Can I Know The Will of God? Pt. 8 Exodus-The Will Of God About Murder, Slavery, Personal Injury & Liability

We have been looking in an overview fashion at the will of God. We are finding out that His will is usually clearly expressed and can be followed, if we submit to it.

In our last post, we looked at the Ten Commandments. These are not optional for believers in Christ. Why? Because they are expressions of the perfect righteousness of the Godhead. Thus, they are immutable and unchanging moral standards. 

Laws regulating slavery.

Exodus 21:1-4  Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. 2)  If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. 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. 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. 

There are still pockets of slavery in the world today. In the ancient culture God gave very strict commands concerning how a slave was to be treated and they were much more humane than the nations around Israel.

A Hebrew could be sold as a servant or slave. They may have had a debt that they could not pay, so they were sold to be a bondservant, to work off their debt. 

A Hebrew (Older term for an Israelite) could only be kept as a slave for 6 years and then they were to be set free. If the slave was married then his wife was also set free, but any children born during the period of slavery belonged to the slave owner.

Exodus 21:26,27  And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. 27)  And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake. 

If a slave owner smites his slave in the eye or mouth where loss of sight or a tooth occurs, then the slaves are to be freed. 

God gave other stipulations regarding slavery that continue through verse 12, 20-21. For example a slave owner who causes a slave to die, must be punished. 

Laws regulating murder.

Exodus 21:12-14  He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. 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. 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. 

God already gave Noah instruction about instituting capital punishment for the crime of murder. It is reinforced in this passage. If anyone smites another man and causes their death, he is to be put to death. 

However, God is also going to give instruction about murder that it not premeditated. This is seen in verse 13 where a man who does not lie in wait and who kills someone, will have a city of refuge appointed by God. The details come later in Exodus.

Modern society thinks that it knows more than God regarding capital punishment. God knows that our hearts are wicked and deceitful and that men will commit murder. 

God also knows that the death penalty is a powerful deterrent against murder and is beneficial for society as a whole. It also ensures justice for the victim's family.

More laws about murder. 

Exodus 21:15  And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. 

A child that strikes a parent is a grievous sin since God established parents as the authority for children in the home. 

Exodus 21:16  And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. 

Wicked men who steal another man to sell him or her into slavery, are to be put to death. Thus, God would never condone the African tribes (or any other peoples) that caught people from other neighboring nations, and sold them into slavery. 

Exodus 21:17  And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. 

Those who cursed their parents were also to be put to death. The undutiful behavior of children towards their parents is a very great provocation to God our Father. The idea is that the children abuse their own parents in some form.  

Let children take heed of entertaining in their minds any such thought or passions towards their parents like being thankful and contemptuous, for the righteous God searches the heart.

Law regulating personal injury.

Exodus 21:18,19  And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: 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. 

When men get into a fight and one man injures another, he is responsible to compensate the injured man for the time he misses from working and for the cost of all his injuries.

Exodus 21:22  If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

If men are fighting and a pregnant woman is present, and she is hurt such that she has a miscarriage, the man who struck her shall be punished according to the husband's will and the judge's decision. 

Laws regulating personal liability.

Exodus 21:28  If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. 

If an ox gores someone and they die, the owner must stone the ox to death and suffer the loss, but his liability ends at that point.

Exodus 21:29  But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. 

If the owner knew that his ox had a tendency to be aggressive and push other people, and he refused to keep the animal fenced in, then if it killed someone, the owner would be put to death. 

Exodus 21:30,31  If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. 31)  Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. 

If the animal gored a child, then he was liable to compensate the child's parents.

Exodus 21:32  If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. 

If the ox pushed a slave of another slave owner, then owner of the ox must compensated the slave owner and the ox must be killed. 

Exodus 21:33,34  And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein; 34) The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his. 

If a landowner dig a pit for a well or some other structure, he was expected to safely cover it. If he did not properly cover it and another man's livestock fell into the pit, the one who dug it, must compensate the owner of the livestock. 

Points to Ponder...

We can begin to see that the moral law and the practical applications of them, are the foundation of Western Law. The Laws of God are (or were) woven into the fabric of our laws, because the Pilgrims, Puritans and founding fathers desired to honor God. 

God does not condone slavery but He did implement laws to regulate the treatment of slaves, to protect them from abuse. 

God clearly wants us to understand that murder is wrong, for any reason other than self defense. 

God clearly wants us to know that we have a responsibility to not allow our actions to harm anyone else. 

Each of the laws are clear, understandable expressions of the will of God. 

I hope we give consideration to what God is saying to us, that we might live in a right manner before God and man.

Bob