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Exodus Chapter 21







 

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GiGi's Exodus Chapter 21 comment about verse 24 on 7/06/2022, 6:17pm...

Exodus Chapter 21.

This chapter starts out "Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them.." and goes on to list many scenarios where a judgment from a judge or magistrate may need to make decisions for the parties involved. These judgments were for the Israelites in that time period as they were being grown into a nation. It seems that God was setting down a civil judicial system concerning matters that would emerge or had emerged among the people. This chapter makes me think of when Moses tried to adjudicate matters among the people on his own and Jethro suggested that Moses set up adjudicators from the tribes to settle most matters, leaving Moses to attend to meeting with the LORD and leading the people as a whole.

God knew ahead of time that there would be a need for such judgments concerning the civil affairs of these chosen people. He must have wanted to establish His way of settling matters, disputes, and offences among the people before they encountered people from the surrounding areas and began to adopt these "foreigner's" civil laws. Very likely that these foreign tribes had judgments that were unjust and inhumane. God is interjecting a better way of civil jurisprudence for the Israelites to help preserve justice and order in these people and to markedly distinguish His chosen nation from those the Israelites will encounter and share territory with.

Although to some of us in our time would read these judgments and scratch our heads as to whether they are truly just or not. But for me, I will not question God's holy justice. I will just accept that He instructed the Israelites according to His good an perfect will. So, perhaps the lesson for me is not to necessarily understand these judgments or the scenarios that prompt the judgments or the culture of these days. Rather, the lesson to me is, do I truly believe these are God's Words and are therefore true and right and will I defend God's right to judge as He pleases despite these words.

 


Zev's Exodus Chapter 21 comment about verse 10 on 5/11/2021, 2:40am...

Servitude is an arguable aspect when you consider the dependency of a job and the financial burden placed when its lost. This is not the same thing. When you remove that financial burden, that occupation is now a choice. There is no contractual requirement.

Don't forget, women are servants forever. In addition, you can purchase a woman from the father or guardian and force them to be your wife. The crazy part is, this still exists today in other cultures. They are not forced, but if declining means you are disowned and put on the street and a dishonor to your family... its a more difficult situation as it includes the financial burden as above, but it also includes an emotional component of losing communication to your family which cant be easily remedied.

The "great viewpoints" in this chapter was that it did provide more rights than before. If no one told them that they couldn't own a male slave for 10 years, they would have... Granted, that notion was lost at some point until slavery was abolished.

 


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