Legal Details (Exodus 20-24)
The Book of the covenant—begun with the Ten Words from God—contain some 80 more commands along with a promise of blessing or curse dependent on the people’s obedience. More than half of the commands are conditional on certain situations; if something happens, then… But nearly half of the commands are strict prohibitions or instructions to be followed outright, as all of the Ten Words are.
Some of these are interesting:
“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.” Harsh, but understandable.
“He who strikes his father or mother shall be put to death.” Wow. And again, “He who curses his father or mother shall be put to death.” There was not a lost of disrespect for parents back then. Either that, or the laws were not followed very strictly. The latter being the case again and again in examples throughout the Old Testament.
“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.” “Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.” “He who sacrifices to any other god, other than to the LORD alone, shall be utterly destroyed.”
God did not fool around with these, His people! And in the very next breath we get:
“You shall not wrong a foreigner or oppress him, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” And Later, “You shall not oppress a foreigner since you yourselves know the feelings of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
I don’t think these are the sorts of cultural laws that became irrelevant in the new covenant. God expects His people, even today, to show mercy and decency to the stranger and those unlike them.
God is also concerned with justice and decency in the public sphere:
“You shall not hear a false report…” “…nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.” “You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.”
And, what is one of my new favorite verses in Exodus:
“You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice.”
Avoid the herd, especially when (as is usual with masses and mobs) they are of the evil variety!
Some of these are interesting:
“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.” Harsh, but understandable.
“He who strikes his father or mother shall be put to death.” Wow. And again, “He who curses his father or mother shall be put to death.” There was not a lost of disrespect for parents back then. Either that, or the laws were not followed very strictly. The latter being the case again and again in examples throughout the Old Testament.
“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.” “Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.” “He who sacrifices to any other god, other than to the LORD alone, shall be utterly destroyed.”
God did not fool around with these, His people! And in the very next breath we get:
“You shall not wrong a foreigner or oppress him, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” And Later, “You shall not oppress a foreigner since you yourselves know the feelings of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
I don’t think these are the sorts of cultural laws that became irrelevant in the new covenant. God expects His people, even today, to show mercy and decency to the stranger and those unlike them.
God is also concerned with justice and decency in the public sphere:
“You shall not hear a false report…” “…nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.” “You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.”
And, what is one of my new favorite verses in Exodus:
“You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice.”
Avoid the herd, especially when (as is usual with masses and mobs) they are of the evil variety!
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