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EXODUS: 22, 23, 24

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Exodus 22: Laws of Property and Social Responsibility
Restitution and Property Rights (Exodus 22):

  • Emphasis on Compensation for Theft: This chapter lays out specific laws regarding theft, emphasizing restitution. The amount of restitution varies depending on the type of stolen property and whether the animal was slaughtered or found alive. "Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep."
  • Protection of Personal Property: Laws address various property violations like grazing on someone else's field or starting a fire that spreads.
  • Responsibility in Safekeeping: If someone is entrusted with another person's property, they are responsible for it. If it's stolen while in their care, they have to make restitution, but if it is lost while in their care the keeper must take an oath that they did not steal the property.
  • Social Responsibility and Justice (Exodus 22 & 23):
  • Protection of the Vulnerable: The texts highlight God’s concern for the vulnerable in society such as foreigners, widows, and the fatherless. "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt." and "Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless."
  • Prohibition of Oppression: The Lord explicitly condemns mistreatment of the poor and vulnerable, and threatens those who ignore such cries for help. "If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless."
  • Fair Lending Practices: The texts regulate lending practices with an emphasis on avoiding usury and ensuring basic needs are met. "If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest."
  • Integrity in Legal Matters: The texts stress the importance of honesty in legal settings. There should be no spreading of false reports and witnesses should not act maliciously. "Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness." Also, the crowd should not determine the verdict. "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd"
  • Impartiality in Justice: Favoritism is forbidden regardless of social standing. "Do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit."
  • Prohibition of Bribery: Taking bribes is forbidden because it undermines justice. "Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent."
  • Kindness to Enemies: The people are instructed to help even their enemies if they need assistance. "If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it."
  • Emphasis on Truth and Righteousness: The text calls for avoidance of falsehood and urges the execution of justice. "Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty."
  • Holiness and Separation (Exodus 22 & 23):
  • Rejection of Pagan Practices: The people are commanded to reject pagan religious practices like sorcery and sacrificing to other gods. “Do not allow a sorceress to live." "Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed."
  • Animal Relations Forbidden: Bestiality is a capital crime and the text makes a point to ensure this law is well known. “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death."
  • Sabbath Rest: The importance of observing the Sabbath day, not only for people, but also for animals and land. "Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed." Also, there are instructions to allow the land to remain unplanted every seventh year to support the poor and animals.
  • Annual Festivals: The people are required to observe three annual festivals as commanded by the Lord: The Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering.
  • Specific Rules for Worship: There are specific instructions regarding sacrifices, including that the "best of the firstfruits" should be given.
  • The Covenant Relationship with God (Exodus 24):
  • Ratification of the Covenant: After receiving the laws and regulations, the people make a covenant with God. They agree to the covenant when they respond "Everything the Lord has said we will do.”
  • Sacrificial Ritual: The covenant is sealed with a sacrificial ritual, symbolizing the commitment between God and the people, with Moses splattering the blood of the covenant on the people. "Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”"
  • Divine Encounter: A select group of leaders, including Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy elders, are given a vision of God. "Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky."
  • Moses' Ascent of the Mountain: The chapter concludes with Moses ascending Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, which are written on tablets of stone. "The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
  • God's Promise and Guidance (Exodus 23):
  • Divine Protection and Guidance: God promises to send an angel to guide and protect the Israelites on their journey. "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared."
  • Conquest of Canaan: God promises to drive out the current inhabitants of Canaan, ensuring Israel's possession of the land. "My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out."
  • Gradual Displacement: God will not displace these people all at once, but gradually so as to not overwhelm them. "But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land."
  • Promise of prosperity and health: The Lord promises that He will bring them prosperity and remove all sickness from them, and not one of them will have a miscarriage or be barren. "Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span."

    • III. Implications and Significance