Sermon Tone Analysis

!!!!!! Exodus 21-23

 

*7033-Exodus 21–23*

CHAPTER 21

* *

      Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Exodus chapter 21.

This whole section begins in the nineteenth chapter when they have come now to Mount Sinai, and Moses ascends up in the mount, and God speaks to Moses and He tells them to go down and speak to the people, reminding them how that God destroyed the Egyptians, and how He brought them on eagles’ wings unto Himself, to this place; and that if they would obey His voice and keep His covenant, they would be a special treasure to God above all nations; special privileges, special blessings; that they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

And so, Moses came down and gave to the people the word of God, and they responded, “All that God has said, we will do.”

God had not yet established the conditions for the covenant, but the people were ready to enter into this covenant relationship with God without even hearing the requirements because the blessings that were promised were so tremendous.

And so, Moses came back to God, and said, “The people have responded, and said all that You have said, they will do.”

And so, beginning in chapter 20, God gave to Moses that covenant whereby He would enter into a relationship with them, they would be a special treasure to God above every nation, they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto God.

God began by giving to them the Ten Commandments.

And then, in chapter 21, God continues with the laws of the covenant.

Many of these laws we will find do not relate to us.

Great!

Less to worry about.

Some of them will relate to us; but beginning with chapter 21, God is actually addressing the judges.

/      These are the judgments which you shall set before them./

/ /

      So there were to be set above the people, or over the people, men who would be judges in the various issues that would arise; and these are general, basic laws that the judges were to follow in their dealing with the situations.

It is interesting that the word for “judges” in the Hebrew is “Elohim,” which is the word for God in the plural form.

So, judges are actually gods with a small “g,” not the capital “G.”

For as we said, and have declared before, God is not a name.

God is a title.

There are many gods, the Bible declare that; "the gods of the heathen are many.

You shall not worship their gods."

So, every man has a god.

You have those like Madelaine Murray O’Haire who deny the existence of the eternal, living God.

She said, “I’m an atheist,” but, in reality, she has her own god.

And every person who even avows to be an atheist has a god that he serves: the master passion of their life, the controlling philosophy or concepts.

And so, the god is that person who controls you, has the control of your destiny.

If you have committed a crime, and you come before the court, and you are found guilty, the judge in the pronouncing of the sentence upon you actually can control your future, he has control of your destiny; and thus, he becomes your god.

When we come to the New Testament, and Jesus was disputing with the scribes and Pharisees: and He had made the statement, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” a very positive confession of being God, the true and the living - JEHOVAH, they took up stones, and they were going to stone Him.

And He said, “Hey, I’ve done a lot of wonderful works among you; opened blind eyes, and healed the lame, and so forth; for which of these works are you stoning Me?”

And they said, “We’re not stoning You for Your works, but we are stoning you because you, being a man, are constantly claiming to be God.”

He said, “Did not I say in the law that you were gods?”

And He is referring to the law where the judges, who had control over people’s destiny, were referred to as /Elohim,/ "the gods."

And so, it is unfortunate that the Mormons have taken this particular statement of Jesus, and developed from it this elaborate concept that if you are a faithful Mormon, have your marriage sealed in the temple, wear your proper underwear, that one day you and your wife can go to some planet there in the universe, and you can populate that planet, and you will be god.

You and your wife will be the god over that planet, and you’ll be able to oversee its development, and all; and they’ve developed that whole system of thought on the one verse of Jesus where He said, “Did not I say in the law that ye were gods?”

But this was a reference just to the judges; not saying that we’re going to be elevated to a god state sometime in the future.

God knows I don’t even want that, I wouldn’t want the responsibility of it.

I’m hoping for something better in the eternal future than having to look over a bunch of people.

/      So these are the judgments,/  and so, He’s really addressing this now to those men who would be appointed as judge, /which you shall set before them./

/ /

      And the first of the series of laws here revolve around slavery.

And again, as I say, some of these things have no application to us in this day, and so, they are just interesting.

Slavery was something that was practiced.

The whole Hebrew nation were slaves, bond slaves in Egypt.

Slavery was a common practice.

Even among the Israelis there was the practice of slavery.

The Bible does not really condone slavery; in fact, Moses put definite prohibitions upon slavery, to the extent that in time, it could be abolished.

So, the first restriction;

 

/      If you bought a Hebrew servant, he can only serve for six years; in the seventh year he shall go out free./

/ /

      Now, in Deuteronomy it is added that when you send him out, you’ve got to give him some animals, you’ve got to give him some food, and some money, and all, so that he just doesn’t go out destitute.

So, a man could only be a slave for a six year period; the seventh year, he had to be set free.

This is an interesting law in light of the total history of man.

Adam sold man into the bondage of sin, slavery, just about six thousand years ago.

It is estimated that Adam’s fall took place in about the year 4004 B.C.  We are coming close to the two-thousandth year A.D., and man can only be a slave for six years, and the seventh year, he has to be set free.

I believe that we are approaching that glorious day when God is going to establish His eternal kingdom, and man will be set free from the slavery and the bondage of sin, and we will live in a world that is filled with peace, and righteousness will cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.

I believe that man’s time of bondage to sin is about over, and I am excited as we approach the beginning of the seven thousandth year of man’s history from the time of Adam.

I believe that God will carry the pattern through on a universal scale, even as He did in Israel.

Six years you serve, the seventh year, you go free.

Now, if he came in by himself, he goes out by himself; if he was married and brought a wife in with him, she goes out with him.

But if while serving his master, his master gave to him a wife and they had children, the wife and the children do not go out with him; he has to go out by himself.

But, there were cases where a servant would say, in verse 5,

 

/      I love my master and my wife and my children; I don’t want to be free; then his master will bring him to the judges, /the “Elohim,” the gods,/ and he shall also bring him to the door,/

/ /

He’s to go get the judges, they bring him to his house, and then he takes an awl, and he bores a hole in his ear, and he pins the servant to the doorpost of his house with that awl.

He’s pinned there to the door post.

And, of course, they would then put a gold ring in the ear lobe, and the pierced ear was the sign that he was a servant by choice.

And so, “I love my master.

I don’t want to be free, I want to serve him,” he would then be pierced, and that was irrevocable.

He remained then a servant for life.

There is an interesting prophecy in Isaiah concerning Jesus Christ; and Jesus declares, prophetically, “My ear have You opened.”

That is, He willingly submitted Himself unto the Father, as He said, “I did not come to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

And so, He willingly submitted Himself to the will of the Father, even as was reflected in His prayer in the garden when He said, “Father, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from Me.  Nevertheless, not what I will, but Thy will be done.”

“Mine ear,” Isaiah - prophetically - concerning the cross, said, “Mine ear hast Thou opened.”

God brought Him to the doorpost, pierced His ear.

He was a servant by choice as He submitted to the will of the Father in going to the cross for you and for me.

/ /

/      Now, if a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the other menservants do./

/ /

      In other words, she doesn’t get to go out in the seventh year.

The fathers had the rights to sell their daughters.

Usually, of course, they sold them either to be the wife of a man, or to be a part of his concubine.

And so, if he sold his daughter, there was always that dowry that was involved.

Some young man wants to marry your daughter, his parents come, and you establish a price: a dowry.

This was to protect the women in a day in which women did not have any rights.

The women had no right of divorce.

They were considered in a category slightly above a slave; and because the women had no rights a man could at his own whim, at any time, get rid of her.

All he had to do is write on a piece of paper, “I divorce you,” and hand it to her, and she had to go out.

It was all over for her.

So, to protect her, this dowry concept was established.

Dowry was nothing more than alimony in advance.

While the guy is anxious to marry her, deeply in love, professing to have this deep love for her, all excited, wanting to marry her, the dad would say, “OK, you want to marry her, it’s going to cost you 5,000 bucks.”

And in case in time to come, you say, “Ah, I never did love her; get out of here.

I write you a bill of divorcement,” then she’s got her alimony already set and she can go back to her father’s house, and it was the duty of the father to invest that money so that if she did come home, she has plenty to live on.

So, the whole idea was alimony in advance to protect the women who did not have protection under the law, or rights under the law.

So, the daughters were usually sold, either to be the wife of a man, or to be a maidservant, which would include part of his concubine.

/      If she does not please her master,/

/      /

      The guy has bought her, and is betrothed to her, but during this period he decides he doesn’t want her,

 

/      then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her./

/ /

      So, he’s purchased her, and now he decides he doesn’t want to marry her, then some other man can purchase her.

Let her be redeemed, he cannot sell her to a stranger or foreigner.

Or he can give her to his son.

/      If he has betrothed her to his son, he will deal with her, she shall be to him as a daughter.

And if he takes,  /he’s betrothed her to himself, and he takes /another wife; he will not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marriage rights./