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Awesome Hands – part 70

“The judgments” – Part A

November 26th, 2014

Often times when we are given direction in life we as humans tend to wonder “why?”? Why do this or that in this or that way? Why is this or that this way and why should I listen to those that have gone before me?

In truth, this is as natural for all of us as the sun rising and setting.

In the previous two studies we covered what are known as the ten commandments, but those are just the start of what is known as the law of Moses.

Now we are going to cover what are the laws and the judgments the Lord has given to the Israelites in addition to the commandments given to them initially.

As with all of scripture, we can glean lessons from these judgments given to the physical Jews because all of the law of Moses hangs on the great commandment given to us by Jesus. Of course, our “job” is to dig into the spiritual application of these laws/judgments in our lives today.

“Those of your own ‘house’ ”

Exo 21:1  Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

I don’t intend to cover every single verse and example because some of them overlap in their application. What I will hopefully be used to convey is that the Lord has very specific actions that are to be taken when any given event happens to us in our daily lives.

If we look at the previous admonitions given in the OT, then we can glean what it is we will need to consider when applying those admonitions to various situations in our lives.

For example:

Exo 21:2  If thou buy an Hebrew servant(H5650), six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

Ultimately, this verse is about reconciliation but that is not apparent on the surface of what we are reading here.

The reason it is about reconciliation is that there is a time when someone who is a slave or servant will be set free. That ultimately points to how the Lord is working all things after the counsel of His own will to bring in all of mankind to Himself so that He can be all in all.

In addition to that, this is a “Hebrew” servant. If someone is of our kinfolk or of our own people, then they are to get special considerations i.e. they are of our “household”.

Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

I think you’ll agree that the household of faith includes all of God’s children who have the Faith of Christ but does not specifically have to be someone you have previously known personally.

There are specific guidelines that further allow us to know that there are judgments for all situations so that we cannot simply think that God does not know what we are up against or what He has or is putting us through.

For example:

Exo 21:3  If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Exo 21:4  If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.

In verses 3 and 4 we can see that a master wants nothing to do with what was already the servants/slaves before the man became a slave. This typifies that the Lord wants nothing belonging to our flesh.

However, the next verse tells us that anything that is GIVEN to a slave man is expected back from the master in addition to an “profit” or “gain” that came about from the thing given to the slave .. i.e. the “fruit” or children who were a result of the gift given to the slave.

After all, these people were simply money at the end of the day. They were away to profit and gain and were easily traded for other things.

This all typifies what the Lord has called us to when we calls us to Him. We become a slave to Jesus when we take on His work and His name. We are ambassadors for Him.

Eph 6:19  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Eph 6:20  For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Eph 3:1  For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

Eph 4:1  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

2Ti 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Phm 1:1  Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,

Phm 1:9  Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Notice however, that what Paul speaks about in the above verses is exactly what we are when, having been made a slave by our Master, we end up loving Him and all that He alone has given us.

Exo 21:5  And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

Exo 21:6  Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

The significance of such an act as having a hole placed in your ear was an act that made you a slave for the rest of your life. It also signified your undying servitude to listening diligently to all your master commanded and OBEYING without question.

This, on the part of the slave who could be set free, was the ultimate sacrifice of love for one’s master and family.

Here is an example from the CEV translation of what it meant to have your ears spiritually bore through with a ROD:

Psa 40:6  Sacrifices and offerings are not what please you; gifts and payment for sin are not what you demand. But you made me willing to listen and obey.

Psa 40:7  And so, I said, “I am here to do what is written about me in the book, where it says,

Psa 40:8  ‘I enjoy pleasing you. Your Law is in my heart.’ ”

Psa 40:9  When your people worshiped, you know I told them, “Our LORD always helps!”

Psa 40:10  When all your people met, I did not keep silent. I said, “Our LORD is kind. He is faithful and caring, and he saves us.”

So, this covers the male slave/servant and the requirements under the law concerning slavery. What then are the requirements of a female slave/servant as given in judgment of the law?

Exo 21:7  And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant(H519), she shall not go out as the menservants(H5650) do.

Exo 21:8  If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

Exo 21:9  And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

Exo 21:10  If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

Exo 21:11  And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

On the seventh year the men were able to go free but this was not true of a woman. She must stay the maidservant and/or wife of the master for as long as it pleased him and he followed the law concerning her.

However, because she could “become humbled” due to the master, she still had to be treated as a wife even if the master/husband was displeased with her in anyway.

The woman in this regard had more rights than a man because he could be sold off to others whereas when a man “knew” a woman he owed her the duty of marriage and this applied even if he took on multiple wives.

If the master did not treat her as a wife and give her food, clothes, and the life of a wife she was able to leave freely and not have to pay for her freedom.

However, I am sure we can all guess as to who it was that would determine that a maidservant was being treated properly or not according to the law.

Nonetheless, we are covering what was supposed to be the judgments used to determine how to handle these situations and not what might have actually been the reality.

“Murder”

Murder with the intent of murdering was not to be pardoned in the judgments passed out as mentioned in the 6th commandment and when Noah was given to Noah in Genesis 9.

Gen 9:6  Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

However, if the death of someone happened because God has caused it to happen, then there were places of asylum that the Lord would create and given Israel so that you could flee there until your case could be heard by the judges. There were 6 of those in total that were given to Israel with 3 of them being on either side of the Jordan.

Exo 21:12  He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

Exo 21:13  And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.

Exo 21:14  But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

The CEV translates verse 13 in this way:

Exo 21:13  But if you did not intend to kill someone, and I, the LORD, let it happen anyway, you may run for safety to a place that I have set aside.

“All of the sudden” we see a few judgments placed in the middle of us being told how to deal with murder, but I believe a strong reason for this can be said that these were viewed by the Lord to be just as serious as murder. In fact, they received the same penalty of death.

Exo 21:15 (CEV)  Death is the punishment for attacking your father or mother.

Exo 21:16  Death is the punishment for kidnapping. If you sell the person you kidnapped, or if you are caught with that person, the penalty is death.

Exo 21:17  Death is the punishment for cursing your father or mother.

Fighting with someone simply because you become angry did not indicate that you meant to kill someone even if that ends up as the result. So, there were different judgments based on the result of the fight.

Exo 21:18  And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

Exo 21:19  If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

With all of the above judgments, we can see that the intent of the heart and mind on a matter is what the Lord judges in these matters.

If you deliberately want to kill someone, you are going to pay the penalty equally under the law. However, if an argument leads to a physical altercation that generally indicates that there was no pre-meditation involved.

The judgments being laid out in this chapter to the children of Israel need to be considered in the light of which they were given.

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

When considering what and who we are we need not forget where we have been brought to and from.

When considering the law of Moses versus the Law of Liberty we need to make sure to NEVER forget what the Lord has done for us. Reflecting on being “lawless and disobedient” and still being loved by the Lord is truly having the Lord bring light from darkness because we are NOW being transformed into Sons of God….. who are the light of the world.

These mosaic laws were the foundational judgments being given before the tabernacle and priesthood was established, so this is something that the people knew was not being directly edited by mere men and would be used to judge everything that came after they were established laws.

Additionally, we need to remember that this was happening as the trumpets were being blow and the mountain quaked and the people feared.

Remember, the Lord had set boundaries on the mount and told them if they stepped “out of bounds” they would die, yet when these judgments were being given, they themselves retreated from the mount and told Moses to speak to the Lord on their behalf.

Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Exo 20:20  And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

Exo 20:21  And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

For us, we can look at each of these judgments and see that the Lord wants us to recognize Him working it all after His own counsel.

To bring this point home, we are going to see in the next study that the Lord controls even the beasts, in particular oxen are mentioned in the last half of this chapter, but we know that when beasts are mentioned it is speaking directly about us in some fashion or form.

Just as Moses drew near to the darkness, we too can realize that “light comes forth from darkness” and it is “in the darkness” where we will find Jesus coming springing forth from. That is how we should see these judgments coming forth to us in order to separate that light from darkness.

Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Gen 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.