Exodus

Contained here are the continuance of the laws connected with the rights of persons. These include slavery (vv2-6), murder (vv12-15, 20,21), kidnapping (v16), striking or cursing parents (vv15,17), and assault and injuries not resulting in death for free men and slaves (vv18,19,22-27). The rights of a Hebrew slave here are not a function of laws that Moses initiates, but rather of a practice that exists which Moses is permitting, but with specific boundaries. The relationship between a Hebrew master and slave was not that of a bondservant but of a hired servant. The provision for going free was to begin at the end of the sixth year of servitude unless the slave chose to remain in the permanent service of his master. This would often be out of a dual affinity for both the master and the family given to the slave. The wife of the slave (if given to the slave by the master) and his children (if born of that marriage), would have been the property of the master. The act of piercing the ear of the slave with an awl to the doorpost was symbolic of the slave becoming "part of the house of the master." There is beauty in understanding the relationship a man has with his wife when considering her a gift from his master, the Lord God Yahweh. When taken in this (correct) context, the man will be committed to a life of service to God. This service enjoys the blessings of relationships that are bestowed by the Master, as gifts that only He can provide. With Christ as our Lord, we can know and enjoy the benefits of serving a Master, to Whom we are grateful for the opportunity to surrender our lives - and become a permanent part of His house.

The laws of Moses either affirm or mock the justice system of today, depending on your perspective of God. Restitution and bloodguiltiness (דָּמִים - Damim - the fee, price in one's blood) are the countering principles. In other words, debt and repayment. These (following) debts are specifically listed as requiring a debt of one's life: 1) Whoever lies with an animal (v19), 2) he who sacrifices to any god, other than to Yahweh alone (v20), 3) if you ... afflict (an orphan), and if he earnestly cries out to (Yahweh) (v23). They reflect the sins of three different types of theft/affront. Interestingly, cursing God, or a ruler of the people, is not listed as a death penalty offense here, although it is in Leviticus 24:13-16. The other debts are repaid with a proportionate compensation. Guilt for loss of property is different in cases of negligence versus when the guilty stand to benefit from their theft. The theft of an ox receiving fivefold compensation would likely relate to the fact that this theft would also impact the victim's livelihood. In the first 15 verses, there are three sections of "if statements," followed by three "but" qualifiers to the debt. These are all regarding property. Beginning in verse 16, the judgments vary, starting with an "if statement" regarding the theft of a woman's virtue. For this, the debt is absolute (no "but"). Verses 29-30 remind the people of their commitment to the law of the first fruits (as Yahweh had redeemed the firstborn of the Israelites when all other firstborns in Egypt were slain). For the weaning offspring to remain with the mother for seven days would provide physical relief to the nursing mother.

The section labeled as the Book of the Covenant concludes in verse 19 of this chapter. Continuing what began in the previous chapter as a set of laws defined by some as "miscellaneous," the sections are grouped into categories governed by courts and justice and ceremonial observances, including the three festivals the Jews are commanded to observe: The Feast of the Unleavened Bread (v15), and the Feasts of the Harvest and the Ingathering (v16). Most remarkably, the section is closed by a prohibition mentioned in two other places in the Bible - the law against seething a kid in its mother's milk (v19), (also 34:16, and Deut 14:21). Of the many laws that will eventually follow in the books of the Torah, this might seem otherwise simple and dismissible. Yet it is an offense that betrays the order of God's design in such a way that it is an outrage of cruelty. It makes the mother an accomplice in the killing of her own child because of the flavor of the milk she would otherwise produce to nurture the same offspring. God is not amused by the abominations of His work in any fashion. This would include the defilement of the natural order of the unthinking creatures, as well as the choices made by thinking men to defy the image of God, abusing the nature of their bodies.

Nadab and Abihu, the eldest of Aaron's sons, would have been his natural successors to the priesthood had they not later sinned in offering strange fire (Lev 10:1,2). These two, along with the other seventy elders, were likely representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel, six from each tribe, 72 total. By separating the blood of the sacrifice (v6) and sprinkling half of it on the people (v8), Moses was binding the Israelites to the words they spoke in covenant with Yahweh committing to be obedient to all that He had said (vv3,7). The other people mentioned in this passage should be familiar. It was Hur (v14) who helped Aaron hold up Moses' arms during the battle with the Amalekites. And Joshua (v13) is already known to the Israelites by now as an assistant leader. Note the significant periods of time God allots for Moses on the mountain - six days, the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day, He called Moses into the midst of the cloud (v16), and Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.