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Today’s Feature
Exodus Chapter 21
- ‘These are the laws you must give them:
- ‘When you buy a Hebrew slave, his service will last for six years. In the seventh year he will leave a free man without paying compensation.
- If he came single, he will depart single; if he came married, his wife will depart with him.
- If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will belong to her master, and he will depart alone.
- But if the slave says, “I love my master and my wife and children; I do not wish to be freed,”
- then his master will bring him before God and then, leading him to the door or the doorpost, his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and the slave will be permanently his.
- If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not leave as male slaves do.
- If she does not please her master who intended her for himself, he must let her be bought back: he has not the right to sell her to foreigners, for this would be a breach of faith with her.
- If he intends her for his son, he must treat her as custom requires daughters to be treated.
- If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing or conjugal rights of the first one.
- Should he deprive her of these three things she will leave a free woman, without paying compensation.
- ‘Anyone who by violence causes a death must be put to death.
- If, however, he has not planned to do it but it comes from God by his hand, he can take refuge in a place which I shall appoint for you.
- But should any person dare to kill another with deliberate planning, you will take that person even from my altar to be put to death.
- ‘Anyone who strikes father or mother will be put to death.
- Anyone who abducts a person – whether that person has since been sold or is still held – will be put to death.
- Anyone who curses father or mother will be put to death.
- ‘If people quarrel and one strikes the other a blow with stone or fist so that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed,
- but later recovers and can go about, even with a stick, the one who struck the blow will have no liability, other than to compensate the injured party for the enforced inactivity and to take care of the injured party until the cure is complete.
- ‘If someone beats his slave, male or female, and the slave dies at his hands, he must pay the penalty.
- But should the slave survive for one or two days, he will pay no penalty because the slave is his by right of purchase.
- ‘If people, when brawling, hurt a pregnant woman and she suffers a miscarriage but no further harm is done, the person responsible will pay compensation as fixed by the woman’s master, paying as much as the judges decide.
- If further harm is done, however, you will award life for life,
- eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
- burn for burn, wound for wound, stroke for stroke.
- ‘If anyone strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys the use of it, he will give the slave his freedom to compensate for the eye.
- If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he will give the slave his freedom to compensate for the tooth.
- ‘If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox will be stoned and its meat will not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will not be liable.
- But if the ox has been in the habit of goring before, and if its owner has been warned but has not kept it under control, then should this ox kill a man or woman, it will be stoned and its owner put to death.
- If a ransom is imposed on the owner, he will pay whatever is imposed, to redeem his life.
- If the ox gores a boy or a girl, it will be treated in accordance with this same rule.
- If the ox gores a slave, male or female, its owner will pay the price — thirty shekels — to their master, and the ox will be stoned.
- ‘If anyone leaves a pit uncovered, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox, or donkey falls into it,
- then the owner of the pit will make good the loss by compensating its owner, and the dead animal will be his.
- If anyone’s ox injures anyone else’s ox causing its death, the owners will sell and share the money for it; they will also share the dead animal.
- But if it is common knowledge that the ox has been in the habit of goring before, and its owner has not kept it under control, the owner will repay ox for ox, and will keep the dead animal.
- ‘If anyone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he will pay back five beasts from the herd for the ox, and four animals from the flock for the sheep.’
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SnyderTalk® Commentary
Exodus chapter 21 begins a more detailed discussion about right living from Yahweh’s perspective. Keep in mind that the Torah was given to people at a time when slavery was a common practice. Nowhere in this chapter are we told that we must own slaves, but we are told what people must do if they own slaves.
Exodus chapter 21 is used as ammunition in arguments by Yahweh haters and atheists. Most of them don’t have a clue about what the Bible says, but at least they keep their ears open when people make points that support their beliefs—no matter how preposterous they are.
Slavery is not prohibited by the Bible. Neither is divorce, but Yahweh had a few things to say about it:
- “For I hate divorce,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says Yahweh Sabaoth. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.” (Malachi 2: 16)
Yahweh said that He hates divorce. In this verse, He equates divorce and treachery. Treachery is an act of deliberate betrayal, and Yahweh warns us not to “deal treacherously.”
- “When Jesus had finished these words, He departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there. Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?’ And He answered and said, ‘Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.’ They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.’ The disciples said to Him, ‘If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.’ But He said to them, ‘Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.’” (Matthew 19: 1-12)
Although Yahweh hates divorce, He allows it because of our “hardness of heart”—and probably because some of the men who wanted to divorce their wives would have murdered them if divorce were not permitted under any circumstances. Notice that the Messiah condones divorce when an act of treachery has been committed. In all likelihood, “except for immorality” means engaging in illicit sexual relations which is an act of betrayal of the marriage vows.
Does that mean a person should automatically get a divorce if his/her spouse has had an extramarital affair? No. I’m positive Yahweh would prefer reconciliation.
You may be asking, “How can he know that Yahweh prefers reconciliation?” The answer is simple. In Exodus chapter 20 Yahweh presented the Ten Commandments. There is no doubt that every person who has ever lived, save One, has violated them. After Yahweh gave them the Ten Commandments, the Children of Israel vowed to follow them, but they acted treacherously. So do we. Yahweh became a Man so He could make the Perfect Sacrifice for our sins. His sacrifice reconciled us with the Father, if we have faith in Him. In John 3: 16-17, the Messiah explained it perfectly:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3: 16-17)
Yahweh loves us, and He knew from the beginning that we couldn’t live by those laws so He inflicted the penalty for our sins on Himself. That’s true love. By the way, the Name of the only begotten Son of God is Yahweh. (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
Exodus chapter 21 doesn’t turn a blind eye to slavery any more than Yahweh’s Word legitimizes divorce. It simply acknowledges that people do some stupid things and provides a humane way for dealing with treacherous behavior. In the end, no sin is worse than another. In Yahweh’s eyes, any deviation from His perfect law no matter how trivial is sin. A single sin, even a little white lie, is all it takes to separate us from Yahweh. Yahweh became a Man to redeem and save us. He paid the price for our sins and reconciled us with the Father. That’s how I know Yahweh prefers reconciliation.
If you want to see how much Yahweh is willing to tolerate and still forgive, take a look at the book of Hosea. The entire book is about Israel turning from Yahweh and Yahweh’s intervention to bring them back and reconcile with them. I like Hosea chapter 2 best of all, and I’ve included it below:
- Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”
- “Contend with your mother, contend, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; and let her put away her harlotry from her face and her adultery from between her breasts,
- or I will strip her naked and expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, make her like desert land and slay her with thirst.
- “Also, I will have no compassion on her children, because they are children of harlotry.
- “For their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
- “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.
- “She will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them; and she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now!’
- “For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, and lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
- “Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time and My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness.
- “And then I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her out of My hand.
- “I will also put an end to all her gaiety, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths and all her festal assemblies.
- “I will destroy her vines and fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages which my lovers have given me.’ And I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will devour them.
- “I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she used to offer sacrifices to them and adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, and follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares Yahweh.
- “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her.
- “Then I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
- “It will come about in that day,” declares Yahweh, “That you will call Me Ishi and will no longer call Me Baali.
- “For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, so that they will be mentioned by their names no more.
- “In that day I will also make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, and will make them lie down in safety.
- “I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion,
- and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know Yahweh.
- “It will come about in that day that I will respond,” declares Yahweh. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth,
- and the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.
- “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, and I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”
The Valley of Jezreel Looking from Mount Carmel toward Nazareth and Mount Tavor
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News Items of Interest
- Who’s legislating morality now?
- Hamas: all Gaza militants agree to halt rocket fire
- Gaza War gave Israel its quietest year in a decade
- Iran to hold war games to protest nuclear facilities
- Lebanon army reportedly fires at IAF drone amid rising tensions
- Syria: no peace talks without Israel’s promise to return the Golan
- Chavez lauds Carlos the Jackal as great pro-Palestinian fighter
The Resemblance is Uncanny
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His Name is Yahweh
There is a wealth of material available for free download on www.hisnameisyahweh.org including the book His Name is Yahweh. His Name is Yahweh is also available at Amazon on Kindle for just $5. If you haven’t read His Name is Yahweh, you should. The importance of Yahweh’s Name is becoming more apparent with each passing day.
Available on Amazon Kindle and it can be downloaded at www.hisnameisyahweh.org
