Exodus day 24
Transcript
00:00Grace and Law again. This passage addresses various topics.
00:07First, the place of blessing. Before a single law is pronounced,
00:11he wants them to know the way of blessing. This involves burnt offerings and making peace
00:17offerings. These are the essential elements of the burnt and sin offerings, but the fellowship
00:23or peace offering also includes, characteristically, a fellowship meal where the fellowship offering
00:30is referred to as a freewill offering. Secondly, there are laws about indentured service.
00:37We must understand, though, that Hebrew has no word for slave, but only a word for servant.
00:44It is simply ignorance to accuse the Old Testament of countenancing slavery.
00:49Indeed verse 5 indicates that service was far from oppressive there had to be legislation to
00:54cater for servants who wanted to stay as such. Thirdly, we have a section dealing with violence
01:00against the person. The Hebrew due process of law catered for what we call degrees of murder,
01:06but had no qualms about the death penalty. The wording eye for eye needs careful thought.
01:12It is often referred to as if it represented the utmost savagery.
01:17But what does it actually say? It states that the punishment must exactly match the crime no more
01:23and no less. It vividly expresses a foundational principle of all just jurisprudence. The English
01:31law of hanging for stealing a sheep happened not because the lex talionis was in force but because
01:36it had been forgotten. Fourthly, there are decrees concerning the control of animals.
01:42The law of God penetrated into every aspect of life it would be interesting to apply some
01:47of these laws to dangerous driving. No area of life lies outside our obedience to him.
01:54Reflection
01:56Exodus 21 verse 30 helps us understand the great concept of redemption.
02:00The sum of money demanded is kaphar, from the verb kaphar, meaning to cover. In other words,
02:07it is the covering price the payment that covers the debt. Parallel to this, to redeem his life
02:13represents the Hebrew for the ransom price for his life. Price paying lies at the root
02:18of the biblical idea of redeeming.