Friday, September 28, 2012

Exodus 23:1-9 Laws Involving Our Treatment of Others

"Do not spread false reports.

Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.

Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.
When you give testimony in a lawsuit,
do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,
and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.

If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off,
be sure to take it back to him.
If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load,
do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.

Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
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.

Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see
and twists the words of the righteous.

Do not oppress an alien;
you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens,
because you were aliens in Egypt."

Exodus 23:1-9 (NIV)
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These statements are fairly clear without any explanation.  However, as I read further in the commentaries and thought about other verses which I knew regarding the same subjects, I realized that one could easily write a whole post (or more) about each area covered in this section of verses.  Instead, I'll just write some things about each section.  I know that these concepts will come up again and again, in both the Old and New Testament, and each time they do, we get a clearer idea of what it looks like to live as a follower of God.

Do Not Spread False Reports 
This seemed obvious, because lying is forbidden.  However, one verse which the commentaries recommended led me to another aspect of why this this spreading of false reports is forbidden.  It is Leviticus 19:16 (NIV) and it says this:

"Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life.
I am the LORD."

I thought that this was interesting because although many of the instructions in Exodus 23:1-9 above seem to be about keeping the ninth commandment found in Exodus 20:16 ("You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."), this verse brought out the fact that such slanderous reports can take on a life of their own and even end up endangering someone's life.  The 'do not go about' part of this verse in Leviticus brought to my mind an image of someone eagerly running around spreading the latest gossip about someone else.  Whether in the context of a lawsuit, or in the company of friends, it is tempting to 'share' the latest news, even at others' expense.  However, out attitude is to be that we would not do anything which might endanger a neighbor's life.

Some Scriptural examples of how this might occur are found in Deuteronomy 22:1-4, where a woman is falsely accused of something which might cost her her life, and in I Kings 21:10-13, where Queen Jezebel slanders Naboth so that he will be put to death and her husband, King Ahab, can then obtain Naboth's property.  I might add that in both cases, a false report could lead to the accuser's death.  In fact, in Ahab and Jezebel's case, it eventually lead to both of their deaths.  So don't be mislead into thinking that gossip or slander is just a little matter with no real consequences.

Do Not Be a Malicious Witness
I guess that both of the Scriptural examples above could serve equally well in this matter.  This behavior seems to be happening in a legal case, where one could be tempted to testify against someone else.  Either because of a bribe, or a friendship, or some type of obligation, we might be tempted to help a guilty person win their case against an innocent person.  However, God sees the truth in each case and will not let the guilty go unpunished.

Do Not Follow the Crowd
We are not to just blindly follow the crowd, especially when they are intent upon doing evil.  When giving testimony in a lawsuit, we are not to give false testimony just to fit in with what everyone else is saying.  This would be a perversion of justice.  In addition, we are not to adjust our testimony to give a poor person a break.  Of course we are to be concerned for the needs of the poor, but this does not include exchanging the truth for a lie, even if our intent is to help a poor person.  Real justice requires us to tell the truth, without favoritism of any kind.

Do Unto Others...
...as you would like them to do towards you.  In this case it includes caring for the property of others, even if you would consider them an enemy.  A wandering animal was to be returned to its owner -- even if you do not particularly like that person.  In an even more in-your-face act of kindness, if we see an enemy struggling (in this case with an overloaded animal), we are to directly assist them.  We are not to turn away or pretend we do not see what is happening.  Although this may be awkward, and we may fear that he/she will just rebuke us for our efforts to help, you can not deny that this act of kindness would make a huge impression upon an 'enemy' and perhaps even make him/her begin to want to know more about this God whom you serve.

Justice
Four items are mentioned here:
  • Don't deny justice to someone just because they are poor.
  • Have nothing to do with a false charge.
  • Don't put an innocent or honest person to death.
  • God will not acquit the guilty.  He sees and knows the truth about everything.  Even if you can fool everyone else, you can't fool God.
No Bribes
We are not to accept a bribe, because this is wrong and has several effects according to this verse:
  • It blinds those who see.  In other words, it causes a person who clearly sees the truth to pretend to be blind to it.
  • It twists the words of the righteous.  It changes our perception of a righteous person's testimony from a clear presentation to something twisted and evil.  In order to accept a bribe, we would have to be willing to mangle an otherwise straightforward testimony and change it into something else.
Don't Oppress Aliens
This ought to be easy for the Israelites to understand.  Oppression was evil and they had already experienced it in Egypt.  Although such an alien might be powerless to resist oppression, God saw it and would be displeased if His people participated in such actions, particularly since He had delivered them from their oppression in Egypt.
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As I read all these laws, I was struck by the fact that every aspect of our lives provides the opportunity to glorify God.  Even simple acts of kindness can have a huge impact upon others' lives.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Exodus 22:28-31

"Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats.
You must give me the firstborn of your sons.
Do the same with your cattle and your sheep.
Let them stay with their mothers for seven days,
but give them to me on the eighth day.
You are to be my holy people.
So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts;
throw it to the dogs."
Exodus 22:28-31 (NIV)
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While again these laws may seem to be a collection of unrelated topics, they all have to do with the fact that the Israelites are people in a covenant relationship with God.  Therefore their actions in each of these areas of life are supposed to reflect that relationship:

Authority
God is their King, and must be treated with proper reverence.  They are not to blaspheme God.  [Blasphemy (as defined by the Oxford American Dictionary) meant talking about God or about sacred things in a contemptuous or irreverent way.]  Nor were they to curse their ruler, for he was considered to be a representative of God's authority.

Possessions
It was always a temptation to wait to fulfill the obligations they had to bring tithes of their income.  Like us, the Israelites probably thought, "Next week/month I'll be able to give more, but right now, things are a bit tight."  I understand that thinking, but it is not a good way to go.  God expects obedience, and then blessing follows, not the other way around.  Christians are not under the obligations of the law in these matters in the same way that the Israelites were obligated.  In our own family, we decided upon a certain percentage of our income which we give to the LORD.  It is still a struggle sometimes to stick to that commitment, but we have found that it is a good discipline, and the LORD has always provided for our needs.  Someone wrote once that "You can't out-give God" and he is right.


Firstborn
The firstborn sons and animals were to be presented to the LORD.  Of course, the humans were not to be sacrificed (!), but they were the LORD's as a reminder of how He had delivered the Israelites from Egypt, while the firstborn sons of the Egyptians had died in the tenth and final plague.  Here are some Scriptures regarding this:

Exodus 13:2  "Consecrate to me every firstborn male.  The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal." 

Exodus 13:11-13  "After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your forefathers, you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb.  All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD.  Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.  Redeem every firstborn among your sons."

[Note that the above passage makes it clear that the Israelites were always to redeem their firstborn sons, never sacrifice them.  They were to be redeemed, which meant that they were to be released by means of a payment. Also, in case you were wondering, as I was, why the donkeys were singled out in that passage to be either redeemed or have their necks broken, it is because they were considered an 'unclean' animal that was not supposed to be sacrificed to the LORD.]

Exodus 13:14-16   "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal.  This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.'  And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand."

This passage spells out in greater detail the reason for the consecration of the firstborn to the LORD.  It is interesting to me that the animals were also included, as they had been included in the plague on Egypt's firstborn.  Perhaps it is because they were considered the wealth of their owner, sort of a portable bank account in a day without public banks.  By including them, it is as if the LORD is saying that He had redeemed their lives and possessions from Egypt, and that He continued to be the source of their lives and wealth...indeed, of everything which they had.

A Priestly People 
The Israelites were to avoid eating the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts.  Instead, they were to give such meat to their dogs.  The NIV Study Bible commentary noted that this was because such an animal would not have had the opportunity to have been drained of its blood, which the Israelites were forbidden to consume. 

[Not to mention that this would be a great way to avoid diseases.  God knows what He is doing, even when we don't.]

Interestingly, this verse was a law which was later specified for the members of the Aaronic priesthood.
God had already proclaimed to the Israelites that:  "...Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation..." (Exodus 19:5-6 NIV)  In the same way that the priests were consecrated to the LORD for His service, every part of the Israelites' lives were to be consecrated to the LORD for His service.  [And yes, that concept is as convicting to me as it is to you.  No doubt each of us has areas of life which could be better given over to God for His use.]