Today’s passage: Exodus 21:1-22:15
Helpful thoughts:
- As the giving of the Law continues, today’s passage will primarily cover laws concerning slaves and restitution.
- These laws should be understood much like the laws of a country. In a very real sense, what we are reading is the laws of the nation of Israel which were to have been enforced from their introduction in the wilderness until Christ came and inaugurated the New Covenant.
- Many of the laws concerning things like slaves, what to do if there are multiple wives and divorce are not God’s endorsement or approval of them. When speaking of divorce in the law, Jesus reminded the Pharisees that these things were listed and restricted in the law, “because of the hardness of your hearts.” (Matthew 19:3-9)
- When God gave these laws, He restricted the people from mistreating or dehumanizing the people who were involved in what were common practices at the time.
Questions to consider:
- Though we are no longer bound to the Old Covenant, in what way is reading the Law a benefit for people today? How can it reveal the heart of God to us in very practical ways? How could we apply these truths/principles to our modern day systems, culture and economy?
- Does God value the life of the unborn? Does God ever endorse capital punishment? Why wouldn’t it be inconsistent to be pro-life (Concerning abortion) and pro-death penalty (Concerning capital crimes)? What is the major difference between the unborn and the convicted criminal? Now that we are under the New Covenant, and since we do not live in Old Covenant Israel, who has the right to decide if a country carries out capital punishment?
- How does the knowledge that the Israel which exists today is not the same as the Israel who were to be governed under the Old Covenant impact the way we see and understand it as a country? What do they need to believe? In whom must they place their faith (Just like the rest of the world)?