Tag: Exodus

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 21:28-32, 35-36

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“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned, and its meat may not be eaten, but the ox’s owner is innocent. However, if the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned, and its owner must also be put to death. If instead a ransom is demanded of him, he can pay a redemption price for his life in the full amount demanded from him. If it gores a son or a daughter, he is to be dealt with according to this same law. If the ox gores a male or female slaves, he must give thirty shekels of silver to the slave’s master, and the ox must be stoned. . .When a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they just sell the live ox and divide its proceeds; they must also divide the dead animal. If, however, it is known that the ox was in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not restrained it, he must compensate fully, ox for ox; the dead animal will become his.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When I lived in Denver several years ago, the city experienced a wave of high profile dog biting incidents. They were high profile not because of the identity of the victims, but because of the viciousness of the attacks. And in each instance, a pit bull was the guilty breed. Now, some of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met were pit bulls. But as a breed, they can be very aggressive if not raised properly. The city responded then by banning the breed entirely from being owned as pets within city limits. I thought the move was rather a bit of an overreaction myself, but the city leaders understood they had to be seen as doing something to maintain its generally very dog-friendly image. The driving idea was that animal owners are responsible for the behavior of their beasts. This is not a new idea. The next couple of passages, and the last we’ll look at in Exodus 21, deal with something similar. Let’s talk about goring oxen and unexpected barbecues.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 21:22-25

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“When men get in a fight and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman’s husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment. If there is an injury, then you must give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There are not many topics hotter in our culture right now than abortion. It was burning pretty hot before the Dobbs Supreme Court decision last year overturning the infamous Roe v Wade decision. In the wild, wild west world created in the aftermath of Dobbs, things have gotten even more intense. As followers of Jesus, our thinking on this matter must be informed by the Scriptures. In that effort, this passage matters a great deal. Let’s talk about what we see here, what it means, and why it matters.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 21:20-21, 26-27

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“When a man strikes his male or female slaves with a rod, and the slaves dies under his abuse, the owner must be punished. However, if the slave can stand up after a day or two, the owner should not be punished because he is his owner’s property. . .When a man strikes the eye of his male or female slaves and destroys it, he must let the slave go free in compensation for the his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his male or female salve, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his tooth.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the charges leveled against the Scriptures by critical scholars and skeptics is that they condone slavery. To a certain extent, this is an argument from silence. Because none of the various authors ever explicitly say slavery is wrong, and because there are several passages (like this one) in which the instructions assume on the existence and even continuation of the practice, therefore, they collectively support it. There are several reasons why this argument is flawed. LEt’s talk about some of them and what to do with what we see here.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 21:18-19, 33-34

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“When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or his fist, and the injured man does not die but is confined to bed, if he can later get up and walk around outside leaning on his staff, then the one who struck him will be exempt from punishment. Nevertheless, he must pay for his lost work time and provide for his complete recovery. . .When a man uncovers a pit or digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit must give compensation; he must pay to its owner, but the dead animal will become his.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in a world of cause and effect. When one thing happens, something else happens because of it. Sometimes there is a clear and direct line from the one to the other such that the cause of a particular effect is obvious. Other times, a given effect has such a complex tapestry of causes that no one could possibly trace it back to a single event. One of the perils of sin is that it seeks to convince us that we can disconnect effects from their causes, that our actions will not eventually have consequences. What we see in this next law is that God wanted to help the people resist this particular temptation. Let’s talk about how this command helps with that goal.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 21:15, 17

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“Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death. . .Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

My kids are at the age that I wind up watching a ton of pre-teen comedies. Most of these are on Disney. Thankfully, they’re mostly older Disney series that were pretty clean and uninterested in pushing moral boundaries very far. But while there is a pretty wide variety of settings among them, they mostly all have one thing in common. In all of them parents are either absent or idiots. Only rarely are the parents of the main characters (or any characters for that matter) positive examples of what good parenting should be. The net effect here is that a whole generation of kids grew up being constantly bombarded by the idea that parents are at best unnecessary hindrances to achieving all their hopes and dreams. That kind of environment doesn’t produce a lot of respect. That’s too bad because God seems to take generational respect pretty seriously. Let’s talk about what we see here.

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