Tag Archives: Exodus 22-24

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2024 Bible Study — Do Not Revile Judges or Curse the Ruler

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 22-24.

I am not quite sure exactly what all I am going to write today, my thoughts on today’s passage are not a coherent whole.  But I will start with verse 28 in chapter 22, which the translators chose to render as “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.”  In the translator notes it says that another possible translation would be “Do not revile the judges or curse the ruler of your people.”  Considering the context, I prefer this alternate translation.  I believe the command not to blaspheme God exists in enough other places that reading this as saying something else does not diminish our understanding that blasphemy violates God’s commands.  Also, I find my reading of this verse challenges my actions and words more than that chosen by the translators.  I am not tempted to blaspheme God, but I am tempted to revile the judges of my nation from time to time.  Whether I agree with their decisions, or the logic which they use to reach it, I need to work to respect them for the office God has put them into even if I do not believe they are godly people.  I need to remember that those in positions of government authority are in those positions because they are the people whom God desires to hold those positions.  God may have chosen them because of their wickedness, because those over whom they have authority have behaved wickedly, but God has chosen them and we must honor the position which He has given them.

 

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2023 Bible Study — Do Not Show Favoritism, Nor Use Your Power To Take Advantage Of The Powerless

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 22-24.

I am never quite sure what to write on this passage, but I am also always struck by the laws of what I consider basic justice contained in this passage:

  • Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner
  • Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless
  • Do not spread false reports
  • Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong
  • Do not show favoritism to the poor
  • Do not deny justice to the poor

There are a few more, but the first two and the last two I listed above give us an important reminder about what true justice is.  True justice rejects the idea of using the fact that we have greater power than others to deprive them of they are due, and it neither favors the poor over the well-to-do, nor does it allow the wealthy to use their wealth to escape accountability for their wrongdoing.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2021 Bible Study Do Not Suffer a Sorceress To Live…Or Is That Poisoner?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 22-24.

Every year when I read this I search for what I want to write.   Unlike some passages it is not that I have trouble finding meaning in the passage.  Instead. I find that the commands given here do not easily get summed up in the few words I write in my blog each day.    After going over it a couple of times I had decided where I was going to start, but as I went back over the passage to find the exact verses I wanted to comment on I came across something someone had made a passing comment on that I found interesting.

In verse 22:18 it says, “Do not allow a sorceress to live.”  A few weeks ago someone told me that the Hebrew word translated there as sorceress would be better translated as “poisoner”, and that such a translation would make more sense.  I do not know Hebrew, so I did a little Internet searching this morning to see if that was true.  I found two separate lines of commentary related to that.  One set of sources supported that idea by comparing the Hebrew word to similar words in other ancient languages which are related to Hebrew.  This line of reasoning concluded that the word could be translated as “herbalist”, but with connotations which implied evil in a way which would be consistent with “poisoner”.  The other set of sources claimed the Hebrew word meant “mutterer of charms”.  They supported this by showing how it related to other Hebrew words used in the Bible.  Considering that I have never seen the passage translated as anything other than as “sorceress” or a word synonymous with sorceress, I believe the second line of reasoning is correct.  More importantly, the second line of reasoning connected this instance of the word, where the Hebrew word is feminine, with instances of a masculine form of the word (which have similar levels of condemnation for those who fall into this category).

I meant to write about the above and then go on to something else, but that took longer to flesh out than I expected.

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2020 Bible Study — Looking Out For the Interests of Those Who Cannot Do So For Themselves

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 22-24.

Today’s passage continues from yesterday with the laws God gave Moses about how the Israelites were to order their society.  I want to highlight a point made in chapter 23.  Justice should not be slanted either in favor of or against the poor.   Scattered throughout the passage are multiple instructions which paint a picture of taking personal responsibility to help those around us.  One of the laws warns us against falsely accusing others of wrongdoing.  While the context of that particular verse suggests it is talking about doing so before the authorities, it seems to me to also cover falsely accusing someone of wrongdoing to other people.  Another verse tells us that if our enemy’s valuable animal has strayed and we find it, we should return it.  Taken all together, justice should be meted out evenly to the rich and the poor, to those we like and those we dislike, everyone should be treated with respect and dignity.  If we take advantage of those who cannot defend their own interests, God will step in.  If we see those who cannot defend their own interests being taken advantage of, we should defend their interests as best we can.

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2019 Bible Study — God Commands Us to Do What is Right

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 22-24.

The passage contains a series of commands which involve holding people responsible for the consequences of their actions.  There is another aspect to these commands as well.  They also tell us that the group must hold individuals responsible for sin, that even if others in the group are not victims of one person’s sin, the group suffers when one of its members sin.  Elsewhere in the Bible we are warned against showing favoritism to the rich and powerful.  Here God warns against showing favoritism for the poor and oppressed.  The poor and oppressed are not necessarily in the right when they go up against the rich and powerful and we should not side with them just because they are poor and oppressed.  Opposing opression is different than siding with the poor and oppressed.

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2018 Bible Study — You Cannot Have Justice Without Honesty

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 22-24.

    There are several verses in today’s passage which contain commands which are relevant in discussions going on in our society today. Twice in this passage God commands the Israelites not to oppress the foreigners living among them. These commands, and others similar to them, are often used by those who argue in favor of the U.S. not enforcing its immigration laws. I do not want to get into politics in my blog. However, I want to point out that there are people among those arguing for not enforcing immigration laws who use those laws to allow them to exploit people in this country illegally. This command tells us that we should be speaking out against those who are exploiting and oppressing those people who are in this country in violation of the law. I believe that it is not wrong for a country to establish laws concerning who is allowed to enter that country. However, I also believe that I should do my best to provide aid to those in need, even if they are in the country in violation of the country’s laws (what form that aid takes must be determined on a case by case basis).

    The other call to justice I want to focus on here is a call for honesty. There are a series of important elements to this. First, God commands us not to spread false rumors. I do not believe that not knowing that the rumors are false gets you off the hook for this one. If the rumors you know reflect negatively on the character of someone, check their truthfulness before sharing them. God has more commands pointing up the connection between honesty and justice. If you lie on the witness stand (and I believe this applies to any place where you are giving witness, not just the courtroom), at best, you are cooperating with evil people. Further God commands us not to follow the crowd in doing wrong and to not let the sentiment of the crowd sway us to make false statements about people. Stick to what you know to be right and true, even if everyone else is convinced (or acting as if they are convinced) of the opposite. This does not mean that you do not take a moment to make sure that you are not the one who is in the wrong. It does mean stay out of witch hunts and wait until you know the facts when the crowd is howling for blood. The final command in this passage on the theme of honesty and justice is to refuse all bribes, even ones for making the decision you had already decided to make. Once you have accepted the bribe, you will be less likely to notice evidence that shows your original conclusion to be incorrect. In addition, bribes, even those which are for the just decision, will bring into question whether justice is truly being served.

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2017 Bible Study — Do Not Worship the Gods of the People Around Us

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 22-24.

    Much of this passage is a list of various laws for regulating the relationships among the Israelites. Some of them are offensive to our modern sensibilities, although I wonder if part of that is because terms have come to be understood differently and part of it is because the gap between the life lived by the free and the life lived by slaves has widened. That is, that while we understand what life was like for slaves in that society (or think we do) we think of our own lives when we think of those who were not slaves. Despite these passages which offend our sensibilities there is a thread of not oppressing our fellow man. Of not using our wealth and power to make their lives more difficult.

    Having given the Israelites those commands, God made them a promise. He promised that He would be an enemy to their enemies. He would drive those who opposed them out of the land ahead of them. God promises to destroy the peoples currently living in the land He was giving the Israelites completely. This sounds utterly harsh, and, based on other commands He gave the Israelites it was. However, there is a hint here, and elsewhere, that it was not quite as harsh as it sounds. Because in the next phrase God makes it clear that what makes those nations nations which must be destroyed are the gods they worshiped and the practices which they had as a result. If the people of those nations abandoned their gods and practices and instead adopted the practices of the Israelites and the worship of God, they were welcome in the nation of Israel.

Daily Bible Study

January 25, 2016 Bible Study — Building a Godly Society

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change. .

DSCN8085

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 22-24.

    Having given the general rules regarding how the children should interact with God and each other, God gives some more detailed rules about how they should build their society. The first group of these rules establish property rights. These rules establish punishments for those who fail to respect their neighbors property rights. Those rules, however, place limits on one’s liability for property which another has given into your custody.
    The next two groups of rules are about how society should be structured. These two groups are not clearly separated. The first of them is, more or less, a group of commands which tell us how we should relate to God and those He has given governing authority. The second is a group of commands about how we should interact with each other and how the governing authorities should treat those it governs. However, the two groups are not clearly separated and are somewhat intermixed. It is worth reading these in detail. I am going to note a couple that stood out to me:

  • Do not mistreat immigrants. (It is worth noting that this does not actually tell us anything about the illegal immigrant debate)
  • You must not exploit a widow or orphan. (God will look out for the powerless)
  • When you hear a rumor, find out if it is true before passing it on.
  • Just because everyone else is doing it does not mean it is OK to do something that is wrong.

There are many more worth reading and thinking about just as much as these. While the commands listed here are phrased in the context of a culture different than ours, we can still see how they can guide our behavior today.