We are in chapter twenty-one of Exodus with our word for today. אָדוֹן lord, master. It is used 773 times in the Old Testament, 7 times in our chapter. Over half of the uses of our word are always accompanied with YHWH so together the phrase אֲדֹנָ֤י יֱהוִה֙ We have already looked at this phrase as well as the interesting way that LORD in call caps is really YWHW this is to honor the tradition the Masoretes had of not saying God’s name out loud so they put in the vowel points of our word for today lord or master. In English this is often translated lord God. So more than half of the time we are talking about YWHW master or sovereign YWHW.
The sense our word is used today has to do with earthly masters. Let’s look at how it is used in our chapter. Exodus 21:4-6 If אֲדֹנָיו֙his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall לַֽאדֹנֶ֔יהָbe her master's, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love אֲדֹנִ֔יmy master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then אֲדֹנָיו֙his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And אֲדֹנָ֤יוhis master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever. As we saw yesterday with slaves being set free these rules are repeated in Deuteronomy. This section is a great example of the good use of authority. Deuteronomy 15:12-18 If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free. And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today. But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant. Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. This section shows what good authority looks like. It also gives masters reasons why they should act in these ways that benefit their slaves. The first reason is in verse 15 because they were slaves in Egypt as God as their master set them free from their service to the Egyptians. The other reason God gives is in verse 18, because He will bless them in everything they do. Did you also notice in our chapter Exodus 21 and the repeated rules in Deuteronomy 15, the scenario that God describes as a slave actually saying that he loves his master? That is interesting to me because this is how God identifies himself to us as our master and also one who loves us first inviting us to love him back. 1 John 4:10, 19 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…We love because he first loved us. I’ll close with these words from Peter. When Jesus asks his disciples if they wanted to leave him as well because the crowds were leaving over his hard teaching. Peter knew how good they had it being with Jesus. John 6:68-69 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
