I know every word of the Bible is inspired. I know it’s all useful for teaching and righteousness, but what is happening in this passage?! These rules don’t make any sense, and they make me mad. Did you read the one making provision for what to do if you hit your slave and knock her down? If she can get up after two days, it’s no problem, because she is your property?! (Exodus 21:21). Are you kidding me? I feel like I don’t even know where to start.
But I think that’s exactly how I can get a sense for the justice in these laws—they are a start, a beginning. In Exodus, God’s people had just escaped the unbearable cruelty of their Egyptian masters. So, for them, a start was to begin by treating each other with more justice and mercy than they had received at the hands of the Egyptians—to give an individual human life value.
In Egypt, they were beaten with no recourse and no accountability. Contrast this lawless and brutal reality with the orderliness of the laws in Exodus. Under these new laws, there were consequences for loss of life and destruction of property. And these laws introduced the basic “a life for a life” concept, which was the cornerstone of ancient justice.
It’s tempting for my personal sense of justice to be the primary lens through which I read these rules. But God is compassionate and gracious, and abounding in faithful love (Psalm 103:8). So while it’s hard for me to understand why these laws don’t fit my idea of perfect justice, it helps me to look at what Jesus said to His friends about the law.
When Jesus’s disciples tried to interpret the law—to distill all the rules into one basic idea—they asked Him, “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” Jesus responded with this simple, beautiful, and uniting command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands” (Matthew 22:36–40).
And, though these ancient civil laws of Israel may strike us as strange and even upsetting, we can see that the center of them was this: Love the Lord your God. Love your neighbor.
But there’s more—because it’s totally unsatisfying to look at a passage like this and think, I don’t get it, but I’ll just accept it and ignore the difficulties. God isn’t afraid of our questions, our doubts, or even our objections. However, He is quite interested in transforming us. This means that we don’t get to brush this stuff away. Instead we are called to dig in, to seek to understand.
The beginning of this understanding, however, doesn’t come to us by leaning on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Rather, we approach the difficulties remembering what we know: God is holy, just, merciful, and He is love (1John 4:8). Yes, He is more loving than we are, and His laws for ancient Israel come from that love. When we make gods of gold for ourselves—or even gods of our own intellect, opinion, and understanding—we miss the mark. The law and God’s grace both exist for the same reason: to save us and to teach us to love the Lord. Begin there.
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41 thoughts on "Moses Receives Additional Laws"
Thank you Rebecca. That helped me a lot. I am going low in my response and asking God to show me ways that I don’t fully yet love him and my neighbors. Lord let your Kingdom come in my life. Thank you Jesus, Amen.
Rebecca, thank you for facing this passage head on and not shying away from the hard and confusing stuff. Thanks for bringing more light to it and pointing us back to Jesus
I felt the same way she did, but it makes sense and it brings us back to first loving God and our neighbor. Its also a reminder that we only know in part, we do not know all things. Once we put ourselves in a position like we know everything it does ultimately become a god.
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Thank you Rebecca for giving more insight and also sharing your initial feelings when reading the passages. I was reading them thinking the same…what in the crazy are these! Lol but remembering the time in which this took place and their experience puts this in better perspective.
Wow! A hard read with all the Laws……as Rebecca explained it made more sense to me. The center of the Laws was “love your God” and “love your neighbor “. The Law and God’s Grace exist to save us and to teach us to love the Lord.
Yes! I agree. When it’s explained like that…..it’s a step
Ohhhhhhhh…..when it’s put that way….it’s a start….it’s the basics of how to treat your fellow humans. Plus a wake up call to not treat each other the way the Egyptians treated them.
I learned so much today! Like Rebecca, there are parts that I find terribly hard to read. So I read along with my commentary.
God did not condone slavery… And neither was it the brutal form of slavery used in Egypt. In most cases, it was a mutually agreed on form of ‘servitude’ or indentured servant. In the commentary, it said the bible speaks of the servant as property because, in essence, it would have been the master’s money at stake.
There are also so many rules for protection over a servant. And it sounds like unless it was a mutually agreed upon servitude, it was wrong. Many used to kidnap people and then sell them into slavery, Joseph, for example.
On another note… I loved it when the Pharisees tried to trip Jesus up with the commandment question. Instead of singling out one, he summed up the whole. The first four commandments are about loving God; the last six are about loving others. Jesus summed it up perfectly.
Yes! I listened to both episodes and they were fantastic!
Yes! I listened to both episodes and they were fantastic!!
i hadn’t considered this fully! love it!! thank you!
i hadn’t considered this angle –
Reading today’s scriptures, I see how God shows harsh consequences to discourage the offenders BEFORE the offence. It’s an effective tactics when you show consequences; this is God’s hidden wisdom for sure for damage control. As the Bible says somewhere else, when a crime is not punished quickly, the hearts of men are fully set to do evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11), in a way people are encouraged to do evil, NLT says they even feel safe to do evil if there is no speedy consequences. Do you see this in kids too? Perhaps ? Any mama out there with me? That is a sad condition of the human heart. I see this in our society too, when there is a loop hole in the law, serial offenders feel safe to commit more crimes, repeatedly, hence serial. So, freedom could be a snare if laws are not strictly enforced, carried out speedily (as God’s word says it should), and scrutinized in great details. I love how God lays His laws, if you notice, God always says if you forgive, then you will be forgiven, if you don’t, then you won’t be forgiven. There is always if yes then this, if no then this, no room for gray area of assumptions/speculations/guesswork in between. Effective/successful contracts are also like this, as we see for employment contracts, or between landlord-tenants contracts, commercial or residential, etc. My parents used to have terrible tenants for their apartment renting experience. One of the main reasons was they didn’t draft a detailed contract stating rules and consequences. There was damage, people fled without paying rent, they even took the AC, even changed the lock. Crazy stuff. Laws protect us from being trespassed by setting clear boundaries. One of the laws I like when Bible talks about forgiving debt after 7 years, I see many banks also adopt this Godly rule for bankruptcy status. Amazing to see this rule applied in finance/loans industry. How about social justice, criminal laws, etc. if adapt the laws of God? More Godly laws should be studied and applied, since they are packed with grace and wisdom to better our lives. That’s why we need to pray for those who pass laws, regulations, public legislations and such, in supreme courts and all other levels of society, to have godly wisdom and boldness to do this (they will face persecution for sure in the face of wicked laws abounding). God’s word is PURE wisdom, pure wisdom (Psalm 19:7), if only we know, and wisdom is a defense, a big defense (For wisdom is a defense , even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it (Ecclesiastes 7:12). A nation is only wise when they have understanding people (Deuteronomy 4:6). Lifting up our dear sisters on your prayer requests. May we never cease to learn to appreciate the beauty of God’s laws deep within our heart and mind! Be blessed dear sisters!
Prayers for Kaylee @Dorthy! And hope your knee is feeling better! Prays for you to @LexiB! I’m glad your business is doing well! It is definitely overwhelming to be the “do it all” person!
@Traci- was thinking of you yesterday and pray for your grief! It is heartbreaking even thinking of losing a child so I can’t imagine the extraordinary pain you are battling. I am sending you a big hug!
@Sara-prayers for your anxiety and finding a new counselor.
I have an awesome praise! Remember how last winter I was asking for prayer hoping my husband would get involved with me in finding a new church and being active within the church and also hoping the Holy Spirit would ignite his spirit and faith? He is getting baptized this Sunday at our new home church!! I can’t tell you how exciting this is! He was baptized as a child, but wants to be submerged and make a commitment! Hallelujah! He also goes weekly with me to feed the homeless, and blesses us so much. I am hoping that we can join a small group together this coming Fall. Our relationship is so much stronger with Christ as our center! His daughter and boyfriend are coming to visit us for a week this Saturday, so hopefully, they will come to see! (he hasn’t told her yet!) I’m hoping we can reflect Christ to her because even though she grew up in church she doesn’t attend for a decade or more. She has 2 kids and her boyfriend’s child as well, so I would love to see them attend a church and start feeling up their lives with Jesus! There are so many young people these days with mixed families and that makes the challenges 2 fold and super hard, I pray for these kids!
@Traci Gendron prayers continue for you. Grief doesn’t go away…ever. God knows. He loves. He cares. Hugs to you ❤️
After reading both the Scripture and the devotional, the main point I want to remember is: THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD, I need to love HIM with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and all my being and that the love I show to God I need to show to ALL mankind. There was one of the Scripture in Exodus that I never really noticed before and that was the part about the pregnant woman being struck and losing her child. I’m sure I’ve read it, it just never “caught my eye”.
I do want to bring up, I don’t know if anyone else has pointed this out, but the Scripture in Matthew where Christ is talking about the greatest commandment, it wasn’t His disciples who asked it was one of the Pharisees who asked the question. I wrote next the the Matthew verses: “This IS the GREASTEST COMMANDMENT — I believe the 2 (commandments) are 1 because to love your neighbor you have to LOVE the TRIUNE FIRST!!!
I have a prayer request, my second little girl, Kaylee, I care for went in the hospital on Sunday for an operation, which she had Monday, but she isn’t bouncing back like she should. She isn’t able to keep anything down. Please pray for Kaylee and her parents.
Be blessed and love God with ALL your being!!!
Hi Ladies!
I have a prayer request. Since starting my business, my anxiety has been through the roof. I am also struggling with some self harming behaviors (overeating, picking, irritablity,loss of focus, etc). I really hate this; the business has been a good thing; everything orchestrated by God…but the anxiety has just been terrible. Prayers appreciated from you guys and I will pray for you as well. Thank you.
After 400 years of slavery, God got the Israelites out of Egypt. Now He has to ‘get the Egypt out of the Israelites’.
Can you even imagine the chore of changing the culture habits diet and attitude that has been imprinted on this generation of Israelites?
Sometimes things don’t feel too much different these days. Kids are bullying to the point of someone committing suicide. Crime is through the roof. People are comfortable speaking to someone very harshly. Do we need to be reminded of how to treat others? I think so. I think we need God. People have thrown Him aside. As Rebecca said, “These laws were a start” I think we need a fresh start in our world.
My grief has become heavy lately. Grief is odd. It comes out of nowhere at times. Other times you think you are doing well. My heart has literally been broken.
May I love as you love Father and may I love you more today than I did yesterday. Thank you for your mercy and grace Abba.
Thank you, Rebecca and the others SHES for your insights. @Carol Crossman you mentioned that you were thankful that you weren’t born at that time. This reminded me of a missionary that spoke at my church years ago. He said something like that God chooses the best time and place for people to be born so that would seek Him! How amazing and gracious He is! He knows us!
He referenced this Scripture: ““The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”
Acts 17:24, 26-28 NIV
How humbling and astounding! Glory to God!
It must have been so difficult to live in that time. Laws were necessary for people to treat each other kind and to show love for each other. I am thankful for God’s grace and that I was born in this time. It is not perfect so we must strive to follow the Commandments.
I needed the reminder that God is compassionate and gracious, and abounding in faithful love – so that I can strive to follow in His footsteps. Compassion and grace are the two things I need most to work on! Thank you Rebecca for the insight you gave to this passage.
Blessings today to all you Shes!
For those of you SHES who feel confused and hurt by the word this morning- I urge you to listen to Lisa Harper’s Back Porch Theology podcast (last week and this week’s episode) about women in the Bible. It is so encouraging! God LOVES us ALL – it was just the culture of the time. Context is everything!
KELLY (NEO) thanks for adding HRT…
I am able to kind of wrap my head around it when I compare it to the current situation that culturally we are STILL trying to encourage “baby steps” in a lot of matters of justice for the historically marginalized even in 2022. It can take generations to fully change beliefs and open eyes to truly see areas of systemic injustice in a culture and while a lot of us think we can clearly see what would be BEST forms of action to bring about faster change, when you are dealing with generations of wrongdoing and fear-held beliefs, you have to start with the first step and keep gaining momentum forward to get from “good enough for now” to “best”… Anyway- these verses are hard to read, but I’m glad that the momentum continued and we are in a space now to see these practices as harmful and unacceptable.
Wow Rebecca! Great job interpreting this passage for us. It definitely makes more sense to think of these rules with God’s mercy and love for the Israelites in mind. This was one step in God’s plan built over the centuries. Praise His patience with us!
“The law and God’s grace both exist for the same reason: to save us and teach us to love the Lord. Begin there.” Oh my! Love this! Have a great day my sisters.
When I read the old laws, even in context,I always consider just how amazing the payment for sin that Christ has paid. He is the ultimate redeemer. No debt, no eye for an eye with our sin. Just salvation for those who believe and call Him Lord and Savior.
I appreciate Rebecca’s honesty in her struggle with this Scripture. I felt a bit similar but I know God’s ways are higher and I don’t fully understand that cultural context.
I have been thinking a lot about slavery because my church showed part of the “Harriet” movie for our “At the Movies” series. I notice the slavery laws that exist here are more like marriage covenants. I also notice that the male slaves are a picture of Christ. When they agree to stay instead of go free, they are pierced with an awl. Christ was pierced for His commitment to serve us. I was meditating on Isaiah 53:4-6 before this study and couldn’t get that thought out of my head. That this kind of willful slavery was Christlike. Now, I’m reminded that Christine Caine said on her tv show podcast – “We are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness, either way we are choosing slaves to someone.”
I thought about how strange that statement would be to someone without Christ. Who wants to be a slave? Christ was our slave. He wilfully have up His life for our lives. That is the picture I have in my heart for these specific regulations.
Hope you all are doing well. I read most comments daily! Prayers for the Shes in struggle and despair this morning. May You hold tight to the Lord in faith.
When I read this passage I am weighted down by the details one must follow in order to retain righteousness under the law. Too many rules is my response. I am so grateful that Christ stepped in to be my Medicare. Praise Gid we are delivered from the burden of the law.
Wonderful insight for these difficult passages. Thank you Rebecca.
Rebecca, thank you for acknowledging your feelings of injustice and anger about those laws. I had similar feelings. The context you gave was insightful. It broadened my perspective on the matter.
I don’t understand this at all. This passage seems so harsh.
Lord help me to love as You do. Amen
Good morning Shes! I would love your prayers this morning. It is the busy season at work and it is basically nonstop calls coming in all day. Yesterday I felt so anxious during the day, and in the mornings I feel slightly nauseous and just heart beating faster. I desperately want to feel well at this job and I’m trying to push through, but I feel like my emotions are all over the place. I wish God could just heal me from this, but I know his plan will prevail and it takes time sometimes. Thank you all, please pray I find a counselor soon that can help me manage this.
I love the reminder to bring ourselves back, again and again, to the heart of God. We can start there, and allow the Spirit to slowly give us understanding in places like this one that are hard to understand.
As is pointed out in the HRT devotional today, context is vital. Russ also mentions:
“The slavery described in Exodus is what is known as “debt slavery.” When a person or family found themselves in economic hardship and could not provide for themselves, they could become bond servants, or “debt slaves” to another family. They would work for that family in exchange for food, shelter, and protection. This arrangement would last six years. At that point, a man could leave, or choose to stay if he liked his situation. Women, on the other hand, were not released after six years because it was assumed that they would marry into their new family.
For the woman, becoming a bond servant often meant becoming a part of a family for life. She was to be treated as a daughter (v.9). There is a provision in today’s passage for a woman who joins a family as a bond-servant, but doesn’t end up marrying into that family. In that case, her own family can pay her debt and take her back. Her “master” cannot give her to anyone but her own family.”
Oh, for the grace and mercy we have in Jesus. That I would rejoice to be His bond servant all my days. My debt, He paid.
SEARCHING ❤
QUINETH52 – rejoicing with you that your classwent well. May the lives of those ladies continue to be transformed into the image of Christ. How is the relationship with your stepdaughter going?
K SWENSON – how have you been doing with your PTSD struggle?
LYNNE FROM AL – praying for your peace and your husband’s healing.
CHURCHMOUSE – how is your ear?
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth I’d a way to give value to the life of the other, to love your neighbour. But as with all laws, we can start missing the point. It can become a matter of greed or a way to earn your way into the kingdom.
That’s I think why Jesus said: You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:38-48
Yes I can understand where you are coming from. They seem harsh in our western world. Although we don’t understand those laws, we must always try to follow live God and love others then it makes sense❤️❤️❤️❤️
“Love the Lord; begin there” ❤️