges, where he would be given the opportunity to declare his intentions.”²The slave would be intentionally giving up his life to serve his master in order to stay with his wife and children.

MacArthur points out that at this point the slave would remain as a servant.³After coming out of the culture of slavery in Egypt (where the Israelites were treated harshly and put in bondage), God was teaching the Israelites that slaves and servants had lives of value. Servants and slaves were to be treated in this way, not like in Egypt.

Exodus 21:7–10: Now we are going to look at the female side of slavery. When a father sold his daughter, she had no authority. This was in the context of marriage. The father-in-law could not sell her to foreigners. If the daughter is sold, the father-in-law must treat her as a daughter, according to the customs. After being married to the son, the son can decide to get a second wife. He cannot treat his first wife differently from his second wife. He still has to provide food, clothing, and marital rights.

Exodus 21:11: If the woman was not provided for, she could leave. After six years, a male slave could leave, but this was the only time the female slave could leave. In Genesis, Leah gave Zilpah to Jacob as a wife (Genesis 30:9). Jacob then must treat Zilpah according to this law—the same way he treated Leah. God had to put ordinances in place to guide their behaviors.

Exodus 21:12–14: Now we are going to look at what was essentially capital punishment. Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image.” Constable wrote, “God regarded the sanctity of human life greater than the sanctity of place.”⁴In the ancient east, they could kill someone, leave, and hide. God’s law required that the one who intentionally killed someone would die.

Unintentional homicide resulted in the banishment to cities of refuge.See Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19 for cities of refuge. Premeditated murder resulted in the killer being put to death.John Davis wrote, “Life, in essence, is the property of God; the possession of it is leased to human beings for a number of years . . . [A killer has] violated one of the essential laws of God and forfeits the right to the possession of life.”⁵

Exodus 21:15–19: One who struck his mother or father would be punished by death. Why was this so drastic? It was an act of breaking one of the Ten Commandments! God was establishing a culture of respect. The Code of Hammurabi, which was around during Babylonian times, stated that a person who struck his father would have his hand cut off. Kidnappers were also put to death. Where does kidnapping fit in the Ten Commandments? Kidnapping is stealing. Now we’re getting into bodily punishment issues. If you got in a fight, you had to pay workman’s compensation. Nobody can keep up with all of these laws! And if you were guilty, you’d be put to death. Praise the Lord for the Messiah, our Deliverer!

Exodus 21:20–21: If an owner kills his slave, his punishment is simply to lose his slave. Verse 21, “He is his owner’s property.” This is difficult. I thought we were discussing that slaves were not to be considered property, but servants? Moses wrote this. Didn’t he kill someone?

Exodus 21:22–23: Life for life mentality here. People use this as a pro-abortion verse, because if the baby died, only a fine was required; but if the woman was harmed, it was eye for an eye, life for a life. The Lord knew from the very beginning that life was existent both in and outside the womb. A fetus is a person:

Psalm 51:5: “I was sinful when my mother conceived me.”

Psalm 58:3: “The wicked go astray from the womb.”

Psalm 139:13–15: “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

Exodus 21: 24–28: How did this eye for eye, tooth for tooth work? Most commentators would say this was figurative, meaning you would pay for what you took. The more and more you study this culture, you see a lot about paying out for what was lost. For the rest of this, it’s about taking ownership of what was done wrong.

Exodus 21:33–36: It is all about payment and giving compensation for what was done wrong. Everything was being made equal. You have to compensate fully. It was a justice deal.

CLOSING

There were so many ordinances that people just couldn’t keep up with them––613 ordinances. The pressure that the Jewish people must carry today is a radical weight. That’s a heavy weight that they may not even know the fullness of. Even if you can name all 613 ordinances, you can’t keep them.

The deal is that we have been delivered from that weight! All of this is going to point to the coming Messiah, and our need for Him! Because he’s already come, it’s time to let these things go so we can walk in full freedom!