WEBVTT - #980 - Exodus 21 – Laws About Servants and Injuries 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:09.400 Life Audio The Bible Study Podcast, Episode nine and eighty. Today, 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:12.200 The Bible Study Podcast continues the study of the Book 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:23.880 of Exodus with chapter twenty one. Welcome to the Bible 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.880 Study Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Kristensen. We're going to 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:30.760 continue on with more instructions given at Mount Sinai, But 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:35.440 first a word from this sponsor. So Chapter twenty one 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.080 starts this way. These are the laws you are to 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:42.640 set before them Hebrew servants. If you buy a Hebrew servant, 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:44.960 he is to serve you for six years, But in 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.040 the seventh year he is to go free without paying anything. 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.040 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone. 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:53.880 But if he has a wife when he comes, she 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:56.520 is to go with him. If his master gives him 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.640 a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.120 woman and her children shall belong to her master, and 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:07.240 only the man shall go free. But if the servant declares, 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:09.440 I love my master and my wife and children, and 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.119 do not want to go free, then his master must 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.920 take him before the judges. He shall take him to 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.480 the door or the doorpost, and pierce his ear with 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.280 an all. Then he will be his servant for life. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.640 If a man sells his daughter as a servant. She 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:26.560 is not to go free as male servants do. If 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.520 she does not please the master, who has selected her 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:33.360 for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.600 no right to sell her to foreigners because he has 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.880 broken faith with her. If he selects her for his son, 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.679 he must grant her the rights of a daughter. If 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.559 he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.520 one of her food, clothing, and marital rights. If he 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.360 does not provide her with these things, she is to 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:57.880 go free without any payment or money. So these are 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:02.240 part of a series of rule in the levitical law, 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.760 which we're getting to end this instruction here at Mount 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:10.520 Sinai that's documented in Exodus. That really go back to 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:14.080 you were slaves in Egypt, and you're going to be 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.880 my people. I don't want you to be in debt 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.120 as we'll get to, and I don't want you to 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:25.399 be slaves forever. Now you can have indentured servants. That's 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.160 what we would call it if you were a slave 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:31.119 for six years. Right, If you're a slave, basically you're 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.840 saying I'm going to give you my service, probably because 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.720 I got into debt, but I'm not going to stay 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:42.200 a slave forever, and that's really what this is all about. 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.480 But you might have this situation where the guy realizes, hey, 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.240 I'm better off being a slave for the rest of 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.560 my life being a servant for the rest of my life, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.160 in which case there's a provision here that you can say, 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.120 I'd rather do that. And then you notice you have 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.640 to go before the judge. You have to have somebody 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.760 else say yes, we believe this person is really saying this, 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:08.079 rather than you're just telling us they made this decision. 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.160 And then you mark them, you pierce the ear to 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:15.480 make sure that everybody knows that this is a permanent servant. 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.880 And then these whole things with selling your daughter as 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:24.000 a servant. All of these rights here are that you're 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.160 not going to be sold off to a foreigner, that 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:29.120 if you're selected for your son, you have to be 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:32.560 treated like a daughter, treat these people, well, you were 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.840 a slave before, and therefore we're going to have a 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.600 different set of rules for you. All of these rules, 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:45.360 you notice, only do apply to fellow Hebrews. Slavery is 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.240 not illegal at this point in the Bible. We can 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:52.040 talk about whether it should be or not although usually 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.840 slavery and this time period is not what we would 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.680 call chattel slavery. It's not slavery because you are a 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:02.200 specific color or a specific nationale. It's slavery because you 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.000 got into debt, or it's slavery because your people lost 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.840 to my people in a battle. So it's a little different. 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.040 But you know, still not a big fan of slavery. 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:14.320 But these rules were all to temperate within the Hebrew 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:21.000 society personal injuries. Now, before I get into this, why 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.240 do we have all these rules? Remember you're coming out 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:27.200 of Egypt, where you were living under Egyptian rules. You 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:31.839 didn't have Hebrew laws because you weren't allowed to have laws, 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.320 you weren't in charge. And so you're basically taking this 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.839 people who were slaves and turning them into a nation. 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:42.320 Will nations have laws, they have rules that they live by. 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.920 And so we started with some basics like the Ten commandments. 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.839 You know, hey, just don't steal, just don't kill, don't 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.560 covet because it leads to other problems. You know, don't 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.480 commit adultery, all those things. But then we're adding in 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.760 more detail as our laws also add more detail, and 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.200 we get more and more laws because of precedent, because 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.479 of well, the judges decided in this case to apply 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.520 this law in this way. They get a lot of 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:15.320 laws here that God is specifically starting them with again 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.640 personal injuries. Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.480 blow is to be put to death. However, if it 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.279 is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.880 are to flee to a place I will designate. But 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:31.599 if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.839 to be taken from my altar and put to death. 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:37.800 Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.920 put to death. Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:43.880 put to death, whether the victim has been sold or 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.840 is still in the kidnapper's possession. Anyone who curses their 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.360 father or mother is to be put to death. If 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.919 a person quarrels with one person hits another person with 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.040 a stone or their fist, and the victim does not die, 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.440 but is confined to bed, the one who struck the 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.760 blow will not be held liable if the other can 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.960 get up and walk around outside with a staff. However, 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.080 the guilty party must pay the injured person for any 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.800 loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed. 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.840 Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.760 rod must be punished if the slave dies as a 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.680 direct result, but they are not to be punished if 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.400 the slave recovers after a day or two, since the 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.880 slave is their property. If people are fighting and hit 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.960 a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely, but there 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.680 is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:38.720 the women's husband demands and the court allows. But if 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.479 there is serious injury, you are to take life for life. 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.760 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:48.560 for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.400 An owner who hits a male or female slave in 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.520 the eye and destroys it must let the slave go 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.599 to compensate for the eye, and an owner who knocks 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:00.680 out a tooth of a male or female male slave 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:05.040 must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth. 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.800 If a bull gore is a man or woman to death, 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.160 the bull is to be stoned to death, and its 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:13.080 meat must not be eaten, but the owner of the 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.440 bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.200 has had the habit of goring and the owner has 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.000 been warned and he has not kept it panned up, 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:25.240 and it kills a man or woman, the bull is 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.560 to be stoned, and the owner also is to be 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.680 put to death. However, if payment is demanded, the owner 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.600 may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.320 This law also applies if the bull gore is a 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.360 son or daughter. If the bull gores a male or 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:45.000 female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.840 to the master of the slave, and the bull is 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.360 to be stoned to death. If anyone uncovers a pit 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.480 it digs one and fails to cover it, and an 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.280 ox or donkey falls into it, the one who opened 0:07:57.280 --> 0:07:59.680 the pit must pay the owner for the loss and 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.680 take the dead animal in exchange. If anyone's bull injures 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:06.680 someone else's bull and it dies, the two parties are 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.160 to sell the live one and divide both the money 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:13.280 and the dead animal equally. However, if it was known 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.200 that the bull had a habit of going, yet the 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:17.760 owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:21.800 pay animal for animal and take the dead animal in exchange. 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.600 We have rules like this too. Isn't this amazing? I mean, 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.680 these are really detailed. You got to think about all 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.320 the different circumstances that might happen. So, first of all, 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.160 that first one is really saying we've got different rules 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:39.080 for manslaughter versus murder. If you and I have a 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:43.080 fight and I throw a punch and you die, that 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.440 is different from I decide that I'm going to kill 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:52.400 you now in this case, remember they are currently in Sinai. 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.120 They have no buildings. The only building they're going to 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.720 have soon is a tabernacle, which is a tent. So 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:00.760 they have only tents. So they don't have any prisons, 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.640 and so a lot of these laws may seem to 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.600 us to be harsh as we go on here, but 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.720 they don't have a lot of options. It's not clear 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:14.520 what they would do with somebody. They're not going to 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.160 build a prison, and so a lot of these things 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.120 are going to be leading to death. This one says though, 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:25.320 that when you get to the Promised Land, if you 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.040 flee to a place I designate, there will be cities 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.240 that are cities of refuge, And if you can make 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.880 it to the city of refuge, then someone can't come 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.400 and kill you. But if you're not there and you've 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.120 killed someone's brother, they can kill you. So these rules 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.160 will get a little more complicated when we get into 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.160 the Promised Land. All of these things are trying to 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:50.160 give some form of justice. What is fair? And so 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:52.000 when we see like an eye for an eye, a 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.040 tooth for a tooth, what it's doing is it's trying 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.839 to limit revenge. So if you knock up my tooth 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.679 and I kill you, I'm guilty of murder. Right, If 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:04.559 you knock on my tooth, then I knock out your tooth, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:09.560 it's saying, well, that's that's fair. So that's the kind 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:11.240 of thing that we're trying to do here. If you 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.720 attack father and mother put to death. Remember, honor your 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.920 father and mother is a very important thing. So even 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.560 if you throw a punch at your father, here it's saying, 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.560 it's a serious thing. We don't want kidnappers. You can't 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.360 even curse your father and mother. That's a serious that 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.679 would surprise us today. But that's how important that honor 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.400 your father and mother is. And then we start getting 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.920 into the details of Okay, what if I hit you 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.240 with a stone but you recover, well, how recovered do 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:41.040 you have to be well. If you can walk around 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.720 with a staff, okay, but you know I have to 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.440 pay you, and so all putting in all of this 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.920 form of compensation here again we don't have laws. We 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.840 need laws. Anyone who beats the male servant with a rod, okay, 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.440 you can do that. But if they die, then you're 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:02.200 going to be punished. If you knock out their tooth, 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:05.439 then you got to set them free. If you damage 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:07.320 their eye and they can't see anymore, you have to 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:12.160 set them free. If you're fighting and a woman gives birth, 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.280 if there's no serious injury, you just with the husband 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:20.120 demands and the courts allow. Again, patriarchal society. That is 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:24.000 the reality of this situation. And I thought it was 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.400 interesting this whole thing with the bull. So if a 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.880 bull gore is a man or a woman, you put 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.920 that bull to death, but the owner isn't responsible. But 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.880 the owner knew that there was a risk. This is 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:38.240 sort of where a lot of our legality comes from 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.320 in terms of if you knew that your car that 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.640 you were selling me was unsafe and I die in it, 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.480 that's a different thing than if you didn't know it 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.120 was unsafe and I die in it, and that's the 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:52.520 same thing going on here with a bull. So some 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.040 of these things are very similar to what we have. 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.319 Some of them, like cursing your father and mother being 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.880 put to death, are very different from what we have. 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.960 If you uncover a pit and somebody falls into it 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.599 and an animal falls into it, then you have to 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:11.559 pay for it. You left this hazard. Basically, if I 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:13.800 digging up potholes in front of my house and you 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.240 drive into it, I'm going to be held responsible if 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.720 I didn't put out those signs that say, hey, don't 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:23.360 drive here, there's a pothole. It's similar sort of things. 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.560 And then again the same sort of thing with if 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:30.760 my bull injures your bull, it's different if I didn't 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:32.840 know that that was going to happen because my bull 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:37.679 has never done this before, than if I did. There's 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.920 going to be a lot of these very prosaic rules 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.520 that are set up because you need these prosaic rules. 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.880 I mean, you could have started with if somebody is injured, 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.520 we're going to do things fairly and then let judges 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.160 figure it out. But it's easier to start from at 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.320 least a basic framework. And again they're being set up 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.240 as a nation. They need laws. We're going to be 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.640 going through some of them here. With that, we're going 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.439 to end this episode of the Bible Study Podcast. If 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.719 you have any questions, send an email to Chris two 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.800 x at gmail dot com, or, better yet, leave a 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:17.280 comment on this episode at the biblestudypodcast dot com. And 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:30.240 as always, thanks so much for listening. I want to 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.360 take just a second to thank the team at Life 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.600 Audio for their partnership with us on this podcast. If 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.720 you go to lifeaudio dot com, you'll find dozens of 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.679 other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.200 about prayer, Bible Study, parenting, and more.