Thursday Night Bible Study

Exodus 20:18-Exodus 21 

"Reverence, Respect & Responsibility"  •  3.10.11  •  Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Bible Study

Intro.

- We left the people of Israel at the base of Mt. Sinai. Moses is receiving the law, which thus far is comprised of the 10 Commandments.

- Much of what we will see from here is an exposition or expansion of those laws in terms of their applicability to life, theirs, as well as ours. Theirs in direct application, ours in principle.

Text

•  Exodus 20:18,19  :  "Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.  Then they said to Moses, 'You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.'" : The sight on the mountain, the manifestation of God's presence was intimidating and powerful.

- He spoke and it sounded like thunder. He moved and it looked like lightning. When the people stood there, they were suddenly and frightfully aware of how unique God is!

- His presence caused the people to tremble. They shook as though an earthquake hit them!

- In their weakness, they asked Moses to mediate for them, scared to death!

- Thanks be to Jesus, who would need to come and show us the Father, full of grace and truth and redeem us, so that we could have a body like His in order to stand before the Father!

- Before we knew Christ, we were afar off and scared to death of God. Through Christ, we have been given bold and personal access.

•  Exodus 20:20,21  :  "And Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.' So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was."  :  God wanted them to know the severity of His presence because He wanted their reverance. It would be wise for us to learn that same reverential fear of the Lord.

- To reverence God is to feel a sense of reprehension at the thought of that which offends His holy nature. He wants us to reverence Him so that we won't miss the mark of His standard.

- The people stood at a distance, but Moses drew near. What a powerful concept.

- We can draw near to the Lord, through Christ. But sadly, even with that great privilege, we often act like this Israelites. We choose distance by not entering in.

- Moses drew near to where God was! To everyone at a distance, it was a thick darkness, veiling the beauty within.

- To Moses, He got to be close to the living God. I pray that we would take the same advantage. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

•  Exodus 20:22-24  :  "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you."  :  God reiterates to the people that nothing should be made to represent Him. The problem is that you would limit the God of the Universe into an image that does not truly represent who He is!

- To need an idol is to have lost the conscious awareness of His presence! God wanted them to have Him, not a powerless and poor substitute.

- Even in the way that they built altars of worship. They were to make altars of earth, simple, not ornate ones that would be monuments to their own ingenuity.

- They were to value the sacrifice and the one they were sacrificing to.

- He mentions burnt offerings and peace offerings. What is the difference? The burnt offering was something was burnt entirely to the Lord, symbolizing complete surrender of oneself.

- Peace offerings were animals that were offered as a symbol of thanksgiving unto the Lord.

- It was assumed that they would be making these offerings unto the Lord. That assumption is largely missed in much of the church today.

- There is often a lack of understanding that sacrifice is a part of worship. There was to be sacrifice and this was to happen often.

- I like the way the NLT translates the end of verse 24: "Build altars in the places where I remind you who I am, and I will come and bless you there."

- This building of altars was to commemorate moments with the Lord, where He shows you something about Himself. It will happen in a place and time.

- When He shows you His power to change something, build an altar and worship. When He shows you His provision, build an altar and worship.

- This was to be the dynamic relationship between the Lord and His people. As they walked with Him and as they came to understand more about Him, they were to sacrifice and worship.

•  Exodus 20:25,26  :  "And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it. Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’"  : Perhaps you wanted a permanent reminder or a permanent place of worship. Instead of using earth, you'd use a stone.

- If you did, you were not to use a hewn stone. It was to be an uncut stone. It was not to be designed. It was not to be given steps.

- The idea here is that if one ascended some steps, those on the ground around the altar would be able to see some leg or perhaps something more scandalous.

- One commentator mentioned that this was a prohibition against any flesh taking away from the time of sacrifice. Nothing should take from God's glory during worship.

•  Exodus 21:1  :  "Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them:"  :  Chapter 21 begins a transition from the narrative that we have been following to the didactic format that we'll have for several chapters now.

- These judgments, laws or ordinances were to be brought before the people of Israel. These were given to the judges or "gods" of Israel that were formed in Exodus 18 at the suggestion of Moses' Father-in-law Jethro.

- This use of the word "gods" is a poor translation but is the same word translated God, "Elohim." This is where the Mormons get their view of self-deification.

- The first ordinance that God gives to Moses, who will in turn deliver this to the judges, will revolve around the treatment of slaves, an interesting beginning given what they have just been.

•  Exodus 21:2-6  :  "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever."  : God set up the precedents that would govern their society and it's use of servitude.

- If this were a fellow Hebrew, he would have landed in this position because of debt. A master would have purchased this man for a term that would last 6 years. In the 7th year, he would go free.

- Whatever the man came in to this agreement with, he could leave with. What was accrued during his six year term, a wife, presumably another slave and children, would belong to the Master.

- The law of the bondman would be contingent upon this man's willingness to remain in His master's employ in order to continue working for the master, as well as continuing the family life.

- If the man willingly wanted to stay the judges would witness this ear piercing ceremony.

- A man's ear was pierced and then given a gold earring. When this occurred, the bondman was permanently in the Master's employ.

- This is first a picture of Jesus, who was willing to give His freedom up for the love of His Bride the church. Psalm 40:6 says, " Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require." (NIV)

- The other picture here is our relationship to the Lord. We are willing to give ourselves fully and completely to Him, willingly giving up our "freedom" for a life in Him.

- When we do so, we join a wonderful company. The Apostle Paul, Peter, James and Jude each used this moniker to distinguish themselves. This is a good title to take if you want one!

•  Exodus 21:7,8  :  "And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her."  : If a man's debt was bad enough, he could sell his children! 

- In the ancient world, things were different for a female. She would not have the same privileges as the men.

- Generally, a woman was brought in to become a wife. If he did not want to marry her, he would allow her to be redeemed, but only to her own people.

- We think that this is intolerably cruel, but this is high honor in a civilization that gave no rights to women at all!

•  Exodus 21:9-11  :  "And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights. And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money."  :  A lady that was brought in and promised to a son would wait until the son chose.

- If the son chose differently, this was not her choice. She would be given the same privileges as before. She was treated as though she were going to be a daughter-in-law.

- God wanted the people to make sure that these women, considered barely more than property, were treated with equity and given similar rights.

•  Exodus 21:12-14  :  "He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die."  :  In a theocratic government, God approves of the death penalty. A man who beat another man hard enough to kill him would be put to death.

- This refers to murder in the first degree or pre-meditated murder. There were cases of involuntary manslaughter and murder in self-defence that had to be mediated.

- There are times when a person dies at the hand of another and it's not the person's will, but the Lord's. He has appointed that time and that circumstance.

- In this event, God would appoint cities of refuge, where a person could run and await judgment of his case. This kept families from retaliating unjustly.

- On the other hand, a man who sought to kill, looking for ways to end a person's life, no matter where he went for mercy, he was to pay for his crime with his life.

•  Exodus 21:15-19  :  "And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death. And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed."  :  A person who kills their parents, kidnaps or even curses their parents were subject to death. God takes honoring parents very seriously.

- What happens when two people get in a fight and one ends up injured? The man that would inflict that type of damage would pay for the time that the man lost time and for treatment.

- If this were the law, how many fewer fights would there be in the world?

•  Exodus 21:20-27  :  "And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property. If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye. And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth."  :  A servant's life was to be protected under God's law. In the world at large, a servant was little more than property. This was not so to God.

- A woman who was pregnant was to be protected from accidental pain caused in a fight. Premature birth would allow the husband to dictate proper restitution.

- On the other hand if the child dies, then that person is to surrender their life. Interesting that the Lord saw the life of the unborn as equal to the life of the one that accidentally caused the death.

- In God's law, life, even that of one that is pre-born, is protected under God's law.

- Now, here is the principle that governs these laws that God is giving. There would be equal suffering for pain endured. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

- God gave this principle so that man would not seek to retaliate above that which he suffered. This serves to limit people in what they might do. So there is a man who strikes his servant.

- If one struck their servant and they lost a tooth or an eye, that servant would have paid their debt. They were to go free. This was to cause a master to have restraint with his servants.

•  Exodus 21:28-32  :  "If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him. Whether it has gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned."  :  A man was to take life seriously and take responsibility for what was his. Accidents could happen, but if there were previous incidents, the owner would be held responsible.

- God is telling His people that they are to assume responsibility for their property. We are not the proud owners of oxen. Principally however, we are to assume the responsibility for what we own.

- I don't own an ox, but I own a liquor cabinet! I don't have a large animal, but I have prescription drugs. What is the price for a son or daughter?

- Notice the price of a gored servant: 30 pieces of silver. That's the price that Judas received for Jesus! The price of a son or daughter is not mentioned. It would be a heavy price to pay.

•  Exodus 21:33-36  :  "And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his. If one man’s ox hurts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money from it; and the dead ox they shall also divide. Or if it was known that the ox tended to thrust in time past, and its owner has not kept it confined, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his own."  : The same principle applies here. A man had to take responsibility for what he built.

- He is responsible for taking precautions against potential damage and must pay for an animal that might have been hurt because of his negligence.

- If a man owns an ox that has had aggresive tendencies in the past, then he has the responsibility of treating that ox with the appropriate restraints.

Conclusion

- In closing, God wants us to respect life that we see all around us. We don't live in a vacuum and are therefore, responsible to live thinking of others.

- Whether it's our treatment of another person, our responses to another person or things that we own or build. God's people are to value life like He does.